"I want to ask you something first. Are you sure you want to know? Nightingale's semblance is said to be able to track things that she would consider useful when they become aware of it."
Raven looks at her, then, as she sits down on the bed next to Cinder she asks a pointed and direct question of her own, answering Cinder not with the answers the girl wants. But instead with a dialogue of grave sincerity. Expressing itself in a voice as cold as Atlas.
Cinder freezes, the question taking her by surprise… her semblance alone is strong, but to have one with awareness like that… if it were true? What… how… could someone be born with such power?
"Tell me."
She had to be able to plan, able to make a contingency that would work against this "Nightingale" if possible. She had to be able to make something work, no one was invincible, no one was immortal. She could be beaten because she had to be beaten.
"Very well. Nightingale's real name isn't known to me, she was rumored to be a folk singer for some time, traveled with a pair of huntresses and performed for small out of the way towns, raising spirits and the like. She disappeared close to 10 years ago, after the town she was in was consumed by a sudden, unexpected grimm migration. Summer thought she was dead, because her huntress companions were found in pieces in the aftermath of the assault."
Raven paused and sipped from her canteen of water, before licking her lips and continuing.
"Priorly, most had assumed that Nightingale's semblance influenced emotions in those who heard her sing, usually towards more positive trends. Now we know better, Nightingale's semblance is emotional control in a wide range. Anyone who can hear her and does not have an aura to protect themselves can be influenced into her control. As for why she is here, or what her goals are… I do not know, and if I had to hazard a guess, she seeks to do… something with Argus. Most of our knowledge of her comes from interviews with Tyrian Callows, when he was last captured."
Cinder's mind immediately recalls the scorpion faunus, the flickering tail and insanity in his eyes.
"He simply said that she was an emissary of things to come, and the interview dropped off when Tyrian broke his bonds and slaughtered the guards before breaking out."
Another pause, more sips from the canteen.
"In all honesty, I only tell you this because we will be out of her reach soon, far away from her and safe. She can have Argus, for all I care."
The revelation is worse than Cinder could ever have thought. Certainly, she'd known that her mother hadn't been one that would be willing to save innocents. But… would she truly leave everyone in Argus to their fate? Enslaved to Nightingale's whims.
As if Raven could read her mind, she simply said.
"Yes. I would. Nothing matters to me more than you."
She didn't say "and my promise to Summer" but Cinder knew that it was implied.
"What about the White Fang?"
"If they are wise, Kali and Ghira will pull them out of the area, taking all faunus they can save and making for the coast, where they will evacuate to Menagerie. The moment Nightingale was detected, the Atlesians should have instituted a quarantine within the city."
Cinder didn't flinch. But she was thinking, she was considering, Raven would leave everyone here to their enslavement or death… because she could. Because doing that would benefit Cinder and Cinder alone.
It was shocking to have that realization rip home, more shocking to realize that Raven meant every single word of it.
"We cannot wait for her to sink her claws deeper. Especially now that I have spoken of her specifically. You are not something I am willing to give up. Not for anyone."
With that, Raven stood up, and began to give strict orders.
"Pack your bags, take only what you need, we will not dally and we cannot delay."
Cinder was surprised, the sheer trepidation in Raven's voice… and yet, she couldn't stop herself from asking.
"But- what about…"
Raven snapped at her.
"No. Not now."
Her face softened as Cinder backed down, suddenly reminded of Madame and her cruelty, and Raven bent down to Cinder's level, gently and carefully took her hands in the warriors own, and then, then she simply said.
"Later, I will answer your questions later, but now, we have a single stop to make at the fang, who have promised you a weapon, and then we have little more than the open road."
Cinder didn't know how to process it, nor did she know how to focus as Raven helped her gather her things. Something within her felt that this was wrong, that this was the antithesis of everything that someone would have wanted from her. That someone… was Summer. Everything that Cinder had ever learned about the woman, be it overheard from Raven in her sleep, or from her limited conversations with the woman herself before her death.
This was wrong, this wasn't right, and as Cinder was bundled up and pushed out of the hotel room in front of Raven, as the dark streets of Argus felt like they were pressing in on her, as the two made their way deeper into the city, moving past neon screens, until the smells of industrial oil and smoke filled the air. They passed by tired eyed, and angry citizens. Humans glaring daggers at both Raven, and Cinder.
It felt like she was walking and leaving them to their deaths. It twisted in her stomach like a snake, violently coiling about and snapping at the walls of who she was. She wanted to be a huntress, right? Wasn't what Huntresses did… save people?
What was going to happen to her? How… could she willingly stop?
Raven stopped them at a door in a nicer, upscale portion of the city, she knocked once, then five times in rapid succession, and after a moment, the door was flung open, and a portly man and woman peered around the edge. The woman held a hand to her mouth, and the man threw open his arms and began to speak.
"Raven!? Come in come in… Sanctuary?"
Raven nodded once, politely, but she waited until they were inside, and the woman was fixing herself a cocktail.
"Right. After all this time. Fucking now? By the gods Raven."
Her voice dropped instantly, a low, rustling chuckle pouring out as she laughed at Cinder and Raven, her gaze sharpening quickly.
"The basement is free. But. You'll be taking a price from us."
Raven flinched, instantly.
"Relax, girl. You won't die from such a small ask."
The woman turned and shouted cleanly.
"Rosco! Send word to the Ides family. Tell them to send their tribute."
An answering call from the upstairs.
"Understood ma!"
Then, the woman turned to Raven and simply said.
"You can stay here for at most three days. Then you'll have to move to the speakeasy."
Raven nodded, and Cinder looked around cautiously, scanning the opulent room of the building for the first time.
The upscale house was dominated by an elaborate set of tiles lain with ravens and hawks, twining together on the floor and three large pillars that dominated the central room. She let her eyes wander across the floors of the house, inspecting how it all flowed together, how things blended across the smooth detailing and paint.
Surrounding her was sheer greed, expressed in marble, in gold, it was identical to the lobby of The Glass Unicorn, but… there were differences. Where Madame's establishment had always been something that wanted to advertise its opulence, this… this was something different. While Madame's lobby advertised, this… foyer seemed to mock it, interspersed with the other symbols was something that… something that felt mocking.
It took her a moment to realize it, took her a moment, that was filled with the hubbub of small conversation with Raven… until the motif in the floor suddenly clicked into place. Until the motif finished itself, and then it all made sense.
This was a Branwen coven. This was a contact point for Raven's tribe of bandits.
"Has she been blooded?"
The cold tone of the other woman announced itself as she looked down at Cinder, her gaze imperious and direct. Cloying and clinging to every part of her.
Cinder felt disgust.
Raven answered her.
"No. She is not a member of the clan, and never will be."
The woman's face turned an ugly shade of puce, and Cinder swore she could hear the blood pumping in her ears, hear the way it rushed.
"You bring an unblooded whelp into my home? You have nerve, girl."
Raven cut in, her tone equally cold, equally distant.
"Don't make this difficult, Blanche. We need a place to lie low, new identities sufficient for work in Mistral."
The woman smiled, her face full of blackened teeth.
"My prices aren't cheap, girl. Especially for someone like you."
Raven didn't grimace, but… her hand twitched towards her blade, and the other woman shifted her own position back, one hand darting for her vest pocket.
The air turned cold and frigid, until the portly man from earlier returned, sliding down the staircase with a briefcase in one hand.
"Raven Branwen, of Sapphire's stock. You get three days. And visa passes for Mistral. No more can be given and do not test us, Raven."
Her mother nods, and then Cinder's hand is taken, and she is led towards the basement of the house. It is only when she and Raven are thoroughly ensconced within, that her mother turns to face Cinder and says.
"Never trust a word out of Blanche's mouth. She will want a favor for a favor, our passage out of the city will be provided by-"
Cut off, a small crackling voice, the man, from the radio in the corner.
"Raven, take your ward and get up here. Ironwood's addressing the city."
Raven took Cinder by the hand again, a small pulse of gentle warmth flowing through her at the contact and gentleness. Before the woman ever so carefully nudged open the door to the basement, the room was protected by a trapdoor leading down, hidden beneath camouflaged floor tiles.
As the other two reached the foyer once more, a small collection of people was there, the portly man and woman sat in the center, shadowed by a hulking woman and a thin man on each side, in a chair on the far end, a young woman with ice blue eyes and pale skin stared defiantly and hatefully at the portly woman.
Cinder met her gaze and as the girl stared back at her, she offered a tiny, hesitant smile.
The other girl returned it with her eyes, but all sound or attempts to make further conversation were cut off.
The screen flickered, and a siren went out, text broadcasting across the screen, Cinder's heart dropped into her chest as she began to read.
"ATTENTION. CITIZENS OF ATLAS, AT 2000 HOURS TONIGHT, ATLAS AND MISTRAL HAVE DECLARED THE CITY OF ARGUS TO BE UNDER AN EMERGENCY STATUTE. MARTIAL LAW IS HEREBY ENACTED, ALL CITIZENS ARE TO BE WITHIN THEIR HOMES BY AT THE VERY LATEST 7 PM, OR 1900 HOURS. ANY CAUGHT LOITERING OR WILLFULLY BREAKING CURFEW WILL BE DETAINED UNTIL THE STATUTE OF EMERGENCY IS LIFTED"
A moment later, and the screen flickered, before the face of a man that Cinder wanted to recognize as Ironwood showed on screen. With one single difference.
There was no light behind the man's eyes.
Cinder shivered, her unconscious reflex to remain calm failing her as James Ironwood began to speak.
"Citizens of Argus… I regret that I have to be here, and I regret that I must speak to you on this context, for it is not one I would willingly have chosen. Sadly, my hands have been tied by the council of Atlas and the Governor of Argus. The cause of the riots will be found out, and we will find the perpetrators and stamp them out. This is unacceptable for citizens of our great city to support them. Starting with anyone caught protesting or fighting in the street."
He paused, a hologram coming up to face the screen, standing next to him, a white and black faced android.
"You may be familiar with the Atlesian Enforcers, but I am proud to present, even in such unfortunate circumstances, the Atlesian Knight-130. The forefront of law enforcement, and the newest model of the enforcers. They will help us reintroduce order, and you, my fellow citizens have nothing to fear, they've been programmed with the latest and greatest in facial recognition and identification software."
He smiled, a predator's grin, cold, unfeeling, and cruel.
"You'll be seeing them as of now, and they'll be helping to restore order in the city. Anyone who's innocent has nothing to fear, but you protestors and white fang? You'd best be on your best behavior."
He chuckled, the horrible sound cutting off the broadcast as it went dark, before Cinder and she were being stared at by the portly man and woman once more. The girl Cinder had smiled at tentatively offered one back the moment the adults weren't looking, and Cinder returned the favor.
"Impressive, Raven."
Her mother folded her arms over her chest.
"Not me."
The woman laughed.
"No, of course not, you only showed up the day before it started."
Raven shook her head again.
"The fang have been here before, this is Nightingale's work, if anything. Though it doesn't match her earlier fanatical cults."
The man had gone pale, and Cinder noted as he suddenly scrambled to his feet, where his collared shirt had slightly bent, exposing a long tattoo of a feather, dripping with blood.
"She's here!? She was dead! You told us she was dead!"
Raven didn't smile, her expression deadly as she said.
"She was dead. Or appeared to be. Summer swore it on her life."
As Raven finished, Cinder watched the portly man open his mouth, and a sudden burst of intuition told her she was about to witness someone make a fatal mistake.
"Ah. The common whore you shacked up with, the one you abandoned the tribe for. Did you finally come to your senses and see the errors of your ways?"
Cinder wasn't even sure she saw Raven draw her blade. She was certain she smelled blood, though. The thick, cloying iron taste filled the air as Raven stepped over the body of the portly man, then the bodyguards who had stepped into her way. Her blade dripped blood and she looked… furious.
The woman backed away, and then, she was barking an order.
"Vernal. Kill her!"
The pale girl with the ice blue eyes, looked at Raven, looked at the portly woman, looked back to Raven as Cinder's mother finally turned her gaze to the younger girl, and then she stood and took up her weapons, before flashing a grin at Raven.
"Any chance I can join up with you?"
Raven cocked her head to one side, and after a moment, Cinder realized that was for her benefit, Raven wanted her opinion.
It filled her with a steady sense of warmth, that Raven would care, and that warmth affected her as she skipped over to Vernal, looking the other woman up and down.
She was older than Cinder, that was immediate, Cinder didn't know her exact age, but suspected it was around 11 or 12, but this girl was easily 15 or 16, and it showed, Cinder looked idly, jealously, at her physical form. Before concluding she'd get there one day. As the other girl looked down at her, she commented.
"You see something you like? I can cook, clean, survive, and fight."
Cinder looked at her carefully, this time, she appraised the swell of the other girl's shoulders, the way they bent and the way she carried herself. She was confident in her strength, confident in the way she moved.
"Swear it."
Cinder found the words oddly strange in her throat, and she held a hand out, drawing her knife, dragging the blade across her palm.
"Swear to me, on your life, that you will never betray Raven or me. That you'll be-"
"The best sister ever, blah, blah, blah. Yeah. I get it. Here."
She shook on it, having drawn her hand onto the knife, then she looked at Cinder with something in her eyes, and the girl realized it with a start a moment later.
Freedom.
Vernal was free.
Cinder felt a heat form in her chest, even as the other woman began to screech behind her.
"You ungrateful little whore! After everything we've taught you! Everything we've done for you! You'd betray me like this!?"
Vernal shook her head.
"Tch, tch, tch… Blanche… you told me the strongest rule. This woman is the strongest."
She stepped to the side, letting the knife and her weapon fall to the ground, and Raven nodded once, raised her sword, and swung.
Blanche's head rolled across the floor. Thick blood soaking into the floorboards and then seeping deeper. Even then, Raven was moving, calling to Vernal and Cinder.
"Both of you, with me. We go deep below the house, into the Branwen tunnels, and we take refuge there for the time being. Cinder, you will roam at night, scout the sections of the city you find yourself most comfortable in, and search for a way out of the walls. Vernal, you are to watch our den during the day."
The other girl nodded evenly, her gaze turning with that same freedom blazing within it, she was so fiery. So lively and powerful, thought Cinder. Even now, she'd stood up and taken the opportunity the moment it had presented itself. Would she be like that in the future?
She hoped not. Women like that were gorgeous, but somehow Cinder felt that particular aesthetic and look didn't suit her in the slightest bit.
She imagined it worked for others, but… there was something about the way that Raven and Summer had dressed that tickled her brain in all the right places, something about the way they'd worn flowing clothing in civilian guise that helped her out immensely.
The tunnels, beneath the secret room Blanche would have placed her in, illuminated and lay barren, Raven walked for what felt like miles in the labyrinth, before she rapped lightly against a section of wall.
Cinder watched, thoroughly impressed, as the wall section slid completely open and revealed a small, but lavishly furnished, and really beautiful room.. She was even more impressed when Raven removed a small stove setup, and began to inspect an inventory of larger canned and prepared foods. As if feeling her gaze, the woman began.
"While Creep grimm are a noticeable threat underground, keeping emotions in check has allowed groups like my own to use these tunnel systems to store food, places to sleep, and liquor in a safe, content environment. There is enough here to last us for at the very least a couple of days while I consider our options."
Vernal shifted her feet slightly.
"Speak, pup."
Cinder turned, she knew better than to answer, Raven called her "little Kite" after some kind of bird, this… could only be Vernal.
"She had contingencies… people will be looking for her and her husband."
"I know. To enlighten the both of you, there is something I have been considering for some time. Especially in the wake of Summer's death."
Cinder looked up at her, listening eagerly.
"The Branwen tribe will be preparing to move soon, my people. They will be expecting us to fight them, or they will be expecting a hunt. The bodies will not be identification enough, but… the tribe is no place to grow up in, and it is not a place that Taiyang or Summer would want you to have to experience, Cinder."
Cinder looked up at Raven, shocked.
"I am intending on doing… something to the tribe if they threaten you, but for now I have plans to make and food to prepare. Vernal, if you would, scout our location and find every exit to the maze, if you want to take Cinder with you, you may."
Vernal shot Cinder a simple, easy look, and then turned to leave, Cinder following behind as she did so. The girl waited until she was out of earshot, and then she spoke.
"Is she always…"
Cinder answered before she could think.
"Bloodthirsty? Cruel? Merciless?"
Vernal shrugged.
"Sure. Is she always like that?"
Cinder shrugged herself, before she said.
"She's… not like normal people, doesn't show her feelings much… she takes care of me. I don't need anything else."
Vernal purred out.
"She seems strong. I want to learn from her."
Cinder's fanglike smile was long and sharp.
"Me too."
As the two turned a corner, they both saw with something akin to chagrin, an interesting sight. At the end of the corridor was a single twitching form, a robotic form.
Based on the crude handblade in one arm, and the plated rifle on the other, Cinder realized it was an enforcer.
"What's an enforcer doing down here?"
Vernal shrugged.
"Dunno, better kill it though."
Cinder moved forwards, her hands heating up.
"Let me."
Vernal nods, stepping backwards and drawing her weapon in case something, or someone else interrupts them. Cinder kneels next to the robot, and she lets her hands rest on its carapace, smiling, she pushes open the gates of her semblance, and heat roils over her, heating up her body and covering her in warmth as the robot begins to fizz, then smoke, and finally, metal and plastic begin to run like ice cream, melting into a puddle on the ground.
It feels like it takes hours, her concentration exerted to utterly destroy the robot. To ruin and unmake it, to twist it down and shatter what little is left of its housing.
When she finishes and stands up, slow clapping is all she can hear.
"Damn. That is some vicious shit right there."
The foul language catches Cinder so off guard that she begins to chuckle first, then laugh. Vernal is different from Raven, Raven is cold on the outside, only showing how warm she can be to the people who really know how to look, she's calm and composed, never letting anything through.
By contrast, Vernal is tight and open, her emotions worn proudly on her sleeve, even as the woman herself smiles at the world in her newfound freedom. She moves with exaggerated closeness, keeping her limbs within easy reach, keeping herself constantly stabilized and ready for anything.
Cinder delights in the comparisons between the two, watching how Vernal will almost dance between steps with her legs. As they explore, she never loses her enthusiasm for her freedom, she watches the other girl delight in it, and Cinder concludes then and there that she wants to do more of this. To free people, be it from the grimm or worse, she has wondered what would drive her to be a huntress, as Raven had said multiple times that many people have reasons for hunting the monsters that kill humanity. But she had never truly focused on it, never considered what would drive her. What continued to push her forwards in life.
She finds the quieter form of Vernal to be more interesting, a form only achieved as the two layout the rest of the corridors, using parchment taken from Raven's bag.
"Why did she take me?"
"Hmm?"
Vernal repeated herself.
"Why did she take me with her… why did she give me the chance?"
"I don't know. I know she took me because she made a promise. But I don't know why she took you with us."
She let the dialogue end there, or would have, but the other girl clearly wanted to continue.
"Surely you must know something, she asked for your opinion."
Cinder didn't flinch or show a reaction, but she did curse internally, before answering.
"Ah… I think she was curious about whether I approved of her choice to take you, not that she'd really listen to me if she disagreed heavily…"
"I don't know… she seems pretty set in her ways. For her to give you a choice like that… I think you mean alot to her."
Cinder scoffed.
"As if. She takes care of me because she promised to… don't make any mistakes, she isn't my mother."
Even if a part of Cinder desperately craved that she'd recognize that Cinder had called her mom, even if a part of her wanted that acknowledgement.
"Ok then little sis… whatever you say."
Cinder opened her mouth to comment that Vernal wasn't her sister, and then… she stopped. It had felt… nice to be acknowledged like that, Iris and Clove had never deigned to say something that nice to her..,
She'd let it pass for now, until she could come to a conclusion about it later.
For now she had tunnels to map and tasks to achieve. Chief amongst them a rather large exit tunnel that pathed towards the industrial depot of the city. She'd been separate from Vernal for a bit, with the older girl wandering back to Raven looking for something to eat. This tunnel was disused, and likely completely safe for Cinder to poke around in, so she'd decided to poke her head out of the exit.
Only to be slapped on the face by a thick sheet of paper. Flipping it end over end, Cinder studied the elaborate script, and raised an eyebrow.
Pictures, horrific in detail, showing the branding injuries incurred by faunus workers under the SDC, and authoritative slogans that demanded answers…
This had to be Sienna's work, no chance… which meant… she'd seen the speech from Ironwood.
This had to be reported to Raven, without a second look at the Bullhead steadily dispersing more pamphlets as it flew low and fast over the city, Cinder darted back into the tunnel.
The shaking thunder of anti-aircraft guns, a moment later, caused immediate discomfort in the girl as her feet slapped against the flooring of the tunnels. It took her time to reach Raven and Vernal, but as she slid into their alcove, her eyes wide, fingers splayed out, she threw the pamphlet to Raven, and started breathing heavily…
"Mom! Look!"
A/N: And another, in the words of one of my beta readers, "bloodthirsty gremlin" has joined the lineup. I hope you all enjoyed the chapter, I know its just a bit shorter than normal, and I apologize, life has been hectic!
As always, if you like what I'm doing, please leave a comment, kudo, like, etc~! They give me life and help me keep writing this story!
Next chapter: Sept 18.
