Double-Sided Dagger

6. Survival of the fittest

Authors Note: Update schedule will be about once a day and some feedback and suggestions would be greatly appreciated as this is my first time writing a fanfic.

Warning: My first attempt at horror is in this chapter

"So, Cinder," Salem said in her usually sinister tone.

"If you are going to be my assassin then you need an Aura and Semblance."

Salem informed Cinder that the process would be extremely painful and asked Cinder if she wanted to continue. Due to the effects of the Grimm bug, Cinder could only say yes.

"Good." Said Salem as she immediately started the process without warning Cinder. Cinder cried out in absolute agony as she felt the most intense pain she had ever experienced. While Ozpin's procedure only lasted a few seconds, Cinders transformation lasted a full 24 hours. Salem could stop it at any time she wanted but she was enjoying seeing Cinder in pain and knew that the longer the transformation was the more quickly Cinder would go stark raving mad. 

A full day later the procedure finally stopped with Cinders mind almost broken, but not quite there yet. Cinders vocal cords had stopped working, because of her non-stop screaming, and would need a few days to recover. In those few days, Salem would introduce Cinder to Mercury and Emerald whose jobs it was to train her into a deadly assassin. But before that could happen Cinder would need to unlock her Semblance. Salem told her to concentrate on the most powerful emotions available to her, those emotions being pain and anger, Cinders thoughts went immediately to the day her parents had died but remembered only sadness so she then thought of all the years after the fire when groups of bullies at school had constantly tormented her because of her burnt face. As she had this thought Cinder felt all the pain and anger she had experienced forming into something, something powerful, all she needed was a little push over the edge and she would unlock her Semblance. She then remembered when she saw Y/n talking to one of the popular girls at school who kissed him on the cheek as she was leaving. A storm of jealously and rage bubbled up inside her as she finally unlocked her Semblance which was the ability to control fire.

She sent a blazing inferno in every direction and would have burnt down Salems throne room if Salem hadn't used her magic to stop the fire from spreading any farther than within a metre radius of Cinder. The ground around Cinder was completely blackened and there was very little oxygen in the air. 

"Well done my child. Now your training can begin"

With that Cinder spent the next week trying to learn all she could about her Semblance. She realised that she could throw fireballs and make any weapon imaginable out of pure flame. Once she had learned the extent of her abilities, Salem instructed her to start training with Mercury and Emerald. Throughout this training, Cinder was only given one meal a day. Mercury and Emerald were more powerful than Cinder as they had years of combat experience behind them. But with every time she was defeated during training, forced to the ground and beaten within an inch of her life she grew stronger. Her drive to keep going was that if she mastered her power she would finally be able to get back at her bullies and maybe get Y/n to fall in love with her. Cinder didn't know that Y/n already had.

Every night after she was beaten, bruised and starving Cinder dreamed of slaughtering everyone who had ever hurt her and finding Y/n to make him her's. Salem's bug was still infecting her mind and day by day her brain was becoming more and more torn apart. 

After a month of this brutal training regiment, Salem called Cinder into her throne room to see how her progress was going.

"I hear that you almost beat Mercury and Emerald today, is this true?"

"Yes"

"Good. You are becoming more powerful with each passing day, soon you will be even more powerful than Emerald and Mercury. In a few more weeks I will have a very important mission for you."

"Thank you, Master."

"I also believe that I have found your friend, Y/n"

That statement caused Cinder to immediately ask where he was, who he was with and if he was alright.

"Have patience, all will be revealed in due time. Now get back to your training."

This news caused Cinder to train twice as hard as she thought that the mission Salem was sending her on might have something to do with Y/n. Only two weeks after her conversation with Salem, Cinder was able to beat Emerald and Mercury into the ground and finally stand victorious.

Once again, Cinder was called to Salem's throne room.

"You have impressed me with your skills. You are now ready to go on your first mission."

Cinder couldn't wait as the mission was an opportunity to impress her Master and possibly see Y/n again.

"This mission is simple. At beacon academy, there is a girl with silver eyes who I heard has grown quite strong and also formed an attachment to Y/n."

This comment made Cinders blood boil in rage and jealousy.

HOW DARE SHE EVEN TOUCH Y/N. HE IS MINE AND MINE ALONE!

With the effects on the Grimm bug still in full swing, Cinder had only gotten more insane and more infatuated with Y/n, so much so that if she heard he even looked at another female she would rip that girls eyes out and feed them to the Grimm. 

"I shall do as you command, Master."

So Cinder dyed her hair and used her hair to cover her burn mark so that Y/n wouldn't recognise her. It was a stealth mission after all and if she got recognised her cover would be blown. Cinder was making her way to Beacon when she heard screams coming out of a village she was trying to avoid.

She went to investigate and looked through the window of a house on the outskirts of the village to see a father and mother beating their 12-year-old daughter. She rushed inside and was met by the father who was beginning to ask her who the hell she was when she burnt him to a crisp. The mother saw what happened and started screaming for a second before Cinder burnt her too. The child had just witnessed her parents death and was bawling her eyes out.

"Shhh, It's alright, the bad people are gone now"

Cinder was trying to comfort the pre-teen but she just kept crying. The sound had brought several neighbours to the door to ask what was going on. Cinder realised that she had to shut the little girl up so she put her hands around the child's head and burnt the body part quickly and painlessly. The child couldn't scream if it was dead. Cinder jumped out of the window just as the neighbours batted down the door and came running in only to see piles of ash. As Cinder was running away through the forest she heard a scream from one of the village's wives and smiled to herself. She felt no remorse for what she had done and felt happy that she had inflicted suffering upon others when she had suffered so much.

Cinder was now truly insane.