The woman in red stared at the map of her world, shocked that a world full of fighters capable of such strange and wondrous abilities had fallen to the Dark beast that had finally awoken.
Her anger caused her from to be shrouded in flames.
The older, dishevelled man in a dirty green suit beside her went to say her name, but she silenced him with s sharp slashing hand motion.
“That name is long behind me now. I’m the last cinder of the fallen empire of humanity, so that shall define me.”
Her once silver eyes now glowed golden yellow, before finally settling into a light amber hue. Her once short and red/black hair, now long and flowing, had finally darkened to a crisp black. Her length wasn’t anywhere close to the luscious mane her sister once had, but there was enough length there that any connection between who she was and who she had become would not be apparent to her former team mates.
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In their first battle with the true Darkness that plagued their lands, they had been caught unprepared, and paid the price.
She had watched her sister be slowly, and mercilessly, beaten to the point where even her semblance couldn’t take the strain, and continued to be beaten to a bloody pulp. This alone had been enough to break her sister’s faunus partner, but the worst part had been when that beast had ripped her luscious golden locks from her head, and had shown the proud Blonde how ruined her former hair was, just from its touch, right before it broke her spine over its jagged knee.
Seeing her sister die with that look of loss and horror had been when her new power had first surfaced, flames bursting from her and directed at the beast while her surviving team mates dragged her away, the flames consuming her sister so that the beast could not use her dead and broken form against them.
In the second battle with the Dark beast, they had underestimated it, and again paid the price.
Because of how much strength they knew it would take to beat her sister, she and her remaining team mates assumed the beast was cunning, but cruel and stupid, meaning they could outwit it and use their speed and distance-based attacks. Oh how wrong they had been.
Instead of beating them with its physical strength, the Dark beast used my sister’s former faunus partner against us, worming its way into her mind, while the leader and her partner battled its physical form with scythe and Dust attacks. The dark seeds of guilt and regret over her former partner’s death gave the beast exactly what it needed to control her.
Crack! Crack! Two shots was all it took to bring the Heiress to her knees, having sensed a danger behind them, shielding her partner from her sister’s former partner’s shots.
The Heiress smiled weakly as blood welled at her lips, ignoring the look of horror on her leader’s face as she saw the red roses forming on her chest, one over each lung, ruining the once whitish blue beauty of the outfit.
The leader couldn’t believe her eyes as she watched a shadowy blade pierce her partner’s chest, before the sheathe blade of their faunus team mate beheaded the future of the Schnee Dust company.
As the heiress’ body started spurting rose petals, the tormented faunus had transformed her blade into its pistol form, and placed it under her own chin.
While her mouth twisted into a cruel smirk that clearly wasn’t her own, her distraught yellow eyes begged for her leader to forgive her.
Crack!
The Leader roared in anguish as her last team mate fell, fire raging out from her and consuming their forms, and kept the dark beast at bay, as the Leader passed out from the strain of the battle.
The leader awoke in cinders and ash, the beast nowhere to be seen.
Her third and final battle with the Dark beast, was thrust upon her when she was recovering in her home Kingdom, while under the watchful eyes of her former teachers and friends.
Even with the overwhelming numbers of both skilled and untrained combatants, she had watched from one of the highest towers of her former combat school as the Kingdom she loved and called home slowly but surely succumbed to the dark beast and its hordes.
The skilful Amazon, forced to kill her love before his keen strategic mind could be used against them.
The Lotus Hunter was torn limb from limb, while his loving Valkyrie was forced to watch, helpless, before giving in to the dark.
She watched as a Sun was extinguished, last Port in their kingdom smashed asunder, as velvety fabric was ripped apart, as Twins were forced to live on without their other half.
She watched a good witch turn evil, and the Headmaster putting her out of her misery.
She watched her kingdom burn, as the Headmaster flew her away to Atlas, where he had a possible way of defeating the beast.
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A single tear dropped from her face, as she remembered what the dark beast had done to all she loved.
If the world wasn’t ready for its arrival, she would force it to be ready.
“Ozpin, is James’ replica of your tower ready yet?”
The older man was clearly unsettled by how formal she was being with him.
“Yes, it appears to be ready, and should be able to sustain my power long enough to send you back. But, how are you going to convince all these factions and myself about what will happen, Miss R—“
Fire flared.
“Thats not my name anymore. You’d best do well to forget it.” She glared at her former headmaster, watching as the once proud man accepted that the only hope for his world wasn’t going to help his world.
“How will convince them then?”
She smirked.
“Convince them? I’m not going to convince them. I’m going to put them on the verge of all out war, so that Atlas is forced to improve everything at a faster pace than they managed in this world. And if I focus my attention directly on our former school, all four kingdoms should be ready by the time it emerges.”
And it will give me enough time to harden my younger self for the gruelling hell this world has in store for her. Atleast she will get to keep her loved ones…….
“You realise that if you pull off what I believe you are going to do, that you won’t survive long enough to see the fruits of your labor?”
Her fiery eyes narrowed on his glasses, obscuring his eyes from sight.
“I’m aware.”
The former headmaster sighed.
“Very well. Shall we proceed?” He turned to head towards the Gears’ room, but paused, before adding, “What are we to call you?”
She smiled, as she formed a prism of pure fire left hand, orange light dancing over her red outfit, causing her glass heels to glitter.
“You may call me Cinder Fall.”