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kingakatsuki13-blog · 6 years ago

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RWBY: Fall for a Rose VOL 1

Chapter 2: Blood for Syrup Something was wrong with Cinder Fall. Everything had for the most part been proceeding as it had been planned. For the past week since their infiltration, Emerald and Mercury had been socializing with the students in order to not only gain their trust but also so that they may learn more of their strengths and weaknesses. They also began to pry around attempting to discover a way into the bowels of the school where the prizes they sought more than likely were held. Cinder, mostly confined herself within her team's shared room.

For hours she analyzed the data the duo sent her and adjusted the plan according to each new scrap of information she was given. She also made sure to add contingencies for any uncounted variables that could possibly, however unlikely, hinder or dismantle the entire operation. Much to her annoyance though, she wasn't able to concentrate on her own tasks as well as she normally would. Yes, she was able to do it but it took her far more concentration than she had expected. As she would work, almost most sporadically her thoughts would begin to drift and focus on a certain red-cloaked wearing young girl. As soon as the mental image of the smiling young student clouded her head, Cinder would spend long stretches of time agonizing over why she could not stop thinking of Ruby Rose. Their initial encounter was one of the briefest meetings Cinder had ever had with anyone in recent memory. The two other times she had run into Ruby were only slightly longer and even then there was very little the girl had said or done, aside from literally running into her again both times, to make Cinder so invested in her.

So why couldn't she stop thinking about her? What was it about her that had gained her near full attention? Perhaps, she was instinctually afraid of scythe wielder? Such an idea had originally been brushed aside but Cinder once more considered it seriously for several hours before once more dashing the idea. Cinder was not afraid of some petite fifteen year old. If not that, then maybe the girl held some form of power that Cinder was unknowingly drawn to. Again, she ridiculed the thought. What power could the girl possess that she'd ever want? Unless. No, the idea was too farfetched. Every answer and possibility she could come up with was more illogical or ridiculous than the one before. Ruby appeared to be a normal huntress in training, a peculiar one with potential for sure but a common one nonetheless.

"Cinder?"

Then what was it? What kept her mind from focusing on the most important mission of her young life? That kept her focused on the young red and black haired huntress that she barely even knew let alone had any information on? She was still waiting on Emerald and Mercury to discover something. She needed to know who the girl was. What about the young Rose that vexed her so. That made her think of her unique and beautiful silver eyes that looked at her with such innocence and happiness. That made her daydream of her pretty face sporting a small faint blush on those adorable cheeks on hers after she was scolded.

"Cinder?"

There was no clear answer. It could be many. True be told she hadn't felt something like this since the moment she meet Salem for the first time. The fear and intrigue that she felt once her mentor had laid eyes on her was something very similar to what she was feeling now. Only at that time, it was rather different. When she had met Salem, she couldn't stop thinking of her and the power she emitted. She wanted to learn more about what she was able to do and what the witch could offer her to fight back against the twisted and cruel world. While with Ruby she felt the need to learn more about her and that somehow the girl could…

"Cinder!"

The trance of thoughts that was holding the long black haired woman from the physical world was suddenly broken once she heard the voice of one of her followers. She turned her head towards Emerald as she sat on her bed. The short minty green haired woman along with Mercury gave her a concerned look.

"Are you alright Cinder? You seemed lost for a moment."

"Yeah, in fact, you've kinda seemed distracted for a few days now."

"...I'm fine I've just been...remembering things..." Cinder said while she stared at the floor for a small moment before she looked back to both Emerald and Mercury. "Have you found anything new to report?"

The silver-haired man gave a slick grin, "Think your gonna be really happy. We managed to find plenty of info on that team RWBY and their leader." He followed with a teasing pause to see how his boss would react at the fact they had finally garnered the information she had wished for near a week.

"Such as?" Cinder questioned with a tone that indicated she was not to be kept waiting on such information.

"W-Well the easiest to figure out was the Schnee brat," he began before reading from his scroll, "Seventeen years old, from Atlas, heiress to the Schnee Dust Company. Her weapon of choice is a Multi-action dust rapier, able to make use of different forms of dust in combat. Her semblance like all Schnee is the use of glyphs and..."

"Whatever. She's the most obvious of them all. We'll discuss the Belladonna and the other one later. For now talk to me about their leader. Ruby Rose," Cinder commanded as she arose from her bed and sauntered to the window. The raven-haired beauty clasped her hands behind her back as she looked out over the school's courtyard, begrudgingly admiring the beauty of its architecture and landscape as well as peaceful presence it emitted.

Mercury in that moment turned to Emerald and gave a slight shrug before motioning to her to inform their boss of what they had discovered about the red and black haired girl. Emerald took out her own scroll and began to search for the notes pertaining the one her savior wished to know.

"Well?" the slightly irritated voice of Cinder sounded making both of them flinch. It also continued to make the terrible duo question why Cinder appeared to be fixated on a girl she simply bumped into randomly. Regardless, Emerald quickly found the notes she had compiled and began to read them aloud.

"Here Ma'am. Ruby Rose, leader of Team RWBY. Born on October 31st. 15 years old. Raised on the Island of Patch. Wields a high caliber sniper scythe. She is evidently the youngest student to have ever been accepted into Beacon Academy in its entire history..." Emerald continued to exude all the information they had discovered in Mercury and hers weeklong research. Cinder absorbed each particular piece of information that was revealed to her. Ruby was actually the half-sister of Yang, had a near obsession for cookies. She had a dog-named Zwei that she kept hidden in RWBY's dorm room. How, it was her team that had actually disrupted their allies, The White Fang's operations at the docks a few weeks prior. The woman who yearned to be a seasonal maiden listened to every little detail. When Emerald had ceased speaking did Cinder make a response.

"Fascinating...well done you two," she said as she continued to stare out over the courtyard. Her mind had already begun processing everything her minions had reported. She was searching for whatever it was that made Ruby cloud her thoughts.

Interestingly as she reviewed everything she realized she and Ruby had unknowingly crossed paths a few months before. It had been Ruby who had thwarted Roman Torchwick's dust heist those many weeks prior and it was she that Cinder had attacked to cover Roman and her's escape. Cinder unknowingly frowned at the information and wondered if perhaps that had been the reason for her odd interest. No, it wasn't that. Cinder continued to sift through the data until she was pulled from her thoughts once more.

"Ummm Cinder...maybe we could go down to the cafeteria? Do some observation of the other teams down there?" the mint-haired mental manipulator suggested.

She had been watching as Cinder contemplated the information of Ruby Rose. It frankly worried the tan skinned woman. In the few years, she had served her source of purpose, never had she seen her take such a sudden interest in a subject like the young Rose. Ever since their brief interaction, Cinder had been adamant on learning all there was to know about the scythe-wielder and to a lesser extent her team. She had appeared almost distracted by the thought of the young girl, something that almost made the dual sickle-wielding woman mad with jealousy. Even now, after being given all that information Cinder still seemed to be distracted and was obviously reviewing all the knowledge presented to her inside her nefarious mind. Thus she hoped she could now distract Cinder with something else and refocus her attention back to the overall mission.

"..." Cinder simply started at her protégé as she too slowly reminded herself of the end game.

"Yeah. Besides I'm freaking starving. Let's see what kind of food this posh place has for us today," Mercury blatantly commented, not understanding Emerald's true reason for the suggestion.

"...I think you have a good point Emerald, looking at the interactions between teams could help us to find any relationships that they may have with others. We could easily use such relationships to our advantage. Besides, I need to make more appearances…I can't continue to miss these routine activities, or I may begin to raise some suspicions," Cinder said to the red eyes young woman who couldn't help but nod at smile at the small recognition she received from her superior.The raven-haired woman than turned to Mercury with an annoyed look but appeased his simpleness, "And Mercury start thinking outside of your stomach for once."

"Hey, I can't gather information or kill anyone on an empty stomach."

------

"...I'm honestly still surprised at how well the quality of food is here," Cinder said.

Her lunch tray held a generously sized medium rare cooked steak, steaming carrots, fluffy mashed potatoes, a freshly baked slice of pie alongside some chocolate chip cookies and finally a glass of milk. With a slight incline of her head, Cinder, Emerald and Mercury walked through the cafeteria searching for an available table, preferably one away from the other teams.

"I know. Little brats are freaking spoiled," Emerald huffed, evidently bitter at how well off the students had it.

"Pft, why are you complaining about? Who cares if they get spoiled, this food is amazing," the silver-haired young man commented with an annoyed tone before taking a bite of his dessert cake.

"Seriously? You couldn't wait till we found a place to sit down before gorging yourself?"

"What? I'm hungry."

"When are you not hungry you sociopath?"

"Bite me klepto."

Cinder's right eyebrow twitched in annoyance at the incessant bickering between the two. The nefarious femme-fatale was about to order them to stop when she heard the unique and unmistakable sweet excited voice of someone call out to her.

"Cinder! Hey Cinder! Come here you guys we have free spots here!"

Cinder turned her head to stare at the origin of the voice and of course found none other than Ruby Rose. The very girl who had unwittingly been inconveniencing Cinder's thought process for several days. Said girl was sitting at a long table along with seven other students, all form of Beacon. It was easy to see she was sitting alongside her team as well as another group. This new quadrate integrated of a blonde goofy looking boy, a beautiful long red haired tall girl, a black-haired boy that had a pink strain within his dark locks and finally an orange haired girl, who seemed completely focused on eating what it looked like pancakes.

Without a moment's hesitation Cinder began to make her way over to the beckoning girl, quickly followed Emerald and Mercury. The former of which grew a scowl on her face when she once more saw the bubbly Ruby.

"Hello Ruby, it's nice to see you and your team again," Cinder said with a smile on her face as she and the others arrived at the table. Emerald took a seat next to the orange haired girl, who was fully devoted to devouring her pancakes, Mercury sat next to the blonde boy and Cinder had managed to squeeze in a spot next to Ruby. The young Rose seemed to be barely containing herself at the happiness of meeting Cinder once more and the fact that the sultry young woman was now sitting next to her. Making her equally excited was the idea that she would, at last, be able to ask her pantheon of questions to pyromancer.

"Hehe, same," she flashed a toothy smile, "Oh before I forget! This is team JNPR. Guys, this is Cinder, Emerald, and Mercury. We uhhh kinda met them the other day when I accidentally bumped into them."

Cinder gave a tiny giggle at the flustered state of Ruby as she recounted her own bumbling. She then listened as Team JNPR presented themselves to herself and her own team.

"My name is Jaune Arc from the Arc family...I-I'm the leader, nice to meet you," spoke the blonde boy, who to Cinder seemed rather unimpressive.

"Greetings, I'm Pyrrha Nikos, it's very nice to meet you all," the green-eyed young woman said in a gentle way.

The silent young man who sat beside her followed in the introductions, "I'm Ren, Lie Ren, a pleasure to make your acquaintance."

The remaining member of JNPR had just taken a rather large bite of her 'lunch' and with a full mouth greeted, "Ghi! I'mg Ngah Vhakmie!" As she spoke, some chewed bits of saliva-covered pancake flew onto the table causing Weiss, Emerald, and Blake to display faces of disgust whilst gagging.

"...Charmed to meet you all." Cinder replied with a weary smile."So, since you guys have been here for a week, how are you liking Beacon so far?" Yang asked to the new additions to their table, blatantly attempting to ignore the sickening display that was Nora's consumption of pancakes.

"It's a most impressive academy. Far grander and larger than Haven," Cinder replied before cutting her self a piece of her juicy steak and consuming it.

"Really?" Ruby peeped.

"Yes, little Rose. Granted there's only so much space Haven has given that it's built on a mountaintop."

"That's so cool!"

"…I suppose in some sense it is."

The Beacon teams then continued to press for more questions regarding the "exchange students," all clearly curious about life in Mistral and the other academy, save for Phyrra, who originated from Mistral. It was Ruby though that began to ask the more personal questions.

"So Cinder, I was curious but what's your story?"Cinder cocked her head a little at the inquiry before responding,

"My story?"

"Yeah. Like where in Mistral are you from? What's your family like?" Ruby asked eagerly awaiting the response.

"Oh. Well, I'm actually from a town in the northern regions near Argus. It's called Kuraikako."

"I know that town," Weiss exclaimed excitedly, "My father and the rest of Atlas have strong connections in that region."

Cinder grimly nodded, "Indeed. One the largest Dust mines in all of Remnant is situated right next to it and if I'm correct it's owned by your family, is it not?"

"It is and I've been trying to visit for ages. My sister informed me it is a place one must visit at least once in their life. It was constructed on the world's largest natural arch wasn't it?" Weiss asked, nearly as excited, as Ruby would normally be.

"That's right. It makes growing up really interesting when your entire town is situated about seven hundred feet above a massive river." Cinder commented.

"You live on the world's biggest natural bridge and you go to school on top of a mountain? That's so freaking awesome," Ruby chimed, her eyes being replaced with stars of wonder, "Tell me your parents are just as cool!"

"…My parents…" she paused, "...Well, not really. Unless you consider traveling merchants to be really cool."

"Well, that's…interesting," Weiss said, slightly disappointed at the fact her new acquaintance was not of Kuraikako's elite.

"It's a noble profession," Ren stated.

The other's grumbled their thoughts, and though Cinder could care less for the fabrication she had crafted as a backstory, Ruby of course did.

"Hey come on guys. Think about it they get to travel all over Remnant," Ruby exclaimed.

Cinder continued to behold the energetic girl with wonder.

"Hehe Rubes, huntsmen get to travel all over the world too," Yang chuckled. It was all too clear to the elder sister that her sibling had a unique interest in the black haired student and thus was trying not to offend her.

"Y-Yeah but…"

"It's fine Ruby. I'm fully aware that merchants are not the most exciting profession. Besides, my parents and I have rarely spent time together over the past several years. So it's fine," Cinder interjected.

"That's so sad to hear," Phyrra uttered.

Cinder turned her head to see the famed redhead with an empathetic expression upon her face. As her amber colored eyes darted around the table, she saw the others adopt similar faces. Cinder sighed, as she realized she had unwittingly created a pity party. If there was one thing Cinder despised most in the world, it was people looking down on her in any way. Be it through pity or arrogance, she hated it with a burning passion. Thus, she quickly resolved to turn the conversation away from herself and direct it towards the others.

"I wouldn't get choked up over it. My parent's and I have never really been that close, to begin with," she continued to build on the lie. She paused for a moment to let the information sink into the others, "Anyway, I think it's now my turn to ask all of you some questions."

"Yeah…Sounds fair after all we did kind of just blast you with all of ours," Jaune said sheepishly. He, like everyone, wanted to distance away from the awkwardness that was arising from the parental subject.

"Indeed."Cinder began her own inquiry into the various members of the two teams while Emerald and Mercury watched and ate their own lunches. To both of them, these students were just so annoying. All they had wished to do was to quietly east some food and do some discrete observations. But no, that annoying little Ruby Rose just had to spot and invite them over to sit with her and her friends. More than that, it continued to irk Emerald something fierce as Cinder continued to drift her gaze on to the energetic crimson-cloaked girl. All the servant of Fall could do though was to eat her meal and let Cinder do her interviews of the Beacon students, which luckily for them was giving them new information about each individual.The sultry woman stylized her questions around general topics while slipping in bits of bait to pry deeper intelligence about each of them. It worked quite well as she was able to get each one of them to unwittingly reveal their semblances, granted she had, in turn, had to tell them her own when they asked. She replied that she could simply create and control fire, which while a lie wasn't exactly far from the truth. Yet, one of her more interesting questions made even Emerald slightly curious as to its answer.

"Now if you don't mind me asking...why are you all here? What are you hoping to gain out of being huntsmen?"

The answers they received were quite diverse, some nobler than others, to which Cinder and Emerald mentally rolled their eyes at. Yang, of course, was simply interested in beating up monsters, Weiss was seeking to restore her family's name given how her father had tainted its reputation, Jaune similarly was interested in upholding his family name and to Cinder, they were just the same old excuses she had heard a dozen times over. Kill the Grimm, be a hero, restore some lost honor; it bored Cinder to no end, though of course, her face did not show it.

Only after everyone else had given their reason did she at last turn to the one who she most wanted to hear from, "And you Ruby? Why do you wish to be a huntsman?"

"M-Me?" the half-sister of Yang stuttered. Despite her bubbly nature, Ruby was evidently shy enough when she herself was under the spotlight. "Umm well…my parents were apparently incredible huntsmen and my Uncle Qrow is one of the coolest out there. I guess you could say I've always wanted to be like them. You know going out and just helping people and all that…Oh and I find the aspect of being a huntsman the coolest!"

Though Ruby's answer was similarly common, the tone in which she talked withheld some sadness to it as if she was hiding another part to her desire to be such a warrior. Regardless, she said nothing regarding honor, vengeance, glory or anything of such nature. Her desire was simple and innocent; a desire that drove Ruby forward. Cinder, while of course being intrigued by Ruby, still could not help but mentally scoff at the simplicity of her drive. Yet, because of it's simplicity and pureness Cinder strangely found herself once more curious, something that made her mind cry in frustration at the mystery Ruby presented.

As the conversation between Cinder and the Beacon teams continued, Mercury began to become increasingly bored and tired. He assumed no one would mind if he decided to take a quick nap upon the table. Pushing his tray of uneaten food away from his person, he lay his head upon its hard surface and closed his eyes. Unbeknownst to him, he had pushed his tray a little too hard and at an angle that had it smacking into the tray of pancakes that Nora was still consuming. The action caused both trays to spill over past the Valkyrie girl. Her eyes grew wide at the horror that unfolded in almost a slowed down motion. Never before had something so insulting transpired before her. Each fluffy, butter and syrup coated flapjack fell to the floor, where they flopped, tore or crumbled apart upon hitting the tiles. Her pancakes had been assassinated. Ren and the others around them gasped at the suddenness of what transpired, all except for Cinder and Emerald, the former whom just rose an eyebrow in curiosity. Like the head of a bird of prey, Nora's head snapped in the direction from where the rouge and violent tray that committed the unspeakable deed came from. Her turquoise eyes landed on the napping Mercury and immediately narrowed. Without a moment's hesitation, she grasped some fallen pancake within her mighty fist.

"Avenge yourself my delectable confection," she whispered to her lost love before flinging the cooked batter cake into the face of the undercover assassin.

"Ghaa!" the young silver haired man shouted in both surprise and anger at the feeling of something soft yet sticky smashing into his face and interrupting his attempt to take a relaxing little nap. "What the hell?" he questioned while he cleaned the pieces of pancake from his face and searched for the culprit of the assault. Only to find the answer once he looked at Nora.

The girl with a semblance of electricity raised both hands to air while looking up to the ceiling and cried out loud, "Your death has been avenged, my delicious friend!"Cinder looked at what transpired before her with a face that was slightly baffled but more so un-amused. Other students too took notice at the sudden outcry of both Mercury and Nora. The feeling of becoming the center of attention and feeling so many eyes upon them quickly made several members of the large group uncomfortable. The exception, of course, being Ren, who was had become desensitized to Nora's crazed antics along with Ruby, Yang and surprisingly Emerald. All three girls were giggling at how funny the scene was, especially for the former thief.Their light laughter along with the fury of being attacked with food, Mercury did not think twice before he went and grabbed the pie from Jaune's tray. Not missing a beat, the son of Black threw the pastry towards Nora before Jaune or Cinder could protest. Unfortunately for him and everyone else in the cafeteria, Nora was fully prepared for retaliation. Out of nowhere she pulled out an iron pole with a large stack of waffles skewered on the end and used the odd device to smash, the upcoming cake into many pieces that flew everywhere.

Almost everyone quickly shielded themselves with their trays as the pie pieces sprayed everywhere. Yang, however, was not so fortunate. She had been about to drink some juice when Mercury had struck back and Nora sent his revenge pie spraying everywhere. Said pieces of pie ended up hitting the Xiao Long in the face but more importantly, bits of the pie embedded themselves in her precious hair. This fact registered almost instantly with Yang. Her muscles began to tense, her eyes shifted from purple to blood red and a demonic aura began to enwrap her. The members of both RWBY and JNPR grew quite with their eyes filled with fear as they saw this.

"E-Emm...Yang a-are you okay?" Weiss asked, terror slowly etching itself into her face.

This quickly caught the attention of Cinder who also noticed that the faunus girl and team leader seemed to tremble of what was coming. She also picked up on that Phyrra and Jaune had begun to slowly raise their trays as shields once more.

"Yang...just...breathe in and try to not think about it. Just clear your mind and breathe," Blake said trying to calm Ruby's elder sister before chaos was unleashed.

At first, the words of Blake seemed to have some effect as Yang started to steady her breathing while her eyes transitioned back to purple. For a quick moment, the Beacon teams thought that everything was going to be fine, that was until till the long blonde haired huntress resumed her heavy breathing. Her breathing became quicker and harsher than before; her eyes once more became red but now glowed with her rage.

"N-Now Yang please don't…" Blake tried once more to reach her friend's conscious with words but was swiftly stopped. The sudden explosion of Yang's juice glass that she was holding signaled the shut down of the Belladonna's attempts. This once more got the attention of the other students, who all began to scuttle away as Yang's demonic aura reached new heights.

A single utterance sounded from somewhere in the near silent hall of eating that best summarized the feelings of the student populace over what was about to take place, "Oh no...not again."

As if in response to that remark, Ruby jumped on to other table and with both hands raised to her mouth, she shouted out, "Food Fight!"

Once Cinder heard those words from the red and black haired young huntress, she turned to leave when a loud crash sounded behind her. Her head spun back to find the table had been smashed into the ground, Yang standing at the epicenter from which the table had collapsed. Evidently, her punch had been so swift and powerful it created a temporary anti-gravity effect with several trays full of food that had been on the dinning platform. These platters stuffed with varying consumables seemed to float in the air before the now psychotically grinning Yang proceeded to punch them all in every direction. Cinder easily dodged the tin plate and its messy contents that were launched at her head. She proceeded to back up and stand against the wall away from the chaos that was unfolding. She took note of all the other students evacuating the premise and decided it would be wise for her team to follow suit. As she moved to gather her teammates, the nefarious woman growled in displeasure when she realized that one was already mixed up in the ridiculous bout.

The disciple of Salem watched as Yang launched herself forward to collide with Nora and Mercury. Having the momentum, Yang catapulted the three of them into several other tables causing more and debris and food to fly all over. At the same time, Ren tried to stop Ruby as she tried to back up her older sister. She came at him, tossing slices of pizza as he deflected each one with the large carrots he held. Meanwhile, Pyrrha and Jaune dueled with both Blake and Weiss. Jaune used a tray as his shield as Weiss assaulted him with her signature swordfish. Blake made use of an overly large turkey drumstick as she combated Phyrra's salami loaf thrusts. The sight of everyone fighting with food made Cinder feel disgusted. It was all so idiotic, so childish, and normally she would have despised every aspect of the mock fight. But looking at Ruby, seeing the joy-filled girl have fun, prevented Cinder from completely looking down upon the lively clash. In fact, it almost made the undercover villainess want to get involved.

Suddenly, Emerald appeared next to her master. She had somehow avoided the confrontation but was cleaning some pieces of food from her hair.

"Jeez what a mess these losers and Mercury have created," she stated before ducking as several watermelons zipped past and swiftly exploded behind them.

"S-sorry!" apologized Phyrra.

"… Maybe we should get Mercury and leave before someone gets here and we get caught up in this mess…Cinder?"

Cinder silently looked to her lackey as food flew in the air around them before returning her gaze to the fight of food raged in front of them. Her normally collected and mature mind had become bewildered as she watched both parties battle one another with their comical makeshift weapons all the while smiling and laughing. Even Mercury of all the sociopaths in Remnant looked to be enjoying himself as he kicked and threw various pastries at the powerhouses of Yang and Nora. And then there was her, the petite, nimble and mesmerizing Ruby. Her flowing scarlet cloak, her slender but defined arms, the way her mixed colored hair bounced and swayed as she flipped an kicked, and finally her pale but rosy face that emitted such overwhelming euphoria. She completely mystified Cinder with her pureness. The fiery seductress' concentration on the Rose until it was broken when an airborne pie struck Emerald on the side of her face, covering it in a mixture of mashed apple, crust and whipped cream.

"Bwaggh! T-THE HELL MERC?"

The ruby-eyed girl furiously turned towards her partner, while trying to wipe the creamy substance from her face. The certainty of Mercury casting the pie that struck her was without doubt as he was the only one at that moment with a stockpile of the delicious confections.

"Hehehe come on Em! Lighten up. I need some back up here," he laughed as he launched another pie at Yang who intercepted it and returned right back at its place of origin with meteoric speed. Despite, what he felt and thought about the Beacon students, Mercury had to admit, they could be fun.

"Tch. In your dreams moron!" Emerald spat back before once more looking to Cinder, "Cinder? Come on. We..."

"Cinder!" came the voice of Ruby Rose.

Interrupting Emerald's plea the daughter of Rose and Xiao Long ran up to followers of darkness while evading a sudden barrage of soda-cans from Phyrra. Smoothly she slid right next to the two infiltrators.

"Cinder! Emerald! I need some help taking down Ren and Phyrra! Any chance you two could help me out?" Ruby requested while flashing one of the brightest smiles anyone could give.

"W-What?" gaped Emerald at the sniper-scythe wielder, "What makes you think we'd..."

"Ruby, I don't think that we…" Cinder initially interjected before taking in Ruby's excited expression. Her amber eyes locked with Ruby's silver ones, eyes so vibrant and filled with life. Normally, she'd want nothing more than to snuff out such virtuousness, but again, Cinder did not feel it with Ruby. No, instead she felt a bizarre and out of character need to protect the happiness of the girl. Thus, she realized to spare Ruby disappointment, she begrudgingly but calmly responded, "What do you need us to do?"

"Huh?"

To say Emerald's face fell into one of shock would have been an understatement. She questioned whether she was in a dream or not, as she refused to accept that Cinder Fall, one of the most strong-willed, mature, deadly and ambitious people in all of Remnant had just agreed...to partake in a food fight. She had also, without any warning, signed Emerald up to aid in Ruby's fight. Things were simply no longer making any sense to Emerald.

"Emerald, I need you to draw their fire as Cinder and I use the tables as cover to try and flank them on their right. Cinder, as soon as we get there we'll take out Jaune first, then Ren before finally focusing on Phyrra hehehe," Ruby chuckled as she gave her instructions. "You ok with that?"

Before Emerald could even begin to protest, Cinder once more spoke for her, "Sounds like a plan. Lead the way little Rose…Emerald."

"Y-Yes ma'am?" Emerald replied, still confused at what was going on.

"Make sure they don't spot us coming," Cinder ordered before her face took on a small smile.

With that both Fall and Rose moved to prone positions beside one another and began to crawl military style beneath the tables. Emerald started at the bizarre sight of Cinder crawling before shaking her head and adhering to the orders her superior gave to her...as strange and out of character as they were.

"Sigh...can't believe I'm actually doing this..." the former thief mumbled to herself before arising and took to chucking a mixture of fruits and meats at the survivor of Kuryuri and Champion of the Mistral regional tournament. Both of course immediately returned fire in kind to which Emerald comedically dodged.

Save for the eleven participants of the food warfare, the cafeteria of Beacon was completely empty. The cacophony of noise that the eleven created would contradict such an idea. Plates shattered, food splattered, silverware clanged and each individual gave a roaring scream as they gave it their all defeat their foes with chickens, cakes, noodles and any other edible substance they could grab. Any outside passerby would assume the noise emanating from the hall signified actual combat taking place. Granted, the way each participant was conducting himself or herself, such a notion wasn't far off.

"Blood for syrup!" Nora war cried as she slammed her pancake mallet into the end of a table.

The table end easily buckled under the force of Nora's strike and created a catapult-like motion as the rest of the table flew up. The food upon the dining top shot off and towards the silver-haired agent of evil. Mercury's jaw slightly flew at the sight of the wall of confections barreling towards him. Quickly recomposing himself, he used a combination of his advanced robotic legs and two sticks of butter to "skate" between the multitudes of airborne foodstuffs. Nora cackled at the sight as in the moment Mercury gained the appearance of some kind of figure skater.

"Ha. Nice try Pancake brain but you're gonna need to better than th-bwaagh!" Mercury yelped in shock and pain as something hit him from behind.

Whatever struck him contained enough force behind it that he was sent careening towards Nora. The orange haired ball of energy was not prepared for an actual body to be flying at her and thus failed to move in time. As soon as he collided with her, both Mercury and Nora tumbled and rolled over one another until they crashed into a rather large cake.

"Yeah! Two for the price of one," Yang cheered.

Mercury was the first to arise from the cake. From head to waist he was covered in a mixture of white frosting and yellowcake crumbs. Swiftly he wiped away the sweet dessert's remains from his face before giving a hard glare at the young girl that had just humiliated him.

"Alright then…" he commented.

Seeing her foe rise once more to face her, Yang adopted a smug grin, "Oh? Back for more are we?"

She proceeded to give him a "bring it" gesture with her free hand and while showing off the big roasted chicken she had crafted into a gauntlet. She then assumed her fighting stance while commenting, "Let's taste if you're a man...or a chicken."

"You know..." Mercury said spitting the remains of cake that were in his mouth, "...I never liked vanilla cake but I have to admit that it's way better than listening to your lame puns."

"Oh, now you done it, old man. I'm going to end you!" Yang said with her eyes glowing fiery red once more before she charged towards him.

"Ha, how original. Mocking me for my hair," Mercury said as he also charged towards the blonde haired huntress. Soon both were heatedly engaged in an incredible fighting sequence between Yang's chicken fists and Mercury's greased feet.

"Augh! We can't fight back," Weiss complained.

The Schnee heir, now accompanied by Emerald, endeavored to find cover from the unstoppable rain of food that came from the side of Pyrrha, Jaune, and Ren. The two males of the trio threw their stockpiles of food at the rate an automatic rifle would fire its ammunition. Pyrrha, on the other hand, made use of her semblance to deploy cascades of silverware and soda at the panicking duo. As they ran Weiss saw their salvation ahead in the form of a large mound of upturned tables that in many ways resembled a barricade.

"Quick! Behind those tables," Weiss instructed to her ally and they both jumped towards the safety of the tables.

’Cinder and Ruby at that same moment were attempting to engage their flanking maneuver as team JNPR became solely focused on the others. They had completely failed to notice the sneaky approach of Ruby and Cinder.

"Are you ready Cinder?"

"..."

"As soon as Phyrra's out of ammunition we can..."

Ruby never finished her description of their counter-attack. It was interrupted by the duel of Yang and Mercury. In their thirst to out due one another, the battle crazed brawler and assassin had obliterated the tables that had allowed the scythe and bow wielders to progress as far as they did. Yang swiped at Mercury's buttery metallic appendages with her full might. The resulting impact somehow had thrown each other and the remaining tables back, one of which was knocked into the face of Mercury who stumbled back in a comical way before falling over. The Suddenness of this skirmish by their flank instantly alerted Ren, As the quite young man surveyed the lightning fast bout, he instantly saw the prone figures of Ruby and Cinder now without their cover. Ruby's eyes grew wide as she saw Ren see them.

"C-Cinder," she squeaked.

"…" mutely replied Cinder.

"Fall back! We're exposed!" Ruby shouted before jumping from the ground and dashing to where Weiss and Emerald had taken cover. Cinder watched as she ran before looking back to Ren and saw that he had directed Phyrra and Jaune to open fire at her current location.

"...Shit," she muttered before she too made a dash for the refuge of Weiss and Emerald's table barricade. Behind her droves of flying, food and drink crashed into the ground at such strength and speed the floor's tiles began to crack. Cinder, surprisingly found the whole experience to be invigorating. Of course nowhere near the level she had felt when trying to acquire the Fall Maiden's power years ago, but this time it felt different. As she took cover alongside the others she cast a look at Emerald that informed her that she was disappointed that she did not completely succeed at drawing the enemy's fire. Emerald made a motion to where Mercury lay prone, blaming him for blowing their cover.

As Emerald defended herself, Ruby and Weiss were contemplating battle strategies, "Alright our flanking plan didn't work...Oh what if we..."

Again the silver-eyed warrior's proposed stratagem was interrupted as a vending machine soared above their heads and crashed into the floor front of the quartet.

"S-sorry about that!" came Phyrra's apology once, sounding clearly embarrassed, that is until she once more resumed her fire.

"Has anyone ever said that her semblance is completely OP?" Emerald inquired her mouth agape at the sight of the crushed vending machine.

"Ugggh. This is pointless! We're completely pinned! There's no way we can win this!" huffed Weiss throwing her arms up in frustration.

"Don't give up yet Weiss. We gotta keep going on till our last breath. Till the las...wait a minute. Where is Blake?" Ruby asked looking for her faunus partner as she realized her absence.

"She's there" Weiss directed with her thumb towards a dizzied Blake lying on the floor surrounded by loads of discarded food. "While we were fighting, she got distracted when she saw a bowl filled with fish and that allowed Pyrrha to knock her out," Weiss explained.

An awkward single sweat drop slid down the foreheads of Emerald, Cinder, and Ruby out disbelief that something like that could have happened. They were all brought back to the battle at hand as more food and utensils crashed into and rocked the table barrier.

"We'll avenge you, Blake!" Ruby shouted.

"But how? We don't have an opening to counterattack," Weiss reminded the energetic girl.

"Then I'll create one!" Ruby said with a playfully serious face. Both Cinder and Weiss couldn't help but look at the black-red haired huntress in confusion of what she may have been thinking.

"What do you mean Ruby?"Cinder followed up with, "What are you going to do now?"

"If I don't make it..." Ruby said almost like if she was about to cry "it was a pleasure to have served with you all...And tell Yang...not to touch my stuff."

Ruby suddenly disappeared from the sight of all three women, leaving behind a flutter of rose petals. Cinder found the falling scarlet floral remnants quite beautiful and certainly a fitting tribute to the last name of the young woman.

"She's creating a distraction," Weiss said, pulling Cinder from her petal-induced trance. The undercover villainess rapidly realized what Weiss meant. The food assault from JNPR was no longer aimed where they were. Instead, the enemy trio had their sights focused on Ruby. Said target had transformed herself with her semblance of speed into a mesmerizingly beautiful flying twister of scarlet. With such incredible speed, the twister danced in the air as it avoided anti-air soda cans, chickens and cakes.

"This is our chance."Weiss' voice, however, was muted out as Cinder once more contemplated her current situation. Without Ruby beside her, the black-haired femme fatale was able to think more clearly.

'What the hell am I doing? Am I really lowering myself to playing this ridiculous game…just because I've gained an interest in that girl?' her brow furrowed as the realization made her more frustrated and angry with herself. 'Shit. How could I be so moronic as to get up in this foolishness? If we were to leave now it could lead to unnecessary questions and make these teams more reluctant to interact with us.'

Cinder bit her lip as such an option was out of the question. She knew there was something about Ruby that tugged at her curiosity. To have the girl skeptical of her would make her investigation that much more difficult. She once more reaffirmed her commitment to the fight, which she acknowledged was rather fun. As she prepared to move with the Schnee heiress a thought crossed her mind. A thought that made her realize that the mock battle did have an actual benefit to their overall mission. With this second realization, Cinder donned her signature smirk.

"Cinder, are you coming?" Weiss asked readying her swordfish.

Cinder's smirk dissipated and was with a serious look and nodded affirmatively. She then turned her gaze to her underling.

"Emerald. Make sure you cover us this time," Cinder she commanded while her eyes flashed with flames, emphasizing her point. Emerald nodded her head fervently before picking up bottles of both ketchup and mustard respectably.

'What the hell is happening? Why is Cinder agreeing to partake in this childish fight? Mercury, I can understand. But Cinder? The hell is going on?' Emerald pondered as she readied herself.

Weiss and Cinder vaulted over the barricade and rushed towards their distracted targets, picking up whatever leftover foods had yet be eviscerated by the intense cuisine melee. As they did Emerald fired globs of the condiments at Phyrra. The red-headed warrior noticed the flavored projectiles streaking towards her person and easily dodged the airborne sauces. True to her form and combat aptitude she redirected a fair portion of her floating soda cans at the poor villainess. Emerald gave an audible gulp at the sight of hundreds of cans paralleling towards her. Her body refused to move at the somehow terrifying sight and was quickly buried beneath the avalanche of pop.

Cinder rolled her eyes at her apprentice's inability to dodge before refocusing on Weiss and the JNPR trio that stood ahead. Cinder thrusted several chocolate chip cookies toward Jaune as if they shurikens. She aimed for Jaune under the analytical deduction that he was the weakest and clumsiest of the group. Her assumption on him being clumsy was correct as when the blonde boy turned to face the new threat he undertook attempts to dodge the cookies in a laughable fashion but in the end, failed. Several of the crisp snacks struck him in the face, hands, knees and of course the nether regions. The striking of the latter area forced the boy to collapse in excruciating pain and rolled off JNPR's hill of wrecked tables.

The loss of Jaune easily distracted Phyrra who rushed to his aid before Ren stopped her and ordered her to focus at the present threat at hand. With a mental apology to her crush, Phyrra focused her efforts on the heiress and attempted murderer. Once more using her semblance she raised hundreds of soda cans, eating utensils and other metallic objects from the floor into a massive singular cluster. The redhead prepared to fire it at the oncoming Haven and Beacon team up as they drew nearer.

"Phyrra! To your right! Ruby's coming in for an attack!" Ren suddenly cried.

Phyrra, Weiss and Cinder's all snapped their heads to see the spiraling twister of petals that was Ruby, launch herself in a spearheaded assault at both Ren and Phyrra. Reacting on instinct, the girl of polarity commanded her magnetized weapons of the food war towards the leader of RWBY. Luckily for Ruby, she was able to pull out of her attack vector just before colliding head-on into the pillar of food and cans that had been sent at her. Unfortunately, on her escape trajectory, she still scrapped alongside a fair portion of the attack and flew out of control, crash landing upon the mess hall floor and into a large puddle of soda. Seeing this Cinder and Weiss both changed direction and ran to the fallen huntress. Both skidded next to her in an attempt to assess the damage.

Weiss addressed her comrade before Cinder could even begin to form words, "Ruby? Ruby are you ok?"

They rolled her body onto her back to get a better look at her. The small warrior emitted some coughs as she slowly opened her silver eyes to look at both women who attended to her. Her expression conveyed sadness as she extended both hands to grasp the hands of both women who kneeled beside her.

"W-Weiss...cough…C-Cinder...I-I'm feeling cold. Cough, cough…" Ruby croaked in a clearly exaggerated tone of pain. Knowing her leader was simply being her playful self, Weiss simply rolled her eyes and sighed in relief that she was fine.

Cinder proceeded to remark,"Maybe that feeling has to do with the fact that you're laying in a puddle of soda?”

Weiss followed Cinder's deduction, "And it's quite sticky, thank you for showing us that by grabbing our hands."

"Don't ruin this for me!" Ruby shouted annoyed before resuming her self-imposed role of a dying warrior, "Cough…G-Girls…cough…a-avenge me...a-avenge...uuggggaaa…" Ruby finished her dramatic plea with an improvised dying sound before she closed her eyes and went limp. Deciding for once to actually continue the charade for her friend, Weiss cried out in theatrical anguish over the stiff "corpse" of Ruby. Cinder, however, took up the opportunity Ruby presented her in her "final" moments.

"Weiss…lets get her out of here. Then we shall avenge her," Cinder stated as she stood up and sized up Phyrra and Ren. Both had, in a small sign of respect, allowed them to have the small moment to say "goodbye" to Ruby.Weiss looked up at the "Haven Student" before nodding. They proceeded to carry Ruby out of the puddle of soda and onto one of the few remaining tables. There the two of them laid the fallen leader to 'rest'. Then both quickly went to procure weapons for the final battle that was upon them.

Cinder grabbed two long baguettes. She activated the fire dust sewn into her clothing and roasted both baguettes so thoroughly that when done, each was as hard as a metal pipe. Weiss proceeded to take up the swordfish she had already been using. Yet at the same time, she skewered various foods upon the fish's namesake, turning it like some kind of shish kebab of tomatoes, meatballs, fish, cakes and many more. When finished reequipping, both young women stood side by side ready to end the destructive conflict.

In a small but extravagant tribute, Weiss directed her weapon towards both Pyrrha and Ren and proclaimed, "For Blake!"

Picking up on Weiss's intention to dedicate the final melee to the "fallen," Cinder settled to play along and declared, "For Emerald."

Somewhere buried beneath a pile of crushed and leaking soda cans, the future Fall maiden's apprentice gave a tiny squeak of joy.

As the unlikely team-up began to walk then sprint forward they gave a synchronized cry "and for Ruby!"

The four engaged in a clash with a phenomenal display of combat choreography. Ren flipped backwards into the air before, using her own idea against her, chucked several cookies like shurikens against Cinder. Not surprisingly, she simply deflected them with her hardened swords of bread. Weiss, meanwhile, used her fishy rapier covered with its added assortment of consumables not only as a close quarter tool but also as a projectile launcher. Every slash and thrust she made through the air fired one of the impaled foods at Pyrrha's pale face. Given how close they were it became increasingly difficult for the red-haired champion to effectively evade the tasty projectiles and the pointy end of the deceased fish's bill. Fortunately for her, her semblance was able to award her with more metallic lunch trays to use as shields.After what could have easily been ten minutes of non-stop action fight, everything ended up between Cinder and Pyrrha after they both had ended their respective opponents. The black haired nefarious woman had defeated Ren with a well-timed slash upside his head, knocking him out. The woman with the semblance of polarity had bested Weiss with a pair of éclairs. As Weiss had pressed her advance, Pyrrha came across the pastries near one of the many upturned tables. Wasting no time she grasped the doughy rods and aimed that at the white-haired girl and squeezed. Vanilla and chocolate cream shot at fire hose speeds into the face of the shocked RWBY member. Upon impact with her face, she flew back and slammed into the floor, knocked out with a face covered in delicious pastry cream. For the third time since the entire theater of warfare had begun, the red-haired woman quickly apologized. It was then that she gave her full attention to the young woman she had only been introduced to only a little while ago.

"Most impressive. You've managed to beat three members of that team along with my own teammate all on your own," Cinder commended.

"I appreciate the compliment. I can also tell by the way that you fight that you yourself are quite skilled. It's oblivious you defeated Jaune and Ren without using your true potential," Pyrrha observed.

Cinder's eyes narrowed at Pyrrha's deduction. The girl was already known to be a prodigal warrior, but now Cinder recognized that she was also extremely observant from her statement alone. Cinder hadn't even really fought in the lunchroom war, but even then she did her best to act at the same level as the students. Pyrrha though, even as she directed her magnetic attacks and dueled with Weiss, had been able to observe her and deduce that she was, in fact, holding back. She wondered briefly if Pyrrha was able to grasp the true extension of her abilities. If so that girl alone could compromise the whole mission. However, the way she acted towards Cinder failed to raise any more alarms for the young woman.

"Hmmm very observant. Though I'm curious," Cinder replied as she flourished her grain-based weapons, "Are you strong enough to best me?"

"We shall see,” Pyrrha answered and assumed her natural fighting stance. In one hand she held a silver tray to act as her shield and in the other a salmai loaf to be her javelin. “May the best huntress win,"

Both gave a curt nod to the other prior to their charge against one another for the final duel.

However, the huge food war would have a more unexpected end than it ending in a victory for either Cinder or Pyrrha. Before they had the opportunity to lock weapons, they were both suddenly knocked out as two bodies crashed into them at break speed. Yang and Mercury had recovered from their earlier bout and were set to duel again when Nora once more appeared. Her reentry into the fight was not expected and thus neither Yang nor Mercury was prepared for her attack. She whacked the two with her pancake mallet, resulting in them leaving the conscious state and sending their rag doll-like chassis slamming into Cinder and Pyrrha, rendering them unconscious as well. Pyrrha, Mercury, Cinder, and Yang ended up rolling over the food and debris littered floor and came to rest in a comical pile before the table Ruby lay on.

The victor Nora climbed up of a stack of overturned tables extended her arms to the ceiling and with a slightly crazed smile on her face laughed out, "I'm the queen of the cafeteria! I reign supreme! Bow before me you fools!"

The euphoria that Nora felt was not shared by a rather unhappy blonde haired woman. Glynda Goodwitch aggressively taped her foot and squeezed her crop in anger at the fact that the same eight students had destroyed the cafeteria only a week prior had done so again, this time with assistance with some of the exchange students. While normally she would clean the mess up with her semblance, she opted against such a route as she formulated another way to clean up the cafeteria. As such she allowed Nora to continue enjoying her moment as it would become greatly bittersweet once she and the others knew what was in store for them.

------

"Ugggh I can't believe Ms. Goodwitch!" Nora exclaimed as she and the other perpetrators of the cafeteria brawl marched down the academy halls to the janitorial office. "Repairing all the tables and walls is one thing but ordering us to actually clean up the entire cafeteria? Oh, she's a monster!"

"I simply can't fathom the fact that she's actually making us wear janitor jumpsuits," Weiss grimaced. The thought of herself wearing something so unappealing horrified her to no end.

"Oh lighten up princess. Janitor suits aren't that bad. It's not like your current look with a hot dog in your hair and sticky bun on your butt make you look any better," Yang laughed as she stretched her arms back over her head.

The response by the Schnee heiress was priceless as she yelled at everyone for not alerting her to such embarrassing effects being stuck to her.

"WHAT? I can't believe you all would allow me to traverse this far into the school without alerting me of these! So humiliating," the Ice princess declared as she rummaged her hair looking for the aforementioned hot dog. "Ugggh I hate you all," she grumbled after finding it and throwing into a nearby deposal bin, doing the same to the sneaky sticky bun that attached itself to her backside.

Deciding to be her joking self, Yang continued, "Jumpsuits looking pretty good now huh Weiss?"

"Oh shut up!"

"What? I'm just saying that jumpsuits can be really stylish. Especially if you know how to wear em the right way, am I right Blake?" Yang inquired to her cat friend while shooting her a quick wink.

Blake's cheeks quickly gained a rosy color at the combination of Yang's teasing and the image of said teasing installed into her mind. Yang, wearing a yellow and black jumpsuit, its zipper pulled down in such a way that exposed the smooth curvature of her cleavage. Her supple breasts almost wanting to fully escape from their containment within the bumblebee colored clothing. Blake could just see them, almost inviting her towards them and…Blake quickly shook her head violently trying to dispel the perverse thoughts from her mind. Blake reminded herself that Yang was her friend and teammate. Nothing more.

'Besides...I really shouldn't think about getting into another relationship for a while...' the feline fanus thought to herself. Though the blush upon her cheeks still remained, something that made Yang smile and hope.

Walking some distance behind the Beacon teams were the three undercover agents of Salem. While they obviously could have slipped away following Glynda ordering them as well to aid in the cleanup, Cinder had opted to not draw further attention by ignoring the punishment. As ridiculous as she claimed it was, it was a risk they could not take. Thus the false students trotted behind the others towards the office of the janitors.

"C-Cinder...I..." began Emerald. Stuttering, as she was nervous to even question Cinder's actions but her attitude and actions over the past week were cause for concern. " I hate to ask...but what was that back there? Why did you agree to take part in that stupid game? Mercury I can understand!"

"Hey what's that..."

"I'm not trying to..."

"Emerald. Mercury." Cinder sharply spoke, silencing the inquisitive and perplexed young woman and stopping any form of a snide comment from the silver-haired. "You should know I don't do things without a reason. Now stop questioning why I'm doing certain things and focus. Yes, we are stuck doing this time wasting task, however, think of the benefits it awards us." Cinder smoothly expressed, offering for both Emerald and Mercury to find the answer she was implying.

"...I-It makes us look more natural?" guessed Mercury.

"...yeah…we now appear far more like regular students," Emerald realized, her conflicting emotions beginning to at last steady themselves.

"Exactly. Just as well that little food fight gave some insight into those teams combat capabilities."

"I-I'm sorry for thinking that..."

"Don't think… Obey," Cinder commanded with a tone that held such power, that few would challenge it. Emerald and Mercury were not among those few.

"Hey Cinder! You guys are falling behind!" Ruby chimed trotting back towards the group of criminals.

"Oh excuse us, Ruby, we were just having a conversation about this silly punishment," Cinder said with a small smile to the cute young black red-haired huntress.

"Yeah about that..." Ruby said looking down to the floor like some sort of guilty child, "I...really want to apologize for getting you all in troubles...I'm sorry."

"You're sorry?... You don't have to be sorry for that, we all decided to participate with you all remember?" Cinder said with a calm and gentle tone in her voice.

"Yeah I know but...I mean, I don't want you all to be put off by us."

"And why would we be put off by you all?"

"Well… because every time we meet it seems something bad happens...I mean when we first met we ended up knocking into each other. Now we meet again and everyone ended up gettig punished by Ms. Goodwitch," the silver-eyed young huntress said rubbing the back of her head a bit nervously.

A pang of regret shot through Cinder. Regret that she had made such a cute, sweet and caring young girl feel any form of guilt over this minor inconvenience. Upon fathoming this Cinder took a deep breath. Once more, the girl before her was making her feel unusual and out of character. She was causing her to experience emotions she had long forgotten. Once more Cinder's thoughts became solely focused on the girl with a floral last name. Unlike the past several days, however, she didn't care. For whatever reason of the girl's influence upon her or the fact she consistently plagued her mind, it was in that moment Cinder cared not the reason. All she did care about, was making sure Ruby no longer felt guilty and ensuring she was happy once more.

"Ruby..." Cinder said as she placed a hand on the shorter girl's shoulder, "...you don't need to apologize at all. In fact, I should thank you for what you all ended up doing back there."

Emerald, Mercury and even Ruby looked slightly baffled at such a claim. Granted the former two rapidly assumed, remembering what she had said moments ago, Cinder was once more acting to continue gaining the girl's trust.

"Truth be told, Emerald, Mercury and I have never really experienced something as fun and carefree as what you and your team did along with team JNPR. It was quite unique and exciting and for that, I should thank you little Rose," Cinder said with a genuine smile that made Ruby's cheek turn slightly pinkish for a moment.

"Yeah, even if I ended up with a concussion thanks to your sister’s punches and that crazy chick's hammer, I have to admit that it was a wild ton of fun back there," Mercury said following along with the play that he believed that Cinder was putting on, while also confessing some truth.

"Yeah...even if it was gross and messy, I can't help but admit that I did really enjoy that food fight," Emerald said with a smile on her face. Which along with Mercury's funny comment and Cinder's words transformed the solemn Ruby into her naturally bubbly self once more.

"Oh you guys are awesome," Ruby cheered before she jumped and gave Cinder a big 'thank you' hug.

Her action shocked both the silver-haired assassin and mint haired illusionist. Their shock, however, was nowhere near the level of shock Cinder was at. She simply could only stand there not knowing how to react, yet somewhere in the deep recesses of her mind, she knew…she enjoyed the hug. As soon Ruby realized what she was doing, she broke the hug, much to the silent disappointment of Cinder.

"Hehe sorry for that. I couldn't help it...Anyway, I'll see you guys at the janitor's office," the sniper-scythe wielder said with a smile as she ran to catch up to teams JNPR and RWBY.

Cinder's rational mind had come flooding back as Ruby disappeared from sight. Her perplexion with the young girl resumed in earnest but this time it was different. The nefarious woman acknowledged she needed to discover what made Ruby so impactful on her. Why she made her feel so foreign to herself and randomly enwrap her thoughts. Yet at the same time, she could no longer deny that she rather enjoyed the warm and bright feeling Ruby supplied her with. It felt, nice. But as nice as it felt, Cinder knew she had to discover the mystery that was Ruby Rose before they put their plans into full motion.

"Ptch that girl is weird..." Mercury said with an amused tone after Ruby was completely out of their field of view, pulling a now focused Cinder back to reality.

"She's more than likely going to be a problem, right?" Emerald asked with an annoyed look. When she did not receive an answer from her motherly figure, she turned her way and found her looking, with her trademark smile towards the hallway Ruby had disappeared down.

"…Perhaps," Cinder, at last, purred in response before motioning the two to follow her down the same hallway to join the others in clean-up duty, "I will keep a personal eye on her… to see if she really is."

------

"So you're sure that our enemy has already infiltrated the school?" James Ironwood asked to the two others who stood within the office of the headmaster.

Assembled there were he and Gylnda, two of the select few who had been entrusted with the secret truths of the world they lived in and who held council with the room's third occupant. That occupant was the very man who had revealed to them those secrets and the one who led them, Ozpin.Said man sat behind a large desk from which he could view almost all of Beacon, gingerly sipping coffee from his favorite mug. Completing his quench of thirst, he set the piping hot ceramic cup on his desk before folding his hands and looked ominously before his disciples.

"There is no doubt in my mind that they have arrived. No better opportunity has there been to slip into the school than the influx of exchange students arriving for the festival," the white-haired man said calmly, "I also have strong reason to believe that these infiltrators are the same ones Qrow encountered two years ago."

"Sir...are you suggesting that they've come to..." began Glynda.

"Yes...unfortunately I do believe that they know she is here and have come to finish the job," Ozpin answered his brow furrowing in frustration.

"Then why have you yet to increase security?" shouted Ironwood, "If they are here and we know what they are after, we must take the necessary precautions and defend this institution and its assets!"

However, Ozpin countered the man's thinking, "James, I understand your train of thought yet we cannot act irrationally."

"Irrationally? Two years ago we nearly lost one of our greatest assets to the cause and now you're informing us that they who perpetrated the act are nowhere? How is what I'm proposing acting irrationally?"

"First of all, she is not simply an asset. She is our friend and ally. Secondly, you must trust me on this James, there is a reason we have not enforced security around the academy. We cannot have an overwhelming presence of force. It will alert our enemies that we are on to them and in turn will make them far more cautious. We need them to assume that we are not aware of their presence and in doing so they may make a costly mistake," Ozpin explained to his student and friend.The well-built man looked down slightly embarrassed by his outburst. Ozpin, of course, meant not to shame the man and attempted to ease his conscious, "But if it will please you, I'll have you know several of our best hunters will be returning soon to aid in the security detail. Have trust in me, James."

"...I do. I'm sorry… I merely wish to make sure everyone is kept safe." Ironwood commented before turning away to the lift out of the office, " If you will excuse me, I must make sure the final groups of my students have all arrived and are settled in."

"Go, James. See to the youthful minds you help shape." smiled Ozpin before once more taking a sip of his caffeinated beverage.

James bowed and entered the lift and descended to the levels below. Unbeknownst to either Glynda or Ozpin, James, despite his apology, still held reservation against Ozpin's strategy. Taking out his scroll her began to make some calls.

After a brief pause of silence following Ironwood's exit did Glynda at last speak up, "Sir...I hate to say it...but James may be right about the security measures. Are you sure a few hunters will be enough to protect the school? If the situation is as grave as you say it is..."

"No Glynda I'm not sure," sighed Ozpin. "Still though, while this is a dark situation we find ourselves in, we cannot invite anymore conflict and anxiety amongst ourselves. The kind of force James proposes would not only undoubtedly alert our enemies that we are aware of them, but it was also insight fear and other negative emotions among the students and staff. We cannot have that. It will only bring more trouble with it. Therefore we can only do what we can and pray that we can stop their plans in time."

------

At that same moment, a young woman stepped off one of the many airships arriving at Beacon. Compared to the other students emerging from the ships, one might have mistaken her for a preteen given her diminutive height. Her multi-colored eyes looked upon the academy in the not too far distance and smirked as she had at last reached her target. Granted, she would have preferred to have stayed in the city of Vale itself and aid her father figure in continuing the plan there and ensuring his safety. Unfortunately, she had been ordered to meet up with their allies and aid directly with their infiltration, which she did note could be quite fun. Placing her pink parasol on her shoulder, Neapolitan made her way down the grand entranceway towards Beacon Academy.

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