Black Sun

Chapter 15

He was dreaming. Jaune knew at least that much – none of this was real; it was all in his mind. He knew that the instant he saw the unfamiliar ornate wallpaper and tiled floors.

The tranquil scene was suddenly interrupted by a small, quiet, desperate voice.

"N-no, please, Madame! I swear I didn't-"

The voice was suddenly cut off by a loud, pained scream, punctuated by the sound of an electric shock. Jaune whipped around, and was stunned by what he saw – a young girl with disheveled black hair lying on the ground, writhing in agony as electricity danced across her entire body. Standing over her was an older woman, a controller held in her hand; next to her were two other girls who looked similar.

They were all laughing as they stood over the black-haired girl, who was clawing at her neck in desperation, where a metal collar had been affixed.

Jaune saw red. He let out a loud shout and rushed forward, trying his best to reach the girl, but he was stopped by some unseen force that refused to let him move forward – almost like there was an invisible wall in the way. Jaune ran face-first into it, but was unperturbed, and immediately tried to break his way through, but to no avail.

"Now, now," the older woman said. "You know better than to lie to us, Cinder. We know you broke that dish."

Jaune's eyes widened as he finally realized what he was watching. This was Cinder's childhood – her upbringing at the hands of the Madame. She'd mentioned it before – how the Madame and her stepsisters had been physically and verbally abusive to her for as long as she'd known them. He'd known it'd been bad, but this… there were no words. Cinder was maybe twelve or thirteen here, and yet she was being tortured mercilessly for something so minor.

She didn't break, though – instead, Cinder leaned up slightly to stare into the Madame's eyes, defiance clear in her expression even despite the extreme pain she was in.

"I didn't do it…" she managed to rasp out. She motioned with her head to her stepsisters. "They did, and-"

For her troubles, she earned another electric shock. Again, Cinder writhed on the ground, gasping for breath. But her defiance had the desired effect – the Madame and her stepsisters were no longer laughing. Rather, they seemed incensed that they hadn't managed to break her.

"Clearly, you need some more training," the Madame said absentmindedly. "Perhaps going without food for a few days would help you realize how things work around here." Her eyes narrowed, and she turned towards her daughters. "See to it that she gets nothing, not even table scraps. If she eats even a single crumb, I want to know about it so I can properly punish her. Understood?"

"Yes, mother," both stepsisters echoed.

The Madame stood up and marched over to Cinder, looming over her. Cinder looked up, her teeth gritted through the pain.

The Madame lifted her foot and brought it down onto her head, and the scene suddenly changed.

The hotel was aflame, burning bright in the night, inky-black tendrils of smoke curling up towards the shattered moon. And in the center of the wreckage, a teenage Cinder stood, a sword held tightly in her off-hand. Underneath her was the Madame, covered in shallow cuts and lacerations. Tears dripped freely from her eyes as Cinder stared her down, an expression of pure malice etched across her face.

"P-please…" the Madame begged. "Have mercy…"

"Mercy?" Cinder echoed. She shook her head. "You forget, Madame – thanks to your training, I no longer know the meaning of the word, as your daughters have already discovered."

The Madame's eyes widened. "M-my daughters…?"

Cinder couldn't help but smirk. "Oh, yes." She brought her blade up, showing it was already stained with deep red blood down to the hilt. She ran a thumb across it, staring at the blood as it dripped down onto the hotel's ruined foundation below. "They did much the same as you did – begged for their lives, insisted that they didn't mean it, that it was all just a big joke that had gone too far. They were sorry, they told me; so, so sorry. If only I would put down the sword, we'd be a family again… as if we ever were in the first place."

The Madame swallowed, fresh tears trailing down her face. "Cinder, I'm sor-"

Cinder cut her off by flicking her sword, scattering some of the blood that had coated it onto the ground below. The Madame stared as her daughters' blood soaked into the floor, her breath catching in her throat.

"Don't say it," Cinder warned, her eyes narrowing. "I don't want to hear it. I know it's not genuine – that it's nothing more than the feeble cries of a wounded animal caught in a trap. Do not waste my time with your pitiful lies, Madame – you reap what you've sown."

Cinder approached her, and the Madame tried to scramble away, but to no avail. Cinder closed in on her, and the sword came up, glinting in the light of the moon and the flames. There was a spray of blood, and then the scene changed again.

This time, it was Cinder standing across from a strange man who Jaune didn't recognize. They were both doubled over and panting heavily, sweat clinging to their bodies. Cinder forced herself to stand up, as did the man – Jaune noted that he had a sword as well, one that was an exact mirror image of the one Cinder was wielding.

"You don't seem to understand," Cinder said. "I'm free now, Rhodes. I'll never have to run again."

Pain flashed across Rhodes' face, and he shook his head sadly. "No, Cinder. You'll never stop running."

Cinder stared at him in shock, but it didn't last. She let out a manic yell and rushed him down; the two of them met in a clash of blades. It should have been an easy fight for an experienced Huntsman such as Rhodes, but even in his inexperience, Jaune could tell something was wrong – Rhodes was slow, sluggish… hesitant. He didn't want to fight Cinder.

And that was his undoing.

Cinder surged forwards before he could react, one final slash taking the last of his Aura with it. Then, before he could recover, Cinder lunged, leading with the point of her sword. Rhodes tensed as the blade pierced through his chest, his own sword clattering to the ground. Cinder stared up at him in shock, as if she couldn't believe she'd actually managed to beat him.

But Rhodes wasn't quite dead. He moved, despite the obvious pain, and this time, Cinder tensed, about to pull away, but before she could, Rhodes brought his hand up. She bristled, expecting him to strike her, but he didn't.

Instead, he gently rested it on the top of her head, gave her one final grin, and took one last, shuddering breath before his body went limp.

Cinder stared at him for a moment, frozen to her spot, before pulling her sword out of his body with a sickening squelch. She took a few steps away, then fell to her knees, her blade slipping from her grasp. Her whole body shaking, Cinder brought her hands up and stared at her palms. They were slick with blood.

The scene suddenly changed once more, and this time, it was something straight out of a nightmare. Jaune couldn't help but jump at what he saw – the interior of a darkened castle, somewhere where he could just tell the sun never shined. It was some kind of throne room, and in the center, there was a woman, though she was only vaguely recognizable as such. Her skin was bone-white, and pockmarked with inky black veins of corruption that spread across her entire body. Jaune took an involuntary step back as the woman turned towards him, seeming almost to stare directly at him, red irises suspended in pools of black sclerae seeming to bore directly into his soul.

It only lasted for a moment, however, before she turned towards the middle of the throne room, where Cinder was kneeling. She was older now, Jaune realized – maybe nineteen or twenty; just a bit younger than she was now. And even now, Jaune could tell she was terrified of the woman before her.

"Rise," the Grimm woman commanded.

Cinder did as she'd ordered, pulling herself to her feet. She met the woman's gaze, but Jaune could see the fear in Cinder's eyes as she did so.

"Do you know why you're here, Cinder?"

Cinder nodded. "I exist only to serve you, my lady."

Jaune flinched at her statement. Cinder had told him before how she longed for nothing more than to be free – how that was the one thing that had been consistently denied to her over the years. Just as she'd told him earlier, she truly had traded one set of chains for another.

The Grimm lady nodded, pleased with Cinder's answer. "You told me when my Grimm found you that you wanted nothing more than to be free. I offer you the chance to make that a reality. Serve me, and I will grant you the power you need to be free from the follies of humanity once and for all. Their world will burn, and you will rule over their ashes. Would you like that, Cinder?"

Cinder's expression tightened, but she nodded nonetheless. "I would. Thank you, lady Salem."

Salem gave her a wicked grin, and Jaune suddenly stumbled, pain lancing through his mind.

He fell to his knees, a scream tearing its way from his throat, and then he woke up.

When Jaune awoke, it was to a searing pain in his head, and an alarm blaring throughout the lab. He let out a low groan, stumbling to his feet. Around him, the others did the same, rising to an upright position on shaking legs.

"Argh, Gods, my head…" Ruby said, clutching at her temples. "What was that…?"

"I think we all know who we should be asking," Pyrrha said, turning towards Cinder. The others followed her gaze, only to find Cinder still sitting on the floor, her gaze firmly on the broken tiles underneath her feet.

"...Now you know," she said softly. "This… isn't the way I wanted you all to figure it out."

"Then how?" Pyrrha demanded. "When did you plan to tell us that you killed four people before you were even an adult?"

"Pyrrha," Jaune said, cutting her off.

Cinder shook her head. "No… no, she's right. You all deserve to know." She took a breath. "...You know why I did it. That doesn't justify it, but… it does explain it, if nothing else."

"And the Grimm woman?" Ruby asked. "Who was she?"

"Her name is Salem," Cinder answered. "And she's a monster. You think I'm bad?" She shook her head again. "Salem is worse. She's the one who I answer to – everything I did, I did in service of her."

"To what end?" Pyrrha asked, crossing her arms.

"There's something at Beacon she wants," Cinder explained. "Two things, actually – an ancient artifact called a Relic, and the key to unlocking it in the first place. But you know all about the Maiden Powers, I'm sure."

Pyrrha's eyes narrowed. "So that's what they're for? Getting the Relic, whatever that is?"

Cinder nodded. "Correct. I don't know exactly what the Relic is or why Salem wants it so badly, but she does, and I had no choice but to abide by her wishes."

"And how long were you going to serve her in that manner, exactly?"

For the first time, Cinder looked up to Pyrrha, fire burning in her eyes. "Until I died, because I had no other choice."

"There's always another choice," Pyrrha countered.

"There is now. That's why I'm staying in the Zone."

Jaune stepped between the two of them. "We can discuss this later," he said. "For now, we need to get out of this laboratory."

The others nodded, and Jaune took the lead, hefting his Benelli as he made his way back to the door leading out of the room they were in. As the four of them approached it, their radios crackled to life.

"Teams one and two, check the first floor. Team three, the main hall. Teams five and six, second floor."

Cinder's eyes narrowed as the transmission ended. "Seems we're about to have company."

"What kind of company?" Ruby asked, worried. "Is it the Military?"

"Sounded like it," Jaune said. "Why? Do you have history with them?"

Ruby bit her lip. "...Yeah. I… kinda helped wipe out one of their outposts. B-but I had a good reason for it! They were going to kill a village full of people, and-"

"Ruby," Jaune said softly, cutting her off. "It's okay. We know you wouldn't do it without a reason. You don't have to justify anything to us."

Ruby blinked, but then nodded, though for some reason, Jaune could tell she still wasn't fully convinced. That would be something to discuss later; for now, they still needed to get out of X-18.

And unfortunately, that was apparently going to mean cutting their way through a few squads of Ukrainian Military.

"Come on," Jaune urged. "I'll take point."

They managed to make it through to the staircase leading back up before running into trouble. As Jaune turned the corner to go up the final part of the stairs, a burst of automatic fire nearly took his head off. A panicked shout escaped him as he fell, his shotgun discharging into the remnants of the banister by accident; the soldier on the upper levels tried to run, but the three girls all opened fire on him, cutting him down in an instant.

There was little time to recover, however, as a grenade suddenly rolled into the room. Pyrrha picked Jaune up, then threw him back down the nearby stairs, jumping after him just as the grenade went off on the upper levels. The four of them were showered with dust and shrapnel, but the concrete staircase protected them from any serious injury.

Cinder was first to rise to her feet, and immediately pushed up to the doorway at the top of the stairs. She pressed her back against the nearby wall and blind-fired a burst from Kalashnikov into the room. That earned her a burst in return, and she grit her teeth as she pulled further back into cover.

"A little help?!" she called.

Ruby came bounding over, her short-barrel AK leading the way. She dropped into a crouch and chanced a look out of the doorway, switching her rifle to semi-automatic. A soldier peered out from around a nearby wall, and she put a single bullet through his head for his troubles. Once that was done, she looked to Cinder with a nod.

"You go left, I'll go right," she said.

Cinder pursed her lips, unhappy with being ordered around by someone so young, but still, she gave a nod of her own to confirm, and then both of them spun out from behind cover, their rifles barking as they went.

Meanwhile, Pyrrha finished helping Jaune to his feet, then gave him a gentle shove forward.

"Let's move," she said.

"R-right…" Jaune muttered. "Sorry; grenade left me a little… uh…"

"Discombobulated?"

"Yeah, that." He shook his head. "I'll be alright. Come on."

With that, Jaune charged up the stairs, Pyrrha directly behind him. They were both just in time to catch Ruby and Cinder both firing into some nearby rooms; Jaune ran over to Cinder while Pyrrha went to assist Ruby. By the time Jaune got to Cinder's side, however, the brief firefight was over, with Cinder emerging victorious.

"Damn soldiers…" she muttered. "Almost took my head off with a shotgun blast… this place will be the death of me yet."

"Not so long as you've got me watching your back," Jaune said. He reached out and put a hand on her shoulder, then guided her back into the room. "Let's hurry this up, I don't want to be here when they call in reinforcements."

The two of them headed back to the big room, and found Ruby and Pyrrha already waiting for them. Both girls were in the process of switching magazines, Pyrrha shaking her head as she did so.

"I'm running out of five-five-six," she said. "And I think my gun might be on its last legs – it was always pretty old, but I can feel it cycling a lot more sluggishly than it used to."

"There'll be plenty of Kalashnikovs to pick from, I'm sure," Jaune offered. "Or we can just buy you something new once we're out of here. That's probably overdue for everyone else, come to think of it – we'll need to get you all better body armor and weapons as soon as possible. We have the money for it."

"Preferably something a bit more lightweight?" Ruby asked. "Even with a short barrel, this gun is kinda heavy for me…"

"We'll find you something," Jaune said. "Let's keep moving."

They continued on through the lab, eventually reaching another staircase. This one, however, led to a darkened room at the top. This time, it was Pyrrha who got a look, and for her troubles, she received a series of rounds to her torso that brought her to the ground, gasping for breath.

"Pyrrha!" Ruby and Jaune called as Cinder pulled her back into cover.

"Fine…" Pyrrha managed to get out. "Plates caught it… Gods, this hurts…"

Jaune immediately began to fuss over her, looking for any signs that the rounds had penetrated. Cinder gave both of them a dirty look as he did so, but it only lasted for a moment before she joined Ruby at the doorway, laying down suppressive fire for the two of them. After a few moments of Jaune looking Pyrrha over, he gave her a nod.

"No penetration," he reported. "You'll be alright."

Jaune helped her to her feet, and Pyrrha immediately hefted her rifle and joined Cinder and Ruby at the door. Together, the three of them sent rounds downrange, providing room for Jaune to move out past them. He ran out, heading for the next piece of cover in the room ahead. Once he was behind the concrete pillar, he did the same for them, allowing them to come out one by one and steadily join him.

By the time the last of them was there with him, the incoming fire had tapered off to nothing. They all reloaded, then stepped out from cover, looking around with their weapons at the ready. No further shots greeted them; instead, the only thing Jaune could hear was the choked gasps of a dying man off in the corner.

Before he could investigate, however, a shot rang out, splitting the dying man's head down the middle. Jaune stared, then turned around, expecting to see Cinder with a smoking gun in her hand, but he didn't. Rather, it was Ruby, of all people. Jaune continued to stare at her until she shifted uncomfortably under his gaze, lowering her weapon.

"...He was suffering," she offered. "He wasn't gonna make it, so…"

Jaune didn't say anything, instead he reached out and put a hand on her shoulder. Ruby blinked, but perked up a bit at that. A moment later, Jaune pulled his hand away, then continued to advance, the others following after him.

It was raining by the time they got out of X-18 and back to the factory; that was evident enough by the sound of the droplets falling against the concrete ceiling. Of course, Jaune had just a few seconds to reflect on that before they were once again greeted by gunfire.

"Fuck!" he hissed as he ducked back around the corner behind X-18's door, bullets cracking by dangerously close to his head.

The others all hunkered down behind him, spraying rounds up towards the soldiers posted up top, desperately trying to get them to back off. They succeeded after a few quick bursts; the incoming gunfire tapered off, and Jaune took the opportunity to push forward, shotgun in hand. He caught the two soldiers with a blast of buckshot each as they tried to scurry away; one died outright, the storm of pellets catching him in the base of the skull, but the other fell to the ground, his body armor having caught the incoming payload of lead. Jaune didn't hesitate for a moment – he advanced and closed in on the fallen man as he desperately tried to yank a pistol out of its holster and angle it towards him. Just as the barrel started to point towards Jaune, both men fired; the pistol round discharged just inches away from Jaune's shoulder, while Jaune's newest shotgun blast reduced the soldier's head to little more than a bloody pulp.

Then, silence. Jaune was no fool, however – he knew better than to think that was the last of the military. He let out a low grunt, then began to reload, pausing only to pick up the man's discarded handgun and pass it over to Ruby.

"Here," he said. "You need something aside from that revolver you've already got."

Ruby eyed the pistol warily, noting it was covered in flecks of blood and gore. Still, she nodded despite the faint grimace crossing her face, then began to strip the dead man of his ammunition, handgun magazines, and holster while the others kept watch. After a few seconds, she was all set.

"Ready," she reported.

Jaune went to take point again, but Cinder stopped him with an outstretched arm.

"Allow me," she said. "You have been putting yourself in harm's way far too often. Let someone else pick up the slack for once."

Jaune wanted to argue, but he could see in her eyes that she wasn't about to be swayed. He gave a reluctant nod, and Cinder hefted her rifle, then cut in front of him, pressing herself against a nearby wall as she moved towards the next doorway. She dropped down into a crouch and poked her head around the doorway, and sure enough, a burst of machine gun fire forced her back into cover. She gave an annoyed huff as rounds cracked by her head, and looked back to the rest of the group.

"I don't suppose any of you happened to pick up a grenade earlier?"

"As luck would have it…" Pyrrha ventured, pulling one out of her ammo pouches.

Cinder pursed her lips. "Don't keep us waiting in suspense, then."

Pyrrha glared at her, but offered no argument, instead moving up the stack and ripping the pin from the explosive. She held onto it for a few seconds, counting down the time, and then tossed it into the room ahead of them. There was a chorus of surprised and panicked shouts, followed a split-second later by a large explosion. None of them waited – they all immediately burst into the room, weapons at the ready. Not every soldier had been peppered by shrapnel, but the grenade had left in its wake a room full of smoke, and the panicked, sporadic gunfire of those soldiers who were still left standing but left deafened, while still dangerous, was nothing compared to the accurate, controlled fire put down by the four of them.

It was over in a matter of seconds, all the Ukrainian Military troops lying dead on the ground. Jaune stood there next to Ruby and Pyrrha, all three of them panting heavily as the adrenaline from their fighting finally began to wear off. The only one who wasn't affected was Cinder, who instead immediately slung her rifle, then began to search through one of the dead men's pockets and ammo pouches.

That was too much for Pyrrha. She surged forwards, grabbing Cinder by her body armor and shoving her against a nearby wall, then getting right up in her face to glare into her eyes.

"What the fuck is wrong with you?" she growled. "Have you no conscience at all?!"

"Not for people who tried to kill me, no," Cinder answered, unfazed.

Pyrrha grit her teeth, but before she could respond, Jaune stepped between the two of them.

"Don't do this now," he implored. "We still need to clear this area."

Pyrrha gave Cinder one final glare, but reluctantly backed off, releasing her. Cinder stood up straighter and dusted herself off before looking back at Jaune.

"Let's go," she said. "I'll take point."

Jaune nodded, and the four of them set off to sweep the rest of the factory.

Thankfully, the area was clear. It was a brief respite, however – Jaune was sure the Military would send reinforcements at some point, if only to investigate why their men hadn't checked in.

"We're probably going to have to get moving from this place…" he muttered to himself. A frustrated sigh escaped him. "Damn it…"

With shaking hands, he reached into his pocket for a cigarette and his lighter. He had just started taking a drag from it when Ruby poked her head around the corner, surprise etched across her face.

"I thought I smelled nicotine," she said. "I didn't know you smoked."

"It's a recent development," Jaune explained. "Where are Pyrrha and Cinder?"

"No idea. Last I saw, they were helping clear the bodies."

Jaune scowled. "That can't be good."

"Yeah, I know…" Ruby sighed tiredly. "I just… needed to get away from all the death for a moment. I'm sure you did, too."

Jaune's only response to that was to nod. "You need anything, Ruby?"

"Some vodka would be nice, actually."

Jaune hesitated. The thought of Ruby drowning her sorrows bothered him greatly, obviously, but he didn't exactly have much room to talk, considering he was currently in the process of giving himself lung cancer just to cope with everything he'd encountered in the Zone. So he held his tongue.

"There's a few bottles inside," he said, gesturing with his head. "Check the shelves on the second floor, that's where Cinder and I kept the supplies. Do me a favor, though – not too much, alright?"

"Don't worry, I'll be careful," Ruby promised. "Thanks, Jaune."

She stepped past him into the building, disappearing into the stairwell. Jaune stood there for a moment, enjoying his cigarette a bit more before giving it one final ash, then tossing the stub on the ground and grinding his boot heel on it. With a heavy sigh, he peeled himself off the concrete wall he'd leaned up against, then went looking for the others.

"Should probably find those two before they kill each other…"

Cinder stood crouched over one of the fallen soldiers, a wad of paper money in her hand. She thumbed through it, counting it off aloud.

"Forty… forty-five… fifty thousand… that's in addition to what we've all already got, before we sell everything. Should be enough for new weapons and armor for everybody who needs them."

"You don't have to sound so enthused about it," Pyrrha angrily grunted as she dragged one of the bodies away.

"And why is that?" Cinder gestured at the pile of bodies before them. "It's not like they're using any of their money or gear."

"Still, would it kill you to show some respect for the dead?"

"I see no reason to respect people who-"

"Tried to kill you, I know. Then you should at least understand where I'm coming from, too."

Cinder fell silent for a moment. "...That is more than fair, I suppose."

"You sound conflicted," Pyrrha pointed out. "Not used to your own philosophy being applied against you?"

"It never has been before."

"What's going on around here?" Jaune asked as he rounded the corner. "Everything alright?"

"Indeed," Pyrrha reported. "We were simply having a talk among ourselves. Rest assured, we have not pulled our weapons on each other, so it has gone exceedingly well so far."

"Well, that's an improvement, I guess," Jaune admitted. He turned towards Cinder. "By the way, we need to talk."

Cinder flinched. "This is about the-"

"Yes," Jaune interrupted. "It is."

Pyrrha caught on immediately. She crossed her arms. "I take it you'll be including Ruby and I in this conversation as well, yes? After all, it wouldn't pay to have us remain ignorant of this matter when we are supposed to be trusting her."

"If Cinder wants to include you both, then yes," Jaune said. "But I can't force her into revealing something she isn't willing to reveal, no matter how much I may agree with-"

"It's fine, Jaune," Cinder interjected. "Pyrrha has a point. If they are to trust me, then I cannot keep this secret from them. And… they have already seen the worst of it, too; at this point, the only thing I would be doing is adding context."

Jaune turned to her, surprised at her sudden willingness to be open. "You're sure?" Cinder nodded, and he said, "Okay. Let me go get Ruby, then."

"Get who?" Ruby asked, stumbling out from around the corner, a bottle of vodka held in her hand. Her cheeks were red, and small hiccups were escaping from her mouth. Jaune took one look at her, then sighed tiredly.

"Are you drunk already?"

"Trust me, I'm doing a lot better than I look," Ruby assured him. She waved him off, then turned to Cinder. "What are we talking about?"

"The vision we all had back in X-18," Pyrrha informed her.

"Oh. That." Ruby looked down at the bottle in her hand. "Might need more of this…"

Cinder glared at her, but then turned back to Jaune after a moment. "Where do I start?"

"How about with those people you killed when you were young?" Pyrrha demanded, folding her arms.

"Leave it to you to force me to unearth my most unpleasant memories first. Somehow, I'm not surprised. Anyway, there isn't much to discuss there – I was adopted by an abusive family who kept me as a slave for years. The lone solace I had was a Huntsman who offered to train me in preparation for me emancipating myself and enrolling in Atlas Academy when I eventually came of age. Unfortunately, I… snapped, before then."

"You snapped?" Ruby echoed.

"I believe that is an apt term for it, yes," Cinder said dryly. "I finally had suffered more abuse than I could take. The first to die was my shock collar, and after that… there was nothing to stop me, not even my mentor. Four people dead in a matter of hours, a five-star hotel burned to the ground, and me on the run."

"I don't get it," Pyrrha declared. "Why not report it to the authorities?"

"Because my stepmother was very well-connected to the rest of the Atlas elites," Cinder answered. "She wouldn't have spent a day in prison, and even if I'd managed to get out, I'd have ended up back in the orphanage at best. And as bad as the Madame was, the orphanage wasn't much better."

"But why run, then? Could you not claim self-defense if their torture was that bad?"

"Like I said, the Madame was very well-connected, and I was the unwanted stepchild. Too many people in high places would have just thrown the book at me, and I wasn't about to roll the dice on whether anyone who would vouch in my defense would come forward. And that's not to mention the fact that it was decidedly not self-defense – I killed the Madame and her daughters in cold blood. And I do not regret doing it in the slightest."

Ruby shivered. "That's… that's awful. Not just what you said, but… the entire situation is awful."

"I am aware," Cinder said dryly.

"And your mentor?" Jaune asked.

"What about him?"

"Do you regret killing him, too?"

Cinder paused, her eyes going wide. After a moment, she nodded. "...Yes. He only ever tried to help me, at least until the end. He did not deserve to die."

"And yet you killed him anyway," Pyrrha pointed out.

"He was going to take me in and let them imprison me for the rest of my life," Cinder growled. "I regret killing him, but between him and my own freedom, it was an easy choice to make… at least, I assumed at the time. I had no way of knowing I would eventually end up under Salem, and it would all be for naught."

"And Salem? What can you tell us about her?"

"Nothing at all."

"You truly expect us to believe-"

"I swear, I am not lying to you," Cinder insisted. "I don't know anything about Salem that I have not already told you. She has never told me anything about herself, and I have never dared to ask out of fear. The most I can tell you about her is that she has three lieutenants – men named Hazel Rainart, Arthur Watts, and Tyrian Callows."

"Rainart, Watts, Callows…" Ruby repeated under her breath. "And these are the men we'll eventually be fighting?"

"Pray you never do," Cinder replied. "Watts isn't much good in a fight compared to the other two, but he's still no slouch. Hazel and Tyrian, however… they're each on par with several fully-trained Huntsmen, by themselves. That being said, if you truly do plan to eventually take the fight to Salem, I suppose it would be unavoidable. But at the very least, you should know what you're getting into before you do."

"So where did Adam Taurus and Roman Torchwick fit into all this?" Jaune couldn't help but ask. "Were they ultimately just pawns for you to use to get to Beacon?"

"Essentially, yes," Cinder said with a nod. "I have no love for Taurus' cause, obviously, and Torchwick was always just a means to an end, nothing more."

"He's dead…" Ruby said softly. "Got eaten by a Nevermore during the fall of Beacon."

Jaune winced. "Bad way to go…"

"Yeah, you're telling me. I had to watch it happen."

"So is that it?" Pyrrha demanded. "We're just going to accept her explanation and leave it at that?"

"What else can we do?" Jaune asked. "That's a serious question, by the way – we can't turn her away or shoot her, so don't even bring those up as options."

"I wasn't going to." Pyrrha crossed her arms. "I just… you both are trusting her far too easily. She's a murderer."

"We all are, at this point…" Ruby softly said.

"Look, I think we all need to get some rest," Jaune offered. "We'll finish clearing out the dead soldiers, rest for a bit, and then go turn in the documents to Barkeep, get resupplied, and think about where to go next. Now's not the time to be at each other's throats, I think we can all agree about that. Does that plan sound good to everyone?" They all nodded, and Jaune heaved a sigh of relief.

"Good. Let's gear up and get moving, then."

"Jaune."

Jaune paused when he heard Cinder's voice. He'd been in the middle of checking his gear alone when she'd approached him. He turned around and found her standing in the middle of the doorway.

"Hey, Cinder," he greeted. "What can I do for you?"

She hesitated for a moment. "...You don't realize what you did, do you?"

Jaune paused, then shook his head. "No, I don't. Did I do something wrong?"

"Some people might think so. Back there, when we were talking about everything… you were trying to help me before you even knew what was happening. You jumped to my defense almost compulsively. And you didn't even realize you were doing it."

Jaune stared at her, then shrugged. "I'm just telling it like I see it, Cinder."

"Well, consider this a warning," she stated, taking a few steps forward. "Don't tie yourself to me. You're far too heroic for that."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"It means that I would only drag you down, Jaune. You're too much of a good person to be attached to someone like me. Besides, these two are your friends – I don't know much about friendship, but I know enough to realize that I am not worth sacrificing it over."

"Stop," Jaune stated. Cinder paused, and he looked her in the eye before continuing. "Look, you've made some mistakes, some of which can never be fully repaid. But… I don't think you're a bad person. You just got dealt a bad hand and made some poor choices."

"Jaune, listen-"

"No, you listen. You had my back when we were both still fresh in the Zone. That's not something I'm about to just brush aside or forget. You may not realize it, but you kept me alive all that time. The least I can do is make it clear to Pyrrha and Ruby that they can trust you, even if they don't like you."

Jaune reached out and put a hand on her shoulder, then gave her a small grin. "So don't worry, alright? I've got your back."

He let his hand fall off her shoulder, then walked off. Cinder hesitated for a moment, then followed after him, uncertainty etched across her face.

Special thanks to Ickbard for the help with this chapter/story, as always.

Anyway, sorry for the delay with getting this one out - needed to build up a small backlog of chapters for it before resuming posting it. That took longer with this one than the other two since chapters for this one are generally longer. But yeah, it's back now, finally. And I must say, it feels fucking good, at least to me. I missed updating this story a lot, I'll say that much.

Oh, and for the one Anon who asked what kind of AK I have - it's a Zastava M90. I was going to say it's been flawless, but instead I can only say it's been mostly problem-free, and the few problems I had with it recently are magazine-related. I run FB Radom Beryl mags in mine, and apparently those mags sometimes need a bit of breaking in before they're 100% reliable. I was running a brand-new Beryl mag in the gun and it kept jamming up on the last few rounds in the mag. I'm not too concerned about it since it was just the one mag, and if they're good enough for the Polish military, then they're good enough for me lol.

But aside from that one issue, the gun's been excellent. I love it. Praying for Sureshot USA to finally release the Yugo-pattern Mk3 chassis they teased a few years ago. Hopefully now that their ACR stock adapter is done, they can move on to focusing resources on Yugo-compatible furniture. Because once I can get a Sureshot chassis on this thing, I doubt I'll be shooting any of my other rifles for awhile lol.

But yeah, that's about all I've got for now. Thanks for reading, and I'll hopefully see you all again 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)

www . amazon Dead-World-John-Haruspex / dp /B0C2RPGXVC / ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=1682982861&sr=8-2

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

www . amazon dp/ B0BLFL72MX