"In my defense-"
"You have one? Oh this better be good."
"I didn't intend to cause a city wide lockdown."
"Would you look at that? It wasn't good. You can sleep on the sofa tonight."
"It's not my fault someone found my lair and ambushed me!"
"What?"
"One of my hideouts, an abandoned factory in the industrial district, was discovered somehow. The police...someone was tracking my flight path somehow. They used that to narrow down the location of that particular hideout, which I used often thanks to it's central position in Vale, as well as it's ease of access to compared to some of my more hidden hideaways."
"Are you okay?" Jaune asked, ire fading as he hurried over to her, scanning her for wounds. She felt a rush of delight at his care for her, but that brief wave of joy was easily washed away by the resurging guilt that threatened to drown her. Jaune was Jaune, he was good and kind and thoughtful, and she had broke her promise to him.
For once, Cinder actually felt like the scum she was.
"I'm unhurt. I bruised my assailant, but she should live, though hopefully her ego won't. Do the names Ice Queen and Dragon mean anything to you?"
"No." Jaune answered quickly, brows furrowing into a deep frown. "Why?"
"I believe there are more heroes than just the Red Crusader and yourself running around." Cinder said, and Jaune just sighed heavily. "It looks like you've started a movement. Or a cult."
"I'm not sure which is worse." Jaune replied heavily, before freezing suddenly. "The flightpath...do you know if it showed you coming here as well?"
"It didn't, as I've never flown directly to your home." Cinder answered, and Jaune sighed heavily in relief. "But it did show me near your work and not far from Khione's school. It's unlikely, but if the police or whoever it is can connect the dots..."
"Then they'll know." Jaune finished, looking like the weight of the world had fallen entirely on his shoulders. "We should move, just to be safe."
"Do we have the funds for that?"
"Not really." Jaune sighed, tapping his foot agitatedly and crossing his arms as he glared at the street behind her. "We'll need to save up some money, possibly even take out a loan, which isn't guaranteed. I doubt I'll be able to sell this place for more than I got it either."
"What if...I could utilise my...you know." Cinder said, squirming under his narrow gaze. "Illicitly acquired resources?"
"We're thinking of moving because of your illicit activity." Jaune pointed out firmly. "I'm not risking us having to do so again for a second time just because we used dirty money."
"It's clean, technically." Cinder continued, which only seemed to annoy Jaune further. But if she could just convince him to let her use what she had acquired for the benefit of himself and Khione...
"It's dirty."
"It's been washed." Cinder retorted. "And I doubt the bank or whoever it is we'll be buying from will care that much to look into the origin of where we got our money."
"It'll leave a paper trail, and if either of us ever gets investigated for anything then it could crop up." Jaune countered. "We're not using that money. End of discussion."
"If you became a hero to make Vale better for pragmatic reasons then why can't you use this money pragmatically?" Cinder demanded. "For crying out loud Jaune I'm not asking you to help me steal it! It's already been stolen and laundered! Let me use it for good."
"It's too much of a risk, especially when you've already nearly been discovered once." Jaune said, glaring at her forcefully. "We will not use that money. I don't want to hear another word about it."
"Fine." Cinder sighed, only reluctantly conceding because she didn't want to push him any further. She had a feeling he still hadn't forgiven her for that days antics. "How is Khione?"
"Annoyed, considering she knows who the Nefarious Nightstalker is and what it means for the city to be put into lockdown because of her." Jaune replied, and guilt washed over Cinder for a second time. "You best apologise to her, and by the way, we're going to have to still spend time with her. She's picked movie watching, and the movie we're going to watch as well."
"Don't tell me it's Beauty and the Belladonna." Cinder gasped in horror. Jaune's viscous smile did nothing to allay her worries.
"Oh it's not that, don't you worry." Jaune grinned evilly. "Did you know Pancake had his own movie?"
"No!"
"Oh yes." Jaune cackled, taking her by the hand and dragging her inside the house. "It's time for one hour and thirty minutes of a brand new preposterous adventure with our favourite dog."
"Jaune please I said I was sorry!"
"I don't quite believe you just yet."
"I'll do anything! Anything other than this!"
"A shame you can't convince Khione to watch or do anything else then."
"I'll donate all the money I stole to a charity of your choosing!"
"Again, I'm not sure I believe you."
"Believe me! I'm being honest! More honest then I ever have been before! Ever!"
"More honest than when you said you loved me?"
"Hrk-Wha?!"
"Oh." Jaune said sadly, stopping in the hallway and looking for all the world like a kicked puppy. "So I guess you were just lying then."
"I wasn't! Of course I love you Jaune!" Cinder exclaimed, heart pounding in her chest. All at once his face shifted into a mischievous grin.
"Aw! I love you too honey." Jaune said, kissing her cheek and making her flush as she realised he'd just been teasing her. "But not enough to save you from our daughter."
"You're evil. I should have seen...should have known..."
"I learned from watching you." Jaune shrugged, opening the door to the living room with a big smile. "Guess who's back kiddo?"
"Is it Ruby?" Khione asked, and Cinder felt a crack open in her cold icy heart. "Oh. Hello."
"K-Khione I..." Cinder stammered, unable to find the words and melting under the little girl's disappointed gaze. "I'm so sorry. I didn't mean-I was ambushed, I had to protect myself. I wouldn't have purposefully caused mayhem today I...I wanted to spend time with you."
"Then why did you go running around to do evil things? Did you even go to your work or was that just a lie?"
"I...I didn't expect to be gone long." Cinder choked out, and Khione's face fell into one of despair.
"How many other things have you lied about?" Khione asked quietly, the implication clear as her lips wobbled. Cinder fell to her knees in front of Khione and took her hands and squeezed them gently.
"I haven't. Just that one little white lie." Cinder promised. "I want to make things up to you and your father. Is there anything I can do to prove I didn't mean all this?"
"Well..." Khione began, eyes glancing to a yellow box on the coffee table. It was a DVD box, and on it Cinder could see the annoying, yapping face of Pancake the Preposterous Dog. "We could watch a movie?"
"Of...O-Of course." Cinder sighed with a weak smile.
"And you can sing along with me!"
"That seems...acceptable." Cinder forced out.
"Also we have to have a family cuddle the whole time."
"Now that I can do." Cinder smiled, tweaking Khione's nose. Jaune stepped back into the room, a bowl of popcorn in hand and he handed it to Cinder, who sat to Khione's left. He slotted the DVD into the player atop the old television before plopping down on Khione's right, arm resting on the back of the sofa and hands playing idly with strands of Cinder's hair. She smiled and leaned into his touch, letting Khione hold the popcorn on her lap and managing to hold back a sigh as Pancake appeared on screen. At least it wouldn't be all bad, what with the cuddle and whatnot, besides, how bad could a movie truly be? Hell, with different producers and whatnot it might even be better than the show itself.
That day Cinder learned just how wrong she could be.
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"You're a superhero?!"
"You're a superhero?!"
"Both of you are superheroes." Qrow sighed. "Why wouldn't you be?"
"I am also a superhero."
"Now I've seen everything." Qrow snorted, glancing at the bruised girl awkwardly perched on the Xiao-Long sofa. Tai looked faint as he stared at his wayward daughters. Qrow didn't blame him. "You are a Schnee right?"
"Yes, Weiss Schnee to be precise." The girl admitted, shooting him a glare as if she was daring him to expose her. His mind wasn't focused on that though.
"Hm." He noted quietly, thinking of the young girl next door. The resemblance was uncanny, and not just in their colouring. "Why exactly are you here again?"
"Superheroes…" Tai whispered faintly, and he cast his friend a worried look. Yang and Ruby were bickering amongst themselves, and Qrow has seemed to piss off the little ice queen somehow.
"I am friends with your nieces."
"How the hell did that happen?" Qrow blinked, the revelation Yang and Ruby were friends with a Schnee of all things somehow being more world shattering than the revelation they were superheroes. Or at least trying to be.
"We're pen pals." The Schnee girl scowled. Now that he thought about he remembered there be talk of a Schnee coming to Vale back at the precinct. The chief had been losing his mind at the thought of Torchwick or some other criminal kidnapping her, and he'd practically wet himself there and then when someone mentioned the Nefarious Nightstalker popping up.
"Right." He said. Next to him Tai swayed. "You okay big guy."
"Alright? Am I alright?" Tai seethed, ending the sisterly squabbling as they took note of the state their father was in. "Do you two have any idea how reckless this is? How dangerous? Yang, where you seriously planning on ditching your sister and uncle to go fight the Nefarious Nightstalker of all people?"
"Well yeah." Yang shrugged, utterly unrepentant. Qrow eyed a throbbing vein in Tai's forehead carefully. Poor guy looked like he was on the verge of a heart attack.
"Well yeah, she says." Tai chuckled, though it was devoid of humour. "I swear to god I will ground you for life and spank you right here, right now in front of your friend."
"What?!" Yang blinked. "But I didn't do anything wrong?"
Qrow winced."
"Yang no middle name Xiao-Long." Tai said slowly. "Would you care to repeat that? I may have misheard you, and gods above you better hope I misheard you."
"I did it the right way! The vigilantism I mean. Weiss was my backup and called the police as well to help us with the Nefarious Nightstalker." Yang explained, shooting an annoyed look at Qrow. "If I had actually been there we may have caught her."
"There is no right way, you should've just stayed out of it entirely." Tai hissed, rounding on Ruby, who wilted under Tai's furious glare. "What about you young lady? Shoving off your responsibilities as babysitter for a little girl onto your older sister just to galivanting around Vale getting into fights. What were you thinking?"
"I...I was just..."
"Explain. Now."
"I just want to help people!" Ruby wailed. "I want to help them and to help them I have to help them! I can't just sit around doing nothing hoping things will get better! The Huntsman is only one guy, and he's also got a family so he's super busy! If I help him, then I lessen the workload and we get more done. And...And I don't understand why you're being so mean about this! Mom was hero too!"
"Where is mom?" Tai asked coldly, nostrils flaring. Qrow stumbled back, staring at Tai like he didn't know him. Was he seriously throwing Summer in their faces like that? Ruby's lip trembled, eyes shining with tears. "Exactly. Being a hero cost her everything. I will not lose either of you to anything other a natural death long after I'm gone. You're to precious to me. For god's sake you two are the only reason I'm still here after your mother died! You are not following in her footsteps and dying too! Not if I can help it!"
Tai stormed out of the house, and Qrow heard the sounds of things crashing from the shed in the back yard as Tai tossed around tools and vented his anger out on the rickety old shed there. Qrow listened quietly, silence filling the room, before the crashing ceased and quiet sobs filtered in through the house.
"Well that couldn't have gotten any worse." Qrow sighed, staring at his two nieces and their Schnee friend. Yang looked pale and scared, and Ruby was crying silent tears with her hands in her head. Next to her was Weiss, who looked awkward as she patted Ruby's back. "Yang, you're right in that you did this the right way. You got a friend, you got backup and you contacted the police to bring in heavy firepower. But listen closely to what I'm about to say. Do not mess around with the Nefarious Nightstalker. The name is stupid, but the woman herself is dangerous. Weiss was lucky to escape with her life. Ruby...do you know the Huntsman?"
"P-Pardon?" Ruby sobbed, voice hiccupping as she stared at Qrow in a look of shock and horror. Yup. He thought so.
"You know the Huntsman." He sighed, and Yang whirled on her sister.
"You know the Huntsman?" She gasped. "Who? How? Why?"
"D-Ditto." Added Weiss, who looked genuinely stunned.
"I...uhm...I can't say." Ruby fidgeted. "I promised not to."
"You can have the cookies in the kitchen." Yang offered.
"I can buy every cookie manufacturer in the world and make you the CEO so you get a lifetime supply of discounted cookies." Weiss added, and Qrow raised a brow at the two of them.
"I...Are you sur-No! I won't betray his trust!" Ruby said firmly, smacking her fist on her knee. Yang leaned back triumphantly.
"So he is a guy." Yang said, and Ruby rolled her eyes at her sister.
"Well duh. It's in the name." She said, and Yang shrugged.
"Could've been a chick pretending to be a guy to protect their identity. You said he has family right?"
"Uh-huh."
"Like parent-sibling family or spouse-child family?"
"Er...spouse-child? But I'm pretty sure he has parents too."
"Aww man." Yang sighed, slumping against the sofa. "Of course he's taken."
"Excuse me?" Qrow said pointedly, and Yang waved a hand dismissively in his direction.
"Don't be a prude Drunkle." Yang said, sighing again. "Just imagine what it'd be like to swept up in those big strong arms..."
"I'd rather not." Qrow snorted, trying to ignore the wistful look on Yang's face. He did not want to know what his eldest niece fantasised about. "Spouse huh? No wonder he's been quiet since the Nefarious Nightstalker whooped his ass. Probably more whipped than a dominatrix's sub heh."
"Your just jealous he has game." Weiss said, and Qrow winced as his nieces laughed.
"Touché." Qrow conceded, before giving her a shrewd look. "You know him too or something?"
"Not at all." Weiss replied. Qrow wasn't convinced. "Why?"
"Seemed a like you took that comment a little personally." Qrow yawned, before waving his hand at the girls as Schnee squawked with indignation. "I'm off to knock some sense into your father. Don't go saving cats out of trees whilst I'm gone will ya?"
He headed out back and shut the door behind him. Tai's sobs had quietened down, and Qrow entered the small shed that had contained the tools Tai used to maintain the small flowerbed he'd set up not long after Summer's dead. He grew roses, and other beautiful flowers, which gave the small grey back yard some sense of colour for the girl's when they were younger.
The tools inside were scattered on the floor, some of them even broken. Qrow raised an eyebrow as he picked up a metal shovel that had been bent in half, forming a 'u' shape.
"Ever gonna tell those kids about what you did when you were younger?"
"No." Tai replied quietly, all the fight in him gone. His anger always burned quick but bright. "I'm a failure."
"For throwing Summer in their faces? Sure. But not for much else." Qrow sighed. "They're good kids Tai."
"Too good." Tai snorted. "If I tell them the truth then I tell them the truth. They'll want to refound the society, and they'll drag the Huntsman into it too. Then it'll all fall apart again at a wedding, just like it did last time."
"Summer wouldn't have changed anything."
"I would. If it meant she was alive then I'd change everything. I wasn't lying Qrow. I meant what I said."
"I know." Qrow replied, having seen the moments when the girls had been put to bed where Tai would stare off into the distance, seeing nothing and looking dead to the world around him. "That doesn't mean you can control them. They need to learn from their own mistakes."
"That could get them killed if they keep going down this path. Either them or the people they love." Tai shook his head. "The only thing I fear most other than losing them is them ending up like me."
"Same." Qrow snorted. "You're a miserable old git Tai. But that doesn't mean they have to be."
"I can't lose them."
"You won't. Not unless you guide them. They'll make mistakes anyway, and you were going to be there to pick them up anyway right?"
"Of course."
"Then you might as well do the same now."
"I hate it when you talk sense Qrow." Tai sighed.
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"So...why are you a superhero?" Ruby asked quietly, clearly trying to contain her excitement. It was adorable. "I'm not saying you're evil or cruel, but why?"
"Apart from the reasons you listed you mean?" Yang rhetorically asked, earning a nod. "You."
"Me?" Ruby blinked.
"You." Yang nodded.
"What do you mean?"
"I mean I knew about your plans Ruby." Yang snorted. "You wouldn't know what subtlety or discretion meant even if it slapped you in the face or you ran into it headfirst. I saw the drawings you made."
"You weren't-wait how? Were you snooping in my room!"
"That is neither here nor there Strawberry Warrior." Yang teased, making Ruby splutter and Weiss sigh heavily.
"Really?" Weiss asked tiredly, though there was a hint of amusement. Yang nodded. "Ruby for the love of literally anything why did you think that was a good name?"
"I like strawberries." Ruby replied quietly, twiddling her thumbs. "At least I'm not a dirty snooper like Yang."
"Sue me." Yang laughed. "But I saw what you were planning and I knew how you can be when you have your mind set on something. If I couldn't stop you from becoming a hero, then all I had to do was make sure you couldn't."
"Huh?" Ruby asked confusedly. Yang smiled and flicked Ruby's ear gently.
"I became a hero to stop crime before you did." Yang explained. "I roped in Weiss to help since she had access to resources that would let me do so effectively, though I haven't started yet. Weiss had a better idea."
"I still supplied your sister with the necessary materials to protect herself and her identity, and no, I won't do the same to you." Weiss paused, giving a pointed look at and earning a pout from Ruby, before she continued. "But I also invested heavily in the Vale Police Department, which had suffered from heavy budget cuts caused by a loss of revenues prompted by the Nefarious Nightstalker running rampant for so long, as well as the growing size of the criminal underworld in Vale. Many council members were bribed to do so as well by certain vested interests, something that will be coming to light soon. As for the here and now, they can't stop a concerned citizen donating to their local force in secret. To do so publicly would lead to accusations of bribery and corruption."
"So you both became heroes to just stop me from becoming one?" Ruby asked quietly, and the two of them shared a look at one another. "Do you really not trust me? Don't you think I can't handle myself?"
"It's not...It's not that." Yang gritted out. "I just...It's like dad. I don't want to lose you, and fighting crime isn't some calm, easy endeavour. You'll see things, things that might scare you for life. I don't want that happening to you. You don't deserve that."
"Don't I deserve to make my own decisions either? To be what I want to be? To do what I want to do?" Ruby retorted, her bottom lip quivering, and Yang knew she was screwing this up somehow.
"I've made mistakes Ruby. They...I'm not talking about stupid 'Oops dad caught me stealing cookies' type of mistakes I mean real, serious mistakes that had actual consequences. If you were going to jump off a bridge, would you expect me to just watch? I'm your sister Ruby, and I may not be much older but I'm old enough to have made mistakes you haven't. I don't want you to have to live with the regret that comes with making these real, serious mistakes." Yang swallowed nervously, heart pounding in her chest as it all came pouring out. "I nearly killed you Ruby."
"If this is about the time when you tried feeding me a French fry when I was a baby you didn't know-"
"It's not about the damn French fry Ruby!" Yang exploded, pushing herself onto her feet and pacing in front of her and Weiss as every ounce of guilt and fear and remorse she'd been carrying for the better part of a decade came rushing forward. "After...After mom everything was falling apart. Dad was getting more and more distant and forgetful, Qrow was getting more and more drunk to the point where he wasn't even a functioning alcoholic anymore. I...We needed someone to keep things together, to fix things, but mom...mom was gone. I thought that...If I could find another then everything would be okay. Everything would get better. I...I didn't know what had happened, who she was, but...I saw a picture of dad and Raven when they were younger and thought that if I could just find her and bring her home then everything would get better."
Yang was breathing heavily, practically hyperventilating before them as she admitted she'd gone looking after their mother's killer with the hope she'd fill the hole left behind by Summer. That thought alone nearly brought her to her knees with guilt, but that wasn't the reason Yang had had nightmares since the age of seven.
"Qrow was drunk and dad was...somewhere...so I put you in a wheelbarrow and wandered Vale in search of her. It was stupid, even back then part of me knew that, but I was desperate. I just wanted things to be okay again. I...We ended up somewhere shady. I saw someone there, and I wanted to leave, but they looked like Raven. I...I went in the alley, but it wasn't Raven or anyone like her. Just three men. Cruel men. They...They were going to kill you. They were laughing and gods they had these massive knives and I was just standing there crying, frozen between you and them. I knew I needed to protect you, but I was too scared to run and escape, like a deer in headlights. We would've died Ruby. Possibly worse."
"What happened?" Weiss asked quietly, Ruby having taken to staring at the floor in silence as she listened, hands idly playing with the cape Summer had made for her.
"Someone saved us." Yang replied distantly, seeing every moment she'd been in that damp, dark alley clearly as if it had just happened. "He was a hero, or at least I think he was. He had a mask, but I haven't been able to find him in any of the old newspaper clippings I looked through trying to find out who he was. He was old though. He had white hair, the colour of snow, and he was wheezing. He took one of the guys down but was slowing down, getting tired. Then one of them landed a lucky hit, and blood started pouring out of him. He told me to run. Ordered me to, and that finally made me move. I dragged the wheelbarrow out of the alley and ran and ran until I fell over and couldn't move anymore. Qrow's partner found me eventually. He'd sobered up pretty quick when he realised me and Ruby were gone and had gotten pretty much every VPD officer looking for us."
Yang stared at Ruby, waiting silently. Her little sister looked up at her, silver eyes glimmering with unshed tears.
"I nearly got you killed. I nearly got myself killed, and I did get that old man killed." Yang told her. "That's the business your trying to get into. Superheroes have been around for ages, it's just the Nefarious Nightstalker and the Huntsman that have made them big. The reason you haven't heard of the others is because they died before they could do anything actually meaningful. I won't let the same happen to you."
"But why do you get to be? Why does Weiss?" Ruby said, hands curled into fists around the hem of her cape. "Why do you get to risk your life and leave me behind? I know the risks Yang. I'm not stupid. I know I could die, I know I could get maimed or crippled or worse but I accept that risk. I want to help people. I want to make mom proud."
"She wouldn't be proud if you threw your life away doing the same thing she did." Yang retorted hotly, patience waning away. "Damnit Ruby! I won't be a superhero if you won't!"
"You don't get to make that decision for me!" Ruby snapped, standing to her feet and jabbing a finger at her. "Neither does dad or Qrow or you Weiss. It's my life, and I will make my own decisions!"
Ruby stomped from the room, and Yang blinked when she heard the front door slam shut with a force the shook through the house. Weiss was staring at the floor, and Yang was swaying slightly as Qrow and her dad awkwardly entered the room.
"What did we miss?" Qrow asked, and Yang fell to her knees and started crying, feeling like the worst person, the worst sister, in the world.
Like mother like daughter.
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Cinder sat silently as Khione scribbled with all the intensity a girl her age could muster. They were sat at the kitchen table whilst Jaune made lunch, a plate of sandwiches that were a mix of tuna and lettuce as well as ham and cheese, and Cinder was Khione's assistant henchwoman whilst Khione worked at her latest masterpiece.
"Red please!" Khione said, dropping her orange colouring pen and making grabby gestures at Cinder. She smiled and obeyed the command of her evil overlord, plucking out the red colouring pen and handing it over. As Khione went back to scribbling on her paper, Cinder picked up the discarded orange pen and slid it back into the box of colouring pens, patiently waiting for Khione's next demand.
"You might want to clean that up for lunch Khione." Jaune said, tiredness in his tone betraying just how much he had hated Pancake the Preposterous Dog and the Magic Walk just as much as Cinder had. It was also telling at how willing he was to see her 'punished' for reneging on her promise.
Quietly, she shelved her plans for one last heist. She'd do something special for Jaune and Khione still, but she'd just have to deal with more limited resources for it.
"Why?" Khione asked, pouting at her father. Her look of concentration was replaced by one of confusion and slight annoyance, and Cinder drummed her fingers on the table top.
"Because we wouldn't want tuna or ham or cheese staining your work of art." Jaune replied, sliding a large plate stacked with sandwiches onto the table. "I hope you're hungry."
Cinder stared at the plate of food, trying not to drool. She'd worked up an appetite after her hijinks that morning, and the food looked divine to her rumbling belly. She hastily helped Khione clean up the colouring pens and paper, and Cinder made sure to close her eyes so that she couldn't see Khione's surprise drawing. Once she was given the okay to open her eyes, she saw two big bags of crisps had been added to the table.
Then the door bell rang.
"I'll get it." Jaune said quickly, gesturing for her to stay seated. "I'm already up anyway. You two can tuck in, just make sure to save me a tuna sandwich please."
Cinder was reluctant to do so, but Khione had no such qualms and immediately piled up a stack of sandwiches on a smaller plate laid out before her. Cinder resisted for a few more seconds, before her rumbling belly made her cave. She grabbed a sandwich and ate it as quickly as she dared, not wanting to set a poor example for Khione by eating like a pig.
Khione was too busy eating to talk, so Cinder listened carefully to the voices coming down from the hallway. They were fairly muffled, but she could easily make out Jaune's voice and that of someone else, someone who sounded like they were distressed and crying. Cinder frowned and finished her sandwich, brushing off a few crumbs from around her mouth before standing up and peeking into the hallway.
Jaune stood at the door, awkwardly patting Ruby Rose's head whilst she cried into his chest. Cinder's eyes narrowed at the sight, something that seemed to trigger Jaune's "I'm in the doghouse" sixth sense and made him turn around. His wide eyes betrayed his awkwardness at the situation, and as she stared a little longer she noticed how robotic Jaune's movements seemed to be, as if he wasn't sure what to do. Cinder calmed slightly, but now her attention was focused on Ruby Rose. What were here intentions? What was she doing? Why on earth was she hugging Cinder's boyfriend?
"How about we head into the kitchen and talk about this?" Jaune offered, gently pushing the girl back. "I've just made sandwiches for lunch and there's plenty to go around."
"Is that okay?" Ruby asked sheepishly, wiping away the wetness on her cheeks. Was that here plan? Play the doe-eyed girl next door in need of help? "I don't want to cause any trouble."
"You already have." Cinder restrained herself from saying, and she watched as Jaune smiled indulgently.
"It's fine. Like I said there's plenty to go around, and besides, Khione would love to spend some more time with you. She likes you a lot you know? You're a good babysitter."
"Really?" Ruby blinked, before smiling slightly. "I always thought she was just humouring me."
"She is. Why would she want to spend time with you when she can spend that time with her mother?" Cinder scoffed quietly, before heading back into the kitchen and taking her seat. She piled as many sandwiches onto her plate as she dared, earning a curious look from Khione, and Jaune blinked when he saw how small the stack had gotten.
"Jeez you two were hungry." Jaune said, smiling slightly with an eyebrow raised in befuddlement. "What happened to breakfast? The popcorn?"
"Being a mother is busy work." Cinder replied simply, fighting back the urge to smile back at him due to her irritation at him bringing home a stray. Khione nodded sagely.
"And being a daughter." She added, and this time Cinder did not fight the smile the broke out on her face. "Ruby?! What are you doing here?"
"Uhm...lunch?" Rose replied, glancing at Jaune quickly. "And stuff?"
Cinder froze and the sandwich in her grasp was practically crushed underneath her grasp. She glanced at Jaune, who seemed to have missed the innuendo, and at Khione, who was smiling brightly at her 'friend'. Cinder stared at Rose, who stared back at her before blinking and looking away. She looked guilty, like someone stealing from a bank, and that only solidified the growing belief in Cinder's mind that Ruby Rose was no good wench trying to take that which she did not deserve.
Cinder's smile had died a quick death, and the sandwich tasted like ash in her mouth as she watched Ruby sit in between Cinder and Khione. Ruby took a single sandwich and put it on her plate, casting another look at Cinder that would've have been discreet if not for the fact Cinder was watching her like a hawk.
"Where's the tuna?" Jaune asked, searching the plate for one of the sandwiches. "I thought I asked you guys to save me one?"
Cinder glanced at her plate. All ham and cheese. The only tuna one was the sandwich she'd half-eaten and crushed. Khione had already eaten hers. Cinder turned to Rose, who had stopped making to take a bit out of her tuna and lettuce sandwich halfway there.
"Oh. Sorry! I didn't know." Rose said, handing her sandwich over to Jaune. Yet again he smiled indulgently and waved it away.
"Ah it's fine. Plenty of ham ones to go around still." Jaune said, and Cinder watched as Rose smiled back at him before tucking into the sandwich.
A vein on her forehead throbbed.
Cinder did not speak during the rest of lunch. Ruby and Jaune and Khione did. They talked like old friends, like the best of chums, like family. Cinder felt her ire rising with every moment that passed and the feeling that she was being left out, cut off, cast off, grew.
Jaune tidied away the plates, giving her a worried look when he saw the mostly untouched, otherwise half-eaten food on her plate.
"Are you okay?" He asked worriedly, and the genuine concern he showed for her made that twisting spiral of paranoia ease somewhat.
"Yes." She replied, even if she felt otherwise as she saw Ruby and Khione working together on Khione's surprise drawing Cinder wasn't allowed to see.
He kissed her cheek, mollifying her somewhat, and when she saw a pair of silver eyes glancing in their direction she grabbed his chin to stop him pulling away and tilted her head. He made a stifled gasped as she pressed her lips against his, much less chastely than he had done so, and she stopped a few moments after Khione noticed and made a retching noise.
"Mooom!" Khione whined. "Stop being gross! You'll get cooties!"
"That's a risk I'm willing to take if it means I get to be with your father." Cinder replied with a smirk, levelling a cool gaze at Rose, who flushed and looked away quickly. She listened as Jaune stumbled away in a daze, and a triumphant grin curled at the corner of her lips. "You'll know how I feel someday."
"Never!" Khione protested, making Cinder smile fondly at her as an adorable pout made her want to pinch Khione's cute little cheeks. "Boys are gross! Plus they have cooties. And they like bogeys too much."
"They'll grow up eventually." Cinder shrugged, though quietly she was wondering how she'd react if Khione ever brought a boy home. It was inevitable perhaps, and Jaune had all the bearings of a protective parent. Would Cinder incinerate or leave the bad cop to Jaune?
Who was she kidding. She'd burn the miserable wretch who thought themselves worthy of her daughter.
Jaune washed up quietly, and Khione went back to her drawing, though Rose still remained annoyingly at her side, having took over Cinder's roll as handerer of colouring pens, not to mention she was also doodling under Khione's strict supervision. Cinder focused on Khione, if only to get a better grip over her ire and jealousy, and she was only broken from her reverie when Jaune slid two glasses of orange juice in front of Khione and Rose.
"Is your picture ready?" Jaune asked Khione, who nodded as she gulped down a large chunk of her juice. She had flipped it upside down so they couldn't see, but the dark splodges of the colouring ink had bled through, letting Cinder make out distinct shapes, albeit ones she could not identify faithfully. "Why don't you show it your mother? I need to have a quick talk with Ruby but after that you can show me as well."
"But I did for both of you!" Khione protested, and Cinder found herself nodding at her words almost instinctively.
"And we will both see it." Jaune replied firmly. "I just need to have a quick chat with Ruby. We won't be long. Promise."
He held out his pinkie finger, and Khione held out for a moment or so under his imploring gaze before wrapping her own, smaller pinkie around his and tugging it firmly.
"You have two minutes." Khione ordered cheekily, and Jaune laughed before ruffling her hair.
"Five." He countered, before nodding at Rose and stepping towards the hallway. Rose grabbed her juice carefully and followed awkwardly. Cinder watched the girl leave, but a chair scraping loudly against the kitchen tiles made her turn to Khione, who hurried around the table and looked at her pointedly. Cinder couldn't help the smile that broke across her face as she slid back slightly and pulled Khione onto her lap.
"Close your eyes." Khione ordered, making Cinder raise a brow at her. "Please."
Cinder kissed Khione's cheek before leaning back and closing her eyes. She heard the crackling of paper as she turned the picture the right way round and laid it out on the table.
"You can open your eyes now." Khione instructed, waiting a moment before cheekily adding, "Please."
Cinder did so and tweaked Khione's noise for her impudence, making her wriggle and squirm in her lap. Cinder's gaze was focused on the picture in front of her, and she smiled at it. A stick figure Khione, discernible thanks to her pig-tailed white hair, depicted as a light blue due to the white paper, and short stature, was stood in between two taller figures. One had dark blue dots for eyes and a few squibles of yellow for hair, and wore his Huntsman costume consisting of red mask and short red cape. Cinder smiled at the bumps for muscles she had added on Jaune's stick figure arms. Cinder herself wore black Nefarious Nightstalker costume, or so she assumed, and had yellow eyes and black, scribbled hair. They were stood somewhere green, with an array of flowers around them.
Scrawled at the top of the page was 'Super Family' with two lines and a curve for a smiley face next to it. It was only then that Cinder noticed the blue lines drawn over Khione's eyes, resembling the one in red she'd drawn for Jaune.
She didn't want to become a superhero did she?
"It's amazing." Cinder smiled, pushing down the icy worry that crawled in her chest. She would need to talk to Jaune about it later. "You should be an artist."
"Eh. Artists are boring." Khione shrugged. "I wanna be like you and dad."
Cinder turned her attention back to the drawing, looking anywhere but the domino-masked stick Khione, her worry rising. She noticed another figure, all in red, standing to the far right of the page.
"Who's that?" Cinder asked, tapping the paper. "I know that's you, me and your father in the middle, but I wasn't aware we had much extended family other than your aunts and grandparents."
"Oh that's Ruby." Khione smiled nonchalantly. "She told me she liked hanging out with me because she was the baby of her family, so they babied her, but with me she could be the older sister for once. She's a cool one though."
"I'm sure she is." Cinder smiled, thankful Khione didn't noticed her gritted teeth or the fire that burned in her eyes. "I'm sure she is."
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"So..." Jaune began, watching as Ruby settled down onto the sofa as he stood near the closed living room door, leaning against whilst thinking of how to broach the subject with putting his foot in his mouth. "Why are you here?"
Foot. Meet mouth.
"H-Huh?" Ruby stammered, glass of juice trembling slightly. Jaune winced.
"I mean why are you here so early? I thought we agreed we wouldn't start you training until tomorrow night."
"I...We did...Weren't you listening to what I said when you answered the door?"
"You were a little...weepy." Jaune replied carefully. "I didn't really understand what you were saying because of it. Also I was still in shock from the surprise hug I received when I opened the door."
"Sorry about that." Ruby said, looking away awkwardly. Jaune shrugged just as awkwardly.
"It's okay. What's wrong?" He asked, and Ruby took a breath before replying.
"My family don't trust me." She said, staring at her orange juice. "They just see the baby I used to be, not who I am now or who I want to be and intend on growing into being. They want to coddle me, hide me away and wrap me in bubble wrap. I can trust you with secret stuff right? Like personal secret stuff?"
"I guess?" Jaune replied, scratching his head. "Just don't say anything you feel uncomfortable telling me."
"Or anything I'd be uncomfortable hearing." His mind added quietly. He had a feeling that unspoken request would go unheeded.
"Yang's a superhero, even if she hasn't actually done any superheroing yet. So is Weiss, and she fought the Nefarious Nightstalker today. You know, the event that got the city put on lockdown and ruined our day out with our uncle. The reason why? Because they knew I wanted to be a superhero, so they decided to do it first so I wouldn't have to by wiping out crime by themselves."
"Weiss? You don't mean Weiss Schnee do you?" Jaune asked confusedly, and Ruby nodded. "What?! How? Why?"
"What?"
"How do you know Weiss?" Jaune asked, massaging his temples as he felt a headache building, ultimately settling for the question which he hoped would have the easier answer first.
"She's my pen pal from Atlas." Ruby answered simply, cocking her head curiously. "Do you know her?"
"Yes, but it's a long story for another day. Let's just say she's important. To me. To Khione."
Ruby frowned, before her eyes widened and her jaw dropped.
"Is Khione a mini-Weiss?!"
"Gods no!" Jaune protested, a disgusted look growing on his face. "What do you take me for?"
"I didn't-It wasn't meant that way!" Ruby whined. "You know what I meant. Is she?"
"Like I said, long story, another time." Jaune retorted, earning an unimpressed look. "Why is Weiss of all people a superhero? How?"
"Like I said, to stop me from being one." Ruby shrugged, sighing and turning to look back at her juice. "Apparently she's been paying the police to be better at stopping crime. It's why my uncle was able to start tracking down the Nefarious Nightstalker's flight path using some fancy Atlas tech, since Weiss could put a good word in with that General Ironwood fella. Before he had to rely on informants, good Samaritans and old grannies for information about her sightings. I used that to try and track her down but Weiss used that to set an ambush that failed miserably."
"Good." Jaune said, and Ruby looked at him with betrayed eyes. "Neither of you are experienced enough to take her on."
"That wasn't my plan!" Ruby protested furiously. "I was just trying to see if it was accurate before I told you then we ambushed her!"
"I know." Jaune said placatingly, raising a hand at her and gesturing for her to calm down, using the other to point at the door. Ruby's eyes widened and she quickly piped down, thinking they risked letting Khione and Cinder in on her plans. That was a risk, but only because Cinder was actually the Nefarious Nightstalker, and not the civilian Ruby thought she was. "So you two had a fight I take it?"
"Uhm..." Ruby squirmed. "Yeah...but not quite. Qrow knew I took his stuff and told dad I was the Red Crusader, so me and dad and Qrow were arguing. Then Weiss came over and Yang admitted her plans to be a superhero as well which just made everything go all yelly and stuff."
"I thought I heard that." Jaune replied, remembering the crashing noises he'd heard from the kitchen whilst making sandwiches. "Is that why you came over?"
"I was just...just mad. I needed somewhere to think and someone to talk to." Ruby admitted, taking a sip from her juice before looking at Jaune with wide, shining eyes. "Do you have any advice?"
"Erm..." Jaune blanched, before sighing explosively and shaking his head. "Not much. Being a superhero is a balancing act. If I spend too long patrolling at night I'm too tired to work in the morning, and if I don't work as well I might get fired and can't superhero because I'm worrying about feeding Khione. You need to learn to do the same, and part of that balancing act is adressing other people's concerns. Khione was happy her dad was a superhero until I came back black and blue after my first skirmish with the Nefarious Nightstalker. I was cocky, arrogant, and I made a mistake in that fight that would have gotten me killed if it wasn't for the Nefarious Nightstalker being merciful. I learned to be careful after that, because otherwise I wouldn't only upset Khione, I might never see her again. Do you really want to go out on patrol and get seriously hurt, maybe even get put in a coma or die, just for your father to remember you last memory with each other being an argument?"
"No." Ruby said guiltly, and Jaune nodded sagely, even if he was mostly making this stuff up on the spot.
"Exactly. Find that balance. Talk to him. Make it clear you aren't just charging into this. Let him know how you're reducing the risk you'll be seriously hurt. Listen to and accept his arguments and find ways to incorporate those into how you superhero. Understand?"
"Understood." Ruby nodded firmly, finishing her juice and standing up determinedly, giving him a beaming smile. "You're a really good teacher you know?"
"I do now." Jaune smiled back, feeling a little bit of pride at how confident she seemed now. "Besides, it helps I have a good student. I'll make a hero of you yet Rose."
"Red Crusader."
"Red Crusader." Jaune conceded, and he jumped when he heard the doorbell ring. "For the love of! I swear to god I'm going to break that damn thing thanks to how many damn times its been rung today."
"Sorry." Ruby said guiltily, and Jaune shook his head at her.
"You're an exception." He allowed with a sigh, opening the door. "Just let me-"
"I've got it." Cinder said, brushing past him quickly as she headed towards the front door. "Wouldn't want you picking up any more strays now would we?"
Jaune blinked, and his stomach sank before the door opened, revealing a familiar shape.
"Is Ruby here?" Asked Qrow, and Ruby peeked out nervously from the living room. "There you are squirt. C'mon. We need to finish that family meeting we were having. Thanks for looking after her."
"It's fine." Jaune replied, quietly noting how pale Cinder looked. "It's the least we could do after she looked after Khione last night."
"Doesn't matter. I appreciate it." Qrow nodded firmly. "Say your goodbyes kiddo."
"Bye Mr and Mrs Arc." Ruby said, trudging towards the door nervously before pausing. "By Khione!"
"Bye Ruby!" Khione shouted back from the kitchen, and Ruby trudged forward for another few steps before pausing again.
"Thanks for having me over for lunch and stuff. If you want I can-"
"Ruby." Qrow interrupted firmly.
"Coming." Ruby sighed, head bowed as she trudged out of the Arc home. Qrow gave them an apologetic look before turning around after her, and Cinder robotically shut the door.
"Well at least we can get back to family fun times." Jaune said, rubbing the back of his neck awkwardly as Cinder turned around to give him a death stare. "Do you know Qrow? You seemed a little...weird around him."
Cinder smiled placidly, and Jaune knew he should've picked a better choice of words.
Foot. Reacquaint yourself with mouth.
"I know of Qrow." Cinder answered with a sickly sweet smile. "Not as well as you know Ruby, or rather, the Red Crusader teacher. Care to share for the class Jaune?"
Jaune gulped.
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Cinder was a not a happy woman
That was a lie. She was a discontent woman.
She was happy with the life she had built with Jaune and Khione. She was content with her job, which she could appreciate the steady monotony and routine of. She did not like her husband's side job.
She had made her peace with letting him be the Huntsman for the reasons he had listed-bringing down crime to draw in investment and improve Vale's quality of life so Khione could have a better life than they did. She also found his goody-two-shoes-ism somewhat admirable, but she appreciated his pragmatic reasoning more. What she had not made peace with was him tutoring other superheroes.
As well as Ruby Rose, now her sister had been brought under the wing of her boyfriend, with the ridiculous name of Dragon no less. Not to mention there were reports of another vigilante starting to operate in Vale, one who specifically targeted the White Fang and anti-Faunus practitioning businesses. Cinder would not care so much if it wasn't for the fact she knew Jaune would likely bring yet another stray under his wing, and that meant in turn he'd have less time to spend with her and Khione.
He still, somehow, made time for them in his increasingly busy schedule, something she had let herself be with content with for far too long. She could not help the feeling she was an afterthought, especially when Jaune and his sidekicks would return home with flushed faces from running around the city and wide smiles from doing what they loved doing. To pour salt in the wound, Khione had embraced her father's sidekicks eagerly. She insisted they made milk and cookies for them to return to, something Cinder hadn't minded doing for Jaune. If only it had been just Jaune, then anything would be fine.
But no. He had to bring home strays. Had to help the weak and innocent. Just had to pluck cats from trees.
Fine then. Cinder would do what she enjoyed.
By which she meant she was going to hunt down and steal Vulcan Diamond for Khione out of spite and panic.
The anniversary of her first meeting with Khione was fast approaching, and Cinder didn't have clue what to do or get her. She had already booked a hotel room and dinner date with Jaune a few weeks after the actual anniversary using what she had saved up from her wage, meaning she was effectively bankrupt if not for the hoard of ill-gotten wealth she sat on. She had booked their date after the fact because she wanted to spend all day with Khione, but that hadn't changed the fact she didn't know what they would be doing.
It would be a Saturday, so Khione did not need to worry about attending school and there would be plenty of venues to go to without having to worry too much about time. But where? For the love of anything where?
Would Khione even want to go anywhere? Would she even want to do anything special?
Cinder shook her head, watching the orphanage carefully. It was an odd place to end up when tracking down Atlas' most prized gem, but the Headmistress happened to be the paramour of a certain warehouse owner. Said warehouse was not anything special, just a drab box at the docks that was empty more often than not. In fact, business was so ridiculously poor it was if the owner wasn't even trying, and it was a wonder the company hadn't gone bust.
The reason for such luck was that the owner was paid a hefty sum each year for allowing his warehouse to be the storage place of the Vulcan Diamond once every other year. It was sporadic and unpredictable, intentionally so, but the diamond was stored there, hidden in plain sight but guard by elite Atlesian specialists in plain clothes as well as state-of-the-art AK-200 androids hidden with the warehouse itself.
Cinder knew the diamond would be stored in Vale, limiting it to the 'hidden in plain sight' warehouse at the docks or at the high security vault underneath the City Council building or on display at the well protected Vytal Heritage Museum, which would be hard to rob thanks to the winding, busy streets surrounding it and the constant surveillance it would be under, not to mention more security in both plain sight and plain clothes.
The warehouse was less defended technically, as the point of it was to be hidden in a way that didn't draw attention. If the diamond was to be stored at the museum it would've been announced already. If the Vale Council had it, Torchwick would know. For all his faults, his grudge against Vale's Council made him frighteningly competent at times. If Torchwick knew, he would let Cinder know so she could embarrass the Council by taking it from underneath their nose.
Meaning it was going to be stored at the warehouse. Cinder just needed to know when.
She would've put pressure on the warehouse owner himself, but he was constantly watched and protected by Atlas intelligence. His secret paramour wasn't, partially due to Vale's police doing it on the behalf of Atlas' military intelligence.
One of her orphans had ran away from home, telling Vale's child protection agency of abuse and forced labour. The Headmistress and used her parmour and his connections to ease the heat somewhat, but she was still under investigation and had a close eye kept on her. Cinder had watched the orphanage for three days, during which she had spotted the older kids come and go at odd hours. It could have been, likely had been, written down as teenage rebellion and breaking curfew to meet friends by the undercover police doing a poor job being undercover in their black, tinted Range Rover parked at the end of the street.
Cinder, having experienced the pains of forced labour first hand, recognised the signs they had missed.#
Her plan was simple. If the fact the Nefarious Nightstalker wasn't enough to make her squeal like the pig she was then Cinder would just threaten to go to police with her knowledge. Not physically of course, but it should be enough to make the Headmistress cave. It wasn't like her paramour could save her from the Nefarious Nightstalker after all.
In and out. Easy and simple.
She danced across the roof she was perched on and jumped from house to house until she was the end of the street. She levitated across the empty road using her flames and took shelter on the far side of the rooves opposite her. She crawled along, making sure to stay low to stay out of sight of the undercover police officers on the off chance they were actually doing their job and paying attention. She looped around until she reached the street behind the orphanage, well out of view of the not-so vigilant police. She leaped from the top of the house she was perched on and calmly strode across the street, pausing briefly in front of the iron spikes marking the perimeter of the orphanage. The building had a gothic feeling to it, highlighted by the the curled metal gate that was currently locked.
Cinder shook her head and conjured her fire once more, levitating over the metal spikes easily before lowering herself onto the damp grass within. It was well kept, and Cinder knew from observation the Headmistress assigned gardening tasks as 'chores'. Normally children were paid for those in this day and age, Khione certainly was, and Cinder wondered briefly just how compromised she had become thanks to Jaune and Khione. Before she would have been able to infiltrate the orphanage and get what she needed quickly and efficiently. Now she had dithered for three days trying to restrain herself from murdering the Headmistress so brutally the news would fear a new serial killer running amok.
Before she knew it she was at the door that lead to the kitchen. It was locked, and as Cinder did not want to leave much evidence showing she had been there so as to not spook the Atlesians she couldn't melt the door knob and lock. The old fashioned way it was.
She huffed slightly as she undid a hairpin keeping her hair into a neat bun. It fell down on her shoulders, and she ran a hand through her hair, trying to making it less 'normal' so she wouldn't be recognised in any photographs or security footage during the day. Thankfully the Headmistress did not care enough to install a great amount of security, especially since having video evidence of her wards coming and going at odd hours after long shifts where they could also say potentially incriminating things, so Cinder would not truly have to worry much. After a few minutes of careful effort, the door quietly clicked open and Cinder stepped into the orphanage.
It was hauntingly quiet, and there was a dark, oppressive atmosphere the loomed large. There was a fruit bowl on an island in the kitchen, and all the plates and bowls and spoons and forks were immaculately clean and left to dry on the drying rack overnight. Cinder wandered into a hallway, which she followed down, peering in the rooms she passed. There was what looked like a school room, with an old fashioned blackboard with chalk and stiff, small desks in a room to her left, and to her right was what she presumed was the living room, with a fairly modern TV and potted plants next to patterned curtains. There were two big sofas next to one solitary armchair, and it wasn't hard to image the Headmistress claiming the central position for herself, to keep an eye on her wards and subtly remind them who was in charge by being at the centre of them all.
Cinder felt sick. Once she would have been impressed by such a tactic. That only fuelled her revulsion more.
She continued on and halted at the foot of a winding staircase. There was a light in the hallway, likely to guide sleepy children to the bathroom should they need it, and Cinder eyed the staircase warily. They looked old, and the last thing she wanted was to wake up and scare some poor child. She couldn't use her fire out of fear of setting off any fire alarms, so she tentatively stepped forward onto the first step. It was horrifyingly loud to her ears, but there was no creaking of floorboards and after a few minutes of silence Cinder deemed it safe to continue.
Step by step, tip toe by tip toe, Cinder gradually ascended the long flight of stairs and softly stepped onto the carpeted floor. True to her guess, the only room in the long corridor ahead of her was one that showed a shadow toilet and bathtub. She crept onwards, and the hallway ended with a right turn that Cinder followed. At the end of it was a shut door that she presumed led to the attic, or the spiralling tower she'd seen outside which had embedded the orphanage's gothic look. Cinder headed over to it, and she froze when she heard shouting. She looked around her in a brief moment of panic, but she froze when she realised the noise had come from the other side of the door she was stood in front of.
She berated herself silently before testing the door knob, stepping inside when she found it unlocked. She quietly ascended the staircase the spiralled in circles upwards, and she stopped just before the amber light the spilled in from the room at the top of the small tower, listening to the now clear voices within.
"I am your Headmistress and you will do as you are told!" Scolded an old voice, crackling with age and hoarseness from overuse.
"N-No!" Retorted a quieter, younger, meeker voice. Cinder's heart clenched. "I w-won't! You c-can't make me! You can't m-make any of u-us! It's w-wrong!"
"Us? Do you think your fellow wards support your act of rebellion? Foolish girl. If they did they would be here supporting you now. They understand I need money to keep our home running, hence why you are all alone like the abominable little cretin you are. And what have I said about stammering like a gormless yapper?"
"N-Not to m-mistress."
"Precisely. So do not. Now, I have spoken to Mr Parnassus and he has been quite forgiving with you. He is more than willing to give you a second chance, and you will take that opportunity he has so graciously provided for you. Tomorrow you will go his restaurant, you will wash his dishes, take out his trash and you will clean his kitchen. Are we understood?"
"B-But it's t-too long! M-My feet hurt from standing f-for so long and-"
"Did I ask!" Roared the older voice. To Cinder it seemed pathetic, but to a child it would've been terrifying, let alone a child with no other option but to obey. "Now, do you understand? Will I have to get the cane dear?"
"Y-Yes." The quiet voice retorted, and Cinder blinked at the quiet fury underlying the girl's defiance. "I w-won't w-work for t-t-twelve hours in some grubby r-restaurant!"
"You foolish little thing!" Hissed the older voice, and Cinder could not afford to dither any longer. "You impudent little-!"
"Careful now." Cinder interrupted, stepping into the room calmly. "We wouldn't want to teach naughty words to the youth now would we?"
The old woman shrieked and stumbled back as if physically struck by Cinder's appearance. The girl in front of her, though far older than Khione was, jumped as well, and Cinder felt a tidal wave of guilt at the fear in the girl's crimson eyes.
"Don't fear little one. I mean you no harm." Cinder told the girl softly, sending her a reassuring smile. The girl didn't seem to believe her, and Cinder did not blame her. "The same cannot be said for you Headmistress. Do you know who I am?"
"M-Monster!" The old woman gasped, though in truth she only had a few specks of grey hair and wrinkles. Everything else, from her voice and dress and demeanour, seemed ancient. "T-Terrorist! T-Thief!"
"Killer." Cinder finished coolly, stepping forward and conjuring flames in her hands. The little girl startled and stepped aside, and Cinder shot her a quick smile and wink before turning back to the Headmistress, face as cold as death. "I have questions. You will answer them."
"I will not cooperate with filth!"
"I suppose we will be doing this the hard way." Cinder smirked, flames roaring in her hands, and the woman crumbled in front of her. "Your paramour, Mr Baker, he owns the warehouse near the docks? Unit Four to be precise."
"H-He does." The woman stammered, face pale and sweating as Cinder brought her flame covered hands to hover just next to her face. "Though I do not understand why-"
"The Vulcan Diamond. When will it be moved there?" Cinder demanded, and the woman's face turned whiter than chalk. "Do not lie to me. I'd hate to show our young guest what happens when fire meets flesh."
"Two weeks!" The woman cried, sobbing without tears. "I swear it! He told me! He's going to show me! Two weeks from now! It'll be there!"
"Thank you." Cinder smiled, dispelling her flames. The woman fell to the floor, curled into a ball and sobbing helplessly. Cinder turned, and she found herself caught in the gaze of the young girl stood in the corner. Those crimson eyes seemed to pierce into her soul, and they were filled with the same helplessness, the same powerlessness that Cinder had once been trapped in.
Her stepmother's face flashed before her eyes, but not the cruel, domineering sneer she had so often carried. Instead it was one contorted in flame, one that was scared and helpless and powerless like she had been as flames peeled the skin off of her broken flesh and burned away her bruises and aches.
Cinder turned back to the Headmistress, darkness in her eyes.
"Your cooperation is appreciate. Thought I'm afraid we're not quiet done yet." Cinder said, smiling coldly. The woman stared up at her with horrified, tear filled eyes, and Cinder turned her gaze to a set of stationary on the woman's desk. She strode over to, humming appreciatively at the scissors she plucked up. They were old fashioned. Sharp. She saw the girl in the corner wince, and Cinder wondered how they had been used on her before for a moment.
"Tell me." Cinder said, face one of death. "How do you think young, vulnerable children should be treated by their caretaker? One entrusted with their health and wellbeing?"
The woman blubbered and scrambled away.
"I thought as much." Cinder noted, watching as the woman crawled under her desk for sanctuary. She turned back to the child, who was watching carefully. "This will be gruesome. This will be loud. You may wish to leave."
She didn't. She watched silently as Cinder carved bloody retribution against the woman's soft flesh, and in brief moments of lucidity in between the cold-hearted bloodlust that had settled over her she wondered how the other children or police or neighbours had not heard and sound the alarm. At some point the girl had moved so that she stood next to Cinder, face as if it was carved from stone as she watched her abuser turn into a broken, bloody, crying mess on the verge of death.
The Headmistress was in shock now. She would not have long until her misery was brought to a close.
The same could not be said of the children whose trust she had betrayed and whom she had used as slave labour. Cinder turned to the girl, who looked up at her with curious eyes.
"She does not have long left." Cinder told her, flipping the scissors around so that she held the bloodied blade. "Do you wish to strike the final blow?"
The girl took the scissors quietly, and the Headmistress gurgled something. A name maybe, or even a plea. Perhaps it was a curse. Cinder did not know, and the girl did not care as she kneeled next to the dying woman and calmly plunged the scissors into her neck, cocking her head curiously as the the woman clawed at her neck. The girl twisted the blade, making the woman gurgle horrifically, and Cinder watched as the last light of life left her eyes. Her body stilled, and thick blood ran down her neck and started to congeal on the floor around her.
Cinder pulled the scissors out of the woman's neck and tossed them aside, before kneeling next to the girl. They stared at the dead woman's corpse in silence, and Cinder let her have the time to come to terms with what had happened.
"Look at me." Cinder instructed carefully, and the girl silently did so. There were unshed tears in her eyes. "What you did was not justice. It was revenge, and it was deserved. Do not let this haunt you. This hag is not worthy of another thought in your mind."
The girl nodded silently, wiping away her unshed tears. Cinder grabbed a cloth from the desk, a handkerchief, and used it the wipe the blood from her gloved hands.
"Listen to what I say carefully please." Cinder said, staring at the girl intently. "When the police ask what happened, you will say that you and the headmistress were arguing when you heard someone coming up the stairs. The Headmistress confronted them and was attacked. You hid under the desk. She managed to knock away the knife he was using, so instead he got the scissors from her desk and killed her slowly. Then he left. The man was tall, and he was wearing a white hockey mask. Do you understand dear?"
"Y-Yes ma'am!" The girl answered, and Cinder found herself smiling at her eager tone.
"Repeat what I said please."
"I was arguing with the H-Headmistress when we heard someone coming up the stairs. It didn't sound like the other wards, so I ran and hid under her desk as the H-Headmistress went to confront them. They fought, and I heard something clatter. The man grunted and tossed her to the ground before grabbing the scissors and killing her. I peeked out as he was leaving to make sure he was gone, and I saw a tall man with a hockey mask with a knife."
"Good girl." Cinder smiled, patting the girl's forehead. She preened under Cinder's touch. "What is your name?"
"E-Emerald ma'am!"
"It's been a pleasure meeting your Emerald." Cinder smiled, shaking the girl's hand. "I best be off now. Here."
Cinder grabbed a pen from the desk and grabbed a tissue from a box of tissues. She scribbled her number onto it.
"If you ever need help. Call this number. I'll come and help you as soon as I can." Cinder said, giving the girl the napkin, which she held reverently. Cinder held out her pinkie finger. "I promise."
Emerald took her pinkie eagerly with her own, and Cinder gave her one more pat on the head for good measure before heading down the stairs, humming a merry tune under her breath as she left the orphanage and headed home.
Look at her now, helping the orphans of all things. Jaune would be so proud of her if her knew.
Next she'd be saving cats out of trees.