After

by FandomPariah

With Salem defeated and the people of Remnant slowly trying to rebuild everything that was lost Cinder Fall roams the wilderness of Anima. Her private efforts to make a better world than the one which cast her aside are interrupted and she finds herself receiving some unexpected help….when she needed it the most.

RWBY & All associated trademarks are property of Rooster Teeth (RIP Monty Oum)

I claim no ownership of anything except my own original characters.

I am making no money from this.

After

It had been five years, roughly since Remnant had been saved.

Five years since the Gods had finally been returned to the place from whence they had first come to be remade into something greater, more capable and compassionate so that their next endeavours would not end in such calamity; five years since Salem had been restored to her true form, her influence over the Creatures of Grimm and the darkness's influence over her soul taken away whilst Ozma had been freed from his endless cycle of reincarnation and the two of them had stepped hand in hand into a glowing portal to some great beyond and five years since Remnant had almost been torn apart entirely.

For all the talk of how there would be no victory in strength and how Remnant had been saved by a smaller, more honest soul there was no denying the simple reality that force of arms and naked, unspeakable violence had been the most readily employed tool in either sides' arsenal. Vaccuo had been the worst of it, intended to be a final stand where the remaining forces of each of the Kingdoms and the Faunus Nation of Menagerie had mustered everything they could gather for a final stand before waves of glowing-eyed monsters had fallen upon the desert Kingdom in an endless mass of claws and fangs which warships and their devastating barrages could do nothing to stem; leaving Vaccuo's outer defences and everything over a mile in front and behind of them reduced to a glass-floored and carrion-strewn charnel house.

Efforts to rebuild had begun and were already building an impressive momentum, with the CCT network being restored and allowing the battered and bloodied Kingdoms and outer settlements to coordinate their efforts to lead Remnant into a new age. Despite these efforts every Kingdom had suffered and the wounds could be seen all across Remnant where outlying settlements stood abandoned or in ruins, left without proper defences against monsters or opportunistic raiders that had grown more bold or desperate whilst the Kingdoms simply lacked the manpower or resources to keep them at bay, being stretched thin after the loss of so many of their number.

It was one of these abandoned settlements which Cinder Fall picked her way through.

Kindness had never been something Cinder easily understood, having been taught from an early age to not expect it and in the rare instances it was offered to distrust it; with that in mind when Ruby Rose, somehow returned along with her friends to the mortal plane had found her former foe in the ruins after the final battle and used her Silver Eyes to excise the parasitic Grimm tissue rooted into Cinder's body before it could consume her to then give the False Maiden the first glimpse of true freedom she had ever experienced, Cinder had almost reflexively believed it to be a trap or else some unique form of punishment devised specifically for her.

Even now Cinder was not entirely certain that she had been wrong.

She was no longer a Maiden and in truth she wondered if she ever really had been, the powers had been tied to the parasite within her which had consumed them and Cinder herself had merely been a host and the a vessel through which Salem could wield the powers; with the Grimm tissue removed Cinder had lost her immense power, her flight and her replacement left arm although the latter had been given a replacement of sorts.

Cinder's cybernetic prosthetic had been an older model, hastily manufactured with sub-optimal parts in the wake of the devastation of the final battle and the limb had received only sporadic, often half-hearted maintenance over the intervening years; leaving the arm a battle-scarred and unsightly thing whose dull gunmetal finish was littered with nicks, dents and gouges along with sections where the exterior panelling had either been warped and twisted by Cinder's own Semblance or removed entirely to expose inner workings to the elements until her mechanical fingers suffered from a slight tremor at inopportune moments and the joints of the arm were often and stiff and ached in a way Cinder would be impressed by the realism of if it were not so irritating.

At present the arm itself was largely hidden from view as she scoured the small village which seemed to have been simply retreated from rather than overrun, covered beneath a weighty black cloak with a dull golden-brown fur lining worn off of her left shoulder whose hood was down to expose her face whilst she was outside of the Kingdoms. Her right eye almost almost glowed with the intensity of her focus and concentration whilst a simple black eyepatch covered the space where her left eye had once been, in turn covered by sweeping curtain of ebony hair that had begun to develop its' first silvery white strands whilst the rest of her hair was tied back and worn in a fashion reminiscent of her old mentor Rhodes, held in place by obsidian, dagger-like pins of her own creation. The rest of Cinder's attire was simple and largely unassuming, only ornate enough look as though she was capable of crossing the space between settlements unhindered and not deliberately trying to hide herself; black boots, black pants and a sleeveless Mistrali styled shirt in a fiery red whose collar covered the old scars on her neck, small pieces of well-used dull coloured armour fastened to her otherwise bare right shoulder and forearm and a series of brown leather belts around her waist and hips which formed a harness for her Dust and the sand she carried with her to forge into glass weapons.

At a passing glance one might mistake her for a wandering Hunter, albeit one slightly underdressed for the cold of Anima; though it had been a long time since Cinder had truly felt the cold.

As she continued on her way through the village, taking care to peer carefully through every window and listen intently for any faint sound on the wind that did not belong, searching the village for any sign of life or anything less welcome it finally became apparent to the former Maiden there was nothing to be found; a result she could not quite bring herself to consider as negative or a waste of time and so, without the pervading sense of urgency gripping at her the former Maiden allowed herself to dip out of view and around the side of a building on the village's main street that might have been a post office before reaching to one of the pouches on her harness, one specifically hidden beneath her cloak and drawing from it a pack of cigarettes.

Bringing one to her lips she lit it with an effortless flash of her Semblance from a single finger tip, taking a single drag and letting the smoke mingle with the mist of her breath in the cold air.

"Miss Cinder, we know you're smoking behind there! You said you were gonna quit!" a voice that was singsong in the way that only a child's could be called out, piercingly loud and with enough stinging accusation behind it to leave the former Maiden's remaining eye narrowing in annoyance.

Though she did stub the cigarette out and throw it away before stalking back into the open.

"Well done little Tawny" the commanding tone and sharpness had left her voice, at least somewhat and been replaced by a more gentle, almost playful tone that Cinder had never been allowed enough of a childhood to develop before "And whilst you were keeping such close watch over my terrible habits did you perhaps find time to search for people, or fuel, or anything that might be valuable? Maybe you saw smoke coming from behind the building and thought it was an emergency signal and-"

"Miss Cinder….Don't be an ass-hat" whilst such language from a child was hardly shocking to her Cinder was still left blinking by how easily it was offered to her, particularly by such a small and incongruously innocent looking thing. Tawny, the girl who had called her out on her vices was a sharp-eyed Owl Faunus Cinder had found in a settlement which had suffered a far less favourable fate; chubby-featured and short, clad in what seemed to be all the clothing she had scavenged from her former home in order to keep the cold at bay who, at ten years of age had seemingly elected herself as the leader and spokesperson of the children in Cinder's care and company, of which several were gathered around Tawny and trying without success to hide their snickering.

"Did any of you find anything?" Cinder asked, privately petty enough to wish that she had kept her cigarette if only to blow smoke dramatically at the gaggle of children and youths who began exchanging hopeful and expectant looks with one another.

"Somebody left a few dozen cans of food behind with a note saying they were free to anybody who needed to shelter here" a scrawny teen with spots and patchy stubble declared.

"Ammo but no guns" a slightly burlier teen of a similar age grunted "Might be able to extract the Dust and reuse it?"

"A few more blankets, we definitely needed more" a girl behind Tawny announced happily whilst a particularly mischievous youngster lurking at the periphery of the group held up a jewellery box and a small wad of Lien which Cinder was honestly surprised to see had been left behind, simply letting out a sigh at the act what felt far closer to base thievery than scavenging.

"This is my life now" she mused with an amused shake of her head.

And so it was, since being freed from the Grimm tissue that was slowly eating her alive and left to wander from Vaccuo unchallenged Cinder had drifted aimlessly across Remnant for some time; finding purpose only when she saw the acts of cruelty and exploitation that were continuing to run rampant and would continue to go unchallenged for some time at which point her path forwards had become clear and simple.

Never again, no more children like her.

With a goal and a fiery conviction Cinder had found her way to Anima and reforged herself into a wandering protector of sorts, travelling the forests, the mountains and snow-coated tundra of the continent stretching between Mistral and Argus, now one of the largest population centres on Remnant and gathering to herself any lost, abandoned or mistreated children she found. Her intention was never to be the one to raise them, at no point had she been optimistic enough to think herself capable and instead Cinder had fostered relationships with orphanages and carers, real institutions founded or operated by people whose intentions she had never doubted and delivering her young, temporary wards to them before setting out into the wilderness again; vanishing before a mob could appear to demand their own version of justice and retribution against her for her previous actions. Tawny and the small crowd around her amounted to most of the current batch of children in her care, with a handful of others waiting by the caravan of sorts in which Cinder travelled and if she were wholly, painfully honest the former Maiden was eager to get to Argus so that she could be rid of them; not for any wrongs they had committed and in fact quite the opposite. This group of children, collected from various burned, overrun or simply forgotten places were mostly kind-hearted, reasonably well-mannered, helpful, honest and far too trusting.

Far too good and innocent to be left around Cinder.

"So we didn't find anything, or anyone here?" Tawny noted, leading to the group which Cinder could already tell would follow her to the ends up Remnant, with a close-knit loyalty that she herself had never been able to experience without ruining shuffling awkwardly with an obvious desire to be elsewhere.

"It's cold, it's going to be dark soon and it's going to snow again….And I assume you're all hungry?" receiving a chorus of confirmations Cinder nodded in understanding "Then let's go, there's nothing here and it's still a long way to Argus"

With that she strode through the group and enjoyed the brief feeling of commanding presence as they flocked around her before following respectfully a pace behind; giving Cinder a brief feeling of importance, respect and admiration.

All the more reason to give these children over to someone who wouldn't abuse such things.

---

She was Neo Politan, criminal extraordinaire and vengeance incarnate and best friend to the best, most ostentatious Dust thief Remnant had ever had the pleasure of being plagued by.

Or at least she had been, now she was uncertain of what she was and what she might be in the future remained a mystery; rendering the mere concepts of 'Her' and 'Self' less fluid and more a fine mist or vapour to be waved away without consequence.

Neo's response to this predicament was an urge to kick something, only to be thwarted by a lack of suitably small and defenceless targets.

In the act of looking around Neo, or the soul and collection of memories and feelings that had once been her began to properly take in her surroundings and in doing so was forced to realise that, where unleashing all of her grief and rage onto Little Red had been entirely insufficient and had given her only a bleak, sickening hollowness in place of the catharsis she had hoped for it seemed that ascension, giving herself over to the Tree and whatever it was that oversaw the Everafter and its' fantastical rules would not be a quick or easy solution that the Silver-Eyed girl had made it appear.

Whatever the place Neo had found herself in was it barely seemed to be a place at all, an endless black void littered with what she had first thought with fireflies to illuminate it all only to realise that they were closer to stars, tinged green and moving but never conforming to any constellation she could recognise. The ground beneath her feet was mirrored, though Neo quickly realised with a panic she could not explain that her own reflection was entirely absent and all around her was a ring of what appeared to also be mirrors but conversely reflected things which were not there; each of them taller than herself and depicting a weapon of some sort. Choosing one at random and drawing close with her hands clasped behind her back and peering interestedly as though she were a connoisseur Neo studied the image of two crossed swords with wickedly curved blades for only a moment before shaking her head as the distinct impression that they were not for her washed over her, moving on at a deliberately affected leisurely stroll Neo next examined a crude and oversized hammer which was dismissed just as quickly albeit with a less visceral reaction and then a serrated and claw-like dagger.

With the weapons themselves failing to captivate her in the way whoever had arranged them clearly intended Neo instead turned her focus to the frames holding the strange mirrors or projections upright, ornate and of an unrivalled quality which she noted was, as best she could tell solid gold; deciding that even in a place as strange as the Everafter and no matter who or what she became when she finally ascended she would likely need funding of some sort Neo began looking around for a way to dismantle the gold frames.

The series of gestures she made upon finding that Hush was absent and that she had no usable tools on hand conveyed a truly inventive array of curses.

After a moments' pondering, tapping her finger thoughtfully against her lower lip Neo gave a smirk and began to look for whatever screws held the mirrors in place so that she could simply carry one off to whatever came next.

"Whilst your potential is boundless and without limitation I'm afraid that those frames are quite stationary" an echoing voice alerted Neo to a presence where before she had been alone "They were made to show you what you can be and where you can go, not to go anywhere themselves"

Neo studied the figure and noted, somewhere in the back of her mind that if she had not seen other parts of the Everafter before now then the figure before her might be at the very least confusing. A face without eyes and a body made of hollow, skeletal metal which seemed more plainly and undeniably alive than even the most Atlesian creations, with perhaps one exception and clad in the gloves and apron of a metalworker whilst some positively ancient cloth held back chains and wires which acted as hair.

Neo simply balled her fists and pouted at the Blacksmith, eyes flickering and cycling through their trio of colours as she did so.

"The Everafter has its' fill of thieves at the moment I'm afraid….Although if that is truly who you see yourself as and wish to be, perhaps circumstances could be contrived for the Jinxy Peddler to have an apprentice" something flashed across Neo's expression then, eyes shifting to a ghostly white and mouth hanging agape as the words seemed to drag themselves across her raw nerves and leave an inexplicable sense of cold dread and loss pooling in her stomach until she reached up with, steadfastly refusing to acknowledge the stinging in her eyes and plucked from her head an item that she knew in her heart, even in this place and with her weapon missing, would still be present.

Roman's hat.

"But that wouldn't do would it?" the Blacksmith's tone was warm and kind, like the comfortable feeling of sitting in front of a fire whilst it was snowing outside and hearing it was enough for Neo's gaze to drop, unable to meet the beings' eyeless gaze and so instead she twirled the hat between her fingers and simply stared at it. To start again, to have a new beginning in the Everafter where she could follow a new Roman who could never die should have been everything she could ever want but instead the idea only made her weep and hide herself away from the colossal realisation that there could never be another Roman and that any imitation she chose to live out would be as brittle and meaningless as the illusions she hid behind.

It was everything she wanted and the exact opposite of what she needed.

"Choose a path forward little one" Neo gave the Blacksmith a single-fingered gesture at the form of address "Choose the way which calls out to you and grasp your new beginning, a way to shed your burdens and begin again or a way to continue….But understand that to go back is truly impossible"

A few moments passed wherein Neo continued to stare out hopelessly at the options arrayed before her, waiting for one to call out to her and realising slowly and with a rising panic that none of them did; all the while still clutching at Roman's hat in a stark and almost painfully blunt metaphor for her predicament, namely that for all her willingness to plunge into the tree in an effort to find meaning and release from her grief the idea of a final goodbye and the fear of truly forgetting Roman Torchwick was terrifying.

She couldn't let go.

"I'll give you some time to consider" Neo watched as the Blacksmith simply faded and vanished out of existence a whirling gust of multicoloured smoke and leaves from the tree itself, leaving Neo to sink down into a cross-legged sitting position and set Roman's hat down in front of her on the mirrored floor.

Staring at it rather than the weapons around her the entire time.

---

Cinder Fall had quickly decided that if she was going to spend her days nomadically roaming a continent as the protector of the lost and suffering children, ferrying them to care and better futures then she would need a suitable means of transportation, one which could double as a home for her and the children under her protection at any given moment.

What she managed to find was far less than her typically lofty ambitions but it would suffice.

A trio of wagons had been sourced, initially mismatched but made more coherent by the addition of armour plating which Cinder had heated and bent into shape with own two hands until the beginnings of her land-train, or caravan was durable enough to protect its' precious cargo. Each of the wagons were roughly the shape and size that one would think of when considering such a vehicle, long and with rounded tops and wheels that had been modified to overcome Anima's varied terrain; the rearmost wagon was purely for storage and held Cinder's collected food, water, medicine, Dust and whatever spare clothes and blankets were not in use at the time whilst the middle of the trio was a predominantly a sleeping area with makeshift but stable bunks built into it, though she had found that they were seldom used and that the children she rescued instead often simply huddled and piled into the centre of the floor under a heap of blankets. The foremost of the wagons housed a small hammock for Cinder herself, along with a generator to power the rudimentary kitchen she kept and recharge her rarely used scroll as well as keep the entire convoy moving.

Horses required an amount of food, sleep and care that Cinder could ill afford and so she found found an alternative.

With Atlas and Mantle gone and their people scattered across Remnant there had been a surprising amount of Mantle technology or imitations thereof to go around in recent years, with robotics being used to speed up the process of rebuilding at it was two such robots that Cinder had acquired; ugly and squat quadrupedal things which made no pretence of being more than lumbering machines intended to replace beasts of burden which had been fastened to the front of the wagons so that they could be directed and controlled with reins and harnesses, worked until their joints and pistons audibly groaned and their once pristine white finishes were dulled and dirtied.

It was not much but it served Cinder's purposes and it was something that she had made for herself without a master to bow to.

Currently she was fighting for her life to defend it.

The convoy had trudged onwards through the night bleak and freezing whilst the children slept following a dirt road flanked on either side by snow covered trees when a lone monster had burst from the shadows to attack it. Without Salem the Creatures of Grimm were a directionless force, but the Brothers had not seen fit to take their monstrous creations with them when they departed and so they were still a threat to any unwary traveller and it had been the Grimm which had claimed so many of ruined and overrun settlements Cinder had visited, either directly or in the wake of other attackers.

Specifically her caravan had drawn the attentions of a Huntsman Spider, so called for both the way that despite its' arachnid nature it forewent webs and patience and instead simply hurled itself at its' prey and tore into them and also for the sheer volume of Hunters and Huntresses to have been claimed by this particular breed of nightmare.

The Huntsman Spider stood at a size comparable to that of a small aircraft, perhaps the kind which Hunters so often used to deploy from. It's body was the expected shades of inky black and comprised of bundles and strands of rippling tendon and fibrous hairs which twitched and rustled, overlaid with layers of bone-carapace armour whose skeletal appearance was oddly sleek and streamlined, made more so by the swept back ridges and spikes which grew from it at odd intervals.

Eight compound eyes glowed in the darkness, arranged in a seemingly random formation and sunken into the skull of Grimm above its' gaping, serrated mandibles though much of the light illuminating the monster came instead from its' abdomen where vent like openings had been made in its' bony hide and obsidian flesh and been stretched and distorted; allowing a deep, arterial red glow to spill out from the rear of the Huntsman Spider where, in place of spinnerets to produce webbing it instead boasted some bizarre form of internal combustion which allowed it to surge and scuttle forwards on its' segmented limbs whose many-jointed forms were oddly reminiscent of human bone in their shape, each of which sported a final section of solid chitin longer than Cinder was tall, curved and sharpened into a monstrous scythe blade.

Cinder supposed she was fortunate then that she experience fighting fast-moving scythe users.

"STAY IN THE WAGONS!" she bellowed without bothering to check over her shoulder and instead simply assuming that one of the children would find the specific balance of bravery and foolishness needed to try and be a hero. A moment later the Huntsman Spider demanded her attention again, it's mandibles chittering as it let out a hissing, sawing noise that was oddly metallic as it sawed and grated at her ears; the Grimm came rushing towards Cinder once more as she stood in front of her wagon and the machines which pulled it and as she shifted her weight and balance the former Maiden prepared to beat it back again. In a single fluid motion Cinder snatched a bottle filled with sand from one her belts and simply crushed it in her grasp, the glass being merged with the sand as she engaged her Semblance with a roaring, fiery orange glow to heat and shape a shimmering spear which she then threw in the same practised and easy motion; the spear flew towards the spider Grimm in what Cinder had hoped would be a clear path only for the monster to veer off-course sharply, being left scrabbling at the ground with limbs which tore through the dirt and roots of trees as the shaft of the spear was lodged in the hollow places of several of its' limbs at once before finally being shattered.

Cinder grit her teeth and let out a wordless growl, if she could fly and if her aim were hampered by the loss of an eye this would have been over in moments; instead the Huntsman Spider was already finding its' footing again and she was forced to hurry in order to take advantage of the opening she had created. Reaching to her harness of belts again she plucked another, smaller bottle free almost blindly and saw that it was filled with a small amount of Ice Dust which, whilst not part of her usual repertoire was something that she could easily think of a use for.

Ice and Fire, a trick that the Schnee middle child and Ruby's sister, the one who had punched Salem herself often used.

The Spider Grimm rounded on Cinder again, it's abdomen already beginning to glow with some burning, crackling internal energy as it prepared to launch itself forwards and so, with no time to waste Cinder heated the Dust to the point where it became volatile and explosive before throwing it underhanded directly beneath the monster; resulting in a blast which tore a shrieking, agonised sound from the Grimm and blasted its' legs out from under it with concussive force before the freezing mist the Ice Dust had been transformed into billowed outwards to coat its' many limbs and leave them paralysed.

She knew better than to celebrate just yet however, a life of having her victories snatched away from her at the last possible moment having left her with cynicism and paranoia that were once again vindicated when the Huntsman Spider, even half-frozen and immobile continued to prove itself to be a problem. The power it had been building within its' body erupted outwards and the monster left a shallow trench in its' wake as it was sent tearing towards both Cinder and her caravan full of children and lethal speeds; she wasn't certain if the Grimm was even truly conscious or aware at this point and the act of being transformed into a living missile or wrecking ball was clearly inflicting severe damage to it but in her minds' eye she saw what would happen if one of its' scything limbs managed to find its' way into one of the wagons.

And so she acted, rashly.

If she were asked later Cinder would explain her choices as pragmatic ones, reasoning that she had not wished to waste more Dust or even the sand required to make more glass weapons which would have been unable to block the monsters' claws in any event; in reality the former Maiden had barely been aware of her choices even as she made them. Sprinting forwards to meet the incoming Grimm she gathered all of her might, channelling her Semblance and all the power she could muster into the palm of her left, mechanical hand and slamming her palm into the face of the Creature of Grimm. The Grimm perished in almost the next instant, flecks of bone and tissue flying past Cinder in a grisly display as its' skull gave way under the force of her blow only to be followed by everything behind in until the Huntsman Spider was reduced to fading fragments and a smoky darkness which was soon lost in the night air, with the only remaining sources of light being the broken moon overhead.

And Cinder's wavering, flickering Aura as she fell to her knees and clutched at her arm.

Her Aura had always been unsteady and untrustworthy around her cybernetic, either as a result of Cinder's own feelings towards the appendage or some lingering condition caused by her Grimm-arm, an uncertainness which had led to much of the arms' current state of disrepair.

"Damn it all" she hissed through clenched teeth as studied the fresh damage and realised that she would, most likely have to bypass several villages and make haste for Argus to have it repaired as her left wrist now sat at unusual angle which suggested the joint and socket had been misshapen whilst she was entirely without movement or sensation in two of her fingers and the palm which had struck the Grimm was a mangled mess of exposed components after its' outermost layer had been melted and stripped away.

"Holy crap are you okay?" a small, childish voice followed by several pattering pairs of footsteps alerted Cinder to the fact several of her young charges had decided that the situation was safe enough that they could risk ignoring her instructions; something she had to spend several moments in silence trying to fathom a proper response to.

"I told you to stay put" she finally answered, words ragged in the way that only the kind of pain which left one clammy and nauseous could produce.

"But the Grimm's gone and you're hurt….Do you need help getting up?" it was one of the older children, a boy in his mid-teens amongst those who had helped her scour the village earlier who offered out his hand and Cinder almost succumbed to the urge to bat it away as she pulled herself upright.

"I don't need help" the words were gruff "I need you to get back in the wagons….Grimm are drawn to negativity, which means that something drew it, something might draw more?"

"Might be you" one of the children snorted, having decided that if Cinder was well enough to stand then she was fair game to be teased; a snarled and almost certainly excessive retort died on her lips as she whirled around and saw Tawny, the bright-eyed Owl Faunus shuffling uncomfortably.

"I had a bad dream….Was it me?" a profound silence lingered after that, with none of the other children being heartless enough to mock the girl, not when so many of them had lived through their own hells and could imagine easily the sort of nightmares she might have.

"It could have just been in the area, Hunters haven't cleared these roads….It might have been me after all" Cinder answered, using the effort that having tact required to distract from her pain "Come on, back in the wagons….We're heading directly to Argus and you won't sleep anyway, I might have some snacks for you to share"

With that she limped and trudged back towards her caravan and let out a slow sigh that the children she was caring for were unharmed and that the Grimm had not gotten close enough to damage the robots she used in place of horses, being stranded was a fate she did not wish to consider.

Though in her pain and exhausted relief Cinder failed to notice movement in the trees some distance away.

---

The Branwen Tribe had changed and as terrible as they had been in the eyes of Anima's natives before the changes were still unmistakeably for the worse.

Firstly they had grown in size exponentially.

When word from Atlas was received before its' fall several years ago there had been plenty of people who had chosen not to answer the call to arms and stayed where they were rather than muster in Vaccuo, countless civilians who had no place in battle and who were best served by simply continuing to live their lives, but also opportunists who saw that with Hunters and other capable fighters across Remnant gravitating towards a single point there would be little to keep them in check. Even now, with Salem gone and Remnant in a state of flux but ultimately beginning to heal there were still far too few Hunters remaining to combat both the Creatures of Grimm and a rising tide of banditry which grew only worse as more and more people began to see the roving bands of marauders as not only an easier way of life, but also a better chance of protection and safety.

It was a change in leadership which allowed the Branwen Tribe to properly take advantage of this new reality.

In the old days of the tribe their number had been small and made up of a select group of close-knit families with the only outsiders being allowed into the fold coming in the form of partners taken by members of the tribe or particularly spirited children who had fought back even when the adults of a particular razed settlement had surrendered or perished, all of whom were required to be tested. One of those children had been Raven Branwen who had gone on to lead the tribe and under her their traditions had been changed, allowing mercenaries and cut-throats to find a place, provided of course that they could earn and keep it.

Raven had departed with a woman named Cinder Fall, the Fall Maiden who had threatened, mocked and dishonoured the Branwen Tribe and had never been seen by her people again, it was known that Cinder Fall had murdered Vernal and the tribe could only assume that their former leader had fallen alongside her and in her place one of the same killers she had made a member of the tribe had risen to the top amidst a haze of violence, treachery and underhanded dealings and it was under his leadership that the traditions of the Branwen Tribe were forgotten almost entirely and they were transformed into a roving band of sadists and petty thugs without even a passing familiarity with honour even amongst other thieves.

Shay D Mann had never imagined he could have it so good.

The tribe had relocated and set up in a village that had been overrun by the Grimm and used the skills and trades of some of their newest members to rebuild and fortify the place, along with the particular skills and viciousness of their more hardened fighters and killers to defend what hey had laid claim to. Shay himself was feared and respected, enjoying the company of a different woman almost every night as much as he enjoyed the spoils of his peoples' raids and attacks, partaking in substances and celebrations to such a degree that his life had begun to blur into what felt as though it were the highlights of all of his favourite vintage action movies.

And yet even he was unable to shirk his duty to the Branwen Tribe entirely.

Duty was why Shay had found himself standing amidst the already bustling hive of activity that was the Branwen tribe's base, even in the early winter morning where the frigid air was misty and the sun was yet to rise.

He was clad in a fur collared leather jacket over which crimson odd pieces of asymmetrical armour reminiscent of the presumably late Raven Branwen had affixed to create an image that was far less imposing and still managed to appear trashy. His pants were tucked into heavy combat boots and rips at the knees were covered with spiked knee-pads whilst his features had retained their sharp, drawn and pointed look, skin appearing weather-beaten and littered with a small collection of scars. His stubble had grown coarser and been allowed to form a short and scruffy beard whilst his hair was beginning to grey and recede though this had not kept him from wearing it in a long, wavy mullet which now reached to his mid back and only added to the general look of untidy trashiness about him; though not as much as the gold tooth replacing one which had been punched out of his mouth by Yang Xiao Long.

Currently the leader of the Branwen Tribe was alternating between leaning against his motorbike and pacing back and forth with an attempt to convey a sense of authority over those around him, a group primarily consisting of members of the tribe whose roles required them to be awake at such unpleasant hours but whose number was being steadily bolstered by a trickle of those who were far more used to violence; individuals with scars, armour and weapons all carried with equal pride, many of whom were either wheeling their own vehicles along beside them or instead making their way towards those which had been prepared in advance, all of them having an almost palpable air of belligerence and promised violence hanging about them.

The time was almost at hand and Shay's pacing grew more irritable with every passing moment as he drummed ring-covered fingers against the surface of his armour and scowled more deeply until finally a piercing whistle went up from one of the sentries currently watching the main gate; the sound of engines reached Shay's ears shortly after and the gates were quickly opened to reveal the source of the noise, several bikes ridden by people carrying rifles and machetes whose faces were covered and who sped across the base to finally come skidding to a halt directly in front of their leader.

"We've found her" the lead biker said without preamble, pulling away a shawl and hood to reveal a woman with close-cropped hair and a scar running along her face who Shay regarded with sudden predatory interest.

"You're sure?"

"It's like we heard, she's got herself a little mobile home set up just wandering through the snow….She ran into Grimm last night, we left a couple people with her and they'll radio in if anything changes but we've got her boss; doesn't look like she's as tough as she used to be either"

Shay's only answer to that was a booming, joyous laughter which quickly devolved into wordless hooting and hollering which his still gathering compatriots joined in on without question, heedless of how many of their tribe were woken up by the racket.

"Cinder fucking Fall" Shay murmured as he came down from his momentary high, the words taking on a snarling and guttural tone which quickly silenced his fellow bandits; a rippling wave of loathing passing through the crowd. For Shay proving himself truly and beyond doubt in the eyes of the oldest members of the Branwen Tribe had been all but impossible no matter how much loot and spoils they amassed, a consequence of him being an entirely different, lesser breed of bandit. Raven Branwen had a daughter, the blonde woman who knocked his tooth out and Shay had once entertained the idea of tracking her down and slaying her to ensure that there could be no other claimants to the tribe however it had been made painfully cleat to him, by his own followers that if he were ever to attempt such a plan he would be murdered in his sleep by the tribe themselves before Yang Xiao Long was ever troubled by his existence.

Cinder Fall however had no such protections, nor did she have any friends or allies left to speak of which made her a perfect target.

"You all know what she did to us!" Shay's voice took on a faint twang as it was raised "She came to our home and threatened us! Made us look weak and scared, strong-armed us into a deal….And then she killed some of our best people! So what say we go get our payback!?"

"FOR RAVEN! FOR VERNAL! FOR RAVEN FOR VERNAL!" the chant went up and filled the air, a deafening war cry that might even have made Cinder reconsider the prospect of war with the Branwen Tribe in her prime, it was a sight that Raven would certainly have been proud of.

"We know where she is, we've got eyes on her and we….I" Shay made a show of correcting himself, proving how indispensable his leadership was "I made sure that this is gonna be worth it y'hear me? I've found someone who hates Cinder Fall almost as much as we do, someone else she took things from and they're willing to pay a lot of Lien for her…."

he trailed off, allowing the notion to sink into the minds of his band of rogues before reaching into a compartment of his armour to draw a mask which covered only the lower portion of his face, masking his poor beard and golden tooth beneath the image of a snarling fang-filled maw reminiscent of some ancient malevolent spirit from folklore before speaking again.

"So we're gonna take her alive, so she can take her lumps before we hand her over"

---

Neo, for until she could find something else to be she supposed she was still Neo found herself struggling.

She had continued to sit cross legged on the mirrored floor of the expansive of unreality she had found herself in, coming to rest in a position with her chin and cheeks in her hand which only accentuated her continued scowling pout as she tried to look beyond Roman's hat and see what might come next for her; painfully aware of how apt a metaphor the whole image made but unable to do anything about it.

The idea of simply brushing the hat aside and discarding it was one that she shoved away every time it dared to venture out from the dark recesses of the back of her mind, she refused to entertain it or any other idea that might suggest that in order to move on she had to forget entirely. By contrast she steadfastly refused to allow herself to use her Semblance and conjure up Roman's ghost again, knowing on some level that if she did so then she would simply remain within the tree for all time and that her friends' mantra of 'Lie, cheat, steal and survive' would ultimately have been wasted on her. Instead she did neither and allowed her eyes to drift close, changing colour as they did so and let out a slow exhale.

Only to for eyes to fly open in the next instant as the sound of her Semblance activating itself, entirely of its' own accord reached her ears.

"Poor, poor miss Politan" the shimmering fragments and embers were still taking shape as the Curious Cat began to stroll leisurely around her, speaking in their usual almost poetic cadence "Poor poor humans really, strange broken things….All those things to be and forever trying to be what they're not"

Her expression darkened at the sight of the cat, for all of her posturing and intimidation tactics with her Jabberwalker illusions she had known all along that she was not truly scrubbing the Afterans from existence in any permanent way and that the Curious Cat would likely return with their goal unchanged and the single question which haunted them still unanswered. For a few moments Neo considered the idea of that becoming her purpose, to be the one who sought the Cat and kept their curiosity and ambitions limited; she supposed that she would be reborn as some sort of dog in that case.

Which brought her mind sharply to the image of Salem's Hound and with her train of thoughts derailed the Curious Cat shattered and its' composite fragments reformed themselves into a new illusion.

"You should have died!" Cinder Fall screamed in her face the image of her younger and clad in the red dress she had worn when the two first met, prompting Neo to simply cock her head and offer a silent smirk as the illusion continued its' tirade; standing directly in front of the crossed swords Neo had first seen and dismissed as it did so.

"You betrayed me!" the not-Cinder raged, prowling and circling Neo as she spoke "You were supposed to die so that Little Red could! And now here you are, whilst she's back!"

Neo's brow furrowed, she had indeed betrayed Cinder Fall but that was not the source of the confusion; she had taken her revenge and it had done nothing, this illusion was a product of her own subconsciousness and Neo could almost see the shape of what it was that her mind was trying to tell her but remained tantalisingly out of reach.

"Going a long time with nobody will do things to people" the voice she heard next was that of the Rusted Knight, the aged and beleaguered Jaune Arc completing Cinder's circling path and trudging into view "Especially when they've lost the people that they did have….That pain and loss can make you the worst version of yourself, so much that you forget what every other version looks like"

Neo hadn't even raised her hand to give the finger to that particular figment of her psyche before the Knight was replaced by none other than Ruby Rose herself; the illusion having the audacity to wave and smile brightly.

"But that's why we're here right, to make things better?" that fact that Neo was almost certain that the girl had said those exact words before that and was why it was so easy to imagine made her grit her teeth "There's plenty of people that need a person, so if you don't know who you need to be….then maybe be the person you needed?"

Things finally took shape in Neo's mid and the smirk that tugged at her lips might just have been the most feral, delightfully, maliciously mischievous expression she had ever worn. She had been consumed by her own grief and rage and spiralling into deeper and deeper darkness after the loss of the first person to really treat her as though she mattered and she realised that she knew someone else in a similar position, someone who would likely need a special kind of coaxing to be the best version of herself.

There were likely others and Neo would find them all, drag them kicking and screaming off of the path she had taken if she had to.

The idea had taken shape and as she leapt to her feet, seizing Roman's hat as she did so, eyes changing colour once more as they swept across the weapons within the mirrors once more; only to be disheartened as she was still yet to find a single option which spoke to her on a meaningful level, though her eyes did linger on the crossed swords once more and cause her grin to widen.

"My my….It's always quite interesting to see how you humans work and think, that might have been my favourite example yet; such interestingly made things" the Blacksmith had appeared in a silent swirl of leaves, regarding Neo thoughtfully for a moment "It's time to make a choice….Do you know what you want to be?"

Neo nodded, then shook her head before pausing and making a wavering gesture with one hand and gesturing widely to the various weapons around her in a way she hoped the being before her might understand.

"Ah, I see" the Blacksmith offered a warm smile "I should have anticipated that someone with such an….Overactive imagination would choose to create themselves rather than be limited"

Neo nodded frantically, almost bouncing on the spot with excitement as she gazed expectantly at the Blacksmith.

"Well then, if nothing here calls to you then show me what it is that is calling out from inside you" as she smoke the being of ancient metal gestured to empty space where Neo watched, wide-eyed as an artists easel and a palette filled with colours she could scarcely comprehend or name appeared; something Neo recognised instantly as far more real than anything she herself had created.

Thus far at least.

"It's always a pleasure to see another creative work" the Blacksmith mused, standing back and gesturing for Neo to begin. The diminutive mute paused for a moment before finally reaching out and pressing Roman's hat into the Blacksmith's hands, her own mismatched eyes boring intensely into bottomless voids where eyes should have been with a silent hope that once again she would understand.

"His memory will live on, because nothing truly dies here" the being assured her "I will see to it that it goes to someone worthy"

With that Neo took her first step forward, drawing upon all of her experiences and memories as she began to reimagine herself in the image of a hero; the kind that could help the people who needed it the most, even if they didn't particularly want to be helped.

---

Cinder had allowed herself a few hours rest in the wake of the fight with the Huntsman Spider Grimm, truthfully sleeping for longer than she had intended but deciding that with how fitful that sleep had been owing to the pain of her damaged cybernetic it was a luxury she would allow herself. By the time she was done ensuring that the children in her care were fed, healthy and all accounted for it was already late in the morning although in the winter of Northern Anima that meant little and the sunlight which beamed weakly down on her caravan was not enough to even begin melting the snow.

Meaning that whoever was following them would be able to easily follow their tracks.

Cinder had become aware of the tail shortly after they had gotten moving and had surreptitiously sent word to the children that they were to gather themselves within a single wagon and seal it shut, that they were not to leave the safety of the armoured confines unless she told them otherwise; the order had been given sternly enough that even the most boisterous and rebellious of her passengers, even the precocious Tawny had listened.

This had left Cinder herself alone, sitting at the head of the first of the trio of armoured wagons keeping keen watch of her surroundings, peering through the trees which lined both sides of the seemingly endless dirt road with her remaining eye whilst privately wishing that during her last visit to a major city she had been willing to spend the time and funds to have a proper weapon mounted on her travelling home so that she could simply take up position and unleash a turret mounted cannon into whoever was stalking her through the trees. Instead she was largely defenceless as she sat exposed, clutching at the control reins of the paired robots which pulled her wagons and fighting the urge to visibly wince at every jostling movement which sent flaring lances of pain through the remains of her cybernetic hand all the way back to her own flesh and blood and nerves.

It wouldn't do to look weak in front of an enemy.

She could almost see them, indistinct shapes and half-caught glimpses flitting through trees without sound and with an ease and well-honed skill which Cinder, as someone who had learned the art of stealth to such a degree that she could slink and creep silently whilst wearing heels, was forced to respect and appreciate even if it deepened her concerns.

As the hunt, for it would be foolish to pretend that the situation were anything else continued the Former Maiden considered the possibility of simply halting her wagon and lunging into the trees, or else simply setting the forest ablaze and being done with the charade entirely but was ultimately forced to take a more tame and rational response; she was no longer the towering force of nature she had once been and injured, with only limited Dust and materials to form her glass weapons remaining against a foe whose number or exact intentions she had no way of guessing she could easily find herself overwhelmed, putting the children at risk of being without a protector and falling prey to the worst of humanity just as she once had. With this in mind and a cold, leaden weight in the pit of her stomach Cinder realised that she would have to employ the patience that hardship and scheming had cultivated in her and wait for the enemy to come make their move.

Their opening gambit came in the form of rocket propelled grenades destroying the heads and forequarters of both of her robots in the blink of an eye.

"SHOW YOURSELF! FIGHT ME PROPERLY YOU COWARDS!" Cinder screamed, hoping to play on the martial pride and egos of her unseen foe.

Movement from all around her saw her leap to her feet and then to the ground, forcing herself to ignore the sounds of panicked yelling from the children in the wagon behind her as she strode between the now burning and mangled remains of the robots; if the use of such destructive weaponry had not made it clear to her that she was dealing with more than a particularly daring highway robber then the sheer volume of the rustling and movement in the trees did.

Cinder quickly realised that armed figures were skulking and creeping out of the trees on either side of her and moving to encircle the rear of her caravan as well whilst the road ahead was blocked off by the sound of approaching engines, revealed in short order to belong to a group of motorcycles and as they came speeding closer in a loose formation a figure at the head of the group came speeding ahead before finally skidding to a halt and dismounting.

"Well as I live and breathe, Cinder fucking Fall! Remember me bitch?" the figure in leathers and armour, with a mullet and half of a mask demanded and Cinder gave serious consideration to telling the man just how long he could expect to continue living and breathing for before deciding against it, instead settling for crossing her arms over her chest to hide her damaged hand from view.

"No" she answered bluntly before offering a mocking sneer "Who are you?"

"I!" the obvious leader spat, raising his voice in what he clearly hoped was a commanding and imposing way "Am Shay D Mann, leader of the Branwen Tribe-"

"Really now" Cinder mused, using her damaged hand to slip beneath he cloak and open a hidden vial of Dust as slyly as possible "I'd assumed you were gone….I didn't think you'd last without Raven to carry you-"

"You took from us!" Shay screamed from behind his mask, the pure venom and hate in his voice bolstering his allies; of whom Cinder realised there were far more than expected

"And now we're gonna take back! You're wanted dead or alive Fall and we've been watching you just to set this here trap so we know you're in no shape to fight us all; but don't you think about coming quietly now, 'cos we've been waiting for this….You're gonna get what's coming and as for those kids you've got, well we don't normally deal in trafficking but I'm sure they'll be worth something to someone-"

Cinder would have lashed out in that moment even if she had not already been intending to.

She rushed forward, with gunshots already pattering against her Aura with dull, jabbing sensations as her Semblance began to heat the vial of Dust she'd managed to retrieve; passing it into her good hand and in the same motion realising that it was Gravity Dust. The plan was formed and executed in the same instant and for all of their numbers the Branwen Tribe still lacked the skill and discipline to prevent her, Cinder reached Shay before his pistol had ever found its' way to her hand and slammed the bottle into his chest which burned him and more importantly sent him hurtling and bouncing backwards across the ground to his fellow bikers and from there Cinder sprung back to grab one of the destroyed and smouldering robots; a roar of equal parts pain and fury escaping her as her cybernetic arm shuddered and sent waves of agony through her in protest as she channelled her Semblance into the machine and threw it towards the bikes.

The results were explosive.

Shay managed to roll clear at the last moment but some of his peers were not so lucky, the Gravity Dust ignited and created a swirling well of distorted forces which dragged the tribes' other bikes and some of their riders into one another with enough force to begin compacting them; the thrown robot arced and sailed overhead until it was caught in the well of amplified gravity and then dragged downwards where it struck the various motorbikes and ignited their fuel-tanks to produce a perfect sphere of flames, the explosion being trapped within its' own gravity field before finally being snuffed out.

Then the violence truly began.

"GET HER!" Shay's bellowed command might have been laughed off as cliché if it were not for the results it garnered.

Fresh barrages of gunfire assaulted Cinder and she could already begin to feel her Aura, still taxed from fighting the Grimm beginning to strain and waver, her first response being to reach beneath her cloak and draw two bottles of Lightning Dust from her steadily depleting reserves and promptly ignite and throw them out to either side, their explosive detonations sending arcing lighting bolts arcing and forking through the air to strike at several of her assailants.

A few of their number dared to rush at her, favouring knives, clubs and machetes over guns and Cinder tore through their efforts with contemptuous ease; stepping out of the path of a blow and driving her heel into a man's diaphragm with a spinning heel kick and then catching a foes' wrist in her flesh and blood hand before slamming her mechanical forearm into their elbow with an impact that caused her pain which was severe but still nothing compared to that of the woman whose arm she had broken. Further attackers tried to use the brief moment of disorientation and Cinder pushed through the pain of her damaged arm to their advantage only to be brutally and violently removed from the fight in turn and as it went on Cinder found the familiar fury and rage growing within her.

Without thinking she reached for what little she had left at her disposal and found sand with which to form a glass weapon and Fire Dust to infuse it.

A moment later Cinder Fall charged through her enemies brandishing a flaming sword.

"DID YOU REALLY BELIEVE THAT THIS WOULD WORK!" a bandits' Aura failed and they collapsed clutching at a burning slash across their torso "I HAVE FOUGHT GODS! I HAVE HAVE FOUGHT MONSTERS BEYOND YOUR NIGHTMARES AND YOU THOUGHT YOU COULD CATCH ME ON A EMPTY STRETCH OF ROAD!"

Every word was punctuated with a slash or stab and yet despite her screaming tirade realised that she was far too outnumbered and that she could not hope to outlast so many opponents, a point which was made even more painfully clear as a well placed gunshot struck her weapon and the burning blade was snuffed out, falling to the ground around her melting snow and ice where it landed.

"But you're not what you used to be now are ya Cinder?" it was Shay who had called out to her Cinder saw that the man was vaguely more familiar now that his mask had been removed

"'Cos see before, when we were all big scary like, well you had disciples and you probably didn't much care for 'em but now see….Now you've got people we can use as leverage!"

Shay nodded to something over her shoulder and Cinder's remaining eye narrowed, only to widen and as she whirled around and saw that she had been played.

Whilst she had been attending to the unavoidable distraction of the tribes' fighters other members of the Branwen Tribe had began climbing onto her wagon which the children in her care were hiding in, their screams of terror audible even beneath its' armoured exterior. Cinder could see that the tribe had already tried forcing entry with the use of saws and drills and upon being denied were simply preparing to use the same rocket launcher that had destroyed the robots.

"YOU BASTARDS!" Cinder was insensate in her rage, certain that she had still been the Fall Maiden she would have reduced the Branwen Tribe to charred bones and an unpleasant memory; instead she threw her cloak aside entirely and crushed every remaining bottle of sand and Dust she still had on her person, forming a maelstrom of glass spears ready to eviscerate her enemies.

Shay let out a shrill whistle and gunfire tore through the projectiles, proving that no matter how she might sculpt and control it glass was still glass and no match for the force of a bullet. Various kinds of Dust interacted with one another to produce a chain reaction of explosive force which Cinder could not get clear of in time, resulting in her being left face down and choking down painful, ragged gulps of air on the ground which was no longer covered in snow, instead being reduced to steaming and pockmarked, blasted crater.

She tried to pull herself onto her hands and knees, only to yelp in pain as her Cybernetic arm crumpled under the weight; a chorus of cruel laughter rippled through the Branwen Tribe and with memories of the countless times she had been at the mercy of people who had none to give she tried to rise again.

Being rewarded with a kick to the face for her troubles.

"You're wanted or alive….But alive is worth a lot more" Shay noted almost conversationally as he kicked her on to her back "And then works just fine for us, because it means everybody here gets a turn at making sure you understand just how badly you fucked up"

With that he brought his boot down on her face.

---

It was a warm, pleasant day beneath the two suns of the Everafter like any of the many others which had preceded it and all across the various acres Afterans of all shapes and sizes were happily attending to the roles they were intended to fulfil.

Somewhat was somewhat uncertain if what they were doing now could be seen the same way.

Being somewhat of a lot of things had been a difficult task within the Everafter but the mouse, now far larger than those they felt a hazy half-remembered sort of kinship with had found a way to make the notion work; acting as a protector to the needy, guide to the lost and most of all a friend, to Juniper the Jackalope and anybody else who might have need of one and gathering each of those separate things under the idea of 'Hero'.

Though in the quiet moments the idea of adventuring further than any acre they had seen before and being a friend and a hero to even more people tugged and niggled at them, which they supposed might be a part of the reason for their sudden unconscious inspiration to head towards the tree.

"He we are Juniper" they chirped, cautious but happy as they leapt down from the back of the jackalope which remained as strong and healthy as the day that Somewhat had inherited her from the Rusted Knight. Juniper made herself comfortable, legs folding up beneath her in a loafing position as Somewhat straightened out the leaf they still wore as a cape which after all this time and hesitantly drew the sword that they had found after a particularly entertaining escapade in the Red Prince's gardens; perhaps too large for them with a rough shape and made from a strange black material with green edges.

"Is there anybody lost here?….Does anybody need a hero, or a guide….Or a friend?" Somewhat called out, being answered only by a silence which set the mouse on edge and prompted them to raise their sword protectively as they moved. With a silent nod to Juniper to ensure that the Jackalope was following along behind them they continued onwards and upwards, using the vast and interconnecting branches of the tree as pathways in order to climb without truly climbing, all the while trying to fend of against a building, boiling sense of fear which began to rise up from the depths of their being beyond their earliest memories.

That was part of being a hero after all.

Eventually Somewhat, with Juniper close behind them reached a place where their fear, along with the scenery itself reached a level plateau and the mouse stared with wide and wondrous eyes as they realised something of immediate importance.

"We've been here before….then does that mean" they trailed off moving carefully towards the enormous gateway leading to somewhere beyond the acres, prodding at the swirling and incandescent nexus of golden light within with the tip of their sword only to find that it did nothing at all. Somewhat stared and pondered for a while until a snuffling sound from Juniper caught their attention and they turned away from the portal that the Huntress who had felt like happy dreams and warmth had stepped through, following the jackalope's gaze to see what had caught her attention.

Only to be hit an almost overwhelming burst of that same, primordial fear.

"Is it you?….Are you the one who needs a hero, or a friend?" Somewhat's voice wavered as they moved, nervously towards the figure growing from the tree, one which looked more like the Huntress and her friends than any other Afteran Somewhat had encountered and who, even now held a parasol of multicoloured leaves above her head. Somewhat realised in that moment that whoever and whatever else they had been once before this person had been important to them, but in a way that was frightening and likely unkind and yet had somehow left them tied together somehow.

Swallowing thickly Somewhat lowered their sword and puffed out their chest, they were not whoever they had once been any more and neither was whoever this person became.

It didn't seem heroic to hold a grudge.

"Are you-" Somewhat had felt a little strange talking to a person in the midst of Ascension but that feeling was quickly blown away by the same breeze which stripped the leaves from the figures' parasol as in that moment Somewhat knew that they were in the right place.

"Stay behind me Juniper" the mouse warned as wood began to crack and splinter, allowing a brilliantly fuchsia light to pour and stream out from with the fissures; the glowing refracting back on itself as though the light itself were filled with glistening and reflective surface to create a spectacular display before the wood gave way and erupted outwards entirely.

A figure emerged and a single foot struck the surface of the tree with enough force to make Somewhat jump, the ghosts of memories gnawing at them.

"Do you….Need a friend?" the mouse asked, looking up at the new person only for them to shake their head before offering a smile and pointing to the doorway.

"You know someone who needs a friend?" the new person laughed at this without making a sound for a few moments before finally nodding and pointing once again at the swirling light

"Oh" comprehension came so suddenly to Somewhat it was if they had ascended without ascending "You know someone who needs a hero….But you're not sure where to start heroing?"

The person pouted and scowled at that, clearly not liking the idea despite not knowing something when one was a brand new person being the most reasonable thing of all but after a moment she nodded and Somewhat sheathed their sword and bowed.

"Well I am at your service, let's go and be heroes together!" with that Somewhat leapt onto Juniper's back and pointed towards the gateway "I'll show you how, you just show me where and when we're needed"

And then the trio stepped into the light.

---

For all of their talk of keeping her alive Cinder Fall was almost certain that the Branwen Tribe were going to kill her here and now, quite possibly by accident as their anger, bloodlust and excitement got the better of them.

As she weathered the countless blows that rained downed on her she could almost appreciate how underwhelming, how laughably, poetically pathetic of her it would be to die here and have everything end so miserably close to where it had all started; to be beaten and kicked to death for no great purpose beyond revenge by the same kind of meaningless vultures and peddlers of misery who had sold her to the so called orphanage a girl.

The poetry of it all was less important however than the fact they intended to sell the children in her care into slavery and let the cycle of torment continue.

"KEEP HER DOWN DAMN IT, KEEP HER DOWN!" even now, with Cinder supposedly finished Shay D Mann betrayed a hint of fear with his barked and yelled orders as though he knew that the former Maiden had risen from being both metaphorically and physically trampled into the ground, each time returning more furious than before.

Despite the punishment she was receiving her Aura was yet to shatter entirely which in turn meant that her Semblance was still available to her and using it was simply a matter of willpower and focus, though whilst she had an endless reserve of the former the latter was proving difficult to muster up. With no Dust or sand to form glass weapons from Cinder was reduced to either simply super-heating her extremities or channelling Scorching Caress into the ground itself in order to have it erupt around her and hopefully claim some of her enemies in the blast; her latest effort to do so was stopped short however as one of the latest group of the Branwen Tribe to fall upon her brought their foot down on her already damaged cybernetic hand with enough force to leave Cinder howling in pain and the ring and pinky fingers of the mechanical hand completely detached. Without thinking she lashed out blindly to kick at her attackers only for them to seize her leg and hold her steady so that they could land kicks of their own to her head, back and torso with a chorus of cheers and taunts.

A moment later the yelling changed tone and an inexplicable golden light, different from the sun in every conceivable way washed over the entire stretch of dirt road.

"WHAT THE FUCK IS THAT?" Shay could be heard distinctly amidst the yells and frantic sounds of fighters scrambling back into position and whatever Cinder had been expecting in her dazed, likely concussed state those expectations had not involved the bandit leaders' question being answered by a small, oddly squeaky voice

"Guide, protector, friend….Hero!" the words were punctuated by a tremendous thumping impact and from her place on the ground Cinder saw a blur of movement as something kicked a bandit several dozen meters through the air to land with a bone-rattling impact from which they did not recover. Realising that she needed to get up and that she now had the opportunity to do so Cinder, wincing the entire time dragged herself onto her knees and then her feet, swaying and staggering as she turned around to the source of the commotion.

Where she was left utterly flabbergasted.

Of all the things she had seen in Salem's service there was still nothing that cold prepare her for the sight of a giant, bipedal mouse wearing an outfit reminiscent of Ruby Rose even down to the autumnal leaf acting as a cape and wielding a sword which Cinder would recognise anywhere leaping down from the back of an enormous white-furred rabbit with antlers.

The pure absurdity of the situation on its' face meant that the former Maiden felt she could not possibly be more lost and confused by the sight of the mouse-thing fighting with incredible skill, their green-edged sword being twirled around them which such speed that it simply became a blur capable of redirecting bullets and forcing the bandits onto the defensive, all whilst the giant rabbit bounded into their midst to kick and trample them in what Cinder felt was a delicious twist of fate.

Shay D Mann however was a spiteful and vindictive wretch of a man, proving as much with his next screamed order.

"BLOW THAT CARAVAN TO HELL AND BACK! WE CAN WIN ANOTHER TIME, BUT SHE LOSES TODAY!" Cinder saw the member of the Branwen Tribe with the rocket launcher readying another barrage of shots and upon realising that that there was nothing nearby that she could use to stop the inevitable she simply sprinted to throw herself between the rocket and its' intended target, time slowing to a crawl as she did so.

"NO!" the word left her in a frantic, desperate scream far too reminiscent of several of the enemies she thought beaten over the years. The rocket propelled grenade was fired and it became painfully clear to Cinder that she wouldn't reach the caravan in time yet at the last possible moment something appeared between the armoured side of the wagon full of children and the incoming explosive, something which absorbed and completely nullified the explosion more effectively than any hard-light shield.

When the acrid smoke of the explosion cleared Cinder saw that it had been a parasol.

"You…." she trailed off, she had meant to say that Neo Politan had died but was silenced by the chilling realisation that all of Team RWBY and Jaune Arc had returned from whatever void she had sent them to and that in truth she should have expected Neo's eventual return; even more strange and concerning however was the fact that Cinder could not say with any degree of certainty that the figure before her actually was Neo.

The woman's diminutive stature, overall build and facial structure were the same but the similarities seemed to end there.

First of all there was a sense of ephemeral distance about her as if she were not entirely present, the edges of her being seeming to flicker and blur and beyond that the young woman's colours were wrong.

This Neo, or whatever she was sported hair that was shorter than Cinder had ever seen it and pulled back into a practical braid of interwoven colours as her hair was split in colour along the centre of her scalp, with the right side being a more vibrant shade of pink than Neo had favoured before and the left being a bright and electric turquoise with those same colours being repeated in eyes which Cinder now saw glowed faintly and had oddly shaped, not-quite-slitted pupils which perfectly complemented the smile filled with too-sharp teeth.

Her attire was also different in a way Cinder knew instinctively was not one of her disguises; thigh-high black boots fastened with countless buckles and whose toes were pointed upwards into slight spikes into which a pair simple pants whose blue colour was faint enough to almost be white had been tucked.

Much of her upper body was hidden by a long and flowing fuchsia coloured trench-coat which had been cinched and fastened at the waist by heavy-buckled black belts which accentuated the twin cape-like tails which reached almost down to the ground. She wore pieces of a suit of armour, brilliant white with a mother-of-pearl finish and black etching over the coat, it's broad collar emerging from beneath a breastplate whilst pauldrons and shoulders were affixed to her arms. Completing the new image was a scarf, wrapped around her neck and flowing out behind in her a breeze which affected it alone; its' countless frayed and ragged edges trailing off into nothingness and its' colour a bright electric blue with a faint checker pattern which became more distinct towards the indistinct edges.

Cinder realised this new Neo looked like a Hunter, but of a very different kind.

The observation had lasted barely a fraction of a second and Cinder was brought fully back to her senses as the violence around her abruptly reasserted itself and the member of the Branwen Tribe with a rocket propelled grenade launcher prepared to fire again, to which Neo's answer was simply to smirk and then disappear entirely. Cinder blinked, there had been no sign of Neo's usual Semblance-made illusions and the fact that she had been real enough to block an explosion had suggested that it had indeed been her but now the diminutive girl was suddenly beside her opponent with the parasol which resembled Hush but was not being shifted into a ranged form and fired as though it were a shotgun with a burst of cyan light.

The bandit with the heavy weapon simply vanished.

"What? How the-" Cinder was left mouthing words feebly and barely audibly as she tried to process the sight, there had been no shattering Aura no crimson mist and viscera as a body was sundered, the bandit had simply been removed entirely in a casual display of power from whatever this new Neo was. The diminutive girl rounded on Cinder and took a single step, the former Maiden instinctively tried to flinch but it was already too late as Neo had closed the distance with another instance of her teleportation.

Neo brought a finger to her lips, silencing whatever questions Cinder might ask and instead reached into her coat throwing something to the ground at her feet.

With no further communication Neo opened her parasol once again and used a technique that Cinder had certainly never seen her use before, fastening the canopy of her left forearm and detaching it entirely whilst the body of the weapon opened out and reshaped itself into a sword far broader and more noble looking than her previous needle-like blade.

With her sword and shield at the ready Neo marched into battle rather than leap and skip as she once had and left Cinder to stare numbly after her before glancing down at what had been thrown at her feet, the sight leaving her remaining eye wide and a familiar fire reigniting within her.

A pair of swords, their shape eerily similar to Midnight, her original weapons.

From there rejoining the battle in earnest was simple and felt perfectly natural, freeing despite the pain she was in and as she took the weapons in had Cinder found that not only was her damaged Cybernetic still holding together well enough to allow her to fight with some degree of skill, but also that she had enough Aura left to use her Semblance and heat her new swords to a molten orange glow.

She was a whirling, screaming typhoon of destruction then, pouncing across the battlefield from one bandit to the next with ferocity which rendered their numbers meaningless; one of them was flung back into the trees with enough force to bring snow cascading down from the upper branches as she cleaved their rifle in half and her burning sword ignited its' ammunition and a moment later another was taken out by low slashes at their legs which swept them from their feet followed by a punishing kick before the could fall which flung them into the path of the giant rabbit.

Glancing around wildly with a look in her eye that grew dangerously unhinged Cinder sought out fresh opponents and saw that the mouse-thing was using Penny Polendina's sword with some skill even if they were forced to hold it two-handed and use arcing, sweeping blows as though it were broadsword. Some distance away Neo was fighting with a calm, methodical simplicity that Cinder had never seen from her before; parrying a frantically swung machete with her sword before proceeding to knock the attacker unconscious with a backhanded swing of her shield. She side-stepped another foe and drove her sword into them and once again there was none of the expected blood and violence, only empty space that her opponent had been removed from entirely.

She stared in confusion for a few moments longer as this new Neo simply vanished and unmade more bandits until a rough voice, clearly panicked called out.

"GET THE HELL OUT OF HERE! EVERYONE MOVE….WE'LL FINISH THIS LATER FALL Y'HEAR ME!" Cinder's gaze fell upon Shay D Mann who was already turning to run as he spoke, firing blindly over his shoulder so haphazardly that he was more of a risk to his fellow bandits who were already beginning to follow his lead by either running after him of slipping into the trees. Without hesitation the former Maiden gave chase.

"NEO!" she barked out leaping up and over the diminutive woman onto the surface of her shield, using it as a springboard from which to fire herself forwards, legs tucked into her body and spinning in the air with her swords held ready as she crashed through the retreating bandits like a wrecking ball. She was on her feet in an instant but so were they and as she hacked and slashed at them she realised that she had been too eager, Shay was still fleeing and her enemies had surrounded her. She was forced to block a downward swing of a crude axehead fitted into the butt of a shotgun with both of her swords held horizontally.

At which point Neo, in a reversal of a moment ago landed on the blades in a crouch.

"What are you doing you-" Cinder fell silent as her apparent allies' sword lost its' additional mass and was reconnected with the shield made of a parasol' canopy, the entire not-Hush transforming back into its' ranged mode as Neo simply shot the axeman Cinder had been fighting at point blank range. From there it was a formality, there were less than a dozen bandits in the cluster of bodies that had surrounded Cinder and as she and Neo weaved between and around them there was simply nowhere for them to turn, each of them had seen their comrades simply disappear in flashes of cyan light and desperately tried to avoid Neo's strange new weapon only for those who succeeded to fall prey to the former Maiden and her burning swords.

Until eventually Cinder was free to continue her hunt.

"AFTER HIM!" she roared, breathing heavily and barely away of the scent of burning metal assaulting her nostrils as her Semblance began to take its' toll on her already ruined cybernetic arm and cause the individual plates to blacken and twist as smoke began to billow from within it. What Cinder could not overlook however was the thumping collision with her back and the sensation of being lifted from the ground, realising a moment later that the antlers of the giant rabbit had been used to hoist her into the air by her armpits and leave her dangling and flailing wildly as Neo and the mouse came into view, the former looking up at the woman who had betrayed her with a bemused expression.

"If you want your payback then just do it" Cinder spat, head hanging only to catch sight of the gesture Neo gave her in response and renew her struggle to free herself "DON'T YOU WAG YOUR FINGER AT ME!"

"That's not very nice….Be careful with Juniper's antlers" the mouse-thing squeaked, sheathing Penny's sword beneath their cape as they did and leaving Cinder staring blankly at it, trying to find anything at all to say in response to the insanity of the entire situation, leading to an expression on her already bruising face which Neo clearly found entertaining judging by the way she doubled over laughing, holding a hand up and snapping her fingers as she did so which caused the armour covering her arms and chest to vanish.

"What is going on….Who are you?" Cinder demanded.

"I'm Somewhat and this is Juniper" the mouse answered happily, gesturing for the jackalope to set Cinder down before continuing "I'm a friend, guide and a protector and this is….You called her Neo? She helps other people be heroes, or be better versions of themselves-"

"Like the people she just shot?" Cinder sneered.

"Exactly" Somewhat answered brightly, whilst beside them Neo nodded with an expression that was far too innocent to be genuine. The scathing retort was already half-way to Cinder's lips before she faltered, she had intended to say that it would be hard for the bandits to be a better anything after Neo had killed them but then she realised that she could not say with any certainty what had happened to them, that the idea of them being transported and altered as Neo herself had been was no more unbelievable than anything else currently happening.

"And you think I'm a hero who needs to be helped as well?" Cinder couldn't help but give a mocking smile which flashed her blood-flecked teeth at that, stashing her new swords and glaring at Neo only to be left gritting her teeth at the silent woman's response of simply holding her hand horizontally in a 'so-so' gesture.

"Then why did you stop me?" she spat, advancing a single step towards the smaller woman suddenly heedless of how different this fight would likely go to their previous bout. Rather than ready her weapon Neo simply opened the parasol and held it aloft, adjusting her coat now that it was no longer covered by armour before gesturing with her free hand towards Cinder's caravan.

Where the children were likely frightened out of their minds.

"I was taking them to Argus there are people there who can take care of them, they have nobody….I don't want them to be like us, like we were Neo" Cinder glanced down at her and saw that Neo was nodding in silent understanding "But the Branwen Tribe stranded us….If I followed Shay back to their new camp then maybe I could see if they have anything big enough to carry the kids or tow us-"

She was cut off by Neo shaking her head and infuriatingly wagging her finger again.

"We can help!" the mouse, somewhat exclaimed happily already leading Juniper towards the lead wagon "Juniper can pull"

"Why are you helping?" Cinder's eye narrowed, the notion of being freely helped as outlandish to her as that of talking sword-wielding animals.

"There're people inside, they need a protector" Somewhat cocked their head at Cinder "And you need a friend"

Cinder gave serious consideration to punching the talking mouse in the face for that comment but couldn't bring herself to do it.

"So then…." Cinder trailed off as she turned to Neo, making sure she understood the situation correctly "You're back….You don't want to kill me any more. You've made it your personal mission to make people into better versions of themselves and help people to be heroes"

Neo nodded happily.

"You can now make people disappear….Which somehow gives them a chance to be better; but you're not going to do that to me?" Cinder paused, eye narrowing as she studied the smaller woman "Because you want to do this the hard way, you think you're going to enjoy dragging this out and making me into the kind of fairytale hero who gets a happy ending….You think this is going to be more fun than just shooting me?"

There was something positively feline in smirk full of inhumanly sharp teeth Neo gave her.

"I utterly loathe you Neo" Cinder sighed, entirely without force or malice as she began to trudge towards the caravan and the children in her care; looking over her shoulder to add "Come on then….I suppose you'll want to sit up front as well?"

Neo had only been back on Remnant for a matter of minutes and was already certain that she had made the right choice, she was going to have so much fun.

---

In the wake of the destruction of Atlas and Mantle and Salem's departure from Remnant the city of Argus, under the leadership of Robyn Hill and other trusted figures had become a focal point of rebuilding which many former natives of the fallen Icy Kingdom had naturally flocked to. Whilst others had made new homes of themselves in elsewhere, with Ghira and Kali Belladonna overseeing the expansion of Kuo Kuana and new settlements being founded on Menagerie for Faunus refugees from Mantle and some even finding new homes in Vaccuo despite the long-standing animosity between the old enemies the influx of people had still Argus's borders expanded outwards and the coastal city made larger, stronger and more prosperous than ever before.

It was here that Lie and Nora Ren had made a home.

The pair had, with Robyn Hill's blessing and assistance managed to acquire not just one but several houses in a row all within sight of the statue of the late Pyrrha Nikos and these houses had been combined into a single structure which had served as the groundwork and basis for the orphanage and foster home that the two of them had built together. Wherever they could the couple would ensure that the children brought into their care were returned to their families or were adopted by a loving family within the city; there were those however who had stayed within the home for a more extended amount of time, the children with the deepest scars from the events that had seen them brought to the home, the ones who needed the most care and love.

Ren and Nora had plenty to give.

The home, by virtue of being several connected buildings was large enough to hold enough bedrooms to ensure that the children were not crowded too tightly even if they did have to share along with several rooms reserved for short visits, a kitchen large enough to contend with the many mouths and Nora's own almost comically voracious appetite, indoor and outdoor play areas, a small medical wing and a kindergarten for the younger children with staff for the latter two being provided by the city whilst older children attended schools within the city.

That it was currently early afternoon on a weekday meant that the home had a relative degree of quiet as its' occupants were largely busy with work or school; save for a small handful of children of various ages who had managed to convince Nora, always the softest of the married couple, that they were in fact too sick to go to school.

Nora had been so proud to see them use the same trick of placing a thermometer against a radiator that she herself had taught them.

"I am beginning to think that this was a trick….And that you're not really ill, with a terminal case of Ursa-pox at all" Ren's quiet murmuring betrayed the hints of a smile even before Nora saw him, his slender frame leaning in the doorway as he arched an eyebrow at his wife and the gaggle of children sharing the sofa and space around it with her, eating copious amount of pancakes and playing video games. Ren himself looked much as he always had, a few lines to his features and a small collection of scars along with a slight limp which was not pronounced enough to require the use of a cane no matter how much Nora insisted that it would make him look mysterious and cool, something at odds with fact he was currently wearing a pink apron. Nora for her part looked striking with lightning bolt scars covering much of her skin, although she had taken well to a peaceful life and whilst she was certainly still as strong as ever her powerful muscles were hidden beneath a soft layer of padding, giving her an appearance the children had described as 'cuddly'. At the sight of her husband Nora rose from the sofa, handing the controller over to another of the children and crossed the room to bring a finger to Ren's lips, then gently press it against his nose.

"Boop" a chorus of giggles arose from those children who were paying attention at the sight of the guardian who enforced their bedtimes and insisted that vegetables be eaten being so effortlessly silenced, followed by an outcry of childish mock-disgust as the two kissed. From there the children turned away, amusing themselves either with the video game or otherwise, with one of them wandering aimlessly towards a window and looking out onto the street below which allowed them to be the first to alert Ren and Nora to a new arrival.

"Miss Cinder is here!" they called out, the words instantly hushing all of the children "And she brought a giant rabbit"

"Like a plushie?" Nora raised an eyebrow and snorted, the image of Cinder Fall carrying a stuffed animal being hard to imagine.

"It's got horns!" the child called back

"Like a Grimm?" another child asked, the comment prompting Nora wander to the window and see for herself; silently vowing that if Cinder Fall had somehow managed to drag a Creature of Grimm all the from wherever she had been to halfway across Argus just to leave at her doorstep then she would break more than her legs. She gently moved the child at the window out of the way and peered down at the now familiar trio of wagons and figure clad in fur-lined black robes sitting at their head, hood pulled low over her face in case she was spotted.

What was pulling the caravan left Nora's knees weak.

"Holy crap" she managed to breathe out before turning to her husband "Ren, we need to be out there right now"

"Okay" Ren said simply, before gesturing to the children for them to stay where they were. The windows of the house war large enough to be stepped out of and so when Nora opened the one she had been stood at she jumped down onto the steps leading to her orphanage, one hand on the collapsed form of Magnhild just to be safe and with Ren close behind her.

"Cinder?" Ren called out cautiously and the former Maiden turned to face him before sliding herself from the lead wagon and trudging closer with uncertain steps.

Ren and Nora had been more than cautious when Cinder had first come to them, neither willing to offer more than the barest of humanity to the woman who had killed Pyrrha Nikos but being equally unwilling to turn away children whose homes had been destroyed and with each time she had returned it had become clear that Cinder truly wanted nothing else from them; she gave children to Ren and Nora to be cared for and then departed once again, remaining in Argus for no longer than she needed to, resupplying and undergoing whatever work her cybernetics required before returning to her self-imposed exile.

It was clear that would not be possible this time.

"Are you okay?" Ren asked "What happened….Your face, your arm-"

"Is that what we're focusing on here?" Nora demanded incredulously, waving passed Cinder "Are we not gonna talk about THAT!"

"Her name is Juniper" Cinder croaked out "I have children with me….And some friends"

It was at that moment that Somewhat and Neo hopped out of the wagon and into view, the latter clearly thoroughly enjoying the moment and making a show of twirling her collapsed parasol before waving for the collection of children who followed them out, each of them staring at the orphanage with looks of wonder and relief after what had no doubt been a difficult journey.

"You're...Neo" Ren murmured before turning to the bipedal mouse "And you, you're-"

"Somewhat, at your service" the cape rodent bowed "And this is-"

"Juniper" Nora mouthed the word out, eyes wide and sparkling as she made her way over to the jackalope which was easily larger than any of the nearby cars and leaned down to be petted without resistance, instinctively recognising Nora as a friend.

"It was real, all of it was real" Ren whispered as he watched his wife nuzzle with the jackalope. He had never doubted the claims of his friends upon their return to Remnant, especially not in the wake of Salem's final exodus from Remnant, wherein the Gods themselves had been returned to their home but to see the evidence first hand; to see the inhabitants of the fantastical world that Jaune and Team RWBY had ventured to in the flesh was something else entirely.

"We've gotta tell Jaune about this!" Nora exclaimed, echoing thoughts that were beginning to form in his own mind.

"Agreed" Ren murmured, eyes darting back to Somewhat and the children "Okay, children come inside and we'll begin finding rooms for you and go from there….Somewhat, would you and Juniper like to stay for a while. An old friend of Juniper's isn't far away and would love to see you all again….And the people of Argus have never seen anything quite like you before"

"That's okay, it's an adventure and I've never seen a them before" the mouse answered happily "But I would be honoured to stay with the Rusted Knight's friends"

"Then I guess I should look for a new robot….Make sure nobody clamps or tows my-" Cinder's gruff tone was cut off by Neo as the silent woman who had been guiding the children towards the front door of the orphanage and taking in the entire scene moved with swiftness that was quite literally impossible, vanishing entirely in order to reappear beside Cinder and sweep her legs out from under her; the whole overdramatic show being a way to force the former Maiden into a sitting position on the houses' front steps.

That the children dared laugh at this showed to Ren and Nora just how different Cinder was.

"I think what Neo is trying to say is that you should rest for a while" Ren noted, to which Neo nodded enthusiastically "You clearly need to speak with Doctor Polendina about getting that arm fixed….And I think you should let our doctors take a look at you"

Cinder let out a low growl at that.

"Or at least stay here until Jaune can come over….He's actually out training one of the older kids, one of the first ones you bought to us. It turns out the bad-ass, kinda scary lady who brought 'em here left an impression and they wanna be a hero too"

The expression on Cinder's face at that particular moment could not be described in words and if she had not already been sitting she would likely have toppled over as she choked and sputtered on air at the notion whilst beside her Neo crouched down and leaned in close, their faces almost touching as the smaller woman's features morphed into a look of almost supernautral smugness.

"Neo helps people be heroes, she could help" Somewhat declared happily.

"I find that hard to believe" Ren gave her a suspicious glance before deciding that if she had helped children to safety and Afterans whom Jaune would certainly trust were treating her a friend then she must have changed enough to warrant some trust.

For her part Cinder simply needed a moment to process everything that was happening, remaining silent and slumped over on the steps as she watched Nora unfastening Juniper from the wagons and gathering her wits before she spoke, a task made more difficult by the constant twinges of pain from bruised and cracked bones to say nothing of the utterly ruined state of her arm.

"Will Polendina be available?" she asked, trying her best to maintain her collected, gruff and imposing demeanour despite the trepidation and simple exhaustion washing over her; something which Ren and Nora clearly recognised and chose not to comment on directly though Ren did crack a small smile as he answered.

"Penny and Ruby were on Patch visiting Ruby's family recently; I believe that they're both in Argus right now and visiting Pietro" Cinder winced unconsciously at that, for all of the kindness the two women possessed the former Maiden would never feel comfortable around them; she had killed and hurt them maliciously and she knew what she would do if she were in their position, even now the fact that Ruby had pulled the Grimm from her body was something Cinder could only truly understand as preparing her for a final act of revenge later.

She could not be around either of them without waiting for the other shoe to drop.

"Then I'll wait until they've had their family reunion….The arm isn't that bad" Cinder sniffed, holding her head high despite the obvious lie "I can't go anywhere anyway because of the bandits, I'll have to speak with Hill before I leave….I suppose I can wait for Jaune-"

"And the kids" Nora corrected bluntly "You brought a lot of them here, they'll want to see you….Jaune won't be too far away. He normally visits his sister on the way back but I think he'll come straight here when he knows who's waiting for him"

"Fine" Cinder allowed her eye to drift closed as she nodded in acceptance.

"Would you like to come inside?" Ren asked carefully.

"I'll wait here, I need air" Cinder answered with an air of finality and with that she heard the unmistakeable sound of footsteps of varying size as Ren led the last of the children inside whilst Nora and Somewhat took Juniper around the back.

"I know you're still there" Cinder breathed out as she opened her eye to find Neo crouching on the steps beside her "So is this how it's going to be now?….Me, you, Somewhat and Juniper travelling together; provided that the others don't decide to stay here?"

Neo nodded almost giddily.

"And it's because you want to make me a better person, because you think that what I need is someone to help me make more heroic choices and learn right from wrong….And that somehow you're qualified to teach me?"

Neo made a 'so-so' gesture followed by a shrug.

"Then I suppose I should thank you for the help" Cinder muttered as she reached into the folds of her cloak to produce her cigarettes and light one with the tip of her finger before bringing it to her lips.

Only for it to by removed in a burst of cyan light.

"The next time I kill you Neo I promise I will find a way to make it stick" Cinder snarled as she glared at the diminutive woman who clearly believed that smoking was anything but heroic and was once again wagging her finger disapprovingly.

Despite the threat Cinder couldn't help but smile slightly, after so much time with only the temporary company of the people she rescued and existing as a nomadic pariah the idea of being welcomed somewhere and having a travelling partner, possibly even a real friend was a welcome thought. Even if Neo was insufferable.

---

Somewhere outside of Remnants' remaining Kingdoms and major settlements, in a place where its' presence would go undetected and its' lone inhabitant would be unbothered by the marching progress of recovery and the world around them was a secret and subterranean place which could only be described as a lair.

Gloomy to such a degree that was clearly intentional and comprised of several interlinked rooms and chambers seemingly carved into their surroundings and held aloft by vast girders and scaffolds which had been precariously arranged and then used to hide enormous bundles of wires and cables behind. The central room of this lair was taken up by a command centre of sorts, a lone desk at its' heart where a single massive screen was flanked by dozens of others to allow the watcher to view the same object from several angles or study several streams of data at once at it was within this central room that a lone figure loomed and lurked.

The man's body was a ruin

He had once tall and proud but now his figure was unnaturally hunched and bowed by the weight of cybernetics and machinery, along with gravity itself as he was held aloft by four oversized and spider-like limbs whose segmented and mechanical forms reached up and over his shoulders before arcing downwards again, scuttling around and carrying the man whose legs had been rendered useless to him; the cybernetic attachments being grafted to a point in the wearers' spine close to the shoulder blades which their attire had been modified to account for.

He wore several layers and much of his clothing had once been pristine and luxurious though now it was as degraded and ravaged as everything else in sight. His extremities were hidden beneath black leather shoes and gloves respectively, he wore pants whose navy blue colour had been faded and whose material was ragged and threadbare paired with a turtle-neck sweater in a dirty mustard yellow colour, over which a stained and sullied lab-coat and finally a long tailcoat jacket in the same colour as his pants with tattered tails flapping about the man had been donned, the jackets' bronze buttons weathered and corroding.

The man himself was in little better condition than his attire, beyond the cybernetics which had replaced the use of his legs a mechanical brace of the kind worn by Hunters who had suffered grevious internal injuries had been fitted around his chest and midsection and what little of the man's skin was visible was a mess of scar tissue. His complexion had been dark, almost olive once and now it was a twisted mass of discoloured pinkish burns that had barely faded from the painfully raw colour they had taken when he had first received them, he was completely bald now and his eyes had been burned so that they were a pale shade of their former colour, the sight of them leading to the rare few people he conversed with to often believe that he had been blinded.

One of those rare few people was attempting to contact him now and as the man scuttled closer to his command centre he realised that they were in fact running late.

"Well?" the burned man asked simply, the lone word conveying an extreme aloofness and arrogant expectance.

The incoming video call had been answered to reveal the sight of the bandit leader Shay D Mann, whose missing gold tooth, haunted, pallid features and the fact that his entire body was both trembling slightly and littered with various injuries from small scrapes to wounds which had bled through the bandages covering them, though this sight alone was not enough for the burned man to accept defeat.

He had known that Cinder Fall would be difficult to capture after all.

"It was a damn disaster boss" Shay's voice wavered as much as his shaking hands "Damn it you told us she didn't have no damn help! They took our people to pieces, Cinder herself was bad enough, cutting people and setting 'em on fire and such but the other one?….Damn it boss there aint even bodies to bring back! You know how the old folk in this tribe take that? They hold by their traditions y'hear and-"

"You're rambling" the burned man interrupted coldly "What is important here is that you were given a very specific set of instructions….a single task which you have failed to complete. I want you to explain why"

"We had Cinder boss, we had her….She was worn down from fighting Grimm, we had her cornered and hamstrung" Shay's expression was an interesting thing to see, a perfect mix of disbelief, rage and terror "Then those other folk turned up! Came outta damn nowhere….Damn it she was so small-"

"One of the children Cinder was escorting unlocked their Semblance is desperation and overwhelmed-"

"That aint what happened!" Shay spat, the burned man accepting the outburst solely to sate his curiousity and gesturing for the bandit to continue "Two of 'em, came out of a portal….Kinda like what Raven herself used to do, but different. One of 'em, hell she looked like a little girl but she fought like a damn monster….The other one was a fucking mouse"

"You mean a Faunus?" the man sighed, mechanical cybernetics twitching irritably; he had neither the time or inclination to listen to bigotry against the Faunus. all that mattered were results, whether or not the person who delivered those results had a tail or an extra pair of ears was of no consequence.

"No boss….I know this sounds crazy, but they were a mouse" Shay gave the screen the wild-eyed look of a man who had seen far too much "A giant, talking mouse on two legs with a sword….Came outta nowhere riding on the back of a damn giant rabbit with antlers"

"Mister Mann, either you are entertaining your own vices on my time or you think I'm an imbecile. Which is it?" the burned man snapped, unwilling to consider any other possible conclusions.

"The damn rabbit kicked my people around like they were nothing! Look at what it did to my arm!" Shay insisted, gesturing to one of his more severe injuries. The burned man gave them only a cursory glance whilst maintained a stern and judgemental silence, it was possible, perhaps that one of the unknown attackers had a Semblance that gave them the appearance of a small bipedal mammal; he did remember something about a girl named MacCloud.

He shook his head, deciding that it was better to stay focused.

"I expect you to try again of course….And to do better this time"

"Boss" Shay gasped "Are you not hearing me? They weren't even leaving bodies, she shot people and they're just gone-"

"Let's be clear with one another" the burned man cut across him coldly "I have funded and supplied your people, I helped sponsor your rise to power all in exchange for a price which it is now time for you to pay-"

"Boss-"

"If you cannot see to it that I receive Cinder Fall, alive then I have very little reason to continue helping you and I will, naturally have to begin outsourcing the job to someone more capable" the burned man's words became harsher still as he glared at the screen with his scorched eyes "If you want my help then you have to be….Worthy. Do I make myself clear Shay?"

"Yes Mister Watts" the bandit answered.

Author's Notes:

So, it's the first weekend of Hiatus; the first Saturday where we don't have a new episode and Vol.10 still hasn't been green-lit….So I thought I'd drop this in addition to the first chapter of Vol.07 in my ongoing OC fic MARZ Rising.

I started writing this on Wednesday the 25th of March and finished on Friday the 28th which let's be honest, for a fic this size is pretty damn good.
I actually did consider posting the individual scenes as ten separate chapters but I decided against it….Also yeah, this is an open-ended cliffhanger but I'm not gonna carry it on.

The whole concept came about after thinking about what Neo's ascension will be like (Because we all know she's gonna come back towards the end of the show at a critical moment) and pairing that with the fact that in Ruby's time with the Blacksmith she actually walks passed a pair of crossed swords that look a lot like Cinder's….Tied in with the idea I've always liked of post-everything Cinder basically wandering Anima as a nomad who keeps other children from facing a fate like hers.

Also this is normally where I do my whole "Summary" thing, which is basically me adding a 'live reaction to the end of my chapter' as I proofread it but this time I'm not gonna bother because the fic is long enough as it is and I don't really have time….Besides with it being a single chapter fic I may as well just answer comments individually.

As always thank you to everyone that reads this, with a special thanks to those of you that follow, favourite and review.