Here's chapter twenty-five for you guys! I'm glad you're all liking the story so far, thank you all again for your support. I'm working on this story as much as possible to try and get these chapters out faster, but I refuse to rush through them! Enjoy!
Disclaimer: I own nothing!
Speech
Thoughts
Chapter Twenty-Five: Summer Rose
Atlas Eight years ago
"Wait, Summer!" Ironwood called from behind, stopping Summer in her tracks.
"Yes, James?" she asked.
"There is a reason Ozpin hasn't allowed us to know such knowledge" Ironwood said holding up a cream colored folder in his hand "Why do you seek to know so much about the relics?" he asked curiously.
"I wish to use them to better the world" Summer answered without turning around to face him.
"I've seen your research Summer, I know you're only interested in their destructive capabilities... Would you blanket the world in darkness, reduce us to nothing?!"
"Ah but, James, darkness did cover the world once, in legend. We know so little about the war between the gods, only that it was just the beginning. Amidst the fighting they united to create something capable of wielding their power, thus creating Ozpin. They decided the rest of humanity shouldn't wield the power he held, instead granting us each an aura and a unique Semblance... or so we've been told"
"What're you getting at?" Ironwood asked confused.
"It is a curious tale. One worth exploring"
"What about your husband, your daughters, your friends?" he asked "You've forced me to keep your survival a secret for the past three years while you continued your research in secret. How long do you plan to keep up this charade?"
"My family is inconsequential, they no longer concern me" she answered.
"What's happened to you? Ever since you returned from killing Salem you've been different, I was hoping you'd get better over time but it appears you've only gotten worse"
"Ozpin once said destruction brings about creation, so what then would the destruction of the kingdoms bring?" Summer asked shocking Ironwood "When the darkness falls will we be found worthy of the precious power we fight so hard to maintain? Would the gods even notice? I must have these answers, James!"
"You would ensure an apocalypse out of sheer curiosity?" Ironwood asked in angered disbelief "I will never allow it, Summer. Not while I still live!"
"Once again you have it all wrong, James. Darkness is a beginning you see, not an end. At birth, every one of us emerges from darkness into a world of light do we not?" she asked turning to face him.
"Poetic excuses!" Ironwood yelled back furiously, Summer turned away from him.
"Salem was once human before becoming what Ozpin made her, darkness was a beginning for her as well" she explained as she walked away "I will have the relics, James. Nothing is going to stand in my way"
"If words won't dissuade you, only one thing will!" Ironwood drew his pistol on Summer firing it at her back. Summer turned around holding her hand up to block the bullets as her eyes flashed to black with red irises. Summer held her opposite hand up toward Ironwood firing a blast of dark energy at him knocking him onto his back. Ironwood's right arm and most of his shoulder were missing including his pistol. Summer approached him as he struggled to his knees.
"That power, has the darkness taken you, Summer!?" he asked enraged.
"Not your concern" she answered grinning, her skin was pale white with black markings tracing over her body.
"S-Salem?" he asked fearfully.
"Finally catching on are we?" she laughed.
"Y-you... impossible!"
"Many have thought the way you do today, but I can assure you she's not the first vessel I have taken over the years, General"
"V-vessel?" he asked fear dripping from his words.
"Summer is the most recent in a long line" she chuckled "The best part is: I retain all the power and experiences of my vessels even when I gain another. This is how Ozpin has been losing so much recently, his power fades after every death, while mine flourishes" she grinned.
"How long... how long has it been you?" he asked.
"Not long, General. It's a slow process taking control of one's consciousness. Summer put up quite the fight, in the end that only makes it easier on me. I was the one whispering in her ear to remain here and study the Grimm further, then the relics, finally I took control and studied her abilities myself. Summer was smart enough to hide those memories from me once she caught on, she has a surprisingly powerful will. It won't matter soon enough"
"Why are you telling me all of this? What does this gain you?" he asked.
"My dear, what makes you think you're leaving here alive?" she asked grinning malevolently, a gunshot rang out ripping through her shoulder, Salem leapt away from Ironwood glaring ferociously as she placed her hand over her shoulder holding back the blood "Hunter" she growled.
"Always knew something was off about you since we came back, never imagined it was actually you we came back with" Hunter said as his railgun transformed back into it's claymore form, resting it on his shoulder. He had striking blue eyes and jet black hair, coupled with his pale complexion, he wore large black armor with two matching pauldrons sticking out from his shoulders and a black cape hanging from the underside of them along with thick matching colored gloves and boots.
"Stroud? What're you doing here?" Ironwood asked surprised.
"What's it look like I'm doing?" he asked.
"Looks to me like you're dying" Salem growled unleashing a powerful blast of dark energy toward them. Hunter held his claymore in front of him absorbing the energy into the blade.
"Don't tell me you've already forgotten my Semblance" Hunter chuckled, his blade changed back to the railgun firing the energy back at her. Salem sliced her hand down the middle of it splitting the blast around her.
"You're going to regret getting in my way" Salem warned.
"We've killed you once, we can do it again" Hunter smirked.
"We?" Salem asked just before she was slammed into the floor by a large hammer in her back.
"Nice shot, Topaz!" Hunter yelled as she flipped through the air toward him. She wore a brown robe with gold plated armor beneath it, she slung her hammer over her shoulder easily. Topaz's piercing emerald eyes glared darkly as she ran her hand exasperatedly through her scarlet locks with a deep sigh. Salem stood up from the indentation in the floor chuckling.
"So you're both here then, Hunter and Topaz Stroud"
"Release Summer" Topaz ordered.
"That's not quite how it works, my dear. Summer has already lost control, you can do nothing to me now"
"We can harm you just fine, I seem to recall you die just like anyone else" Hunter pointed out.
"You wouldn't hurt your precious Summer now would you?" she asked grinning mockingly.
"We're not going to let you hurt her anymore, we know she's still in there" Topaz announced.
"Summer is merely a spectator to everything I have been doing for the past three years, I finally know how to obtain Ozpin's powers for my own and how to use the relics to destroy everything he loves... once I have all the relics in my possession I can remove all of humanity from existence with just a snap of my fingers" she explained demonstrating.
"That's not gonna happen" Hunter growled.
"Ozpin will stop you, just like we did before" Salem grinned at Topaz's comment.
"Such a beautiful boy you have, what was his name again?" she asked tauntingly "Slade?"
"Don't you dare touch him!?" Hunter yelled furiously.
"Once you're gone I'm going to find the boy and take him under my wing, he's going to be fun to play with" Salem cackled wickedly.
"I won't let that happen!" Hunter charged forward.
"Hunter, don't!" Topaz warned as Salem lifted her hand toward him waving it dismissively, Hunter was thrown back by some unknown force to Topaz and Ironwood.
"You've amused me long enough. Soon I shall send my strongest follower after you and your family, the boy will belong to me and you'll both be dead long before you have the chance to do anything about it" she warned "I promise you, in few years time; I will be poised to destroy everything Ozpin's built including your pathetic Atlas... keep that in mind as you await your end" she laughed as darkness enveloped her, she vanished.
"That doesn't sound good" Hunter sighed.
"We killed all of her followers didn't we?" Topaz asked confused.
"Apparently not" he replied shaking his head, Ironwood dropped onto his back unconscious.
"James!" Topaz called worriedly rushing to his side.
"You're joking" Qrow said staring in shock.
"Summer is still alive!?" Tai asked furiously.
"No, Tai. Summer is dead, at least she's unable to do anything in her current position. Killing Summer is the only way to stop Salem but only until she obtains another vessel" Ironwood explained.
"That's what happened to you then" Weiss said referring to his right arm, he nodded in response.
"I'm sorry, I shouldn't have kept this from you-"
"You're damn right! What the hell is wrong with you!?" Yang yelled her eyes filled with rage "She has Ruby, who knows what she's planning to do to her"
"I understand you're upset-"
"Upset? Upset!?" Slade asked "You knew this whole time Salem couldn't be killed conventionally and yet you hid it from us. You knew about Summer's hidden computer room and didn't tell us. You knew my parents fought alongside Summer to stop Salem and her followers, yet you hid it even from Ozpin. What else have you kept from us?" Slade asked struggling to keep his anger in check.
"Only one thing... Summer found a way to kill Salem permanently" Ironwood replied.
"She did?" Blake asked surprised.
"How?" Pyrrha asked "How can you kill someone who just switches bodies when their current body dies?"
"Only those with the silver eyes can truly kill Salem... but it comes with a price"
"What kind of price?" Roman asked concerned.
"Ruby is the only one who can kill Salem, by using her silver eyes she can draw out Salem's essence into her own body effectively making herself Salem's new vessel. The only way to kill Salem is for Ruby to end her own life at the same time her body absorbs Salem effectively destroying her essence-"
"No! I'm not losing Ruby!" Tai shouted furiously "I've lost enough already"
"Tai-"
"We don't trade lives, General. There's got to be another way to stop Salem" Slade growled.
"There isn't, the only way to destroy Salem's essence is to combat it with your own. Unlike us, Salem doesn't have an aura anymore, it's something more parasitic. The more you fight against her the stronger she gets" Ironwood explained "Summer found the only way to combat that"
"Then why is Summer's body currently being used as a vessel?"
"I wish I knew, Hunter said she'd killed Salem and took her essence into her own body, then she said their job was done and it was time to go home" Ironwood explained.
"Do we know where Salem took Ruby?" Jaune asked concerned.
"I know where Ruby is" Slade announced surprising everyone.
"What do you mean you know where she is?" Yang asked suspiciously. Slade held up his scroll showing a map of the nearby forests, a red dot blipped on the screen indicating it was tracking something.
"You placed a tracker on Ruby?" Blake asked surprised.
"Crescent Rose" he answered.
"Did you do that to the rest of us?" Weiss asked suspiciously.
"No, only Ruby" he answered pocketing the device.
"We can mount a rescue immediately" Ren proposed.
"Hell yeah! Let's go kick some Grimm god ass!" Nora yelled excitedly.
"That's not going to happen" Slade replied.
"What do you mean?" Glynda asked confused "Why wouldn't we rescue Ms. Rose?"
"Salem demonstrated her power to us already, we couldn't even put a scratch on her during the whole fight... adding more of us to the equation isn't going to change that" he answered.
"Then what do we do? Hope Ruby escapes on her own?" Qrow asked annoyed.
"Maybe we can bargain with her?" Sun offered.
"The only thing Salem wants is the relics" Oobleck pointed out "We have nothing to offer her"
"Quite right, we should-" Port began.
"You mean these relics?" Slade asked holding the lantern from Haven in one hand and a small black metal staff in the other with a green orb on tip of the staff.
"How did you get those?" Ironwood asked shocked.
"The vault door isn't very effective against my Semblance" Slade answered causing them to vanish from his hands "I'm going to offer them to Salem for Ruby's freedom" Slade announced.
"Absolutely not!" Winter yelled.
"You'll be killed! Salem's never going to give you Ruby for those things-"
"I'm not asking for permission, General. I'm going to do this whether you accept it or not"
"Give them back, now" Ironwood ordered standing from his place angrily, Slade crossed his arms defiantly. Ironwood drew his gun on Slade.
"Woah! Let's calm down now!" Roman said attempting to stop the situation from escalating.
"James!" Glynda yelled shocked.
"I'm ordering you... to surrender those relics!" Ironwood yelled furiously, Slade stood face to face with him the pistol mere inches from his chest.
"No, sir" Ironwood's finger hovered above the trigger. His expression of rage faltered for a moment. Lowering his weapon he turned toward Winter.
"Specialist! Arrest that man!" Ironwood yelled pointing to Slade.
"General!" Winter protested.
"Arrest him!" he yelled again. Neo smacked him on the back of the head with Roman's cane knocking him into a nearby chair, he stared up at her in shock.
"Thank you, Neo" Yang sighed in relief, she smiled back at Yang.
"I'm going to get Ruby back, once I get close enough to her I'm going to transport her as far away as I can, make sure you're there as fast as you can be" Slade ordered the group tossing Yang his scroll just before vanishing leaving the room with an uncomfortable silence.
"Why didn't you at least tell, Ruby?" Tai asked Ironwood.
"I... I thought I was keeping her safe by not telling her, if Salem didn't feel threatened by her then she wouldn't harm her. Not directly-"
"You and I both know that's not how it works" Qrow growled "I'm going after Slade" he turned to leave.
"How do you plan on catching up to him?" Nora asked confused as he opened the door transforming into a crow and flying off as he did "Oh..." she rubbed the back of her neck sheepishly.
Salem appeared at the head of the table grinning with Ruby standing beside her uncomfortably.
"Slade knows the truth now" Salem announced. They all stared at Ruby curiously but didn't voice their thoughts.
"The stronger Slade becomes the closer he comes to becoming our perfect little puppet" Cinder grinned, Ruby's face showed concern at her comment.
"Slade knows we have Ruby" Emerald pointed out "That'll make him reckless causing him to be that much harder to control"
"What does it matter?" Mercury asked chuckling "Whatever his circumstances, Slade has never been able to help himself from helping others, even his enemies. It's what his pure little heart wants" he laughed, Emerald looked away at his comment uncertain.
"The dice have already been cast, things are in motion, Slade can't stop this anymore than his parents could" Tyrian laughed.
"Nothing is set in stone" Hazel sighed "If the dice aren't in your favor, you'll share Taurus's fate"
"But the fun is in not knowing, isn't it?" Tyrian asked "What is the point of betting on something if you already know the outcome?"
"Are you sure that defeating him won't derail our organizations plan?" Watts asked.
"If Slade is to die so easily, then he is of no use to us" Salem answered, Ruby's expression changed to one of anger.
"That's exactly what I wanted to hear" Cinder grinned "It's not in my nature to hold back"
"How can you people talk about him like he's just a pawn in a game of chess!? He's a person!" Ruby yelled angrily.
"Surely you've figured out by now, Ruby, we're not good people. We don't care about the well being of others, only our own"
"But why? Why're you doing this mother?" Ruby asked unable to hold back her tears "You weren't like this, you're not the same person I used to know and love"
"Summer is gone, Ruby. It's time you accept that and move on, I am in control now, your mother's body is powerful, but not invincible. Should I desire it, I will find another and leave hers to rot" Salem explained.
"Slade's never going to fall for your tricks" Ruby growled "He's too smart for you"
"We shall see, won't we?" Salem grinned.
"I suppose I should be in my place then" Cinder stood from her place transporting herself using the darkness.
"The time has come for my plan to come to fruition" Salem smiled "The rest of you know what to do" she added.
"As you wish" Watts replied vanishing with the others using the darkness as Cinder did.
"Come, Ruby. You and I have a trap to set" Salem grabbed her by the arm stopping her from pulling away from her as she used the darkness to vanish from the room.
Slade entered a large ruined temple in the middle of Atlas's forests "So this is where she's hiding you" he mused aloud. Sneaking through the temple he found the majority of it to be empty, he came across a large barrier of dark energy blocking his path.
"Now there's you to deal with-" Slade turned abruptly at the sound of screams of anguish "Ruby?" he wondered rushing as quietly as he could in the direction of the screams. Slade found a large empty room with only two occupants, Raven chained to a stone coffin and Cinder standing above her triumphantly.
"Does it hurt?" she asked grinning "I hope it hurts more than you could've possibly imagined... you made a fool out of me back in Haven. I don't appreciate that"
"You are a fool, it wasn't hard to do" Raven chuckled, Cinder growled placing her hand onto her abdomen causing Raven to scream in agony.
"Who's the fool now, Branwen?" she grinned.
"Me" Slade sighed from behind her leaning against a stone pillar with his arms crossed.
"Simply amazing, Slade" she chuckled "You came to save this pile of filth instead of the girl you claim to love?" she asked mockingly.
"I'm not here for Raven" he replied.
"You've come to see me then?" Cinder asked "I'm so flattered!" she yelled producing a wall of flames surrounding them "You're too late to stop me from draining her power!"
"I'm not here to fight, let her go. Then take me to Salem so we can chat" Slade replied showing a complete lack of interest with her posturing.
"I hold the power of all four maidens now, Slade. You might wish to focus your attention here-"
"You were barely able to handle me when I was crippled with injuries, gaining more power doesn't change your sloppy fighting style" he mocked stone-faced.
Cinder leapt into the air forming a blade of flame in each hand, using fire to launch herself down. Slade leapt over her throwing his blade spinning toward her slashing her back painfully, using his Semblance her appeared beneath her kicking her in the chest from his place on the ground he caught his spinning blade leaping up toward her. Slade clashed blades with Cinder obliterating them both throwing her further into the air. Slade wrapped his arms around Cinder's waist twisting to throw her into the ground below.
"You're sloppy as always. For someone always relying on the maidens power you seem to only use one element of it consistently, Raven provided a bigger challenge when she only had the power of one maiden" he taunted.
"How dare you" Cinder growled standing from her place on the floor "You'll die for that!" she yelled charging forward with two new fire blades, Slade charged forward as well, Slade swung just a second faster than Cinder throwing her into the air with his blade, using his Semblance he called forth several beams of dark energy he collected from his fight with Salem all of them colliding throwing Cinder back against a nearby wall as her flame circle vanished.
Cinder erupted from the wall clashing blades with Slade each holding their ground, Slade pushed her back leaping away from her giving himself breathing room, he noticed her new eye hiding behind her hair for the fist time.
"What the hell happened to your eye? Have you truly allowed Salem to change so much of you just for power?" Slade asked.
"Tell me why" Cinder replied.
"Why?" he asked confused.
"Tell me why she picked you" she charged forward holding her blades backward scrapping them along the ground. Cinder swung her right blade for his leg forcing him to raise it over the blade as he turned, Slade clashed his blade with both of hers from behind. Twisting around he flipped his blade over blocking a strike aimed for his head then pushed the blade into the ground holding Cinder there. Cinder flipped over Slade freeing her blade from his grasp, leaping back toward him she swept for his legs with both blades. Slade mimicked her flip to avoid the strike blocking a second strike for his chest as he soared through the air pushing him upward.
Cinder leapt up to meet Slade in the air, he flipped back to block her strike while holding his position upside-down. Slade was launched to the ground by Cinder's strength, landing easily on his feet placing one hand down onto the floor steadying himself. Cinder landed in front of him swinging madly at him spinning as she struck, Slade backed away from each strike stopping to hold his blade horizontally blocking the furious strikes hammering down onto his blade. Slade dropped onto one knee allowing Cinder to launch his blade away from him sliding along the floor. Looking over to it he found Cinders blade embedded into the ground in front of him keeping him in place.
"You lose" she grinned, Slade's blade appeared in his hand surprising her "What!?" she failed to react quick enough to block the devastating strike dropping her onto one knee, Cinder coughed into her hand dropping both her blades vanishing into nothing, blood soaked the gloves covering her hands "How... how're you still so strong" she asked confused.
"It's not my strength that handed me this battle, it's your arrogance that wrenched it from your grip" Slade answered.
"I see... that's why " she looked down dejectedly using the darkness to escape. Slade sheathed his blade approaching the coffin Raven was confined to.
"You're a fool" she groaned in annoyance.
"Say's the one who needs saving" Slade smirked shattering her chains with his gauntlets.
"I know I'm going to die someday, but I know it'll be on my own terms. You're just blindly following-" she began sitting up.
"I came here of my own volition, against orders" he corrected shocking Raven.
"You what?" she asked.
"Ironwood ordered me to return the relics to him, I refused and came here to rescue Ruby. I stopped here only because I heard you"
"You... you chose to save me?" Raven asked still in shock.
"Does that surprise you?" Slade asked.
"There you are" Qrow's voice called from behind Slade.
"Took you long enough" he smirked.
"I guess you knew I was going to follow you, didn't you?" he asked.
"Somehow I knew one of you would, I'm just glad it's you and not Ironwood"
Qrow stepped past him staring down at Raven "Qrow" she greeted.
"Raven" he greeted coldly, she looked away dejectedly.
"I-"
"I don't want to hear it right now, let's just get you out of here" Qrow waved dismissively, he picked her up supporting her weight with his shoulder.
"You gonna be alright carrying her out?" Slade asked.
"I'll be fine, just make sure you get Ruby and yourself out of here alive" he replied sternly.
"I make no promises about my own well being" Slade smirked.
"You'd better do whatever you're gonna do quickly, knowing your friends they're gonna be following behind me anytime now" Qrow shook his head with a small smile "They don't want to let you handle this on your own"
"I wouldn't expect anything less" Slade smiled warmly.
"Kid" Qrow called "Be careful" Qrow warned placing his hand onto his shoulder concerned.
"I always am" he replied.
Slade returned to the chamber with a dark barrier around it to find it missing, he entered cautiously looking up at Salem waiting patiently on her throne with four braziers around it emanating a black flame. Slade looked around finding Ozpin suspended in the air with blades all around his body, none coming into contact with him yet.
"The circle closes. The end begins" Salem grinned standing from her throne "You dissipated your energy saving the weak... there are consequences for that" she warned.
Salem launched lighting from her hands at Slade only for them to be absorbed by his blade. Salem smirked creating three copies of herself from the darkness behind him. Slade turned redirecting the lightning into the one to his left paralyzing her, swinging his blade right the copy dissipated. Arcing his blade up he blocked the center copy's dark blade elbowing her in the face then slashing through her, turning to the paralyzed copy he sliced through it as well. Salem descended the stairs down to meet him, Slade pointed the blade toward her.
"My life spans millennia, legions have risen to test me... none have succeeded" Salem explained.
"If you use the relics to kill everyone on Remnant, you'll be ruling nothing. You'll die eventually when there's no more vessels to take, what's the point of all of this?" Slade asked.
"You discern a fraction of reality, Slade. Beyond the corporeal world you know is the realm of darkness, there exist the birthplace of the Grimm and my kingdom. I will spend eternity gaining every power there is, then eradicate what survives. When the last being of this planet finally dies, I will create another and begin anew"
"You'll never have that kind of power, Salem"
"There is no death, only me. I am it's master. My ascendance is inevitable, a day, a year, a millennium, it matters not. I hold the patience of stone and the will of gods, your struggling is insignificant when compared to me... let your death be the same"
"I'm not looking to fight you, Salem" Slade lowered his weapon.
"Truly?" she asked surprised "Then what have you come here for?"
"Ruby" he answered.
"I'll not give her up easily"
"Not even for the relics?" he asked cocking his eyebrow.
"You have the relics with you?" Salem asked suspiciously "Show me"
"Somewhere you will never be able to reach, I will do the same to the other two should you refuse to release Ruby. Concede and I shall give the two I posses to you" Slade proposed.
"You hold them in your own realm then?" she asked.
"Wherever things go when I transport them away without choosing a destination, yes" Slade answered, Salem held out her hand summoning Ruby from the darkness.
"Slade?" she asked shocked "You have to get out of here!"
"Not without you" he replied.
"You can't, you don't understand-" Ruby attempted.
"I know more about Salem than you think, Ironwood filled us in on the secret to her survival"
"Present the relics or I shall kill her" Salem warned. Slade held the relics in his hand moments later showing them to Salem.
"Happy?" he asked.
"Very" she replied grinning as she pushed Ruby toward him.
"Slade you can't give those to her, you don't know what she's planning-"
"Don't worry, Ruby. Everything is going to be alright" he kissed her on the lips "Forgive me" Ruby vanished shortly followed by the relics, Salem was shocked unable to react fast enough, she closed her fist forcing the blade's through Ozpin only to find him missing. Slade dropped onto one knee from overuse.
"What have you done!?" she yelled infuriated.
"What needed to be done" he answered struggling to stand straight.
"You've just doomed yourself and your friends!" She screeched enraged.
"I don't plan on dying just yet, feel free to surrender so we can get this over with" he mocked.
I need to buy some time for Ruby to escape
"Enough!" Salem yells throwing Slade backward with a wave of her hand, he caught himself by embedding his blade into the ground swinging himself to his feet "I'll handle you myself!"
Salem formed a dark blade in each hand launching herself toward Slade as he charged toward her, Salem held her blade out in front of her blocking Slade's strike, using her other blade she sliced for his head forcing him to duck under the strike. Salem spun again brining her second blade around clashing with Slade's, he vanished reappearing behind her slashing his blade into her face as she turned to defend herself throwing Salem into the air.
Slade appeared in front of her slamming his blade into her chest then appearing behind her slamming his blade into her back throwing her down toward the floor. Releasing his blade he appeared in front of her as she steadied herself while still falling. Slade punched her in the face multiple times at blinding speed then slammed his foot into her face knocking her into a statue shattering it.
"Impressive" she groaned standing up "But not enough" she raised her hand up causing the floor to elevate like a wall between them. Obsidian reappeared in Slade's hand twisting it backward he charged forward, emerging from the opposite end of the raised ground with his blade in the opposite direction he began with. The wall behind him slowly sliced apart sliding onto the ground around him, he smirked looking up at an impressed Salem.
"I remember you being tougher, what happened to all that strength you showed during our last encounter?" Slade asked.
"I was testing you" she lied.
"No, something else is going on here" Slade's eyes narrowed as he eyed her suspiciously.
"You're analytical skills rival that of your mother, but your combat prowess greatly outstrips your father"
"My mother once told me a wise man never seeks out war-"
"But must always be ready for it" she grinned charging toward him. Slade punched for her face meeting her forearm then twisted her arm with his opposite hand, using his blade to slice her abdomen. Slade head-butt her, stumbling Salem back, he kicked her in the chest throwing her onto her back. Slade twisted his blade prepared to stab it into her chest. Salem held Slade by the throat using an unknown force as she stood herself back up.
"You're powerful, but not that powerful" she grinned, Slade stopped choking surprising Salem as her hand constricted. Slade's pistol appeared in his hand firing into her chest three times dropping her onto her knees unable to keep herself upright. Salem thrust her hand forward throwing Slade back several feet, he flipped through the air landing perfectly, lowering himself to his knees panting exhausted.
"You harness immense power, but you lack the purity of will to direct it" she stood painfully unleashing a powerful blast of black lightning from her hands being blocked by Obsidian once more, she slowly approached him struggling with each step, Slade stood upright as she drew close, spinning around her slicing into her side with his blade knocking her onto the floor. Salem pushed herself up just enough to look at him.
"How's that for direction?" Slade asked mockingly "You know you don't have to do this, you can still be that person who loved Ozpin. I know that part of you is still in there somewhere" Slade pleaded sheathing his blade.
"I will not be contained, I cannot be redeemed, and you will not kill me"
"I'll bring you before Ozpin and see what he has to say for you"
"Ignore his ambitions, give in to your true desires"
"I'm not the one who should decide your fate" Slade replied.
"I will not be your trophy" Salem vanished from the room "If I am to die, I choose how. Everything dies with me!" her voice echoed, the temple trembled violently. Slade was struck in the head by a shard of the ceiling knocking him unconscious, slumping to the floor as the room crumbled around him, Salem's laughter echoed through his mind as the darkness overtook him.
Ruby appeared outside the temple stumbling, she fell to the ground rolling to a stop in front of Raven and Qrow.
"Looks like you made it" Qrow laughed looking down at her.
"Slade!" Ruby's voice called picking herself up frantically.
"Calm down, Ruby-" Qrow tried.
"You don't understand! Slade's in there alone with Salem! That's what she wants!" she yelled.
"Slow down" he placed his hands onto her shoulder "why don't you start from the beginning"
"Hey!" Nora called from behind Ruby, they all turned to find JNPR and the rest of RWBY rushing over to them with Roman, Neo, and Tai shortly behind.
"Ruby!" Yang and Tai yelled.
"Yang, Dad!" Ruby called back embracing them in a tight hug.
"I'm so glad you're okay" Yang said wiping a tear from her face.
"Good to see you're alright, Red" Roman chuckled.
"What happened?" Weiss asked.
(Flashback)
Ruby and Weiss overlooked the city from the outer wall sitting on the edge allowing their legs to dangle.
"Can you believe my father was involved with all of this?" Weiss asked "I knew he was a bad man, but I never thought he'd stoop to this level"
"Sometimes people surprise you, even if it's for the worst" Ruby sighed "I'm sorry about your father, that must be hard-"
"It's actually easier to believe than you might think, he's always been hell bent on controlling my life; It's only natural for him to want to control everything too"
"At least you still have Winter!" Ruby pointed out hopefully.
"Yeah, she's awesome" Winter agreed smiling back at Ruby "Enough about me though, how's it going between you and Slade?" she asked wriggling her eyebrows suggestively, Ruby smacked her shoulder with a deep blush.
"Don't be dirty!" she yelled "Slade and I are just fine"
"But?" Weiss asked.
"Why does there have to be a but?" Ruby asked feigning offense.
"Ruby..." Weiss stared at her knowingly.
"Okay fine, there's a but" she admitted "I wish Slade and I were able to have more time to ourselves" she explained looking down disappointedly.
"Have you told him?" Weiss asked curiously.
"No" Ruby groaned "With everything that's been going on since we got here, I haven't had the time to really talk with him that much. Slade did talk to me about us growing apart, I assured him I didn't feel we were and he was happy to hear that" she explained with a small smile.
"Yet you're worried it's true?" Weiss asked confused.
"Well..."
"Ruby, the amount of time you spend together doesn't matter when you love each other, Slade nearly died for you back at Beacon. People don't do that for just anyone" she assured pulling her into a small hug.
"Thanks, Weiss" Ruby grinned hugging her back.
"Anytime, I'm always here to-" the wall suddenly shook violently causing them to stand abruptly "What was that?!" Weiss asked concerned.
"Hold on" Ruby said placing her hand onto her abdomen "Nope, not my stomach" Weiss looked at her in disbelief.
"Your stomach couldn't make the ground shake!" she yelled exasperatedly.
"It could if it was a really strong stomach" Ruby pointed out, the wall split apart beneath them, an explosion tearing through the center. Ruby fell over the side of the wall.
"Ruby!" Weiss called worried attempting to use her glyphs to reach her, the unstable ground crumbled beneath her causing her to fall over the opposite side as Ruby.
Ruby twisted through the air using Crescent Rose to slow her descent landing safely outside the city walls, she looked in shock as the Grimm army began charging toward the city "The attack... it's starting!" Ruby reached for her scroll.
"That's not going to do you any good" Cinder said from behind her, Ruby turned abruptly to find Cinder's hand on her throat suspending her in the air "Too slow"
"Cinder" Ruby chocked out "What do you want with me? Aren't you more interested in the relics?" she forced out painfully.
"Our end goal is acquiring the relics, unfortunately Salem has decided she would rather have you captured alive for something else. You're lucky, I would've killed you already had she allowed me" she explained.
"My friends-"
"Will come to save you, we know. That's exactly what she's hoping for" Cinder chuckled as a dark portal began enveloping them "We're going to have such fun together" she broke into full laughter as they vanished. Weiss arrived shortly after finding the area to be empty.
"Ruby! Ruby, where are you!?" she called worried.
(End Flashback)
"That explains why none of us could find you during the battle" Weiss sighed.
"Where's Slade?" Yang asked concerned.
"Slade's still in the temple with Salem, he used his Semblance to move me outside so he could fight her alone!" she explained "We have to help him!"
"What about the relics?" Blake asked worriedly "Does Salem have them?"
"I don't know, Slade tossed me out here before I had the chance to see what happened"
"Not good" Jaune sighed "We need to make sure she doesn't get her hands on them"
"Should we be headed back inside then?" Pyrrha asked.
"Slade's smart enough not to stick around if he's already got you out" Qrow replied "Do you know if he got Oz out?" Ruby shook her head.
"Then we have a problem" Ren said tapping his chin thoughtfully.
"We need to get inside and help him!" Ruby yelled frantically "Slade's alone with Salem"
"Then we should act quickly" Ozpin said surprising the group.
"Oz?" Qrow asked surprised.
"Slade's not going to be able to handle her on his own" he added urgently as he limped his way over to them.
"You're not in any condition to do anything" Tai pointed out.
"Salem wanted Slade alone" Ruby added.
"Why?" Weiss asked "What'd she want with Slade?"
"To kill him!" Ruby yelled frantic with worry.
"If I die, everything dies with me!" Salem's voice echoed as the ground around them trembled violently "Slade!" she called as a wall of dust erupted from the collapsing temple.
"No!" Ozpin yelled slamming his cane into the ground, a barrier formed around the temple stopping the debris from spreading further. Ruby dropped onto her knees tears streaming down her face.
"No... he can't... not again"
"Ruby..." Tai looked away dejectedly, Ozpin collapsed onto his knee's from exhaustion.
"Maybe he got out, he can teleport... right?" Nora asked hopefully.
"That's it!" Ruby looked up in realization as she frantically pulled out her scroll.
"What's it? Did I say something smart for once?" Nora asked confused.
"I placed the tracker he had on Crescent Rose onto him just before he teleported me away. I figured that was his plan" Ruby explained.
"This tracker?" Yang asked holding up Slade's scroll in her hand.
"Yes!" Ruby answered excitedly grabbing it from her hands "Slade's gotta be alive, it says he's not here in the temple"
"Where is he then? Close by?" Blake asked looking around.
"He's... at Atlas Academy?" she asked confused as she looked at the device.
"The Academy?" Weiss asked equally confused "Why would he go there?"
"It says he's underground" Pyrrha pointed out surprised.
"He's inside... James's personal... conference room" Ozpin gasped out slowly returning to his feet with Jaune's help.
"Something isn't right. How would Slade even know about that room, why would he go there?" Qrow wondered aloud.
"Salem" Jaune answered "She or one of her followers must've taken him there, perhaps she collapsed the temple to make us think he was dead" he proposed.
"He's gonna need our help then" Ren pointed out.
"We should hurry, we don't want anything to happen to him. Salem's likely to torture Slade into giving up the relics" Roman agreed.
"Count me out" Raven turned to leave.
"There she goes again" Tai sighed.
"Excuse me?" she asked indignantly.
"You're running away again just like you always do" he replied exasperated.
"I'm not running away! I'm thinking for myself, unlike all of you-"
"Thinking for yourself? Just because we choose to fight with Ozpin doesn't mean we're blindly following him!" Tai rebuked.
"I couldn't handle Salem with the maiden's powers, how am I supposed to stand against her without them?" Raven asked crossing her arms.
"You made a promise to me, to Summer, to Qrow! You promised you would always have our backs if we needed you just like we made the same promise to you. You broke that promise the minute you walked away... Summer's dead because of it" Tai wiped the tears from his face.
"Summer is dead because she's a fool" Raven scowled.
"Then what does that make you!" Tai yelled furiously "If being a fool means fighting to protect those you love, then I guess we're all just fools aren't we?" he asked.
"You are" she agreed "that's why I'm leaving-"
"What about Yang?" Qrow asked.
"Pardon?" she asked surprised.
"You fight desperately with Slade to protect her, you're just too stubborn to work with Oz... do you really think Summer's the fool here?" he asked.
"Raven" Ozpin said gaining her attention.
"You're not going to convince me to fight for your cause-"
"I'm not going to try and convince you of anything, but refusing to help those you love just because they're working with someone you hate is the mark of a fool. Summer never trusted me after I told her what made you decide to leave, yet she still fought Salem, even died to try and make the world safer for her daughter, for your daughter" he explained.
"Summer was more of a mother to me than you ever were" Yang agreed, hurting Raven with her words.
"You can leave if you want, but Yang's not going to be any safer when you leave. If you truly wish to protect your daughter, then you should fight with her" Ozpin finished turning away from her.
"I...I..." Raven stood speechless.
"Please, mom" Yang pleaded.
"Don't you feel you owe Slade your life?" Qrow asked "He didn't have to save you, but he did anyway"
"It's the same reason I'm fighting with him now, he saved my life when all I ever did was try to kill him and his friends" Roman pointed out, Neo nodded in agreement.
"I... I can't" Raven transformed into a raven and flew away quickly.
"Figures" Nora sighed "Mothers, am I right?" she shrugged.
"We need to get Slade back" Blake said concerned.
"I believe I have a plan for that" Ozpin announced "We're going to need to be quick, Slade's not going to have much time"