Ruby's first kiss happened during her second year at Signal. She'd barely known the girl when she confessed her crush on Ruby. She didn't really know what to expect, or how she was supposed to feel, but she was a pretty good kisser. Unfortunately, Yang had walked in on them and threatened the poor girl enough to make her avoid Ruby for the rest of the year.

Her second kisses were also at Signal, also during her second year, but to a boy. They'd been assigned to a history project together, and he'd taken her to see a movie. He was cute, sweet enough for Ruby to let him kiss her, and a good enough kisser for Ruby to call herself bi. They totally bombed that project, though, and he blew up at her for it.

Romance just didn't seem worth it after that. Too much maintenance, and she had too much to focus on. That was, until she met Weiss.

Her third kiss was at Beacon Academy, during her second year. After knocking out the guy who blew up their school and allegedly murdered Glynda Goodwitch, her partner had apparently decided it was an opportune moment to smooch her.

And it was, without a doubt, the worst kiss Ruby had ever experienced.

Weiss' warm, dry lips gracelessly rammed against hers, slamming Ruby's own lips against her teeth and splitting the bottom one down the middle. Her upper lip, which had been cleft from a glass shard, erupted with burning pain as the sensitive tissue was abused.

"Mmmph!" Ruby grunted, eyes wide as her partner delivered the unexpected, painful smooch, lone hand white-knuckle gripping the front of her cloak. Anger, concern, and affection all surged across the bond, a trifecta that combined with the kiss to make Ruby's head swim.

She pulled away regardless, hand covering her now-bleeding, smashed lips. "Jeez!" She screwed her eyes shut, trying her best to push the stabbing pain to the back of her mind. "A little warning first!" She muttered through the uninjured side of her mouth.

Weiss' eyes were wide as saucers, and her usually pale face was lit up like a Peaceday tree. She seemed taken aback at her own actions. Dread shambled over the bond. "I-I didn't…" she stuttered, fingers drifting over her own lips.

Blake's eyebrows leapt up her forehead. "Uh, what."

Yang's hair blazed to life, and her eyes immediately snapped to a bright scarlet. Blake was too stunned to stop her as she stomped to the heiress, nearly ripping her already-shredded shirt off as she yanked the collar backwards. "Wh— aaaiiiiiinAGH!" She reeled back and cradled her throat in her hands, hunching over as she moaned in pain.

"Yang!" Ruby called, reaching for her sister.

Yang looked up, but not at her sister. Her scarlet gaze was firmly, murderously on Weiss.

"Woah, sis, it's okay! What's wrong?" Ruby tried to lace her voice with a comforting tone as she placed herself between her partner and her sister.

"Guys?" Blake said from outside the conflict, her words falling on deaf ears.

Ruby could feel her sister's muscles tense under her skin as she growled. It was an odd, unfamiliar sound, and Yang had to screw her eyes shut to bear the pain.

"What's wrong?" Ruby pleaded. Even Weiss was cautiously approaching, concerned at the brawler in a rare moment of writhing pain.

"Yang?" Weiss tried to reach out to her, but her wrist was grabbed in a flash. Yang's grip was like a vice, making Weiss whimper.

"Yang!" Ruby chastised, trying to separate the brawler's grip from her partner to no avail.

"Guys!" Blake called again, unheeded.

"Yang! Please, I'm sorry!" Weiss cried, shorn limb reached forward fruitlessly, the pain dropping her nearly to her knees. She felt her radius and ulna strain against the steel grip, on the verge of snapping.

A chunk of debris struck the side of Yang's head. Her hair blazed even brighter as she whipped around, then completely died when he saw the culprit was her own partner.

"Not the time!" Blake yelled, pointing at the prone Adam.

Or, he was prone. Now, his whole body was throwing off black and crimson sparks as he pushed himself up. His head came up suddenly, swirling eyes locking directly onto Ruby. He pulled back up to his feet, movements so rigid and precise they looked mechanical. "You."

The voice pushing past his mouth wasn't his own. It was completely feminine, and spoke with an immensely powerful, matronly tone. His lips didn't even move when it came out.

He stood perfectly still, gaze wide and firmly locked with Ruby. After a long, tense moment, he laughed— rather, the voice laughed, its cackling sounds passing through his open mouth. "I should have known."

Adam strode forward, steps awkward like he was pulled by puppet strings. Everyone snapped back into their combat stances, drama forgotten as their weapons leveled with him.

He came even closer, almost to the tip of Weiss' rapier. His eyes addressed her briefly, lip quirking with a sneer before focusing on Ruby again. His mouth barely opened as the words came slithering out. "You look just like your mother."

Ruby locked up, her silver eye widening. Crescent Rose shook in her hands. The determination on her face suddenly melted away, replaced by a piercing, undeniable fear that rattled across her entire body and gripped the bond. "M-m-my mom?" Her jaw barely moved as the trembling words escaped past her lips. "You know my mom?"

Laughter shuddered out of his mouth. He leaned forward, making Weiss step back as the tip of her rapier threatened to pierce his chest. "Better than anybody else. I killed her, after all."

A beat passed. Ruby's hands tightened around her deformed weapon, knuckles turning white. The fear twisted in her chest, churning. Shifting. Changing.

He scoffed as his legs rigidly pulled him back to the nodachi. "Believe what you want."

Weiss stepped forward again, threat on her lips, when the bond with Ruby began to stir. The fear had shrunk away, replaced by a bubbling heat. It boiled over the bond, yanking it tight and forcing Weiss to look at her partner.

Myrtenaster clattered to the ground, dropped by a shaking left hand. She remembered the forest, the girl slaughtering Grimm by the dozen, covered in black ichor. She remembered the screaming, the garbled cries— Rosenwache up, catch the blade, deflect and rotate— reaching, reaching— blood, ligaments, muscle, bone, dripping onto the forest floor. The eyes. Silver irises marked by flecks of red. Only now, there were no flecks.

Just a singular eye, glowing a piercing crimson.

Rage flooded the bond.

A flurry of petals screamed towards Adam, materializing into the Ruby that Weiss had nightmares of. She hung in the air over Adam's head, features twisted with pain and rage as she cried out, Crescent Rose falling like a guillotine.

Adam's arm whipped out, elongating to take his nodachi before snapping back like a taut rubber band, catching the scythe overhead. Strike thwarted, Ruby let gravity take her, her curved blade hooking on Rite as she swung down, both feet out to stomp into the Faunus' gut.

Adam scoffed, relinquishing a hand from Rite to instead wrap his clawed fingers around an incoming leg. He yanked her down, nearly pulling Crescent Rose from her grasp as he threw her to the floor.

Ruby collapsed into petals before her back could hit the floor. Her cloud split around him, but he'd seen the trick before. He blindly slashed behind himself, knowing the girl would be just behind and above him, scythe high to end their fight with as few blows as possible.

Rite sailed through the air, unimpeded. He felt the blades crash into his legs, his Aura barely holding against the blow as he was swept off his feet. She appeared again above him, fury across her face, crimson burning over silver, the bladed butt of her weapon driving down, straight to his heart.

He moved with inhuman speed, arms moving precisely and rigidly as he brought Rite over his chest. The spear-point impacted the flat of his blade. The hard stab pushed the sword hard against Adam's chest, but Rite drank it greedily, vibrating as kinetic energy surged into it.

Adam pushed up with his sword, forcing the girl off of him as he kipped up to his feet, then immediately began hounding her with wild slashes. She danced backwards, but was too enraged to be put on the defense. As Adam dipped right, sword low to cut up and across, Ruby slashed downwards to intercept the blow, her face a mask of unrelenting fury.

Rite met Crescent Rose at the base of her head, where the snath joined the blade assembly. Metal sang against metal. Ruby's teeth ground against each other as she pressed against the clash with all her weight, ignoring the sharp, stabbing pain in her wounded shoulder.

Adam met her eyes, and the being that puppeteered his body hummed, pleased with herself. To think that Summer had let her bloodline become so sullied, marring her nearly unmatched ability with that blonde idiot's uncontrollable fury. Red overpowered her perfect silver, leaving the poor girl hopeless. She would end up just like her mother, only as an even bigger disappointment.

Adam's Semblance activated. Kinetic energy burst from Rite.

The sword sheared through Crescent Rose, separating the head from the body as it passed through the metal and scored the girl's meager Aura enough to make it shatter. Ruby was left to stare, dumbfounded, as her scythe became a staff. Just as quickly as it had come, red seeped back behind panicked silver. Dread dropped onto the bond.

Salem's joy pulled Adam's lips into a satisfied grin.

Yang sprung into action, leaping towards her sister. Blake threw Gambol Shroud.

Weiss stood still, watching helplessly as the sword passed through the scythe, then came arcing down for another strike. The world dragged itself at a crawl around her, time slowing seemingly just to give her a better sight of her girlf— partner being decapitated. She'd just kissed her.

She hadn't been able to help herself. She was so mad at Ruby, too angry to string together the words that would describe how much she cared for that dolt, how much she hated when she put herself in danger, how, over the summer break, she was the only thing keeping Weiss from having a complete breakdown, and how seeing her again had been the one thing that made her truly happy to return to Beacon.

It was all too much to put into words, so she didn't. She just kissed her; Weiss' first kiss. It had been electric. And it would be the last. There was nothing Ruby could do to block the attack, and no Aura to activate her Semblance. Yang and Blake were too far and too slow.

The sword fell, just as slow as the world around it. A lone silver eye locked onto Weiss, pleading. The bond surged with a jolt of desperation.

Her first kiss. There should be more— there needed to be more. She wouldn't stand for it. This scum, this absolute nobody blew up her school, murdered her favorite teacher, killed or hurt even more of her peers, and now it had the audacity to kill her precious dolt— the one shesaw fit to grant her first kiss? She was Weiss fucking Schnee! Who the fuck was this trash!

Ruby screwed her eyes shut, knowing the blade would come. All the anger had melted away the moment she locked eyes with Weiss, and realized this would be the last time she saw her. The blade touched her forehead. She would be vivisected. Like a final send-off, she felt a jolt and a surge of warmth— the bond.

Rite clanged, redirected by a thin, silver rapier.

The air caught up with Weiss, wind blowing her hair forward. Ruby's lone eye watched, wide with amazement, as a spray of pink petals, their hue so pale they were almost white, drifted by before fading into nothing. Weiss stood, resplendent before the great bull Faunus and the being that was puppeteering him.

Adam was only surprised for a moment, but it was more than long enough.

Yang wrapped him in a headlock from behind, then rocked back with all her might. His feet lifted off the ground as she pulled him over, dropping onto her back and planting her feet just above his ass. She pressed up with both legs, launching the Faunus.

Weiss, ignoring her own miraculous feat of speed, opened a glyph above him, summoning a huge, plated arm. Its massive fist slammed into Adam's gut and sent him into the floor. Debris and cracked tile flew into the air, concealing his body in a plume of dust and smoke.

Ruby stood still, leaning partially on the remaining staff of her weapon. She stared at her partner. The heiress, somehow oblivious to her miraculous feat of speed, sheathed her rapier again, then reached out for Ruby. She was saying something, but Ruby couldn't hear her. She was too focused, too confused. Thoughts darted in her brain, emotions jerked her back and forth. How did she do that? Crescent Rose is completely FUBAR! How the heck did Weiss do that? Why was this Adam guy here? Oh, Dust, Weiss kissed her! On the lips! In front of everybody! Wait, didn't she have a nightmare about this guy? What did he know about her mom? Was he finally de— uh, out?

Weiss wrapped a hand around her wrist, snapping her out of her reverie. "Come on, Ruby! We have to go!"

Ruby shook her head, then shouted to the others. "Let's go!" She took the shorn staff with her. As much as it pained her to leave the blade assembly behind, she couldn't deny the staff would be more useful to their survival.

The others darted off without another word, leaving the prone Adam behind.


Adam opened his eyes, then let out a hacking cough as his gasp for air filled his lungs with dust and debris.

He rolled forward, out of the plume, and found himself in a wholly unfamiliar place. Some kinda hallway, very bougie, very… academic. At least, it probably would be, if the whole thing wasn't drowned in an ugly red light, had smoke pooling on the ceiling, and was swelteringly hot. He could hear crackles and snaps in the distance, but couldn't discern anything that would make the place any more familiar.

He shook his head, trying to clear the strange fog that weighed on his brain. It felt like something was pressing into his skull, fogging the edges of his vision. He tried pushing himself to his feet, only for a pair of black claws, inky and undulating with an odd texture, appeared below him, pressing into the ground.

He scrambled backwards, and only felt his heart jolt harder when a pair of weird goat-legs entered his line of sight. Too weirded out for this shit, he reached for Wilt and Blush.

The black hands moved to his hip, and grasped nothing.

Adam's breath hitched. His heart hammered against his ribcage.

What the fuck.

He tried moving his legs. The hooved things under him twitched and kicked, obeying his commands.

What. The. Fuck.

Slowly, shakily, he got back to his feet. Or hooves. What-the-fuck-ever. He stumbled, falling back to his knees. Dust, were these things fucking stilettos? He couldn't fucking walk on these! What the fuck!

His head pounded, memories pulsed into his mind, too much squeezing in at once— his head felt like it was going to explode. He cried out and gripped his throbbing skull, hoping he could physically hold it together.

He remembered.

Marital, escape, the Bullhead, the explosion— that motherfucker tried to kill him! He growled, forcing himself back to his feat and throwing his gaze around, hoping to find something he could use to skin that fucking wolf.

He nearly tripped again when he saw a sword lying a couple yards away, all too eager to run to it before getting used to his weird fucking legs. He stumbled towards the wall, leaning against it for support. Adam shuffled forwards, one foot— hoof, ugh— after the other, slowly. His head kept hitting the wall— well, not his head, something on his head, making him investigate with his freaky, clawed (which was admittedly pretty tight) hands.

His horns were gone. His horns, that is, the puny embarrassments that barely poked out of his head and earned him plenty of jeers during his younger years— in a time before he realized he didn't have to take shit from anybody.

He felt the things on his head, and found a smile worming its way onto his face. Okay, this was sick. Whatever the fuck happened to him, even with the fucked legs, these made it more than worth it. They were huge!

Remembering where he was, he continued his unsteady shuffle towards the sword, getting more confident in his balance with every step. The power he could feel in his legs, the way he had to hold himself back from bolting full speed… It felt good. He felt strong. His last few steps to the weapon were unsupported, but steady.

He sneered. Jeez, what an ugly thing. Looking down at the weapon, he wasn't expecting to be such a… washing pole. The thing was stupidly long, completely unreasonable for fighting in a hallway like this, and had a weird texture: inky black and undulating, just like his arms. It was… weirdly familiar. He shrugged and picked up the ugly thing.

The pressure in his head increased, nearly making him drop the weapon. He hissed, falling against the wall as a hand gripped his skull. "Fuck!" He cried, voice torn and gravelly, unfamiliar.

It took a few minutes for the pain to become bearable, made worse by the boiling heat in the corridor increasing. A plume of smoke belched into the hallway, washing over him and making his eyes sting and giving him a hacking cough.

He coughed, making his head throb. He coughed and coughed— he couldn't stop. He smacked his fist against his chest, but it achieved nothing. He kept coughing, the pounding in his head only worsened.

The sword clattered to the ground as he fell to his knees, clutching his head in his hands. It felt like nails were being hammered into his brain. He kept coughing, hacking up a spray of black bile that splattered on the floor.

He stared at the fluid, body wrenching with every cough— it was all he could do. More fluid sprayed on the floor, eventually forming a pool of the stuff. Inky, viscous black ooze, like his hands, like the sword. It rippled, undulating on its own.

A new pain joined as his hacking continued to widen the puddle of liquid. Something burrowing under his skin, deep in his body, worming its way to his heart. He gripped his chest, his heart thumped and rattled, his whole body jolting with every beat. He could feel it reverberating in his bones, he could hear it pumping in his ears, every vein in his body strained against his skin, bulging, pulsing— even in his eyes.

He reached out, shaking hand blindly grabbing for anything. The sword found his hand again. He gripped it tightly, praying it would offer him some kind of respite.

Everything pulsed, and he felt something pop inside of him. The coughs stopped suddenly. Black fluid flowed freely through his nose, his vision darkening as more of it trickled from his eyes. Holy fuck. Fuck.

The pool below him grew, then rippled, then churned. He stared down at it, black fluid drooling past his lips.

The inky ooze pulled away from the center, revealing a spot of white. It kept pulling away, more white, a red gem, black lines, a pale ridge, black orbs marked by red circles within— eyes. A pale face rising in the pool, black markings like veins at the edges.

Its mouth didn't move, but Adam felt the words slither into his mind, overpowering his own thoughts. A matronly voice, so caring it was creepy, rang in his head.

"I am sorry, Taurus. I may have mishandled you."

He scrambled backwards, feet kicking at the puddle as he desperately retreated. It scattered, only to immediately pull itself back together, larger than before. The face rose further out of the pool, pulling a tall, equally pale body with it. Its hands rose to its sides, seemingly revealing in its own presence, before its head dropped, crimson eyes leveling at the prone, panting Faunus. It looked straight out of one of his mother's ghost stories.

The voice slithered into his mind again, silencing his own thoughts. "Ah. You're alive." The last word had a rise of curiosity, and the apparition's eyebrow quirked.

Adam swung his sword desperately, hoping to ward the specter of death from him, but it caught the blade between two fingers.

It frowned. "Why are you afraid? You don't know me?"

Adam tried to pull his sword back, but the thing's grip was sure, even between just two fingers. "Get the fuck away from me!" He sputtered through inky bile in his mouth.

It appeared in front of him suddenly, face taking up his view. He tried to swing a fist, but it just grabbed his wrist. He tried to headbutt it, but a finger landed on his forehead, pushing him back.

The digit remained on his head, and the thing closed its eyes, seemingly deep in thought. He felt a strange energy ebb through his body, originating from the creature's fingertip.

It reverberated through him, filling him. Streaks of tingling heat ran along his flesh in odd patterns, following tracks that felt oddly familiar. He looked down at his own body, and found graying, faded lines in jagged patterns all across the exposed part of his torso. As the energy rolled through him, the faded black lines turned darker, saturating until they were pitch-black, with the same undulating, inky texture as his hands. "Wh'thfuck?" He mumbled, barely conscious.

He felt his pounding head recede, the fluid pouring from his eyes and nose slowed to a trickle, then stopped. His vision began to clear again, allowing him to see the person more clearly, at least enough to tell she was a creepy woman in a black dress. But the longer he stated at her pale skin, her dark veins, her piercing red eyes, the more his mind screamed that this was someone he knew.

He could remember her, and he felt an odd sense of joy at that notion. Salem was here, for him.

Adam shook his head, forcing the warm feelings away. What the fuck? He didn't know this lady! He pulled his head away, breaking contact with her finger.

His headache returned with a vengeance, immediately pressing against his eyes like a Goliath was growing inside his head. The black fluid poured from his nose and eyes, surged past his lips, and splashed onto the small diamond of exposed, pale bosom under her dress.

She looked down and sighed. When her eyes returned to Adam's, their matronly shine had turned into hard, cold anger.

He felt her hand suddenly grip the back of his neck, clamping down like a vice. She angled him up, forcing him to meet her gaze. Her other hand smacked into his forehead, and the energy that had been steadily thrumming into him before surged with force, raging like a tidal wave as it rushed into him.

His headache retreated, replaced by a crushing sense of void. The fluid sucked back into his nose and eyes, painfully rocketing back into his body. All he could do was squirm and gurgle as his eyes rolled back. The black marks raged to life in seconds, fully saturated and smoking as they came to life on his flesh.

Adam awoke with a start, eyes focusing on the person before him. He relaxed. His queen, Salem, here to wake him from what must have been a long dream.

Her voice rang in his mind, frustrated but blissful to hear nonetheless. "There. I've fixed you." She sounded so disappointed, had he done something to displease her? She was even panting. What could possibly be so taxing to have an effect on her? "Go, Taurus. Finish the silver-eyed girl, before Cinder finds her."

He nodded and hurried back to his feet, Rite in hand. Salem jerked his attention again, just before he could leave.

"And do not lose yourself again."

Lose himself? He briefly considered asking, but knew better than to bother his queen with questions. Instead, he sprinted down the hall, chasing their scent.


Their collective footfalls were the only sound beside the distant blaze as Weiss led them to where she left Yatsuhashi. The tension was thicker than the smoke on the ceiling, but nobody dared speak. If Ruby's eyes could be anywhere but Weiss, she would notice the murderous glare Yang was boring into the heiress.

But she stared at her partner. That had to have been final. It left no room for interpretation. She needed practice, ohoho, most definitely, but Weiss' intention was clear. And Ruby couldn't be more glad. Or mad. She didn't even ask. Was that really her most opportune moment, in front of her sister, to boot? Oh Dust, Yang's totally gonna kill Weiss. Ruby's brow furrowed. She'd have to be strategic.

In the meantime, Weiss was, in as few words as she could surmise, freaking the fuck out. Why the fuck did she fucking do that? What the fuck! No more plausible deniability now, princess! Fuck! Gods, did she completely ruin it? Like fucking everything? Perfect fucking timing, right after Ruby's fucking face nearly got sliced off! Fuck, that was probably the poor girl's first kiss, and she completely bungled it! Fuck! Blood and Dust, Grimm and Dust, Gods above, Gods below, fuck, fuck, and Fuck!

Weiss tried to focus on the way back to Yatsu, but she could feel Ruby's eyes on her back. The bond swirled with anxious joy, fear, frustration, anger. Dust, she'd fucke—

Weiss hit a wall. A Yatsuhashi-shaped wall, with a Fox-shaped adornment over its shoulders.

Fox waved down at them, his cute smile slightly inappropriate given the circumstances. "Hey, guys."

Coco followed behind Yatsu, and Velvet behind her. Velvet seemed a little shaken, but Coco was completely nonplussed, or was at least very good at keeping up that facade.

Coco lowered her glasses at Weiss, a sneer tugging her lips. "Wow, sick threads, princess."

Weiss flushed bright red, arm quickly crossing over her waist to cover her exposed midriff, but the damage was already done.

"So, what's the plan?" Coco asked, eyes moving to Ruby.

"Weiss' sister is coming to help evacuate." She said quickly, forcing her thoughts away from her partner so her brain could switch to planning mode. "We need to evacuate as many students as possible to the Emerald Forest. She should be here in—" she checked her Scroll. "Three and a half hours."

The entire CFVY team looked at each other, nodded, then returned their gazes to Ruby. "Sounds good," Coco said, confidently speaking for her team. "We'll meet you in the forest."

Ruby held her hands up, head shaking furiously. "No, no, we need to stick together! These people are dangerous, one of them killed Goodwitch!"

Coco's eyebrows briefly rose, then she shrugged. "It is what it is. We'll cover more ground and save more people if we split up."

Ruby got in her face before she could turn and walk away. "We just fought one of them and he was insanely dangerous! He did this!" She pitifully held up what remained of Crescent Rose.

Coco looked past her, down the smoky hallway they'd just come from. "Eh."

"Eh?" Ruby poked her in the chest. "He nearly killed me! And he's after us!"

Coco pursed her lips and shrugged. "And you're still here." She gave her teammates a quick glance before addressing Ruby again. "Look, if it makes you feel any better, we'll go back the way you came. If we run into the guy, we'll murk his ass. That make you feel any better?"

Ruby shook her head. "He's after us!"

"Perfect, then he'll be too distracted to stop us from turning him into a doormat." With that, Coco pushed the girl away and started walking, her team following closely behind as she led them back the way Team RWBY came.

Ruby stared at their backs, slack-jawed until Blake nudged her. She snapped out of her state, then smashed her palm against her forehead, hoping she could induce planning mode via blunt force trauma.

Meanwhile, Yang stewed, furious glare making Weiss shrink. Dust, she'd really done herself in, hadn't she? She could practically feel the woman's hands wringing her neck, the only thing stopping her being the severity of the moment. As soon as they were home safe, Weiss knew she would be doomed.

Blake slid up to her and wrapped an arm around her shoulder, turning them both away from the fuming blonde. "Soooo…" Blake droned through the side of her mouth. "I see you guys have made up?"

Weiss shrank into herself, the notion of thrusting Myrtenaster into her own heart becoming more and more viable by the second.

Blake nudged her, eyebrows wiggling as her eyes danced between Weiss and their pacing leader. "I mean, it's a pretty quick turnaround from before."

"Blake," she muttered, arm crossing over her chest, "please, not now. Really not the time."

Ruby began mumbling to herself as she paced back and forth, meaning her plan was close to formulating. Blake nudged her again. "At least she didn't seem too opposed, right?"

Weiss sighed, her head rolling back to hide the red blooming on her face. "I hate you."

"Hey, I'm on your side."

Weiss' retort was cut off when her partner addressed the team, tapping her now-staff against the floor to get their attention. "Okay! I've got a plan!"


Cinder was uneasy. She hated being alone, because it meant those who were usually at arms length had freedom to plot against her. Especially Adam. She wanted him on a tight leash for this mission, but Salem insisted he be given the freedom to pursue the Schnee on his own volition while she sought Ozpin.

Salem was planning something, she knew it, and it would definitely have something to do with Adam. The way she treated him… it sickened her to her very core. She doted on him, treating him like an equal. He was just a puppet. She wanted him on her side, and thanks to her two brainless accomplices, she might actually get him.

Speaking of those two… they were taking their sweet time finding Neo, that traitor. She'd probably ditched her tracker and sprinted off into the Emerald Forest. Oh well. She wouldn't survive on her own, not before Cinder found her, at least. Though, with Torchwick in their custody, she was surprised Neo would make a break for it. Maybe she didn't care for him as much as she had estimated.

Cinder's Scroll buzzed against her bosom. What the hell? She'd told those idiots explicitly no Scroll communication. She plucked the little slate from her chest and brought it to her ear. "Yes?" She tried to make her frustration as clear as possible with a single word.

"Hey, uh," Mercury's unsure voice came over the device, "yeah, Neo's here."

Cinder's face crinkled with confusion. "What?" She hadn't fled?

"She's unconscious, looks pretty fucked up, too."

Cinder pinched the bridge of her nose. "Great. She had one job."

"Whatcha want us to do?"

"Leave her. She was just recon, anyways, we'll get her when I'm done."

Mercury relayed the message to Emerald, his muffled voice barely audible ov77er the line. There was a quick back-and-forth before he returned to the Scroll. "What if she gets up?"

Cinder sighed, exasperated. "Then we'll kill her! Who cares! We don't have time for this. Get over here, now."

Cinder firmly hung up, then sighed. She would need to temper herself. She had a date with the headmaster.