RWBY is property of Roosterteeth! I only own my characters.

CHAPTER 19

Cinder took a deep breath, relaxing as she walked Beacon's moonlit halls. She had finally completed filling out all the paperwork Barnes had wanted her to. Her shoes clicked lightly against the floors tiles as she began to work her way towards her room.

Cinder couldn't deny that it felt odd to work alongside the same people she had actively been trying to destroy at one point. Thanks to the EDC, she and Emerald had gotten a chance to start over with a new perspective. She'd spent so many years blinded by hate that she had forgotten that there were still good people out there. Cinder allowed herself to smile softly.

She had been a bit skeptical at first, but the EDC had become her new home. The various soldiers that comprised the organization had welcomed her with open arms, despite her history. Barnes had vouched for her, protecting her from the Atlas and Vale councils when they came calling for her head. At this point, she trusted any of the members of the EDC to watch her back if needed, and in return, she'd make sure to keep a close-

Cinder paused and came to a stop as she heard noise from inside one of the offices she was passing. Ozpin's office. But what caught her attention wasn't the location, but the voice that was speaking, or rather yelling, on the other side of the door. She'd heard the voice daily for that last two years, but never with the tone and volume it was using now. Barnes was talking to Ozpin about something, and the EDC General sounded like he was furious. Against her better judgement, Cinder pressed her ear against the office door, straining to figure out what had made Barnes this angry.

"What the hell kind of answer is that!?" Barnes slammed a fist down on Ozpin's desk. "I'm not going to agree because you 'had a vision'!"

"Mr. Barnes," Glynda spoke from her position behind Ozpin, "please do not damage that desk. It's expensive, and I'm the one who will fill out the paperwork if it needs to be replaced."

"You have my deepest apologies, Glynda," Barnes snarled, "but I need a better idea of what the hell is going on."

"I'm afraid that information cannot be revealed to you at this time, Avery," Ozpin said calmly. "Just know that my foresights are rarely wrong."

"What good is keeping all these secrets doing for you, Ozpin?" the EDC General narrowed his eyes at the headmaster.

"I am only trying to work for the greater good of Remnant. The information I possess would be dangerous if it were to become public. That's why I am asking you and the other travelers from Earth to assist me."

"A 'greater good' that you don't feel like sharing in any amount of detail," Barnes snapped. "I'm not going to agree to send my troops to their deaths for a cause I know nothing about. Secrets and omitted intel is what causes missions to fail, Ozpin, not succeed. You may have convinced James to join you on whatever crusade you've started, but I'm out until you feel like sharing."

"I am sorry to hear that," Ozpin replied sincerely. "I hope that you will reconsider, but I realize that it is your right to deny the invitation. Have a good evening, Avery."

Barnes replied with a grunt of acknowledgment, then stormed his way towards the door.

Cinder quickly moved away from the door as she heard the nearing footsteps, ducking behind a pillar. Barnes stepped out into the hallway, sighing heavily. Cinder peeked around the edge of her hiding place, seeing the EDC General silhouetted in the moonlight, rubbing his temples with his hands.

"Cinder," Barnes greeted, "you can come out." He looked in her general direction.

"Age clearly isn't slowing you down any if you're that sharp..." Cinder muttered, stepping out of from behind the pillar. Barnes gestured for her to follow him away from Ozpin's office. As the two walked down the hall, Cinder continued. "How did you know I was there?"

"Your footsteps aren't quite as silent as you think," Barnes smiled.

"Guess I'll have to ask Anika to give me some pointers," Cinder commented. "So, what's going on with Ozpin?"

"I couldn't tell you. Not in any great clarity, anyway. There's a part of me that wonders whether he's just being paranoid."

"How so?" Cinder quickly threw a look over her shoulder to make sure no one was eavesdropping.

"He's acting like there's a war on the horizon because he had... 'a vision' or something like that. Then, he expects people to help him without asking any questions because it's 'for the greater good'," Barnes answered sourly.

"Isn't the whole idea of 'for the greater good' what the EDC is based around as well?"

"That's what protocol says," the General sighed. "But... rules tend not to care too much about the people who have to follow them. If we were to always follow protocol, all of the members of the EDC in Remnant would likely have died a long time ago."

"'Rules are made to be broken when needed', huh?" Cinder let out a puff of air and a smirk.

"Good, you have been listening to my spiels," Barnes normally would have chuckled, but his current mood seemed to prevent that. "You'll understand my unease with how Ozpin is handling things then."

"He's... He's so certain that there's a fight coming that you're worried he'll see a battle where there is none? And that he's asking you and the other people from Earth to help him fight and possibly die without knowing anything at all?"

"Yep," Barnes nodded solemnly. "You got a winner." He sighed again. "It's not the prospect of there being a fight that bothers me, it's that it feels like Ozpin and whoever else he's pulled into his inner circle are looking for one. They've clearly got something big they want to destroy or protect, but that means an enemy will dedicate immense effort on their end."

"And keeping information like that quiet until it's too late could result in immense numbers of people getting killed," Cinder finished his thought.

"Not just 'people', Cinder. You, me, Alex, Dimitri, Emerald... any of the people we care about. If you become so obsessed with doing things for the good of the big picture like Ozpin, you wind up forgetting about the living beings that comprise that larger world."

"I doubt that's actually how he views it," Cinder commented analytically.

"I'm sure you're right. Ozpin, for all his faults, doesn't seem like a completely uncaring individual... but that's how he can seems from the point of view of someone outside looking in..." The General took a deep breath. "Sorry for making you listen to this old man's rant."

"As long as you buy me a coffee or something, all is forgiven," Cinder yawned. Barnes smiled.

"I can do that."

She will turn against you, you know. The only person you can really trust is me.

Chaos attempted to drown out the voice in his head as Melody chatted incessantly beside him. Both the girl and the disembodied voice had been oddly... talkative today. Melody kept throwing looks over her shoulder and shivering.

"Hey, Chess," the silver girl called to get the Bloodline's attention.

"What?" Chaos replied irritably, his mood having been long brought down by the lack of silence for the whole day.

"Is it just me, or does it kinda feel colder than usual? Especially for Summer?" Chaos simply shrugged at the question, though he was unable to deny that the weather had been strangely frigid. Despite being early Summer, the temperatures seemed to have firmly settled on behaving as if it were late Autumn.

Chaos banished the idle thoughts. If he wasn't able to even hazard a guess as to why the weather was behaving oddly, what business did he have worrying about it?

You have more important things to worry about.

As much as he hated to agree with the voice, it was right. He and Melody had arrived at the edge of Mountain Glenn that afternoon. As usual, the Grimm had left them alone while they had worked their way through the ruins. The pair had eventually settled on staying in a relatively undamaged structure, a four-storied apartment building filled with peeling wallpaper and shattered windows.

The young Bloodline found himself staring out at the distant lights of Vale. He was close, so close to getting his revenge.

"What're you thinking about, Chess?" Melody's voice interrupted his thoughts. "You've been staring out that window constantly for like, two hours."

"I have business in Vale," Chaos answered shortly. "There are people that need to die."

"But, why?" Melody asked. The ex-Lord detected something odd in her tone. Fear? It didn't feel like it was for his potential victims.

Now... The voice thought to itself, deciding to exert what influence it could over its host, pushing the weeks of pent-up frustration and anger to boil over in an instant.

"Because I am Chaos!" the ex-Lord yelled out suddenly, slamming his first into the wall. The exposed plaster did nothing but cut the physically weak Bloodline's hand. "How dense could you possibly be!?"

"You don't have to-" Melody tried to start, only to be cut off.

"No! You don't get it! I'm not your friend! I never wanted to have you stapled to me! All you've done is hold me back!"

"Wait, Chess, why are you suddenly-"

"Shut up! I hate that name! I hate you!" A silence hung in the air as Melody only stared at him with wide, hurt eyes. Chaos breathed heavily, blood steadily dripping from his injured hand.

"I- I'm- s- sorry..." Melody choked out. Tears began to stream down her face. "I- I thought- that... maybe-" All the progress she thought she had made... all of it had been in her mind, hadn't it? She had always been alone, always would be. "I'm sorry."

Melody rose from her seat on a ruined bed and ran out the door, tears falling behind her. The sound of a door bursting open could be heard as she descended the stairs and exited out onto the street below. Her footsteps grew farther and farther away, until Chaos could no longer hear them.

The Bloodline turned away from the window to gaze upon the now empty room. Melody's bag lay abandoned on the floor.

Well done. The voice congratulated him. You finally dealt with the problem.

"I thought that you were worried she would warn somebody?" Chaos asked emotionlessly.

That's hardly a concern now that we are so close. Get some rest child, I trust our powers will return now that that worthless girl is gone.

"Right..." Chaos laid himself down on the floor. For some reason, various images of the girl he had just chased off flashed through his mind. His heart felt heavy as he remembered the odd warm sensation when she had embraced him. Her smiles. Her giving him a name... No. He had no time for such thoughts. Greene and the others came first. Once he was back up to full strength, he'd end them all... and that put a crazed smile on his face. The Bloodline of Discord closed his eyes, and let the frigid night air swallow him.

Melody felt herself begin to fall as her foot caught on the cracked rubble littering the streets of Mountain Glenn. She impacted the ground harshly, having made almost no effort to catch herself. She lay against the freezing concrete, tears continuing to puddle beneath her cheek.

Chess' last words to her echoed over and over in her mind. "I hate you". A phrase she had become all too familiar with since she had gotten her strange powers. No matter where she went, people would inevitably turn against her. They'd chase her away, usually out of fear. But, now it simply seemed that no one wanted her.

A set of soft footsteps drew her gaze. Melody was greeted by a lone Ursa which sniffed the air, looked directly at her, and padded off without a second thought. Not even Grimm thought she was worth anything. What kind of curse had she received? Why? What had she done to deserve being turned into a demon that absolutely everything shied away from?

Melody weakly pushed herself off the ground, a bloody dark-gray smudge on her cheek from when she had hit the aging pavement. Her gaze drifted to the distant lights of the Kingdom. Maybe she'd be able to disappear there... stay far away from Grimm and just... hide somewhere until she finally expired. She took a shaky step forward towards the lights, tears still blinding her. She just wanted this living nightmare to end.

A/N: This was a heavy one to write, for sure. I am a terrible person to characters. So, I've been wondering what you guys think of the story so far. Is it good? Bad? Batter or worse than LS? I'm curious what you all think.

Reviews, Follows, and Favorites are always appreciated! Let me know what you think! Got a question for me? Go ahead and leave one in a review, or if you don't want to share the answer, send me a PM. I will answer as quickly as I am able.