Chapter 63

'I warned you Yang.' The red-clad woman circled the blonde like a vulture. Yang stood her ground firmly against her mother, raising a condescending eyebrow at the woman as she paced. 'I gave you every opportunity to walk away from Qrow and Oz, so you can believe me when I say this wasn't personal.'

Raven fell silent for moment, waiting for the impassive girl's reply. Yang's face remained expressionless as she stared at her mother trying in vain to make excuses. 'You opened the vault.'

'Thanks to the chaos you and your friends caused upstairs. I knew you could handle it; you're my daughter after all.' Raven paced around the girl, trying her best to subtly avoid eye contact with her daughter. Yang sighed heavily.

'Qrow and Oz told me how the maiden powers are transferred.' She said, narrowing her eyes at the woman as she continued to pace. 'The girl you found; she would have had to have trusted you if you were in her final thoughts. Cared about you a lot.'

'I'm sure they told you plenty, and you just sat and obeyed.'

'No.' Yang spat, balling her hand into a fist as she stared at her mother's back. 'I'm starting to ask questions as you said. So tell me; what happened to the last Spring Maiden? Did she die in battle? Was it sickness?'

Raven turned to face the girl quietly, and for the first time Yang saw a flash of unease in her mother's expression. 'What does it matter to you?'

'I can already see the answer.' Yang practically flinched away from the woman as she spoke. 'It's written all over your face! How could you?!'

'She was scared when we found her! Weak. No matter how much training I put her through, she never learned!' Raven defended, and Yang shook her head in disgust at the woman. 'She wasn't cut out for this world, and with those powers she would've been hunted her entire life! What I did-!'

'Wasn't personal.'

'It was mercy!' Raven yelled, baring her teeth as Yang stared stoicly at the woman. A silence fell over the room, broken only by the sound of the glowing orange petals drifting down towards the abyss. Yang continued to watch the woman quietly, breathing in a shaky breath.

'Which is it mom?' She spat. 'Are you merciful, or are you a survivor? Did you let me walk into that trap because you knew I could handle it, or because it meant you could get what you wanted?'

'It's not that simple.' Raven hissed. 'You don't know me! You don't know what I've been through, the choices I've had to make!'

'You're right. I don't know you.' Yang said quietly, and Raven raised an eyebrow at the blonde as she spoke. 'I only know the Raven dad told me about. She was troubled, and complicated, but she fought for what she believed in, whether it was her team or her tribe!' Yang took a slow breath. 'Did you kill her too?'

Raven turned sharply away from the girl, seemingly collecting herself for a moment before turning back around with a fury.

'I've stared death in the face over and over again!' Raven screamed, her eyes lighting up in a blaze of maiden power. 'And every time I've spat in that face and survived because I'm strong enough to do what others won't!'

'Oh shut up!' Yang swore, and the Raven flinched back from the girl as Yang paced around her mother. 'You don't know the first thing about strength! I know people who are strong; I have people who keep me fighting when I can't take it anymore! But you?! You turn your back on people, you run away when things get too hard, and you put others in harm's way instead of yourself! You might be powerful.' She balled her hand into a fist as she glared at her mother. 'But that doesn't make you strong.'

'WHO DO YOU THINK YOU ARE, LECTURING ME?! STANDING THERE SHAKING LIKE A SCARED LITTLE GIRL?!' Raven exploded in indignance, the temperature around her literally falling as her anger rose. Yang raised her chin up towards the pitiful woman.

'Yeah, I'm scared.' She admitted, her hand shaking as she glared at her mother. 'But I'm still standing here!' She paced towards the woman slowly, and Raven hissed at the girl as she drew closer. 'Before I might have listened to you; I might have accepted your excuses because I didn't know any better. But Jaye's shown me things are different; he's shown me that people like you can change.'

'That boy? He used to be a nightmare; a legend amongst murderers. But he's become weak!'

'No. He hasn't.' Yang stalked towards her mother quietly. 'You might think you're the embodiment of strength; you lie, murder and betray as you breathe. But he's shown me what real strength is like, and I'm a better person for it. We're not like you; we won't run. Which is why you're going to give me the relic.'

'And why would I-?'

'BECAUSE YOU'RE AFRAID OF SALEM!' Yang burst for a moment, reeling in her temper at the woman who was once her mother. 'And if you thought having maiden powers put a target on your back, imagine what she'll do when she finds out you have a relic.' Raven turned away from the girl, seemingly pondering her words as Yang continued to speak. 'She'll come after you with everything she has. Or she can come after me. And I'll be standing there, waiting for her.'

Raven turned back to the girl incredulously, as if she couldn't believe her ears, and Yang gave the woman a defiant huff. They stared each other down for a long moment, and Raven's lips quivered as the blaze in her eyes disappeared in a tiny puff.

'You don't want to do this Yang.' Raven whispered, unable to meet the girl's eye, and Yang sighed.

'Nope. But I'm gonna do it anyway.' Yang pushed her way past her mother, shoving the woman aside as she walked towards the golden sand staring at her through the vault. A faint drip resounded in the dead silent room, and Raven hugged her arms to her chest.

'I…! I'm sorry.' She breathed, trying in vain to raise her eyes to her daughter's distant figure. Yang paused at the doorway.

'Yeah.' She murmured, tears brimming in her lilac eyes. 'Me too.'

It was the faintest of whispers but deafening in the silent chamber, and Yang took a moment to gather her heart in her chest. As the beating of wings disappeared into the darkness, she turned to face the now empty room, where all that remained of her mother was a single black feather resting amongst the amber leaves that continued to fall unwavering from the trees.

Steeling herself, she forced her eyes away from the sight as she approached the shimmering door. The sun on the other end of the door was blinding, and it shimmered brightly against the sand as she approached. In spite of this, there wasn't an ounce of heat pouring through the door from the other side. The sand crunched under her heel as she walked, the grains floating up gently from the spots she'd disturbed, leaving subtle footprints as she went. The lamp at the end of the inconspicuously marked path glowed a bright blue, shimmering in the intangible heat of the sun above as grains of glowing blue sand poured off it and floated lazily into the air. All around her in the distance, long trails of sand flowed from the ground into the sky until they disappeared from view, but she kept her eyes fixed on the relic before her. It took her a few moments to realize the shimmer wasn't from the heat; rather it seemed to surround her entire body as she moved, as if blurring the lines of where she ended and the air began. She grasped the circular ring of the lamp handle, slowly lifting it off the stone pedestal it was floating upon. It was cool to the touch, barely weighing anything at all, and she raised the item curiously.

As she gazed at the relic they'd gone to such lengths to retrieve, the tears started to flow back down her face, and she dropped to her knees with a sob. Her tears continued to drip onto the sand beneath her knees, the heatless sun beating down on her back like the cold touch of the spring maiden as she cried. She felt the cold on her back as an arm was laid across her, and she glanced up in surprise as an icy cold Jaye stared back at her. He laid a hand across her cheek, and she brushed the thin sheet of ice away from his. He embraced her wordlessly, and she let the lamp fall into the sand as he held her to his chest.

'That's enough!' Ruby panted, cocking Crescent Rose at the three combatants before them. 'Just give up.'

The five teenagers formed a line against the three terrorists as they held them at bay. Each waiting on their own to return, the eight fighters stared each other down with a fury as they stood at a standstill. Low on stamina and aura, both sides were clearly exhausted.

'It's not over!' Emerald yelled, flicking her kusarigama in her hand as she cried out in desperation. 'Cinder will come back! She'll have the relic, and she'll stop all of you!' She glared defiantly at her former classmates as they stood at the ready. 'She won't let us down.'

All eyes turned to the hole in the floor as the ground began to shake once more. The goddess rose slowly out of the floor, reaching the end of the shaft with a gentle click. The green-haired girl's eyes widened in disbelief as the couple ascended onto the balcony, holding out the glimmering gold and blue lamp for all to see. The chains of the goddess clattered as they came to a stop, and Yang lowered the lamp slowly as she stared down at the people below. The fighters below broke out into smiles as the two stood triumphantly over the crowd, and Cinder was nowhere to be seen. Emerald fell to her knees with a loud clatter, her guns falling to the floor as she wept. The other two assailants slowly began to back away from the group.

'Emerald get up we need to go!' Mercury hissed, staring incredulously at the woman prostrated on the floor. Jaye laughed at the group as they descended the stairs, his arm wrapped around Yang's waist as they walked. Emerald stared around the room in a rising panic, and Mercury swore out loud as the grieving woman screamed. The room suddenly went dark, the lights flickering as an eerie darkness fell over the area. Jaye stared, confused, at the bright lights around them that seemed to cast nothing over anything. The ground trembled beneath him, a black fog spreading rapidly across the room, and before he knew it he was staring at a swirl of black rising out from the ground. The silvery white hair chilled him to the bone as he caught sight of it, and her misshapen limbs took form as a face appeared before him.

Skin bleached white, blood red veins crawling across her face, the figure before him was monstrous like nothing he'd ever seen before. The fog gathered around her as she swooped down towards them, and he yanked the blonde girl into his arms as he launched them over the monstrous head. Twisting to keep the apparition in sight, he landed hard, rolling backwards and onto his feet as the image disappeared without warning. He sucked in a faltering breath, still clutching Yang to his chest as his eyes darted around for the hideous figure that had attacked them. Blake managed to choke out a few words.

'Wh-What was that?' She blurted, hands still locked on the handle of her sword. The group gathered their wits about them slowly, and Jaye kept the blonde girl in his arms as he fought to calm himself down. Ozpin got to his feet slowly, leaning heavily on his cane.

'An illusion.' He said, heaving as he fought to stay on his feet. 'But an accurate one.' All eyes turned to him as he spoke. 'That…was Salem.'

'Well shit.' Jaye said, still holding the girl, and Yang finally cussed him out till he put her down. 'Everyone okay?'

Ruby laughed as she dropped to her knees. Weiss placed a concerned hand on her shoulder, and Yang walked over to hug her sister. Ruby locked eyes with the raven-haired boy, giving him a weak chuckle.

'Define okay.' She laughed, smiling at the girls around her. Blake approached the group quietly, hugging her arms as her nerves came back all of a sudden. 'So…what are you doing here Blake?'

'I…' She shifted uneasily on the spot, gripping her wrists tightly as she fidgeted. 'I was gonna ask you three the same thing.'

'That's…a long story.' Ruby chuckled, glancing at the girls around her. Blake managed a small smile at her leader, finally finding her courage.

'Well, I'm not going anywhere.'

'That's all that matters. That we're all here together. Right?' Ruby glanced at her sister; whose lilac eyes were still glued to the floor. Blake and Yang uneasily found each other's gaze, and Yang finally nodded her way into a smile. Blake felt the relief wash over her, the smile finally breaking across her face, and the girls held their hands out to each other. They huddled together in a group hug, and Jaye quietly paced away from them as inconspicuously as he could. He stopped short as an orange flash appeared next to him.

'Not going to join in?' Kamina asked, nudging the boy who flashed him an annoyed look. The twins dropped down from the railing above, shuffling meekly over to the two boys. Jaye shook his head.

'Nah, let them have this.' He said, folding his arms. The twins gave him an "are you serious" look, and he avoided their gaze. 'It'll be kinda awkward anyway; Blake's never been particularly big on physical contact.'

'Come on Jaye.' Weiss's voice rang out from the huddle in the middle of the floor, and the raven-haired boy raised an eyebrow at the girl. They'd opened up a spot for him, holding and Weiss was holding an arm out to him. 'I thought we told you before; it's not a reunion without you.'

Rolling their eyes, the twins kicked the stoic boy towards the group, and he gave them a look that said "I'll kill you later" as he went. Kneeling down awkwardly as he approached, he laced his arms around the girls as they laughed at his waddling. Blake squeezed the boy tightly.

'Thank you.' She whispered, and Jaye looked away from her.

'What for? I haven't done anything.' He muttered, and Blake laughed gently. She rubbed a circle into his back, smiling over his shoulder at the orange clad fox who tipped his hat to her once more.

'Sure, we'll go with that.' She grinned, and Jaye turned abruptly away from the girl. They laughed at his reaction, finally letting go and relieving him of the awkward group hugging.

'You kissed me.' Weiss said, waving a half-angry finger at the boy. Jaye swatted her hand away.

'Correction; I applied first aid to a dying girl.' He raised an eyebrow at the ex-heiress, and Weiss rolled her eyes at the boy.

'By kissing me.'

'Well would you rather be dead?'

'Please, it barely helped. Jaune did most of the work.'

'Hey I tried to save your life and this is how you thank me?'

'Tried yes. Successful, not so much.'

'Well you're alive aren't you?'

'And defiled, thank you very little.' Weiss huffed, and Jaye grinned at the girl.

'Well I accept your gratitude.' He laughed, the smile trailing off his face as the heiress gave him a tender look. He reached forwards awkwardly, bundling the heiress into his arms, and she begrudgingly accepted his fumbling embrace.

'I really am glad you're okay.' He whispered, hugging the girl tightly. Weiss smiled to herself, patting the boy on the back.

'Don't be so melodramatic. We're all just fine.' She said, pausing as he continued to embrace her. She scratched her cheek sheepishly. 'Thanks for caring.'

Blake looked a little puzzled at the boy's irregular behavior and glanced across the other girls quizzically. She caught sight of the swords on his waist, and Ruby waved away her look of confusion as if saying "we'll explain later". Finally releasing the heiress, Jaye pushed himself off his knees and onto his feet. The twins shot the boy smug looks as he cussed them out, and he retrieved Yang's arm from the floor where it lay.

'Need a hand?' He jested, tossing the mechanical limb to the girl. She snapped it back into place, giving her wrist a few test spins, and made a sound of surprise as Jaye kissed her. He leaned into the girl, wrapping his arms around her waist, and Yang responded in kind. Kamina made loud "hue hue" sounds from behind them, while the rest of the group turned away to give the two some privacy. Yang finally pulled away from the boy for air.

'What's the plan?' She asked, and Jaye cocked his head towards the red-hooded girl sitting on the floor. Ruby smiled at the couple, and Jaye grinned heartily at her.

'Where to, leader?' He asked, and Ruby shook her exhausted head.

'First? Bed.' She declared, slumping against the silvery-haired girl beside her. Weiss caught the girl as she fell, giving her a hopeless smile as she tried to get the girl up. Jaye caught Qrow's eye as he held the lamp, his eyes drawn to its glowing blue surface.

The light of the relic pulsed slowly, peeking through its gold carapace in a light bright blue. It was slow, steady, almost like breathing, and Jaye felt a chill pass over his body as he stared at it. It continued to pulse, unassuming, and the boy tried to push it to the back of his mind.

'Bed sounds great right about now.' He said, tearing his eyes away from the relic in Qrow's hand. As the group gathered themselves up and exited the building, he still couldn't shake the image out of his head. The lamp, glowing its gentle blue, pulsing like a heartbeat. Foreboding.

And we are now moving into volume 6 territory. I'm really excited for this volume, since they started correcting a lot of the issues that initially plagued this series, especially the lackluster fights from volumes 4 and 5.