"If this missive is to be believed," Cinder said as she scanned the contents of the piece of paper in her hands, "Then it's been five days since they've passed through here."
"This information network of yours," Adam said, the Faunus approaching Cinder with an ever present scowl on his face, "You believe it to be reliable?"
"They've not given me any reason to doubt them so far." Cinder said, the woman rolling up the piece of paper before pocketing it as Adam considered her words with a hum.
"I wasn't aware the cult's resources were this vast." Adam said.
"The cult has its uses. It all depends on how well you can use them instead of the other way around." Cinder said as she walked past the man and towards her carriage.
"If what you say is true," Adam started to say, halting Cinder in her tracks, "Then what use does Cult have for the White Fang?"
"If you have something on your mind, Adam, then you might as well just spit it out." Cinder said, the woman looking over her shoulder at the Faunus with a dangerous glint in her eyes, "I, for one, do not enjoy speaking in riddles."
"Exactly what is your plan in Vale, Cinder?" Adam asked, "Or rather, what is the Cult planning to do here? The White Fang isn't some… tool for you and yours to use and discard as you please."
"You wish to know our plans, Adam?" Cinder asked as she turned around to face the man, "If memory serves, the cult agreed to lend you its resources in your petty little skirmish with Atlas while you agreed to lend us your aid in the very near future. What that aid entails, however, was not part of the agreement."
"And should the White Fang desire to end its' ties to the cult?" Adam asked, the Faunus's tone taking a very dangerous turn.
"As it should be for everyone, freedom to choose is your right." Cinder said, "But should that be your decision, then the cult expects its loan - its full loan - to be repaid in full."
"And if we refuse?" Adam asked as his hand fell to the hilt of the blade strapped to his side. Behind him, the White Fang members under his command adopted a similar stance while Emerald stood behind Cinder, the woman reaching for her weapons strapped to her back.
"That would be... unwise." Cinder said, a flame flickering in her irises as she stood unflinching under their gazes. The two groups continued sizing one another up for a few moments before Adam let go of his blade's hilt, the Faunus raising his hand to signal his group to stand down.
"Let me just say this, Cinder." Adam said, the man taking a few steps towards her before they were mere inches from each other, "The moment the cult becomes more trouble than it's worth is when our agreement becomes null and void."
His piece said, the Faunus then turned around before entering his own caravan. Letting out a tired sigh, Cinder followed suit as she made her way towards her carriage.
"Exhausting, isn't he?" Cinder asked, her tone less than amused. "Come, Emerald. We're leaving."
"Yes, ma'am." Emerald said as the young woman hurriedly went back to the front of the carriage, "May I ask where it is we're going, ma'am?"
"The southeast." Cinder said as she slammed the carriage door behind her.
[~]
"Seriously, where did all these Grimm come from?!" Ruby shouted just as she decapitated the head of a Grimm that was getting too close for comfort.
"Unfortunately, the magic I specialize in can't answer that question of yours, Ruby!" Weiss shot back just as two spears made of ice impaled a charging Ursa.
"Then that brings me to my next question." Ruby said, the young woman ducking under the swing of an Ursa before using her twin sickles to cut off its arms. Roaring in agony, the creature of Grimm had no time to react as Ruby immediately used her weapons to cut off its head, "We've only been on the road for three days but how is this already the fifth time we're getting swarmed by Grimm?!"
Before Weiss could offer any sort of answer, however, Jaune suddenly appeared, the blonde using his sword to cut a group of creep in half in one single swing.
"You ladies still alive?" Jaune asked, the blonde wiping some sweat from his brow just as a Beowolf behind him was suddenly riddled with arrows. Looking up, he saw Pyrrha standing on top of the carriage, "Thanks, Pyr."
"Don't mention it." Pyrha said, the woman's smile unwavering even under their current predicament.
"How's Nora doing?" Jaune asked, the blonde jumping back from a Beowolf's swipe before using his sword to cut its' arm off, "Are we getting out of here anytime soon?"
"Last I checked, she said it would take another five minutes." Pyrrha replied, the woman helping out her blonde-haired companion as she let loose two arrows into an Ursa's skull that was within Jaune's blindspot, "That was ten minutes ago."
"Damn it!" Jaune cursed, the blonde quickly dispatching a Creep that had leapt towards him, "Tell Nora to hurry it up because as things stand, we'll be lucky to last another-"
The door to the carriage slammed open just before the blonde could finish his sentence as Nora strolled out with a manic smile and soot covering her face.
"Boss man, it's ready!" Nora shouted, the woman wearing a toothy while giving Jaune a thumbs up, "The wheel's all set up and ready up front, too."
"I knew there was a reason I liked you, Nora." Jaune said, the blonde ducking under an Ursa's swing before quickly making his way to the front of the caravan. Meanwhile, Ruby, Weiss, and Pyrrha quickly made their way into the caravan before strapping themselves in.
"I hate this part." Weiss said, the woman already feeling sick to the stomach at the thought of what's to come.
"Hey, where are Blake and Ren?" Ruby asked, the young woman scanning the inside of the caravan for their missing companions.
"Oh, don't worry about them. There was a bit of an accident when they were helping me out earlier." Nora said, as the sound of the Grimm banging against the caravan reached their ears, "They're just… sleeping off their fatigue, is all."
"Whenever you're ready, Nora!" Jaune shouted from outside as the woman in question sprinted deeper into the caravan.
"You got it, captain!" Nora shot back, the mad glint in her eyes being hard to miss.
"Ruby, if I barf, I'm aiming all of it at you." Weiss said.
"See, this is why I told you to have a light breakfast this morning." Ruby said just as the back of the caravan erupted in a hurricane of flames, propelling the caravan forward while turning a few Grimm who were unlucky enough to be near it into ash in mere moments.
[~]
"Really? Your father was the one who taught Yang how to fight?" Pyrrha asked, the young woman tending to the campfire in front of her. She and Ruby had volunteered to be the first ones to keep watch for the night.
"That's right. Taught her everything he knew." Ruby said, a fond smile on her face as her mind drifted to memories of times long past, "Dad was convinced that if he couldn't keep Yang from leaving Patch then he could at least teach her the skills to survive out in the world. Well, the skills to fight, anyway. Yang never did like learning the other things dad had to teach her."
"And what about you?" Pyrrha asked, the young woman amused at her travelling companion's stories, "Was your father the one who taught you how to use those sickles?"
"First of all, they're called Crescent and Rose and they're my babies. Remember that next time when you're talking about them." Ruby said in a teaching tone, "But no, I learned how to fight from my Uncle Qrow."
"Your Uncle Qrow?" Pyrrha asked with a tilt of her head.
"That's right." Ruby said, a proud look on her face, "One of the coolest fighters I know not to mention one of the strongest. I'm not even sure dad could beat him in a fight."
"He's that strong, is he?" Pyrrha asked.
"Of course. He's so strong that one time, he was able to save a village from a horde of Grimm all by himself!" Ruby exclaimed, pride oozing from her very being as she regaled the redhead with tales about her uncle.
Pyrrha, for her part, listened to Ruby's stories in awe, the two of them occasionally sharing a laugh at some of the more ridiculous moments of Ruby's childhood.
"What about you, Pyrrha?" Ruby asked as she threw some more dried wood onto the fire.
"What about me?"
"Yeah. What's your story?" Ruby asked.
"I'm afraid that's a long story, Ruby." Pyrrha said with a chuckle, "But, since the night's still young… What do you want to know?"
"Well, for starters, who taught you how to fight?" Ruby asked, a hint of excitement in her eyes, "Because, frankly speaking, I've been all over Remnant and I've only seen a handful of people who can kill hordes of Grimm without breaking so much as a single sweat and you're one of them."
"Well, the one who taught me how to fight… was my mother. She always told me how I was destined to become the strongest… to become invincible." Pyrrha said as she stared into the campfire's flames, "In fact, I'm pretty sure I was taught how to hold a sword before I learned how to count or read properly. Every day, from morning until the moment the sun sets in the horizon, my mother would do her best to drill into me every single thing she knew about how to fight, whether it be with a sword, a spear, or a bow and arrow."
"Wow. That sounds…" Ruby started to say, the young woman pausing before finally thinking of the appropriate response, "Intense."
"That's… certainly one way to describe my childhood." Pyrrha said with a smile as she looked at Ruby, "In fact, there's a scar on my back courtesy of an arrow piercing my side. No surprise as to who was responsible for that."
"That's awful!" Ruby exclaimed with a look of horror and dread on her face.
"It was a long time ago and I…" Pyrrha started to say before the young woman took a deep breath, "I try not to think too much about my past."
Silence reigned between the two women for a few minutes before Ruby finally decided to speak.
"Do… do you mind if I asked why your mother was so hard on you?"
"Revenge." Pyrrha said as stared into the flames with an empty look in her eyes.
[~]
Nora tried her best to stifle a yawn before ultimately failing as she let out a loud roar that seemed to slightly startle the horses in front of her.
"Boss man, are we there yet?" Nora asked, her head bobbing up and down as she tried her best to keep her eyes open.
"Nora, this is the tenth time you've asked in the past thirty minutes." Jaune said, the blonde wiping some sweat away from his brow, "And just like the last ten times, my answer's going to be the same: No, Nora, we're not there yet."
"But we've been travelling for days." Nora said with a whine, "How far is this place, anyway?"
"Well, according to this map of ours, we should be arriving before the sun sets so, that's good news." Jaune said as he folded the map in his hands before stuffing it into his breast pocket.
"But the sun just came up and it's not even lunchtime yet!" Nora shouted with a tired groan, "That's terrible news. Why would you lie to me like that?"
"Oh, lighten up, Nora." Jaune said, chuckling at his companion's misery, "Try and look on the bright side for once."
"And what would that be?" Nora asked.
"Well, there's uh… there's…" Jaune said, the blonde struggling to come up with something before the clear skies gave him an idea, "There's not a single rain cloud in sight so at least we know it's going to be a bright and sunny day today."
"Nice try, boss man." Nora said as she let out another yawn before suddenly siting up straight, "Hey, what if you read that map wrong?"
"What?"
"The map. Maybe you read it wrong." Nora said as she handed Jaune the reins to her horses, "Here, let me have a look. Who knows, with my excellent map-reading skills, we might just cut our travel time in half."
"Nora, you can barely count to two-hundred." Jaune shot back as he tried his best to distance himself from the young woman, "What makes you think you can suddenly read maps?"
"Pfft, reading numbers is for nerds and those old wizards staying in tall and mysterious towers." Nora countered with a wave of her hand, "It has nothing to do with reading maps."
"Nora, you-"
That was all Jaune managed to say before the ground their horses were on erupted in a pillar of flames. The two of them were barely able to register what had happened before the right side of their caravan exploded in a ball of flames.
"Nora, get inside and make sure everyone's okay!" Jaune shouted as he leapt off the front seat, "I'll go and-"
Before Jaune could take another step, the blonde found resistance in the form of a heavy kick to his face that sent him crashing to the ground.
"Jaune!" Nora shouted, the young woman still trying to regain her bearings from the initial attack. As she stood up to help, she felt someone grab her by the ankle before she was pulled down and promptly slammed to the ground with a thud.
Acting on instinct alone, Nora had the presence of mind to roll to the side just in time to avoid being stabbed through her face. Just as she opened her eyes to figure out who it was that attacked her, her vision immediately went dark as she received a swift kick to the fact that sent her sprawling back to the ground.
Growling in quickly rising anger, the ginger-haired woman quick rolled back as far as she could before placing both of her palms on the ground in front of her.
"Flames of the Brother, engulf the world in flames! Flame Pillar!" Nora shouted just as a hurricane of fire erupted all around her, shielding her from any attacks and giving her the precious few seconds she needed to recollect herself.
"I sure wish I had my weapon with me." Nora thought to herself as the flames around her started to die down, "Whatever. I guess these hands of mine will have to do."
As the flames around her disappeared, Nora entered into a fighting stance, the woman having prepared to face off any and all attackers only to find nobody standing in front of her.
Even so, Nora never once let down her guard for even a second, the woman's senses going into overdrive as she eyed her immediate surroundings in an effort to locate opponent. Just as her focus was at its' highest, two massive balls of fire came from seemingly out of nowhere as it hit the caravan, causing it to topple over.
"No!" Nora shouted, the woman making a rush towards the toppled caravan before immediately jumping back a few feet just as a few knives whistled their way past her face.
Looking up, Nora saw a woman with green hair dressed in a green shirt, white shorts, black boots with a white scarf wrapped around her neck. What caught Nora's eyes, however, were the multitude of knives she had strapped all around her body.
"So, I'm guessing you're the one who's been trying to kill me for the past few minutes?" Nora asked as she wiped away some blood dripping from her nose, "Who are you? Our party has no quarrel with you so why don't we talk this out like the mature adults that we are, huh?"
Her attacker, meanwhile, simply stared at Nora without uttering word before she unsheathed one of the knives strapped to her body.
"Not one for words, huh? I get that." Nora said, a smile on her face before it quickly disappeared and was replaced with a scowl. A dangerous glint appeared in her eyes as she raised her fists at her opponent, "I'm not great with them, either."
As those words left her mouth, Nora and her mystery opponent rushed towards each other.
[~]
"Seriously! Who are you people?!" Jaune shouted, the blonde swiftly ducking under his opponent's feet as it sailed above his head, hitting nothing but air. Seizing the opportunity, Jaune then grabbed his attacker by the ankle before throwing him back a few feet, "My party and I aren't looking for a fight!"
His opponent, through a feat of acrobatics that Jaune could only dream of doing, managed to right himself in mid-air before gracefully landing right back on his feet.
"Well, that's tough, buddy, because my party is looking for one." His attacker said. Wearing a grey jacket over a black shirt, a pair of black pants and what Jaune could only assumed was steel shoes, his silver-haired opponent certainly wasn't going to go down easy, "As for the why, well you're gonna have to ask my boss for that one."
"Is that right? And who exactly is your boss?" Jaune asked. Just as that question left his mouth, the sounds of two explosions from the other side of the caravan reached Jaune's ears, "No!"
Turning to face the caravan, his eyes widened in terror as he saw it topple over onto its side. The blonde then realized his mistake too late as he hastily brought his hands up to cover his face as his mystery opponent delivered a heavy blow that sent him crashing to the ground, dazed and confused.
As Jaune did his best to get back on his feet, the blonde braced himself for an attack that would no doubt send him sprawling on the ground once more. After seconds passed where nothing had happened to him, Jaune opened his eyes to see his opponent standing a few feet away from him.
"What are you planning this time, jackass?" Jaune asked, more than a little ticked off after having been kicked around for the past few minutes.
"Sorry to disappoint, buddy, but I'm not much for plans." The man said before pointing behind Jaune, "My boss, on the hand…"
"Your boss?" Jaune asked and before he could turn around, a sultry yet hauntingly familiar voice reached his ears.
"Hello, Jaune. It's been a long time, hasn't it?"
Turning around, Jaune's eyes widened in surprise at the woman standing before him. Draped in a red robe, Jaune could see that she was wearing a red dress, a pair of black pants, and a pair of heels underneath it.
A shiver went up Jaune's spine as the woman's amber-colored eyes seemed to pierce his very soul.
"Cinder…"
[Chapter END]
A/N: Wow. More than 6 months without an update. Apologies for that, y'all. A giant wall was getting in the way of me making any progress in writing. A wall that took the form of Honkai Star Rail (Remember, kids, stay in school. Don't do gacha.).
Regardless, I hope you guys enjoyed this one. Stay tuned for the next one.
As always, faves, follows, and reviews are always appreciated.
NoXIV signing off