Chapter Four – Silver's Cry
Warning: This fanfic will spoil the events of RWBY up to Volume 5. The story picks up immediately after the events of Downfall
"Drizella, the door go get it!"
"Alright Mum... It's probably Ana, she was supposed to be back two hours ago..." sighed Drizella, whipping her long tea colored hair back as she reached for the door.
"When is that girl going to- "
Learn. Drizella left her sentence unfinished, her face lost all it's color as she saw the figure standing by the door. Cinder was drenched in dried blood that stained her white mini dress, the dress had intricate swirling gold embroidery along its length but it was also torn in places where shards of glass had pierced through. Drizella's eyes traced the trail of blood to find Anastasia held tight in Cinder's arms, the girl's cold lifeless body pierced by a hundred bullet holes.
Before Cinder could utter a word, Drizella slapped Cinder across her left cheek and tears began to well up in Drizella's green eyes.
"You murderer!" shouted Drizella.
Cinder felt the heat course through her left cheek. It burned hotter than when Ruby Rose's silver eyes had maimed her atop Beacon Tower. It burned with shame, the shame of being slapped by an ordinary girl with no power, the shame of failure. She tried for a rebuttal, but realized how futile it was. She had saved Ana from the cruel fate of being torn apart by Beowolves, only to immediately fail to save her another cruel fate. In the end did she really save Ana? Did it matter that she even tried to save Ana? Was Ana destined to die either way? How could destiny be so cruel?
"Drizella, what is going on-" Tremaine gasped in shock and ran over to hug Anastasia's body, blood smeared her face as she rubbed her face against Anastasia's.
"Drizella... I-I didn't do it..." Cinder stuttered.
"Murderer..." chanted Drizella like a broken record. "Murderer, murderer, murderer!"
"I-I can explain- "
"I always knew you had it in you. But for you to do it to Ana too... You monster!" screamed Drizella cupping her hands over her ears in denial.
Monster. There was that word again. Drizella was right, she was a monster but she didn't kill Ana. Cinder simply wanted to prove herself but Ana paid the price for her poor decision, if only she had walked away like her Grimm arm suggested, Ana would still be alive.
"Drizella that's enough!" said Tremaine, she too had her face drenched in tears as she took Anastasia's body from Cinder. "Let's not make a scene. Heaven's sake we just lost Ana!"
"No," frowned Drizella. "Let's."
"These are gunshot wounds, Drizella. Cinder is the Fall Maiden, she doesn't need to- "
"Is she the Fall Maiden," scoffed Drizella. "When has she ever been worthy to hold such power- "
"Worthy," chuckled Cinder in disbelief, her patience snapped and she felt her anger rise inside her. How dare that girl challenge her. "Tell me then, what did the all-so-noble Amber do to become the Fall Maiden?"
Drizella tried to respond but was rudely interrupted by Cinder.
"No. Don't answer that question. It's obvious isn't it? She got it from her mother. How worthy," said Cinder, her voice now shaking as she tried to contain her rage. "I had to earn my right to power, I had to force the hand of destiny, I lost an eye and an arm to become the Fall Maiden. I have lied and stolen and killed to be who I am today. What did Amber do? That's right. Nothing. And somehow she is worthy and I'm not? Don't you dare talk to me about being worthy."
Drizella sprang into action, raising her hand to slap Cinder once again. This time the fallen Maiden deftly caught her by the wrist, her amber eye livid with anger.
"Go on. Kill me too. Prove me right." spat Drizella with the same defiance that Ana had shown in the Dust mines.
So be it. Cinder concentrated her hate, she instinctively tried to conjure a massive pyre to incinerate Drizella and scatter her ashes as she did Pyrrha, but nothing happened - she no longer possessed the power of the Fall Maiden, fire would no longer answer her call. She shoved Drizella in impotent rage, the girl fell to the ground and bit her lip, but kept glaring at Cinder in defiance from the side of her eyes.
"Just as I thought. You've lost it." breathed Drizella spitefully, wiping blood from her mouth.
"That's enough!" yelled Tremaine turning on the two girls, shimmering tears streaming down her face. "To your rooms, both of you!"
"Your Grace... She's badly injured but still alive. Third degree burns all over and it seems she's lost her eye. Her arm... Well her arm is severely damaged but given enough time it will heal."
"Good job Arthur, we shall begin as planned."
Cinder screamed and flailed in protest but found herself bound and strapped to a crude bone white slab of stone. Her lustrous locks of ashen black hair was singed and destroyed, her left arm was maimed beyond recognition; only a few strips of charred tendons clung on to her bones, she tried to flex her fingers but her arm could barely move in response. Her left face burned as though a flaming torch bad been pressed onto it, she could even smell her own burnt flesh. Her eyes darted around frantically scanning the room, her heart sank when she realized that she had lost judgment of her depth of field - she was missing her left eye.
"Ah yes, our Fall Maiden awakens," the towering black figure turned to face Cinder and she flinched at the sight of her master. The Queen of the Grimm had bone white hair tied into a bun, purple deathly veins crawled up her pale white skin like untamed vines. But her eyes were a terrifying sight to behold - no human alive had eyes like hers. Her irises were as red as blood that glowed unnaturally in the dim candlelit room contrasted by jet black sclerae. "Arthur here says that you lost your eye; there's nothing we can do about that. But your arm... Your arm will take time to heal. Time that we do not have."
Cinder's only remaining eye widened with shock. She struggled against her bonds with all her might but quickly realized it was futile.
"Regrettably, we also lost your pretty face, it's a real shame. I had further use for that, but no matter..." Salem said in a cold, dark voice, her thin lips curled into a grin that curdled Cinder's blood. "Then again, you aren't the girl who wanted to be pretty. You're the girl who wanted to powerful... I hope that's still the case?"
Cinder nodded her head slowly.
"SAY IT!" thundered Salem.
"Yes..." whispered Cinder.
"Good," she turned to face Arthur Watts, and he too flinched at the sight of Salem. "You may proceed, Arthur."
"Yes, Your Grace."
The disgraced doctor pushed an operating cart to Cinder's side. Syringes, scalpels of all sizes gleamed silver in the dim candlelit room, but beside the pristine silverware was the ugly stump of a severed arm, a Grimm arm.
"You see dear, we can't afford to have our only Maiden out of commission while your arm recovers," said Salem, laughing sadistically. "A replacement would be... An elegant solution to the mess you've made. You wanted more power, I will give you more power. I'm a woman of my word."
"Please... No..." Cinder shook her head frantically, she had already lost her eye, she wasn't about to give up her arm without a fight, no matter how maimed it was.
"Then dear... You have outlived your usefulness," retorted Salem coldly. She reached into the depths of her robes and withdrew a smoky black dagger. The dagger was neither metal nor obsidian, but conspicuously similar to the black essence of Grimm, its razor sharp edge danced lividly with black miasma, its curved tip pointed straight at Cinder's frantically beating heart. "Arthur, call for Emerald."
Arthur lowered his head and headed for the door. Cinder realized what was going on, she frantically tried to erase all thoughts of Emerald from her mind, but her mind was no longer hers - Salem was telepathically swirling the contents of her memories. The power of the Fall Maiden she had fought so hard to attain was going to be transferred to Emerald.
Cinder tried to resist Salem's mental probe with all her might but she finally yielded, "A-Alright, I'll do it..."
"Arthur...!"
Dr Watts wheeled around in frustration, heading back to the stone slab. He held up a gleaming silver syringe and primed its needle, a luminous green liquid oozed from its tip.
"Arthur, what are you doing?" Salem asked.
"Y-your Grace, its an anesthetic-" stuttered the doctor as he tried to explain himself.
"Put that silly thing away," Salem's blood red eyes narrowed in anger. "She won't be needing it. She needs to feel the extent of her failure."
"Well then Cinder darling," scoffed Arthur Watts, eyeing his gleaming scalpel with utmost pleasure, a wide grin spread across his face. The time had finally come to pay Cinder back for all the times she had trampled over her associates with her superior strength. Today, all her power didn't matter, the Fall Maiden was completely at his mercy. "I'm going to try not to enjoy this."
Cinder spat in defiance, determined to deny him the pleasure of watching her suffer. I'm not going to scream. It's what he wants. Be strong. Be feared. Be powerful. The scalpel slid through her flesh, grating her bone and Cinder Fall screamed. She screamed so loudly her already damaged throat tore itself asunder but she kept on screaming.
Cinder awoke screaming and panting. That nightmare again. It was already night time, she judged from the moonlight spilling into her bedroom. She had fallen asleep whilst fashioning herself new clothes. A long, flowing black dress with shards of powdered Dust that sparkled with the seven colors of the elemental Dust she infused, it shone as if Cinder had woven the stars of the night sky itself into the very fabric of the dress. She was amazed by her excellent handiwork as usual, but something tugged at her heartstrings - the dress was stitched together from the remnants of Ana's old clothes. Ana's voice echoed in her head, Miss Cinder could make me one of those beautiful dresses and we could pretend to be one of those rich ladies. She clutched the dress close to her chest, tears rolled down her cheek. Ana. We're going to the ball, Ana.
Yes, yes Ana. Can't let that girl go can you?
Cinder wiped her tears and straightened up. The Grimm was talking again.
Sigh... Why are you doing this? Why can't you just be normal? Your kind, they're not supposed to talk-
Too many questions scarface. But wait is that how you talk to me after you almost got us both killed?
Cinder wanted to rip her own arm off so badly for its insolence, but deep down she knew it was right.
I'm sorry.
What? Ahahaha. I didn't quite hear that right. You're... Sorry?
YES. I SAID. I'M SORRY!
I'm going to enjoy this moment... Well I suppose this is the part where I magnanimously declare... I forgive you scarface. It's great to have you back. I really don't know what I'll do without you.
Sigh... You wouldn't be alive without me. I don't suppose you could give me control of my arm back?
You know, you've never tried asking nicely. Because if you did it would spare you all those horrifying memories you were pumping me full of. Revolting, really. I can't physically throw up, but you get the point.
Cinder flexed her Grimm fingers inquisitively, it was true; she had complete control. Had Salem been wrong this whole time? If so, what else has she been wrong about?
And yes to answer your question. I have a few theories that may satisfy this predicament of a talking Grimm. Theory One - Do you remember what you did to Raven Branwen back at the Vault?
Well I certainly remember what she did to me-
Just answer the question, dimwit.
Cinder frowned.
I... Strangled her... And stole a bit of the Spring Maiden's power through you.
Good. Now, what was the Spring Maiden supposed to defend?
The Relic of Knowledge...?
Bingo. Knowledge. If even that little of the Spring Maiden's connection to the Relic of Knowledge could allow even a Grimm to develop a consciousness, and if I may say so myself become cleverer than a human, imagine what Salem could do with the Relic itself.
Imagine what she could do with all of them. What's with Theory Two?
Theory Two is much simpler. Your tiny brain is going to love this - you're CRAZY. That's it. AHAHAHAHAHA
Cinder laughed miserably at the thought. A silly smile spread across her face, a smile she had not worn since her dinner with Ana and her family.
A knock on the door and Tremaine poked her head into the room brandishing a wooden box filled with an assortment of metal. Old rusty nails, bottle caps, metal stakes, spoons, forks, knives and even more nails.
"Am I intruding dear?" asked the old widow. "You asked me for all the metal in our house. Took me a day to gather it all for you..."
"T-Thank you so much," said Cinder as she tried to get up from the bed, knocking over the nightstand clumsily once again. "Wait, I've been asleep for... A day?"
"Yes dear," replied Tremaine. "You were sound asleep, it didn't seem right to wake you."
"The ball..." muttered Cinder. "It's tonight- "
"Don't be ridiculous dear, you're not going to the ball," frowned Tremaine as she sat herself down beside Cinder. "I know what you're after. Jansen Argyros. He killed Ana didn't he?"
Cinder nodded in silence. She took off her blood sodden dress and Tremaine gasped in shock as she stared at the horrifying state of Cinder's body. Her perfect white complexion was marred by countless scars, as if it had been lashed over and over by a whip or some other sick contraption, her pretty face dashed by the nasty scar across her face, but most jarring of all was the ugly black Grimm arm crudely grafted onto her left shoulder where she was missing an arm. She still retained her immaculate shapely figure but her body that would have once captured the hearts of men now looked tortured and broken beyond repair.
"My child," said Tremaine her voice full of sorrow. "It's time to let go of your vengeance."
"Vengeance," frowned Cinder as she slipped into her sparkling form-fitting black dress. "I've lost an eye, an arm and now even my power as the Fall Maiden. Vengeance is all that I have left in my life. Are you going to take that away from me?"
"Cinder dear," pleaded the widow, at her neck the golden locket shimmered. "You are the Fall Maiden, you've never truly lost it- "
"Oh yeah?" fumed Cinder, as she repeatedly snapped her fingers in impotent rage but no fire would emerge. "What the hell do you know about the Maidens?"
"Look I can't give it back to you, but I can help you to regain it-"
"Let me guess. 'Let go of your revenge'," Cinder buried her head into her gloved hands and sighed. "Is that what this is about?"
"And the eldest sister looked up at all that surrounded them," recited Tremaine.
"And Fall said 'But sir, do you not see? You have so much', " finished Cinder. She too knew The Story of the Seasons all too well, she had memorized it from cover to cover as a little girl.
"We do what we can for everyone, because we are able." nodded Tremaine enthusiastically at Cinder, holding her hands tightly, even her Grimm arm. "Let go of your hate, let go of your vengeance, Cinder. Heed the words of Fall, it's the only way you will become the Fall Maiden again. This is what Ana would have wanted. Do you not see? You already have so much- "
"No," frowned Cinder, she pried her hands away from Tremaine's just as she did with Ana. She removed the ruby rose shard from her hair and held it close to her chest.
"Ana gave that to you didn't she?"
"Ana... She was supposed to become the Fall Maiden." sighed Cinder. "Avenging her. That's the least I can do to honor her memory."
She emptied the contents of the box onto the wooden floor and drew a spellcircle around the heap of scrap metal with powdered Dust. Concentrating her Aura, she ignited the Dust particles while tracing the shape of a sword firmly in her mind. Dual wielding was her specialty, but this time she only had enough material for a single blade. A blinding flash of light as all seven colors of Dust illuminated the room, the heap of metal twisted and melted away as Dust was infused into it, finally taking the shape of a glowing silver sword, Cinder's trusty old curved metallic sword she frequented before she obtained the power of the Fall Maiden.
Call it a superstition, but all the best swords have names. What are you going to call this one?
Heh... I expected the holder of Knowledge to be more skeptical about superstitions.
Cinder had never needed to name her swords. They were merely tools she used to achieve her end. But this time something was different, perhaps a little superstition could help, and she knew just the name for it.
Silver's Cry. I want to hear him scream as I twist the blade into his heart and snuff out his worthless life-
You're one violent bitch you know that?
Tell me something I don't already know.
Cinder snapped her fingers and the black dress shimmered with bright amber flames, enveloping her body. When the flames were gone, Cinder was dressed in a black skin-tight stealth suit with a plunging neck line that showed her cleavage, she wore wedge-heeled boots and had pouches of Dust strapped to the sides of her thighs with more shards of Dust woven into the fabric itself and on her back strung her crescent silver blade, Silver's Cry.
"Cinder dear... Don't do this. You can still turn back now," pleaded Tremaine once again. "Even if you succeed in killing Jansen, how do you intend to get out of that castle alive? It's the single most fortified place in Mantle-3 AND you no longer have the power of the Fall Maiden... It's suicid-"
Cinder shot her a deathly stare and she flinched.
"There is no plan to make it out alive," replied Cinder, averting her gaze as she stared blankly at the wooden floor instead. "Either way, this ends tonight."
Author's notes:
Alright lots of set up to get out of the way once again before the Cinderella goes to the Ball arc. Sorry if this was a really dialogue heavy chapter, I promise it will pay off in the chapters to come (For those of you who are wondering, yes the name of this chapter is taken from a Yu-Gi-Oh card lulz). Will be updating the character list as they appear in this fanfic. Keep your eyes peeled for some returning faces next chapter. Hope you guys enjoyed this so far. Cheers!