Chapter 27: Argus - Fallout

[A/N] A little slower chapter here, to cover the psychological consequences of last chapter, and give a window into the heads of a few other characters.

Cinder awoke to the smell of bacon cooking. Garek had probably forgotten to turn the vent on, and the air circulation system had wafted the smell through the house. He did that sometimes. Garek usually did the cooking. Selene, Cinder had come to realize, didn't cook. Or at least, she wasn't good at it. When Cinder had asked about it, Selene had said she grew up with servants who cooked her meals. She seemed embarrassed by that, and Cinder thought it might have been because she had been a servant at the Glass Unicorn, and Selene didn't want her to focus on that.

Selene was still asleep, and Cinder was tucked up into her on Garek and Selene's large bed. Selene's body curved around Cinder's smaller form and an arm wrapped protectively around her. It was the safest, most comfy thing Cinder had ever felt in her entire life, and she didn't want to move. She wanted it to keep going on and on forever.

When Argent hugged her, it had felt a little like that too. Not the same, but a little. She liked Argent, a lot, but she wasn't really sure what to do with that. And she hadn't been sure, before last night, whether Argent liked her back.

But now she knew. Argent trusted her. Argent had stayed with her when she had… lost herself punishing those men. And she had stayed with her after, and hugged her, and told her it was all going to be okay.

Punishment.

Punishment.

Punishment.

It was an old familiar word for Cinder. One full of pain and hopelessness. But now it had a new angle to it. She had punished those men. Did that make her as bad as Madame? She didn't think so. But maybe Madame didn't think she had been bad either. But Cinder felt, deep down, that it wasn't the same thing: punishing men who were going to hurt her friends versus punishing a little girl whose only crime had been dropping a plate, or being too slow, or straying too far.

The more she thought about it, the more she decided that it was really different. What she had done seemed… right. And it had to do with reasons.

She suspected that was what Garek and Selene had meant last night that they would talk to her about today. There are lines, though, and it's important to learn where they are, Garek had said.

Yeah… that. She felt like… she kinda knew where some of those lines were, but she wasn't sure. If her stepsisters had tried to take away her sword, would she have been justified hurting them? Burning them? What if it was Madame, punishing her? Would she be right to burn her like she had those men? What if… she tried to come up with someone she kinda liked who might interfere… not Rhodes, he'd never take someone else's side… what if Miss Helena had been there at the Glass Unicorn, and tried to stop her from hurting Madame? Would it be right to hurt her then?

She wasn't sure about that. Both sides felt kinda wrong. It wasn't right to stop her from defending herself, but it didn't feel right hurting Helena just because she got in the way either.

Hmm.. that word… defending herself. That seemed important, right? You couldn't just be mean, just because you were stronger. That was what Madame and her stepsisters had done. But if someone was hurting you, or someone you cared about… that was different, right?

So… could Rhodes have just killed Madame instead of getting Garek and Selene to take her away like they had? Why didn't he do that instead?

It seemed complicated. People are weird.

That brought her back to last night again.

Argent trusted her. She and Argent were good. Better than good, even. Sarah… she thought Sarah and her were good too. Sarah had run for help, and when they got back to the Emporium, Sarah had made sure Cinder was okay, and she had told the police that Cinder had been fighting to protect them. And Laurel. Laurel had missed most of the fight, so she and Cinder were probably okay.

Terra was complicated. Cinder was worried about that. Terra had been so brave, trying to protect Laurel and Sarah without Aura, and she'd gotten hurt. Cinder had always looked up to Terra like… like she thought a big sister might be. And after Cinder had… burned those men… Terra had looked at her like she didn't even recognize her. That scared Cinder. She didn't want to lose her big-sister-friend.

She snuggled back against Selene a little closer, and felt the arm draw her in, and somehow that helped her believe that maybe it would be okay.

Crys had already been up and starting to get dressed for work when she heard Garek puttering around in the kitchen downstairs, and she hurried up so she could help out.

The last month, heck the past year, had been whirlwind of changes for the young Mistralian woman. First had been her home village, little more than an outpost, getting wiped out by Grimm. She'd fled to the closest larger one. But with the influx of refugees, their resources had been strained to the limit. Any orphan kids had been taken care of first, and that left adults like her pretty much to shift for themselves. Some had managed to find jobs there, and stayed.

She wasn't much use except as a hunter, and so she'd spent most of her time out in the forests nearby, until a couple of the men in the village had started getting handsy with her. And since she was little more than a refugee herself, she'd been afraid to make waves.

So she'd just left, trying for a different village where things maybe weren't so bad.

Instead, she'd run into Red and his crew. It might have turned out even worse for her, but she'd just finished killing a deer when they found her. And Red's crew, shitty as they were, had seen more value in her hunting skills than in using her and throwing her away. It was a mixed blessing. On the one hand, she was alive, and had a certain amount of security. On the other hand, now she was a member of a small bandit tribe, and the nearby villages knew it.

And Red was an asshole.

And then a month later, they'd stumbled on a small campsite, buried in a thicket, where no one in their right mind should've been, especially not alone. It hadn't felt right. And her instincts had told her that she didn't want any of any of that.

Her instincts, yet again, had been dead accurate.

It wouldn't have been enough to save her, if Selene hadn't turned out to be a decent person. Much more decent than most people you found out in the wilds of Mistral. And a lot weirder than anyone Crys had ever met in her entire life.

I mean, it wasn't every day that you met a woman who wasn't a Huntress, travelling alone in the woods, who could order Grimm around, and rode a freaking Nevermore. And her fiancé was a Huntsman, fully trained. And then there was Cinder, who it turned out was tweenaged weapon of mass destruction. If Red's crew had run into her out in the woods, they'd have died in the first fifteen seconds, Crys included. Cinder should have scared the hell out of her.

But she'd been living first in a hotel and now in a townhouse, with those three people for what… almost a month? And they were the weirdest, most comfortable family she'd ever seen in her twenty years. And then they had those friends of theirs, which included her boss Reggie, and Pete, and Sophia. They were weird too. Intense.

And now, she was part of all that, but she suspected that there was a lot going on behind the scenes that they weren't telling her. That was okay. She'd gone from having no hope of surviving another five years, to being sure she'd be dead in the next five seconds, to being the first employee of a newly-formed security company run by Reggie Cass, having a place to live, and she was starting to actually like these people.

Things could definitely be worse, she mused as she headed downstairs to help Garek with breakfast.

"So how are things going with you? Got something interesting going on today?" Garek asked Crys over bacon and egg on toast as Selene and Cinder dug into their own plates.

Crys finished chewing and swallowed. "Yeah. Reggie's breaking ground with the contractors on that new MASC facility he's got planned just outside the main Argus gates. Gonna be an indoor gun range, so that we won't have to worry about noise ordinances and can use higher-powered firearms."

"Ah. Nice. Good to see he's hitting the ground running."

"Yeah, Reggie doesn't screw around."

"How are you doing otherwise?"

"I was just thinking about that. I'm doing fine. You folks have been great to me. Better than I deserved, really. Might think about getting my own place. With what Reggie is paying me, I can afford it."

"Understandable. Take your time, though. Make sure you're on your feet. You okay with what happened yesterday?"

"That? Oh, yeah. I saw worse out in Mistral, before Selene adop-" Crys glanced at Cinder, "uh… saved my behind and hauled me out here. I'm fine."

Garek realized she was being honest. He also caught the slip, and gave Selene a look.

Cinder just kept eating, seemingly lost in thought.

After Crys left, the three sat quietly for a minute at the table.

"So, Cinder, how are you doing this morning?

"I'm okay. I… thought about what you said last night." She took a deep breath, and exhaled. "I still don't feel bad about what I did. And I'm still worried about Terra. But I feel okay." She frowned and poked at a cooling egg with her fork. "What you said about lines… I'm not sure I know where those are." She relayed what she'd been mulling over earlier that morning. "So… am I right? If I'm protecting myself or someone else, then it's okay?"

It was Selene that spoke first. "It is not so clear as that, though that is a good start." She sighed, looking for the right words. "For example, my mother believes that should anyone hurt me, she would be justified in destroying the person who did it completely, possibly along with their companions, family members, home village, and so forth. Does that seem… appropriate to you? What if you happened to be one of those companions, and did not realize what your associate was intending to do?"

"Oh… yeah that wouldn't be fair. Are you saying some of those men-"

"Oh hell no," Garek said. "Those men were riding around in a van full of gear designed for human trafficking. They all knew exactly what they were doing."

"The point, Cinder, is that it depends, and it is complicated, and the best thing to do is to be conservative with the use of your abilities. If talking is sufficient, do not hurt. If hurting is sufficient, do not disable. If disabling is sufficient, do not kill. Killing is a grave matter, even if they deserve it, and should not be taken lightly."

"Oh…" Cinder swallowed. "I shouldn't have killed them?"

"I don't think you had a choice, there, kiddo." Garek corrected. "You've not been training in your Semblance and you were outnumbered badly. If they'd gotten one of your friends as a hostage, it could have gone the other way real fast, and ended up with you unconscious." His hands knuckled on the table. "You did the necessary thing."

Cinder mulled that over. Necessary. Right. She wasn't happy or sad about it. It just needed doing. "Okay. I understand that."

"Now, let's take the other example you threw out. Madame and her little demon-spawn. If you'd taken it into your head to kill them for how they treated you, even if Madame was hurting you right then and there… that would have gone badly for you. Not just because it would have been overkill…"

Selene interrupted, "But because things that are right, are not always things that are just. Those with wealth and power can ignore laws or bend them to their will.

"Right," Garek added, "It would have been overkill, and even if it had been justified morally, you would have suffered the consequences for it, because that monster got to play by different rules than you did."

Cinder's eyes narrowed. "Huh." She somehow wasn't surprised. Rhodes had said once that if she had gotten her freedom that way, she'd have been running for the rest of her life. And it turned out her friend was right, again.

"Let's look at another example. You heard about Selene's fight with those bandits, right?"

"Yeah. She beat them, too."

"I did not wish to. I could have solved the problem by setting a better watch."

"But that wasn't your fault they decided to be bandits."

"True. I could also have killed them all without anyone blaming me, but I chose not to. In fact, I did not purposefully kill any of them. I wanted them removed as a threat, but I did not wish to have their blood on my hands. In the end, I did what was necessary, but no more. Two died to the Grimm, perhaps others…"

"And we got Crys. Selene could have told the Grimm to kill them all, and she wouldn't be here."

"Exactly, Cinder. And look at what we'd have missed out on. Crys is going to be working with Reggie and might end up saving someone's life someday."

Garek shrugged. "I know we aren't giving you clear rules here… that's just the way things are… truth is, you're a kid and a Huntress in Training. You're going to mess up. Don't kill people if you can help it. Don't kill unarmed people. And generally leave it as a last resort when violence is necessary. That's about the best I can do. Oh, and keep in mind that powerful and wealthy people don't aways care about right and wrong and legal."

"Yes. We opted to rescue you by subterfuge rather than report her behavior to the authorities, because while she was wrong, and we were within our rights to protect you, we believed she would have greater power over the outcome."

Cinder was nodding her head. "Okay. I think… I understand a little better."

"And the last part is, we need to set aside some time, every day if possible, for you to practice your Semblance in a safe place."

"Oh," Cinder breathed, "You mean… I thought it was… just a trick. It's a… Semblance?"

"Right, that's an ability that some Huntsmen have. I call mine Pounce. It lets me jump long distances without making a sound, and if I'm leaping downward, it can be near instantaneous."

"Whoah. That's cooool."

"What do you call yours?"

"I just called it my… trick. I thought it was a secret."

Garek and Selene shared a look. "Ah, we assumed you had just unlocked it… how long have you been able to heat things like that?"

Cinder looked embarrassed. "Just before you guys rescued me. I was… cleaning the floors with a wet scrub brush, and my stepsisters came and started tracking mud on purpose… and making fun of me. I got mad. Really mad… and… my hands got scorching hot and the water in the brush just blew up into a cloud of steam." She Frowned. "Madame punished me afterward because the brush was ruined."

"Huh. Well, you can still name it."

She thought about how she'd used it so far, turning water into steam, and melting cobblestones, and heating water in her tub "How about Scorch? Though it doesn't hurt me when I do it."

"You could call it Scorching Caress," Selene offered, illustrating with her hand on Cinder's shoulder, "Since it doesn't hurt you and it seems to rely on your hands to work."

"Oh wow, that does sound cool. Scorching Caress… it's all super-power sounding." Her eyes sparkled.

"Just promise not to use it for evil," Garek laughed.

"It's only been four months," Garek muttered. They were lying in bed and the house was otherwise quiet once everyone had turned in. Crys had crashed early, complaining with a grin that Reggie was working her to death.

"She is clearly thinking in terms of us being her parents, and we will be travelling to Mistral soon to try to get her a new identity. Would this not be an optimum time?"

"That's not the part that bothers me, really. It's the other part you mentioned."

"That we tell her my true nature? At least part of it? Do you think it's fair to adopt a child under false pretense?"

"If that's your concern, then we don't have to adopt her, we can have her ID registered with us as her legal guardians instead of adoptive parents."

"She has been through much, Garek, and I believe showing trust will be best. She needs us, Garek."

"I'm not arguing about that part. I just don't think this is smart, Selene. It's too soon. That kind heart of yours-"

"The kindest of the Thinking Peoples?" She teased.

He sighed. "Yeah that, is going to get you killed, and then a lot of people are going to get hurt."

"You sound like my mother."

"Holy shit, Selene," he gasped. "Low blow!"

She smirked, then sighed. "Perhaps you are correct. Perhaps I am too quick to throw caution to the wind and trust too much. I see the faces of those who profess to care for me as I appear now, and I believe they will feel the same if they know me as I truly am. But this is different, Garek. It would be… as if I were asking you to be my betrothed but concealing my nature from you. I would be unjust. If we are to go further, we must find a way to show her who the family she belongs to is." She shook her head. "I trust Cinder. She is, as I told my mother, clever and resilient. She is also loyal, as shown by her actions that night."

"But-"

"I believe that if we formalize our relationship with her, and do not inform her, she is clever enough to begin to question things more deeply, and perhaps to draw conclusions of her own, and what will be the result of finding out the people she trusted hid their very nature from her? Would she believe we planned to tell her eventually?"

Garek was quiet for a long time. "Does that go for the Lone Huntsmen too?"

Selene was pensive. "That is more difficult. I can see that we are drawing closer, that there is trust building there. But… they are not family."

"But the same problems apply. They aren't stupid, Selene, at some point, there's a risk of them finding out on their own. We need to think about easing them into it. Hell, I think Pete would accept it without question now." He looked at her carefully. "And my parents?"

"That is more straightforward, in my opinion, it must be before our wedding, whenever that is to be. I will not ask them to welcome me into their family without understanding all of whom I am."

Garek snorted, then looked at her with frustrated respect. "You're damn particular with your morals and ideals, aren't you?"

"I am, it is why you adore me."

He considered everything that Selene had said. "I do. And I think, for this to work, you and I both have to agree."

"Yes."

"And this time… this time I don't agree. I'm willing to adopt Cinder, but I'm not willing to lay your true nature on her just yet. And you're willing to adopt Cinder, but only if we do. That leaves us stuck unless we come up with another 'third way'.

Selene sighed. "And that third way is, as you suggested, to move now to make us formally her legal guardians, but not to suggest adoption, not yet."

"That's what I think."

"But… she already wishes us to be-"

"Remember what I said, about us being friends? Adding the title doesn't make it happen, it's what happens after it's already happened." He snaked an arm under Selene's neck, and squeezed her shoulders. "We're already a family, no matter what title you slap onto it. We've been telling her, and everyone else, that we're her guardians, and she's our ward. She doesn't care, not yet. She's accidentally calling you mom sometimes because that's what her friends call their parents, but she's not hurting because of it.

Selene sighed. "It eats at me."

"And that's fine. But that's about you and me, not Cinder. Look, let it lie. Let her call us whatever she wants. And if she comes to us, and says she wants this, then we'll talk about it again, and see what we can come up with."

"Fine, I will defer to your judgment. But I will not forget it."

"Don't expect you to."

Selene snorted. "I almost wish you had given me a scar from that first night we met, so I could use it to win arguments."

"You… are a manipulative little thing, you know that?"

"Blame my mother, and kiss me."

[A/N] Shoutout to Shadowstorm-Vash who has given me the only review on Chapter 26 so far, suggesting an alternate chapter title of "Family Barbecue". I tell ya, that one had me cackling for like five minutes. Dark man, real dark, but good. I'm still thinking about making that official, lol.

So... yes as a result of her life experiences at the Glass Unicorn, Cinder has a little bit of antisocial personality disorder, but she's not quite a screwed up as she would have been in canon. And importantly, she's trying to take cues from the adults around her, which is encouraging, as long as those adults are themselves carrying a decent moral compass. She's also still worried about Terra, who hasn't called her yet.

Oh, and she names her Semblance, which I kept to canon, as Scorching Caress.

And a bit into the head of Crys, and we learn what Reggie and MASC are up to at the moment.

And finally, Garek and Selene discuss formal adoption, and this time Garek holds the line and Selene backs down.

Next chapter will be a bit of travelling. Who's up for a trip on the Argus Limited?!