Here we go.

Cover Art: Jack Wayne

Chapter 150

"This is a difficult story to accept."

"It was a difficult one to live through," Jaune replied. "Let alone tell."

James brought his forehead down to touch his steepled fingers, sitting in silence for a long moment. It wasn't the first time he'd displayed such emotion during the telling. News of the war, the unrest and then the civil war within Atlas had brought him low.

"It's one thing to believe everything you told me about the Ashari, Salem and Ozpin. That, at least, I could confirm with my own sources. Time travel, however? Really, Ashari, you're asking too much of me."

"Arc. My real name is Jaune Arc. This would be me."

James accepted his scroll, upon which was a picture Emerald had sent of her with her teammates. The younger version of himself on the picture, so similar to the point of being a near identical twin, had Ironwood clutching his head with one hand.

"This shouldn't be so difficult to accept. I know magic exists. Maidens with powers lasting beyond death, people cursed to immortality, Gods and Relics and monsters. If all of that exists, why not time travel? But accepting it… If we can go back through time at a whim to change what we don't like, then does anything we do now matter?"

"Not anyone can. Salem sent me back but couldn't send herself. Even then she had to rip out my soul with one Relic, create a body with another and force me into that. I'm also not sure on the particulars of it all. Is it really time travel or an alternate dimension? This could be another version of my world entirely."

"Ashari, please," James said. "My head is hurting enough already."

"Sorry." Jaune laughed weakly. "I only mean that there aren't any paradoxes or the sort or I should have been written out of existence the moment I changed the future of this world's Jaune. Either way, I don't think anyone other than Salem could do this, and she'd need all the Relics to do it. At that point we've already lost."

"I suppose the blood test you suggested would show you and this boy are one and the same." James handed the scroll back. "We'll look into that later. For now, against my wishes, I believe you."

"That easily?"

"The Ark Project…"

Jaune frowned. "The what?"

"Sending Atlas into the atmosphere to escape Remnant," he explained. "The idea was presented to me only one year ago by some of our fringe scientists. They've taken to calling it the Ark Project."

The idea had been this early? Jaune had thought Ironwood came up with on his own as a desperation play. "Did you accept?"

"Of course I didn't!" James snapped. "We'd be running away, abandoning our people, our duty, our very planet! And what difference would it make with what we know now? Remnant would still crumble to ash once all the dust wears out. We would die up there."

"Not if Salem won," Jaune pointed out. "If she made her new civilisation with less people and no magic or dust, the world might have time to recover."

"That makes no difference. I will not flee. I will not betray the people of Remnant." General James Ironwood slammed his fist down on the table. "Except that I did, didn't I? I gave up. I embraced the Ark Project. I pushed Atlas into civil war."

Jaune tried to smile. He really did. When that didn't work, he came around to stand beside the broken man and place a hand on his shoulder. "You were desperate."

"As if that absolves me." James shook it off. "I swore to fight long before Ozpin found me. I swore I would protect Atlas and drive back the darkness. Not that I would become a part of it. What happened to me? The me you speak of sounds like some twisted caricature. What could have possessed me to order such a thing? What could have possessed people to follow me?"

"Loyalty."

"Loyalty!?" James laughed. "Atlas expects loyalty from its soldiers, but it does not demand it! I'd clearly gone mad!" he snapped. "They should have deposed me! What about Winter? What about the Ace-Ops?"

"They followed you. Reluctantly."

"Reluctantly? They should have gone further than reluctance! No one man should have so much power. I've told them that before. The command structure is important but there must always be checks and balances. That's why the Colour Revolution happened in the first place!" He slammed his fist on the desk again, rocking the woodwork. Cracks spanned out across it, originating from the point of impact. "I… I cannot believe this."

"It's true."

"Not that," he said. "I can… I can believe what you are saying. Your lack of records, your knowledge, your experience, not to mention this explains so much of why you dislike Ozpin and why you're prepared to go so far against Salem. I mean what I became. What Atlas became. And for what, because Vale took some damage and we were afraid?"

"To be fair, Salem was leading an army of Grimm to your walls."

"We're a military kingdom. That is not something we should be unprepared for. That's what I can't believe. I can't believe how stupid I became. How pointless my actions would have been."

"Maybe there was more to it." Jaune admitted. "I only saw it from my perspective. Ozpin filled in the details but even he couldn't have known for sure. Or he could have lied or tried to spare us the truth."

James grunted and let out a little nod. It wasn't a perfect answer by any means but at least that suggested there may have been some logic behind the decision of James' future self. Maybe Atlas had been collapsing before then, maybe things were worse and this Project Ark really was the only way out.

"That does not absolve my actions…"

"Don't waste time on it."

Ironwood stared up at him. "What!? But the things I did-"

"Do not exist in this world. That's something I had to learn, James. I've made friends of enemies and enemies of friends. I've adopted someone who tried to kill me, caused the death of one friend's parent and prevented the death of another's. I've wiped out the White Fang before it could become a threat and left the worst man of my last life in charge of its peaceful rebuilding. The timelines have changed. Nothing is the same. Not me, not the world and certainly not you."

"Is that enough?"

"It is. It has to be. Salem is retreating this generation anyway, so the fall of Vale will never happen. Consequently, the fall of Atlas won't happen. You'll never need the Ark Project." With each sentence, Ironwood's shoulders untensed. "It's not even fair to compare yourself to that Ironwood any more than it would be for me to kill Jacques for the monster he became, or to criticise Winter for obeying you. She'd not even in the military this time."

"You're right. You're right." Ironwood sighed. "I am… upset at what you say I became but I can only assume I lost some important part of myself." He shook his head. "I must have gone insane in some way. It's the only explanation. Well that won't happen this time. Now," he amended. "The other world…?"

"Gone." Jaune confirmed. "I've had to accept that. My friends are dead. I'm not teammates with them in this life, and they're different people. They've had different lives and grown up in their own unique ways."

"Am I different?" James asked.

"Definitely. I barely knew you last time. You were as cold and distant as Ozpin. Now, I consider you one of my few friends. I mean that," he said. "I may have come to Atlas at first for my own reasons, but I came to respect you while I served under you."

Ironwood nodded, visibly pleased, but soon brought things back to a professional angle. "Thank you. Moving on, this issue with Ozpin and his plans. I can understand your concerns more now. Your feelings are compromised. I think you know that as well as I do. Intellectually speaking, Ozpin has the right idea. In military terms you can either destroy your enemy completely or show them mercy. The latter is easier."

"But…?"

"There is a but." Ironwood agreed. "But in military terms, showing mercy is often done on the notion that those you are sparing will either not retaliate or will not be strong enough to. There's no reason to leave a purely hostile enemy force in one piece if you know they'll go back and gather their strength. It's poor strategy."

"You agree that she needs to be stopped then?"

"I do." Ironwood nodded and Jaune felt a surge of hope. "It will be dangerous, that much I accept, but we can take steps to mitigate the risk. This weapon you and Ozpin spoke of. It's made from all four Relics?"

"Yes. I saw how to do it. Ruby made it with Ozpin's instructions, but I was there."

"Good. We'll need it and the Relics. What we can do is have some failsafe in place, some plan – perhaps involving Raven's portals – that if things go poorly and it looks like she might win, we abandon the weapon to Raven, and she is to take it away. Scatter it."

Jaune hadn't even considered that, but then that was why James was a general and he was so much better as a fighter, a soldier. Ozpin's whole problem was the idea that if they failed the Relics might fall into her hands. If they made plans to prevent that then it wouldn't even be an issue.

"We can keep the weapon away and only utilise it if we have the upper hand," Ironwood continued. "We would need to remove Tyrian and all the Grimm anyway, so we would be able to see our defeat coming in time and call for the Relics to be scattered or even returned to Ozpin for safekeeping. How important was the weapon against her last time?"

"She couldn't be hurt without it. No, she could be hurt but not wounded. Nothing we did stuck. Probably to stop us cheesing her curse by cutting her into little bits and burying her."

"Complicated but not unsurmountable."

"You're in then?" Jaune asked, just to be sure. "You agree we will go after her. Finish this once and for all."

"I do. Ozpin may be content to work for the whole of humanity as a concept, but I have a duty to the people who live here now, and those who will come in the next fifty years. I cannot accept the idea of knowingly allowing her to build her forces anew. We have her where we want her." Ironwood clenched his hand into a fist. "The time to strike is now."

"How soon?"

"It will take me a little time to muster my forces. I can't tell them all who or what we're going for, but I may trust a select few about Salem. Don't worry, I'll make sure they're vetted, and I'll explain it as a new discovery. In fact, I may phrase it as us having found the spawning pools – the source of all Grimm – and that our work is to attack and seal those. Can you get me video evidence of the pools?"

He'd have to ask Cinder. "I have someone who might be able to. Isn't Ozpin going to notice if you start a public push for this?"

"He's going to notice sooner or later anyway," Ironwood said. "Best he notice after it's too late to stop us. And make no mistake, he'll try. The first thing we need do is gather the Relics. That's the first thing he'll try – hiding them away so we can't use them."

"I have the Relic of Knowledge."

Ironwood looked up at him, stunned. Several questions flashed across his face. How? When? Why had no one noticed? He swallowed them all and continued. "Good. I have the Relic of Creation. The problem is the other two – Choice and Destruction. Ozpin has Choice, though we know the maiden is Pyrrha Nikos. Destruction on the other hand. I read the report. That maiden died and we don't know-"

"I also have the Summer Maiden." Jaune chuckled. "It's Cinder Fall. I gave it to her as a way to lure her away from Salem. I intended it because I could kill her at any time but now… now I think she could be drawn to our side."

"This is the woman who killed your partner?" Ironwood asked. "The one you swore to hunt down and kill?"

Jaune shook his head firmly. "That Cinder is dead."

Ironwood held his gaze for a long moment before saying, "You're a more forgiving man than I am."

He hadn't been at first, but over ten years of living here had convinced him to let go of the past and move on. It was what Pyrrha – what all his friends – would have wanted. Besides, he'd already killed the old Cinder and gotten his revenge. He'd watched the life fade from her eyes as she cursed his name. That was satisfaction enough.

"Gather the Relics first." Ironwood said. "I'll talk to people in private and prepare an attack force. Once you've taken the last Relic, I'll go public with the knowledge of the spawning pools and mobilise our forces on a mission to destroy them once and for all. When we find signs of habitation there, it'll only make sense to investigate and destroy this `mysterious Grimm-human hybrid` as well. No one need know what the weapon you wield is or how important it is. To them, it'll be huntsmen fighting a powerful human-like Grimm. Nothing too unusual."

It was a good plan. Jaune wondered if the Ironwood of the past time would have come up with something similar had Ozpin included him more or had he not desperately latched onto the idea of fleeing into the atmosphere. Ozpin had been in possession of all the tools to do this long ago. He'd had the Relics, or at least known where they were and whom the maidens were, he had his allies in General Ironwood, Team STRQ and even Lionheart before Salem got to the man. He'd had everything he needed other than the will to press the attack.

Ozpin is too afraid. Or maybe he's too focused on the bigger picture. He's spent so many hundreds or thousands of years just holding Salem back that he's forgotten the point is to kill her.

Or he didn't want to. The simple truth was that he'd never really be able to understand what was going on in Ozpin's head. No one could. The man lived a cursed life, bound to a task for thousands of years by uncaring beings. At this point, Ozpin's thought process was probably more than a little inhuman. Anyone would be the same in his shoes.

"How long will it take you to prepare?" Jaune asked.

"I can have everything ready in one month. It will take me that long to convince the Council this is the right course of action. They'll need time to deliberate. My soldiers are ready now, but I'd still appreciate the time to inspect provisions, conduct weapons tests and last minute training. I won't throw anyone's life away."

One month. It sounded like such a long time and yet it was so, so little. In one singular month they would have a chance to finish this once and for all. It would take Salem years to find and train new allies anyway, maybe even a decade. A month or two's wait before the final attack wouldn't make much difference. Finally, he could do what he'd come back to do. After more than ten years, it was about damn time!

"Well…" Jaune said, laughing faintly. "I'd best get started, hadn't I?"

/-/

"You need me to what?"

Jaune considered it a good sign that Cinder only gave him that incredulous explanation after another gruelling session at the ASH Gym rather than ignore him outright. Most of the people were showering and heading home but he'd asked Cinder to fake staying behind. He had to do so that way because otherwise Vernal and Emerald would have eavesdropped if they knew.

Maybe it was unfair, but he wanted to keep them out of this, just like he wished he and his teammates had been kept out of it in his time. No one should have asked Pyrrha to take on the mantle of the maiden. The rules were that it had to be someone below thirty. Surely Ozpin had access to actual huntresses who could have taken it on, and no matter how skilled Pyrrha had been, she hadn't been a huntress. Only ever a student.

This time, he could keep the girls out of this and fight this battle himself.

"I would like you to open the vault to the Relic of Destruction," he said.

"Isn't that in Vacuo…?"

"Yes. I can get you there."

"I don't doubt that but… is this for Salem?"

"No. Salem isn't interested in the Relics right now. As you know." He let that sink in. Cinder looked around nervously but didn't leave. She must have been curious as to why he wanted it if Salem didn't.

"Is this… Is this about our previous conversation…?"

"About leaving her employ? Yes."

Cinder licked her lips. "Is it to threaten her if she comes after us?"

"Not quite. It turns out even the Relic of Destruction can't harm her."

"Then we're going to move it and keep the information on where it's hidden to ourselves so she cannot afford to kill us?" All good ideas, he supposed. Cinder was thinking too much on escape, however.

"Salem would still rather capture and torture us than let us go. The only way we're going to be free of her is if she's no longer a problem. I have found a way to kill her once and for all."

Cinder's eyes bulged out. "This sounds far too reckless!"

"I'm not asking you to be the one to do it. I've already found someone who will."

"Who?" she demanded.

He had a feeling she wouldn't agree without knowing more. Cinder was too prideful for that and saw this as an agreement between equals, so she wouldn't sit back and let him keep secrets. That said, she didn't need to know the full truth either.

"General Ironwood. I've leaked information on a weapon capable of killing Salem to him. The weapon is true," he added, "And we'll be providing it to him. He will then do the rest."

"You've manipulated him?"

"Yes." It was the truth in a sense. He had manipulated James. Only, he'd done so with honesty, reasoning and by appealing to the man's virtues. Everything could be classed as manipulation if you looked at it deeply enough. Cinder didn't need to know the details. "General Ironwood is already preparing his forces for an attack. With how weak Salem is, this will either kill her or at the very least kill Tyrian. Either way, she'll be pushed so far back that live or die, she won't have the means to hunt us down this lifetime."

"Does he expect us to be involved?" she asked.

"Not at all. I may involve myself, but only because I'd rather make sure this works. You won't need to come. All I need from you is your willingness to open the vault and let me take the Relic."

Which, in itself, was a big ask of someone so power hungry. He was well aware of the temptation hidden behind those golden eyes, how she was thinking even now of just how powerful she could be if she took the Relic for herself. Jaune didn't let his concern show, nor the way the hand he held behind his back was glowing faintly.

He would give Cinder a chance to prove herself. Nothing more.

"What does the Relic do?" she asked.

"It destroys, within a limit."

"What limit?"

"I do not know." He didn't. Ozpin had never let them use it. "But there's always a caveat with the Relics, Cinder. The Relic of Knowledge only allows three questions every hundred years. The Relic of Choice does not let you choose which choice you see or show you the consequences behind it. I expect the Relic of Destruction has some similar trick to it. They all do. Perhaps it lets you destroy but takes a little of your life each time. Maybe you can only destroy that which you defeat in a duel. Maybe it destroys both the target and the wielder." He shrugged. "I don't know. That's probably intentional on Ozpin's part."

Power wasn't much use if you couldn't use it. He watched her face twist with distaste. Cinder had her maiden power now, and she also had the prospect of her freedom from Salem. It had been easy before, when she had nothing, to take big risks for power. Now, she had everything to lose and comparatively little to gain.

"How will we get to Vacuo?" she asked. "Ozpin isn't blind. He has to notice I keep slipping away sooner or later. And what of Salem's mark? When are you going to take that off me?"

"Last minute for the mark," he said. "In case she has a way of noticing when it's gone. We may as well not alert her until the last second." He waited for her reluctant nod of understanding. "As for Ozpin, well, I was thinking we would sneak off this weekend."

/-/

"Jaune!" Summer wrapped him up in a big hug and squeezed him tight. "I'm glad you could come. We thought… well…"

"That I wouldn't?"

"You were so angry at Ozpin. I can understand but…"

"It's fine." He stepped into the Xiao-Long family home and hung his jacket up on one of the pegs. The sound of laughter, music and clinking glasses was already coming from further inside. "I take it Qrow is already here."

"Him and Tai have been going at it for the last hour already."

"Sounds like them." He brought out a bottle of red wine. "Here. For you both."

"Thank you. You didn't have to." Summer accepted it with a smile and led him inside, closing the door behind. Zwei came trundling up to see who had dared enter his domain, then wagged his back end when he saw Jaune, coming up for a scratch behind his neck. "Come on in," Summer said. "It's a small celebration but we wanted to keep it a private affair."

Who else they might have invited, he didn't know. Team STRQ must have had more friends during their time in Beacon so maybe they meant that. "Is Ozpin here?"

"No. We thought things might be easier if he wasn't."

Jaune nodded. He didn't think he could handle the old wizard right now. Following Summer into the living room, he found Qrow and Taiyang arguing over a game of cards. They looked up on seeing him and Qrow took the chance to swap one of his cards while Taiyang wasn't looking.

"Hey-hey, if it isn't Mr Grumpy Pants himself." Qrow tossed Jaune a can of beer, which he caught with one hand. "Done brooding already?"

"Qrow!" Taiyang kicked him under the table. "There's nothing wrong with wanting to get rid of someone like Salem. Hey Jaune." He smiled up at him. "Ignore him. He's losing badly and blaming everyone else for it."

"Qrow and losing at cards," Jaune drawled. "Name a more iconic duo."

"I can't help my Semblance!"

"No, but you can certainly blame your shitty poker face on it, can't you?" Jaune sat on the nearest couch and absentmindedly stroked Zwei as he hopped into his lap. "Thanks for inviting me."

"You're a family friend." Taiyang said. "Heck, you're practically a second uncle to the girls."

"I'm the best!" Qrow said.

Jaune smirked. "Keep telling yourself that, bird."

Summer laughed, coming back into the room with a pair of pizza boxes. It looked like they'd ordered takeout. "I didn't realise the competition for best uncle was so fierce. Yang and Ruby would be embarrassed." Sitting down next to her husband, she kissed his cheek and leaned into him, bringing her feet up under her. I can't believe it's finally over."

"It is." Taiyang slung an arm around her shoulder. "We've done it."

Cracking his own can, Jaune drank to hide his reaction. He'd agreed to come both because they were his friends and because he didn't want to be a stick in the mud. Now wasn't the time to repay that by causing an argument. They deserve a chance to be happy anyway. They've been fighting longer than I have. Before Yang and Ruby were born, even.

"I always thought there'd be a party with the four of us at the end," Summer said. "I just thought it might be Raven here. Team STRQ together at the end, basking in our victory."

"Forget her." Taiyang pulled her in tight. "We're better off without her."

"With Salem gone, there's not much reason for her to skulk around with the tribe anymore." Qrow said. "I could go and talk to her if you like. Or Jaune could. She trusts him more than she does me anyway."

Taiyang made an unhappy noise, but he didn't sound too against the idea. It was more like he wasn't hyped on it. The question was posed more toward Summer anyway, who was the one person who might have personal reason to not want her back or feel threatened by her return. Not that she ought to. Taiyang wasn't going to leave her for the woman who abandoned him and his child.

"I wouldn't be against it…" Summer said. "I know we had our issues and she failed Yang. I wouldn't want her coming back and thinking she can step in or be a part of Yang's life anymore, but as a friend…" Her smile wavered. "Raven was our friend once. She was my best friend in the whole world. It'd be nice to try and get that back… and now that there's no risk of a war with Salem, there's no reason she shouldn't, right?"

No reason, hm? It was ironic to think that Raven was prepared to keep fighting, that she was willing to go with him into one last war with Salem for a chance to end her once and for all. Unlike them, Raven was afraid of what giving Salem any time to recover might mean in the long run. In a way, her cowardice gave her strength. A rat cornered and all that.

He wasn't sure Raven would want to talk or reconnect with her team, though. Even if Salem was dead and gone, so too was any chance of reigniting what she once had with Taiyang. Bridges had been burned. Everyone had moved on. If she was to risk her life, however, then it might be best to have some final words with them. If she wanted them…

"Qrow and I can talk to her together," Jaune offered. "But not tonight." He bit back his frustration and raised his beer. "Tonight is to celebrate the end of the war. To peace!" he saluted. "To peace and no more fighting!"

"To growing old with family!" Taiyang said.

"To watching our girls grow up!" Summer said.

"Make me feel left out, yeah?" Qrow whined. "I'll start a family when I'm damn well ready. Ah whatever, to years of being shunted at every female friend Summer has."

They all laughed. If Jaune had his way, they'd all accomplish those things as well. And ultimately, they'd do so without ever having to worry on Salem coming back. True peace wouldn't happen until she was dead, until Ozma was freed from his curse and until both them and the presence of the gods was gone once and for all.

My idiot nephew came around today to go on about how he's going to try and get back to Dubai now that lockdown has lifted. He's taken out a big loan (with no thought on how he'll pay it back) so that he can go out there and just spend, spend, spend like an idiot.

Tried to talk to him so much about being an idiot but he just refuses to listen. He's living the "alpha life" or so he tells me. Really want to punch him in the face sometimes, especially since he causes my sister so much grief. His brother is so nice, too. Settled down and bought a house with his girlfriend a few months back. They have a cute little Pomeranian and he's been promoted to head chef at a hotel.

Amazing how two kids growing up in the same house, same school and both being babysat by me when they were younger, can grow up to be so different.

Next Chapter: 24th April

P a treon . com (slash) Coeur