RWBY Sharingan Chapter 69: Checkpoint (Patreon)

“It was a mistake. I’ll-“

Cinder jolted forward, forearms pressing into the floors as burning pain sprung up and raced across her neck. Her body shook, everything blurring as the pain intensified and spread. She could barely breathe, all of it so suffocating and overwhelming that she wasn’t even sure she was anymore.

Her fingers curled, worn down nails and scratched up fingertips grinding along the floors.

She had aura. Her control of it wasn’t perfect but with a shield she might be able to stop the worst of this. Just make things a little more bearable.

The intense pain settled, Cinder resisting the urge to grasp at her neck as numb aching feeling returned to her arms.

“I did not go through the trouble of bringing you here for mistakes.” Her so called stepmother’s voice came from above, Cinder knowing better than to look directly at her. Something as simple as a wrong look could be enough reason to set her off and prolong all of this. “If you want to eat tonight, you’ll go out there and do your job perfectly, or as close to it as someone like you can manage. Understood?”

Cinder gritted her teeth, blinking away the spots that remained in her clearing vision. “Yes ma’am.” She forced out, careful not to let anything leak into her tone.

Without a word the woman turned, the fading click of her heels, then the opening and closing of the storeroom door signaling her exit.

She was tired. So tired of all of this.

Sniffing, Cinder forced herself to a stand, grabbed the nearby silver platter and left the room behind.

Countless people, most dressed in fancy clothing with the odd huntsman or two being the rare exception, filled out the chandelier lit lobby of the hotel building. They laughed and talked amongst themselves over lavish meals that they barely touched, food she could never hope to have for herself, nothing more than an afterthought to them.

And she was even less.

Forced to pretend like the shaking pain the false piece of dust embedded jewelry she wore didn’t exist, least she stood out, what little attention she was paid by those around her came in the form of barked orders and insults. To them, all her effort was expected, even a nod of acknowledgement far too much for any of them.

She kept moving around the place, gathering up left behind dishes or food these people couldn’t even be bothered to finish. The only good part about all of this was that those two supposed stepsisters weren’t around making things harder.

Her stepmother was never satisfied, anything and everything used as an excuse to torture her. Those two went out of their way to supply those excuses, especially happy when she was being punished for something they had a hand in. She was nothing more than some tool to be ordered around or ignored.

A part of her wanted to kill them. To throw the same suffocating collars on them and see how they liked being tormented for no reason at all.

But more than anything, she wanted to be free of this.

Cinder glanced towards the hotel’s double doored entrance as she left behind the main dining area, the doorman letting in people in and out. It would be easy to step out those doors.

Seven years. She was supposed to grit her teeth and bare it for seven whole years. She didn’t understand it.

Rhodes was a huntsman. She stopped believing that huntsmen were some kind of heroes who did the right thing a long time ago, not a single one of them ever stopping to do anything about the harsh treatment going on at the orphanage.

But he made time to teach her about aura. Started teaching her how to fight. Told her that things would get better.

But nothing was changing.

He wasn’t exposing what she was suffering through in this place. All he kept talking about was waiting to become a huntress, saying that it was her best way out of all this.

She didn’t understand why she had to wait so long or become a huntress just to get away from them, but she trusted his word.

Back pressed against the door, she stepped into the hotel’s private kitchens, the empty plates set aside for the cooks in the place while she headed towards one of the back storage rooms to grab a bag for the rest. She’d only just begun searching through one of many of the old shelves before the door opened again.

Her stepsisters.

Cinder’s stomach dropped as one raised their hand, an all too familiar remote in it.

“Why-“ Pain erupted across her neck, the necklace’s glowing crystal releasing jolts of searing electricity, Cinder dropping to a knee.

“Uh, uh, who gave you permission to ask questions?” The first with the remote said.

“You should know your place by now.” The other crackled as they stepped up over her.

Cinder gritted her teeth and dropped her gaze to the ground. If there was anything that could be said about that woman masquerading as her mother, she at least needed an excuse. Some spot of dirt no one couldn’t have possibly seen. Any looks deemed to be anything but grateful. They were flimsy excuses that could be used at any moment, but the woman really thought herself justified when she used that damn thing.

These two? They just got some sick pleasure out of it, well aware they’d get nothing more than a few stern words for stealing the remote.

She curled her hands, balling them into fists as best she could as the intensity rose. There was no point in saying anything to them or listening. She just need to wait it out.

More sparks jumped up, the necklace almost feeling as if it were constricting around her neck. The familiar blurriness joined the suffocating pain as she dubbed over further, head kneeled at their feet.

Why did she have to endure this? She had aura now. Training. She could-

The pain suddenly stopped, their feet disappearing and the remote clattering to the ground between her fists. Chocked gasps that weren’t her own filled the now quiet room.

Cinder peeked up.

Talon stood in the doorway, her stepsisters held up by their necks, struggling and kicking but unable to do anything. Their struggles ceased, simultaneous cracks filling the air as they went limp, their bodies tossed aside.

She didn’t know why or how he was here but that wasn’t important. “H-Help.” Cinder forced out, tugging as the chain of her fancy collar. He wasn’t like these people. He didn’t make excuses, ignore her, or treat her like trash.

He would-

“Help?” The ground disappeared from beneath her, replaced by an ironclad grip that only tightened around her neck. “Haven’t I already wasted enough of my time on trash like you? Yet you ask for more.” She was pulled close. Dark pools of blood, the deep crimson eyes across from her were nothing like the one’s she’d seen. “I’m better off getting rid of you at this point.”

His grip tightened. The dust crystal of the necklace cracked and fell away, her neck sure to meet the same fate.  With a casual flick of his arm she was tossed across the room, back slamming against shelves and tools clattering to the now aflame ground, bright orange flames spreading across the entire room.

Talon turned, stepping out of it without so much as a glance back, Cinder left hopeless reaching out to his back.

“D-Don’t leave.”

XOXO

Nightmares were nothing new for me. Giving something so frequent any kind of consideration or deep thought just wasn’t worth the time or effort, especially when they were always about the same thing.

But that dream, or memory turned nightmare, was different. Vivid. All my nightmares could be called that but that one was strangely vivid, all the sensations and details so clear that it had felt no different than being awake. Like some kind of waking nightmare.

Maybe the search was getting to me. It didn’t feel like I’d be able to find Tyrian if things kept up as they were, all my time wasted following tracks that never led to him. Even so I had to double down. If I couldn’t find Tyrian that just met Atlas was up next, Watts history with the place something to learn more about.

Encountering Tyrian would’ve worked as a good excuse about how I learned about the access the man possibly had to their systems but even without a proper explanation, getting that handled was a top level priority if Watts had already splintered off from the military.

Who knows, they might be able to use his access to easily track him down.

“Ugh.”

My eyes jumped from my sword, laid across my lap, to Cinder’s tent.

Her nightmares were nearly as frequent as my own, but she usually silently gritted her way through her sleep. That muted groan of hers was only the first, more of the pained sounds beginning to leave her as she moved around. She was going to end up waking herself and possibly the others.

Using telekinesis, I nudged one of the swords she slept with, using it to poke at her. She shot up from within it, her breathing heavy.

She didn’t try going back to sleep or lying down, a flap of her tent pushed aside, and her gaze sweeping towards my helmet covered gaze as she stepped out. Cinder nodded to me before dropping to sit outside her own tent, weapons placed in her lap.

I’d already opened that door for her, so I never bothered asking her about her nightmares. But she was glancing my way. A little too much.

“You alright?” I asked. She hesitated then nodded, focusing entirely on her weapons.

Something was definitely bothering her, no two ways about it. But this wasn’t really the time or place to be prying. Between the huntsmen on patrol and the earliest risers beginning to wake up, the packing process quietly started, we would soon be back on the move.

I’d keep in mind for when we we’re back in Mistral but if it was really important she’d bring it up herself sooner or later.

XOXO

Minami.

It hung in the distance, the convoy beginning to slow as we crossed over a mound in the trail. All settlements were constructed with the idea of being self sufficient to some degree no matter their purpose, especially if they were tucked away in some corner of the world for people just looking to get away from something. Checkpoint settlements were no different but given that they were often built with the sole purpose of helping to ease longer travel across a kingdom it stood out compared to most others.

While neither sporting the support of Atlas like Argus nor walls as tall as the kingdom’s capital, Minami’s defenses and size were no slouch, a long reaching shadow cast by its structures beneath the setting sun. Few of their buildings were actually tall enough to rise above those walls but there were several watch towers set up, the convoy spotted long before it got anywhere close to the place.

If you couldn’t settle in the capital or one of the biggest cities, then checkpoints like this were the third best for those looking for some degree of guaranteed safety.

As we drew close enough that the cars at the very front stopped just outside the city gates, the convoy as a whole slowly following suit, I dropped myself out of the back of the truck the others and I rode in, stretching as I made my way towards the front. I passed a good number of cars before reaching the gates just as they finally opened, Qrow and I, along with several other huntsmen, stepping aside to let the convoy flow through into the city.

By the time we stepped in, the cars were parked off to the side of the entrance area, several people and ready to greet them.

Naturally, as it still wasn’t a full blown city, a checkpoint town wouldn’t be as busy or as refined as one, the roads between their compact buildings no more than packed dirt with stone paving in select areas. There should’ve been far more activity within a place like this, accompanied by all the usual things that came with an abundance of people though.

A good few people walked the streets but there was something odd about them.

“How’d you sleep last night?” I asked Qrow while my eyes jumped all around.

“Could’ve been better.” Qrow admitted.

The signs were subtle but there was a grogginess going around. Maybe it wasn’t anything that could be full blown suspicious, the day soon to end and hard work required of many to keep a place like this running, but the people here looked like they were being weighed down by a restlessness.

“Something up?”

“Maybe.” I said, Qrow following after me as I headed towards all the vehicles. What I was seeing could just be attributed to a recent Grimm attack hitting them hard and requiring all hands on deck.

With any luck, that would be the case.

Alas, that turned out to be nothing but a false hope. Some, generally those older and far younger, among those without their aura unlocked were either trudging along or struggling to be woken up at all. There was something off about that tiredness, one too many of the cases scattered across the group showing the same signs.

I didn’t have much trouble with Grimm these days not just because of my Sharingan and training but because I knew which ones to avoid where possible.

Bandaged blade flying off my back, I jumped onto it, shooting high above the walls and staring out in the direction we came, specifically focusing on the thicker forests around the trail. I shot further out moving beyond the city’s walls so I could see over the forested mound without going too high.

Leaves shifted, distant blots of darkness beneath their cover in the far distance.

Beowolves. Ursa. Beringles. An entire hoard choosing to move at a snail’s place. The city would have plenty of time to prepare, those kind of Grimm not an issue even in such numbers for a fortified place like that.

It was the final type among them that had to be the cause of recent oddities.

Apathy in large numbers were a problem. Even more so when they weren't lingering about in one area.

XOXO

(A/N: Had to cut a lot of stuff out of Cinder's nightmare but it still ended up longer than expected. Either way, even if they seemed like it at first, his, then hers nightmares aren't completely random. We've got some more interesting Grimm types entering the playing field in the next few chapters.

The whole concept of something like an Apathy and a few other mental Grimm is some pretty scary crap though. Imagine just feeling a little more tired than usual one day then bam, killed in your sleep by those freakishly humanoid looking things. Junk is creepy.

Anyways, I'll see you all in the next one.)