Auras and Alibis

Chapter 4

The dream started the same way it always did. Cinder always remembered it vividly, because it was one of the big moments in her life where she'd been faced with a choice.

And it had all started with some spilled coffee.

To this day, she wasn't sure what had made her decide to stop at the small, corner-side coffee shop. At the time, she'd considered it little more than an odd craving that had hit at just the right time. Many events in her life had been the product of serendipity, after all, so this should have been no different.

And yet… it was almost too perfect. What were the odds that she'd enter that coffee shop at that time, right as he was leaving with his own cup? Perhaps it was the universe doing her a favor for once, or maybe it was her own intuition that had pushed her there, like a sixth sense. She didn't know, but whatever the reason, it had worked out. Jaune had run right into her and spilled coffee all over her, completely ruining her new top. He'd been extremely apologetic about it, stammering out how sorry he was over and over as the other patrons stared at her and mocha dripped down her upper body. She should have been enraged, and yet, she wasn't.

She was too busy losing herself in those beautiful blue eyes.

That was the first thing she'd noticed about him – his eyes. She'd once heard someone say that the eyes were the window to the soul, and in that moment, she believed it fully. Staring into that set of blue, she saw Jaune for who he really was. It was at that moment that she realized she wanted him, in a way she'd never felt about anyone else. She wanted Jaune for herself, with nobody to come between them.

And in typical Cinder fashion, she took what she wanted.

"If you truly wish to make it up to me, then how about a nice dinner?"

His eyes widened, and in that moment, Cinder knew she had him. She'd known it when it had actually happened, and she knew it now, even three years later.

That was how they'd met, but they didn't truly start to know each other until that night's dinner. It had been on short notice, and it was nothing fancy since Jaune was just a student at the time, but Cinder didn't care. She had him there with her, and that was all she wanted. They'd gotten to talking, and as they talked, Cinder realized more and more that she'd been missing something in her life, she just hadn't known what it was until she met him.

She was wealthy now, she knew that – her crimes had made sure she'd never want for anything. She was powerful, too – there wasn't a single Hero in Vale who didn't fear her, to say nothing of the civilians who occupied the city streets. And yet, a part of her had always felt hollow. Now she finally knew why.

After all, what good was a Queen without a Prince?

"Jaune," she'd said, interrupting whatever it was talking about. "How about we get out of here?"

For as dense as he could be, Jaune hadn't missed that hint, which was something she was still eternally grateful for. That night together was when she'd really driven her hooks into him… and, for that matter, when he'd finally captured her heart. She'd never intended for him to be anything less than her Prince, but that first night… Gods, she still thought about it, in her more private moments.

She blinked, and the scene changed. Cinder was staring up at the ceiling now, Jaune curled up in bed next to her, her chest gently rising and falling as he slept. A slight grin crossed her face, and she leaned in to give him a kiss on the cheek.

"Foolish girl. Do you truly believe you can leave it all behind?"

The voice froze Cinder's blood in her veins. Her eyes widened, and she pulled away from Jaune, frantically looking around.

"Where are you?" she growled. "I dealt with you already. You have no power over me anymore."

"You don't understand," the voice replied. "I will always have power over you, Cinder, because you always give it to me. After all, what am I, if not your reason for doing all this?"

Cinder scowled. She threw the covers off herself, then stood up, conjuring fire in her hands with her Semblance.

"Show yourself," Cinder demanded. "Show yourself so I may kill you a second time."

"You can't kill a memory, Cinder," a second voice suddenly chimed in. "If only you realized that, maybe then you'd finally stop running."

Cinder let out a small gasp as the second voice began to jeer at her. Pain lanced through her chest, and she fell to the ground, her flames contacting the carpet. Instantly, the entire room went up, the fire spreading far faster than it had any right to. Cinder shrank back, preparing to run for her life before she remembered.

"Jaune!"

He was still in bed, asleep in his spot. Cinder took a tentative step forwards, but a wall of flames suddenly sprouted up between the two of them, cutting off her route to him. She coughed as smoke filled her lungs, tears spilling down her face as the acrid smog burned at her eyes.

"You don't seem to understand," the first voice replied. "Do you truly think this life you've made can continue unimpeded? You're delusional. You've forgotten your most important lesson – the one that's kept you alive all this time. Think hard, Cinder – I'm sure you can remember it if you try."

Cinder watched, helpless, as the fire steadily began to envelope Jaune. In that moment, he finally woke up, only to find the flames had already started to consume him. A panicked scream erupted from his throat, but it was too late. Cinder could only sit there and stare at him as he caught ablaze, tears spilling down her cheeks.

"The walls that build you up can burn you down the same," she said softly.

The last thing she was aware of before everything went black was Jaune's screams echoing through the burning room.

Cinder catapulted awake, gasping for breath. Cold sweat dripped down her body, and her eyes were wide with panic. Next to her, Jaune stirred, gently reaching out to take her by the hand.

"Babe?" he asked. "Was it the same nightmare again?"

Shakily, Cinder nodded. She'd never once elaborated on the actual nature of the nightmare to him – all he ever knew about it was that it always involved her losing him somehow, and that was enough to terrify her more than anything else.

Jaune gave her hand a gentle squeeze. "Cinder," he said softly. "It's okay. I'm still here. And I'll never leave you."

Cinder nodded, swallowing the lump in her throat. She leaned against Jaune, resting her head on his shoulder. A quick glance over at the nearby digital alarm clock revealed that it was just after four in the morning; far too early for him to be up, considering his shift didn't begin until eight, and the bus ride to the hospital was only around twenty minutes.

"Sorry for waking you…" she muttered.

"Don't be," Jaune urged. "I'm here for you if you need me, Cin. I always will be."

He leaned in and gave her a small kiss on the cheek. Cinder couldn't help but flush red at that, the panic steadily leaving her body. She took a deep breath, then looked back over to him, a small grin crossing her face.

"Thank you," she told him.

He returned her grin with a smile of his own. "Hey, what else is a fiance for, right?"

"Oh, I can think of a few things~"

This time, Jaune flushed red, and Cinder let out a small laugh. Still as easy to fluster as ever. In any case, it was clear that neither of them would be getting any more sleep tonight, so she figured she might as well take advantage of the situation that had presented itself to her.

Cinder threw the covers off herself, then rose out of bed, stretching as she did so. Once she was done, she turned to Jaune, who had been staring at her.

"I'm going to take a shower and start getting ready," she said. "Care to join me?"

Jaune didn't need to be told twice.

It was hours later, when Jaune finally left for work, that Cinder began to feel it again – that same itch, that compulsion, to burn. She grit her teeth as she felt it overcome her mind, resisting the urge to conjure sparks inside the apartment. Getting physical with Jaune over the past few days had helped her keep the feelings at bay, but now, they were coming back. Perhaps it had something to do with her nightmare, or maybe it was just a natural consequence of trying to ignore it for too long, but whatever the case, she needed to do something to quell the desire.

The only problem was the security guard's death still lingered in the public consciousness. She couldn't go out as Queen Malevolent, not when that kind of heat was still attached to her. No, she needed a different outlet.

A thought occurred to her, and she couldn't help but grin. It was crass of her, but it seemed like it would work, and she had the money to pull it off…

With that in mind, Cinder left the apartment, making a beeline for a local military surplus store. This wasn't going to take anything fancy, but if she could find something to conceal her identity a bit, it would certainly help.

It was time to play at being a hero for a bit.

It was surprising how quickly it came together – a brief shopping trip, plus a little time with a needle and thread, and her costume was done. It was nothing special, just some military surplus body armor stitched into a camouflage-print outfit complete with a balaclava, but it would do just fine at concealing her identity while she worked.

With her new outfit in tow, Cinder left the apartment, heading for Vale's city walls. The guards waved her through with barely a second look, and she stepped out into the Emerald Forest. Once she was outside, she changed into her outfit, then slipped the twin swords into her belt, and began to walk.

The thing about killing people was that they had loved ones – others who would remember them. For that reason, she tried her hardest not to kill unless she absolutely had to, though sometimes it was unavoidable, which was always a problem, since it tended to bring a lot of attention onto her.
The Grimm, however, didn't carry that same stigma with them.

Of course, she had fought and killed Grimm before – that was how she'd initially trained the use of her Semblance and skills, going out into the forest and killing as many Grimm as she could. It wasn't the same as fighting another person, let alone another Aura user, but it would serve to scratch that persistent itch that just refused to go away.

It didn't take her much time before she encountered her first Grimm. She'd wandered through the forest, allowing her negative emotions to flow through her, and eventually, one had stumbled on her. As soon as she'd heard the telltale low growl of a Beowolf, Cinder had grinned widely underneath her mask, one hand drawing a sword and the other beginning to smoke with pure heat.

"Come, beast," she taunted. "Entertain me for a time."

The Grimm rushed at her. After so much time spent fighting them, however, she knew exactly what to expect – Beowolves were fast and agile, but had paper-thin defenses. If she could avoid the first salvo of attacks, then taking it down would be child's play. And as it turned out, that's exactly what happened – Cinder easily dodged or otherwise parried every incoming strike, and waited for the Grimm to overextend itself. The moment it did, she struck, driving her sword through its chest and then tearing it upwards, nearly cleaving the Grimm in two.

Despite the damage, it wasn't quite a killing blow, and that had been by design. The Grimm stumbled back, black ichor leaking from its grievous wound. Its movement were now much slower and sluggish; she wasn't sure if Grimm could even feel pain, but they could clearly tell when they were close to death, such as this one. But she wasn't done with it yet.

Cinder waited for the Grimm to take another swing at her, dodged out of the way before severing one of its legs. The monster fell to the ground, where it laid motionless, and she closed in on it, smoke already curling up from her off-hand. She placed her hand against the Grimm's back, a wicked smile crossing her face underneath her mask as the monster suddenly went up in flames. It thrashed around for a moment before giving up entirely, collapsing against the forest floor before dissipating into smoke.

Cinder stood up straight, taking a deep breath to soak in the flames as they continued to engulf the remnants of the Beowolf. A content sigh escaped her as she lost herself in the moment.

Sudden movement from out of the corner of her eye caught her attention, and she turned to find another Beowolf charging at her from behind some nearby bushes. Cinder tensed, preparing to counter the incoming attack, but it wasn't necessary – a high-caliber gunshot split through the forest, impacting against the Grimm's head and disintegrating it completely. Cinder stared as the Grimm's newly-headless body fell to the ground, completely devoid of life.

"That was close!" she heard a strange girl's voice say. "That one almost managed to sneak up on you."

Cinder scowled, having been deprived of another tool for stress relief. She turned towards the girl's voice, sheathing her swords as she did so. A flash of red suddenly emerged from between the trees, and the shooter presented herself to Cinder.

She was young, if her short height was any indication – maybe around eighteen or nineteen. Her outfit was completely red-and-black, consisting of black tights and a black corset worn over a black dress with red trim. The whole outfit was topped by a red cape and hood, which she'd pulled over her head, as well as a red domino mask that covered most of her face. Through the mask, Cinder was able to make out a set of Silver Eyes staring up at her with curiosity.

"Hey, you must be a new Hero!" the girl said excitedly. "I haven't seen you around the Forever Fall before. What's your name?"

"I'm-" Cinder paused. She hadn't even bothered to think of an alias, figuring she was only going to use this outfit when she was really desperate to relieve some stress and Jaune wasn't around to help her with it. After a moment, she sighed tiredly. "...I haven't thought of one yet."

"Ooh," the girl said with a nod. "Yeah, I get it – I mean, it's not easy for most people to think of a name. I got lucky – mine came naturally to me, given my favorite color and my choice of weapon. I'm Scarlet Reaper, or Scarlet for short. It's nice to meet you."

Cinder nodded, hoping that would be the end of it. Unfortunately Scarlet didn't seem ready to leave just yet, as she kept eyeing her up and down with curiosity.

"Your outfit is cool," Scarlet offered. "I mean, I can tell you're a new hero and all, but you're really rocking the military surplus look, you know? Personally, I always thought the Great War-pattern woodland camo was a lot cooler-looking than the stuff they issue to our soldiers now. You've got good taste in milsurp gear."

"Thank you," Cinder managed to force herself to say. "I only got this stuff because it was cheap and I needed something to conceal my identity."

"Well, you've got the basics down!" Scarlet said cheerfully. "Let's see… mask and camouflage, that's a check. Body armor, that's a check – looks like ceramic plates, too, so good job avoiding the beginner's mistake of buying steel plates instead. Finally, you've got some weapons, too. I must say, though, pure swords are a little unusual. What made you gravitate towards those?"

Memories flashed through Cinder's mind, of something that had happened years ago – of the time she'd first received a sword from her mentor. That sword, as well as its sister, were now securely in her lockbox back at the apartment; these two were just cheap mass-produced replacements she'd picked up from the same store she'd gotten her armor from.

Nothing could replace the two swords she actually used when carrying out her heists. Not after everything she went through to get them.

Cinder shook that thought away, then turned back to Scarlet. "I… happen to have experience with swords, far more than anything else. Plus, I don't really trust mecha-shift weapons – too much that can break on those."

"Makes sense," Scarlet said with a nod. "That's a fair comment, no problem with that." She suddenly seemed to have thought of something, as her face lit up.

"Hey, you wanna come meet my friends?! We're all Beacon students! We're out here training to finish up our final year. I'm sure they'd love to know what kind of new Heroes are coming out of Vale these days."

Cinder furrowed her brow. Scarlet being from Beacon complicated things somewhat – Beacon was known for producing some of the toughest Heroes in all of Remnant. Even most people with Aura and training failed to gain entry into the school, as they were constantly flooded with applicants and their standards for entry were very high.

Moreover, Scarlet had mentioned that this was her last year in Beacon, despite the fact that she was very obviously too young to graduate that fast. Perhaps she'd been allowed to skip grades? In that case, it certainly made her seem a lot more impressive than at first glance.

Still, Cinder shook her head. "Sorry, Scarlet – I've got to get home."

Scarlet seemed crestfallen to hear her say that. "Oh… well, okay. Maybe we'll see each other around again sometime?"

Cinder merely nodded, and then waved goodbye to Scarlet before turning and walking away. It was only after putting some distance between herself and the young Hero that Cinder allowed her demeanor to change, the fake neutrality falling off her face completely, replaced with a deep scowl.

She'd managed to get some of her impulses out of her system with that first Beowolf, but Scarlet had denied her a full release by cutting in with the second, and now it was too late to spend much more time out without Jaune getting suspicious. She needed some stress relief, and she needed it now.

Cinder came bursting through the doors of the apartment, stopping only to drop her duffel bag by the door. Jaune sat up at his spot on the sofa, bewildered by her sudden appearance.

"Hey, Cin," he greeted. "What's-"

That was as far as he got before Cinder closed in on him and pressed her lips against his own. Jaune gave a muted grunt of surprise, but it soon gave way to a low moan as the two of them fought for dominance.

Normally, she let him win, but not today.

They pulled away after a moment, a thin strand of saliva still connecting them. Jaune looked like he was punch-drunk.

"Wow…" he managed to get out. "What's happening?"

"Take me," Cinder demanded as she began to strip off her street clothes, leaving herself clad in just a set of lacy black underwear. "Take me now. I need it."

"That kind of day, huh?"

She lunged forward and caught him on the lips once more. Jaune, of course, had no protests to offer, and the two of them held the kiss as they made their way to the bedroom.

Hours later, Jaune sat up, staring at the ceiling, a big grin on his face. It was hard for him not to be happy after what had just happened. It was rare for Cinder to as forward as she had been, but apparently, she hadn't been lying – she really had needed it that badly.

Of course, that just made him worry a little bit. What kind of day had she been through that she'd turn to him for that level of physical comfort? It hadn't just been the sex, either – she'd insisted on cuddling afterwards, for far longer than they normally did. She'd even fallen asleep in his arms, which was quite rare even for her.

Still, he supposed she had her reasons, most likely something involving work. He didn't like to pry – Cinder was a very private person, and he respected that. She'd tell him when she was ready, no sooner and no later.

Jaune's stomach growled loudly, and he looked back over to Cinder to make sure it hadn't woken her up. Thankfully, she was still out cold, which was good, because she clearly needed the rest. Of course, that didn't change the fact that he was starving – Cinder had come home before he'd had a chance to cook anything, and their little rendezvous had left him no time to eat… well, food, that is.

His stomach growled again, and Jaune decided that was enough. It was around midnight, but he didn't care – he was hungry. And so he carefully threw the covers off himself, then made his way to the kitchen. He'd just about stepped up to the refrigerator when he noticed something in the corner of the apartment, right next to the door.

It was Cinder's duffel bag.

Now, Jaune knew enough to know that this was something she used for work. Still, he couldn't help but be curious – in all the time they'd been together, she'd never really enlightened him on the nature of the work, instead speaking somewhat vaguely about all of it. He was certainly curious, but not enough to go snooping around in her private life.

...Then again, he was her fiance, wasn't he? Surely she wouldn't mind if he just took a peek…

Heart pounding, Jaune closed the refrigerator and stepped over to the duffel bag. He stood over it, one hand reaching for the zipper.

"Jaune."

He just about jumped out of his skin when he heard Cinder's voice from behind him. Jaune whipped around, and found her standing there, leaning against the door frame while she rubbed sleep from her eyes. She had the sheets from the bed wrapped around her body, but aside from that, he could tell from her bare shoulders that she was naked and hadn't even bothered to throw anything on before trying to find him.

"What are you doing?" she asked blearily.

"I was… going to get something to eat," Jaune offered. "Saw your bag lying here, figured I'd bring it over to you."

"You don't need to do that," she said. "Leave it there, please; I'll need it for work tomorrow."

Jaune hesitated for a moment. Clearly, something was up with that duffel bag just from the way she spoke about it, but he wasn't about to pry, especially not this late. Instead, he just nodded, then moved back over to the fridge.

"You want anything?" Jaune asked, peering inside. He looked back to Cinder, and she shook her head. He pursed his lips. "I didn't take you for a light sleeper."

"You weren't there," Cinder replied. "So of course I woke up."

"Oh? Am I your big teddy bear, now?" Jaune asked, a playful grin crossing his face. "Do you get lonely without me?"

"Only as much as you do without me," Cinder replied. "Come on, let's get back to bed."

"In a minute, I really do need to eat something," Jaune answered.

Cinder nodded, then turned and walked back to their room. Jaune watched her go, then once she was out of view, turned back to the duffel bag still lying on the floor.

He eyed it for a moment, then shook his head and continued to root around in the fridge.

"None of your business, Jaune…" he muttered to himself.

I must say, we're both a little confused about you guys – you're all leaving all kinds of horny comments on the Eve Taurus story, and yet we're here giving you blatant dommy mommy Cinder energy and y'all ain't being horny at all. What's up with that?

In all seriousness, we both appreciate the hell out of you guys. You're all really good to us; hopefully, these chapters are a good way of repaying you for your kindness.

Anyway, we don't really have too much to say about this chapter right now. There are going to be some more developments in the near future, of course, but for now, we're mainly just teeing things up, you know?

Also, a quick announcement, for those of you who don't read my other stories – I, that is, Minaris, will be in London for a work trip for three weeks starting very early in September. I have no idea what my schedule is going to look like or how much writing/posting I'll be able to get done, so don't be surprised if I can't do anything or can only do a little bit for not only this story, but for all my others as well. I'll certainly do my best to keep working, but it's all dependent on what my job's schedule looks like while I'm over there, not to mention my co-workers. So if I suddenly go silent and don't start posting again until, like, October, that's why.

What else, what else… shot my first multi-gun match last night. I shot like shit, which I figured I would because it was a fucking HARD match. But I had a lot of fun; multi-gun is just fucking awesome to shoot. It was a 2-gun match, so pistols and rifles only, but now I'm really interested in trying out 3-gun and adding shotguns to the mix, just to see how I'd perform. But that can wait for a time – first, I should probably get more comfortable with 2-gun and IDPA, lol.

That's about all I've got. I hope you all enjoyed the chapter, and we'll see you next time!

Enjoy my work and want to help me out a bit? You can support me, as well as read more of my writing, over on Amazon. My second original story is available for purchase now, you can find it by going on Amazon and searching for 'Dead World' by John Haruspex. The story is available now for three bucks in ebook format (or free with Kindle Unlimited) or twelve bucks in paperback format, if you prefer physical media. (Remove the spaces)

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My first original story is also still available at the following link as well:

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