ACT I

Beacon's courtyard was filled with sound, the loud chattering of its students leaving its halls as they partied. Laughter and cheers came as a particular group started to dance, and the rest followed suit. Even from outside, the happiness of the occasion could be felt.

As she landed on a nearby rooftop, Cinder rolled her eyes. This school was supposed to hold the most promising youth of their time, Remnant's future defendants, but from her point of view, they were just children with dreams of grandeur.

But she… She had a real purpose to be there.

"Mercury. Emerald." She muttered, touching the communication device on her left ear "Are we clear?"

She received nothing but a screeching sound of static. Cinder closed her eyes and took a deep breath. They were probably waited for a definite answer; holding a long conversation with her in the middle of a ballroom party wouldn't be very subtle.

When five minutes passed, however, she gritted her teeth and activated the device again.

"Are we clear?" She repeated, barely restraining her anger.

There was a break in the static, then Mercury's voice filled her ear.

"Uh, sure." He said, sounding a little out of breath "We're clear!"

"Good." Cinder frowned "What took you so long?"

"Oh, we… We were dancing." Emerald joined in nervously "Everyone started to, so we had to follow. You said we need to keep appearances."

The raven-haired woman lowered her head and pinched her temple. She hadn't been born yesterday; clearly her two partners were not keeping up appearances. As smart as they thought they were, she knew exactly how they felt about each other.

Truth be told, she didn't care even in the slightest if they wanted to kiss or kill each other. As long as they did their jobs, she could put up with them. But she had never expected them to lose their focus so quickly.

"I did say that." She conceded "Try to keep appearances in a less… childish way."

"Childish?" Mercury chuckled "Is that jealousy I hear in your voice, Cinder?"

"Stop talking and focus on your job."

"She's totally jealous." Emerald stated.

Cinder turned off the device and stood up quickly. She climbed further atop the roof and set her eyes on the tower in the distance, her destination. Before she headed out to it, however, she looked over her shoulder, back to Beacon.

Music was blasting at full volume at the party now, and still, the laughter was overwhelming it. Cinder's eyes flashed with wanting for a brief moment, right before she ran away.

Despite her previous excitement about the dance, Ruby found herself growing tired of it fast. Maybe it had something to do with those infernal high heels her sister had forced her to wear; or that the punch she had drunk had begun to really upset her stomach for the last few minutes (she should have listened to Yang's warning about that particular bowl); or, heck, maybe she was sad about not having a date.

As she stepped out into the open air, her balance wavered and her shoes made a dangerous creaking noise.

It's the heels' fault. She decided mentally.

As she righted her posture, Ruby caught a glimpse of something on top of a rooftop. She looked at it frantically, trying to locate what it was, but found nothing. It had been in her vision very briefly, but she was sure it had been there.

Trusting her instincts, the redhead continued walking forward, following a familiar path to the CCT, where Weiss and her had gone to some time back… Well, Weiss had gone there, while Ruby had chased Penny and found out she was a robot.

That was a weird day. She recalled. I never would have guessed she was a robot.

Her thoughts were interrupted by the sight of an unconscious security guard, his limp form half-hidden in the middle of a miniature garden in front of the tower. Ruby's hand shot to her Scroll, and with a few hurried taps, she sent a signal, and her weapon's locker crashed behind where she was standing.

The girl raced to it and took out Crescent Rose. A smile spread between her lips as she looked down at the folded scythe

We're going to have fun tonight, baby.

Cinder's fingers flew along the keyboard, typing in her commands with graceful speed. She had been memorizing the task for days; if she wanted to, she could pretend to perform it in empty air, and not make a single error.

A beep signaled she had completed the sequence, followed by an image of a chess piece flickering on the monitor screen. She smirked and stood up, feeling satisfied with herself.

"The deed is done." She said, activating her device again "Did anyone leave?"

Once more, no response came.

"Did. Anyone. Leave?" Cinder repeated through closed teeth.

Before she could wait for an answer, the elevator's door opened, and a familiar redhead stepped inside the computer room. Her silver eyes traveled across the place, stopping as soon as she found Cinder.

"…Hi." Ruby said awkwardly "You know, this isn't a masquerade party. So, how about you-"

Cinder jumped over the computer counter and leaped towards the student, bringing her arms down in a high arc, aiming at her shoulders. The whole movement was fluid, having no pause during it. It would knock the girl out cold, and she would never even stand a chance of reacting.

To Cinder's surprise, however, her attempt was blocked by the blurred swing of a scythe. The leather-clad woman flew back and landed on her feet, her stare fixing on her opponent with a degree of indignation.

"If you stop attacking me, I promise to not hurt you." Ruby spoke "Please? You don't even have a weapon…"

The offer caught the intruder off-guard. Out of everything, pleading for peaceful resolution was the last thing she expected. Furthermore, the young warrior sounded genuine, almost… friendly. She wasn't trying to pull a trick.

"I'm sure this is a misunderstanding." The redhead smiled charmingly.

Cinder's eyes narrowed and she opened her hands, preparing to materialize her twin swords using her Dust-woven clothes.

The elevator echoed a beep, closed its doors, and descended. The intruder cursed mentally; someone else was going to join the scene.

"Last chance." Ruby spoke up again "Someone's coming already. Wouldn't it be better to be caught peacefully, instead of trying to hurt me?"

This is Mercury and Emerald's fault. Cinder thought furiously. I hope they're enjoying their damn dance.

She looked at her foe, trying to come up with a plan of escape. No way was she going to win a fight quickly enough; the redhead clearly had more skill than the average Beacon student. Cinder could outright kill her, but it would bring a lot of unwanted attention, and…

And for some reason, she couldn't bring herself to even consider doing that. She had never felt that way. Killing was natural, a tool to overcome her obstacles, even if it shouldn't be abused. Why was this occasion different?

"Please?" Ruby pleaded.

Cinder smiled to her and started to walk towards her, lifting her hands peacefully. Just a distraction, then.

Ruby smiled back to her and lowered her scythe. She felt proud of herself for diffusing the situation without further violence. She might enjoy slaying Grimm and, well, beating up goons, but she knew there were times when the best solution was to not fight at all. Words are as powerful as scythes, uncle Qrow always said, and she-

Cinder leaned down and kissed her cheek, leaving a red lipstick mark on it.

"W-what-" Ruby stammered, her thought process completely scrambled.

Then, her chin was lifted up gently, and the mysterious invader leaned down again, this time touching her lips with hers. The redhead's eyes widened, and she was too surprised to recoil from the kiss.

Cinder parted, gave her a confident smirk, and then leaned near her ear.

"Don't tell anyone." She whispered.

Then she took a step back and shoved the younger girl on her right shoulder. Ruby spun around helplessly, then fell sitting on the cold floor. She blinked several times, feeling completely lost, before she had the idea of looking around.

The intruder was gone.

The elevator opened, and James Ironwood stepped inside the room. He stared at Ruby, noticed the mark on her cheek, and just shook his head.

"Please tell me this isn't happening." He requested tiredly.

"Uh…" Ruby mumbled dumbly "It's… not what it looks like?"

Cinder changed her leather outfit into a black silk dress, then strode inside the ballroom. Her eyes scanned the crowd and narrowed when she spotted Mercury and Emerald, hands joined together, spinning in circles slowly.

The raven-haired woman marched to them and promptly pulled them apart.

"You had one job." She seethed "One job!"

The duo shared a look of barely-concealed amusement, then faced their colleague.

"Sorry." Mercury apologized, struggling to contain his laughter "We only noticed Ironwood left long after he was gone."

"That is no excuse." Cinder clucked her tongue "You will both pay for this."

Mercury covered his mouth with his hands, not able to hold his laughter in any longer. Cinder's ire grew.

"What are you laughing about?!" She demanded.

"Cinder, your…" Emerald giggled "Your lipstick is really messed up."

The mastermind blushed and rubbed her lips with a hand, desperately trying to fix up her appearance, but only managed to worsen it. Mercury was on the floor now, laughing hysterically, and Emerald was only a few stages before that state.

"I…" Cinder tried to say, but her sentence dissolved into a frustrated sigh "I hate parties."

"And then I said… Don't be sad, bro, just Yang in there!"

The blonde brawler smiled and spread her arms gloriously. Weiss and Blake stared at her, shared an unamused look, and then shook their heads in synchrony.

"Why… Why aren't you laughing?" Yang asked, actually disappointed by their reactions "That was a good pun. Why can't you appreciate good puns?"

"That wasn't even a pun." Blake deadpanned "It was just… really bad."

"I think I would prefer listening to Ruby prattle on about cookies for the rest of our time at Beacon, than hearing another Yang joke." Weiss agreed coldly "Speaking of her… Where did the dolt go?"

Yang frowned and looked around the ballroom, but found no sign of her sister anywhere. She wasn't with Juniper at their table, or Sun and Neptune, who were dancing still (well, one of them was. The other was… trying to dance). She wasn't even with Penny, who had stood at a far corner for all the duration of the party, only joined by her silent guardians.

"I honestly don't know." The blonde said "Last time I saw her, she was dangerously near the bowl of punch I spiked with… questionable substances."

"Wait- what did you just say?!" Weiss exclaimed, dropping her drink at a table with horror plastered on her face.

"Nothing." Yang whistled innocently.

Before further details could be pressed by the heiress, Ruby showed up, joining their circle silently. Her face was unnaturally pale, and her eyes carried a sense of shock.

"Oh, hey, sis." The brawler grinned "Where were you for the last hour? You lost Blake slapping a rejection on Sun's face."

"I did no such thing." Blake glared at her partner "I just want to be friends, and I was very, very gentle with him!"

"Oh, yes. I know." Yang winked "Whoever you don't turn down, you won't be very, very gentle with."

The faunus hissed and dashed at the blonde, who immediately broke into a mad run for safety. Weiss stared at the two with faint amusement, then turned to look at her partner. A worried frown appeared on her forehead as she noticed something strange on her leader's face.

"Is that… lipstick on your left cheek?" The heiress asked slowly.

"W-what? No!" Ruby laughed nervously "That's… That's just, you know, the snack I ate. Cherries! They are… red and stuff."

"Really? Since when do cherries leave lip-like shapes on your cheeks when you eat them?" Weiss scoffed, not buying the excuse for a second.

"Uh…" The redhead scratched her head awkwardly "Look, Neptune is hitting on a random girl! I'll teach him a lesson! He belongs to Weiss Schnee!"

Ruby disappeared in a shower of petals. Her partner blinked confusedly.

"…I'm not even dating him."

Weiss realized she was talking to thin air, and eyed her abandoned glass of punch suspiciously. It's all your fault! I'm not crazy! I'm a perfect heiress! She gave her surroundings a hurried scan, then retrieved the drink and brought it to her lips. This is… delicious! What did Yang put in-

Her eyes rolled back and she collapsed to the ground, falling on her back, unconscious. The people near her gave her curious looks, then resumed their chats, as if nothing strange had happened.

Woo! Surprise fanfic!

If you have any doubt in mind, yes, this is a shipping story. Have no delusions. It's really different from what I have done here already with Children of Summer and Days of Spring. I have no idea if I'll be able to write this kind of story as well as I want to, but, hey, first time for everything. And no, this will not be typical 'Cinder corrupts Ruby' plot. That has been done already, I think.

I will be updating this fanfic once a week, every Saturday/Sunday. Do not fear, Days of Spring readers, that won't suffer at all because of this fanfic. DoS is still every Sunday and Wednesday. Yes, I am crazy enough to dare post three chapters a week.

Aaaaaaaaaand...

Beginning-sized thanks to everyone who will review, follow and favorite Falling Roses Burn Brighter!

-Zeroan