Chapter Three – Eyes of Silver
Warning: This fanfic will spoil the events of RWBY up to Volume 5. The story picks up immediately after the events of Downfall
A thousand red-hot glass weapons buried their tips into the ground, lit from the inside by dancing amber flames. Stalactites composed entirely of Dust hung from above, scattering their brilliant seven-colored light illuminating the cavern. Gemstones the size of tangerines grew like fruits in these caves, but they seemed to avoid the monolithic statue of the Grimm dragon, as if some invisible barrier repelled their advance towards the dragon.
Cinder eyed the man in front of her with disgust, they had never met but already she despised everything about him. She hated his perfect blond hair, his radiant white armor, but above all she hated him because of his silver eyes. She hated their kind, she hated how helpless she became when faced against their kind, she hated how their kind, no - Ruby Rose had so quickly maimed her eye, her arm, she hated how it made her feel weak even fearful to find herself against another one of their kind. There was only one recourse, only one way Cinder Fall knew how to undo her failures - they must all die.
"Grimm," declared Jansen as he sniffed the air, ignoring the dissipating corpses of the Beowolves. Instead his ominous silver eyes fixed on Cinder, studying her hungrily as he paced around her. Once Cinder used to feel at home when men turned their heads to take in the sight of her perfect features, her pretty face, her curves that she loved to flaunt, but she lost her prized beauty when she lost the Battle of Beacon, a terrible price she paid to obtain the power of the Fall Maiden, nonetheless a decision she would have chosen again in a heartbeat if she could do it over again. The young lord's lips curled into a satisfied grin when his eyes fell on her left arm, the Grimm arm concealed under layers of white bandages. A disturbing thought crossed Cinder's mind. He knows.
Yes. Of course he knows. Whatever obsession you have with that Ruby girl-
I'm going to kill him. I'm going to kill every last one of them-
Or die trying? Is that what you were going to say? That Ruby girl, she was a complete amateur and look what she managed to do to you. Heck even at Haven Academy had Emerald not intervened, we wouldn't be talking either. This man Jansen, he's on a completely different leve-
I don't stand a chance. Is that what you were going to say?
N-no I never said that. Look we don't have to do this. Just walk awa-
Why the hell would I do that?
WHAT are you trying to prove?! Even if you kill him, that Ruby girl would still be alive. Even if you kill him, your eye and arm would still -
After today, after I kill this man, no one will question my power again. Not you. Not even Salem.
Cinder's amber eye burned with a new fanatical obsession, concentrating all her hatred, her darkest memories, her burning desire for revenge inwards. Her willpower grew stronger than ever, drowning out the protests of her Grimm arm, bending it completely to her will. She finally understood what Salem had taught her - dread. She flexed her Grimm fingers and smiled to herself. Complete control.
Cinder felt a tug on her skirt, she looked down to see Anastasia shaking her head in disapproval. No. Not you too Ana. She reached for the ruby rose in her hair, removed it and handed it to Anastasia, then forcefully pried the hem her white skirt from Anastasia's hands. From the corner of her eye she saw a shimmer - Anastasia was tearing up. But Cinder knew what she had to do, the perfect chance had presented itself to prove that the Battle for Beacon was a complete fluke. How could she allow her thirst for revenge to be hindered by the whims a silly little girl? She clenched her fists, faded red nails dug deep into her palms and she walked away from Anastasia never once looking back over her shoulder.
"M-my Lord," muttered the commander, his voice trembling as he knelt before Jansen.
"Captain, do remind me. What is the procedure for people who wander into this part of the mines?" asked Jansen coolly.
"Execution, my Lord," replied the commander, tightening his grip on his rifle.
"Why then are they still alive?" barked Jansen, reaching for the handle of his sapphire encrusted sword, his silver eyes livid with rage.
"F-forgive me my Lord- "
"Argyros," interrupted Cinder, pulling a red-hot glass sword from the ground as she approached. "Silver. What an interesting name. Did you choose it yourself?"
"And so it speaks," chuckled Jansen, turning his attention to Cinder. "Never knew those things spoke."
"You'll be surprised," replied Cinder, eyeing her now deathly silent Grimm arm.
"You know, I had half the mind to let you two leave this place alive," said Jansen, now so close to Cinder she could feel his breath, his cold silver eyes staring into her amber eye. "But to let a monster walk out of this place- "
"Don't. Call me that."
"I call you whatever I wan-"
Jansen never finished his sentence. Cinder spun around and brought her molten scimitar down on the Lord of Mantle-3. A swift and easy decapitation it would have been, but instead an unearthly hollow noise reverberated as glass struck metal, incandescent sparks flew as the blades bit into each other. Jansen had intercepted her slash with a single fluid motion with his sword. His blade was iridescent silver, a clear indication of its supernatural make - the blade was forged from more than just a simple iron alloy.
Cinder let out a feral growl as she proceeded to rain quick successive blows on the Silver Eyed Warrior with both her swords, keeping him firmly on the defense. Keeping him on the defensive was key, she knew all too well the devastation his Silver Eyes could potentially do to her and depriving him of the option to activate it was her best course of action. Jansen managed to parry each and every blow, but only just barely, his actions felt sluggish and Cinder could feel the vast difference in their swordsmanship, she completely outclassed him. But something else unsettled her. He was smiling.
Sparks flew as they locked blades, Cinder shoved Jansen away as she tried to disengage but the Silver Eyed Warrior rebounded and lunged forward hungrily, slashing at her blind left side. What a complete amateur. Why the hell would he think it's easier to attack me here? She had long anticipated the move, she sidestepped it easily and landed a blow on Jansen. A draw cut that would have easily ripped his torso in half instead bounced harmlessly off his pearl white armor further fortified by Aura, instead shattering her glass scimitar. Cinder drew into her Aura reserves to conjure a new blade only to be met by a shocking revelation - a massive chunk of her Aura had already been depleted. But how? Jansen never managed to land a single blow on her, yet it had been depleted as though her Aura suffered a dozen direct hits from him. It was almost as though-
"You're powerful, unnaturally powerful. I'll give you that much," smiled the young lord. "Most Hunters would have keeled over after our second or even third exchange with our swords. Aura Break, my Semblance destroys the Aura of my opponents with each contact of our blades. You're tough, but eventually everyone has their Aura broken against me."
Cinder scowled as she instinctively distanced herself from Jansen. To make matters worse her mind was a mess. A thousand needles pierced her head as she struggled with the effort to suppress the will of her Grimm arm and simultaneously formulate a new strategy to destroy her opponent. Even with her superior skill with the sword, she had no intention to deplete her Aura crossing swords with a complete amateur, even if she did manage to land a blow, a solid layer of plate armor prevented her from simply ripping the young lord apart. If Aura was going to be spent, it was going to be on her own terms. She waved her hand, a dozen molten glass swords freed themselves from the ground and launched at Jansen.
The Silver Eyed Warrior grinned. His sword became a blur of iridescent silver as he swung it around, slashing and hacking at the air. The sword rended the fabric of space and time itself, in their place portals materialized that perfectly intercepted the trajectories of the glass weapons, consuming and banishing them to an eternity in the abyss. The Fall Maiden gritted her teeth in frustration, digging deeper into her Aura reserves, she commanded all the remaining weapons to dislodge and launch themselves at Jansen. A thousand weapons homed in Jansen Argyros with the same deadly accuracy that annihilated the hoard of Beowolves with ease. Cinder had enough weapons to shatter his Aura defenses as well as pierce plate armor with impunity, threatening to gruesomely impale him a hundred times over and then impale his bloodied corpse another hundred times over.
But Jansen's lips curled into a familiar arrogant smile, a smile that Cinder frequented as she gloated over her fallen enemies, a smile she wore when she knew she had won. This time the silver knight drew only a single portal with his sword in response just as the projectiles connected, a deafening explosion shook the cavern kicking up clouds of dust and dirt. When the dust cleared, there was nothing but a heap of shattered glass shards. No corpse, not even a single drop of blood. An unpleasant feeling tugged at her mind, a lesson she learnt the hard way in her battle against Raven. Behind. She wheeled around just in time to parry the heavy strike from Jansen Argyros as he reappeared from a twisted portal above her. Brilliant gold sparks lit the cavern as they locked their blades once again, her Aura flickered and died - Aura Break finally had its due. The flames in her amber eye vanished as she stared directly into the gleaming silver eyes and she knew that it was over.
A blinding flash of light enveloped the cavern. An enormous surge of silver burst from Jansen Argyros' eyes and agony was all Cinder Fall knew. A thousand white hot knives pierced every inch of her body, even her Grimm arm screeched in pain, writhing uncontrollably as it combusted with brilliant silver flames. She screamed in pain but could heard nothing as she felt searing silver flames tunnel down her throat. The bandages on her face ignited and fell away revealing the ugly scarring that covered the left side of her face, her glass sword shattered into a million razor sharp pieces that ripped through her dress and dug deep into her flesh left unguarded by Aura, and then suddenly it was over. Cinder was sprawled on the floor, her torn white dress soaked red in her own blood, the Silver Eyed Warrior stood over her, the tip of his iridescent silver sword held to her throat.
It was over for her. She had underestimated her opponent for the last time and this time fate had finally caught up - she was going to die. All was lost for her... or was it? Through her blurred dreary vision, she caught sight of Anastasia. She focused her last thoughts on Anastasia, the girl that had given up her only bowl of porridge so that Cinder could have her fill, her lovely smile, her undying admiration for Cinder, a psychotic insecure murderer, what an irony. Was this what every Maiden felt before they died? Was this what it felt like to think about someone they cared for, someone they loved before they relinquished their Maiden powers? What a monster she must have been to rob this feeling from Amber before Cinder murdered her in her lust for power.
"You poor girl," Jansen smirked at Anastasia. "Take a good look at your fallen hero. Half human. Half Grimm. An abomination through and through-"
"Shut up, SHUT UP!" yelled Anastasia, tears began to well up in her eyes, the young girl was determined to be defiant to the end. "Miss Cinder is not any of that. She's a hero. She saved my life AND she's one of the four Maidens!"
Jansen doubled over laughing. A diabolical cackle that raised the hairs on Cinder's arm, he withdrew his sword from her neck.
"The Maidens. An old grandmother's story... I see what this is all about," laughed the Silver Eyed Warrior as he stared condescendingly at Cinder. "You don't fear death do you? Not right now anyways. But rest assured, there are worse fates than death... Captain!"
"Y-yes, my Lord!" the commander stiffened up to salute the Lord of Mantle-3.
"I want every rifle on AP rounds," he drove his sword down, nailing Cinder to the ground by her Grimm arm, the arm that Aura could never protect. She tried to scream but her damaged throat protested in pain. "Your target... that little girl over there."
No. Not Ana. She hasn't done anything. Why?
The cavern rang with the shuffling of uniforms and the clacking of the armor piercing rounds being chambered into the rifles. The troops bore their rifles onto Anastasia. Jansen twisted his sword, digging it deeper into Cinder's arm, she winced in pain and Jansen's smile widened, gloating over her the whole time.
"You are going to watch what a failure you have been as that little girl's hero. She will know how misplaced her faith was in a monster like you. You are going to watch her get torn apart," Jansen whispered into her ear. "And then you have my permission to die... FIRE!"
"NOOOOOO!" Cinder yelled as she tore her arm free from the iridescent blade, it dangled by her side held by a thin thread of Grimm tendons as she tried to rush to Anastasia.
The cavern echoed with the explosion of gunshots as the troops emptied their magazines. Anastasia's frail body was knocked back from the sheer force of rifle rounds, the armour piercing rounds bore countless holes through her tiny body, her blood splattered across the Dust encrusted boulders and all the gemstones became indistinguishable from rubies. Stray AP rounds ricocheted around the cavern, one shell ignited a column of Dust stalactites, triggering a series of explosions that dislodged massive rocks and the cavern rained stalactites of pure Dust from the ceiling.
Spontaneous Dust explosions propagated throughout the cavern, every explosion sparked the explosion of another. A massive falling boulder struck Jansen on the back of his head, his Aura prevented his skull from splitting open like an egg but nonetheless he crumpled to the floor unconscious. Cinder trembled as she stood up, she felt a searing sensation in between her shoulder blades - the emblem on her back had vanished. Her glass heels shattered as she stumbled clumsily, she immediately discarded the other pair and continued on barefooted. She gazed at the motionless body of Jansen Argyros amidst the rock slide, their situations were suddenly reversed. She now stood over him and could snuff his worthless life out by severing his head from his shoulders with her Grimm arm or pierce his heart with a broken shard of glass, her choices were plentiful but she knew what she had to do. She turned and ran over instead to Anastasia's body just as the falling rocks sealed them both away from the rest of the cavern.
"Ana... I'm so sorry Ana..." said Cinder, tears rolling down the good side of her face as she held Anastasia tight in her arms.
"Hehheh..." replied Anastasia weakly, blood bubbled and frothed at her mouth as she tried to speak. "Miss Cinder... So the stories were true. No one can kill a Maiden..."
"S-shut up Ana, don't talk anymore, its making your wounds worse," said Cinder as she wiped the tears from her eye. She tried to apply pressure to Anastasia's gunshot wounds but there were more holes than she had hands to cover them and she soon found herself drenched in an unending stream of blood. "We still have time. Haven Academy is nearby... I-I'll fly us up there, they'll be able to fix you up."
She tried to ignite flames in her palm, what little Aura that she regenerated was enough for at least a short flight, but nothing happened. Her heart sank as she realized what must have happened. Even the power of the Fall Maiden had left her.
"Miss Cinder... It's fine," smiled Anastasia, her face deathly pale and gaunt from the hemorrhage. "Ana knows they will do mean things to you... if you enter Haven Academy..."
"You knew... all this time?" said Cinder softly, almost feeling ashamed of herself.
"All this time," chuckled Anastasia, her soulless eyes began to shimmer once again. "Ana is happy... Ana got to meet one of the four Maidens in her lifetime... That's more than what most girls can even dream of..."
"Stop it. Stop talking like that. You're going to be fine," lied Cinder, even though she wanted it to be true so badly, more tears erupted uncontrollably. "You're going to be fine..."
"Miss Cinder come nearer."
Cinder dipped her head and Anastasia planted the ruby rose into her hair then kissed her on her left cheek. It was the side that Cinder so desperately tried to cover, the side that was maimed and scarred.
"There. It looks good on you." said Anastasia, she summoned all her strength but could only muster one final weak smile before the sparkle left her amber eyes forever and Cinder was once again left abandoned all alone in the darkness.
Author's notes:
Yes, this is the kind of story you guys are in for. Darkness, death and even more darkness. This is a hopeless, desolate world. This is a story where the line between heroes and villains are razor thin (Hey! just like real life!), this is a story where love doesn't win and it pays to be evil. On a side note, Chapter 3 took a tad longer than expected, a lot has happened over just this one chapter, I feel like I covered waaaay more ground in 3 Chapters than Volume 5 managed to do in 3 episodes. With all the crazy shit I had in mind, I had to rewrite this chapter quite a few times just to get it right by me. Hope you guys enjoyed this chapter and look forward to the next chapter. Cheers!