Note:

This AU is the result of one idea given life through a lot of misplaced creativity. Most of that creativity is not my own. Thanks to everyone who came up with this, you know who you are.

I'll try to update this weekly.

Damn it all.

Cinder was a woman who had a plan for everything. Plans upon plans upon plans. Some would have called her a control freak, but those who knew her simply considered her cautious. Cautious, but extremely competent. It's why Salem had trusted her with the destruction of Beacon. Trusted her with the immeasurable power of the Maidens.

Cinder had not planned for this.

As she stared down at the pregnancy tester, which she confirmed yet again, yes, did indeed read positive, she thought about the fool who had done this to her. Red hair. Bull horns. An entirely too dark outfit. All she had wanted was to put that faunus bastard Adam in his place and show him who was in charge, but unlike the many men she'd handled before he'd risen to her teasing. She had pushed him, he had pushed back, and Adam had proved to be just as, well, physical as her. Her cheeks reddened at the memory, and the despised pregnancy test she'd been trying to stare into compliance for the last half hour ignited in her hand. The molten plastic running onto the tiled floor of her bathroom did little to assuage her bitter mood.

In theory, this shouldn't have been a problem. Doctors dealt with teenage pregnancies all the time. Hell, Beacon practically had their own medical wing devoted to it, as putting a bunch of incredibly fit, hormone-ruled teenagers in mixed-gender dorms often led to predictable results. She snorted. Not that it mattered now that Beacon was gone. Nevertheless, Vale had their own doctors. If she wanted she could book an appointment tomorrow, mosey on into town and she'd walk out the hospital as the same woman she'd been for as long as she could remember. Unburdened. In control of everything she could ever want. On the path to the power that she had always dreamed about as a child. Things could be all according to plan once more.

The issue, unfortunately, lay with the word "want". Cinder grabbed for her scroll and thumbed the on button, but the phone number of the local Vale hospital, shining brightly up at her from the web page she had so frantically searched the night before, went untouched. Somewhere, deep down, something was holding her back. Maybe it was some motherly desire ingrained by her own difficult upbringing. Maybe she'd begun to go soft and the idea of normalcy was now as tantalizing to her as the rush of combat, or the thrill that ran through her when she had first tasted the powers of the Maidens. Maybe it was just hormones. But as she scowled down at the phone number that taunted her, she realized that her mind was already made. The brat would live, and she would live alongside the brat.

Standing up and turning to face herself in the mirror, a million different scenarios rushed through her head. Where would she go? What would Emerald and Mercury think? Her face paled as a much more dangerous thought ran through her head. What would Salem think? As far as she knew, she'd just decided to defy a literal goddess. Not for the first time, it occurred to Cinder that this was likely the worst choice she had ever made in her young, difficult life.

Cinder stood there, gazing at herself in front of the mirror, for a long while. She thought of the younger her, the her who had stared impishly at the mirror, wishing to be taller, or stronger, or anything other than the girl who couldn't fight back against her tormentors. Color returned to her face. She was taller now. Stronger too. A small flame ignited in her hand and her traditional smirk finally returned to her face, for the first time in what felt like ages. Cinder WAS powerful. And if anyone, anyone at all on the face of Remnant, could make this decision and decide their own destiny, it was her.

She stood to her full height, her resolve straightening alongside her spine, and threw open the bathroom door, striding out into the room where Emerald and Mercury watched curiously. She needed to make a plan.

Cinder smiled. She was good with plans.

Adam stepped off the Bullhead and into the clearing, bracing himself against the gale kicked up by the twin engines and signaling his pilot to take off. As a leader of the White Fang, he often had to take meetings suddenly, but this one seemed uniquely time sensitive. He'd received a call from Mercury of all people, and an urgent one at that. Mercury? Urgent? He could scarcely believe it. From what he'd gathered, it had something to do with Cinder, but Mercury hadn't given him any details beyond that.

Cinder. The thought of her, infuriating to him a few weeks ago, popped into his head unabated and dusted a smile across his features. Over the last few days he'd been forced to come to terms with their little escapade and Adam had ultimately decided that he was a fan of the matter. She had seemed to want it and deep down he was still hurting over Blake's betrayal. He supposed she was like Blake in a few ways, with her dark hair and bright eyes. Only she was stronger. Confident and defiant where Blake was skittish and overly-cautious. They were good traits to have for a White Fang operative, but romantically? He supposed it was no wonder things hadn't worked out between them.

He was pulled from his musings by a shock of green hair and a waving arm. Cinder's lapdog, that girl she always kept around, was waving for him near the tree line, behind which he knew their little operative base lay. What was her name again? Emilia? He picked up his pace.

"Adam." She greeted him curtly, giving him a nod and falling in step ahead of him. She might have been young and naïve, but she wasn't one to beat around the bush when it came to important matters. Adam could appreciate that.

"Morning. What's the issue? If it were urgent I would have expected Cinder to–."

Emerald interrupted him with a bark of laughter. The sound was, surprisingly, bitter. "You'll see. You'll be meeting with our boss today. Our real boss. Not Cinder."

Adam scratched his chin, unhappy with the revelation. He knew Cinder and her entourage worked for someone else, but he'd only heard vague details and a name. Salem. She was the one who had ultimately planned the raid on Beacon, which judging by how that had gone, made two things immediately clear to Adam: she was a very powerful and well-connected lady, and somehow, she could control Grimm. Before the attack, Adam had scoffed at the idea of such a thing. Now, the thought of facing her made his breath hitch. The dragon currently frozen above the city of Vale left little doubt in his mind that the stories were true.

Lost in his musings, Adam almost didn't notice when the pair arrived at the edge of the camp. It was a short-notice thing, established after Beacon's fall to harbor the White Fang members involved in the attack until they could get back to Menagerie. The camp was operated by his men as a sort of forward operating base, but Cinder had established a headquarters near the back, cleaner and bigger than the ramshackle quarters that had been set up for the various White Fang operatives that stayed here regularly. As he made his way through the tents, he received a fair number of cheers and salutes, all of which he waved down. His men respected him and he found it important to bond with them, but now wasn't the time for such matters.

He called out to the group quickly surrounding him and Emerald. "Keep working, everybody. Urgent business to attend to." A few men grumbled at that, but most peeled off and returned to whatever they had been doing beforehand without complaint. He mentally thanked Sienna for allowing him to choose his own, competent entourage.

Finally, the two made their way to Cinder's tent. Adam pulled the flap door aside for his companion, but the green-haired girl stopped short of the entrance.

"Just you. Her orders. I've got to catch up with Mercury anyhow." The girl's eyes flicked away from his, drifting to the floor at the silver-haired fighter's mention. There was a hint of apprehension there, as if she were eager to avoid being dragged into this meeting of his, but Adam noticed a little shine in her eyes at the mention of her colleague. Huh. Maybe he wasn't the only one participating in midnight escapades.

He stored that information away with a nod and stepped inside, allowing the girl to continue off towards one of the cooking campfires on the edge of camp.

The inside of the headquarters was surprisingly cozy for a temporary structure in the middle of the forest. A portion of the tent was sectioned off by curtain, containing Cinder's living quarters. He frowned as he noticed it had been emptied. Had Salem already assigned her elsewhere?

The rest had been set up as a mix of a lounge and a war room, with a map detailing the area surrounding Beacon sprawled across a wooden table. Around a small fire lay a collection of surprisingly well-furnished chairs. It was here that he sat himself down, absentmindedly filling a mug from the churning coffee pot roasting above the open flame. It was early, after all, and Adam would likely need to be mentally awake once Salem made her appearance.

A noise from behind had Adam turning instinctually, though the sight that greeted him was poor. From the back of the tent had emerged a bundle of tentacles and knife-like points. Atop this mass sat a smooth round orb roughly the size of his head, swirling with yellows and purples. He'd never seen anything like it before, but the black, white and red colors throughout its body left little doubt in his mind that it was a Grimm of some sort. Apparently Salem had decided not to grace him with her presence. Adam fought down the urge to draw Wilt and mentally prepared himself for what was to come next.

The creature floated eerily across the room, coming to a stop a few feet ahead of him. Slowly it lowered itself down, and Adam was surprised to hear a voice emanating from somewhere between the tentacles of the creature.

"Adam, yes?"

He nodded absentmindedly. If whoever was speaking was indeed Salem, he wished to keep the conversation as curt and courteous as possible. Her voice wasn't exactly hard on the ears, but there was an edge there he didn't like. The woman was clearly dangerous. He made to sip his coffee.

"Cinder has abandoned us."

The mug stopped an inch from his lips. Well, that explained things. Why Mercury and Emerald had seemed so flighty. Why she wasn't here in the tent, personally greeting him and acting as an intermediary for this little meeting.. Still, few things truly surprised Adam. Cinder was a woman driven by the pursuit of power, and he supposed if somebody had offered her better results elsewhere, he could see her turning tail. He just wished she had told him beforehand. They'd become somewhat close in the last few months.

His cheeks lightly flushed. Figuratively and literally close.

Composing himself, Adam lowered the mug away from his lips momentarily and addressed the creature across from him directly, making sure to employ the most pleasant and unassuming tone he could possibly muster.

"I'm sorry to hear that, Salem. Do you have any idea why?"

Satisfied with his contribution to the conversation, Adam once more raised the mug to his lips, savoring the smell of the warm drink within. He closed his eyes as he resolved to take that first, glorious sip that Salem's earlier revelation had momentarily denied him.

"I'm afraid our dear Cinder has become pregnant."

Beyond the grave, the ghost of a certain caffeine-addicted headmaster straightened. Somewhere, somehow, he knew somebody had just spilled their coffee.