So it is done: Second time's not a charm (Patreon)

Cinder Fall slept very little. Once it had been a very real necessity, sluggishness was punishable, but those days were long gone, but the necessity had become a habit.

Cinder didn't require more than three or four hours of sleep, and even trying to force herself to sleep, six hours was her limit before she became naturally nauseous from sleep. This was partly due to body training, partly due to habit, partly due to aura, and in a way it was a problem. Cinder just couldn't physically enjoy sleep and the slow laziness upon awakening, but at the same time it was a most genuine blessing to her as well.

Cinder Fall, when she did not have school to attend, preferred to spend all her time with Jonathan, no matter in what capacity, as an 'honor guard', a silent conversationalist or a silent observer, but this also posed some problems. For, while Cinder enjoyed simply being in Jonathan's presence, she enjoyed being useful to Jonathan even more, in any suitable capacity, ranging from sorting letters or snooping out potential adversaries. To be useful to Jonathan, however, Cinder had to train. And only a very small part of her training could be done in Jonathan's presence.

In that case, the time that Cinder gained through her ability to sleep only a few hours a day was ideal.

Although there would be nothing wrong with staying close to Jonathan while he slept, Cinder could sacrifice the few hours given to her by nature while Jonathan slept in order to do her training in that time. That it also allowed her to be there when Jonathan woke up and went about his business was an ideal situation, for sure.

That was why, although Cinder started sleeping at ten o'clock in the evening, she was already fully awake at two in the morning, awake and full of energy, ready for her morning training. After that, followed by the preparation of breakfast and, depending on how long Jonathan decided to sleep tonight, Cinder would either meet him for breakfast or she could go read.

After a second of silent awareness of her awakening, Cinder easily threw off her blanket, then rose and quickly began to get ready, not suffering such a problem as 'drowsiness'. First she gathered her bra, something Cinder had had to start wearing as she was growing up, then gym trousers -the first thing she was expected to do was work out, also a T-shirt and a rubber band to gather her hair into a bun.

As was to be expected, Cinder's hair had grown considerably long in the three years she has spent with Jonathan, but apart from a few haircuts to tidy it up, she had not shortened it. First and foremost because Jonathan apparently liked long hair, even Neo had grown it out for the same reason. And secondly because that in the hotel, in her past life, Cinder was certainly forbidden to wear her hair long, because long hair required maintenance and was completely unhygienic. So another small detail distinguishing her current life from the past was always welcome.

Still, it was still best to tie down her long hair for the duration of her exercise.

So, dressed and ready for the new day, Cinder walked out of her bedroom, and looked out into the corridor.

Great, judging from the fact that there were no lights from Jonathan's door, he hadn't decided to stay up too late tonight. Something which meant that he wouldn't have noticed Cinder being awake at this hour.

No, of course Jonathan was aware of what was going on, and he didn't bother or try to force Cinder to change, finding out through experience that she really just couldn't physically sleep too long. The occasions where Cinder would wake up in the middle of the night, where Jonathan was still awake, was too many to list. It always gave Jonathan somewhat mixed feelings. And if there was one thing in the world that Cinder really didn't want, it was to 'give Jonathan mixed feelings', so she simply adjusted her sleeping schedule where she would wake up when Jonathan was already asleep. Or if, failing that, and Jonathan had spent another night working, she would simply stay in her room and read.

Neo's door was also closed, and the light was off, but that wasn't surprising. Although Neo had lived much of her life on the street, or practically on the street, and was used to early wakes and lack of sleep, she still likes to sleep in. Something of a strange occurrence, as Cinder knows that the best time to go around the rubbish bins was very early in the morning. Maybe an hour or two before the waste collector emptied the bins, when the bins had accumulated the largest amount of stuff possible.

Still, unlike Cinder, Neo had taken full advantage of her newly found situation fully and instead of continuing her old habits, seemed determined to sleep off all the years of lack of sleep. It would take the most extraordinary circumstances possible, to find her awake in the early hours of the morning.

After skipping past the two rooms down the corridor, Cinder descended to the ground floor.

Jonathan's house consisted of two floors, or even slightly more, given the garden, basement, and attic. And, although by the standards that was as rich as Jonathan's was not at all big, Cinder still had to walk down several stairs and corridors to get down to the training room.

After the quite long walk, she found herself in a bright room with several exercise machines strewn around, gymnastic mats and various other sports equipment.

Of course, Jonathan had once tried to prohibit Cinder's training, requiring someone to watch over time, quite reasonably worried that Cinder herself or Neo could strain themselves by over training. And might have disallowed them to train physically at all, worried that excessive physical activity might be detrimental to their growth and development. Thankfully, it only took an equally logical argument about the nature of Aura to have made him change his mind about it. All in all, it allowed Cinder to quietly work at the gym at this time.

***

For many people, to spend six hours training on exercise machines would sound extremely exhausting, but not for Cinder Fall. For whom, something like this, in terms of effort and energy levels, was the only acceptable action and outcome.

Yes, she was certainly somewhat tired, but she could have continued for much longer if necessary, But, as Cinder had other plans for today, six hours was passable. And so, having thrown her dirty clothes into the washing machine and quickly rinsed in the shower herself, she could easily assess herself as only ‘somewhat tired’ and not ‘exhausted’ at all, as any other, even the most trained athletes, would feel. Therefore, she was ready for the many other things planned for today.

The clock hands were already pointing that it was half past nine in the morning, Which meant that Jonathan was probably an hour or an hour and a half away from waking up. So, it was the best time to start preparing breakfast.

Grabbing her washed clothes from the washing machines, he quickly managed to hang up the laundry, throw a new one in the wash, and then headed into the kitchen to start cooking.

It was another duty that Cinder had taken on herself, having denied Jonathan the right to do household chores.

Of course, here, too, Jonathan tried to intervene at some point, given his financial and political status, it would not have been unusual for him to hire a maid or a cook or ten. But Cinder liked cooking, really liked looking after Jonathan, and hated letting new people into her home.

And Jonathan's home, though it was primarily Jonathan's home, was also her home. And  even if, after a long period of acclimatization, Cinder did get on well with Neo, she had no intention of repeating such an accomplishment with people she did not know. People who might also be, if only in theory, economical, young and beautiful. Of either sexes.

And if perhaps by showing herself at her best, as both a strong and economic girl herself, she might well make the best impression on Jonathan? Well…

However, Cinder shook her head, Jonathan certainly didn't view her in any romantic way, that was painfully obvious. Mainly due to two factors. First, her age. Though she will be twelve the day after tomorrow, maybe the appropriate age for a first kiss, she doesn’t want to kiss anyone else but Jonathan. Second was the fact that she was his adopted daughter.

The lack of blood kinship was very important in this case. Neither was she letting Jonathan forget it, or anyone else either… Just in case.

And while there was nothing Cinder could do to change Jonathan's attitude towards her, at least not without taking some action. At least Cinder would be able to eliminate the first factor in due time by growing up. In the meantime, she would bide her time and earn skills, power, and a reputation for herself, which should be useful to her in the future. It’s not like she plans to give up, any kind of leverage she could gather would be useful in the future.

That was why Cinder was cooking at the moment. Cinder had spent considerable time studying Jonathan's tastes, so she could predict with certainty what he would want to eat this morning. The way to man’s heart was through the stomach, after all. Both physically and figuratively speaking.

Fried bacon, sausages, mushrooms, tomatoes, scrambled eggs, toasted bread and a full mug of quality tea, an English breakfast as she was told by Jonathan.

However, what was English supposed to be, Cinder didn't know, and after asking Jonathan, he said that he promised to tell her about it one day when she was older.

Another reason for the necessity of quickly growing up.

So far he hadn't touched on the subject at all, and given how uncomfortable he looked when discussing the matter, Cinder wouldn’t even dream of demanding answers from him.

Firstly because she had no right to demand anything from him at all, and secondly because evoking negative feelings from Jonathan was the last thing Cinder wanted to do in her life.

***

Half an hour later, breakfast was fully cooked, and the pan was covered to keep the food warm. Cinder had studied Jonathan's habits well and therefore knew that he was supposed to be awake in about an hour from now, maybe half an hour at the earliest. Which meant there was no point in putting food on plates for now.

Instead, Cinder brewed tea in the teapot, set the plates, mugs and cutlery around the table. Then, after a glance at her handiwork, she nodded to herself with satisfaction. With free time on hand, she decided to go to the living room, sitting on a vacant chair and pulling out the book she was reading as of late.

‘Principles of Therapy for Major Internal Diseases.’ read the threatening inscription on the cover of the book. And, as one might have guessed, it was itself a large, thick medical textbook, which Cinder herself had already devoted a week to read and study.

It was logical, of course, to assume that Cinder was also studying the subject because of her desire to help Jonathan, and in the clearest and simplest sense.

Although the doctors had tried to identify both the problem in Jonathan's body that caused the many unusual conditions of his body and to cure it. Though Jonathan himself had quite confidently declared that no research and no medical procedure, of those that modern medical thought possessed, could help him. Cinder believed him, firstly because she was used to trusting Jonathan, he had proved right too many times. And secondly because Jonathan himself had, for the past year or a year and a half, demonstrated medical knowledge sufficient to surpass anything that Remnant medicine had to offer.

And if even the developer and creator of the most miraculous remedy in all Remnant, capable of literally bringing one back from the dead, was confident in some medical matter, there was no point in Cinder doubting him.

Rather, Cinder studied medicine because it was an extremely useful area of knowledge in general, and because she wanted to get closer to understanding Jonathan's inventions themselves. It wouldn't be strange that a mere layman could not understand Jonathan's inventions. But Cinder wanted to help Jonathan in any capacity in which it was possible, including developing miracle cures, so that was why she was reading the very thick book.

However, when Cinder asked Jonathan about his inventions in the past, he looked as uncomfortable as he did when explaining what English was and promised to tell her the secret later. However, how such an adjective used to refer to breakfast and the secrets of miracle medicine were related, was not particularly clear to Cinder, but it did not distract her much from her ultimate goal.

***

It took Cinder another hour or so reading the textbook, managing to skim through a couple dozen pages, before she picked up the sound of footsteps. Hmm, judging by how light those footsteps were, it seems that Neo was the first one awake today. Though, judging by the sound coming from the direction of Jonathan's bedroom, there wasn't much time before he woke up either. So, putting her textbook aside, Cinder got up and headed to the cooker where, thanks to the occasional intervention of Cinder and her Semblance, the food had not yet cooled. With a short period of warming up, she began to serve breakfast.

A few minutes later, just in time for Cinder herself to sit down at the table, a foot in a pink sock then a foot in a brown one could be seen appearing on the stairs. These socks were actually from different sets, not that Neo cared. Followed by jeans, then a T-shirt, and only at the end, was a barely awake, silently yawning Neo, looking around at her surroundings with a look completely laden with drowsiness.

Neo's eyes regained some of its vivacity as soon as she saw the food on the table, and the girl quickly made her way down the stairs to the table. However, she did not start eating, that was because Jonathan was to join them in a few minutes, and they could afford a few minutes of waiting.

However, despite the fact that Neo was mute, the few minutes did not pass in silence.

Neo, refreshed from her sleep by the sight of breakfast, blinked her eyes a few times, rubbed it, then looked at Cinder questioningly, then glanced at the clock that marked half past ten in the morning.

“The usual. Training, cleaning, then breakfast,” Cinder replied calmly. For the average person, communicating with Neo might have been stressful and difficult for obvious reasons. But Cinder had been communicating with her for so long that it was almost impossible not to identify the question ‘What have you been up to, getting up so early?’ expressed clearly on her face.

At Cinder’s reply, Neo only raised her gaze to the ceiling and shook her head.

“Not everyone is as lazy as you are,” She replied to Neo as she had many times before, and then, noticing the sly smirk on her face and the look she threw up and to the side, she immediately frowned. “Jonathan is something else entirely, he works late, not like you!”

Neo only rolled her eyes, and then, just as Cinder, heard the sound of the measured light strikes of a cane. Neo immediately turned her face to see Jonathan emerge from around the corner of the archway, emerging from the living room, which of course he could not be in any way.

However, as Cinder and Neo had managed to ascertain living with the man for the last years, the official information about Jonathan's abilities did not quite match reality. And therefore, they were not particularly surprised by such displays. Especially considering that due to certain ‘characteristics’ it was easier for Jonathan to teleport than to walk down the stairs.

“Good morning, girls.” Jonathan's greeting elicited similar responses from Cinder and a nod from Neo, which in her case also counted as an answer. “Ah, I see that today’s breakfast is my favorites. Cinder, it looks great, but if you still…”

“No.” Cinder gently and tactfully, but still firmly, interrupted Jonathan's thoughts as she knew exactly what he wanted to say. “It's not at all difficult for me and I want to do the housework, you don't have to worry.”

At Cinder’s reply, the same every time he brought the subject up, Jonathan only sighed. Knowing that arguing further was useless, he just nodded and sat down at the table. Cinder and Neo also turned around and, seconds later, the most ordinary Saturday morning in a not-so-ordinary family officially began.

***

Although Jonathan had no official job requiring his constant presence, and his title as King did not oblige him to perform any legal functions, during the weekdays he often found himself busy. He alternately either does work concerning the schools, universities, hospitals and other institutions under his patronage, or his experiments. Cinder and Neo, on the other hand, spent much of their time at school.

So on weekends, like this one, Jonathan's family tried to spend as much time together as possible. And specifically today, their plan was to go on a small family trip. Though small in terms of time spent and the number of participants, thanks to Jonathan's abilities, they were not all restricted by travel distances and things like tickets or flight schedules.

So as soon as breakfast was over, and Jonathan and Neo were finally fully awake, Cinder, predictably, did not suffer from this problem to begin with, an important issue came up on the family agenda.

“I don't think a visit to Mantle or Atlas is possible… well, unless we want to risk some unpleasantness.” Jonathan exhaled. “But other than that, anywhere else is possible. Vacuo, Mistral, Vale, Menagerie. Of course, if we decide to visit Beacon or Menagerie, we'll probably have to warn Ozpin or Ghira about that.”

Cinder did not really care where Jonathan and Neo wanted to go, all she wanted to do was to spend time with Jonathan. And in this case, it was probably best to go somewhere that had the smallest concentration of his friends, while simultaneously being the most comfortable place to visit.

“What about some kind of small settlement, one that has a nice view or attraction? Maybe one in Mistral? Hmm?” Jonathan blinked at Cinder’s suggestion, then looked at Neo, who had raised her hand and waved it in the air. She wasn’t rolling her eyes, though, so he assumed she meant ‘I don't mind’ and not ‘it's not a good idea’. Jonathan understood her gestures, since he had even more experience with Neo than Cinder did, and nodded.

“Well, I'll look for something. Small villages, though… Did you really want to admire nature, Cinder?”

“In a way,” She didn't answer unequivocally, before rising from her seat, picking up the already empty plates and heading for the dishwasher. At least, considering that Cinder didn't wash the plates with her hands, it was easier for Jonathan to accept this part of the household duties that Cinder had taken on.

“By the way, Cinder,” Before she could even deal with the dirty dishes, Jonathan's voice caught her attention, “You still haven't told me what you want as a birthday present…”

Oh yes, that's right, her birthday… that was coming soon, huh.

Certainly it wasn't the first time Cinder had celebrated her birthdays, thanks to Jonathan. But still, thanks to the peculiarities of her upbringing, all the significance of such a day had escaped her. Making such a thing just another day she could spend with Jonathan and a day when other people were supposed to give her presents.

Which was certainly nice most of the time, especially the fact that celebrating her birthday, Jonathan was also freeing Neo and Cinder from school for a day. The problem for her was that Cinder just didn't want anything from Jonathan, which makes her birthdays quite the challenge. Or, ahem, rather there were some ‘things’ that Cinder could have asked of him, but there was no way Jonathan would have agreed to it. Still, other than ‘those’ kinds of gifts, nothing really comes to her mind…

“I don't think I need anything,” Cinder smiled at Jonathan.

“But you did ask for a gift from Ghira, didn't you?” Objected Jonathan immediately, causing Cinder to sigh.

The reason why Cinder demanded a specific gift from Ghira was because Ghira was not a friend to her and therefore could be safely used for her own purposes. Her birthday in this case was just an excuse. Neo and Jonathan, however…

Neo at least was in agreement with Cinder herself in this case, and so neither of them gave each other gifts. Jonathan, on the other hand, refused to simply accept the fact that just spending the day with her was enough as a gift already and insisted on something else, which only made things more complicated.

Maybe Cinder could also ask Jonathan for the very information he had promised to reveal to her when she was older? About the miracle medicines, unusual adjectives and the nature of his communication with Ozpin? Cinder, of course, would never think of checking the contents of the letters sent to Jonathan, but she was smart enough to notice some details here and there on what Ozpin and Jonathan were talking about.

Anyway, there was a chance that Jonathan would agree to disclose this information to her, but Cinder wouldn’t ask for such a thing. First because it would clearly trouble Jonathan, leading to a new mental conflict for Jonathan, and Cinder would prefer not to cause such a thing. And second because, when Jonathan tells her about it by his own decision, then it would mean that Jonathan has now trusted her.

In other words, Cinder just couldn't think of what she could ask Jonathan for as a gift. But Jonathan, predictably, wasn't backing away, wanting to give her some kind of gift and make her happy… A sentiment which caused a warm feeling to bloom inside Cinder. But it still made things quite difficult.

“I haven't figured it out yet,” Cinder sighed, “I'll think about it soon, but I don't have an answer yet…”

Jonathan shook his head and, with a sigh, nodded, “Well, do think about it.”

Then he stood up from the table. “Now I think I'll leave you alone for a couple of minutes, I need to look for options for where we can go.”

After a moment of silence, Jonathan exhaled and said something whose meaning was unknown to both Neo and Cinder. “Via.”

A moment later, Jonathan was gone. Making Cinder and Neo, immediately stare at each other.

At first, Jonathan seemed somewhat embarrassed by his powers and did not use them in front of the two of them, much, keeping it to a minimum. But after a while, and after a serious conversation with his two adopted daughters and a warning that Jonathan and his powers should not be told to anyone. These groups include Aisa, who was sort of privy to the secret. And thanks to the fact that after the experience, the seriousness of the matter was seared into Neo’s and Cinder’s mind.

After what had happened, Neo and Cinder were very aware of the consequences of certain actions and how bad things could really get. So far Cinder and Neo had done a fine job of passing the secret tests given out by Jonathan on information security. Well, Cinder was old enough to understand the need to keep her mouth shut even without the tests, and making Neo talk was pretty much impossible. With what they know, Cinder could see why secrecy was a top priority

In any case, it was only a short while ago for Jonathan to be comfortable about at least his teleportation with Cinder and Neo. True, his lab in the attic was still off-limits, but neither Cinder nor Neo were going to break the limitations.

Anyway, left alone with Neo, Cinder glanced at the girl that was now carefully studying her nails with an expression that hinted at the utmost detachment of her thoughts. And, after making sure that she wouldn't interrupt her from any serious thoughts, Cinder speaks up, “Neo, what would you ask of Jonathan for your birthday?”

Neo thought about it for a second before she pointed to the clock that was hanging over Cinder's head. Then, turning her finger in the air, pointing to the book that lay in the distance, she crossed her arms in front of her to form a cross and then spread her arms in pantomime.

To an outside observer, this would have been an utterly confusing performance, the meaning of which would have been almost impossible to make out. But for Cinder or Jonathan, who had lived with Neo long enough to learn to understand her peculiar language of gestures, facial expressions and imitations, understood her words completely.

“Of course you would have asked to sleep in until lunchtime and relieve you from your studies, what was I thinking?” Cinder rolled her eyes and placed her elbows on the table in front of her, looking up as she wondered what she could ask for her birthday gift. Maybe Neo’s idea has some merits?

No, that wasn't an option for Cinder.

Although Cinder could confidently say that she had mastered most of the school curriculum, except for maybe the topics of study the last years were studying, but only because of her sense of perfectionism. She, theoretically speaking, could hardly get anything more out of school in terms of education and learning. Though, as it was already made clear, Cinder did not view school solely in terms of education, but in terms of ‘socialization’, so she was not planning to give that up yet either.

Although, in terms of ‘socialization’ practice, the school might soon run out of things for her to accomplish. Chances are, that after a few more months there would no longer be anyone at school that Cinder wasn't familiar with, only the most average of students were left to be lured into her networks of ‘friends’.

Of course, there are the teachers… But trying to form ‘relationships’ with them when she was still a schoolgirl, even if she was Jonathan's adopted daughter, was an extremely difficult endeavor. Hmm, she actually got some idea to ‘fix’ that but…

Cinder thought about her school ‘project’ before she was distracted out of it by Jonathan's voice coming from somewhere.

“I think I've got a couple of places that we could go to.” The words came out first, before Jonathan took a step from around the corner, tapping his cane in a measured motion before he was in front of the girls.

Although he could teleport away in front of the girls' faces, he hesitated to teleport directly near them for fear of frightening them or embarrassing them by teleporting at some awkward moment, always teleporting to a room next to them.

Though Cinder was even somewhat curious, what does it feel like to be embarrassed, or even how could Jonathan cause it? Even at a certain point of growing up, where certain things started to happen, she didn't feel particularly embarrassed at asking Jonathan to buy some feminine hygiene items. And it’s not like she would mind Jonathan seeing her naked… So maybe when she’s using the toilet?

It didn't matter, though, what mattered was that Jonathan, who had appeared out of nowhere, had brought her new information.

“Cinder, if you want to visit the small town in Mistral, I can suggest Higanbana, it seems to be a popular tourist destination with a good hotel, ideal for a two-day trip.” Jonathan then looked at Cinder to see her reaction.

“Hm… “ Cinder thought about it for a moment. No, of course it sounded good enough as a destination, but if it was really a popular tourist spot, there was a small possibility of running into acquaintances there, Jonathan’s or Cinder’s. So she, appreciating Neo's reaction to the proposal, or rather its absence, asked a question. “Are there any other options?”

“There's also, um…” Jonathan thought about it, “Not too far from Higanbana really, there's also a pretty nice little town. It would probably be suitable for a short visit, but it's not that popular and I guess it's not really a touristy spot with attractions.”

“But we only wanted to go there for two days, didn't we?” Cinder smiled, finding such a secluded city as a perfect option for a trip.

“Maybe we should visit the smaller town first? And if we really can't find anything there, we could just go to Higanbana for the night, couldn't we?”

To the average resident of Remnant, such a suggestion would sound impossible. Given the concentration of Grimm that inhabited all the places around the settlements, moving from town to town was practically a battlefield operation. Something that had to be done either as part of a caravan or under heavy guard, or relying on the presence of fast air transport. But in that case, the very idea of a short weekend trip for a couple of days was idiotic from the start.

However, Jonathan was proficient in teleportation and so many things that were impossible or strange for a resident of Remnant, were completely natural for him, so Jonathan himself only nodded at the suggestion. “Ok, I think it is possible.”

Cinder smiled, another small victory for her, before looking at Jonathan, remembering something important to ask. “By the way, what is the name of this town?”

At this, Jonathan simply smiled before answering. “Kuroyuri.”