"No!" Cinder screamed internally, resisting the urge to actually do so as her latest nefarious scheme crumbled in her mind before she had even enacted it, all thanks to one annoying being.
You see, Cinder Fall was not a good woman. One might even say she was evil, malicious and cruel.
They would be correct. She was a monster, a person who understood what she was and knew that was not a good thing, but did not care in the least and the prospect of bettering herself for the foolish ideal of 'good' made her feel physically sick.
Hence why she hated the Huntsman with such vehement spitefulness.
You see, Cinder had decided that in order to have some semblance of normalcy in life, she would hide her face behind a domino mask and body behind a skin-tight catsuit whenever she prowled Vale's streets at night to implement her nefarious plans.
The Huntsman, a naive fool with a clearly store bought mask and a cape that looked more like a blanket than an actual cape, would always try stopping her.
At first he preached, whining and whinging and pleading and arguing all the merits of being good. Of being an upstanding member of society, yet another good little cog in the machine that was human civilization. The fool stopped preaching when she started burning innocents caught in the crossfire of their little forays.
In truth, Cinder had never wanted to kill innocents. It brought too much attention to herself, too much media fury and frenzy. She preferred to operate in the shadows, where she had more room to manoeuvre.
Since those few, scattered, accidental innocent deaths, the Huntsman had changed. He hit a little harder, he no longer monologued about the virtues of good and more than once he'd tried moves that would have left her crippled or dead.
He wasn't a naive fool who could provide the odd bit of entertainment through said foolish naivety or an occasionally entertaining, vigorous philosophical debate anymore. He was a threat now, a credible one at that, considering their latest bout revealed he'd unlocked his Aura, and by the Brothers did he have a lot of it.
That was why she found herself wandering the one of the many malls that had popped up in Vale over the last decade or so. Ironically, if the malls hadn't been set up and pushed small shops out of business, then maybe Cinder would not have turned to villainy the way she had.
Once her father was forced out of business, everything in her life fell apart, from her father's descent into alcoholism after her mother left him to marrying her stepmother, who had made it her mission to make Cinder's life hell.
She was going off on a tangent. She shook her head to clear the cobwebs in her mind and wandered around the mall, listening to the sounds of people coming and going about their daily business. Oddly enough, it helped her think. It was unusual, but the white noise of ordinary people going about their day just helped clear her mind and let her plot easily.
Now time to focus and time to scheme. The Huntsman is strong but he has to have some kind of weakness she could exploit-
"Pretty please!"
"You've already got that book kiddo."
"But the teddy looks like the Nefarious Nightstalker!"
"I don't understand how you can idolise that witch, she's hurt people kid-oh! Sorry, I didn't see you there."
Cinder stared at the all-too familiar cerulean blue eyes that were connected to a vaguely familiar face with an all-too familiar voice and an all-too familiar mop of unkempt blonde hair.
"It's fine." Cinder smiled back, watching as something lit up in the blonde not-so stranger's eyes. "I'm Ember, what is your name?"
"Jim." The stranger lied back, eyes narrowing and stepping in front of the small form that clung to his side. Cinder looked down and blinked upon noticing the small child with the same eyes as her nemesis.
"You have a-!?" Cinder gasped, which was evidently the wrong move considering 'Jim' clenched his fists and reared his arms back, the speed with which he moved startling her to the point she realised she hadn't pulled up her aura and was completely defenceless.
"Dad!" Cinder's saviour gasped, reaching up and tugging on the Huntsman's arm. "That's mean!"
"Y-Yeah." The Huntsman replied through gritted teeth, lowering his arm but murdering Cinder with his glare alone. "Sorry kiddo, she reminded me of this very, very, very bad woman I used to know."
"Oh Jim. " Cinder gasped with faux horror, eager to regain the initiative through words after that previous shock. Thanks to their actions, the Huntsman's spawn had earned themselves a quick death if push ever came to shove. "You used to know me? I thought we were such good friends!"
"That was before you started hurting people out of nothing but selfishness." The Huntsman snapped back, now unclenched hand gently grabbing their child's little one with a care that surprised her. "Let's go kiddo."
"No!" The child pouted, stomping their foot and tugging back against their father's grip. Cinder's astonishment grew when she saw the Huntsman, a man who could and had thrown her through concrete walls, immediately fall to a stop despite the fact he could've just dragged his child after him like a dog on a leash. "You need to apologise!"
"Khione, now isn't the time-"
"You were going to hit her!" Huntsman's child, Khione apparently, retorted with an angry look on their face and tears building in their eyes. "And you lied about your name! Why are you being mean! You're supposed to be a hero!"
Cinder blinked at that. The child knew about her father's work? Cinder gave the child a quick once over now that the Huntsman was focused on calming said child down, and only then did she notice the blanket that was wrapped around her shoulders.
The same blanket her father wore during their battles. What the hell was going on?
"Shush sweetie!" The Huntsman pleaded, eyes flashing with fear as they darted in Cinder's direction. "I'll apologise to Ember okay?"
"Dinner!" The child retorted. "You always say the easiest way to forgive and forget is to get someone food."
The Huntsman let out a frustrated sigh and ran a hand through his mop of blonde hair. Cinder smiled antagonisingly as she watched her nemesis get cowed by a child, passers-by watching with minute curiosity before quickly moving on.
"Do you want some food Ember ?" The Huntsman demanded, tone laced with hostility. Cinder smirked.
"Why of course I would Jim." She replied sweetly. "But what was that part about you lying about your name?"
The Huntsman grunted and made a point of not looking at his daughter, who was glaring up at him in an attempt to peer pressure the man into obliging Cinder's not-so-subtle request.
Which met his eyes were naturally drawn to hers. Frustration, anger and worry all clashed in those sky blue eyes of his, and there was not a single word in the dictionary to describe the elated feeling she had at seeing her arch-enemy put in such a compromising position, let alone by his own daughter!
The Huntsman, naturally, since he was a paragon of good and all that notion of 'good' was actually good for was to be corrupted and turned evil by time, caved first.
"Hello, I'm Jaune." The Huntsman smiled, tone one of ruthlessly forced politeness. "This is my daughter Khione, would you like to go out for some lunch with us as restitution for me being a meanie?"
Cinder couldn't help herself from snorting.
"I would love to Jaune." Cinder purred, savouring the sound of her nemesis' name. "And it's lovely to meet you too, Khione. But I have to admit, I lied about my name too."
"Is that so?" Jaune replied with a deadpan look that told her he already knew. His daughter, on the other hand, gasped with horror.
"You lied!" The child squealed indignantly, whirling around and looking up at Cinder with wide, innocent eyes. "You can pay for dessert then!"
The Huntsman chuckled at Cinder's shocked expression, and Cinder couldn't help but smile, feeling her respect for the Huntsman's spawn growing. The girl had guts, she'd give her that.
"Very well then. Nice to meet you by the way Khione. My name is Cinder." She said, kneeling down and offering her hand to the child to shake. Cinder felt a warm feel rise inside of her as Khione's eyes lit up and her soft, small hand eagerly grasped and shook hers.
"You're smiling."
The shocked voice made her look up, and she saw the Huntsman, Jaune, staring down at her with a surprised, almost shell-shocked look.
"What do you mean?" Cinder retorted, standing back up and realising that she had been smiling from the way her face fell into a more natural, neutral look.
"You were smiling." Jaune clarified, voice sounding numb like he was on autopilot. "Not smirking or taunting like you usually do. You were smiling."
"And you sound like a broken record." Cinder snapped, and she watched the distant look in the Huntsman's face fade. "Now hurry up and take me and your lovely daughter somewhere to eat or else I won't be buying you any dessert!"
The innocent threat dispelled the tension as it caused Jaune's child to giggle. The air was awkward still, but she walked side by side with Jaune as he led them towards a fast food restaurant, making sure he placed himself between herself and his daughter.
That didn't stop the little girl from peeking around his legs to talk up to her. It was a novel experience, one she found herself enjoying a little.
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Naturally their truce fell apart as quickly as it came into being.
"At least I'm not a psychopath!"
"Real original that. It's not like you've called me that half a dozen times before."
"Stop acting like one and I'll stop calling you one!"
"So you agree it's an insult and not an actual diagnosis!"
"Witch!"
"Goody two shoes!"
"Now who's being original?"
Lunch had gone fine. The food was decent, Cinder having ordered the most expensive burger she could find on the menu since Jaune was paying and encouraging his daughter to do the same.
They had actually managed to converse like ordinary people who hadn't tried killing one another for a few minutes whilst waiting for food. Talking with Jaune instead of the Huntsman had been a refreshing, almost pleasant change from their usual topics of discussion and how they ended up.
But it was his daughter who had been the star of Cinder's day. Not only was she ready to ally with Cinder against her father during discussions, she was also a big fan of Cinder's alter ego, the Nefarious Nightstalker.
Things had feel apart once Cinder revealed the truth of who she was to the girl, with Jaune immediately turning into the Huntsman and accusing her of trying to corrupt his daughter.
Hence their argument.
"Miss Nefarious?" A tiny voice spoke up whilst the two adults glared at one another. Cinder looked down and saw Khione fiddling with her fingers and looking at her shyly.
"Yes little one?" Cinder prompted softly, not wanting to scare the clearly upset girl. Shame gushed through her, and from the look of guilt on Jaune's face he clearly felt the same as he took a sip from his cooling tea.
"Are you going to be my new mom?" Khione asked shyly.
The sound of the Huntsman spitting out his tea through his nose was something that she would remember and cherish until the day she died.
"What makes you think that little one?" Cinder asked, smirking at Jaune's hunched over form as he desperately tried cleaning up the mess he'd made.
"You and dad argue a lot." The child replied, the calm normality with which she said the words sending a chill down Cinder's spine. "And dad was going to hit you earlier."
Flames danced in Cinder's eyes.
"Does your father harm you and your mother?" Cinder demanded, preparing to roast Jaune whilst he was defenceless.
"No!" Khione yelled, jumping in front of her father. "Dad's nice! He doesn't hurt me!"
"He hurts your mother?"
"No! He doesn't hurt anyone!"
Cinder's bruised body after their fights would like to issue a protest to that particular statement. But Cinder let it slide and felt her powers die down, watching Jaune carefully as he gently pushed his daughter aside in case a fight between them broke out.
"Why did you think your father hitting me was a reason I'd be your new mother?" Cinder asked curiously. She knew she had to leave, what with the police likely on their way to arrest her already, her powers being very recognisable afterall, but the thought of the oh so virtuous Huntsman being a wife beater made her curious enough to stay and interrogate.
"I thought parents are supposed to hit each other." Khione replied with tone of voice suggesting she was worried about looking stupid. Cinder glanced at the Huntsman, but his eyes were distant and sad, and the fact he was obviously letting his guard down made something recoil inside her. Something was going on, something she was missing.
"You said your father doesn't hit your mother." Cinder pointed out, a Khione shifted nervously.
"He did sometimes." The little girl admitted quietly. "But only after my mom hurt me. Every other time he let her hurt him."
"Your mother…"
"I'm glad she left us."
Cinder blinked a few times before swallowing nervously. The sheer hatred in the innocent little girl's voice was gut wrenching to hear, and the distant look on the Huntsman's face that told her he wasn't entirely there at the moment was painful to look at.
So there was some form of domestic abuse, she just got the roles of who had harmed who mixed up.
But how? The Huntsman, Jaune, was a literal superhero. How could anyone harm him and get away with it?
"Are you?"
Cinder blinked again and noticed the bright blue eyes staring into her soul.
"Pardon?"
"Are you going to be my new mom?"
Cinder looked away. The question had a seriousness to it now that it hadn't had before.
"Maybe." Cinder replied, before pausing for a moment. "Do you want me to be?"
"Yes." Khione admitted shyly, kicking her feet and staring at the floor. "But only if you're nice."
"I'll be the nicest damn mom you'll ever have then." Cinder blurted out, and before she could recant her statement a tiny human slammed into her stomach with a cheer.
"Yay!" Khione yelled, squeezing her tightly with a surprising amount of strength. "I have a mo-om! I have a mo-om!"
Cinder smiled at the child's singing. Then she looked over at the slightly less catatonic and shocked Hunts-Jaune.
"Good to see you in the land of the living honey." Cinder teased, cocking her head curiously at Jaune's cheeks flushed a faint, crimson red. Well that was new.
Or had it been hidden behind a mask before?
Cinder smirked as her new 'daughter' rushed over to her stunned father, cheerfully telling him she had a mom now.
He gave her a deadly look. Perhaps he thought she was joking about being a good mother?
She already said what was going to happen. She wasn't just going to be Khione's best mom, she was going to be the best damn mom on the planet.
Cinder Fall had a new mission now. Be a better stepmom than hers had been. If that meant a relationship with her admittedly handsome arch-enemy, then so be it.
There were worse fates to be had after all.
