Work Text:
A woman wearing Summer Rose's cloak is sitting by a campfire and is cleaning a steel long sword. It's beautifully made with a red Dust crystal on the pommel. Engraved into the blade are the words "I am that is". The Sword of Summer the Warrior is what the sword is called. The cloak and sword are not stolen. They were handed down to the woman because she was Summer's daughter.
She even has the same hair as Summer, but she doesn't have her mom's silver eyes. She has her dear departed father's amber eyes.
The woman looks down to her right and gazes at the two weapons resting on the log she's sitting on. One is a high-tech katana and the other is an axe, Summer's other weapon, Sundered Rose.
"Your mom's cloak and weapons with you then with Tai. They should gather dirt than dust. Good luck on your Warrior's Journey, Cinder," the woman recalls what her uncle Qrow said to her.
Cinder stops cleaning her mom's sword and takes a moment to look at the clothes she's wearing. White gauntlets and greaves, a blue leotard with gold accents that shows quite a bit of her cleavage, a similar coloured waist cape, and blue thigh-high leggings and bicep-high gloves, "It's hard to believe mom wore something this," Cinder thought.
The outfit had to be refitted because Cinder is taller and more muscular than Summer.
The one part of the outfit Cinder loves the most is the gold replica of Summer's pendant which rests proudly on the brown leather straps attached to the cloak.
It took Cinder a while to find Summer's original battle outfit. Cinder hid it well. From what Cinder can gather, Summer had set tests for kids to help them become great warriors. "I want you to live your life as an ordinary girl, but that's not the world we live sadly. So I'll do my best to help you prepare," Cinder remembers what Summer said to her as a kid.
"I'm a warrior just like you, Mom, but I still need to find your armour," Cinder said to Summer's sword. "I would find it sooner. I just ran into a few setbacks," Cinder sighs.
Her lion ears twitch and looks up. A group of humans are approaching her. "Are Faunus not allowed to camp in the woods anymore?" Cinder said sarcastically.
The leader of the group raises their hands, "No! No! It's not anything like that! We are not like people in the 4 kingdoms. We treat you Faunus like the people you are,"
"I would believe you if your guys weren't eyeing my mom's axe like a piece of meat and my eyes are up here," Cinder said with a deadpan tone.
The leader glares at his group then back at Cinder, "I wasn't looking at your large rack! I was eyeing that gold pendant at yours. I bet that fetched a large price! What you say, young lady?"
"It's not for sale and I'm not a young lady. I'm 30 years old. Nothing young about me," Cinder said with an annoyed sigh. She stands up and sheathes her sword, puts it and the katana on her belt then picks up Sundered Rose. She points the golden and black axe at the group of humans, "Do you have any idea who I am?" she asked threateningly.
The leader nods nervously, "Y-Yeah, you're Cinder the Warrior,"
"That's right, I'm Cinder the Warrior, daughter of Summer the Warrior!" Cinder said with pride.
One of the members of the group notices Cinder's lion tail, "You have two? I thought you animals only have one trait,"
"For normal Faunus that is true but Faunus with royal blood has two," Cinder growls.
"Who cares! There are 7 of us and only one of you! It doesn't matter if you are a warrior!" the leader shouts, "Come on men! We'll kill her and steal her gold pendent and axe!"
That's all Cinder needs to hear and struck first. The bandits weren't ready by how fast Cinder was. She was a blur and they already lost 3 members. 2 more fell when Cinder drew her sword. Cinder struck hard, fast and brutally. They can feel the anger and hate within each blow.
It didn't take long for the leader to be the only one alive. "I thought you warriors live by a code of honour!" the bandit leader shouts in fear and tries in vain to crawl away from Cinder. Who now has glowing red eyes and an aura of darkness.
"Такие подонки, как ты, не заслуживают пощады!" Cinder growls.
The bandit leader didn't understand what Cinder is saying but he did know what kingdom speaks that language. "You're from Atlas! I should have known by the accent you have!" they gasped and they recalls something they'd heard a long time ago. Atlas was making something called Frozen Darkness or what it Shadow Aura? They can't remember due to fear.
Cinder steps on the bandit leader. She puts away her axe and sword and slowly draws her katana. Its name was lost to time so Cinder is calling it Excalibur for now.
"I'm sorry!" the bandit leader shouts and raises their arms.
"Слишком поздно," Cinder said coldly and kills the bandit with one swift swing of Excalibur.
Closing her eyes, Cinder takes a deep breath and puts her hand on the golden rose pendant. "Я скучаю по тебе, мама," Cinder said sadly. The darkness coming out of her body fades away and she opens her eyes. They're back to their regular colour. Cinder hopes the nearby Grimm sensed the power of darkness she used.
Taking a calming breath, Cinder sheaths Excalibur and packs up her things and heads off to the nearby village. Those bandits ruined her mood for camping outdoors.
Her scroll rings and Cinder pulls it out, "It better not be the White Fang again. How many times do I have to tell them, I don't want to be their king," Cinder said annoyed. She smiles when she sees Ruby's name. Cinder answers the scroll and puts it up to her human ear. "Hey, Ruby," Cinder said and starts to walk.
She didn't need a flashlight on the dark road ahead. There's enough moonlight and Cinder uses her Fall Maiden powers to light her path. A power she did not want. She already has all the power she needs. She just needs to master it and once she does, Cinder will take her revenge on Summer's killer, Salem.