Taken Captive
Taken Captive
Ruby was crying
She was sitting hunched up, arms wrapped around her knees, her back against the stone wall of her dark and gloomy cell, and she wept.
Cinder could barely see glimpses of her face. There were flashes of pale skin, but most of it hidden as she buried her face in her knees.
She felt guilty for being able to see that much, for being able to hear the other girl’s sobs. She was not Ruby’s friend; she had no right to see her at her lowest thus. It was indecent; it made her stomach squirm with embarrassment. It was not right that she should be here to witness this.
It was not right that they should be here at all.
None of this was right.
They were bound in separate cells, divided by stout wooden poles lashed together to make them stronger, just as the doors to the cell were constructed out of wood. With her aura and the strength it gave her, Cinder could have broken free from this confinement quickly enough… but for all that was primitive about Freeport and the nascent kingdom that she was creating, the Sun Queen had nevertheless managed to replicate a means of suppressing the aura of her prisoners.
The fact that she was able to do that, of all things, said a great deal about where her priorities lay, in Cinder’s opinion.
And so, Cinder sat, her arms bound by chunky shackles of brass that suppressed her aura and left her limbs trembling from weakness, upon a floor that was covered in dirt and dust and a few wisps of straw laid upon the stone.
The dungeon was dark, with only a single torch providing any illumination, and in the darkness, Cinder could not see if they were being left unguarded or if there were a host of faunus with excellent night vision positioned in the shadows beyond her sight.
Not that it mattered; without aura, she was not getting out of this cell.
And neither was Ruby. Although, in the case of Ruby Rose, Cinder could not help but wonder if she would have been capable of escape even with her aura functioning.
She had not moved since they had been cast into this place, except to hug herself. She simply sat there, saying nothing, sobbing.
Cinder could not see the tears, but from the pitiful sounds coming from Ruby, they could not be far away.
Cinder shuffled across the cell floor, until her shoulder was resting upon the wooden bars that separated their two holding pens. “Ruby,” she said, her voice soft. She did not quite know why she was trying to be her comforter, except because there was no one else to do it, and she could not simply sit by and let this happen. “Ruby, I’m sorry.”
Ruby sniffed. “You’re… you’re sorry?” she asked. “Why? What do you have to be sorry about? You were right about everything: Sunsprite, the Queen, this place. If I’d only listened to you-”
“You can’t blame yourself,” Cinder said. “This isn’t your fault.”
“Isn’t it?” Ruby asked. She sniffed once more. “I thought that we were family. I thought… I thought she cared about me, her and grandpa. I thought that… I thought that I’d found a home again, with them. I thought… I was so stupid.”
“We all want a place to belong, Ruby,” Cinder murmured. “No one wants to feel all alone in the world; we all desire to feel that sense of belonging, of being wanted somewhere. And we are sometimes willing to go to great lengths to attain it.”
“Is that why you served Salem?” Ruby asked. “To find somewhere you could belong?”
Cinder was quiet for a moment. “It was… one of my many reasons,” she replied. “Salem… she showed me kindness as no one else ever had since my father died. Or so I thought, anyway. Of course, it was all lies; she saw my desire to be loved, needed, cherished, wanted, and she played upon all of those feelings to manipulate me, to keep me under her control until she didn’t need me anymore. The point is that that desire doesn’t make you foolish; it only makes you human like the rest of us.” She snorted. “Considering how often you seem to be more a marble statue than a girl, so remote in your unsullied and unattainable virtues, the proof that you are as flawed as I am is somewhat comforting to me.”
Ruby looked up at her and did not look at all amused. “What’s the matter with me?” she asked, her voice small and rather childlike.
Cinder frowned. “I don’t understand the question.”
“My mom chose to go out and fight and get herself killed rather than stay with her family,” Ruby declared. “My sister chose to go out and fight and get herself killed and leave me all alone. My cousin sold me out to Salem. Am I just… am I so awful that people would rather die or join the bad guys rather than be my family? Rather than stay with me? Is it impossible for anyone to care about me at all?”
“Is that really what you think?” Cinder demanded. She hesitated, passing her hands over her face, her fingertips brushing against her skin. “Of course you think that,” she whispered. “Why wouldn’t you?”
After all, it was the same thing that she had thought for many years. She had loved her mother, but she had also hated her for leaving her daughter. She had loved her father, but also hated him for abandoning her to the mercy of her stepmother and stepsisters. And in the face of her stepmother’s callous indifference, Phoebe’s cruelty, Philonoe’s mockery, she had asked herself, in the bitter watches of the night, whether it was her fault, whether she was doing something wrong to attract this harsh treatment, whether she could not, somehow, make it better, and thus save herself.
It had taken her a long time to realise that it was not so, that there was nothing that she could do.
“After my father died,” she said, “Lady Kommenos ought to have loved me like a daughter; her own children ought to have embraced me as a sister. That they did not… it was not my fault. There was nothing that I could do to make them love me, I could not alone create the bonds of family that should have existed between us. I was… I was simply unfortunate. Phoebe was a psychopath, and Lady Kommenos didn’t care about anything but her own comfort, certainly not for mine. That was not my fault. What they did to me was not my fault, and what has been done to you, what you have suffered, that is not your fault either. Do you really believe that Sunsprite betrayed you because of some flaw in your character?”
Ruby was silent for a moment. “Then why does no one-?”
“That is not true,” Cinder said. “You cannot let yourself believe it to be true. Trust me, the wicked of this world want nothing more than for you to think yourself alone, unloved, devoid of anyone who will show you a scrap of honest compassion. They want you to believe that so that they can prey upon it, can pretend to fill the need you feel and bend you to their will. Do not start down that path; you have no need. I… I vow, upon my tattered pride and whatever meaning the name of Cinder Fall yet holds, I will bring you to Mistral and deliver you into the arms of Jaune and Pyrrha, who love you well.”
Ruby blinked rapidly, blinking away tears. “How?”
Cinder shrugged. “I… am not quite sure, yet,” she admitted. “But I have been in tighter spots than this before and come out smirking.”
“Shouldn’t that be ‘come out smiling’?”
“Perhaps,” Cinder conceded. “But a smirk is more appropriate for me, don’t you think?”
Ruby stared at her for a moment. Slowly, the first traces of a smile began to show upon her face.
Cinder’s hour was up, and Roman Torchwick was getting antsy.
Her instructions had been quite clear: wait an hour, and if she wasn’t back within that time, then get everyone out of Freeport. What he was supposed to do then, she had not been so clear on, but on that point, there had been no mistaking her intent: one hour, then leave.
It had, to be perfectly frank, been clearer than a lot of the instructions she had given him when she was running the Vale racket. Then it had been all ‘oh, we’re going to start a fire’ or ‘the storm will sweep aside all our enemies’ until you didn’t know whether she was giving orders or a weather forecast. But on this point, in this place, she had been clear.
And yet, the hour was past, and Torchwick was still here.
They were all still here.
Her instructions had been clear, but that didn’t mean that they made any sense. She didn’t trust the authorities in this town; that was fair enough; Torchwick made a habit of not trusting the authorities any place, and it hadn’t steered him too far wrong yet. But why, having led them into this place, was she suddenly so anxious to get them out of it, and where was she going, and why did she need an hour, and what the hell was going on around here?
And why him? And how was he supposed to persuade Ruby and Cardin to come with him when they both still looked at him like dirt on a heel?
And why should he even bother? If there was danger, then he and Neo ought to make like a tree and leave, the same way that Sami and Jack had. Maybe they’d been smarter than him, hanging around here.
Why shouldn’t he go? Why shouldn’t he ditch all of these people and get while the getting was good? What did he owe them, any of them? Cinder had gotten him into this mess, Ruby had gotten him arrested, Cardin had tried to make a soldier out of him, none of them had treated him like anything more than a tool to get what they wanted.
He didn’t owe them a damn thing. His only responsibility was Neo. His only duty was to Neo. If there was something going down – or about to go down – in Freeport, then he needed to get her as far away from Freeport as possible.
Then why hadn’t he left yet?
Torchwick turned to Neo, who was sitting on his bed, looking as though she hadn’t a care in the world. Not true, that had never been true for as long as he’d known her, but Neo sure did like to hide all her thoughts behind that smiling face of hers.
She was going to be a real heartbreaker when she grew up. And a good thing too, because if any guy came near her with indecent intentions, it would be Torchwick’s duty as a father to blow his head clean off and throw the body off a dockside pier.
“What do you think about all this?” he asked.
Neo’s hands were still for a moment. She stared at him, the smile fixed upon her face, her mismatched eyes glassy and emotionless. She raised her hands, her fingers switching rapidly between signs. Everyone’s been acting odd lately, including Cinder.
“Who else?” Torchwick asked. “And since when?”
Ruby. I went to talk to her a little while ago, before we realised Sami and Jack were gone. It was like she couldn’t remember things. Then there were things I couldn’t remember either.
“You’re having memory problems?” Torchwick asked. “Like what?”
Like why we hadn’t run off already.
Torchwick let out a bark of laughter. “Oh, that one’s easy; it’s because… because…” He stopped. Why hadn’t they run off before? Was it because they were scared of Cinder? It might be that; she did still scare him – and that was probably the best argument for doing what she said – but he didn’t think it was impossible that he and Neo could have gotten away from her, especially now that she’d lost her fancy powers.
So why hadn’t they run? Why hadn’t they taken any of the opportunities that had come their way?
“When did you notice this?”
Only tonight. Me and Ruby.
“And that’s when Cinder started acting weird too,” Torchwick muttered. “What the hell?
I’m worried about Ruby.
“I’m worried about you, kiddo,” Torchwick replied. He paused, his mind racing. If something bad was going down here, then, well, family first, right? “Grab your stuff; we’re leaving.”
Which we?
“You and me, the only we that matters; now, come on.”
What about Ruby?
“Ruby doesn’t need our help, Ruby’s fine, Ruby’s got her cousin, Ruby’s going to be sitting pretty in here with the queen and all the rest of the muckamucks.”
That’s not what Cinder thought.
“So what? Cinder doesn’t know everything.”
We can’t just ditch her. Neo’s expression as she signed that out was firm and resolute.
“Why not?” Torchwick demanded.
Because everyone has ditched her, which means someone has to stay, Neo replied. Because I like her. Because I know that you like her too.
“I wouldn’t say that I like her; I just…” Torchwick looked away from her. The truth was… the truth was that that kid had some serious spunk, and even if she was very naïve about the way the world worked, well… what if he didn’t want that to be knocked out of her? What if he wanted to see that it was possible to believe in things? What if… what if he wanted to see what she did next?
And he couldn’t do that if he ditched her like this.
“Okay, fine,” he said. “Let’s get Ruby, hell, let’s do as Cinder said and get everybody and-”
“Ruby?” the voice of Taiyang rose up from the lower parts of the tower. “Ruby!”
Torchwick rolled his eyes. “One damn thing after another.” He opened the door and strode out of his room onto the landing. “What’s going on?”
The sound of heavy footsteps on the stairs preceded the arrival of Taiyang Xiao Long. "Have you seen Ruby?" he demanded.
"She's not down in her room?"
"No, I'm stomping around calling her name because I'm too stupid to check her room," Taiyang said.
"Don't talk to me like that; you're the one who lost his kid," Torchwick replied.
Cardin jogged up the stairs. "What's going on?"
"Ruby's missing," Taiyang said.
"'Missing'? Where is she?"
"If we knew that, she wouldn't be missing, would she?" Torchwick snapped.
Do you think she went after Cinder? Neo signed.
"Could be," Torchwick muttered. "Damn."
"Could be what?" Taiyang demanded.
Torchwick exhaled between his teeth. "We think that she might have gone after Cinder."
"Cinder's gone too?" Cardin yelled. "Where did she go?"
"I don't know that either," Torchwick replied. "All I know is that Cinder told me that she was going somewhere and if she wasn't back in an hour, then I needed to get you all out of this city."
"Leave Freeport?" Cardin repeated. "Why? And why did she tell you that instead of me?"
"Because I'm a born survivor, kid; Cinder knows that she can trust me," Torchwick said.
"That makes her the only one," Taiyang muttered.
"How long ago was this?" Cardina asked.
"Uh, about an hour fifteen minutes ago."
"Yeah, she was right to trust you, wasn't she?"
"I wasn't sure what to do about it, okay?" Torchwick cried. "She came up here, told me she was leaving, didn't say where she was going or why, acted weird, what was I supposed to do?"
"You could have told me about it," Cardin pointed out.
Torchwick stared at him. "Yeah, that could have happened."
"We can't do anything else until we find Ruby," Taiyang said.
"Agreed," Cardin said. "We find Ruby, and then we decide whether it's worth taking Cinder seriously or not."
"Little Red isn't likely to want to leave," Torchwick pointed out.
"We don't have a lot of choice, and maybe Ruby can explain what Cinder was talking about," Cardin said. "Lyra! Bon Bon!"
Bon Bon's head appeared over the banister of the staircase leading up to the next level. "Cardin, we've got-"
"Get Lyra and come on," Cardin ordered. "Ruby's missing; we need to find her."
Bon Bon winced. "I think all of the armed warriors coming our way might have something to say about that," she said.
"The what?" Cardin cried, pushing his way past Torchwick and Taiyang and running up the stairs, his feet pounding upon them. Torchwick followed, as did Taiyang and indeed Neo, up the stairs and into Lyra's room, where Lyra herself was standing at the window.
As she turned to face the people piling into her room, Lyra wore an expression that Torchwick recognised from many a lookout who had just seen the first cop car pulling up outside the bank.
Cardin was a big guy, and as Lyra made way for him, he took up all the space at the window, but by climbing up onto Lyra's bed – he wasn't precious about his dignity or anything – Torchwick was able to see what was up.
The square around the Tower of the Moon was filling up with troops. Most of them seemed to be from that tribe, not the ones they'd travelled with since crossing the mountains, but the other guys who had joined them just before Freeport, the Summer Fire Clan, was that their name? They were the ones with the scales and the metal armour, the one led by the hot chick with the sceptre. Torchwick could see her now, or else it was someone wearing her armour and carrying her sceptre, directing her troops to surround the tower. Then there were the other guys, the Rangers like the ones they'd ridden with, and what do you know, there was even the haughty Rose in her yellow cape.
What would Little Red say to see her beloved cousin like this, leading her troops in what looked like it might turn into an attack upon them?
Was she even around to say anything? There was a possibility that her disappearance was lucky, that it meant that she wasn't caught up in this mess. There was a possibility that cousin Sunset or whatever her name was had kept her out of this on purpose, knowing it was coming. There was also a possibility that Ruby had been granted a foretaste of whatever fate awaited them, and that… that was not great, to put it mildly.
A quick glance at Taiyang's face showed that he felt just the same way. Torchwick almost felt sorry for the guy; in fact, he did feel sorry for the guy; Neo was all he could think about any time he went inside, and the fact that she was perfectly capable of taking care of herself didn't change that one bit.
"What are they doing here?" Cardin murmured.
"And what are we going to do about it?" asked Bon Bon from the back of the room.
"It looks like they're fixing to attack us," Torchwick said. "I say we surrender."
Cardin whirled around to look at him. "What? Are you serious?"
"What if they're not here to attack us?" Lyra asked.
"What if they're not in the mood to take prisoners?" demanded Bon Bon.
"In order: yes, I'm serious; why the hell else would they be here in such strength; and if they mean to kill us, then we're dead no matter what we do, so it really doesn't matter," Torchwick replied. "But I've been surrounded more than a few times in my career, and sometimes, you don't have an airship waiting on the roof, and there isn't a convenient way into the sewers from the basement that the cops don't know about. Sometimes, you just have to remember that you can escape prison; you can't escape being gunned down by the police in some last stand shootout."
"We can defend the tower," Bon Bon suggested.
"For a while sure, but against so many?" Torchwick said. "There's hundreds of them out there. Listen, I know that this isn't the huntsman thing to do, but unlike most huntsman, I'm a survivor-"
"Watch your mouth, Torchwick."
"What, are you going to shut me up for speaking the truth?" Torchwick demanded. "You know better than most that I just called it right, Pops, or where are your wife and daughter-?"
"You son of a-" Taiyang lunged for him, but Cardin got in the way, restraining the older man, holding him back.
"I know he's an asshole, but calm down, sir," Cardin urged. "He really isn't worth it." He hesitated. "And besides, I think he might actually have a point this time. We don't have much chance of defending this tower against so many enemies, especially not with Cinder and Ruby gone-"
"Cinder and Ruby are gone?" Lyra asked, but nobody answered her.
"But, if we give ourselves up peacefully, we might be able to sort this out quickly and painlessly," Cardin went on. "Maybe this is all just a big misunderstanding."
"Do you really believe that?" Bon Bon asked.
Cardin was silent for a moment. "No," he confessed. "But that doesn't make Torchwick wrong. A last stand might be grandiose, but it won't help anybody for us to die here. Better we save ourselves and hope to make a difference later."
"You sound like an Atlesian officer," Bon Bon pointed out.
"I am a specialist, so… good?" Cardin said.
"Yeah, great, wonderful," Torchwick muttered. "So, we're going out there?"
"Yes," Cardin said. "We're going out there."
"Well, okay," Torchwick said. He leapt down off the bed in front of Neo. He smiled down at her, and with one hand, he swept the hat off his head and placed it upon hers. "Take care of this for me, will you, kiddo?"
Neo cocked her head to one side. Are you sure about this?
Torchwick nodded. "Sure I'm sure. I'll get it back soon enough."
Are you sure about that?
"Absolutely," Torchwick lied. "Now beat it."
Neo froze, her body still, her face unmoving, not so much as a tremble from so much as a finger. And then she shattered, like a pane of glass, the shards falling slowly to the floor before vanishing as completely as Neo herself.
"What the hell was that?" Cardin demanded.
Torchwick shrugged. "Neo has more options than the rest of us. Now, are we going or what?"
They all walked out, unarmed, their weapons – those of them that had weapons – left in their rooms. The sun was still working its way up in the sky, but there was enough light that it hit them strongly as they emerged from the tower, and it was made all the brighter by the way it glinted off the armour of all these clanfolk.
Torchwick noticed that Sunny Rose stood ahead of Lady Ashes – or whatever her name was – as though she was in charge and not the clan chief. Maybe that was because she was the Queen's woman, but even so, it kind of surprised him. Ashes or whatever was standing well back, like she wasn't even trying to pretend to be equals. Or like she didn't even want to be here at all.
The guns of the Rangers were trained on them as they emerged. Cardin raised his hands. "Hey! Hey, we're not looking for a fight. What's this about? We're all friends here. The Sun Queen welcomed us to Freeport."
"And now… that welcome has been withdrawn," Sunnyside said. "I… you are now considered enemies of Freeport."
"Why?" Taiyang demanded. "Where's Ruby?"
Sunflower looked at him with her one good eye. "Ruby is being held in the dungeon," she said. "Where you will be conveyed. Bind them all!"
Ember strode into the camp of the Frost Mountain Clan with only Smolder to accompany her. No small number of attendant guards would have protected her if Prince Rutherford decided to break the peace between them, and she had no wish to antagonise him by bringing a large number of warriors so close to his camp. Instead, she had brought Smolder, hoping that – if Prince Rutherford were inclined to violence – the sight of what they had gained by friendship, and what they had to lose by breaking that friendship, would stay his hand.
“I don’t understand,” Smolder said. “I thought you liked Ruby.”
“I do,” Ember replied. “I… did. She seemed brave… and kind.”
“Then why did you lock her up?”
“Don’t say it like that; it wasn’t my decision!”
“You went along with it,” Smolder pointed out.
“Well, yes, but-”
“So why?”
“Because… you’re too young to understand.”
“Or you don’t want to explain it,” Smolder replied. “Or you can’t.”
Ember grunted. “When I was your age, I respected my elders.”
“That’s not what Lord Torch says,” Smolder muttered.
Ember growled wordlessly; it was tradition in the Summer Fire Clan – as it was in the Frost Mountain Clan, come to that – for the old chief to step down when he felt age catching up with him, and hand off the sceptre to a successor. Their way had its advantages, not least in allowing the lordship to pass into the hands of a younger, stronger clan lord who could maintain the clan’s position and prosperity, but it also had its downsides, especially when the previous lord was also your father and could tell everyone exactly what you’d been like as a child.
Smolder looked around. The camp of the Frost Mountain Clan was not really busier than usual, and it was hard to be exact about any of these things, but Ember felt as though there were more people armed than usual when the clan was safe within the walls of Freeport. They had passed some people posted like guards, and although they hadn’t stopped Ember from entering, they had given both her and Smolder harsh gazes. There was an energy in the air here, a tension that seemed to have risen with the morning, because it certainly hadn’t been there before.
Of course, things had changed since last night. And Ember had played a part in that change. Now, she was going to see if she could smooth over the waters that she had helped to disturb.
“Smolder!” Yona cried, charging out of the crowd to hit Smolder with a flying tackle that knocked her to the ground. “Yona glad to see Smolder again! Yona heard there been fighting and Yona worried!”
“I’m fine, Yona,” Smolder groaned. “Or at least, I was until just now.”
“Yona!” Prince Rutherford called out, his voice rising above the hubbub of the camp as he strode into view. He regarded young Yona and Smolder, the former lying on top of the latter on the ground, with a firm, inscrutable look on his face. After some little time had passed, the faintest hint of a smile appeared upon his features, though he did not meet Ember’s gaze. “Yona take Smolder and have fun. Prince Rutherford and Ember of Summer Fire Clan must talk.”
“Sure!” Yona agreed eagerly, leaping up and pulling Smolder to her feet. “Smolder come with Yona, and Yona show Smolder how well Yona learn to play yovidaphone!”
“Are you sure?” Smolder asked, her words elongating into a cry for help that went unanswered as Yona dragged her off.
Ember glanced after her until she lost sight of them. “Will they be alright?” she asked.
Prince Rutherford glared at her. “Frost Mountain Clan not make war on children,” he declared.
Ember snorted. “Neither does the Summer Fire Clan.”
Prince Rutherford walked towards her. “Then Ember not bound Ruby Rose in chains, with Ruby Rose’s companions?”
“Ruby Rose can fight the grimm; I wouldn’t call her a child,” Ember replied.
Prince Rutherford spat on the ground. “Ember play pretty word games. Prince Rutherford have no patience for playing words.”
“I would rather play with words than some other things,” Ember replied.
“Ruby Rose saved Yona life!” Prince Rutherford declared. “Ruby Rose is friend of Frost Mountain Clan. Why should Prince Rutherford sit here and let Ruby sit in dungeon cell? Why should Prince Rutherford not take his axe-?”
“I came here in peace-”
“In Sun Queen’s peace, which Sun Queen has broken!” Prince Rutherford roared. “Why should Prince Rutherford honour broken peace?”
“Because things that are broken can still be beautiful, and the peace between our clans is the pearl beyond price,” Ember declared. “Wasn’t Ruby there when we sat and drank together and agreed that there was nothing in the world worth more than the fact that Smolder and Yona could grow up as friends instead of ancestral enemies?”
“Ruby agreed to that,” he reminded her. “Prince Rutherford did not.”
“You didn’t disagree either,” Ember countered. “Do you disagree?”
Prince Rutherford was silent for a moment. “No,” he admitted. “Prince Rutherford not want to fight Ember or Summer Fire Clan. Prince Rutherford not want to see warriors fall in battle. But Ruby is friend of Prince Rutherford and friend of Yona, friend of Frost Mountain Clan. How can Ember lock her away?”
“Can you stop saying that as though this was my idea?” Ember demanded. “The Sun Queen commanded it; I… I went along with it, and provided some muscle.”
“Why?” Prince Rutherford demanded. “Why Sun Queen do such thing?”
Ember was silent for a moment. “A sacrifice,” she said softly. “To appease the wrath of a dark god who will assail Freeport else.”
“'Sacrifice'?” Prince Rutherford hissed. “Ember talk of Fall Forest Clan and bad old ways?”
Ember nodded her head shortly. “Something like that.”
“Gods!” Prince Rutherford shouted, his ham hands clenching into fists. “If Sun Queen wishes to join Fall Forest Clan, then why not Sun Queen approach Fall Forest Clan?”
“Because she trusts me,” Ember said. “She knows that I’m loyal to her.”
“Is Ember loyal? Still?”
“Yes!” Ember snapped. “I’m loyal because she stopped a war between the two of us, in case you’ve forgotten! She saved the lives of warriors of my clan and yours. She gave us a place to run to when the grimm harried us, and now, she still protects us from that same darkness.”
“With death of child!” Prince Rutherford snapped. “What if gods demand Yona sacrifice? What if Smolder next? Will Ember give Smolder up to knife of Sun Queen?”
“No,” Ember said. She scowled. “But Ruby isn’t part of the Summer Fire Clan-”
“If Ruby thought as Ember thinks, then Frost Mountain Clan die at King’s Camp,” Prince Rutherford declared.
“I understand she is your friend,” Ember acknowledged. “I understand that you owe her a debt. But I came here to make you understand that the Sun Queen is prepared for you to take up arms against her. The reason why she came to me is to make sure that my clan would take her side against yours.”
“And will Ember?” Prince Rutherford demanded. “Will Ember fight for Sun Queen against Frost Mountain Clan? Will Ember make Smolder and Yona enemies once more?”
“I don’t want to,” Ember murmured. “I’m hoping you won’t force me to make that choice.”
“What other choice have Prince Rutherford?” he demanded. “Watch Ruby die? Sit in wagon and let Ruby die without Prince Rutherford having courage to watch?”
“What is more important to Prince Rutherford, your friend or your people?” Ember demanded. “I understand, I don’t like this any more than you do, and for whatever it’s worth, I don’t think the Sun Queen likes it either, but she does what she must to protect her people; can we do any less?”
“Ember believe it?” Prince Rutherford asked. “Ember believe Sun Queen when Sun Queen say danger is great? Greater than Frost Mountain and Summer Fire and other clans and power of Freeport?”
“I believe that she believes it,” Ember answered.
“That Sun Queen believe it not make it so.”
“But can we risk that it is so?”
“Better Frost Mountain Clan die than live like Fall Forest savages,” Prince Rutherford spat.
“I know you don’t believe that,” Ember said.
“Prince Rutherford believe that Frost Mountain Clan and Summer Fire Clan prisoners of Sun Queen just like Ruby,” Prince Rutherford declared. “Prince Rutherford not wearing chains, but Prince Rutherford no longer free. And Ember no longer free either.”
“That… that might be true,” Ember admitted. More true than I’d like, anyway. “But even if we did sell our freedom, then what we gained from it was worth the cost, right?”
Prince Rutherford shrugged. “Once, perhaps, but now… If Sun Queen makes friends with folk one day and then names them enemy the next, then what did clans sell freedom for?” He rubbed at his beard with one hand. “Prince Rutherford must think on these things and on what to do about Ruby.”
“I don’t want to fight you,” Ember said. “But I won’t let you start a civil war in Freeport, I won’t let you tear down what we have.”
“What Ember have is what Sun Queen gives to Ember, like scraps of meat fed to dog!” Prince Rutherford cried. His voice lowered as he clasped a heavy hand on Ember’s shoulder. “Prince Rutherford not wish to fight Ember or Summer Fire Clan, but nor will Prince Rutherford cower in fear of Ember and Ember’s warriors. What Prince Rutherford does, what Frost Mountain Clan shall do, will be just and right, and for good of Frost Mountain Clan.
“And Ember may tell that to Sun Queen also.”
It seemed so long ago, months at least, a lifetime past, when Ruby had watched her father beat Tyrian near to death, before one of those strange grimm showed up to rescue him.
Now, trapped in her cell, held fast behind a row of stout wooden bars she could not move without her armour, Ruby was forced to watch as Tyrian beat her father to death.
Taiyang lay on the ground, groaning with each blow that fell, twisting, turning, trying to shield himself with his shackled hands. Ruby couldn’t see his face. She could only see his legs jerking, his body shifting. Tyrian straddled him, his tail flickering back and forth with a kind of glee as his fists rose and fell, rose and fell, descending upon Ruby’s father with sick, smacking, thudding sounds. And Tyrian laughed. He cackled gleefully as he pummelled Taiyang, and Ruby knew the pounding would not end until the last ember of her family had been snuffed out.
“Stop it!” she shrieked, wrapping her hands around the wooden bars, hauling upon them in futility. “Stop it, leave him alone!”
Tyrian cackled as he looked at her over his shoulder, his tail snaking back towards her. “Oh, don’t worry, little Rose, you and your dear old dad won’t be apart for too long. You’ll be joining him soon enough, and your mother too.”
“You’re a big, brave guy, aren’t you?” Cardin demanded. “Beating on a man with no aura, no chance to defend himself?”
Tyrian rose from his crouched stance, leaving Taiyang for a moment as he sauntered closer to the other cell, the one in which Cinder, Cardin, Torchwick, Lyra, and Bon Bon were being held. “Would you like to take his place?” he demanded.
Cardin’s whole body trembled, but his voice was firm. “Yes,” he declared. “In fact, as the commander of this company, I think it’s my right. Some might even call it my duty.”
Tyrian stared at him flatly for a moment. “Oh my Goddess! Was that supposed to be inspiring? Was that supposed to impress me? Was I supposed to be shocked and amazed by what kind of stalwart, brainless morons Vale breeds? I don’t care whether you’re brave or not; I’ll kill you just the same if the Goddess commands it.”
“I gave my enemies a fighting chance,” Cinder spat.
“And you failed, so what does that say about your honour?” Tyrian asked rhetorically. “If you’re all so eager to die, fine, you’ll all get your wish soon enough… except, perhaps, for you.” Tyrian took another couple of steps forward, and he thrust his tail through the wooden bars and into the cell, snaking between Cinder and Cardin towards Bon Bon. The tip of his stinger was almost touching her cheek, and although Bon Bon’s face was a mask of disgust, it was clear that she didn’t dare move away.
“What do you want with her?” Lyra demanded.
Tyrian ignored her. He spoke instead to Bon Bon. “I recognise you,” he said. “You were Doctor Watts’ girl, the one loaned to Cinder as part of her operation at Beacon.”
Bon Bon swallowed. She drew in a deep breath. “That’s right,” she said.
Tyrian tilted his head to one side. “You served the Goddess once,” he said, “albeit without knowing it. Would you like to serve Her once again?”
“What?” Sami demanded. She was standing at the back of the room, half-hidden in the shadows towards the doorway leading out of the dungeon. “You’re offering her a chance? Why? She hasn’t done anything!”
“A colleague of mine saw something in her,” Tyrian replied. “She may yet be of use. Our Goddess does have need of young women, after all.”
“Her?” Sami cried. “I thought that I-”
“Do not mistake your place!” Tyrian snarled as he rounded on her, his tail retreating out of the cell. “I will give you an opportunity to prove yourself worthy to serve, but do not imagine that I do this for your benefit, or that you alone are to be granted this great honour out of some innate quality that only you possess. You serve me, as I serve the Goddess, and as a servant, be quiet!”
Sami’s jaw clenched. She scowled, but she also failed to meet Tyrian’s gaze. “Of course. You’re the boss.”
“Why?” Ruby said. “Why are you doing this, Sami? Why would you join him?”
“Well, that’s a hard question, isn’t it?” Sami replied, some vigour returning to her voice as she spoke, looking at Ruby now instead of the floor. “Why would I follow someone who is going to make all my dreams and the dreams of my ancestors come true, when I could be trailing after a little pipsqueak like you? Really, do you even have to ask?” She shook her head. “I’ve chosen the side that will let me be free to do as I please without calling me 'monster.' I’ve chosen the side that’s going to win.”
“Don’t be so sure,” Cinder growled.
Sami snorted. “You’re trapped in a dungeon, and I’m out here,” she declared. “And besides, S- the Goddess, is immortal. Even if you escaped, there is no victory against her. Sooner or later, one way or another, you’re all going to die.”
“Except me,” Bon Bon said, pushing her way to the front. “You’re right, I once served Cinder Fall, at the behest of Doctor Watts; I helped Amber recover the Relic of Choice. Given the chance, I could be of use to your cause again. I would be glad to do so.”
“Bon Bon?” Lyra whispered. “You… no, you can’t!”
“Why not?” Bon Bon asked, her voice melancholy. “It’s a season for betrayals, seems like.”
Sami’s eyes narrowed, but she said nothing.
“Excellent,” Tyrian crooned, stapling his hands together. “I’ll just let you out of this cell-”
“And while you’re about it, you can put the old man in there,” the Sun Queen declared as she descended the steps into the dungeon. She was accompanied by Laurel and Cherry and several armed rangers. “One in, one out as it were.”
“I’m not finished with him yet,” Tyrian declared.
“Yes, you are,” the Sun Queen insisted. “You have your pound of flesh, and more. I suggest you let that sate you for a while.”
Tyrian chuckled. “You can hand over Ruby to die, and Cinder to face unimaginable torment, but the thought of me beating Taiyang to death is too much for your tender conscience?”
“Taiyang wasn’t your target, correct?” the Sun Queen asked. “When you came to me, you spoke only of Ruby Rose.”
“He is a father,” Tyrian replied. “Do you think that he won’t try and avenge his sweet daughter if he can?”
“Let me worry about that,” the Sun Queen replied. “Put him back in his cell. The rest of you, step back.”
The Rangers trained their guns upon Cinder, Cardin, and Lyra as Tyrian – who must have gotten the keys from someone – unlocked the padlock around the chain that was holding the cell door in place.
“Out you come,” he said to Bon Bon, leering at her so much that Bon Bon almost looked as though she’d rather stay in the cell. She walked forward slowly, as though there were weights around her legs and she couldn’t really pick them up very well, but eventually, she made it out.
She didn’t look back at Lyra.
Tyrian picked up Taiyang and bodily hurled him into the cell. Cardin tried to catch him, but was knocked to the floor with an ‘oof’ and a thud.
“How is he?” Ruby cried.
Taiyang groaned.
“He’s alive,” Cardin said. “He’s hurt bad, but he should be okay.”
“If any of us are going to be okay,” Torchwick muttered.
“And how about you, Roman Torchwick?” Tyrian asked. “Would you like to serve a true queen, instead of a weak pretender?”
“Now, let me think about that for a second,” Torchwick murmured. “Nah, I’ll pass.”
“You’d rather die down here?” the Sun Queen asked.
“It’s true that you don’t survive as a criminal without knowing which way the wind is blowing,” Torchwick admitted, “but on the other hand, you don’t succeed as a criminal without being willing to take a few risks. I’m a little surprised that a queen needs a thief to teach her that lesson.”
“You think that I’m a coward, don’t you?” the Sun Queen demanded, as Tyrian shut and locked the door once more.
“Aren’t you?” Cinder replied. “I hope you don’t think this little act of mercy balances the scales.”
“You brought this on yourself when you brought darkness to Freeport,” the Sun Queen said. “If you want someone to blame, look to your own follies.”
“Do you think that this will save you in the end?” Cinder demanded. “My former mistress only uses people until she has wrung every drop of value from them that she can. You may seek for power, you may seek for favours from the winning side, but you are all sponges to the mistress of the grimm; she will fill you up with your desires until you are overflowing, but once she has wiped the world clean with you, then she will squeeze and squeeze you until you are all drier than before.
“I don’t expect you to believe me, I don’t expect to change your minds, but remember what I said. Remember it, when she disposes of the whole pack of you.”
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Author's Note:
Sunset will return in the next chapter.
You really shouldn't have said that, I didn't want the spoiler T.T
Now things are really coming to a head... and Bon-Bon has a plan.
And R!Sunset's Kingdom is shifting on an unstable foundation.
... It’ll be suitably explosive, right?
Neo may be able to pull a Bilbo Baggins and slip everyone a key, but that means little against so many hundreds.
Everyone else locked up, the Four Kings and their army of Grimm outside the gate, and if that wasn’t enough, Grogar and Unicron are still out there! We’re out of options. We need Sunset broken free now!
Just as it was with the Grimm Dragon, the night is darkest just before the true hero arrives.
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He said Sunset, not which one so.....
Not gonna keep my hopes up as there are technically two of them running around. And one has two minds.
Sunset shimmer your our only hope
For Sunset to return, she will either realized the promised she was given in exchange for her body will not be fulfilled, or she will just be given her body back for the same reason, then a fight will be fought and both sunsets will be known, everybody will see both, then the stone will be shattered, I imagine sunset will use the book to talk to twilight about how everyone's memory was lost, or the current pony in chains will say it to her, regardless, it will be epic :D.
Damn when put like that, Ruby thinks herself as a big batch of bad luck for those around her.
Somewhere in the back of her mind Dawn was hearing sounds of distant hysterical laughter mixed with crying
I mean, Ruby, you yourself tossed the person who cared about you deeply aside
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10685420
And without her memory of Sunset, she's ironically now very aware that no one else was to blame for the loss of her family. Even Cinder Fall can see this, that she never did anything to deserve this nor is she responsible for her tragic misfortune.
Oh no...
I don't like this, I don't like this at all...
Wait a minute, what happened to Zwei? Don’t tell me they locked him up too!
10685420
To be fair Sunset deliberately goaded Ruby into tossing her away.
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While the passing of the hat does send up some death flags I'm pretty sure the intention is for Neo to spring them out of jail.
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You make some solid points, I won't lie... but I don't believe that Cardin is beyond hope. People... cannot help the way they were raised and the values that their parents attempt to impose upon you. After all, at the start of this story Weiss wasn't exactly the strongest ally of the Faunus people either; She doesn't hate them by any means and because of the poor relationship with her father the idea of actually being racist towards them horrifies her... but you can tell that she's uncomfortable around them and she doesn't exactly know how to interact with them as people because... well, it's been at least 5 years since she's been able to interact with someone of Faunus decent because her father fired all the Faunus staff that was/might have interacted with her due to the White Fang going violent.
Cardin's father is also racist and shared those values with his son, but the difference between Cardin and Weiss is that Cardin seems to actually have a good relationship with his dad (At the very least it's better then Weiss' relationship with Jacques, but that's a bar so low that it's a joke to even mention it). It turns out when a parent actually has a good relationship with their child, they're more inclined to accept taught values without really questioning it. If there is one thing about Cardin we've seen this story through, he is slowly starting to do so and that began with his girlfriend's cousins. As we can see, he's still got a long way to go but even his speech in the headmaster's office suggests that his current view has evolved from just thinking them lesser because they're Faunus towards 'They're people but... some of them full on act like animals and I don't understand why. If they're going to go around acting like dangerous animals, shouldn't they be treated as such?'
There is also the reason why he was targeting Blake in the first place. Namely, his girlfriend's mother, who has flat out told him that the story of Blake being an Atlas agent was a cover story to save face, she really is ex-White Fang (who has been highly active and violent in the Vale area) and that she wants him to protect her daughter from a possible threat because she's actually a pretty high value political target if kidnapped or killed. He's paranoid for the safety of his girlfriend (possibly ex-girlfriend) and the best way to do that, with the information he has, is to get rid of the possible mole. Because he was sticking to his deal with Sunset up until he knew for certain that Blake was former White Fang... and even then, his attention was focused solely on her.
Of course he cannot come out and say all this, because his girlfriend's mother just happens to be the leading political figure in Vale and pissing her off would likely be a terrible idea. Plus I doubt he could prove the claim anyway.
So personally, I've been reading Cardin's actions less as an act of pure, mindless hate and instead the actions of a man who believes that the woman he loves and cares for is in danger due to the remnants of his old world view and the well meaning but paranoid request of someone that he looks up to and trusts... and he's willing to do what he believes he needs to do in order to make her safe again, even if it means being exposed as a racist to his girlfriend.
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I don't think it was Cinderp... I KNOW it was Cinderp...