Chapter Text
She wasn’t going to make it. Of that Cinder was certain.
It all had gone wrong so fast.
She would be the first to admit that the opportunity was too good to be true. A Maiden walking without bodyguards in a relatively isolated part of Vale. The perfect target for a small assassination squad.
Cinder had Watts, begrudgingly so, compile an entire folder on the woman and her whereabouts. It had everything, from her description since she entered into Shade to now, her mostly used weapons, her usual partners and bodyguards, even most used routes and inns. Cinder knew everything there was to know about the Fall maiden.
Amber Solstice was this generation's Fall Maiden. She was well known for butting heads with Ozpin and running away from her bodyguards. Which made the opportunity less suspicious but not less dangerous.
While the woman wasn’t an S rank huntress, she had been trained in Vacuo and had been part of a B rank team before inheriting the Maidens power. She was now to be considered a rank A until her powers came in full, in which case she would be at least S or on a completely different scale then normal huntsman.
Still Cinder had prepared. She searched for the best assassin possible, one specialized in huntsmen, and one that money could buy until Salem truly bound him to her service. And when Marcus Black had been killed she got the one responsible. While yes the kid wasn’t as good as his father he was still an outstanding assassin, he was fast cunning and most important of all? Brutal. The fact that he was still young and could be molded and made truly loyal to her was far more valuable than a few extra years of experience, or so she thought. Maybe she could convince Salem to free the child's semblance. He had the strange idea that his father had stolen it. Semblaces were part of one soul, they couldn’t be stolen, but locked? That's another thing entirely.
The second member of her team, Emerald, had a great semblance and was as loyal as a puppy dog. A simple illusion semblance may seem weak, hers was outstandingly realistic. While limited to only one target at a time, that one person would see, hear, smell and even fell wherever Emerald wished. If she made snakes coil and constrict around you, you would feel the cold scales and the pressure. If she wished for you to feel the burning, smell the scent of charred flesh while you saw your arms disintegrate into burned coal so you would. Of course it would still be an illusion, but smelling yourself burning alive was very distracting in a proper fight.
Both should be enough distraction so she could’ve used her trump card on the Maiden. Her mistress had created a one of a Kind Grimm for her, the Khepri beetle. The hand sized egyptian beetle was a Grimm designed to siphon away magic. Useless against most creatures in reamnet, but absolutely fatal for the Maidens.
Everything was perfect.
She had a team she trained to a coherent fighting style.
She had a way to force the power out of the Maiden even if she couldn’t truly kill her.
And most important of all, she had an opportunity to prove to her mistress that she was worth not only the Falls Maiden power but the others too.
It would’ve been perfect! She would’ve been the first member of her new council to kill a Maiden! A feat not even Tyrian had. She would’ve become Salems right hand woman. With enough power to bend the world to her and her master will. None would ever touch her again, she would’ve been truly free for the first time in her life.
And it all fell apart when Ironwood's bitch and Ozpin's little crow interviewed.
The fight had started well. The huntress was good but her powers hadn’t come in full yet.
Emerald kept throwing nightmares against the woman while Mercury would harass and bottle her against Cinder. Having to concentrate to properly use the Bettle made her less effective then Cinder liked, but she would not risk letting the power pass at random by killing the maiden.
She had got the beetle on her twice before she threw a whirlwind of ice at her and Mercury, an excellent distraction so she could run away. Problem was that she wasn’t running away, not truly. She was dragging them deeper into Ozpins trap.
One second she had the beetle bound to her hand and said hand strangling the young woman. And in the next a gigantic sword made of ice tried to bisect her. Had she been at a quarter or even third percent Aura, Cinder would’ve died instantly. While Mercury should’ve been watching her back, she couldn't deny that the boy had bigger problems at the time.
Ozpin's little crow had sweeped in and almost ripped the kids head off with his scythe. The boys Aura survived barely and broke as soon as he kicked him full force into Emerald.
Qrow Branwen. Ozpins most useful minion. He had been a pain in her mistress' side since before this version of her council was built. He and his late team were actually responsible for the death of three of the anterior members. He was growing old, but by no means weaker. His dossier said his weapon was called Harbinger, and shifted between a Shotgun, a massive sword and a war scythe. He was deemed Rank S even with a semblance that batheth everything, him included, in misfortune. Weakness: Nieces, alcohol and prone to be affected by his own semblance the more time a battle dragged on.
Cinder never had much hope of the street rat actually becoming anything better than a rank C huntress, B if she ever learned to properly multitask in a fight. But Emerald was close to useless the whole fight. Mercury had the decency to keep fighting even with his aura broken. And Emerald helped distract Qrow. But that left her with Winter Schnee and a Maiden to deal with.
Best choice would’ve been to run. They couldn’t win against Two S ranks and a Maiden.
But if Cinder could get the beetle a few more times into Amber then she could keep on siphoning the power to herself. Subtracting a Maiden from their side and into hers. Emerald and Mercury would've probably die as soon as Qrow stopped holding back. That didn’t truly matter to Cinder, all they needed to do was buy enough time so she could steal the Falls Maiden power.
She had rushed both huntress. Hands clasped into her superheated glass swords. Her semblance makes them inhumanly sharp and hot. And while doing so she tried to remember all she could about Ironwood's little lap dog.
She knew she had read the files, just not paid enough attention to them. Winter Schnee was supposed to be in Atlas. She should be Watts' problem, not hers!
Winter Schnee, eldest daughter of Jacques Schnee, actual head of the SDC. Specialist under direct control of General Ironwood. Possibly in the know about the secret war. I guess we can say for sure now that she is a member of Ozpins little cadre. Considered an honorary Rank S Huntress. Semblance was summoning constructs that resembled Grimm and armor knights with a few glyphs that Cinder hadn’t memorized. Weakness: younger siblings and a semblance that took time to properly activate.
She dodged under another swipe of the gigantic ice armor Winter had summoned and jumped to score a deep slash against its arm. She couldn't destroy the armor yet. The only thing keeping winter rooted to the ground was its summoning circle. She had to play with it until an opening appeared and she could rush either of her enemies.
Dodding got harder when Amber was finally back on her feet. The Maiden kept tossing shards of ice at the woman every opening she got. But to do so she had to stay mobile. And in one such moment she stepped too far from Winters protection.
Cinder shattered her right sword above her head and wiled the pieces to shoot forward into a storm of overheated sharpened glass. Amber tried defending as best as she could, even blocking some with a twirl of her staff. But every piece that hit started melting and burning over her aura, causing further damage to the Maiden.
Her aura was fading just a bit more and it would break.
The scream of the girl distracted the Schnee specialist for less than a second. But it was enough opening for Cinder to get to her. Her sword was flying through the air, poised to either cut through the woman's aura and take her head or impact so hard that she would cause enough damage to be out of commission for the foreseeable minutes.
But her sword never reached Winter Schee's neck.
Cinder screamed. She screamed and held to the stump that was now her left arm. Her aura had broken by such a powerful slash that even after it simply cleaved through her arm.
Those useless bastards! She thought. All they had to do was hold him back for a few minutes! Incompetent, useless children…
Amber didn’t let the lack of aura detain her. Even in pain Cinder was able to dodge the woman's few fireballs.
“Come on lady, just give up. Ya can’t beat us now.” Qrow said.
“Surrender now!” Ordered Winter. Moving to block view on the weakened maiden.
I’m dead either way. At best they capture and torture me for every scrap of information I know Might as well try everything.
The Khepri beetle still contained something close to a half of the Falls Maiden power. Absorbing it now would be useless, as she had no knowledge of how to properly use the power. And nothing said it would regenerate her aura, not that she could win this fight even at 100%.
It would be a gamble, but it wouldn't be the first time.
It was still bound to her left arm, the arm that was discarded close to both huntress. Nothing more than a simple whisper. “Overload….”
In a second the entire forest was in flames. The tiny grimm had flew in the direction of the huntress and maiden before exploding into a supernova of fire and torrential winds.
She saw the Maidens aura break. A fireball having hit her directly on the stomach. Winter rushed in her direction trying her best to contain or defend from the raging storm of fire that threatened her and Amber. Qrow was there a second later, taking the injured woman away.
The lost of the arm and her flesh burning hurt far less than losing the Falls power to Cinder. But surviving today could mean another chance at them in the future. So she ran.
She wasn’t sure for how long, how far or even in what direction.
In truth she was unbelievably lucky that the fire she caused was drifting to the opposite side. A change of the winds would have her burned alive inside the forest.
At some point, she wasn’t sure when, the loss of blood and the burnings finally got to her. She stumbled and fell painfully to the ground.
Cinder was a tough woman. By far one of the strongest the hell hole of Mistral ever produced. And she was a survivor through and through. Just need my aura back, she thought. She could cauterize the wound with it. And the aura would start healing most of the weaker burns by itself. Then the only problem would be infection, but she would cross that bridge when she got to it.
She dragged herself to a tree and sat herself as best as she could. Just a small pause, a few seconds to breathe is all.
She heard the crushing of leaves nearby. But couldn’t bring herself to open her eyes. She was just so tired.
At that moment it didn’t matter anymore to her. The pain and exhaustion were simply too much.
Serve the queen of all grimm and end as a lowly Beowolfs chow? The absolute irony.
She could kill Goliaths by herself. She could march in any academy or guild and be made a Rank B or A huntress. SHe had enough money and connections to rule any underworld in Vale.
And up to a few moments ago she had touched magic. She had in her possession a power so strong, so ancient that whole kingdoms could only dream of possessing. The last piece for her glorious future had slipped away between her fingers.
And this is how she met her end.
What was even the point? She thought as her mind finally gave up into slumber.