Chapter 71

First, she'd survived Ruby Rose's abilities being thrown at her full-force, but then Aldric died. Then she undid the damage to her soul and gained more power to boot, but then the young Maiden turned into a Grimm. Then Aldric was rendered alive again, but then revealed to be a Grimm. Then she received the powers of the Summer Maiden, but at the cost of seeing that her friend wasn't truly alive, and wasn't even her friend to begin with. Then she found and stole the abilities of the Spring Maiden, but had to witness mass murder of such brutal efficiency that she still now found herself thinking back on the moment with a level of revulsion she didn't know she was still capable of. Then she made it to Mistral, but her remaining allies died, and the two surviving Masters turned out to be traitors. Then she had a giant shift in her mental state, but at the cost of realizing that her friend had always intended to betray and kill her. Then she learned he had plans for his death, but not a single scenario in which she turned out to be an ally. Then Ozpin was alive, and then he tried to convince her to sacrifice herself. Then she bought enough time for Sephiroth to launch, but at the cost of nearly dying to Aldric Black.

Then she accidentally traveled through time, found her friend alive, and felt true, genuine hope for the first time in months.

Only to have him routinely refuse to believe her story and then bring back the very creature that had nearly killed her and functionally destroyed the planet, in the future.

Cinder Fall felt her entire world falling to pieces around her, her heart was thundering in her chest, a cold sweat was forming on her head, her eyes were wide, and as she leapt to her feet, hands digging into her hair, she began hyperventilating. This constant back-and-forth, ceaseless teasing and relentless mental torture thrust upon her by the universe was doing its best to break her.

But as she desperately tried to fight off a panic attack, Aldric merely slumped back into his chair, idly staring at the entrance to the medical facility, his frown having melted away, replaced by a single raised eyebrow, and the single most unsurprised, dull, "huh..." She'd ever heard in her life.

Cinder rounded on Aldric, a crazed look in her eyes. "Huh?!" She repeated, "do - do you know what you just did?!"

Aldric nodded, nonchalantly standing to his feet. "Kinda sounds like I just unleashed Baron Von Evilsatan's top lieutenant on the world." He hummed, patting himself off, before he nodded to the door. "Let's go say hi."

Cinder nearly tore her hair out, her hands left her head and grabbed Aldric's shoulders so fast. "Aldric!" She called out, "you actually want to see it!?" She screamed, practically foaming at the mouth.

Aldric turned, giving her a blank look. "I mean... Yeah?" He said, as though it were obvious. "Kinda." He patted Cinder on the arm, "think of it this way: You've just been validated, congratulations." With a knife-hand, he then chopped at both of her shoulders, "I hereby dub the: Not an asshole, now let's go kill my evil clone." He turned and, as he walked, he said, "oh, and the not freaking out thing? You get used to it, Hot Stuff." He chuckled, as Cinder, out of a lack of anything better to do, rushed to follow him. "Hell, I pretty much became numb to the universe shitting on me when Neo basically told me we're gonna fuck whether or not I want to." He said, digging into one of the pockets on his belt.

Cinder was at a loss, "I hope you're not just going to fight him with that belt..." Her mind was going to the horde of things she'd seen in the ship - which, as they exited the medical facility, she realized they were in, recognizing the corridors and walls.

"Alarm! Grimm presence detected in - Main Hall. This is not a drill!"

"Course not, I'm fighting him with what's in the belt." Aldric responded, pulling out a small jar and crushing it, whereupon two tiny kite-shields made of a dark metal grew in his hands.

As Aldric slid them over his forearms, Cinder jumped in front of him, "Aldric -"

And he finally dropped the gimmick, looking into her eyes with the fire she'd gone so long without seeing, a fire so intense that it stopped her cold. "Cinder." He countered, "I need to see him. Need to talk to him, get whatever I can out of him, and then see if I even can fight him." He explained, clenching one of his fists, causing the shield to expand to double its size, a jagged edge sticking out just past his knuckles. "I know exactly what you're thinking, and the reason I haven't told Sheila to open up the Maiden Contingency is because if this thing really is what you say it is, it won't work."

Cinder blinked.

"The life-eater virus is literally the only thing - well, fine, the second thing - from a particular story I feel safe pulling out, and even then it scares the shit out of me, because it works - come on -" He started walking again, "- it works by, as the name suggests, eating any and all biological material, from plants and animals to bacteria, in a given area, breeding, expanding, and repeating. And as a byproduct of this, it releases a gas whose flashpoint is barely room temperature..." He paused, "and it can cover an entire planet in a few minutes. Literally one spark later and the entire planet is on fire - this may sound like a perfect weapon against Aldric Black... But it's not impossible to survive if you know what you're doing - like, say, telekinetically shielding yourself so you don't get exposed, and keeping said shield up until the fires are done burning." Aldric gave her a pointed look, and she got the message: That had been exactly what he'd planned on doing if he had to kill her and his gun hadn't worked.

And then she realized what he was implying beyond that: Aldric Black would have the same idea.

"I meant the contingency to be used if you, or Grimm, broke in. But that thing kind of breaks the mold, I genuinely don't think it will work on him." Aldric continued, as they reached an elevator and entered.

"So your plan then is to fight the thing that you yourself know doesn't fight?" She prodded, disbelievingly.

To which, Aldric grinned, and pulled out a familiar-looking mask from his coat, and handed it to her.

She took it in her hands, and recognized it for what it was: The octo-camo mask, repaired.

"That thing didn't recognize you when you wore it." Was all he said, as he leaned against the wall of the elevator, waiting for her to catch on.

And catch on she did: "Its mission is to take me alive... But if it is confronted with me and you wearing the same face, it will be forced to fight." She then looked back up to him, "but that means we still have to fight it!" She pointed out.

Aldric nodded, humming. "Yeah, after it marathoned Jaune, Taurus, Ozpin, and you. It's strong, Hot Stuff, but it's not invulnerable. Can't be. One final push and we'll take it down." He said, as the elevator slowed to a halt.

Cinder slid the mask on, and felt it shifting into a mirror image of Aldric's. "You're being too confident." She said in his voice, as they exited the elevator, and Aldric guided them into the armory. "You haven't fought it... I have."

"Yes you have" Aldric responded, leaning against the doorway and frowning at the room of weapons.

Cinder's frown was one of confusion to match his of pensivity. "What is it?"

"When was the last time you saw me?" Aldric asked, "or, rather, how long until I die? A year? A bit more? A bit less?" He asked, eyes hovering over a rack of lightsabers, before he turned to her, giving her a once-over.

She frowned, "I don't know what -"

"Fear and Dead Men was a week ago."

"Then... Nine months, give or take."

Aldric nodded, humming, turning back inside. "And therein lay the terrifyingly huge problem."

"Alarm! Grimm presence detected in - Main Hall. This is not a drill!"

Aldric ignored the AI, as did Cinder, who was trying to piece together what he was trying to lead her towards. "I don't follow."

"That's nine months of training. Of combat. Of experience, that your Aldric - we'll call him Marty - had, that I don't." Aldric said, giving her another piece. "And Marty died fighting you when you were weaker than you are now... And you can't outfight Aldric Black on your own."

Cinder felt her heart slow down in her chest, as her eyes widened. "Oh." She breathed.

Aldric was trying to tell her that he wasn't even remotely close to being as strong as he was when they fought in Beacon Tower. That Aldric, her Aldric, the one this Aldric arbitrarily called 'Marty' had had a year of experience on this one. That Aldric had fought and defeated his father, had waged a war against Roman Torchwick, had done things she knew she didn't know about, and had spent almost a year training alongside Beacon's best and brightest. But this one here, he didn't have any of that experience, he hadn't passed any of those trials by fire. As powerful as he was, Aldric paled in comparison to the multi-Maiden standing next to him, and as such they both knew he was but an infant compared to the dragon that was Aldric Black.

Aldric had brought her here to consider nuclear options.

She wondered if it wouldn't be better to tell him to stay here; that the marathon Aldric Black had run through so many people, her included, should have left it weak and wounded enough that perhaps she could take it on herself, now that she was rested and healed. But the consideration faltered when she saw the fire in Aldric's false eyes, and she began now to understand what he'd said earlier: He had to fight Aldric Black, he needed to learn from it what he could, gain experience from the battle, and then move on, using what he had learned to change his plans.

But Cinder knew better. She knew Aldric Black wouldn't hesitate, it wouldn't negotiate, it wouldn't give Aldric anything by way of information. Even with Aldric's plan to mask her identity and force it to fight, it was still an implacable force of darkness, and with this revelation about Aldric's strength, Cinder realized that there was no way Aldric could stand against his dark half.

A plan began forming in her head, and she bit her tongue, holding all these reservations, instead to ask: "Then what are you thinking?"

From underneath a great sigh, Aldric hummed. "I've got one thing in the belt that I think will do the trick, but I would need an opening to use it, and from what you've told me it doesn't sound like good-ol' Aldy will give us one." He said. "Aaaaand walking out with it would pretty much be a dead giveaway as to who's who." He nodded to the armory, "so right now I'm trying to figure out what here will buy us the time and give us the opening."

Cinder passed her eyes over the armory as well, largely skipping over the multitude of conventional-looking firearms, and settling on the more exotic-looking, less recognizable weapons.

An idea occurred to her, as she remembered what Jaune Arc's sword had done to the Grimm. "Might there be anything..." She struggled to find the right words. "Holy?"

Aldric chuckled, as the ground softly shook underneath them, and the machine issued another warning about the Grimm. "That's exactly what I'm referring to in the belt, Hot Stuff... But in here?" He shook his head, "no. I tried to stick to things that could be replicated in a labratory as much as possible... Only a few things work on literal magic, and none of those apply." He said, one of his hands resting on one of the pockets on his belt.

Cinder remembered looking through that belt after their battle with his father, she remembered some of the things in it, all of them weapons. Was that where he kept them?

It'll have to do. She thought, reaching up and placing her hand on Aldric's shoulder.

Aldric twitched as Cinder sent enough electricity to put down ten men into his system, blinked, then turned to her.

"Oh you bitch." He slurred, falling to the ground.

She pulled off the mask, "I'm sorry, Aldric." She intoned, kneeling over him.

It's the only way. She thought, popping open the pocket and scooping out the several small vials he'd stored in there.

Her merely being here had changed things, that much was obvious. But what was less so was the effect it had on Aldric himself, insomuch that literally nothing mattered but him living past today. If he could live another day, he would be able to do something to ensure he survived Beacon, since he knew now that he would die there. Even if he wiped his memories as he said he would, Aldric would be able to create a plan of some sorts, something simple - or maybe something complex, she didn't know - but it all was predicated on him being alive.

But not her being alive.

She'd already given him everything he needed: Knowledge of the future. He didn't need her anymore, and as such, she could place herself in the fire, and if she died, so be it, she'd already done what she had to.

Peering down at the vials in her hands, she frowned. Two of them held shrunken objects she recognized instantly - one being the mechanical dragon he had drawn to distract Ozpin, the other being the weapon he'd used to kill his father. In others she saw a spear topped by a glowing green rock, a wooden staff with a crystal orb on its end, a green ring, what looked like a catapult and some bombs, the targeting laser for Aldric's satellite lasers, a golden gauntlet with six depressions, two black gemstones, and finally a greatsword of equal parts gold and silver.

Well... At least he made it easy for me. At first glance, all of it looked incomprehensible, some even utterly useless, but Aldric had given her the single key she needed: He acknowledged her when she asked for a 'holy' weapon. Something made or blessed by the Gods, and since everything he held came from a story somewhere, that meant that what she needed, needed to look like it was made by the Gods.

And what was more holy than obscene amounts of gold?

Taking the vial with the sword, Cinder slipped the rest of them back into Aldric's belt and snapped it shut, before raising back to her feet. She examined the vial for a moment, eyes sliding over the red disk that rested underneath the blade, before she crushed the vial, and in an instant, the blade grew to its full size in her hand. Easily the size of a claymore, the golden forked greatsword was warm to the touch, and when she closed her hand around its hilt, she felt something inside of it.

Rage and fury burned like a great fire, but within it, surrounding it, bolstering it, was power. Not at all like what was in her, but familiar nonetheless, like something out of myth being viewed with modern eyes. But what amazed her was that this thing, this single sword, it dwarfed her - it dwarfed Aldric! It was an object of raw power, and holding it in her hands, Cinder could feel it feeding off of, and connecting to, her. It was granting her its power, lending it to her, for as long as she held it.

She briefly looked down to Aldric, already knowing why he didn't use it, but still unable to wonder why? How many problems would this one blade solve for him?

Frowning, Cinder lowered the blade, finding its weight already familiar in her hand. She turned to the door to the armory -

And found it slammed shut just as she left it.

"Now that we are alone." Said a new voice, similarly female but far lower and less shrill than FILS'.

Cinder blinked, looking up to the ceiling, as though the new AI was floating above her. Her frown remained as she began walking again, "and who are you?"

"The second of two Artificial Intelligences Mister Aldric deigned to trust." Was all she was given, "I watch over the Infinity and perform the necessary functions should it require takeoff." A beat, "I am also in direct communication with FILS, and considering your actions both past and present, I shall warn you." Said the AI, "if you fail, or it appears as though your failure is imminent, regardless of its chances of success, we will activate his Maiden Contingency."

Cinder wasn't surprised, she'd probably just lost a lot of faith with Aldric, FILS, and this new AI. Killing her would be a matter of pragmatism at this point, and nothing else. "I understand." She said, as she entered the nearest elevator and was taken down to the ship's hangar.

"Then good luck, Cinder Fall." Was what the AI left her with.

Cinder's exodus from the ship went by in relative silence. After some ten minutes, she found herself in the cavern Aldric had cleared out, with the ship that hid and protected him looming above her.

And in the distance, the blast door leading to the main bunker, glowing a bright red, radiating outwards.

It's melting its way in... Cinder frowned, tightening her hold on the great blade. This is it... She thought, watching pieces of the molten door slough off. Last chance... The blade glowed a brighter shade of steely blue, as more of the door melted off, just enough that Cinder could see the sparking of the Terran Grimm's burning blade.

She didn't hear the 'zip', but she saw the door balloon outwards, its severely weakened frame more pliable and responsive to the Grimm's semblance, as it forcibly widened the tiny opening it had made, before finally pushing its way through the door. Its cybernetic arm was first, and then its head, still clad in its scorched mask. It briefly paused, nonplussed by the molten metal burning away at it, when it made eye contact with Cinder, who held her ground. Seeing its quarry, it pushed harder, eventually ripping its way through the door and falling inside. Cinder took in its appearance one last time, eyes lazily scanning over its dried, leathery, and now burnt pale-white skin. She briefly focused on the lack of skin and musculature on its chest, and the exposed ribs and still organs they protected. She saw gripped in its Grimm arm its lightsaber, while its metal limb clenched tightly; one leg of its pants was shredded, its boot falling apart, while the other was scorched, actively smoldering, and its armor hung off of its body in loose, dangling shreds of dark mail.

The ghoulish Grimm, one of two relics of a timeline that no longer existed, looked like a dead man walking.

Though Cinder supposed she could say the same for herself.

With a light huff, she broke off into a run, sprinting towards the Grimm, who met her advance with one of its own - a limp in its exposed leg rapidly being hidden by the raw speed at which it ran. They crossed the hundreds of meters between them in seconds, and their blades met in a clash that lit up the entire cavern in red and blue light. Sparks briefly shot out in all directions from where their blades met, and Cinder found herself pushing the ghoul back, her strength fueled by the blade in her hands and the medicine given to her by the living Aldric, whereas the beast in front of her was nursing injuries sustained by a marathon of Remnant's best.

Their blades slid off of eachother, and Cinder immediately pushed again, swinging hers up at an angle, it appearing to be everything the Grimm could do to yank its own in front of its chest and deflect hers - though at the cost of having its arm thrown wide. Movements flowing like water, Cinder brought her blade back down and reared it back, gripping it in both hands before thrusting it forward, praying that she could end this battle as fast as it started.

But the Grimm, befitting of the man whose body it stole, wouldn't go down so easy, and with a thrust of its offhand, it slid backwards several feet, as though pulled by unseen cables, and Cinder's blade stopped fast, like she'd buried it in concrete. Cinder predicted what would come next and preempted it by thrusting her left hand out, lightning shooting out from her palm, clearing the distance between the two in the blink of an eye and blanketing its exposed chest. The Grimm, as ever, took the pain in silence, fighting the electricity and the urge to twitch and convulse uncontrollably, as it brought its blade around and stuck it in between the lightning and its chest, the plasma acting as a lightning rod and taking it all.

But her gambit worked, and it dropped Cinder's weapon. A grin stretching across her face, Cinder cut off the lightning and charged the Grimm, raising her blade high and chopping down at its shoulder, angled in at its chest, she tried to bisect the beast, but it had the time it needed to react, batting her blade out of the way and rushing forward, gripping her throat in its cybernetic arm and lifting her into the air.

Wordlessly, it then brought her back down, choke-slamming her into the ground hard enough to leave a small crater around her. She felt the ground beat at her aura, but she fought through the pain, instead wildly swinging at the Grimm's face. Its mask proved to be tough, taking the impact without a scratch, but twisting around its head until it was sideways.

Frustrated, the Grimm blasted her back with its semblance, and as Cinder skidded to a halt, she watched it drop its blade and bring its hands to the mask. It gripped the sides of its mask tightly, and with a single, vicious yank, it tore it off, revealing its face, its hair, matted down by sweat, and its eyes - both glowing a bright, blood red. It threw the mask to the ground, it landing with a quiet clink, before it turned to her, its Grimm hand raised, summoning its blade back to it. The blade flew back and nestled back into its hand, igniting with a Zhoom! before they charged eachother again.

Meeting with another clash of blades, Cinder gave the Grimm ground, allowing its stab to slide off the side of her greatsword while she twisted to the side. The Grimm predicted her next move, and as she grabbed at its arm, its arm shot out, extending and then whipping back, wrapping around her throat and squeezing tightly. Cinder struggled for a moment, before an idea came to her, and, her eyes bursting with fiery energy, a great gust of wind pulsed outwards from her core, pushing its tendril-like arm out just enough that she could slide out of it, but as she did so, the Grimm kneed her in the face, causing her to scramble to the side.

Damn it! She cursed, quickly pulling herself back to her feet and falling into a defensive stance, parrying a straight stab with a left slice, spinning into the attack and bringing her blade back down with a two-handed swing, delighting in that she tore flesh and finally graced the greatsword in oily black blood, but growing ever frustrated with the situation. Is this another 'make an opening' weapon?! She demanded of herself, wondering why Aldric would rely so heavily on weapons that required a single opening, a single good, solid strike in order to do their damage.

The Grimm grunted in pain, before shoving itself forward, ramming its shoulder into her and causing her to stumble back. As she fell on the backfoot, she found herself frozen solid - the Grimm using its abilities to immobilize her.

Damn it! She cursed again, it feeling as though her entire body had been encased in cement.

But no sooner did she begin to struggle, than did the blade in her hands roar to life, great blue flames radiating off of it like a raging fire and, while difficult, she found herself able to push against the Grimm's abilities, slowly bracing feet behind her and bringing it back to a defensive posture. The Grimm, its expression blank, let Cinder go - appearing to have decided trying to immobilize her was fruitless, and inefficient.

Before she could even ask what would be a better idea than keeping her slow, she rushed forward, and saw what it came up with next, as it used its abilities instead to deflect her attack. The slice that would have carved into its ribs instead missed by a mile, and the Grimm followed this up by pushing at her back with its powers, while it thrust forward with its blade. It was all Cinder could do to dodge the attack, but she still felt the burning hot plasma dig into her side, scraping along her abdomen and filling her with searing pain. Cinder gritted her teeth to keep from crying out, and instead thrust her head forward - ramming her forehead into the Grimm's nose. She felt it break into pieces, but the Grimm didn't even seem to care, instead smashing her cheek with its metal hand with an equally loud 'crunch', and causing her face to flare up in pain.

Cinder forced herself to keep pushing, and this saved her life, as it allowed her to see the Grimm's tendril whipping around her again, this time, however, using its blade. She lunged out of the way, but the Grimm kept on the attack, and she was forced to bat away the bright red stick of plasma each time it whipped back and forth. Each attack pushed her back and forced a counter out of her to keep it from getting inside her defenses, inadvertently giving it the distance it needed to coil up and spring back forward, or the momentum it needed to whip back and try and slash at her again.

Growing angry, Cinder planted her feet in the ground and ducked under the next attack, before she swung her greatsword upwards, carving into the taut grimmflesh. The beast finally yanked its arm back, its cybernetic limb cradling the Grimm arm, which hung limply at the wrist, kept attached only by a few slivers of skin. Without hesitation, the Grimm tore the useless hunk of its arm off and, its eyes not leaving her, created an entirely new hand from it by means of damaging itself even further, ripping apart the flesh until it had five digit-sized hunks, which soon curled around the blade and activated it with a flick.

The two charged again; Cinder threw a wide horizontal swing at the Terran Grimm's head, and it responded with a downwards chop, pushing Cinder's blade out of the way. She let go of it with one hand and, her palm open and arcing electricity, lunged forward and struck at the Grimm's bare throat, but it used its powers to throw her arm wide. Cinder grunted, feeling her arm threaten to dislocate, but she persisted and twisted the greatsword around, now pushing the Grimm's blade away and opening up its core to a savage front-kick that cracked ribs and left her shoe covered in black ichor. The Grimm didn't budge, instead wrapping its tendril-like arm around her leg and hauling her into the air, before whipping her right back down, slamming her into the ground.

Cinder coughed, feeling the wind get knocked out of her, her skull flare up in pain, and her ribs crack as it did it a second time, and then a third, before the tendril slid up and around her neck, and she was whipped over to the Grimm, who appeared to have found its path of highest efficiency: Choking her out. Cinder felt the cold, oily tendril squeezing her throat so hard that her neck popped, and instantly her eyes began to bulge as her vision turned grey.

No! Cinder grunted, doing everything she could to break free, but the Grimm seemed determined to the point of self destruction, taking the ice, the fire, the lightning, everything she channeled through herself and into it without budging. I thought this gods-damned thing was... Her reddening eyes lowered down to the greatsword clenched in her hand, useless. I felt its strength, and this thing... She gritted her teeth, feeling her blood pool up in her head and the pressure growing. I'd... She thought. I... She blinked.

Oh... She peered down at the blade in her hand, and the teal fire radiating off of it. My... Her eyes rolled down to the arm wrapped around her throat. Gods...

She'd been going about this whole thing wrong.

Aldric's arsenal was hand-picked by him, and he wasn't the type to just take anything and everything he could get his hands on. He played to his strengths, and worked with his weaknesses, and his arsenal was subsequently built around his strategies. So many of his weapons were focused around opening up just one opportunity, because in so many of his fights he practically operated on opening up opportunities for him to do enormous amounts of damage, as opposed to just withering at the vine.

And the one thing he always went back to, the one strategy he relied on constantly, was relying on skill over strength, was taking a hit to open up his opponent for a worse one.

And the Grimm had modeled itself after everything Aldric had done.

Cinder failed to defeat Aldric in the tower, she failed to defeat the Grimm under Cerise, and she was failing to do so now, because she failed to understand this. Everyone failed to defeat Aldric because they failed to understand this. Aldric never threw himself at his enemies, he fought to open up his one golden opportunity, because capitalizing on one would inevitably lead to another, to another, and another.

And the last nail on the coffin?

Almost every single time she'd managed to damage the Grimm, had been because it had overextended itself, or opened itself up, after damaging her.

And it couldn't get more open than it was right now, its chest pressed to her back, its arm wrapped around her throat.

Fuck... She thought, the slightest gasp of air squeezing out of her throat, her vision almost completely black. Don't fail this time, Aldric. She thought, tossing the greatsword into the air, grabbing it by its blade, and, forcing herself not to think about it, she brought it home - using all of the strength she'd accumulated to drive it into her chest, to rip it through her body and tear it through the Grimm's, and finally - finally - things went right.

Instantly, the fire that flowed from the blade grew in intensity, raging with such fury and such strength that Cinder could hear nothing but the teal flames engulfing her and the Grimm. Thunder rolled through the bunker, and lightning shot out from her and the Grimm, arcing to the ground, to the ceiling, to the ship, and the ground shook as the blade burned the both of them with its great energy. Cinder forcibly pushed her arms forward, towards the hilt of the blade, and pulled it closer, dragging it deeper into herself, and as a result, further through the Grimm. She felt her body - no, her soul - burn in a way that she hadn't felt since her brief encounter with Ruby Rose, and as she and the Grimm convulsed violently, and the blade grew ever greater in intensity, she, in what were certainly her last moments, comprehended why Aldric had chosen it, as though granted this clarity by the weapon itself: It wasn't a weapon of a god, but one to kill a god.

So one could imagine what it was doing to the Grimm, even if it, as it was wont to do, barely even reacted, instead trying in what were certainly its final moments to still accomplish its goal, its cybernetic arm - the only thing left on it that functioned properly - clawing at Cinder's face for those brief few seconds before -

Cinder fell to her knees, the weight of the Grimm behind her vanishing in a cloud of black smoke, the flames from the blade inside her dissipating, and her blood pouring out from her chest and her abdomen, forming a pool on the ground around her. She was too numb to feel the smile slowly dragging at the corners of her mouth, or the impact of her limp hands hitting the ground as she slumped forward. She was too blind, from oxygen starvation and blood loss, to see the world around her even as she faded away from it. She wasn't, however, too numb to feel the satisfaction of having done it.

She'd won.

She'd bought the world -

Cinder screamed as her senses came rushing back to her, alongside the blade being pulled out of her. Forcibly awakened by adrenaline and pain, her eyes, her nerves, her ears, they all briefly shot back to life as she saw the blade, gripped by an unseen hand, rip its way back out of her chest and get tossed to the other side of the room. Gasping for air that had too little blood to effectively go anywhere, Cinder laboriously dragged her head upwards, honestly expecting to see the Grimm Aldric in front of her, victorious, ready to stabilize her wounds and bring her to Salem.

She supposed she was partially right.

Aldric was in front of her - or rather, he came to be in front of her, coming in for a landing after having jumped from the ship.

He knelt down in front of her, nodding, a neutral expression on his face, and one of his hands clenched into a light fist.

"Okay." He said, sounding like he was speaking through a pillow. "You convinced me." He held out his fist, and opened it up, revealing a single small lima bean nestled in his cybernetic palm. "Now eat. We've got work to do."