章 1912: 142
Chapter 142
Chapter Text
"How is she?" Cinder asked quietly, standing outside of the sterile room that housed a fellow Maiden of hers- Fria, the Winter Maiden. An old woman, about to die of old age. How and when Atlas managed to find the lady was something Cinder hadn't bothered to ask, but in her few conversations with the woman that she'd had… it was apparent that Atlas was still as terrible to its people as she'd always thought it was.
It was funny. Cinder never really thought she'd willingly return to Atlas- and, even now, was still kind of on the fence about just taking Team JNPR and leaving because clearly they had nothing to do here. Taking the Staff of Creation from Atlas' vault would just result in the city crashing down, and as much as Professor Goodwitch (or, Glynda as she'd insisted they call her after so long) was handling the situation well, the fact of the matter was that she put too much trust into Ironwood's whole convoluted mess of plans.
There was the whole mess of the Amity Colosseum being reinforced and purged of old code that the assassin group tried to use to crash it into Vale eating up resources from Mantle and Atlas alike, plus his whole idea of trying to use said Colosseum either as a hard point or an outrigger connected to Atlas proper in some kind of odd defense that would allow them all to survive by… jettisoning Atlas proper into the sky high above the reach of even the hardiest grimm with the population of Mantle also ensconced away within the Colosseum.
For some reason, it really didn't seem like Ironwood had any idea as to how or why that was such a stupid idea, and although he said that they'd been working on solutions to everything, those were likely years out and considering how Salem's forces seemed to be far more active in recent years…
Cinder didn't like the idea of what would happen if Salem actually decided to attack Atlas at this point in time.
At least Penny was long gone- had vanished before they'd even arrived, almost an entire month before. Ironwood hadn't been happy about that, but considering that they knew where she was and that the newly upgraded robot girl would likely be extremely pissed if someone tried to take her home… well.
He let her be. Team CMNE had to step up to be the protectors of Mantle while she was gone, though, but that was fine. They were Huntresses (and a single Huntsman). They'd signed up to defend the world against grimm. Stopping a couple of small grimm incursions once a week or so was fine.
"She's… alright. About as well as she can be. Vitals are decreasing little by little every day, but there's nothing we can do about that- not without killing her faster," Winter stated quietly, frowning as she exited Fria's room and pursed her lips, her arms crossed and her brow furrowed as she looked at Cinder. The older woman was… uneasy. Fria was likely to die any day now, and while the old woman had accepted her lot in life it still felt… Winter wasn't happy. Not about being called back while the Ace Ops were still securing Vale. Not about being tasked with watching over Fria so that she could try to ensure the powers went to her and her alone. Not about the fact that, given the truth of so many things, she'd had to learn too many secrets too fast.
Ozpin's history with Salem, Salem's immortality, the truth of the world itself, the reason why grimm existed, the reason why anything was happening as it was… the reason why the Maidens existed. Cinder hadn't been happy at that, and if anyone was more hotheaded, she could have very easily seen someone striking Oscar for the crime of housing the old man's spirit in his body.
Poor kid. Thrust into a destiny he couldn't possibly want by the soul of a dead man who couldn't have possibly wanted this destiny for him.
Cinder would have hated Ozpin if he hadn't admitted that his own need to keep secrets hadn't backfired on him entirely. He had a reason for it, originally, back when he was the only one who could adequately lead humanity into a semblance of the stability that they had today, but in today's climate those secrets and his need for control only led to more problems than it was worth- he'd seen the truth of that in Haven, where Professor Lionheart had admitted freely that the only reason why he joined with Salem was because she promised to tell the truth, that she promised that he wouldn't get caught up in the endless, pointless war between the two of them, that he'd be safe and that he wouldn't be forced to work for someone who lied and used him for his own gain.
All lies, he realized in the end as he bled out on the floor, having been wounded by Glynda and then given a fatal blow by the grimm Salem used to keep in contact with him.
Cinder still looked back on the Haven incident with distaste, knowing that the assassins that had tried to kill them were only after the Maiden powers and the relic… they wouldn't have even gotten the relic if Glynda hadn't somehow managed to drag Raven Branwen to the vault by her ear and make the Spring Maiden open said vault with threats of telling everyone what Summer Rose did to her before she ran away .
…
Cinder blinked in the middle of brooding, watching Winter walk away- she hadn't at all been listening to whatever Winter said after her initial words- something about going on patrol to make sure security was tight? Or about trying to convince Ironwood to relax some of the curfew restrictions placed on Mantle? Whatever.
Huh.
Did… Did Ruby's mom have sex with Yang's mom?
Fuck. She'd have to confirm that later.
"What a fucking mess this entire situation is- there's no point in us staying here," Cinder spoke to thin air, grumbling as she crossed her arms and thunked her head against the glass whilst staring off at nothing. "Ironwood's got us running ragged because we need something to do in between training sessions and whatever we decide to study off the material here, Glynda's stuck helping the military with gods knows what, I'm keeping guard over an old woman who's about to die any day now because the military wants to keep track of the magic superpowers she possesses, my sister is in the middle of a tense political situation involving the old and new leaders of the White Fang and I can't help her, and, oh yeah, my baby sister is still in a fucking crystal grimm coma!"
"... You uh… don't seem like you're doing too hot," Jaune spoke up awkwardly as he walked out of the breakroom he'd been in for the last several minutes, clearing his throat as he held a cup of coffee out to Cinder with a sheepish grin. "Sorry I took so long, these Atlesian coffee machines are really cool but it's really hard to figure stuff out… especially since the touch screens aren't great with gloves. Didn't know coffee came in these lil plastic pods these days- apparently it's like a new thing? Super cool. And it tastes really good, too!"
"... Thanks Jaune. And… no, I'm not really doing great. Ironwood's been trying to convince me to be a propaganda piece for Mantle or something. Since I can fly and have the Maiden powers, he's trying to get me to be like this… the hero of the city or something. Because my earliest legal records list me as being Atlesian-born and not Mistrali like I should be," Cinder sighed, clutching the cup in her hands and letting the soothing warmth rush into her fingers. "Plus the whole thing with Fria's Maiden status and the fact that the people down in Mantle are getting pissed about the curfew and the resource hogging and… it's just. No one's happy. Plus the fact that Jacques fucking Schnee is trying to run for the Atlesian council and gods know what'll happen if he does that …"
"Yeah… not a great time, huh. Well… um. I mean…" Jaune scratched the back of his head, not really sure how to respond as he sipped his own coffee, armor clanking quietly as he moved around. "Look. I know we're not super close even after spending all this time traveling together, but… I mean. Team RWBY was Team JNPR's sister team, and I know how you feel. I'm worried about them too, and I'm worried about Vale too. And… I dunno where I was going with that, but you're not alone. I'm younger than you but… maybe I can be someone you can lean on? Rant to if stuff gets hard? I mean, I guess I've been doing that for a while now since we started the whole traveling the world thing but… y'know."
"Yeah, I do. You're a good kid, Jaune. You're… I guess it might be weird to say it but I'm almost starting to think of you as the twin brother Yang never had," Cinder huffed quietly, smiling with just a bit of amusement as she patted the blond's shoulder. "Thanks. We should probably get back to our quarters soon, though. I think it's almost lights out, and as much as I hate to do anything Ironwood tells us to do… there is a Huntsman licensing exam in two days. Wanna give it a shot?"
"... Well, as long as they're not testing Dust mechanics past first year, sure," Jaune nodded awkwardly, then paused and frowned. "Do they do that?"
"Nope. They only make sure you can identify the types on sight and use them effectively."
"... So you're saying…?"
"We're all likely overqualified for the licensing exam, yes." Cinder answered immediately. "Beacon goes a little overboard with its Huntsman prep, especially since it only accepts the exceptional from other schools."
"... Ah."
The two of them turned away from Fria's room, starting to head down the corridors back to the dorm area of the building…
And then the entire hallway turned red as alarms began blaring in the distance.
Cinder's comm crackled to life, then, the harried voice of Emerald coming through along with the sounds of combat.
"Cinder! Those assassin assholes are here again and they've got more reinforcements than usual! Including those two that we captured last time! Grab Fria and run somewhere safe now!"
Notes:
Chapter 145. Save the date.
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