Cinder Falls... For Ruby Rose (ch3)

EARLY RELEASE FOR HIGH-PLEDGING PATRONS! THANK YOU ALL SO MUCH!

Here's the new monthly addition for s22132's reward story!

NOTE: The previous drabbles were put into Bad Times And Good Times, but now myself and the patron have decided to make these drabbles into its own fic, which is being called (as per their clever request) Cinder Falls...For Ruby Rose, since it's mainly a humorous story.

Disclaimer: I do not own RWBY.

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													Chapter 3. Planning

If there was anything the students of Haven knew, it was that not many things could shock Cinder Fall.

Certain things might bore, intrigue, or disgust her, but rarely, if ever, was she brought to the point of surprise, and even fewer times was she brought to a state of shock.

So that was why this time, her teammates hardly recognized this even rarer expression on her face.

She was... utterly dumbfounded.

And she'd been that way ever since Ruby Rose had slipped her her number.

This was the very first time her teammates could recall – and quite possibly the first time ever – that Cinder was trapped in this state of mind. Walking back through the fairgrounds, she'd been entirely silent. She'd even been too distracted to react when a boy accidentally bumped into her, and he'd been granted the privilege of scurrying off before she could manage to fire scathing comments in his general direction.

She didn't say a word to anyone as she blindly followed her teammates back to their dorm room. Once there, she brushed past them and went straight to her own bed, where she pulled out her scroll and began typing away, mumbling to herself inaudibly.

The rest of her team hung back in the doorway, staring blankly at their leader, in total disbelief. They were all a little scared to approach her right now, much less address her, especially when she was in such an intensely focused state of mind.

So they settled for huddling together, keeping their voices to hushed whispers as they turned to one another.

"Okay," Emerald began. "Sorry, but what the actual hell is going on?"

"I mean, we were all surprised the little red twerp actually gave Cinder her number," Mercury said.

/But what is Cinder doing?/ Neo wondered with a flash of her hands. /Did she... get sick suddenly? She hasn't said a word all the way back here! And she didn't even kill that guy who bumped into her! I think she's in shock.../

"Sure looks like it," Emerald agreed, stealing a glance at her leader. "So, like... what do we do?"

"Uh..." Mercury scratched his head, also uncertain. "Well, we could let her just... work it out? Go on a date and see what happens, I guess...?"

The two girls shared glances with one another, skeptical.

They'd all seen their charismatic leader go out on many dates before, but all of them ended up the same way – with Cinder returning later that night with a deadly aura around her.

It was always the worst whenever she needed to break up with whomever she was seeing, due to their submissive and borderline helpless dispositions. Cinder would end the relationship, then slink back to the dorm room in a silent, disappointed rage, and wouldn't speak a word about what had happened.

Her teammates also knew better than to ask. No one ever needed to explicitly state it when Cinder ended a relationship; everyone just knew, and nothing more ever needed to be said on the matter.

But now, Emerald, Mercury, and Neo all saw a different potential future for their leader.

This Ruby Rose girl wasn't the type to fall head-over-heels for Cinder and go along with anything and everything she said or did. She could very clearly think for herself and had enough self-esteem and confidence to speak her mind, and to even refute Cinder if necessary, as she'd done earlier that day, even if it was without fully realizing it.

They could all envision Cinder's relationship with Ruby Rose ending... well.

Or perhaps never ending at all.

And that would certainly be a first.

The three of them shared glances with one another, and smiles began to form on their lips. No matter how cruel and cunning their leader seemed to be, they all knew her to be a rather sensitive person on the inside. She deserved a girl who could make her happy.

They all came to the silent but mutual agreement that they wanted this to work out for Cinder.

"This could work," Emerald mumbled. "This could really work for her, you guys."

"Yeah," her partner mused. "And just think how much nicer she'd be to be around if she actually had a happy, healthy relationship going. She'd probably smack us around a lot less."

/Well, maybe she'd smack us around less,/ Neo signed, gesturing to Emerald and herself. /But you she'd probably still whack a few times since you can't ever keep your big mouth shut./

"Hey, you little-"

"Guys!" Emerald hissed, throwing herself between them. "Can we not do this right now? Let's try to keep the atmosphere a little bit calm tonight, okay? For Cinder's sake?" She pointedly looked behind herself, and the others followed her gaze.

Their leader was still sitting on the edge of her bed, typing quickly in her scroll while still murmuring to herself.

She looked... very much like a lovestruck girl writing in her diary. It was a side of her they hadn't seen in a long time.

The first few times she'd dated people, Cinder had acted this way. She'd used to get excited about beginning new relationships, even if she'd just ended another one. She'd always tried to get over the pain of the old and welcome in the possibilities of the new.

But as time had gone on, and person after person had left her unsatisfied, she'd started to lose genuine interest in the people she dated. She'd begun dating them just for the sake of dating, and nothing more.

Even though those relationships had all been with different people, they'd proven to be redundant, uninteresting, and had always ended in heartbreak.

But now...

Now Cinder looked like she had the very first time.

Ruby Rose wasn't just another person for her to date and be disappointed about. There was real potential there, a genuine chance of working out where so many others had failed.

They all just wanted to see Cinder happy for once. Genuinely happy, not just the same bitter shell of a dejected girl she'd been up until now.

So they all agreed not to bicker between themselves – at least not when their leader was around. She deserved their support and their respect, now more than ever.

"All right," Emerald went on quietly. "We cool? So let's just... let her do her thing, okay?"

"Yeah."

/Got it./

As if they were breaking up a team huddle, the three of them stepped back and straightened up, trying to seem as though they hadn't just been secretly discussing their leader behind her back.

But luckily for them, Cinder didn't even seem to notice their presence. She was far too focused on whatever she was typing.

Unfortunately, that was somewhere her teammates would have to intervene.

Since Neo couldn't exactly speak up, and Mercury tended not to think before he spoke, Emerald took the liberty upon herself to get their leader's attention. She stood at the forefront while the other two flanked her from either side. She cleared her throat and tentatively approached their leader.

"Say, uh, Cinder? Got a sec?"

The response was curt and immediate.

"No."

Her tone was flat, an indication that everyone had best keep their distance and not bother her if they wanted to keep all of their bones intact.

Emerald and the others flinched a bit, but they couldn't stop just like that. So the illusionist tried again, a bit more delicately this time.

"I'm sorry. It's just that... we couldn't help noticing... You wouldn't happen to be oh, say... compulsively planning out the very first date you want to go on with this new Ruby girl, hm?"

Cinder didn't even spare a glance at her as she continued tapping on her scroll.

"And what if I am?" she growled. "I'll have everything planned out from beginning to end, just like always. This way I can keep track of and keep control of the situation, and whatever it is we'll be doing at the time."

"Ohh..." Mercury sucked the word in through his teeth. "See, that's where it gets tricky, right? Isn't that... y'know... what you did with aaaaall the other dates? Y'know, the ones that ended badly-"

"Idiot!" Emerald snapped. "Do you want to die?"

As she rounded on him, Cinder's posture straightened up as though a switch had been flicked. She glared daggers at him, and had she not been so intent on typing more of her plans out, she probably would've lunged for his throat. Her eyes alone were enough to silence him before she returned to her task.

Emerald gave him a shove and jabbed her elbow into his gut.

"I thought we were letting me handle this!"

"Ow... yeesh, sorry. Just trying to help."

"Well you're not," she grunted. "So shut your trap before Cinder knocks all your damn teeth out. Or if she doesn't, I will."

Mercury put his hands up in surrender and took a step back. Neo shooed him further away and stuck her tongue out at him.

With her nuisance of a partner now in-check, Emerald turned back to her leader. "Sorry about him. You know what a moron he can be."

"I do," Cinder snapped. "Now, I thought I'd asked you to stop talking. I'm busy."

Emerald swallowed, but didn't lose her cool.

"But Cinder, don't you think Merc might actually have a point? I mean... how many times has all this planning you've done actually born fruit?"

A beat of silence passed, then Cinder lifted her head once again. Instinctively, Emerald jumped back, shielding Neo in the process. But Cinder only attacked with her words.

"All the others were hopeless from the start. This one's different."

The others all shared looks once again. Emerald sighed.

"We know she is, Cinder."

/That's why you should handle it differently./

"Unless you want it to end the same way," Mercury finished.

His comment hadn't been entirely necessary. It could've just been implied and Cinder would've figured it out on her own. But Emerald braced herself once more in case he'd been too blunt, and now they were all going to get a scorching lecture.

But to their astonishment, Cinder's voice remained calm and cool now.

"It won't. It's going to work. I'm making sure of it." She typed something else on her scroll and looked back down. "Now don't make me ask you all again. Be quiet."

It sent a chill up all of their spines, and for a moment, they actually considered retreating. But they couldn't let this happen when they knew Cinder was just going to ensure another unhappy ending for herself. Even though Mercury began to turn away, Neo grabbed him, and Emerald grabbed her.

"No."

Her declaration was a bold one indeed. She was directly disobeying their leader's orders, especially when Cinder was in such a focused and serious state of mind.

Their leader froze in what she was typing, then slowly, threateningly lifted her head. She blinked calmly, her eyes alight with mild interest and less subtle fire.

"What was that?"

Mercury was doing his best to wriggle free and flee for the door, but the girls held fast to him. Emerald cleared her throat and looked Cinder dead in the eye.

"I said no."

She took a step forward, dragging the others along with her. Her boldness rubbed off on Neo, and Neo's rubbed off on Mercury. The three of them advanced on their leader, surrounding her on the edge of the bed. Cinder glared at each of them in turn.

"What is this?"

Mercury sighed and reached down to grab her scroll.

"Em's right," he declared. "We're not going to let this happen to you again." With that, he shut Cinder's scroll, effectively deleting all of her unsaved document.

A sudden flare of heat filled the room, but before Cinder could so much as scream at him, Neo pinned her down by sitting firmly in her lap. She grabbed her leader around the waist and leaned forward in a fierce headbutt to prevent her from moving. Cinder yelped, outraged.

"Why you-!"

"Cinder!"

This time, Emerald held firmly to her leader's shoulders, keeping her from moving (or killing any of them).

All of their combined efforts certainly gained their leader's attention, forcing her to take them seriously. Cinder tried prying Neo off with one hand, but the girl held fast to her. With the other, she rubbed her sore forehead, all while narrowing her eyes at Emerald.

"How dare you three-"

"Cinder, stop," Emerald barked. "Would you please just listen to us? We're trying to help you!"

"She's right," Mercury cut in. "Be honest. How many times have you created a schedule for your dates? News flash: it's every time. And how many times have your dates ended well? Another news flash: it's never."

"Right," Emerald said quickly, before Cinder could refute him. "What is it you look for in a person, Cinder? You like people who can think for themselves, who are independent and spontaneous. And that's Ruby Rose to a T! So why are you already trying to change her, even before you've gone out with her?"

She managed to make the main part of her point, so even if Cinder killed them now, at least they had gotten that far.

But to their surprise, their leader said nothing in response. She closed her lips and the snarl faded, her eyes widening just a bit, as though clarity had struck her. She stopped trying to push Neo off of herself, and her eyes flicked to her now-blank scroll in Mercury's hands, then back to Emerald. She took a deep breath, then let it out.

"What... are you saying?"

The others were almost shocked that she seemed willing to listen to what they had to say now. But they couldn't waste time being dumbfounded. Emerald spoke up right away before Cinder could change her mind.

"Just think about it," she said. "Why is it you like this Ruby girl? Isn't it because she can think for herself? Because she's independent and maybe even a little headstrong?"

"Right," Mercury agreed. "So if you end up planning everything out yourself and taking control over your little... outing, you're going to be taking that independence away from her. Why don't you let her decide what you guys do? Let someone else do the work for once."

"Exactly," Emerald nodded. "You like someone who can be your equal, someone who can take charge just as often as you do. Not someone who just rolls over and listens to everything you say."

At this point, Neo pulled back a little bit and released her hold on her leader so she could sign.

/Let the red girl take charge. Follow her lead for once. If you do that instead of taking on all the responsibility by yourself, we know this one will turn out differently than all the others./

Her pink and brown eyes were sparking earnestly, and when Cinder looked to the others, she saw the same determination on their expressions as well.

Once they'd all said what they'd wanted to, she pondered everything for a long moment.

They all waited, a bit eagerly and a bit nervously, for her response.

At last, their leader let out a long, long sigh. Neo flinched, ready to be thrown across the room, and Emerald and Mercury were ready to bolt-

"Fine."

"...Huh?"

Emerald lowered her arms from where she'd had them crossed in a block before her face, slowly looking back to her leader. Cinder snorted softly.

"Are you all going deaf? I said fine. The three of you... may have a point or two about all of this. So I'll... I'll do as you suggest." Her eyes flicked calmly to the useless scroll. "No more planning. I'll... meet with her and let her take charge. Would that make you all happy?"

The others nodded right away.

"Yes!" Emerald said loudly. "And not only us, Cinder. We think it'd make you happy, too."

The team leader heaved another sigh and ran a hand back through her hair. Though her teammates could be pains in the neck some times, at the end of the day, they truly did care about her. She was thankful for that, though she'd never say it out loud.

"Then there you have it. You've won. Now get off of me so I can get some sleep."

She shooed Neo off, and the girl lightly jumped up and twirled away, glad that their plan had worked. Emerald and Mercury stepped out of the way as Cinder grabbed her red nightgown and disappeared into the bathroom, closing the door behind herself. The others all shared rather triumphant looks with each other.

/I can't believe that worked,/ Neo commented

"Me either," Mercury whistled.

Emerald nudged them each, a satisfied smile on her lips.

"She'll thank us later for sure."

Now all they could do was wait.

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A/N: It was a little bit of a challenge to write this one. I still want Cinder to be a little scary (though she's not evil in this), and I want her to be clearly in charge of her team. But I still wanted to keep it humorous, hence their extreme reactions and fear of her chewing them out. She'd never hurt them (aside from a jab in the gut or something maybe), but she'd probably just yell a lot. Or worse, stay dead silent and her quiet anger would make them super anxious.

Next chapter will be the... attempt at a date (?)