Black Sun
Chapter 7
Cinder pressed her back flat against the dilapidated concrete of the Trading Post, her breath coming out in short bursts and her chest heaving. She brought a hand up to wipe sweat from her brow, then slowly slid down into a seated position in the dirt and mud.
She'd managed to get away, albeit barely. Even now, she could still hear the supersonic cracks of bullets flying past her head. Her heart reverberated against her ribcage at the mere thought of it. She'd been so close to death so many times before, and yet here, in the Zone, it was different.
Cinder was powerless here. Even with the Fall Maiden's abilities on her side, there was simply nothing she could do when faced with a wall of lead from something as simple as a single Kalashnikov. One bullet was all it took, and that was something that terrified her to no end.
Memories bubbled up into the surface of her mind, scenes long since buried upon her entry into Salem's inner circle. The faint scar around her neck, now covered by an olive-green turtleneck sweater and body armor, burned so painfully that it felt like she was being electrocuted all over again.
Her breathing became ragged, and a hand fell to her heart as she gasped for air. Cinder grit her teeth and willed the images away, because that was all she could do – there was nobody to call to anymore; she'd killed the only man to ever show her kindness years ago. Emerald and Mercury were a world away. And Jaune…
Jaune was gone.
The thought of him being included with Emerald and Mercury earned a tiny, derisive laugh from her, and yet she couldn't deny that she'd come to lean on him the same way she leaned on those two. It wasn't the same at all – she knew he hated her for what she'd done to Beacon, and his friends – but there was still something there, something that reassured her that she could rely on him. Maybe it was something as simple as the fact that she'd dreamed about him before, back at Beacon. She still didn't understand what that meant, but it had to be significant. Perhaps that was why she'd been so quick to embrace him as a temporary ally, rather than simply kill him and move on.
But none of that mattered now, of course, because he was gone.
Cinder grit her teeth again, one hand curling around the pistol grip of her Kalashnikov so hard that her knuckles turned white. Sparks danced at the corners of her eyes. Jaune was her only ally in this horrible wasteland, and now he was gone. She had no love lost for him, and she doubted that he'd have had any for her if their situation had been reversed, but that didn't matter. He'd saved her once already, when those Loners had tried to rape and murder her, and she'd repaid him by letting that same group of Loners take him prisoner.
In all likelihood, he was dead already. A chill went down her spine at that thought, for reasons she didn't fully understand, but which she quickly surmised were because him being dead meant she was truly alone here, because there was nothing else that made sense. Still, that didn't matter to her.
He'd saved her, and now it was her time to return the favor. Even if the Loners had already murdered him, she'd still go in after him. The least she could do was cremate his body with her Maiden powers and spread his ashes around; that was more dignity than the monsters of the Zone would give him, be they human or not.
And so, Cinder stood up, checked to make sure her Kalashnikov was fully loaded, and then set off for the Darkscape again, her mind full of resolve and sheer, uncontained malice.
Jaune had called her a monster before. It was time for her to live up to that reputation.
It was nightfall by the time Cinder managed to make it back to where the firefight had occurred. Sure enough, Jaune wasn't there anymore, which was both good and bad – good in that he was possibly still alive, and bad in that he was with the Loners now.
Cinder searched the area. There was little more than dried blood and spent shell casings littering the ground. There were no drag marks, which meant they had carried him off.
In the distance, Cinder could see a small light off at the edge of the road, in a farmhouse of some kind. Her gaze narrowed, and she crept towards it. As she drew closer, she heard people speaking in Russian and Ukrainian – she counted five unique voices. They were sitting around a campfire, laughing and passing a bottle of alcohol between them. Cinder felt a vein pulse in her forehead when she realized that one of them was carrying Jaune's shotgun. It took every fiber of her being not to unleash her rage on them then and there, but she kept it contained – there was still much to be done before then.
She crept around camp, looking for a way inside. It didn't take long to find one – a small, darkened corner where she was able to slip inside. She stepped inside the farmstead, and just about brushed up against a drunk man who was standing in the dark, pissing in one of the bushes.
Without skipping a beat, Cinder drew her Kalashnikov bayonet and stuck the blade right at the base of the man's skull.
He dropped like a puppet with its strings cut. Cinder wiped the bloody blade on his outfit, then dragged the corpse deeper into the darkness, where it'd be harder to spot. Once that was done, she continued creeping through their camp, drawing closer to the buildings so she could look inside each one.
The guards here were surprisingly disciplined, she realized; they kept up constant patrols, sweeping the darkened areas with flashlights mounted to their weapons. It made them easy targets for anyone who wanted to take a shot at them, but their sheer numbers kept that from happening – there had to be more than ten of them in camp right now, and Cinder doubted that was all of them in this group. She hadn't considered it before, but many of these men seemed to be former military just by the way they moved and handled their weapons. That certainly made things more difficult; infiltrating the camp was already harder than infiltrating Beacon, if only because she was going in with zero support and no plan, and the people here seemed to be smarter about fighting human opponents than Atlas' men were. But that didn't matter to her – she needed to find Jaune, no matter what.
And so, she continued to move through the darkness, dodging patrols and lights as she went. Frustratingly, she soon realized that there was a certain point at which she could go no further without stepping directly into the light and attracting attention to herself – the most she could go was to the outskirts of the camp, and no further. To do otherwise risked calling everyone directly to her.
No matter, then – she'd just have to pick them off one by one.
It took no time at all for her to find her next victim – one of the men sitting around the fire got up and said something to the others, then began to stumble away, clearly drunk. Cinder followed him at a distance, one hand wrapped around her knife. The drunk man made the fatal mistake of leaving the light, and that was when she struck.
That was two down, and several more to go. Cinder plucked a Kalashnikov magazine out of the man's chest rig, then pulled the bullets out of it and pocketed them. Once that was done, she threw the magazine off into the distance and listened for it to impact against something. Immediately, several of the men around the fire stood up and reached for their weapons. One of them began barking orders to the men, and they all started to fan out and search the area as best as their inebriated state would allow them.
Cinder honed in on one, who strayed a bit too far from the group. She followed after him, and when the time was right, disposed of him the same way as the other two. This time, she got lucky – there was a single grenade hanging from his web gear. Without missing a beat, she pulled the pin and threw it at the men around the fire.
"Grenade!" one of the men screamed, but it was too late. The explosive went off, and four men fell at once, cut to ribbons by shrapnel.
That did it. The entire camp opened up, their automatic rifles chattering away as the Loners poured fire out into the Darkscape, trying in vain to hit someone who wasn't there. Muzzle flashes lit the night, threatening to give away her position, but Cinder didn't care – she stuck to the outskirts of the camp, hiding in the shadows, looking for her way in. She found it before long – a gap in their defenses, leading into the center of the farmstead. Without missing a beat, she sprinted for it, her footsteps unheard over the sounds of combat.
When she entered the building, the first thing that struck her was the stench of fresh blood. Over the sounds of combat, she was able to hear someone barking orders to someone else, this time in a language she could understand.
"-Don't care! Radio Vampire and the others and tell them we're under attack!"
"But-"
Cinder didn't waste any more time. She rounded the corner, pulling her pistol from its holster and firing off a single shot that impacted one of the men in the back of the head. He collapsed, dead before he even hit the floor, and the other man – the one who had been barking orders – stared at her in wide-eyed shock.
"Who the fuck are you?" the man asked. "Wait, you're that woman who-"
"Where is he?" Cinder demanded, cutting him off.
The man's eyes narrowed. "What, you mean that fucking nobody-"
Cinder fired a single round off into the man's left kneecap. He collapsed in a heap, clutching at his ruined knee and screaming. Cinder crept close to him, then knelt down and took him by the chin so she could look directly into his eyes.
"I will not ask again," she warned. "Where is he?"
There was a sudden commotion from just outside, and the Loner grinned widely at her. "You're dead, you bitch! Did you really think you were going to get out of here in one piece?!"
Cinder let go of the man's chin, then rose to her feet. She gave him a hate-filled glare.
"I suppose there's no harm in cutting loose now," she mused. "Because now, I'm going to make sure there's nobody around to talk about it."
The man barked out a laugh. "Are you crazy? The radiation must have gotten to your head. If you really think you can take down a whole camp of us with just your Kalashnikov-"
Cinder cut him off with a single gunshot to his head. She stared down at the body for just a moment, as the commotion outside picked up. She then holstered her weapon and closed her eyes.
When she opened them again, they glowed with pure magic.
Jaune gave a heavy groan as he woke up. A wince escaped him; his entire body was riddled with pain. There was the gunshot wound to his leg, but even past that, the Loners had quickly gone to work on him once they'd brought him back. They'd patched his leg wound enough that he wasn't going to bleed out, but only so they could have their fun with him instead. His entire body was riddled with cuts, bruises, and cigarette burns. It hurt to even breathe; every gasp of air sent spasms of pain through his body.
Jaune hung his head. Currently, he was tied to a chair in a small underground basement at the edge of the farmstead. It was completely dark down there – he couldn't see a thing. All he could hear was the sound of his own pathetic gasping for air.
Or at least, that was all he could sense at first, because after he woke up from unconsciousness a bit more, he was able to smell something – smoke, and the not-too-distant sound of something burning.
The door to the basement suddenly opened, and Jaune recoiled from the sudden light. A figure, backlit by the lashing flames, stepped into the doorway, though he couldn't tell who they were, their front still hidden by shadows. Jaune instinctively recoiled as much as his bonds would let him, fearing that he was about to be tortured again, but that never happened. Instead, the shadowed figure stepped deeper into the basement, and then began to cut him loose.
Jaune stared up at them in surprise. Through cracked, bloody, dried lips, he managed to gasp out, "Who…"
There was a small light, and the figure was suddenly illuminated, revealing the last person he'd ever expected to come for him. It was Cinder, and she had a strange look on her face as she freed him – some combination of disgust and determination. Jaune couldn't blame her, he supposed – he was disgusted with himself for being captured, too.
The ropes finally fell away, and Jaune slumped over, finally free. Cinder caught him before he could slip onto the ground, then slung one of his arms over her shoulder and began to walk. Weakly, Jaune managed to look up at her, and gasp out something else as she began to help him away.
"Why…?"
Cinder didn't say anything. Jaune blinked, then looked away as she dragged him through the camp. As they went, he couldn't help but marvel at the destruction – all the buildings except the one he'd been kept in were on fire. Dead bodies littered the ground, most of them charred to the point of being unrecognizable, though he did notice one had been impaled with what appeared to be several long, jagged icicles. Briefly, he wondered just what she had done to save him – was this her Semblance? He doubted it; neither of them had access to their Aura in the Zone.
The stench of burning human flesh suddenly assaulted his nose, and combined with his wounds, it proved to be too much. Jaune closed his eyes, and within moments, he passed out again, this time in Cinder's grasp as she pulled him to safety.
When Jaune woke up again, he wasn't in the Bar. Rather, he was in the old Bandit base that Cinder and him had cleared out not too long ago. He was in one of the barracks buildings, lying on an old army cot. Above him, he could hear rain drumming against the concrete roof.
He went to sit up, only to let out a low, pain-filled hiss when his entire body screamed at him in protest. Everything hurt – the Loners had certainly done a number on him, that was for sure; his whole body felt like one big bruise. It was a wonder they hadn't killed him.
Footsteps from outside the door caught his attention, and Jaune braced himself for what was to come, only to relax when Cinder walked in, holding his old shotgun.
"You're awake," she said as the two of them locked eyes.
"Yeah," Jaune answered. "You came back for me."
Cinder didn't say anything. Instead, she averted her gaze, then leaned his 870 up against a nearby wall. She then took a seat on a chair across from his bed, and folded her arms across her chest.
"I did," she said.
"Why?" Jaune asked. "You don't care about me."
"You're useful, that's why. And… I owed you one, after that incident with those Loners. Quid pro quo, if you will."
"Figures…" Jaune said, shaking his head. "Still, I don't know what I expected; not like the two of us like each other."
"No, but…" Cinder hesitated at what she was about to say, but then willed herself to say it anyway. "Perhaps… if we are going to be working together like this… a little trust would be in order."
"Trust?"
"Yes. We have saved each other once each, already; I am not so naive that I believe it will be the last time for either of us. I want to know that you have my back, and I suspect you want to be sure that I have yours."
"Isn't the fact that we saved each other evidence enough of that?" Jaune questioned, raising an eyebrow. "Or is this you getting attached?"
"Shut up, idiot," Cinder hissed. "I am not attached to you, and I know you are not attached to me, especially not after what I did to your partner. I am just saying that, maybe, it would be best if we… were more open with each other."
"Okay," Jaune said with a nod. "Why did you attack Beacon, then?"
"Is that really what you want to start with?"
"You said we needed to be more open, not me."
Again, Cinder hesitated. "…How likely do you think it is that we can find a way back to Remnant?"
"That's not what I-"
"Humor me. You will have your answer, but for now, play along."
"Alright, fine," Jaune grunted. "I figure that if we're here now, then there's gotta be a way back somewhere, right? I doubt this was a one-way trip. Finding it before we both die is going to be the hard part, though – I wager nobody else has made this trip, especially not from Earth to Remnant, or if they have, then they've done a damn good job of keeping their mouth shut about it."
"So you don't think it's likely?"
"It's not likely," Jaune emphasized. "Do I think a way home exists here, in the Zone? Yes. Do I think we'll find it, and if so, that we'll live long enough to get to use it? I don't think so, but we're gonna have to try, anyway."
Cinder stared off into space, closed her eyes, and took a breath. "...Very well. You want to know why I attacked Beacon? It's because I was told to."
Jaune's eyes widened. "Hang on, earlier you said you attacked Beacon because they had something that was yours."
"I did," Cinder answered. "But that wasn't the primary reason why. The main reason I attacked Beacon is because I was told to."
"I don't get it. Who told you, then? Adam Taurus?"
Cinder scoffed. "Taurus is a fool meddling with forces he cannot possibly comprehend. No, the person I work for is several steps above Adam Taurus. He is ultimately just another pawn to be used and then disposed of when he is no longer useful."
"Then… who is it? Can you tell me?"
"I do not know," Cinder confessed. "My boss, as it were, prefers to work in the shadows. Were they to find out I talked about them to you, I would be punished. However, given our circumstances… I do not know if that's even within the realm of possibility, because it would require that we get back to Remnant."
They both fell silent for a moment before Jaune suddenly spoke up.
"I cheated my way into Beacon."
Cinder stared at him in surprise. "What? What does that have to do with-"
"You've revealed something about yourself, and now it's my turn," Jaune insisted.
"I have not told you more than-"
"It's my turn," he insisted again.
Cinder stared at him, then let out a sharp exhale. "Very well."
"I paid Roman Torchwick for some fake transcripts and sent them in," Jaune told her. "Somehow, they passed muster, and I got accepted. I showed up on the day of initiation with a sword I had no idea how to use, and without my Aura unlocked. The only reason I passed through initiation was because of Pyrrha, otherwise I would have died. She unlocked my Aura, and then when she eventually found out my secret, she offered to train me so I wouldn't flunk out of school, even though
I was a huge idiot about it at first."
"Quite the story," Cinder surmised. "Were you truly so eager to throw your life away as a Huntsman?"
"It's not throwing my life away," Jaune argued. "Unless you know something I don't."
"Of course I do," Cinder pointed out. "There's a storm coming for all of Remnant, Jaune. And it's coming from the person I work for. In some ways, it's almost better that you're here instead of over there, because you won't have to experience what's about to happen."
"What are you talking about?"
"The Vytal Festival was just the beginning," Cinder warned. "Though I assume by now, the people on Ozpin's side are aware of that and are making their own moves."
"And you work for this person?"
Cinder turned away, looking out the window. She watched the rain come down, staring at it as it soaked the empty windowsills in the old factory.
"...I don't exactly have a choice," she said after a moment's hesitation. "I've never had a choice."
Jaune blinked in surprise. "...What you were saying that one time, about being powerless… what did that mean?"
"Exactly what you think it does. For the longest time, I was completely powerless – my whole life was spent at the whim of another. I cast away those chains only to find myself beset by more, which in my foolishness, I did not even recognize were binding me. I thought if I could just attain the power I sought, that I would be able to truly free myself, but now that I'm here and I've had time to reflect, I can see how foolish of a desire that was."
"It's not foolish," Jaune protested. "Everyone has a right to be free, Cinder."
"You would say that, even after what I did in pursuit of my freedom?" Cinder asked, surprised. "You realize that my desire for power – for my own freedom – is what killed your partner, yes?"
"That doesn't make the desire itself wrong," Jaune stated without hesitation. "I can't forgive you for what you did in pursuit of it, but I can at least understand why."
Cinder stared at him for a moment, then looked back out the window.
"Perhaps it'd be best if I stayed here," she mused. "Hellish as this place may be, this is the first time I have been free in my entire life. If it kills me, at least I will die a free woman instead of a slave."
"That's your decision," Jaune said softly. "But I know what I have to do, and that's finding a way out of here."
Cinder glanced at him out of the corner of her eye, her expression unreadable. "Yes, of course. You have people to get back to."
"You don't?"
Cinder shook her head. "I never have. Emerald, perhaps, but she thinks a lot more of what we have than I do."
"What do you mean?"
"The same way my master has pawns, so do I. Emerald proved herself useful in my pursuit of power, nothing more. Though, she is far less irredeemable than I am – my crimes far outnumber hers." Cinder scowled as she stared out the window. "What do you think would happen to me if I returned to Remnant?"
"I don't understand," Jaune said.
"Perhaps I should phrase this another way, then. Who do you think would try to kill me first – my master, for disappearing for so long without notice, or the people on your side, for killing so many of their own?"
"I can't pick a third option?" he asked.
"There is no other choice."
"There's always another choice," Jaune growled. "You just refuse to see it."
"Oh?" Cinder asked. "And what would this other choice be?"
"I'd tell you, but something tells me you would call me an idiot for even thinking of it."
"Tell me."
"Fine," Jaune acquiesced. "It's simple, really – you approach whoever's in charge of everything now that Ozpin is dead – I assume that'd be Ironwood – and you tell him everything you've told me and more. You give him everything you know on your boss, or your master, or whatever, and then you swear your fealty to him and help fight against them."
Cinder scoffed. "Preposterous."
"Is it really? From where I'm standing, it seems no more idiotic than continuing down the self-destructive path you've put yourself on already. You just told me you'd rather die a free woman here, in the Zone, than risk going back and facing your master now that you've failed. Why does that only hold true with the Zone, and not back on Remnant?"
"Because then I'm just pledging myself to someone else," Cinder snarled.
"Only for as long as it takes to defeat your master," Jaune pointed out. "Once they're gone, would your debt not be repaid in full? What would they have to gain by forcing you to continue your service after that point?"
"That's… that's wrong," Cinder said, her voice full of trepidation. "It has to be wrong."
"It's not," Jaune emphasized. He readjusted himself in his cot so he was sitting up a bit straighter, letting out a small groan of pain as he did so. "Look at yourself, Cinder. Is the path you're on now really worth continuing down, or would you rather take a risk and finally be free?"
Again, Cinder averted her gaze. She stared out the window in thought once more, this time for far longer than she ever had before. Finally, after awhile spent watching the rain, she spoke again, still keeping her gaze focused out the window.
"…I don't remember my really early life," she said softly. "My earliest memories are of being in an orphanage in Atlas. I don't know anything about my parents, only that they abandoned me when I was really young, presumably because for some reason, they didn't want me. Whatever reason it was, it doesn't matter – I was there, in that orphanage, for years. It was not a good place to be – all those stereotypes you may have heard about orphanages, how they mistreat the children under their care and leave them to torment each other? It was true.
"When I was older, I finally got adopted out by someone – a woman who ran a luxury hotel in downtown Atlas, and her two daughters. It was not a reprieve – the first thing she did when we got back to the hotel was lock a collar around my neck, and then demonstrate what would happen if I disobeyed or displeased her by electrocuting me with it."
Cinder pulled down the collar of her shirt for emphasis, showing off the scar that ran across her throat. Jaune, for all his distaste and hatred towards her for everything she had done, still had it in him to feel disgust and rage towards the woman who had tormented her so, if the hitch in his breath and the white-knuckled grip on the edge of his cot was any indication. Cinder didn't give him any time to interrupt her, however, instead continuing with her story.
"I served the Madame for years, until eventually, I met a Huntsman named Rhodes. He took pity on me and offered me a way out – he would train me as a Huntress, and when the time came, I would emancipate myself from the Madame and set off on my own. But… eventually, it became too much to bear for any longer. I snapped, and used the training and the weapons he'd gotten for me to murder the Madame and her two daughters. When Rhodes came to stop me, I murdered him, too. And then I ran – I ran the same way he told me I would when he saw what I'd done. I ran, and ever since then, I've never stopped running.
"But it didn't end there," she lamented. "Eventually, I was found by someone else – a new master, with a new set of chains, though I hardly recognized them as such at the time. She promised me everything I would need in order to set myself free – all the power in the world, if I wanted it. All I needed to do was serve her. And I did – I did everything she asked, believing that eventually, I'd be able to set myself free, even from her. But I was wrong – my master is… she is a monster, Jaune. Moreso than even I am. She isn't human, or if she was, she isn't anymore. In the end, all I did was trade slavery for more slavery, and look where it's gotten me."
"It's gotten you here," Jaune emphasized, "with me."
"For all the good that did," Cinder lamented.
"Why are you telling me all this?" Jaune asked. "I thought you hated me."
"I don't know," Cinder answered honestly. "Truthfully, we're both going to die in the Zone. I do not see a future where we end up back on Remnant. I figure… if I'm dead anyway, then I might as well tell you everything – give you some peace before we both expire."
"You're wrong," Jaune said, shocked. "I just… I can't say anything besides that. I don't care what you think – I will find a way out of the Zone, and I will return to Remnant. Count on it."
"Even though I just told you what awaits you there?" Cinder asked, turning back towards him. "You would go back, even knowing what my master has planned for all of you?"
"Yes," Jaune said without hesitating. "I don't care what her plans are. Whatever she's got planned for us, we'll stop her."
"And if she can't be stopped?"
"Why wouldn't she be able to be stopped?"
"I just told you, she's not human, Jaune. Whatever happened to her… it changed her in some way. I've seen her wounded before – grievous wounds, that would have killed a regular person, and yet she doesn't die,"
"There has to be some way," Jaune emphasized. "And we'll find it once we get back to Remnant."
"We?" Cinder asked.
Jaune nodded. "Unless you expect her to take you back now that you've revealed all this to me."
"And if I kill you to keep my secrets?"
"If you were going to do that, you would have done it already."
Cinder's eyes narrowed. "Hm… even after all I've done, all the pain I've put you through… you're still willing to try and help me?"
"Don't act like I'm not getting anything out of this," Jaune said as he sat up straighter. "I'm denying your boss one of her pawns if I succeed in getting through you. Surely, that has to be worth something."
"So it isn't purely altruism, then."
Jaune shook his head. "Not purely, no. But I'm not going to act like it's not there entirely."
"What do you-"
"Now that you've told me all that… I don't know. I guess I feel like I should reach out to you, the way nobody else has. That's what you really needed, it sounds like – someone who cared enough to try and help you, and to show you that you were loved. Everyone deserves at least that much, even you. And if I have to be the first, then fine. Anything to help the people of Remnant."
Cinder stared at him in shock, unable to believe what she was hearing. His words ran through her mind, over and over again, but the meaning refused to change, no matter how many times she tried to force it to fit something else. Eventually, she could only conclude that Jaune had meant every word – that even after all she'd put him through, he was still willing to try and help her.
She didn't know what to say in response to that. Cinder searched her mind for the proper words, but came up empty – nothing seemed to fit right as a response. Finally, she went with the only three words she could think of in her shock.
"Thank you, Jaune."
And somehow, she meant every syllable of it.
"Am I cleared yet?"
Bonesaw looked up to her, pulling the stethoscope out of his ears. "You know, when you talk, it makes it a lot harder to hear your heartbeat."
"Why do you need my heartbeat, anyway?" Pyrrha asked. "It's not like the grenade hit me in the chest."
"You're lucky it didn't," Bonesaw said as he put the stethoscope back in his ears. "Now, sit still and stop talking, please – I still need to take some more reading before you're cleared for duty."
Pyrrha rolled her eyes, but played along. She'd already been in Freedom's hospital for a few days now, and that was a few days too many, in her opinion. She wanted to get back into the field, already.
Bonesaw suddenly stood up and marked something on his clipboard, and Pyrrha looked to him, hope in her eyes. "Am I good to go?"
"If I say yes, will you explain why you're so eager to get back in action?" Bonesaw said without looking up from his notes.
"Because I still owe you all for helping me."
"Cute answer, I'm sure Lukash would love it. But I am not Lukash. Now, why do you insist on getting back into the field so hurriedly?"
Pyrrha shrugged. "I'm of no use lying around, and I know that nobody wants to see me just lazing around the base all day."
"Are you sure that's the reason?"
"What other reason would there be?"
"I don't know. I just find it odd that you haven't talked much about your world since getting into the field. One might think that you're doing whatever you can to avoid thinking about it." He looked up from his notes, staring into her eyes. "Am I on the right track, Pyrrha?"
Pyrrha's eyes narrowed. "What are you, a psychologist?"
"It's perfectly natural," Bonesaw insisted. "I understand you went through a very traumatic event, and technically still are. But I am a little worried about you – you took to field duty with such gusto that I can't help but be. Be honest with me, Pyrrha – are you so eager to get back into the field because it means less time spent thinking about the people you left behind?"
Pyrrha frowned. Bonesaw wasn't wrong, as it turned out – she had been trying to push the memories of her team away, simply because it hurt so much to know that she'd probably never see them again.
"...Maybe you're right," she said softly. "I just… it's painful, you know?"
"I can imagine," Bonesaw commented. "What you're going through is similar to someone who's lost a friend. Hell, you did lose friends, from the sound of things – they just aren't dead. That doesn't change the fact that you might not ever see them again, though. I can only imagine how lonely that must feel. For what it's worth, you have my condolences."
"Thank you."
"And you understand that if you need someone to talk to, you can come to me or your squadmates, yeah?"
Pyrrha nodded. "Truthfully, I think I just… need some time to process it all in my own way, Bonesaw. I'm more resilient than I might seem, or at least I think I am. I'll move past it in time."
Bonesaw slowly nodded. "Very well. Now, with that out of the way, you are cleared for field duty once more, Pyrrha. And this time, do try not to end up back here quite so frequently again – the last thing I need is you undoing my careful handiwork so soon after I just finished patching you up."
"I'll do my best," Pyrrha said, flashing him a grin.
She stood up and began to move down the hall, only letting her grin fade once Bonesaw was out of sight.
It was true, then, she supposed – that she'd been deliberately pushing her feelings of loneliness out of mind by going on missions, whether knowingly or unknowingly. She did miss her friends deeply, and going on missions did help alleviate those feelings enough that she wasn't dwelling on them. And, of course, being around the guys in Freedom helped, too, but they could only help so much.
The truth was, the Freedom members she was friendly with could not replace Ren, or Nora, or Team RWBY. They definitely couldn't replace Jaune.
Jaune… the thought of him felt like a punch to the gut. Jaune had been her best friend, but more than that, he'd been her first real crush. It hurt, knowing she'd probably never see him again – it hurt more than all the others. She'd tried to push him out of sight and out of mind, but she supposed she couldn't do that any longer.
"Might as well face the facts," she quietly admitted to herself as she marched through the Freedom base. "You're never going to see him again, so you might as well get over it. Even if you do, he's almost certainly moved on from what little you had with him by now. It doesn't do to dwell on him."
Tears stung at her eyes as the words came out of her mouth, but she was quick to brush them away. Letting go hurt even more than thinking about him in the first place, but somehow, after saying those words, she felt like a weight had lifted off her shoulders.
Pyrrha blinked away the last of her tears, then stepped out of the headquarters building. Rat and Swift were already there waiting for her.
"Pyrrha," Swift greeted. "How are you holding up?"
"Fine," she said, all traces of her earlier sadness gone. "Bonesaw cleared me for duty."
"So eager to get back to the field, huh?" Rat said. "Can't say I blame you – I'd go crazy, cooped up in the hospital."
"Believe me, it's not easy," she answered. "Let's hope I don't end up back there for awhile. Anyway, what do we have?"
"Mission from Lukash," Swift told her. "We talked to him about your suspicions, and he agrees. He's going to look into it, but for now, he wants us handling some other stuff that needs to be done."
Pyrrha nodded along. "Okay. What's the next mission?"
"Scouting again," Rat grunted. "Let's hope it's actually just scouting this time, because we all know how the last one of those went."
They set off, and Pyrrha followed after them, her prior loneliness already pushed back to the corners of her mind.
When Ruby finally made it to the Bar, it was like an enormous weight had been lifted from her shoulders. She heaved a sigh of relief as she stepped inside and took her hands off her SMG, letting it hang by its sling.
She lowered her hood as she moved deeper into the Bar, the last remnants of an earlier rainstorm drizzling down her shoulders as she did so. The air here was thick with the smell of roasting meat and cigarette smoke, but she didn't care – after so much time spent getting here, it was good just to have arrived.
Naturally, all conversation died when she stepped in as everyone's gaze focused on her, but it didn't last – they all went back to their vodka and their smokes soon enough. Ruby let out a small exhale when the attention was off her, then cautiously approached the bar.
"What do you want?" the man in front of her grunted.
"Are you Barkeep?" she asked.
"No, I just run the place." He rolled his eyes. "Of course I'm Barkeep, who the hell else would I be? Now, are you looking to buy, or-"
Ruby reached into her pocket, coming back with Nimble's flash drive. She placed it on the counter, then slid it over to Barkeep. "How much would it cost for you to examine this thing?"
"Now you're speaking my language," he grunted. "Generally, it costs around a thousand."
Ruby went to pull the roll of bills out of her pocket, only for her gaze to land on the top of the Bar. Her eyes widened when she realized what was hanging there, next to the boar's head.
"Where did you get that sword?!" she asked, a combination of excitement and panic seeping into her tone.
Barkeep was taken aback. "What? Some idiot rookie traded it in-"
"What does he look like? Did he say his name? Do you know where to find him?!"
Barkeep crossed his arms. "Information costs money. Since you're so desperate for it, I'll cut you a deal – I'll answer each of those questions for… mm… three-thousand each."
Ruby scowled. She already hated Barkeep. And as much as she wanted to fork over the cash to learn what he had for her, she couldn't afford it, not since she also still needed to buy body armor, ammo, and food and water.
"Just the flash drive for now," she said reluctantly.
"Hold up," an all-too-familiar voice from behind suddenly announced. "I'll pay her way for one of those, Barkeep."
Ruby turned around, and was stunned to see the Marked One standing there. Her hand drifted to her holstered pistol, but he raised his hands in surrender.
"Easy," he said. "I know you're probably angry-"
"Angry?!" Ruby echoed. "The Military attacked the Rookie Village because of you! Wolf is dead because of you! Give me one good reason not to shoot you down right here, right now!"
"Because if you do that, then everyone else in the Bar is going to gun you down," the Marked One pointed out.
Ruby blinked, then looked around, and sure enough, the other patrons of the bar were staring at her once more, their hands on their weapons. Reluctantly, she backed down, taking her hand off the grip of her pistol.
"Why are you helping me?" she demanded.
The Marked One motioned towards the flash drive. "I've been looking for that," he said. "Didn't think you already had it. Sidorovich mentioned that I needed to find Nimble's flash drive, but when I asked him about it, he was evasive and wouldn't answer. Now that I know you've got it, it's in my best interests to try and learn what's on it."
"Are you doing this trade, or not?" Barkeep demanded.
Ruby turned back towards him, her eyes narrowing. She didn't trust the Marked One, not after what he'd put the Village through, but this was her best bet of finding out information about Jaune, so she reluctantly nodded.
"...Yeah, we'll do it," she said.
The Marked One stepped forward and offered a wad of money to Barkeep, who took it and thumbed through it briefly before nodding and stuffing it into his pocket.
"The kid's name is Jaune," he said gruffly. "He's a total fuck-up, or at least he was, until he got a swift kick in the ass. He sometimes hangs around here looking for work, though I haven't seen him in a few days. Him and his traveling companion are supposed to be out doing a job for me, but I haven't heard anything about it."
"Traveling companion…?" Ruby questioned. "What do they look like? Is she a redhead?"
Barkeep blinked. "How did you know it was a-" He suddenly caught himself, then shook his head. "You want that information, it'll cost you another three-thousand. Same with where I sent them last."
"Yeah, yeah…" Ruby grumbled. "Just decode the flash drive for me, for now. I'll get you your money in time."
"Don't make promises you can't keep," Barkeep told her as he took her money. "I'll be back in a few minutes."
With that, he disappeared into the back room, leaving Ruby and the Marked One standing there at the bar. She rounded on him, a hand on her hip.
"Why do you need the flash drive?" she demanded.
The Marked One raised his hands in surrender. "Easy," he said cautiously. "I know you don't like me after what happened to the Village, but I assure you, I had no idea it would come to that."
"How could you not know?! The Military was right there!"
"It was an accident, okay?" the Marked One said. "They said they would let me pass if I paid their toll. I tried to pay it, but then they tried to rob me of the rest of my stuff; I had no choice but to gun them down. I didn't intend to cause problems for the rest of the Village, I was just trying to get through. I'm sorry they killed your friend."
Ruby glared at him. She didn't entirely believe his story, but she had to admit that it did make sense – the Military was corrupt, so she wouldn't put it past them to have tried to rob the Marked One, only to end up on the wrong end of his gun for it. If that was the truth, and she unfortunately had no way of verifying if it was, then it truly had just been bad circumstances, as loathe as she was to admit it.
She hated the idea of a good man like Wolf dying purely because of human greed, but she supposed that was just par for the course in the Zone.
She relaxed slightly, taking her hand off her hip and resting it on the counter. "Just… why do you want the flash drive so badly, anyway?"
"Sidorovich said it would have information on it that would help me out," the Marked One answered.
"Oh, right – finding Strelok."
The Marked One nodded. "Yes. The traders are all trying to open a path north into the power plant. Apparently, that's where I can find Strelok – him and his group of Stalkers were some of the first people to make it that far, before the Brain Scorcher was turned on. I suspect that's where I'll find more information."
Ruby's eyes widened. "You're trying to find a way to turn off the Brain Scorcher," she realized.
He nodded again. "Yes."
That complicated things somewhat. She still didn't fully believe the Marked One's story, but she now knew they had similar goals – they both wanted to reach the center of the Zone. Thankfully, the Marked One seemed completely unconcerned about the Wish Granter, or at least he hadn't mentioned anything about it, so that was somewhat reassuring. Much as she hated to admit it, the two of them could probably help each other.
"...Tell you what," Ruby began. "I need to find my friends at some point, but for now… maybe we should stick together."
The Marked One blinked, confused. "You almost shot me a few minutes ago."
"Yeah, well, that was before I heard your story, and realized that we had similar goals," Ruby insisted. "I want to make it to the power plant, too. Plus, I need to earn some cash, and that'll be a lot easier if I have someone watching my back, even if we have to split it."
Slowly, the Marked One nodded. "I suppose that makes sense… okay, how about this – we'll stick together for as long as it takes for you to find out more information about your missing friends. Once you've gotten that, we can part ways. If I need help with any jobs or anything, I'll message you through the PDA."
"Sounds good." Ruby's eyes narrowed. "But just know that if you ever do anything to get any of my friends hurt again, I will put a bullet between your eyes. Got it?"
"I understand," the Marked One replied.
Barkeep came back just then, the flash drive still in his hands. He passed it over to Ruby, who pocketed it.
"You want to know more about Strelok?" Barkeep began. "Him and his group of friends were the first to reach the power plant. After that, they disappeared – all of them. Rumors differ on how many there were; depending on who you ask, there were either five or six of them, all of them men except for one. But that's neither here nor there."
"Why are you telling us this?" Ruby asked.
"Because it leads into what you need to do next," Barkeep insisted. "You want to make it to the power plant and find out more about Strelok? Then the Brain Scorcher is going to have to come down. And according to that flash drive, the first step to completing that is to get some documents from the Agroprom Research Institute."
Ruby nodded in understanding. "Okay… what are we looking for, exactly?"
"No idea," Barkeep huffed. "The drive wasn't exactly clear. It just said to head to Agroprom and grab the documents. Assuming they're still there, of course – the place has been abandoned for years, save for the mutants that infest it."
"So we're heading into a mutant-infested laboratory with no idea as to whether or not what we're looking for is even there, and if it is, what it looks like," Ruby deadpanned. "Great plan."
"Do you have a better one?"
Ruby gave a sigh of resignation. "This is dumb, but no, I don't." She turned towards the Marked One. "Let's get going. I want to get this done as soon as I can."
The Marked One followed after her as she led the way out of the Bar, and together, they set off for Agroprom.
Special thanks to Ickbard for the help with this story.
Man, this is a late update - really burning the midnight oil on a work night for this one. You guys are worth it, though, and this update was overdue because I was being a lazy asshole with writing this story until today. No real excuse for it, I was just being lazy with it. Really need to improve my work ethic when it comes to writing, there's so much more I could be doing and I just don't in favor of slacking off. Definitely going to need to work on that for when I start writing more originals.
Anyway, that's pretty much the chapter. Jaune and Cinder reunite, Cinder pours her heart out a bit, Ruby meets the Marked One, and Pyrrha begins coming to terms with her feelings for Jaune. I don't really have much more to say than that. Instead, I'll give a brief teaser for the next series of chapters: We're not going to be tackling Agroprom in a single chapter, because if I did, the entire chapter would just be Ruby's story. So that'll be broken into two or three, most likely. You'll still be getting Jaune and Cinder and Pyrrha content throughout those three chapters as well, by the way, so no need to worry about that. As for the actual content itself, I won't spoil much, except to say that these next few chapters are some of my favorite things I've ever written. But you'll know what I'm talking about when the time comes.
Shot my first IDPA match and predictably did fucking horrible, but that's fine. My goal for the first like dozen matches is to just not get a DQ. I actually managed to get through my first match without a DQ, a penalty, or shooting a no-shoot, so I consider that a big win. I also met some cool people, which is great because I really needed to meet some people. I'll definitely be going back. I also need to start shooting that US ARMS match at another range nearby, but that'll be a bit tougher to make work for the time being. I'm still going to do it, but getting there is going to put me on a tight schedule.
Anyway, that's about all I've got. Hope you all enjoyed the chapter, and I'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 first original story is available for purchase now, you can find it by going on Amazon and searching for 'I Accidentally Summoned the Demon Queen' 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.
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