Chapter Text
The long summer days in Patch had seemingly come to an end, leaves around the spacious Rose/Xaio-Long home turning a brilliant, fiery orange and yellow, slowly piling up around the pathways to and from the quaint little village that the young family had moved into. Taiyang Xaio-Long sighed softly as he watched the similarly auburn sky slowly fade into the inky blackness, wondering how he could have been so lucky. A beautiful wife, two loving children, and the ability to not concern himself with life beyond the fences of their home. Yes, retirement was treating Taiyang nicely, even if his wife didn’t… fully agree with his view of their situation.
Summer had been gone for two weeks, another mission from their former headmaster to Atlas, a routine check-in with Ironwood and the Atlesian allies that Ozpin kept. To Tai, it was beneath Summer, but the occasional intrusion from his old life was worth the trade-off of missing his beloved for a little while…
SMASH! As he thought to himself, a flurry of floral petals rushed through an open window, a sea of white and red that widened his azure eyes before they reformed into a humanoid shape, Summer’s breath heavy, silver eyes hovering over deep grey bags of exhaustion and holding a small figure in her arms. Tai rushed to her side, his arm outstretched and gently moving the shoulder of the figure, her features coming into view. A small girl with jet-black hair, golden irises, a bandaged neck, and dried blood caked across her white clothing and pale skin.
“Summer! Are you okay? Is she-? What did she-? How did she-?” The questions hung in the air as Tai’s mind raced to catch up to his words and his wife, his eyes scanning the small girl in her arms.
“Explain later… Put her in the guest room… We’ll have to clean up the wounds…” Summer’s breath was strained, her voice gravelly and hoarse, as though she had been screaming through smoke. Tai noticed both of the whites on the two’s outfits were off, grey soot and dust covering them both as he took the weight of the girl in his hands, rushing as quietly as he could down a hallway and into the sparse guest room, grabbing a first aid kit in his hands as he moved. ‘She’s so light… That can’t be good… What the hell happened to her? What the hell happened to Summer?’ His mind raced again as he set the girl down, her eyes focusing and looking up at the blonde man, clear panic and terror in her face.
She looked older than Yang by a few years, but her features were deeply sunken in, her cheekbones protruding outwards, framing her face in an awkward angular way as disheveled black hair fell down, covering the tops of her irises. Tai had to look past a lot when observing this specimen, trying to ignore the black hair, the gaunt features, how much she looked like…
He pushed it back out of his mind, realizing that the girl was probably more scared of him than he could possibly be of her, extending a palm towards her. “Hi there… Kid… I’m Taiyang. I’m gonna help you out, okay? Can you tell me your name?” He smiled softly, in the warm way he always could, lowering himself down to her level, his blue eyes meeting her golden hues.
“C-Cin…Cinder…” A scratchy voice left the child’s lips, along with droplets of blood that stained her already well-bloodied whites as she fell into a coughing fit. ‘Brothers, is she smoking a pack an hour?’ Tai thought to himself as the girl looked back at him, pushing a finger to his lips and then to her own.
“It’s okay, Cinder. You don’t have to talk if it hurts you… I’m going to unwrap the bandages and try and clean you up, and then you can sleep… Does that sound okay to you?” Cinder’s eyes sparkled in the light, a small sign that he wasn’t operating on the living dead as she nodded, her lips never leaving a neutral state, pensively pursing as if preparing for further pain.
Tai’s hands reached towards the back of her neck, detaching the hastily applied bandage from her neck. For all of Summer’s many skills, a field medic she was not, and the sloppy handiwork of the bandages showed it. The thick layers slowly turned from bright white to a strange deep brown color until becoming more and more red with each wrap around the girl’s small neck, Tai becoming horrified by what he saw as the girl’s neck was laid bare: a deep red gash across the circumference, ending in a crude visage of a heart under her chin. The scent of burnt flesh and charred skin made his stomach turn, thankful that he had only cooked for the girls earlier and not himself…
His words failed him, finding himself sitting in silence, staring at the small child in front of him, her head looking as though a strong gust of wind would separate it from her neck. ‘Who could do this? Why would someone do this to a child? How is she so calm? Where did Summer find her?” He steeled his nerves through his thoughts as he slowly took a warm, wet cloth, pressing it to the center of her neck, the girl hissing through her teeth in pain.
She looks so scared…
He gently wiped the blood from the wound, applying pressure to make sure she wasn’t actively bleeding.
If her voice wasn’t gone, she’d be screaming…
As he cleaned, he took a disinfecting cloth, gently holding her hand as he touched it to the raw skin, Cinder mouthing a wordless scream, the pain rippling through her thin limbs.
I’ve seen Huntsmen who’ve taken less punishment than this…
He felt tears press against the back of his iris, trying to hold himself together, to be stronger than her. He couldn’t break, not when this child was staying strong. Slowly, he cleaned the charring skin, seeing the wound turn a softer pink rather than the deep, blood red he had been greeted with.
She looks so much like Raven…
He finished the work, wrapping her neck with an appropriate amount of bandage, taking her in fully with that context. He offered a soft, hopeful smile to the child, his hand reaching for her shoulder before she backed away, almost cornering herself like a wild animal.
“It’s okay, Cinder. I’m not going to hurt you… But you’ve been very brave. Your neck is going to hurt for a while, but I promise it’ll feel better. Now, I’m going to help Miss Summer get you some clean clothes to rest in. Are you okay to sit here for a moment?” Tai’s voice was so soft. Not just because he was afraid of waking Ruby and Yang, but because it was clear that whatever had happened that led this child into his home, she needed someone calm and steady.
She slowly shook her head “No”, gingerly reaching for the corner of his shirt with trembling fingers, Tai noticing the drying blood under her knuckles, pulling it up to reveal a gash across her stomach, clearly caused by a blade striking the poor thing. His mind raced around to what could possibly have caused someone to attack something so small and pitiful as this girl, and then noticing that this wound, unlike her neck’s injury, looked to be cauterized, more flecks of charred skin around the edges of the bright red wound, drying blood caking what would have been the point of entry.
“Okay, let’s clean that one up too…”
‘I’m sorry that I can only help you heal, Cinder…’
Summer’s breathing had settled, her heart rate no longer spiking as she silently poured through Yang’s clothing, trying to find something that wouldn’t be too big on Cinder. By her estimation, she was maybe two or three years older than the elder sibling, but malnutrition and lack of proper care probably made her a little smaller than Yang.
She couldn’t believe she had made it back to Patch that quickly. It had been almost two days since Summer’s accommodation was burnt to a crisp, and she hadn’t stopped running since she picked up the small child. ‘Gods, she’s so light… I shouldn’t have been able to carry someone for that long. It shouldn’t feel easy to carry her through open windows with my semblance…’ She pulled a crimson t-shirt and denim shorts that were approximately the right size as she walked into the hallway, straight into the chest of Taiyang.
“Our guest’s wounds are clean, she’s washing up as much as she can. Next time you bring in a ‘patient’, please warn me first?” Tai’s voice was soft, quiet, but his tone was sharp. He wasn’t going to argue with Summer, she was probably right, but he wasn’t prepared for how this night had unfolded.
“Fair. I’ve got some clothes that Yang doesn’t wear and something for her to sleep in. We’ve been moving for… too long.” Summer smiled at her love, appreciating that he was there, without a second thought. They were partners, not just in work but in life, and it kept them sane. He helped her focus and take things slow, she helped him take risks and trust his gut. She gently raised herself on tiptoes from her boots, her lips pecking her cheek. “You know, I always did love that you let me bring home strays. I’ll remember that next time.”
His stoic expression broke, smiling and chuckling softly as his hand gently caressed her face. “So, are you going to explain-?”
“Not tonight. She’s worn out, I’m worn out, I still have to figure out what we can tell the girls to make this all make sense, and then…” Summer gently bit her lip, her silver eyes darting to the ground between them. “And then, I need to call Oz. She’s… she’s got a semblance, Tai. She used it to self-cauterize.”
“You’re not seriously thinking we-” Tai looked down on her with a worried expression.
“Gods no. That is off the table. Oz is a good teacher, but he’d be a nightmare raising… anything. No, but I’m going to need some help greasing some wheels to make sure that she’s going to be safe here.”
There was clearly a story in the few pieces of information Summer was giving to Tai, but he was already exhausted by just the concrete facts he knew…
“Okay, girl in bed, story straight for girls, Ozpin call in the morning. Sound like a plan, Summ?” Tai smiled softly, talking her through what the two could and couldn’t do.
“Sounds like a plan. And let’s keep Yang and Ruby out of the guest room for the moment. Cinder’s a little… skittish. And I love them, but they aren’t exactly the most… subtle kids on the planet.” Summer smiled thinking of her daughters safely tucked in bed. “I think a big enough breakfast and maybe a trip down to the weapons shop should keep them from getting too curious.”
As Cinder’s eyes reopened slowly, her world came into focus on a large pair of silver eyes in her vision. And then a pair of purple eyes straight behind them… Her body tensed, Cinder pushing her back violently against the cold wall and staring at the two figures in the dim room.
“Hi! I’m Yang, and this…” The taller blonde girl pointed to the girl with Summer’s eyes, “is my little sister Ruby! Who are you?” She smiled widely, the same way that the strange man had smiled at her the previous night, offering a place to wash, clean her wounds, and somewhere to rest…
“I-I’m… C-cin-ci-Cind…Cinder…” She coughed again, the words sputtering out from her lips with a sad scratch, the one named Yang pouting as she stuck her hand out, the smaller one recoiling with fear.
“It’s okay, talking is… not necessary.” ‘Especially when you sound worse than Uncle Qrow…’ Yang laughed to herself, watching as the strange girl moved slightly, getting more distance from the two girls while not releasing any of the tension in her muscles. “Just… Nod or shake your head. We won’t bite, promise…”
Cinder hadn’t thought about the idea of someone biting her. Her older step-sisters did many terrible things, but generally teeth weren’t involved, but she couldn’t be sure… She nodded slightly, agreeing to the premise that this Yang person had set out.
“Did Momma bring you from Atlas!?” The smaller, midnight-haired girl piped in, her silver eyes staring through Cinder as she slowly nodded. “Ooooo! What’s it like? Is the food as bad as Momma says? How are the weapons? Is it cold all the time or just most of the time-?” Cinder’s head started throbbing at the questions, each one getting just a touch louder and a touch harder to answer given her limited ability to communicate.
Yang slowly stepped between Cinder and Ruby, noticing the fear in the larger girl’s golden hues. “What my sister means to say is that we’re curious. Summer and Dad are being tight-lipped and told us to ‘stay out’ and ‘give her some space’...” Yang’s eyes rolled sarcastically, Cinder’s outward facade breaking for a moment to silently chuckle. From what she had been able to gather about Summer, these two felt… well, they felt like her in a lot of ways. Were there just people like that? Or was this family the exception to her experiences? Yang continued, “Summer said that she found you and that you’re gonna stay here a while… Are you really?” Her lilac eyes looked deep at the messy haired child alongside the silver irises of Ruby, looking for her to affirm their suspicions.
In truth, Cinder had no plan. She had been operating on instinct for days. All she had planned was to free herself and go to… Go somewhere else. Escape. Be Free… Summer was an accident. But she also didn’t know where she was. She could still be in Atlas for all she knew. This could all be some form of enhanced interrogation meant to get a confession out of her… But she also knew that she was a girl with few options, and heavy exhaustion. Even sleeping for as long as she did, every muscle in her body ached in pain, her nerves felt like they were on fire. She had never used her “semblance”, as Summer called it, for that long before, and between that and the adrenaline she had expended for the previous days… She needed a moment to rest and recharge. She slowly nodded, her eyes wet as she blinked away her feelings, trying to keep them at bay for just another moment.
In a moment, she felt the weight of two full beings pressed on her chest, limbs wrapping around her torso and burying themselves into the null space of her body, excited laughter and squeals from the two girls before the door swung open.
“Girls! What did I tell you about bothering our guest?” Summer’s voice was annoyed, but not angry. Firm, but not harsh. It was a surprising difference than almost every adult she had ever encountered before. She sounded a lot like… Well, maybe that was why she felt able to trust her.
Ruby piped up first, pulling herself out from between Cinder’s arm and her torso. “Sorry, Momma… But… We wanted to know what the deal was with the scary girl… And she told us that she was staying here…” Ruby’s voice sounded pathetic, the type of pleading that would normally infuriate Cinder coming from the blonde step-sisters or the kids at the orphanage, but there was a genuine kindness underlying that pitiful tone.
“She can tell you about that when she is rested and healed, which she can’t do with you munchkins wrapping around her… So, off! Back to the kitchen, the both of you. Your father is going into town, and he’s taking you to the weapon store if you’re good…”
Like a flash, Ruby had departed the rail-thin girl and rushed out of the room, Yang following behind as Summer took a few steps inward, her silver hues warming up the space, slowly getting down to one knee to look at Cinder with a kind smile. “Sorry about them… My fault, I kinda let them think that we were adopting you… And that’s your choice if you want that Cinder… But… Well, we’d be happy to have you…”
Cinder’s cheeks turned a soft pink as she stared into those silver eyes. Silver eyes that could move mountains and melt icecaps with their gentle push and kindness. Silver eyes that saw through the walls that Cinder felt necessary to protect her heart after it had been broken time and time and time again. Silver eyes that could forgive her, even when she felt unforgivable…
“You don’t have to answer now, Sweetie… I know you’re probably still tired, so I’ll let you rest. Okay, hun?” Cinder nodded slowly, gently moving her hand, pleading without words to come closer, to let her voice be heard. As Summer’s ear gently moved towards Cinder’s lips, Cinder slowly wrapped herself around the neck of the taller woman, leaning into an embrace as tears that she didn’t think were still in those golden eyes of hers flowed outward, running down Summer’s pale shoulder.
“Th-th-thank… Y-yo-y-you… Miss Summer…” Her cracking and soft voice let out, causing Summer’s eyes to close as her own tears wet the back of the borrowed shirt.