Cinder stares at her reflection in the mirror until the ache grows to the point of sickness. Her blue eye is gone. In some ways, this is a good thing — she knew she had to shed all parts of her old life in order to grow; she knew she couldn’t cling to Winter any longer — but still. Still, it feels like loss. Still, she feels sick.
In the days following her return to Salem’s castle, she finds herself tracing along the scarring visible on the edges of the patch. The fire over that eye burns so hot that it punches holes through the webbings of Grimm fluid in the corridors, but she can never get it so hot as to burn blue. She can’t continue down this path if she’s going to stay tied to weaknesses like this, but god, she finds herself missing Winter so much —
Salem offers to have Watts build her a prosthetic. She refuses, on the grounds that she’s heard stories of people with soulmates having their prosthetic eyes change colour. She throws up in the bathroom in her quarters for hours after.
-
Winter wakes up three days after the Fall of Beacon and finds that the iris of her golden eye has turned black.
This stands as confirmation of everything she’d feared. All evidence pointed to Cinder being the one to orchestrate the attack on Beacon, and she knew she’d have to give up on her eventually, but she never thought it would go this far. Cinder was a petty criminal and an arsonist, not a full-scale terrorist. And as stupid as it was, she’d always held out hope.
The report comes in a few days later, in the form of a paper letter. Ruby Rose and Cinder Fall were found on the roof of Beacon’s CCT tower; both were unconscious, and Cinder was covered in burn scars, missing an eye and an arm. Winter reads it over and over again, touching the skin under the newly-dark eye, feeling her breathing pick up and turn ragged, feeling her chest hollow out.
“I loved her,” she says when Ironwood comes to check on her, “I loved her and she did — she — I loved her.”
He touches her shoulder, and she has to resist the urge to flinch away. The things he’s told her in the past few days — “Do you want me to find you coloured contacts?”
“There are pictures of her circulating all over the internet. People will match her eye to mine,” she says, feeling weak.
“Blue contacts,” he says. His hand tightens on her shoulder, soft and grounding. Winter wonders if he really does think of her as a daughter, or if it was all just for show. To keep her close, to keep her obedient to him. She wonders if she’s ever made a good decision in her life. “At the very least, it would send a message.”
She takes a deep breath. It’s not very steadying, but it gives her the appearance of being put together. “Alright.”
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FILL: Team RWBY
Date: 2025-07-18 02:35 pm (UTC)fandom: RWBY
ship: winter/cinder
-
Her blue eye was the one to be burned away.
Cinder stares at her reflection in the mirror until the ache grows to the point of sickness. Her blue eye is gone. In some ways, this is a good thing — she knew she had to shed all parts of her old life in order to grow; she knew she couldn’t cling to Winter any longer — but still. Still, it feels like loss. Still, she feels sick.
In the days following her return to Salem’s castle, she finds herself tracing along the scarring visible on the edges of the patch. The fire over that eye burns so hot that it punches holes through the webbings of Grimm fluid in the corridors, but she can never get it so hot as to burn blue. She can’t continue down this path if she’s going to stay tied to weaknesses like this, but god, she finds herself missing Winter so much —
Salem offers to have Watts build her a prosthetic. She refuses, on the grounds that she’s heard stories of people with soulmates having their prosthetic eyes change colour. She throws up in the bathroom in her quarters for hours after.
-
Winter wakes up three days after the Fall of Beacon and finds that the iris of her golden eye has turned black.
This stands as confirmation of everything she’d feared. All evidence pointed to Cinder being the one to orchestrate the attack on Beacon, and she knew she’d have to give up on her eventually, but she never thought it would go this far. Cinder was a petty criminal and an arsonist, not a full-scale terrorist. And as stupid as it was, she’d always held out hope.
The report comes in a few days later, in the form of a paper letter. Ruby Rose and Cinder Fall were found on the roof of Beacon’s CCT tower; both were unconscious, and Cinder was covered in burn scars, missing an eye and an arm. Winter reads it over and over again, touching the skin under the newly-dark eye, feeling her breathing pick up and turn ragged, feeling her chest hollow out.
“I loved her,” she says when Ironwood comes to check on her, “I loved her and she did — she — I loved her.”
He touches her shoulder, and she has to resist the urge to flinch away. The things he’s told her in the past few days — “Do you want me to find you coloured contacts?”
“There are pictures of her circulating all over the internet. People will match her eye to mine,” she says, feeling weak.
“Blue contacts,” he says. His hand tightens on her shoulder, soft and grounding. Winter wonders if he really does think of her as a daughter, or if it was all just for show. To keep her close, to keep her obedient to him. She wonders if she’s ever made a good decision in her life. “At the very least, it would send a message.”
She takes a deep breath. It’s not very steadying, but it gives her the appearance of being put together. “Alright.”