Heeeey. I'm super sick still, but this was pre-written luckily. Sickness is why no Sunday and Monday updates, as I mentioned on my profile page. I'm hoping I'll be better by Thursday. Man, I used to never get sick but now I've hit 37 and my body is just like "nah, tired of being healthy now" and it sucks. Take care of your health early, people. I'm not even that unfit but I never ate well (not enough fruit and veg). Now I fall to pieces every time the weather changes too drastically.
Chapter 3
Cinder both delighted and hated dealing with other people. It was a paradoxical thing, she had to admit, but as much as she enjoyed the thrill of manipulating and forcing others to do her bidding, she also despised people and the need to be around them.
People were selfish, cowardly, weak and pathetic. They would cling to one another and sing such pretty words of love and camaraderie and cooperation, and yet they would backstab one another at the first opportunity. No sacrifice was too great when it came to bettering their own lives, be it exploiting someone for money or cheating on a spouse to pursue that more handsome colleague at work.
She wouldn't hate them so much if they could be honest about it, like she was, but they never were. They lied and claimed they were "nice people", the same as how her late adopted mother had pretended that she was a generous woman taking in two orphans. The same as how Rhodes had pretended that he was a good person in training her, offsetting some of his guilt over doing absolutely nothing to help her and Jaune whenever they were being abused.
Hei "Junior" Xiong was no more or less of a person than she'd dealt with before. He'd sought to dismiss them at first as not worth his time, but money talked and he'd let them in once she flashed a generous amount of lien under his nose. The cordial he'd served them was a veiled insult, but it was so petty of one that it felt like her victory for taking and drinking it with a smirk on her face. He was the one looking to spite people half his age, and she the one rising above it.
"I'm here in search of information on a person of interest. A homeless girl with green hair, red eyes and tan skin. I need your people to locate her for me."
"Sounds like there's a story behind that."
"Not at all. I'm just vastly interested in the life of some random street urchin." Cinder let her sarcasm hang thick in the air and watched the man scowl. "You don't need my reasons to do this job, Xiong. I pay, you provide, and we all walk away happy."
"Finding one homeless girl in Vale could be difficult."
Cinder snorted. "I doubt that. Homeless shelters are less common than households. It can't be so difficult for you to have them all checked to find where she stays. We'd do it ourselves if we weren't strangers here. You know where these shelters are. We do not."
Junior glanced at Jaune, and Cinder wondered if he was thinking Jaune her weak link. He was right if he thought so, but fatally incorrect if he believed it a good idea to target that link. Her little brother was currently squirming under the attention of two sluts who seemed to find his embarrassment around them endearing. Cinder would admit her brother's reactions could sometimes be just that, but they were playing with a toy that belonged to her. Worse, they weren't truly interested in him, only in making him squirm. One of the twins, sensing her heated gaze, looked over and narrowed her eyes.
"Your sister is giving us evil looks," she teased Jaune, placing her chin on his shoulder. Jaune froze, his face heating up at the proximity of the red twin's lips to his cheek.
"Don't let them touch you, Jaune," Cinder spoke, ignoring them both. "You don't know where they've been or what diseases they come with."
The two girls pushed away from Jaune and stormed toward her, visibly incensed. Cinder smirked, turning in her seat to face them. They'd forgotten about Jaune the moment they were insulted.
Good.
It would serve to remind him that he couldn't trust anyone who claimed to be interested in him so easily. The only one he could rely on was his big sister. Naturally, on seeing her in danger, Jaune reached down for the knife she'd given him, ready to defend her if needs be, but Cinder waved her hand to tell him to stop. While it pleased her to see him so ready to stab them in the back to protect her, she'd rather he didn't put himself in such danger.
He wasn't quite ready for that yet. Cinder hadn't trained him as well as she should have, wanting him weaker so he would still need her protection. It was what Rhodes had done to her, trickling progress along slowly like a dealer peddling drugs to an addict, keeping her hooked on him and what he could provide. Rhodes hadn't wanted her capable of striking out on his own, and she hadn't wanted the same for Jaune. In doing so, she'd become like Rhodes.
A mistake she would have to rectify if they were going to play along with Salem's games. Jaune had proven himself beyond a doubt, and she could not imagine what she would do if he died because she'd held something back from him.
I am not Rhodes. I will be better than him. Stronger than him.
"You want to say that again?" asked the red twin, pushing her face into Cinder's. It was enough to snap her out her daydreams. "Because I thought I heard you calling me a whore."
Unbothered and unhurried, Cinder brought up her hand to touch the girl's dress between finger and thumb. "Is that what I said? Hm. It must be because of the rather revealing clothes you're wearing. Only a whore would show so much skin."
"Excuse me? This dress is perfectly—"
"MILTIA!" the other screamed. "YOU'RE ON FIRE!"
"Huh? Wha—?" The red twin, Miltia, by the sounds of it, looked down at herself and gasped. Her dress was on fire around her skirt, and the flames were racing up unnaturally. Shrieking, she pulled away from Cinder and threw herself to the floor, rolling to put them out.
Too little too late. It wasn't normal fire, of course, but fire controlled by the dust weaves in Cinder's own dress. As such, she'd made it with purpose, and the flames ate away at Miltia's dress at a rapid pace, quickly disintegrating it to leave the girl in a racy set of red underwear. Wildly, she clasped her arms over her chest and crotch, sitting cross-legged on the floor, utterly humiliated.
"C—Cinder!" Jaune choked, blushing and looking away.
"Loose women will try and catch your attention with a little skin," she said, stroking his shoulder. "Don't fall for it. If they're easy, it's because they don't have anything valuable to offer you." Sneering down on Miltia, Cinder said, "Why don't you go put some clothes on, hm? You're making a scene. I'm sure your sister can help you."
"You fucking bitch—"
"Miltia. Enough." Junior sounded unusually annoyed. "Go get changed. Melanie, help her."
The twin in white helped her sister up and they hurried away. Cinder drew out the stool beside her flustered brother and sat. Her point had been made clear, her territory reclaimed, and she'd also taught her little brother a valuable lesson. It was, by all accounts, a profitable experience for them all.
Though she hoped Jaune wouldn't develop into a pervert after seeing a girl in her underwear. There were enough hormonal idiots that she'd had to deal with in Sanctum, and she didn't want him to end up like them.
Lacking any real parents, it was her responsibility to make sure Jaune developed properly. He would become an intelligent, collected and – most importantly – strong man. Someone with so much power that no one would dare cross him. Naturally, any woman he chose to stand at his side would have to be equally powerful, though, perhaps, less so than him. It wouldn't do for some future girlfriend to think she could take advantage of him. Cinder would have to correct such a person most violently if they tried.
"Was that necessary?" Jaune asked in a strangled whisper. "They weren't doing anything."
"They were mocking you."
"It was teasing—"
Cinder's hand snapped out to catch his cheek. Jaune didn't flinch, of course, for he had no reason to think she would slap him. Cinder never had outside of training, where it was more acceptable. This time, she rubbed her thumb over his skin and checked it to see a little lipstick. Her lips tugged down.
"I went too easy on them," she seethed.
"Enough of this!" Junior snapped. "I'll find your waif of a girl, but you'll watch yourself around my girls. You're lucky I don't kick you out for this."
Lucky? Cinder snorted. "Of course. Then here is the money and my number. Contact me when you have information. Jaune, come. We shall go have lunch."
They strode outside side by side. Jaune used to walk a little behind her, but she'd commanded he keep to her side. He was her partner in every way that mattered, and if they were going to add two new people to their group then she'd rather him at her side than either of them.
"What did you notice?" she asked of him, once they were outside.
"He was trying to string you along until you caused a scene with those girls." Jaune's answer was immediate, and though it was a little halting, a little unsure, he gave it anyway. "He was going to try and fleece us for more money, or make you do something as a favour to earn his service."
Cinder couldn't hide her proud smile. "You're right. And why did he change his mind?"
"Because you demonstrated your strength by taking one of them down so easily. They were his muscle, his best, and that's why they were hanging around when you talked to him. I... I think they were meant to keep me off guard so you'd feel isolated around Junior. Is that it?"
"You should speak more confidently when you answer."
"Then I got it right?"
"Of course you did. You're no fool, Jaune."
"Hah." He laughed, but she could tell he was happy by his proud smile. "Only because my big sister keeps testing me like this."
"Life is a lesson and we are all students." It was something she'd ripped from TV, but it fit well, and Jaune naturally assumed it her own wise words. "It's important to show those you're dealing with where the power balance lays. He won't take us for granted now. Come, let's celebrate a productive day with a good meal. I expect they'll find our quarry soon enough."
"You think so?"
"You doubt?" Cinder wasn't upset. "What worries you?"
"It's the homeless shelter angle."
"You're not feeling bad for them again, are you? I hardly asked Junior to assault the shelters. He just needs to keep an eye on them."
"It's not that." He shook his head. "It just got me thinking that if I had a Semblance like hers, I wouldn't be staying at a shelter. I'd probably have tricked some family into thinking I'm their long-lost son or something. Or trick a landlord into thinking I gave them money and paid for a room. Her Semblance is so useful I just struggle to imagine she'll be in some shelter."
Rather than be upset at his questioning of her, Cinder felt quite pleased of the clever use for the girl's Semblance he'd thought of. Like her, Jaune had his flashes of brilliance, though, unlike her, he often felt too guilty to use them when they might harm so-called innocent people.
"It's a good thought, but you forget that she's still begging on the streets. If the girl were that clever, she'd have thought of this, but she obviously hasn't if the best money-making scheme she can come up with is tricking generous people about of a little lien."
"Hm. I guess you're right. If she were smart, she'd be doing bigger crimes than this. I wonder why she hasn't."
"The girl is homeless and hungry. It's easy for us to come up with ideas like this when our stomach isn't cannibalising our spine."
"Cinder!" he gasped. "That's almost a kind thing you just said!"
"Nonsense. I didn't say it excused her stupidity. I only acknowledged that hunger can distract you from using your brain. The girl is still a fool for not utilising her semblance to its fullest capacity. Hence why we shall do it for her."
Those who didn't make use of their strength didn't deserve to keep it.
Better if Cinder did it for them.
/-/
Cinder was in one of her moods again.
Jaune looked at his sister fondly, pleased with himself for forcing her to eat more than she'd originally planned to, since they now had to spend the evening casing the shelter Junior's men had seen the girl enter. Cinder was always a light eater, typically because she was too focused on the next big step of whatever plan she was following to worry about food. If she had her way, food would come in tablet form and be swallowed in one bite.
It was always up to him, then, to make sure she ate a proper meal and didn't rush it.
"This is the place," Cinder said, checking the address against her scroll. "Looks like your thought of her sneaking into a real home has proven incorrect."
"My bad."
"No, it's not. It's her bad for not thinking of it." Cinder closed her scroll and stashed it. "You shall guard the entrance while I go in and secure her. The girl doesn't seem capable of using her Semblance on more than one person at once, so if you see her slip by me, shout out. I'll do the same."
Jaune stopped her. "You do realise there will be other people in there. We can't go in there and just abduct her. There'll be loads of witnesses."
"Don't fret so much." Cinder peeled his hand off and rolled her eyes. "We're coming back to Vale in the future for our own aims, so I'm not about to cause a scene. We are going to threaten that we have located her and that we won't be dissuaded, and then we shall pitch the benefits of working for us. The girl is homeless, starving, and living in a dump. It isn't like she's going to say no."
"And if she does?"
"She will not." Cinder caught his wrist and pulled him to the doorway. "Don't let her escape."
Jaune stood in the entranceway to the small shelter. It was little more than a room with cheap bunkbeds in it, within which people were wrapped up tight under blankets and the like. It was cold, damp, and not at all a good place to live. Jaune even spied one person injecting themselves with some kind of drug, and another who was trying to steal something from a sleeping homeless man.
These people had nothing left. Eventually, when all else was gone, even pride and human dignity had to be discarded. Jaune knew it well, having had to surrender his when his "mother" adopted him. He'd been excited at first, believing all those stories in the orphanage about how wonderful adoption would be. And then reality had hit. He hadn't been homeless, but he'd felt just as helpless, unable to stand up or fight back as the cruel twins who were her "true daughters" picked on him.
He'd called them a mean name once. Once. They had run to their mother, and she'd beaten him with a belt until he was a crying mess. It had been Cinder who cleaned his cuts and let him sob on her, and while she hadn't told him it would "all be okay" that was only because she was honest with him. The both of them had known it wouldn't be okay, and they'd become murderers to escape it. Cinder had killed and he'd been an accomplice, and he helped to cover it up when the police investigated after. In a sense, that was no better or worse than what he saw now.
Could they really claim to be any better people than the worse of this homeless community? At least those shooting up only hurt themselves. Jaune tore his eyes away and back to the matter at hand. His sister had given him a task and he would not fail.
It didn't take Cinder long to find the girl.
But she saw Cinder coming.
The green-haired girl bolted left and Cinder dove right, completely missing her and landing on the empty bed the girl had vacated. She ran for the door, for him, and Jaune steadied himself as Cinder shouted out, "Jaune! Stop her!"
Red eyes met his and the girl swore, jinking to his left to dodge him.
Fighting every instinct, Jaune dove to the right, opening his arms and legs out wide like a starfish and just throwing himself in that general direction. That, despite seeing the girl go the other way. He hit something, and that something yelled in pain as he knocked them to the ground. In an instant, what he'd been seeing faded and he found himself laid over a short girl.
"Yes!" Cinder hissed, reaching him. The shelter was waking up and reacting to the sudden violence. Cinder dug a hand into her dress and pulled out her purse, then yanked out a huge amount of lien and cast it into the room. "Charity!" she shouted, as Jaune picked the girl up. "First come, first served!"
Money was life to these people. Given the choice between scrambling for some lien that would buy them warm food or risking their lives to protect a homeless girl for no reward, it wasn't a big surprise when they ignored Cinder and Jaune and scrambled for the money. Soon, it was an all-out brawl. Cinder pulled the girl's arms behind her back and held them tight, and they dragged her out the shelter as it descended into chaos.
"Good work!" Cinder said, smiling madly at him. "Did she use her Semblance on you?"
"Yes. But I assumed she'd send me the wrong way and jumped the other."
"Ha! That's my brother."
Stupidly, selfishly, and perhaps a little cruelly, that simple statement was enough to wash away all the guilt Jaune felt at having tackled and abducted a homeless girl. Maybe Cinder wasn't the only one who was messed up.
/-/
Emerald had known her antics would catch up with her eventually.
There were too many people she'd conned, too many homeless kids she'd stolen food and sweets from. She'd known it would come back to haunt her, but when the choice was cheat and live, or starve and die, it wasn't like she'd have much of a choice.
And now she was tied to a chair in a hotel room with two people staring her down. One of them was a beautiful woman with cascading black hair, glowing yellow eyes and a red and gold dress. The other was a scruff-looking guy with messy yellow hair, blue eyes, and a red shirt over black dress pants. They matched in some ways, but they looked fundamentally different to one another, which made it weird when they introduced themselves.
"I am Cinder Fall and this is my brother, Jaune Fall. And you are...?"
Emerald stuck her bottom lip out.
"Don't test me—"
"Cinder." The boy touched her arm and stepped in front of her. He smiled awkwardly. "Hi. I'm Jaune. Sorry about the whole abducting you thing. You must be hungry." He pulled a flapjack out his pocket. "You want some?"
Emerald stared at it, and him, like he was an idiot.
Even a homeless girl knew better than to accept food from strangers, especially when said strangers had freaking abducted her! No, she did not want to accept food off him. They should just stop this and take her organs.
Emerald turned her nose and face up at them. "Hmph."
"I've told you kindness doesn't work," said Cinder, rolling her eyes. "Here, watch." Gently pushing him out the way, Cinder planted her hands on the shoulder rests on either side of Emerald's neck and leaned in close. "You have two options, girl. You will obey and follow me in all things—"
"—you'd be our friend—"
"—you would be our agent," she corrected, without breaking eye contact with Emerald, "And you would do whatever I ask of you."
"In return, you'd be fed and looked after and even paid!" the boy chipped in. "You'd never have to worry about being homeless or living on the streets again."
"You would taste power—" Cinder began.
"—and really nice food—"
"And rise above those callous fools who would stab you in the back and take what is yours—"
"—because they're desperate as well—"
"Jaune." Cinder pushed away from Emerald, her voice kind but firm. She turned her back on Emerald. "Jaune. What are you doing?"
The boy scratched his cheek. "Um. Helping?"
"Helping? Yes. Hm." Cinder took a deep breath and let it go. "Can you perhaps... not...?"
"I just think you're scaring her." Jaune gestured to Emerald, who was indeed a little frightened, but mostly for her life at this point, and not only because of Cinder. "I mean, we basically abducted her and that's not a great way to convince her to be an ally to us."
"Jaune, we're not looking for an ally. She is a m—"
"—employee, I know." Jaune cut her off, but Emerald was fairly sure she was about to say minion there. "But how do you expect her to feel loyalty to us if she's being threatened? Isn't it better to convince her to work with us because it'll benefit her?"
Cinder crossed her arms.
"I just think we don't always have to go for the hard sale," he said, helplessly. "I'm not saying you're wrong, but she could absolutely betray us with her Semblance if she didn't like us, so isn't it better to show her we're not bad people?"
"Jaune, we're plotting the destruction of Vale."
He winced. "I meant not bad people to her specifically. I know we're bad people in a legal and moral sense..."
Cinder pinched the bridge of her nose. "Jaune," she said, outright groaning. She glanced back at Emerald. "One moment. Jaune, a word..."
They retreated to the hotel room toilet and closed the door behind them, leaving Emerald tied and gagged to a seat in the middle of their hotel room while they argued – in a room that was so close she could hear their voices through the wall. The woman was telling the boy off, explaining to him that – as a homeless orphan – Emerald would have no loyalty and no compunction betraying them if she thought she could get away with it, and that, as such, she needed to feel too intimidated to do so.
Which, to be fair, she was right about. Emerald had already been thinking of accepting whatever they wanted, getting a meal out of it, then booking it with whatever she could steal that wasn't bolted down.
The boy kept arguing it was unfair and mean and how Emerald obviously just needed to know they were there to help her – which was weird, given how he'd helped kidnap her. Was it an act they were putting on? Emerald had heard of "good cop, bad cop" but didn't think it happened with kidnappers either.
But hey, at least they weren't organ harvesters.
That was a relief.
"I just think we can afford to be a little nicer to our first friend—"
"Minion, Jaune! She is not a friend!"
"I mean, not right now, but she could be later—"
"No. No, no, and absolutely not. You cannot get attached so easily! Have I taught you nothing? Attachments open up room for betrayal. It's a weakness that can be exploited!"
Emerald agreed. There'd been someone she trusted once, back when she was first homeless, and she'd unlocked her Semblance to escape him once the man had tried to sell her to some fat and seedy businessman who'd said she would make a fine "toy" for his personal use. Those who trusted others were stupid.
"It's not that I don't listen. I just like to imagine things can be better."
"They can be better, and they will be, but only if she does as we say! The brat will have power and food and all those things you promised – but that's all. I'm not promising her friendship and family, Jaune. I've no interest in giving it!"
"All you've promised her is death if she betrays you."
"That's called being honest!"
"I mean... yeah... but... but it's not nice."
"Jaune, look at me. Look at me. Am I nice...?"
"..." Emerald could almost imagine the wounded puppy look on his face. "I think you're nice."
"You're biased."
"You're nice to me."
"Ugh. You're impossible!"
"How about a compromise, then? You don't want to have to look after her, so I will."
"Jaune, we're not adopting her like some kind of pet! She is to be a weapon! A tool!"
"Tools need looking after, don't they...?"
"You! Gah! Arghhhh!"
The door to the toilet banged open and Cinder stormed out and to Emerald. The woman's hands slapped down on her shoulders.
"I assume you heard all that," she hissed. Emerald nodded. "Good. Saves me the time. Do you accept? You will be my brother's responsibility. You will do as I say, but you shall be his to look after. Serve me well and I shall see you rewarded. Do you accept?"
Emerald nodded. Again, she'd always planned to accept – if only so she could run away after. She just thought it would look too suspicious to accept straight away. She had to make it look like she was cowed, then she could slip away. Her Semblance was only useful when used on one person at once, so once she had him alone, she'd be golden.
"Hmhm!" Emerald bobbed her head up and down. "Sccpt..." she mumbled against the gag.
"Great!" said Jaune, hurrying forward and nudging Cinder out the way. The older woman crossed her arms, clearly annoyed as Jaune fussed and untied her, and then slipped off her gag. "What's your name, then? I'm sorry about the rough treatment. We're not normally this bad."
Emerald doubted it.
"Emerald. Emerald Sustrai."
"Great! I'm Jaune, like you heard. And that's my sister, Cinder. Trust me, she's not as mean as she lets on – she just doesn't trust easily." Cinder looked to the ceiling in search of divine assistance. "You'll get used to her when you come back to Mistral with us. We'll get you your own room in our house. It'll be so much better than living on the street."
He was soft.
It was obvious from how he talked before, and it was kind of obvious the moment she laid her eyes on him. Cinder was the clever one, and he was the weak link. Emerald smiled hesitantly and mumbled a shy "thank you", shifting closer to him. It wouldn't be the first time she'd played the helpless waif to trick someone with more sympathy than sense.
"Jaune..." Cinder spoke out warmly. "You're smothering the girl. Why don't you go get her some snacks from the vending machine outside? I'm sure she's starving. A little chocolate to celebrate being taken off the streets is in order, no...?"
"Ah! Right! I'll go grab some drinks as well! Be right back!"
Jaune ran out the door after grabbing his wallet.
The moment he was gone, the world was spinning. Emerald was picked up by her neck and thrown down to the floor. A knee dug into her sternum and a hand as hard as iron and hot as an oven clamped down over her throat, choking her. A dagger, sharp and shimmering like glass, hovered a fraction of an inch above her wide-open eyeball.
Emerald didn't dare move.
"My brother is soft," the deadly woman hissed, leaning down to whisper in Emerald's ear. "He's so caring and gentle that he would swaddle you in cloth and see you as happy as can be. That's simply how he sees the world. Some silly little ideal fantasy of his, born of the small amount of kindness he was given by me. Kindness that wasn't even kindness but cruel manipulations..."
Trying to draw in a breath, Emerald choked. The vibration almost caused her eye to cut itself on the sharp point. It was all Emerald could see.
"But I love him regardless. I love him, his flaws and all, and if I so much as smell you thinking of harming him, or abusing his blind trust, or of thinking yourself somehow better than him." Cinder's breath rattled as it came out, washing over Emerald's ear. "Then I won't just kill you. I shall burn the flesh from your body. I shall turn your skin molten and wash it run off you as you scream your last breaths out. I will visit upon you pain the likes of which you could never find on the streets. Then I shall throw you in a dumpster to be eaten alive by insects and rats while I comfort my poor brother as to how his ungrateful friend ran away."
The hand around her neck grew hotter. It burned the inside of Emerald's throat.
"Am I understood...?"
"Mm!" Emerald made the sound, but didn't dare nod. She would have lost an eye if she did. "MM!" she said, again, casting out all thoughts of tricking the boy and running. "Y—Yes. I'll do whatever you say. I promise!"
The knife vanished, and a warm hand patted her cheek.
"Good girl. And you will be a good girl for my brother. You will be appropriately grateful to him, and thankful that he cares enough to make your life less miserable." Cinder climbed off her, removing her knee from Emerald's stomach. "Because while my brother's kindness might be misplaced with someone like you, it would break his heart to be proven wrong. He cares too much, you see. Puts his heart into everything." Her eyes flashed threateningly. "I trust you will adore him for the effort he puts into you."
"Yes! Yes! Yes, I will! I promise!"
When Jaune returned with snacks and drinks, it was to find Cinder reading a text on her scroll and Emerald sitting on her bed with a huge smile on her face. An almost nervous one. Jaune glanced immediately to his sister, silently asking what she'd done, but Cinder acted like she couldn't feel his gaze.
"Are those for me?" Emerald asked, all sweetness and sugar and desperation. "Thank you so much!"
"Ah, yes." Jaune smiled and sat on the bed next to her. "I didn't know what you might like, so I got a bit of everything. And some fruit chocolate for you, sis!" He tossed her a bar. "I guess this is your welcome party."
"Hm. My favourite." Cinder said. "Thank you. And you, Emerald?"
"Thank you!" she gushed, grabbing Jaune's wrist. "T—Thank you so much for saving me from the streets!"
"Ahah." Jaune laughed, scratching the back of his head. "Ah shucks. It's no problem. See, Cinder. I told you. You catch more flies with honey than vinegar. It's better to win someone's trust than threaten them into compliance."
"You did tell me," Cinder drawled. "And it looks like you were right. As expected of my little brother." He preened. "Well, we'll have a pleasant night to ourselves and then head back to Mistral. I'm sure Emerald is excited to see her new home, and we still have to acquire our final teammate."
Emerald swallowed her chocolate and asked, "Should I sleep on the floor?"
"Yes—" Cinder began.
"No, you can take my bed. I'll sleep on the floor."
"Jaune will sleep with me," Cinder said, with a sigh. She rolled her eye and slapped the mattress to her side beckoning him to come and sit down. "It'll hardly be the first time. We'll have breakfast together tomorrow morning and set off for Mistral in the evening, after buying Emerald some proper clothes."
Soon, they were all in bed, Emerald sat on her back with the sheets up to her neck, staring at the ceiling wondering if it maybe wasn't too late to make a run for it. Glancing over, she spied the siblings in the gloom. The boy was curled up behind Cinder, practically spooning her with an arm around her waist and over her stomach under the sheets. Somehow, it didn't look romantic at all. He had his face buried in her hair, while she was resting her cheek on his other hand, which she had pulled under her neck to rest on.
Suddenly, her eyes snapped open, glowing in the dark and fixed on Emerald. Emerald flinched and stared back at the ceiling. If she ran, it'd upset Jaune, and Emerald had the distinct feeling she might not survive that. Emerald gulped and laid back, locking her eyes on the ceiling.
Was this what being adopted felt like…?
You are being adopted! Do not resist!
Next Chapter: 10th December
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