Chapter 11[B] – To [B]e or not to be
Author's notes: Ending B picks up directly as a result of the consequences of Ending A
"Hand it over," ordered Salem.
A thousand voices, the souls of all the Fall Maidens echoed in Cinder's head as she held out the Relic of Choice to her master, whose blood-red irises gleamed in satisfaction. At Salem's chalk white fingers, the Time Stone gradually dimmed its glow as she reached out her hand to take the Relic...
But her fingers never reached the golden chain of the compass. Cinder was slowly starting to retract her hand. For the first time in a long while, Cinder mustered the courage to look Salem directly in her terrifying crimson red eyes and a glint of defiance burned deep within her only good amber eye.
"I-I can't do it," started Cinder, she strung the Relic back around her neck and rose to her feet. "This is wrong. It is the job of the Fall Maiden to guard the Relic of Choice. And I am the Fall Maiden- "
Salem's face contorted with rage.
"So be it, Fall Maiden," breathed Salem as she turned her back on her servant to face the smoking city of Mantle-3. "I will allow you to keep the Relic for a while longer, Cinder. In exchange, I expect complete obedience from you. I need to know that you are ready to return to my service... For that, I require a tribute."
Salem tilted her head back, her crimson eyes burned with hunger as she surveyed Cinder.
"T-Tribute?" stuttered Cinder confused.
"Yes. A tribute. A gift of obedience, dear. A symbol of your submission to your Queen. I want this city Cinder," Salem's lips curled into a terrible smile.
"Your Grace," protested Cinder. "Once Your Grace has all four Relics... Remnant will be yours, let alone this- "
"I want this city to be soot and ash, Cinder," ordered Salem. This time when she spoke, Cinder's voice was drowned out as if the air between them had silenced the Fall Maiden. "I want you to burn them all."
To burn Mantle-3 to the ground would be as simple as snapping her fingers now that she regained full control over the power of Fall, a feat that the old Cinder Fall atop Beacon Tower would have been more than gleeful to carry out. There was no better way for her to display her prowess as a Maiden - to be given free reign to fully exert her dominance over an entire city. Raze to cinders whosoever she desired, reduce buildings to ash with just a wave of her hand, take lives as easily as if she were bending a twig. Why then had it becoming so unfulfilling?
A dreadful feeling clawed at Cinder's heart and she knew exactly what it was. The people of Mantle-3, Tremaine, Drizella, Anastasia, even the miners that pulled her from Dust mines gave her a place to rest, a shelter over her head while she recovered, but above all a place she knew she could always return no matter what terrible deeds she has wrought. Mantle-3 was her home, the city that she laid her life down to protect from a vicious fire-breathing dragon, there was no way she would destroy it.
"I can't do it," replied Cinder, around her neck the Relic of Choice glowed with a brilliant amber light. "I won't do it."
Dark energy sizzled at Salem's fingertips as she turned around to face Cinder, her pale white features devoid of emotion.
"You have made your final choice then," retorted Salem, the two gemstones on her fingers glowed an equally brilliant purple and yellow light. "Fall Maiden."
The air crackled with energy as Cinder met Salem's bolt of black lightning with her molten glass scimitar. The Fall Maiden grunted as she struggled to hold her sword against the endless torrent of dark lightning. Through the dark energy she could see her master folding her arms idly as she called forth bolt after bolt of lightning to overwhelm Cinder from a distance. Salem's fearsome reputation as Remnant's most powerful individual not without cause, the Queen of the Grimm held no weapon even in the face of an incredibly powerful opponent like the Fall Maiden, but Cinder could easily see why she did not need to either.
Cinder's sword started to crack at the edge. She cursed and released her grip just as it exploded into countless shards of molten glass. She rolled and dodged a series of lightning strikes then with a flash of vermilion, conjured her bow and three flaming arrows nocked and ready. With a grin, she let loose of all three arrows. The arrows whistled through the air with the same deadly accuracy that felled the Grimm dragon. Black bolts of lightning homed in on the arrows, easily destroying them mid-air, but they simply regenerated and stayed their course - straight towards Salem's head.
The arrows detonated upon impact, but the Grimm Queen was no longer there. Cinder gasped and spun around. Predicting Salem's arrival behind her, she stretched her Grimm arm out. Cinder's prediction was spot-on, with a flash of yellow light Salem teleported straight into Cinder's waiting Grimm arm but Armiel was forced to come to a halt a mere inch away from tearing its Queen's head to shreds.
Armiel, what are you doing-
I-I can't. Salem has control over me. I'm fighting but she's too stron-
Salem's own arm shot out and grabbed Cinder by her neck, lifting her high into the air. Salem's grip clamped her throat like a vice, choking the breath from her lungs, but Cinder could feel something more than just her air leaving her body. Salem's arm glowed amber and Cinder's eye widened - the Grimm Queen was slowly siphoning away the power of the Fall Maiden from her. Cinder struggled with all her might, but she knew it was futile, she had even lost control of Armiel, without its guidance she knew stood no chance against her master.
"A pity, Cinder. It really is. Why does it always end this way?" smirked Salem as she started to drink in the amber Aura of Fall. "When I met you... You were a burning beacon of raw, untamed potential. Power, that's something anyone can attain, be it pure talent or years of training or even if you forcefully ripped it from someone and placed it in another. Oz understood this fact too Cinder, why do you think the Old Man of the Tale decided to defend the Relics by building schools on top of them?"
"But you Cinder," continued Salem as she turned her frightening red eyes to her struggling servant. "Your drive for power. That's something no school can ever hope to educate their students. Oz failed to understand that he could only impart so much power, so much knowledge. But to truly become great, it is a journey inwards. It is something that one must crave. You were once a brilliant example of that Cinder Fall, prepared to do whatever it took to gain power. Make no mistake, your hunger for power is the very same thing that made you strong. Poetic don't you think that you were the one to show Oz that I was right. But now... You have become something lesser. You, dear are my greatest achievement and also my greatest disappointment."
Salem released her monstrous grip on Cinder and she crumpled to the ground gasping for air. Drained of her power as the Fall Maiden once again, she struggled to even catch her breath.
Fall's voice rang in her head, emanating from the Relic itself. Choice... That is the true power of the Fall Maiden, Cinder.
The compass around her neck rattled furiously and Cinder came to a stark revelation, she noticed a small detail that could turn the tides of her rebellion against her master.
"Always"? Why would Salem say that? How many times has this happened?
Hahaha finally catching on aren't you, Scarface?
A-Armiel! I thought you were gone-
You wish.
Time. Its time isn't it? Salem has been looping time over and over and over. There's no way she predicted my movements-
Cinder caught a glimpse of the two gemstones on Salem's fingers shining their radiant light over the mountainous plain. But which was it?
Its the purple one, dear. The Time Stone. One of six artifacts that grants the wielder infinite power over one cosmic property. Unfortunately for us she controls both the Time Stone AND Space Stone.
The compass, the Relic of Choice... Its the container for the Soul Stone. Wait, how am I remembering this?
Keep that at the back of your head, Scarface. I'll come back to that. The four Relics of Remnant each contain-
One of the four remaining Stones?
Mind. Soul. Power. Reality. The Infinity Stones.
How many times has this been going on? How am I supposed to defeat an enemy who always knows the future?
I lost count after the thousandth time. But there is a way to end this endless loop, Cinder. Its the same reason you remember the Soul Stone is inside the Relic of Choice. In some paths you succeed in escaping the time loop - by using the power of one Stone to temporarily cancel out the power of another-
It's not going to work. Salem has two, we only have one. We're going to lose the numbers game-
It's funny that you should mention numbers, Scarface. A quick math question then - what do you get from the sum of infinity and one?
Infinity.
How about infinity and two?
Infinity.
How about infinity and infinity - you get where this is going don't you? Infinity is the cosmic limit on how much power anyone can possess. Having one more Stone doesn't make a difference.
Let's do it then.
It's not so simple, Scarface. In all scenarios I've seen so far... You die. And then Salem resets the time loop. Salem needs you to retrieve the Soul Stone for her. That's the reason she's been looping time over. To make sure you stay alive till then-
Trapped forever in an endless slave-master cycle.
Not forever, dear. There IS one variation we have yet to try... But it will involve a sacrifice.
In her mind, Cinder was already aware of the answer, but she did not want to face it.
What kind of sacrifice?
The kind that will end this. I am the reason you die, Cinder Fall. Salem forcefully takes control over me and I rip your heart out in every outcome. To walk away from this today, you have to let me go me when the time comes-
We're not having this conversation. I'm not giving you up, Armiel.
Sigh... Cinder, THIS is the only variation we have yet to try.
"Cinder," grinned Salem, offering out her terrible chalk white hand. "I am willing to offer you one last chance. Open the Relic. Give me the Soul Stone and I will forgive all your mistakes, I will even grant you the power that you crave so badly- "
"Hahaha..." scoffed Cinder as she slowly rose to her feet, around her neck the Relic of Choice burned with a brilliant amber flame. "You don't get it, do you?"
Salem scowled in frustration, black bolts of energy crackled at her fingertips once again.
"Power... I already have infinite power," Cinder frowned. The Relic propped itself open and its needle spun so rapidly that it started to vanish, revealing the Soul Stone that was housed deep within the compass. "There is nothing more you can give me, Salem. You have outlived your own usefulness."
Dark lightning shot forth from Salem, but as it struck the Fall Maiden the lightning parted harmlessly around her as Cinder started to approach Salem slowly. Through the crackling bolts of lightning Salem could make out a thousand orange silhouettes, the souls of every Fall Maiden stood hand in hand with Cinder.
"Fall was right. I already had everything I wanted; it was always right in front of me," smiled Cinder as she realized the senselessness, the folly of her old ways. "But the quest for power is self-destructive. And it has taken away from me the people that I cared about. I won't let that happen again."
Cinder grasped the compass tight as she tried to touch the Time Stone on Salem's finger with the Soul Stone. The two stones vibrated violently as they started to resonate with each other.
"NO!" screamed Salem. Never had Cinder seen the Grimm Queen lose her composure. For the first time in her life Cinder could feel genuine fear from the mighty Salem. "You wouldn't! If the Stones touch each other with that much energy, they could annihilate each other! You wouldn't be so stupid as to deny INFINITE power?!"
Cinder felt an incredible jerk as her Grimm arm darted around and flew towards her own chest, attempting to claw her own heart out but froze once again mere inches away from tearing through her chest.
Scarface! This is it. This is as far as we go. I can't hold out much longer. We've talked about this.
Armiel, I can do it. I can almost reach it...
LISTEN TO ME. It has never happened, and it will never happen. If I pull your heart out we both die, or you can cut me out an-
I'm not cutting you ou-
And only ONE of us dies. The choice is simple. DO IT!
Cinder hardened her heart and opened her left eye and it burned with the crimson Aura of Spring. Winds started to gather and shards of razor sharp icicles formed in the air.
Without sacrifice, there cannot be victory. You know this-
Armiel... I am so sorry...
Hahaha no you're not. Sigh... I never thought I'd say this, but I'm going to miss you Scarface...
The icicles tore through Cinder's Grimm arm, severing it from her shoulder and she screamed aloud not from the excruciating pain, but she screamed as she felt Armiel's consciousness depart from her mind. Reinvigorated with a sudden burst of strength, Cinder Fall pressed on forward and touched the Soul Stone with the Time Stone.
A massive burst of white light enveloped both Cinder and Salem, blasting them away from each other, leaving the two women sprawled on the ground. The light in both Stones dimmed and Cinder could sense that the prison of time had finally been broken.
Cinder swiftly picked herself up. With a flash of crimson she froze water droplets in the air into to forge an ice katana and lunged at Salem who was still dazed from the impact, lying motionless on her back. Cinder spun around and brought her katana down straight towards Salem's neck. The blade was inches from decapitating the Grimm Queen, but Salem activated the Space Stone. A burst of yellow light blinded Cinder momentarily and she could only hear the hollow skkrrttttt of her katana scoring through the soil and dirt. When her vision returned, Salem was gone.
-One Week Later-
"Hey! Your Worship!" shouted Drizella as she ran down the charred remains of Mantle-3's marketplace.
Cinder tilted her head and smiled. Drizella collided into Cinder and the two girls hugged each other tight.
"Where would you be headed now?" asked Drizella as they strolled down the ruins of the city.
"I don't know," replied Cinder, shrugging her shoulders, bothered by her answer once again. "Mantle perhaps? The real Mantle I mean."
Drizella burst into laughter. It took Cinder a moment, but she quickly remembered that was how their first conversation started - Mantle. Her lips curled into a smile as she ruffled Drizella's long tea-coloured hair affectionately.
"You know..." started Drizella slowly, the girl was blushing. "Like Ana, I've actually really admired you too- "
"You girls have got a real shitty taste for role models haven't you?" scoffed Cinder, but she smiled.
"And I would really like to be able to protect my home when Your Worship is gone... So I've decided to enroll at Haven Academy to learn how to become a Huntress. Someday I'm going to be strong just like you."
"The school's in shambles, Drizella. And if we lose the war, none of this would matter anyway," sighed Cinder as she stared at the loose sleeve of her empty left arm. "But that aside..."
Cinder held out her right hand and there was a blinding flash of vermilion light. The Fall Maiden constructed a curved obsidian sword and handed it to Drizella.
"Well then, every Huntress has got to have a weapon, don't they?" said Cinder as she beamed proudly at Drizella who inspected the sword in awe. "They say it's superstition... But all the best swords have names. What are you going to call this one?"
Cinder's chest tightened as she recited Armiel's words.
"Obsidian Midnight," declared Drizella as she held the sword up triumphantly. "After how you killed the dragon at midnight with an obsidian arrow. That should inspire me to work hard... Right?"
"There's... One more thing I need to give you," said Cinder. She removed the ruby rose from her hair and planted it in Drizella's brown hair.
"I can't have it. Ana gave it to you," protested Drizella, but Cinder politely pushed her hand away.
"You need it more than I do Drizella," smiled Cinder as she waved farewell to Drizella and the city she had come to call home.
The Fall Maiden propped open the Relic of Choice. Its needle spun two rounds and pointed decisively towards North West. Cinder Fall looked up and beyond the horizon as she took her first steps towards the city of Atlas.
Author's Notes:
Alright that's a wrap for Ending B. This is the true end. It's the end that I imagined from the day I penned the first chapter, before I spouted all sorts of sharper ideas which could make better, more tragic endings. I feel that I succeeded reasonably well in what I set out to do - compose a redemption arc for my favorite character in RWBY. And it's been incredible how much development the character has gone through since the start of her journey back in Chapter 1 that sometimes I feel guilty for taking such a broken character and turning her into something else, but I hope that you guys have found her change and development convincing.
About why I chose to throw in the Infinity Stones from Marvel into this fic. The first reason is that when it was revealed in canon that Salem was after 4 Relics that had cosmic influence over the realm, it was incredibly disappointing to me especially because we have seen Marvel do this before and better in every way. Having the Relics of Remnant be the last 4 Stones that Salem is after sounded appealing to me in my head as I was composing this fic so I just threw it in.
The second reason is simpler, because they are artifacts of INFINITE POWER. Hell, canon Cinder would be having spasms just by hearing the possibility of infinite power. And my arc for her was simple too - by the end of the fic, Cinder needs to realize there are more important things than power, that she would come to the self-realization that she would give up infinite power, and to really show her final transformation, she needed to give up Armiel, her Grimm arm that allowed her to continue to acquire more power from the other Maidens. And this moment was especially emotional for her too, because she wasn't just giving up power - she was giving up a friend that she's grown to love and care for throughout the fic.
Even Armiel has gone through a ton of character development. He starts out as a selfish, arrogant Grimm parasite only interested in ensuring his own survival, and by the end of the fic he has become more human than even Cinder, he learns sacrifice and selflessness so that Cinder could live on and he knows that this is for the collective good of the realm too.
As for Salem... She is in my opinion the most disappointing villain in canon. We only ever heard her being powerful and that she always gets what she wants, but never actually see her do anything or accomplish anything. By that note that's really all I had to work with for this fic. Her lightning powers are a reference to Emperor Palpatine in Star Wars of course. And her cunning and strategic mind comes from Salem abusing the power of the Time and Space Stones to see all the possible outcomes and therefore always has the best plan and always gets what she wants. Hopefully this version of Salem has been more terrifying than anything RT has put forth so far though really I haven't any large shoes to fill.
I'm currently working on an Ending C and then maybe a chapter just dedicated to explaining the narrative choices in this fic. Hopefully procrastination doesn't eat me like it did this week. Cheers, people!