Author's Note:

This chapter continues off from chapter 3. It's also a behemoth of a chapter for this story. Also, Chapter 9 should be up on Thursday. I hope you enjoy.

Nothing About

Chapter 8: They Also Mean Pain (Indeed)

Finally, I'm just about there.

Yes, she was indeed almost back to the base of operations she and her compatriots worked out of.

I can't wait to see what Cinder thinks.

Of course she couldn't wait to see Cinder's reaction to her, gift. She was pretty sure that she knew exactly how Cinder would react and if it did indeed go such as she thought, then Roman would be very agitated. And even better than that, he would be unable to do a single thing about the whole thing.

Maybe she would even have the chance to carry through with her revenge. Hopefully everything goes as planned.

She was confident that it would.

If not, I'll still stab him. He still needs to pay.

It always paid to have a backup plan in the event of failure though.

And maybe Emerald as well.

And a little something to cheer yourself up if the need arises.

But it won't.

No, it would not. Most assuredly.

Possibly.

In any case, she was close. As she approached the obscured entrance she thought on how odd it was for her little, companion, to have been so quiet for the duration of their trip. I wonder why? Maybe someone trained him before. Was the fury traveler even male? She didn't know. I doubt it'll matter to Cinder.

And now for the moment of truth, she thought as she entered the dwelling. It wasn't really though, not yet. She still had a ways to go before she reached the main room and even then Cinder might not be there. If she wasn't there then who knew where she would be. Perhaps, maybe in her room?

Taking her heads out of the clouds and other various stratospheric thoughts she noticed that she had passed through the last security checkpoint. Well passed over it anyways but who really cared who went in what ventilation shafts or sewage tunnels. It wasn't her fault that he never really did much to securely secure them. Whether it was an oversight or simply the more likely choice of negligence, it was practically glowing with a tri-colored sign inviting her to extort them.

Would it be right or would it be wrong to pick any other path that night? She liked to think that it would go against everything that she was.

And, maybe it would impress Cinder.

As her luck would not have it, Cinder was in the main meeting room or as her online friend and she liked to refer to it as, The Room of Plotting. Damn it! Still, she could work with it. She told her companion to go back and wait for her as she got ready. At least now she knew the creature the creature's gender. Now it's time to make an entrance.

With a lunge she threw herself from the metal confines of the ventilation shaft. Soaring through the limited space she turned until she was upside down and spun her legs around in her descent. Narrowly she missed the face of her partner. Touching the ground she continued to spin for a few more rotations before using the momentum she had gained to propel herself to her feet. Seeing looks of amusement as well as glares she gave a slight bow to her audience.

Before anyone else had a chance to speak up Torchwick dramatically exclaimed, "Oh by the grace of the moon! Young Neopolitan! I'm so glad that you finally found your way back to us. I was afraid that you might have gotten lost."

With his words her anger started to fester. She knew he was patronizing her and gloating at the fact that his ruse was successful even if it did seem to have not been for as long as he might have wanted. Inwardly she was beginning to form plans to rectify his attitude. He's definitely going to pay.

Whether he felt her glare or not he continued his dramatic performance. "Oh I was getting so worried for your safety! The thought that you might be lost out there all alone was churning my Squeedlyspooch something fierce. I thought we might have to get a map from the great Grimms above just to find you." He topped it off with clenching his fist and holding high above himself as if to point the stars and anything that might reside there. And to be dramatic.

Neo's eyes narrowed as she continued to glare disdainfully at Torchwick. I'll enjoy wiping that smug look from his face, she thought to herself as she snarled at him. Maybe I should cut it off. Would she have peace then? She doubted it. He was too much of an asshole to let that stop him.

But before either of them could continue Cinder spoke up. "Roman, if you do not stop then you will find out just how replaceable you are compared to her."

The combined words and sight of Cinder smiling as she said this and Torchwick's annoyed huff made Neo feel happy. She also felt proud because with this it meant that she had won this round herself and not her partner.

Seeing Roman stopped for now Cinder turned to Neo. Calmly she asked, "Were you successful in your task?" Neo's nod of acknowledgement had Cinder extend her arm retrieve the package.

Emerald, having been wondering about the assignment, asked, "What is it exactly that you had her retrieve? Why couldn't I have been sent to get it?"

Cinder's tone turned cold as she addressed Emerald. "You should know by now to not be questioning me about what I have ordered." She turned until she stared Emerald right in the eyes. "Do I need to remind you of your place."

Emerald, taken aback, stammered, "I-I apologize. I didn't mean to overstep my bounds and question your authority." She lowered her head.

"Good."

As Emerald turned away somberly Neo smirked. Was she happy because Emerald had been put in her place? Yes, yes she was.

Cinder turned back to the item she was holding. "To answer your question, I cannot reveal what it is for even I myself do not know what the contents of the package are." Just as she was about to turn and walk away Neo singled for her attention. "Yes?" Neo motioned to give her a moment.

"I wonder what's with her." Torchwick seemed to have recovered enough finally. Great, Cinder thought, just what I need right now. Why can't he just be quiet for more than a minute or two? Or not antagonize every single person or thing he ever meets? If he wasn't so useful sometimes, I think I would kill him. This is not the first time she has thought of this. Probably wouldn't work with his luck though. Yet this is the same outcome she comes to each time.

Before she was able to order him to be silent Neo had returned. With her she carried something behind her back. Though Cinder could not see it Torchwick must have been able to as his eyes narrowed at whatever it was.

"Why do you have that, thing?"

This must be good if it has him so upset.

"Get rid of it. Now!"

Seeing him get more and more worked up at whatever it was, Cinder stepped in and with a humorous tint to her voice commanded, "Now Roman, I'm sure whatever it is that she has brought is worth taking a look at. She's never disappointed me before and I can't see her starting now."

Neo imagined that last part as being said with a purr.

"No! It needs to be taken out of here right now. And do you honestly think she is doing this for you? She brought that damn thing here to screw with me! She knows I hate the detestable things and so she brought it here! Because of me!"

"Do you really believe that?"

Torchwick without a shadow of a doubt firmly answered, "Yes!"

Deciding to humor the quite startled man she calmly and with patronizing tone directed at Torchwick asked the tri-colored thief, "Did you bring, whatever it is you're still hiding behind your back, to quote unquote 'screw' with him?" Neo negatively shook her head in response. Turning back to face the seething man Cinder stated, "See? She hasn't done it to mess with you. I actually believe it is a gift for me." She glanced to Neo to confirm her suspicions.

Roman was livid at this exchange. "She lying! Didn't you see her smirk?" Just as he was about to continue an epiphany came to him. "Unless you did see it." Yes the gears were turning now. "You're in on it. Together! Are the rest of you in on this as well?! Emerald?"

Emerald just shook her head at the entire situation. "I have no clue what is even going on right now. Why are you freaking out so much?"

He ignored her question as he continued, "And you Mercury? I thought we had bonded. I looked at you like a son whom I hated." Torchwick finally did stop for a moment as he noticed that he couldn't see Mercury. "Where is Mercury? Wasn't he just here?"

It was Emerald that finally spoke up after no one in the room said anything for a few ticks. Shrugging she said, "He left when Neo first popped out of the air vent."

He was befuddled at this news. "Huh. I could have sworn that I saw him here this whole time." Instantly he seemed to get have regained the rage that was once fueling him. "It doesn't even matter. If he was here I know the bastard would have been in on it. He reminds me of myself sometimes and that's exactly what I would have done if I were in his place."

"You need to calm down." Cinder tried to cut him off and get him to cease, in her opinion, his foolish behavior. "You will be of no use to us if you're going to be continue like this." She was sure her boss would agree with her assessment on this matter. Maybe.

"I'll calm down when that thing is taken out of my sight and my base!"

Cinder's eyes narrowed. "Do not forget your place, Roman." She moved and gestured slightly as she spoke to him; her voice lowered with a dangerous edge. "While I may let you have some degree of control for this base and its ongoings, I am still the one who is in complete control. You follow my orders. You do as I say. This base is mine. You, are mine. If I decide you are doing an unsatisfactory job, then I will dispose of you. Do not forget that I am much more powerful and much more dangerous than you." She stepped closer to Torchwick. "If I say that it is staying here, then it is staying here. Do you understand?" Her eyes glowed with a simmering orange glow as she talked.

Roman sensed the turn of the atmosphere and shrunk away slightly. "Fine." He took a moment to compose himself, trying to maintain some sort of dignity that he had left. "I guess I'll be going out for a bit. If you need me, well don't." And with that he left. Presumably to leave the base if he followed through with what he said.

Slightly stunned Emerald asked, "Should we be worried about what he might do?"

"No. He knows what would happen if he betrayed us, but just in case I'll have him watched. I'm sure I know where he is going." Cinder turned to face Neo. "Now since that's done, what is it you brought me?"

Gently but with flair, Neo pulled the item from behind her back and presented it. It wasn't Emerald's muttered and sarcastic response though that made her smile widely as she did- it was Cinder's jubilant reply.

"Oh my grimm! He's so cute!"

Yes, it was exactly how she thought it would be.

Cinder for the moment, despite her excitement, held herself back from approaching closer and asked, "He is a he, right?"

Neo nodded in affirmation to the request.

"Can I hold him?" she asked with a more subdued voice than before.

Once again Neo nodded.

"I love him!" Cinder slightly shouted this as she gently grasped the dog from Neo's hands.

Neo knew she would.

Cinder played with the small quadruped for a minute before she spoke again. "Thank you, Neo. So, so much. I don't know how to repay you for everything." Neo shrugged at the praise. "No, you deserve it. Give me a few days and I will have your reward." She inclined her head and started to smile before dropping it when Emerald cut in.

"Why does she deserve a reward? She didn't do anything!"

"Emerald, remember my earlier warning." Cinder was not thrilled at Emerald's interruption. Gone was the excitement, the warmth from her voice. Now in its place was a cold, threatening tone.

She either didn't notice or didn't care as she continued, "No! I want to know why she always gets special treatment no matter what she does! She never gets punished as harshly as everyone else does when she fails and no one else around here gets anything extra for completing our jobs. Look at this moment right now!" Her voice continued to climb as she spoke.

"You're going on like this is some big deal. Well what did she really do? She completed a simple assignment that I'm not even sure she should have been sent out on, and delivered a package. That's it! Oh and let's not forget, she brought a damn dog back. Do you even know where it came from or if it has anyone who might come looking for it?"

"I-" Cinder started to say before she was cut off. As Emerald spoke her expression morphed into one that was crestfallen.

"No you don't but you know what, I do," she said frantically. "That mutt belongs to a student at Beacon, one you yourself classified as high risk. Do you know which one? Ruby Rose. That dog belongs to her and her sister and they will come looking for him, I know they will. You sent us to infiltrate and get close enough to determine risk factors of several targets and I have. Mercury may shirk his duties most of the time but I don't. I know what I am talking about because I know them well enough to judge how they would respond to a situation."

Her demeanor shifted as she talked. "They would respond as a team with the other two and even then it wouldn't be just them. They would manage, with no real effort, to get others involved. We know of some of the people close to them and that includes several other high profile targets that we have determined to be high risk, ones that you yourself declared. I know I don't know everything that's planned but I know enough to reasonably say that we can't have that kind of heat on us. I still say that it's bad enough that Torchwick is so widely known but I understand that was a calculated risk. This however wouldn't be and we can't afford to have anyone else be as publicized."

Even Neo could see the reasoning in Emerald's argument. Regretfully, she could even agree with it. She wasn't happy about that.

"If you keep this dog it will only cause us problems." Emerald's voice had calmed finally, lowering in its intensity. "Our covers could be compromised or they could discover our base. Knowing who they are connected to and who they could have helping them, can we really risk this? Are you really willing to risk everything that we, and more importantly that you, have been working towards on this?"

Cinder begrudgingly let out a simple and shameful tinged, "No."

"Then let me take Zwei back with me to Beacon. It's getting late enough that I should start heading back."

Cinder stared at Zwei with a look of longing and what might possibly be construed as a very slight indeed pout. "His name is Zwei?"

"Yes."

"That's adorable." Cinder sighed as she softly spoke.

Emerald as well sighed as she responded, "I know." It took her a few moments as she watched Cinder continue to play slightly to speak again. "I'm sorry for speaking out. I'll take whatever the punishment is that you decide for me." Emerald bowed her head submissively as she awaited Cinder's verdict.

She gave a small chuckle. "Not to worry, it won't be anything too bad. You're right about not keeping him. With any luck we would have had Branwen joining them or at least aiding them. We're not equipped or ready for that. Thank you for helping me to understand that."

Emerald wanted to ask about the other point she talked about but knew that this was not the time to bring it up. Even when she said it just a bit ago it wasn't the time. With nothing left to say or wanting to worsen her situation, she stood there silently staring down towards the floor and waited for Cinder to dismiss her.

She didn't have to wait much further thankfully as Cinder soon walked up to her. Gently, she placed Zwei into her arms. Once she did she placed a finger underneath her chin and pulled it upward so that she would meet her eyes. "However, you will do well to remember how much worse it could be. It is because only Neo and you were here that I am letting you get away so lightly. If you ever question me like that again in front of others, you will be much worse off. You are not nearly as irreplaceable as you believe."

Her eyes and tip of her finger glowed faintly as she finished. Emerald wanted to flinch at the pain but bit back any response, knowing that this was Cinder being merciful. With her power she could make her feel much more pain, more than she could have possibly ever felt in her life. Enough to make her wish and maybe even beg for death.

Cinder finally stopped, leaving behind a patch of scorched skin a example of her work. Sparing no additional glance to her underling, she motioned to Neo and both left the room. Neo however did glance behind her as they did and let a smug smile be the last Emerald saw of them.

Though still wanting to express some semblance of the pain she felt, Emerald held herself from doing it as she began to make her way out of the base. No! I will not let this get to me. I will not let it show. For some reason she looked at Zwei as they walked through a hallway. He radiated a presence that invited her to stand down, to not close herself so tightly.

She hated it.

I'm done with that, she reminded herself. Don't make that mistake. Never again.

It took Zwei and her over a hour to make it back to anything resembling civilization. Even then it was only the forgotten ruins of a city, though they were in surprisingly good condition. One could mistake them for an in use city that had no one walking around in it without the proper background knowledge or context.

The two drifted along for about another hour. "I'm kind of surprised," Emerald told Zwei. He stared up at her curiously as she continued, "I would have thought that there would be someone here. Some kind of lowlife maybe or even a runaway Faunus but no, there's no one. I haven't even seen a single grimm. Usually you would at least see like a baby Nevermore but I haven't even seen that. Don't you think that's weird?"

Emerald felt strange asking Zwei, a dog, that question and even just talking to him. She usually had no problem dealing with long stretches of silence but for some reason she felt awkward this time. Maybe it had to do with the events of earlier. Zwei nodding at her question, at least that's what it looked like to her, helped lessen that feeling.

Just as she was about to say more a noise some distance away drew their attention. Slowly they made their way to the location they believed the sound to be coming from. As the moved closer they were able to identify that it was voices. She motioned for Zwei to remain silent as she snuck up to whomever it was that was speaking.

What are they doing here? She was confusedly surprised to find out whom it was that they had heard talking.

"Uh, Ruby? Weiss? Why are you two out here?" Even Zwei seemed slightly surprised to find the two where they were. For a minute there was silence between the all. No one moved and it was as if the air and wind itself had died. Just as Emerald was about to ask them again Weiss spoke up.

"Why?" she whispered. "Do you know where we are? Do you even know where is here?"

Emerald was startled at her tone. Weiss spoke as one who had accepted the futility of their situation and awaited the condemnation that would be bestowed upon her. With a slight stutter she asked, "Are, you okay?" Truthfully, she was kind of afraid of what the answer would be. She had never seen the heiress act like this.

"How could I not okay?" Weiss stood up from the bench she and Ruby had found. "It's as if the deities themselves have answered my prayers! Time has lost all meaning and definition! My refusal of the acceptance of its existence has led to its ceasing of function. With my triumph I have proven my existence. I have found that I am! But this cannot be true. If I have defeated a shard of existence, then this existence is not real. If this is not real then I am not real. I reject this sentience of the singularity of existing. If I am not then everything is as well. Nothing matters. Everything we do, everything we believe to drive us, is a lie. Everything and nothing is predetermined as we are all but microscopic, insignificant playthings created by the godhead! In my rejection I have found freedom. In embracing the truth I have found shackles. I have achieved the journey and ascended! I exist in all dimensions and no where in time." With a flourish she summoned a tiny nevermore that appeared still and lifeless. She threw it to the ground in front of Emerald and declared, "I have now taken over the world!"

She had no clue on how to deal with this. Turning to Ruby, hopefully sane she prayed, she asked, "What's going-"

"Don't put too much into what she's saying." Ruby appeared nonchalant as she answered. Since Zwei and Emerald had arrived she had been slumped on the bench. One arm helped to support her head that hung over the top and the other one lied limp at her side. "She hasn't been taking today so great."

"What?" She was befuddled.

"Yeah, we've been pretty much lost since this morning. She hadn't taken that very well and we haven't really had much to eat or drink. I don't think that has helped things. See she wasn't this bad earlier. Just saying everything she was thinking. It was only about an hour or so ago that she started this." Ruby shrugged her shoulders at the last part. It was hard to tell how long it had been exactly.

She thought for a moment about what Ruby had told her. "... Okay." I guess that could make sense. Trying to get the conversation back to a somewhat sane train of thought she asked, "Well, uh, what are you doing out all the way out here? How did you get lost?"

Ruby sighed before she began. "It started off with us just wanting to hang out and explore Vale. So we went to Vale. Then we got lost. We couldn't find anybody and then Weiss started getting like this so we decided to take a break. We realized we had both left our scrolls at Beacon and that neither one of us had any lien. So we looked around a bit more and decided after a few hours to rest. Then you showed up and now we're here."

"That's all?"

"Yep."

"Did you know that you aren't in Vale?"

"Nope, but it doesn't surprise me. I thought I recognized nothing."

Emerald let out a weak chuckle. "Right…so do you want to follow me out of here? I happen know my way around."

"If it's not a problem, sure."

"Nope. No problem at all. I was on my way back to Beacon myself. That's why Zwei is with me. I found him near here actually. Was he with you two at some point?" She had been wondering about that since Neo brought him? How did she get him?

"I was wondering why he was with you. And no, he wasn't with us today. I mean we saw him this morning before we left so it's not like we haven't seen him for awhile. Well actually, it has kind of been a while because we've been gone for most of the day but really that's not that long. So have we not seen him for a long time? It's kind of like a yes or no question but they both apply for the answer. You know what I mean? I'm not sure I really do."

"Yeah, I get it."

Ruby nodded as she said, "That's good. At least one of us does but I don't know why he was all the way out here. Maybe he was trying to find us? I'll have to ask Yang. She was supposed to be watching him." She paused for breath before she turned to Emerald. "Thanks for finding him though. That would have just been great, wouldn't it? Finally get back and then find out that they lost Zwei! That wouldn't have been good."

Thinking back to earlier Emerald replied, "Yeah. I can imagine it wouldn't be. For anyone I bet."

A shrug was shrugged in response. "You're probably right." She stood up and look around as she brushed off her clothes. "Anyways, we should get moving right?"

"Yeah. We've lost a lot of the light already and we still got a ways to go. Can you grab Weiss?" She motioned to the heiress who at that moment was regaling Zwei with tales of a fantastical world filled with gods, foxes and cats that practiced necromancy. "I don't think she'll listen to me and to be honest, she's kinda freaking me out."

"Yep." Ruby's voice spoke of acceptance.

The mysterious Emerald turned to the hooded one. "So that's what you meant when you said she started narrating." And thus she spoke.

"Yeah. C'mon Weiss. We're going home." But was it in a tree? She may never know.

And so they finally left after making sure each member of their party was following. By going along a slightly longer path to avoid most possibilities of trouble, the would hopefully reach Beacon within a couple of hours.

As long as nothing happened.