PART THREE
Qrow rolled open the doors of the hold. Wind rushed past and whistled through the open belly of the ship. Ironwood joined him from the cockpit. "Autopilot is set to keep flying us in a big circle." He cracked open the first case of ice dust, filled with iridescent blue crystals. "Ready?" He asked.
"Always." Qrow answered. The Atlesian charge had begun and they were surrounded by Grimm and fighting ships. A nevermore swooped in.
"Round one" Ironwood said, using his metal arm to hurl a crystal out in front of the nevermore. Qrow shot the crystal in the air. It burst then hardened into a case of ice around the nevermore's head. The black bird fell, dragged down by its icy crown and dissolved into ash on the tundra below.
A pair of griffons circled around, noticing the commotion. Qrow smirked. "Pull!" he shouted. Ironwood launched a hand-full of crystals. Qrow followed them with Harbinger's sights then shot them as they arced down over the griffons. Again the crystals burst over the Grimm sending them falling to their fates below.
"Just one this time." Qrow said, pointing to a flock of small nevermore.
"You sure?" James asked.
"Just watch." Qrow said.
"Alright." He answered.
"Pull!" Qrow shouted. Ironwood threw a crystal high over the flock. Qrow followed it, waiting, waiting. It arced into the group. Qrow waited just one more instant then fired two shots.
The first shot induced the crystal to explode into a ball of ice, but the flock was too dispersed and none were caught in its cold embrace. The second shot shattered the ice-ball causing shards to burst in all directions, impaling the Grimm with hundreds of tiny spears.
"Nice one." James said. "I could have sworn you'd missed."
"I don't miss." Qrow bragged. "Pull!"
Ironwood threw another hand-full into a group of more griffons. Qrow followed them firing two shots that encased the two leaders. A third crystal tumbled into the group. Qrow was out of ammo. James twirled his pistol and shot from the hip, bursting the crystal over a straggler. "I thought you never miss?" He smirked.
"Is this how you ask for a turn?" Qrow asked. "Go on then."
The general stepped forward and readied his pistol. "Pull!" he shouted.
Qrow lobbed a crystal out at one of the griffons that still pursued them. James tagged the crystal with precision, dropping the Grimm. "At least give me a challenge." He taunted.
Qrow threw out one crystal from each hand. He couldn't match the power of James' robotic arm, but there was no need. The Grimm grew denser by the minute. James let the first crystal drop into his sights, fired, then quickly jolted to the second.
As they took turns throwing the crystals and shooting down the Grimm, Qrow found himself with the James Ironwood of the old days, back when they were just part of Oz's little club and the mysterious man's machinations were only dreams. It was simpler back then. He recalled one of their first meetings. The general, only a captain at the time, drank him under the table before revealing his mechanical liver. Qrow chuckled. "Pull!" He heard James shout.
He tossed a crystal out. James shot it and the ice encased a griffons wing. The creature clawed helplessly against the ice before perishing on the ground. As he reached for a second he heard a something behind him. He whipped around with Harbinger, ready to strike a Grimm that had come too close to the ship. He stopped cold when he recognized the form of Oscar.
Harbinger's weight pulled him off balance and he fell against some empty dust crates. "Oscar?! how the hell did you get here?" He asked in shock.
The boy's eyes glowed green, a signal that Ozpin held control. "We came for the Winter Maiden, but now I see she's not really here." He answered.
"Nope. Just us and some dust." Qrow said.
"What are you two doing, anyway?" Ozpin asked.
"Actually, you really should get going." Qrow realized the danger the boy had inadvertently put himself in. "We were hoping to draw Salem after us to distract her from Atlas. And, well, If you noticed us, then she will have too."
James pulled back from the edge where he'd been shooting the Grimm. "Its too late. She's coming." He pointed behind the ship where the leviathan now turned towards them. "You two, keep on with the dust, I'll fly the ship." James commanded.
The leviathan soon chased them from mere feet away. It chomped with its massive jaws and teeth larger than their ship, but size proved an obstacle too. Their small ship easily dodged the slow and sweeping attacks of the leviathan but although they threw all their dust into counter attacks they could not pierce its thick hide. Qrow noticed that only once did they even damage it, knocking out a tooth with a whole palette-full of dust.
Their enemy must have realized the inefficiency of her attack because the leviathan soon departed, though not to their benefit. Salem, herself, levitated down into the hold. Oscar thrust with his cane but she knocked it from his hands with ease, sending it rolling between empty dust crates and knocking him over. She stepped on him, holding him down. She formed a dark, smoky spear and thrust it down at his chest. The boy's aura held it at bay, but she continued to press down.
"The leviathan is turning back! We've gotta get it after us again!" James rushed in from the cockpit, ignorant of the fight transpiring in the hold. Oscar's aura began to flicker and fade. James slid over to the boy and clasped his hand, extending his own aura to shield him.
Qrow rarely noted James' semblance, often forgetting about it entirely. The general could extend his aura like a shield over anything he touched, but the wider he cast the shield, the weaker it became. That's how he'd always kept his mechanical arm so free of nicks and scratches over the years.
Qrow swung with Harbinger to cleave Salem in half. She grabbed the blade, stopping his swing. Just as James' aura began to flicker under her spear, she swung her second hand to clasp Harbinger's blade. The spear drifted away into smoke. She glared into Qrow's eyes and heated the weapon between her hands, first to a glowing red, then to bright orange. Qrow flinched backward as the handle singed his aura at the palms. The orange glow turned to yellow before Harbinger began to melt away into globs on the floor.
Once Harbinger was nothing but a molten puddle, Salem raised both of her arms weaving some new spell. Qrow lost control of his limbs as they were pulled out to the sides. He saw the same occur with Oscar and figured Salem planned to draw-and-quarter them all. The effect was somewhat different with James. His living arm was stretched out of its sling, pulled opposite his living leg, just like Qrow and Oscar, but the metal parts of his body hung freely, unaffected. He swung and kicked at the air with his free arm and leg, but could not break Salem's hold.
Qrow felt the air tightening around his neck. His shoulders threatened to slip from from their sockets. "Help...Winter." The general croaked before using his free arm to pull his pistol and shoot Salem between the eyes. She dropped to the floor.
The spell broke, causing them all to fall as well. Qrow wasted no time. He dove from the ship, transforming into a crow once airborne. He set his sights on Atlas Academy.
Oscar fell to the floor. Salem's magic had released him when she fell and he lunged for his cane.
Salem didn't stay down for long. She immediately stood back up, weaving the fragments of her head back together with wisps of black smoke. This time she forwent magic and chose the direct approach. She grabbed the general by the throat and pinned him against the hull. "Look away." Ozpin commanded. Oscar watched anyway.
With her free hand she ripped the steel plate from Ironwood's chest exposing his heart and lung. The general gasped for breath and clawed at her arm in desperate attempt free himself. Oscar could clearly see his heart racing, the muscle struggling against the crushing power of the air. Salem plucked it from his chest like an apple from the tree. She watched as the light faded from his eyes before dropping him into a clump on the floor.
Oscar brandished the cane against her. She smiled wickedly, as if charmed by the boy's futile gesture then crushed the general's heart to dust.
"Allow me." Ozpin took over. He slammed the cane into the floor and everything became shrouded in a thick green smoke.
The smoke rose away like morning fog, revealing serene country. Oscar knew it was springtime by the freshly sewn fields and the smell of cherry blossoms in the air. The pale, mortified, figure of Salem was gone, replaced by an enchantingly beautiful girl. She had fair hair and blue eyes with a face full of the thrill of adventure. In that moment Oscar knew how he, how Oz could love her.
"It doesn't have to be this way." Ozpin begged. "We can leave it all behind and live like we always wanted."
Salem sighed as she looked down at her old self. "We both know that's not true. We tried it before, remember? No, I will not be bound! Not by my father, not by you, and not even by the gods."
Oscar recalled the image of her crying, a prisoner in her tower. It was like he'd dreamed it, only for the dream to have faded with waking. His heart ached to ease that suffering. He remembered how lonely she'd seemed and how desperate for escape. He recalled the joy they'd shared traveling the world after her escape. "Haven't you learned yet that we can't challenge them? Are you really happier this way?" Ozpin pleaded.
"I don't care! I will never be a prisoner again!" She screamed.
The scene, the greenery and the birdsong, the wholesome smell of turned earth and spring flowers, shattered. They were again on the ship, surrounded by the sounds of battle, explosions and gunfire, shrieking Grimm and roaring engines, by the smell of exhaust, gunpowder, and blood. Salem formed a shadowy black spear. Disoriented, Oscar could not retaliate. The spear struck just to his left, sparking against the metal floor. Tears streamed down Salem's pale face. She'd hesitated. "Go! Now!" Ozpin whispered in his head.
Oscar jumped from the ship, falling yet again to the surface of Solitas. He readied the cane to break his fall. "I'm starting to get used to falling." Oscar joked, trying to block out what had just transpired.
After a soft landing in the snow, he gazed upward to see the general's ship erupt in smoke and fire before falling away into the wasteland of rubble that lie beneath the sky-battle.