A/N: Happy November!
Alright, here's a fragment of a little something to tide you over while I work on All Things Must Die.
Moreover, this is a fragment of a story that sadly, never came to be. T_T
Remember, I'm writing all this by myself now.
No more team. Just little 'ol Neon.
So here, have this fragment while I work on the big guns.
As ever, I own no references, quotes, themes or memes. Not a wit or a one!
Lets have something a little spooky for the season, eh? Hope this makes you smile. I'm so tired...
"Some men just want to watch the world burn.
Some men just want to exist in it, ya know?
Some men just want to be normal."
~?
Name the Beast
"Doesn't feel so good, does it? Losing."
Cinder knew what betrayal was. She'd experienced it time and time again.
She knew -remembered!- what it was to be the loser, to be the weakling, to be the defeated.
All told, she'd thought she'd grown inured to it. And yet somehow this rankled. Not this betrayal, but the fact that someone had gotten the better of her. Her! The plan had been flawless! Beacon burned around her, Grimm ran amok across the campus, and yet here on what should have been the eve of her triumph, she was denied her victory.
Even how the mastermind's boot was currently pressing down on the back of her spine.
She was intimately aware of hit all, his cane pushed her head into the floor. It didn't make a lick of sense. She was stronger than him. She knew she was stronger. The might of the Maiden had made her stronger still. That Nikos chit had dared to challenge her and paid the price for it...
.
..
...or she should have.
Instead that wretched Nikos had been rescued. By a dead man!
And so did Cinder Fall find herself laying here in her stead, sprawled out like some helpless waif.
This shouldn't be. It mustn't be! This was not her destiny! She was meant for more than this! So much more! She couldn't be laid low by some...some...common criminal!
"You little rodent!" She growled into the ground, eyes burning with molten fire. "Roman...when I get out of this...!"
Laughter echoed above her. "Lots of people been tellin' me that lately. But would you look at that? I'm still kicking. Ain't that right, Neo?"
She couldn't see the little minx, but she certainly felt the kick that cracked off her ribs. A pained gasp tore out of her. Damn her. She'd flay the skin from her bones. She'd kill her partner and make her watch every second of, until she begged for mercy...!
Another kicked shattered her thoughts and three more ribs besides.
"Now, now, Neo." Roman looked away with a humm. "Don't kill her. I want her alive for this next bit."
Cinder flung up a palm. Flame flashed toward Roman's face...
...and coalesced harmlessly in an open palm.
Cinder's confidence fell with it.
"Wait, what?"
"You know, I used to be stronger than this. Real strong." Roman lit a cigar with her flames and puffed absently on it. "Some might even say too strong." the thief chortled. "Power like that wears heavy on the soul, you know?" His eyes flashed, burning a bright, baleful blue. "Guess I got rusty. That'll happen when ya split your soul so many times. After all, there once was a man...
"Roman...?"
There was something about his voice just then.
...a man who sealed his memories in one body, and locked his strength in another. One ran amok and lived as a criminal. The other settled down as a normal fella. Married. Had a kid. Raised another." he looked up and somewhere in the distance, Cinder heard the death rattle of her dread dragon. "Poor guy. He lost one wife. The other died. And all the while, this man, this good man, could do nothing." he stomped down ocne, drawing an agonizing cry from her. "Y'see, he no longer had the strength he once did, because he no longer wished for it. Being normal is a painful thing, wouldn't you agree?"
Cinder didn't like where this story was going.
Now you're threatenin' his-my!-girls. And wouldn't you know it?" his cane twisted, drawing a hiss of pain from her. Hurt a man once, he recovers. Hurt a man twice, he learns. Hurt a man thrice...well."
Cinder tried to rise, but that strange metal bit down, cutting into the back of her neck, sapping her power.
Pearly white teeth flashed in her peripherals. "Wanna know what the man's name was?"
Cinder snarled. "What do I care for such things?"
"I'll give you a hint." he leaned low to whisper in her ear. "It starts with the letter "N", and you're about to meet him, or should I say me, real soon...
Cinder felt it, then. The killing intent. Rushing up the tower, rising from the ruined elevator. She went terribly still.
Something roared, not the howl of a dragon, but the bellow of an enraged fox roused from its slumber.
"In short?" Roman tutted, "You fucked up. And now you're about to be fucked."
Cinder saw a streak of gold. A flash of baleful red eyes.
And then her existence. Became.
Pure. Utter. Pain.
A/N: Just a little fragment for something that never became a story. Makes me sad, that, but there's the truth of it.
So? What did you think of this little fragment? Did you enjoy it? Yes? No? Maybe so? Lemme know!
Reviews are love. Reviews are life. Reviews keep me alive!
So In the Immortal Words of Altas...
...Revieeew, Would Ya Kindly?
And enjoy these previews!
For randomness, ahoy!
Which do you like?
(Previews!)
Smoke filled the kitchen.
Weiss squinted into it, hoping in vain.
Just this once. The one time she tried to cook...!
Said hopes were dashed as she wrested the tray from the oven. Blast. It wasn't fair. She'd wanted to surprise him. Instead she'd made an awful mess. No, she could fix this, she would fix this...
"Weiss?"
"Naruto?!" She spun, trying to hide the ruined turkey behind her. "Don't look!"
...you really can't cook, can you?"
"Hey, I'm here to guard you from bodily harm. Not emotional...
R&R~!
=D