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Requested By : Polemoduke
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Once her uncle and his incredibly happy Soulmate had settled down in the back corner, Ruby settled in at the head of the table. The General sat beside her, sipping at a mug as big as both her fists while she clicked through pictures one after another. Each one had a little blurb about them beside it - height, age, weight - so she guessed it was some kind of paperwork. Sam, Sarah, Susan, Peach, Rose- They spent a few hours on it until the names had long since blurred together and even the pictures were starting to make her eyes hurt. She rubbed at them and kept going, though, until the General sighed and took the little remote she’d been clicking at ever since she sat down.
“You need to rest, Miss Rose.” He sighed, chuckling when she just tried to flash around him with her Semblance and yoink the controller out of his hand. Standing, he held it - and her hanging off it - up and said, “The controller is just a secondary thing. I can simply disable it from my Scroll, too.”
“But, she-”
“Will be just as alive, if unhappy, tomorrow as she is tonight.” Ironwood assured her, chuckling quietly as he set her down and she pouted. Gesturing at her uncle as he came over, his Soulmate trailing along behind him with his hands behind his head and a wide smile, Ironwood went on, “I have this room reserved for as long as you need it, and a man monitoring incoming adoptees to add to the back end of the registry you’re viewing on the off chance she hasn’t been added in before now.”
“You can do all that…?”
“Technically or actually?”
“Qrow.” The other man huffed, bumping his hip into him and shaking his head. Still smiling, Clover said, “The General is the authority over all of this, so what he says more or less goes. Unless someone petitions the Council but… None of us will, and I doubt your Bonded will after we find her.”
“Probably not, yeah…”
“So go, get some rest, and-”
“Five more minutes?” She cut him off, flashing around and up onto the table so she was at eye level with the huge man. He blinked, then scowled and sighed, and she argued, “I’ve waited years for this. So please, just five more minutes?”
“You’ll get through five more at best.” He sighed, “What are the odds you find her?”
“With me here,” Clover hummed, “not terrible, Sir.”
“That… Is a fair point, actually.” He sighed, shaking his head and retaking his seat. “Bad luck for me, hm? I’m already late to my paperwork.”
“Heh.” Qrow chuckled. “Karma.”
“For…?”
“I dunno, Jimmy.” He shrugged, “Somethin’.”
“Ugh. Clover, control your bird.” General Ironwood sighed, waving them both off with another shake of his head. Waving a hand at the screen, he handed Ruby back the control and chuckled. “Five more minutes, then.”
“You know, you’re allowed to leave, Jimmy…”
“I know.” He nodded, “But I have been doing paperwork all day, and have a convenient excuse to avoid it right here.”
“...Are you helping us to help us, as a friend,” Qrow cocked his head, “or to dodge paperwork?”
Ironwood, very slowly, took a long drink of his coffee and grunted, “Shall we, Miss Rose?”
Even she could tell he was dodging the question, and she practically felt Qrow’s long sigh. And the second one, when Clover threw an arm around him and smirked. But none of that was her problem. No, she had a job to do, so she just nodded and said, “Yep!”
She had five minutes to accomplish her mission…
She stopped reading the names and little blurbs while she flicked through, just focusing on their faces. Waiting, hoping, for something until…
It was like a weird sort of tug, when she finally saw her face blink onto the screen. Deep down in her gut. Like when Yang would kick her legs out from under her and ‘up’ was very suddenly in a very different direction. And mixed in with the constant nudging she’d felt ever since that birthday, after her first attack, like… Like her whole world had been missing some puzzle piece, or a section was just hidden away from her, and now, suddenly, she could see it.
And wanted it.
“Ruby…?” Qrow finally asked, breaking her out of her staring with a hand on her shoulder. She flinched and spun to him and he smirked, “I’m gonna be real crazy here, absolute maverick, and venture a guess-”
“That’s my person!” She shrieked before she could catch herself, flashing around and along the top of the table until she came to a stuttering stop at the end, almost fell, and flailed to catch her balance. When she did, she pointed at her face and smiled widely, “I found her! I found her, and we gotta get her! Like, now!”
“Where even is-”
“It says she was adopted by Madame Croquette.” Clover grunted, crossing his arms and smiling. “You can just see it, right at the bottom of the page.”
“Your Semblance, as always, is absolute nonsense, Clover.”
“I try, General.” He smiled, “I try.”
“Why are you big… Potatoes just talking!” She shouted, throwing her hands up in the air and pouting when they all looked at her and Clover muttered ‘potatoes?’ Pointing at the brown-haired Atlesian, she said, “Can you find out where she lives?!”
“Croquette runs the Glass Unicorn.” He shrugged, “Everyone knows it. Not the best place in Atlas, but… Pretty darn close.”
“You can go tomorrow-”
“If we don’t go now I will say all of the bad words Yang taught me!” Ruby threatened, pointing a finger at Qrow, “And I’ll say I learned them from you!”
“What?” Qrow blinked, “Why is that your- What kind of threat-”
“Clover!” She tried, shifting tactics quickly, “You wouldn’t leave my uncle there, would you? You’d go and save him right now, right?”
“I would, yeah…” He nodded, flicking the other man a look when he glowered at him. Smiling, he asked, “What? I’m not going to lie to her. Did you see that pout? It’s practically weaponized.”
“He’s not wrong.” Ironwood rumbled a laugh, “If we’re casting votes…”
“We’re not!”
“It’s my ember and I say we are!” Ruby argued, sticking her tongue out when Qrow paid her a long, unamused look.
“You are a devilish little- Ugh, alright, we’ll go now.” Qrow sighed, shaking his head and waving her off with an amused little snort. Ruby clapped and nearly fell off the table. Or, really, she did fall. She just caught herself with her Semblance, flashing around to the door while her uncle turned to the General and said, “I know technically all this shit is… Kinda grey area for you. So I’m guessing you'll be sitting it out?”
“I haven’t much choice, Qrow, and you know that.” He pursed his lips and straightened, though, and turned to Clover with the slightest of smiles. “That said… Clover.”
“General?”
“As per standard Atlesian allowances regarding Soulmate discovery, your earlier request to be at ease is acknowledged and you are granted a forty-eight hour stay of service.” The General reported cleanly, smiling as he gestured at Qrow with a hand and went on. “I hope you and your Bonded enjoy your time however you wish. Perhaps getting to know the family and… Extended relations?”
“I… Appreciate that, General.”
“Indeed.” He nodded, flicked Qrow a smirk, and then left without a backwards word while Ruby turned to the screen and smiled.
“Cinder Fall…” She murmured, feeling out the name and smiling.
It… Fit perfectly, somehow, even if she couldn’t explain how.
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She could feel it. Gods, she could feel it. All the manic energy - hope, excitement, certainty - suddenly forming into a nugget of something even more powerful as her little flower’s emotions solidified and steadying. Into a hard knot of purpose, deep down in Cinder’s gut. Like a lead weight, hot and heavy, weighing her down when, logically, she knew that it should have only been joy in her. Rhodes had already told her she had to be in Atlas, and to feel like that?
She had to be coming for her, somehow. So…
Why was she so scared, she wondered, leaning on the sink of a restroom in the hotel room she’d been cleaning and looking herself in the mirror. Her hair was limp and matted, and her cheeks were sunken. She still had a cut on her lip, too, from when she’d ‘fallen’ the night before. She looked like hell, and that was just on the surface.
“She deserves so much better…”
“You don’t really get to decide that, do you?” She nearly jumped into the sink for how badly she was startled, spinning and glaring at the man leaning in the doorway. He was broad-shouldered and scarred, with a bandage around his arm that she noted obviously enough for him to comment, “Caught an arrow on a bandit raid down Mistral ways. Came out fine, don’t worry.”
“I see…” She pursed her lips and forced herself to relax as best she could, trying to avoid the subject he’d walked in on and opting for if not a better one, a preferable one for now. “Were they…?”
“Not the ones that hit your village. Pointed to the Branwens, though, as so many others have done.” He shook his head, frowning and pointing a long finger at her when she sighed. “And you are changing the subject. Can’t slip it past me.”
“I have work to do.” She grunted, turning and picking up her towel to get back to work wiping down the sink. “I can’t let the Madame hurt-”
“She’s coming.” Rhodes cut her off, “Isn’t she?”
“I…” Cinder paused, thought for a second about whether she should try to lie. What it could gain. Whether it could even work against Rhodes when he knew her so well. Finally, she sighed and nodded jerkily, anxiously. “I-I think so. She feels so… Excited. Certain.”
“Hopeful?”
“She always feels hopeful.” She chuckled, “Silly girl…”
“You’re smiling.” Cinder froze and turned to scowl at the man and he sighed and turned, watching the door out into the hall as he seemingly heard something. Whatever it was passed or didn’t matter, though, and he went on. “I know I’m not… I just want you happy, Cin. This girl does that, so let her help you.”
“If you can’t,” she growled, “how can she?”
“It’s different.”
“How?”
“Cin, please, I don’t want to have this argument ag-”
“Because then you’d lose contracts in Atlas, and only have Mantle and Mistral.” She cut him off, frowning and wondering why she always did this. Why she always fought with the one person actually in her life, physically, when she knew it wouldn’t do anything. Shaking her head, she sighed and said, “She’s young. What if she just… Saved up and booked a flight?”
“How would she have even found you, then?”
“She saw me?”
“When did you feel her… Her certainty?” She didn’t answer because they both knew the answer - she’d been cleaning for hours. Anyone that saw her doing that, she’d have seen them in turn. And her quiet was enough of an answer for him to sigh and turn to leave. “Let good things happen sometimes, Cinder. Life’s full enough of bad ones you can’t dodge. Why not-”
“Because I’ve spent years hurting her!” She finally shrieked, what self control she had breaking as her anger - years of it - boiled over and burst out. She turned, hurling her wash-bucket aside hard enough that the little metal thing cracked the glass shower. “I’m just going to keep doing it! Because she can’t save me any more than you can!”
“Cinder-”
She ignored him, shoving by the larger man and storming out the door. Her head was hurting, every pounding beat of her racing heart making it throb, making her eyes water. She needed air, space, quiet- Before she even realised where she was heading, she was in the kitchens, nudging the old cabinet at the back out of the way so she could get into the old, chilly storeroom she called home. It was as cold as ever, of course, but as she fell onto the mattresses and the pile of pilfered blankets she’d gathered for it, she felt at home.
This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings.
Or as home as she had ever felt…
“So, this is your little hidey hole...” A familiar, cold voice spoke, breaking her out of her peace just as she began to calm down. She shot up in her mess of a nest and spun, staring at her ‘mother’ as she came in, flanked by her smirking, traitorous excuses for sisters. Heart racing, she watched the woman stalk in, turning a critical eye on what little Cinder had managed to do for the place with the old crates and bits and bobs she’d found over the years while the sounds from the kitchens filtered in through a passage the three of them had left open.
Then she sighed and turned to her, lips thinning, “How typically… Worthwhile.”
“M-Madame, I-I-”
“Will be silent.” The woman hissed, hand snapping to the little chain she wore on her belt and closing around the switch for Cinder’s collar. Cinder scrambled up, but she didn’t dare to speak as the woman sighed and went on. “Honestly, Cinder… After everything I have given you, after all the little failures that make up the petty woman you are, why am I even surprised?”
“It’s kind of impressive, honestly.” May chuckled, flicking her twin a look, “Little Cindy steals food and stuff all the time. But she stole a whole room!”
“When you put it like that,” Blume snickered, “it’s the most impressive thing she’s ever done, isn’t it?”
“Shut up, you- Aaaagh!” Cinder stumbled and fell as the collar around her neck flared to life, if only for a moment. Sucking in breaths, she glared up at the Madame as the woman sighed and stepped closer, looming over her with the same thin, vicious smile she wore so often.
“It is always amusing how very stubborn you can be, Cinder.” She sighed, looking down on her as she feathered the button again and Cinder screamed. She didn’t fall, though. No, she was more than used to this by now and stayed on her feet, glaring up at the madame until she chuckled and let the trigger go. “Do you think this makes you strong, Cinder? That you can take this? That you can ignore the fine room you have to make a stay here instead and get by?”
“It doesn’t… Make me weak…” She gasped, “And this… Is more mine than that closet you gave me.”
“Hm.” The Madame hummed, rolling her thumb over the button. “I wonder if your little girl feels the same way about how very strong you think this all makes you. Hm? Let’s test that shall-”
“M-Mother…?”
“Yes, Blume?” She sighed, turning to flick the girl a look as she closed her Scroll and looked up to meet her gaze. “What is it?”
“There are… People here.” She said, tapping her fingers together nervously while Cinder’s heart began to pound in her chest. “One’s a Specialist. They’re asking for you. And… And Cindy.”
“Who is with them?” The Madame demanded hotly, “Be specific.”
“A Huntsman and his niece.” She answered quickly, the tiniest bit of panic filtering into her voice. Quietly, she offered, “I… Think it’s the brat’s Bonded. Come looking for her. What should we do?”
“They have a Specialist!” May added nervously, “How did they get a Specialist? That means Ironwood has to be involved!”
“We’ve all heard the stories about his Specialists…” Blume added in turn, “Mother, what do we-”
“You all will stay here, and keep this one from going out there.” The Madame snapped, flicking Cinder a look when she straightened and took a shaky step toward the exit. Handing her controller over to Blume, she said, “She tries to follow me, you turn it to max and leave it there until she passes out. Understood?”
“Yes, Mother.”
“Good. You handle her, and let Mother handle this mess. Perhaps put the brat to work organizing our new storage room, hm?” She chuckled, turning and leaving them behind, sliding the shelving unit Cinder had always used to hide the storage room behind her.
“You heard her.” Blume sneered while May sauntered over to a crate to sit on, watching her twin smirk and go on. “Get to work.”
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“I-I’m sorry, Specialist, but she’s busy!” The young, red haired receptionist stammered, tapping her long nails on the edge of her desk. Ruby watched Clover cross his arms slowly, frown, and cock his head to the side and the woman reacted like he’d drawn a gun, stuttering, “I-I c-called her! She’ll b-be here as soon as she is-”
“Able.” Ruby turned and looked up as a prim looking woman in a white dress reached them, sighed, and looked past them all at the woman. “Russet, you may take your break early while I handle this… Mess.”
“Really?”
“I’m here.” She shrugged, stepping around them and behind the desk top take the woman’s place as she stood. Taking the seat, the older woman leaned forward to rest her elbows on the curved welcome desk and asked wearily. “Why are you in here frightening my employees, Specialist Ebi? What, I wonder, are you possibly hoping to get out of a young, frightened girl?”
“I don’t like what you’re implying, Ma’am.”
“And I don’t like you harassing my staff.” She sighed, “Yet here we are. Aren’t we?”
“That really a way to talk to one of General Jimmy’s personal jackboots?”
“Qrow…”
“That is one way to describe them of late.” The woman chuckled, shooting the man a wry smile and reaching up to twirl a strand of hair around a finger while she leaned back. “And while he is less than welcome here, you are far from it. May I get your name?”
“Qrow.” He grunted, leaning an arm on the desk and smirking the way Ruby had seen him do around Patch a few times. Usually with girls… “And yours?”
“Most simply call me the Madame.” She smirked, raising an eyebrow at him, “You may call me Miss Rain though, if you prefer.”
“Well, Madame.” Qrow grunted, straightening suddenly and dropping the play from his tone entirely while the woman blinked in confusion. “I’d be grateful if you didn’t insult my Soulmate like that. Because while he’s not happy to make a problem,” Qrow laid a hand on Harbinger’s handle, “I am more than happy to ruin some furniture.”
“You… Wouldn’t dare.” She flicked Clover a look, “Are you going to let him threaten me?”
“He threatened your furniture, actually.” Clover chuckled, “And technically, I’m off duty anyways.”
“That doesn’t mean-”
“And I don’t like you.” Clover added, gesturing at Ruby. “Besides, we’re here for business. So let’s get it over with, yeah?”
“What sort of business could a… Nine year old have with me?”
“I am thirteen, Ma’am.” Ruby lied with as straight of a face as she could.
“Not for six months and a few years you aren’t, brat.” Qrow growled, flicking the back of her head gently when she pouted. “Focus up. You got a jackboot, you don’t need to make anything up.”
“I really wish you’d stop calling me that…”
“And I wish you weren’t a jackboot.” Qrow countered, waving a hand at his boots. “But you’re literally wearing jack boots. “So, like the poor excuse for a lady said, we’re here, ain’t we?”
“You are lucky you’re cute…”
“What?”
“We’re here for this girl.” Clover ignored him, slapping his Scroll on the table and spinning it around. Ruby stood up a bit to see and it was the same file they’d seen in the office. “Under Article Fifteen of the Vytal Accords, her Bonded’s family has come to rescue her from a dangerous and or harmful situation. You are ordered to remand her to my authority.”
“I thought you were off duty?”
“Only when it helps me.” He smirked, “Now, the girl-”
“Isn’t here.” The Madame said, smiling when Ruby’s eyes widened. Shrugging, she tapped the Scroll and explained quietly, “She hasn’t been for… Oh, a few weeks? A month? Somewhere near there.”
“She… Left?” Ruby murmured, confused, “Why- How-”
“We had a fight.” The Madame sighed and shrugged, frowning deeply and shaking her head sadly as another man came up to a different part of the desk to speak to another of the receptionists. Ruby watched him for a second, feeling… Something familiar about him, before the woman’s words stole her attention back. “She said I treated her as a… Well, as a slave. I was tired, and I’m afraid I snapped at her over it. Hurtful words were said so she… Stole some food, some clothes, other things, and ran out the back. I haven’t seen or heard from her since and I have decided to take that as a good thing.”
“Because if she died,” Clover muttered, “someone would have come.”
“Exactly.” She smiled sadly, “So I’m afraid there’s really nothing I can-”
“You said you’re a Specialist?” The big, bandaged man suddenly cut in, turning to them. Qrow raised an eyebrow, hand tightening around Harbinger’s handle, but he let Clover nod. Frowning, the man asked, “Are you here to take the girl away? The one you’re looking for?”
“Mister Rhodes, what are you-”
“Shut. Up. Woman.” He growled, hand curling into a fist as he turned to scowl at her. She flinched in surprise and he turned back to them, going on. “I know the girl. She’s… Not a good kid, but better than she could be, given how this witch has treated her.”
“Mister Rhodes, I will not be talked about like that.” She shouted, standing and turning, “Security! Please remove this-”
His fist caught her in the jaw before she could finish and she collapsed behind the desk, scrambling for purchase on it and overturning the chair she’d been at as she went. He ignored her and turned to draw his sword, watching the pair of unsure looking security guards warily while he went on.
“I couldn’t do much for her. Snuck her food, drinks, clothes when I could…” He shook his head and turned, waving for them to follow. “Come on, if she’s lying about it then Cinder has to be where you wouldn’t see her by accident, in her-”
“Ah!” Ruby screamed as a short rip of pain tore through her and she staggered to the side, into the receptionist’s desk. It was the third attack in the last hour, but this time it was shorter. And came with a rush of fear and… Anger.
No… Rage.
“Something’s wrong.” She said as Qrow helped her straighten and wrapped an arm around her shoulders. “Cinder is- She’s angry and- Aggh!”
This time, the pain kept up, worse than before. Worse than ever before, even. She felt Qrow pick her up and heard him say something to the others before they were running and Qrow was struggling to hold her. She tried to help as best she could, closing her eyes and curling into a ball, but… It was so much worse than before, and she couldn’t fight the tremors as well. It hurt to even try.
And then, suddenly…
It was over.
And Cinder felt… Still afraid, but somehow happier. Relieved, even.
She didn’t have much time to think that over, sucking in breaths and forcing herself to calm down, before Rhodes threw a shelf of bowls and stuff down and they stepped into a colder room. And Qrow muttered, distantly, “Well shit…”
Ruby turned and looked across the room.
Cinder was facing away from them, standing with a bloodied sword in a hand and her collar in the other. She threw it down on one of the bodies to either side of her and turned, snarling, “Whoever you are, you won’t take me anywhere you… You…”
Ruby just smiled as she turned and Qrow let her down, nodding, “Me…”
For a heartbeat, Ruby felt pure, unbridled happiness wash across their link…
Then, terror.
“No!” Cinder screamed suddenly, dropping her sword and scrambling away, clutching at her head while Ruby’s eyes widened. “Not you! Not now! Why now?! Why couldn’t you just- Why now!? I-I was going to find you after- I was- You!” She snarled, pointing at Rhodes suddenly and flicking a look at Clover as the man paced to the side, frowning deeper than Ruby had seen him do since they’d met. “I won’t let either of you take me to some… Some ice hole! I-I won’t!”
“No one is taking you anywhere right now.” Clover assured her, waving Rhodes back a step when he growled something Ruby couldn’t hear. “You just need to-”
“He’s right, ‘least for the most part.” Qrow grunted, closing his Scroll with a muted little click. “You’re not going to any kinda ice hole.”
“T-Then where-”
“My babies!” Ruby turned and was almost bowled over as the Madame shoved past her and tried to run to the fallen girls Ruby was very pointedly not looking at. Clover got to her first, though, wrapping an arm around her mid-section while she struggled and screamed so loud it hurt Ruby’s ears even over the wind rushing through her ears. “Let me go, damn you! Arrest that little-”
“I’m dealing with this so calm- Agh!” Clover lost his grip as her struggles pushed him back and he stepped on a pipe, his foot sliding back and forth as he fell and she took the chance to free herself.
“Do you think I’m stupid?” She shouted as she turned to glare at them, pointing a long finger at Ruby. “That’s the little witch’s soulmate! She’s why you’re here! She’ll never see a prison! So I’m going to-”
“Do absolutely nothing.” Another woman suddenly cut in, dropping down behind her and spinning to drive a fist into the woman’s stomach when she spun around. The Atlesian collapsed in a heap, choking and heaving, and the raven-haired woman turned to look over at Qrow. Flicking her long sword to point behind them, she snapped, “Go, Qrow. I’ll handle the bitch.“
“And you, Rae?”
“I have business to see to.” She said, turning to give Cinder a look as she turned and stumbled for her sword, holding it up in a shaky hand. ‘Rae’ twisted at the hip and her sword whistled before Cinder’s clattered across the floor and she said. “Save it. I’m not here for you, little girl.”
“Then… Why are you here?”
“Revenge.” She grunted, slamming a knee into the Madame when she tried to stand. She fell onto her back and Raven flicked Clover a look. “That a problem, Atlesian?”
“I…” Clover sighed and turned, giving Qrow a look. Qrow only grimaced and shrugged, and Clover turned, waving him off. “Go. Far as I’m concerned… We came in to Raven Branwen of the Branwen Tribe in a robbery gone wrong. What she is doing in Atlas will be a question left to the detectives.”
“Not if I have anything to say about it!” The Madame shrieked, “I’ll testify that-”
“That’s why I’m here.” Raven cut in, kicking her onto her back and stepping onto her stomach to pin her. Scowling, she snarled, “After everything you did, do you really think you can bluster your way out of this?”
“I-I-”
“Need to shut up.” Raven snapped, “Qrow, take the kids and go, damn it. Before they see something you’ll regret.”
“I can’t just let you-”
“She tortured my Soulmate’s child for five years.” Raven snarled, turning to glare at Clover until he backed away. Turning back, she growled, “I’m going to show her what real power can do in five minutes. Who sees it is up to you all.”
“Yeah, yeah.” He sighed, taking her by the shoulder and sighing, “I’ll… Call you? When I… Get home?”
“Yeah.” Clover grunted, turning to leave with a tired, resigned sigh that Rhodes matched, trundling out before him, “After today, you owe me some damn ribs.”
“I-I’m not going anywhere with you!” Cinder stammered, backing away as she and Qrow came over. Hands shaking, she asked, “Why would I go anywhere with you?”
She could feel the storm of Cinder’s emotions. Fear, confusion, a tiny flicker of hope and a mess of other things Ruby couldn’t make out. But… She knew what to do. She’d been made to do it, after all. Born with a Semblance perfect for this moment.
She slammed into the older girl’s mid-section and wrapped her arms around her and Cinder froze, trying to think. While she did, Ruby murmured, “Because I love you, and it’s time to go home, Cinder. And I know you wanna go. You’re just scared, and that’s okay. We can wait as long as you need.”
“As long as that’s, like, five minutes.” Qrow added, “My sister ain’t the patient type.”
“I…” She felt a tremor run through their link and then Cinder sighed and let her arms close around Ruby. “Okay… Fine. Just as long as it’s far away from here.”
“It’s further South than you can really get, for the most part.” Qrow grunted, waving them both towards the…. Whatever it was. “Step through, and… Welcome home, I guess.”
Cinder was still afraid, still hesitant, but…
She let Ruby tug her along through the portal.
XxX----XxX----XxX
Raven watched them go and let her Portal fail, flicking her sword out to manifest another one and waiting until Vernal stepped through, flanked by a pair of her more loyal men. At least by the Tribe’s standpoint - meaning they were too terrified to cross her or tell any tales she didn’t want told.
“Damn, boss, who pissed you off?”
“Her.” She grunted, nodding toward the woman stuck, terrified, under her heel. Somehow, that pissed her off even more. After all those years tormenting children, now that she faced a woman with a sword and any willpower, she laid there and cowered?
Disgusting.
“Take the sword.” She ordered, ignoring them and doing her job. “Then grab whatever in here looks good that you can and get through the portal.”
“Got it, Boss.” They all answered, Vernal stooping to take the murder weapon while Barret trundled over to peek out the opening and then grabbed a crate of, from the label, wine to drag over to the portal, slipping through while Vernal pitched the weapon away and they both kept up their work.
“Stay in this room.” She grunted when both made for the door again, “Whatever you can get. And Shay?”
“Boss?”
“Take her through.” Raven snapped, stepping off the woman who scrambled away as the blonde teen rushed over to get her, wrapping an arm around her neck to drag her up and hooking an arm behind her back to keep her controlled. Raven grabbed her hair as the man turned to drag her away and smiled, “I may have lied back there, just a bit.”
“W-What…?”
“I’m going to spend far, far more than five minutes on you.” She smiled, shoving them both away and taking a deep breath. She turned, watching Vernal stare out the open way into the hotel and, through it, Atlas proper and frowned. “Vernal…”
“I can’t feel her.” She muttered, “She’s here, on Atlas, then…”
“Of course she is.” Raven sighed, “Focus. We’ll come back for her, one day, but-”
“Today isn’t the day.” She nodded, “Yeah, I know, I just… I’m so close, you know?”
“I do.” She nodded, sparing the teen as much sympathy as she could dare to and then jerking her head at the loot around them. “Get to work.”
“Right, Boss…”
Then, leaving Omen by the portal to keep it open, she joined the other two in looting whatever they could get out of the little hide-away. She paused, though, as she passed the dead girls and knelt. Shoving the ruined collar and its remote in a pocket, she finally let herself relax and spotted a nice enough rug rolled up in the corner.
“Barret!” She called, “I need a hand…”
XxX----XxX----XxX