Ren dialed on his scroll.
"Nora? Are you at the clinic yet?"
"Still gathering our stuff." Nora didn't sound nearly as stressed. "I'm fine. Pyrrha has a list of things to bring...a change of clothes probably. It'll be nice when I can fit into all my real outfits again. I don't really like these baby ones--"
"Nora!" Ren was exasperated. "Take this seriously!"
"Ren, it's going to be hours before we're even close. We all remember how the twins went," Nora said nonchalantly. "They'll probably tell us it's too soon anyway. Do you think you could pick up some coffee on the way, actually?"
"Nora, I don't think you're supposed to have coffee before labor," Ren said, finally calming a little.
"Oh?" Nora said. "I'm sure that's not a thing."
[It is, if you're wondering. Coffee and any other food or drink.]
"Look, I can wait anyway," Nora said. "I gotta get down to so many minutes between contractions--"
"Ugh." Cinder covered her ears.
"I watched a documentary once about this," Royal said. "It takes way longer than they make it look in movies."
"Why would you watch that?" Cinder raised an eyebrow.
"I have way too much time on my hands," Royal admitted. "It's interesting though."
"Really? Because most men think it's gross," Cinder remarked.
"Oh...I guess, but it's kinda cool too," Royal said. "Ever think how weird it is that women can have a whole other human inside them? Or two or three? What else can do that?"
"Animal--"
"I mean outside of nature." Royal cut her off. "Duh."
"I just think it's not fair that men don't have to suffer," Cinder said.
"You ladies always come back with that," Royal said. "It's not really fair, is it? Not like it's our fault."
"Both of you, shut it!" Ren said. "I'm trying to talk to my wife."
"Wife?" Cinder said.
"Yeah, wife?" Nora sounded shocked. "We're not married."
"I thought we were going to be as soon as possible..." Ren said.
"You call that a proposal?" Nora said. "Come on, Ren, I'm literally about to go to the hospital!"
"Nora!" Ren protested.
"Don't take this the wrong way," Royal said in a lower voice, "but your friends are better than a soap opera."
"I know," Cinder agreed. "And just as annoying."
Ren was glaring at them in the rearview mirror.
"Well, we're here anyway," Royal said, pulling up to Pyrrha's house, where Nora had been hanging out before this.
"How did you know it was here?" Ren suddenly realized he'd never said.
"I see you guys almost every day and you mention stuff. I figured she'd be here. She said Pyrrha," Royal explained.
Ren didn't bother to say thanks--perhaps he didn't think to--he just rushed out.
"Well, to your house?" Royal asked Cinder.
"I can walk from here," Cinder said.
"On second thought, maybe I should just drive them all to the clinic," Royal reflected. "Then I can drop you off."
"I just said I could walk."
"Why would you walk when you could drive?"
"So--" Cinder didn't get farther than that. Pyrrha was coming out of her house, lugging a suitcase.
"Oh, hello, Mr. Zapato." She came up to the window. "I know it's inconvenient, but do you think you could give us a lift? I just don't know if the tram is a good idea, and a taxi is going to take forever this time of day--"
"Of course," Royal said. "I mean, it's on my way anyway. Hey, I can get that. You shouldn't be lugging that thing." He opened his door.
"Oh, thanks." Pyrrha wiped her forehead. "Yes, I admit I'm a little jealous of Nora. I feel ready to burst. It's supposed to be any day now."
"Where's your hubby?" Royal asked, picking up the suitcase and then wincing. "What did you put in here?"
"Nora wanted to bring her hammer," Pyrrha explained. "She said it's for good luck.... I'm pretty sure she really just wants to show off to the staff. Personally I wouldn't be worried about weapons--Oh, Jaune is actually on a mission right now. He should be back late tonight. He didn't want to go, you know, but they were short, and Raven said they really could use his semblance and experience.... I said it was fine. Ren's been looking after both of us, and Emerald is usually around. Anyway, I'm okay."
"You huntsmen are all so tough," Royal said. "I think I'd be out of commission for weeks if I were you."
"Well, women are tougher," Pyrrha said. "At least that's what Jaune's mother keeps telling me."
"What is her name?" Royal said. "All you ever call her is Jaune's mother."
"Even her husband calls her 'Mom' to her kids." Pyrrha shrugged.
"Ugh," Cinder grimaced.
"Oh...hello, Cinder." Pyrrha hadn't even seen her till now. "Why are you here?"
"Carpool," Royal explained. "She's on the way."
"That's nice." Pyrrha was kind of distracted. "What's taking them so long?... Oh! the kids.... I promised Nora I would go with her, but I need a babysitter!"
"Why would you go?" Cinder rolled down the window to ask. "You're already pregnant!"
"Shh," Pyrrha said, looking up and down the street. "Please, the neighbors are always on our case about noise. Nora wants team support. She thinks it would be great if we had our babies at the same time, make it a group activity."
"Who makes that a group activity?" Royal said.
"Nora does. She said it every week in birthing class," Pyrrha shrugged.
"You know, you're not going to like this, but your teammate is the weirdest person in all of the Beacon students." Cinder made a face.
"Nora is the most loyal friend you could hope for," Pyrrha said pointedly. "I remember that she was the only one who treated me normally when I first came back. I can't forget that."
Cinder winced.
"That was savage," Royal said.
"Hmm? Oh...oh, I'm sorry, I didn't think about how that would sound." Pyrrha put a hand to her face. "That must have been the rage talking."
"That was the calmest rage I've ever seen," Royal said. "Cinder Is worse than that over copiloting."
Cinder hit him through the window.
Pyrrha choked back a laugh--then suddenly her expression changed and she put a hand to her stomach.
"What?" Royal asked, in a different tone.
"I...I don't know." Pyrrha leaned on the car door suddenly. "I think I might have just...started labor."
Ren opened the door right then, and Nora was with him this time.
"Now be good while Aunt Nora and Pyrrha are gone," she called at the kids, who were waiting in the foyer, looking curious.
"Ren!" Pyrrha said frantically. "I think I might also be checking in!"
"Huh?" Ren said, then he got it. "Oh--Oh!"
"What? Really? Twinsies!" Nora said enthusiastically.
"I guess." Pyrrha seemed more freaked out than anything right then. "Oh! But the other kids!"
"No big--I already called Yang," Nora said.
"We have to go," Ren said.
"My purse," Pyrrha began.
One of the kids rushed it out to her.
"Oh, thanks," she said. "Don't worry, Yang will be along shortly--"
"Just go, Pyrrha," the boy told her impatiently.
"Yeah, hurry," his sister called from the doorway.
They all got back into the car and took off.
"I never thought I'd be an ambulance driver," Royal joked.
No one thought that joke was in good taste except for Nora, who was totally calm.
"I am so pumped for this," she said. "Finally! I can't wait to lose these 8 pounds and meet my new kid! What about you, Pyrrha?"
"Oh...yes...pumped." Pyrrha was leaning on the side of the car door. "I need to call Jaune." She fumbled for her scroll.
"How did I end up stuck here for this again?" Cinder complained. "I don't even want to be a part of it."
"That's what you're worried about?" Ren said.
"I need to call my mother too," Pyrrha reflected. "And Isa."
That was actually Jaune's mother's real name. Well, it was Isabelle, but no one called her that; she didn't like her full name. [Isabelle was the name of Joan of Arc's mother.]
"I've got it." Nora had her scroll out. "Hello? Hi, Isa--oh, I'm fine. Yeah, actually I'm on my way to the hospital--oh yeah, he's here. He's fine.... Pyrrha actually is with me. Looks like we're going to do this thing together after all.... Oh...uh...I think it's about 15 minutes from Saph's house.... Okay, we'll meet you there."
"Jaune?" Pyrrha had her scroll to her ear. "Hi...I'm okay. But I--yeah, that's it.... Oh, only just now.... Ren and Nora are with me. We're all driving there now.... No, you don't have to rush back. It'll be hours, I'm sure. Just as soon as you can get here.... I'm going to call her right after.... Oh, just Mr. Zaparo and Cinder. They were carpooling--hmm, I don't know."
She looked up. "Why were you?"
"Who cares?" Cinder grumbled. "I was at the base, that's all."
"Nothing important," Pyrrha said to Jaune. "I...no, I don't know if they can come. By the time they get the message, it could be tomorrow, but you can try.... All right...I'll see you soon. I love you."
She hung up and sighed. "All right, deep breaths."
"Remember to breathe!" Nora said loudly, startling Ren.
Finally they arrived at the clinic with no further issues.
Mrs. Nikos, or Thetis, as her actual name was, was already there, probably more excited than Pyrrha was.
"My baby is having her baby!" She took Pyrrha's arm. "Your father will be here as soon as he's done with work."
Pyrrha nodded. And then winced. "Mom, could you maybe pick up my stuff from the house? We left in a rush."
"Oh, of course I can," Thetis said. "I'll just take a taxi. Don't worry, honey, I know exactly what you'll need, though it's been a long time since I had you--"
"Mother!" Pyrrha never raised her voice at her parents, but her mother took it in stride under the circumstances.
"I'll be back in a jiffy," she said.
"I can take you home now," Royal offered to Cinder, who was watching them walk away with an odd look.
"Oh...yes," she said.
Royal glanced from her to them.
"Or you could stay until they know what's going on," he said.
"Hmm?" Cinder startled. "Why would I stay?"
"I don't know, but you look worried."
Cinder tugged her hair in an unintentional imitation of the other girls' nervous habits.
"Why would I be worried? This isn't any of my concern."
"Sure," Royal said.
A pause ensued.
"It's just that if it doesn't go well, they'll be crushed," Cinder said, staring straight ahead. "And they've already been through a lot."
"This is getting to you, huh?" Royal said.
"No!" Cinder protested way too hard. "No, why would it matter? It's just..."
"Cinder, just say you feel guilty and be done with it," Royal said. "I'm not dumb, all right? It's pretty obvious why you're worried. But it's not like it's your fault if something bad happens. You just never know. But they're pretty healthy. I think it's going to be fine. Winter was fine, from what I heard later."
Cinder tugged her hair more--she would have been biting her nails if that was her habit.
"I know that," she said, not sounding convincing. "It's not like this is my personal doing anyway--it's theirs. I have nothing to do with this. It's weird for me to even be here. I mean, I killed her. It would be uncanny to be around when she's having a kid. Who does that?"
"I guess the people who come back to life," Royal said. "I don't see how it could get any weirder.... Like I said, you could just stay. I can go home."
"Do you really think they'd feel right about that?" Cinder said scornfully. "Please. I should be far away from here."
"Compromise, I'm going to get coffee right over there." Royal pointed down the street. "Come on."
"What? Why?"
"Because you're freaking out, so obviously you need tea." Royal said what everyone else who lived in Atlas in the winter would have said. "No argument."
"I don't--"
"I just said no argument."
* * *
5 minutes later, Cinder wondered why she had even gotten back in the car and was not sitting at the table with tea.
The cafe was less crowded than you'd think for this time of day. It was partially hidden by the offices on either side, so maybe less people saw it from the street.
"It's not really so awful to just admit you're worried." Royal had been waiting for a few minutes while Cinder was clearly on edge.
"I really don't have the right to be worried." Cinder finally admitted what she was really thinking, in her fashion of doing it all at once and without much of a filter. "They just tolerate me."
"Really? I think Mrs. Nikos-Arc really does worry just a little about you," Royal noted, sipping coffee.
"Oh...I..." Cinder rubbed her forehead. "I just don't know why. She should hate me."
"Could it be that she really just did feel like that fight was on both sides, and you should have to overlook her doing it as much as you?" Royal suggested. "She was going to do something despicable, and you kept her from doing it and having a lifetime of regret over it--instead you get the lifetime of regret...but she thinks in a way you spared her that burden. Maybe she's grateful."
"It's not like that's why I did it." Cinder stirred her tea absently. "I think I actually said to her that she wasn't worthy of it at the time." She sighed. "Like that was what mattered. Turns out to be a curse...hmm." She almost laughed. "I guess I was right in a way. She didn't deserve that. I got what I deserved. Plus Ruby burned half my face and my arm off. I suppose in the long run she could have ended up hurting her own friends with that power if she hadn't found out what it could do then."
"Then what's the problem? She just knows that, in the end, you didn't get the better deal," Royal said. "And, uh, forgive me for saying it this bluntly, but she's really happy now, and you're...you. I think she just knows that her life is better and it's not like you deprived her of that.... Even if she'd died, she was still better off than you ended up being. It's not that hard to grasp. If you'd hurt someone she cared about, I think she'd feel different, but it's easier to forgive a crime against yourself. What if she'd killed you? No one would have brought you back, right? She would have had that curse. She'd feel guilty about it."
"Are you saying it was all part of some master plan, so I shouldn't feel bad?" Cinder said.
"I guess you can feel bad if you want, but she doesn't have to see it the same way," Royal said. " I think I get why she doesn't, after hearing her side. I would find it weird.... But in a way, isn't she just grateful to you?"
"So she's said. Her husband wasn't so grateful." Cinder thought back.
"Well, that's different. Of course he wasn't." Royal sombered. "It's different when you want to protect someone and you can't. But he knows now that what you did worked out for her better in the long run, and they're together still. All in all, you didn't really ruin their lives. And they get a really unique story out of it. How long would you let that bother you if it doesn't bother them?"
Cinder put her chin in her hands and thought about that.
"When I saw how happy they were, I felt actually sorry for the first time," she said. "I mean...like I actually got why what I did was bad, not just that it was bad. All of the people here are happy, but I could have taken that away from them, and I would never have known what I was doing. That's how little I thought about it. I didn't think about the families; I didn't think about the lives they could have. Or anyone else's. They were just in my way. Now that they're not, and I've seen it the way they wanted it..."
She trailed off.
Royal didn't make a joke about that. He looked pretty serious.
"You finally realize what they had to lose?" he guessed.
Cinder nodded silently. Why was she even having this conversation?
But she just couldn't stop.... Once she'd opened that dam, it was hard to shut it again.
"Hmm, that is tough," Royal said. Grimly. "I can picture how that would feel like crap.... Actually it doesn't take that much effort from me."
"Huh?" Cinder raised an eyebrow.
"I guess it's not for the same reasons," Royal said, "but I can't say I haven't been having thoughts of my own watching their lives, even from the...well, pretty relative distance I am from them. It's been the talk of the base since Winter had her twins.... A lot of people are settling down and having kids now. Ren's been on about it too. They keep saying how much they think about wanting to do it right and how it changes things. I guess that hits a nerve when I think about my past."
"Why?" Cinder said.
"It isn't that hard to connect, is it?" Royal said, a little touchy perhaps. "It makes me wonder what went wrong.... The hard part is, I don't even know. It's like it just did at some point, and I don't know what. I think I didn't care to know. Now I never will."
"It sounds like you had plenty of reasons to dislike your...father." Cinder lowered her voice a little. "It's not that much of a mystery."
"Things just shift at some point," Royal said. "No kid starts off not liking their parents. I just don't know when it happened. But if it had been different--I can't really know for sure. I just got to thinking maybe he felt all the same way when he was going to be a parent. I wonder how he lost it later. Or maybe he didn't. People just aren't perfect. I think Atlas beats that idea into your head. Maybe if they just admitted that it's not possible, they wouldn't have pushed themselves so hard that they snapped from the inside."
Cinder shrugged--it might be a fair point.
"Perfectionism was never my problem," she said dryly.
"Nope," Royal said cheerfully...almost too cheerfully, she thought.
"I did meant that as a good thing," she said.
"But it is, isn't it?" Royal said. "If you never try to attain perfection, then logically, anything you do right is going upwards. If you're after perfection, then you can't ever get better--you can just either be perfect or you're going downhill. It's really depressing. And besides, with your past, no matter how bad you mess up, you can't really get lower than before. That's encouraging, isn't it?"
"Did you just insult me while saying I have it better?" Cinder said.
"Isn't that what you said yourself?" Royal said. "I'm just agreeing with you."
"That's irritating." Cinder glared at him.
"Don't say it then." He was more irritating than ever.
She gritted her teeth...but after a moment, she let it drop.
"But back on the subject." Royal didn't torment her further. "It's not like all this is just to spite you, or me, for that matter. It's just people living their lives how they want. It's stupid to think that it's got anything to do with you. But it's also not like it was just you that almost ruined it. Sounds like it got pretty close with the gods and stuff. I think things rely on too many different factors to ever blame one person for them, probably."
"Hmpfh...maybe," Cinder said. "I know that, at one point, even Vara was thinking of passing her powers onto Pyrrha.... That could have ruined things also.... Come to think of it, they had a lot of problems. It's like the world doesn't want some people to be happy."
"It does seem that way," Royal said. "You know, I read once that someone once said something like that to Nicholas Schnee (it was in history class, I think). About how the war just proves that people aren't good at being peaceful and content. He said that he thought that was because the world was threatened by some people's happiness and peace, because it might be able to change it."
"Just that?" Cinder said. "Not their work?"
"He was an unconventional kind of guy, from all I've learned," Royal admitted. "But, you have to admit the SDC, at first, was really about making people's lives better. The kingdoms are the only place you could live and not have Grimm on you all the time. It's the closest to a Grimm free world any of us have ever experienced, but, from the sound of those stories, once that was reality. And you all think eventually they'll die out...at least in the way that they exist now, so one day it might be reality. I don't think people will just be happier though. Isn't it the same problem? If we were happy now, Grimm would have a lot less to feed off. Happiness and peace is the best defense to evil."
Cinder wouldn't have grasped that at one time, but her self awareness had grown recently, and she could understand it better now.
"I suppose the lack of those things is what turns many people to evil," she said. "Even Salem.... Others, it's their own arrogance."
"What was it for you? If I can ask," Royal said.
Cinder hesitated.
"Both," she said.
An honest answer.
"How?" Royal said.
"Why would you want to know?" Cinder said.
"After we visited Black's old house, you acted like it bothered you personally, but you never said why," Royal said. "I know it has to do with Atlas. It's complicated, I got it.... So how is it both? What did Atlas do to you?"
"Why would you want to know that either?" Cinder said.
Royal shrugged. "You know what happened to me. It's more fair, isn't it?"
Cinder paused.
She didn't like talking about it.... Still...well, it was going to come out eventually anyway. Someone would say it if she didn't.... Might as well just do it herself.
"I wasn't actually from Atlas, at first," she said, though he might have known that part already. "I was born in Mistral--I think. I don't really remember my parents."
"Grimm?" Royal might well guess--it usually was.
"I don't know," Cinder said. "I was told by the people at the...orphanage, for lack of a better word, that someone pulled me out of the remains of a charred house after a Grimm or bandit attack. He probably didn't know which it was. Everyone else was dead or had run for their own lives. Whether my parents were dead or had left me there, I don't know."
"I think I heard that happened to Nora," Royal mused. "That's so messed up."
"It was more common than you'd think. Most of the kids had a story like that." Cinder closed her eyes briefly.
"Is that why your name is Cinder?" Royal asked. It was such an odd name, he might well ask.
"Actually...yes," Cinder said. "At least that's what they always called me. Most of us had names like that. Names after what was with us when we arrived. The...mistress of the orphanage said all I brought was 'cinders', and I guess it stuck."
"That's kind of a messed up way to name someone," Royal said.
"That was the point," Cinder said.
[Calling it now, that orphanage was based on the one from Oliver Twist.]
"One day I was...bought by someone who was Atlas--or mantle, really," Cinder said. "A harsh woman..... They hadn't made it illegal back then to basically treat people as slaves who had no one else.... Emerald's been trying to change that. I guess Raven's been helping her. But no one cared then."
"I have heard of that," Royal said. "Kind of a hushed up secret of Atlas that no one likes to think about. The Fit didn't use labor like that, that I know of, but Arch told me about the companies that did.... Hey, what was hers?"
Cinder named it in a low voice.
"Are you serious?" Royal shivered. "That's spooky. I think I've been there--well, I didn't stay there, but I passed it.... That place was literally a few blocks from some of our suppliers. I think my father dragged me past it a few times. It wasn't high class enough for him though."
"Not for many people, just people who couldn't afford better but didn't want to be with the riffraff Faunus," Cinder said pointedly. "I didn't see much of the outside while I was there. I was too busy working. Her daughters made it harder, little devils..."
She bit her lip.... Of course, she had turned out much worse than them.
"I think I know where this is going." Royal knew enough already to guess. "That's where that mentor of yours came in."
"Yes." Shortly.
"Who was he? A huntsman?"
"Yes."
Cinder was silent for a while.
"But why didn't...?" Royal stopped. "I guess I don't know all the details, but I'd think he could just...call someone or something, if it was that bad."
"There wasn't really any law about how you could treat your servants," Cinder said. "The SDC was getting away with treating Faunus just as badly as the time. The higher ups looked the other way. By the time I realized that, I was long gone and it wouldn't have mattered."
"So what did happen?" Royal asked.
Cinder hesitated--but had come this far.
"He wanted me to 'find another way to deal with it'," she said. "I was hungry, overworked, and Madame kept order with a shock collar, but, killing them wasn't 'the answer'."
Royal frowned.
"So we trained," Cinder said.
"But why didn't he just do something?" Royal interrupted.
"I don't know." Cinder had given up asking that question ages ago. "Couldn't, maybe."
"I'm sure there had to be something. I mean...get creative," Royal said.
"Why does it matter?" Cinder said.
"Well, call me an idealist, but I was always taught that if you see that something needs to be done, do it yourself," Royal said.
"Well, that's what I thought," Cinder said bitterly. "We trained for a long time...but I didn't listen. I still wanted revenge. He thought I should try for the hunstmen academies. That didn't happen...though I guess I did go to one, briefly."
Irony, she thought.
"So you just started training?" Royal said. "That just...it seems like an odd way to handle that situation."
"Well, he caught me trying to steal his weapons first," Cinder reflected. "So I could...hurt them."
"So he saw that and thought that teaching you how to hurt them better was...smart?" Royal said.
"I have wondered about that." Cinder didn't really laugh, but there was a touch of humor in her tone. "I guess he thought if you control power, it's better."
"No offense to this guy, but he sounds kind of like an idiot," Royal said. "Did you actually like him?"
That was a difficult question.
"I suppose in a way," Cinder said. "Briefly...but..." She trailed off.
"Uh huh," Royal said. "And, I'm guessing, same thing with the...woman and her kids."
Cinder nodded.
This was uncomfortable to talk about now.
She stared at her tea. She could still remember how angry she was--but kind of scared. Her first time killing people had shaken her up, and yet she wasn't sure she felt guilt for it at the time.... Maybe she did now. That feeling was starting to be familiar.
"It's not a nice story, is it?" she said aloud.
"How did you meet Salem after that?" Royal asked.
"Oh...by accident, I suppose," Cinder said. "Bad company, and all that. I was looking for power. She must have heard of it. I was after revenge on Atlas at the time. I met Hazel. He thought my vengeance quest had a lot in common with their wish to wipe out the kingdoms...so there it was. Once I learned about the Maidens, I was insatiable. The only way to make sure I had the upper hand was to have all the power--the more I got, the more I went mad for it. I met Emerald later while I was following leads, and then Mercury. They were useful. I picked up a lot of skills along the way--most of them no longer useful."
"Hazel is the one who got you into it?" Royal hadn't seen that coming.
[It would have to be him, Watts, Tyrian, or Leo. Leo doesn't seem to fit, I can't see Watts doing it when he hates Cinder, and I can't see her listening to Tyrian since even she thinks he's a freak, so change my mind, but Hazel lines up the most with her agenda and who she'd be likely to listen to.]
"Yes." Cinder had nothing else to say about it.
"Is that at all weird, since he's still around?" Royal said.
"I'm still around, and Emerald and Mercury don't seem to find it that odd." Cinder shrugged.
"True...well, in a way, though, it all sounds like destiny," Royal said.
"What?" That was not the first thing she'd thought he'd have said.... Actually she'd thought this might finally have pushed his limits of what he could accept.
"I don't mean that all that should have happened that way," Royal said. "But if it hadn't, maybe Salem wouldn't have been stopped, or the gods. It has an odd way of coming together."
"There might have been other ways that didn't involve so much bloodshed," Cinder said. She frowned. "Shine once noted that I didn't kill for pleasure but for power. It's true that it wasn't the same as Callows.... He was...a real nutcase, even by my standards. But the truth was, he knew the best what Salem was about. The rest of us pretended we thought he was wrong. We were all afraid to defy her--but in the end, she offered us just what we'd already been after. If we hadn't been screwed up, she'd never have found us.... She recruited Hazel even after he tried to destroy her."
"That is weird," Royal said. "But, I take it, Miss Likstar did the same."
Cinder hadn't ever thought of how weird that was till now.
"Huh...there was something similar about them," she said. "Not...in the evil part, but in how they put aside even personal damage in pursuit of their end goals. They both had such single-minded focus, I think that's why Salem finally listened to her. She must have seen that in her."
"This is why hearing your side is so much more interesting," Royal said, as if this was a normal conversation. "The others don't really know how it worked for Salem. It's more like getting both sides of history this way. It's just so crazy how it all fell into line, but I'm starting to see why it turned out how it did...I think."
Cinder didn't know how to respond to that.
[AMV to "Royals" by ThusKindlySheScatters]