Reader x Cinder Fall x Summer Rose / The One You Feed: A RWBY Fanfiction

(Summer Ending) Chapter XVI: Walk By Light

You chose Summer, because in the end it would always be Summer. Even when you were at your lowest, when the darkness had its hold on you, you were never completely lost. Your love for Summer, no matter how hard you tried, it couldn't be killed. It acted as your tether to your humanity when Salem was teaching you how to harness the darkness, and even though you never consciously acknowledged it, your subconscious mind never forgot her, and thus she manifested herself in your dreams. The connection between you was simply too strong. You could avoid her all you liked, but the two of you were linked. It's how she could find you when you were asleep and it's probably what allowed her to see you that one night in the inn.

You realized that your love for Cinder was nothing more than a distraction. Most likely orchestrated by Salem, whatever your relationship with that woman, it wasn't love. Even in the past few months it was nothing more than a way to try to grasp what you truly wanted. A normal life. A healthy relationship. And that just wasn't something you could have, not so long as you remained with Cinder and worked for Salem.

As you came to your decision, Summer's face began to appear in your head. The pain stops, and the light slowly begins to overtake the darkness. Your surroundings come into view as the light fades back into your body. You feel a pair of arms wrapped around you. Shaking your head clear, you look up and see Summer kneeling next to you, tears rolling down her face.

"Summer?" You ask groggily. You feel like you've just woken up from a very long nap. You're confused, the past few years feeling like a bad dream which you're just now waking up from.

"(F/N)." She sobs. "Oh, (F/N)."

"Well, this is most disappointing."

You look up to see a woman standing a few feet away from you. Cinder. The rest of your memories from the past five years are all covered in a dense fog, but she somehow manages to retain her clarity in your mind. Right now, her face is hardened in a scowl, but her eyes betray her. Hints of tears begin to form but she holds them back, her anger quickly replacing the sadness.

"Cinder." You say apologetically. "I'm sorry."

"Don't!" She says, turning her head to hide the tears.

"Cinder." You say again, getting to your feet. "I didn't mean for any of this to happen. It just..."

"Stop." Her shoulders shake lightly. "You know (F/N), I really did love you. But if this is the path you've chosen," the shaking stops, "then so be it."

She turns and sends a powerful blast of fire in your direction. It passes by your ear and hits Summer who falls to the ground unconscious, her aura shatter. Turning to you, she shoots more flames from her hands. Instinctively, you raise your hands and turn your face. Surprised to find you're not a charred corpse, you open your eyes to see Cinder's flames being stopped by some invisible force being emitted from your hands. It looks like ripples of water cast by a stone, only made of a faint white light and hovering in the air between the fire and yourself. Cinder shouts and puts more power behind her attack, but it doesn't seem to make a difference. It's been so long since you've used the light, you're not entirely sure how you're managing to go toe to toe with the power of a maiden. Brow furrowing in concentration, you place the backs of your palms together before spreading your arms, like doing the breaststroke. Cinder's flames are extinguished and the two of you are left standing face to face.

"We don't have to do this Cinder."

"Yes." She says sadly. "We do." Flames slowly trail up from her fist to her elbows. Something seems different about them though; they don't burn quite as hot. "We had some fun though, didn't we?"

"Yeah." You smile. "We did." You close your eyes as a light surrounds your body, changing your black clothes to white.

Cinder releases another stream of flames at you, but the white light surrounding your body protects you. Feet coming off the ground, you fly through the flames and grab Cinder around the waist, pushing her backwards and away from Summer. Crashing her through several houses, you change your trajectory and fly upwards. Grabbing your face, Cinder releases a surge of power into your skull causing you to release her. Her hands full of fire, Cinder throws fireball after fireball in your direction. You're surprised to find yourself evading all of them, traveling at light speed, giving the appearance of teleportation. Clever as always, Cinder picks up on your movement pattern and manages to lead time a powerful blast of fire and glass at you, knocking you from the sky.

Crashing through the remains of a house, the ground beneath you begins to move, jagged rocks emerging from the earth and reaching towards the sky. The house bursts into flames and the burning walls along with the sharp ground starts to corner you. Bending your knees, you kick off the ground and launch yourself into the sky. As you do, a powerful surge of white light radiates from your body, destroying the rock and extinguishing the fire. Flying towards Cinder, you raise one hand and send a strong blast her way. She summons a large glass shield to block your attack, flying at you head on. As you collide, you grab her shoulders and spin around, throwing her towards the earth. Turning, you fly down after. Flipping around in midair so that your feet point downwards, she flips out of the way of your kick which shatters the ground beneath your feet, leaving a small crater.

You start to move towards her again but stop when a pillar of flames shoots from the ground. Another erupts from your right, then your left. Finally, a fourth pillar erupts under your feet sending you flying upwards. Landing with a thud, you get back on your feet to see more and more pillars of fire bursting from the ground as Cinder slowly walks towards you. Spreading your arms, you crash your hands together in a thunderous clap. A radial wave of light bursts from your hands and rushes forwards, killing the flames and pushing Cinder back. You see Cinder's eyes flicker to the side before a devilish grin lights her features. Following her gaze, you see Summer lying on the ground, still unconscious from Cinder's earlier attack. Flying over to Summer, you scoop her into your arms just as a collection of jagged rocks shoot from the ground she was laying on just seconds ago.

Flying higher, you only make it a few feet before a flaming rope latches around your ankle. Looking back, you see Cinder holding onto the other end of the rope which she tugs, slamming you back to the earth. Summer falls from your arms but you manage to catch her in a bubble of white light which floats gently in the air. Getting to your feet you suddenly find yourself surrounded by a hurricane of razor-sharp leaves. Several fly by your face, cutting you across the cheek. With a swirl of your now white trench coat, you spin and drill downwards, tunneling through the earth and emerging from right underneath Cinder, knocking her backwards.

Landing on her back and sliding a few feet across the now cracked pavement, you wave your arm and snap in her direction. A series of powerful explosions of pure light swallow her. The light only injures the darkness, leaving the ground and surrounding houses unscathed. As the light dies however, you see Cinder lying on the ground, her hands limp at her sides. Slowly walking over to her, you crouch next to her body.

"What are you waiting for?" She coughs, blood tricking out of her mouth. "End it."

You shake your head. "No. I've already killed too many."

"Why not? The weak die and the strong survive."

"No Cinder. The strong forgive and move on."

"If you don't kill me, I'll just come back. And next time, she will be with me."

"Well then." You smile. "Until next time."

You get up and turn around, walking over to Summer who is being returned to the ground.

"Do you really think you can be with her?" Cinder shouts. "She'll die because of you! Everyone you love will..."

You turn over your shoulder when her speech abruptly ceases. You see Raven standing over her, flicking her blade clean of blood. Cinder's throat has been cut open, the life leaving her eyes.

"(F/N)?"

Turning again, you see Summer lying on the ground holding her head. You kneel next to her.

"Hey Summer." You smile, wrapping your arms around her.

"So." A voice says from above you. "Mind explaining what the hell just happened?"

You and Summer look up to see Raven, Qrow, and Tai standing over you.