Cinder needed to be more careful.

First, that Nikos slut had seen her staring at her. She'd been too angry to even think about trying to stay hidden, and how could she not be? That bitch was all over him! And now that she'd been caught, Nikos would have an excuse to try and keep her away from Jaune.

I dare her to try and keep us apart, I fucking dare her! I'll tear her apart!

As if that wasn't enough, Mercury then caught her leaving her beloved's room, and it seemed she would have to worry about his loyalty now that he knew what it was that Cinder was really after.

Simply put, she had to make him scared of her. Of course, he already feared her to some extent, but now he could be a liability and it was important that he know exactly what would happen to him if he tried to leave.

"This is not a discussion we're going to have," Cinder said. "If you have any complaints about my leadership, then I suggest you keep them to yourself. For your own sake."

Mercury looked back at her in shock. "So what, I'm supposed to just ignore this? What about our plans?" He spoke angrily but with restraint.

Cinder glared back at him, looking him straight in the eyes. "My plans for the Vytal Festival are currently under review. Whatever I decide to do, I expect you to follow my orders and accept whatever task you are given."

She didn't want to have this conversation with him anytime soon, but unfortunately, she had been given little choice. Cinder was caught red-handed, which of course raised some questions from Mercury.

What was she supposed to say? She had been in someone else's room holding a boy's hoodie. That wasn't exactly something she could explain away, and telling him "don't worry about it" or "don't ask questions" would only make him more suspicious.

Suspicion and loyalty hardly worked well together.

Besides, he would have to know eventually, so while it wasn't ideal that he figured it out now, it certainly wasn't the end of the world.

Mercury pinched the bridge of his nose and sighed with frustration. "Fine. I- just… explain this to me one more time. Make sure I understand what's going on, because I'm still not sure I get it. You are… in love with… what's the guy's name?"

"Jaune! Jaune Arc," she snapped back at him. His disrespect, both to her and her Jaune, was completely unacceptable.

Mercury recoiled in surprise. He spoke slowly, apparently still trying to process the situation. "Okay, okay. You're in love with Jaune Arc? That nobody from Nikos' team?" He flinched as soon as the words left his mouth, having realized his mistake too late.

Cinder clenched her fists, growing hot with anger.

Nobody!? How dare he call him a nobody!? He has no clue what he's talking about!

"Listen to me very closely, Mercury, because I'm not going to say this again." She took a step towards him. "I'll be merciful and give you one more chance. If you ever, ever talk about him that way again, I am going to kill you. I don't care if it happens tomorrow, a week from now, or in ten years when he's my husband, I'll make you regret it, so you'd better watch your mouth. Am I understood?"

"Yea, yea, whatever," he responded, avoiding eye contact.

He hid his fear as best he could, but it was painfully clear to Cinder, who was more than happy to play into it.

"Excuse me?" Her tone seemed to have the intended effect.

"Yes ma'am," Mercury responded, looking down at the floor. Sweat trickled down his brow.

"Much better," Cinder responded. "Now, I expect your complete cooperation going forward. If you disobey or question me, or Oum-forbid speak a word against Jaune once more, I will make sure your end is far from peaceful."

"Right, of course ma'am," he said, clearly still angry. "I wouldn't dream of it."

"Good. Let's return to the dorm room. I'm sure Emerald has been waiting on us."

Cinder paused and looked down at the black hoodie that she was carrying in her hands. She couldn't just walk around carrying it, someone might recognize it as Jaune's and she would be caught - again. Or at the very least, Emerald would see her walk in the room with it, and then she'd have to worry about both of her underlings asking questions.

It would be a lot less suspicious in Mercury's hands, though…

But how could she possibly part with it!? Jaune had worn it, his scent was on it! It was already like a holy relic to her, even if she'd only just gotten it.

I need to keep my cover. It'll only be for a couple of minutes, then I can get it back without having to explain myself to anyone.

But Jaune had worn it…

Fine. She wouldn't have to give it up for long. As soon as they were back at their room, she would kick Emerald out and tell Mercury to give it back.

"Hold onto this until we get back to our room," Cinder said, reluctantly holding it out to him.

The boy stared at her indignantly for a few seconds before taking it out of her hands.

/-/

It was bullshit. Complete and utter bullshit. Mercury always knew his boss was insane, but this was a whole new level.

Cinder Fall, the woman who had both the White Fang and the criminal underground under her thumb, the woman who would kill people for just looking at her the wrong way, had fallen in love. It didn't seem like some small crush either, not with what she'd told him and the way she reacted to his "disrespect."

It didn't make any sense whatsoever.

Cinder never seemed to love anything except power. Now it turned out that apparently "everything she'd ever done was for him" and "he's the only thing that really matters," and he was supposed to somehow pretend that had no effect on him.

How were they supposed to get anything done if she was constantly preoccupied with some random Beacon student? They were there to get the maiden powers, destroy the school, and take out as many huntsmen-in-training as possible in the process. If his boss wanted to protect one of them, that was clearly going to be an issue.

Cinder turned back to look at him, having arrived back at their dorm.

"Not a word of this to Emerald, understand? Everything we just discussed stays between you and me."

"Of course, ma'am."

He tried not to show it, but he was actually terrified of the woman. You can only see so many people die slow, painful deaths before you start to fear the cause, whether you work for them or not. It was made worse by the fact that her anger was now directed at him.

Cinder pushed the door open and the two of them walked inside. Mercury quickly threw the hoodie she had given him onto his bed, having figured out who's it was and not really wanting to hold onto it much longer. Who knows what she'd done with it.

Emerald was already there, probably having had little reason to leave. He hadn't really had one either, he was just tired of sitting around. He kind of wished he hadn't.

The girl looked up at them, curious as to where they'd been but not wanting to outright ask.

"Mercury and I were just scouting out the campus," Cinder said. She lied so easily it often made him wonder if half of what she told him was the truth.

Apparently, it wasn't.

"I trust you to learn the layout of the school as well, Emerald. I'm sure you can see the importance of doing so."

"Of course, ma'am."

Mercury had to admit he felt a little bad for Emerald. For whatever reason, she had feelings for Cinder, but it was pretty obvious that their boss wasn't going to return them. He was pretty someone else had caught her eye

Mercury let out a slight chuckle. Instantly, Cinder whipped around towards him and stared directly into his eyes, daring him to make another sound.

"Is there something you would like to share with us, Mercury?" Her voice was dripping with malice.

Emerald looked between them, surprised and confused.

"No, of course not, ma'am," he responded, speaking as carefully as possible. "I was just… remembering something funny. Nothing to do with you."

Cinder continued to glare at him. "If that's the case, then I suggest that you stay quiet," she said, finally breaking eye contact.

An awkward silence enveloped the room for a few seconds, but was quickly broken by a ringtone coming from Cinder's pocket.

"This is an important call." She didn't even bother checking to see who was calling. If he had to guess, he would say she had no clue who was doing so and just wanted them out of the room. "Make yourselves scarce," she said, motioning towards the door.

Mercury wasted no time in leaving while Emerald did so reluctantly, pausing for a second before shutting the door behind her. As soon as she did, she turned to Mercury and glared at him.

"What on Remnant did you do?"

He shrugged his shoulders in response. "Nothing, I don't know what's gotten into her. If you're that curious, why not just ask her?"

She didn't push the subject.

/-/

Cinder walked over and picked Jaune's hoodie off of Mercury's bed as soon as he and Emerald were out of the room, ignoring the ringing from her scroll. He was wise to let go of it.

As soon as it was back in her hands, she hugged it against her body and brought it up to her face, breathing in its scent. It had been torturous having to give it up, even if it was only for a minute or two.

Sitting down on her bed, she finally took her scroll out of her pocket to decline the call, but sighed in frustration when she saw that it was Watts calling her. She had expected it to be from an unknown caller who had simply dialed the wrong number, but no such luck. At least it had served as a convenient excuse to get her "teammates" out of the room.

Cinder accepted the call, knowing that he would only annoy her further if she declined it.

"Cinder," the voice on the other end growled out. It seems that he was just as upset to see her as she was to see him. Strange, considering it was him who called.

"What do you want," Cinder barked back at him. "I have a lot of very important business to take care of here, and I don't have time to sit around talking to you."

"Oh, I'm sure." His sarcastic tone made her wish he was there in-person so she could cave his face in. "In case you're wondering why I'm calling, that would be because there is a break-in in the student file rooms currently being investigated at Beacon Academy. One Jaune Arc's file has been reported as 'missing or stolen.' Now, you wouldn't happen to know anything about that, would you?"

Cinder wasn't worried. Her cover had been perfectly constructed and she doubted there was any real chance for them to find out that she was the perpetrator. Besides, she had gotten some extremely valuable information out of it.

"I think you can figure that one out for yourself. Trust me, Watts, this makes no difference to us. Is this all you're calling for, or is there something else you wanted to discuss?"

Her words clearly had an effect on him. Honestly, that was a little bit amusing to her.

"We can not afford to have you under Ozpin's suspicion because you've been marching around melting doorknobs! Was it really that important to get the file on the Arc boy?!"

"Yes, it was," she responded immediately. "Now I do believe I have better things to do at the moment than discuss this with you." Cinder hung up with a smirk.

Almost instantly, he tried calling her again. She hung up. He wasn't important. Only Jaune was.

Even Watts' bickering wasn't enough to dampen her mood. Usually, her day would've been ruined by something like that, but right now she only felt mild irritation. Jaune's hoodie just made it impossible for her to be upset.

Cinder gleamed with joy as she pulled his hoodie over her head, reveling in his scent. Wearing it felt like he was right there with her, wrapping his arms around her, pulling her close and saying how much he loved her. There really wasn't anything like it. She didn't think there was anything in the world that could make her take it off.

Oh Oum, I can't wait until we're together and I can take more of his clothes!

Something on the inside of the collar caught her eye. It was tiny, almost invisible. She wouldn't have noticed it under any other circumstance, but this was Jaune she was dealing with.

Her heartbeat got even quicker. She carefully picked the thin yellow strand off the fabric between her fingers and placed it in her palm. It may have been small, but it was far from insignificant to Cinder.

This was a piece of him! A part of his perfect, glowing blonde hair, and now she had it right in her hands! His hair was one of her favorite things about him, which was saying quite a lot. It was almost like a mystical object, a gift hand-delivered to her straight from the heavens by her beloved blonde angel.

She had to preserve this. Its size would make it easy to lose, and she didn't think she could bear for that to happen.

But where could she put it? A plastic baggie would've been nice, but she didn't have any on hand, and it was unlikely Emerald or Mercury had any reason to bring any. She really didn't have anything too convenient on hand.

It seems a drawer will have to do. I'll just put it here until I can get a better way of storing it.

"Oh Jaune, your hair is so beautiful. I hope you'll let me put my hands through it when we're finally together," she said, giggling and opening a drawer on her bedside table. She placed it inside the drawer as carefully as possible, as if it would somehow split into pieces if she was too rough with it.

Cinder couldn't wait for the next day as she got into her bed and pulled the sheets over herself, obscuring her choice of clothing. Tomorrow she would finally, after so many years apart, finally talk to him.

For months she had been preparing for their reunion, going through every possible scenario, thinking of everything she could say and every way he might respond. Not only that, but she'd also invested a pretty significant amount of effort on her appearance.

Over the month leading up to their arrival at Beacon, Cinder had put more time than ever before into her looks, and, in her own humble opinion, she was gorgeous. She scrubbed every square inch of her skin with soap twice a day, used the most expensive and luxurious hair products she could find, and got her hands on the best make-up Vale had to offer, and that wasn't even everything. It worked like a charm, if Emerald's longing gazes were anything to go by.

It wasn't for Emerald, though, it never was. It would only be worth it if it helped to make Jaune notice her, and she was sure that it would.

He'd certainly seen her when they bumped into each other in the hallway the day before, so maybe it already did and he was thinking about her at that very moment? Maybe he even recognized her, and was waiting to find her alone just as she was him?

She bit her lip hard enough to draw blood. The thought alone was nearly enough to make her pass out.

Before going to sleep, she took her scroll out and pulled up the pictures she had taken of him in the library. No camera could do him justice, of course, but he still looked absolutely stunning in them.

He was just so wonderful, so pure.

So innocent.

Cinder smirked, her face tinted red.

I'd just love to take that away from him.

She really couldn't help it, she was just too excited to have him! How could anyone possibly look at a man like that and not want to take him?

That was exactly why he needed her. Only she could protect him from all those degenerates like that slut Nikos who would try something on him. He'd only get hurt if she wasn't there to keep him safe.

Her grip tightened around her scroll, nearly crushing it in her hand.

Calm down. He'll be yours one day. And you already have his hoodie, remember? And his hair, too.

Cinder's mood took yet another one-eighty as she reminded herself about all that she'd accomplished. In a way, he was closer to her in that moment than he was to Nikos. Besides, there really wasn't anything to worry about. Jaune wouldn't have a single thought of his partner once he saw Cinder and how beautiful she was. Surely, then he'd realize that she was the only one worthy of his heart.

"Oh Jaune, if only you knew what you do to me," she said, still staring at the picture of him on her scroll. "You'll love me back one day, I just know it."

/-/

As usual, Cinder woke up early, hours before Emerald and Mercury would. Looking at the clock, she saw it was only about 4:00 a.m.

She was beaming before even getting out of bed. Jaune, in all his glory, had come to her in her dreams as per her nightly schedule. They'd been getting married.

It was somewhere in Mistrel, where she'd always figured they'd live together, but that wasn't the best part, not even close. That had been Jaune, obviously.

He was nothing short of breathtaking in that suit. His glowing hair, his sapphire eyes, his handsome face… somehow, he looked even better than usual, if that was even possible.

The way he had looked at her was filled with so much love, so much affection. She'd nearly melted on the spot, and it was just a dream! Unfortunately, it didn't last too long. She didn't get too much sleep because of her excitement.

It was certainly a good way to start off her day, but it would only go up from there. She was going to find Jaune, talk to him, see if he recognized her from the Glass Unicorn, and if he didn't then she'd simply start from scratch.

Part of her hoped he would because it would make it easier to become friends with him, but another part of her didn't want him to look at her and see the weak, pathetic little girl that she'd been back then. She was so much better now, she'd become better for him, and he needed to see the new Cinder Fall.

And so she decided. If he recognized her, she'd take advantage of that as best she could, but if he didn't, she wasn't going to remind him of anything.

Cinder reluctantly took Jaune's hoodie off and hid it under the sheets, then slowly walked through the darkness to the bathroom, bringing her Haven uniform with her. Closing the door behind her, she turned the light on and stared at herself in the mirror. What she saw was absolutely unpresentable.

She looked completely unkempt. Her hair was a mess, her clothes were disheveled, and there were clear bags under her eyes. Of course, she didn't necessarily look bad, but by no means was this good enough. Not for Jaune. She had to clean herself up.

/-/

It took her hours, but once she showered, got changed, and put her makeup on, she left the bathroom and walked back into the bedroom, seeing that Emerald and Mercury were also up.

"Emerald, Mercury, I'm glad to see that you two are awake. As you know, there are no classes today, so I expect you to spend your time integrating yourselves within the students."

"Of course, ma'am," Emerald responded.

Cinder smirked. She was just oh-so-easy to control.

"And you, Mercury?" She stared at the boy directly in the eyes. "Am I correct in assuming you will be doing what I ask of you?"

"Yea, seems easy enough," he said, returning her gaze.

"Excellent. Now, I have some more specific instructions for the both of you." Seeing that she had their attention, Cinder continued. "There are two teams that have caught my interest for their members, both of them freshman. The first, Team RWBY, is led by Ruby Rose, the girl responsible for stopping Roman's dust robbery, who was also put two years ahead in her education."

"You think she's one of Ozpin's lackeys?" Mercury asked. "I mean, it doesn't make much sense to put some fifteen-year-old in Beacon and then let her lead her team on top of that."

"I wouldn't be too surprised if she's already a part of his inner circle, even if she is quite young."

There was also her "friendship" with Jaune, something that Cinder wasn't sure she approved of after observing them the day before. She was still disgusted over that nickname the girl had for him.

She'd better not call him anything like that again, because I will most certainly not be as kind about it as Jaune was!

"It's not just their leader though," she continued. "Weiss Schnee, heiress to the Schnee Dust Company, is also on the team. I don't have to explain why she's important. The other two hold no significance beyond their relationship to their leader and the Schnee."

"You want us to get information on them," Emerald said.

"Precisely. Emerald, I'm assigning you the task of befriending Ruby Rose and investigating her and her team."

The girl nodded in response. "I'll get it done, ma'am. As for the other team you're interested in?"

"That would be Team JNPR, of which Pyrrha Nikos is a noteworthy member, as she is a likely maiden candidate." The expression on Mercury's face said he already knew where this was going. "Mercury, I'm giving you the same job I gave Emerald. Form relationships with JNPR's members and report any intel you get back to me. Do you understand your task?"

"Yea, I think I get it."

He knew exactly what it was she was asking of him, and it had a lot less to do with Nikos than it did her leader.

"You start today. As for myself, I will be doing something similar, as well as pursuing some personal goals of mine." Cinder looked between them. "I trust you both to work independently, and assume you will do the same for me. Frankly, I don't want either of you interfering with my work."

"We understand, ma'am," Emerald replied.

"I have business to attend to that requires me elsewhere," she said, already heading towards the door. "Get started when you're ready to do so, but don't take too long. You know I don't like to wait."

Cinder left the room, leaving Mercury and Emerald to their own devices. She was confident enough in her authority to allow them to do their jobs without supervision, and she had better things to do than watch their every move. Like watching Jaune's every move.

Instead of actively searching for him, she decided to first try waiting for him in the library. That's where she found him the day before, plus it would be much easier to come up with an excuse to talk to him than if she tracked him down at some random part of campus. She was fairly certain "I have a deep, obsessive love for you" wasn't an acceptable reason yet, no matter how much she'd like to say that to him.

The sun was only just beginning to rise, and hardly any students were outside their dorms. Cinder only saw two or three other people in the hallways and library, one of them being the Belladonna girl from Team RWBY. Under other circumstances, that might've been more interesting to her.

Finding an empty table close to the door, Cinder pulled a book off the shelf and took a seat, appearing to be reading while keeping an eye on the entrance.

And so she started waiting.

Students came and went, most not staying too long. The girl on Team RWBY left after an hour or two.

It never got all that crowded, but she still hoped there would be less people around once she found Jaune. They would need to talk in private.

At some point, some ginger boy started staring at her from across the library. A threatening glare shut that down for a while.

Much to her ire, though, it didn't stop it completely. Every few minutes, he would catch a glance at her, and everytime she would give him a look that said she wanted nothing less than for him to ogle her, but he just wouldn't leave her alone. His persistence was infuriating.

She once again looked up and caught him looking, but instead of directing his gaze elsewhere when he saw her glare, this time he just looked back and smirked at her, leaning back in his chair.

Cinder scowled and clenched her fist. What the hell did he think he was doing!? If there wasn't anyone else around, she would've marched over there and burnt him to a crisp.

Unfortunately, she couldn't just kill him, but she could still give him a piece of her mind. Having dealt with people like him all throughout her career, she long ago learned that there's no greater counter to arrogance than embarrassment. All she had to do was simply call him out.

Just as she was about to push her chair out and get up, something else caught her attention. He came in. She instantly forgot about the ginger boy.

Jaune was here! Her plan had worked, and now she could finally talk to him and make the first steps towards their relationship!

Her breathing got heavy with excitement as she watched her beloved walk through the library, carrying with him a number of papers and textbooks.

He really does have the face of an angel!

Cinder's heart stopped as he looked back at her, his eyes catching hers. She was totally unable to stop herself from smiling at him, and didn't really want to, either. Jaune gave her a nervous smile back and quickly broke away from the eye contact, a blush creeping its way onto his face.

Her heartbeat came back quicker now, pounding in her eyes.

It was just too good to be true. Jaune, her will-be husband, her sweet, sweet, beloved Jaune, had smiled at her. This wasn't happening. It was just another one of her wonderful dreams, one that just happened to feel very real, and soon she'd wake up and find that none of this had really happened, because this was just too damn good to be true.

She bit her tongue, hard. Yet she didn't jolt awake and find herself back in her dorm as she half-expected to.

Cinder watched as he took a seat just a few tables away from her and began reading one of his books. It took everything she had not to run over there and pounce on him.

It was like her body had a will of its own. Still not having an excuse prepared, she closed her book and got out of her seat, finding herself completely unable to resist him.

What was she doing?! All she needed to do was wait a little longer, but she just couldn't help herself, and now she was going to mess everything up!

/-/

Jaune was having a bad week. To put it simply, he felt stuck. It was hard to tell if he was even making progress on his combat skills, even with his training with Pyrrha.

And just to add on to that was the fact that Cardin Winchester, the second most useless fighter in the school, constantly kicked his butt in front of everyone. Even worse was the fact that "everyone" happened to include Weiss.

Then there was that thing with the files. Seriously, what was he supposed to know about any of that?

So yea, he just needed to be alone right now. Luckily, he could usually get away from everyone by coming to the library. It's not like he didn't like his friends, he loved them, but there were moments when he just had to get away from it all. The library and its silence was great for that.

Might as well also get some homework done while he was there.

"Excuse me, I was wondering if I could borrow a pencil?"

Turning to his left, he saw the source of the voice, a tall, raven-haired girl, leaning over his table. It was the same girl who had just smiled at him, but that was probably just her being polite.

At this point, Jaune was used to being around rather beautiful women. There was Wiess, of course, but there was also his partner, Pyrrha, and the rest of team RWBY, not that he'd actually say all that out loud. Especially not to Pyrrha. That would make things really awkward.

That being said, the one in front of him right now was on another level entirely. She looked good.

Get a hold of yourself, it's just hormones!

"I thought I had brought one with me, but I must have dropped it on the way here. You wouldn't happen to have another one with you, would you?"

She had the voice to go along with the looks, too.

Calm down, Jaune. She's just asking you for a pencil. It's not like she wants to marry you or something.

"Y-yea, I, uh, I'm pretty sure I have an extra somewhere- ah, here it is. There you go."

Jaune handed the girl the extra pencil he had brought with him. Seeing her again, she looked somewhat familiar to him, but he probably would have remembered if he met someone this beautiful.

Chill out already. She doesn't want to talk to you, she's just here because she needs to get some work done and forget a pencil. You don't even know her name.

"Thank you." The girl paused. Surprisingly enough, she didn't immediately leave with his pencil.

"I feel like I recognize you from somewhere…" Apparently having figured it out, she suddenly snapped her finger. "You're Jaune, aren't you? I saw you on the roster for a few of my classes."

"Yea, that's me, Jaune Arc," he said, doing his best not to seem too nervous. He had a feeling he wasn't doing too great at that.

It was honestly a little weird. He had approached a ton of women before, albeit widely unsuccessfully, but he had never been so anxious about it. Or at least never acted so anxious about it. Maybe it was just because she was the one approaching him, even if she wasn't flirting with him.

"You must be from Haven, right?"

"Yes, me and my team are here to participate in the Vytal Tournament. My name is Cinder Fall."

"Nice to meet you, Cinder," he responded, taking her outstretched hand and shaking it.

"Likewise, Jaune Arc. Do you mind if I take a seat here?"

Well, that was certainly unexpected. He was honestly surprised that she hadn't already left, but he wasn't complaining.

"Oh, yea, make yourself comfortable."

"So how do you like Beacon?" he asked, finally having gathered his confidence. "Have you been here long?"

"We've only been here for a few days, but our stay has been pleasant thus far. As for you, Jaune? Do you enjoy being a student here?"

"Yea, it's pretty awesome. I got really lucky and got a great team, too. How about Haven? I've heard that it's a rather cut-throat school."

Cinder cleared her throat. "Well, the classes are fairly difficult, but it's all exaggerated. I've personally never had too much trouble there. I'll bet Beacon is harder, you must be pretty talented to have gotten in."

Jaune averted his eyes. He generally preferred not to talk about his "acceptance" into Beacon.

"I, ah, w-well, I'm really not anything special, especially not compared to all the other students here," he said, letting out a quiet chuckle. "I mean, just look at my partner."

"Don't talk about yourself like that." Her tone took a complete one-eighty, and he nearly jumped at how forcefully she spoke. "If you spend your time constantly comparing yourself to others, you'll never feel good enough, no matter how amazing you are," she continued, once again talking in the soft tone she had spoken with earlier.

That… actually seemed like pretty good advice. Jaune had developed a habit of comparing himself to people better than him since arriving at Beacon, sometimes consciously and sometimes not. Being around someone like Pyrrha could make it hard not to.

But maybe it would be better to try and look at his own skill separate from everyone else's? Being a huntsman's not about being the strongest, hell, not even about not being the weakest, it was just about helping people.

As long as I get strong enough to help people, who cares whether or not Cardin can beat the crap out of me?

Actually, that sounded kinda pathetic. Still, though, it seemed like a good idea to him.

"I guess you're right about that." Jaune cracked a smile. "So how do you like your chances in the Vytal Tournament?" he asked, trying to change the topic to something a little more light-hearted.

Cinder smirked and tilted her head. "Trying to scout out the competition? Well, I appreciate your enthusiasm, but unfortunately I can't just give out all of my secrets like that."

"T-that's not what I was-!"

"I'm just joking with you," she said, giggling at his reaction. "But to answer your question, I'm actually feeling rather confident. If you'd like, I could-"

Before the girl could finish, a third voice entered the conversation.

"I'm very sorry to interrupt, but could I talk to you in private for a second, Jaune?"

Jaune looked over to see Pyrrha standing just to his left. He hadn't noticed her come in. For some reason, it made him feel like he had been caught in something.

"Oh, yea." Turning back to Cinder, he smiled apologetically. "Sorry, I gotta go. See you around."

The girl mumbled something in response, but he didn't catch what she said.

/-/

"No, no, I understand…"

Cinder yearned to jump up and burn Nikos for taking him away from her.

In truth, she didn't understand. She had no clue why he was choosing to leave her and run off with that slut or what she had done to make him so ready to do so. Whatever it was, she hated her for it. She hated her with all her being. She hated Pyrrha Nikos almost as much as she loved Jaune. Almost.

Her heart was full of longing as she watched him leave the library. That whore just couldn't stay away. One day, and one day soon, she'd pay the price for trying to keep her Jaune away from her.

She could do it during the fall. It would be oh so easy to take advantage of the chaos and get rid of her, but the problem with that was that her plans for Beacon were currently being… reconsidered. As far as Salem was concerned, her main reason for being there in the first place was to take the maiden powers, and while that had originally been the case, Jaune's presence changed things.

He might get hurt. If she went through with it, she would be a maiden, Salem would still be confident in her seemingly unshakable loyalty, and it would give her the chance to take care of Nikos.

But Jaune could get hurt. And he might see her if she wasn't careful. If she was going to do it, she needed a way of keeping him safe and making sure nobody knew who the perpetrator was.

If he did as he was told, Mercury would be close to him by that point. She could tell him to keep Jaune safe, and she knew that he was more than capable to do so. If everything went as planned, being caught wouldn't be a problem, either. She had enough common sense to know that advertising herself during the whole ordeal wouldn't help her, so obviously she'd planned around taking the maiden powers without witnesses.

But still, there was a chance. If something happened to him, she'd never forgive herself. Never.

Cinder clenched her fist and grinded her teeth together. What was she supposed to do? She needed the maiden powers, and Nikos had to die. But Jaune couldn't get hurt. He just couldn't.

But how else was she going to get the maiden powers?