Grimmling (RWBY)

Chapter 16 - Atlas - Laying Low

Cinder awoke in a strange place, and panicked.

It was... had she fallen asleep in one of the rooms? Would a guest see her? Would Madame find her?

Her body told her it was hours past time to start working.

Punishment.

Punishment.

Punishment.

Pain lashed through her throat and she fought to breathe.

Until she realized it was her own fingers, clawing at her own throat, that hurt her. She struggled to catch her breath, and loosened her hands as the room finished swimming into focus.

Soft clothes. Warm bed. Sounds of snoring nearby. Her eyes cast to the left, finding them. Miss Selene and Mr. Garek, curled against each other on the other bed, faces slack with sleep. The sight made her feel strange.

Sleep until we waken you, Miss Selene had said the night before.

But she hadn't. Could she go back to sleep? It was so late and... and she needed to work. She quietly sat up and looked around the room.

It was clean, as it had been the night before.

Her head swiveled, looking for something, anything that needed to be done. Hands clenching and unclenching. There was a scrubbing sponge on the sink.

Okay. I can use that. She padded over, trying not to make any sounds, and found some soap, and wet the sponge.

Cinder started to clean.

A small part of her kept asking what she was doing. Telling her that the counter was already clean. Another part said she was being a bad girl. That she wasn't obeying. That she would be punished for waking up.

She let them argue with each other while her arms and hands moved.

It was safer that way.

Until she heard a voice. "Cinder?"

Miss Selene was upset. She could tell from the voice. Cinder felt herself drawn down, shoulders hunched.

Pain. Pain.

"I'm sorry, ma'am." She whispered. "You told me to sleep until you woke me. But..." She clasped the sponge to her chest, the water soaking into her nightshirt. "I'll do better."

She heard the woman sigh. "It is alright, Cinder. You are not in trouble."

But she had to be.

She turned her head to watch the woman, and Miss Selene's face wasn't angry. She looked sad instead. "Cinder, what do you want to do?"

Want to do? Anything? I wanted to spar with Rhodes. But he isn't here, and the room isn't big enough. Something else? "I don't know..."

Miss Selene stood up from the bed, and walked toward her, and Cinder's knees started to shake. She cursed them in her mind. A hand touched her shoulder, and the woman knelt down before her. Her eyes were very blue.

"Cinder, this isn't going to be like the other place. You don't work at this hotel. You're a guest, like us."

That's impossible. That makes no sense at all. I can't be a guest.

Then what am I? She felt the scarred skin at her throat. What am I?

Selene was still speaking, "Today, we are all going to rest here, in the room. And then tomorrow we're going to leave Atlas." Cinder could hear the man, Huntsman Garek, starting to wake. "But since you have energy, here's what I am going to tell you to do."