A/N: Greetings everyone! Hope you have all been well! Yep we got another chapter here! I'll be honest this chapter along with the previous and next chapter were supposed to be one single chapter...but obviously it got to big and I didn't want to keep you all waiting for another chapter. So here it is Chapter 4! I will be honest though...I feel this may be my weakest chapter thus far...I don't know it just feels this whole part of the story has been really difficult. Kinda mix between me working on it on and off because I can be lazy at times and other things. Though I'm hoping that as soon as I'm done the next chapter I'll be able to pick things up more quickly. The ideal release rate is a chapter or two a month! So lets hope that can start sooner rather than later ^^

In other news the co-author of this story is in the midst of making cover for this volume and so far it looks fantastic! Hoping the colored version of it will be done by the time i finish the next chapter! And like ch:2 there will be a brief preview of Chapter 5 at the end!

Also will be responding to reviews/messages following the Ch:5 preview! So if you wanna see if I responded to you make sur you read all the way to the end!

Anywho, on to Chapter 4 of RWBY: Fall for a Rose...

~KingReaper13

It had been nearly three minutes since Cinder's violent departure. In that short time, no one had said a thing. Emerald had continued to stare at the door in horror, her body shaking as if suddenly feeling a cold gale. Mercury, who remained slumped against the wall following Cinder's assault on him, continued to cough at the pain from said brief attack. Finally, Neo remained in her bed looking anxiously at her two fellow lackeys. Her different colored eyes darted back and forth between them, wishing for one of them to speak and provide clarity as to what exactly was going on.

The orphaned thief would be the one to break the silence. Closing her eyes and breathing deeply, but still retaining the shaking, Emerald turned towards the crumpled heap that was Mercury. Her eyebrows furrowed, eyes opened wide, the pupils shrank as they focused and a deep irritated frown carved itself into her face. With heavy footfalls, she marched toward him, until she stood right over him.

"What the actual fuck were you thinking?"

Emerald looked at him with such disdain and befuddlement, attempting to look as imposing as she could before her fallen comrade. Mercury though could care less. He was doing his best to recompose himself after being threatened by Cinder in such a way. The bestial snarl, the way her hair stood on its ends and the eyes, and those golden amber eyes, how they bore into his mind and soul. The unadulterated hate and furry that they emitted, the overwhelming pressure he felt from them, it seemed as if the fires of the damned had been unleashed. Even more frightening to the assassin's son, such eyes had not put him into their line of sight; instead they just looked past him but still he was able to feel his mistress' anger. To this, he could not help but cringe.

"Mercury," Emerald shouted, her tone demanding an answer.

Mercury coughed a few more times before looking up at his partner in crime, his grey eyes meeting her scarlet ones.

"I…cough…I was thinking I'd lighten the mood with a little joke," he said with a pained laugh in his tone.

Emerald's face grew hot with anger, "By teasing her with the name from her nightmare? A name that she was crying out at in anguish! How fucking stupid can you be?"

"Yeah…not one of my brighter moments."

"Clearly shitbag!"

"Hey how was I supposed to know she'd get so angry?" he attempted to defend himself. "She usually just brushes off or gives a small miffed look whenever I make stupid jokes like that," he argued back, his own anger starting to rise.

"But this wasn't a usual time Merc! This wasn't the Cinder we've always known! You saw how she looked! How she was acting…. she was…different…a-and still you thought it was a good time to be an asshole? WHY?" the recovering kleptomaniac shouted.

Emerald appeared more unsettled as she recounted the past ten minutes and how she had seen her mother like figure in such a vulnerable and then rage induced state, something she'd never seen. It was not the Cinder she knew and loved. No, the Cinder she cared for always held an air of mystery and danger about her. Never losing her cool, showing any weakness and making sure she was in control. What she and the others had witnessed was a very different future Maiden of Fall. Anxious, frustrated, weak and filled with visible unending hate. All of it just confused poor Emerald, who now could only take out her turbulent emotions of the man who essentially escalated the situation.

Mercury sighed in aggravation but also acceptance. Internally he was reprimanding himself over his own stupidity. He knew better not to argue with Cinder when she was in a foul mood, but her

"Well? What in the name of dust made you think it would be wise to screw with a woman who had not five minutes prior materialized a sword and tried to…"

"I told you why damn it," he snapped back before falling silent and looking at the wooden floor with eyes heavy of emotion similar to the one who stood before him. "…I admit I fucked up and escalated things…"

The tan-skinned girl was shocked at the prideful assassin's own admittance to his screw up.

"But let's be real here…you're only upset because you are just really confused at the way Cinder was acting!" he accused.

Emerald broke her gaze from him; ashamed to know he saw right through her. There were no more words between them for several moments. Steadily, albeit torturously as pain shot through his lumbar, Mercury raised himself from the wooden floor and back onto his artificial feet. He looked upon his associate as she shook and entwined her arms around herself in an attempt to find some comfort from the madness of the past several minutes. The silver-haired criminal staggered forward toward Emerald, reaching out an arm and placing it upon her trembling shoulder. Slowly, her head turned back toward him, her shaking ceasing.

"…Look, I'm gonna give it to you straight, I'm also a bit unsettled at this."

"R-Really?"

"Em, have you ever seen Cinder act the way she just did? " he asked his eyes burrowing into hers.

Emerald just squeezed her arms together more tightly before answering, "Of course not...never."

"Exactly. Whatever that memory was..."

"M-Memory?" Emerald gawked.

Mercury gave her a surprised look before donning one of his smirky smiles, "And you're supposed to be the smart one?"

"The hell does that mean?"

"Nothing. Look, Cinder said it herself. She doesn't get nightmares," the grey-eyed criminal said, recalling his bosses answer to his earlier question. "And when you look at it, the way she was crying out. Nightmares while powerful don't make you cry out like that. Scream and yell, yes. But you only get raw emotion, like what we all saw, from a memory...and a bad one at that. Thinking back on when she first started crying out and thrashing in her bed...it all makes sense really...Wow, I was an idiot to even attempt to make that joke."

"No shit...But...how do you know all this?" the loyal servant pondered aloud.

Mercury's eyes turned away for a brief moment, his face at the same instant became vulnerable and hurt before he quickly reapplied his mask. But Emerald had seen the brief emotion hidden beneath and her eyes brows further creased in concern.

"I just do alright. Ya know, assassin training and all that."

Emerald knew that was a lie but kept it to herself. She wanted to hear more of Mercury's analysis, despite how strange it was that he could show such cognitive skills.

"Alright."

"Regardless, the way she was reacting to everything, Cinder was more or less reliving a pretty bad memory. What's even more clear is that it involved that Lady…" he held his tongue, the image of the Cinder's demonic persona warning him to never utter the name again, reappeared in the man's mind. His completion paled again at the fresh memory before continuing, "Lady whatever her name is…S-She must have done something to Cinder. Something bad enough to cause a woman who burns people alive and works for Salem, to not only have such massive panic attack but to also lash out like that!"

Neo, who had continued to remain outside the conversation of partners, narrowed her eyes and cocked her head in curiosity at the mention of the name. Neither she nor Roman had heard that wicked woman was, in fact, answering to someone else. This Salem, who just by the tone of Mercury's voice, sounded far more terrifying than Cinder herself.

"But what could she have done to someone like Cinder?" Emerald asked, her eyes pleading for answers, drawing Neo back to the discussion.

"I don't know but I'm starting to think we'd better just let this go," Mercury suggested before removing his hand from his partner's shoulder. Without another word he moved to his bed and went to lay upon it once more.

Emerald blinked stupefied at the recommendation before shaking her head in order to break its hold on her thought process.

"H-how can you say that?"

"Emerald, I just said that woman's name and Cinder threw me across the room into the wall, picked me off the ground and all but confirmed she'd outright kill me if I said it again! If she were to find out we tried looking into anything regarding her past or that woman…just do what Cinder said, drop it and go back to sleep," he suggested moving his hands behind his head and closing his eyes.

"…Fine…but I'm not going back to sleep. I'm going to find her and make sure she's alright," Emerald said firmly as she moved to the door.

"That's nic…what?" Mercury asked as he opened his eyes and turned his body to get a better look at the ex-street rat as she glided past. "Pretty sure her leaving the room while slamming the door was a clear indication that she wished to be left alone," Mercury pointed out, "You'd just be adding more dust to the fire."

Emerald stopped right before the door, her hand just about to grasp the knob, which had been slightly deformed by Cinder. She contemplated Mercury's words and knew he was right. But something with Emerald swelled within in her. Cinder had found her and given her purpose. Taught her how to hone her skills and in rare moments while not the most affectionate, offered comfort Emerald and pushed her forward. Now, Emerald resolved, it was her turn to bestow her own form of consolation to her maternal figure.

"Maybe. But I feel Cinder needs someone right now," she said not looking back and turned the bronze knob, "I don't know about you but I'm going to look for her and bring her back."

Mercury made no reply except for a slight grunt and returned his head to the pillow, silently telling Emerald he would not be joining her. However, as she opened the door she felt a presence suddenly appear beside her. Her head swiveled to initially see no one but upon tilting her head down she saw Neo staring up at her.

"Neo?"

'I'll help you find her,' the hired criminal signed to Emerald.

Emerald was thoroughly shocked that the girl, whose only commitment to her mistress and her plan was through the orders of her boss, was volunteering to assist her. Normally she would have viewed the offer as suspicious and pondered the reasons behind Neo's desire to aid in the search. Yet, Emerald was far too preoccupied with locating Cinder and doing all she could to comfort her savior.

She shot a disappointed glance at where Mercury lay before she returned her gaze to Neo, "Thank you Neo. At least one other member on this team has a pair!"

The only response she received was Mercury raising his right hand and flipping her off.

"Nice. Let's go Neo."

Both minions of destruction swiftly left the room. Closing the door behind them they found themselves in the empty hallway of the guest dormitory. The Corridor was lit solely by moonlight; shadows seemed to dance around on the floor and walls in the pale illumination. It was also as silent as a graveyard in the dead of winter and seemed to stretch on forever into a black void. All of this, however, was not even noticed by either Emerald or the mute criminal, the former of whom had begun to move down the end of the passage.

"C'mon. We'll start looking down this way and huh?" Emerald had stopped as she felt a tug on her right arm. Upon turning about-face, her eyes were met with Neo shaking her head. "What do you mean no?"

'Look we want to find Cinder as fast as possible, yes? Then I think it's best if we split up. We'll have a higher chance of running into her if we do that,' she explained through her myriad of hand gestures.

"…ummm I think I picked up most of that...you said you think we should split up…right?" Emerald asked for confirmation.

The right hand to Roman rolled her eyes, not at all surprised by how little her allies actually understood sign language. Though she did give Emerald more credit in the fact she was attempting to learn it and she had done a decent job in translation previously in the room. In any case, she nodded her head to the tan skinned girl's inquiry.

"I don't think that's a bad idea. Let's do it. Oh, and if you find her first, message me where you're at and I'll be right over and vice versa if I find her."

Again Neo answered with a nod before the two female criminals went their separate ways, with Neo dawning a snarky smile on her face. While she did share Emerald's goal of locating the fiery woman she currently answered to, it was not for the same reasons as the green haired illusionist. Her purpose in finding Cinder was to more or less determine whether or not the man she really answered to, Roman Torchwick, should continue to aid the pyromancer in her diabolical schemes or inform the cigar smoker to end the "partnership" and hightail it from Vale. This was all of course in response to the erratic behavior Cinder had displayed minutes ago, behavior that made Neo quickly question the entirety of the plan. Even more unsettling to her was the implication the other two lackey's had made, that Cinder was answering to someone else, which in her mind suggested the entire plan was of some grander scheme. The pink and brown-haired daughter of crime knew she had to figure out what exactly was happening and if it was worth Roman and hers' continued investment.

Sadly for the mute young woman, finding Cinder was something that ended up being more easier said than done; Beacon, after all, was a massive institution. In forty minutes since separating from Emerald, Neo had found no luck in finding the architect of destruction. After scouring the dormitory and a few other facilities scattered around the campus her path eventually led her to the main building, filled with many of the lecture halls used to educate the minds of prospective Huntsmen and Huntresses. She entered one of said lecture halls in the hope that by some slight chance her quarry would be in there but was once more met with disappointment. The classroom like much of the rest of the campus was like most of the campus at that hour, completely devoid of life. While not necessarily shocking, this did not make things any less frustrating for Neo who was becoming fully irritated at not failing to properly track the normally arrogant woman. Still, the parasol user kept her composer and with a soundless sigh, Neo moved to leave towards the next location where she assumed the nefarious leader could possibly be.

Upon opening the door and stepping forward Neo's word became unexpectedly dark and soft. Blinking several times in confusion by the sudden lack of light and new feeling akin to soft pillows upon either side of her face, the young criminal pulled back a step. The comfortable softness was taken away but eyesight was quickly restored. It was in turn greeted with a close-up view of a rather ample chest contained beneath an orange tank top with an emblem of a fiery heart printed in its center. Inclining her head upward, her surprised heterochromia eyes found themselves locked with an equally shocked pair of beautiful violet eyes.

"Woah! Sorry about for that! Didn't think I'd actually find someone in here. I mean, I was hoping to find a certain someone," the owner of the violet eyes said as she herself slowly stepped back while scratching the back of her head in embarrassment, all with a small grin on her face.

Neo watched the young huntress carefully; her defenses slightly raised in a small flight or fight response. The girl continued to lightly babble on as Neo observed her, categorizing every little detail of the girl who was similarly dressed in only he pj's. As she did, realization dawned upon her as to who it was she was looking at. Long blonde hair, violet eyes, a fine physique, what seemed to be a jokey personality, everything fit perfectly with the description from Emerald's report. The young woman Neo currently stood before was none other than, Yang Xiao Long, the brawler of team RWBY and the elder sister of Ruby Rose. The same one that had aided in ruining Roman's plans at the docks and had put him in a fair amount of trouble with Cinder. The thought of which made her squeeze her fits in anger. To keep up appearances before Yang though, she had her face retain some leftover shock mixed in with curiosity.

"Sooo...what are you doing here? I mean you can't get exactly get extra points for class if even the teachers are sleeping you know?" Yang joked with a wink. Neo's face quickly displayed that she was clearly unamused at Yang's attempt at humor. "Oh c'mon that was funny."

The only response she received was a raised eyebrow.

"…Ok then…well I should keep searching, by what I can see, she isn't here," Yang said before moving to walk away only to stop as an obvious though shot through her head, "Actually you wouldn't have happened to see my friend Blake around here? Black hair topped with a bow? Yellow eyes? Has a boring and grumpy attitude? Pretty felinish?" Yang described to the silent vertically challenged girl.

Neo shook her head in a negative manner to answer Yang's question. She knew very well whom Yang was referring to, again thanks to Emerald's detailed report. Still, though, she had not seen the other girl. Her soundless answer appeared to depress Yang somewhat as her head slightly drooped and eyes expressed a slight melancholy.

"I see. Thank you anyway …" Yang paused slightly before chuckling lightly to herself once more, "Sorry, I never did get your name? Mine is Yang. Yang Xiao Long."

Neo once more replied with an impassive look, this time with both eyebrows raised. To her, it should have been obvious to the fist fighter that she was either too shy to speak or could not reply verbally, given she had not done so to any of her questions till that point.

"Hey I promise I won't laugh if your name sounds a little funny," Yang swore after receiving Neo's stare. Even going as far as to slash an imaginary cross above her chest. "Huntress' honor!"

Deciding to end Yang's attempts to communicate with her so that she could continue with her own search and go their separate ways, Neo replied with one of the few ways she could. A way that she was sure the RWBY team member would not be able to decipher.

In a flurry of hand movements, she said, 'My name is Neapolitan or Neo for short.'

"Neo huh? That's a cool name," Yang responded, beaming at the Team CMSN member.

Neo's mouth dropped slightly, shock written clearly on her face. Her hands quickly moved again, 'You can understand sign language?' she asked.

Not missing a beat, Yang used several motions with her hands to answer, 'I don't just understand it, I know how to sign as well.'

This astonished the undercover criminal. With the exception of Roman and elements of her current team, throughout her entire life, no one she had encountered had ever bothered to empathize with her inability to speak, let alone care enough to try and learn the unique "speech." Most of the time they brushed it off, thinking of it as an annoying inconvenience, while thinking the same of the hand-based language, forcing her to rely on a scroll for communication. Though it rarely bothered her, it did irk her from time to time. She would feel as if she was never taken seriously, never having a voice when she wished to express her own opinions and ideas, again with Roman being the exception. Yet now, here was someone aside from her boss, Cinder or her lackeys that could, at last, understand her without the need for the electronic device. It made her absolutely thrilled that there was someone else who could perhaps actually listen to her, talk to her.

'How?' she inquired as her mind still raced at this development.

"Well back at Sigil, they offered to teach Sign language and considering I had one friend who was deaf and another that was mute, it kinda made sense to know it. Besides, it was getting tiring to have them "talk" via scroll, know what I mean? "

Neo shook her head in fervent agreement. As she prepared to sign back, she halted as she remembered one ever bit so crucial little tiny detail, Yang was an enemy. Not simply a student at the school she and the others aimed to decimate, no she was a member of the team that was actively pursuing the man who cared for her and was continuing to interfere with their machinations. And yet, just as quickly as she realized this did Neo's quick thinking mind discover something of a silver lining, an opportunity more than anything.

'Given that she can actually understand me, maybe I can use that fact to get close to her. If I can, then perhaps I'll be able to acquire some information about their movements against us. It could allow us to stay ahead of them…and keep Roman safe,' thought Neo. 'Besides…she seems like she'd be pretty good company for the time being. In fact, maybe I can get her to help me find Cinder.'

Yang all the while waited for a reply from the shorter girl. Yet as she did, she soon realized she needed to resume the search for her partner. Despite the fact she was enjoying the quick and interesting conversation with the mute girl, she fretted over the black-haired beauty's wellbeing, both physically and mentally. Yang knew Blake was pushing herself to the limit in regards to the White Fang and Roman Torchwick. She needed to find her soon and at last, confront her. Accepting this, she regretful moved to address her new acquaintance.

"As much as I would like to continue our talk, I hate to say it but I gotta get moving, I still have to find my friend. It was really nice to meet you Neo. Hope to see you aroun..." Yang began as she started to move away, only to be stopped by a slight tug on the bottom hem of her shirt. Looking down she saw Neo's dainty but firm hand griping her clothing. "Uh, what is it Neo?"

'I was wondering if perhaps I could join you in looking for your friend? I'm also looking for someone,' Neo signed to Yang.

"Really? Who are you looking for?"

'My team leader, Cinder. She too left our room quite some time ago after suffering what I can only guess was a nightmare,' Neo explained before being shocked again when Yang gave a hearty laugh.

"So you're the teammate who got here late huh? Wow, our teams really can't help but run into each other hehe." Yang awed while Neo was left slightly confused. The violet-eyed bombshell not wanting her new acquaintance to be confused further elaborated, " Your team and my team have been kinda running into and hanging out together for a good bit these past few weeks. It's been really awesome to get to know your teammates! My sister/ leader, Ruby has especially liked meeting up with Cinder."

'Really?' Neo asked. Her mind was swirling at this new information. She knew Cinder had taken a particular interest in this specific team but she had no idea even with the report that they had allotted so much time with them. It seemed she was correct in assuming Yang could provide her with some information, even the unexpected kind.

"Oh yeah! They always seem to pair up whenever we run into you guys."

'Curious…,' thought Neo, storing the information for later.

"Anyway, to answer your original question, of course! We can search for both Blake and Cinder together," Yang said with a wide toothy grin, "Just follow me!"

Neo nodded and together with her new companion, they once more began to traverse the moonlit and empty hallways of the academy.

A/N: And now a sneek peek at CH:5...

"Alright, I'm gonna need two more eggs," Ruby read aloud from the cookbook that lay on the counter before her.

Her eyes were intensely focused on the pages to ensure she followed the instructions carefully and properly. Within her short arms, she held an overly large bowl filled with the ingredients need to create a fleet of chocolate chip disks of goodness. She stirred the innards of the bowl viciously, the tip of her tongue sticking out of the corner of her mouth in a cute gesture to her focus. All the while awaiting the requested poultry laid component.

The deliverance of the duo of shelled protein did not take long as Cinder cracked each egg and unloaded its innards into the swirling slush that was becoming their cookie dough.

"There you are."

"Thank you," Ruby said as she continued to whisk her spoon around in the exaggerated basin. Ensuring that the eggs was completely melded together with the rest of the doughy substance. "Hehe, we're getting close Cinder. Just a few more stirs, a little more baking soda and then these bad boys will be ready to hit the tray!"

"I await them with eager anticipation Little Rose," Cinder commented with her velvety voice, smiling fondly at the young huntress.

Not a big preview but hey now you have an inkling of what gonna be taking place in Chapter 5!

And now on to Review/Message responses!

ThatOneRandomDude: I can understand how it'd be hard to imagine this story having a happy ending but hey that's why you gotta read till the end! Who knows how it will end?! Well I mean except for me...obvilously lol

KHARAKI TAKAN: So happy to know you are enjoying the story!

aslan333: lol wasnt really trying to make her like a lovestruck school girl. I'm more or less trying to present her as someone who hasn't really expierienced these kind of emotions in a long while and is just going along with it, trying to figure out these strange and forgotten emotions.

Fox: Gotta keep reading! To be honest I do hope I can finish the entire series lol

RIJS: Thank you and oh yes it will! That's why I can only hope that I myself can remain comitted and that life will allow me to finish! I want to make a complete story!

Diamond1234: Wow! Thank you so much! It makes me overjoyed that you love the story this much so far! Also hehe If you've read this chapter i think it's gonna become clear what exactly Bumblebee Icecream is lol Granted I think I'll change that name to Bumblebee Sundae!

HaMiroKar420 and Aceina: Thank you and Ask and you shall recieve!

anotherboarduser: Thrilled you like the story so much! Unfortunately I really can't answer a lot of your questions without really giving the story away! Hehe sorry mate!