Yo.

Not a ton to say. Six more chapters after this one! Hope you all look forward to the final few!


Chapter 56


Glynda Goodwitch awoke that next morning feeling an odd sort of tension in the air. She wasn't entirely certain as to why, or even how she felt such things, given that she possessed no extraordinary skills that would have allowed her to sense such. Yet, she could not deny the way her instincts told her that something was off.

She pushed herself out of bed and made her way towards the ensuite bathroom. They'd been staying in a rather rundown hotel for the last week or so that they'd been in Mistral, and while it had clearly once been a rather upscale establishment, that had to have been several decades ago. Now, the wallpaper was scratched and flaking, the beds were squeaky and unstable – which gave Glynda a far, far more intimate knowledge of Ms. Xiao Long and Ms. Belladonna's personal lives than she had any desire to – and there was no temperature control.

She hadn't realize how used she had grown to it in her time at Beacon Academy until it had been taken from her, and now she could barely get to sleep at night unless she laid prone atop her bed without a blanket, sitting directly under the ceiling fan – or, when it was instead freezing, bundled beneath no less than three comforters, and with a beanie wrapped around her ears.

She was letting herself go more and more these days. That was not necessarily a bad thing, Glynda couldn't help thinking, but it was an unavoidable truth regardless. She had stopped worrying so much about her appearance as she had back in Beacon.

There, she had been a force of law, of order. She was a disciplinarian. Strict, firm, and unyielding in the face of harmless shenanigans and serious threats both. And yet now, her students had all seen her for who she truly was; just a person. She was thirty-four – wait, no, her birthday had gone by again, hadn't it? That made her thirty-five. Glynda actually shuddered – years old, and while that made her seem completely alien to a group of teenagers half her age, she truly was rather similar to them.

That was perhaps most obvious in the way that even now, months and months after the fact, her mind still thought of Cinder in these quiet morning hours, where she was left with nothing but the silent ramblings of her head.

She wondered where Cinder was, now. What she was doing. Perhaps she was still within Salem's base of operations, all the way up in the Grimmlands. Or perhaps she'd been sent off on another mission. For all she knew, she could very well be in Mistral herself, working with–

And it was then that a thought occurred to Glynda that she had until then not truly considered.

Lionheart had betrayed them; that was the basis. But she knew that he still stood guard over the Relic of Knowledge. Ozpin had a certain… intuition for when the Vaults containing the Relics were opened. If it had been taken from out of it, she imagined he would have said something about it back during their time in Beacon.

Which meant that Haven had something Salem wanted.

And that meant Salem had to send someone to get it.

One plus one equaled two, in this case.

It might not have been her, but someone was likely here, right now, working alongside Lionheart to extract the Relic. Now that their big plan in Beacon had concluded, they had no reason to keep Lionheart's identity under wraps. Likely, they would use him, and then either fully bring him into the fold…

Or dispose of him outright.

And if Glynda's intuition was correct, she imagined that what had happened in Beacon had likely earned Cinder at least some degree of credit. After all, it wasn't as if she was going to go and confess what the two of them had shared to the dread queen of the world.

…Or, well, Glynda hoped she didn't. That would be a bit odd.

Regardless of that, however, she hypothesized that if Cinder had earned such accolades, it would not be terribly odd for her to be taking point on their next operation.

Cinder might very well be on Anima. Hell, she might be within the city of Mistral itself, or somewhere close to it. The more she thought of that, the more she wished it was true.

Glynda wanted to see her. More than anything, she felt she needed to see Cinder. She still had things left to say that she'd never gotten the chance to. And she imagined that applied to Cinder herself as well.

So, as she made her way to her door, still feeling that odd tension in the air, she yearned for a time when she and Cinder had simply been able to talk to one another.

And then she opened said door.

…Suddenly, she understood why she was feeling a general sense of dread hanging in the air.

"Yo, Glyn," Qrow Branwen smiled a bit lopsidedly at her.

"Fancy meeting you here."

/

Cinder's scroll rang that morning like a tolling bell.

"I believe you should act as soon as possible," Lionheart said, his voice wavering with fear. "I do not mean to give orders to you, I assure you, but I simply–"

"I understand." Cinder cut him off before he could make even more of an embarrassment of himself. "Your concerns on Nikos and her teammates; has anything come of them?"

Lionheart seemed uncertain. "Nothing as of yet. But I feel a certain tension in the air that I'd be remiss not to mention. Something is afoot. As to what that something is… well, I don't know."

Cinder hummed in affirmation of the man's words, even if she largely set them aside. She would worry about the intuition of a coward later.

"We will make our way to Haven, then," Cinder spoke. "Prepare things for our arrival."

Lionheart nodded, and the call disconnected. Immediately, Cinder allowed her posture to slacken somewhat. It was exhausting; pretending to be the person she once was.

She'd accepted it now; that she had become someone else. That somewhere along the way Cinder Fall had been forgotten, and now in her place stood simply Cinder.

It was both a good and terrifying feeling, but it was something she'd simply have to accept.

As she stepped out of her tent, she immediately came face-to-face with Watts, who had been leaning against the entrance.

"So, we're finally acting, then?"

She nodded her head, and motioned for him to follow along behind her. She got a kick out of such things; reminding Watts that it was she who Salem had given the leadership role in this operation to.

"Any word from Hazel?" She asked, given she'd not heard a thing.

"He's made no real progress in searching for Ozpin's current incarnation." Watts told her as they made their way towards Raven's tent. "Given he doesn't expect to find anything at this point, he's gradually migrating towards Mistral. I believe he intends to meet us there and be of aid in retrieving the Relic of Knowledge."

Cinder hummed. "I see."

There was nothing more to say as Cinder stepped up towards Raven's tent, and rapped her knuckles against one of the wooden beams holding it up.

"Enter."

Cinder did, followed closely by Watts. Raven sat at her table, her legs crossed beneath her as she sipped from a concave dish, which seemed to hold some form of alcoholic beverage. Cinder was fairly certain it was some variant of sake, but she couldn't quite be sure.

"Are we finally ready, then?" She asked as she placed the dish down.

"We are."

"Good. I've already sent one of my own ahead to Mistral. I'll utilize my semblance and take us into the city whenever you're ready."

Cinder nodded, not giving voice to the thought she had that Raven's semblance was uniquely powerful. She'd heard the stories of Team STRQ, of course, and how they'd been a uniquely troublesome thorn in Salem's side, but hearing that she could simply take them into Mistral in an instant gave some credence to just how difficult facing such a force must've been.

"I need to gather my things, and let Emerald know we're leaving."

"Likewise, I need to alert the camp that I'll be gone, and ready Vernal."

Cinder nodded. "Then we'll reconvene in a few minutes."

Raven hummed in assent.

It was roughly twenty-five minutes later that they finally found themselves back behind Raven's tent, the five of them. Their group was rather small, and yet, discounting Emerald and Vernal, it was likely one of the strongest strength-to-quantity-of-members groups that had ever been assembled.

"Well, I for one will be glad to be done with this place," Watts commented, slapping himself along the neck in order to kill one of the mosquitoes buzzing about his body. "And to be moving back into civilization."

Raven snorted, but otherwise stayed silent as she brought out her blade, and seemed almost to slice through space itself. A portal opened up along that rift; a swirling vortex of black and red.

"I step through last." Raven said. "It closes the moment I'm through."

Cinder nodded, and went in before the others. She thought, idly, about the fact that, if Raven truly wanted to, she likely could've sent her straight into her brother's clutches. It would've made for a rather effective method of getting rid of her, but when Cinder stepped out, she was instead staring at a bandit bowing his head towards her.

This must've been Raven's target, then. The one whom she made the portal to in the first place.

The others stepped out not too long after that. Vernal came next, followed by Emerald, then Watts, and finally Raven herself. The portal, as Raven had said it would, collapsed behind her, and they were left in the middle of what seemed to be a hotel room, of all places.

"Good work, Roland." Raven commented absently, even as she drew her blade once more, and cut another portal into the air. "Make your way back to camp. I'll be leaving you in charge for the time being."

The man nodded his head without saying anything, and walked through the portal, presumably back into the Branwen's camp.

"Now," Raven turned to her. "How are we doing this?"

/

The halls of Haven were quiet; almost too quiet, in Cinder's eyes.

It was to their advantage – or at least it was supposed to be – and yet she could not quite shake the feeling creeping up the back of her neck that something was wrong. That she was being watched. And yet, every time she turned around, there was no one, and she felt like a fool.

"Here it is," Lionheart eventually stated, as they made it into a large, open area. In the middle, between two sets of staircases, was a statue of some ancient goddess. "Give me but a moment."

Lionheart stepped up to it, and took a medallion of some sort from out of his pocket. He fit it into a slot on the statue, and the entire thing shook for a moment. Then, it opened, to reveal a passage down into what seemed to be some underground room.

That would be their vault, then.

"I will stand guard here." Lionheart spoke. "I leave the rest to you."

Cinder nodded blankly, not really listening. "Fine. Emerald, you stay here as well."

Her companion nodded.

Watts stayed still as well, giving a rather bored sounding, "I will as well. I trust you have things handled, Cinder."

She rolled her eyes, but largely ignored Watts' words. Instead, she stood atop what seemed to be some sort of elevator. Raven and Vernal both joined her. With no real warning, the lift descended. It seemed to do so for quite some time, and Cinder was reminded of the elevator back in Beacon, which had seemed to sink for ages before opening up into the underground chamber that had housed the Fall Maiden.

Eventually, the lift came to a stop. Before them was a massive chamber, one which seemed to stretch on endlessly below them. Of course, Cinder knew it had a bottom, but even still, whatever had carved this structure had done so without much thought for those who might actually have to traverse it.

Raven stepped forward without thinking too terribly much, and motioned for Vernal to do the same. That largely ended Cinder's brief period of observing the space. She followed along behind them as they made their way towards the gate at the end of the hall.

This was the vault, then.

"How am I supposed to open this, then?" Vernal sounded bored.

"I am not terribly sure." Cinder was honest. "I believe you simply flex the power of the Spring Maiden."

Vernal grunted, but held a hand up regardless. A few seconds passed by before Cinder felt any real energy being emitted, but finally, lines began to carve themselves into place on the door. Over the course of the next thirty or so seconds, they spread, until finally, the vault opened, and revealed a vast expanse of desert before them.

It was beautiful in its impossibility; as if a gate to Vacuo had opened up in front of them.

"Are we done here, then?" Raven asked, turning towards Cinder in her boney Grimm helmet, which she had put back on for some reason.

"We are." Cinder nodded. "You may leave, if you wish."

Raven hummed, and did just that, cutting a portal into being beside her. She motioned for Vernal to step into it, and when the girl did, she took a single step towards it, before faltering.

"What?" Cinder asked her.

"I guess I expected you to try and make some move to claim the Maiden's power."

Cinder hummed in affirmation. "I might've, were I still the person I once was. But… power for power's sake doesn't terribly interest me anymore."

Raven sort of stared at her a while after that. The seconds ticked by, long enough that Vernal actually came back through the portal, and asked, "You coming, boss?"

"Yes, Vernal." Raven sighed, seemingly unable to find whatever answers she was seeking. "I'm not sure if you want my advice, but if you care at all…"

And then, suddenly, Raven's entire countenance shifted. She seemed almost aggravated, as if a particularly annoying thorn in her side had surfaced.

"Well, act on your feelings. Don't run from them."

And then Raven was gone, following her minion into the portal. It closed behind her soon after that.

And Cinder was left alone.

She wasted no time moving towards the Relic of Knowledge. As she stepped into the odd desert that was the vault, her insides shifted briefly, as if the very gravity in this chamber was different. It was odd enough to be worth noting, but ultimately affected little as she reached out, took the Relic, and then turned around, walking her way back out of the vault.

And yet, she found herself noticing something rather odd as she made her way back towards the lift that would've taken her out of this chamber.

It was going up.

Cinder's eyes narrowed, even as the lift came to a stop. And then, once more, it was descending, taking someone from up above down towards her.

She clipped the Relic of Knowledge onto her back for safe keeping, even as she drew upon some of the Maiden's fire. There was a chance this was just Watts, coming to see what was taking so long – which did sound quite a bit like him – but something in Cinder's instincts told her that wasn't what was happening.

And then, with absolutely no fanfare, or sense of drama, the figure on the lift was revealed to her.

And Cinder's heart practically stopped.

She took a step back away from the incoming lift, and then another. It took a few more seconds until the lift connected with the ground, and the person atop it stepped off of it. Without looking away from Cinder, the figure placed her foot on the lift once more, sending it back up, and, for the time being, closing off Cinder's singular method of escape.

And then they spoke.

"It's been a while, Cinder."

Somehow, despite it all, she found her voice.

"It… it has." She muttered, barely above a whisper.

And at that, Glynda Goodwitch gave a melancholic smile.

/

Emerald hadn't really expected acquiring the Relic of Knowledge – and then subsequently evacuating Haven – to be easy. She just kind of knew how the world worked when it came to her and the people she often chose to associate with. They were not allowed to have things simple, or easy.

So, when the entirety of Team's RWBY and JNPR showed up, Emerald was honestly only mildly surprised.

When Glynda Goodwitch showed up, her eyes nearly shot out of their sockets.

And when Penny Polendina stepped up to her, with a determined look set about her, and striking a pose that looked both ready for combat and like she'd have rather done anything else in the world, Emerald decided it was probably better she just stop thinking altogether.

Unfortunately for her, that had a tendency to not work so well.

"Penny…" She murmured, even as her compatriot – well, technical compatriot – in Watts drew his (frankly comically oversized) revolver from out of his coat.

"Emerald." Penny's voice did not waver, but then, she was an android. Emerald wasn't actually sure it was possible for her voice to waver. "I am glad to see you."

"I… Yeah. Same here."

"Yes, yes, this is all well and good," Watts muttered below his breath. "Now then, if you can't convert Penny here to our side, then you'd best begin fending her off. We stall until Cinder gets the Relic, and then we make our way out of here."

She was probably supposed to be paying attention to what Watts was saying right about then, but Emerald truly couldn't find it in her to do so. There were far too many things to consider right in front of her.

Watts was really more a background actor than anything.

But it was in that moment, a terribly brief period where Watts was grumbling under his breath, Leonardo Lionheart – who Emerald had just remembered was present – was fumbling about trying to draw his weapon, and Emerald's eyes were locked on Penny, that Glynda Goodwitch made her move.

She shot past them all, having sailed off of one of her glyphs, and threw herself right into the shaft that led down towards where Cinder, Raven, and Vernal had gone.

Watts swore aloud, "Stop her–"

"'Fraid not!"

Watts had no choice but to pivot his body nearly one-hundred and eighty degrees, barely blocking the incoming blade on a hardlight dust-shield. Emerald immediately found herself somewhat impressed with his reaction speed, which told her that he was, in fact, likely quite the powerful combatant.

Even so, Qrow Branwen, the newest arrival, likely had him beat.

"Sorry to drop in on you all," Qrow commented, before his blade shifted into its scythe form, and he primed himself to cut across them. "But I'm going to need you all to move!"

It was a bit late for Emerald to realize that she was included in such a statement, and yet, it took until said blade was quite literally sailing towards her neck for her to key into the fact that to Qrow, she was a bad guy.

And well… he wasn't really incorrect, per se.

Emerald narrowly avoided the blow by dodging back and away from it, but that still left Watts to fight off Qrow almost entirely on his own. Lionheart moved to assist, but was intercepted by another newcomer. This one… okay, admittedly, Emerald had no idea who this kid was supposed to be, but he was wielding Ozpin's cane, and seemed somewhat adept with it?

Emerald honestly just chose to ignore him for the moment.

As she landed, she pivoted, and tried to survey the battlefield, seeing if there was anywhere she could insert herself – and thinking about whether or not she actually wanted to insert herself in the first place.

That entire line of thought was sapped away from her when Penny stepped directly in front of her, crossed her arms, took a wide stance, and then very dramatically stated…

"Emerald! You and I are going to talk about our feelings!"

And really, Emerald felt like she couldn't be blamed for not having a response to that. It was all she could do to gape like some kind of fish; her mouth opening and closing like she was trying to take in air.

Eventually, she mustered up the will to say, "What!?"

"I said that you and I are–"

"No, I heard you, I just…" Emerald trailed off, suddenly very aware of the fact that they were in a large auditorium filled with a good ten or so other combatants. "Is this really the time!?"

"I do not see when else we would be able to have a conversation like this."

Admittedly, Emerald couldn't much counter that.

"We went our separate ways," Penny began, holding a hand to where her heart would be if she were a normal human; likely a habit she'd picked up from someone. "And in doing so, the chances of us meeting again were small. Incredibly so. And yet we are here. So, I will not waste this chance."

Emerald's hands shook. In the background, she was fairly certain she heard Watts calling out for her to get in there and help, but she was a bit busy at the moment. He'd just have to understand.

He probably wouldn't, but again, that was really a him problem.

"Penny, I–"

"I believe I love you, Emerald."

There were a lot of things she'd been prepared to hear during this conversation. She'd been ready for Penny to be actually angry with her, to denounce her leaving, and perhaps to even attack her. she doubted she'd try and seriously harm her, but if she had… well, Emerald wouldn't have been shocked, nor could she have blamed her.

Likewise, she'd been ready for Penny to be depressed about it all. To ask Emerald if everything that had happened had been her own fault. It wasn't – and Emerald was going to make that clear if she had such thoughts – but luckily, she'd not mentioned such a thing.

Unfortunately, what she had mentioned had Emerald entirely reeling, quite literally taking a step back, letting out a noise that roughly amounted to, "He-uh?" and then sort of just… standing there blankly.

"I am an android," Penny said, dilating her eyes so that Emerald could see the way they swirled inwards and outwards. "I am not a human being. I was given a soul, but the only person who had any real expectation for my ability to develop into a truly sapient being was my father. When I began to first show signs of such, there were even calls for my emotional cores to be entirely removed. My father and General Ironwood harshly rebuked and denied such proclamations, and I ended up as I am now."

"And yet, even so, it took me roughly two and a half years to develop the social intelligence to do more than scare away potential friends. My first real friend ended up being Ruby, and even then, with the knowledge I possess now, I believe she was only hanging around me to be nice. It was only after the events at the docks, and our reunion a month or so later, that the two of us truly formed any kind of real bond."

Emerald nodded a bit hesitantly.

"So, I will be the first being to admit that I did not expect to ever have any experience with romance. I had so little expectation, in fact, that my father had not even sought to install any routines that would inform me as to the nature of such things. And yet, somehow, they developed in my mind regardless. I began to learn new things completely separately from my programming; advanced in ways that my father, and the other top minds in Atlas, could not have possibly predicted. And almost all of that… was because I met you, Emerald."

It was like a stake in the gut to be hearing those words from Penny after what she'd done to her. To hear that she'd literally advanced as a being because of Emerald, only for her to leave her behind. To feed her an illusion and run.

So how could Penny still smile at her like that? How could she look her in the eye and appear as if she was staring at some wondrous work of art. As if she knew true beauty, and wanted the whole world to see it.

"Penny… I–"

"I do not mean to interrupt you, Emerald, but would you mind if I continued speaking?"

Emerald shook her head. "Go ahead."

Penny nodded, closed her eyes, and then seemed to emulate taking a deep, steadying breath. Emerald knew she did not have to. Perhaps such a ritual was comforting.

"It is difficult for me to process these things. Ever since I began experiencing more and more human emotions, my ability to utilize certain traits that identify me as an android have decreased by roughly equal percentages. I once had an eidetic memory, and yet now, certain pieces and parts of my past take up greater import inside my memory banks, to the point that more minor details are left forgotten. And… almost all of those greater import memories are of my time with you."

Emerald bit down on her bottom lip.

"I asked my father about such things, and he told me that such is common among humans who have fallen in love." Penny stated, smiling over at her in a way that made Emerald's knees weak. "And as I researched such topics more and more, I found myself unable to deny my father's hypothesis. I believe I have fallen in love with you, Emerald."

She'd never heard such words before. Never in all her life. There had been no one she'd trusted enough on the streets, and when she'd gotten off of them, she'd been far too focused on trying to earn Cinder's love to feel such for anyone else.

And yet now, Penny Polendina was telling her that she loved her.

It was enough to root her to the spot. Enough to have her breaths coming with great gulps. Enough for her to want to run away, and at the same time, never leave again.

It was horrendously confusing, in a way.

"So, Emerald, I want to ask you a question." Penny stated, taking a step towards her, and then another. She did so slowly, like a veterinarian approaching a skittish, abused animal. "Do you feel the same way about me?"

Emerald's breath caught in her throat.

"Penny… I–"

And then a dust round shot straight through Penny's neck.

There was a moment of complete and utter silence, then. One in which Emerald just sort of… stopped. She was fairly certain that there were still quite loud sounds echoing out throughout the hall they resided within, and yet Emerald could not hear any of them. No, it was all she could do to turn her head towards where the shot had been fired from, and to see Arthur Watts standing there, his revolver smoking, and his eyes trained on her own.

"If you're quite finished!?" He snarled at her. "Get over here and–"

Emerald didn't think she'd ever drawn Thief's Respite so quickly. One moment Watts was berating her, and the next he was falling backwards under a hail of bullets, striking away at his aura. Emerald wasn't quite sure what it was she was feeling, then. Fury? Certainly. Sorrow? Yes, definitely. Hope? Indeed. She made for Penny's downed form and found her eyes filling up with tears.

It was almost funny, in a morbid, terrible sort of way, that all it took was someone threatening a person she loved for her to realize where her priorities laid.

"Penny!" She screamed like she never had before. "You're okay, you have to be–"

"I am okay, Emerald." Penny stated in an almost casual tone, looking up at her with a smile. "My chassis can sustain serious damage before shutting down. Do not worry for me."

It was just like Penny to not at all understand her emotions at a time like this. It was so like her, in fact, that it was all Emerald could do to let out a wretched little noise, which was caught between a laugh and a sob.

"How could I not worry!?" She yelled at the girl beneath her, despite that it was not at all her fault. "How could I–" She cut herself off, shaking her head as she bit down hard on her lower lip.

Penny's eyes widened at the display.

"I am okay, Emerald. I promise you."

It was what she needed to hear. In all honesty, she wanted Penny to keep saying it. To say it until she could get her out of here, and somehow to a professional who could actually confirm said fact. It wasn't that she didn't trust Penny, but…

She worried for her. She worried so terribly.

"I'm sorry." She sputtered out between her teeth, shaking her head back and forth as she tried to prevent herself from breaking entirely. "I'm sorry that I left you that day. I'm so, so sorry."

Penny just smiled brightly, like the clouds in the sky had parted, and the sun had finally come out.

"I forgive you, Emerald, as long as you can promise me that you won't abandon me again."

In that moment, such a request felt miniscule; tiny.

"I won't." She said, and she meant it. "I won't. I swear. I'll stay right here."

And even if she wasn't quite ready to admit the feelings still swirling about her heart, she could at the very least lean down and plant a quick, chaste kiss on Penny's lips. It was brief enough that she hoped no one else in the room noticed, but she heard Xiao Long shout, "NICE!", so she was pretty sure she'd failed there.

And then, somehow cutting through every sound of the hall they were all in, Emerald heard a piercing scream echo out from below them, deep within the bowels of Haven, where the Relic of Knowledge had been stored.

And she felt a chill run down her spine.

Because…

That was Cinder's voice.


End Chapter 56


Still not much to say. Hope you have a good week!