Was everything in this cursed world determined to get between Cinder and her goals?

Vacuo, this horrible continent of sand and dust, was meant to be different. No great invasion had been planned as with the other Kingdoms. Vacuo had already withstood a full frontal attack of Salem's forces, led by Tyrian Callows. This kingdom required a different approach. Stealth and patience- that had been the plan. Infiltrates, observe and wait- that's what they had done.

And their waiting had paid off. Not only were the Summer Maiden and the Relic within their grasp, but as were the Winter Maiden and the Relic of Creation. Ruby Rose and Oscar Pine had also been an added bonus. If she, Cinder Fall, somehow succeeded in acquiring all of these, Salem would never question her abilities again. None ever would.

They had been so close to winning. She could almost taste it.

Emerald's appearance had only been a minor hiccup, and the old Summer Maiden just a small inconvenience. She had been easy enough to snuff out.

But that's when it all began to go wrong.

The Summer Maiden's power had gone to that nobody Winter Maiden. She didn't even know her name, that's how insignificant that woman had been before Atlas. And yet twice she had foiled her plans.

But this nobody was not the only thorn in her side. She could have killed her before she'd fully acclimated to the second Maiden's powers but Salem's hounds had stopped her, in the name of 'protecting' her. Emerald had claimed the same, that her defection had been with the aim of protecting her.

She was no maiden in need of protection.

She was powerful.

She was strong enough to crush her foes.

She was no longer that young servant girl from Mistral.

She did not need anyone's help.

Not like Emerald, she had needed protecting. If Mercury had not jumped in to save her, she would have been dead by now.

And Mercury was just as naive and stupid as the rest of them. He had risked his own safety, his own life, to help Emerald. She had thought he'd known better than the rest. But then she should have assumed stupidity was contagious, these months undercover in Shade Academy, travelling alongside these fools- he had become one.

But if Cinder really stopped and thought about it, all her failures stemmed down to the silver eyed Huntress that stood before her.

A child.

A brat.

A nuisance.

Her problems had begun with Ruby Rose and they would only end when her blood watered the soil and her flesh fed the worms.

This would explain why, fighting against her, she's pushed past her own limits, Manifesting far more weapons than she ever had before. So many that not even Ruby Rose with her convenient Semblance could escape.

And she still had.

Cinder recognised the shield that erupted between them. She had seen it in Atlas before and Salem had explained what it had been.

Magic.

Ancient magic.

Ozma's magic.

She swore at her own weakness. She had been too fast to stop her own attack. The barrage she had conjured to burn down Ruby Rose had been reduced to nothing more than fireworks.

Wasted.

And that brat had the audacity to look away from her. As if Cinder Fall did not deserve her undivided attention. Cinder's anger and frustration began to fume once again, burning away at the fatigue the overuse of the Maiden's power had created. She did not have the strength to Manifest any further weapons but her rage was enough to propel her forward. Her body crashed into Ruby's. The two tumbled into the Vault ,their bodies struggling against each other as Cinder tried to kill her with her bare hands while Ruby tried to escape.

It was with great effort and the use of her Semblance that the Huntress finally succeeded. But she crashed into the pedestal upon which the relic of destruction hovered. It was a beautiful sword with a gleaming silver blade and a hilt of twisted gold endorned with small blue gems. However Ruby had little time to appreciate its beauty and craftsmanship. In a desperate ploy, she grasped the sword's hilt and spun on the ball of her heels, trying to imagine how Jaune would have used such a weapon. Crescent Rose lay not far from the Vault entrance, where the vivid green grass that surrounded the Relic met the orange hued sands.

The gleam of Ruby's newly acquired weapon did not go unnoticed by Cinder. She broke her own attack, turning on her heels, avoiding the heavy sword. Her own hands fell to the belt around her waist and unhooked the blades that had obediently hung there, waiting for their master's call. She quickly raised one of the curved blades, blocking Ruby's clumsy attack while, with the other, she twisted the Huntress's wrist. Ruby struggled to retain her hold but she grunted in pain, the Relic flying out of her hands and skidding just past the Vault border, to stop in the world outside.

Cinder ignored the Relic momentarily, the Necrogrimm with collect it once they had completed their own battles. She would stop Ruby Rose once and for all. She looked down at the blades that her first teacher had given her, their edge as sharp as they had been all those years ago. They would do nicely.

"Ruby!" Another writhing voiced interrupted, forcing Cider to look away from her pray. Ruby's blonde companion was at the Vault, her hands desperately pushing against the edge of the doors, trying to stop the two sides from meeting.

With the Relic no longer within the Vault, the doors had begun to close, threatening to lock Cinder and Ruby inside.

"Yang!" Cried Ruby, watching as, irrespective of her sister's attempts, the doors continued to close. There was already just a slit too small for Yang to pass though. Her whole body was shaking as she tried to stop the doors from closing further.

But they continued to move, smoothly and steadily.

Relentless.

"Oh no you don't… !" Began Cinder, raising one of the blades over her head, recognising as the first petal fluttered around Ruby. But she was too slow compared to the Huntress. Ruby swerved out of the sword's range, a flurry of rose petals rushing towards the door.

"Hurry!" Yang cried out, her crimson eyes watching as she saw her sister's attempts to reach her. Her whole arm shook against the doors, but it was for naught, no human could stop these doors conjured by magic.

Ruby's body crashed into the doros, her fists pounding against the strange material that made them.

"Yang!" She called, slamming a fist against the door. But it was to no avail, the door would not budge.

Reluctantly, Ruby turned to look at the women who had just caused this situation to form.

She was trapped in a Vault she did not think her friends could open… with Cinder Fall.

What happened next was hard to explain. With Cinder now out of their radar it seemed the Necrogrimm's orders had changed. Like hounds being summoned by their master's silent whistle, the creatures began to retreat away from the combatants. Clover made to dart over the wall of ice Nora had conjured, possibly in a last ditch effort to steal the Relic of Destruction. However, some quick winter magic from Nora and he quickly decided that that wasn't going to happen.

And so the Necrogrimm began to escape, pursued by the Huntsmen-in-training, ignoring Tyrian who was still captured. Their master must have seen what had unfolded through their own eyes and was commanding their return.

And so the Necrogrimm fled, Salem's greatest creations. Empty handed, jumping across the moat of spikes in one simple ease. The same mechanism that had meant to aid the Huntsmen, stopping them from following further. However it did not stop Coco from sending a series of bullet fire after them for good measure, the rock crumbling where she hit but the Necrogrimm had already escaped without any further harm.

She pulled down her glasses in annoyance watching as they vanished through the dark shadows that created the passage.

"Let them go." Oscar calmly said, standing and momentarily surveying his own handiwork. Tyrian had been hogtied, with his own tail tying his hands behind his back. His chest was pressed against the ground and it didn't seem the least bit comfortable, but comfort was a luxury he didn't particularly deserve. "There is no use chasing them. We are all either too injured, or exhausted or both. If we pursue, we will simply have more casualties."

The boy's voice remained calm as he gingerly leaned against his cane. His eyes looked around the ragged group- tired, beaten faces, but alive faces, looked back at him.

But his heart pained him as the sound of metal hitting metal continued to ring out throughout the chamber.

"Ruby!" Yang continued to desperately call her sister's name. Like a banshee wailing the loss of someone near. However, despite her pleas and attempts, the doors remained stubbornly shut. Her eyes were wide and on the brink of tears. "The Summer Maiden!" She suddenly exclaimed, turning her head from side to side. She'd be able to open the door again!. "Where…"

"It's no use." Nora's voice was unusually hollow as she spoke, her hand already placed against the warm Vault doors. She could sense the energy beneath her fingers, the magic still coursing through the material. She'd whispered for them to open, proclaiming that she was the new Summer Maiden, even if she hadn't wished to be so.

Yet although the summer Maiden had been the key, the door remained closed. Just as the doors of the Atlas Vault had refused to open for her once the Relic of Creation had been collected.

Just like that, even after months of training she'd been devolved back to the girl she had been back in Atlas.

The Huntress unable to control the Maiden's powers.

"It won't open." Oscar elborated slowly, walking to stand behind Yang, his cane making a strange clunking sound against the rock. Salem knew as much as he did that, for whatever reason, the Vault would not open for Nora once the Relic had been collected. The fact that she had left the Relic behind warned him of Salem's confidence. She believed she could acquire that particular Relic at a later date.

That did not bode well.

"What about Ruby?!" Yang blurted out, shaking her head, her fist pounding even more aggressive but it faltered, shaking, when she felt Oscar's hand on her shoulder.

"Ms Xiao Long, I assure you your sister is safe, even if she is trapped within the Vault with Cinder Fall." He tried to reassure her. " That fiend may actually prove to be Ms Rose's key to escape that place.

"Key…?" Yang's voice was so small Oscar could barely understand the word.

"You're not Oscar, are you?" Qrow's mouth felt dry as he spoke, his voice hoarser than usual. His mind was moving too slowly, his niece… had he last lost his niece? The attack of the Necrogrimm, he could still feel it, a fog engulfed his mind, like it was wading through swamp water. It was with some help from Nolan, that he was carefully being pulled to his feet. Coco and the others stalked towards the rest of the group like injured animals returning to their den.

Ozpin sighed sadly, clenching the hands that rested on his cane, Oscar's hands… not, not anymore, his.

"Unfortunately, no." He finally answered, his voice thick with regret.

"But is Oscar alright?" Nora exclaimed, unable to understand why Ozpin was speaking in Oscar's place. They had only begun to do that recently when Ozpin needed to explain something to them.

Ozpin took too long to answer

"Professor Ozpin." Nora's voice was low but it shook as she spoke. "Is Oscar alright?"

It was Qrow that finally answered, his feet dragging behind him as he answered, his dark eyes studying Oscar's. "The fusion… it's complete, isn't it?"

"What?" Nora's voice sounded almost like a gasped intake of air. Her eyes widened at Qrow's words, looking at Oscar, waiting for him to claim it wasn't true.

"When he used my magic to help Ms Rose…" Ozpin swallowed heavily, finding it difficult to look the woman in the eyes. To look at any of them.

"So we lost the Oscar as well." Nora hollowly concluded. Her answer was far more subdued than Ozpin would have expected. It was too quiet, not the loud response the rest had come to expect from her. Ren looked down at her, concerned by her answer.

At that moment, she was numb.

They had lost too many.

She wanted to scream and cry for Oscar. To curse this stupid world that had taken him away from them.

But she had no more tears to shed.

Oscar Pine had just become another casualty of this ware.

She wished she could weep for him, but she was just too tired.

"Oscar… Ozpin… Whatever you call yourself now." Yang shot around, her eyes flashing red and shrugging off Ozpin's hand. "You said Cinder was the key to Ruby getting out of there- explain what that means!"

"Can everyone just hold it for a second?" Coco interrupted casually, lying one hand on her hip while pulling down her glasses to look down at Ozpin. She studied the boy, unimpressed.

"Who is this kid?" She questioned, between the constant battles they'd faced between the academy and here, there hadn't been a lot of time for questions, and far less time for answers. But she was certain Professor Ozpin had been killed at the Battle of Beacon."And why are you all calling him Ozpin?"

Reluctantly, Ozpin turned away from the distraught Huntress to the small group that surrounded him. There was much he still had to tell them but better to start with the simplest point.

"I believe it is about time I take on a name long left unused." Ozpin admitted, looking at Coco before moving his gaze across his small audience before looking down at the hands that had now become his own. "I have much to explain to you all but I must begin with this small but vital piece. I am neither Oscar Pine nor Ozpin Zoroaster. I feel, as the final battle draws nearer, I must return to the name with which this all began." He paused before continuing, it had been so very long since he had last used his real name. "I am Ozma, the fool whose death began this war."