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"Again," Salem demanded, turning her back on the practice room and leaving Cinder and Emerald to continue on their own. Emerald watched her go, waiting until she had disappeared from view before looking back to her friend.
Cinder was a wreck. She had lost far more than her voice atop Beacon's clocktower. Before the fight, Emerald had never seen her miss a beat, never seen her shrink from any danger. Cinder always had a plan, always knew what to do next, what their opponents were capable of and how to anticipate their every move. To see her shaking after yet another failed attempt at harnessing the stolen Fall Maiden's power made Emerald question everything.
"Emerald," Cinder whispered, raising her hand to reset for another attempt. Emerald snapped out of her funk, conjuring another illusion to help Cinder focus - this time, an image of the Beacon headmaster, Ozpin. Cinder took a deep breath, pouring all her energy into gathering the power of the Maiden to scorch the illusion and burn all memory of him from the world, just as she'd done to the real Ozpin.
The ghost of a fire that resulted was beyond disappointing. It faded almost as soon as it was conjured despite Cinder's desperate attempts to force more life into the flames. With a pained cry, she fell to her knees on the stone floor, still quaking from the exertion. The cry was by far her loudest utterance in weeks and the sound of it startled Emerald more than anything she'd seen since coming to work for Salem.
She hurried to Cinder's side, ignoring the girl's weak attempts to shrug her off. All she could do was hold her as she shook, listening to wheezing breaths rattle the girl's body through and through. Every day Cinder was trying harder to do what Salem required, and every day instead of getting better, Emerald could swear she was falling apart little by little.
The gift of the Maiden's power had once seemed like a holy grail, well worth jumping through all the hoops - posing as students, hacking Ironwood's systems, rigging the tournament - but now Emerald wondered what it had really gained them. If only they'd killed the old Maiden on the road the day they had the chance, Cinder might never have been on top of the clocktower when...whatever happened, happened.
Cinder finally gathered the strength to shove Emerald away, sitting a moment alone with her anger at her own shortcomings. Emerald reached out to her but thought better of it, not wanting to become the target of her enmity by proxy. What comfort could she offer, anyway? If Cinder didn't find a way to control the Fall Maiden's power soon, who knows what Salem would do to her? To both of them?
Out of Cinder's ragged breathing, Emerald started to pick out the vague shape of words. She dared to scoot closer despite the risk that Cinder might just lash out again, picking up on the whispered plea.
"Help me," Cinder was saying.
For the briefest moment, Emerald could swear she saw tears on the girl's cheek, but of course that was ridiculous. She got to her feet, taking Cinder's offered hand and helping her up. She started to dust her off when she caught the look in Cinder's eye and froze where she stood. It wasn't the admonishing look she'd been expecting. There was a silent question on Cinder's face, begging Emerald for an answer - why was she still here?
Emerald wasn't sure how to answer, she could only offer her own silent reassurance with a quick squeeze of Cinder's hand. As if only then realizing the tenderness of the moment, Cinder ripped her hand away, glaring at Emerald with what little fierceness she could muster and holding her hand out for another attempt at reining in her newly augmented embers.
Emerald stiffened up, glancing at the empty space where she had conjured image after image for Cinder to try and tear down. Nothing had worked. Emerald was almost glad - more and more she didn't want Cinder to become Salem's great weapon. As a failure, maybe they'd even be cut loose, or at least be able to escape without too much pursuit. She sighed, realizing any hope of them getting out of this arrangement was the only real illusion in the room.
Shutting her eyes, she worked on a new phantom target. She heard Cinder's sharp gasp as the image took form and Ruby Rose appeared in her mind's eye. Emerald could already feel the temperature rise in the stone room. She rested a hand on Cinder's shoulder, taking a step back to leave her to her practice. There wasn't any other choice for now. In time, maybe they'd have a chance to focus on a more fitting target - one like Salem herself.