Cinder Fall

Vale, one of the largest cities in the world of Remnant and home to Beacon one of the four Huntsmen Academies, where teenagers grow up to become Hunters and Huntresses to protect people from beasts known as Grimm, monsters that feed on negativity and want to destroy all of humanity.

Mindless beasts that roam Remnant that seek out and destroy anything in sight, although unknown to the public they have a master that both creates and controls them from the shadows. However, not all of them are mindless, they are some certain types out there that are incredibly powerful that they learn to evolve over the years and instead of just mindlessly heading into a battle, they learn to avoid any unnecessary conflict, biding their time for the perfect strike to crush Humanity which is why the Hunters and Huntresses Academies were formed.

Even in the times of peace, humanity is always in danger because there is no telling if the Grimm would strike at once and how powerful or big the attack may be, so they must always remain vigilant until the Grimm is completely eradicated.

Still, it didn't matter if the Grimm were eradicated or if the master behind the scenes was taken out of the equation either, because even though the conflict had ceased there will always be another one to start whether intentional or not.

The cycle repeats over and over again, no matter which world, which era, which reality, or time. It always going to be there.

No matter what.

...

As the light of the shattered moon shined down onto the streets in the commercial district, walking along the sidewalk was a young woman who was heading to a specific destination for some information she needed.

After walking for a few more minutes, she came to a stop and found her destination at a book store labeled Tukson's Book Trade. She knew that despite being a book store, it was actually undercover for a criminal group that's been a trouble for all kingdoms as of late.

Sighing, the young woman opened the door and walked inside the book store. A bell chime was heard signaling that she was there, and a voice ranged through the air.

"Welcome to Tukson's." She heard as she walked down the middle of the store passing by various shelves on both sides filled with numerous types of books ranging from comic books, encyclopedias, fictional, non-fictional, a certain variety of books to choose from. Coming to the counter, the young woman came face to face with the owner of the bookstore. A middle-aged man that wore a short-sleeved quarter-zip burgundy and black shirt with a visible white undershirt and long dark pants. He had hazel eyes and short cleanly cut black hair with sideburns.

Coming face to face with the young woman, the owner gave her a smile.

"Good evening, young lady. Welcome to Tukson's Book Trade, home to every book under the sun. I'm Tukson, the owner of the shop." He greeted in a polite manner. "Is there anything I can help you with?"

The young woman looked both ways to see if there was anyone in the shop and was glad that there wasn't anyone inside. She slowly raised her right arm and gave him a hand sign, signaling that she was here for something else.

Understanding the sign, Tukson nodded his head and walked over from the counter and to the front door before locking it and flipping the sign from open to close. Pressing a switch, the windows were shielded by mirrors so that no one from the outside could see-through them. Once everything was secure, he turned his attention back to the girl.

"Everything is all clear." He announced as he walked back over to the counter. "Still, you don't usually come here that often anymore, at least not unless your father asks you to. Tell me, why are you here?"

"I'm just here for information, nothing more nothing less." She stated while crossing her arms.

"And what info do you need?" He asked her.

"Just some information." She answered as the man brows narrowed. "I'm looking for members of Spider."

"Spider is mostly active in Mistral. Ever since the gang war between them and Xiong Family, things have been mostly quiet." Tukson informed. "Why you looking for them?"

"No particular reason." The woman said cryptically but Tukson gave her a flat stare, knowing that she has an interior motive.

"Come on, Cinder. I know that you have something in mind, otherwise you wouldn't be all the way out here far from home. " Tukson explained as he saw the girl give a frown and grumbled.

"Old fossil." She grumbled to herself as Tukson smiled at her muttering

Cinder is a fair-skinned young woman with bright amber eyes and ashen black hair that covered her left eye. She was wearing a buttoned up beige leather sleeveless jacket with light-beige details, brown gloves, and a pauldron on her left shoulder. Underneath her jacket, she had a sarashi tied around her chest and another around her hips, along with a belt with multiple patches attached to it. Lastly, on her lower half were gray pants and heeled boots with three straps on the front.

"Even when I'm alone, my father still finds a way to observe me."

"Actually, I offered to keep an eye on you when I last visited him. You know he trusts you."

"I know, I know he does but I also know that he's worried for me and just wants to make sure I don't have any outbursts." Cinder stated.

"Well, considering what happened to you when you were younger and what happened a year ago, you can't blame the man." Tukson said.

"True." Cinder sighed in understanding, knowing that her adoptive father has all the right reasons to be worried but was glad that he still trusts her enough to be on her own. "Getting back on topic, do you have anything or no?"

"Sorry Cinder, but you know I don't have anything right now. Nothing really major has been happening in town." Tukson apologized with a frown.

Cinder frowned that she wasn't able to get anything useful but nonetheless thanked the older man.

"I see, well I'll be off then." She turned around and was about to exit the shop when suddenly…

"Although," Her hand stopped midway as she turned her head towards him. "There have been reports of people disappearing around Vale. Some say that random people are being taken off the streets, some in their homes and some in broad daylight. Police have been searching for missing but nothing came up, the only thing they can go on is that they are being taken at night. Just a heads up, if you're interested."

Cinder nodded her head in acknowledged before unlocking the door and walked out, closing it behind her. She then turned left proceeding to head to the Junior's club.

'Another one crossed off.' She started pondering as she walked through the quiet neighborhood. 'I didn't get anything but I should've known better, Tukson specifically gets information on Neo Fang due to being a double agent and the book shop he runs so he can't really move around too much.'

As Cinder was thinking, she was brought out of her thoughts when she heard a ringtone from her scroll. Reaching into her pocket, she took out her scroll and looked at the contact and smiled fondly at who it was.

Answering the call, she put it to her ear.

"Yes?"

[How's my little princess doing?] A gruff voice asked as Cinder frowned.

"You know I hate being called that, right?"

[My bad, how's my little firefly doing?]

"Not any better but what can you do?" She shrugged her shoulders.

{You know I'm only teasing you, Cinder.]

"I know." Cinder rolled her eyes playfully as a smile formed back on her face. "How are you doing?"

{Well, nothing but a little rest and relaxation won't do. Are you ready for tomorrow}

"I am, I already have my stuff sent so hopefully they don't lose it transmission."

[They won't, although it would bit funny if they did. After what happened last time-}

"Don't remind me." Cinder grumbled as she remembered the travel incident. "Anyway, I'm heading back to the hotel now. I should be there in a few minutes and then I leave for Beacon tomorrow."

{I know. Sigh, You've grown up so much, you've come along way into who you are now.]

"I had a great mentor… and a loving father." She stated with fond smile on her face.

{Oh don't say that, you're gonna make this old man cry.} Her father joked over the phone, earning a laugh from his daughter. She would've continued talking until she heard something like glass breaking. Looking up she saw a shop that was being broken into.

"Hey Dad, I have to go something's come up." She stated in a serious tone.

{What's wrong everything okay!?"} He asked in worry.

"Don't worry I promise I'll call. I love you." Cinder said as her father went quiet for a moment but then responded.

{Wait Cinder, what's going!?} He was cut off as she ended the call. She knew that he was going to be worried but she'll cross that bridge later. Coming up to the shop, she treaded lightly to cover near the wall before peering her head around the corner. She noticed that in the shop that there were four armed men. And by the looks of their outfits that had the symbol of a wolfdog head overlaying three slashes with blood splatters all over, it was the Neo Red Fang.

"What's the plan, Captain Gris?"

"Burn it all to the ground. We need to show these humans that bloodshed will be spilled for their careless actions of us faunus. It's their turn to feel pain."

"What about her?" A goon asked holding a young woman which was the store clerk.

"Lock her in the closet. We'll leave the body behind as a message." The captain ordered as the lieutenant nodded his head assigned one of the henchmen to pick up the clerk, taking them to the back. "Set the gasoline and then get ready to burn this place to the ground.

After that, all three of them went ahead and started smashing everything inside and set gasoline all over the floor. As they were doing this, the grunt that picked up the store clerk was heading into the back of the shop and found the closet door, opening it he dropped the lady inside causing her to wake up. She screamed but her voice was muffled by the rag covering her face.

"Don't worry, miss. It will only hurt for a second, for me that is." The grunt with a boar mask said as he slammed the door let out a small laugh at her misfortune. As he was laughing to himself, he failed to notice that someone was behind him.

Cinder had quietly entered through the back of the shop and then hid behind a corner when she saw the grunt with the store clerk coming her way.

Coming out of her hiding spot, she reached into her pouch and took out some dirt before her hands glowed a bright orange and the dirt formed into a small needle. Quickly she wrapped her arm around his neck and used her hand to cover his mouth before using her other hand to quickly stab the needle through his mask and right in between the eyebrows. She then felt the grunt lose grip and fall motionless to the floor.

Walking over to the door, she opened it and saw the scared store clerk who eyes widened in fear but Cinder quickly put a finger to her own lips motioning her to shush. Gently she removed the rag from the clerk's mouth and placed her hands on the rope, glowing orange for a second and then quickly dimming down as the rope was now burn off.

"Are you okay?" She asked the clerk as they nodded her head. "Take the exit and get out of here. Call the police."

The clerk nodded her head as she went to the exit but quickly stopped and looked back at the teen behind her.

"Are you a huntress?"

"No, just a stranger passing by. Now go." Cinder stated as the lady nodded her head and left the building, while the former picked up the grunt by the neck and dragged him through the front of the store.

As she was doing this, the store was now completely destroyed and completely covered in gasoline along with empty tanks. The goons finished up as one of the threw an empty tank with the rest.

"That's the last of it."

"Excellent." The Captain of the three grunts, Gris, pulled out a box of matches, tossing the matches out on the floor and then dragged a single against the box, lighting a match before tossing the box on the ground. Once that was done, he held the match in front of his face as he was ready to lite the store.

"For our brothers and sisters." Just as he was about to toss it, he was hit with something heavy and was sent outside. The goons were caught off guard as they saw one of their own flying into the commander out the window. Then they looked at who did and saw someone slowly walking towards them.

"Hello boys." Cinder greeted with a smile on her face. "Care to dance?"

Outside the shop, Gris was growling as he pushed a grunt off of him and sat up wondering who it was that attacked him.

"Where are they?" He asked looking around to find their assailant. His answer was received when he saw two more of his underlings get thrown out the window and tossed to the ground behind him. Looking back, he saw a teenage girl jump through the window with a smirk on her face.

Gris glared at the human in front of them as his goons stood up, still disoriented from the attack.

"Don't just stand you morons, get her." He ordered as they realized their surroundings and quickly took out their weapons involving swords. The first one to attack was the boar grunt as he ran over and attempted to strike the teenager down. He went for two horizontal slashes and missed as Cinder casually dodge and weave with her hands behind her back, and then ducked once more when he went for a vertical slash watching the blade pass by her face, all with a smirk on her face.

Getting frustrated, the boar grunt went for an overhead strike to kill her but was stopped when Cinder had gut punched him in the solar plexus, causing him to drop his sword and before he could do anything else, he was delivered a roundhouse kick to the jaw and sent flying to the side.

The second goon moved in and went for straight for stabbing, only to miss every time he tried and on the fifth strike, they leaned their entire body forward and miss. Cinder struck him in the solar plexus as well but with her knee and then chopped them on the back of their neck.

As she was staring down at second goon, the third decided to sneak behind her and attempted to ambush her. The third struck their blade towards her head with a smile that they would be able to end the human only to be surprise when another blade stopped just before it could reach her. Cinder turned her head and raised her free hand while wagging her finger at them, then suddenly the grunt's sword was knocked away and then was sent flying towards the commander with a kick to the face.

Gris looked down at his unit in disappointment and raised his head back to Cinder who now had a sword in one hand awhile the smirk never left her face.

"You… you stupid child! You have no idea who you're dealing with!?"

"Oh, I know who exactly I'm dealing with. I just thought you would be more of a challenge." Cinder mocked. Growling, Gris reached behind his back and pulled his own weapon, which formed into a giant chainsaw.

"I'm gonna wipe that smirk off your face and then paint the streets with your blood!" He shouted as he revved up his chainsaw and ran towards her. Instead of blocking the attack, Cinder rolled out of the way as Gris slammed his weapon down on the ground, as cracks formed from his attack.

Slowly getting up, Cinder took out her other blade and held them in front of her while observing huge faunus.

'He may be slow, but he has a lot of strength behind that attack.' She thought as she looked at the ground from where his attack landed and then back at him. 'I'll have to tire him out first and once's he shown signs of fatigue then I can knock him out.'

Gris charged forward again as he attempted to slice and dice the teenage girl, doing nothing but horizontal slashes as he tried to kill the teenage girl. Cinder kept dodging all the attacks easily, moving her body all around as she was trying to observe his fighting style and get a good grip on his attack pattern.

The former went for another overhead strike and like before he completely missed, Cinder then used this opportunity to throw a kick to his face and managed to stun him. Getting angry, Gris started doing more slashes at her but was getting sloppy as the fight went on. He then went for a thrust to her chest and this time Cinder quickly brought out her second sword and brought them in front of her torso, stopping the blade as sparks flew past her face.

The attack however did sent her flying a bit, her feet skidding along the pavement to stop. She then rushed towards Gris and started to attack him in a zig zag pattern. She threw a slash at his face causing him to block it but then was caught off guard when he was kicked in the side. She then sidestep to the left and thrust her sword towards his leg causing him to move back but then received a kick to the face causing him to stumble. Then she rushed towards him and swung both swords clashing against his chainsaw and then slid underneath him between his legs before hitting him on the back of his head with her elbow.

She continued doing this, throw feints wait for opening and then strike when an opportunity presented itself. Her attack patterns slowly wore the captain out as he was getting slower with each attack. Soon he dropped to one knee using the chainsaw as a crutch out of breath leaving Cinder a wide opening.

Seeing the opportunity to knock him out, Cinder quickly rushed forward and moved behind Gris raised her leg as she attempted to deliver a kick to the back of his head to knock him out. Unfortunately, she was unaware of the hidden smirk Gris had on his face.

Cinder was shocked when she felt her leg being grabbed by Gris, as he turned his head smiling at her. He then lifted her up, used his momentum to do a 360 turn before tossing her away. As she was sent flying, Cinder crashed into a street pole and bounced off landing roughly on the ground. Grunting in pain as she attempted to get up but couldn't as her back was a bit damaged from hitting metal. As she tried to get up, Gris was in front of her with his chainsaw raised above his head and a cruel smile on his face.

"Time to die!" Gris shouted in glee ready to end this pathetic girl's life. He wasted no time as he swung his blade down towards her causing Cinder to grit her teeth and raised her fists, hoping her aura would help protect her.

However, as she waited for the attack to hit her, she didn't feel anything hit her arms or face. Slowly opening her eyes, she was in surprise as there was someone else in front of her. In front of her was a tall and muscular middle-aged man with short brown hair, a beard and hazel eyes. He was wearing a two-tone olive-green coat with a black t-shirt underneath and a large belt, black pants with a pouch strapped to each leg and brown boots with white fronts. He also had hairy arms with some scars near the edges of his sleeves.

'Who is this' She thought in shock that someone had stepped in to stop her.

"I believe that's far enough." The middle-aged man said in a rough voice before pushing Gris back like he was nothing. "This fight is over, there's no need for any bloodshed. Surrender and come quietly, this is your only warning."

"I'll surrender when you and your kind are nothing more than corpses laying at my feet., Huntsman!" Gris shouted in anger as he ran forward once more and swung his blade down but what happened next shock him. The Huntsman grabbed the chainsaw and immediately punched Gris in the stomach while taking away his weapon. He then stabbed into the ground before turning it sideways and ripped the handle off, leaving the blades in the ground.

"My weapon!" Gris shouted in shock and then went into complete rage as he charged forward wanting nothing more than to murder the man in front of him. Gris threw a right hook and completely missed the other man dodged to the side before delivering a powerful gut punch causing the former to gasp in pain.

Gris would then feel himself being lifted as the human grabbed him by the waist and jumped into the air, the huntsman lifted the faunus over his head and as then slammed him hard into the ground delivering a powerbomb, leaving a small crater from the impact. As he was released, Gris attempted to get up but couldn't as the Huntsman hover over him, with his fist raised in the air.

"I warned you." Huntsman whispered and finally delivered a punch straight to his face, breaking his mask and knocking the faunus out. The former sighed as he stood up and then reached into his pocket, before pulling out his scroll and held it in front of him. "This Huntsman Hazel Rainart reporting, I have four white fang members in custody, get the police here now." He said and ended the call then put his scroll away.

He then turned his attention to the teenage girl who was still in shock at the person that just saved her. Reaching her, he kneeled down and offered his hand towards her.

"Are you injured?" He asked as she quickly shook her head.

"I'm fine, just a slight pain in my back but nothing my aura can't heal." Cinder answered as she took his hand to stand up. "Thank for you saving me."

"Of course, let's get you checked up and then we'll head to the police station." Hazel said earning a frown from the teen.

"I guess I'm in trouble, aren't I?" Cinder thought as Hazel just turned around and stared at the four White Fang members on the ground.

"I'm afraid so." He answered cryptically as the teenager just let out a groan of displeasure for one reason. She did not want her father to know that she had just been arrested literally right before the day she's supposed to start at Beacon or that she had got into an altercation with a group of terrorists that are known for their brutal crusade against mankind.

Especially since she ended the call midway.

Story of her life.