Here we go.
Cover Art: GWBrex
Chapter 46
.
Three arrested in plot to smuggle bombs on commercial flights to Vale. Populist leader accuses of "false flag" operation to implicate patriotic Atlesians.
Atlas Times
.
Tourists looking for glimpse of Jaune Arc disappointed as healer spends all free time holed up in Beacon.
Vale Daily Tribune
.
Mistral Council upgrades travel advisory to red warning against holidays to Atlas.
The Mistral Review
.
Gillian Asturias "reluctantly" cancels planned diplomatic visit to Atlas after festival. Claims the current climate is "too dangerous" to outsiders.
Vacuo Today
.
Tragic fire claims Belladonna home, and lives of Ghira and Kali Belladonna. Sienna Khan leads calls for day of mourning.
Kuo Kuana Express
.
He'd been right in guessing Elm wasn't pleased with his decision to go out into Vale with Cinder and Emerald, but she didn't have a leg to stand on when he pointed out it was her idea for him to make more friends. He was just doing what she asked him to, and if he couldn't do even that then what else was he to do – sit around in his room being miserable all day? Elm caved quickly after that, and a plain clothes female soldier with red hair was waiting for him the next day. Cinder greeted them to her dorm happily enough, and then dyed his hair the same shade of red and insisted he pretend the soldier was his older sister.
"Any good disguise needs a background, and this is a convenient reason for why the two of you are out together. It's that or you pretend to be dating."
"I'm married," said the woman. "Let's go with the first option."
One hour later he was unrecognisable and they were headed out into Vale, using the cover of all the transfers to hide among. There were plenty of new faces in Beacon so one more didn't raise any eyebrows, and the big advantage of there being exactly four of them was that they looked like a team going out together. More people on the Bullhead were eyeing up Cinder than him, enjoying the shorts she'd worn and how much leg was on display.
She had to know the attention she got, but Cinder did a better job ignoring it than he did his own attention; to be fair, hers was a lot less intrusive. As the journey went, Emerald chatted idly with the soldier about what it was like working and living in Atlas, while Cinder decided to quiz him on his – or Nickel's – past. He realised after the first question that he wasn't mean to answer truthfully, but to give the "backstory" for his made-up persona.
"I come from Mistral," he said. "Mom and dad separated and dad went to Atlas with my sister." He jerked a thumb at the soldier to his left. "Mom and dad aren't on talking terms, but we've been hanging out online and thought we'd use the festival as a chance to meet up proper."
"That's great." Cinder's pleased nod and encouraging smile told him she didn't just mean the contents of his story, but how thorough it was. It was oddly fun having to make up a believable backstory on the spot, almost like roleplaying. "How has that been going so far? Are you getting on?"
"Eh." He made a so-so gesture with his hand. "She's a little stiff for my liking. Must be the military lifestyle. It's cool, though. Just being back and able to hang out together without mom or dad sniping at one another is fun. You'd have to be military to survive the warzone those two turn any meeting into."
To his left, he heard his bodyguard chuckle at his fake story. He expected she'd have been listening in, but she didn't seem displeased with the topic. Cinder was just helping him out anyway, and it was a good lesson to have. Someone might very well ask about his past and he couldn't stammer and stumble over himself when giving it or they'd get suspicious. Cinder asked a few more questions before the Bullhead arrived and everyone filed off. It was an obnoxiously hot day; the kind where anyone with his skin colour burned, while those more fortunate got to bask in the sun and pick up a healthy tan. It was also the kind of weather where sunglasses were acceptable, adding another layer to his disguise as they – along with two thirds of the people around them – donned shades and moved off the hot concrete into the shade of a nearby building.
You didn't grow up with seven sisters without getting used to going shopping, so visiting several stores and grabbing a wide range of outfits was nothing new to him. He insisted on paying for it all, and for several outfits for his bodyguard despite her protests.
"You're out here working," he told her when she tried to refuse. "Besides, it'd be all kinds of suspicious if we went shopping and didn't leave with anything."
"I can pay for myself," she tried.
"There's no need. I literally have more money than I can reasonably spend."
In the end she gave up, while Emerald and Cinder didn't put up much of a fight at all. They didn't go crazy either, however. Cinder picked up a new pair of shoes, a dress and a pair of summer shirts, while Emerald picked up some rugged boots and a pair of jeans. He offered more, but they pointed out they'd have to carry anything they got back to Mistral in their suitcases, and they were only allowed the one.
"Besides," said Cinder, "It's not the quantity of clothes but the quality – and I make any clothing look good."
The soldier snorted. "Humble much?"
"False modesty is arrogance."
Jaune laughed and rolled his eyes, but it was soon his turn – and he didn't have the one suitcase excuse. Cinder tool perverse pleasure in dressing him up, and even Emerald and the soldier got into it after a while. It was nothing too risqué or weird, but Cinder was adamant he pick up more styles to suit "other personas" if he needed them.
"Nickel is a rocker punk," she said, "but he won't always be available. You should plan for the future."
"It's a good point," said the soldier, shrugging. "It never hurts to have more tools in your arsenal, and it's easier to grab them all now than later."
"Easy for you to say when I'm the one trying them on."
"Yes. Yes." Cinder pushed him back into the changing rooms. "You're a poor abused young man. We all feel terribly sorry for you. Now put these on. And try to look like a posh schoolboy when you come out. Private school, rich parents, absolutely zero personality."
"So," teased Emerald. "His normal look?"
"Hey!" complained Jaune, as all three of them laughed. "That's not true." He grinned. "I'm the one who's rich, not my parents. Get it right."
"Well, at least you can fake a personality," said Cinder, teasingly.
They were surprisingly easy to get along with. All of them, really, even the soldier. Maybe it was the atmosphere. He'd had bodyguards before and they were usually stern and uncompromising, but then those situations had always been tense, with big political ramifications for any mistakes made. Out here, in disguise, they all knew the only real risk was a mugger or freak event. It wasn't completely safe with terrorists from Atlas and the White Fang both about, but he was no more in danger than anyone else in the city, and they all knew it.
As such, they could laugh, talk, ignore people around them and just act like normal people. That included having security and several clerks watch them as if they fully expected the four people trying on far too many outfits to be shoplifters. No one would have acted that way to him in Atlas. He was Jaune Arc. He could buy out the entire store several times over if he wanted, and that was if they didn't just gift him their stock to buy good PR.
It was funny seeing the look on the woman's face when he scanned a card. It was a private bank card that didn't have his details on, but it didn't have a limit and her jaw dropped when it went through without a problem. "Ah. Um. W-Would you like me to bag these for you, sir?"
Jaune eyed the huge pile of outfits and grinned. "That'd be lovely."
The clerk cringed and got to work.
/-/
They retreated to a diner in the mall after shopping; it was both an inside and outside diner in that the seating was arranged in the open, but the "open" was inside the mall, so they were in an area fenced off by ropes with other shoppers going around them. It was cosey enough and packed, suggesting good, cheap food and decent coffee. They set their swarm of bags under the table and the girls sat.
"I'll get the order," said Jaune, but Cinder caught and grasped his wrist before he could leave.
"Don't." Her words were soft and she was smiling, but she shook her head firmly all the same. "Here's a free piece of advice. Limit the chances for people to recognise you. There are four of us here, any of whom can order, and you've already spent more on us today than anyone should feel comfortable with. At least let us buy you lunch."
"Agreed," said the soldier. "My pride as a working adult demands it."
"Emerald, can you be a dear and order for us?" asked Cinder.
"Sure." Emerald stood and eyed the queue. "There's going to be four drinks and a bunch of plates. I don't suppose you want to come along, Angela?"
Angela? Oh, the soldier. It dawned on him then that he hadn't even bothered finding out his "sister's" name. Failure at a disguise aside, that was also just rude and he cringed on the inside. It was too late to admit to it now. Maybe he could just pretend he'd always known and no one would call him out on it. Angela hummed, not entirely thrilled with the idea of leaving him, but she eyed the long queue and knew Emerald couldn't carry everything.
"We'll stay here within view," said Cinder. "As if the two of us are going to be able to carry all these bags even if we did try and leave."
"It's less that I'm worried about and more someone else," said Angela, "But fine. I guess things have been calm, and it's not like I can't come running if anything happens." She pushed her chair back and followed after Emerald, the two chatting away lightly. Emerald seemed really eager to get to know Angela, and he wondered if there was something beyond polite conversation involved.
"Emerald has always been interested in the fairer sex," remarked Cinder. "If that's what you're curious about. I wouldn't expect anything to come of it with Angela being married." Cinder was smirking faintly. "I could see the question in your eyes."
"Ah. I was just curious."
"Curiosity is fine. Emerald wouldn't mind. Our team is rather relaxed about most things. We're a collection of orphans without much in the way of family expectations or pressure. Mistral isn't like Beacon; we're put on teams by design, rather than through an initiation – though there is an initiation. That's to weed out those too weak to attend."
"Weiss complained to me about Beacon's way of doing things."
"I know. That conversation was all over the news."
"Ah. Yeah." He winced and looked aside. That had been what sparked much of the drama that caused the slow collapse of their relationship. Or had it been? There were times he wondered if it hadn't just exposed to them the cracks that were already forming. He didn't want to talk about Weiss, so he changed the subject. "What about you? You were asking a lot about my past earlier. What made Cinder Fall who she is today?"
"You want my backstory?"
"I want to get to know you," he said, instead. "We're friends, aren't we?"
It was a gamble but not a very hard one. They'd spent a whole morning out shopping together and having fun, and if that wasn't a move toward official friendship then he didn't know what was. There hadn't even been Mercury here to push things along. Cinder chuckled, leaned back and closed her eyes.
"I suppose we are. Well, I was an orphan as you know. Twice an orphan now. I was picked up the first time by… by a rather cruel woman. Abusive, even. Sometimes physically when I didn't work hard enough for her liking."
Jaune wanted to slap himself. "You don't have to-"
"It's fine. It's fine. She is long gone and I'm free of all that. If you're wondering why I didn't mention all this in front of Elm, well, it's not exactly something I enjoy talking about. My adopted mother worked me to the bone and used me as cheap labour. We worked at a hotel, though I think it was also a brothel." Her eyes met his. "And no, I wasn't used in that way. I actually met a man there who taught me the skills I needed to attend Sanctum, and then Haven. Without him, I'd have been trapped there." Cinder's finger traced circles on the wooden table. Her eyes were closed and her mouth was stretched in a soft smile. "I loved him like a father in many ways. I suppose I secretly hoped he would save me and take me away from it all, though from his point of view I was more of a charity case to be helped. He knew the abuse I went through and never did step in, but in the time and moment any comfort is enough to make you cling to someone."
"What happened to him?"
"He died in the attack that killed my adopted mother and her daughters. He acted as the venue's security, you see, so he did his best to defend them. Alas, he faced a foe he could not best and paid the price for it. There are times I wish it could have ended a different way. That he might have taken a holiday that week, or been busy elsewhere, that he could have survived where they died." Cinder sighed and opened her eyes again. "But that's life for you. Bad things happen to innocent people just as much as they happen to evil people, and it's all anyone can do to work their hardest to avoid it. Grow strong, grow capable, and make sure such cruelty never happens to you again."
"I suppose that's a part of why I find myself so drawn to you," she said. Jaune leaned back, surprised, but Cinder continued. "I spent much of my childhood being used and abused for the benefit of others, with no thought given for how I feel about it. And you? Well, I'm sure you can see the connection. Mercury has told me a little of your problems and they struck a chord with me. I hope you don't find that too presumptuous."
He would have, normally, but "you don't understand" didn't feel deserved here. It wasn't the same at all, but in many ways her experience could be called worse. At least he was old enough to stand up for himself, and at least he had his family with him, and an authority figure in General Ironwood who always did his best to help him. Cinder had none of that.
"I don't have the monopoly on suffering," he said. Cinder smiled and nodded.
"You don't. No one does. For however hard someone complains, there will always be others who have it as bad or worse in different ways. Of course, it's normal for the individual to feel the pressure differently. Those who call others out for weakness simply refuse to understand that."
"I know! They act like I should be thrilled with my fame."
"They act like I should have been happy to have anyone take me in," said Cinder, agreeing. "No matter what kind of life it gave me. People will never try and understand, and they'll make up their own minds. Worse, they will act as though you owe them."
They would. They did. Jaune leaned in.
"Our team believes in one thing and one thing more than anything else," said Cinder. "And that is that we shall act in our own interests. People are selfish. It is an inherent part of human consciousness. I happen to think that the pursuit of one's own desires is sacrosanct, and the expectation that others have a right to what is yours is foolishness." Cinder raised her hand and allowed aura to shine across her fingers. "My aura, my power, my destiny, earned through my own hard work and determination. Why should anyone else have a right to it? Why should they expect that I should dedicate it to them? The same is true for you, isn't it? You were not gifted your Semblance; you did not ask for it. You unlocked it in a moment of need and forced the world to submit to your demands. You pushed your demands on the world and dragged your family and friends back from death. What right, then, does the world have to your power?"
"None," he answered.
"None," agreed Cinder. "Oh, you sold the right when you joined Atlas, but that is still your right. You can profit from your actions however you please. That's just business. But they should understand that, too. You wouldn't scream and bang down the door of a manager's home because the store wasn't open when you wanted it to be."
Cinder's words didn't just strike chords inside him; they played a melody. They stirred him in ways that had him equal parts furious and pleased, angry and justified. They were the sentiments he'd struggled to put words to for so long, and he wanted to stand and scream them out.
"I'm not saying everyone should be uncaring of others," she said. "Caring about those close to you – those you hold important – is a selfish desire, but it isn't a cruel one. But the world should understand that there are two types of people in it – those prepared to reach out and take what they want, and those prepared to settle for less."
"I don't even begrudge those who settle," she added. "They have their reasons. Comfort, an easier life, less ambition. It's their choice at the end of the day. What I simply cannot abide is when those people suddenly expect others to make sacrifices for them. They are the ones who chose their lot in life, and they could get up and change it at any time. Instead, they complain. People complain that schools don't teach life skills, all the while they leave their children watching tv or playing on their scrolls instead of teaching them some themselves."
"Or they complain about how tragic and unfair it is that their children died," said Jaune, "When they neglected to pay attention to their kids running around pools or recklessly playing with dangerous equipment. It happens all the time! I've brought children back who were literally allowed to go play in construction sites."
"Their own faults," said Cinder. "Or, failing that, the fault of their parents for not keeping an eye on them. And yet rather than accept any responsibility they'll pass it onto someone else. It happens all the time. People are selfish, Jaune, and you might as well be selfish too, because I guarantee all that happens if you try to be selfless is that others will take advantage of you."
They already had. He'd been naïve going into negotiations with Atlas, but then he'd also been inexperienced, exhausted, and under immense pressure in Ansel. He'd let them set the terms and accepted them as better than before, never once realising that what he went through in Ansel was torture, and anything better than that wouldn't necessarily be good. It was just the lesser of many evils. If he'd been as aware of things then as he was now, he would have fought for more freedom and less restraint. Maybe less pay too. He didn't need it.
But he hadn't been. He'd been fifteen years old, and suddenly thrown into the role of possibly the most important man on Remnant. Or at least the most sought after. He'd been a child trying to negotiate with kingdoms, and the deals struck had inevitably been 99% in their favour. Why wouldn't they be? They had all the resources and experience to win those negotiations. He'd just woken up after being in a short coma and having Dr. White die. He hadn't been in his right mind, and he'd taken Atlas' offer just because General Ironwood had been there at the right time.
It could honestly have been any country.
"What would you do?" he asked. "If you were in my situation and you didn't have a way to back out?"
Cinder's answer was immediate. "I'd run."
He sucked in a breath.
"To hell with them and their expectations," she said, waving a hand in the air. "To hell with what they claim is right or wrong. At this point, they've more than made their profit off you and you've been handed off to Vale so they can have their turn. I'd take that as a sign of what's to come. I would take the first opportunity available to slip away and never be seen again, though, of course, I'd make sure to do a lot of preparation first. Plan ahead, gather supplies, decide a route, and maybe even find myself some allies."
Cinder paused, suddenly, and laughed. It was a rich sound.
"But that's just me. You shouldn't let me dictate your destiny any more than you should let Atlas. I'm only saying what I'd do. Obviously, your situation is different." Cinder glanced aside, smiling suddenly. "Ah, our food and drink have returned."
"We have," said Angela, setting the trays down. "What were you talking about?"
"Nothing much," said Cinder. "Sharing our pasts and comparing notes."
"Y-Yeah," said Jaune, agreeing easily. "Nothing too serious. I'm just not used to having people to chat with who don't expect something out of me."
Cinder smiled slyly at him as he ducked his head and started eating. Elm would be furious at what they'd talked about, but it was just a hypothetical scenario. It didn't have to mean anything. It didn't have to…
But it could.
/-/
"How was your day?" asked Elm.
"Good. It was great. I had fun." Jaune was on his scroll, flicking through it, looking at various locations across Remnant. If they looked, and he was sure they were tracking his usage, then they might think he was just enjoying pictures of various landmarks and off-the-beaten-path holiday locations. That was fine.
"Do you have another date with Weiss planned?"
"Two days from now."
Elm huffed. "Am I going to get a full conversation out of you?"
"Probably not. I'm all talked out. Talking is all I've done all day and my voice hurts."
"Fine." Elm laughed and stood. "I have a teacher meeting to attend anyway. Something about keeping discipline during the festival, and I suppose I have to show up and take part. Fun. I'll see you around. Don't leave Beacon without my say-so."
"It's gone six. I'm not going anywhere."
He heard the door close and Elm's footfalls lead away but he didn't look up from his scroll. It was a hypothetical, and not at all something to be taken seriously. He had a family to think of where Cinder didn't, and his face was well-known across most of Remnant. It wouldn't be as simple as walking out of Vale and vanishing into the wilderness.
But planning for it was a distracting thought exercise.
Picking out a location, an escape route, deciding on what he'd wear and what name he'd go by. Planning how he'd smuggle himself out of Beacon, then out of Vale, and how he'd leave a false trail heading east to Mistral, before doubling back the other way and heading toward Vacuo. He thought of the roads, the boats, the travel, and how he'd find supplies. Where he would stop. How he'd find somewhere to live. He'd need money and his banks would be frozen, so he'd need to take out a lot in advance, unless he could smuggle it to others and then have them smuggle it back. They'd need to be trusted people.
It wasn't something that could be planned out on a night and that was perfect. It was an exercise that would keep him busy for much longer, and which would grant plenty of distraction from the things going on in his life.
And at the end of the day it was just a thought exercise, wasn't it?
It wasn't like he was taking it seriously…
Cinder advances her schemes.
Next Chapter: 25th May
Like my work? Please consider supporting me, even if it's only a little a month or even for a whole year, so I can keep writing so many stories as often as I do. Even a little means a lot and helps me dedicate more time and resources to my work.
P a treon . com (slash) Coeur
