Without further ado...
Chapter 12
Mercury couldn't help but think that Jaune Arc had somehow oversold Domremy when he'd described it as a 'quaint retirement village' given what he was currently gazing at out of their bullheads window.
Oh, it was quaint alright, though Mercury really struggled to understand how the rickety piles of stone and wood that he was seeing somehow constituted a 'Village'.
Well, unfortunately, it seemed a little bit too late to back out on this trip now, on account that they were touching down.
"Welcome to Domremy, guys!" Jaune said, this wide smile on his face that betrayed nothing of the Village's quality. "I hope you enjoy your time here!"
"I'm sure we will!" Nora said, running up and shaking her team leader by the shoulders, before rushing out of the bullhead the moment the door had lowered enough for her to fit. "Ooooh!"
"I'm going to go…" Lie Ren just pointed. "Control her."
"Yeah, that's… probably a good idea." Blake Belladonna muttered, even as Jaune gave a nervous laugh.
Mercury had stayed silent through the comedy routine unfolding in front of him, a small frown upon his face as the latter three of them exited out of the bullhead. Already, the engines were firing back up, and it seemed the pilot was as keen to exit this place as Mercury was himself.
Honestly, why had he even…
He shook his head, sighing as he looked up at the village from the ground.
Admittedly, it had a sort of rustic pride now that it hadn't from the air. Every single piece and part of the place looked thoroughly used, and if Mercury hadn't known better, he'd have said it might've been a ruin from before Vale had become a kingdom.
Nope. People lived here, apparently.
The place they'd landed in seemed to be the path that led up to the Village itself. They were flanked on both sides by tall boreal trees, though they'd been carved away to give more than enough room for an aircraft to land and take off again. The thing Mercury noted he hadn't forgotten his hate of was the sounds of it all.
The forest around them whined with the sounds of bugs trying to mate, and it made his skin crawl, and he shivered unpleasantly as they stepped towards the village proper.
Domremy seemed to have no more than fifty buildings in its entirety, which probably sounded quite small, but in actuality added up to a rather large space. Even still, for a place so far out in Grimm territory, Mercury was almost shocked it was still… well… here.
He asked Jaune as much and got a laugh from the boy. "Yeah, I get you. It's a retirement Village, sure, but most of the people who retire here are Huntsman. Thusly…"
Ah, Mercury understood now. While the place looked completely helpless, what with the weak stone walls that surrounded it, and the populace of nothing but old folk, it hid within that a rather powerful interior.
Now that Mercury paid attention to it, he could see the way many of the elderly walked with the gait of Huntsman, their legs moving so that the weapons on their hips, often simple knives, or axes, wouldn't interfere with their movements.
He hummed, at the very least impressed with the set-up.
"My place is a bit further back," Jaune explained. "Which is a pretty good thing, because it should at least give me some time to think of what to say to my pare–"
"JAUNE!"
"Ah, crud." Jaune whined.
A rather plump blonde woman ran towards their group at a speed that, were Mercury not pretty privy to just who she was, might've constituted a threat. As it was, he simply smirked, and made way for her, even as Jaune let out a series of noncommittal excuses that were entirely doused when the woman, with a strength that belied her figure, wrapped him up in a monstrous embrace.
"Mom… can't… breathe…"
"Gods!" The woman finally released her progeny, gazing upon him with a look halfway between teary-eyed and furious. "Nearly four months without a word! Four months, Jaune!"
"I said I was sorry…" The boy murmured pitifully.
"Yes, and I'm sure you've said an awful lot more things that don't quite cut it, Mister!" The woman said, before sighing and shaking her head. "But where are my manners."
At that, she turned to the rest of them, giving each of them a quick once over, and then smiling, this wide, beaming thing, that seemed to go against the character she'd been showing up until then.
"You must be Jauney's friends! It's wonderful to meet you all!"
"Oh! It's so wonderful to meet you too!" Nora Valkyrie chimed in, suddenly among their group again instead of wandering around the village on a leash – said leashes name being Lie Ren. "Oh, oh, can I hug you!?"
"Well, I don't see why not."
"Eeeeee!" Nora squealed excitedly, before running up to the woman, wrapping her in a hug that was somehow tighter than the one the woman had given to her own son, and squeezed her with enough strength to strangle the life out of a goliath.
Somehow, the woman was still alive when Nora placed her down. More than that, she was laughing.
"My, my. You've got quite some energy, don't you?" Jaune's mother exclaimed, laughing boisterously. "Is this your girlfriend, Jauney?"
Mercury was fairly sure he wasn't supposed to find Jaune's pain as funny as he was finding it, but the way his face blanched white, and he looked between Nora Valkyrie, still smiling as if she was completely unaffected, and Lie Ren, who just looked exhausted, and shaking his head like he was trying to shout out that this wasn't his fault…
Yeah, Mercury couldn't help snickering under his breath.
"N-No! Nora's just my friend! Well, she's a girl, and she's my friend, but–"
"Oh, relax," The woman rolled her eyes, bopping her son on the head. "I was only joking."
Mercury decided in that moment that he quite liked this woman.
"Now, the four, no, sorry, I didn't see you back their dearie," The woman said as she addressed Blake, smiling over at her. "Five of you had better come along now. I'm afraid Jaune's younger siblings have been dying to meet you all."
"Oh gods, which ones?"
"Laguna and Beige." His mother said with a knowing smile.
"Ah, crud…" Jaune moaned. "They're going to break out the high school stories, aren't they?"
"I would bet good money on it."
Jaune let out a sound reminiscent of a dying cat.
/
The Arc family home was about three times the size that Mercury had expected.
It wasn't fanciful – it seemed nothing in Domremy could be – but in terms of size, it easily eclipsed any other building in the village, aside, perhaps, from the central 'town hall' they'd briefly seen on their way here.
The reason why became obvious when Mercury thought of just how many people this house had to hold.
"Especially around the holidays," Jaune's mother explained. "It gets even more rambunctious. What with Saphron and Terra coming by with little Adrian, Marigold coming here over break from college… well, suffice it to say that the space is most certainly used."
"How'd you get a home this large in the first place?" Ren asked the woman. "I assume you mustn't have bought it?"
"This has been our family's home for generations," The woman further clarified. "The Arc's, well… let's simply say that we were a rather famous clan back in the day. Not so much anymore, but during the reign of the King of Vale, we were a most prominent family on his side. In fact, I believe historically, Domremy was founded by the Arcs."
Lie Ren hummed appreciatively, even as the six of them stepped inside of the house.
Immediately, two little streaks of blonde were upon them, circling Jaune and just in general causing a load of chaos.
"You're back!"
"And you're not dead!"
"Laguna thought you'd be dead!"
"I bet thirty lien on it!"
Jaune just laughed. "Great to see you all have such faith in me."
The siblings continued to amble around their older brother for a while, before, seemingly, growing bored of tormenting him. Eventually, they turned their eyes upon each of them, and by some sheer coincidence – or, really, perhaps the universe simply hated him. Mercury found that a far more likely alternative – the two ended up coming to him first.
"You've got silver hair."
"What's your name?"
"You're kinda' hot."
"Where's your weapon? Can we see your weapon?"
Mercury felt it was fair that he genuinely took a step back, even as the others giggled at his expense.
"Alright, girls," Jaune's mother said as she grabbed each by the collar. "If you're done harassing Jaune's friends, you can find something else to be doing."
"Aw…"
"Fiiiine."
"He really was hot though…"
Mercury just stared at the two of them as they retreated, finding himself almost…
"You look a bit dumbfounded."
Mercury turned to see Blake Belladonna of all people shooting him an amused look, and he had half a mind to turn away there and then.
"Yeah, well… can't say I've done much interacting with civvies before."
"Hm. Funny. It's the same for me." Blake said as the others moved further into the house. The two of them stayed rooted in the entryway. "I used to… well, there was a time where I wasn't constantly doing… something. But it's been an awful long time since I've been around just… people."
Mercury supposed that was a good way of describing it. just… being around people. Not killers, or trained warriors, or terrorists. Just…
Kids. Kids with no further ambitions or dreams than to hit on the hottest guy who walked into their house – and probably the only one that wasn't either their brother or already in a relationship with a crazy redhead, whether either of those two knew it or not.
It was almost odd that when he thought of it…
He realized he'd never interacted with a child before. Never interacted with a mother before. Just…
Someone who knew nothing of the life they lived. Not even a hint of it. Someone innocent to the ways of Remnant, who'd not seen it's abysses.
"This was a mistake." Mercury muttered, looking past the entryway and further into the Arc household.
"Too late to say that." Blake said, even as she padded past him, slipping off her shoes and moving further into the home. "I believe the bullhead won't be coming back for a week."
That was true then, wasn't it?
Even still…
Once more, Mercury found himself questioning just why he was here. How he'd ended up here of all places. How, instead of doing what he should've done, staying inside of his little room, hooked up to his game, just getting time to turn his brain off and recuperate, he'd instead signed himself up to…
To what, to come here?
Why?
He was fairly sure he should've known. After all, he'd been the one to make that decision, hadn't he been?
And yet even he knew nothing.
He'd gone with the feeling in his gut, and right now, it felt like that feeling was betraying him.
That seemed like a bit of a constant among their group, if what Emerald and Cinder were going through was anything to go by. Neo, of course, was entirely normal, sitting in their dorm room and reading books, or, at the moment, currently out in the middle of Vale on vacation with Roman.
Either way…
He supposed Blake was right.
He was, for the time being at least, stuck here.
So, he might as well make the most of it.
He sighed as he stepped further into the home.
His shoes stayed on.
/
Emerald really wasn't sure what she was supposed to be feeling come later on in the day, when she'd been set to act upon Cinder's plan.
On the one hand, the concrete knowledge that Cinder trusted her beyond anyone else in these matters meant the world to her. On the other hand, quite legitimately trying to hook the woman she loved up with someone else…
Yeah, that felt pretty shitty, to be honest.
Still, a job was a job.
"Oh, Miss Sustrai," Glynda Goodwitch stacked a few of the papers upon her desk after combat class had finished for the day. "My apologies, I didn't see you there. Did you need something?"
"Oh, not really," Emerald said, despite the fact that she clearly did, because why else would she have stayed behind while every other student made their way towards the locker rooms to wash off the sweat that now caked their bodies. "Uhm… I guess… I kinda' just wanted to talk?"
Emerald was pretty sure that had been one of the lamer things she'd said in her life, so she was honestly expecting the woman to blow her off then and there. She'd definitely not expected her lips to split into a wide smile, and for the woman to turn her body to face her, putting her sole attention on Emerald.
"I'm all ears. What would you like to talk about?"
"Uhm… well… I'm getting along with my team again?"
Emerald mentally slapped herself, because the longer she put off asking about this, the more awkward it was going to be. Unfortunately, she'd yet to come up with a clever way of asking 'hey, so I hear you have a date coming up!' without sounding like a stalker or a creep, or both.
"That's wonderful." Ms. Goodwitch spoke, and the rich smile on her face had Emerald laughing a bit under her breath, feeling just…
What was it, pride in herself?
That was weird.
"Yeah… me and Cinder are… I guess we've made up? So that's good."
"That is very good. I'm incredibly happy for you, Emerald."
"T-Thanks." She mumbled, looking away. "Uhm… I actually had something to ask you if that's okay?"
"Of course." The woman said, setting aside the papers on her desk and looking right up at her. "What was it you needed?"
"I… well," She still had no idea how to phrase it. And then Emerald came to the conclusion that if there was no good way to phrase it, then…
Well, she might as well just say it, yeah?
"Sooooo… There's some talk going around the school that you've got a date coming up!"
Glynda's eyes widened minutely, before the woman shook her head, a small, amused look in her eye as she sighed to herself.
"Ah, so Cinder told you about that? I really didn't take her for a gossip."
Immediately, Emerald entered full defense mode. "N-No! It wasn't – I mean, why would you think it was Cinder?"
"Because Cinder is the only student who could possibly have known, given she's the only one I've let the information slip to." Ms. Goodwitch explained, and to Emerald's ears, the logic added up.
Even still, she felt the need to employ the classic strategy of deny, deny, and deny.
"W-Well, it wasn't her. Definitely."
Far from be convinced, the woman just chuckled under her breath. How she always managed to make such a thing look so refined was unbeknownst to Emerald, but it never ceased to impress her.
"Miss Sustrai, I promise, I'm not upset, you need not cover for your leader. If anything, I'm amused, and a little glad that she can worry about such absent things."
"Oh. Well, that's… good."
It was a good thing, even if Emerald was pretty sure the woman had it wrong. To Cinder, Emerald was fairly certain there were few things in the world currently more important to her than this upcoming maybe-date Glynda Goodwitch had with General Ironwood.
In that moment, Emerald briefly sought to recall just how her life had come to this. Two years ago, she'd been scrounging for food in an alley, trying to find enough to feed herself for the winter, and not starve or freeze to death.
Now she was trying to spy on a thirty-ish-year-old woman and find out if she was interested in rekindling her love life with an Atlesian general, who was integral to her bosses master plans in unraveling Beacon and Vale's defenses, and, somehow more importantly, also directly competing with her for said thirty-ish-year-old woman's attention.
When had it all gone so wrong?
"And why would it be good?" Glynda Goodwitch spoke, raising a solitary eyebrow. "I was under the impression that Cinder was in no way related to your gathering of that information."
Emerald's gums flapped uselessly, briefly caught, before she spied the mirthful glint in Ms. Goodwitch's eyes and scowled. "You're doing it again. That teasing thing."
The woman nodded her head, before bowing ever so slightly. "My apologies, Emerald."
Emerald herself grumbled something that was probably akin to 'it's fine', though she was too ashamed to say it.
"Still, I must admit, I'm curious why you came to ask at all."
That… actually yeah, given that the woman didn't know about cinder's feelings for her, it probably didn't make a lick of sense as to why Emerald would have any intrigue in her.
Which meant it was now time for Emerald to make something up.
"Ah, well… y'know… gossip."
It wasn't her best work, admittedly.
"Ah. I understand." Ms. Goodwitch said, somehow buying that. "I must confess, I was rather similar in my youth."
Emerald found herself in disbelief. "Really? You?"
"Is that so surprising?"
"I guess I sorta figured you'd been this…" She gestured to the woman, unsure of quite how to phrase what she felt without sounding like an asshole. "Uh…"
"Careful now." The woman before her said with a glint of mirth in her eye.
"Uhm… disciplined? All your life."
"Good save." Glynda Goodwitch said with a quiet chuckle. "And that would be a fair assumption. However, it would be incorrect. I was much the same as any other child up until my mid-twenties. And then… well, life happened, as it often does. I realized that I needed to be prioritizing certain things more than I was. That I'd been too free, too… flippant in my day to day. I suppose you could say I had a bit of a wake-up call. I was childish, clinging to childish dreams. Humorously enough, it was partially due to James himself, our relationship, I suppose that broke me out of that mindset. It ended up being the catalyst for our falling out."
"Oh." Emerald said, for lack of anything to say.
"But enough talk about that," Glynda Goodwitch said with a shake of her head. "I highly doubt you much care about my ramblings about the past."
"No, actually," Emerald said, finding herself rather legitimately invested. "I was… uh… listening."
"Hmph." The woman hummed with laughter. "I'm afraid it is a rather long story, and not something I terribly feel like recounting right now. Suffice it to say that in the end, the realization I came to was that I wanted to go one way, and James another."
Emerald just nodded. "So… you're not going on a date with him, then?"
"I may still," The woman said. "The heart is a curious thing, indeed, for it often wants without ample reason."
Suddenly, a bell chimed, and Emerald swore beneath her breath as she realized she'd been caught taking far too long.
"Ah, is that the bell already?" Glynda Goodwitch said, shaking her head. "Forgive me, I've taken far too much of your time with my aimless ramblings. I'll write you a note for your next class. Oobleck, correct?"
Emerald nodded, even as the woman wrote up a small note explaining that she'd held Emerald back to have a discussion with her about academics.
It was a lie, and Emerald almost found herself surprised that the woman was even capable of such things.
But, well, perhaps that was ridiculous.
There were no such things as paragons, after all.
No matter how much Glynda Goodwitch often acted like one.
"Have a good day, Ms. Sustrai." Ms. Goodwitch said with a small wave, as she went back to working on her paperwork. "Remember, my office is always open if you need to talk."
She just nodded, exiting out of the classroom, and making her way towards her next class.
But as she moved, she couldn't help but think about the last words the woman had spoken.
"The heart is a curious thing, indeed, for it often wants without ample reason."
And Emerald found herself biting down on the inside of her cheek, her eyes going a bit hazy as she stared off into nothingness.
Emerald could attest to that as truth.
After all, despite everything, she still sought Cinder Fall.
As always, Emerald could only really focus on what a fool she was.
/
Emerald reported back to Cinder within a few hours of being given her task, and Cinder honestly found herself impressed with her lieutenant's response time.
"You've done well, Emerald," She said as she stroked her chin idly. "Take the rest of the day off."
It might've sounded magnanimous, but truly, Cinder simply needed time now to formulate by herself, and Emerald would only get in the way of that. Still, she'd also learned that if you could appear nicer than you were, you also probably should.
As it turned out however… thinking on her own was…
Well, it wasn't going all that well.
That wasn't to say it was going necessarily badly, but more that in the next hour and some change, Cinder had accomplished precious little in the way of…
Anything.
All she'd really managed was to conjure up more questions in her head, along with that same aching feeling in her lower stomach that kept surfacing every time she thought of that bastard Ironwood and Glynda Goodwitch together.
And then the rest of her would rather unhelpfully supply her with the fact that she, the supposed strongest enforcer of Salem, was sitting here worried about what was, ostensibly, a relationship with an adult huntress.
She couldn't help thinking Salem likely wouldn't approve.
Then again, Cinder had never really concerned herself terribly much with what Salem would approve of, so that was that.
Her head was swimming far too much, however, and so Cinder resolved to simply make her way out of her room and walk around. She moved aimlessly, or she initially thought she did. It took her perhaps too long to realize that the route she'd taken was more planned than she'd initially thought when she ended up in front of a particular door, scowling at her own self.
I'm an idiot. She supplied inside of her own head as she sighed into Glynda Goodwitch's door.
How many times had she ended up here in the last few weeks? It felt like too many, even if it was, realistically, perhaps twice or three times.
Once had been enough. Twice too often.
And now here she was again.
And of course, the door was pulled open the moment she meant to step back, because the universe really thought itself quite clever whenever Cinder was concerned. Glynda Goodwitch regarded her with some faint surprise, before she smiled her way.
"Cinder." She said, "Ah, my apologies, Ms. Fall, that is."
Call me Cinder again. Her mind unhelpfully chimed in.
"I was just leaving." She said, which wow, was a really stupid thing to say. "My apologies for bothering you."
"You're not bothering me, Ms. Fall." Glynda said, shaking her head. "If there was something you needed, I'm more than willing to provide."
"That's just the thing," Cinder shook her head. "I didn't need anything. I just… ended up here."
The teacher before her reacted to that, though it was a subtle thing, and brief enough that Cinder found herself unable to truly read into it.
"Well, if you're simply walking around," The woman spoke, before stepping outside of her room and shutting the door. "Perhaps we could walk together?"
"Why…"
"I did not mean to intrude," Glynda Goodwitch spoke. "If you've something else planned, I won't interfere."
"No!" She said with a bit too much energy, and internally, as had become customary recently, she rebuked herself for that. "No. I'm… I really don't have a plan."
Which was unusual. Cinder herself had almost always had a plan. Salem had, after all, taught her to do so. To go into everything with a concrete plan, but one that was malleable enough to maneuver when it inevitably made contact with the enemy.
And here was Cinder, in what was rapidly beginning to feel like a battle, with no plan at all.
Perhaps that was the problem. Perhaps the fact that she was approaching this as some unknown entity, and not that which Cinder had done quite well at combatting.
Perhaps… perhaps if she treated the woman before her as she would someone like Ozpin, or Adam, or Torchwick…
As a potential threat, one she needed to read into every movement of, then…
"Are you sure it wouldn't be a bother?" Cinder felt the need to ask for some reason.
"Not at all. If anything, it might be a welcome break. I've no work to be doing, I'm only… I suppose you can say I am pondering my options at the moment. With the semester ended, I have nothing to distract myself from it."
'From it'… if what she had learned, and what Emerald had communicated to her, was true, then it may very well have been her potential date with General James Ironwood.
Again, that feeling in her stomach burned, like a hunger, but lower, deeper…
Worse.
"I would like that, then." Cinder finally said, doing her best to steel her heart. "If we might walk together."
"Then it's settled." The woman beside her said, reaching into her pocket and locking the door to her office. "Where to?"
"I've no real preference." Cinder said, deciding to feint for information. "Do you know of anywhere that we might make our way towards?"
"I'm partial to the gardens myself, though they are likely overrun by insects at this time of the evening," The woman said, even as the two of them began to move down the corridors. "Perhaps the courtyard?"
Cinder really had no opinion for herself, other than that she was not a fan of insects, or anything that creeped or crawled, and thusly didn't particularly feel like heading to the gardens.
"I suppose the courtyard would suffice, then."
And so, the two of them went.
Ms. Goodwitch made idle chatter on the way there, and Cinder tried to pay attention, really, she did, but she was too busy plotting, scheming, inside her head to truly focus on the woman's words.
Because she was going to treat this like she would a conversation with Adam. Someone she had something to gain from, who's alliance she needed.
Which meant pleasing the woman beside her. Telling her what she wanted to hear.
…The problem being that Glynda Goodwitch was far more complicated a person than Adam Taurus.
More, even, than Salem herself.
Those two had understandable goals. Adam wanted justice, or perhaps more accurately, pain in recompense for the Faunus' suffering. And really, at the end of the day, he just wanted his little girlfriend back. Salem, likewise, desired results. Above all else, as long as Cinder accomplished the goal in sight, she allowed her 'minions' free reign.
This woman before her…
Cinder had yet to truly gleam her end goal.
Better then, perhaps, to start simple, and work her way up from there.
"I must confess, I rather enjoy this." She said, as the two of them made their way into the courtyard, entirely empty given the lack of Beacon's population.
Glynda Goodwitch's face lit up, which had some part of Cinder taking notice.
"I'm glad, Ms. Fall."
…Actually, there was something she'd seen the woman do. Whenever Cinder revealed something about herself… whenever she was honest about how she felt, the woman before her seemed to grow more interested.
Some part of that had the hairs standing up on the back of her neck. After all, revealing herself was about the last thing that Cinder wanted to do, as that came part in parcel with perhaps being discovered, followed quickly by being tortured and then unceremoniously executed.
So, she'd feed some rather useless information instead. Something not at all important.
Perhaps a comment on her past, then?
"I am not used to gaining enjoyment out of the things I do."
Glynda Goodwitch stayed silent at that, though there was a noticeable hitch in her step that she recovered from quite quickly. Cinder noted that but felt a frown surface.
Because she wondered if what she'd said was something she should've.
Then… might she say something a bit more… loaded? Something that carried within it a bit more meaning? Perhaps that would be enough to get the woman to…
To what?
Cinder didn't even know what she wanted, did she? She tried to claim that what she wanted was the woman's body, some carnal fantasy that played in her head, but…
But what really drew her back was that same memory. Of a hand atop her own. Of a warmth unforeseen.
How did she… how did she get that warmth again?
And Cinder realized that when it came to a situation like this, there was none quite as useless as her.
Still, she contemplated the advice she'd received from Glynda Goodwitch a few days prior. On how best to gain Emerald's trust back. In the end, it had proven correct, even if she'd been too weak to fully execute upon it.
Perhaps… perhaps she should…
Just be honest?
And so, as the two of them walked the circumference of the courtyard, Cinder took a breath, parted her lips, and spoke.
"I find myself… wanting to do this more often. Spending time around you."
Ms. Goodwitch just smiled innocently over at her. "You're always welcome to drop by my office, Ms. Fall."
It seemed the woman didn't quite get what she was trying to say.
And really, Cinder found herself quite… frustrated. Frustrated because, for perhaps the first time in her life, she desired something that she couldn't simply take. Perhaps, if she were some barbarous monster, she might try, but…
Cinder had had things forced upon her in the past. She would never do such a thing, no matter what became of her. No matter what she might end up doing in the future, that she knew for absolute certain.
On the streets, her beauty would've been enough. Most people saw her and desired her immediately. It would've been hard not to, what with the stunning figure she'd cultivated over the years.
But here… this woman before her…
Cinder felt herself growing impatient. It'd been a few months since their arrival in Beacon, and frankly, she couldn't help feeling like she'd waited long enough.
And yet growing impatient had always been a fatal flaw of hers. She'd not been able to wait when she'd been a child, and because of it, Rhodes had died. She'd not been able to wait when she'd run away from Atlas, and because of it, she'd nearly perished in the snow. She'd not been able to wait when she'd come to Vale, and because of it, here she was, in Beacon, making mistake after mistake.
Perhaps, for once, she should simply tough it out.
…No. She wouldn't be Cinder Fall if she were the type to casually sit by and watch what she wanted drift out of her grip.
She would fight for it. To the bitter end.
"I hear that you're going to go out with General Ironwood after all."
Glynda Goodwitch actually laughed. "You really are quite the gossip, aren't you? I admit to not having expected as much from you."
"I'm not a gossip. I simply have a vested interest."
"Oh? And what would that vested interest be in, exactly?"
Ah, yes, what would it be in, exactly?
She normally would've played a little there. Teased the woman at the edge, with a lilt in her voice and a sashay to her step. All the better to flaunt what she had. All the better to allure her, capture her every glance.
She didn't now.
Cinder kept pretending like that didn't mean anything.
Instead, it was all she could do to look up at the woman then, with her eyes a bit wider than they'd normally be, with an honest to goodness vulnerability in her expression. She saw as the woman across from her absorbed the enormity of that look, as her eyes widened.
"Ms. Fall?"
…She was such a coward.
"…I don't have a crush on Yang Xiao-Long."
She watched as Glynda Goodwitch's face morphed into one of abject surprise, then. "What?"
"I said I don't have a crush on that girl." She said again, unable to meet the woman's gaze. "I simply let you assume that to be the case."
Glynda Goodwitch stayed silent once again, the only audible sound in the courtyard the sound of their steps against the stone beneath, and the gentle gurgling of a fountain from off to their left somewhere.
"I'm sorry, Ms. Fall. I'm not quite following what you're saying here."
Perhaps she should've been disappointed by that. No. No, she knew she should've been disappointed by that. And yet, instead, she wasn't. Because Cinder Fall was a coward. Someone who ran and ran and ran. Someone who, even in such a simplistic matter, would rather flee than face the woman across from her.
"That's fine." She lied, smiling over at the woman. "I'm sure you'll understand within time."
There was a minor reaction to that phrase upon the woman's face, but she otherwise said nothing as Cinder stopped walking, and turned away.
"I think I'm going to retire for the evening. I enjoyed walking with you like this, Ms. Goodwitch."
"And I as well, Ms. Fall."
She hummed something noncommittal, even as she made her way away, running as always just a bit quicker than she perhaps should've.
And once again, that warmth was the thing that hovered about her mind. The hand resting atop her own.
How like herself it was. For the girl who'd frozen to death to dream of fleeting warmth.
/
Glynda Goodwitch understood what she perhaps should've been thinking about while she laid in bed at roughly 11:55 at night.
It was nothing.
Unfortunately, as per usual, she was not thinking about nothing.
No. Her mind, as seemed to be customary these days, was focused in on one Cinder Fall.
On a variety of things about the time they'd spent together today, really.
The fact that Cinder had come by at all was a welcome surprise. She had perhaps overestimated the woman's anti-social nature if she was visiting as often as she was. Even still, it certainly wasn't something she was going to be complaining about.
The walk the two of them had shared had been nice, even if they'd mostly rambled about nothing of import.
Something that had stood out to her were the few things Cinder had admitted to her. Perhaps most importantly that she didn't have a crush on Yang Xiao-Long.
Which was… well, admittedly, Glynda didn't quite believe the girl.
Because it was clear she was infatuated. Glynda had not become a teacher at a school for teenagers herself without learning the obvious tells. The way they ambled about, so constantly focused on their quarry. The way they looked upon them with such favor, how they tried to spend more time with them on average…
She shook her head. At the very least, it was possible that who she'd thought Ms. Fall had feelings for had simply been incorrect.
Technically, Cinder had given her a hint.
"That's fine." Ms. Fall had said, with a look upon her face that'd betrayed it was anything but. "I'm sure you'll understand within time."
Was it someone Glynda was supposed to be able to guess? It certainly sounded like she thought that was the case.
And those final words, I'm sure you'll understand within time…
They were the same words that Ozpin had spoken to her. About that which she didn't understand.
And it had been about Cinder, too.
And it was in that moment, at roughly 11:59 at night, that a thought occurred to Glynda. A thought that had her brain wracking, her mind stretching, and her eyes scrunching.
Because what had really struck her the most about her talk with Cinder that day had been the look she'd given her as the two of them had walked through the courtyard. The way she'd looked up at her, then, so raw and vulnerable, with an expression that screamed not of fear, or anger, or anything else she might've expected of her, but…
But of want. Of desire.
And then Glynda found herself connecting the dots.
Did Cinder… were her feelings actually for–
And then the clock struck midnight.
And Glynda's eyes went wide.
End Chapter 12
Not a ton to say.
See you all next week!