Prologue

"You. Are. Worthless."

The Madam practically spit the words out at her. It was far from the first time Cinder had heard that. It had become a somewhat common occurrence. The Madam liked to remind her when she makes mistakes. She made a lot of mistakes.

"Well? What do you have to say for yourself?"

An open palm came down on Cinder, another rather common occurrence at the Glass Unicorn. It had become part of the routine. Cinder would wake up, she would scrub the floors, she would do whatever the Madame told her to. The Madame would find something, anything, that she had messed up. And she would hurt her. And her "sisters" would laugh at her, make her life even harder than it already was.

And so the cycle continued, day after day.

"Don't just stare at the floor, you little rat. Stand up and look at me!"

It took all her strength to push her body weight off the floor and stand up.

"Well!? Don't just look at me like some lunatic! What do you have to say for yourself?"

"I- I'm-"

A loud crack echoed throughout the hotel as Cinder was struck square in the nose. Warm blood began to gush out, spilling all over the floor of the lobby.

"Don't you realize we have a reputation here? I can't believe I ever took you in. You clearly don't deserve our kindness. You're a pathetic, good-for-nothing little girl. Scrub this blood off my floor and go back to your room to think about what you've done."

The Madam stormed out of the lobby. Cinder laid in her blood for what felt like hours before she heaved herself off the floor. She could barely manage to stand, but she knew what would happen if she didn't clean up her mess. The Madame had been gentle to her that night, usually she was much rougher.

She used to long for freedom, but it all seemed like a fever dream now. If she could barely survive at the hotel, how could she hope to survive in the outside world? Who's to say anything on the other side was worth it anyway? Nobody cared, not even Rhodes was willing to help her.

She had become hollow, void of purpose.

"Are you okay?"

Cinder turned to her left and saw something that would be forever ingrained into her memory - a pair of perfect blue eyes, staring right at her. Her heart was ignited and started doing backflips in her chest. The agonizing pounding of her head immediately calmed down as she stared right back.

"Are you alright? You're bleeding. You look hurt."

The words were alien to her. Nobody had ever expressed concern for her, never asked her if she was okay. And yet this boy, who had never even met her, was doing just that.

"Do you need help? I can help you if you want it."

The boy was kneeling beside her. His words were so soft. It made her feel something she had never felt before. Cinder found that she liked this new feeling. She wanted more. She wanted him.

/-/

A high pitched scream rang out through the hotel as warm blood flowed down Cinder's hand. Not her own, not this time. No. Cinder had finally done it, she had gotten rid of her. She had freed herself.

The bloodied, battered bodies of the Madam and her stepsisters were laid out across the floor of the hotel, and she had never felt better. Not since she had met Jaune. She could leave! She had broken her chains, and there was no holding her back anymore. Nothing could stop her. Especially not the broken corpses of her oppressors.

Cinder walked out the door. It was a liberating feeling. For the first time in her life, there was nobody to grab her, to hold her down, to beat her into a bloody, bruised mess. Nobody to keep her at the hotel, where she had grown up, fearful and alone.

Nobody to keep her away from him.

She looked back at the hotel. From the outside, the hotel may have looked like an extravagant symbol of wealth. To Cinder, it stood as a symbol of oppression, of her old life. Just as she would destroy her old life, one filled with tears and fear, she would destroy the hotel.

Cinder ran back into the hotel and looked around the wooden interior. The very flammable, wooden interior. The very flammable, begging to be destroyed, wooden interior.

Pushing her hands against the wall, Cinder pushed as much heat as she could muster into her palms. The effect was almost immediate. Instantly, a raging fire began to eat at the wall, spreading to the curtains, starting to engulf the floors. The heat was fierce, yet comforting.

Cinder bolted out through the front door for the second time that night. Finding herself a suitable distance from the soon-to-be-ash Glass Unicorn, she turned back and stared, seeing something she would never forget.

It only took all of a couple minutes for the outside of the hotel to catch fire along with the interior. It was a beautiful sight. A torrent of embers climbed along the outside, incinerating the cursed building. Screams ran through the street, music to Cinder's ears.

It was all such an amazing sight. But Cinder couldn't stay long, she had work to do. She had to find him. Cinder turned down the street, and began to sprint in the other direction.

/-/

"I simply wish to find him, mistress. I have no intentions of running away or abandoning you. You know I am loyal. Just look at all that I have done for you!"

Cinder's patience was waning. It had been years since she had killed the Madam and left behind the Glass Unicorn, years since she had joined Salem, and yet there was still no sign of him. Her beloved Jaune had left no trail, given almost no information to help search for him. Nothing except a name. Every day her heart ached for him, every night she dreamt about him, and every morning she woke up to the crushing reality that he wasn't truly there with her.

Every little thing she'd ever done was for him. If not for him, she never would have left the Glass Unicorn, at least not until much later. There was no way of finding him if she stayed. The only reason she'd joined Salem was because the Queen had offered her power, and told her that there would be nothing keeping them apart if she took it. And so she accepted, and with it, a lifetime of servitude.

"I do believe we've had this conversation before, Cinder," Salem responded sternly. "You will go to Beacon and take the maiden powers, and only then may you go out to find your Jaune. Do I not make myself clear enough?"

There was nothing unclear about what she was saying to Cinder. The reason she kept pushing back against her on the matter was the fact that she simply refused to wait any longer. Salem had told her time and time again that she just had to do one or two things more, and then, and only then, would she be allowed to go off to be with Jaune. No longer would she sit there and accept that bullshit.

"You make yourself more than clear, mistress." Salem relaxed ever so slightly on her throne, thinking that the conversation was over with. "But I cannot accept that." Cinder spoke with conviction and authority, as if she was the one in charge of the Queen of the Grimm, and not the other way around.

"You dare refuse my judgment?! Perhaps I should remind you who is in charge here," Salem screamed angrily.

Cinder stood her ground, knowing that if she didn't, there would be no chance of finding her Jaune. They would never be together. The thought of losing him terrified her.

"You know that I shall never turn away from your orders, mistress. Whatever you say must be done will be done completely and efficiently. I only suggest that you allow me to lend some of my efforts into my own personal ambitions. In fact," Cinder turned to the only other person in the room, Arthur Watts. "Watts has already completed every task that he has been given, why don't you have him find Jaune? If he's good enough to work for you, I'm quite sure he will be able to find the man in a matter of days, even given limited information."

Cinder and Watts glared at each other. Even though they were working towards the same thing, the two of them never got along. To Cinder, Watts was an arrogant, pretentious, stuck-up bastard. The man constantly insulted her love, something that infuriated her to no end. His only saving grace was that he no longer bad-mouthed Jaune himself. He had tried that once, and it hadn't ended well for him.

"You see through rose-tinted glasses. He was one good person who treated you a little nice when everyone else in your life abused you. That's the only reason you think of him as… 'perfect,' as you put it." Watts laughed. "I'll bet he isn't truly all that great."

Only Salem had been able to stop her rampage.

To Watts, Cinder was a silly, lovestruck little girl, who's obsession with a man who she'd barely even spoken to was holding everyone back. She ran off feelings and blocked out all reason when it came to "her Jaune," and if there was any kind of person that Watts truly hated, it was those who refused to listen to reason. Hence why he took so much joy in mocking her.

Salem paused, staring at the both of them angrily, seeming to consider the point. The room was filled with deafening silence.

"Fine. Watts, I am assigning you to find this 'Jaune,'" Salem growled out. Cinder could barely keep herself from leaping up with joy. Watts scowled. "If any other task comes up, anything that you are needed for, you are to drop your search until further notice. Am I understood?" The last part was for Cinder as much as it was for Watts.

"Yes, mistress," the two said in unison.

"Watts, stay behind. Cinder, leave us to talk in private."

"Of course, mistress." The girl had to restrain herself from skipping out of the throne room. Salem and Watts watched her shut the door behind her as she exited, leaving them alone together.

"Now, I do have a feeling we are both thinking the same thing. If Cinder gets the chance, she might just run away with the boy and leave us all behind to finish the job on our own. We will need to keep an eye on her." Watts nodded along. "You will find the boy, if only because no attempt to do so will make her unloyal. As Cinder has made us all well aware, his name is Jaune and he visited the Glass Unicorn hotel a few years ago, more than likely with his family. If there was anything else to go off of, she would have shoved it down all our throats long ago. Find him, but make sure you know Cinder's whereabouts at all times. Make it known that she can't run from us."

"It will be done, my Queen," Watts responded, unhappy that he was being told to do what was ultimately Cinder Fall's bidding.

Arthur Watts stalked towards the door, opening it to reveal the subject of their previous conversation, her having waited just outside the room to catch him as he left.

Cinder Fall looked at her acquaintance with a smug smirk. "Seems you have your work cut out for you. If I were you, I would start working by tonight, lest our mistress begin to doubt your ability." She began to walk away, before turning back to him. "Oh, and just to give you any additional information, I would guess him to be in between sixteen and twenty. Should make it a little easier to help me find him. Thank you for the assistance." Cinder walked happily down the hall, ignoring the scowl that Watts gave her in return.

/-/

Days had gone by since Salem assigned Watts to help Cinder find her beloved, and she hadn't been happier since she burnt the Glass Unicorn. Finally, there was hope! Her fantasies felt more and more likely, more and more real! Despite their animosity, she couldn't deny that Arthur Watts wasn't incredibly good at what he did. Surely, he would find her Jaune in no time, and they could be together. Afterall, he knew better than to fail his Queen.

Just because she was hopeful didn't quite mean she was no longer impatient, though, as evidenced by her current visit to her "co-worker." Cinder pounded her fist on the man's door, hearing movement from inside. The door opened, and the glare of Watts greeted her.

"I am busy as of the moment, Cinder. Or did you forget that our mistress has given me an extra assignment? I do not have time to talk pleasantries."

The sheer disrespect with which he addressed her was almost enough to dampen her good mood by itself. Almost.

"Once again I must thank you for the help," she said, a not-so subtle reminder that even if it had been Salem to command it, he was still doing her bidding at the end of the day. "And don't worry, I want to talk pleasantries even less than you do, trust me. The only reason I am here is to check up on your progress. What have you managed to find on him?"

"I'm glad to see you have such faith in my ability," Watts responded with a smirk. "I've managed to find a multitude of people that match your description. I have pictures of said people that I will bring out to you momentarily, if you would just have a little patience."

Screw that. Cinder had had patience for long enough, it was time for results.

"That will not be necessary," she said, brushing past the larger man into his office. Although the man called it that, the room was clearly not designed to be one. Long ago it had been a bedchamber, but it was now reorganized with the desks, computers, and storage that Watts needed for his job. "I will go through everything right now."

Watts was clearly angered by what he perceived to be a power-play, but decided it would be best to allow her to do so. At least it would get her out of his hair sooner. And so he sat down and opened a folder full of papers, government records, and most importantly, pictures.

Anticipation was eating away at Cinder. She was more than a little excited, and who could blame her? If Watts had done his job properly, she would be miles closer to finding her beloved!

"Spread them all out on the table and allow me to pick out the correct one," she said eagerly.

The scientist glared at her angrily. "I'm sorry, have you begun to believe that you are in charge of me? I do not answer to you, whether I am working on this silly project or not!"

Rage overcame her. She pointed accusingly at the man with her right hand, fire leaking from the left. "Silly!? You believe all this is just some silly little game? That I've done this for kicks? Show me those pictures or I will make you suffer."

Watts stared back at her, unafraid. She couldn't actually do anything to him without punishment from Salem, and on top of that he currently held all the information that she had spent years seeking. Nevertheless, he took up a stack of pictures and writing and began to spread them out across the table.

Cinder zealously looked over the pictures Watts had provided her. He was saying something to her, but she didn't listen, instead putting all her attention into the photos that lay before her. There were only five or six of them, all of which seemed to be government ID photos, as evidenced by the black expressions and lack of any background.

A picture of some boring looking brunette, one of a dark haired boy, and-

Cinder froze. Glowing blonde hair, dazzling blue eyes that seemed to reflect the ocean… there was just no mistaking it. This was him! After so many years of loneliness, she had finally found her beloved Jaune! He was even more gorgeous than when she had first met him! Perfect. That was the only way to describe him. He was the perfect man. No one else could possibly hope to compare to him.

"Tell me everything about him," she said, pointing to her beloved's picture.

"I did, but you weren't listening to a word I said." Yet again, the two of them glared at each other, a rather common occurrence at Evernight Castle. "His name is Jaune Arc. He's seventeen years old and enrolled at Beacon Academy as a freshman."

Beacon? That's where she would be! They could finally be reunited after all these years! Would he recognize her, or would she have to jog his memory? She didn't mind reminding him of their meeting, hell, she would start from scratch if she had to. She would do anything for her Jaune.

"What else?" Cinder needed to know everything about him.

"That's all that I have for you," he responded.

"That's it!? You had days!" She needed more than that!

"And you had years, and yet you accomplished nothing. You don't need more than this to find him, and I don't need to waste any more of my time on this."

"Can you get me into Beacon early? Before the rest of the exchange students arrive?" Cinder was just too eager to finally find him.

"Not without making you stand out, and I doubt any of us would like that. Wait, and follow through with your original plan. It will only be but a month."

"Fine," she responded, walking out the door without ever taking her eyes off the picture of Jaune that Watts had given her.

"Oh, and Cinder," she heard him say from outside his office, "Remember who you work for."

Cinder looked back up at him, finally peeling her eyes away from the picture of her Jaune. "Of course, Watts. You know how loyal I am." She shut the door behind her.

Cinder fell asleep staring at her new picture, and once again dreamed of her Jaune.