"Finally." Cinder responded to Emerald as she watched the video with perverse satisfaction. "You were able to locate the REAL information we needed."
"Thank you?"
"Now," Cinder turned to Emerald and gave her a seductive smile, while reaching out and ever so gently brushing the back of her hand against Emerald's cheek. The action caused the young woman to blush, while Cinder inwardly sneered. "I need to know who… everything about her. Name. Team. Skills or lack of. Do you understand? Everything."
"Her… her name is Jaune Arc." Emerald stammered out still trying to calm her rapidly beating heart. "I think her team is JNPR…"
"You think?" Cinder's eyes narrowed. "I don't want you to THINK, I want to KNOW."
"I… I will."
Neither woman paid any attention to Mercury, who was standing by the door to Cinder's private room inside the Holiday Inn that the trio had been using as their base of operations since arriving in Vale. He just shook his head and smirked, enjoying the show of Cinder abusing Emerald's obvious attraction to her again.
"You have two days, and I expect results… not excuses like you have been giving me." Cinder once again brushed the back of her hand against Emerald's cheek. "I have faith in you… don't make me think it is misplaced."
"Yes… yes… I will…" Emerald was trying her hardest to keep her obvious elation over Cinder's praise bottled up, as her savior and crush gave her instructions. "I will find out, skills, team, friends, everything… I promise."
"Good girl." Cinder gave Emerald another seductive smile that had the young woman's heart fluttering with desire. "You may go. I have things to discuss with Mercury, and a call to make to Lionheart."
"Yes, Cinder." Emerald bled her head, and then quickly left the room.
"Why do you bother feeding her delusion?" Mercury asked right after Emerald was out of earshot.
"Because it controls her, and unlike you…" Cinder's eyes narrowed at the young man, "It makes her loyal to a fault."
"I'm loyal." Mercury smirked as he made that statement.
"You're only loyal because you are paid, and want to stay alive." Cinder responded, "I need your skills and her semblance… other than that, you are both… expendable."
"Way to make me feel wanted."
"Know your place, like Emerald does. Do as you are instructed and you will live to reap the rewards." Cinder commented as she was setting up her scroll to make the call to Lionheart. "What of your task? Is it done?"
"Tonight."
"Good. I want any loose ends tidied up… efficiently."
"Consider it done."
"I will consider 'it done', when it has been done." Cinder snapped, "You may go."
Mercury just nodded his head, pushed himself off the wall, and left. Once alone, Cinder sighed and growled. If she didn't need either of those children to accomplish the goals of her Queen… they would both have been ash months ago.
"But as they say… Good help is always hard to find, so I must make do." Cinder chuckled to herself as she activated Lionheart's contact.
/==/
Glynda when she finally reached her accommodations was a mess of emotions. Despair, anger, depression, frustration and a hint of relief. Her sister Jasmine's words had cut deep, but they rang true, at least to a small part of her mind, and the whole of her heart. As soon as the door closed, her scroll shattered against the far wall, and she let loose with her semblance. The room erupted in chaos, furniture, flipping and smashing against walls. Books and reference materials shredding themselves in midair. The only thing left untouched were the "presents" and "gifts" she had received from her daughter
The sudden release, added on top of her mental and emotional fatigue, drained her almost instantly. Dropping to her knees, with tears welling up in her eyes, she crawled through the devastation. She reached the nearest wall, and pressed her back against it. Her breathing was hitched as she tried in vain to stem the tears. Unable to, she reached out with her semblance once more.
A simple picture frame floated from a high shelf, and into her hands. She looked at the family picture, for just a moment before snapping the frame in half. The group photo featuring Jaune and the entirety of Jasmine and Nathaniel's children fluttered to the floor. Hidden behind it, was a second photo. Tossing aside the remains of the frame, pressed the picture of her in bed holding her newborn daughter in her arms to her heart… and completely broke down.
/==/
Ren arrived back to his dorm, and carefully opened the door, fully expecting to be ambushed by Nora and Pyrrha. He was a little shocked that such an occurrence did not happen. Instead, he was greeted by the image of Nora and Pyrrha cuddle together on Pyrrha's bed. Moving as silently as he could, he took the comforter from Nora's bed and approached the obviously exhausted pair.
"Ren?" Nora asked, as Ren placed the comforter over his teammates. Her voice was small, and he could see she had been crying,
"Sleep now." Ren softly spoke, as he finished laying the comforter over them. "We can speak in the morning."
Nora's barely nodded, as he eyes drifted closed again. Ren stood there for several minutes watching his teammates, no friends slept. Once he was satisfied that they were full asleep, he moved to his own bed and sat down heavily. He was exhausted, and more than a little confused. Everything had been moving forward, slowly but in a controlled fashion, and then suddenly everything had gone to complete hell. He was well aware that Pyrrha and Nora would bombard him with questions in the morning.
"Fuck." Ren uncharacteristically swore, as he pinched the bridge of his nose. Things were becoming complicated, even more so than before, and he silently prayed that he would have the strength to support not only Jaune, but Pyrrha and Nora as well. "Fuck."
/==/
Blake returned to her dorm long after her teammates had drifted off to troubled sleep. Using her natural stealth, he moved about the room getting ready for bed, stopping every so often to look upon the forms of her teammates. Weiss was curled upon herself, the odd tremor shaking her body. Blake knew from the Heiress was deeply disturbed about what she witnessed.
Ruby and Yang were in the Yang's bed. Ruby clutching to the form of her older sister, who was holding her in a very protective fashion. Blake sighed, she knew when morning finally came she would face an avalanche of questions, and she was not sure if she would be able to answer any of them.
Biting her lip, she closed her eyes, and focused on her own exhaustion. The day had been rough, especially seeing the results of Jaune's desperate act. She knew without a doubt that it was also bothering Ren. Deciding to let him know, she pulled out her scroll. Opening the messaging app, she found his contact and tapped the icon.
Ren, I just got back to my dorm from the infirmary. Doctor Peach says Jaune is okay. I have a feeling Coco is with her, but I'm not sure about that. I know everyone is going to have questions… do you want to speak with them all as a group, or should we do our teams separately? -Blake
Blake tapped the send icon. She doubted she would get a response this late at night, and to be honest, she was fine with that. The whole point was to let Ren know that Jaune was safe. A ping drew her back to her scroll. It was a reply from Ren.
Thank you for letting me know. I don't think we'll get a chance to do everyone as a group. At least not right away, but I think it is a good idea, and maybe we can get Professor Goodwitch to be there as well. I'll message her and see if she's willing/available. TTYL - Ren
Blake was a little shocked that Ren was still awake this late at night, but was relieved that he was. Her thumbs tapped out a short but rapid reply.
Sounds like a good plan. I'll do what I can with my team. Let me know if you're able to get Goodwitch to agree. Have a good Night. See you in the morning. - Blake
She waited and a few seconds and received one final reply.
I will. Goodnight. - Ren
Closing her scroll, Blake climbed into her own bunk, and pulled the covers over her. She doubted she'd get much sleep, but she had to at least try.
/==/
Roman and Neo were not happy. The deal with 'Fire-Bitch' was getting more and more one-sided, and not in their favor. Currently, they were waiting in the shadows, for the smuggler they had contracted. They had been tasked with an additional job… this one to smuggle in someone, and provide them with the proper credentials, and identifications so they could wander Vale unmolested.
After a good half an hour had passed, two cloaked figures appeared. Climbing out of a drainage pipe that ran through the wall. It was a forgotten piece of architecture, on the outskirts of the agricultural district. The smugglers that used it, making sure it was well hidden and extremely well fortified against grimm incursions. Roman would hazard to guess that it was probably the best defended section of the entirety of Vale's defensive wall.
"The Early Bird gets the worm." One of the cloaked figures spoke once the pair was with in earshot.
"And the grimm gets the bird." Roman replied, as he pulled out a small satchel loaned with lien chips. Lien chips that had come from his own reserves.
The first figure took the offered satchel and stepped aside. The second figure approached, and nodded towards Roman and his partner.
"Follow us. Once we get to the safe house, we'll finish up your documentation."
The figure just nodded again, before following Roman and Neo into the shadows, and vanishing from sight.
/=====/
A/N - This chapter is going to be a little shorter than normal, as the previous was about 1k words longer than average. Sorry for being a week behind. Between the re-write of chapter five, and just the holidays, I ran into a wall.
I plan on trying to get ahead by a couple of chapters, but expect maybe sometime this week for chapter 7 to also be released.