Chapter Ten - Cinder's Fall

"What happened?" Asked Ruby "Well, the train was attacked by grimm and the half we were on derailed and dropped us in the snow. We found out what Ozpin's been hiding from us which has thrown Ozpin into a funk and then we discovered a bunch of grimm that attack humans by making them totally apathetic."

"That last is what the burning buildings are about. Roasted grimm." Yang said as she looked at Raven "Mother."

"Daughter." Raven turned to Qrow "Brother."

"Tell us more, tell us everything but…" Kashaahri looked around her "Should we set up camp or just keep moving?"

"It's a long way to Argus." Said Qrow "I suggest we keep moving until dark."

Kashaahri nodded and called forth her Charger and the rest of the team called forth their own mounts with Allarae calling forth her Chopper and Raven was… persuaded… to get into its side-car. They started moving down the road "What happened on the train? We thought you would still be travelling with Team JNR."

"The train was attacked by grimm. We believe it was because the Relic attracts them." Said Ruby "We sent the passengers forward with JNR to protect them then disconnected the last carriages. Things were going OK until the last grimm, a huge Griffin, managed to get a fireball off which destroyed the track in front of us and derailing the carriages we were on."

"My curse of a Semblance stranding us in the wild." Said Qrow.

"O…k, what was Ozpin hiding?"

"He was hiding that Salem can't be killed." Said Ruby

"Told you, brother, and you wouldn't believe me." Said Raven

"Yes, you told me." Qrow took a swig from hit-flask "Now let us tell what else we've learned."

"She's been made immortal as a punishment from the gods 'for as long as this world turns.'" Continued Ruby, glaring at Raven and her uncle. "Salem was punished for trying to deceive the gods into resurrecting her lover, Ozpin."

"Salem, after immortality was thrust upon her, realised that the gods didn't know everything and led the people in a revolt against them." Said Blake "When confronted with that revolution the gods eliminated mankind except Salem and then left."

"For an untold time, only Salem and the grimm walked the world. Salem, alone and in despair, threw herself into the Pools of Annihilation hoping that they would destroy her as the Fountain of Life and Creation had given her immortality." Said Weiss

Yang said "They didn't. They changed her into an immortal being of destruction instead."

"After a time." Said Ruby "Humans arose again with faunus next to them and when they did the God of Light went to Ozpin in the after-life and asked if he would return to guide the new humanity to peace. At first Ozpin refused, saying that he only wanted to be with Salem in the after-life, but the God of Light told him that he would not find Salem there and that she walked the world as an immortal but that she was not the woman he once knew. Hearing that Ozpin agreed and he's been reincarnating ever since."

"And when the God of Light did that, he also told Ozpin of the four Relics of Destruction, Knowledge, Choice and Creation. As you know we have the Relic of Knowledge which is where we found out this from. Her name's Jinn." Said Blake "And that if all four Relics come together the gods will appear and judge mankind. If we're not living peacefully with each other then the gods will destroy the world and move on."

"And that's about it." Said Ruby "Then a storm blew in and we had to seek shelter." She looked around her "I think here is a good place to camp for the night." The others nodded in agreement and started setting up camp.

"And there, too, my Semblance turned against us."

"It was not you're Semblance uncle." Said Ruby

"What else would it be that would lead us right to a nest of grimm? This Semblance is a curse."

"A curse?" asked Elanna "I don't think you know the meaning."

"I have a Semblance that brings bad luck to those around me." Said Qrow "Be they friend or foe and it does it randomly. Seems like a good meaning of a curse to me."

"How does it work?

"I don't know, It's random." He took a swig from his flask. "That's what random means."

"It's your power, your ability." She threw a meaningful look at him "That means that it's triggering from you and is probably related to what's happening to you. You need to learn to control that, to direct it."

"You don't think that I haven't tried?"

"I'm sure that you have but you need to keep trying until you can."

"And what do you know about it?"

"Because if me and my people hadn't learned to control our curse, we would now be dead. Most likely by our own hands." She looked over to Kashaahri who gave her a slight nod "Let me tell you about my people's curse." As she spoke the twilight seemed to become deeper, the forest quieter and darkness itself seemed to encase the priest. It only lasted a few moments but when it finished instead of a human there was a two-metre-tall humanoid wolf with dark fur standing there.

Qrow reacted almost instantly, dropping his hit flask and drawing his weapon. Team RWBY followed his example, Oscar sprang up from where he was sitting but didn't draw his weapon. Raven paused for a bit, shrugged, and then finished scooping up her bowl of broth.

The silence between the group lengthened before Kashaahri said "She's still the same women as before." And grabbed her own bowl of broth.

With the silence broken and a sense of normality restored by the simple action weapons were replaced and talking started up again.

"You're a WEREWOLF." Exclaimed RUBY

"That's one way to put it." Said Elanna "We call ourselves 'Worgen'."

"This is your curse?" asked Qrow

"Yes. With the help from the priestesses of Elune and druids from Teldrassil we learned to tame it, to control it. It's different from yours as it was imposed upon us but we had to accept it as part of us to learn that control."

"My Semblance is a part of me, I accept that." He snorted "I just wish it wasn't."

"But you don't accept it. You reject it as your last words tell us and that rejection is causing imbalance in you and preventing control of your ability. You need to accept your ability and re-learn the balance that you need."

"A Ritual of Balance, Sister?" asked Allarae

"Yes."

"And what will that achieve?" Qrow raised his hit-flask but a dark, clawed, hand ripped it from his and crushed it.

"You won't need this crutch for starters." She returned to human form as she dropped the twisted metal to the ground "Accept yourself and take control of yourself again."

"Do it uncle." Said Ruby. She turned to Elanna "Anything I," she felt Yang step next to her "we, can do to help?"

"Be there when he comes out of it. He'll need you then." She turned to Qrow "If you're willing of course."

"What does it entail?"

"Drinking water blessed by the Light of Elune during a ritual. This will force you to face your regrets, your fears and your hopes."

"I could do with a bit of balance as well." Said Oscar

"Maybe so, young man, but I don't believe this particular ritual will help. It's about helping someone accept all that they are whereas, you're actually two people." Said Elanna she turned back to Qrow "Well?"

"I…"

"Do it Uncle. They really do seem to know more about magic than Ozpin does despite his long life." Said Yang

"Fine." He pulled another hit-flask out of his pocket and took a swig "Just don't expect me to do it sober."

—

The moon rode high in the night before preparations for the ritual were completed. Now Remnants and Azerothians stood aside while the two participants stood in a small clearing. The low rumble of Elanna's prayer reached them as she gestured over a silver chalice filled with water. The light over the two of them seemed to strengthen slightly and then flashed brilliantly, bright enough that many of the onlookers had to look away, as she raised the chalice before dimming again but the shaft of silver light on the two was brighter than the surrounding moonlight. The priest offered the chalice to Qrow "Drink."

He took the vessel, looked in it and then threw his head back, drank and then handed it back "Now what?" Then he collapsed and Elanna's prayer became deeper, commanding.

Ruby looked as though she wanted to run to him "Is he…?"

"He's fine." Said Fawn "His life is strong."

"How do you know?"

"We can… see it."

Ruby blinked at her "What if it doesn't work?"

"Then he'll be the same irascible curmudgeon that he always has been." Said Allarae "The ritual doesn't change him but shows him who he is and forces him to accept that."

They looked back to where the ritual was being performed as Elanna's voice became even more commanding and the light from the clearing seemed to strobe in time to the cadence of her prayer. From Qrow's prone body arose a bird form made of light and tied to him by strands of magic. As each strand was cut the bird form rose higher until the last was cut and it made a beeline for Oscar. When it got to him it dove straight into him, staggering him and causing his eyes to momentarily shimmer yellow.

"Are you alright?" asked Sapphire

"Yes, I… I'm fine. That almost… woke… Him up though."

"What happened? Why did that…" asked Ruby

"Did he have some of Ozpin's magic?" asked Allarae

"Yes. A small amount that allowed him to turn into a crow."

"Ah. The ritual forces him to accept that which is part of him but he's obviously rejected that which is not."

"Does that mean that he won't be able to become a bird anymore?" as Yang

"Couldn't say. It's possible that it could go that way but it's also possible that he no longer needs it. That once he has control over his own magic, he'll be able to do it without Ozpin's."

"But he doesn't have magic."

"But what else could your Semblance be?" Yang drew sharp breath as Allarae continued "It's one of the conclusions that we've come to in our time here. Your people have magic but they're not connecting to a powerful source and are using Dust instead."

Time passed with some of the group going to sleep to the steady murmur of Elanna's prayer and the moonlight that filled the clearing.

—

Emielice woke with a start. Something was… Ah, the Eye she'd left with the Spiders. She quickly connected to the remote and found herself looking over the shoulder of the manager of the Spiders where two women were fighting.

The manager glanced at the eye then back to the women fighting "The tall one is called Cinder" she whispered "and she was looking for the same group that you were looking for. The small one, called Neo, was looking for the tall one and the group. I don't believe either wish them well." She glanced at the eye again "If you want to talk to them then I suggest you get here quickly." Looking back to the two women fighting she called "Ladies, I do believe that its time that you took this outside."

Emielice spoke only one word to her "Coming." Then she went to Allarae and Kashaahri "We need to go to Mistral." Kashaahri raised an eyebrow in question "The Spiders have found Cinder Fall and one other."

Kashaahri nodded "Us three I think." She turned to Fawn "We'll message when we're ready to come back."

Emielice was now whispering in Demonic, making a pathway through the Twisting Nether to the Eye. When ready she reached out to both Allarae and Kashaahri who completed the circle as their own hands joined. With the circle closed Emielice's power surged, grabbed them and transported them to the Spider's lair.

Kashaahri quickly drew her sword and shield, turned to the manager and asked "Where?"

"Outside." She said as the sounds of fighting came through the door.

Kashaahri nodded and stepped quickly towards the door, Allarae on her heels. Behind them Emielice turned towards the manager and held out a large sack of gold. The manager took it, weighed it in her hands and then said "Rumours are that you're from another world."

"The rumours are correct." Then Emielice started a summoning and shortly her own felguard stood there.

The manager tried to shift back in her chair as the demon came forth "What is that?"

"That is a demon." Hearing the cessation of noise from outside "Now I have to go." But as she got to the door, she bid the felguard to stay.

—

Emielice stepped out of the door in to a tableau of silence. Cinder was elevated in a swirl of magic winds and a smaller woman was standing in the middle of the street closer to the lair. Both had now turned to the new comers.

"What's happening?" she asked

"This one" Kashaahri said as she indicated Cinder "had just been suggesting how they should team up to murder Ruby. I believe that she's lifted herself up in some sort of power display to help persuade the other."

"Ah, mind if I take it from here?"

"Go ahead."

Emielice nodded to her and then turned to Cinder and Neo "Competent criminals consider fighting in the streets to be… bad form. It draws attention to you, identifies you as criminals and ensures that you're being watched by those that may not have your wellbeing in mind. No other competent criminal would deal with you after such a display." She looked Cinder up and down, scorn in her eyes and tone "And then you actually went and discussed your plans to murder someone in public where anybody could listen? Just how incompetent can you get?"

"And who are you, little girl, to ask your betters such things?"

"Betters?" Emielice looked around her at the grime covered streets "All those that I've met that may be 'better' than me lived in castles and treated others with respect. Archmages with their city in the sky, kings and queens with more power than you've ever dared dream of." She shook her head "No, you're just another evil flunky with your hands out for any power that your mistress deigns to give you with no understanding of her true motive."

"And who we are." said Allarae as she raised her hand "Are friends of the girl you were planning on murdering." She snapped her fingers and Silence ended Cinder's spell of flight, crashing her to the ground "And we're not impressed by such pathetic displays of power."

"And we're here." Said Kashaahri "To take back the power that you stole and return it to its true owner." She turned to Neo "You can leave. We have no truck with you but understand that if you go after Ruby our next meeting will not be quite so… pleasant."

As she was speaking Cinder had picked herself up, trying her magic until it flared up again. Now she looked towards Neo, her eye flaring, "If you want vengeance…?"

Neo nodded slightly and then, leaving an image behind her, teleported behind Kashaahri and instantly slammed her umbrella into the horned woman's back. She withdrew her umbrella, ready to riposte any attack but, with none coming, attacked again only to be surprised as Kashaahri suddenly spun, raised her shield and blocked her attack. Seeing the sword following she left another image behind herself and teleported behind Cinder as the image shattered.

Kashaahri spun to face the two women, laying down a Consecrate "The hard way then." She said to Neo "You could have left here alive."

Cinder scoffed "You haven't even begun to see the limits of my power, what a Maiden with the full teaching of my Mistress can do." And launched a fiery spear at Allarae only to be surprised to see Allarae's Ice Barrier suddenly appear and stop it cold.

"You're not the only one who can do magic here." Allarae then turned to Kashaahri "Keep her here and alive until I finish the chant. I'll let you know when."

"We only need one of them alive right?" asked Emielice

"Only the Maiden." Said Allarae then she started her chant.

"Right then." She clicked her fingers and her felguard stepped through the door. Seeing the stunned looks on the faces of the two Remnants she said "That is a demon." Then, pointing at Neo "Kill."

The demon Charged, covering the distance between it and Neo in an eye blink, its huge axe swinging in towards the small woman. Neo managed to get her umbrella up as a shield in time but the force of the impact threw her back several metres, stunning her. Collapsing her umbrella, she attacked the demon getting a good, solid hit on it but it didn't even slow down. She managed to deflect the incoming axe and land a good blow with her foot. That staggered the demon but not by much and the back-swung axe glanced off her shoulder. She leapt back and then shot forward, using the umbrella to give her height, she got a good kick into the demon's face and then somersaulted to land lightly behind the demon with her umbrella open again as a shield to stop the axe. She spun in place, using the momentum to add impact to the blow she landed on the demon. But that merciless axe kept coming.

Cinder, letting all thoughts of Neo drop, called forth a magical sword and attacked Kashaahri using all the speed she could muster only to be blocked by the large shield. She diverted her charge, bounced off of a wall and came back in at different angle only to be parried by the paladin's blade. Coming to rest a few metres away she let go of her sword, summoned power and threw a fireball at the paladin. Then she summoned in two short swords and charged in again but now Emielice joined the fray.

"Keeping people who are attacking you alive is so difficult, so irritating." After saying that she cast a Fear upon Cinder who suddenly stopped moving, her eyes going wide in terror. "You alright with her?" she asked Kashaahri

"I'll be fine, just have to ensure I don't hit her with anything more than a love tap." Ahri pointed to Neo "Go see if she's changed her mind about dying."

The axe came again, and though Neo got her weapon up in time to block the axe it broke the umbrella, barely slowing and impacted her chest, throwing her onto her back. Blue arcing tendrils raced out across her as her Aura broke, she stood, stumbled, now only trying to get away. She tried to teleport again, but she didn't have enough energy and collapsed to the ground. It came to her then that she wasn't being attacked. She looked around to find that the demon had trotted back to its master who was making their own way to her. She drew a sharp breath, wondering how she'd missed it before power balance between them before. Despite the aura of menace from the demon and that it towered above the human woman there was no doubt as to who was in command, who had the power. And she couldn't even stand up to the demon.

Emielice crouched down beside the fallen woman, nodded to where Cinder and Kashaahri were back to fighting "Considering that she asked you to die with her she's not showing a great deal of concern for you." She looked questioningly at Neo who only looked back at her, fear in her eyes "Won't talk or can't talk?"

Neo considered then pointed at her mouth and made a chopping motion.

"Can't talk then." She nodded "Then listen. Ruby told us about her dealings with Roman and you. How he tried to kill her, how he helped bring about the grimm attack on Vale and, finally, how one of those grimm ate him. Roman's death is a direct result of his own actions. Actions that caused the death of uncounted innocents so we're really talking poetic justice here." Her eyes hardened "Now, I'm sure that you walked by his side the entire way and are only now having regrets about that as you lie here, defeated. Me, I'd be happy to slit your throat and be done with it. But Kashaahri is the forgiving type and thinks that we should offer you one, last, chance."

Neo's eyes widened and then she closed them as she nodded in understanding.

"Good. So, here's the deal. I'm going to keep my eye on you and if you walk the same path as you walked before I will find you and finish what we started tonight. Understand?"

Neo's eyes widened with fear but she nodded.

"Good." Emielice nodded to the Spider's lair "Talk to the manager, I'm sure that she will be willing to set you up with a new identity far, far away from trouble. For a reasonable price." With that she stood and walked back to the fight between Ahri and Cinder summoning another demon as she did so.

Cinder knew she was outclassed now. Even with her magic she could barely even touch the woman in front of her and even when she did it didn't seem to faze her at all. It had taken awhile but she now knew that the woman in front of her was also using magic. It was subtle and none of that magic had been directed at her. In fact, she hadn't been attacked at all and she realised that she was being kept here. Her power was low and she started looking about for a way to escape and while doing so she caught site of the other woman, the one with the strange ears, and her breath hissed out. In front of the other woman was a ball of power glowing bluish-white with arcs of purple lightning across it. Instinctively she knew it was for her and she started backing away when she felt a presence behind her. She turned and… looked into the most beautiful eyes she'd ever seen…

Kashaahri stepped back from the Seduced woman "You know, you could have done that from the beginning."

Emielice shrugged "I was expecting a fight and so had the felguard out. Got one too."

"How'd that go?"

"She's going to be Good… or else we finish what was started tonight."

Kashaahri nodded and then walked over to Allarae who looked at her but continued her chant "Looks like it's going to be awhile longer. How long can you keep the Seduce going?"

"Long enough but we probably don't want her gaining any power back as her weakened state will likely make it easier for Allarae."

The two stood silently, aware of the growing number eyes watching from the dark "You know" said Kashaahri "I don't think we meet your definition of competent criminals."

"True but, then, we're not criminals." She smiled benignly at Ahri "We're Adventurers and can Do No Wrong."

Kashaahri gave a short bark of a laugh "I wonder how the authorities here will view that."

"Oh, that's easy." Emielice brought out her Scroll and showed a news item about Cinder "They'll just take the credit for stopping a mass murderer and probably won't ask too many questions about how she became dead."

Behind them the chant stopped and they turned to the sweat beaded Allarae who panted "I'm going… to need you… release the Seduce. She needs… be in her own mind… for this… work."

Kashaahri nodded "I'll go make sure she can't escape, you release the Seduce, then Allarae hits her with that." Her eyes hardened "Then we finish her."

—

"So, they just left you here?" demanded Ruby

Fawn shrugged "It's only a single Maiden so I doubt if they even need three." She said and held up fingers in order "Allarae needed to go because she's our strongest mage and the spell to remove the power from the Maiden is going to require that strength. Emie went because it was her Eye that she summoned them to and Ahri is our leader and tank. Now, if you'll stand back, I need to prepare to summon them." She motioned Sapphire and Daalorisa to join her and began the casting. Within a few seconds the Summon Stone stood before all of them.

"That looks… evil." Said Ruby "Cool, but evil. What does it do?"

"It allows us to summon people from wherever they are to here. Just need to wait for them to let us know when they're ready."

"You scrolls work?" Ruby pulled her own scroll out of her pocket "I get no signal out this far."

"We have… other means of communication between us."

The wait was only a few minutes before Fawn, joined by Sapphire, placed their hands upon the Stone and Kashaahri stepped out of it followed a few seconds later by Emielice and Allarae. Allarae was controlling a glowing ball of magic that arced and spat. She looked around for Oscar and then walked over to his sleeping form and kicked him lightly "Oi, wake up."

Oscar stirred sleepily "What?"

"We need Ozpin. Can you kick him to the surface?"

"What?"

"I need Ozpin to give him his power back. Or I can just stick it with you and you can work it out with him later."

"I…" Oscar looked in to the glowing eyes of the elf "I'll try." He shifted to a meditative pose and closed his eyes. Nothing seemed to happen for a few minutes and then his eyes, flashing yellow, flew open "What do you want. Let me go. I've made too many mistakes, too many lies… I…"

"Shut it." Allarae's anger was palpable "You have, as you've pointed out, made many mistakes. More than any man, women or child on this world as I believe you put it. Those mistakes don't give you an excuse to evade your responsibilities."

"Salem cannot be stopped, she cannot be reasoned with, she…"

"We're not here to stop her." There was the sound of a mass of indrawn breath at Kashaahri's harsh words "We're here to protect the world and you know as well as we do that Salem's end goal is to destroy the world. She seeks her own death but her only course of action for that is to destroy the world as her curse says that 'she will live until the world stops turning'."

"We don't need to stop her." Said Fawn "We need to stop the gods and the only way we can do that is to call them here."

There was a stunned silence over the small camp until Sapphire said "We don't need to defeat Salem. We need to help her achieve the death that she so desperately wants while stopping the gods from destroying this world in a fit of pique brought about by their own mistakes."

"So, are you going to stop sulking and help us?" asked Allarae and he nodded "Then take back your power. You're going to need it."

—

Near dawn Elanna's prayer finally stopped and the silver moonlight light gave way to the gold light of the rising sun. Elanna staggered over to the campsite, transforming back into human form as she did so, took a drink of water "That was exhausting."

Ruby looked at her uncle "Is he…?"

"He's fine. Sleeping. He's likely to be doing that for the rest of the day so you'll probably want to move him to somewhere more comfortable." She shook her head "As I'm going to do with myself." As she staggered off to a place to sleep.

—

It was nearing dusk again when Qrow awoke from his deep slumber and staggered over to the pot of stew that was simmering on the fire.

"How do you feel uncle?" asked Ruby

He temporarily stopped shovelling food into his face and grouchily said "I feel fine."

"And your power?" asked Elanna

He looked at her then turned, spotted a rabbit and raised his hand. He was almost as shocked as the rest of the Remnants when a beam of moonlight struck the rabbit."

"And your bird form?"

"I…"

"Just try it."

He looked at her then turned took a couple of running steps before jumping and turning into a large purple raven. He took a couple of turns around the clearing and then landed "That felt… different."

"That's because it is different, brother." He looked to his sister "You no longer have the form that Ozpin gave you but fly as a more majestic beast. It seems, brother, that the ritual worked and that you now have control of your power. As I have although I lost my bird form."

"We will be able to teach you some of the things you need to know about magic and how it works before we leave in the morning." Said Elanna

"But I'm not a mage."

"No, you're not. You're a druid. Unfortunately, we don't have a druid here to teach you the finer points of being a druid and so we can only teach you generalities. Beyond that you're going to have to teach yourself."

"I'm not about to start praying to your goddess."

"Elune doesn't compel worshippers so I doubt that would be an issue." Said Allarae "And although Elune's power may have assisted in your realisation of being a druid, I don't think it was the major force. Druids are about nature and maintaining The Balance." She smiled "I believe that you're going to need to learn to meditate and listen to the World Soul. She needs protectors and it seems that she's chosen you as one." Allarae smiled benignly at him.

—