-Cinder Pov-

As I sit in the room with Mercury and Emerald, I sigh as they try and fail to create student personas for ourselves at Haven Academy. The two of them have been trying to hack into the network for hours, but have failed at each turn. It doesn't help that the two of them stop every so often to banter with each other, and just arguing instead of trying to keep breaking into the network. None of us had had any idea that getting into the student system was going to be this much work. However, I have to remind myself to keep being patient. After all, this is all for the sake of me getting the second half of the Maiden Powers.

Idly, I begin to play with a fireball, and space out and allow myself to think about everything that's to come when the two of them can manage to get us into Beacon. A small shiver goes through my body when I think about the power I can wield when I have the powers of the Fall Maiden, and what I can do to this world when I have those powers. As I play with the fireball, I look down at my hands, and then notice the ring I've been wearing for years on end.

I disperse the fireball, and then begin to turn the ring around my finger, and then I begin to allow my mind to be taken back when I remember the one who gave me this ring all those years ago before the world took him away from me, the reason why I set myself down this path all those years ago. Everything I've done has been to avenge him, and to punish this world for having taken him away from me. (y/n) (l/n).

Mercury and Emerald continue to try working, and then I get up, and the two of them look at me. " Finish this as soon as you can. It's important that we can get into Beacon, otherwise everything has been for nothing," I tell them, and then they nod. I summon a fireball and then glare at them, and then the two of them quickly go back to work. Content with this and knowing they'll be finished at the end of the day, I turn around and then walk off, alternating between fiddling with my ring and playing with a fireball.

As I walk down the hall, members of the White Fang all begin to step away from me, and then I smirk and chuckle to myself at the fear I am able to inspire in them. I continue to fiddle with the ring and fireballs, and then I make my way into my room. After taking a shower, I get dressed into pajamas, and then an oversized shirt. Sitting down on my bed, I reach into a drawer, and then pull out a picture. I look at the picture of my younger self with (y/n), and then I allow myself to drift back, and remember how the two of us ended where we are.

-Flashback Cinder Pov-

I sit alone in my cabin, and then try to concentrate and use my Semblance. I was able to the other day when I was in the town, but haven't been able to do it sense. I wonder if I need to recreate the circumstance from yesterday, as I've heard from huntsman that initially, only desperation can trigger the use of a Semblance until someone trains you to use it more. The only reason I was able to do it yesterday was because I was so scared when the man had tried to rip my dress open.

However, I see the glass eventually begin to crack like it had yesterday, and then I manage a smile. If I can manage to break the glass and control it like I had yesterday, then I'll be able to defend myself against the people who want to hurt me. My mom had warned me there would be people like that before she had been taken away. Her last words to me as she had been dragged off had been a warning to me that I needed to be strong in this world.

The two of us had grown up together in an area where no one had had their Semblance unlocked, and it was an area preyed on heavily by Grimm. My mom had never gone to combat school, but her Semblance had been unlocked, and she had explained it to me as a form of dark magic. Even though she had defended the people of the town, they had been scared of her powers, and accused her of being a witch, or a necromancer. She had tried to defend herself, but they eventually had someone put a knife to my throat and told my mom they'd kill me if she kept fighting. And so, she had let herself be killed, using her last breath to tell me she loved me and to be strong.

Tears well in my eyes when I remember my mother, and then I hear a loud noise outside, and I look out the window of the cabin, to see a young boy being beaten down by grown men. This isn't rare to see where I am. After my mother died, I made my way somewhere and found a cabin in the woods, and lived there by myself. Here, there were plenty of huntsman, but all of them were bullies and criminals, using their license to stay out of legal trouble.

Normally, I learned to force myself to ignore it, not wanting to get hurt by them, or not wanting them to try to do things with me, but I feel bad when I look at him being beaten around by them, and then when I hear him say, " Take it back! My mother was not a whore." When he says this, the glass shatters with my empathy for him defending his mother, and then I send the glass to cut open the huntsman bullying him.

I make my way outside, and then I see the boy trying to get up, and then I help him up and take him into my cabin, and close it behind me. I find my medical kit, and then begin to treat his wounds, and then I grab him some food. " Thank you," he says, and then he begins to quickly eat, as if he hadn't eaten in weeks. But, I feel bad for the thought when I see how skinny he is. It's possible he hasn't eaten in weeks.

" Thank you for saving me," he says, and then I nod. " I'm (y/n) (l/n)." I nod again, and then I look him up and down, and can't help but feel bad for him. He was obviously an orphan, and was living on his own, starving and barely managing to scrape by. And so, despite my better judgement, I leave him to eat in the kitchen, and then begin to set up a makeshift bed in my room, and then I come back out to see him, and then I introduce myself to him, and tell him that he can stay with me.

-Flashback Cinder Pov-

(y/n) and I sit in the cabin, and the two of us consider the offer that had been made to us. We had been out in public earlier today, trying to beg for enough money to eat for the day, and then a scorpion faunas had offered us an opportunity to come with him, to work for someone who had been named Salem. He had claimed she would help us out of our situation, and give us a chance to be something more. In turn, all she had asked for was our help in making her the ruler of Remnant.

" I think we should," says (y/n) eventually, and then I look over at him. " I think that the people in the world of Remnant are the reason the world is the way it is today. The world itself is beautiful, but it's people who make it corrupt."

" I think the opposite," I tell him, and then he tilts his head and looks at me with curiosity. " I think the world is an ugly place, and the people in it change with the world. I really think deep down people are good, but the world is what makes them evil. This world beats down people with no discrimination."

The two of us begin our philosophical debate for a few moments, and then he chuckles eventually, and I do too when we realize that the two of us are in complete and utter agreement that regardless of the reasons we have for joining Salem, that it's the best option that the two of us have. Agreeing, the two of us burn down the cabin, cementing that neither of us have the option of turning back anymore.

We find the scorpion faunas from earlier, and then he giggles to himself with glee, and then the two of us are taken to a big castle. I step back a little bit nervously, feeling a dark energy coming from it. (y/n) sees this as well, and then holds onto my hand, and I squeeze his back when I see that he's also nervous because of this. The two of us begin to nervously follow the faunas inside, reminding ourselves that there's no way we can turn back now.

-Flashback Cinder Pov-

I stand on the bridge, in front of the defeated Amber. Mercury and Emerald pick themselves off the ground, and then watch as I begin to take her powers. Next to me, stands (y/n), battered from the fight and breathing heavily as well. I smile at him, and then plant a kiss on his cheek. He did the vast majority of the fighting today, and is the only reason this is possible.

The power flows from Amber, and into the ring on my finger. Originally, this had belonged to (y/n)'s mother. It had the ability to drain aura from someone, to be used with her Semblance. As she had died, it had been given to (y/n), who had chosen to give it to me when the two of us had joined Salem.

Before I can absorb anymore power, Qrow drops into the canyon with us. His eyes are set with anger, and then he sends Mercury flying with his scythe. (y/n) steps forward, and then summons his golden aura. " Go," he says. " He's too strong for you all to deal with right now. If he captures Cinder, then this was all for nothing."

Emerald and Mercury are gone as soon as he says this, and then I rise to my feet, and then look at (y/n), pleading with my eyes for him not do this. However, as he fights Qrow, he looks back at me and smiles. " I love you Cinder," he says. The shock of him saying this breaks me out of my trance, and then I reluctantly leave him, promising myself to never forget him, and to avenge him.

-Present Day Cinder Pov-

Thinking about (y/n), tears well in my eyes, and then I wipe them away quickly. " Idiot," I say out loud, pretending I'm talking to him. " You always said the world was beautiful right? And that it was the people who ruined it? Why would a beautiful world separate the two of us like that? This world is ugly for taking us apart."

As I think this, there's a knock on my door, and I tell whoever it is to come in. Emerald and Mercury do, and then tell me that they completed the registration for Haven Academy, and then I nod, and the two of them leave. When they do, I continue to look at the picture of (y/n), and hope against hope that he's still out there someway. I just wish I had been able to tell him I loved him as well before he was taken from me.

Another knock on my door, and then I look over to see Tyrian. " Mistress Salem called for you," he says, and then I nod and get up to follow him. He takes me into the chamber with Salem, and then the both of us kneel before her. She dismisses Tyrian, and he leaves quickly, and then addresses me, with eyes that seem to see into my very soul, seeing everything about me with just a mere glance. Eventually, she tells me to rise, which I nervously do.

" I have something for you," she says, and then I nod, my breath caught in my throat. She leaves for a moment, and then I wonder what she has. Last time she said she had something for me, it was the opportunity to take the Maiden Powers. She comes out this time with someone behind her, and then Salem gestures for me to step forward.

I do, and then she steps aside to reveal the figure behind her, and then my eyes widen when I see (y/n). He has new scars on his face, and his hair has grown much longer, but there's no doubt that he's the same (y/n) I knew all that time ago. Losing control, I see Salem leave the room, and then I smack (y/n). " Idiot! Do you have any idea how worried I was for you," I tell him. He nods, and then tears well in my eyes, and then I pull him into a hug. His arms wrap back around me, and then he rocks me back and forth. Eventually, I cry myself to sleep, and then I feel him picking me up and carrying me.

When I wake up in the morning, his arms are around me. I look to see him snuggled up next to me, and then I smile when I feel his warmth. He begins to stir, and then I sit up and the two of us begin to talk about what happened to him when he had been captured, and my heart breaks when I hear him talk about the torture her endured as they tried to get information from him. " The only way I didn't break was when I kept remembering you," he admits, and then I pull him into another tight hug.

" How do you still think the world is beautiful," I ask him. " We were apart for so long, and you were beaten and bloodied, and you could have died!"

" The world is beautiful because you're still in it," he says simply, and then I push him off me to look at him lovingly, and then I slam my lips against his. The two of us kiss each other passionately, and then only pull away when the need for air becomes overwhelming. " I love you Cinder."

" I love you too," I tell him finally, and the two of us hold onto each other.

-Epilogue Your Pov-

After you had met with Cinder again, you had infiltrated Beacon with her. The two of you had gone to the dance as a couple, and continued to develop the relationship the two of you had together, falling even more in love with each other than you had been before.

The two of you had caused mass havoc in all of Beacon, culminating in Cinder becoming the Fall Maiden, and you had stopped Ruby before her silver eyes would be able to injure Cinder gravely. From there, Salem had been able to take over the world of Remnant, and the two of you had started a happy life together, being married, and raising a daughter named Ember.

Right now, the three of you stood on a cliff, and watched the sunset. Ember rested on your back, and you held Cinder's hand as she rested her head on your shoulder. " Hey, Cinder," you say and then she looks over at you. " I told you the world was beautiful."

She smiles, finally agreeing with you, being your wife and a mother to a beautiful daughter. And so, she kisses you, and then the two of you watch the beautiful world.

( let me know what you thought. I can't believe this is my first Cinder one-shot)