Hello!

New chapter for everyone! I said I was going to take a week off writing, and then didn't. In theory I will this week, but I'm so close to the end of Cinderella that I kind of just want to finish it.

Either way, here's another chapter!

Start Chapter 58

"My, my. It's truly been quite a long time since I've been within a vehicle of man." Salem speaks as she admires the battleship they've landed within, and no one makes a single sound. "I'll admit, Ironwood, I'm impressed."

"S-Salem!?" James Ironwood, reputed General and supposed tough guy, looks like he just about shits himself. "What are you doing onboard our – Ozma, did you ferry her here!?"

"Not intentionally!" Ozma yells, and Jaune knows the man is telling the truth even without Robyn's semblance, which he quickly asks for, and is given. "I did not bring Salem here intentionally! She must have simply stowed away within–"

"Yes, yes, I'm afraid I hid within the bullhead where no one thought to look." Salem says, smiling. "Or, well, I hid myself from mortal eyes, and simply existed within the space as a sort of phantom."

"Why!?" Ironwood and Ozma both shout at once.

"Why?" Salem laughs. "Because quite honestly, I was bored."

It's the raw audacity with which Salem communicates that statement that has Jaune… almost impressed.

He doesn't think he'd have been able to be so blasé in her scenario, given she's the literal queen of evil; Remnant's boogeyman.

And she's seemingly quite enjoying scaring the living hell out of everyone aboard Ironwood's capital ship.

"Or perhaps I was curious as to the fate of one Summer Rose? It could be any number of reasons, I suppose. But if you'd like confirmation on that, why don't I partake of this little game as well?" Salem speaks, and she walks right up to Robyn Hill – who seems to be wondering why everyone else is shitting themselves with a rather confused expression on her face – and holds out her hand. "Go on, Ironwood. Ask a question through Ms. Robyn here."

Ironwood seems to be currently experiencing every single nightmare he has ever had all at once.

"…Fine. What are you doing here!? What are your intentions?"

"I intend to do nothing of note. I have come to get a better read on those with whom I shall soon be tasked in warring against the gods alongside, and to sate my curiosity."

Robyn's aura doesn't quite glow green, but it's a sort of pale imitation of the color, so Jaune supposes that's as good a confirmation as they're going to get.

"And what are you planning? What do you intend to do if you succeed in stopping the Gods?"

Salem pauses for a moment, then, before a wan, almost sad smile stretches across her face. She laughs; something hoarse and shrill, before saying, "Hah. Worry not. If all goes well, then I plan to be dead, as I have been hoping and angling to accomplish for the last hundred or so thousand years. You need not worry. I've no intention of threatening the human race, at least as long as the conditions of our arrangement do not change. And of course, if things go poorly, and we fail to stop the Gods, then I imagine we'll all be dead, so in a roundabout way, you'd be getting what you wanted then, as well."

Ironwood's eyes widen throughout Salem's speech, then, finally, he looks down at Robyn and Salem's linked hands.

And the pale green aura hanging there.

Salem says nothing. She just stares at General Ironwood, and cocks her head to one side in silent question.

Ironwood doesn't respond. He just stands there a while, his lips unable to form any of the words that must be swirling beneath the surface.

Perhaps it's lucky, then, that a nurse, or some other medical assistant, steps out into the hangar, and calls out Jaune's name.

"Mr. Arc?" The woman asks, and Jaune turns towards her. "I've been asked to come and retrieve you."

Jaune nods his head, albeit slightly disappointed that he's seemingly going to be missing whatever it is that's happening here with Salem, Ironwood, and Ozma all in one room. Still, his teammates, JNPR, and Cinder follow along behind him as he himself follows the nurse through the tight halls of the Atlesian battleship. It takes them around thirty or so seconds to make it to what seems to be an offshoot of the operation room.

When they arrive, Jaune finds his eyes widening as he sees Raven, Taiyang, and RWBY already present. As the woman who'd called Jaune here steps into the room, she gestures towards one of the empty seats at the back of the room, and Jaune and his teammates find space as best they can in the admittedly already cramped space.

"I've called you all in here to give you all an update. Simply put, things have been going well." The doctor, nurse, or surgeon – Jaune doesn't have the expertise necessary to know – tells them. "That's not to say they're going fantastically, but Summer Rose is likely to survive her surgery."

It feels almost anticlimactic for such a revelation to be told to Jaune in a monotone, calm voice by someone he's never even met before, but frankly, he'll take it.

"How sure are you of that?" Raven questions.

"I'd give her roughly an eighty-five percent chance of pulling through. But there is, unfortunately, an asterisk on that recovery."

"And that is?" Taiyang asks.

"She will need cybernetic implants." The woman says, and Jaune's struggling to see why that's so bad a thing. "I see you don't entirely understand just what that entails. Would you like me to run you through the basics."

"Please."

"In essence," The woman clears her throat, "Summer Rose has a massive chasm across her chest, one which cannot be sewn, stitched, or healed in any natural way. This is, luckily, not the first time Atlas has dealt with such a devastating and grievous injury. As you may know, General James Ironwood was once rather severely injured in the line of duty, losing much of the right side of his body. Because of this, the very team that is now working on saving Summer Rose's life sought to merge machine and man in the General. He survived, and now thrives. But that survival comes at a cost to his day-to-day life."

They stay silent as the woman continues.

"Simply put, Summer Rose will be on immunosuppressants for the rest of her life. Think of the mechanical body parts as being similar in nature to an organ transplant. In essence, the body will not recognize the metal that is keeping her alive as a part of herself, and thusly will want to attack it, thinking it to be an invader of some sort. This could, if left unchecked, lead to complications."

"That checks out. I've had to do the same for my arm," Yang says, flexing the fingers on her mechanical hand. "Probably not to the same degree as what M-Mom would need, but I get it. It's not fun, or anything, and you really can't miss a day; the few times I did I had muscle spasms through my right arm for hours, but I've made it."

"That's good, having a family member who's already dealt with the problem herself," The medical professional nods her head, "will help in acclimating Ms. Rose to her new reality. Now, as I understand, she's been in a terrible situation for nearly fifteen years, is that correct?"

"That's…" Raven shudders briefly. "That's correct."

"Mm. I see. Well, I bring this up mostly to say that certain muscles have atrophied. Her arms and legs – or at least what remain of the latter – are not nearly as bad as I'd have expected, so it seems she was still able to exercise those somewhat, but the muscles in her face are weak, as are those within her stomach and pelvis. She will need to attend physical therapy, and likely for many years. Of course, given her prior service as a Huntress, she qualifies for a number of benefits, including mechanical limbs to replace the ones she lost."

Jaune smiles somewhat at that, thinking of Summer Rose back up on her feet, even if they were not technically her feet.

"I assume you all know that Ms. Rose is missing both legs, several fingers on one hand, and an eye. Unfortunately, from what we've been able to tell, it's likely she's lost her voice as well. She will almost certainly need quite a long period to adapt to her new conditions, to put things plainly. I wish I had more information to give you on this topic, but in truth, her situation, or at least, what we've been told of it, is highly unique. We are not sure if she will even remember the time that she spent within whatever trance she must've found herself in. It's possible she will wake up and remember fifteen years ago as if it were yesterday."

Jaune isn't really sure what to think about such a prospect. Perhaps, for Summer's sake, it would be better? Or would it be better for her to remember the last fifteen years vaguely, but not have full memory of what happened to her. At least then, she would not need to have it explained to her that she had been essentially dead for a decade and a half.

Such a conversation would certainly be harrowing.

"When will she wake up?"

"That we do not know." The woman answers, and Jaune can tell such is disappointing. "Her condition is, as I said, almost entirely unique. It is entirely possible she will awaken in a few hours, and entirely possible that she will flicker in and out of consciousness for a few weeks. I wish I had more to offer you on that front, but I'm afraid I do not."

"No, you've done enough." Taiyang shakes his head. "Truly, thank you. And give our thanks to the rest of your team as well. They saved my wi–" Taiyang hesitates, then, and seemingly doesn't quite know what to address Summer as. "They saved the lives of Ruby and Yang's mother."

"Such is their job, Mr. Xiao-Long," The woman says with a smile. "But I will tell them of your thanks, regardless."

/

The next few days go by in a haze of uncertainty, at least for Jaune.

Ironwood ends up flying them back towards Atlas, mainly because even if his battleship can fly for quite a long time, it does not quite have the ability to infinitely do so without consuming a metric crap-ton of fuel. So, they land in the city of Atlas, and set about…

Well, worrying, mostly.

Unfortunately, the nurses' latter predictions have proven apt in terms of Summer's level of consciousness. She's been in a coma-like state ever since the surgery that repaired her as best it could had been performed. The doctors have continually rushed to assure them all that Summer's condition is expected, and that they shouldn't panic, but even so…

Well, it's hard not to, in truth.

Jaune's doing his best to distract himself, however. That mainly comes out to helping out in and around the edges of Mantle. He spends some time helping to rebuild the walls surrounding Mantle alongside Robyn Hill and her Happy Huntresses – which feels a bit like a misnomer, given a good deal of said Huntresses are quite frosty – during the first few days, then transitions into doing some civilian duties that Huntsman and Huntresses are occasionally tasked with.

Such is, mostly, busy work.

Still…

"Careful, careful!" Jaune calls out to a gaggle of children as they cross a nearby road, paying far less attention to where they're walking than Jaune would really like. "Watch where you're going, Dimitri!"

The kid in question turns around and sticks his tongue out at him, which has Jaune rolling his eyes, albeit fondly.

He turns around and sees a collection of four or five mothers of said children, uhm…

Jaune believes the correct term is 'thirsting' over him.

He's about to do his best to kindly and casually dismiss their advances, when Jaune suddenly feels a presence beside him. He turns and sees that Cinder is now standing there, eyeing the moms a way away.

A silent sort of contest takes place over the course of the next five or so seconds, during which the mothers' all shoot glares and furrow their brows at Cinder.

Cinder, in turn, responds by taking a rather firm handful of Jaune's behind in one hand.

Jaune gives off a quiet "meep" in response to that, which he feels is quite fair.

"Mine." Cinder snarls out, far more territorially than Jaune has ever heard her.

The moms, like a pack of hyenas before a lion, scatter to the wind, muttering insults under their breaths.

…

Jaune will never admit this aloud, so as not to encourage such behavior from Cinder, but uh…

Possessive Cinder is reaaaaally hot.

"Jaune?"

"Huh?" He snaps out of his rather inappropriate fantasies involving Cinder in black latex and holding a riding crop to see his soulmate raise an eyebrow at him. "Oh, uh, sorry, what did you say?"

"I asked how you were doing. Anything to report?"

"Nah, nothing. Unless you count me stepping in to resolve a bit of bullying earlier," Jaune chuckles beneath his breath. "I think, technically, one of the ten-year-olds that I told off threatened me in an attempt to look cool in front of his friends."

"I see." Cinder speaks, and she conjures a fireball in her hand. "And where is this ten-year-old now?"

Jaune snorts, and Cinder smiles at him, extinguishing the flame.

"In all seriousness, I confess that I mainly came to find you in order to spend time with you. We've been rather busy these past few days."

Jaune laughs. "That we have. I have to admit, I wouldn't mind trying to find out what's going on with General Ironwood and Salem, though."

Cinder snorts. "Yes, neither would I. Perhaps we can talk as we make our way there?"

"That sounds nice."

And so, they do.

Their conversation isn't particularly complex. They discuss recent happenings, certain scenarios regarding members of their group – largely nonconsequential scenarios – and what they plan on eating for dinner later for the twenty or so minutes it takes them to get a ride back to Atlas Headquarters.

It still feels a bit weird to Jaune for them to walk in unassailed into a building they'd technically assaulted like… a week ago and a half ago.

Again, however, Jaune has long since decided not to really question the weirdness of his life that much anymore.

They make their way up towards General Ironwood's office, and on the way there, they actually run into a rather odd pair of figures. A dark-skinned man in what seems to be some odd, spider-like wheelchair is talking with Arthur Watts. The former is laughing boisterously, and seemingly rather enjoying himself, even if the latter looks rather aggravated.

Cinder clues him in.

"Watts worked as a part of an old team here in Atlas, alongside Pietro Polendina, that man."

"Polendina… is he related to Penny?"

"I would assume so. We could ask the girl if we wished to learn more, I'm sure."

Perhaps Jaune will, but for now, he's not all that concerned.

So, they leave the two men to their conversation, and finally, make their way to General Ironwood's office.

And they step in to see a…

Well, to call it ridiculous feels a little bit soft, honestly.

"So… Mrs. Salem?" One of Atlas' councilmembers, a man with greying hair and a dark suit, asks the Queen of the Grimm. "Is it alright if we call you that?"

"Ms. Salem, please," Salem seems to be enjoying this, if the little smile on her face is anything to go by. "I've not been a Mrs. in quite some time."

Many of the councilmembers go wide-eyed.

"And… this is to imply that you were, at one point, married?"

"Is that difficult to believe?"

The entire group sends the man who'd asked the question death-glares, and he seems to get the idea that he probably shouldn't anger the dread queen of the Grimm.

"O-Of course not, ma'am! In fact, I myself am stricken with your beauty, you are–"

"Do not prostrate yourself so; I've no want to kill anyone over a simple rude comment." Salem snorts, and the man cowers back into his chair.

"So… not to distract from our previous topic," A different person, an older woman in her sixties or seventies, asks, "But is your presence here to say that the Grimm themselves will not assault humanity again?"

Salem shakes her head. "I have next to no control over the entirety of the Grimm. When I am nearby, they respond to my will, but otherwise, they take only the vaguest of orders from me. Still, for the meantime, while I am here, Atlas need not fear a Grimm invasion."

"And… when you leave?" Another asks.

"Well, when I leave, it will likely be in an attempt to stop the end of the world. I do not plan on returning from said trip. So, whether or not I succeed, and die in the process, or fail, and we all die, I'm afraid I will be able to do little to stop the Grimm in the future."

Many of the councilmembers seem to not quite be able to grasp that, which…

Yeah, Jaune can't really blame them for that.

This doesn't seem to be going anywhere anytime fast, however, and in truth, Jaune and Cinder do have one more thing to do. Jaune asks Cinder, and she nods her head. They exit out of the meeting room, head out of the more official sections of Atlas Headquarters, and onto a lower floor, into the medical section.

There, they find the person Jaune's come to see.

The sleeping form of Summer Rose.

He sets to work right away, chatting idly with Cinder as he places his semblance on Summer. According to the doctors who'd worked on finalizing the inlaid metal pieces and parts of Summer's chest, the truth of the matter is that the body doesn't really know what to make of an implant.

Aura, naturally, only protects the body of the person who possesses it, and even if one's body depends on a metal piece or part to keep them alive… well, Aura isn't hyper-intelligent. It operates off of a sort of… instinct.

It can learn, however, which is what Jaune's trying to do now; teach Summer's frayed aura that the metal plate in her chest is a part of her, now.

Ironwood had actually been helping Jaune out with the process for a good majority of the last few days – and that had been quite awkward. Still, the man had gone through a similar scenario when the right half of his body had needed replaced, and it had taken him nearly six months to get his Aura to properly coat his entire body again, as it had used to, without interruptions or complications.

With Jaune's semblance, however, they could speed up that healing factor. Or, at least, that's what Ironwood had thought, and Jaune had agreed with him.

So Jaune channels his semblance, and moves Summer's aura, continuously, over the metal plate that now covers Summer's heart, and other organs. When Jaune had first began this exercise, the Aura had immediately rushed away from the plate, not at all thinking that an inorganic material could be a part of its master's form.

And yet, the more Jaune had dragged it across, the slower Summer's Aura had begun to retreat from it. Now, it retreats over the course of a minute, and that time is going up with every repetition.

"You're amazing." Cinder comments out of the blue, and though Jaune blushes, he manages to stammer out a question as to what Cinder means by that. "I just… I see you like this, helping to save people, helping to rescue them, and keep them alive… and you're in your element. You're more beautiful like this than you ever are on the battlefield."

Jaune blushes far more fiercely, and yet, he can't help but comment, "Is this your roundabout way of saying that I suck at combat?"

Cinder rolls her eyes and lightly smacks his arm, even as Jaune snorts and continues working Summer's aura across the metal plate. It's a slow-going process, and really, Jaune's just kind of going through the motions, not really paying all that much attention.

That is, until suddenly, without any warning, Summer lets off a quiet groan.

Jaune's eyes widen.

"Did she just–" The words are barely out of Jaune's mouth before Cinder cuts him off.

"She did." She nods her head, and Jaune doesn't even need to say anything for her to stand up, and say, "I'll go get her family."

"Thank you!" He calls, even as she sprints out of the room.

Jaune forgets about channeling Summer's aura into any particular place, and instead simply amplifies it as best as he can. It's not a flashy process, and Summer doesn't suddenly gasp awake, either.

Still, over the course of the next few minutes, Summer begins to stir more and more. Just as Cinder barges her way back into the room, with Taiyang, Qrow, Raven, Ruby and Yang, Summer's singular left eye parts.

It's clear she's dazed – and really, that must be the understatement of the century – with the way that she looks about the room seemingly unconsciously. Her body is unmoving aside from her eye, and it seems to take a few seconds for her to key into the fact that she's actually… well, seeing.

When she does, her eye widens, and she lets loose a hoarse, ragged gasp. It sounds like she's smoked a pack of cigarettes every day of her life for the past fifteen years, with how shallow the few breaths afterwards are.

Jaune steps in to remedy that as best he can.

"Summer?" He tries to speak in as gentle and calm a voice as he can, despite the way that his heart is hammering within his chest. "Can you hear me?"

The woman nods so very weakly, like it takes everything she has to move her head a few centimeters up and down.

"Okay. That's good. Try not to panic. I know there's probably a lot that's… very disorientating right now, but stay calm as best you can, alright?"

The woman nods, albeit more shallowly than the last time, and looks up at the ceiling above her. Jaune's semblance washes over her for about two more minutes before Jaune's sure that he's done as much as he can.

Most of it is nothing, in truth. Summer's aura is full, and so all Jaune's doing is, essentially, making Summer feel just a bit warmer.

But hopefully, the placebo effect of using what is seemingly a healing semblance upon her will lead to her actually feeling better.

Jaune steps back and says, "There, that should feel a little better."

Summer seems to take stock of herself, giving yet another nod. This one has some more energy to it, just a bit more life.

It brings some hope to Jaune's chest.

"M-Mom?"

And then Summer's entire demeanor changes. She cranes her head – which can't be comfortable for her, given the way she winces – to see just who it is has just spoken, and looks up at the blonde mane of hair belonging to her daughter; one Yang Xiao-Long.

Summer's face is awash with a mixture of so many different emotions that trying at all to quantify them would be foolish. Jaune doesn't even bother.

"H-Hey, Mom…" Yang says, far weaker than Jaune has ever heard her say anything. "You… you're alive. You're really…"

Jaune watches as Yang's composure, barely held together, snaps, and tears spill down her face. In the next moment, she's closed the distance between herself and her mother, and kneeling down beside Summer's bed.

And she's hugging her mother gently, as if she were handling a fragile flower.

"You're alive…" Yang sobs into the woman's shoulder. "You're actually…"

Ruby wastes no time in stepping forward, looking down at the floor and away from her mother. She doesn't seem to know what to say.

"H-Hey, mom." She finally squeaks out. "I-I… it's me, Ruby, uhm… I know I… that I probably look different than you… than you last remember, but uhm… it's me. It's really me. And that's really Yang, and we…"

Ruby breaks, then, big fat tears running down her face.

"And we really missed you…" She barely pushes out through quivering lips, before she too joins her sister in collapsing against their mother, and sobbing into her chest.

And Summer…

She's stunned. So very clearly stunned. Jaune's not sure she can even speak anymore, if she can possibly ask all the myriad questions that certainly lurk beneath the surface pertaining towards her daughters.

But it seems she has no need to. Not in this moment, at least.

For as Qrow, and Taiyang, and Raven step forward – Team STRQ reunited after nearly two decades – as Summer gets a chance to see their faces; old and weathered as they've become, she seems to understand.

And in the end, that seems to be too much. Summer Rose pulls her daughters against her, and she begins to cry. She cries silently, without a sound, and openly, without shame, as if finally, freed from within the Grimm that had held her for so very long, she can finally release these emotions she's held within her heart for the last fifteen years.

And Jaune…

He doesn't need to be here to see it.

So, he steps back, and taps Cinder on the shoulder. She gets the idea, and walks towards the door at the back of the room with him. Jaune shoots Raven one final nod, and the woman opens her lips, as if trying to say something to him.

She can't quite seem to manage it.

But that's fine. They can talk later. For right now, she has someone far more important than him to address.

So, Jaune and Cinder make their way to the exit, with Cinder stepping out first. Jaune steps out into the hallway beyond, takes one final look at the reunited family within the room beyond him…

And then Jaune shuts the door behind him.

End Chapter 58

That's that! Nothing really to say this week. Happy Holidays to everyone, whether Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, or anything else!