Blake walked slowly through the street. Her head hung low, and she couldn't believe what she had done. She was ashamed of it, and she hoped that her friends would be able to forgive her. She hadn't meant to do any of it. Not really.

Several cars drove past on the street, and a few people passed her by, talking among themselves. Her hand instinctively went to her head, making sure that the bow there was secure, and doing its job to conceal what she considered her most valuable secret. It was, and she let out a sigh of relief. It was horrible that she had to, but she knew the kind of treatment she would get if she didn't.

Distant sirens began to ring out through the streets, being more clearly picked up by the ear on the top of her head. The second one, the one that had been injured by Ruby, didn't pick much sound up anymore. It simply didn't have the structure to. The wound had healed over now, though, and it didn't hurt, so she wasn't too concerned about it. She was thinking of other things.

What was the siren for? Her mind immediately jumped to the worst possible conclusion, and brought memories back of the reports of Menagerie. Had they heard similar alarms before they had been taken?

Her step started to quicken, and before she knew it, she was starting to run. Her boots pounded against the sidewalk, and her arms pumped at her side. She passed the group of humans who had passed her earlier, and heard them asking the same kinds of questions she was.

Blake had to get back to the others. If there was anyone that she could count on to have her back, even in the case of a demonic invasion, it was them. She'd trusted them with her biggest secret, and they hadn't told anyone that she didn't trust. She's fight for them, and they'd fight for her. They were the closest thing to a family she'd ever had. At least, almost. There were some others that she had gotten close to, but she didn't think of Adam as family. Not anymore.

When she got close to the campus, the ringing from the generators started to penetrate her ears again, and she flinched involuntarily as she passed by them. Many Huntsmen and Huntresses were depositing their weapons in the generators, and removing them systematically, inspecting them for new properties. A few undead oversaw the process, making sure that none completed the process incorrectly. Blake wondered if students were going to have to do that, or if it would be only the adults. She even saw a few teachers among the ones circled around the generator, and felt her heart sink. Was it really going to be bad enough that teachers were needed to fight?

Still, the calm that the Hunters seemed to be in seemed to suggest that whatever was going on wasn't too immediate. That did a little to set Blake's nerves at ease, but she was still nervous. Something bad was happening if the sirens were going off. They normally only went off if the perimeters of the city were breached, like when the White Fang had rammed a train into the city.

Team RWBY had done quite a bit to suppress that incident, and they had all been given a fairly large amount of extra credit. Blake wasn't thinking about classes as she ran, though. Instead she was thinking about how to fight a demon. If her experience with Nora was anything to judge by, the only thing that she could say about it was "don't".

She readied her scroll and held it up as she bust through the door, unlocking just a split second before she impacted. She charged up the stairs, running past a few people as she did so, and finally came to their room. She fumbled with the scroll for a few seconds, trying to get the door unlocked, before finally it clicked, and she barged inside. "Guys, something is happening!"

She waited a few seconds for an answer, but when none came, she looked further inside. It didn't seem that there was anybody home. She stepped further into the room, and he suspicion was confirmed. It was empty, except for her. Her hands went back to her scroll almost instantly, and almost before she was aware of what she was doing, Ruby's face was on her screen, the small text reading "Dialing" as she waited.

She put it up to her ear, but started to hear noise from the hall again. Someone was opening a door, and their scroll was ringing. It was the same song Ruby had set hers to play when receiving a call. Blake narrowed her eyes, and stepped out into the hall, finding Naze's door open, and Ruby stepping out, rubbing her eyes and yawning. She spoke to someone Blake couldn't see, saying, "I didn't fall asleep! I was just resting!"

She sounded annoyed, and as Blake stepped towards her to speak, Yang's voice came from inside the room. "Sure you didn't. You were just snoring to try and trick us, right?" The voice was accompanied by Yang's hand, which came out from the door and ruffled Ruby's hair. Yang stepped out into the hall, and seemed happy.

Blake was about to speak when a third voice, one she didn't recognize, said, "Now Yang, don't pick on Ruby. You saw how hard she was working out there."

It sounded feminine, a little like Ruby's, only a tad deeper and with a slight twang of an accent. Blake didn't know who it could belong to, but didn't quite care at the moment. There were more important things to worry about. "Ruby! Where's Weiss? We need to get together, something bad is happening!"

Ruby looked back at Blake, shocked, and Yang turned to face her. "Huh? What's going on? We weren't gone for too long, were we? And where did you go earlier?"

Blake shook her head, and shook her head dismissively. "None of that matters. The sirens started going off, and I don't know why. Something is up, and obviously we need to get out there!"

A pause settled over the small group, and all of them that Blake could see tilted their heads to listen. The sirens were louder at the school, and cut across the faint sounds of the city easily. Ruby and Yang's eyes widened, and they started to react. Before they could do anything, though, someone else stepped out from Naze's room. Blake had never seen the woman before, but the first thing that stuck her was how similar to Ruby she looked. A similar face, similar body structure, and the same kind of garb.

The white hood the woman wore reminded Blake of the Priests from the Order of the Holy Light, but lacked any of the golden hems or holy trinkets that would come with it. Her hair, the same black-red color as Ruby's, went down to her shoulders, and looked rather bedraggled, like it hadn't been cared for in a long time.

She wondered who the woman was, and why she was inside Naze's room. It was only a few brief seconds before she started taking large, sweeping steps down the hallway towards the exit. As she did so, she looked over her shoulder at the children, saying, "Come on, we have to hurry!"

As they moved, Blake felt her scroll start to buzz in her hand. She looked down at it, and was vaguely aware of her friends doing the same. A text message from the school administration itself, reading "Attention all students: you are required to return to your dormitories or, if you are in a school building, to stay inside until someone comes to retrieve you. Thank you."

The four of them pounded on, heedless of the school's warning. Whatever was going on, it was their duty to help. As they went, Blake made sure to keep a close eye on the woman, and found that she was starting to tilt her head to the side, like she was listening to something. Yang had done the same kind of thing when she had first come back from the dead. The woman also seemed to move with the same kind of strange heaviness that Yang had gained after dying.

As she continued to stare at the woman, she noticed that she wasn't breathing either. Blake felt somewhat shocked by the fact that whoever this woman was, she appeared to be dead. She had come out of Naze's room, but still, she didn't look dead. A niggling little suspicion started to work in Blake's brain, and she slowly looked over to Ruby.

Her chest was heaving, and her limbs almost seemed to be lagging behind the rest of her, showing that she was already exhausted. Blake didn't know what was going on, but obviously something big had happened. She doubted that it had anything to do with the sirens, though.

Yang was tilting her head as well, also listening in to whatever it was that only the undead could hear. Blake wished that she was able to hear it too, but before they had even reached the front door of the building, Yang turned to her and started to speak.

"Alright, Blake, this is going to sound a little crazy, but I think you're going to have to hear this. You know how that guy who used to run a lot of the White Fang got arrested a while back, right?" Blake nodded. She hated to think of Adam like that, but he had gone off the deep end when he had been willing to murder. She'd had to cut off her ties with him. She hoped dearly that no one had found out about the ties she had tried so hard to cover up.

Yang continued, saying, "Well something happened to him, and now he's, uh…" Yang's voice tempered off as the group came to the door and exited back out into the streets, but Blake's worry only grew.

She was quick to ask, "What happened? Does Ada-" she caught herself "Does that guy have anything to do with the alarm?"

Yang bit her lip, then nodded. "Well, you see, apparently something happened with a demon, and now he's free. Naze says that he's already killed a few people, and now he's just disappeared. Summer here is supposed to be in charge of the undead people protecting the city, and so we're going to help her get this guy under control."

Lake raised an eyebrow, and looked to the woman. "Summer? You mean that's…" Her mind clicked the pieces into place, and she was about to say something to the woman when she looked over her shoulder and locked eyes with Blake.

"Yes, I'm Ruby's mother, but we'll talk about that later. Right now I need to know, you're Blake Belladonna, correct?" Blake nodded, and Summer gave out a small sigh. "Very well. I'm very sorry to do this, but I need your help if this is going to work. I don't want to place your life at risk, but I'm afraid if you agree, you will be putting yourself in considerable danger. Are you willing to help?"

Blake thought for a brief moment. She was no coward, but she didn't know if she wanted to face Adam down again. She'd left him the first time, and she wasn't sure that he would be as willing to let her go a second time. Now that he had a demon inside of him, there was no telling what he might do. Nora had kidnapped Ren, so it wasn't too difficult something similar could happen to her.

"Do you have a plan? I wouldn't be going in on my own, right?"

Summer's pace slowed slightly, which made it easier to talk. "No, I have a plan. Other undead should be looking for him now, and once they find him, we can move to action. My plan is fairly simple. Naze has told me that he's been chosen by the demon lord of rage as a champion. He's already killed several, and will likely not stop. This is why we need you. He will be hesitant to attack you, and you may have a chance to talk him down before he takes any more lives. If you do, you might be able to turn his ire against the demons who overtook Menagerie, and lessen the burden on the rest of the world. If he fights them, the damage he does will be significant, and the damage he receives will likely take him out of the equation. It may not be a pretty solution, but for the rest of the living and uncorrupted, it is the least damaging."

Blake looked down towards the ground. It felt wrong to do something like this, but it was clear that the options available to them were limited. It was either she throw aside her reservation, or the city suffer more casualties in trying to bring Adam down. She closed her eyes, clutching her fists tightly shut and saying, "Fine, I'll do it. Just tell me where he is, and I'll go."

Summer gave a small, sad smile, and said, "Thank you. It's a lot to ask, I know, but you can give us the advantage we need."

Blake wasn't happy about it, but she knew it was the best thing she could do. If Adam was really simply killing people now, it was the only thing to do. He was normally so coolheaded and down to earth, but obviously that wasn't the case anymore.

Summer continued to move, speaking over her shoulder as she did so, "You three should stay here, at the school. It's safer here, and you'll be easier to contact than if you simply go out on your own. I can make sure that there is fast transport when we do find him, and then it should be simple enough to try this plan."

She stopped, and the three teens looked at the older woman, none of them looking like they liked the idea of waiting behind. Summer remembered the way she had been when she was at their age, and how restless she had always been in the face of action. Even Ruby looked like she wanted to go with her, and help in every way she could, despite the fact that she was having trouble simply keeping her eyes open. It was good to see that they wanted to help so much, but they needed to stay back. It wasn't for long, just long enough for her to figure out a plan. It had always been easy for her plan, but now things would depend on a different lynchpin than she was used to. She had always been good at predicting the actions and movements of Grimm, not the emotional responses of people.

But in an event that slightly surprised her, Yang and Ruby stepped forward, wrapping their arms around her in a hug. She returned the hug, then said. "Thank you. I know waiting will be hard, but you have to do it. There's no other way that I want to do it."

Her children bid farewell, and started to return to their room. She wished that she had been told what was going on before she had started to lead them out, but Naze had not shared the information fast enough. Now she was left alone to organize the effort that would take Adam down.

The first step was to spread shades over the majority of the city. There was already a good spread, but there were significant gaps in surveillance. Issuing orders with her mind was strange at first, but it was soon that she was looking through the eyes of shades and speaking to them without hesitation. If this was what Naze felt like all the time, she was slightly jealous.

She was also in contact with the risen undead from the area, and told them to gather at Beacon. They started to obey instantly, although she had to do some explaining as to who she was and why she was giving them orders. Eventually all who were to be under her command were convinced of the truth of her words, after Naze said a few things to support her story.

In the real world, she was simply standing stock still, eyes closed, leaning against a building, but her mind was stretched to what felt like her limit. It took a huge amount of mental strength to keep everything in line, but eventually, other warriors showed up beside her. When Naze said that he would manage the shades for her, it came as a godsend, and she almost collapsed to the ground as her mind snapped back to her.

When she picked herself back up, she found that the warriors she had summoned had actually gathered around her, and were waiting for her command. She had known that they were getting around her, but she had not considered how that would look.

As it turned out, most of them had been preserved fairly well. Some were in states of serious decay, but most were simply fine. Paler than a normal person, and with a few grievous wounds that Summer assumed had caused their deaths, but nothing that would impede their function too much.

With Naze handling the shades, she was free to spend some time with her new troops. She thought she found a few faces she recognized, and started to talk with them, waiting, just like she was sure her children were doing.

Shades flew all across the city, systematically searching every crevasse that would be easily missed by the living searchers. They were able to get in harder to reach places, and searched far more efficiently. Naze saw the vision of each one, and directed its actions in accordance to what Summer wanted. A grid search pattern, sweeping the whole city. He wouldn't escape, and he wouldn't be hidden for long. It was simply a matter of time before he was found.

As it turned out, hiding was not one of the rage demon's strong suits. A strong source of demonic power proved to be just what he thought it was, and a shade rounded a corner to find the man standing, staring at the shade as if he could really see it.

Naze suspected that he could, seeing as demons gave their followers many kinds of powers. The ability to see what most people simply could not wasn't too outlandish.

The two simply stared at each other for a few seconds, then Adam lunged out, hands reaching towards the shade like he meant to tear it limb from limb. An animalistic cry escaped his mouth, and before the shade could even react, his fists caught its smoky form, pulling its power apart. Naze was quick to jerk the shade back, melding into the wall to escape further damage from the man.

A few more blows fell against the stone wall, knocking large chunks off and sending cracks through much of the area surrounding the impact spot.

Naze communicated Adam's location to Summer, and she was quick to move into action. She selected a few of the more apt fighters from her available heroes, and sent for Blake to be retrieved. A car had been "appropriated" some time ago, so it wouldn't take long for Blake to reach the nearest sewer access point.

Ruby and Yang were sure to come with her, and Summer knew that there was nothing she could do to keep them away. She would just have to be sure to keep them safe. She climbed into a car too, and set off to meet the few she had chosen for the mission. It only took a few minutes, a welcome change from simply waiting around for Adam to be found.

She tried her best to fully pull her consciousness back to her body, but found that it was difficult to disentangle her thoughts from those of the people she had contacted. Making use of these mental capabilities was like using a muscle she had never exercised. Perhaps she would become more adept in time.

That would be a different time though, as she climbed out of her car and looked to the manhole cover that would bring them closest to Adam. Another car pulled up, and Blake, accompanied by Yang and Ruby, exited the car. The other undead she had brought with her made ready, taking their weapons out and readying themselves for as much of a battle as they could. Summer walked towards them, and tried to order her thoughts in her mind.

"Blake, I'm sorry, but you'll have to go in first. You should go in alone, but you should be ready to escape. All I can tell you is to be ready for anything. There's no predicting how Adam might react."

Blake sighed, then nodded. "You're right. I'll go in."

She started towards the hole, but before she reached it, Yang put a hand out onto her shoulder. "Hey, Blake, be careful in there. We'll be right out here, you know."

Blake nodded again, and continued towards the hole. She lifted off the cover and climbed down, taking care to make sure her feet fell quietly on the cement. There were no lights in the dark tunnels, but her Faunus eyes made short work of that issue. As it was, she was aware of almost everything around her.

A distant pounding made her ear twitch beneath her bow, and her head turn in the direction of its origin. She couldn't tell what its cause was, but she was sure that she could guess as to who was making it.

She started to creep in its direction, and put one hand down on the hilt of Gambol Shroud. If Adam was affected by a rage demon, he was bound to have a few anger issues. She would have to walk on eggshells around him, if he would end up listening at all. She hoped dearly that he wouldn't simply outright attack her. The two had shared a lot of good times, memories that she didn't want to spoil. He hadn't always been bad, he was just misguided. Like the rest of the White Fang.

Her steps barely made any noise, bouncing off the curved walls for only a few feet, but even so, Adam heard them before he could see her. His voice cut through the soft silence like the blade he had always carried, saying in a dark, angry voice, "Who's there? Come out, or I'll kill you!"

Blake was taken aback by the aggressive sharp edge to his voice, but called out. "It's me, Blake. Please, I just want to talk."

There were a few moments of silence, in which Blake's ears were straining to catch anything they could. Nothing particularly notable came forth, then Adam spoke again. "Blake? Is that really you? What are you doing here? I thought you had left me!"

She knew that she had to be very careful with how she responded. He had outright threatened her life, even without knowing who she was. That was something she had never heard him do before. It certainly did mark a difference in the way that he was acting.

"Adam, listen; I did, but do you remember why? I left because I thought you were getting too violent. I mean, you were becoming the monster that humans thought Faunus were. Playing right into their hands, basically."

She heard him start to growl angrily, and felt the color drain from her face. She wasn't done saying what she wanted, and hurriedly finished.

"But now I see what you were trying to do. Peace didn't work, so violence was the only option. I agree, but I think there are other people who need to face justice. Humans are at fault, but we can't persecute them first. Instead, we should go after the things that stole Menagerie from the Faunus. Demons, corrupting people and stealing their souls. It's the only way to make sure justice comes out of this."

Adam rolled what his old partner said around in his head. He wasn't sure he agreed. Humans were at fault, not demons. It was only a few seconds, however, before the bellowing voice shouted inside of his cranium again. "Yes! Cramus is a weakling, and deserves to be destroyed first! The girl speaks true, listen to her, and do a she says! Cramus will not have the blood of this earth!"

It shocked Adam how loud it was, and he fell to his knees, grunting. It almost knocked the wind out of him, and he slowly pulled himself back to his feet. He heard Blake asking in the distance, "Are you alright? Should I come other there?"

His response was swift. "No! I'm fine. Stay where you are, I'm coming to you."

He walked, his feet hitting heavily on the ground as he did so. He had started to grow tired, but started to invigorate himself with thought. If he was going to meet her, he would have to be stronger. He didn't want to appear weak.

As he walked, the slight limp that had started to settle in one leg started to vanish. It seemed that his body hadn't completely resisted damage from his encounter with Ironwood's guards, but he had ignored the little amount that he had taken. It had healed quickly, any was just now starting to mend completely.

Soon Blake started to come into his view, and he felt a soothing presence as he confirmed to himself that she was fine, uninjured and healthy. He had been fearing over his days in his cell that something terrible had happened to her, and that she might have been injured, or worse, dead. The life of a Huntress was dangerous, and for a Faunus one even more so.

Their eyes locked, and he noticed the look on her face. Anxious, full of trepidation and perhaps a small amount of fear. It wasn't how he had imagined their reunion would go, but it was something, at least.

He rushed towards her, a tad faster than he had meant to, and snatched her up in a hug that was tight enough to crack a lesser person's ribs. She gave a muffled squeal, pushing weakly against him, struggling to breathe. At least, it felt like she was pushing weakly. When he looked at her, it appeared that she was trying hard to escape his bear hug.

He let her go, and she took a few deep, gasping breaths before taking a small step back and looking back up at Adam's face. He was smiling, but the magic of seeing Blake again was starting to wear off. He was scaring her, he suddenly realized, and took a quick step back, feeling several emotions claw their way into his mind. Shame was one, he should've known not to do something like that. Another was longing, he had been alone for so long, he just wanted to talk to someone. He needed to talk to someone, and the voices in his head were remarkably poor conversationalists.

The biggest, though, was anger. He knew that he shouldn't feel anger towards her, but he did. Why was she so afraid? He had never done anything but care about her, and now she was spitting in his face. He took a deep breath, trying to control the feeling. It wasn't her fault. She couldn't help it. He was much more powerful now, it was natural that she would be intimidated.

When the feeling started to die down, he felt more confident in his ability to speak without putting her off more. "It's good to see you again. I've been looking forward to this for a long time."

Blake still looked rather on edge, rubbing her arms where Adam had compressed them, before speaking. "Yeah, and I looked forward to you getting out. Anyways, you know what I'm talking about, right? After you left, Cinder lead the White Fang, and ended up getting most of them possessed by demons. Now they work for her, and are going to try to get the rest of the world under her control."

Adam's blood was boiling almost immediately again. Cinder was leading the White Fang? His White Fang? A filthy human?

It was difficult to keep from pounding a fist into the wall again, but he knew that for Blake's sake he had to refrain. "Cinder took control of the White Fang?" His voice was barely even, and the anger behind it threatened to boil over at any moment. Luckily enough, it didn't.

Blake nodded again, and spoke hesitantly. "Yeah, she did. Then she took over Menagerie. So, what I suggested before is that you go there, kill her first, then you can do whatever else it is that you want, right? I mean, of all the humans out there, Cinder deserves the worst, right?"

She didn't seem convinced of her own words, like she was speaking on somebody else's behalf. His Lord had commanded that he do as she said, but now he was suspicious. Maybe everything was not as good as it had seemed. "Blake, what's wrong? You don't seem alright. Is something the matter? Do you need help?"

Blake took another step back, but this time Adam followed. If someone was forcing her to say these things, he wanted to know. Nothing would happen to her as long as he was around, so she had nothing to worry about. If she needed someone dead, they would be.

She shook her head, and stepped back again. Again Adam followed, now closer than he had been before. He also reached forward to take one of Blake's hands in his, trying to show his sincerity. "If someone is trying to play you, just tell me. I've been locked up for who knows how long, and I'm out of the loop. I trust you, now you need to trust me."

A tear started to fall from Blake's eye, but she quickly wiped it away. She was starting to shudder, and her speech was becoming garbled. "Adam, please, don't make this any harder than it has to be. Just do like I say, because I'm telling you, this is the way it has to be!"

Adam jolted as some semblance of his sane mind returned, and took in the situation. Blake was crying, because he had hurt her. Not only emotionally, but perhaps physically as well. Bruises were starting to form on her arms. She didn't deserve that. She wasn't a human, and she was his friend. He shouldn't have done that.

He took a few slow steps away from Blake as he realized what he had almost dragged her into. She was against violence, and here he was hoping that she would join him in a genocide against humans. He was losing it.

He shook his head a few times in an attempt to clear it, then started to run in the opposite direction. He heard Blake call out after him, but he didn't respond. He couldn't. Not if there was the risk of hurting her again. He would have to do this on his own, without her. It was going to be hard, but she was right. Cinder deserved to die the most. He would be the instrument of bloody justice.

But how was he going to reach her? Blake had said that she had taken all of Menagerie for herself, and made everyone there to serve her. Thousands lived in that city, and it was almost unimaginable that they would all bend a knee to her like that. She had a huge force at her disposal, and all Adam had was himself.

That was alright, though. He was strong enough that he had confidence. If it required slaughtering his way through thousands, he would do it. They deserved nothing less, for serving such a horrible wench. Then he would be able to focus on humanity.

Their time was over as well.

When Blake climbed back out of the hole, it was clear that her encounter had shaken her up beyond what she had been ready for. Summer had heard some of it from the opening, but she looked forward to Blake's full account.

Once she had given it, none of those present knew what to say. It appeared that Adam had agreed, but fled at the same time. They had expected to have to bring him under control until the time came for him to do his task.

Blake seemed to believe that he would restrain himself from any more killing until then, but none of the others seemed to agree. Summer herself found it hard to believe that one chosen by the demon of rage and bloodlust would be able to contain himself for very long. She made sure to have shades stalk him, ensuring that he was committing no further violence.

Ten, as Blake finished her story, the sound of the sirens retook their dominance over the air, as if to remind them that they had still not succeeded. Blake had allowed him to escape when they had to capture him.

"No, please, just let him go. Someone is going to get hurt if you go after him again!" She tried to convince Summer that he deserved freedom, but she could not allow herself to be swayed. He had already killed several, and couldn't be given the opportunity to continue. It pained her to do, but she had to refuse Blake, and continue the hunt.

"I'm sorry, Blake, but we have to do this. There is simply no other choice. I know you care about him, but this is how it has to be." Blake didn't look at all comforted by the mother's words, so she tried switching gears. "We will do our best to keep from injuring him, and make sure that he isn't mistreated while being held, alright? Now, you should probably go back to your dorm. I'm afraid you've done all you can."

Yang and Ruby both looked about as sad as Blake, but Summer had to send them away as well. If there was going to be a battle, then there would be no place for children, even Hunters in training.

When the car carrying her children and their friend left, she made sure to watch it go. She was dead now, so there was little risk that anything Adam could do would do any real damage to her or her small team. They would have to hurry if they wanted to catch him before he struck again, though. She was sure that it was only a matter of time until he did.

Cinder's eyes opened, and she felt like she had woken up from a dream. A wonderful, entirely perverse dream. As she looked around her, taking stock of her surroundings, she came to realize that the dream had been entirely real.

Menagerie burned, and crowds of churning bodies filled what was left of the streets. As far as the eye could see, her master's domain had become clear, giving the mortals below everything that they could want for. The acrid sweet scent of pleasure wafted around the air, caressing Cinder's sensitive skin. She felt the way each individual strand of hair was disturbed by the light breeze, and sighed as her thoughts turned to what she felt.

Pleasure, yes, but that was a constant now. Her normal feeling was one so intense that it would reduce a regular human to a twitching mess. It was a different feeling, and one that she found much less enjoyable.

It was not want, it was need. Though, with the drives her maser had given her, those two were almost the same. No, it was something other than desire. She needed to do something, but what?

She looked out from the collapsed room, wondering. Things were going so well, so what was it she needed?

The answer came when she thought of what was not yet perfect. There wasn't much, but if she had to chose one thing, it was that her master was not here, in the flesh.

Something like that would never really happen, but she could do the best she could. An incarnation of her master, an avatar, could be brought about. Perhaps she could even be the one to ascend to such an illustrious position. To become so close to her master would feel better than anything she had experienced before. It was her destiny, it had to be. But how would she do it?

She knew that her lord needed someone to serve as an avatar, and she was only the natural choice.

As Cinder pulled herself from the bed, her dress hung loosely around her frame. It had fit so well once, but not anymore. Now she kept it only as a reminder of the days before she'd had her lord. She had been so concerned with things like power, or money. She had never really known how simple the world was, how she had overcomplicated everything. Life really was simple, with only one goal; to feel good.

It was the only thing worth pursuing, and she had made excellent progress towards it. But she could still feel the capacity for more. There was more room in her soul for pleasure, and she needed to fill it, until there was no possible way she could take more.

She walked over to the edge of the room that looked out over what remained of the city, and looked down. The dizzying height might've made her stomach churn before, but now it was like nothing. Without hesitation, she dropped off the side, and used her immense dexterity to guide her descent. She took a hold of the wall with both her feet and her hands, using joints that had been gained only recently, her strong bone and muscle preventing the stress from doing any damage.

The feeling of the concrete and steel sliding through her hands was a new one, and she relished it for every second that she experienced it. The skin that went against the concrete should have been torn apart without much resistance, but she was stronger than that now.

A small ledge approached quickly, but Cinder was ready for it. She pushed off the side of the building, then managed to guide herself back to the side. The ground quickly approached, and she clamped harder down on the wall to slow herself more.

When she hit the ground, the pavement cracked beneath her, and a small cloud of dust was thrown free. Her body wasn't damaged, though. Her legs straightened, and she stood straight again. She would make her way to the rift, and contact her master there. It was only a few minutes away, and she was patient enough to walk the way.

As she went, voices raised from all around, welcoming their mistress back from her slumber. She didn't respond, she had more important things to do. Millions of people had felt her master's gift now, and she could feel all of them, in a strange kind of way. It was like a small piece of her brain had formed only to share the sensations that her followers accrued. She loved it, of course. She could feel the pounding pressure from the millions, and she did her best to feel every piece.

It did a good job of distracting her for the rest of the walk, and when she came into the range of the rift, she could feel the change in the air. Everything felt sharper, and Cinder's skin tickled as she stepped over the gravel beneath her feet. All around her, people were indulging in whatever they wanted, fulfilling their deepest desires.

It was commonplace now, to do that around the rift. The reason was simply that everything was more intense under the gaze of their lord. Cinder walked past them, though, not caring to join or watch. Her matter was much more important than that.

The huge red orb hovered about thirty feet off the ground, and demons poured from it regularly. The light it threw off was bright, and welcoming, sometimes pulsing like a heartbeat. Shacks had been erected around it, and many people lived in awe of the thing, not doing anything but sitting in their homes and gazing at it. Sometimes corpses had to be removed of people who had starved to death after getting lost in its gentle majesty.

As Cinder approached, a gathering started to form behind her, people following, knowing that she was about to speak with their lord. When she reached the side of the rift and stopped, the people fell to their knees, and waited with bated breath in hopes of catching a glimpse of Cramus's beauty.

Cinder called out, and the rift responded, vibrating with sounds that only she could understand. She looked up at it the entire time, a smile on her face. Whatever she heard, it pleased her very much. Those behind her started to grovel, calling out and begging for their mistress to let them understand as well, for it would be their greatest pleasure to serve, no matter what the task was.

Cinder did not respond, and instead continued to listen for several minutes. When the communication was finally over, she fell to her knees and cried out, voice piercing every other sound. Some were deafened, their ears starting to bleed. Some were knocked unconscious, slumping over, unable to cope with the sense. All of them were forced back, whether by feeling some unbearable heat, or lured away by a scent impossible to resist, all of them left.

When Cinder's eyes opened again, there was something new residing behind them. A seed had been planted in her soul, a small bit of her master's self, and would grow Cinder into its incarnation. She laughed, and the thirst to conquer more of Remnant returned to her body. They were done waiting, and she would have her prizes.

.

.

Finals asdasdf

Author's Note:

Finals are starting in school again, so I don't know when I'll be able to get much more written. Don't be surprised if things move a little more slowly than usual.

As always, I appreciate every review and follow and stuff. Thanks.