"What?!"

Cinder staggered, faltering as the stark white that had engulfed her snapped to mind numbing color. The rush of sensation overwhelmed her and she went to the ground, sharp pain racing up her arm as her elbow jolted against the corrugated metal floor. Her head – no, her entire body, burned with a numbing phantom pain as she instinctively nursed her aching limb against her black combat skirt.

What the fuck? What the fuck did she just do to me?

She had taken the fall maiden's power. She had killed the Nikos girl when that bitch had come out of nowhere and blasted off of the damn tower! How had that even happened?

Wait.

The fall maiden's power was gone.

Cinder had been consumed by the fire, at first. When Salem had promised her the power, she had told her there would be a price to pay, but she had been fundamentally unprepared for the emptiness, the hunger, the longing to burn and consume to fill that rift. In time, though, she had come to enjoy the longing and the hunger, the constant reminder of everything she had lost and what she stood to gain.

For five seconds, five eternal seconds, she had burned as a whole, and it had felt right. She had felt whole, powerful, victorious.

And now it was gone, and everything was wrong.

Where was her power? Why could she feel the left side of her body again? Why couldn't she feel the slithering of the Grimm who lived beneath her skin? Why was she wearing a skirt? Why was the ground metal, and why had she fallen instead of making an impact? Why was it day?

What the fuck is going on?

Cinder's vision wavered as she pushed herself into a sitting position, staring down at herself. Something is horribly, horribly wrong.

Her legs were not this short, and they were absolutely shaved. She was wearing a combat skirt and a black blouse, emblazoned by a silver rose medallion at her waist that looked entirely too familiar. The panic didn't truly set in, though, until her eyes rested on her chest.

Where are my boobs? Where are my fucking boobs!?

She was flat! She hadn't been this flat since she was twelve, back when-

Her hair was missing too, her fingertips grazing the blunt edges of the short cut as she poked her chest. Pain flared in her elbow, and she winced as she grabbed it with her other hand. Fighting down the panic, she shook her head then looked around to her surroundings.

She was on an airship, filled with children.

Don't lose control. Don't scream. If you lose control, everything will go to shit.

Slowly, taking deep breaths to calm her raging head, Cinder pushed herself to her feet. All of the kids were still towering over her. She was 5'9"! She wore heels! If she had to be looked down on by one person…

Her fingers were clammy against the cold windows, leaving misty outlines as she leaned against the glass. She took in the landscape below, hungrily search for some sign of the attack. Vale should have been in flames, swarmed with Grimm and faunus and- Nothing. Not one damn sign of her plans, nothing! Nothing!

She saw her expression, and her heart froze over.

Ruby Rose blinked at the mirror, her silver eyes pooling with moisture. Slowly, she moved her hand and flinched as her reflection disappeared behind her palm. Looking back at the reflection, nothing has changed.

Cinder waited for a minute. Then another.

As fast as her legs could carry her, she dashed to the garbage can and retched. Her throat burned as she hung her head over the can. She slammed her fist into the metal, desperately trying to bite back her tears. No! I swore I wouldn't! I can't cry, not since-

She was in the body of a fifteen year old huntress, and she was crying. She didn't know what her worse case scenario had been, but this was worse.

"You too, huh? The airships are just the worst, right?" a high pitched voice came from her side. Cinder pulled her aching head out of the can to glare at the boy with as much venom as she could muster. I recognize him, he's the Nikos girl's partner. Oh, I bet he was just devastated when I killed his little girlfriend.

Not that it mattered now, whatever the hell was going on.

He shied back a bit at her glare. "I'm Jaune, and, um, are you okay?"

Cinder spat into the trash can and ripped herself into a standing position, wanting to reach out and strangle the boy as she came up just to his nose. "I don't remember giving you permission to talk to me," she growled, wiping her eyes and stalking back to the mirror.

Weak. Weak. You're fucking weak. You were never supposed to cry, and here we are. I don't know what kind of a sick game this is, but I'm ready for it to be over.

Pushing the desperation and fear down, Cinder cleared her mind as best she could. No, she wasn't going to think about that boy's hurt and offended expression as she had ripped into him. Instead, she decided to go over every damn thing she knew about Ruby Rose, because impossibly, that was the situation which she found herself in.

She's got the flattest fucking chest ever, and she's short as hell, and she's wearing this stupid combat skirt... I mean, come on! Could she look any more like a girl? I'm twenty seven, I should have left this behind in combat school!

She stopped thinking for a moment and swayed in place. If I'm on a plane... With kids... Then I'm going to combat school. And if I'm going to combat school...

Ozpin.

Oh, she was royally screwed.

Damn, I got sidetracked. No time to dwell on that, let's see... She has that giant scythe of hers, faced that. She can't fight for shit in heels, clearly she should have practiced more... She gets top fighting grades but does mediocre in her academics, darling Roman calls her a pain in the ass. She certainly does have a knack for being in the right place at the right time. Qrow Branwen is her uncle, and Yang Xiao Long is her sister-

Cinder stopped short and looked around. She caught a glance of bright yellow hair on the other side of the aircraft, and narrowed her eyes. No way am I facing her yet.

What else... Her semblance is speed, which will definitely come in handy, but Roman tells that she's useless without her scythe. If I've truly lost the powers of the fall maiden, that means I'm going to be vulnerable. If- If I'm truly going to be stuck like this, then I'll need to remedy that - fast.

What the hell was she going to do?

She was Cinder Fall, who had single handedly plotted and brought about the downfall of Beacon Academy and it's headmaster Ozpin! She was a force to be reckoned with, or-

For fifteen long years, she had devoted her life to becoming strong, to becoming powerful, and now what? All of her hard work, her greatest accomplishments, they had all been replaced with a fifteen year old brat with a scythe.

Biting back another scream of frustration, she slammed her forehead against the glass. Remember your coping mechanisms... Remember your coping mechanisms...

Burning shit? Not anymore.

Killing Grimm? Not here.

Killing henchmen? Well, that blond boy was appealing but she would never be able to show her face around Beacon again. Either that, or jail for the rest of her life.

No, but she could still plot her revenge. She could figure out who had put her here, and start the slow climb back to where she had been, and when she found them...

Cinder let herself daydream about all of the gory ways she would murder fate before the realization sunk in yet again, like a victim stabbed in the chest over and over.

I was on top of Beacon tower, which I destroyed in MY assault, and now I'm in Ruby Rose's body on an airship about a perfectly functional Vale!

What the fuck!?

For the first time, she became aware of the crimson weapon strapped to her belt. Unbuckling it, she held it out and admired the craftsmanship. Y'know, for all that Rose was a fucking annoying bitch, she had some nice taste in weapons. While she couldn't wait to get her dual blades back – gone with my maiden powers, I guess – she could at least settle for lopping people's heads off with the oversized blade.

Yeah. That would be nice.

The shotgun swung as she spun it around, experimentally clicking the scope open. Looking back out over Vale, she took aim at where she knew Roman's old warehouse was, appreciatively noting the clips of red dust at her waist. There was something disturbingly natural about holding the weapon, the even heft built for these hands that weren't hers. The more she poked at it, the more she couldn't help but to admire the craftsmanship that had clearly gone into it.

"Welcome to Beacon Academy! Please disembark and make your way to the entrance ceremony."

Entrance ceremony?

There should not have been an entrance ceremony in May.

Cinder's eyes rested on the holoscreen, which was showing the VNN across the ship's interior. She narrowed her eyes at it, a deep rage stirring in her chest as she had to jump to make it out over the other kids on the plane. No, there was no mistake. The date read September seventeenth.

Okay, time travel. I went back in time nine months. That makes complete absolu- What the FUCK?

She had traveled backwards in time, into the body of a fifteen year old huntress in training, to attend a combat school by a man who no doubt would kill her if he found her.

Well, my acting skills better be really fucking good, because otherwise Ozpin'll have his way with me and I'll be dead.

Why?

She didn't have the time to think about it; she was already getting swept up into the crowd. She bit back a curse as she was jostled around. I am respected! I should be burning these kids to a crisp right now!

You are one of these kids right now, a vicious voice reminded her in the back of her mind.

Yeah, like I can explain how or why the hell that happened.

It was a nice day, but Cinder had her sights on the glistening, massive, perfectly functional academy directly in front of her. The CCT spiraled into the sky, the clocktower at the top tolling four o'clock in the afternoon. Ozpin was probably watching her right now and laughing – had she really beat him in the vault? Did he know about this? In fact, it probably was his fault and now he was just playing her like a fiddle.

What if Salem doesn't know?

Cinder didn't have the time to contemplate that tantalizing thought before an arm wrapped around her shoulder and pulled her into a tight hug. It took all of her self control to remain calm and not flinch away as Yang Xiao Long said, "Oh my god, I can't believe my little sis is coming to Beacon with me!"

Okay, moment of truth. How the hell was Ruby Rose supposed to act?

Before she had silenced Emerald's commentary, but now she welcomed it. "How can she always be so happy and enthusiastic?"

Happy and enthusiastic. Cinder was good at a lot of things, but that wasn't one of them. She had to get out of that hug, though. Ducking under Yang's arm, she decided it was easier to tell the truth, or part of it at least. "Neither can I!"

She was cringing. She was cringing so hard, at her girly squeal and her fake smile and the fact that the stupid bimbo got giant boobs and she didn't. What is my life? Fuck you, Ozpin.

"Wait, Ruby, are you okay?" Her violet eyes sparkled with concern, and Cinder sighed.

Yeah, I'm already blowing it. Screw happy and enthusiastic, as long as I'm not downright bitchy I should be okay, right? I don't have to pretend like I'm happy when I'm not.

"I, um, threw up on the airship?" The vile taste in her mouth wasn't even that bad, compared to all of the other insane bullshit happening around her.

Yang's expression changed in an instant, and she laughed. "Since when do you get airsick? Maybe I should start calling you Vomit Girl, you and Vomit Boy over there would make a great couple."

She's mocking me.

"Never call me Vomit Girl, okay?" Cinder growled, only to gape as Yang rolled her eyes at her and walked away.

"Got it, Vomit Girl. Now, do you need me to walk you to the bathroom?"

Her eyes flashed as Yang sashayed away. Did she just ignore me?! "No! I just-"

"Ooh, I know!" Yang dug into her pocket and pulled out a small cardboard box. She threw it to Cinder, who caught it out of instinct. "Cinnamon gum, your favorite." Her expression softened, and she said, "Hey, if you don't feel good again, tell me, okay? I'm gonna go find my friends now, so... bye!"

Cinder gawked at Yang as she ran over to another group of people and happily walked towards the school with them. Her mind drawing a complete blank, she reached into the box and pulled out two pieces of gum. Popping them into her mouth, she hummed as the spice spilled out over her tongue.

Ruby's favorite flavor of gum is cinnamon too, huh… That's a weird coincidence.

The box crumpled in her fist. She had just been ignored like a child! She was never ignored! Nobody was allowed to make fun of her like that! She had made that clear ages ago, after-

I can't make that stupid bitch pay either, because she's Ruby's fucking sister!

She wanted to scream, like she hadn't screamed in ages. I killed your friend, huh? I killed Pyrrha Nikos, how do you like that? Do you even know her yet? Do you even care?

It hadn't even been fifteen minutes, and she already wanted to destroy shit. Glory, if she didn't go back to her normal body soon, there would be hell for somebody to pay.

Preoccupied by her thoughts, she didn't notice the trolley in front of her until it was already too late.

"What are you doing?"

Slowly, Cinder turned to glower at Weiss Schnee. "Wouldn't you like to know?"

The other girl's eyes narrowed. "You're insane! Do you have any idea how much damage you could have just caused?"

Nice and energetic. Nice and energetic. Cinder Fall, you're going to be nice and energetic if it kills you.

Yeah, fat chance that was going to happen.

"Look, Schnee, maybe if you had been a bit more careful with your precious little dust crystals, this wouldn't be a problem," she snarled, getting to her feet. She was still fucking shorter than the other girl!

Cinder had never been good at keeping her temper at check, and this was not helping.

"So, you do know who I am. What I fail to understand is how I am the problem when you're the one who walked into my cart!"

"I think you should stay out of my way, for your benefit," she snapped, turning away from Weiss. You fucking idiot, why are you inflating her ego? Was she always this much of a prissy bitch? I remember her being nice and reserved.

"What, are you just going to walk away without helping me?"

Cinder turned back around and mimicked Weiss' pose. The Schnee heiress had one hand on her hip, her skirt showing off her long legs as she expectantly glared at her. "What, did I make you angry?"

God, I sound like a petulant child.

Weiss held her gaze for a moment, then her gaze fell and she looked down at the ground. "Well, you're a real piece of work, aren't you?"

Cinder sneered at her, a brief tug of victory fluttering through her stomach as she watched her kneel down and pull her suitcases into a pile. "Don't you have a butler to do that for you?"

Weiss flinched, and her grip tightened on her handle as she redoubled her efforts. Cinder reveled in finally being taller than somebody and in the reaction she had caused, before she remembered what she was supposed to be doing.

Damn, I just failed nice and enthusiastic.

Weiss didn't look up as she knelt down and picked up a suitcase. "Are you going to dump all of my dust on the ground too?"

"I'm helping you, in case you missed it."

"Why?" Weiss turned to look at her, and Cinder got a good look at her face for the first time. A thin scar ran down across her eyebrow and her eye, and her light silvery hair was tightly pulled back into a careful ponytail. "You seemed perfectly content to leave my stuff on the ground before, since you obviously don't like me."

Wasn't this girl Ruby's partner or something?

Ignoring her anger at having to be on her knees, she said, "It's not exactly like you were endearing yourself to me, princess-"

"Heiress."

"Whatever. I never said I wasn't going to help you, did I?" Of course, that's what I intended to do. How the hell did this girl get me to come back? "What do you even need this many suitcases for?"

Weiss stood up and lifted a pile of four suitcases onto her trolley. "It's important to have clothes for all occasions," she said, obviously repeating something that had been said to her. Digging her slender fingers under her pile of suitcases, Cinder activated her maiden powers to stand and-

Nope. Ruby Rose wasn't the fall maiden.

Standing up took more effort than she liked, and so did carrying the pile to the trolley. Smirking at Weiss, she said, "Well, aren't you going to thank me?"

"Excuse me?" Weiss stared at her incredulously.

"I mean, it just would have been soeasy to let one of your precious crystals slip out and explode, no?" She was at home here, twisting the knife deeper as a confused look crossed Weiss' face. "I might have not even helped you at all." It took a moment for her to realize that Weiss seemed to be genuinely confused about what she was saying, with the undertones of anger that had been present the entire discussion.

"Well, I'm sorry I asked," Weiss muttered, turning back to Cinder as she walked away. "Why are you even here, if you're going to be such a bitch to everyone? This is a school for teams of huntresses, and I pity whoever has to work with you."

Weiss was almost out of earshot when she said, "Not like your team will have it any better," just loud enough for the heiress to put her head down and walk away faster towards the luggage holding area.

Why did the last word always feel so hollow?

For that matter, why had she even helped her in the first place. The way she withdrew when you went at her. No, that couldn't be it. She was playing a role, admittedly poorly, but actresses didn't get in character in thirty minutes either. Helping bitchy rich girls was a step in the right direction, right?

Why am I even here, huh? You're right, Schnee, I don't have a fucking clue. I'm supposed to be lording over the conquered ruins of Vale, not running around knocking over luggage in Ruby Fucking Rose's body! I think I deserve to take it out on somebody, so maybe you should apologize for getting in my way.

She felt so empty inside, without the fires of her power.

She flinched. She was so easy to read, and people like that are the easiest to hurt and manipulate.

Why did she have to care?

Why did she care? Why was she here?

What the FUCK?

Cinder drifted towards the school, glaring at the groups of students around her. Not for the first time since it had happened, she wished Emerald was at her side. She hated to admit it, but she really missed her henchman, missed her voice of reason and calming hand on her shoulder. At least if she was here, she might have half a chance at feeling less alone.

This path was dotted by rubble. This path swarmed with Beowulves and Ursa. This path didn't sing with conversation under the midday sun.

Everything was wrong, and she didn't have a clue as to fixing it.

The crowd had already gathered around the stage by the time Cinder made it to the opening ceremony amphitheater. She zoned out as people jostled around her, fighting to keep herself calm. Slowly, surely, her anger and shock were morphing into panic, and she didn't let herself panic. Ever.

Yeah, because this has been a real great day for nevers, Fall. Look at you, crying and puking into an airship trashcan. Fucking pathetic.

More than anything, she wanted to not be at a combat school for uppity young hunters like Weiss Schnee. Unfortunately for her, she didn't seem to have that sort of luxury.

Until she knew what was going on, she was stuck pretending to be Ruby Rose under Ozpin's thumb. Speaking of the devil…

"I'll… keep this brief."

Ozpin looked out over the assembled crowd, peering over the rims of his wiry glasses. Less than an hour ago, she and him had collided, their magic driving them deep into the ground before she stripped his aura away and burnt him alive. She could still feel his skin crisping under her watchful hands, so aware of how utterly outmatched against him her current situation made her.

He can't know. I can never let him find out.

Ozpin finished his speech and nodded to them. "Good luck, and welcome to Beacon."

Cinder's fingernails bit her hand, and she narrowed her eyes. She didn't know why or how she was here, but she would not give up her power so easily. She would not let Ozpin win this game, and she wasn't about to give up on her goals.

She could pretend to be Ruby Rose. From there, well… Who knows what opportunities might arise for her to strike?

Petals in the Ash

A Fanfiction By Allison Illuminated

Chapter Publish Date: 1/11/18

[A/N] Welcome to the world of Petals in the Ash! This will be a character driven fic focused on Cinder, Weiss, and their relationship, with a nice dose of time travel on the side. I hope you enjoyed this first chapter, and remember to review and tell me your thoughts!

Signing off, Allie