Author's Note

I'm most likely going to experiment with shorter chapters so I have a better release schedule than fretting 4k words and up. It's been almost six months too since the last chapter. Again, if you like, or dislike anything feel free to leave a comment as I try to upload more frequently with more chapters and faster content..

Hopefully.

When the woman had opened her eyes, she saw nothing but darkness fill her vision. She moved her hands and watched as she could see her arms and legs but nothing else. The individual couldn't understand this phenomenon, but it was as if a personal light illuminated around her being. It didn't stretch out around her, like she must guide herself to this area like a certain mobile game when traveling in a dark cave. She stepped forward, but cautiously brought her bare foot back in anxiety. Her toe gently hovered over the surface as uncertainty grows. "What am I stepping on?" She could see no reflection of herself in this murky liquid, only an abyss where she can walk confidently on.

"Where am I?" Her voice echoed to the distance and became distorted, until it trailed off to silence. Her brain short circuited and a deep breath was made to center herself. "I'm not in Atlas anymore." The strange thing about this...was that she didn't even know what caused her to enter this dimension if she can even call it that. Walking endlessly to what felt like hours in hopes for answers proved fruitless. As she scrambled for clues in her head, she heard a wave behind her, like someone had splashed the substance below. Her heart thundered in her chest as the realization that there's someone or even something else in this place with her. Turning slowly, she saw the source of the noise. A little girl with black hair was crouched down and alone. Her left hand bent and resting over her knees while her right hand traced in a figure eight fashion.

"Hey" the confused woman began, walking over to the little girl to face her. "Do you know where we are?"

"..." Not a single answer. The little girl continued to play below without showing a hint of acknowledgement.

"Hello?" Again, not a response. A heavy sigh leaves the older woman as she understands nothing and will continue to know nothing. Feeling that there is no way out and is at the mercy of whatever being brought her here, she lied down and shut her eyes. The little girl who ignored the other human finally decided to interact for the first time. She rose up from her position and casually stood over the confused, resting woman. It's what came out of her mouth that was shocking.

"Amber?" In a instant, Amber snapped open her eyes in shock that this girl knew her name. Obviously, she gave a quizzical look and tensed her lips.

"Wait, how do you know my name?" The child showed remorse in her eyes but she didn't answer back right away. "Who are you?" The small girl hang her head, her breathing growing erratic as she was ready to cry.

"I'm sorry."

The heavy buzzing of her alarm clock woke Cinder from dreams that she can't recall. A lazy hand motions over to the clock, not even opening her eyes as she just wanted the machine to be quiet. Each attempt to turn off the clock resulted in a miss and the buzz to persist. Having had enough, the half-maiden huffed and smashed the hatred of her mornings in an instant, finally quelling the sound. Now, half-way up from the covers and her hair a mess, she looked like she needed a few more hours to be one hundred percent. Knowing she has plenty of time, the half-maiden collapsed back into her bed to snooze a bit more.

Unfortunately, the universe would have none of it as the door to her room opened as a certain yellow hair girl wanted to give her a heads up.

"Cinder? What are you doing still sleeping, wake up!" The once asleep woman made a low groan in her throat. She raised her hand at the door to shoo away Yang cause she wanted more shut eye.

"What?" She didn't even raise her head, and not noticing her friend entering the room with a smile on her face.

"You're going to be late."

"No, I'm not, what time is it? I still got fifteen minutes." This brought a chuckle from the brawler as she decided to set the record straight.

"Uh..no, you got five minutes before the first class of the new semester starts."

"But my alarm-" She glanced in its direction and saw it was completely destroyed. Yang took a look and raised her eyebrow.

"Do I want to know?" Realizing she had overslept, the raven haired yelled in frustration at knowing she'll be late. She leapt up and quickly pulled at her drawers to find something to wear today.

"Just give me two minutes" she began in a frenzy to be presentable and come to class on time. not looking over at Yang or realizing what her own state of attire was.

"Sure." Yang smirked mischievously at the outfit chosen by her friend. "Ah, how cute. You're matching today. Are you trying to impress someone" she asked with a grin. Cinder took a moment to see herself only dressed in her undergarments. It took only a few seconds to shove the busty blonde out her room with impressive force and give her the privacy she needed. "Did I struck a nerve?" Reflexively, Cinder clutched a nearby binder to use as a projectile. "I'll see ya in class today, hope you're not sore from yesterday!" The elusive woman ran prior to having Cinder got in motion to throw the binder, resulting in said binder-

to land on the sturdy cafeteria table in a heavy thud, with a sighing Ruby taking a deep breath after carrying it for a few blocks. "Phew." Through the buzzing and chatter of students in the dining hall, Ruby had met up with her team, team JNPR and Cinder, who seemed to be in her own world.

"Uh Ruby, what's that?"

"Oh, you know. Since we are going to start the semester tomorrow, I figured I can be the best leader I can be and give us a head start for what's to come.

"Isn't that my binder?" Weiss looked at her leader with a concern stare in which Ruby shook her head.

"I am not a crook." Cinder, who sat at the edge of the table in between the two teams had been dozing off a bit but did catch the tidbit on the semester starting soon. Back to the usual. She decided to join in on the discussion.

"Oh yeah, the school semester starts tomorrow."

"Weird right? Expected to have more time, but poof, it's gone." Yang made a note about how quick everything went as she casually chucked peas at team JNPR for kicks. It really is disappointing that they can't maximize their time together.

"Yeah, after that little break over in the docks, we couldn't exactly do what we wanted. You know, with all the explosions, the docks, weird guy with hat, Ozpin." Nora casually mouthed off the exact reasons on why their little vacation wasn't more grandeur.

"Don't remind me." She rolled her eyes at the mention of that man but continued. "But that's the price we pay for doing what we think is right." A small, dishonest smile formed on Cinder's lips, knowing full well there's more to it. Until she has concrete evidence, she'll simply have to accept whatever her headmaster says as law. "Shouldn't be like that though, don't you think?" The half-maiden wanted to know if her feelings were mutual with the rest of the teams.

"It shouldn't, but we're only huntresses in the making." Blake gently made a comment about it after being silent for some time. Still, the tone in her voice suggest she wanted to change that.

"Yeah, but we should be doing what we think is right, right?" Cinder gave way to a topic she's been thinking about for the longest. Ozpin oppressed her so she can't do things her own way. She envies everyone else and wish to be given the same treatment. Now, this would be a perfect time to explain what's been plaguing her lately.

Before she could open her mouth and do just that, the sound of a pie exploding on contact to a victim's face was made and it might as well have been a siren. Everyone zoomed in onto Weiss who was frozen in place. Everyone looked at each other and Cinder smiled, standing up from her seat with a chuckle as she dared to propose an idea.

"Well girls, boys, Icequeen" she joked to get the prideful woman more riled up. "-You know there's only one way to settle this in a peaceful, diplomatic manner." This brought everyone's attention to Cinder. Ruby especially tilted her head and wanted to know what that might be.

"What do you suggest?"

"I suggest we keep our distance." A scenery change where two students walked right outside the cafeteria and grew closer with every step. One was a woman with green hair and tanned skin. The other student owned silver hair and rested his hands in his pockets. Both were dressed in Haven academy uniforms. Mercury gave his trusted partner his thoughts on what they should do as the cool, new kids here. Emerald brought it up to see what's the best way to not draw attention to themselves. No need to alert anybody in the enemy's territory.

"I mean, yeah, we could be seen as the loners, but it really isn't my style." A small quip came from her as that would make things either obvious or lack the ability to communicate with others in this school. Not like it personally mattered, she cared about Cinder and only Cinder. Any talks that come from it is a byproduct of her true goal.

"And what is exactly your style?" Mercury turned his head to face her as he asked this question.

"Don't speak unless spoken to." She spoke from her high horse with her eyes closed.

"Then you are playing the role I had just asked for you and I to play."

"Doesn't mean I have to be an edgelord about it." The two exchanged glances before chuckling it off. Casual banter, friendly discussion to avoid the painful reminder that their souls and fate were sealed to Salem. Moments like these are ones they cherish when it happens. Then reality kicks in and erase whatever fun they were having. Both of them feel a finger tap on their shoulders, causing them to turn at the same time.

"Oh right" began Mercury as he sized their third partner. "How could we forget about you." Clad in black and with twin pigtails matching her hair, an amused Neo smiles as she's involved into the mix. Emerald turned around and beamed a smile.

"We needed a fourth partner to make a team, and what better way than a master illusionist?" The exact wording caused MErcury to raise a brow.

"Are you saying she's better than you?"

"I'm not afraid to admit that." Neo gracefully takes a bow at the kind gesture from her teammate. "Go ahead and explore Neo. And don't let anyone see your true self. We're already in trouble as it is." The little lecture brought forth an eye roll from the petite woman and a simple nod was made to suggest the message is clear. Getting to do what she wants, Neo simply vanished from their presence and allowed the two a reprieve from her. Mercury chuckled at the idiosyncrasies from her.

"Wished she talked for once." The two eventually stood in front of the tall doors that led to the cafeteria.

"Welp, here we are. This should be where Cinder is right?"

"If not, at least we can see if the food is good here." Prior to the two getting a chance to open the door, a flood of students sprinted out the building in a panic, while two boys stayed to watch the potential battle. One blonde and the other in a light blue. Two squads were formed, cafeteria tables piled up to form a fortress for one and a milder version for a sole fighter. Team RWBY vs Team JNPR while Cinder acted as a spectator to the ensuing madness. To be fair, a free for all where no one had her back wasn't the best decision to undertake.

"Cinder!" Somehow through the sounds of plates breaking and tables smashing into other tables, the amnesiac woman managed to hear her name and looked surprised to see the two students she had met earlier before the docks incident took place. She walked forward with a smile.

"Oh, both of you are here. Emerald and..." She paused a moment as a frown formed on her face as she knows exactly who Mercury was.

"Did you forget?"

"I wish I did, can't forget a face like yours."

"I'll take it as a compliment then." Disgruntled at Mercury, Cinder decided to give a warm welcome anyway.

"I see you two are in uniform. Anyways, welcome to Beacon academy. Here are my friends" Cinder began as she points to the on-going fight. Right as she points, Yang was sent through the ceiling and hasn't returned quite yet after a homerun swing by Nora. "Yep, good friends of mine." Emerald and Mercury only looked with amusement as the teams went at it with no reservation and doing extensive damage to the environment. They weren't afraid of the potential combatants and see there's a huge room for sharpening their own skills in the meanwhile. Shortly after, Blake was annihilated and out for the fight, leaving Ruby by herself. This brought an opportunity and the half-maiden was going to take it .Ruby took a step back as she needed to plan her attack but Cinder rested a hand on her shoulder.

"Hey, Ruby, need some assistance?" There was a small pause before she continued. "Well, I was going to join in anyways if you said yes or no." Ruby glanced over to see the new combatants who were ready to enter. Ruby would much prefer taking them on herself but having some support wouldn't be bad.

"Thanks."

"Hold on, is this fair?" Jaune pointed out the substitution of three well-rested fighters coming into the mix.

"Are you scared of a little competition" asked Emerald with a smirk.

"N-no, it's just...you're fully rested is all."

"Come on, we're newcomers, we just want to feel right at home here at Beacon academy." Mercury definitely didn't want to miss a chance to fight. Ren only shrugged at this as he looked over to his team.

"I don't see no problem with this."

"Yeah, I get to add more victories under my belt." Nora showed no remorse on defeating her friends and keeping a mark of victories up to this point.

"Guess we'll have our rematch Pyrrha?" There was no one to stop Cinder or Pyrrha for now and their last match didn't have a satisfying conclusion. The undefeated champion only smiled as she readied her weapon of the cafeteria's french roll while Cinder did the same to be on equal footing. Taking the charge for her team, Cinder rushed ahead after her rival. Just as she got near, Cinder-

Slammed her door shut to get to class in a hurry. Perhaps the battle yesterday may have had an impact in her sleeping schedule and how her body ached. Her brain too but less so than her body. She ran out the dorms and out to the landscape of Beacon Academy with the sun beaming down with cloudless skies. She was booking it but didn't realized she was being tailed as well.

"Hey, wait up!" The yell behind her caused the tardy student to turn to see who's calling for her. A familiar face, Emerald was running in high gear but couldn't match her speed. Once she was face to face, the green-haired fighter was taking deep breaths as she got her second wind. "Jeez you run fast."

"Yeah, I'm late, my alarm didn't work." No need to revisit her misstep this early in the morning. Yang already embarrassed her and she rather forget about it. Understanding that they most likely will be reprimanded when they arrive, the two ran together. Still, Emerald made an optimistic comment about the potential future more so that it might come true.

"I hope this semester goes well for the both of us." Cinder turned and smiled at the innocent comment. She wasn't aware how deeply needed she was to both Ozpin and Salem.

"Yeah, I hope so too. I think this semester will be better than the last. Hope it is the same for you as well."