Chapter 1: Icy Hell

In a dark void, a little girl slowly floats down. From the looks of her, she hasn't been well taken care of. Sunken cheeks, and baggy eyes and the only thing she's wearing is a dirty white gown and iron cuffs on her wrists and ankles. "Am I, dead?" the little girl wonders as she continues to sink into the void. But something catches her eye. A royal blue circular platform with a picture of someone in the middle. They look like they are sitting on something.

As the girl floated closer, realized how large the platform is and the image is of herself. Sitting on a throne and holding a familiar sword in her arms. Her father's katana. "The white handle, the black sheath and the blue ribbon attached to it. It's Papa's sword!" the girl said happily but her smile quickly faded when she remember the fate of the katana and her father. Both are gone.

The girl slowly and gently lands on the platform she hears a voice coming from above. It was a woman's voice and it sounded familiar, "Cinder, oh sweet Cinder. What has happened to you?" the voice said sadly.

"You know me?" little Cinder asked.

"I do. I don't have much time but I will do what I can to help you unlock your hidden power. Though it will be difficult with the Frozen Darkness inside you, I'll help you anyways," the voice said.

"Frozen Darkness?" Cinder asked.

"It's what those mean doctors injected you with. They say it suppose to make you strong without having to work for it. A shortcut to strength. I know for a fact those things don't exist. Let me show you by asking you a question, what do you seek?" the voice asked and three weapons stabbed into stones appeared. The one in the middle is a sword, the one on the left is a lance and the one on the right is a staff.

Cinder didn't know what to choose. All three weapons look beautiful and appeared to be made by an expert blacksmith. The detail on each is amazing! Cinder hasn't seen weapons made from gold before but she has to pick one. She remembers what her father once said if she doesn't know what to do, ask her heart.

So she did and it's telling her to pick the sword. "Just like in that story, papa use to tell me," Cinder said fondly and approached the sword.

"Ah yes, the tale of the Sword in the Stone. A story of a boy becoming king and uniting the people of Vale," the voice said fondly. "Such a romantic story,"

"Romantic?" Cinder asked and gripped the sword's handle. Cinder quickly let go when the sword starts to glow and changed. A sword that Cinder also recognized. Another of her father's swords, the Sword of Summer the Warrior. It's a steel long sword with a red Dust pommel with the words "I am that is" engraved on the blade. Cinder's father told her why the sword is named that is because the sword used to belong to a brave and noble warrior. She saved him so many times.

"Papa had this on the day he...why is it here?" Cinder asked.

"This place is your heart, your dreams. Anything is possible and you don't need to worry about that sword. It's in safe hands," the voice said.

"For some reason, I believe you," Cinder said and approached the sword in the stone again.

"I'm glad," the voice said.

Cinder grips the handle again and starts pulling the sword out of the stone. She points the blade upward and looks at her father's sword lovingly.

"The power of the warrior. Invincible courage. Is this what you seek?" the voice asked.

"Yes!" Cinder said with pride. Holding this sword, Cinder can feel her courage swell inside her. She feels like she can take on anyone with this sword.

"Do you remember what this sword stands for?" the voice asked.

"For the good and the right! It holds the dreams of the Faunus!" Cinder declared.

"Very good! Now, what will you give up? They are times in were to gain something, you must give something up. It's the unfortunate law of the world," the voice said.

Cinder looks at the lance and staff and thinks long and hard about wanting to give up, "That one," Cinder said and pointed at the staff with her father's sword.

"The power of the mystic. Inner strength. Will you give this up?" the voice asked.

Cinder takes a deep breath and nods, "Yes,"

"Very well," the voice said. The staff vanishes and the lance and the stones suddenly melt into water swills together to form a lake. Cinder is shocked that she's able to stand on this lake and not sink in, then she remembers what the voice said. This place is her heart, anything is possible.

Cinder happily jumps in slashes in the water but she hears another splash. Cinder looks at what made that sound and gasped to see a woman's hand holding her father's katana. Cinder's eyes were then drawn to the woman's hand. Something about that finger-less glove, the wristband and sleeve looks familiar.

Cinder can feel in her heart that she has seen that from somewhere, but she can't remember where! Cinder holds her head when something flashes in her mind. It's that hand again but there are two of them and they were reaching out to her and she hears a voice, "Come on. Walk forward. You can do it,"

When Cinder came back to her scenes, finds herself already walking towards the hand. "This scene looks familiar, doesn't it?" the voice asked.

"It does!" Cinder gasped, "When the sword in the stone broke while fighting the black knight, King Arthur got Excalibur from the lady in the lake!"

"Yes, but he needs to prove he was worth of Excalibur," the voice said and Grimm arise from the water. Cinder gasped and backed away in fear. "Don't be afraid, remember where you are and what you have in your hands. You are in your heart, your dreams. Here, you can do anything. Go on, show them what you're made of,"

Cinder grips the Sword of Summer tightly and feels courage return to her heart. "Right!" Cinder shouts and charges at the Grimm. The Sword of Summer cuts through the Grimm with the greatest of ease. Whenever they tried to slash at her with their claws, Cinder cuts them off. It didn't take long for Cinder to reach the hand holding her father's katana.

Keeling down, Cinder grabs the katana and the hand touches her own. A familiar warmth surges in Cinder's heart. She felt...safe. The only time she has ever felt like that is with her father. Why is this woman's hand making her feel that way?

It then clicked in her head, "Mama?" Cinder asked.

The water suddenly turns into darkness and swirls around Cinder and threatens to swallow her up whole. But the hand remained and Cinder still felt safe. The two swords start to glow and formed a barrier around Cinder. Shielding her from the violent waves of darkness.

"I've come to learn that darkness great weakness. Something that never fails to push it back. Love. It comes in many forms but the type of love I believe is the strongest, is the one a parent shares with their child,"

The long sword and katana shine brightly and push away the darkness. Cinder finds herself on a glass platform. But she's not alone this time, above her is a white cloak radiating a golden light, "Hang on Cinder, mama is coming to save you!"

Young Cinder awake, baffled by the dream she just had. It felt real but not. She looks around and recognizes the dark walls and metal bars. The only light source Cinder has in her cell is the moonlight from the window. But her cell is cold because the call window has bars instead of glass. Cinder can't move to a warmer spot because she's chained to the wall.

So the only thing she can do is lay on the cold hard floor, curl herself into a ball and try to go back to sleep. Which is hard because Cinder is hungry, so hungry. The only food those mothers give her is a loaf of bread and a small cup of water.

"I'm tired of being cold! Hungry! Scared!" Cinder cried "Why me? Why do they hate me so much?" she hears a door opening up and tears start running down her face. She doesn't want to be tied to that chair, injected with awful medicine and subjected to those horrible tests! How can she do what they want when she's too tired and hungry to run, swim, and fight?

When Cinder fails their tests, they use the shock collar on her neck. She wants to rip that damn thing off but the collar sets off whenever her hand gets too close to it.

Oh, how she hates them, What would she give to inflict the pain they did on her tenfold! But Cinder is too weak to get her revenge. Only in her dreams, she can get her vengeance.

When Cinder hears the door to her cell open, covers her face with her hands because the guards would always kick her in the face to wake her up.

But when she hears the guard's voice it didn't sound cold and angry. He sounded, scared. Not only that, Cinder can faintly hear what sounded like an alarm.

"T-This her!" the guard said with fear.

Cinder then hears a familiar voice, "WHAT THE HELL YOU DID TO MY DAUGHTER!" the little girl then hears a slash, something wet being spilled and two soft thuds.

Cinder slowly moves down her hands and sees a woman quickly approaching her. The little girl has never seen her but she looks familiar somehow. She touches Cinder's face gently and said, "I'm going to get you out of here!" the woman then uses her axe to brake Cinder's chains. She then picks up Cinder in her arms and runs out of Cinder's cell.

The women's scent triggers a memory in Cinder. It was what her father said, "Your mother has black hair like you and smells like roses. And when she holds you in her arms, you feel like everything is going to be alright,"

Cinder now knows who this woman is, "Mama!" Cinder said with a trembling voice and starts crying.

Summer holds the back of Cinder's head and feels her tears fall, "Let it all out Cinder. I'm here. Mama's here for you and is going to bring you home,"

Now knowing she's safe. Cinder lets her tiredness overtake her and lets Summer's scent take her to the realm of dreams.

When Cinder wakes up, feels like she's laying on something soft and wrapped in something warm. She looks around and sees she's in a white room. Cinder also sees Summer and a blond man carrying a toddler with the same hair colour as him.

"How are you feeling sweetheart?" Summer asked and holds Cinder's hand.

"I'm...fine," Cinder said in disbelief. She doesn't feel cold, tired and hungry.

"I'm relieved to hear that," Summer smiles. "You are probably wondering where you are and who there are," Cinder said and motioned to the man and toddler.

"Yeah," Cinder nodded.

"I'm Taiyang and this is Yang. Your mother and I daughter, and your little sister," the man explains.

"I have a sister!" Cinder gasped and she realized something, "Does that mean your my papa too?"

"In a way, yes," Taiyang nods. "But want is important is you're no longer in Atlas, you're on an island called Patch. And this is the best hospital on Patch. They are real doctors here and will help you feel better,"

"And that's a promise!" a female doctor with brown hair enters the room, "Hello, my name is Aerith Gainsborough," she said with a friendly voice. Aerith looks over the clipboard and lets out a sad sigh, "Those monsters did a lot of damage but don't worry, we can heal you," Aerith walks closer to Cinder, "You should know what those monsters were doing to you, Project Shadow Aura they called it. Those lunatics at Atlas thought it was a good idea to create darkness and weaponize it,"

"They made darkness?" Cinder asked.

"They called it Frozen Darkness because it comes in ice but in reality, it's just Dust Crystals corrupted by darkness. They melt it down and inject it right into a person's body. Though it makes a person stronger, it also destroys their very being when entering a state called Hyper Mode," Aerith explains.

"Berserk Mode is a fitting name for it," Taiyang growls.

Aerith nods, "Yeah that's what Hyper Mode is. A person gets out of control and attacks everyone and everything around them. Those Atlas thugs wanted to a person in Hyper Mode and have their ultimate solider,"

"Is that why they were so mean to me?" Cinder asked and grips the bed sheets tightly.

Summer holds Cinder's hand, "Yes, sweetheart, but my friends and I put a stop to their plans,"

Cinder smiles and then asks, "How did you find me? They said I was in a top-secret location,"

"Someone of the people in that forsaken lab grew a conscience and leaked what was going on. That information eventually came to one of my friends and told me. I thought the worst happened to you when I received your dad's swords, but I reached out with my heart and connected it with yours," Summer explains.

"So that voice in my dreams was you!" Cinder smiles.

Summer nods, "Yes, but I had some help,"

Cinder then looks at Aerith, "Can you take this Frozen Darkness out of me?" she asked with hopeful eyes.

Aerith shakes her head sadly, "We can't, sorry, but there is treatment for it so the darkness will never hurt you and your loved ones. It's quite simple really,"

"What is it?" Cinder asked.

"Love," Aerith smiles, "So long as you hold love in your heart, the darkness will never overtake you,"

Cinder remembers what happened in her dream with Summer. She's seen the power of love firsthand, "Yeah, your right,"

"Happy to hear that," Aerith smiles, "Now, you will be staying here until you are healthy enough to go to your new home and don't worry, your family will come to visit you every day, isn't that right?"

"Of course, we will!" Summer smiles.

"Welcome to the family, Cinder," Taiyang smiles and gently pats Cinder's head.

Cinder indeed stayed in the Patch hospital for a while because she need to go through physical and mental therapy. But Cinder had her family with her every step of the way. She is glad to meet nice doctors for a change.

The day finally came when Cinder is healthy enough to go to her new home. It was a small wooded cabin located deep into the woods but it looked welcoming. Unlike the Glass Unicorn and Atlas labs.

Finally, Cinder's home and out of that frozen hell.