Fractures

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Cinder was simultaneously freezing and on fire, hanging naked from the wall of her cell while her Aura worked to heal the myriad cuts, bruises and shallow burns that stretched across her once-fair front. It was so cold down in the dungeon that she couldn't resist the violent shivers that wracked her worn body, her Aura too busy healing her to heat her too. Every time she lost the fight to keep one back she had to grit her teeth to keep her screams contained to dull, muted moans and groans.

It was almost futile, sometimes, but she did it anyway.

Failing to would only invite more punishment, if her jailer heard her, after all…

Down in the dungeon, time didn't mean much but after the first week she'd learned to read it off of what came when. Seers bearing gruelish meals for her meant it was early morning, late evening, and noon, since that was when Salem set their dinners together if any of the court were at the castle. In between was either peace and frigid quiet, or the sounds of boots on stone, coming to educate her for her failures. Or, if she was particularly unlucky, the first thing she'd hear would be the door opening.

That meant Tyrian was busy and, creative as he was, he wasn't quite as depraved as the Seers could be. Thanks to the Queen's countless years to learn, no doubt…

"The morning lesson n-never came…" She murmured, fighting to keep her words straight through pain racking shivering if only for her own sense of dignity's sake. "And it's been a while since l-lunch was delivered…"

As if on cue, she heard and felt the gentle rumble of the heavy dungeon gate sliding up, into the ceiling. It was far too early for dinner, so she knew why it had opened… And then, in the silence that followed, she heard an altogether new sound in her tenure down here. Something that set a chill rolling down her spine and into her gut, nestling like a coiled snake weighing her down.

Heels.

They clacked and clicked elegantly, and familiarly, on too-cold stone as they approached her cell and Cinder forced herself to suck in a breath and count the steps. She always did, when the dungeon's gate opened. And now, the counting made her heart race all the more even as she tried to bring herself under control and flared her Aura to mend whatever it could as quickly as it could.

"M-Mistress." She shivered, feeling the bile rise for fear when she did but forcing herself to push on regardless, before the show of weakness could linger. "Good… Evening, I think? I-It's hard to tell, sometimes."

"Purposefully so." Salem demured as she stepped through the door and into the cell where she could actually see the Grimm queen. The woman smiled, hands folded in front of her, and turned a long, slow look from Cinder's bare feet all the way up to her face. Then she smirked and asked, "How are you feeling?"

"Wonderful." She grunted as a shiver wracked her, sending lances of pain up and down her body. Ignoring it, she smiled, "Tell T-Tyrian I give him two stars of five."

"Only two?"

"The meals are t-terrible." She coughed, "And n-noone comes when I call."

"I'll be sure to let him know." Salem laughed, the sound actually genuine sounding for once, and stepped forward. Her hand on Cinder's breast was like ice but then she felt something flare through her and the pain of her injuries began to ebb away. As Salem turned away her clasps came undone and the energy rushing through her was the only thing that kept her from falling flat on her face. "Or you can tell him yourself, if you like, at dinner tonight."

"D-Dinner?" She shivered, her Aura fading, now, as whatever energy Salem had given her began to wane. Now, the promise of actual food kicked in and kept her on her feet. "You're… Going to let me out?"

"I felt it had been long enough, and that you had learned your lesson when it comes to failing me so thoroughly." Salem nodded, inspecting her nails boredly and then sighing and turning a cool, narrow-eyed look on her. "Unless you think I shouldn't…"

"N-No!" And damn it, she hadn't meant to sound so scared. But now she had… Slipping to a knee and bowing her head she said, "Please, my Queen. I've learned my lesson, I won't fail you like that again. I-I appreciate the chance to learn."

"No you don't, and I would enjoy you not lying to my face." She stiffened at Salem's sharp rebuke but, after a moment, the eldritch woman sighed. Stepping by she spoke over her shoulder, "But I can see you've learned enough. You'll find clothes in your room."

"B-But that's up three stories…"

"Indeed it is." Salem smiled, turning a look on her at the door and raising a thin eyebrow challengingly. "And for the record? My Seers will be told to continue your education until you are dressed and at the dinner table. Let's call it… Your exam. I do hope you're strong enough, dear Cinder."

"I am." She vowed, "I'll be at dinner, Mistress."

"Good." The woman said as she vanished around the corner, "The Doctor has need of your help, now, with a little something in the mountains."

Taking a deep breath, Cinder turned to follow her mistress out, flicking her hands out to each side to summon her bow and a fistful of arrows. Soon, she promised herself, she'd be free again. And she would have her revenge on the yellow-eyed bastard...

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Crossing the hospital room Jaune looked down on the catatonic Faunus, whose hair had been tied into neat buns just behind each of her ears at some point. For the most part, she looked peaceful, though her hands had been folded on her stomach like a corpse in repose and that gave him a bad feeling. Occasionally, though, she'd twitch so very slightly he barely saw it. Mainly it was her ears doing it, shifting less than a centimeter before stilling, in time with the gentle 'active' beep of her heart monitor.

And yet, her brain activity was unchanged, according to the scans…

"What is happening to you, Blake?" He murmured, laying a hand on her head and closing his eyes, trying to sense… Something.

All he felt, though, was the chaotic tempest swirling around him. And somewhere in it was a single droplet named Blake Belladonna…

How on Remnant was he even meant to do this?

"No idea." He sighed, murmuring the answer to his own question and paying Blake a long, sad look. Chuckling at himself he asked, knowing the answer he'd get, "Feel free to toss up any ideas you have, Blake. Force knows I could use them right now..."

The only answer she had to offer was the gentle beep of the machine, and the quiet whoosh of the overhead air system kicking on.

Turning on a heel he folded his legs under him and rested his fists on his knees, back leaning against the hospital bed. This was as close as he could get without climbing into bed with her, and he couldn't help but think it would help him find her if only by proximity. A lake was countless drops accumulated into a single body, after all, but if you started next to the one you were looking for then maybe you could find it if you looked.

Or, well, so he hoped, as his eyes slipped closed.

The incense, even if he immediately noticed it wasn't quite right, and the dark helped him center and calm himself quickly. Old patterns of meditation, borne out from years in the hidden Temple at Ansel, letting him… Detach from the solid world around him easily enough.

Immediately, he felt the pressure of a thousand souls around him, their emotions whipping and twisting through him like lightning cracking down from on high. Or more like lightning cracking through the air, from bright, streaking cloud to bright, streaking cloud. Everything washed over and into him from rage, fear and pain to joy, pleasure, and excitement, all pressing in on him. All drowning him, like the thousand droplets he had already thought of them as.

He could feel it ripping him apart at the very base of his being…

But he'd prepared for this, drawing a long, thin piece of wood from a fold in his robe and using the sharp edge to slice through the skin of his palm. The pain grounded him, told him where - and who - he was in the tempest that had stretched his mind to the breaking. It was tenuous, the tempest was still yanking him to and fro with the clear aim to vivisect him and scatter his mind to the proverbial wind.

But it was enough.

Using his anchor he began to search, grabbing bolts of emotion-borne lightning out of the air as they passed and feeling their feelings. Judging them. Appraising them like a collector, or maybe an investigator, might for clues while he floated in the midst of the dark hurricane.

Excitement, love, pleasure- "No."

Fear, revulsion, phantom pains echoing up from her thighs- "No, Blake isn't in that kind of pain…"

Again and again he felt the deluge, one at a time, searching for the one droplet he was seeking. It felt like hours passed as he worked, mind straining, hand burning, and head throbbing. The latter, at least, added more pain that could anchor him. He reached for the next of a thousand, sparking a vibrant mix of Light and Dark and flashing between the two confusedly, he thought he might have found what he needed…

Confusion, sorrow, longing, pain so deep he couldn't fathom it- "Blake?"

"...Blake?"

"What?"

"...ake…"

"The connection isn't strong enough… Damn it." He murmured, grunting as the sensation began to fade and writhe, like a mad serpent made of lightning lashing about in his grip, desperate for freedom. "Here goes something…"

He pulled the feelings, all the emotions roiling about inside of him, into his heart.

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"Forty-one." Adam grunted as he sat up, heads behind his head and feet pressed to the bottom of his cot. Easing back down he took a breath and rose again, counting just as the door opened, "Forty-two. And hello, lunch."

"I have a name."

"I'm aware." He grunted, turning to look at the woman, "Part of it is branded to my face. Or did you forget, Schnee?"

"Of course I didn't-" Specialist Winter Schnee sighed, pinched the bridge of her nose, and shook her head slowly. Part of him wanted to rush her, then, and make an escape. But he knew she'd be backed by a small guard force he couldn't take without Wilt and Blush, so he didn't. Finally, she opened her eyes and tapped the little plastic tray she was carrying, "I brought your dinner."

"No way!" He gasped, feigning shock as he rose and then grunting, "Forty-three. I couldn't possibly guess that you were delivering my dinner from the time. Or the tray. Or you being in my cell- And isn't it time I go to court for my crimes, Specialist? Or does Atlas not do proper trials any more?"

"Must you be this insufferable…?"

"I don't know." He sighed, grunting 'fifty' and standing, slowly enough the Schnee wouldn't leap to run like a deer that spotted a bush shaped vaguely like a wolf. Smiling thinly and baring his teeth he leaned back on his cot and shrugged, "Must your family continue to indenture an entire species?"

"The SDC has hardly indentured every Faunus on Remnant." She argued, shaking her head and adding, before he could say anything, "And that is not to say they indenture anyone. My father's practices are vile, to be sure, and thus I left. But they are not that deplorable."

"Really?" He murmured, tapping the side of his face, just under the bandage, meaningfully, "Are you sure about that?"

"My father hardly held you down on his desk to brand you, or beat any Faunus." She sighed, finally stepping into his cell and letting the door close behind him. Under her breath, and sure, now, that no one could hear, she added, "He saved that for us."

Distantly, Adam felt a stab of sympathy.

Much closer, and louder, he felt a surge of pleasure imagining the Schnee bloodying each other.

"You won't get any sympathy from me, Schnee. Sorry." He shrugged, earning - and enjoying - a scowl from the woman. "It's nothing personal. Or, well, it is, but… Well, I'm just not the right tree to be barking up for any of that. Let's leave it at that."

"Fine then." She shrugged, crossing the room and holding his food out to him. Raising his brows he took it and sat the food on his bed, eyeing the woman. When she didn't leave, only backing away, out of his reach, he sighed and asked, "What do you want?"

"Just to tell you that Belladonna is still catatonic." She answered, smiling when he scowled and adding, quietly, "And the man that throttled you is trying to help her."

"And you're telling me… Why, Schnee?" He growled, waving a hand at his food and adding, "To ruin my dinner, maybe?

"I just… Thought that you would like to know that we're trying to help her." She shrugged and turned as the door opened, stepping through and calling back as she went, "Enjoy your meal, Taurus."

Sighing as the door slid shut he turned to do just that, as best he could. And, now that now one could hear, murmured, "You better work it out, you bastard…"

And damn him for forcing Adam to hope that a Human could find the way to help a Faunus, too.

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"I know he'll be fine." Pyrrha murmured quietly, leaning against the wall where she was waiting at the entryway. Chewing the inside of her lip she tapped a foot anxiously and rambled on, "It's just that this is the first time he's done anything like this. Touching another's mind, like this, I mean."

"Do you really?" Ironwood asked from across from her, turning an eye on Specialist Amin boredly when the Faunus shifted. Turning back to her he went on, "This is a first for him, like you said. Can you be sure that he can handle this?"

"I can." She murmured, "I believe in him."

"Do you really?" Ironwood asked firmly, nodding in answer when she paid him one. Smiling, he said, "Then simply hold to your beliefs. If you know you're right, you should never let doubt cause you to waver from what you hold in your heart."

"I am. Truly, I am, General. I'm just…" She sighed, rubbing the bottom of her thighs where flesh met metal, and her legs were beginning to ache without her meds. "I'm… I do not really know, I guess. Anxious would be an acceptable word for it, I suppose, even if I don't know why I'd be anxious."

"Like I said, you-"

"Being anxious is normal." The Specialist offered, paying half a look to the General to see if he'd reprimand him either for interrupting or for speaking while he was on duty like he was. When he didn't, he went on, quietly, "It just means you care for him, you know? That's not a bad thing, if you ask me."

"I know, but…" She sighed, "No, you're right. But I should have faith in him."

"And in yourself, Nikos." General Ironwood offered firmly, sounding and looking every bit like a man trying desperately to offer his wisdom to someone he considered in need of it. "I can't think of any reasons for you to doubt yourself so much like this. You've done a lot, and you should be proud of that. And more confident for it, too."

"I suppose…" That sounded too much like arrogance for her comfort, were she to speak her mind candidly. Not that she would, of course, since there was no real reason to offend the General like that. Instead, she tried, "Whatever the case, once all is done, I hope what we found in Ozpin's reliquary is useful enough to pique the Curator's interests."

"As do I." Ironwood nodded, "The Archive could be worth a lot to all of us."

"Indeed…" She sighed, watching the General closely, warily, for any sense of something untoward coming from him. Jaune had taught her a bit about it, how to watch a person's hands and eyes to tell if they were trying to act too natural to hide intent. When she saw nothing she smiled and said, "Once we're done here, I would enjoy visiting it again."

"You're ready?"

"Ready enough for a visit, I belie-" Suddenly, the building shook as if struck and she was on her feet eyes flicking to and fro warily. "Attack?"

"Maybe." Ironwood nodded, his heavy handgun in his hand as he turned to the Specialist and barked, "Status?"

"The tremors came from inside the secure wing." The Specialist said, standing and turning as the doors slid open automatically. His rifle was up as he stepped through the door and then he ducked as half a Knight flew over their heads, trailing smoke, sparks and embery fires and clattering down the hall behind them. The Faunus stood and, mostly needlessly, grunted, "Knight-103 is down, Sir. As are all the Knight frames nearest BM's location."

"Jaune!" Pyrrha cried worriedly as half a dozen Knights, those guarding doors nearer to them than the epicenter, arrived and turned, offering their bodies as a semi-living shield of metal and raised rifles.

The General and Specialist each slid to the side, using the shield offered to them and leveling weapons down the hall as smoke began to billow up, towards them. It clouded their vision but after a heartbeat she heard the whirr of a computer working and the machine's intoned silently, "Switching to thermal vision."

Then, as if prompted by the words, the machine in the center was yanked forward and into the smoke. Metal crumpled and, after a moment, its legs were hurled back. Then the smoke billowed forward, washing over them and blinding them. While Pyrrha coughed, she leaned a hand on the machine in front of her, feeling it turn searchingly for the target that was attacking them. Then it was yanked forward and away, leaving her to stagger in its wake as overhead fans kicked on, sucking the smoke out of the hallway.

Looking up, she came face to face with Jaune, eyes a bright gold and his face flat. He saw her and winced, growling words she didn't understand.

"Jaune, what's going- Ack!" She choked as his hand closed around her throat and hoisted her up, into the air. Glaring at her with empty eyes he snarled.

Then, his head snapped back as something impacted it and she fell, hacking as an electric sound crackled through the quiet hallway.

Jaune roared, staggering away and clawing at his face as electricity arced around it. He yanked the little thing, which looked rather like a tiny bola, off his face and hurled it aside as heavy boots sounded on the ground. Stretching his arms out Jaune called on the Force and hurled the oncoming machines up, into the ceiling where they smashed through simple tiling and into heavy concrete. Then he slammed them down, shattering them on the ground.

A gentle whump sounded and Jaune bucked, hand on his leg where a dart protruded from his limb. Another whump and a second appeared in his shoulder, and then a third in his neck. Turning, she watched the Black Guard step into the scene, shoulders nearly touching and strange little tubes in their hands. One dropped their weapon as they were lifted, mute, off their feet to claw at their throats.

The others ignored them, though, unleashing another volley of needles that stopped in the air over her and were hurled to the side.

"Stay!" A voice barked as Jaune lumbered forward, freezing in place as Pyrrha rose to intercept her enraged partner and herself froze.

This time, the volley of darts hit home, and she saw his eyes struggle to stay opened as she felt whatever was holding her abate. As her partner fell she surged forward to catch him and turned, holding him against her breast while Ironwood approached, his Black Guard at his back while Amin tended to their downed companion.

"What," the General growled hotly, was that?"

"I… I don't know." She answered quietly, watching the Black Guard closely as they silently reloaded their odd air guns. Weapons that seemed very strangely suited to someone whose Aura had to lower in a fight… "But when he wakes up, I intend to find out exactly what is going on."

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A lot of bouncing around, here. And so little dialogue that I couldn't keep up the fun chemistry. But some interesting developments nonetheless. And a showing from the Black Guard, too, to demonstrate THEIR effectiveness and discipline.

Hope you all enjoy as the story finally starts sliding into its full swing!

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