[Opener AMV to "Oh no" by yournewlodger]

"Was Neo okay?" Oscar asked Ruby when they regrouped after the meetings were over.

"I've never seen her so shaken up since Tyrian broke her arm in Vacuo." Ruby rubbed her arms. "But I'm sure she'll be okay eventually. It's over now."

"This is getting more concerning than I thought," Oscar mused. "I have a strange feeling those pirates won't just stop at stealing. If they can control Grimm like that...well, we know what the last person who could do that did."

"Destroying towns already sounds like Salem," Ruby said. "Maybe we should be working on this too...but we're too visible. I just hate not being able to help. Yang gets to!" she huffed.

"We don't live in Argus; it's harder for Raven to send us around," Oscar said.

"She wouldn't anyway. She doesn't like me," Ruby said.

"Oh...I'm sure she likes you..." Oscar said uncertainly.

"No, she doesn't." Ruby shook her head and brushed her hair back. She still had it short, but she styled it now so that she looked more like Summer than ever, just with red tips still. 

"You ever think it might be more about your mom maybe?" Oscar said. "Not that that's your fault, just that she might feel weird about it."

"Oh yeah, I thought of that years ago," Ruby said. "I'm not stupid. But I thought maybe she'd get over it, you know? Start thinking I'm not my mom, and we are family...but she always acts cold to me. I swear, Winter is more like family."

"I'm sorry, Ruby." Oscar knew to avoid saying anything cliche. "Raven has a hard time with family. I think there's just some things out of her depth.... She's tried hard to work things out with Yang, and maybe Qrow, but maybe that's as far as she knows how to go. She's a very complicated person. Your dad is right about that."

"I just think I would like her, if she let me," Ruby said. "She seems cool. But I never get the chance to even talk to her."

"I know...but you can't force it. You know that doesn't work," Oscar said regretfully. "At least you did what you could.... Have you ever talked to her about it?"

"No...where would I start?" Ruby said.

"I...well...she's not as cold-hearted as she used to pretend to be. Maybe if you just told her how you felt, she'd...soften."

"No, I think she'd just think I was trying to guilt trip her," Ruby said. "Anyway," she changed the subject, "did Cinder seem a little tense to you?"

"For her...maybe," Oscar said. "I would be too after that, though."

"I haven't had a mission go that bad since we were still on different sides," Ruby said jocularly. But then more seriously, "Do you think they'll be okay with it?"

"Maybe we should check in later," Oscar mused.

* * *

Cinder didn't get that much sleep, and by the next morning she had a headache.

She wondered when they'd get news about the Belladonnas' investigation.

Since she couldn't settle down, she composed a long letter to Shine and Wally about what had happened...and her subsequent reflections. Easier to tell them than anyone she'd have to see in person. In that way, the letter writing probably worked for her better than for some of the others.

Suddenly someone rang the doorbell of the apartment.

Cinder looked out the peephole, expecting an enemy, but instead she saw Oscar.

Probably the only person she would have opened the door for immediately, which she did.

"What are you doing here?" she asked. 

"I...well, I just wanted to make sure you were okay after yesterday...?" Oscar rubbed his arm.

"Oh, I'm fine," Cinder lied.

Pause.

"Come in..." she sighed.

A few minutes later, with coffee, they sat...well, there wasn't much furniture, so it was on the floor.

"Would Ruby be okay with you being over here?" Cinder asked.

"Oh, yeah, she knew I was coming.... Why?" Oscar asked.

Cinder raised an eyebrow.

"So..." Oscar changed the subject, "about yesterday...it wasn't your fault. You know that, right? What they did, it's unheard of--well, almost. Any of us would have been caught off guard."

Cinder frowned. "I know that I didn't make them spike Neo with that substance...but things were already going wrong before that. I did do that."

"I think it takes more than one person to make a problem, usually." Oscar thought back to when they used to blame Salem for everything, or Ozma.... The truth had always turned out to be more complicated than that.

"There's no point trying to make me feel better," Cinder said.

"Not if you're determined not to." Oscar had major Shine vibes when he was that sassy...or Alicia. You could really tell his influences.

"No, face it, I'm not good at this." Cinder gestured. "I was only doing it to save my own skin anyway. It's not like I put teammates first. But that's the way they run things here. I'm a terrible fit for Argus' new system."

"You always say that," Oscar said. "You're so quick to put yourself down. But I don't think it's humility. There's being honest, and then there's being overly critical."

Cinder pressed her lips together, which was definitely not agreement.

"Come on, Cinder, remember when we were fighting the gods?" Oscar said. "You passed, same as everyone else. It wasn't harder for you than us--I think it might even have been easier than for some. And you apologized then for what you did at Beacon. I think everyone let it go."

"Not completely...and that was only one of the things I did," Cinder said. "Frankly, you don't understand it, Oscar. Everyone looks to you as a paragon of virtue, the person they all want to be like. I'm the person they warn people not to be like if they don't want to end up in prison--or worse."

"I know that people perceive us differently. I couldn't really be blind to that," Oscar acknowledged. "But it doesn't matter. I know I made mistakes of judgment. Maybe I didn't try to do evil...but who really does, at first? Having the curse made me humble in that it forced me to learn things were out of my control. But if I hadn't had that, who knows? I think it's just different circumstances. We all have our own story. Yours isn't worse than anyone else's. I think it's incredible to come back from the edge of that. I mean, you had the Grimm inside you, for crying out loud. But you still came out of that. There has to be hope for anyone then, and isn't that something to be glad about? There's nothing wrong with being an example of the impossible."

That was an interesting way to put that.

"But perhaps that stopped there," Cinder said. "I don't know anything about walking this out. You know the book goes on and on about love--do I seem like someone who even knows what the word means?"

"More than you did.... I can't picture the you of before even caring about it," Oscar said.

"I didn't...but isn't that what it boils down to? All this talk about how I can't work with anyone, I can't cut anyone slack, I only think to blame them...I'm not 'nice'." Cinder made some mocking air quotes and a gagging face, but then sombered. "I never have been."

"Yeah, but, Cinder, I think love is something someone has to teach you," Oscar said. "I tried to be kind to people because my aunt taught me to be considerate...but I can't say I really got what love was before the DJs came. I had a vague idea of needing to care about people, but I was looking more for an escape from Ozpin's mission. I think people get the wrong idea about where my head was. Sure, I was more open than the others because I'd seen less and had less time to get bitter, but I was well on my way to it. Looking back, I don't think I acted that much more unselfish than they did, or more clear-sighted. I only wanted freedom. Is that better than what you wanted? Just because I didn't want power, didn't mean I was thinking of what was best. For everyone else."

"Ending the curse would have meant success for them," Cinder said.

"Can I really say that was why I wanted it?" Oscar said. "I'm not that good.... I became willing to make that sacrifice after Shine and Wally began to teach me and I learned the truth about Alicia...because for the first time, it seemed like my getting the curse had a purpose that wasn't just for Ozpin--it was something I could do, nobly.... I've read one of the books Shine sent me, Man's Search for Meaning. It's...a really difficult story to read, but amazing too.... Anyway, the author of it said that you could help people accept suffering if you convinced them that it had a purpose."

"And does all suffering really have purpose?" Cinder said dully. "Some of it is just punishment. That's in the book."

"I guess we do suffer for doing wrong," Oscar said. "We should suffer for that...but people suffer for doing right too, Cinder, all the time. I know, you probably feel like all this awful stuff that's happened to you recently is just more of you paying for your mistakes...but I'm almost more inclined to think it's you paying for trying to fix them. Do you really think it's God trying to hurt you for what you did in the past? You're finally trying to stay out of trouble, and yet it keeps finding you. Is that something God would do? If He's worried about everyone being good?"

Cinder was astonished at how easily Oscar cut to the core of some of her doubts.

"It could be, in a way, I now know how everyone else felt," she said.

"But that's not what it's about," Oscar said. "Maybe sometimes we can experience that, just so we become more compassionate...but I don't think we suffer just for that either. And...come on, you never tried to possess anyone with Grimm. Somehow that's not even your style. You like punishing people for being good, but if they were evil by force, that would have taken the whole point out."

"I might have done it," Cinder said. "If I could."

"Maybe eventually.... I think temptation can wear people down.... The Grimm lands proved that too," Oscar admitted ruefully. "But at least it's not as natural to you. So how could that be just punishment? It's evil, Cinder. It's just plain ugly, evil. It's a good sign if they hate you now too. That means you're not one of them now. I know it sucks to go through this, but I almost wonder, if this is how badly they want you taken out, what are they afraid you could do to them?"

"Do to them?" Cinder snorted almost. "I can't do anything."

"You don't think you could have a powerful voice?" Oscar said. "I...honestly, I have to say, I wish at times I had a story like yours."

"What? Why would you ever wish something so insane?"

"Oh..." Oscar rubbed his neck. "I know my story is incredible too...but sometimes, because people paint me as the good guy, even when I don't think they should, it's like...well, they can't relate to that. No one can relate to someone they put on a pedestal. Pyrrha and I have talked about this a lot--she gets it so well. I know I have flaws, but people don't look for them, so they don't see them so much. "

"What flaws do you have?" Cinder said.

"One? I don't like to ask for help," Oscar said. "Even in the cursed days, I tried to fight it off myself as much as I could, and I hid that Ozpin was acting up.... If Shine hadn't been able to perceive it, I think it might have gotten completely out of hand when I didn't say anything. People helped me, but I usually didn't ask for it. I should have. I still struggle with that, you know. I was used to doing everything alone when I worked for my aunt. I guess I got in the habit of thinking I always should. But that's not strength, not on a team. So if I'm honest, part of the reason I didn't fit in with the others was also on me. I just didn't know how to rely on them."

"Isn't that more lack of practice and opportunity than a flaw?" Cinder said.

"By that logic, Cinder, some of your...quirks are also the lack of opportunity," Oscar shrugged. "But, now that you have that chance...well, at least people will never say you never make mistakes. It's mistakes that people relate to, you know. They like people who make them feel less insecure. You really can do that more easily than I can."

"By being so bad they could never look up to me?" Cinder said.

"There's a power in people not trying to look up to you so much," Oscar said. "It means you can point them to the Real Answer to their problem. It's clearly not us. We're all wrecks on our own. I'd have lost my mind and soul if it was up to just me. And so would you. Clearly, we're not powerful or smart enough to get this right. But at least we finally saw that and asked for help. If that's what you can do, that's great. I think you could more than I could."

"I don't think so..." somberly.

"But people are drawn to you, in some way, for better or worse," Oscar said. "Emerald, Mercury, Neo, even Royal. You have magnetism.... I think if you tried to lift them up instead of tearing them down, it could really be a good thing."

"The rebel thing appeals to people who don't fit in. That's not really my talent, it's just human nature." Cinder gestured.

"Shine always used to say she got on better with villains because she was a rebel too," Oscar said. "What's wrong with that? I was rebelling against the curse. That's why I was chosen. Maybe it's true, that could be it, but what's wrong with embracing it?"

"Even if that was a good idea...I still can't cut it as...whatever we are," Cinder said. "I feel so stupid when I think of even trying."

"I think that's the problem then," Oscar said. "You're letting that doubt eat away at you. You think you can't do it, so you don't try. You're still acting like you're the villain...but what if you didn't? Maybe you'd stop seeing yourself as one.... I know about how people seeing you as one person can warp your view of yourself until you're not sure what's you anymore...but real friends, they'll look past that and find the real you...and you'll find it when you go to the source."

"The real me might just be that evil woman," Cinder said. "After all, it's nature."

"Old nature. Don't you believe that part about new nature? A new heart?"

"Why don't I feel it then?"

"Because it's not a feeling. Did you feel evil when you were evil?" Oscar said.

That was a very good point.

"At times," Cinder said.

"Maybe you thought so...but it's not a feeling, is it? It's just a state of being. You might have felt wickedly glad or something, but that's not exactly what I mean. Even so, was it all the time?"

"No, not all the time...not when I was failing so often."

"There you go. It's the same with good. You're not gonna feel good--that's not how it works to be good. You'll feel like you're failing most of the time, honestly, because when we're doing it, we're not thinking of it as being good, we're just thinking of what we should do and doing it." Oscar leaned on his staff absently. "So feelings are not a sign of who you are. Have you asked yourself if you've really done anything bad recently?"

"I did though. I've been unpleasant to everyone, and I was especially cruel to Neo and Zapato yesterday," Cinder protested.

"But you also helped save them. You defended Emerald in the fight--you didn't just defend yourself," Oscar said. "I'm not trying to say you're an angel--that's not true for any of us...but that's definitely not all badness either. You're failing sometimes and succeeding at other times. That's being human. But you're still doing better than before. I...I get why you're frustrated that you're not getting along faster, but I really think even 4 years is a pretty short time, and considering how long it took to get that twisted, it might take just as long to get out of it."

"In that case I'll be fine in another 16 years, maybe," Cinder said.

"By then, I bet you won't notice," Oscar said. "But if you still feel guilty for the things you did the past few days...just say you're sorry. I'm sure they'd understand how stressful these missions are. We've all snapped at people and had meaningless fights.... That's really not the worst thing you could do..."

"I don't apologize so well," Cinder said. "And it would seem fake. Just to clear the Grimm danger."

"There's not a lot of Grimm danger here, in Argus," Oscar pointed out very candidly. "So..."

The point being to do it before she was on another assignment and that excuse could have been used.

"I don't want to," Cinder said.

"I know," Oscar said dryly. "I'm not sure anyone really enjoys having to humble themselves...but we all have to do it...and, uh, if you want people to look at you differently, you'll have to do things they wouldn't expect you to do."

Reality struck yet again.

Cinder was silent for a while, and then she smirked very ironically.

"It's funny, you're the only one I can talk to freely about this, and we couldn't be more different in character...but the difference is just what makes it easier. You never had any harsh words for me even back in my worst times. I always thought you just didn't notice me as any kind of threat."

"I actually really didn't," Oscar said. "It sounds weird, but you seemed like the least of the problems I had. All mine were inside, close to the surface. No one really seemed like my problem who wasn't Ozpin. I guess that's why I didn't get caught up in all the interpersonal drama. As long as people were helping us to our goal, I didn't care.... Maybe that was Ozpin's influence too."

"It doesn't mean that all Ozpin's ideas were wrong. Isn't that just the same as saying that not all my contributions have to be evil?" Cinder said.

"I know...I know he wasn't all bad. I always knew that...but it's just...anything that resembled him made me wary even if it wasn't bad, because it was part of the process," Oscar said. "I've tried to get over that. I admit, though, it still makes me flinch inside when someone says I act old for my age or I sound like a professor..."

"Wow...dark," was all Cinder could think to say to that.

Oscar just chuckled his characteristic sheepish chuckle.

After a pause, he said, "Do you want to go check on Neo?"

Cinder sighed in annoyance and almost hit her head on the wall by leaning back too fast.

"If I have to..."

"You don't have to," Oscar said.

"Just say I have to," Cinder grumbled, eyes half closed.

"Okay...fine, you have to." Oscar rolled with it.

"Screw you, Pine," Cinder replied, pulling herself up. "Of course you would twist my arm."

"I really didn't--" Oscar began.

Cinder shot him a look that said, "Really, change my mind, I dare you."

Oscar just cleared his throat instead. "Well, whatever. I can meet up with Ruby.... That is, if it's okay if I tag along.... I, uh, I'm not sure I trust Roman alone with anyone after yesterday."

Good call.

* * *

"I told you not to do anything to her!" Roman was, indeed, furious when they showed up. "And what did you do? The condition she was in was just...I'm not even sure. Miss Rose said there were Grimm, pirates, and ice cold water!"

"Roman, calm down." Oscar held up his hands.

"Don't tell me to calm down. I knew this would happen if Cinder Fall took Neo anywhere. And that other buffoon too!" Roman fumed.

Oscar sighed.

Cinder's patience was wearing thin with Roman already, and now she snapped.

"Shut up, you idiot," she said sharply, and he stopped. She still could scare him if she had the right tone.

"I didn't do anything to her." Cinder began to feel better about it herself as she defended her actions. "I saved her, you moron. And if she said otherwise, she was probably just trying to pin it on me."

"Cinder," Oscar hissed warningly.

"Actually, she hasn't communicated anything about it except that she nearly drowned," Roman huffed. "All the rest was Miss Rose.... What was she doing here anyway?"

"Just checking in. Is Neo okay?" Oscar asked.

Neo appeared behind  Roman.

They lived in an apartment that was built over one of the shipping yard's offices, in the old fashioned style of business owner's lodgings. It was large enough for two people. 

To Cinder, or Oscar's, knowledge, they weren't married legally...but everyone knew the futility of pointing that out to them.

No one in Argus cared, so it didn't raise any eyebrows for their workers.

Neo, since she hadn't been really hurt, looked fine--though not like she'd slept much either.

But she wasn't dressed in her usual spiffy style to match Roman's, which might show some disturbance of mind.

"What do you think?" Roman asked.

"This was a bad idea," Cinder muttered, starting to turn.

Oscar gave her a look like "come on."

"Also, do you know how much new scrolls cost?" Roman added, since she wasn't leaving. "And her favorite game was on that one."

Neo tapped his arm.

He sighed. "Well, what do you want?"

"Can Cinder talk to Neo one on one?" Oscar asked, when Cinder said nothing.

"Why would I let her?" Roman said.

"Let her?" Cinder said. "Is she your pet?"

Neo frowned at her, then gestured at Roman like it was fine.

"Whatever," Roman said. "5 minutes.... Neo, if she starts any trouble, just press the alarm."

"Alarm?" Oscar said.

Roman pointed to a button that looked like a loud buzzer like some stores had.

"I had it installed just for situations like this," he said.

"You still think it's just me?" Cinder muttered to Oscar. "He's never let it go either."

"You did try to kill someone he cares about in cold blood," Oscar said.

"Yeah, but..." Cinder was going to say, "That doesn't make Jaune act like that," but then realized how ridiculous it would be to say that. Jaune chose to let go of very valid grievances because he wanted to, but her demanding it of someone else would have been ludicrous.

It didn't feel so good though, to be reminded that people could just choose not to forgive and there was nothing you could do about it.

Oscar followed Roman more inside, ostensibly to see how the buzzer worked--at least it gave Roman something to show off.

Neo fixed Cinder with a look like "what?"

Now, that it came to the point, Cinder had no idea how to start any real apology--or whatever this was supposed to be.

But finally deciding that waiting for it was more torture than just biting the bullet would be, she cleared her throat.

"I overreacted yesterday," she said stiffly, "in the heat of the moment...but the situation unraveling was not your...fault." She hated saying it.... It sounded so weird from her.

Neo raised an eyebrow, which didn't help.

"Don't give me that look," Cinder snapped, though how else was Neo going to communicate with her? "It's just a mistake, that's all. The full situation was different than I thought.... I didn't mean to make it easier for the Grimm. I'm not that crazy now. But it just happened."

That was not really true. It had been deliberate to quarrel with Neo--but Cinder's pride would only take so much of a beating at this stage.

It didn't matter, she had said more than enough to surprise Neo.

Neo made a motion like she was implying laughing.

"I'm not joking." Cinder frowned. "I knew this was a mistake. Why would you care? Forget I even came."

She began to turn.

Neo held up a hand, rather imperiously. Cinder paused.

Neo then projected a string of words:

:Why are you even attempting to do this? Did Pine put you up to it?

"He suggested it, but I was given the not so subtle hint that if I don't shape up on my 'teamwork skills', I can just ship out of Argus missions." Cinder played on words slightly hoping it would sound less pathetic that way.

But Neo didn't mention the patheticness.

:No one said anything to me about it except that Prince Charming fellow, and that was before the utter disaster of the boat incident.

"So?" Cinder didn't choose to acknowledge Neo referring to Royal as that.

But then she said, "Wait, what did he say?"

:Oh, curious are we?"Neo smirked slyly, but then she dropped it. :Nothing much. Something about you get what you give, blah blah blah, and I'd better stop or I could kiss working for them goodbye also. Seems Branwen has her pack of lackeys trained well.

"I wouldn't call them lackeys," Cinder said. "They have more freedom."

:Why do you care what they're called? Unless you've started to like these law abiding citizens.

Neo shook her head: "I might have known though. People like you always have a streak of loving the good guys deep down. That's why you taunt them so much. Me? I just don't care."

"Your boyfriend falls into the category of people who taunt good guys," Cinder noted, barely keeping her temper.

:He's so simple, Neo said, as if fondly. :But I really don't see why you're here. It was just as much my fault as yours, and I'm not kissing anyone's boots.

Good thing she said boots. What if anyone had passed by and read those words? Cinder thought dryly.

"I'm glad we agree on that," Cinder replied. "But let the record show I was the bigger person--in more ways than one."

Neo flipped her off.

Then she pretended to bow.

:My most humble apologies for offending you, my lady, she wrote, very sarcastically.

"I didn't really think you'd be sincere," Cinder said, with the odd sense people get of someone doing just what they expected, but not in a good way.

It gave her both a feeling of superiority and of resignation.

Neo folded her arms. 

:Are you sincere?

Well, that was a good comeback.

Cinder stared at the ground.

"I regret causing more problems to an already difficult assignment," she said, not looking up. "I don't have a personal vendetta against you anymore. If that's what you mean. But I'm aware how you see me, and I'm not one to accept treatment like that. If I was, I'd probably get along with more people, but I don't want to be some doormat just for the sake of that either. I suppose they'd say that's because I'm too prideful. But it's how I feel about it."

She looked up.

Neo didn't really look that convinced about that. Of course, she was just the same. They might really be oddly alike.

She tapped her chin, then produced a very long string of sentences:

:You know, Cinder, I never liked you. You were uptight, arrogant, and rude. Also short on praise and long on criticism. Frankly, you don't have the charisma to lead people, criminals or otherwise.

Here there was a break in it while she had to set up the next lines, and Cinder didn't really see what the point of this was.

:And then you lied to me and almost pushed me into a void. I wasn't really thrilled about your inclusion in that ragtag team later. I always thought the only reason you helped back then was because you were afraid of them more than you were really concerned with us. When did you ever think of anyone but yourself? Then you just disappeared for years, and we think finally you've left us well enough alone. And now here we are, with you causing trouble still.

This speech didn't do anything to help Cinder's self image after the day before. She was already getting angry again.

Neo paused and then continued again,

: But I've never heard you say anything that sounded so realistic as what you said just now. Or ever admit there was anyone you still didn't have a vendetta against. After all, I've been just as beastly to you as you are to me. I even returned the favor of trying to kill you--in a fit of Grimm-induced panic, but I don't recall ever saying I was sorry for that. So why the change of attitude? Should I worry you're just plotting my demise later, like you usually are when you pretend to be sorry?

Cinder clenched a fist.

But it was more in frustration at her past self. If she had ever had any honor, people might occasionally believe she meant what she said. Wouldn't that have been nice for a change?

"What am I supposed to say?" she said. "I can't prove to you I'm not lying. I don't like you either. Not that I didn't cause problems for you, but you attacked me without even having proof I did anything to Torchwick--and I didn't--and you turned to Ruby only because you needed someone to blame and I was too powerful for you. If you had the chance to kill me, and I'd given you a reason, you would have. You held that Relic over my head so I'd do what you wanted because you knew I had to keep Salem happy. Did you have a shred of pity for me and what she could do to me or anyone else for losing that? Did you have any compassion for the others and what they went through, or me? No, you care only about one person, because he does something for you, and you shut your little heart to everyone else."

She paused. "I can respect that--or I could have. But as it stands, one of us has changed. I'm not exactly doing great at this new life thing, but I'm around different people than I was, and I've put in some effort to try to work with them, because I have to. I haven't stabbed them in the back either. I've put up with more speeches about how much I deserve what I get than you probably have. Everyone feels sorry for you, because you can't speak, and, oh, you actually lost someone you care about, so you're so much better than me. But you're not really that different. You were always just as cruel and sadistic as I was. You just had one little person you kept out of it. Great for you. I never had anyone to watch my back except Emerald.... By then I didn't understand it."

Neo frowned at her.

"I don't know your whole story, and I never cared to," Cinder added. "Maybe you have a reason to be the way you are. The world is messed up enough for me to believe that easily. Maybe we're not that different. But you act like you're better. That's what I can't stand about you."

Neo made a fist.

:Me? she said. :Oh, you have it so much worse than I do, do you? At least you can pretend to be like everyone else, even if it's not true. A little disguise, a little lying about your name, and you've got a nice set up, until someone looks for revenge, that you started anyway. Some of us can't hide what we are that easily.

"Hide? You can hide in plain sight," Cinder said. "I can't hide who I am."

Neo folded her arms.

"Are you really saying this is about envy?" Cinder said incredulously. "You don't want to be like me. No one does."

:You exploited me because I had nothing else to lose, Neo spelled out. :When you had people who would have helped you no matter how little you thanked them for it. That just made me sick.

"Oh, you got your partner back," Cinder retorted. "I didn't keep that from you. I didn't even try to kill him after that. Why does all this matter now?"

Neo paused, then shrugged.

:So maybe it doesn't now. What's your excuse for still being angry?

"I'm not really angry." Cinder said that without thinking.

Then she thought--was it true?

Slowly she spoke, "I'm not angry about that. Turnabout is fair play. Two cats fighting over a mouse, really. No one said we have to be friends. But getting in each other's way is a hazard to our health."

Neo had to concede that was true, then she spelled this out:

:I didn't really think it would be a safety risk...but that was wrong, as it turns out. Those blasted brigands are terrifying. I can't believe you're willingly going after them.

"I can't do anything else. They're going to find me if I don't find them first," Cinder said. "And it has never suited me to just take that lying down."

:So you've finally stopped running from your problems? Neo was savage as heck.

"Not making this easier for me," Cinder muttered in a low voice.

Neo shrugged. :Oh well, I suppose it's your life.... I admit I'd like to see them go down too. No one does that to me and gets away with it.... But don't you know, it made me so livid that you could stop it and I couldn't, all because of a little gift of grace."

"It's your own fault." Cinder at least knew this. "You didn't choose it."

:The real shock is that you did.

"How can anyone live with the things I did, if they didn't try to start over?" Cinder gestured. "Salem couldn't even handle the reality of her life being spent doing evil...and she was less human for a longer time. I had to do something.... Anyway, I didn't like to be a slave."

Neo just nodded.

Cinder had the thought that, at some point in the conversation, they'd both just let this go...and she didn't quite know when it had happened.

But she could already sense instinctively that Neo wasn't going to acknowledge it, and she herself had no wish to do so either.

"Where is Pine?" she said instead, changing the subject.

Neo just pointed behind her and made a gesture like the boys had been talking on and on all this time.

[A satisfying conclusion to their grudge fest, I hope. I can't say I see them becoming friends exactly after this--like forces repel. But it's interesting that they both have developed some self awareness.]