RWBY The Third Rose
Chapter 1
Savior
A/N: This is something that has been on my mind ever since I saw the flashback on Cinder's past, (Seriously RT you took 8 FREAKING SEASONS to give a villain that has been around since season 1 a backstory?! All while making her as one dimensional as possible in the meantime?!) and while several authors have done their own takes on Cinder being taken in by Summer Rose or even Taiyang I wanted to do my own variation on the premise.
Just to make sure everyone knows however, this won't just be Cinder being a good guy (She's still going to have a plethora of issues to work out) with the main cast, there will be more than just a few changes to the plot, some of which will be pretty obvious while others won't come into effect until later in the story.
RANT WARNING!
And just one more thing, because I found it idiotic and made absolutely no sense that the Madame and her daughters would abuse Cinder so openly I want everyone to know that in this story she's doing it outside of the public eye. I mean think about it! Not only would it be illegal because of humanitarian reasons but all the negativity that could be generated by people openly abusing kids would attract more Grimm. As for the guests, doing it openly should have disturbed at least a few people from going back there!
RANT FINSIHED
As always people please read and review, I really like hearing feedback.
-Atlas, Glass Unicorn-
There were many people who considered the Glass Unicorn to be one of the most if not the best hotel in all of Atlas. Whenever the wealthy planned a trip to Atlas, whether it be on vacation or out for a business trip in the Kingdom, the Glass Unicorn was almost always one of the number one picks for those that wanted a place to stay for an evening or two.
Of course the Glass Unicorn didn't just cater to the obscenely wealthy, they also had a number of rooms that were available to those that were of the middle class, and there was even a modest discount for Hunters. One such individual was a woman by the name of Summer Rose. Over the last few days she had been hunting down and slaying a group of Grimm that were getting too close for comfort to a few settlements outside of Atlas. Of course they weren't much of a problem for her when she got there. She didn't even need to use her Silver Eyes to beat them.
That meant that either she was really strong or the Grimm that were terrorizing the area weren't nearly as tough as everyone was making them out to be. Though as much as she didn't want to become arrogant, it was likely that it was the former rather than the latter. Each of those Grimm were alphas that lead relatively small packs of their own subspecies and they were strong but she had honestly faced much worse during her tenure as a huntress.
While she was doing her job in Atlas, Ozpin had more than generously reserved her a room at the hotel given that she was technically there on his orders. While there had been a few groups of Grimm in the area, Ozpin still wanted someone on his staff to have a look. Ozpin had suspected that this was a reconnaissance move by Salem in order to test the defenses of near isolated communities and how Atlas would respond to them being attacked. Therefore someone needed to investigate, though Summer would have volunteered to help regardless.
Summer approached the lobby's front counter where a young woman was sitting, as she did she saw the sign that stated that Faunus weren't served at the establishment and Summer shook her head. She never did understand why there was so much bigotry towards the Faunus, after all they were people too, just with some extra parts.
It was something that was unfortunately also very common in Mistral and even in Vale. Summer sighed, and shook her head. It wasn't something that she'd like anyone to go through but at least Ironwood was trying to make things better for his nation.
Forcing those thoughts out of her head Summer noticed that the attendant seemed so focused on her computer that she didn't seem to realize that there was a customer right in front of her. The woman seemed to catch Summer out of the corner of her eye and look up. For a second she looked startled then her face seemed to settle on slightly embarrassed.
"Ah," she managed to get out before putting on a smile that wouldn't look out of place in a TV advertisement "Welcome to the Glass Unicorn, how may I help you?" She asked politely. Summer smiled back and pulled out her huntress license and said "My name is Summer Rose and I have a reservation here."
The woman continued to smile at Summer before she turned her attention back to her computer and began looking through the hotel's guestbook. The search only took a few moments before she found what she was looking for "Here you are Mrs. Rose. It says you're in Room 314, I'll have your belongings sent there."
Summer quickly waved her hands in front of her and stated somewhat awkwardly "O-oh, that won't be any trouble I can get this myself," she said gesturing to the relatively small luggage she had with her. The woman at the front simply nodded "Very well. We hope you enjoy your stay at the Glass Unicorn."
The woman gave Summer a key to her room before sending her on her way.
As Summer made her way to the third floor, she took in her surroundings more. The whole place was incredibly fancy, almost over-the-top really. Still though it seemed like a pretty nice place to stay in while on vacation. If she and the rest of the family ever went to Atlas for a trip then perhaps they could stay at the Glass Unicorn.
Sure it was opulent but it wasn't that bad and the food was probably more than enough. Besides if there were things that Yang and Ruby would enjoy that would just give them more than enough of a reason to come back-
She had been so distracted that she hadn't realized that she had walked into someone, more specifically a young girl carrying a rather large stack of towels in her arms. The person managed an "Oof," as she fell backwards, the once neatly folded towels falling to the floor.
Summer nearly fell too, but years of training and experience allowed her to regain her balance before she ended up on the floor like the individual she had bumped into. When Summer got a decent look at the person what she saw definitely caught her off-guard. It was a young girl, no older than ten at most and she was wearing the same kind of uniform that she had seen other members of the hotel staff wearing, more specifically the cleaning crew. The only real thing that didn't look like it belonged on the whole ensemble was the fairly expensive looking necklace that she was wearing.
Add to that there were several band aids and other bandages on her fingers, hands and even her wrists, it didn't take a genius to know that she had hurt her hands a short time earlier. Almost immediately Summer started apologizing "Oh, I'm so sorry, I wasn't paying any attention, here let me help you."
Almost immediately the girl's eyes widened in what could only be described as utter terror. She all but leapt back onto her feet and started to pick up the towels and fold them as quickly as she could "N-no, no I-I-I'm fine, It's my fault, I'll clean this up!"
She almost sounded desperate as she grabbed the towels and folded them back up as best she could but it was clear that it was a rushed job at best. "Do you need help, I can-"
"No! Please I'm okay. Please I just need to get back to work," she finished gathering the towels and took a glance at the sword strapped to her back. The girl's eyes golden eyes widened a fraction before she went scampering off down the corridor. Summer blinked in confusion and worry. That girl looked far too young to be an employee at a hotel, someone her age should be out playing with her friends and family at this time of day, not working a job at a hotel. There had to be child labor laws in Atlas, right?
Doing her best to push those worries out of her mind Summer continued on to her room and within a few moments of walking she finally found the door to her room.
A quick swipe of a key card she had been given and Summer was inside. The inside of her room was no less luxurious than the rest of the hotel and Summer found herself feeling more than just a little overwhelmed. She set the suitcase down and sat down on the bed and let herself fall backwards onto bed. It was so comfy and light, it was like being on top of a fluffy cloud.
Of course that image was ruined when she started thinking about what she saw just moments ago. She knew that it was probably nothing but it felt as though something was wrong. Summer sighed and put her face in her hands and mumbled that she had just gotten back from a mission and was probably just being overly cautious…again. It happened on occasion whenever she was out on missions.
During her time at Beacon and well afterwards, she always had strange feelings when things were off about something, Raven had called it a sixth-sense that people in her tribe sometimes had when things were about to go bad. It wasn't a semblance of course, Summer had long since unlocked hers and it certainly wasn't a 'sixth-sense' or danger sense or whatever one wanted to call it.
Sometimes that 'sixth-sense' was wrong of course, (which usually led to Qrow calling her paranoid) and perhaps this was one of those times.
For a while Summer just lay on the bed, thinking on her two girls and husband back in Patch. She had found herself just lying there for a short time before she let out a small sigh. What was she doing? This was her last day in Atlas before she went back home to Patch. She needed to make the most of it
In fact, this was probably the first time she had ever been in the city of Atlas itself. Maybe it would be a good idea to have a look around the city, take in at least some of the sights as a tourist rather than going to villages taking down Grimm as a Huntress. Besides she was certain that Ruby and Yang would love to see some pictures and she could easily take a few with her scroll and show the two when she got home. Why, she could already see the adorable expressions on their faces when they saw some of the places their mommy had visited.
With that image, Summer all but jumped off of the bed and decided to head out. As she was about to walk out the door she realized she had left her weapon by the bed but she dismissed it. It wasn't like it was going to get stolen and it would be good change of pace for her to walk through the streets like a tourist rather than a huntress.
Cinder was sweeping the floors when she saw the Huntress from earlier leave the Glass Unicorn. Unlike most of the guests that she had seen, this woman actually seemed to be nice. The others either ignored her or just looked at her with either dismissal or amusement whenever they saw her work. She wanted to try and speak to them, to see if they could help her but the Madame made it clear that if she ever tried that no one would ever believe her and that a simple shock from her 'necklace' would be the least of her worries.
Still at least her daughters weren't around at the moment, so they wouldn't purposefully make a mess just to have her clean it up while they snickered and laughed. Though sometimes they would throw more things, like food at her while she cleaned, and if they felt that she wasn't doing it quick enough they would sometimes ask their mother to give her a few shocks. Of course this never happened where guests could see or hear it. Besides even if Cinder tried to do something or say something to someone, no one would ever believe her over the Madame.
All she ever wanted was freedom, to live her life as she desired, and every day she felt that the only thing she could ever hope to be was someone's slave. Cinder had to get out of the Glass Unicorn, but she knew that she'd never be able to do that while the Madame still had that collar wrapped around her neck. But maybe that weapon she saw that Huntress carrying around could help her gain her freedom. Cinder had watched as that Huntress that had bumped into her earlier leave the room and she wasn't carrying her weapon!
If there was any chance at all at gaining her freedom, this was probably it!
While Cinder was allowed very few things since the Madame had 'adopted' her, she did have access to most of the hotel rooms. It would be difficult for her to clean them if she wasn't able to get inside to do so, after all. She just hoped that the room had a large enough vent for her to fit both herself and the sword. Taking a quick glance in the immediate area, she saw that there wasn't anyone nearby but she still cautiously made her way over to the door.
She used the access card she had to open the door and stepped in. The inside of the room was mostly the same as it was before. The huntress had barely touched anything and the only thing that showed that the room was still in use was some wrinkles on the bed and the luggage that the huntress had brought with her.
However the sword she had seen was resting up against the wall in the corner of the room. It was a sword that was in a red scabbard. Hesitantly, Cinder walked towards it, worried that the Huntress from earlier would burst in and demand to know why Cinder was in her room.
Fortunately though that didn't happen and Cinder picked up the weapon and immediately felt the weight behind it. It was heavier than it looked but she could still carry it at least. She didn't know why but for some reason it somehow, strangely enough; made her feel stronger, like she could finally be free from the hell that she had endured throughout her life.
Cinder quickly saw a vent that looked more than big enough for her and the sword to fit in and smiled.
After a few hours' worth of exploring the city and taking snapshots of any and all worthwhile sights she could find –especially ones that Yang and Ruby would love,- Summer Rose found herself back at the Glass Unicorn humming a little tune as she walked into her hotel room.
The instant that she was inside she noticed that there was something off about it. It didn't take less than a second to realize that her weapon was no longer in the place where had originally left. Summer blinked, closed her eyes, rubbed and then opened them and saw that: yes, her weapon was no longer where she had left it.
There was a moment where Summer wanted to just bury her face in her hands as she started to have flashbacks to her time back at Beacon and her early days as a huntress. During some of the early days she would lose her weapon somehow, no matter what precautions she took she would end up losing her weapon at some of the most inopportune moments. In fact it was so often that Qrow and Raven would make bets on how it would happen the next time.
It hadn't happened in so long that she had nearly forgotten about it. 'If Rae were here she'd never let me here the end of it.'
The huntress started to look around, thinking that maybe she hadn't placed it in the spot she thought she had. Of course that hadn't happened since before she graduated and she had no intention of letting it happen again. So either she put it somewhere else in the room and then deluded herself into thinking that it was up against the wall, or someone had taken it. She doubted that it was the former, and that meant that it was probably the latter but who would do such a thing?
For a moment Summer was about to go to the front desk to see what they could do. But then she noticed something odd, the grills on one of the vents in her room, one that was large enough to fit a person, wasn't fully secured, in fact now that she looked closely, she noticed that the screws weren't even in place. Curious, Summer took off the vent's grill and pulled out her scroll and turned on the flashlight function.
The inside of the vent lit up and Summer saw small foot and handprints on the floor around the dust that had built up over time. Summer wasn't a fool these foot and hand impressions were clearly that of a child, but why would a child take her weapon and then try to escape through the vents? Something was going on here and Summer wasn't liking where it was going, but still she couldn't allow a child to have her weapon, they could easily hurt themselves or someone else. Without any hesitation, she began to follow the trail through the vents, unsure of what she might find.
Ever since Cinder had 'borrowed' that sword from that Huntress, she had felt stronger, more powerful. It made her feel safe whenever she was near it. Sure she had to continue her chores after bringing it back up to her 'room.' Though it wasn't much of a room, rather than the attic/storage space of the hotel, there were only a few pieces of furniture but the Madame had made sure that Cinder knew that they were simply there for storage and that if she used them for anything there would be 'consequences.' Cinder had been on the receiving end of those kinds of consequences before and she didn't want to have to endure it again.
The bed she slept on, -if it could even be called that- was little more than a wooden pallet with a couple of blankets put on top of it, none of which did much to eliminate the Atlesian cold from the room. In one of the corners of the room was a small chest that Cinder was allowed to use to store the few clothes that the Madame had given her. Of course she was also expected to hand clean each one. Failure to do so, ended with another 'discipline' session from the Madame with her collar.
The young girl touched the 'necklace' her owner had given her mere moments after her arrival at the Glass Unicorn and made sure she knew exactly what it did.
She shook that memory from her head, soon she wouldn't have to deal with that again. Soon she would be free of this hell and she could go wherever she want, do whatever she wanted. She'd be free to live her life.
Every night, the Madame made sure to come up to Cinder's 'room' to give her a 'reminder' on what she was in the grand scheme of things, but not this time, not tonight. It would probably only be a few more minutes before she showed up. The Madame was always on time.
Eventually Cinder heard the door to the attic open and she felt her anxiety start to rise again. She swallowed it again and touched the hilt of the blade and felt her confidence return before putting it back in its hiding spot, a small space between two of the pieces of furniture that were placed up in the attic so it wouldn't be seen. The footsteps coming into the 'room' were getting closer and Cinder immediately tensed, waiting for the Madame to enter.
She didn't have to wait long as the owner of the Glass Unicorn soon stood in front of her, a scowl fixed on her face like she normally had whenever Cinder had either done something wrong or if she was simply in a bad mood. The only thing that remained consistent about the way she was looking at Cinder was her eyes. They always looked at her like she was something that was less than human, something that could only be considered to be somewhat useful at times, but was ultimately something that they could treat as cruelly as they wanted to because she was less than the Madame or her daughters were.
That ended tonight.
The Madam held up the remote for the shock collar around Cinder's neck threateningly "While you were working today you failed to deliver the food for the guests on time, they had to wait several extra minutes before they received their meal. Do you have anything to say for yourself?" she demanded.
"I'm done," Cinder muttered but she was just loud enough for the Madame to hear her. The Madame raised the remote threateningly, "What was that?" she asked dangerously.
Cinder pulled out the sword from its hiding space and held in front of her in a defensive posture and as she did, she started to shake in both fear and anger. "I-I said I'm done, I won't be your slave anymore, I'm leaving this place and-and i-if you try to stop, I'll kill you!"
The Madame only looked at Cinder incredulously at the sheer ridiculousness of the statement for several seconds before her expression changed to that of amusement. With a seemingly bored sigh, the Madame pressed the only button on the remote.
The collar sent volts of electricity coursing through Cinder's body. The sheer pain caused her to drop the sword and fall onto the floor, screaming at the top of her lungs. Despite only shocking her for a handful of seconds it felt more like an eternity of suffering. When it finally stopped Cinder took in great gulps of air and her body was wracked with spasms and twitches as she lay there, tears starting to stream down her face. She had failed, she'd never be free, the only existence she could hope for was a life of slavery in this hell.
The Madame smirked down at her "Now that this little act of defiance seems to be over, why don't you remind me exactly what you are without me?"
The tears continued streaming down her face as Cinder spoke again, her voice hoarse from the screaming and each word came out in-between ragged breaths "Without…you…I…am…nothing."
The Madame's smirk widened "That's right, but I think you need more of a reminder." Using a dial on the remote she increased the voltage that the collar would give off. She had only used this setting when she really wanted to make a point to her 'adopted daughter.'
Cinder saw this and her eyes widened in terror "P-please…don't-" was all she managed to get out. The Madame simply chuckled sadistically and pressed the button. Once again, waves of indescribable pain went through Cinder's body, and she started screaming again. However her screams didn't last long as her voice was too hoarse to even manage that. The pain was so much that Cinder just wanted it to kill her, she wanted to die, just so that she could end this miserable existence.
Then as quickly the pain started it ended.
Her eyes were blurred and her vision was fading but she thought she saw someone tackle the Madame to the ground and punch her repeatedly in the face while screaming something at her. She could barely make out what she looked like but once she stood up and looked over at her, Cinder realized that it was the Huntress from earlier. But why was she looking at her like that? Why was she concerned? No one had ever cared about her before, so why would someone start now? Especially after she had stolen her weapon.
The woman rushed to her and as Cinder finally fell unconscious she heard the woman start speaking something to her as she picked her up. The last thing in her head before passing into blissful unconsciousness was that the woman's hands were surprisingly soft and gentle.
Summer had followed the trail in the vents for several minutes and had eventually found herself at what was either the top floor or the attic of the hotel. As she continued to make her way through the vents she wondered what was going on. Why would this child try to steal her weapon and go through the vents? She thought at first that it was to avoid being spotted walking around with her weapon but why would anyone go upwards? Wouldn't it make sense to try and use the vents to leave the building?
Something strange was going on here and she had every intention on finding out what was going on. But more important things came first, like finding that child before she accidentally hurt herself or someone else. For several more minutes she continued on in the vents until the trail led her to a grill that had been partially opened. This must have been where the child had gone.
As she approached though she started to hear what sounded like screaming. Immediately Summer picked up the pace and when she reached the grill the screaming stopped and desperate breaths for took their place. She saw an older woman standing over the girl she had bumped into earlier in the day. The woman was holding some kind of remote and was looking down at the girl with a twisted smirk "Now that this little act of defiance seems to be over, why don't you remind me exactly what you are without me?"
When the girl finally responded her voice was so hoarse it was a miracle that she could even speak "Without…you…I…am…nothing."
The woman's smirk widened "That's right, but I think you need more of a reminder." The girl's eyes widened and she wasn't even given enough time to beg before electricity arced from the necklace and into her body.
Summer had seen enough, more than enough. She kicked the grate down and all but lunged at the Madame who turned scant seconds too late to try and either escape or even defend herself. The woman was tackled to the ground as Summer rained down blow after blow into the woman's face with her fists. She wasn't as physically strong as Raven but she was still a Huntress and as a result was in much better shape than the average person.
As Summer continued to punch the woman in the face she screamed "WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU?! THAT'S A CHILD YOU'RE TORTURING!" Summer didn't receive a response as the repeated punches to the face prevented the bitch from forming a single syllable let alone a sentence.
The huntress stopped when she noticed that the woman wasn't even conscious anymore. Summer checked the woman's pulse and found that she was still alive. While Summer didn't want to become a murderer; she still held no sympathy for the monster she had just beaten into unconsciousness.
Wasting no more time on the Madame, Summer ran over to where the girl was being tortured and saw that the girl was amazingly still conscious albeit barely. Summer started speaking to her "Can you hear me? Are you okay?" She asked before wincing slightly at how that last question sounded.
Of course that poor child wouldn't be all right; she was just electrocuted a few moments ago, and gods only knew what she had been enduring all this time. The girl seemed to try to speak but no words came out of her mouth and her eyelids shut after a few seconds. Summer's eyes widened and she immediately checked the girl's pulse and her entire body almost sagged in utter relief. She was okay, her pulse was steady and strong. The girl must have passed out from the pain.
Summer gently picked the girl up and began to carry her out of the room. She had to get her to a hospital, and contact someone that would make sure that monster was locked up forever. While keeping ahold of the girl, Summer pulled out her scroll and dialed a certain number. After a few seconds a good friend of hers from Atlas finally picked up.
She spoke before her friend could say anything "General Ironwood, I need your help."
To be continued.