Day 7/30

High noon on a Saturday, and the spring sun was beaming down on the front lawn of the penthouse. It had been converted into a sports field of sorts, with lawn chairs lined up like bleacher seats on one side. An unstable stand made of random boards of wood placed one chair higher than the others, marking it as the referee's perch. Sitting in it was Ren, completely still in fear that it may crumble down from underneath him.

"You okay up there?" Blake called to him from below. She sipped from a cup of tea as he gave her a shaky thumbs up.

"Yeah, sure. Let's go with that."

"Nora should have left the construction part to him," Weiss said. She sat beside Blake, an umbrella opened over her chair. "I doubt that thing will stay upright until the end of the game."

"Well, Nora did say she used a lot of glue."

"Did someone say glue?" Roman interrupted, taking a seat behind the two girls. Neo was with him as well, still distracted by her mobile game. One had to wonder why she showed up to watch the game in the first place.

"Must you sit so close to us?" Weiss answered, with a hint of disgust.

"There aren't many seats here, Princess," the criminal said, propping his feet up on the back of Weiss's chair, "And this one is the best in the house."

"There are five empty chairs over there," Blake pointed out, gesturing to the many open seats to her right.

"Oh, I know. But I think it's much more fun to bother you two while watching everyone else get pummeled by balls. It's a win-win for me."

The last audience member sat down beside Blake. "Hey, long time no talk."

"Oh, hey… Em," Blake thanked nervously, unsure if her name was Emma or Emerald, "How do like that book so far?"

"It's alright. I think the author's lost her touch over the years. Some of the characters seem off."

"Booooring," Roman yawned obnoxiously behind them. The two ninjas glared at him, but he was unfazed. "What? Nobody reads books anymore. Especially the smut you read, Kitty-Cat. That's what the web is for."

Emerald shook her head in disgust. He was almost as piggish as Mercury; at least Merc hadn't tried to slap Cinder's ass like he had. Seeing her boss being taken advantage of due to her lack of powers made Emerald sick. How dare that slime ball disrespect her! If only she had her weapons, then this problem would be over and Cinder would praise her for getting rid of that rat.

Now that she thought about it, it had been a while since Cinder had noticed her aside from the explanation yesterday. She was beginning to miss that attention. Maybe she'd visit her after the game was done. Yeah. Definitely had to say hello, at least. Possibly even ask her to watch some TV with her late tonight. They show a lot of romance movies then…

"You okay?" Blake waved her hand over Emerald's face, breaking her from her fantasies, "You zoned out there for a bit. Game's starting."

"Huh?" Emerald blinked, still slow to return to reality, "Oh, yeah. Straight as a line."

"Straight as a line… That's a new one."

Putting Em's strange word choice to aside, Blake focused her attention to the players walking onto the field. There were nine in total, divided into three groups. Of course, she was rooting for the team made up of Ruby, Yang, and Sun. Nora, Pyrrha and Jaune were another team, obviously; seeing them split apart would be a baffling sight. The last group consisted of Cinder, Mercury, and the Lieutenant: a dangerous combination.

"Okay, everyone," Ren announced to the players, "I'll be the referee of this game. I want this to be a fair, safe, and enjoyable experience for all of you, so please try to be respectful of the rules."

Rolling her eyes, Cinder spotted the reason for her being here in the seats. Torchwick noticed her seeing him, and winked at her as he pointed down at his pocket. There was only one thing that could be in there, and she was going to gut him if he even dared try to pull it out and read it to someone. Once she won this ridiculous game, she was probably going to do that anyways.

"Get on with it, Ren!" Nora shouted with excitement, "I wanna lay the smack down on these guys!"

Laughing, Yang taunted at Nora with her finger. "Don't get too cocky over there! Me and my sis are unstoppable!"

"Yeah!" Ruby cheered, throwing her fist in the air, "We're the best!"

"I'm here too, you know…" Sun tried to add in, but was overshadowed by the sister's overwhelming confidence.

Groaning, Ren continued. "The rules are simple. All teams will attempt to eliminate the others until one is left standing. Only one member of each team needs to remain to be victorious. A player is eliminated the moment they are struck by any of the available objects. Catching an object thrown at you will not result in an elimination, for either the catcher or the thrower. Hitting your own teammate will result in an elimination, so aim carefully. The winning team will be treated to a personal 3-course meal, made by myself. Now, if the teams will each stand in their respective spots, we can begin."

Taking their positions, the competitors looked at their ammunition. This game wasn't so much dodgeball as it was dodge whatever is thrown at you. Yes, there were some balls in there, but there was also pies, buckets, trash can lids, and brooms to be used.

"This must be what you meant by 'Super-Ultimate-Crazy', huh?" Jaune asked Nora, who answered with only a maniacal grin. That only assured him that he was probably going to get hurt more than he wanted to be.

"On my mark," Ren announced, raising his arm. Everyone eyed their weapon of choice, and got into a running position.

"Don't screw this up, you two," Cinder said to her teammates, "Make it a quick victory."

"Whatever you say, boss."

"I'll make Adam proud."

"And go!"

The second Ren threw his arm down, all nine players sprinted towards the center of the field. Being the fastest and smallest out of everyone, Ruby was the first to reach the ammo. She launched a ball at Nora, who caught it and threw it right back.

"Get down!" Yang tackled her sister to the ground, letting Sun catch the ball as it zoomed over her. The Faunus grinned, throwing the ball up and whacking it with his tail.

"I got it!" Pyrrha called out, leaping up to catch it before it went out of bounds. Underneath her, Jaune was digging through the pile of objects for something he could use well. The red-head noticed, and tossed the ball at him. "Jaune! Have this!"

"Wha-

*WHAM!*

Unfortunately, Pyrrha forgot to add 'catch' to her sentence. The ball bounced off Jaune's face, and he fell backwards into the ammo pile.

"Jaune has been eliminated by… Pyrrha?" Ren announced, surprised by his own call.

Pyrrha covered her mouth in shock, kneeling down by Jaune. "I-I'm sorry! I thought you would catch it!"

"I can't feel my face…" Jaune muffled from within the pile.

"Tough luck there!" Mercury said, wielding a pie in his hand. He threw it like a Frisbee at Nikos, who rolled out of the way at the last second. Grabbing a trash can lid in one arm, Pyrrha deflected an incoming ball that had been chucked at her by Cinder. Nora slid up beside her, holding a shovel.

"It's just us now Pyrrha!" Nora grinned, "We'll avenge Jaune, even though you took him out yourself!"

"I'm not sure if that was encouragement or an insult…"

Suddenly, the two girls were attacked from both sides. Ruby and Yang came at them with a rake and boxing gloves, respectively.

"En garde!" Ruby shouted as she crossed gardening tools with Nora. She wielded the rake as if it were Crescent Rose, twirling and spinning it in an effort to break Nora's defense. Nearby, Yang pounded down on Pyrrha's shield, leaving big dents in it with her fists.

"You can't hold up forever!" Xiao Long said as she continued her flurry of punches. What she didn't notice was Cinder approaching behind her with a ball in her hand. Pyrrha did, however, and made a sudden push upwards with her trash can lid. The momentum knocked Yang off her feet, and she tumbled back into the incoming ball.

*WHACK!*

"Yang has been eliminated by Cinder!"

"Noooo!" Speeding away from her duel with Nora, Ruby caught Yang before she hit the ground. "Sis! I need you!"

"Go on… without me…" Yang caressed her sister's face, hamming it up for effect, "I'll always… love you…"

"I will win this for you! I swear upon-

*WHACK!*

The pie slid off Ruby's face, as the girl tried to comprehend what just happened. Luckily, Ren was there to tell her.

"Ruby has been eliminated by Nora!"

"Aw, poop."

Across the playing field, Mercury was currently engaged in a heated showdown with Sun. Having found two foam dart guns in the pile, they had decided to test out their marksmanship skills on each other. Sun had the advantage due to his natural Faunus abilities, and was easily evading all of Mercury's shots.

"Out of bullets yet?" Sun asked in mid backflip.

"I only need one shot for you!" Mercury retorted, taking aim and smirking as he saw Cinder coming up on the monkey from behind with a ball in hand.

"I have you now," Cinder said, throwing her best fast-ball.

But it wasn't fast enough. Sun did his best limbo lean as the ball flew over his face and struck Mercury where it hurt the most.

"Mercury has been eliminated by Cinder!" Ren said, "Another victim to friendly fire!"

Seething, Cinder stomped her foot on the ground as Sun gave her a thumbs up. "Thanks, Cinder! You're the best!"

Fall was beginning to lose her patience now. Victory was not completely out of reach, but one more mistake could lead to her most personal thoughts being revealed to the entire-

"TRAITOR!"

Spinning around, Cinder saw the Lieutenant standing over the wincing Mercury. In dramatic fashion, he tossed his garbage can lid and dart gun to the ground and pulled a broom from his back. He twirled it in a series of sick spins before pointing it at Cinder.

"Oh, you've got to be kidding me!" Cinder groaned as the big guy roared and charged at her. He swung madly at her as the audience looked on with confusion.

"Is this really happening?" Weiss asked, to nobody in particular.

"If that oaf even touches Cinder, I'm going to hurt him," Emerald added in.

Roman was the only one applauding the Lieutenant's ridiculous assault. "This just keeps getting better and better! Aim for the head!"

Cinder heard the crook's cheering, and it only made her angrier. In an instant, she reached up and grabbed the Lieutenant's wrists in her hands. She looked him dead in the mask as she thrust her knee into his gut. As he dropped his broom, Cinder caught it and spun around to block Nora's shovel from coming down on her.

"Nice block!" Nora smiled, "But can you block both of us?"

Gasping, Cinder arched her back as Pyrrha jabbed at her with a baseball bat. She made a quick escape, and let Nora's last swing come down on the Lieutenant's head.

"The Lieutenant has been eliminated by Nora!"

"Good riddance," Cinder mumbled as Nora and Nikos approached her. Taking a defensive stance, she prepared to defend herself until she saw Roman stand up. He smiled at her as he pulled her little black book out and opened it up. Even if Cinder managed to win, he would still claim the ultimate victory over her.

"Hey, ladies!" Torchwick announced to the audience, "Wanna hear a good story?"

"NO!"

That was it. The last straw.

Dashing forward, Cinder set her sights on the crook. As Nora swung down at her with her shovel, she leaped onto its spade and used it to boost her ascension. The girls watched as she went over top of them and into the seats. Torchwick was too shocked to move as the broom handle came straight towards his face.

*WHAM!*

"Cinder has been eliminated for going out of bounds! " Ren said, peering down into the seats. "And can someone please check on Roman? I think he may have a concussion."

Standing over the unconscious Roman, Cinder bent down to retrieve her precious diary. Neo looked up at her, and shrugged; she might be Roman's partner, but she knew when he should get what was coming to him. Besides, there was no point in trying to get revenge when she could just keep playing her game. Satisfied, Cinder dusted herself off and turned to leave.

"Worth it."

Confused, Nora and Pyrrha watched her walk away. "So… Do we win?"

*WHACK-WHAM!*

Two balls bounced off the back of the girls' heads. Surprised, they spun around to see a smiling Sun standing victorious.

"Not today, ladies."

"Dear Diary,

Today was surprisingly entertaining. Valkyrie's game of dodgeball turned out to be a rewarding experience. Though I didn't win, I still managed to get you back safe and sound which was all that mattered.

Ren cooked a bountiful meal for the winning team, though Rose was generous enough to share leftovers with myself and the other participants today. She's a simple soul, just as Salem described her. It's almost unfortunate that I will have to eliminate her once my time in this house has ended. Plans are plans, though.

I do not think Roman will be antagonizing me anytime soon. While we watched television tonight, Emerald pledged to keep a watchful eye over him while in their room to ensure he has no more tricks up his sleeve. I really should pay her is some way. She's the closest thing to a friend I have here.

But, I feel that is all I have to say for today. Maybe tomorrow I will try and sing again, in a more secluded spot this time. Eventually, I will be ready to do so in front of others if anyone hear is willing to listen. I am sure Emerald will, but I have this odd feeling that makes me wish others would care to see my talent.

Until Tomorrow,

Cinder Fall.

PS: Zwei is looking at me right now. So cute!