The Burning Rose

Chapter 32: A deadly deal

"So, you're Amber. It's nice to meet you."

Amber smiled at the woman, Summer Rose, as she greeted her. The dark skinned girl was sitting in their hotel room with the entire family before her. And she had to admit, she was quite surprised how welcoming they were.

Summer and Tai had been so nice and Ruby was just a bundle of excitement and energy. The little girl was ecstatic about meeting her older sister's teammate and partner. So much so she had managed at least twenty questions in less than a minute which was quite impressive.

Yang also seemed happy and asked all sorts of questions about her school, but the dark skinned girl couldn't shake the feeling that the blonde held some form of resentment towards her. Although why, she had no idea. She hadn't hurt her in any way she could remember. Maybe she could just see the monster underneath the human skin.

Although, all of that was hard for Amber to process as she was currently using all her willpower to not start fan-girling before two of the members of the famous team STRQ!

As a history nerd, she had loved reading about more recent events as much as ancient ones. That had naturally drawn her to the Great War and the many famous figures who came out of it. Team STRQ were one of the most famous not just for skill and strategy, but for never losing their hearts even when facing obstacles that would break others.

She had been heartbroken when she heard that the team had broken up and would never be whole again. They had been her heroes growing up and to this day, she still tried to live her life like the famous team had.

"It's my pleasure! I'm actually quite curious what kind of family could raise such an amazing daughter like Cinder." Amber replied, a bright smile across her face. "She spoke about you a few times, but never in much detail. She was so secretive I thought you all might be spies or something. Though I suppose, Cinder and subtlety don't really belong in the same sentence."

"I! What?! Amber!" Cinder spluttered, face turning red. "I'm not that bad! Adam's the one who can't keep a lid on it!"

Amber turned to Cinder and gave her a smile. "You both lack subtlety." She said happily.

The rest of the family laughed as Cinder folded her arms and turned away with a huff, a deep blush across her face. She continued glare at the wall until the laughter stopped.

"Well, I'm glad Cinder was able to find such a good partner." Summer said. "I hope you support her as both a leader and a friend. She needs someone to watch her back out there. She can be reckless at times."

Immediately Amber began waving her hands in front of her face. "Oh no! She hardly ever needs my help! In fact, I can barely keep up with her! You've trained her well. She's the strongest person in our class! Honestly, it amazes me she hasn't been moved to a more advanced course."

"Yeah, because that's just what she needs." Yang said with a mischievous grin. "That would inflate her head until she could cover half of Remnant with it!"

"What did you just say?!" Cinders snapped as she lunged forward and grabbed Yang, trapping her in a headlock. "Want to try saying that again you overgrowth lizard!"

The two sisters laughed as they wrestled. And despite being bigger and stronger, Cinder let Yang wiggle out and gave her a few playful grapple attempts before trapping her head once again.

Watching the scene play out, Amber was having a hard time believing that this was Cinder. She never acted like this when she was around her team. In fact, she would never believe that Cinder was even capable of doing something like this if it wasn't happening right before her eyes!

She knew Cinder was close to her family, but she never thought she'd see this. It was almost like she was a different person when she was with them. It was crazy!