Remaining Embers~Jaune x Cinder

How A Soul Illuminates

Chapter One: Light of the Soul

The forests of Anima were hard to navigate, but for Cinder, it was home. The journey to Mistral was treacherous only on the first foray; afterwards, it was just a long walk. The Grimm had their territory, the few remaining villages had their walls, and the bandits had their scattered strongholds. As she raced through the woods with Mercury and Emerald, each tree she passed reminded her of the past, when she'd trained in these forests when venturing outside of Haven.

Haven... where the silver-eyed girl had taken residence, waiting patiently for her uncle Qrow Branwen to recover from Tyrian's poison. That the old drunk had survived was further testament to Tyrian's failure, but at least he was removed as an obstacle. Had he been present, even the three of them may not have been enough to defeat the group. They had to strike while he was incapacitated.

Salem had made this a priority. Even though Cinder was still injured, Salem reasoned that with her subordinates she could defeat the four former Beacon students, so long as the silver-eyed Ruby Rose was isolated from Cinder and she was not exposed to the powers again. This would likely be their only chance to capture her while she was in Mistral, because Lionheart had flatly refused to assist them in their snatch and grab: that wasn't part of the pact he'd made, and he didn't want his hand to be exposed.

Watts had also flatly refused to help. Salem assured him that Cinder would be successful, and she felt confident she would be. Mercury and Emerald would divert attention and focus on Ruby Rose and the girl with the hammer and the boy in green, while Cinder would quickly dispose of the boy Jaune Arc and then rejoin her subordinates and overwhelm their foes.

With the CCT down, they had to make use of on the ground intelligence. Now that the fivesome had reached the city, they'd been keeping to their inn and to local restaurants and grocers while Qrow recovered. Cinder assumed an attack on a living space would be noticed by other guests and patrons, and they'd draw unwanted attention from law enforcement. But they couldn't afford to wait too long; they might miss their window.

However, opportunity did present itself, when Ruby Rose and two of her three allies did depart to gather their meals later in the day than usual. The streets were lighter with foot traffic, and Emerald could easily conceal Mercury's attacks, possibly even convince law enforcement to target the Beacon kids instead. And that left both Qrow and Jaune Arc alone and vulnerable in the inn. Cinder could simply assassinate both of them, thus saving her mistress a lot of trouble in the future by permanently closing the last eye.

Cinder gave the signal, and Mercury and Emerald moved to stalk their prey. Cinder had been a bit unsteady on her feet after months of injury and a slow, uneven recovery, but she remembered how to move silently and infiltrate. Based on the inn's registry, they'd been assigned a second floor room with a view of the kingdom. Not ideal, but if she moved quickly any witnesses would be confused at best.

She wanted to set Qrow Branwen alight, to unleash the fire raging within her. When she hated something, she always felt better about turning it to ash. The downside to her pyromancy was the feeling of intensity that tinted her emotions, exacerbated by the incomplete Aura transfer before. Cinder believed that once she'd absorbed all the powers of the Fall Maiden, she'd ease the pain within her, appeasing the roaring fires with a hearty meal.

Instead, the wounds Ruby Rose inflicted left her an entirely new pain, and the suffering caused by her defeat and subsequent humiliation created a far more potent wrath within her: a hatred that burned brightly and had no target to be vented upon in the presence of her mistress and seated at her table. Now, she had a target she could incinerate, and the pain would be lessened by sharing her fury with someone else.