Burning Rose (A Cinder Fall Story)

Chapter 11

I followed Roman into the bank slowly, with Neo walking not far behind. As soon as we entered, alarms started to go off.

"Great. I didn't anticipate this. What now?" Roman asked.

"You collect the Lien," I told him. 
"Neo and I can handle this."

Roman dashed further into the bank and the guards surrounded us.

"Stop!" one of them commanded. "Burglary is an offense! We'll take lethal action if we must!"

I summed some fire on my palm. It danced slowly in the dimly lit room. Neo drew her sword and pointed it at one of the guards.

"We'll use lethal action as well. Unless you give us one hundred thousand Lien," I said, smiling.

The guards just glared at us.
"That's not gonna happen. You can't just break in and—"

Before he could finish, I heard a loud pop. The guard was hit with fire dust and went tumbling down to the ground.

"Anyone else want some?" I heard Roman snap. "No one needs to get hurt here. All we need is the money. If you refuse, then we'll have no choice but to kill you! Isn't that right, Cinder?"

I grinned. "Why not just kill them now? They'll only get in our way."

I shot a blast of fire towards them, engulfing them all in flames.

"Did you find the Lien?" I asked Roman.

He nodded. "Most of the money is in a huge vault. I'll collect it. You watch out for any more guards."

With that, he ran forward, deeper into the building.

Neo and I kept watch for quite a while. And the flames were only growing.

"Come on, Roman. Hurry!" I hissed.

After a few minutes, he came running back with a suitcase.
"I got it. Let's get outta here before anyone else sees us."

We quickly ran out of the burning building and kept quiet as we were walking back towards the house. I made sure to lock the door once we were inside.

"Our transportation should arrive in the afternoon," I told them. "Hopefully we can find more people to aid us."

Roman shrugged. "Works for me. I'm heading to bed, though. I'll see you guys tomorrow."

Roman sighed and went to one of the rooms, while Neo took her usual place on the couch.

I yawned and went to my own room the sleep. But as soon as my eyes closed, I saw him again...

"Why do you want to protect me so badly?" a younger girl asked, wearing a white cloak. "Why am I so important to you? I'm just your leader. I'm not special!"

The young man, Qrow, looked up towards the girl.
"Isn't obvious?! I love you!"

I gasped and sat up. I dreamt about Qrow Branwen again. But that younger girl looked familiar...

"Hey, Cinder? Our transportation is here," I heard Roman say from another room.

I quickly gathered my things and met him in the lounge area, where him and Neo were waiting.

"Ready to head to Vale?" he asked me.

I nodded. "Yeah. Let's go."

The airship was waiting for us outside. Roman was carrying the suitcase as we boarded the airship. The pilot looked over to us.

"You know I don't just fly strangers anywhere. You're going to have to pay a hefty price," he told us.

"No problem," Roman said, handing him the suitcase. "Will one hundred thousand work for you?"