Damn these two weeks seem to fly by don't they. Bit of a shorter chapter but some important updates and explanation as to what's going on. Also someone immediately clocked what I have planned for a thing with Crue last chapter and it honestly makes me happy it's understood lol

Cinder stared at the closed door before her, wondering why exactly she was here. As idiotic as it was to say, she felt as though she should be. And yet, that did not stop her from hesitating. She scowled at herself for feeling such fear, and strengthened her resolve.

Using her regular hand, she knocked twice on the door to Salem's private quarters. The door swung open on its hinges with nary a sound, causing Cinder to freeze. Inside was a large open room, with a single queen sized bed pushed against a wall.

There was scarce else in the room, save for what looked like a large treasure chest tucked away in a corner, and a wardrobe on the other side of the room. It was also missing its occupant. Cinder glanced around, before crossing the threshold.

The room seemed, for lack of a better word, lonely. However, her eye spied a set of open glass doors. The glass, like everything else in the castle, was stained purple. Slowly, she made her way further into the room in order to see what was outside.

She froze, as she found the one she was looking for. On a balcony, overlooking the scarred and twisted landscape of the Grimmlands, sat on a rather simple metallic chair, was Salem. The Queen of Grimm either did not notice her, or didn't choose to acknowledge her.

Next to her on a similarly designed table was a dusty dark bottle, with two wine glasses. One filled, and the other empty, next to an equally empty chair. Unsure as to what to do, she knocked on the glass panes.

Salem's head turned, seemingly unsurprised or unbothered by the noise. "Oh, Cinder. I didn't hear you come in." Her eyes were still like those of fiery coals burning in the deepest night, but they seemed unfocused.

"Have a seat." She nodded to the empty chair, before returning her gaze outward. Cinder did so with great reluctance, wondering if that was an order rather than a choice. As she sat, her gaze was obviously drawn to the view.

The Grimmlands were barren of life save for the creatures they were named after. It was interesting to see how Grimm acted without anything around to hunt. Mostly they milled around, minding their own business, but Cinder could see various types of Grimm sticking together with their own kind.

For a second, she wondered how that caffeine addicted educator from Beacon might react to such a sight. The thought faded as Salem spoke. "I assume you are here for a reason." She looked at Cinder with a raised eyebrow.

Cinder nodded and tried to speak. "Tear…ee…an." She swallowed roughly, still unused to the sensation.

"Tyrian?" She correctly guessed. Cinder nodded. Salem hummed, staring out across the landscape. "Yes. I suppose you would be wondering about that, wouldn't you." She picked up her glass of wine and sipped from it, cradling it in her hand as the deep red liquid within swirled.

Cinder waited for her to continue, her amber eye briefly glancing towards the bottle of wine. It was covered in dust, save for the neck of it, presumably where Salem had grabbed it. "Do you know what immortality is, Cinder?"

The question caused her eye to snap back up to Salem, who was looking at her calmly. Cinder thought about the question, and tried to convey her words. "Not… dying." It was difficult to tell whether that was what she had wanted to hear or not.

"Hmm. Yes, I suppose that's what those who are not immortal would see it as." She took another sip of her wine, and Cinder felt throat become rather dry. "Would you like to know what immortality truly is?"

Her eyes were not on Cinder, instead focused on a distant point on the horizon as the Sun began to set. Before Cinder could give her response, which would have been a definite yes, Salem continued to speak.

"Immortality is a curse. It is not living forever. It is living alone. It is everyone around you dying." Her pale hands twirled her glass between her thumb and forefinger, but otherwise did not drink. "It is a bane, not a boon. And most of all, it is not power."

She turned to stare at Cinder at that last descriptor, her burning red eyes staring into amber. Cinder swallowed roughly, having thought immortality exactly that. If you could not die, could not be killed, who would be foolish enough to stand against you.

"I had been foolish enough to hope that I would have a companion who understood that. But that damn Author broke our deal." Her grip on the glass tightened, but it did not break. Cinder knew what 'companion' she was referring to, but she had never heard of this 'Author' before.

She attempted to make an inquiring sound, and apparently it was enough that Salem understood it. "Before your time, girl." She said dismissively. "An arrogant man who thought himself a God because he had a special toy."

She rolled her eyes, showing exactly what she thought of him. "I was a fool to trust him. No more than him, however, for betraying me." Salem glanced skyward with a scowl that could wilt crops, as though the subject of her ire was looking down at her.

Cinder suddenly had a memory shoot to the forefront of her mind, of Crue doing the exact same thing whenever something particularly irritated him. The similarity continued to haunt her, as Salem's expression returned to normal and she finally drank from her glass once more.

"What you witnessed with Tyrian was just that. A foolish action. One that shall never happen again." With that, Salem drank heavily from her glass before setting it down. "I saw what I could have had. What I should have had."

Cinder leaned back as Salem's tone dripped with anger. She knew, or at least certainly hoped, that it wasn't directed at her. Though, given she was the one to kill Crue, maybe it was. Salem let out a sigh as the anger fled from her, reaching out to grab the wine bottle.

"I had intended to drink this with him." She said, topping up her glass, and pouring some into the other one. "It would be a waste of good wine to consume it all by myself." She glanced at Cinder and gave a small nod of permission.

She reached out slowly, not wanting to seem desperate to have a drink. Though being in such close proximity to Salem, and with the current topic of conversation being what it was, she was certain no one would blame her.

She sniffed the wine, and held back a wince at the aroma. It was very pungent. She felt as though it would be insulting if she did not try it, at the very least. And given her current state, insulting Salem was the last thing she wanted to do.

She raised the glass to her lips and took a sip. It was incredibly sweet, almost bordering on sour. Still, Cinder swallowed, the wine warming her throat on its way down. "Strong." She managed to get out, surprisingly easily.

Maybe the wine had helped her. Salem hummed in agreement. "Hm. Yes, Speyer was quite good at what he did." She drank from her own glass, seemingly unaware of what she had said. Cinder hadn't heard the name before, and she knew of no immediate allies with wine making as a skill.

"Who?" She asked. Simple words seemed to come easy now, and she made a note to practise later.

"An ally of mine not too long ago, like yourself. If I recall correctly he left on a mission to destabilise an attack during the war. He never returned, so I can only assume the worst." She explained. Cinder took the words in without much surprise, knowing Salem had other allies in the past.

But the mention of the war made her realise just how long ago Speyer had been out of her Queen's employ. The Great War, if that was the one she was referring to, had ended over eighty years ago.

For that to be 'not too long ago', Salem's perception of time must be truly different to her own. She wondered how long she would remain in her memory for. Finishing her wine, Salem let out a sigh that might have been that of relief.

"It is always good to reexamine your ambitions." With that, she stood, staring out over the land. Her land. "I believe I shall contact Watts and see how he fairs. Thank you for your time, Cinder." With that, she turned, gliding away from Cinder, leaving her alone on her balcony.

Cinder was left in silence, staring out across the Grimmlands, only the occasional howl from a Beowulf breaking the quiet. Salem's words rang in her head, a tiny feeling of doubt rising to the surface of her thoughts.

To reexamine her ambitions… What were her ambitions? She wanted power, she got power. Now what did she want? Revenge on Ruby, certainly. But, then what. She had the Fall Maiden's power. All of it. At least, she thought so. Nikos had managed to start the transfer process before she could kill Amber properly. And she wasn't lying when she had told Crue she felt something in her that night on the tower.

She could kill her and reclaim what was rightfully hers. And then? Could she gain the power of the other Maidens?

Her gift from Salem would certainly allow her to. To take what others had and she wanted. What she craved. If only her power worked in Beacon to take Crue from Neo. She scowled, annoyed her mind went there of all places.

Crue was dead. Thanks to her- thanks to the Silver Eyed Warrior. And now she had lopped off Tyrian's tail. Maybe deep down Ruby was secretly a bigoted racist. Cinder rolled her one eye, unable to give the idea any further credence.

Not even she could try and demonise Ruby enough to make her out to be some sort of racist. Though she could use it to sow doubt into her mind when she finally hunted her down. Along with the fact it was her who killed Crue.

Getting revenge on Ruby and breaking her spirit. Yes, Cinder thought, as she sipped some more wine and stared out over the Grimmlands. Those seemed like perfectly fine ambitions to her.

…

"You did that on purpose." Weiss frowned, removing a sock that had landed on her. Pyrrha smiled widely as she stretched a hand down to help Weiss up.

"I'll admit, I was curious to see how long you'd stay in there if I didn't say anything." She glanced to the open travel wardrobe that had experienced some rather unexpected turbulence in the form of Pyrrha shaking it wildly with her Semblance.

"I think another few moments and I would have given up." She took the hand gratefully, standing up and patting down her waistcoat and dress. "Speaking of." She looked around the rather opulent Bullhead. "Can I please use your bathroom?" Pyrrha noticed Weiss' knees begin to knock together.

"Oh I'm sorry!" Pyrrha apologised immediately. "Of course, it's right there." She gestured to the door, and Weiss quickly ran in, leaving behind a faint outline of herself. Pyrrha tried not to chuckle at her expense, but it was an attempt in futility.

She shook her head as she smiled, before reaching down and righting the wardrobe. There were a few clothes within, dresses in various shades of reds and blues. There was a soft clink of metal, and Pyrrha looked a bit closer.

A large white case with the Schnee logo emblazoned on it, presumably holding her weapon and some spare dust. But, lying atop it was what had caused the noise. Pyrrha's mouth suddenly felt extremely dry as her eyes widened.

Slowly, she reached out and let her hand grasp the cool blue metal. Setanta felt heavy in her hand as she retrieved it, standing slowly. Several thoughts rushed through Pyrrha's head at once. Weiss had mentioned finding Setanta during Beacon, after being attacked by a Monster.

The weapon looked as though it had never seen a day of use in its life, and Pyrrha realised it must have been due to Weiss' upkeep of it. She had taken such care of a weapon that didn't even belong to her. It may as well have now, as the hurley was far from its previous owner.

She couldn't say she was well versed in Crue's weapon, but she had seen it in use enough times. Her thumb roved over the handle of the hurley, before it felt the small recessed button. Clicking it in, the flat part collapsed in on itself, forming a blade.

The weight remained the same, and Pyrrha had seen the cutting power it wielded. The top-heavy sword lacked any kind of a guard, but Pyrrha found herself able to give it a few short test swings within the confined cabin.

It whistled softly, as though it was missing something. Pyrrha frowned, knowing what was missing. It lacked the strength of the one it belonged to, the anger behind every slash and swing. Pyrrha wondered if she should even be allowed to hold it, considering she was at fault for his death.

Crue was there because she couldn't protect herself. Cinder would have killed her if not for Crue falling from the sky and fighting Cinder, with the full power of the Fall Maiden at her command. Well, nearly all of it.

The transfer process had been a pain like nothing she had ever experienced. But, Pyrrha was almost certain that she had the tiniest part of the power left within her... Somehow. She had no idea how to call on it, or how to prove it, but it would certainly explain the feelings of sudden anger and annoyance at various situations she had been in since Beacon fell.

She glanced over at the sound of a door opening, and Weiss emerged from the bathroom looking refreshed. "That's better. I think our families share the same bullhead manufac-" She stopped dead, blue eyes going wide as she finally saw what Pyrrha was holding.

"I'm sorry!" Pyrrha apologised immediately, nearly dropping the weapon out of shock. She quickly returned Setanta to its base form and looked for somewhere to rest it. She began to panic slightly, unsure as to where to leave it.

"Pyrrha." Weiss had made her way over to stand next to Pyrrha, holding a hand out and resting it on the one that gripped Setanta. "It's fine." She said softly.

"I shouldn't be holding this." Pyrrha apologised once more, jerking her hand away from Weiss and setting the hurley down on one of the plush seats.

"I'm sure he'd be fine with you holding his weapon, Pyrrha." Weiss looked surprised at the sudden change in demeanour. She looked Pyrrha up and down, making sure she wasn't injured in some way.

"I, I don't think I can agree with you, Weiss." She said slowly, green eyes glancing to the hurley. She sat down with a sigh on a separate seat. "You know what happened at Beacon, that Crue saved me. Because I wasn't able to save myself. I wasn't strong enough."

Weiss immediately sat down next to her. Pyrrha looked up, expecting to see a reassuring and soft expression. Instead, she was surprised to see that Weiss' eyes were like chips of ice. "Don't. You. Dare. Blame yourself."

Her words came out slow and clipped as Weiss placed a hand on Pyrrha's arm and gripped it tightly. "You did not allow me to blame myself for his dea-" She swallowed once, taking a breath. "For Crue's death."

"So I will not allow you to blame yourself." Her jaw was set in a firm scowl. "This is the fault of one person and one person only. Cinder Fall." The name alone brought a similar expression to Pyrrha's face. "And we are going to make her pay for what she has done."

Pyrrha nodded in agreement, looking over to Setanta. She never thought she was one for revenge before, but apparently the Fall of Beacon changed everyone. As she thought about how she and Weiss would make Cinder pay, something clicked in her mind.

"Oh! I never told you." She said with a click of her fingers. "Cinder was working for someone. I don't know who, but during the fight Crue mentioned a 'Queen'." It was important information, but when she tried to mention it to General Ironwood he said something about it 'needing Ozpin's help to explain it'.

She gathered that meant it was something she would never know, as Professor Ozpin was dead. "Pyrrha..." Weiss began to speak slowly, looking not to Pyrrha's face, but to her hands. "That is, extremely important information, but..."

"Could you snap your fingers again?" She briefly glanced back up to Pyrrha, who's emerald eyes blinked in confusion. That was an... odd request. Pyrrha looked down to her hand. It was completely bare, and didn't look any different than usual.

With a confused glance back at Weiss, she looked down to her fingers and snapped. Sparks flew from her fingers. "OH!" "AH!" The two shared a gasp of astonishment, before looking at each other. They looked back at her fingers, and she snapped again.

More sparks flew. "AHH!" "OHH!" The two continued to scream, as in the cockpit the pilot winced and turned off the microphone that was normally used for the passengers to communicate with him. Ballius rolled his shoulder, checking his instruments and changing his course.

He had received an urgent communiqué from Headmaster Lionheart, requesting that Miss Nikos instead return to Haven rather than Argus. Ballius was surprised it managed to get through, but as the Headmaster had stated he had already gotten permission from Theta and Pelé about it, he saw no issues.

And so, he flew past Argus, the great lake of Mistral appearing on the Horizon.

…

"There. I hope you're happy." Lionheart frowned, setting down the Scroll that he had just signed the death of Pyrrha Nikos with.

"Well, Leonardo, I would have been happier if this was never necessary in the first place." Arthur Watts answered with a frown of his own, sipping on his tea as he kicked his feet up onto the small coffee table. "But, unfortunately, thanks to your incompetence, it was."

"My incompetence?" Leonardo was not normally one to speak out against Watts, or any of Salem's agents, out of fear and survival. But he'd be damned if he was to be blamed for this. "I did what you asked. I sent hundreds of of Huntsmen to their deaths." His fist clenched as he admitted his own guilt.

"And I sent them directly to you!" His tail flicked angrily behind him. Watts was surprised at his tone, as he knew what a coward he was. He would have called him out on his sudden courage, but what he said had confused the Doctor.

"What do you mean 'sent them to us'?" He repeated, taking his legs off the table and sitting up to stare at Lionheart properly. His change in demeanour appeared to sap whatever confidence the Headmaster had gained as the older man sunk back into his chair.

"Every Huntsman I sent out was never heard from again. At least, until a few weeks before the Vytal Festival." He tugged at his necktie uncertainly. "I had thought I was sending them to you."

Watts frowned as he twirled his moustache in contemplation. "We never received any Mistral Huntsmen, but I know for a fact your numbers were down." He had been keeping an eye on the amount of Huntsmen in Mistral per Salem's request.

"Honestly I had thought you were offing them yourself. I see now I was mistaken."Watts' green eyes observed Lionheart as he flinched. He gave a hum of amusement, seeing he wasn't far off. Come to think of it, he hadn't seen any staff on his way in.

"But regardless, where were you sending them that you were so certain they would fall into our clutches?" He asked. In response, Lionheart reached over to behind his desk and opened a drawer, pulling out a rather old looking map.

Watts' rolled his eyes, thinking it would have been much quicker to simply use the map on his Scroll. "It was a town close to Grimmlands, but still on Sanus." He was pointing to a small stretch of ocean that separated the Kingdom of Vale and the dragon shaped continent.

Watts leaned over the map, as Lionheart moved his finger underneath the town in question. Watts read it over, cursing as his eyes widened and he realised what had happened. "Of course..." He sighed, glaring at the cursive script.

"Mentis."

Bet you didn't expect to hear that name again any time soon. I mentioned a surprising number of Mistrali Huntsmen in attendance back when Crue freed everyone, and now you have an explanation for why.

Aside from that, Pyrrha has a sliver of Maiden Magic within her. Enough to make her fingers act like a flint and steel at least. But, that's probably enough of a reason for Cinder to hunt her down. Nothing like reaffirming your motivations of revenge.

I wonder what it's called when both sides think they're getting revenge for the 'death' of the same guy. Ah well, we'll find out eventually.

Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this chapter, let me know if you did, and as always...

Until Next Time

-Friday