Disclaimer, I do not own RWBY

Note: This is a plot bunny that's been bouncing around my head for a while now and I finally decide to write it down. If you're going to read through this, be warned, there is no happy ending to this fic.

Ashes

Cinder stared out at the burning kingdom of Vale from her perch at the top of the CCT. The Grimm dragon rampaged across the skies, spawning multiple Grimm behind the huntsmen lines. One by one the defenders fell in battle, brought down by the unholy trinity of Grimm, white fang and hacked robots.

By dawn, the kingdom would be nothing more than a memory, its inhabitants fled or slaughtered. Cinder exhaled slowly as she watched her victory be cemented. Today would go down in history, for however long there remained anyone to record it that was.

Lifting a hand, her eyes glowed and a ball of fire sprang to life in it. Staring at it for several moments, entranced by the flickering brilliance, Cinder cut the magic and allowed the fire to die out. The complete power of the fall maiden was now hers in its entirety.

Everyone who could have stood against her was now dead. Ozpin was rotting at the bottom of the tower, the meddling team RWBY was gone, easily taken care off when they least expected it. And as to the invincible Pyrrha Nikos? Cinder spared her fallen form a glance before turning back to the burning city.

The entire plan had gone off without a hitch, all she had to do now was collect Emerald and Mercury, then return to Salem. Despite that, a bitter smile crossed her face and the satisfaction of winning never arrived.

She sighed and allowed her mind to drift back in time, getting lost in her own memories.

"Here boss." Mercury handed a file to Cinder, in it contained the profiles of various students and their teams, the potential threats to Cinder's plans.

"Thoughts?" Cinder asked as she flipped through the documents, Mercury's words were largely useless but occasionally they held some insight in the unlikely event she missed something.

"That team Torchwick is always complaining about is in there. Team RWBY, supposedly one of the best first year teams in Beacon, really though, they're all wet behind the ears and inexperienced, shouldn't be too hard to take down. Next up, the invincible Pyrrha Nikos's team, JNPR. It's just her to watch for though, the rest of her team are jokes. Monk boy and hammer girl are so-so at best and their leader, Juan something or other is a complete joke. I could kick his ass without my legs and both arms tied behind my back." Mercury boasted.

"Idiot, you try and invincible girl will tear you apart." Emerald slapped the back of his head and got an annoyed grunt in response.

"Seriously, I don't think there's anyone who doesn't know about her crush on their leader… except the dork himself."

"Hmm… whatever the case, Nikos is likely to be a maiden candidate based on her strength, her team is to be watched regardless of your opinion on them. Team leader is Jaune Arc huh… below average in academics, near bottom of the class in combat…" Cinder's eyes widened as she read the rest of Jaune's file.

"Mercury, you said he was a joke?"

"Yeah? Idiot's always tripping over himself, I'm not sure how he even made it into Beacon, or how he hasn't killed himself yet." Mercury answered and Cinder frowned at him.

"Is that so, then explain to me how he scored a 120 upon 100 for strategy and tactics."

"What? That can't be right." Mercury double checked the file once Cinder shoved it into his face.

"I've heard he has a natural grasp for tactics and out of the box stuff, but I've yet to see it in person." Emerald said.

"Hmm… how interesting. All the strength in the world means nothing if it can't be applied correctly, maybe that's why the fool Ozpin made him leader instead of Nikos despite his… less than stellar performance elsewhere." Cinder lapsed into silence as her mind cooked up various different ways she could exploit the new information.

"So the invincible girl has a crush on her team leader but he's too dense to notice it… time for a slight amendment to our plans. A schism between them could only weaken Nikos."

'Good evening, I'm Cinder Fall from Haven and a fellow team leader. You mind if I talk to you a bit about team tactics and strategy?'

Cinder had to fight hard to resist the urge to laugh. It was so easy, with those simple words, she split off Jaune from his team. The poor naïve boy was just too trusting, and the cherry on top was the look of jealousy Pyrrha shot her.

That was two weeks ago, in that time, she'd begun monopolising more and more of his time, under the pretence of 'team leader stuff'. A rift was already forming in JNPR and Arc didn't even notice it. Nikos was perpetually upset and it was starting to bleed over into her daily performance.

The kicker was when that orange girl confronted her leader, insisting that Cinder was up to no good and trying to pull him away from their team. Jaune Arc, the trusting fool that he was shot down that suggestion immediately, convinced that there was nothing wrong, that they were just team leaders working to improve themselves for their team.

"Um… if the terrorists still don't suspect that you're an undercover spy and you want to take them all down quickly for arrest. A possible method would be to just douse the food with sleeping pills or something, maybe put it in a cake, I mean who doesn't like cake? They'll never see it coming." Jaune said with a small laugh, answering the 'hypothetical' scenario posed to him by his fellow team leader.

Of course, Cinder failed to mention that there was absolutely nothing hypothetical about the scenarios. What started as a simple exercise to knock Nikos off her A game changed when she found out Arc lived up to his scores.

More than a few of her plans for the fall of Beacon had been amended after receiving his input, points of failure were dealt with and the overall plan was streamlined.

Jaune Arc was a fool in almost every sense of the word, blind to the obvious, overly trusting and a very poor judge of character. He was also weak, unskilled and hadn't unlocked his semblance. But his tactical mind was a weapon just waiting to be used.

Physical weakness could be trained away, if his semblance was locked for life or completely useless, that was fine too, Mercury didn't have one and he did his job just fine, even if he could stand to keep his mouth shut more often. To being an idiot… no cure for that, but as long as his tactical mind remained sharp, she didn't care.

If she played her cards right, pulling Arc over to Salem's service was a possibility. A devious smirk crossed her face for a split second as she contemplated that line of thought before she wiped it away. One could never have too many pawns after all.

"I hit it! I actually hit it!" Jaune cheered as he lowered the pistol, a smoking hole in the head of one of the target dummies showing where his bullet went.

"Yes Jaune, you did. Excellent work, I told you you could do it." Cinder suppressed the urge to roll her eyes as she gave her praise.

"You really think so?" Jaune asked, a blush on his face.

"Yes, really. Now keep practicing, you can hit a stationary target, now try a moving one." Cinder hit a switch and the dummies on the firing range started to move. She snickered lightly as a look of intense concentration came across his face while he tried to shoot down the now mobile targets.

He was like an overgrown puppy of sorts, so eager for any kind of positive attention. Offering to help him train in firearms and the occasional spar was yet another brilliant move on her part. More time apart from his team and deepening the rift that he was still somehow blind to.

In the beginning, it was just a plan to weaken Nikos, that was still happening with the girl in an almost perpetually foul mood now, but the main goal had shifted to drawing Arc into her web instead.

It was almost too easy, as if he ever stood a chance against her charms to begin with. Just a matter of time now, the Vytal festival was almost upon them, and then everything would come to a head.

"So Jaune, tell me, what do you think is the most important piece in chess?" Cinder asked as she sipped from her drink.

"Chess piece? Either the pawn or the knight." Jaune answered after thinking for a bit.

"Not the queen or the king?" She raised an eyebrow, trying to divine the reasoning behind his answer and failing.

"Well, it is true that if the king is taken the match is over, and the queen is the strongest piece in the game. But you asked for the most important, and that would be either the pawn or the knight. They're the two pieces with the greatest impact on how the game will play out." Jaune replied.

"What makes you say that?"

"They're the only pieces that can move first." Jaune answered simply, Cinder nodded and accepted his reasoning.

Making small talk for the rest of their dinner date, she found herself enjoying herself more than she initially expected. The tournament was tomorrow and this was her last chance to unwind and just relax. No veiled insults with Torchwick, no threats with Taurus, no putting up with Emerald and Mercury's antics, just a nice simple dinner at a restaurant in downtown Vale.

She had to give him credit for finally mustering up enough courage to ask her out, the crushed look on Nikos's face and the disappointment of the rest of his team just sweetened the deal. Arc had the right of it though, the one who makes the first move has the advantage, and they squandered their chances completely.

All the better for her.

Cinder put on her innocent façade as she knocked on the door to team RWBY's room. In her hands she carried a nice little pink box, a 'gift' for them.

"Coming… oh it's you. Look if this is about what happened to Mercury-" Weiss's face fell when she answered the door and found herself staring at Cinder.

Salem's agent could make out the four members of the team inside the dorm room, including one crying Yang. Emerald and Mercury's little trick during the match had gone swimmingly and there was just one more to go before the big send off for Vale.

But, before that, best to take the meddling kids out of the equation permanently using the idea Jaune was kind enough to provide her.

"Yeah, it's about the match. I don't know what came over your friend, but I just want you to know there's no hard feelings between us. Sometimes, thing's just… happen. Mercury will recover in time, and I thought I'd bring a small present, since your friend isn't in the best of shape now, I hope this cake will make everything better." Cinder offered the box to Weiss with a small smile.

"You… got us a cake?" Weiss accepted the box with a questioning look and Cinder feigned a tired expression.

"These are trying times for everyone, none of us wanted this to happen. You're all friends of Jaune, and that makes you friends of mine as well. So here, take it, share it among yourselves. I need to go check up on my teammates soon, see you all later I guess." Cinder bowed and started to walk away.

Once the door closed, she doubled back and eavesdropped, grinning when she heard the sound of the cake being cut and divided among the huntresses.

'See you all never again, enjoy the cyanide.'

Cinder stared at her defeated opponent, Nikos had given her more than a fair bit of trouble. As was to be expected from one with the epithet of invincible. But in the end, she was just no match for a full powered maiden.

"Do you believe in destiny?" The no longer invincible girl asked, glaring at her with a deep-seated exhaustion in her eyes.

"Yes." Cinder let the arrow fly, impaling her through the chest and dealing a mortal wound.

"PYRRHA!" An unexpected shout drew Cinder's attention away before she could move to disintegrate her victim.

There stood Jaune Arc, arriving just in time to see her execute his partner.

"Hello Jaune." Cinder greeted and sheathed her weapons, all threats already neutralised.

"C-cinder… wh… what the hell is this!?" Jaune yelled, trying to make sense of what was going on.

"I'd say it's not what it looks like but you wouldn't believe that. So I'll just tell the truth, yes, all of this is my doing. The white fang, the Grimm dragon and the hacked robots. Your partner couldn't leave well enough alone, so I ended her."

"W-why? Why would you do this? No… this can't be real, this can't be happening." Jaune took a step back and shook his head in denial.

"Why? For power of course." Cinder conjured up several balls of fire, holding them in the air to make the display of magic stick in his mind before tossing them away, letting them set the room on fire.

"I am now one of the most powerful individuals on Remnant, and I couldn't have done it without you really. Many thanks for the idea with team RWBY by the way."

"W-what did you do to them?"

"Remember when I asked you how you'd deal with a group of terrorists if you were undercover?" Cinder smirked as she saw the dawning realisation on his face.

"No. You didn't…"

"I did. They've messed up my plans one too many times, so thank you for reminding me to get rid of them before they could mess this up for me too. Who doesn't want cake right? They never suspected a thing, just as you said."

"You… you used me, you used me to kill my friends. I… I… so what now? You going to kill me too? Dispose of the idiot who betrayed his comrades with a smile?" Jaune asked, tears welling in his eyes, sobs wracking his body as a mixture of rage and despair fought for dominance in his mind.

"No. You're have potential, and there is nothing here for you anymore. Come with me, the mistress I serve, she is stronger than you can imagine, and she can give you everything you ever desired. You're not a fool Jaune Arc, join the winning side." Cinder made her offer.

"Oh yeah? And what if I want my friends back? Can she bring them back? You've destroyed everything I cared for, and you expect me to join you!?" Jaune rubbed away the tears and drew his pistol, pointing it straight at Cinder with a shaky grip.

"Don't be so dramatic, I haven't destroyed everything, I know you care for me." Cinder just shook her head as though speaking to a child, unconcerned with the pistol aimed at her head.

"Your little friends were just holding you back anyways, you're better off without them. And put down your gun, you and I both know you don't have what it takes to shoot me."

"Was it worth it then? All this death, all this suffering, just for power!?" Jaune shakily lowered his gun, reluctantly accepting Cinder's words. He just couldn't pull the trigger, not on her, despite or perhaps in spite of everything.

"Every. Single. Moment. Power is the only thing that matters in this world, that and being on the winning side. So come Jaune, I am all you have left." Cinder stretched out her hand, waiting for Jaune to take it.

"No. No. All I ever wanted to be was a hero. You've already made me a monster, I refuse to sink any further. You're right though, I can't shoot you. Even after all you've done, a part of me just won't allow me to." Jaune choked out before raising his pistol again.

Cinder was about to chide him for his theatrics, as though pointing a gun at her when he had no intention to shoot would suddenly cause her to have a change of heart. Her supreme confidence wavered when the gun just kept rising until he pulled it inwards, and rested the barrel against the side of his head.

"Jaune? What are you-"

"I'll see you in hell Cinder. Goodbye."

A single gunshot rang out and Jaune crumpled to the floor.

Cinder continued staring out into the distance until the sound of footsteps attracted her attention. Mercury and Emerald were approaching, having already finished their assigned tasks.

"Mission complete and woah… what happened here?" Mercury asked as he surveyed the wreckage in the room.

"Shut up idiot." Emerald hissed and elbowed him in the side, easily seeing that something was troubling their boss and not at all interested in getting her angry at them.

"I see. Everything went well then?" Cinder asked in a tone that held some emotion Emerald couldn't identify.

"O-of course Cinder, Roman outlived his usefulness and we've taken care of him and his pipsqueak of an assistant. Taurus is still causing havoc in the streets and drawing attention away from us as planned. We're ready to leave Vale whenever you want." Emerald informed.

"Good. Our victory is total then." Cinder whispered, staring out at the burning city one last time before leaving.

'I've won. So why does victory taste of ashes?'