Without further ado...

Chapter 8

Cinder wasn't particularly sure what she was doing come the following morning, stepping into one of Beacon's many training rooms and utterly decimating each level of the solo exercises. By the end, she was drenched in sweat, panting harshly as she let out one final yell, and shot her heel straight through one of the training machines.

Such was idiotic. Cinder was counting far too much on her being alone at so early an hour. Were there anyone else as foolish as her, who would come down to one of the training rooms at roughly six o'clock in the morning, then her true skill might be discovered, the fact that she held herself back might be discovered.

And from there, well, it wouldn't be too difficult to read further into her designs.

Still, Cinder couldn't find it in herself to care. No, she was far too angry for that.

Angry at… angry at…

A small commotion drew Cinder's eye to the entrance to the training room, and her eyes tracked a figure try and dart into one of the locker rooms, evidently attempting to avoid her gaze.

"Show yourself." She practically hissed. "I am in no mood for games."

Cinder wasn't exactly sure who she'd been expecting, but she wasn't at all surprised to see a bout of red hair poke itself out from the women's locker room, and she let out a low sigh, nearly a growl, as she addressed them.

"Pyrrha." She said. "What are you doing here?"

"…The same as you. Early morning training." The young girl who'd become her sparring partner of late stepped into the central area, looking largely uncertain. Cinder supposed she could not blame her, not when she herself had been utterly rampaging across the room, destroying everything in her path. "Ms. Goodwitch definitely has the right of it, though. You're fantastic, Cinder."

The idle praise did little for Cinder's still whirling mind, but it did at least buy her the time she'd needed to breathe, to outwardly calm her body, and to present a more balanced figure to the world. She was lucky it had been Pyrrha who'd found her, and not someone who'd read into her actions further.

Cinder had been getting lucky far too often of late.

"So, why wait on the outside of the training room?"

"I… didn't want to get in your way."

"Ah, I see." She pretended she believed that as she sat down upon one of the benches at the edge of the central arena. "And that's why you hid yourself from me as well?"

Pyrrha seemed caught at that, and Cinder now, at least, knew for a fact that the girl hadn't been truthful with her. It shouldn't have much mattered, but…

"Spill it." Cinder practically spat. "I'm in no mood."

"Yeah, I can… sort of tell." Pyrrha said, and if Cinder hadn't known the girl as well as she reluctantly did, she might've thought that was sarcasm coming from out of Ms. Nikos' lips. "I saw you the other night. I uhm… tried calling out to you. You didn't hear me."

Ah, that would explain that voice she'd thought she'd heard while on her way to Goodwitch's room. It was perhaps good that the girl simply thought she hadn't heard her, when it reality, when Cinder thought about it, she was fairly certain she'd ignored Pyrrha.

"I see. And?"

"You didn't look good. You… still kind of don't."

"Wow." She feigned offense. "Thank you, Pyrrha."

"I'm… sorry." Poor little Nikos winced. "I just… I happened to see Emerald as well. A good hour or so prior. She… she looked like she'd been crying. I was going to, uhm… ask you about that."

Something in Cinder's expression must've given her away, for Nikos actually flinched backwards as she looked the girl's way.

"Ah… I'm taking it that's why you're upset?"

Cinder frowned at the very concept. "I'm not upset."

"…Okay."

There was something uniquely degrading about having Pyrrha Nikos attempt to lie to help her feel better, because the girl was simply incapable of making any such statements even semi-believable.

"Do you… want to talk about it?"

"No." Cinder answered immediately, biting down on the angry retort she'd been mere seconds away from opining away with. "Drop it. Pretend you saw nothing."

"I…"

"If you really wish to help," Cinder said, standing back up and shaking the last bits of sweat out of her hair. "Then spar with me."

Pyrrha Nikos was not normally one to turn down such a thing. In fact, Cinder had been genuinely certain that the girl was simply not able to turn down a spar, perhaps for medical reasons. But no, there she was, actually looking determined, as she, instead of drawing her weapons, or taking a stance, or doing literally anything else, simply…

Sat.

She just… sat down in the middle of the arena and looked right at Cinder like she was a mother disciplining her child – not that Cinder had any experience with that (the mother, she'd definitely known the discipline).

"Cinder. I want you to tell me what's bothering you."

The raw fury she felt in that moment would've been enough to cow the terrorists of the White Fang into following her every order. It had let her manipulate Lionheart, formerly one of the bravest men the world had seen, into a fit of excuses and drivel. It would've been enough to drive nations to their knees.

Somehow Pyrrha Nikos, a seventeen-year-old girl with social anxiety, withstood it, sitting up a bit straighter as she met Cinder's gaze.

"No." She said beneath her breath, showing her teeth without meaning to.

Again, she expected the girl to relent, and again, she did not. No, she simply squared her shoulders, evidently feeling Cinder's rage from her position on the floor, but letting it wash around her, over her, and then sitting straight up even so.

"I… I will admit, I am not normally someone to push so hard." Pyrrha began, apparently deciding to go on some tangent. "I believed it best to let others solve their problems on their own. To not… to not get so involved if someone didn't want me to. I believed that the best course of action."

Cinder agreed with the girl. In fact, that idea sounded far superior to whatever it was Pyrrha was currently trying, to the point that she hoped the girl would return back to her old ways in nary a second, so she could get back to drowning whatever feelings were hanging about her in a rampage across the training grounds of Beacon.

Instead, Pyrrha just kept going.

"But I saw something yesterday." She said, looking down and away from Cinder, and for a second there Cinder thought she'd won, before the girl kept speaking. "One of my friends… someone I cared about deeply, was hurting. I had been content to let them figure out their own problems, believing that the best bet to eventually solving them… and then someone else came along and wasn't quite the coward I was being."

"This person… they gave Ja– them a talking to when they needed it. They didn't let the potential of hurting this person's feelings get in the way of giving them the words that they needed to hear. No, they moved forward, and solved the problem. And so…" Pyrrha Nikos took a deep breath before meeting Cinder's gaze again with a steel that had never been there before. "I'm going to do the same for you, Cinder. No matter if you want me to or not. Because that's the kind of friend I want to be."

Cinder growled, already making plans to filet the skin from the bones of whomever had given Pyrrha Nikos that little life lesson. They sounded like some annoying goody-two shoes. Perhaps she'd put Mercury on it, that boy hadn't done a thing in what felt like weeks.

"So what?" Cinder hissed. "Just going to bludgeon me until I spill my secrets?"

"No." Pyrrha shook her head. "I'm going to provide support. Even if you don't think you need it, because I can tell that you do."

She shook her head. There was nothing Cinder wanted more than to immolate the woman where she sat with a concrete determination hanging about her like she was some wartime general, and not a young girl offering advice.

And yet, if the girl truly wasn't going anywhere, well…

Her advice before, well, Cinder hadn't yet had the opportunity to try it. She'd not spoken to Glynda Goodwitch on her own, though now she could at least understand some of the woman's odd behavior. Perhaps it still wouldn't work. Perhaps Pyrrha's first bit of advice had been wrong, but…

She might as well try her, right?

"Fine." She spat out, ignoring the way Nikos' lips curled in victory. "I… said something I shouldn't have to my subor– to Emerald. She had made a mistake, and she needed reprimanding, but I took it too far, I went… what I said was… harsh. Far too much so."

"Ah, okay." Pyrrha nodded her head, not looking at Cinder, instead seemingly caught in her own head. "So, you're regretting what you said to her. You want her to forgive you, I'm guessing?"

The concept was so alien, so asinine to Cinder, that she almost gagged upon it. That she somehow owed Emerald an apology, that the girl could forgive her. She owned Emerald in every way. The girl would've given anything she had, anything she possessed, just to stay with her.

"And maybe I made a mistake as well. When I picked you up off the street that day."

The words somehow sounded worse now that Cinder reconsidered them.

Because to Emerald, everything before that day had been a bad dream. A terrible nightmare from which Cinder's appearance had awoken her. Before that point, she had been nothing, and after–

"But because of you, I am everything!"

Cinder bit down on her bottom lip, her sharp canine's digging into the supple flesh there and drawing blood almost immediately. Pyrrha noticed, giving a small gasp.

"Cinder?"

"Nothing." She lied, shaking her head as she buried the memories trying to trudge their way to the surface. She ran the back of her arm along her lip, trying to stem the tide of ichor flowing down her face. "It's nothing."

She wasn't believed; that much was certain. Pyrrha Nikos looked at her like she was some pitiful little creature, huddled for warmth in a dank corner, and she had to fight against her instincts to viciously crush that expression.

"So, what do you propose?" She said to change the subject.

"Well… I guess I'd just talk to her." Pyrrha said, scratching the side of her head. "Talk to her, and explain how what you said was wrong, that you're sorry you said it, and that you'll try to do better."

How hopelessly naïve. Saying any of that would give Emerald too much of a heightened sense of importance. She was a tool, just someone Cinder kept around to be useful, someone she–

Cinder swept the floors, she mopped the floors, she emptied the rooms and cleaned the sheets. And only once she was finished, only once she'd proven her worth, did Madame feed her, did she offer a stale piece of bread, the bits, and pieces that the patrons hadn't eaten, the last scraps of–

Cinder yelled as she slammed her hand down on the training ground beneath her, silently reveling in the pain that lanced up her arm and using it to keep her mind from wandering further.

Shut up! She wanted to scream at herself. Stop it!

"Cinder?" Pyrrha said, but it was too late, she wasn't going to sit around here, not anymore.

She growled under her breath, like a damned feral dog, and stood. She walked towards the door to leave the training room, not even bothering to head to the showers to wash off the sweat, too far into her own mind, too worried about the thoughts swirling about, cutting away at her psyche from every angle.

She ignored Pyrrha calling out to her. She ignored the way her hands were shaking, like she was a damndable child, and not Cinder Fall, the most powerful person on Remnant! She was… she was…

She was flying backwards, having just bumped into someone in the middle of the corridor she'd just stepped out into, despite it being roughly seven in the morning. No one should've been out and about this early…

But Cinder supposed it made sense just who it was. Because her life was, apparently, some cosmic joke at this point.

"Ms. Fall?" Glynda Goodwitch stared down at her in concern. "I'm terribly sorry, I didn't see you coming, are you alright?"

Every instinct within Cinder called for her to stand, and to brush by the woman, to avoid this confrontation that would certainly strip her further, make her consider further, weaken her further. But instead, it was all she could do to look away, to stare at the tiled ground beneath her as the professor above her seemed to think.

"I… actually, I will admit, I came here to speak with you."

On another day, that might've drawn suspicion. But here… Cinder couldn't find it in herself to care. There were far too many other things to worry about. Too much tormenting her from every angle for her to be at all concerned with the possibility of their discovery.

"Would you come with me, Ms. Fall? I believe you second years don't have first period until nine-thirty, yes?"

Cinder felt like some pathetic little whelp as she used the wall beside her to stand, ignoring the hand Goodwitch had stretched out to meet her own. She had to present strength. Had to make sure she was strong enough to stand on her own.

"Forgive me, Ms. Goodwitch, but I'm afraid I'm very busy this morning." Cinder said, not able to meet the woman's eyes. "I'm going to head back to my room and finish some outstanding assignments. Thank you for your time."

She honestly thought that had been a fairly decent dismount. Apparently not, however, as before she could take a single step, Ms. Goodwitch had begun speaking again.

She did not stop Cinder physically. She never did. Never tried to touch her or control her. Just… just offered. Just wanted to help.

It should've sickened her.

It never really did.

"I spoke with Ms. Sustrai last night about what happened. She said that you and she got into an argument yesterday."

Cinder should've kept going. She should've…

"…She's just telling you everything about me, isn't she?" Cinder said bitterly.

She knew that probably hadn't been the best thing she could say, but she hadn't really expected the way that Glynda Goodwitch looked at her, with just the smallest hint of anger behind her eyes that she was desperately reigning in.

Cinder could recognize the expression so easily, given she often wore it herself.

"Ms. Fall, your partner came to my door crying, barely holding herself together."

Your partner.

The words were technically correct, Cinder supposed. After all, according to Team CMME's transcripts, Cinder and Emerald were partners. But hearing such a thing aloud was almost laughable.

Because they weren't at all, no matter how much Emerald might've desired such a thing. No. Cinder was the leader, and Emerald followed. No. It was more than that. She was the master, and Emerald the–

Electrical shocks coursed across Cinder's neck. Through her muscles, spasming and shaking, until it was all she could do to resist retching on the floor. Sometimes Madame enjoyed doing this, just to feel the control she held over her. Just to make Cinder feel lesser, like the little girl she was, like the–

Cinder's breath hitched, even as her jaw clenched together, and she felt like her teeth might crack down the center. she didn't know why that feeling inside her got worse. It shouldn't have. She didn't care about Emerald. The girl was a pawn, and nothing more. She wasn't… she shouldn't have…

A hand on her shoulder brought her back to the there and then, and she looked up into the worried eyes of Ms. Goodwitch with some small trepidation.

She… hadn't meant to be seen like that.

So outwardly weak. So clearly inferior. If Tyrian, or Watts, or Salem had seen her like that, they'd have laughed, and kicked her while she was down. Perhaps not Hazel, but she doubted the man would've helped her up, either. Ever the enigma.

"Are you okay, Ms. Fall?"

And yet, once more, there Goodwitch was. Holding her hands beside Cinder, once more, never touching her more than necessary, but keeping them close enough that if Cinder looked like she might fall, she could catch her.

She hated it. She had to hate it. Because to do anything else was a risk, a stupid, foolish, idiotic risk.

"I'm fine." She bit out, stepping forward and trying to pass the woman by. "I–"

"Perhaps the two of us could take to my classroom for the time being?" The professor spoke, seeming almost magnanimous. "I wouldn't want to discuss such delicate matters in the middle of the corridor, where anyone could hear."

Cinder would've liked to tell her that she didn't want to say anything else. She wanted, really, for the woman to leave Cinder alone, and stop trying to help her, because she could understand now that that was what she was doing, trying to offer her help, like she was some damaged little girl who needed help, and not one of the most fearsome villains in Remnant.

And yet she couldn't muster the energy. It was all she could do to nod her head blankly, and to keep up behind the woman as she gestured for Cinder to follow.

Ms. Goodwitch's classroom was easily the largest in Beacon. It was a massive auditorium, fit with two giant screens on opposite walls, and enough seats to cater to what must've been hundreds of students at a time, even if a large majority often went empty.

It was almost hard to appreciate that enormity when the room was blanketed in darkness, save for the single bright white light that illuminated the central arena.

Cinder was pretty sure the fact that she was focusing on the makeup of Glynda Goodwitch's classroom, of all things, meant that she was trying to distract herself from the far more obvious problems she was running into.

Namely…

"So, Emerald went to you last night?"

"She did indeed." Ms. Goodwitch confirmed. "I am not going to tell any of what she confided in me, but I will say that I understand you feel she betrayed your trust, am I correct?"

Cinder's trust? What a laughable concept. Cinder had no trust, not in anyone. She had long since had such foreign concepts beaten out of her, replaced by a hardened intellect and a deadly precision. She'd given up trust when she was just a young girl, alone in the snow.

"Something like that." Cinder said, instead of trying to communicate any of the maelstrom that was raging within her.

Apparently, it was enough to fool the woman before her, for she simply nodded her head as she continued speaking. "I'm sure you must be rather sparing with your trust. And I'm equally certain that having that trust violated must be painful. But I fear I must ask you to see Emerald's perspective. She was… visibly upset when I spoke with her the first time a few weeks ago, and though she revealed your feelings towards Ms. Xiao-Long to me, she did not mean to."

So, Emerald hadn't told Cinder the full truth in Forever Fall. She'd suspected as much; that there was still something the girl was holding back. Now it was clear. She had been emotionally distraught, and that had allowed Goodwitch to capitalize, whether or not the woman had even intended to do so.

"It was an accident that I happened to overhear her." The professor confirmed for her mere seconds after the thought. "And when the two of us talked, we talked mainly about her own concerns. That you came up in them was not her intention."

"Accident or not, she still–!" Cinder bit down on the words that threatened to spill out of her, because they only made her already roiling stomach churn further. "I…"

Glynda Goodwitch shook her head. "I don't think this situation is necessarily your fault either, Ms. Fall. After all, you've never cared quite like this before, have you?"

"…What?"

"I simply mean… well, currently, you care about something – a romantic relationship, correct?"

Right. Her supposed romantic feelings for Yang Xiao-Long. How anyone could harbor such things was a mystery, given the teenaged girls complete lack of substance. Oh, she was physically attractive, that Cinder could give her, but in terms of personality, she left an awful lot to be desired. Far too rambunctious, far too quick to action, far too…

Annoying.

Still, well… it wasn't like she could correct the woman. Say that 'oh, no, it's actually you I have feelings for Ms. Goodwitch' or something equally inane.

The struggling for something to say was likely evident, for the professor continued on before she could think of any excuses.

"And I'm imagining that you've never felt such a thing before now?"

Having the very object of her affections so effortlessly strip away at Cinder left her feeling almost naked, standing there in the dark beside the woman. It was all she could do to nod her head, because really, that had been the reason for her little outburst over Emerald, hadn't it? Because once more, that accursed feeling had gotten in the way.

And mucked things up, as it always seemed to.

"And so, for the first time, your emotions have come into play. It's not your fault that drew you to overreact…" Glynda Goodwitch stated, turning her body to face Cinder's. "But it wasn't Emerald's either. Which means the onus is on you to apologize to her."

That was a third person saying such a thing. A third source who'd provided the same advice, and at this point, Cinder was just angry. She snarled just quietly enough to not be audible, like some great canine, and rounded on the woman beside her.

"Why should I!? She betrayed me! Spoke of me behind my back! I–"

"Because you care about Emerald."

And then the wind was ripped from Cinder's sails. Like she was caught along the doldrums, just drifting, drifting, without direction, without anything to carry her forward. It was all Cinder could do to utter, "What…?"

"I have seen it clear as day." Glynda Goodwitch said. "After all, you're aware of her feelings for you, are you not?"

Cinder… she wasn't sure what that knowledge had to do with caring for Emerald. It would've been hard not to notice the way Emerald sought her affections, the way she leaned into every touch, always wanted more, always, like Cinder's very voice was a life raft in an open ocean.

"…Yes." She admitted, because not doing so would serve little purpose.

"And yet… you never turned her down, did you?"

"No. I didn't."

"Why was that?"

"Because I…"

Because Emerald was more useful to her if she thought there existed the slightest chance that she might one day be with her. Because if Emerald thought there was even the faintest possibility, then the girl would stay with her, and wouldn't abandon her. And like a carrot on a stick, she could dangle that potential in front of Emerald forevermore.

But she could not say that. That was not what Cinder Fall, student of Haven academy, would say.

Nor was it what she wanted to say to a woman she had… feelings for. She couldn't imagine that admitting she was a manipulative person who used others emotions for her own gain would get her points.

So, what could she say?

She was perhaps halfway to a lie by the time Glynda Goodwitch interrupted her. "You did not say anything because you care about how she feels, correct?

"…What?"

"I'm saying that it would've been easier for you to simply tell her that you did not share her feelings, and yet you never did." The professor exclaimed as if she had all the answers. "I'm not sure if you encouraged them without intending to fulfill them, which would be… unkind, but understandable, given that I assume you lack real knowledge of relationships and how they are best gone about. Even still, that you did not want to let her down speaks well to you, even if you did not navigate the situation perfectly."

Cinder wasn't sure why the woman's words caused her chest to tighten. Wasn't sure why her stomach felt like it'd been dropped into a vat of ice water. She wasn't really sure why she couldn't meet the woman's eyes, like she was hiding some terrible secret.

Well, perhaps because she was.

"…I am…" Cinder swallowed. "Not as kind as you think I am."

"And yet you are worried about her, aren't you? Worried that you said too much?"

Cinder couldn't… this was…

"It's not too late." The woman placed a hand along Cinder's shoulder, as if to offer encouragement, but the contact burned, blazed, like a flame held to her skin. "Talk with her. Try to come to an understanding. She'll forgive you. She wants to forgive you already. I know it. Because she trusts you more than anything."

Cinder wasn't sure why those words from out of the professor's lips hurt so much, but they did. The admission that she'd known – because it would've been asinine to not know of Emerald's ill-placed trust – of her followers emotions…

Somehow that hurt worse than anything, because…

"Without you I am nothing."

"Thank you for your advice, Ms. Goodwitch." Cinder said, once more, without looking up. "I…"

"It's fine, Ms. Fall." The teacher before her smiled, that same smile she seemed to only adorn rather rarely, the tiniest curling of her lips, like whatever it was had only barely managed to crack through her hardened exterior.

Except Cinder couldn't bear to look at it.

Not now.

It's dim luminescence only sought to blind her now.

Emerald wasn't terribly hard to find.

Cinder, after all, knew everything there was to know about the girl. She knew her habits, her history, what she liked, what she didn't. She knew, because of who Emerald was, how skittish she'd had to be on the streets, that the girl would not seek, for example, a place with a lot of people. Because crowds made the girl uncomfortable. So, any of the training rooms this late in the day were a bust.

She knew also that Emerald hadn't ever really learned how to read until much later in her life, at least, not to any real degree. So, she had a feeling the girl would not go to the library, despite how quiet it would be, and how easy it would've been to shack up there.

That left only a few locations. And Cinder…

Well, she had a pretty good idea as to where she should try first.

The gardens at dusk were not Cinder's primary choice of location. They were rife with insects flying around, buzzing every which way, and they were utterly coated in pollen. Later on in the night, it might make a suitable place to relax, and yet, Cinder's instincts had, as per usual, proven correct, for she saw a head of pastel green hair poking up from one of the benches facing a central fountain.

It was a rather ornate thing. A middle spout with eight secondary nozzles that fired out water in arcs, creating an eye-catching pattern. If Cinder were who she claimed to be, a young girl attending Haven Academy, then she might've paid some small attention to it.

But she was Cinder Fall, primary agent of Salem. So, she did not.

"I thought I might find you here."

Emerald looked up towards her, and immediately, Cinder noted the skittish look in the girls eyes. Ready to run at a moment's notice.

"That's all you'll ever do."

"C-Cinder?"

"It does appear that way." She remarked as she stepped up towards the bench Emerald was solely occupying.

She found herself gazing around in that moment, studying their surroundings, and noting that they were the only two people in the modest garden area. That… that was good. Objectively, that was good.

Even if it took away one of the potential excuses Cinder had been looking for to somehow avoid having to do this.

"May I sit down?"

"O-Of course!" Emerald exclaimed, her voice just the slightest bit too loud, and the girl knew it, for she winced ever so slightly as she slid to the side, making room for Cinder to take a seat beside her.

Each of them had room aplenty, the entire place rather clearly designed to accommodate larger groups than two.

Some part of Cinder understood that the fact that she kept thinking such aimless things was her attempting to distract herself from what she'd came here to do. She let out a shaky breath, and then counted down from ten.

In ten seconds… in ten seconds, Cinder would say what she'd come here to say.

…in ten more seconds, she–

"I'm sorry, ma'am."

Cinder's eyes bugged, out, even as she turned to look at her compatriot, seeing the genuinely mournful look in the girl's eye.

"I… I know I already said it, but I made a mistake when speaking with Goodwitch. I didn't… I was under a certain… stress, and that led me to be too forthright. I… should've known better. I'm sorry."

This… wasn't this going perfectly well? Certainly, Cinder hadn't come for this, but couldn't she take advantage of it? After all, tell Emerald that she can earn back her place in her good graces, or better yet simply give it back to her, and the girl would flock to her without hesitation.

Easy as that.

…too easy.

"Emerald."

"Yes, Cinder?"

How was she supposed to… what could she…?

Why was this more difficult than manipulating a terrorist organization!? How could it be that planning this had been harder than planning the assassination of a Maiden, someone who wielded ancient magics!?

How did she even begin?

Well, Cinder had never been very good at beating around the bush, at least, not really. She could pretend, lie, and fabricate better than nearly anyone, but to actually be… honest, earnest?

She had had such things beaten out of her long ago.

…Well, maybe it was best to address that, then?

"…I was a slave."

Emerald's eyes were like saucers as the girl stared at her, her mouth agape. "W-What? Ma'am, what–"

"A long time ago," Cinder cut off, not meeting her servants eyes. Her… no. not her servant, her… follower. "You once asked me about my past. About what it was I'd gone through. I think you wanted us to… bond, or some other such thing. I believe I nipped that in the bud almost immediately."

"Y-Yeah… you did."

Cinder, were she a better person, might've felt some guilt for that, but she wasn't, so she didn't. At the time, that had been the most logical course of action. Not to reveal anything about herself to a girl she'd just picked up off the street, someone she never could've trusted.

Now…

"I grew up in an orphanage in Mistral. Or, well, I say 'orphanage', but really, it was a mask used by a child trafficking group." Cinder hadn't figured that out until years later when she'd hunted down the entire organization to the man herself on a whim. "I was treated like dirt, bullied, made to work… and then one day I was adopted. Taken to Atlas. It's almost funny. I can remember being tentatively excited. Almost grateful towards the woman who adopted me."

Cinder was thankful that Emerald was entirely silent, that she didn't attempt to interrupt her at all. She wasn't sure if she'd have been able to manage were the girl interjecting. She was… Cinder was almost pretending the girl wasn't there. That way… that way, the secrets of her past, ones that no one, no one had ever known before… they were still just hers.

They would not hurt her. Not make her weak again.

"I was 'adopted' by a woman who ran a luxury hotel. I suppose in legal terms I was her 'daughter', and because of that, she could skirt regulations on labor laws. So, she abused me, enslaved me, made me do the work of ten men for over six years, from when I was roughly nine, to about fifteen."

"I… that's…"

This interruption wasn't something she wanted, and yet… she held off from continuing.

For some reason, Cinder wanted to hear what Emerald would say.

"I'm sorry." Emerald said after what felt like too long. "That must've been… horrible."

Cinder's mouth hung open for a moment, just… She shook her head, unable to find the words necessary, or perhaps unwilling to speak of them, or even think them.

"No more horrible than living one's entire life on the street, I'm sure."

"No. It… it must've been worse. At least… well, at least if someone wanted to beat me up or steal my food, I could shank them in the ribs. You… they just made you take it."

Cinder… she hadn't wanted this.

"I don't want your pity."

"Hah, yeah, I know." Emerald said, actually laughing somehow. "Pity was the worst. Because they'd look at you like it was such a shame the situation you were in…" Emerald's lips curled back, and Cinder could see a cold fury there, one buried beneath layers of insulation. "But they'd never do a damned thing. I always hated those people."

Rhodes…

He'd tried, but never enough. A huntsman, an adult huntsman, who'd seen what the world did to Cinder, and tried to help her, but…

He'd not done enough. Never tried enough. Never been willing to actually risk himself.

A long time ago, Cinder had hated him for that.

Now… well, Cinder had grown up. Jaded and different.

But she knew she was better than he had been.

Still, the way the two of them sat beside each other, the way their experiences almost mirrored each other's...

Cinder finally mustered up her courage.

"Emerald."

"Yes?"

"I… what I said yesterday…" She couldn't look up. She lacked the strength. "Know that I regretted the words I spoke the moment they left my lips."

Cinder couldn't bring herself to say more, despite everything. She knew she should, perhaps that she needed to, but… she just…

"…You…"

"I am not… I have never… done this before, so I admit it must be…"

Cinder cut herself off. She felt… honestly, she felt like an idiot. She still wouldn't look Emerald's way, gazing off to her left at Beacon, and away from her little minion. Maybe, if she waited long enough, classes would start, and she wouldn't have to–

There were a lot of things Cinder had expected from this little meeting. None of them had really accounted for Emerald reaching over and practically tackling her, though. Nor the way she wrapped her arms around her and squeezed as she buried her face in Cinder's side.

She could feel small wet trails leaking into the fabric of her vest, but…

Some part of her understood that if this was it… if it was over, then it wasn't enough. This had been too easy. Emerald was letting her off too simply. Forgiving her too quickly. The girl's weakness showing itself once again.

And perhaps Cinder was weak as well. For she didn't stop the girl. She didn't push her away and say everything she'd been supposed to say. Didn't tell her anything further. No…

No, Cinder just wrapped her arms around the girl, running her fingers through pastel locks, feeling as Emerald subtly pushed herself into Cinder's palm.

Perhaps they were all weak. The lot of them.

And Cinder most of all.

From a window around fifty meters back, overlooking the gardens, Glynda Goodwitch smiled.

It was a watery smile, something she would keep to herself, wiping away at her eyes as she looked down at those two sitting beside one another on the bench outside. Their arms wrapped around each other.

It seemed everything would be fine after all.

End Chapter 8

Our girls have a moment, though in Cinder's eyes, it's not really enough.

Not much else to say, so I suppose I'll simply see you all next week!