Chapter 96

'She brushed off her bumps and bruises, for nothing hurt worse than the loneliness in her chest.' Oscar recited, laying on his side in the room. He had no idea how many days had passed, time of no concept to him encaged within the grimm walls, and though he loathed to admit it, the deadly silence was beginning to catch up to him. He'd likely have gone insane if not for the shimmering voice in his head, though in other times that voice was driving him insane as well.

'I recognise that; "The Girl Who Fell Through The World"?' The disembodied voice asked, and Oscar scoffed at the timeless man sitting in his head.

'I shouldn't be surprised you're so familiar with fairy tales.'

'I've lived through my share of them. How are you holding up?'

'I thought the idea of falling through Remnant into a new world was exciting; I never understood why she was so sad when she finally made it back home.' Oscar extended a hand slowly, staring up into the light emanating from the fleshy ceiling. 'But… now it makes more sense.'

'She wasn't the same girl anymore.' Ozpin replied, and the boy let his hand fall onto his chest.

'Yeah.'

'I think this plan to divide might have run its course; it's time we start thinking about a way out. Not having our cane certainly limits the options, so…'

Oscar rolled onto his side, grunting in pain. 'No, I don't like what happens when we use magic. Every time we use it, I can feel us merging faster.' He curled tighter into a ball. 'I'm not ready for that.'

'I don't blame you.' The ancient man replied. 'Honestly, I think you're doing just fine on your own.'

The door slid open with a meaty hiss, the heavy footsteps of the huge man a tell-tale sign of what was to come, and Oscar rolled onto his back as if to make the process less painful. Hazel seized him by the collar, dragging him off the floor.

With yet another meaty, slimy hiss, the door to the lamp chamber opened, revealing the light blue sheen of the item in the centre of the room. Dark spirals of grimm material swirled from the floor and ceiling of the room, the lamp floating languidly in the middle of that. Hazel dragged the boy in by the arm, dropping him unceremoniously onto the floor. The boy looked up at the hulking man, propping himself up on his elbows.

'Why did you bring me here?' He asked, watching Hazel pace slowly around the lamp.

'I've been thinking about what you said.' He finally spoke, eyes still locked on the relic before him. 'If it's a lie, and I took that lie to Salem, the punishment would fall onto my head before yours. If what you said is true, and I used the password myself, well, I don't know what happens when this thing activates.' He finally stopped, facing the boy. 'So let's see if you're bluffing.'

'You want me to summon her?'

'Either way; it'll tell me what I need to know.' Hazel said, turning to the door as a feminine voice rang out from it.

'What are you doing?' Emerald asked, pacing slowly into the room, evidently having either spotted or followed them on the way to the chamber. Hazel gave a low hum, pacing towards the girl and placing himself protectively in front of her.

'Let's find out.' He said, staring expectantly at the boy. Oscar got painfully to his feet, grunting in exertion as he forced his aching body upright. He grasped his side painfully, inhaling deeply.

'Jinn.'

The woman appeared in a swirl of blue smoke, time stopping once more as she appeared before the curious, stretching out her aching (I guess) limbs and stopping short as she spotted the small boy. She leaned forwards onto her hands, floating leisurely through the air.

'Why hello again old man.' She grinned. 'Did you have a question for me?'

Oscar waved sheepishly at the objectively attractive woman, turning back to the green-clad man and girl, awaiting their next move. Hazel stared at the newly manifested genie-lady, mouth agape, before he finally found his voice.

'Actually, I think all my questions are answered now.' He said, catching the small boy's gaze. Oscar stared back quietly.

'What are you going to do?' He asked, and the man lowered his eyes to the floor with a deep sigh.

'What Gretchen would have done.' He declared. 'And that starts with getting you away from here.' He turned to the girl behind him. 'Both of you.'

Oscar paced up to the man. 'I'm going to need something before I go.'

'So just to be clear.' Jinn called from where she was still floating above the still pools of grimm water, evidently not bothered in the slightest by her surroundings. 'None of you have a question for me?'

'No, but we'll be bringing you with us.' Oscar said, placing his hands together in apology to the blue, smoky lady. Jinn gave him a look that said "seriously?" and he grinned sheepishly at her. Hazel stared at the door, pondering their options quietly.

'The moment we move that thing, this place goes on high alert. Better to get you out first.' He said, raising a hand at the concerned look Oscar gave him. 'I'll come back for it. Not like she knows the password anyway.'

The three turned to walk out the door, Jinn giving them an amused roll of her eyes as they walked away. Time slowly returned to the world, and the blue lady caught sight out of the corner of her eye the pair of heterochromatic eyes that appeared against the backdrop of the wall, as if waiting for this exact moment to happen. Still, the woman, of course, would say nothing if a question were not asked of her, and she vanished back into her vessel, unable to warn anyone of the danger transpiring.

In the depths of the creature

Jaune gasped in exertion, stopping the three teammates in the middle of the grimm corridor they were exploring. Having infiltrated the giant creature, thankfully with Winter agreeing to their plan, and Ren's lucky unlocking of a second stage to his semblance, the three had managed to at least track down what seemed to be a group of people within the depths of the horrifying being. Still, progress was slow, what with them getting used to the new powers and all. Jaune caught his breath slowly.

'Sorry.' He gasped out between breaths, trying to place his hand on the wall to stabilise himself, his gauntleted digits promptly sliding off the disgusting surface. He shook the black goo that had gathered on his armour off with an audible groan.

'It's not your fault. I'm masking and tracking at the same time.' Ren said, shaking his head at the blond boy. Yang placed a concerned hand on Jaune's shoulder.

'Do you guys need a minute?' She asked, and the armoured boy straightened up as he got his breath back.

'We don't know how much longer we have. Why don't you give masking a break? Give me directions and I can scout ahead.'

'Thanks. We should be heading straight for a while.' Ren replied, and the blond took off at a steady jog down the creepy hallway. Yang placed a hand on her hip.

'Well at least you guys being friends again takes the sting out of impending doom.' She joked, and the dark-haired boy turned to her.

'It's okay to be afraid you know. You don't always have to hide it with a joke.' He said, and Yang gave him a dejected smirk.

'Glad I'm not the only one who's scared.'

'Of course I'm scared.' Ren said, turning back to stare down the hallway where Jaune had disappeared. 'Him on the other hand… there's no fear at all. I can see it; he believes we're going to get this done.'

'Then I do too.' Yang sighed quietly, tensing as the blond boy reappeared before them in a mad dash. He waved them into the nearby passage, drawing his sword and placing his shield down in front of them.

'Mask us Ren!' He commanded, and the three turned saturated just as a floating creature floated around the corner. Ren screwed his face up in concentration, his aura flickering a bright purple as his semblance threatened to give way, the exhaustion of constant tracking and masking taking its toll on him. He panted heavily, gritting his teeth in exertion, and the two blonds quietly readied their weapons as the floating sentry grimm slowly passed them by. Ren struggled hard, but in the end his will could not use what his body did not have, and his semblance gave way as his aura flickered out. The creature slowed to a grinding halt, the brief burst of anxiety from the three more than enough to get its attention, and it turned slowly on the three as it raised its arms in preparation to attack.

In the middle of the battleground

Marrow cut heavily through an approaching grimm, the battle taking a toll on himself as they continued to deny Salem's forces the easy victory they were likely hoping for. He raised his finger at an airborne grimm, but Harriet appeared out of nowhere and shattered its mask with a vicious kick. She rolled to a landing in front of the dog boy, touching her fingers to her ear.

'How much longer for the payload?' She asked, glancing around the battlefield to assess the situation. Winter's voice came on over the radio.

'It's approaching the LZ now.' She said. Right on time, a legion of ships zoomed noisily in overhead, the cargo ship in the middle surrounded on all sides by fighters intent on protecting it before it hit land. Marrow grimaced, turning to stare at the gargantuan creature.

'Come on Juan.' He said, getting his name wrong once more, but it was clear that the continued sacrifices were getting to the man intent on only doing the right thing.

Inside Salem's base

After being spotted by the creature, all possibility of stealth had gone straight out the window. Charging down a corridor, the three teammates rounded a corner with a gasp, readying their weapons with a cacophony of mechanical sounds. Emerald jumped at the sudden appearance of the new additions, instinctively reaching for her pistols, and Yang narrowed her eyes at the girl in front of her.

'You.' She spat, raising her fists and readying herself for a fight. Hazel stepped forward, holding up his hands to ward off the fighters.

'No, wait, stop!' He exclaimed; his usually gruff voice much higher than normal. Emerald's semblance faded away, revealing the still very beaten-up boy as a huge smile broke out across his face. Jaune threw away his weapons immediately, closing the gap to seize the boy in a bear hug. Oscar grunted in pain, managing to wrap his arms around the much larger blond before patting him in the back to ask for a respite. The teammates gathered around to greet him, turning rather suspicious gazes onto the girl standing quietly before them.

'I thought I sensed some weak minds nearby.' She said, keeping up her façade of bravado at the people she'd betrayed so many months ago in Beacon. Yang clenched her fists, still not letting her guard down around the girl, and Jaune turned a curious look onto the unlikely pair that had appeared before them.

'What's going on here?'

'It's a long story.' Oscar said, and Yang stepped forward around the small boy.

'You're gonna have to try and summarise it.' She declared, standing protectively in front of her friends. She turned a glare directly onto the dark-skinned girl, standing thankfully with her weapons lowered, but still in her hands. 'Why should we trust you?'

'Because she's scared.' Ren interjected, earning a reaction from the green-haired girl. Emerald reeled back slightly at the comment, and Ren turned to his still skeptical teammates. 'Just like us.'

Emerald paused for a moment, before finally finding it in herself to act tough again.

'Or maybe because I know how to get out of here.' She said, stalking as haughtily as she could in the circumstances between the group of teens and one small boy. 'Anybody coming?'

Back in the warzone

The door to the cargo ship opened with a hiss, the tech handing a scroll over to Winter as she entered to check the payload. She turned abruptly to the legion of soldiers behind her, placing her hands behind her back.

'This is it everyone.' She shouted. 'We're going to clear a path to that monster. We get the payload aboard, set the timer, and then we're out.'

She waved her hand dismissively, and the legion moved off with a salute. Marrow jogged up to his new superior, waving a hand at the creature in the distance.

'They might still be alive in there.' He hissed, and Winter kept her back to the faunus man.

'I gave them their window. We can't wait any longer.'

'Would you say the same thing if it was your sister inside?' Marrow asked incredulously. 'Are you gonna tell her what you did to her friends?'

Winter's face turned into a mask of pain, gritting her teeth as she steeled her nerves for what needed to be done. Back turned to her subordinate, she couldn't afford to let Marrow see her struggle with the decision, doing her best to straighten her face before turning to him with a shaky breath.

'Yes, Marrow, because that's my duty.' She managed, though her voice could not hide her emotions completely. She placed a hand on the man's shoulder. 'Now you do yours.'

Marrow lowered his head dejectedly, the weight of the children's lives weighing heavily on him, but still, he found it in himself to head outside.

'We're almost out!' Oscar panted, sprinting towards the airship bay as fast as he could. The group had made it to the very outskirts of the giant creature. Emerald rounded the corner to the landing pad walkway, skidding to a halt as the giant creature tremored violently.

'What is that?' Jaune asked, glancing wide-eyed at the creature they were currently still in. Emerald straightened up with wide eyes, stopping in her tracks.

'It's her.' She gasped, flinching in pain as a monstrous scream reverberated through the hallways of the great creature. With a flash of purple, a hole was blasted through the wall nearby. Salem burst through the debris, eyes taking in the scene before her with a fury that was boiling beneath the surface. She glanced between the new freed boy, who was backing away from her slowly across the ground, and the green-haired once-loyal traitor before her. Emerald turned to run, screaming out as Salem seized her by the arms. She yanked the girl up to herself, Emerald hyperventilating in fear at this point, and the terrifying woman leaned slowly into her ear.

'You really have been honing that Semblance of yours.' She hissed, and Ren immediately opened fire on her. Doing his best not to hit the girl held to the woman's chest, his shots went just wide of the mark, and Salem promptly whirled to face them. She released a blast of multicoloured magic, not seeming to take any form, but simply a blast of pure, raw energy. Jaune darted in front of Ren, bracing his shield for the impact, but the two were blasted away into the wall nonetheless. Yang launched herself towards the eternal woman, adhering several charged explosive cartridges to the woman's midriff, darting out of reach as Salem did absolutely nothing to her. The immortal woman glanced down at the explosives almost amusedly, rocking backwards over herself as they exploded. It opened her body in a burst of what would normally have been blood and innards, but nothing but the black and red ooze of grimm erupted from her.

It froze in mid-air, not separating from her body, and her free arm cracked inhumanly back to life as it fired out a thread of grimm gunk at the blonde. Yang raised her gauntlets to block it, gasping in surprise as the thread adhered itself to her weapons. The thread wound itself in as the woman slowly straightened up her body. Her bones snapped sickeningly back into place, if she even had any, as her body regenerated in a matter of just a few seconds, and the woman simply gave the blonde a narrow-eyed look that said, "did you really just do that?", as she reeled her in. Yang struggled against the bonds, digging her heels into the ground to no avail as Salem finally grabbed hold of one of her gauntlets, and the blonde struggled in her grip. Emerald, paralysed out of fear, simply sat helplessly in the white woman's grasp, before a small voice rang out in defiance.

'Let them go!' Oscar yelled, and a blast of magic collided with the woman, doubling her over in pain, seemingly the only thing that appeared to injure her in any meaningful way. Salem glared at the small boy housing the soul of what was once her lover, throwing Yang into him with an emotion akin to mild distaste. Black hands extended from red glyphs on the floor, the grimm appendages seizing hold of the group and immobilising them as the struggled to get free. Salem dragged the dark-skinned girl over to the wall where yet another glyph opened, tossing Emerald into it languidly as the arms tied her to its surface. She raised a calm hand, sparking with black and purple energy that was unmistakeably magic, and she raised her eyes to the girl who was trembling against her bonds.

'What did you do with the lamp?' She asked simply, almost disinterested, and Emerald took a shaky breath.

'Nothing.' She gasped, and Salem raised a single eyebrow, bringing her hand slowly to the girl's face.

'It's missing.' She said calmly, a stark contrast to the normal violent anger one would expect from an interrogator. 'Where is it?'

'I didn't do anything with it.' Emerald insisted, and Salem turned abruptly to the group, mentally commanding the grimm hands to lift Oscar off the floor. She paced towards the boy, nothing in her demeanour giving away any hint of anger or frustration, an eery calmness that stood in stark contrast to the situation.

'Look how you've diminished.' She whispered, almost pitying. 'How you've lessened yourself; and for what? These children? This ruined world?' She abruptly seized the boy's face, her calm breaking for the first time, and it was clear that Ozpin/Oscar was what triggered her, punctuating each of her words with a furious hiss. 'Why. Do. You. Keep. Coming. Back.'

'Why do you!' Yang shouted, nearly managing to push herself off the ground, but still the blackened arms kept her rooted to the spot. 'All of this endless death because something bad happened to you once upon a time?'

Salem released the boy, slowly pacing towards the girl with disinterest as Yang continued to speak.

'Nobody gets a fairy tale ending!' She yelled, fighting harder against the arms in vain. 'Everything I've lost; every person I've lost, is because of you!'

'And who is it I've taken from you, girl?'

'Summer Rose.' Yang declared, glaring defiantly at the woman. 'My mother.'

'Hmm.' Salem smiled, humming in amusement, leaning down towards the girl still bound to the floor. 'Her again.'

'Your grace.' A gruff voice called, and Salem turned to look at the new arrival. She smiled in amusement as she caught sight of the green-clad man.

'Ah, Hazel.' She said, spreading her hands in an almost nonchalantly gesture at the immobilised group around her. 'I found our guests.' She paced slowly back towards the girl tied to the wall, the ball of blackened purple energy reforming between her fingers. 'This one was helping them.'

The large man locked eyes with the terrified girl for a moment, his face remaining impassive, betraying no signs that he was on their side. The grimm arms retracted with slimy hiss, dropping Oscar to the ground.

'Take the boy back to his chamber.' Salem commanded, running the back of her still glowing hand across Emerald's cheek. Tears streamed down her face as hopelessness flooded the girl, screwing her eyes shut as the energy crackled around her. Hazel walked past the woman slowly.

'Yes, of course.' He approached Oscar, eyeing the immobilised group before him, and dragged the boy up to eye-level with a huge fist. He glared down the child, eyes narrowing in contempt, as he drew his mouth to Oscar's ear. 'No more Gretchens, boy.'

He dropped Oscar to the ground, and the boy raised the cane now clutched in his hand with a curious look. Hazel turned away from them, approaching the grimm woman who was still threatening the girl tied to the wall. Emerald turned away from Salem as best she could, the tears still running down her face as Salem raised her hand to strike. With a resounding boom, Hazel launched the woman off her feet and very nearly into the ceiling. Salem slowed her descent with a dark tornado that formed beneath her feet. She raised herself into the air, the anger of betrayal finally displayed on her face, as she caught sight of the burly man that had slighted her. Her concentration broken, the glyphs disappeared, cutting off the grimm hands and evaporating them into smoke. Hazel threw off his vest, dragging out several pieces of dust from his pockets.

'Go! Now!' He yelled, stabbing himself with several pieces of the highly combustible material. His veins flooded through with multi-coloured lines, the dust protruding through his skin as it fused with his body.

'Hazel.' Emerald whispered, looking up at the man who was protecting them. She shook her head, almost imperceptibly, as if telling him not to do this, but his mind was made up. Hazel gave her a gentle smile, the caring side of the gruff and grieving man finally showing its face.

'Go.' He said, turning to the woman still levitating in the middle of the tornado below her. Salem narrowed her glowing red eyes at the man.

'So, you've decided against vengeance for your sister, after all this time?' She said incredulously, more amused than anything else now that the anger had faded from her. Hazel flicked his hands, igniting them with a burst of fire.

'I'm doing what Gretchen would've done.' He growled, charging the woman. Blasts of multi-coloured magic rocketed through the air as they fought, and the remaining teammates seized the opportunity Hazel had given them to make a run for the exit. Emerald followed closely behind, and the fearless blond boy stood at the exit, ushering his teammates through before anything else.

'Come on everyone, out!' Jaune yelled, waving the dark-skinned girl past him and down the long walkway. He stared at the reincarnated boy still standing, watching the fight. 'Oscar?'

'She's just come after us.' He said, extending his cane as the massive man was hurled through the air. He hit the wall with a groan, dropping to the ground, and Salem charged him almost immediately. In a brutal show of violence, she slammed his head into the stone floor repeatedly, pausing in her act as the boy's cane glowed brightly. She released the man's head, shooting straight towards the boy in an effort to prevent what was coming, but Hazel seized her from behind in a bear hug. Pinning her arms to her sides, Salem struggled against the man who had managed to match her strength, electing instead to create a red glyph underneath them. The black hands erupted from it once more, typing the man's legs to the ground, unable to force him to cave, before the final one wrapped itself around his neck. He revealed a small piece of fire dust in his mouth, shattering it with his teeth and igniting both of them. Salem gasped in pain, forced to bear the blaze as she tightened her grimm hand's grip around the unflinching man's neck. Blocking out the pain, he glared past the woman at the boy unwilling to make the sacrifice that was needed.

'Do it.' He growled, locking the woman into place. Oscar nodded to him, grip tightening on his cane, as a circle of bright green energy enveloped him. Magic poured out from his body, supercharging his cane and crackling with might. With a mighty yell, he charged the woman, thrusting his cane into her body.