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Swords clashing, Winter swung with nothing but fury and grief guiding her hand as she aimed her blade again and again towards the woman responsible for sending her sister into an unknown void. For all she knew, Weiss could be dead, and the thought was more than enough to keep her fighting long after the fatigue started to set in from using her Maiden powers.
Cinder, annoyingly to her credit, managed to keep up even after her own Maiden form was pushed to the point of exhaustion. It was hard to tell how long they'd been there, fighting long after everyone else in Mantle and Atlas had gone through the portals taking them to safety.
Here in this pocket dimension, they had all the time in the world.
“Still not done, Ice Queen?” Cinder asked with a smug grin, trying in vain to hide the way her shoulders moved with each deep, tired breath.
“Not until I end you!” Winter spat back through grit teeth, aiming a blow to the side that Cinder narrowly dodged.
The Fall Maiden cackled, eyes wide and grin wicked despite the apparent exhaustion as she once again readied one of her blades after Winter managed to break through yet another. “Will you give it up already? Face it, I've won. You may have saved Mantle, you may have saved Atlas, but I managed to take something far more precious from you.”
Winter bit her tongue to keep from responding, knowing the other woman was only trying to get a rise out of her. With a boost from her semblance, she lunged for the other, taking both her and Cinder down as she landed pinning the amber eyed villain to the ground.
“Don't you ever speak about my sister.” She growled in warning, eyes narrow slits as she glared down at the woman she despised most in the world, especially now.
The ground around them trembled, both looking around as they noticed the pocket world they'd been in starting to change. Maybe they'd been there too long, maybe Team RWBY's wish was starting to run out.
“Get off of me, you idiot!” Cinder nudged against her, pushing against Winter’s shoulders as the Atlas soldier only tightened her grip.
“If I'm going down, I'm taking you with me.” Winter said, feeling disturbingly calm at the idea of letting herself be swallowed up into the same void that claimed her sister and their friends.
“You're not serious.” Cinder’s eye was wide, afraid, and Winter grinned at the sight.
“Aren't I?” She chuckled, feeling lightheaded as the world began crumbling around them, pulse racing.
“You- You'll kill us both!” Cinder tried to reason.
“Would that really be the worst thing in the world?” Winter wondered, and she could tell by the look in the other woman's eye that Cinder couldn't answer honestly.
Cinder took a deep breath, amber eye flashing with the flames of her power as she shot a ball of fire right into Winter chest, knocking her off of her as she began flying towards one of the few remaining portals.
Winter winced at the burning sensation, thankful her uniform was fireproof for such an occasion. She glanced around before spotting her sword and- taking a dry swallow as she pushed down tears- Penny's lifeless form. She rushed for her sword, hesitating only a moment before using her semblance to rocket Penny through a nearby portal, knowing that anywhere else would make a more suitable final resting place.
She spotted Cinder quickly approaching a portal and let the remaining traces of her Winter Maiden powers take control, boosting her semblance's reach and power enough to zip through the air and tackle Cinder to the ground on the other side of the portal.
Winter hardly had time to take in her surroundings, immediately glancing over her shoulder to watch the portal close, tensing at the thought that- had she been even a moment too late- she could have been trapped in there for good.
Cinder shoved her off with a huff, standing and brushing herself off with her human arm as she glared down at Cinder. “Where did you take us?” She demanded.
Winter blinked. “Me?! You were the one flying towards the portal!”
“Whatever.” Cinder clicked her tongue dismissively, and Winter's blood began boiling more than it already was.
“Oh, can it with the anger issues. Did you inherit that from your father, I wonder?” Cinder said condescendingly.
“You're lucky I haven't killed you by now.” Winter muttered as she stood, feeling the exhaustion in waves now as she barely managed to hide her fatigue.
“Why haven't you?” Cinder asked, staring Winter down.
Winter froze. Why hadn't she killed her yet? She certainly had every reason to.
“Come on.” Cinder turned to walk away, glancing back after a few steps as Winter’s tired feet nudged themselves into moving. She wondered how Cinder was still able to stand without any difficulty, it was infuriating to think the other woman had more stamina than herself.
xxx
After a silent walk, the pair stumbled upon a village that was decidedly not in Vacuo like Winter had assumed they'd be taken.
“Where are we?” Cinder asked, hand on her hip as she glanced around with her eye narrowed and nose scrunched.
“I don't know.” Winter admitted with a frown. Nothing about the area looked familiar, not the buildings or the landscape or the people, it was all strangely unknown to her.
“What do you mean you don't know?” Cinder turned on her heel, eyebrow furrowed in confusion and glare never leaving her face.
“I mean I don't know!” Winter repeated with a roll of her eyes. “The portals were meant to send everyone to Vacuo, which- I'm not sure if you've gathered yet- is very much not where we are.”
Cinder looked ready to shout back, to hurl another attack, but instead she just closed her eyes and let out a deep sigh, pinching the bridge of her nose. “Of course. Stranded in the middle of nowhere with the less useful Schnee sister. No allies, no boss, nearly out of power, even my aura is getting drained! Just my luck.”
Winter glared at the insult before realising Cinder’s words were- annoyingly enough- true. They were completely alone out here, with no idea where they were or allies to call upon for help. And as far as bosses go, well… Winter didn't want to think about that right now.
Cinder glanced her up and down before sighing and turning back around to continue walking towards the nearby village. “Come on, maybe they have a room spare at an inn.”
Winter blinked in surprise before slowly and hesitantly following after her. This could- and likely was- some sort of trick, a means to get her guard down so Cinder could attack, but Cinder had said so herself. She was tired, they both were. Why would she lie about something that would put her at a disadvantage?
She begrudgingly said nothing about the suspicious amount of lien Cinder carried on her person as they were checked into the village inn, a small thing with just two rooms and only one open, which meant unfortunately Winter still couldn't escape the infuriating murderer.
“Don't look at me like that. If I were going to kill you, it would be more worthwhile than smothering you in your sleep.” Cinder rolled her eyes as she kicked off her heeled boots, plopping down unceremoniously onto the large- and only- bed in the room.
Winter didn't know how to feel about that statement, but still lowered herself to the other end of the bed slowly. She worked to unfastened her boots as well, taking Cinder's lead, and let herself recline a bit against the mattress until she was sitting upsetting reminded of the woman at her side when Cinder audibly stretched.
“Wherever we are, they sure know how to treat guests.” The brunette sighed with a lazy smile, hands behind her head and eye closed as if she hadn't spent the day killing the two people closest to Winter and many others before them.
Winter rolled onto her side, facing away from the other woman. She was far too tired to let anger consume her, so she closed her eyes and let it wash away into sleep.
Cinder glanced at the snoring Atlas soldier, peering over to see that she was, in fact asleep. She chuckled in amusement despite herself. How could such a cold, stern woman fall asleep so easily beside her greatest enemy?
She yawned, eye fluttering closed as she drifted off to the thought that maybe she could understand how sleep had taken Winter so easily.
×××
Winter woke to a warmth pressed into her side, warmer than her blanket or even Weiss on nights when she would sneak into her bed as a child, too fearful to sleep on her own after one of their father's tantrums.
Blearily rolling over, she fell out of bed with a shriek at seeing none other than the Fall Maiden curled up beside her, looking as peaceful as an innocent woman in an almost convincing way.
Cinder groaned and rubbed her eye, yawning awake. “Emerald, you're being too loud.” She complained before her eye settled on the other Maiden and she froze, eye blowing wide. “Oh, right, you.” She said once the shock wore off, rolling her eye and rolling over to head back to sleep.
“You were-”
“I did nothing of the sort.”
“-clinging to me!”
Cinder turned back around to glare down at the Winter Maiden still sprawled out on the floor. “Not a single word of this ever again, or you're dead. Understood?”
Winter nodded, smart enough not to question why Cinder didn't just kill her now if she was so embarrassed. She slowly moved back onto the bed, placing a pillow between them now as she attempted to sleep once more.
xxx
It happened again. Many times.
No one could have prepared Winter for the fact that the Fall Maiden was a cuddler, especially when her waking attitude portrayed just the opposite.
Eventually, oddly enough, it started to feel somewhat normal. After nearly a month in that cramped little room, both silently- at least when they weren't verbally fighting with one another- resting and healing up from their last big fight in the portal world.
It seemed like without Salem nearby, Cinder’s body took longer to heal than expected, even with her Maiden powers. Winter almost- almost, this was still the woman who murdered her best friend and sister in the same day- felt bad for her, watching her writhe in agony as her Grimm arm seemed to distort entirely.
Sometimes she watched, other times she couldn't stand to. She never said a word, and neither did Cinder. That was fine with Winter, she didn't particularly want to talk to the other woman she was stuck sharing a bed with.
One night, long after the quiet ambiance of the village gave way to restfulness, Cinder turned to lie on her back on her side of the bed, gazing up at the ceiling.
“I've always hated you Atlas elite. Flaunting your money and power and thirsting for control over those less fortunate than yourselves.” She said quietly.
“Not everyone in Atlas is like that.” Winter defended, though the heat was gone from her voice.
“I know.” Cinder groaned, glancing over at her with a frown. “That's what makes it so annoying.”
“Makes what annoying?” Winter wondered.
“How infuriatingly attractive some of you are.” Cinder said, and Winter didn't miss the way her eye briefly roamed over her, bringing a blush to the white haired woman's cheeks.
“Oh.” Winter mumbled.
“Not a word to anyone, Schnee.” Cinder warned, turning away again.
“Of course.” Winter agreed, lying on her side as well and already knowing she'd eventually wake to Cinder pressed into her back in their new, tentative normal.