RWBY and JNPR watch the show

by Turniphater

Between Volumes 2 and 3 the members of team RWBY and JNPR are taken to a mysterious location and shown videos of the past and future.

41. V3: C6: Fall

As the Opening plays the entire group is tense with anticipation. Last video ended with Pyrrha about to enter Ozpin's office, so the assumption is that he's going to explain the existence of his organisation in the hopes that she joins.

"Are we sure we'll actually get to see Ozpin's explanation?" Weiss asks. "I don't want to get my hopes up over this."

"We'll see it." Jaune says. "I mean… probably."

"You don't sound so sure." Ruby says.

"I'm not." Jaune admits. "If it were you getting the explanation then I'd be certain since you're apparently the main character. But with Pyrrha… we'll still probably see it."

Ruby nods her head slowly as the opening ends. This could easily be a defining moment for her. For all of them. If they don't get the answers they hope for, she's sure at least a few people will rage out in frustration. But the real problem is if the answers are enough to cause the same reaction.

Volume 3: Chapter 6: Fall

"Cinder." Blake's voice is riddled with spite.

"This is going to be a freaking Cinder video!?" Yang yells. "I'm… not mad actually. Learning about Cinder is always useful."

"But they shouldn't have teased us with how the last video ended." Weiss grates her teeth. "I was really looking forward to this."

"We can't be sure that it's all about Cinder." Ren says, taking the situation much more calmly than anyone else in the room. "With any luck Ozpin will be unknowingly talking about Cinder and that's why her name's in the title." This goes a long way in calming everyone down.

'I feel like something might be off about our line of thinking.' Jaune thinks. 'Fall could mean plenty of other things.' He doesn't speak up though.

The scene opens on the office of Professor Ozpin, who is seated behind his desk across from Pyrrha, as the last rays of twilight come through the clock-decorated windows.

The entire room breathe a sigh of relief, then tenses up again remembering how important this conversation promises to be.

Ozpin chuckles as he gestures to Pyrrha, his cane resting at his side. "Well, it comes as no surprise that they've chosen you to move on to the final round of the tournament. Your performance was exemplary."

"This can't just be some idle chatter. Can it?" Oscar asks. More so than anyone else in the room, he's nervous about what he might learn. Unlike everyone else who can and will act on their new knowledge, he believes that he'll probably have to live the rest of his mundane life with the weight of knowing things greater than he can handle.

"He's trying to ease her into whatever he really wants to talk about." Blake says. "It's a way of lessening the impact." The technique doesn't bring up happy memories for her, remembering how Adam always eased her into talking about their next mission. Later on he got more blunt in the explanations, but by then she found it hard to back down.

Pyrrha gets slightly uncomfortable about how everyone's addressing her, but realises that there's no better way of saying it.

"Thank you, Professor Ozpin." Pyrrha humbly replies. "But I would have never made it this far without my teammates."

"Aw… thanks." Nora gives a cheerful smile, perhaps trying to lighten the mood.

"We appreciate everything you've done to help us." Jaune says. "We wouldn't be the same without you." He grabs Pyrrha's hand in preparation so that he can comfort her.

"Personally, I think it's the other way around." Qrow makes his presence known from his spot leaning against a column in the back of the room, arms crossed.

Ruby and Yang both wince at the thoughtless remark.

"Has anyone ever mentioned that your Uncle can sound like an asshole?" Sun asks.

"Our dad's said it more than a few times." Yang admits. "Just… don't take it personally. He's not much of a people person."

'He does have that lone wolf feel about him.' Pyrrha thinks. 'Maybe that's why he doesn't seem to work with a team.'

Pyrrha turns around and gets up from her chair, trying to be formal. "I'm sorry, but I don't believe we've been introduced."

"Name's Qrow." Qrow responds bluntly.

"Qrow is a trusted colleague of mine." Ozpin explains.

"This is good to know." Ren writes in his notes.

"But we already knew it." Weiss points out.

"But we now know that Ozpin's willing to share it with Pyrrha." Ren replies. "That shows a level of trust that we should be grateful for."

Pyrrha looks at Qrow for another moment before addressing the headmaster again. "Professor, if you don't mind me asking, why have you called me here?"

'Here it is.' Weiss goes into full focus. 'The answer we've all been waiting for.'

"Please, take a seat." Ozpin offers pleasantly. When she does so, he puts his fingers up to his lips, leaning back casually. "What is your favourite fairy tale?"

"I'm... sorry?" Pyrrha is obviously confused by what seems to be a complete shift in the conversation.

"What?" Nora, along with everyone else, is put completely off balance by this sudden change in conversation.

"Is he still trying to ease me into the real conversation?" Pyrrha wonders.

"That can't be it." Jaune shakes his head. "This is… somehow relevant? But I can't imagine how or why it would matter."

"Some kind of personality test?" Yang proposes.

"That doesn't seem to fit." Jaune says. "Besides, there are much better ways to get to know someone."

"Fairy tales, stories from your childhood. Surely you must remember some of them." Ozpin says, speaking like he's just making casual conversation.

"Why the interest in fairy tales?" Blake quietly mutters. "Maybe he wants to use one as an analogy?"

"How would that work?" Ruby asks.

"He could liken the situation to a certain fairy tale." Blake explains. "But the only reason he would want to do that is to lessen the impact of what will likely be a horrifying truth."

Oscar becomes extremely uncomfortable at this. So much so that he considers just leaving the room. But then he remembers that they can't watch without him, so whatever's about to happen, he'll just have to live the rest of his life knowing.

"Oscar, are you okay?" Ruby notices his anxiety and speaks up.

"I just…" Oscar quickly resolves himself to speaking honestly. "What if I learn something I'd be happier not knowing?"

"We all feel the same way." Ruby says. "But we have to be prepared for…"

"But I don't!" Oscar speaks louder than he intended. "I don't have any part in this, so I doubt I'll be able to make a difference. But I'll still be forced with knowing these things, and I'm getting stressed just thinking about it."

Everyone else in the room just looks at each other nervously. In their haste to learn more they forgot there might be someone who doesn't want the knowledge.

Ruby however looks Oscar dead in the eyes an gives a comforting smile. "We'll handle it. If you really don't want any part in all this then know that we'll handle it."

Under normal circumstances Oscar would have just considered this hollow reassurance, but remembering everything he knows about Ruby, both in the videos and personally, he feels like he can really trust those words to be true. But instead of knowing that he can fall back to his regular life, he feels motivated. Before he was on the fence about trying to become a Huntsman, but now he feels as if he at least has to give it his all. Because these are good people he's found himself surrounded by, and he wants to help them in any way he can. "Thank you."

'I don't think I'll ever get tired of seeing Ruby like this.' Yang smiles. 'I'm really lucky to have such an amazing little sister.'

Pyrrha is put off guard by the question, but answers with nostalgia. "Well, there's The Tale of The Two Brothers, The Shallow Sea, The Girl in the Tower..."

"What about The Story of the Seasons?" Ozpin leans forward, as if the answer is somehow important.

"So that's the story he was aiming for." Blake considers. "But how will his analogy fit. It's one of the more outlandish stories, and there's not even an antagonist to liken Cinder to."

"It's still a good story though." Pyrrha feels the need to defend it. "My mother told it to me all the time."

"True, but it doesn't have much use for analogies." Blake says. "It's a story about how good deeds are rewarded and how to live a fulfilling life, neither of which seem relevant to dealing with Cinder's group."

"I just want to be sure, but we all know how it goes… Right?" Ruby asks.

"Oh, of course!" Pyrrha looks away in remembrance, narrating the story as the art style changes to show the coloured silhouettes of four young women coming across a house on a hill with a single figure in the doorway. "A callous old man, who refuses to leave his home, is visited by four traveling sisters."

"Looks like we'll be getting a refresher anyway." Sun says. "I was actually sorta worried the Vacuo version might be different somehow."

"But this doesn't make sense." Weiss comments. "Why is this story getting the art treatment? It can't really be that important."

"Remember how Qrow's story had Flashback art." Yang reminds her. "I wouldn't consider that particularly important."

"That was just for a gag." Jaune says. "Weiss is right, this is very unusual."

"Who's to say the stories not important." Nora chimes in. "I'm just saying."

'But if it's not an analogy then what?' Blake wonders. 'I can't imagine any reason Ozpin would have a particular interest in this fairy tale. Am I missing something?'

"The first understands his reclusive nature and urges him to use his time in solitude to reflect and meditate." The white sister sits under a tree.

"So we're just hearing the short version." Ruby says.

"I wouldn't bother telling any of the longer versions." Pyrrha says. "Even the short version takes longer than is usual for a conversation."

"The second brings him fruits and flowers, tending to his crops and revitalizing his garden." The green sister holds a basket of fruits.

"The third warms the man's heart, convincing him to step outside and embrace the world around him." The orange sister gives a friendly wave, prompting the old man to leave the confines of his house.

"The way this is shown seems strait from a story book." Yang notices.

"That's probably part of the aesthetic." Weiss says. "I'm sure plenty of people would love to see their favourite stories recreated like this."

"And the fourth and final sister begs him to look at all that he has, and be thankful." The purple sister spreads her arms, gesturing to everything the man has available to him.

'Why isn't Ozpin interrupting her?' Blake wonders. 'I understand that he's polite, but this is a classic story everyone knows. It's unusual to let her go on this long.'

"In return for their kindness, the man grants the maidens incredible powers, so that they may continue to help others all over the world." A golden light emanates from the old man until it surrounds the four girls, who go on their way with the glow still around them. "They graciously accept, and promise to share their gifts with the people of Remnant 'til the end of days."

"Could this be to do with why teams are usually made of four people?" Jaune suggests. "That could be the reason Ozpin seems so interested in it."

"I'm fairly sure it has more to do with the number of kingdoms." Weiss says. "Plus, even if you're right, it would still have no relevance to current events."

"Then something about the values they each teach, I don't know." Jaune scrapes for any possible explanation.

"Patience, good will, connections, and appreciation." Blake lists of her own interpretation. "Perhaps they are the aspects Ozpin judges his co-workers by?"

"I'm not sure Qrow fits well into any of those." Yang says.

"But they do fit Pyrrha." Jaune says, squeezing the girls hand as she gives a light blush at the compliment.

The story and art style end, bringing returning to the office as Pyrrha lists the four sisters off. "Winter, Spring, Summer, and Fall; the four maidens. My mother loves that story."

"Fall! That's where the word Fall comes in!" Nora yells.

"So it's just a coincidence that Cinder has that name." Sun questions, rather sceptical.

"It's probably not that rare." Weiss says. "After all, my sister's called Winter."

"And me and Yang's mom is called Summer." Ruby mentions.

As the others talk, Ren focuses on the one aspect of the story that seems to have relevance. 'The four maiden's. Didn't Ozpin mention maidens beforehand. He said Pyrrha might become one if she chooses. But how can that relate to the fairy tale, the maidens aren't real, unless it could be some special Semblance. But even if something that crazy existed, how would Pyrrha be able to become one?' No matter what angle he looks at it, nothing seems to make sense.

"Would you believe me if I told you that one's been around since I was a boy?" Ozpin jokes.

Pyrrha laughs. "You're not that old, Professor."

"How old even is the story of the seasons?" Ruby wonders.

"No one really knows." Pyrrha says. "It's one of those stories so old that there are no records on how it originated. Some people think it may have been around since before the four Kingdoms were all formed."

"You seem to know an awful lot about it." Yang says.

Pyrrha shrugs. "It's one of my mother's favourites, so I decided to do a little bit of research."

Ozpin's expression suddenly turns from playful to deadly serious. "Well, would you believe me if I told you it was true?"

There's a moment of quiet between the group. Some are in shock, some are wrapping their heads around what this means, but most are just looking at the other, silently begging for an explanation.

"WHAT!?" Nora is the first to break the silence. "HOW!?"

"This has to be a joke." Weiss quickly dismisses the alternative. "Or at least, some kind of miscommunication. Perhaps the story was real but got exaggerated over the years?"

"That doesn't sound like something Ozpin would do." Ruby says. "If he says the Maidens are real then… it must be true." She struggles to say those last few words, she's not entirely sure she even believes them.

"Do you hear what you just said!?" Weiss yells. "That's completely ridiculous! We're talking about… about…"

"Magic." Yang finishes the sentence, still half in a daze from what they'd all heard. "Or at least, that what it sounds like he's talking about."

"It's impossible." Weiss firmly states. "There has to be some other explanation, because… because…" She can't even put together a proper reasoning. The fact that magic doesn't exist is just so basic that it's never really needed explaining to her.

Pyrrha is silent for a moment, then gives an uneasy chuckle. "I beg your pardon?"

"What if I were to tell you that there were four maidens existing in this world, that could wield such tremendous power, without Dust?" Ozpin explains.

"Eh?" Weiss stutters at this. Is Ozpin some kind of crazy person, or could this actually be some kind of cult where they use the promise of magic to draw people in. At this point she knows she should at least consider the alternative, but the idea of it being real is just so unusual to her that she's desperate for any alternative.

"This is just… Wow!" Jaune says. "I knew it was going to be something weird, but this is beyond anything I could have expected."

Meanwhile Oscar is just letting it all sink in. 'There's no going back for me now. If I were sent home right this moment then I'd still have to live with knowing this. I… don't think I'll be able to spend the rest of my life working at a farm now. I doubt I could manage knowing just part of whatever this all is.'

Pyrrha tries to make sense of this development. "You mean... like a Semblance?"

Ozpin gives a small smile as he delivers his secret. "Like magic."

"He's crazy." Weiss states. "He's absolutely crazy. Does he actually believe what he's saying?"

"Don't say that." Ruby says. "I think it's actually true."

"Don't tell me you're actually buying into this?" Weiss says.

"Weiss please, calm down." Pyrrha says. "We have to at least give him a chance to explain."

Weiss takes a moment to evaluate her outburst, then groans. "Fine, but until we can be sure this is all real, I hold the right to be sceptical."

"Says the girl watching visions of the future on a tv screen." Yang remarks.

"Erm…" Oscar speaks up, hoping the arguments has died down. "I was just wondering, what makes a Semblance different from magic?"

"A Semblance is the manifestation of your soul brought forth." Pyrrha explains. "We have fully identified the cause and it's common enough for us all to believe it without a second thought. Magic on the other hand…"

"Magic is was we call anything that should be impossible." Weiss interrupts. "Anything that doesn't make sense and can't be verified we call magic because we all agree it doesn't really exist."

"Or at least, that's the common perspective." Blake amends.

Pyrrha looks down. "I..."

"Yeah. First time hearing this, it's pretty crazy." Qrow interrupts.

"It's really true." Ruby squeak's. Despite what she said to her partner, she was still having doubts about the whole thing.

Weiss eye twitches. Can Qrow really be considered trustworthy. She wants to deny the credibility of anything he says, not wanting to admit that another person saying it makes the reality of magic seem much more plausible.

Pyrrha turns her gaze from Qrow back to Ozpin again, amazed. "You're serious?"

Ozpin is completely straight-faced. "Do I look like I'm joking?"

Blake stares closely at Ozpin's expression. She always knew he was hiding something, and these videos had already proven her right. But this more than she was expecting. Sun's earlier comparison of Ozpins group to a conspiracy is becoming more and more appropriate. She can only hope there is a justifiable reason as to why he keeps so many secrets. Hiding a truth as big as this needs justification. The worst case scenario of Ozpins group being malicious comes to mind, but that would be ridiculous. Although… she always thought the White Fang was a force for good, and it's all too apparent how that turned out.

"...No." Pyrrha struggles for the right words. "Why... why are you telling me this?"

"Oh god that's right!" Nora yells. "Why are they telling you? I'm not complaining but…"

"Last video they mentioned guardians." Ren says. "But then Ozpin started talking about maidens as if they're the same thing, and that Pyrrha might choose to become one."

"But... how would I…" Pyrrha puts on her thinking face. "The Maidens is such an old story, how could they still exist. And for that matter, how would I become one?"

"It'd be pretty weird to add a new season all of a sudden." Sun says. "It'd sorta break that whole, rule of four thing we got going."

Ozpin glances at Qrow, who nods his approval, before looking into Pyrrha's eyes. "We are telling you this, Pyrrha Nikos, because we believe you are next in line to receive the Fall Maiden's powers."

"Next in line." Ren contemplates these words. "So it's like an inheritance, passed down from one person to another."

'Everyone's talking as if it's all real.' Weiss shudders. She hates to admit it, but even she's starting to accept it might be true. What if there is a real logical explanation that's hidden or just not understood? Oscar was confused by the difference between Semblances and magic, so could she be equally mislead by her lack of knowledge?

Pyrrha's eyes widen at this, until she realizes. "We?"

At that moment, the elevator doors open, and she sees Professor Goodwitch and General Ironwood step out.

"I was wondering why they weren't there yet." Yang mentions. "I was actually sorta worried they keep secrets within the group."

"I can't imagine Ozpin being able to keep secrets from Goodwitch given how close they work together." Jaune says. "And Ironwood doesn't seem like the type to allow himself to remain uninformed."

"Sorry we're late." Ironwood straightens his tie while Goodwitch fixes her glasses.

"Wait, what is this?" Pyrrha narrows her eyes at Ozpin. "Who are you?"

Goodwitch comes forward with Ironwood and Qrow, spreading her hands and trying to sound reassuring. "You know who we are. We're still the same teachers and Headmasters you met when you arrived at Beacon."

Blake shivers at this. She knows Goodwitch didn't mean it, but the way she was talking made her seem almost sinister, and given the situation, that's something she really shouldn't be doing.

"'Cept we've got a little part-time job." Qrow adds.

"We are the protectors of the world." Ironwood explains.

"And we need your help." Ozpin finishes.

Pyrrha is shocked into silence as everyone in the room looks to her.

These few words weigh heavily on Pyrrha. Her entire life she's fantasied about being in a situation like this. To be needed for some heroic purpose. But now that she sees it actually happening, all she feels is dread. They're claiming that the world is in danger, and that's bad. No matter how much she wants to protect the world, she would never ask for something to protect it from.

'Why is this happening?' Jaune wonders nervously. Pyrrha's the most amazing person he's ever met, but she's still an academy student. If they're serious about the world being in danger then how is Pyrrha the only one who can save it? Why are they forcing this responsibility on her?

'The protectors of the world.' Ren thinks. Of course, they'd already deduced as much, but Ozpins making the situation sound so dire. All the things they'd heard about the malicious nature of Cinder's plans make it sound like they want to cause havoc for havocs sake. One would almost think she was Grimm in human form.

Cut to Pyrrha, looking nervous, in the elevator with the group of 'protectors'. She looks at Ozpin and Goodwitch as if seeing them for the first time while a steady beeping signals each floor passed.

"Why would they leave the room?" Sun asks. "If this is a secret meeting then why don't they stay in the office."

"They probably want to show Pyrrha something." Weiss says. "Hopefully now we'll get actual proof that magic exists."

"Where are we going?" Pyrrha asks.

"The vault. Under the school." Ozpin explains.

"Under the school!?" Nora yells. "Is this their secret hideout? Their lair? Where they keep all their secrets from the rest of the world?"

Blake speaks up. "Ignoring what Nora said, we should be careful about making sure not to talk about this place once we leave. Whatever's under the school, it's probably something that has to be kept out of Cinder's hands."

Everyone agrees.

The elevator continues downward through the vertical tunnel of dark green lights until it opens its doors and their passengers step out, with Pyrrha being the last to leave as she absorbs the sight of the large, sparsely-lit hallway she is now being lead through. Goodwitch waits up for her behind the others.

"This place is huge!" Jaune exclaims. "To think that something like this was hidden beneath us the entire time."

"I'm sorta done being surprised by this point." Yang says. "With the amount of things we've learnt, I'll probably accept anything they might say."

"That's a dangerous way of thinking." Blake warns.

"I know, I know." Yang says. "But… you get what I mean."

"I'm sure you must have questions." Goodwitch says.

Pyrrha is still taking it all in. "Maybe one, or two..."

"Please asks them?" Weiss begs the screen. "You can't tease us like this then not give any explanations."

"I thought you didn't believe in any of this?" Ruby asks, with a smug grin.

"That's irrelevant." Weiss declares, without even considering it that's true. "We need to know about the nature of Maidens to understand the rest of what's going on."

"Looks like someones starting to accept it." Yang says.

Weiss grimaces. 'This isn't fair. I was the only one willing to voice their disbelief and now everyone thinks I'm some sort of sceptic. I'm willing to relent on something once the evidence is enough.' She ignores the fact that she hasn't yet admitted her acceptance.

They continue on as Pyrrha asks. "I still don't understand. You said I was next in line to receive the Maiden's power. What do you mean by that?"

"The Maidens have existed for thousands of years." Goodwitch explains. "But much like in nature, the seasons change. No two summers are alike. When a Maiden dies, her power leaves her body and seeks out a new host, ensuring that the seasons are never lost, and that no individual can hold on to the power forever."

"Meaning that the current Fall Maiden is nearing the end of her life." Ren says. "If I were to guess, I'd say It's the Autumn they're talking about in a previous video."

"So Cinder hurt Autumn in some way and now they need someone reliable to inherit the power?" Blake speculates. "But did they decide Pyrrha was the best choice, or did the power decide and now they need her permission?"

"Likely the former." Yang says. "Remember, Ozpin said she was a candidate."

Pyrrha actually relaxes after hearing all this. If they're right, then she'll still be helping to protect the world, but it's not uncharted territory. She'll just be the latest in a long line of people who guard the Maidens power. Perhaps that's why Qrow referred to the role as a guardian.

"So, how does the power choose?" Pyrrha asks.

"Through a series of stupid and convoluted rules." Qrow answers over his shoulder.

"Qrow." Goodwitch disapproves.

"Hey, don't get mad 'cause I'm right." Qrow responds.

"They can't even control who the power goes to?" Sun asks, alarmed. "Then how do they even protect it? What if it goes to someone bad?"

"He said the rules are convoluted, that doesn't mean they can't control it at all." Ren says. "Though from the sound of it, it's certainly not as reliable as just choosing who inherits the power."

'What's going to happen.' Pyrrha wonders nervously, gripping Jaune's hand. 'Could it be dangerous?'

Jaune notices Pyrrha's tightened grip and decides to budge himself closer to her. Now more than ever, he needs to be there for her.

Goodwitch goes back to explaining to Pyrrha. "At first, the only thing that was certain was that the powers were specifically passed on to young women. But as time went on, it was discovered that the selection process was much more... intimate."

"...Intimate?" Pyrrha questions, concern and a hint of worry layering her voice.

"How can the selection be intimate?" Weiss wonder. "The powers should at least follow some kind of understandable rules. Then again, it sounds like not even they're fully sure about how the selection works. They must have come to these conclusion through an incredibly long series of trial and error."

"I'm more interested in what they mean by 'young women'." Blake says. "Women is obvious, but how young do they have to be? Is there a minimum age requirement that prevents toddlers from getting the power?"

"Maybe even they don't know." Weiss suggests. "When dealing with something like this, you'd try to avoid letting toddlers get the power so they probably never even tried it."

"And here you were denying everything just a few moments ago." Ruby grins. "So you admit magic is real?"

"Of course I do." Weiss snaps back. "We may not have heard real proof yet, but the depth they're taking this, we have to at least act on this assumption. Never let it be said that I can't admit when I'm wrong."

"Then say it." Yang demands. "Say it, word for word."

"I beg your pardon?" Weiss remarks.

"Admit that you were wrong." Yang says.

Weiss grimaces, noticing everyone's gaze on her. Why are they doing this now of all times, don't they realise how serious…

'Of course.' Weiss thinks. 'That's exactly why Yang's doing this now. Everyone's tense and need some way to lighten the mood. Making me admit defeat is probably such a big deal to them that it'll let them forget about the weight of the video for a moment. Well played Yang, well played.' "I admit I was wrong."

The rest of RWBY cheers at this admission of defeat, along with many of the others, and even Pyrrha lessens her grip on Jaunes hand as she chuckles. It was a moment of relief for everyone, letting them all let go of their rising tension before going back into the thick of things. Weiss was silently counting it as a victory because of this.

Goodwitch explains. "As we understand it now, when a Maiden dies, the one who is in her final thoughts is the first candidate to inherit her power."

"That doesn't sound too bad." Sun says. "If they get to choose the next person then it'd be sorta hard for it to fall into the wrong hands."

"I think you misunderstand how volatile the human mind is." Blake says. "It's very hard to purposely focus on a single thing for an extended amount of time, especially if you're in the last few moments of your life."

"This also explains why they're so unsure about how it works." Weiss says. "You can't find out the exact thought prosses they had because by that point the old maiden is already dead. I honestly can't blame Qrow for saying it's a stupid system."

Ren thinks through the implication on what this means. 'So they have some control over who it goes to, but that's unreliable. This also comes with many downsides, for instance, if someone wanted to steal the power…' He decides to bring it up later if it's never mentioned.

"Unless it's a dude or some old hag." Qrow chimes in. "Then the power goes to someone random, and our job gets a lot harder."

"So it's not the last eligible person they were thinking of." Yang says. "Now that just makes things difficult."

"But we at least know what they want to do now." Jaune says. "Autumn is injured and likely on the verge of death, so they want her final thoughts to be of Pyrrha. Right now they're just trying to get permission to do this." That must be what they're trying to do, right? The idea greatly calms Jaunes worries. The situation isn't especially dangerous, and Pyrrha has a choice in the matter. The thought that people might try to target her does worry him, but she'll have literal magic powers on top of all her other abilities. Any attempt would almost certainly fail.

"But why Pyrrha?" Nora wonders. "Not that I'm complaining, but there must be some experienced Huntresses they could choose instead."

"Actually, Pyrrha's probably the best choice when everything's considered." Ren says. "They probably want to keep the Maidens as separate as possible, so they recruit a specific one from each academy. Then they'll also want them to be quite young so that they don't have to pass on the power any time soon, each transfer has a risk of going to someone random after all."

"Plus we don't know what the age limit is." Weiss points out. "What if someone like, say… Glynda is too old to be a Maiden? Regardless, Pyrrha is very skilled, so she'll make an ideal Maiden."

Pyrrha smiles at all the praise she's getting. She's spent most of her life training to become the best Huntress she can, and now she's seeing proof that it was all worth something. Out of hundreds of students she was chosen for this role. Even if it's not in the spotlight, she's still got a path she can take.

Pyrrha doesn't realise it, but she's already viewing herself in the situation she sees her other in. And in that specific situation, her choice is all too clear.

"Why tell me all of this now?" Pyrrha asks. "Why not wait until I've graduated?"

"Honestly, we've run out of time." Qrow says. "I don't know if you've noticed, but things are getting a lot scarier out in the world. Tensions are high. Grimm are growing stronger, more prevalent. And it's not going to be long before the peace we've been enjoying for so long goes out the window."

There it is again. That rising sense of fear. They all thought they were beyond that point, finally knowing what needs to be done. But Qrow's words make it seems like things are especially bad now, even dismissing Autumns assumed injury.

"Are Grimm really getting stronger?" Oscar asks meekly. He'd always been told that the exact opposite was true, or at the very least, the advancements in technology were slowly making the world a safer place.

Ruby notices Oscars worry, but she can't bring herself to lie to him. "It's true. We're not sure why, or if there even is a reason, but stronger types of Grimm have been appearing recently." While this isn't common knowledge, even among Beacon students, it doesn't take much research to come to this conclusion. Those who know prefer not to talk about it as they understand that doing so would just make things worse.

"Of course the quality of Huntsmen and Huntresses has also been increasing." Weiss says. "And that's not even taking into account the effect Atlas has had on the world. You saw the new Atlesian knights after all."

This does ease Oscars fears a bit, but he's not dumb enough to not understand what it means. Rural areas like the one he lives in don't have the benefits of kingdoms or large settlements. There won't always be a Huntsman to save the day, and getting support from Atlas is just a pipedream.

"You're not... talking about a war?" Pyrrha asks.

"Not a war between nations." Ironwood clarifies.

"There's no way a real war could happen… right?" Yang asks nervously.

"It's impossible." Weiss firmly asserts. "If Ironwood doesn't want a war to happen then there's nothing that could happen to cause one. Atlas holds enough power that no other kingdom would even try."

"But he said it wouldn't be between nations." Sun says. "But how would that even happen?"

"The Faunus rights revolution was a war." Blake reminds him. "All a war really needs it a group with enough power to disrupt the peace."

"And that brings us back to the size of Cinder's supposed forces." Jaune says. "Qrow mentioned something that makes Atlas forces seem small, but I find it hard to believe that's not an exaggeration."

"With everything we've learned so far, we can't discount anything." Ren says. "Our preconceived notions are clearly too restrictive to understand the nature of this war." 'But how can we tell what ideas are too ridiculous?'

"We can fill you on the details once we know that you're with us." Qrow says. "For now, all you need to know is that one of the Maidens was attacked. And for the first time in history, part of her power was stolen."

"What!" Yang yells. "Stolen?"

"How would that even work?" Ruby asks. "I could understand it all of it was stolen, but part?"

"Considering how we barely know how the powers work, we can't exactly come to any conclusion." Blake says. But this still worries her. Does Cinder have a better understanding of how the powers work? If so, how?

Pyrrha shudders at this information. What does it mean for her? She knows it should change things, but she does what she can to ignore it. Everything's going to be fine. She'll have the powers transferred to herself and keep them safe.

A humming of electricity is heard as the group comes to their destination at the end of the hallway: A large machine with lit screens hooked up to two rectangular pods, one of which is upright to show through the glass window a young girl dressed in minimal clothing with a burn scar over her left eye and across her face.

"That's her." Weiss whispers. "That's the fall Maiden." Just seeing her makes the entire situation seem much more real. Before she was almost following through with a story, but this is at least partial evidence that some of what's been said must be true.

"Now we understand what Qrow meant by her condition." Oscar says.

"I'm not sure if it's comparable, but this could be like having half a Semblance." Blake says. "I imagine that would put someone in shock regardless of the physical symptoms."

Pyrrha steps forward hesitantly. "Is that..."

Ozpin sighs heavily. "The current Fall Maiden, Amber."

"I thought she was called Autumn?" Sun asks. "I'm not crazy, right? They called her Autumn before. Or was that some other girl?"

"We probably misunderstood the meaning." Ren says. "Autumn might be a code they use to refer to the Fall Maiden. They do mean the same thing after all."

"What if Amber hasn't been hurt yet!" Yang says. "She could still be fine at this very moment."

"You're right!" Ruby readily agrees. "We might be able to save her."

"I seriously doubt that." Ren hates to be the bearer of bad news, but this is best said sooner rather than later. "Qrow sent Ozpin the message about how 'Queen Has Pawns', he was probably only asked to investigate because of the attack on Amber."

Ruby's expression crumples at this. She thought there might be an easy answer, but Ren's logic makes too much sense.

"She's... still alive." Pyrrha holds her arms against herself.

"For now." Ironwood says. "We're using state of the art Atlas technology to keep her stable. But there is a lot about this situation that is... unprecedented."

"Not even they know what to do." Blake realises. "And we don't know any more about this situation then they do. How are we going to fix this?"

"We hope that we learn more." Ren says. "That's all we can do."

"What do you mean?" Pyrrha asks.

Ironwood sighs, eyes closed. "Well, we don't know what will happen if… when she passes."

"So she isn't healing." Jaune says.

"I'd be surprised if she was." Weiss says. "Whatever happened must have hurt her on a more fundamental level. And I don't even know what I'm talking about when I say that."

"Won't... her power... just transfer to the next host?" Pyrrha asks.

'But who would that be?' Ruby thinks. 'Family? A friend?'

"Look who's been listening!" Qrow comments, then whispers to Ozpin. "She is smart."

"Under normal circumstances, yes." Ironwood answers the question. "But this is a delicate situation. It's not uncommon for the last thoughts of the slain to be of their attacker."

"So Cinder would get the power." Yang groans. "Well that's just freaking perfect!"

"I'm guessing we're all assuming Cinder is the one who stole the power." Blake says.

"Well who else would it be?" Weiss asks. "We know she must have had a part in it, and I doubt she would let Emerald have that power. Come to think of it, there's been a few times she's used powers that are hard to explain."

"Oh yeah!" Nora agrees. "Wasn't that during the Volume 1 finale, when it seemed like she was using Dust, but not really?"

"There was also how she popped some popcorn in her hand." Weiss says. "We assumed it might be a Semblance, but it'd be weird if Maiden powers didn't come with the ability to heat thinks up."

Ironwood looks at Amber. "And to make matters worse, no one's seen the power split like this before. For all we know, it will seek out its other half."

Pyrrha connects the pieces together. "...Her assailant."

"Either way would be bad." Blake says. "The only way it would turn out well is if it still went to Ambers last thoughts and she was thinking of someone else."

"I definitely wouldn't take those odds." Sun says. "Just one of them sounds way too risky."

"And that would not bode well for any of us." Ozpin turns to Pyrrha.

Pyrrha lowers her head in thought, then suddenly comes forward and places a hand on the glass of Amber's pod.

'What's Pyrrha going to do?' Jaune wonders. He knows she would ordinarily take the Maiden powers, but this is an unusual situation even by Ozpin's standards. What even are her options?

"If all of this is true, why keep it secret!?" Pyrrha's voice turn to anger, looking at the teachers and gesturing wildly. "If this girl is so important... if… if we're truly on the brink of war, why not tell everyone?"

"This isn't the type of thing you want the general public to know." Blake says. "While the idea of keeping these secrets disgusts me, it's clear that things would be much worse if they were revealed."

"How so?" Ruby asks.

"It would cause more negative emotions than positive ones." Blake explains. "And from what we've heard, that's not something the world can afford right now." 'And that's not even mentioning what some people would do.'

The idea of increased negativity causing havoc isn't an unfamiliar one to anyone in the room. They all understand how the Grimm react to it. But they've always lived believing that threshold is unreachable in the modern world. Could this information really threaten it?

Goodwitch comes forward to explain. "From what we understand, it used to be common knowledge."

"Excuse me?" Pyrrha didn't expect this answer.

"How do you think legends and fairy tales get started?" It's now Qrow's turn to elaborate as he pulls out the familiar flask. "Even the craziest ones come from somewhere." He gets the lid off and takes a swig.

"How can people forget something like that!?" Sun complains. "This is way too big for that!"

"I'd have to disagree." Blake says. "We don't know how long this has been a secret for. If evidence of the Maidens existence disappeared, it'd only take three of four generations for people to become sceptical."

"You really think that could happen?" Ruby asks.

"Possibly." Blake says. "But if there were a group aiming to hide their existence, it suddenly becomes much more possible."

"But that still doesn't answer my question." Pyrrha says. "Why are they hiding it?"

"Our group was founded in order to protect both mankind and the Maidens." Goodwitch elaborates. "Those hungry for power hunted them with the hope of inheriting their strength."

Qrow finishes his drink. "And as you can imagine, the ones that succeeded weren't exactly the ones you'd want to have unimaginable power."

"That seems like a good enough reason." Nora comments.

"I suppose." Pyrrha acknowledges. She's not a fan of keeping secrets, but she'll admit that keeping the powers out of the hands of someone like Cinder is more important.

"It's also worth noting that Goodwitch just revealed the purpose of their group." Jaune says. "And I don't have any reason to think she might be lying."

"I'm not sure if we should be comforted by that." Yang says. "Like, are they a very active group, or do they usually have nothing to do since there are no immediate threats to mankind."

"In that case they'd probably do as normal Huntsmen and just hunt Grimm." Weiss says. "It certainly seems like something they'd do."

"And so this brotherhood chose to remove the Maidens from the public eye, allowing their existence to fade away into legend." Ironwood explains.

"The things we're telling you go against hundreds of years of human history and religion." Goodwitch says.

"No wonder it took so long for me to believe it." Weiss says. "They literally stacked everything up so anyone would reject the notion of it immediately."

"Isn't that kind of sinister?" Sun asks.

"It's necessary." Ren says. "They have good reasons to justify it, so we can't be too hard on them. But at the same time, their willingness to resort to these methods is worrying."

"It's not that bad." Ruby argues.

"True." Ren agrees. "But we don't know what else they'd be willing to do. How far would Ozpin be willing to go if he considered it necessary?"

"No one would want to believe us. It would cause an uproar." Ironwood says.

"It would cause panic." Ozpin interjects. "And we all know what that would bring to clawing at our Kingdom's walls."

"And there's the real reason." Blake says. "With the Grimm as strong as they are now, they probably want to avoid causing negative emotions on a mass scale. Even ignoring the current situation there was probably never a good time to reveal it."

"But we could manage, right?" Jaune asks. "I'm not saying it wouldn't be a bad thing, but the kingdoms defences would be strong enough to hold them back."

"I really have no idea." Blake replies. "There's never been panic on such a mass scale before. Still, the worst case scenario is probably a few breaches around the perimeter. The additional Atlas troops should be enough to make sure the civilians get to a safe zone. It'd be recoverable but the main problem would be how no one would ever feel truly safe again."

"The big difference between Kingdoms and large settlements is how Kingdoms have a guarantee of safety." Weiss agrees. "Take that away and there'll be chaos."

Ozpin turns his gaze away from the others. "Which is why we would like to..."

"I'll do it." Pyrrha accepts, causing Ozpin to looks up in surprise. "If you believe that this will help humanity..." She gives them all a resolute look. "...then I will become your Fall Maiden."

"Wow!" Nora exclaims. "Congratulations!"

"I'm sure you'll do a great job." Jaune agrees, doing his best to put on a comforting smile while suppressing his worries. This is Pyrrha's big chance. It's everything she's ever wanted. He has to support her no matter what.

"I…" Pyrrha's at a loss for words. She knew it was coming, but actually hearing it… she's proud of herself, or possibly her other self. She's proud knowing that when the world truly needs her, she'll surely agree to help.

"I'm sure you'll make for an excellent Maiden." Weiss says.

"You got this!" Yang cheers.

The adults silently turn to each other with wary faces.

Pyrrha's entire body suddenly turns cold. "Wh… what are they doing?"

"They…" Blake looks carefully at their expressions. "They're unsure about something, or… they think they've miscommunicated something?"

"That's what you wanted, isn't it?" Pyrrha asks.

"What else could it be?" Ruby asks. "They said they want you to be the next Fall Maiden, they should be glad to have you onboard."

"It is, but I'm afraid it's not that simple." Ozpin steps forwards. "Given Amber's condition, you won't be able to inherit her power naturally. However, General Ironwood believes he has a solution."

"This… doesn't sound good." Yang says. "Do they plan on doing the same thing Cinder must have done?"

"But… that would kill Amber." Ruby says.

Ren sighs. "I hate to say it but Ambers practically already dead. Besides, there's no way for someone else to gin the powers without her dying. She's only alive now because Cinder left some of the powers for some reason."

"Yeah… err. Why would she do that?" Sun asks. "I know I'm not an expert, but if she was able to take some of the powers and leave Amber in this condition, why didn't she take the rest?"

"We really don't have the information to even guess about that." Ren says.

Ironwood explains. "For the past few years, Atlas has been studying Aura from a more scientific standpoint; how it works, what's it made of, how it can be used. We've made... significant strides. And we believe we've found a way to capture it."

"Is he… talking about what I think he is?" Oscar asks. The idea in his mind is disturbing to say the least.

"Capture it and cram it into something else." Qrow gestures to Pyrrha as she takes a second to realize what that means. "Or in your case..."

The entire group goes stiff.

"They want to…? They're going to…?" Ruby can't finish either sentence.

"That's horrible!" Yang yells, her voice writhing with disgust. "How could they even consider this?!"

"I mentioned how we should be worried how far they're willing to go." Ren says. "From a purely logical standpoint, it's the right thing to do. But that doesn't change the fact that it's inhumane."

Pyrrha doesn't respond to any of this. Her mind reeling from the new decision she'll probably still have to make. She thought she was willing to do anything to protect the world, but the idea of being part of something like this is painful to even think about, and that's without even knowing what the consequences might be.

Pyrrha's expression turns to disgusted horror as she looks at Ironwood. "That's..."

"Classified." Ironwood declares.

"...wrong!" Pyrrha states.

"It really is." Sun agrees. "They have to at least realise that. Right?"

"I can't imagine they wouldn't." Blake says. "We're talking about someones Aura. To rip someones Aura from their soul, or worse, their Soul from their body… It's just…" She can't properly put it into words. The best descriptor would be soul crushing, but at that point it wouldn't be an analogy anymore.

Goodwitch glares at Ironwood. "The feeling is mutual." She switches her gaze back to Pyrrha. "But desperate times call for desperate measures."

At this point Jaune snaps out of his revulsion to what they're planning and actually remembers the context. So instead be becomes furious. "How dare they!"

"J…Jaune?" Pyrrha's surprised by his sudden outburst. She hasn't seen his this angry since he confessed how he didn't really get accepted to Beacon, and even then it was anger at himself. But this, this is hatred. The look in his eyes shows hatred towards Ozpin's group.

"I mean… come on!" Jaune yells. "They're seriously asking this of you?! Making you part of something so… something like this!"

"But they're asking for permission." Pyrrha argues. "And you heard how bad they say things are. This is… they have to at least try something."

Jaune just grunts, not wanting to lash out at Pyrrha, it's for her sake he's angry in the first place. And he does understand, he really does, but Pyrrha's not the kind of person to deny this request, he knows she'll eventually agree to it. The teachers probably also know this, so it's not really a choice in the full sense. He just hates the idea of Pyrrha being dragged into something like this, and what about side effects? From the sounds of it not even they know what will happen. With something like this its hard to believe it will all end smoothly, something will go wrong, be it the transfer or Pyrrha's condition afterwards.

"And these are indeed desperate times." Ironwood steps forwards. "We can't transfer Amber's power to you, but we can give you what those powers are bound to."

"...Her Aura." Pyrrha realises.

Blake's eyes go wide as she realises something. Realises isn't the exact word though, it'd be closer to say she has a theory that makes far too much sense. "Penny."

"What?" Ruby practically squeaks, already realising the possible connection.

"Penny's able to generate an Aura despite being made of metal." Blake explains. "But what if it wasn't originally 'her' Aura?"

"That's…" Ruby struggles for words. The implications aren't as dark as what might happen with Pyrrha, but there's one important question. "Who's… then who's was it?"

"Probably someone who wasn't able to live their life anymore." Blake answers. "It could be someone who was comatose, or someone one the verge of dying… at least, that's what I hope. This is all just speculation though."

"Regardless of that, I'm glad you reminded us about Penny." Weiss says. "Because I think I just solved one of the biggest mysteries about her."

"What?" Ruby asks. It's true she doesn't want her friends secrets being revealed without proper permission, but this is all speculation so there's no real harm.

"Penny was designed to be as similar to a normal girl as possible." Weiss explains. "It didn't really make sense that they wouldn't take some liberties in order to make her a more powerful weapon. Unless being a young woman was somehow an important part of the role she's meant to fulfil."

"Are you saying she's a Maiden?" Sun asks. "Because if so then that'd be like the biggest coincidence."

"I seriously doubt she's currently a Maiden." Weiss says. "This is more likely her trial period to see if she's a good person capable of defending herself. But if she were to eventually get the powers then can you imagine what that would mean? A girl who doesn't die of age holding that power. They'd never have to go through the risks of transferring ever again. I can at least see why it would appeal to Ironwood."

"You really think Penny's a part of Ozpin's group?" Oscar asks.

"Hmm." Weiss has to consider this for a bit. "Probably not, I doubt she even knows about the Maiden powers currently. This is just a line of thought, and like what Blake suggested, it lines up enough that it's probably at least partially true."

Normally the group would take time to digest all this, but the video isn't finished yet.

"Her life would become intertwined with yours." Ozpin says. "The question is..."

"What's that going to do to you?" Qrow finishes Ozpin's sentence.

The stomach of each viewer turns as they get dragged back into the current subject of the video. Jaune has calmed down a bit from his outburst but he's not as ready to accept Ozpins group as good as he was before.

They all know this will be a hard decision for Pyrrha, both in the video and quite possibly for the one among them. None really feel like they have the right to tell her what they think she should do. She's the one who would lose the most from this, so she has to make the decision herself.

Ozpin gives the final request as Pyrrha fully understands the dangers she might face. "You have an important decision before you, Miss Nikos. There's no guarantee this transfer will work. And there's no telling if you will be the same person if it does. I advise you to take time on this matter. But understand that before the Vytal Festival is over, we will need your answer."

Pyrrha shrinks into her spot on the couch. This is quite possibly the biggest decision she'll ever make. It's not something she can take lightly. The decision is immoral, the dangers are high, and the stress it would put on her friends would be terrible. But at the same time, she knows she'll always regret it if she does nothing. They may ask someone else to bear the burden, or Cinder could end up with the powers. It doesn't seem as if there are any easy answers.

"From a certain perspective, seeing this is a good thing." Ren says.

"How!?" Nora asks. "How is any of this good?"

"It means we might be able to see the consequences before our Pyrrha makes a decision." Ren answers. "If future Pyrrha accepts, we'll get to see if the prosses actually works and what the negative repercussions would be. Not even Ozpin knows these things, so it's very valuable information we can offer him."

"That's right!" Yang cheers. "That's practically the reason we're even watching this in the first place. Knowing the future so we can make better informed decisions!"

Jaune does feel better knowing this, but he's still worried. What if the transfer does work but changes who Pyrrha is? He's not sure if he wants Ozpin's group knowing in that case since they might consider it an 'acceptable loss'.

Pyrrha on the other hand is just relieved. She doesn't have to make a decision any time soon. It's actually smarter to wait for a while.

"That may not be necessary." Weiss says, bringing everyone's attention to her.

"W…what?" Ruby asks.

"Ironwood said that if Amber dies then the power may seek out its other half." Weiss explains. "But what if it works the other way? If the other person, assumedly Cinder, dies then the power may return to Amber. It's possible that the power will instead go to whoever Cinder's thinking about, or Amber may somehow die from the shock of the powers returning, but if we could force her final thoughts into being of someone trustworthy then the first problem is removed and the second problem could hardly be considered an unbearable scenario."

"That's perfect!" Nora yells. "You just made everything so much easier!"

"I'm surprised I didn't consider that earlier." Blake says. "Plus I'm fairly certain Ozpin would agree to help with this."

"At least we don't have to worry anymore." Yang says. "Damn that was stressful. It's good to stop every now and then to remember we can change all of this.

Pyrrha doesn't respond, instead placing her hand on the glass separating the maiden from her potential replacement, seeing her scared expression reflected on the scarred face of the dying girl, before turning away from this unexpected destiny as Ozpin gives one final warning.

"The assailant that attacked the Fall Maiden has made their first move. And there's no telling when their next move will be."

"There is for us!" Nora jokes.

With the sound of a rapid heartbeat, the scene cuts to a smirking Cinder as she sits in one of the Amity Colosseum's seats along with the rest of the cheering crowd.

"Okay. Now that has to prove Cinder's the assailant, right?" Oscar asks.

"It'd be pretty messed up to deceive us like that." Sun says. "And I'm pretty sure our mysterious host is on our side, so I'd say it's for certain."

"Now, for the moment you've all been waiting for!" Port announces over the broadcasting system. "The one-on-one finals!"

"There's more!?" Yang asks. "After everything we've just learned, there's more in the video?"

"I thought it was gonna end there too." Blake says. "I'm pretty sure we've had shorter videos."

"Well I doubt this last bit is going to be too interesting in comparison." Weiss says. "The tournament seems slightly underwhelming compared to everything else."

In the centre of the battlefield's stage, Yang smirks confidently as the camera pans down the line of final fighters, a few new faces mixed in with Sun, Penny, Mercury, and the troubled Pyrrha at the other end of the line.

"Well would ya look at that." Sun says. "I guess all our teams made it to the one on ones."

"The only matches we'll really have to pay attention to are Mercury's though." Blake says. "Unless someone wants to take advantage of our chance to protect the world?"

Weiss notices Blake's eyes on her and is actually quite offended. "Do you really think I'm that shallow? I may have been doing so before, but I know when to prioritise more important things."

"Barty, why don't you explain the rules?" Port asks his co-host.

Oobleck answers. "Ah, it's quite simple, Peter. Instead of a bracket system, each round of the finals will be randomly determined immediately before the match takes place!"

"Much like any good hunt, there will be zero time to prepare!" Port summarises.

"That sounds pretty stressful." Oscar says.

"It's reality." Ruby explains. "These rules in the tournament were only involved later when some teachers got worried it wasn't a good enough simulation of real Huntsmen's duties."

"How do you now that?" Weiss ask. "I understand that you've been watching old tournament videos, but this can't have been from that."

"I decided to ask Oobleck about the tournament." Ruby explains. "I'm sure I missed some of the details, but this is one of the things that stuck with me."

"Ah, yes, yes! Now, let's see who our first match will be!" The energetic doctor points out to the screens above the stadium as the roulette starts spinning, this time for competitors instead of biomes. The 'random selection' is watched by the owner of the Crow Bar, a group of Human and Faunus kids, the visitors and workers at the Cross Continental Transmit System, before it gets back from the worldwide audience glimpses to reveal the first showdown.

"Anyone want to make a bet on which of our teams fights first?" Sun asks.

"No." Blake says.

"Aw come on." Sun pleads. "It'll be fun."

"I really don't think now's the best time for that?" Jaune says. "We should just use this match to cool down a bit, ironically."

"Yang Xiao Long and Mercury Black!" Port reads from the display.

"Never mind, tensions are up again." Jaune quickly dismisses his earlier words.

"This'll probably be interesting." Nora says. "But wait, isn't Cinder rigging all of her teams matches?"

"That's right." Weiss remembers. "I doubt she just decided not to do it."

"Well I guess she made a mistake then." Yang grins. "Cus this match is gonna be Mercury's last."

"I wouldn't be too sure." Pyrrha says. "We all saw how well he did against Yatsuhashi. It's honestly quite likely that you'll lose."

"You could at least have some faith in me!" Yang complains.

"I'm not saying you will lose." Pyrrha says. "But Mercury's very skilled. Unless you're able to land a good hit on him while at full power I doubt you'll manage. He's the type of person who could easily exploit your weaknesses."

"But if Yang wins then that might ruin whatever Cinder's plans for the tournament are." Ruby says, hopefully.

"It's possible." Ren says. 'But at the same time, it's unlikely that she wouldn't have a backup plan for if that happened.'

"Break a leg, sis!" Ruby cups her hands to make sure her encouragement is heard from her spot alongside RWBY, JNPR, and SSSN.

"Snap it in half!" Nora yells. "That'll show him."

"Remember, this is just a tournament match." Blake says. "Things like that don't ever actually happen."

"Aww." Nora sulks.

Cinder, still smiling, gets up from her place in the stands and begins walking out.

'Somethings suspicious about this.' Jaune thinks. 'Why is Cinder leaving? She seems far too smug about this match even if she expects Mercury to win.' He chooses not to say anything though, not wanting to needlessly worry everyone after what they've all seen when it might just be nothing.

"Would all other combatants please leave the stage!" Port requests. The rest of the line-up does so, and Yang starts walking up to Mercury in the middle as the floor around them opens once more, with a ring of spotlights rising up to automatically fix their lights on the remaining two.

"Wait, so how does this arena work?" Oscar asks. "I thought it'd be eight different zones."

"Since these matches are one on one there's a higher chance of the usual zones giving a big advantage." Ruby explains. "So instead they fight on a completely clear surface, with the excitement instead coming from how easy it is to get knocked out."

"Wouldn't that be sorta anticlimactic?" Oscar asks.

"You'd be surprised." Ruby answers. "Anyone chosen to get that far is usually able to stand their ground, have a method of avoiding a knockout or are skilled enough to avoid any attack that could force them out."

"And what category do I fit into?" Yang asks, both curious and hoping for an ego boost.

"Definitely the first group." Blake says. "You almost never avoid an attack, and last I checked you couldn't fly."

Yang does a mock grumpy expression, dramatically turning away from her partner.

"Getting him out of bounds might be your best strategy." Pyrrha says. "I doubt he'll give you a chance, but it's worth a shot."

Yang smiles. "You better not go easy on me."

Mercury laughs darkly. "You wish."

Both brawlers face the crowds one last time, then slowly start advancing on each other, arms raised defensively until their hands can almost touch, as Port calls the final countdown. "Three! Two! One! Begin!"

"Go Yang!" Ruby cheers.

"You can do it!" Blake joins in.

"Fight!" Nora yells.

The others don't audibly cheer, but it's clear how excited they are for the fight. Part of this is because this is the first fight they've seen where they want one side to win for reasons other than friendships, but the biggest reason is that by throwing themselves into this fight they can temporarily forget about all the worries that earlier revelations have built up. Even though it's against Mercury, all they want to see is a regular match they can enjoy (preferably with Mercury losing).

Immediately, Yang throws a punch, and Mercury spins his foot to meet it, creating a shockwave between the weapons that launches him back. He closes the distance quickly and aims at her feet with his boot, but she leaps over it and fires off a shot of her Ember Celica that he rotates to avoid. They fight fist-to-fist for a moment, Yang getting in a fiery blast on her opponent at the cost of him also landing a blow on her. She falls back on her feet when Mercury shoots himself into the air to get farther away from her, looking up and smiling.

"Wipe that stupid grin off his face!" Nora yells.

"You can do it!" Ruby yells.

"Make him taste the floor!" Yang shouts. "Wow, it really is weird to cheer for myself." She mumbles the last part.

Yang doesn't relent for a second, launching shot after shot only for Mercury to dodge each of them, sliding around the stage on clouds of air until he attempts to come down on her with his leg. She blocks and pushes away the attack, but he goes under her shotgun burst and manages to land a kick on her, though she still lands in a crouch, now grimacing. She launches forward with a double blast and continues landing blow after blazing blow on him, right up to when he roundhouse kicks her in the back and attempts to hit her with his heel. She gets out just in time and punches he ground trying to get him, but he leaps out and twirls to get a hit on her. One of his kicks seems to pass over her, but then he brings it down hard enough to shatter the concrete underneath, which Yang narrowly rolls backward to avoid.

"Looks like you've really improved." Weiss says. "I can't remember the last time you fought this well."

"Well I'd hope so." Yang says. "This is about a month in the future after all. Be sorta a shame if I didn't get at least a bit better."

'I'm not too sure.' Pyrrha thinks. 'Sure she's improved, but if I didn't know better then I'd say Mercury's holding back. But that can't be, right?'

They exchange kicks after this attack until Mercury hits her backwards, and he rushes forward only to receive a fist to his chin, then his torso, knocking him on his stomach. He gets up right as Yang starts raining down fire again, causing him to somersault back until one explosion causes him to get knocked off of the stage.

"You did it!" Ruby cheers.

"Well that ended fast." Sun says.

"I wouldn't be so sure." Pyrrha says. 'This is it. If Mercury lets himself fall then I'll know that he's throwing the match. I'm not sure what that would accomplish, but it would mean that it's somehow part of Cinder's plan.'

Mercury saves himself by firing his boots downward and flying back in front of his enemy, unleashing a series of kicks that she deflects with her arms.

"Aw come on!" Nora screams. "That's still gotta count as a ringout, right?"

"It doesn't count unless he hits the floor." Ruby sulks.

'I guess I was just imagining it then.' Pyrrha thinks. 'Maybe it's just a bad day for him.'

Yang ducks under one attack only to receive another as Mercury jumps into the air to knock her back, and he follows it up with a shot from his boots. Yang avoids it effortlessly, not noticing it still hanging around behind her.

Switching tactics, Mercury starts shooting his foot out in every direction, each kick into the air accompanied by a silvery blast that are barely even aimed at Yang. She dodges each one coming her way and gets in close through the circling barrage of shots, fighting with their fists again until Mercury kicks her into the air and knocks her right back to the ground, followed by the dozens of swirling shots that now converge right on to Yang.

"Ouch!" Yang winces. "That's gotta hurt."

"That's probably about all you can take." Pyrrha says, voice calm so as not to upset her. "Yatsuhashi could just barely stay in the battle after it, and no offence but much more durable than you."

"Come on!" Yang yells, not refuting Pyrrha. She knows better than to ignore her expertise.

"Erm…" Oscar chimes in. "I didn't hear a buzzer."

When the blasts stop coming down on his opponent, Mercury gets up from his crouch and grins to himself, dusting off his outfit and seeming as happy as can be until the smoke from behind him erupts into flames.

"Back in action!" Yang cheers. "Guess that means I just barely survived. Now he's in for a real pummelling!"

'There it is again.' Pyrrha thinks. 'He just decided to walk away assuming he's won. Any fighter knows better than that. Are his thought otherwise occupied?'

Mercury's momentary shock turns into another smile as he turns around to see the red-eyed Yang slam her knuckles together and come at him. Screaming, she lands a punch that sends him back, and she rushes up avoiding each kick and even taking one with no effect to pound at him with an unrelenting bombardment of left-right blows. He has enough time to let out a pained groan before she hits him in the stomach, his Aura sparkling up to try and defend him from the last hit to the face by the upset blonde. He lands on his back as the buzzer sounds over the roars of the audience.

"VICTORY!" Yang yells with all her might. She's honestly slightly surprised she managed to do it but more than anything she's excited.

"That was awesome!" Ruby cheers, suddenly hugging her sister.

"That's gotta be one of the best fights yet." Sun says.

The others each give their own congratulations, except for Nora who's caught up in her cackling laughter, though that may also count.

"What a way to kick off the finals!" Port announces as Yang lowers her fists and closes her eyes, breathing a sigh of relief before opening them back up to her usual lilac and raising her arm in victory. The large monitor is seen with Yang at 16% aura and Mercury at 0%.

"Looks like you really were on the verge of losing." Blake says. "That was just lucky."

"It means I was at maximum power." Yang grins.

"Yang Xiao Long wins!" Oobleck say while the stage is enclosed by the stadium floor again.

Ruby splays her arms in excitement. "Yeah! You did it, sis!"

"Way to go, Yang!" Blake giving a standing ovation as Weiss pumps her fists.

'Our other selves congratulations seem quite mellow in comparison.' Weiss thinks. 'I suppose that's because they don't have any reason to dislike Mercury. Or perhaps the fact that they're in a much more public place.'

Yang wipes her brow with an arm as she addresses the hunched-over Mercury. "Better luck next time." She starts walking to the exit, getting pretty far away before Mercury seems to get up outside her peripheral vision.

"There's not going to be a next time, Blondie!" Mercury's voice has a murderous echo, as if sound is distorted.

"Wha…?" Ruby tilts her head at this. "That sounded weird."

'He couldn't seriously be planning to retaliate?' Blake thinks. 'He doesn't even have any aura left, and that's discounting how many witnesses there are.'

A sharp sound is heard in the sudden silence as Yang turns around just in time to see Mercury leap forward with a kick to his unsuspecting victim. Yang scowls as she just manages to both bring her gauntlet down on and shoot his leg before he hits her. The second she does so, there is a sound of something breaking.

"What the hell is wrong with him?" Sun shouts. "Why would he… what?" He struggles for words.

"This was an act of spite." Weiss says. "There really was no reason for it, he just wanted to get back at Yang." She practically growls. "I say he got what he deserved."

'Something about that seems wrong.' Jaune thinks. 'Mercury's never striked me as the type to be ruled by emotions. This is… this is something else.'

The audience gasps in shock, and Mercury reels back from the pain.

"My word!" Oobleck gets up from his chair.

"Cut the cameras!" Port yells to someone offscreen.

Yang winces at the negative response, but at the same time she's reassured. Everyone seems to hate Mercury for what he did, after all, she didn't do anything wrong.

"Something about this seems off." Jaune voices his opinion. "Just… the way everyone's reacting. It doesn't seem to match what happened."

"You really think so?" Weiss considers it. "I suppose, but it's not like we have any point of reference."

Jaune sighs. She's probably right, but he can't shake the feeling that this is more important than it seems.

The audiences looks of surprise, horror, and hatred at Yang cut to a view of Mountain Glenn, where two Goliaths and a pack of Beowolves all look towards the Colosseum floating near Beacon, sensing the negative emotions.

"WHAT!" Weiss yells. "Why are the Grimm reacting. It wasn't that bad."

"Why are we being shown the Grimm reacting." Ren says. "Nothing in these videos is an accident."

'The Grimm sense negative emotions, so this is a visual way of showing how large those emotions are.' Jaune thinks. 'But why? People shouldn't be reacting like this.'

"My leg, MY LEG!" Mercury is still grasping his injured body part, rocking back and forth in pain.

Yang only now realises what it means to take one of her punches without any aura. If it were any other situation then she'd feel bad, but he was the one who initiated it. He has no real right to complain about how things turned out.

Yang trash talks her opponent. "That's what you get, you little- Huh?" She stops just as she notices the Atlesian Knight-200 droids and two Soldiers circling the Huntress-in-training and raising their guns to her.

"Yang Xiao Long, stand down!" A soldier orders.

It's only now that the group fully understands how unusual the situation is. Before they could just ignore it as an exaggeration, but the soldiers shouldn't be getting involved like this.

"W-why?" Yang stares, mouth hanging open. Why are they treating her like the villain?

Ruby's also unsure how to handle the situation. Sure her sister might have gone a bit too far when it comes to dealing with him, but it was just self-defence. Why does no one else seem to see it that way.

"What!? Why!?" Yang is completely bewildered, not having a clue what's going on.

"Mercury!" Emerald rushes over to her partner's side, comforting him.

"Why'd she do that!?" Mercury cries hysterically. "WHY'D SHE ATTACK ME!?"

"What is he talking about!?" Yang yells. "Why wouldn't I attack him? Does he really think he can just act like that to get some sympathy!?"

"He really is acting the part of a victim." Jaune say with a thoughtful expression. "I'm sure we're missing something here, something that puts all of this in context."

Yang receives a disgusted scowl from Emerald, only now looking up at the screens above her to see the footage of what really just transpired: Yang circling the crouched-down Mercury until the footage cuts to him just standing there and her suddenly shooting him in the leg. The sound of something breaking rings out, and Mercury screams and falls over in pain.

The group looks on in shock at the starkly different version of the event. Wide eyed and practically frozen in place.

"That's…" Yang feels her entire world crashing down on her. "That's not what happened. He attacked me. I saw it."

Jaune takes some time to form the right words, not wanting to push any buttons. "We saw what happened from your perspective. It's a common movie trick."

Blake's mind reels with what this means. She's heard this defence used before, members of the White Fang saying they were certain they were being attacked to explain crippling someone. She thought it was just an excuse then, but here she can actually see it happening. But that doesn't comfort her in the slightest. It was always those people who eventually became the most hateful. Is Yang really like that? She knows she has a temper but could it really turn to the point of malice? She's already leaning away from her partner. She's been hurt like this before and she doesn't want it to happen again.

Yang doesn't know how to respond to all this. Could something like this really be all in her head? She can feel herself getting dizzy just at the idea that something like that would actually happen.

It takes a moment of staring at the images until Yang finally understands what she did, and her gaze turns up to the wide-eyed, terrified faces of Blake, Weiss, and Ruby. She looks around at the guns aimed at her and the people cursing her name, still not knowing what just happened or what will come next as the screen cuts to black.

The look on her teams faces is what really breaks Yang. She can feel the tears running down her cheeks before she even realises she's crying.

"Yang." Ruby grabs her sisters arm. Ready to do whatever it takes to comfort her sister in this troubling time.

Yang struggles to give a teary smile. She's not entirely sure what's going on but at least she has her sister and the rest of her team. To her left Weiss is doing everything she can to give a comforting look, and to her right…

Blake backs away slowly.

"B-Blake?" Yang stutters.

Blake is confused. Not entirely sure what to think in the moment. She knows Mercury is a villain, but that's no excuse for hurting him like this. She feels her head spinning, the distinction between the two versions of Yang no longer apparent to her. "I… I need time to think about this."

Everything about the things she saw just reminds her of Adam, as if she can't escape the headspace. A person hurting bad people in ways that are overly vicious, claiming it's the others fault for it in the first place. It all rings far too similar to her.

She knows she isn't thinking completely strait. Her misplaced feet as she backs away make that clear. That's why she asked for time, she needs to process all of this properly.

But Yang doesn't see any of this. She sees one of her closest friends cowering from her as if she's some kind of villain. She tries to take a step forwards but that only caused her partners expression to darken as she hits the wall behind her

"I… I." Yang doesn't know what to say. Is this really her fault? Regardless, what she's seeing right now is one of her greatest fears. Someone very close to her seems about ready to head for the hills just to get away from her. She can't deal with this. Not now. Not after what she just saw.

But at the same time, does she really deserve any trust right now? Everyone's been going on about how they should learn the truth together. That they can use the information to make a better future. But she's been hiding some of that information. A part of her thinks that might be why Blakes acting like this, even though her logical side is saying that's impossible. "I need to go to my room." That's where she left the envelope, right? If she shows it will Blake trust her again? Regardless, it seems worth the risk.

Blake watches as Yang leaves, grateful more than anything. She keeps getting flashes of Adam's misdeeds, some overlapping what Yang did in the video. Now what she needs to do is sort herself out so she can properly understand wha…

*SLAP*

Blake touches her cheek as she looks to who attacked her. She was so zoned out she didn't even see it coming despite it happening being right in front of her.

"What were you doing!?" Weiss yells, her eyes furious but without an ounce of hatred. "This was clearly part of Cinder's plan somehow! How could you distrust Yang so easily!?"

It takes a moment for Blake to put the pieces together. 'Cinder? What has she got to do with this? Wait, wasn't Ozpin talking about how Cinder was planning something? And Mercury was involved, that can't be a coincidence.'

Another bonus video has been added to 'World of Remnant'

No one notices this message popping up on the screen except Ren, who takes note that it doesn't have any congratulations like the other ones. He supposes it's only appropriate after what they just saw.

Blake digests the new information. Getting slapped helped get her out of her daze so she can properly see things as they are, not as her worst fears, and the reminder of Cinder puts everything in perspective. This situation isn't like Adam at all, how could she have thought that? "I'm sorry."

"Don't say that to me." Weiss demands. "Go tell Yang that, right this instant!"

Blake meekly nods, heading for the door in a slog.

But before she reach it, the door opens by itself, and there stands Yang. She seems determined about something.

She brings up her right hand, revealing it to be holding a piece of paper. No, an envelope.

"I need to show you all something."

---

Ren's Notes:

Starts with Pyrrha in Ozpins office

Pyrrha moved forwards to the one on one fights confirmed

Qrow also in the room, introduces himself

"What is your favourite fairy tale?" , (useful for an analogy?)

Ozpin's interest is on Story of the Seasons

Pyrrha recites the story

Maidens in story must be connected to Maidens mentioned in previous video

Ozpin claims the story is true, there are four Maidens existing that wield tremendous power

Maidens are Magic

Ozpin seems to be serious

They believe Pyrrha is next in line to receive Fall Maidens powers

Goodwitch and Ironwood arrive

They are asking for Pyrrha's help in defending the world, this confirms the scale of the videos is bigger than we expected

Cut to them all in the elevator, heading to Vault, under the school

Arrive at vault, big hallway, headed to other side

Pyrrha asks for explanation

When a Maiden dies, their power leaves their body and seeks a new host

Inherit rules are complicated, specifically given to young women, last in their thoughts, if last was ineligible power goes to random

Why now? Ran out of time, Grimm getting stronger, peace about to end

War, not between nations, how big are Cinder's forces?

Part of Fall Maiden's powers stolen

At end of hallway is weird machine with two chambers, one of them contains an unconscious girl with horrible scars

Unconscious girl is Amber the Fall Maiden, Autumn is an alias

If/when Amber dies power will probably go to person who stole part of her powers

Cinder is probably the one who stole Ambers power

Maidens used to be common knowledge

People hunted Maidens with intention of inheriting powers, so Ozpin's group (predecessors) hid their existence

They have been shaping culture in order to make people not believe in Maidens

If willing to do this much, what else are they willing to do?

Pyrrha agrees to become new Fall Maiden

It's more complicated than that, can't inherit naturally due to circumstances

Altas has been studying Aura scientifically, have method of transferring it into something else

None of them happy with method, but they consider it necessary

Theory: Penny is result of someones Aura being put into a highly advanced android

Theory: Penny designed to be like a girl so she can inherit Maiden powers, less risky way of keeping power safe

Putting Amber's Aura into Pyrrha might have negative consequences, might not even transfer powers

Need decision from Pyrrha before end of festival

Visual confirmation that Cinder is the assailant

Scene change to one on one finals

Notable participants: Yang, Sun, Penny, Pyrrha, Mercury

First match: Yang vs Mercury

Cinder seems happy for some reason

Fight starts

Mercury almost ring out

Yang takes heavy hit, barely stays in fight

Yang uses Semblance to beat Mercury

Mercury attacks Yang after fight, Yang retaliates by striking leg

Everyone reacts over the top, Grimm take notice of negative emotions

Mercury acting like victim

Screen shows real events, Mercury walking about when Yang breaks his leg out of nowhere, Yang's perception not in line with reality