Chapter 20

~ Emi. Training. Prey. Hunter. ~

Narrator POV:

"Hmm..." Grimmerin looks at the green-haired girl "You, come here" Emerald looks at Cinder, seeing her nod, so she does as the Faunus said and steps up closer.

"Hmm... What was it again... Darling, help me out a little" Grim says, not stopping her gazing at Emerald, who looks quite confused.

"Starts with E"

"Er... no, El... Also no... Hmm..." Grimmerin thinks with her head on her palm.

"Ends with D"

"Oh, right, Ermahgerd, did I get it right?"

"Almost, though it does sound very close" Cinder comments.

"It's E-" The girl tries to say, realizing that the Faunus has forgotten her name, that's why she called her a green-head before.

"Wait, no, no, I got it... It's... Ema-"

"Eme" Cinder adds

"Emerald" Grim states with confidence.

"You did it!" Cinder 'fake' congratulates.

"Well, how about that, I actually remember somebody's, who I don't care for, name and all without any help"

"You sure did" Cinder rolls her eyes behind Grimmerin.

"Mhm... Mhm... Well it seems that from now I shall call you Emi"

"Eh... what?" Emerald can barely keep up with all of these different moods from this one person.

"Well, Emerald is too long"

"Says the one that named herself after the creatures of Grimm and added Erin to it, thus making the longest name out of all the people that we know..." Cinder comments.

"Yeah, well I don't count, plus my name's the best"

"Right..."

"As I was saying, Emerald is too long, Em is being used by that gray man on the ground, so that's a big no-no and Crystal suggested Emi because she liked how cute it sounds... And there you go, now you're Emi"

"I... Um... Yeah, sure, whatever" Emerald gives up even though she'd rather her name not be called cute.

"Good" Grimmerin turns to face Cinder "Oh and darling?"

"What is it?"

"I, as your superior, order for you to call her Emi as well"

"Ugh..."

"What is that? A sound of annoyance that I hear? Oh, wait, no, it's the sound of ecstasy, I am glad you agree with my order, darling, how sweet of you" Grimmerin turns around to face Emi. Missing Cinder's eye roll again.

"Anyways, now that I have something to call you other than Green-head, tell me that you're more useful than that other lackey?"

"Mercury is useful" Emerald tries to defend her teammate.

"Right... And I am not bat-shit crazy for blood... Listen, Honey, want to know what's called being useful? It's making me actually excited, and that?" She points at the gray man who's still writhing in pain, slowly healing, because his Aura was used up "Lasted less than a never used virgin dick, so, just like that dick? He is far from useful"

"What kind of comparison is that?' Emerald asks flabbergasted.

"What, didn't like it? I guess Crystal was right, talking about sex all the time isn't superb... Eh, whatever. I will put it in simpl-"

"No, I mean, I got it, but that was just... Seriously who says that?" Emi interrupts Grim.

"Hmm... Listen, don't cut me off again, you don't even have the privilege to speak to me without being spoken to, so you're as far away from interrupting me, as I am from our wife right now, understand, Emi?"

"I..." Emerald sees out of the corner of her eye, Cinder nodding her with urgency.

"I understand..."

"Good girl, now then, answer my previous question, without any more of... your silly distractions. Are you useful? Or at least more useful than him?"

"I.. think so?" Emerald answers uncertainly, also with the feeling of not wanting to 'betray' Mercury by just saying that she's better because she has a semblance.

"Think... you think? Ugh, fine... Cinder" But Grimmerin didn't like that answer, as she dislikes indecisiveness since it wastes precious time.

"She's decent, while he's acceptable" Cinder answers without a pause.

Emerald gets slightly hurt inside hearing Cinder only say that she's decent, but unlike her, Grimmerin actually 'oohs' out loud in surprise.

"Seriously, decent? From you? I'd never expected to hear it, damn"

Grim turns to face Emerald again "Well would you look at that, it seems Cinder actually has put some value in you and you're not just some replaceable goon, congrats"

Emerald hearing that, feels her 'hurt' disappearing and some pride swell inside of her, instead.

"Hmm... So where does this slightly higher than average opinion come from? What do you have in store? High Aura levels? Extreme Speed? Accuracy for weaponry? Battle prowess? Because I can... And will test all of those, so what is the best thing that you can show me?"

"My semblance" Emerald answers, she could've said more, but if Grimmerin asked her most proficient field, it'd be her semblance.

"Oh? So you're just like me and Crystal, how about that"

"Just like you?" Emerald dares to ask, she is slightly curious after all.

"Mhm, without it? Pretty sure I wouldn't have it as easy, oh and Cinder would most definitely beat me, but since she can't damage me or she'll damage herself, I win by default... Just like every other fight. So, yes, my semblance is 95% of what I am"

"That's true" Cinder comments from behind.

"Anyways, what does your semblance do?"

"I can make people hallucinate vie their senses"

Grimmerin's eyes slightly widen and she goes into thinking mode immediately. She pauses for a moment "How strong is it?"

"Strong enough?" Emi asks uncertainly if that's a good answer or not.

Grimmerin again goes back to her mind. Cinder knows that she's also talking with Crystal about something. Unlike Crystal, who doesn't actively call out Grimmerin, Grim is the opposite of Crystal.

"Cinder, I think I will be stealing Emi from you during the weekends"

"... If it was Crystal asking that, I'd know that she'd try to get in bed with her" Emerald blinks at that statement, Cinder just casually mentioned her own girlfriend taking somebody else to bed, not to mention it was her as that mentioned person, what kind of relationship do these two...three, wait, four since she also has a wife, have? "But it's unlike you to actually ask for somebody..."

"I am going to... Train... Yeah... That sounded way cooler in our mind"

"Wait... wait... wait... Hold on for just a moment" Emerald sees Cinder losing her composure for the first time she's ever seen, and all because this Faunus said she's going to train?

"You... You're going to train?"

"Indeed I am," Grimmerin says turning around to face Cinder.

"The one that's even more laz- I mean actively chooses to do less than Crystal?"

"Hey, I don't do that"

"Yes, then who is it that always shouts 'boring' when she lays on the bed, every single minute?" And yet again, Emerald somewhat gets Cinder's reaction.

"But that's because it's always boring," Grim says as if it's obvious.

"Yes, and what does your mom tell you in those moments?"

"To go and do something?" Grimmerin answers.

"Exactly... Yet your ass just snuggles up in your tails and says 'I don't wanna', and still, a few minutes after that you say that you're bored, instead of trying to do something. So tell me, in what world do you actually go and train, especially when you always brag about your semblance doing everything for you, so there's no need to get even stronger, that way you'd lose any left excitement when fighting?"

Cinder finally finishes her out of character rant, which is due to her irritation with all of the times she has heard the word 'bored' uttered from the Faunus mouth over the last two and a half years, that's not even adding to the fact that Grimmerin is less seen than Crystal, so that's saying a lot.

"Okay, you might have a small point" Grim immodestly agrees.

"Small... Right..." Grim finally sees Cinder rolling her eyes.

"Hey, don't patronize me, the most important thing is that I am choosing to train now and that's all that matters"

"Fine, whatever, so why are you going to train, now of all times?"

"Well, as you said, my semblance does it for me, I get attacked, they attack themselves... But I never really fought against people that attack the mind, you know, with illusions, hallucinations or whatever else that is considered a mind attack"

"Oh... I get it" Cinder says after realizing what's going on.

"You do?"

"Yes, you just want to use Emer... Emi as a guinea pig, to make her test your semblance and see if it can reflect the hallucinations to her"

"Indeed, that's just what I am thinking. You'd think that it wouldn't work, but all I know is that my semblance works against any kind of pain and attack if I activate it fast enough, it hurts robots, Grimm, people, basically anything I fought against. So technically speaking, isn't an illusion just an attack on my mind? It should work, no?"

"I hope it doesn't" Cinder comments.

"Why?"

"So I could actually celebrate your semblance having at least one weakness"

"Yeah, you would celebrate something like that, even when it's your girlfriend. That's just so you" Grim deadpans.

"Mhm, but it will most likely work since somebody feels pain because of their brain, to begin with"

"Um..." Emi breaks the two out of their conversation.

"What is it?" Cinder asks.

"I have a quick question"

"Go ahead"

"If... I understand... umm?" Emi looks at Grimmerin.

"Full name" Grim answers.

"If I understand Grimmerin's semblance correctly... Doesn't that mean if it works, I will be stuck in my own illusion? How will that work?"

Cinder and Grimmerin think about it for a while, to see if they can find at least a decent enough answer and Grimmerin is the first one to start speaking.

"I have no clue, but hey, we'll find out, won't we? And if you'll be stuck in your own semblance for all eternity, well, too bad"

"Yay..." Emerald lets out tiredly.

"Anyways, darling, I think I will be going now, here take this and keep it somewhere safe, it's everything that Crystal and I have" Grim hands over the bags to Cinder, who takes it with a nod.

"Emi, I will return for you on weekends, be ready... At night-time, less attention from unwanted eyes"

"Okay" Emerald answers back, she hopes she can someday get rid of this new nickname.

"Oh and help that one after I leave" Grim loosely points to the general direction of Mercury.

Emerald only nods, she was going to do that anyway, without her telling so, but since she was here, she didn't know if it was a good idea to actually try and help him.

"By the way, Cinder, do you want to come with me?"

"What are you going to do?" Cinder asks back, even if she already has a hunch.

"Atlas soldiers are here, aren't they?"

And it seems her hunch was correct "How many?"

"I don't know... How many I feel like, at that certain moment? It's been a while because of our plans"

"No, I am good, a few would be enough, but more than a dozen could put too much attention on me"

"I guess... Well, too bad, I guess I am using my tails alone this time" Grim pouts.

"Yeah, yeah, it's perfect for hiding blood, I know" Cinder adds.

"Indeed it is, well, see you tomorrow, I'ma go have me some fun," Grimmerin says and leaves the room.

After a few minutes of silence, Emerald finally tries to ask Cinder about the Faunus.

"Cinder, what was all of that about?"

"You mean Grimmerin?"

"Yes, one moment she's crazy, the next moment she's loving, then happy, then mad, what is going on? And why do you let her walk over you like that?" Emerald asks several questions, to her Cinder was someone who could never get scared of somebody.

Cinder sighs out loud "Listen, and this is an order... It's for your own good... Whatever you do, never go against her word, if she says something, just do it"

"But why?" Emerald asks, yes, she saw how bad she can get, but what if she asked somebody to kill themselves, how can anybody follow that?

"There's a simple explanation for that. You see, Foxie, the one you saw yesterday with white tails... The best way I can describe her is... Prey that fights back when startled, instead of running away in panic. But Grimmerin? She... Is a Hunter, the most proficient and ruthless kind. I know that I warn you to follow my orders, but hers are absolute. She won't give you another chance. If you waste her time, she will waste your life, the only reason Mercury is still alive is because I stopped her, if I wasn't here... He'd be dead and not only dead, his body would be in such a way, that nobody could recognize him if there was a body left to begin with..."

Cinder finally finishes her answer and looks out the window, if only Grimmerin never existed, she could actually give herself fully to Crystal... If only.

Emerald seeing that Cinder finished talking, goes to help Mercury with some dreadful thoughts swirling inside her head, will she survive these training sessions for long?

But everything stops as Cinder's scroll rings, she takes it out and sees Grimmerin and gets a bad feeling. She picks it up.

"Well, hello, Darling, I love the really high evaluation of yours, a ruthless Hunter? could've not said it better myself"

"You..." Cinder takes her hand and raises it to her hair and feels a small bump in between the hair, she picks it up and burns it, while wanting to grit her teeth.

"You know me, darling... Unlike Crystal who would never spy on people she trusts... I don't care about something like that, not to mention that getting my full trust is impossible. I even tried putting one on Salem, but she spotted it instantly... I know that you'd be able to do so too, but you were kinda... Preoccupied"

"I... Hate... You" Cinder can't stop herself from finally saying it.

"Hehe, I love you too darling, oh and you know what you have to do to get back your prey back, your little Foxie... Only two people can do that, bye-bye, and one more thing, warn Emi, we will have a great time together, hahahaha" And just like that Grimmerin cancels out the call and Cinder almost throws her scroll across the room, but she stops herself and calms down by sighing.

"Emi... Wasn't the best choice to ask about Grim..."

"Oh... I hope I come back in one piece..." Emerald understands her situation if she's to believe Cinder's warning, which she wholeheartedly does, not even thinking about the new nickname anymore.

"Mhm..." I do too... I do too, Cinder thinks exhausted.

~ End of Chapter 20 ~