Ashes, Ashes

— Salem

***Ashes, Ashes*** is the first chapter of *RWBY: Witch Hunt*.

## Plot

An otherwise silent night was disrupted by the faint and soft chewing sound Cinder made as she ate the bread which was left on the countertop. Her snacking was rather calm considering that, just down the hallway, the fresh corpses of her adoptive "family" lie on the ground, along with that of the Huntsman named Rhodes who had trained her the five years leading up to this night. Her face was still slightly damp from the tears of relief she shed once her abusive maternal figure was gone, though the tears were bittersweet, as she felt some anger from how she believed Rhodes turned against her. In addition to her chewing sounds, the air could be heard being cut, as Cinder twirled a small knife in her other hand, the reflection of which shown in one of Rhodes' swords which rested on the floor beneath her, stained with the blood of its former owner.

Cinder let the crumbs of her snack fall to the floor without a care for the mess. Pairing this with the blood, Cinder's apathetic attitude towards the mess was a sign of her defiance against those who abused and oppressed her, refusing to do an act similar to that of her indentured servitude years prior. Finishing her bread, Cinder promptly dropped the knife to the floor, the clanging metal echoing throughout the empty Glass Unicorn hotel. She left the kitchen and headed down the hallway, apathetically passing by the entrance to her storeroom of a living space which held the four corpses. At the end of the hall stood a door that she entered, leading into Madame's room.

Cinder had seldom entered this room during her time living here, having only come in to swiftly take care of any chores she was put to work doing, such as laundry or pampering Madame during her baths. It was only now that she was able to be in it for much longer, able to take in the details of the rather glamorous room. To any other child, the room of gilded bobbles and a fancy queen sized bed would have them star struck and in awe. For Cinder, however, it only increased the spite she had for her now-dead abuser.

'Why should she have such nice things, for being such an awful person?' Cinder thought to herself as she glared a hate-filled stare at every minute detail of the room. Though, one thing did catch her eye, albeit just for a moment, a small accessory on the dresser. A gold and jade diamond-shaped accessory with seven blue-indigo, iridescent feathers coming off the bottom.

Steam would eventually fill the bedroom's personal bathroom as Cinder decided upon further spiting Madame by using her bath. The tub was certainly larger than anyone feasibly would need, and Cinder enjoyed a relaxing time in it before eventually leaving and donning a shiny red robe with golden accents to it. She brought herself over to the equally oversized bed and lied down in it, her eyes amazed at how soft and comfortable it was.

...Too soft. Too comfortable.

Cinder's eyes filled with tears again, thinking about her years of abuse. 'I had to spend my nights with just a towel separating me from the cold floor... While she was on this soft mattress with warm blankets?'

The distress and sadness in Cinder's eyes and tears faded. Now, the only thing fueling her angst was the rage she had repressed for so long.

From airships above, Water Dust poured down onto the massive flames that came out of the Glass Unicorn. The general infrastructure of the building remained in tact, but anything inside surely perished.

"Yes, sir, General Ironwood." A member of the Atlas elite talked over his comms to General James Ironwood, head of the Atlas military, and law enforcement in general. "The flames are getting under control. Four remains were found, but no identities at this time." He waited a moment for the General's response. "No, sir, the cause has yet to be identified. We cannot confirm or deny whether it was an accident or arson. ...Of course, sir. We'll get to it as soon as the building is safe enough to enter."

A nearby alleyway held the position of Cinder as she watched the scene unfold. A confident smirk had come over her face, her eyes glistering in the embers of effigy she had caused. With Rhodes' swords on her back, and the feathery pendant accessory on her waist, she began stepping away from the area, inhaling quite a bit as she seemed to have finally moved passed this chapter of her life.

Or so, she thought. But one thing continued to echo through her head, even if just in the back of her mind. Something ingrained into her system, embedded into her memory, through the torturous years. The mantra Madame forced her to say every time she misbehaved, and was subjected to her electrifying necklace.

"Without you, I am nothing."

This same mantra that Cinder used throughout her five years of hell was what she used against Madame in her final moments.

"Without you, I am nothing. But because of you, I am everything."

Cinder visibly fought against this echoing, her confident smirk faltering each time it would play in her head.

'She's gone now. Focus on that. Because of her, you are everything.' She would think to herself, trying to keep any thoughts of the negative side of things out of her head.

Within the past decade, the Schnee Dust Company had fallen out of favor with most of the sensical world, though remained in its position of power simply due to the quality and quantity of Dust it produced and provided. The reason for this shift in relations is due to a change in leadership. Jacques Schnee took over the company after his father-in-law, Nicholas Schnee, fell on ill health. Where Jacques succeeded in being a frugal businessman, he failed in literally every other category. SDC employees,, especially Faunus, were left in poor working conditions, and wages were cut and given a huge gap between the different occupations, as well as between humans and Faunus. Some outsourced SDC mines branded their Faunus employees like cattle, and treated their work like slavery.

It also happened that Jacques was the only member of the Schnee family to not be at the event happening at Schnee Manor. The enormous dining room table was filled with friends of family, or rather, friends of the Company. Willow Schnee, the matriarch, stood at the wall of the room, an impatient look on her face as she stifled anger. At the head of the table sat the three children Jacques and Willow had together: Winter and Whitley sitting on either side, and Weiss at the head of the table. It was her tenth birthday. and Jacques was absent from the dinner.

"Family" was such a loose term that only really applied to blood relations and the legal marriage. Weiss would describe Whitley as having "never liked" Winter, his own eldest sister. Winter kept the family at a distance as well, aside from Weiss, whom she showed her true emotions to in private. While Weiss never outright had disdain for anyone in the family, as she got older, she certainly became more aware of the less-than-loving nature surrounding her.

A somewhat short butler with a pudgy stomach and bushy mustache approached Willow, having noticed her expression from across the room. "Everything alright, Miss
Willow?" He asked whilst handing her a drink which she immediately downed.

"He was supposed to be here half an hour ago, Klein. Where-"

Willow's unasked question was prematurely answered as Jacques entered from the opposite doorway, catching everyone's attention. "Apologies, dear guests. I was only intending to arrive fashionably late." The comment garnered some laughs from the crowd of business partners.

'Fashionably late?' Willow thought to herself 'And not even apologizing to his own daughter...'

Jacques smiled as he walked beside the table towards his wife, who gave her glass back to Klein as she approached him. "And where have you been?" Willow's tone took the room by surprise, silencing any other conversation and remaining laughter. Jacques was equally taken aback, a scowl crossing over his face.

"I beg your pardon?"

"I'm not going to repeat myself, Jacques."

"I'll have you know I was having a rather important meeting with the General. For someone who claims to be such a friend to this family, and is treated as such, he certainly has a knack for wasting our resources, and not arriving to our events."

"You're worried about the General's absence? This is your own daughter's birthday!"

"Willow, please, once she's old enough, she'll realize that this birthday party nonsense is childish. Everyone else in this room already knows they're practically PR moves for the likes of us."

Where the guests nodded and agreed, Willow almost seemed offended at the remark. Klein put a calming hand on Weiss' shoulder as she looked away, saddened.

"This isn't your first time doing this, Jacques." Willow sneered "You missed Winter's in December, and Whitley's before that. And I have had it up to here with your bullsh-"

"That's quite enough!" Jacques interrupted, cutting Willow off. He glanced over to the guests, who were reacting with a mix of shock and interest. "...Leave us. This party's over. I have things to discuss with my... loving wife."

Willow glared at Jacques as the party-goers exited, and when the final guest left and closed the door, she started up again. "You have some serious work to do when it comes to being a father."

"You will watch your tone, Willow! I've provided for this family ever since your father became incapable of running the company himself!"

"Well, congratulations on being the world's best money maker! Are you going to use that money to compensate for the compassion you should be showing to your children? Showing to me?"

Jacques' eyes moved over to the children, and he gained a slight smirk. "Children." He walked towards them. "Allow me to elaborate on something. And I do hope I make myself quite clear. A marriage between two people only works if you're willing to give some form of value to the other. Take us, your parents, for example. What I gave to your mother... Was you. The three of you are my familial gift to her. As for your mother's gift to me? Why, what could be a more valuable gift than the largest company in all of Remnant?"

Willow's expression faltered. "Wh-What?"

"My dear, you didn't truly believe I married you out of something as ridiculous as love, did you?" Jacques' own expression briefly turned to surprise when he realized how broken Willow seemed to become, only for him to then chuckle. "You naïve woman. You really never realized that the only reason I married you, and took your last name as my own, was for the benefits I'd gain from it?"

In reality, Willow likely knew all along. She simply ignored the idea in hopes that Jacques did indeed have some love for the family within his cold heart. Hope that died out the instant this conversation happened.

"...You won't have those benefits much longer."

"What was that?"

"I'm going to take back my family's company. And you'll be left with nothing."

"You seem to be sorely mistaken, Willow. Not only am I the only one with enough sense to run the damn company, you're not in any legal position to take it from me when the previous owner of it," Jacques motioned to the large mural of Nicholas Schnee on he wall of the dining room "Specifically gave it to me. You'd only get it if I gave it to you, or if I were to become incapable of running it. And I'm afraid neither of those are going to happen any time soon."

"Fine. You can keep the damn company and all you've done to ruin it. And I'll take my family and lea-"

The room fell silent. Willow's sentence ran short as the only thing that broke the silence was the faint echo of the backhanded slap Jacques planted across her cheek. Klein hid his scowl, while the children looked on in shock. None of the three of them were any stranger to this kind of treatment towards themselves, but to see it happen to their own mother right in front of them was something that would be burned into their memory.

"None of you are going anywhere. Doing something so foolishly drastic is only going to rip us apart more. I-" Jacques stopped talking as he heard his Scroll ringing. He seemed annoyed at the caller ID before answering. "What is it now, James? I'm in the middle of- ...What do you mean a ship was taken? One of mine? ...Well, do you have any idea where it's gone?" He groaned after a moment. "Fine. I'll be there."

Jacques hung up the call with Ironwood before looking back at Willow, still scowling. "We're not done here. We will discuss the rest of this matter when I return. You had better still be here."

Jacques adjusted his clip-on tie before storming out of the room. Klein kept a comforting hand on Weiss' shoulder as a tear streamed out of her left eye.

"All of this Dust, wasted."

Jacques sneered at the crash site of the SDC ship, which had promptly exploded upon impacting the icy fields outside of Mantle, the lower class city located literally beneath Atlas, the city in the sky.

"This is going to cost me, James. I assume you have some idea of who is responsible?"

General Ironwood stepped forward. "If I were to guess, it's likely related to the burning of the Glass Unicorn. Atlas is a big city, but not one someone could easily escape from. Likely, this is a case of someone trying to commandeer a ship without knowing what they're doing."

"You're just going to guess that the two are related?"

"They seem a bit too close together to be coincidental."

Jacque furrowed his brow, only for the two to both turn about at the sound of a nearby struggle.

"GET AWAY FROM ME!"

A few of the Atlesian soldiers nearby had their weapons up, pointed at a young and bruised Cinder who had been hiding nearby the crash. Her face was filled with anger and fear as she pointed her swords at the group. Jacques took on a look of surprise, while Ironwood kept his calm demeanor. Stepping forward, he put his hand out, prompting the soldiers to lower their weapons. He then kneeled down, allowing him to be eye level with the injured Cinder, albeit a few feet away.

"It's alright. We're not going to hurt you." He began reaching his hand out to try to calm her, though stopped when it only caused her to flinch a bit, shakily holding her blade. "Please. Tell me your name."

"....C-C-Cinder..."

Cinder was held in a medical wing of the Atlas military compound, her vitals being kept in check by the machinery nearby, such as showing her low Aura levels from having crashed. Although slightly muffled, the argument between Jacques and Ironwood could still be heard from down the hall.

"How in the world is it a child managed to breach security?!"

"She managed to evade everything else up until her crash, so clearly, being undetected is something she's used to doing."

"Are you defending her, or making excuses about your ability to keep track of felons?"

"I can assure you, Jacques, I'll have Watts get to work on improving the security."

"Oh, wonderful! Put the greatest mind in Atlas to work because you got fooled by a teenager!"

A loud bang echoed through the hall, as Ironwood punched the wall in frustration. "Jacques. I'm sorry this is such an inconvenience to you, but-"

"Inconvenience?!" Jacques interrupted "I'm already having trouble keeping costs for employees steady, but now I'm going to have to lower their wages even more because of the lien that girl cost me! What are you planning on doing with her?"

Ironwood glared at Jacques, but before he could respond, a young Atlesian solder walked up to him with a clipboard. He looked over it and signed what was on it before handing it back to her. Both he and Jacques remained silent until she left.

"What was that about?"

Ironwood sighed. "I'm not supposed to be too open about this until everything is finalized but... Silver Nocturne is stepping down as Headmaster of Atlas Academy."

"What?"

"That's not all. As this kingdom continues to thrive, the need of protection grows more and more. And I aim to ensure that protection. Not ven just restricted to Atlas, but all of Remnant. When Silver officially resigns to the public, I will be taking his place as the academy's Headmaster."

"You're going to abandon your position with the army to lead some students?"

"Not at all. The military and academy will be merged into one, and I will lead both."

"Both?! And grant yourself two seats on the council in the process?"

"I'm perfectly aware of the imbalance it may cause, as is the rest of the council. But for the sake of Atlas' safety, Remnant's... I believe it's a small price."

Ironwood began stepping away, only stopping once Jacques spoke up again.

"You didn't answer me. What are you going to do about the girl?"

"Cinder?"

"Yes. Cinder." An incredible amount of toxicity was present in Jacques' tone when he said her name, almost mockingly.

Ironwood looked down the hallway to the window to Cinder's room, who had since fallen asleep while being cared for. "...From what we've been able to tell thus far, Cinder was adopted by Madame Tremaine, the owner of the Glass Unicorn, and one of the corpses found in the flames. If we can find out where she came from... We're going to send her back."

"Wh- Send her back?!" Jacques yelled, flabbergasted. "On top of the money she's cost me, you've deduced already she's the source of the fires at that hotel! Aside from being a thief, she's also an arsonist and murderer! And you're content just letting her go?!"

"She's the same age as your daughter."

"I don't give a damn if she was the same age as Whitley! She should be detained!"

"Jacques, I'm letting her go in the hopes she'll do better. Keeping her locked in a cell will only worsen her. I'd like to believe one's early mistakes in life-"

"You're going to downplay her actions to simple mistakes?! I'm beginning to realize you have an incredibly poor judge in character, James."

"...Perhaps you're right. I've called you a friend numerous times, after all."

Jacques, growing increasingly angry by the situation, stepped close to Ironwood. "I won't forget this, James."

"I know. Because forgetting isn't the type of man you are. Or perhaps I've misjudged that, too." The two silently glared at each other for a moment before Ironwood adjusted his real tie. "Tell Weiss happy birthday for me."

Ironwood took his leave. Jacques glared after him, before shifting his gaze to the unconscious Cinder. Frustrated beyond belief, Jacques stormed off to go home, where he was sure to take out his frustrations on the residents there.

## Characters

* Cinder Fall
* Weiss Schnee
* Winter Schnee
* Whitley Schnee
* Willow Schnee
* Klein Sieben
* Jacques Schnee
* General James Ironwood

## Allusions

* The title of the episode alludes to *Ring Around the Rosie*, with the in-universe tie-in being Cinder burning the Glass Unicorn and the corpses inside. It may also be a nod to the line "Ashes, ashes, guess who's falling down?" from the *RWBY* song *Big Metal Shoe*, also written for its tie in to *Ring Around the Rosie*.

## Trivia

* Ironwood mentions Silver Nocturne. This character was made specifically for this fan-fiction to be Ironwood's predecessor. Silver's name brings to mind the color of the same name, as well as "Nocturne" bringing to mind dark colors like black or deep indigo. Silver's allusion is the tinsmith who made the Tin Man in the 1939 rendition of *The Wizard of Oz*. His initials "S.N." are a nod to Sn, the atomic symbol of tin.
* Madame was never given a proper name beyond "Madame" in canon *RWBY*. For the sake of the story, she was given the name Tremaine, which is the same name as Cinderella's step-mother. It may come from a word meaning "homestead," bringing to mind greens and browns, or "tone," bringing to mind greys.