Ozma sitting on a boulder was the first thing in sight, gold hemmed cloak flapping around, smoking a hand rolled blunt. She couldn't even blink for pain or daze, but the breeze forced her eyes closed several times.
"Hey, you're up first." Ozma lit another one, the scent of valerian and lavender crossing over, voice nearly lost to the howling winds. She rolled onto her side, straining to sit up, Milo, Akouo and Psallo at her side. "Don't worry, it wasn't your fault. The contractors built it with playing cards and a prayer."
"Why're you here?" She looked over to the rest of them, golden petals gracing his friends' sleeping forms, the plateau stretching into mountains and valleys, the highest peaks still holding ice and glaciers, the sun merciless on the slab of dry stone. "Why do you-"
Weiss sat up, reaching for Myrtenaster. "Ozymandias?"
He looked at her through the lingering smoke, she turned away. "I'll tell you all at once." Ozma rubbed out of the filter on the stone, the stub bursting into petals that wilted as they flew off. The rest woke and put bones back into joints, pulling petals out of mouths.
"I'm here because you'll need me for this fight. I've been putting this off. She'll be here soon."
"Where?" Ruby looked over Crescent Rose, the old girl was fine. Ozma pointed into the stone valley, a stone pedestal standing unguarded, uncorrupted.
"Where is she?" Ren nearly fell off the cliff to look, his eyes overcast in yellow. "Where-
"They took her already, waiting for her to come back; we swoop in, take them out, restore her and get the fuck out of do-" Oscar hugged Ozma. "Hi kiddo. We split faster than Salem did when she killed my babies."
"Excuse me?!" Glynda huffed, the purple book she threw landing into Raven's hands. "What cruel god reigns here!?"
"My...hm." Ozma had his hands busied with a fidget toy, ignoring Ironwood's 'so all of your kids are nervous wrecks? perfect.' "...in some ways he's my father, in some ways my benefactor, in some ways yet he's a stranger."
"...your father is a god?" Glynda's jaw rolled off the cliff.
"...yes and no." Ozma subbed out the fidget toy with rum. "Back to your original objection, we got into a fight. I wanted to take out the Grimm. She wanted her little bastards, claiming that they would challenge the intelligent creatures to struggle and become stronger. Strong enough to kill themselves. We fought. She killed my kids when she lost. Caught me crying over them."
"Killed you." He looked at her, her glasses low on her nose. "I'm sorry."
"...Murder Scorpion incoming." The giggling was carried up the wind. "Pyrrha?"
"I'll be okay."
"The minute you're not, bow out." Ozma got off the rock, Weiss hid in her cloak. "James, if you would."
"Wait." Yang finally stood, the thousand league stare returned. "At all costs, eliminate Emerald. She has green hair and red eyes. Her Semblance will knock you on your ass."
"What, what do you mean?" Ruby put the flask away.
"...she'll show you what you want most in life." Adam held Yang's shoulders. "Then, you'll lose the will to fight. Slowly you'll fall asleep. And never wake up again."
"...execute her with extreme prejudice." The Atlesian hit the side of the cliff, stairs erupting from the face of the stone wall, Ozma the last to creep down the incline into the windswept valley.
The giggling came at them sidelong, crashing into them with a manic grin, the scorpion tail dripping with poison, sliding directly into Pyrrha's path. Three phantasmal swords stuck him in the back "You'll get me once.. Not twice."
"Fjorgyn!" A hulking man in a green coat came thundering down the path, barreling right into the old owl, Oz ready for the blow, sliding out of the way just in time.
"Oh great, time to get sexually harassed." He kicked off the white shoes, pulling the cane sword from its scabbard. "Hello, Hazel. What do you want?"
"MY SISTER'S LIFE BACK! MY MOTHER'S HEALTH! AND YOUR ASS IN JAIL!"
The rest of Salem's faction poured in, with more than enough Grimm to set things skewed, the Mistress staring down Ozma, a sad longing in her eyes.
"...She chose to become a Huntress." The awkward gait was non-existent. "Instead of hunting me down, shouldn't you be home caring for her?"
"SHE'S DEAD TOO!"
"I apologize." Oz took the first step forward, launching into a swing, hoping to slice his neck right off. Hazel swatted him like a fly.
"Hello, Watts." Ironwood stood him on the rock, watching the rest of them scrap. "Before I kill you, you mind telling me wh-"
"You chose a suffering simpleton over my creations. Out of loyalty instead of genius. I was laughed out of-"
"You chose not to retu-" A girl in a green and black catsuit kicked James square in the face.
"DID YOU FORGET ABOUT ME?"
"Okay. Here we go again." He took the safety off his pistols. "Let's do this." Oscar ran over.
"Two on one ain't fair." He raised his knives against Penny. "You should know better!"
"I will kill him as many times as it take-"
One knife flipped into a ice pick grip, as she dodged swipe and swing, Oscar weaving between the blades on her fingers. "Bold of you to assume that death solves your problems."
"Two birds, one Stone..." Raven and Qrow stood against Archibald, the marled reds of their Aura running up and down his arms, until the shelf of stone gave out from underneath them all, a ten foot drop complicated by boulders that Glynda yanked out of the way. Taiyang hurled fireballs after Nevermores and into Oz' blind spots, only to get caught by Alizarin, a red Hard Light Hammer scraping off scales. Hazel was still unburdened by fatigue, sparking Dust stabbed into his arms. Blake skirted the battlefield, eliminating pouncing Ursae and snapping King Taijutsu.
Jaune waited for the old lion to tire himself out, huffing and puffing, tail dragging the ground. "Why are you doing this? Why do you wish for destruction?"
"...the heat death of the universe will kill us anyway...why wait?" Lionhart reloaded his small shield with dust. "Why refuse destiny?"
"...you're a coward. Shave the mane, it might match." He crushed stone underfoot as he leapt towards the elder Fauni, bloodying his bare claws, a single punch shattering his Aura, Ruby catching his neck in the crook of Crescent Rose blade, in the split moments between Neapolitan and Roman, Weiss at her side.
"Hello, Jaune." He turned to find Cinder strutting towards him.
"What is wrong with you? You could been my older sister. Graduated Huntress. Serving the less fortunate. A life of dignity and honor. How can you be so cruel? To travel the world, taking innocent lives, and then come here and rub it in our faces like it's something to be proud of?! All with that damn smile on your face!" He flicked the blood off of his claws, reaching for Crocea Mors, Nora careening over to his side, done with eliminating the current wave of errant Grimm.
Said smile was currently missing. "White Knight."
"Charlatan." She took the first strike.
Ren stood against Mercury, only footfalls and scuffles marring the gravelly stone, a oil lamp hanging from the latter's belt, eyes glowing.
The one with the oil lamp smirked. "...If you're not going to hit me firs-" Ren popped him in the mouth and shot him into a errant punch from Hazel, the firearm at his heels glowing with Dust, the grey boy howling on the floor, the spark of Electric Dust unkind to prostheses.
"...I want her. That's all I want." Ren stood ready to strike again, yellow eyes fixated on Mercury, dodging the boulder as it fell past his side from Pyrrha crushing Tyrian into a bloody pulp with them, metal ore shining in the fissures. Nobody tried to tell her he was already there, but Ruby swung around to enlist her against Hazel. Yang heaving down gulps of air, her mechanical arm overheated. "You want to try that again, Quicksilver?"
Mercury charged at him, only a blur to the naked eye, spinning like a top on his heel, sliding through Ren who was thin as air. Ren kicked him into next year, grey Aura fizzing, Stormflower's blades glowing with black dust. "You're too cocky."
Oz's strength dwindled, Oscar running to save him from a crushing blow, one of Penny's knives catching him in the back, the crackling of electricity running down the wires, stunning him as Hazel's fist came swinging.
Nora dove in, taking the hit from Hazel and the shock out of Oscar. With a shriek, her Aura flared, thunder strikes knocking Salem's Legion out of focus, the phantom swords now charged with fire as Yang slapped the Invincible Girl on the back, spearing through Hazel five, ten, twenty times, the blond's hair dulled a few shades.
Ren shot Mercury in the chest for the fifth time, taking the oil lamp. Jaune grabbed the twins, white bleeding into maroon and mahogany, Yang right behind him, pouring Strength into them. Archie kicked the both of them sky high.
Watts finally laid in the dust. Penny's wires snapped, Oscar holding two of the blades, one dripping blood from slitting her throat, a photograph crumpled into her hands. Hazel and Archibald grabbed Neo and Roman, dragging them to safety.
A olive green wall washed over the stone.
"NO!" Yang shrieked, running towards the cliffside, Emerald on the shelf. "NO!" Adam closed the gap in time for the wall to hit. "NOOO!"
He pressed into the door, holding grocery bags and a birthday cake.
"Honey? That's you?"
Four mouths screamed insults on his way to the kitchen, Crocea Mors shining behind the couch, Pyrrha cleaning the dust off of her chains.
"Yeah."
"DAD!" The twins fell down the stairs, strawberry blond with dark eyes, one with bear ears, one with lion's. "WAS MOMMA A BADASS?"
"Your mother is the most interesting woman in the world. About to get more interesting, now that you're grown. Ri-
Red eyes looked at him, feathers blacker than black, talons ripped the dream into shreds.
He gasped for air, laying on the stone. Raven's hands dripping with blood, her eyes torn out. Salem stood tall, the staff rattling in her hands. The rest of the crew laid on the stone, Emerald collapsed into a heap behind them all.
"How dare you?" Salem's voice wavered, the Legion missing from the slopes.
"For the blood of the covenant redeems all, water encompasses desire, dread, and all that dwells beneath." She launched forward, kicking Salem into the canyon. The tide crawled up the slope in the distance. Jaune shattered a vial of Water Dust, the vapor red as her eyes, rousing the others out of tortured sleep.
"This doesn't need to end like this." Ozma stood with arms folded. "Release your cabal, and-"
"...I will do no such thing." Salem's blue eyes tired and bloodshot. "I will come for them. I will see that the problems of this world are eliminated once and for all."
"Fuck you and the lies you stand upon, and your thin layered thinking that the answer to all your problems is getting rid of them."
Only Cinder remained at her side. "...go. Ensure that war proceeds."
"Yes, Mistress." Cinder pressed through the dark portal.
"Right now, right here?" Ozma took his staff into his hands. "...I would prefer we not destroy a beautiful landscape."
Mad giggling.
A Deathstaker with four extra pinchers and two extra tails rose from the reddened spot that was once Tyrian.
"Go." Ozma waved them towards the Beast as it scrambled towards the pedestal. Salem closed the gap in a instant. So did the Deathstalker, pouncing towards the stone pedestal to grind it into dust. It fizzled and shook, its pinchers slamming into the mirage over and over again, shrieking with frustration.
"...that's Blake..." Yang whispered, Ruby holding Blake up as she swayed under the strain of holding the illusion. "Thank you."
The pedestal faded out, the real thing missing from the landscape. The Beast had a not so tiny temper tantrum before bounding towards the Cavalry. Jaune and Ironwood caught each other's glares, in between dodging and parrying blasts of magic, Ozma and Salem having it out behind them.
Taiyang swiped up a shard of Fire Dust left behind by Hazel, punching a fireball at it, everyone jumping at the last second, Oscar's antlers scraping its underbelly as he dove underneath.
Qrow and Ruby shot themselves into the air, stabbing through the thickening bone, pulling off the plate of bone, revealing the gnarly inner workings, Glynda grabbing Oz's hand as he laid on the ground, a black glyph slowing the Scorpion to a crawl.
A spare bolt of magic fried it to a crisp.
Everyone turned to Ozma, the crystal on his staff cracked, who gulped down air as Salem approached, a dark sword ready to swing at her so called love.
Ruby's scythe swung clear between them, her eyes glowing grey as spears of stained glass hailed from the sky, separating her and Ozma.
"...Oh?" Salem turned, white dress ruined, spattered with blood, some hers, some not. "You dare intervene? Even you, daughter of mine?" She raised hands against them.
Ozma cut them off with the same spears, stabbing her straight through the eye. She disappeared into ash and purple smoke, he fell to his knees, cloak burned off, skin raw in places and burnt in others.
"Grandpa..." Ozpin waved towards Ozma, the crew carried him over, the trio laid on the broken stone, Weiss snaking over to Ozma's side, pulling him off the stone onto her lap, Ironwood keeping Oz' head off the ground, Ruby supporting Oscar. Raven was in Qrow's arms. The rest collapsed shortly after, the scent of rain blowing in the breeze.
"Irondad." Yang limped over, handing him a sullied portrait, a dark skinned man with greying hair holding a young tot with ginger hair and more freckles than teeth. "Is this her father?"
He took the picture."Pietro...? I haven't seen him in years." He flipped it over. "To Penny, when I am passed on." He read aloud. "Find James Ironwood. He is responsible for my legacy, all of which I leave to you. He will tell you everything."
"...Oh that's unambiguously pleasant." Winter huffed. "That's totally a reason to kill you."
Ironwood folded the picture into a pocket. "That's my goddaughter. And she's trying to kill me."
"EXCUSE ME!" Glynda screamed. "Can we TALK about our problems!? Instead of resorting to murder!?" Her eyes flashed purple, as she spun her heel, the first of the high rises in the horizons collapsing into nothing, the fires flickering on the rubble.
"Glitter..." Qrow's eyes threatened to hit granite. "What's wrong?"
"Clementine..." Tears rolled down her face. "The city. How? Why?!"
"...Ugh." Ozma sat up, just to falter. "Who is this- Hi Weiss."
"Hello." She picked pebbles out of his hair. He caught Winter's glower, pressing himself up on his elbows, then slowly, with Weiss' help to stand.
Blake crumbled, Jaune held her up as the stone pedestal returned to view. The woman came with it, blonde hair whipping in the wind. The rest of the crew scraped themselves up.
Ren trudged over to her as if possessed, handing her the lamp with both hands. "Thank you, Liè." She laid a subdued kiss on his forehead, he stepped back with a small bow, the yellow overlay finally fading from his eyes, careful footsteps walking back to a worried Nora. "I am Amonute, Mistress of the Relic of Knowledge. Ozymandias." He looked at her. "We thank you for your service. You do understand that this is only the first chapter?" Ironwood stared and stared, Oz looking at him, like he was growing another eye.
"Please, tell me what I need to know." Ozma gritted his teeth, the wounds of his face healing over, borrowing Jaune's hand to heal the rest.
"You need to know nothing."
"Oh, is this where you get the unanswers from?" Raven swallowed migraine pills with a shot of sacred water, eyes glued shut with dried blood.
"He gets them from himself."
"If you're knowledge, then we have questions." Ruby finished her flask of whiskey.
"You get four."
"All seventeen of us?!" It clattered on the stone.
"This isn't a free for all. I am one. I am not all." She sat back in her throne. "Four of us you have freed, four questions you will have answered. "
"Can we discuss?" Ruby picked it back up, holding her back the whole way back up.
"You lose time against Salem the longer you wait..." She crossed her legs, staring into the horizon, into the burning city of Mani. "Hurry. When you are ready..." Ren caught her gaze, he nodded, everyone backing up to yell at each other, Ozma yelling over all of them to quit it, citing the wreck in the distance.
"I didn't plan on getting this far this soon-" Ozma ran his hands through his hair, the gloves getting snagged most of the way down.
Pyrrha looked at him in the eyes. "What is she talking about? Her daughter?!"
Glynda stared at her hands, quickly scurrying away from everyone. "I-"
"Glynda, you are not your parentage!" Winter snapped. "You're here, you're here!"
"...do you know what all of the relics do?" Tai's scales still burned red. "They wouldn't tell us."
"Bold of you to assume that I know everything." Ozma rolled his wrists, the cane making a reappearance, Oz thanking him for his shit joints.
"What's your end goal?" Blake picked at her cuticles, claws shaved to a blunt edge.
"I want the threat of the Grimm eliminated." Ozma started pacing back and forth, running into Oscar who already was walking a nervous rut into the stone. "That...may mean killing Salem. Permanently."
"You know how?"
"No." He stopped. Oscar walked around him, muttering to himself, trying to work on oversights.
"What do you know, Ozma?" Nora huffed.
"That I was waiting for someone, and that's y'all." He swallowed a flask of rum. "Who wanted a end to the suffering placed upon them by the hands of Salem, by the hands of the Grimm. Do you doubt me?"
"...if the gods gave you powers, can't they just take them away?" Taiyang cut the zapped ends of his braid even.
"...they left." Ozma looked at the ground. Weiss slid in front of him, his gaze meeting hers. "Yes Weiss?" She booped him. "...you're a ball of surprises."
"No god worth their prayers leaves their creations entirely." Glynda stole James' flask. "They stick with us, remnants of something higher to aspire to, old gods and gone gods doesn't mean dead gods."
"So, what do the relics do? How to defeat the Grimm? How to summon the gods that created this world? That's three." Oscar stopped pacing.
"Anyone object so far?" Ozpin sat back down, all of the joints on his fingers red and swollen.
"Wait, if you defeat the Grimm, would that also defeat Salem?" Raven watched the ashes blow over in the wind, her brother singing ballads to the dead behind her. "Wouldn't that just revert their strength to hers?"
"...I have tried countless times to defeat Salem." Ozma let Weiss examine his rings. "It doesn't matter if she does or does not have the Grimm. We need to call bigger guns."
"...see yourself truly." Jaune finally spoke up, done picking at the destroyed hoodie "...we, Winter did you see?"
"I did." She stopped spinning the swords in her hands. "The future where we are stars. Pyrrha-"
"What are you-" Pyrrha's mind whirred back on, her hand stuck in a bag of rosemary pita chips. "That dream wasn't false?" She threw Adam the bag. "But there were sixteen!"
"The future is not fixed!" His eyes flashed blue, she stumbled back. "We either make it or die trying, and we've tried the second option!"
"I DID NOT SIGN UP FOR THIS!" James screamed into the sky, the mountains echoing him back, an snowdrift falling in the distance, a mountain pass revealed as the snow settled. "What is that?"
"Jimmy, yes you did!" Oz threw his cane at him. "Grandpa!"
"I have to stop that war!" He was already half down the slope. "And so do you!"
"We're wasting time!" Weiss skated over. "Listen, you go stop the war! We...We'll meet you halfway, if we can! Promise that you'll be there when we call."
"...I will." Ozma pulled a ring off his hands, pressing into Weiss' hands, ignoring the blush on her face as he disappeared in petals.
"That's our fourth. Any object?"
"Are you sure you have time for that?!" Blake's hair was covered with ash. "The war has started! Ren, summon her." He limped over, tapping the pedestal, her form and throne appeared.
"...Are you ready? Ask away."
"What do the four relics do?"
"We can change the fate of Remnant itself. Scheherazade can revoke or evoke a singular choice. Ariadne can destroy anything as Esmeralda can bring it about. I grant knowledge, four questions every generation. An exception is being made for you."
"But, as you have seen," She ran her fingers through Ren's windswept hair, he turned his face away from her, pink heavy on his face. "I am not solely a genie in a bottle, I hold power and dominion over all things and beings of the winds. Us four are Remnant to a certain degree. And we hold your very fate."
"By releasing us, we are indebted to you." Ozma cursed in at least seven dead languages. "Beware, as your final question will answer itself. You'll just find out when you get there. Lastly, the issue of the Grimm is the issue of all time." She smiled.
"Okay." Ironwood pinched his brow, Qrow pressing migraine pills into his other hand. "I give up. I just..." He took double the dosage. "I'm done. Can we go?" His eyes remained locked in the distance. "Before..."
"You have one more question, whenever you should return to me." She leant over to kiss Ren, pulling him towards her by his hair, before she disappeared in grey petals.
He said nothing, returning to Nora's side, inky locks torn free from its plaits, ends skimming his ankles.
"I understand." She smiled at him, the wind ruining her braid, lightning in her eyes. "It's okay."
"So now what?"
"New Vale." Pyrrha thumbed through her Scroll. "Emergency Council's been called."
"We can't leave that!" Jaune roared, the city collapsing in the distance, smoking into the sky.
Lightning crackled on Nora's skin, the storm rolling over ahead. "I..." She dragged Ironwood with her, the sounds of thunder deafening them all. "I need help!" They took off the shore, the dark clouds went with her, her feet, then her legs, then his and the rest of them, Nora and Ironwood skidding over the waves, their bodies nothing but lightning and thunderclouds, the storm opening up on top of the town, putting out the fire. They circled back, pink sparks and dark clouds turning into a frazzled Nora and a exhausted Ironwood.
"That...was fun." James was on the stone for the second time.
"I told you, old man." Ruby leant over him. "You get to break all kinds of laws of physics and it's a blast innit?"