Chapter 12: Vault of the Spring Maiden
The screen remains black as Jaune's voice is heard yelling out.
Jaune: CINNABAR!
Cinder Fall is shown smirking. Jaune quickly gets up and runs past Cinder. Yang was in shock seeing what has happened to her adopted brother. Oscar Pine watches Jaune and Weiss Schnee approach and pick up the unconscious Cinnabar Caliburn from his position. Oscar Pine then looks over to the unconscious Ruby Rose. Angered, he smacks Leonardo Lionheart with The Long Memory, causing him to fall down the stairs and into Hazel Rainart, who remains unfazed as Lionheart falls to the ground. Oscar quickly runs over to Ruby, with Nora Valkyrie and Ricochet Tiri joining him.
Oscar: Ruby, get up! Get up! We need you!
Rico: Come on! Please Ruby! (on the brink of tears)
Hazel picks up Lionheart by his collar, lifting him off the floor.
Hazel: You're lettin' that boy make a fool of you.
Lionheart: That's not just a boy! It's Ozpin. (Hazel's eyes widen when he says this) He's already reincarnated!
Hazel drops Lionheart and looks over to Oscar, who is still trying to nudge Ruby to wake her up. He then notices The Long Memory being held in the young farm boy's hand.
Hazel: Ozpin?
Suddenly, the usual calm demeanor of Hazel slowly turns infuriated. Ruby stirs for a bit.
Oscar: Ruby! You-
Hazel: OZPIN!
Oscar looks up.
Ozpin: (mentally) Oh no...
Hazel: You thought you could hide from ME?!
Hazel rips his coat off, and then grabs a pair of lightning Dust crystals from a couple of pouches on his legs.
Hazel: You'll pay for what you did! You'll die over and over again!
He stabs the lightning Dust into his arms, with his blood vessels turning yellow and popping out from his skin as well as having some lightning coat them. His eyes glow yellow, and he lets out an intimidating roar. Oscar slowly backs away, holding his cane up cautiously.
Oscar: Do- do we fight?
Ozpin: (afraid) No, run!
Hazel leaps forward to charge into Oscar, but Qrow Branwen gets him out of the way in time. Qrow transforms Harbinger into its scythe form while Cinder watches. Raven Branwen and Vernal walk to her sides.
Cinder: (angry) Ozpin is here?!
Raven: Is that a problem?
Cinder: I'm not sure, but right now we got the upper hand. Let's not waste it.
Lionheart is shown on his knees when Cinder's voice gets his attention.
Cinder: (offscreen) Leo! Open the path to the vault!
Lionheart gets back up and approaches the statue in the room. He takes out his pocket watch and places it in a small niche on the statue. The hands on the watch gradually spin faster and the statue lowers. Yang Xiao Long watches the situation in front of her. She looks to Jaune, Weiss, and Lie Ren as they tend to Cinnabar and then looks over to Nora and Rico who is still trying to wake Ruby up. Nora and Rico looks to Yang.
Nora: Stop them! We've got your team covered!
Yang lingers a bit before heeding Nora's advice, but she gets kicked to the ground by Mercury Black. He is then joined by Emerald Sustrai.
Emerald: You wanna get to them? You're going to have to get through all of us.
Emerald uses her Semblance to create multiple copies of Mercury, which surround Yang. Meanwhile, Jaune uses his hands to apply pressure on Cinnabar' wound, while Ren holds his wrist checking his pulse. Weiss was struggling to hold her emotions, seeing her savior dying.
Weiss: Cin, please! Please hold on!
Jaune: Ren, talk to me!
Ren: (sadly shaking his head) This is bad.
Jaune's and Weiss's eyes widen in horror.
Jaune: No, no, no, no, not again! Cin, c'mon, please!
Meanwhile, Vernal steps onto the platform leading down to the vault.
Cinder: (to Lionheart) Make sure they leave Ruby alive. This won't take long.
Cinder steps onto the platform. Raven looks back a bit as she hears her daughter fighting vainly, shaking her head before she steps on the platform too. The platform then lowers down. Oscar is then shown dodging out of the way as Hazel slams his fist into the ground.
Ozpin: Oscar.
Oscar: No!
Oscar dodges another attack from Hazel.
Ozpin: Oscar!
Oscar: I told you, no!
Oscar gets punched back by Hazel several feet into a column.
Ozpin: Please, let me take over! I can handle him!
Oscar: You told me I needed to fight for myself! (standing back up) So I will.
Ozpin: This is not your fight!
Oscar: What does that mean? Why is he so upset with us?
Hazel: He didn't tell you my tale, did he, boy? (he approaches Oscar menacingly, he holds his fists in the air) Your blood won't be on my hands, it'll be on his.
Qrow jumps in the way to block Hazel's attack, but he slams his fist into the ground, the shockwave knocking both him and Oscar back. They both get back up as Qrow engages Hazel. Qrow dodges a punch then slashes at Hazel, who blocks the sword with one arm.
Oscar: What was he talking about?
Hazel: Tell him, Ozpin! Tell him how you KILLED HER!
Oscar: Her?
Ozpin: Gretchen Rainart was Hazel's sister. Despite her brother's wishes, she enrolled at Beacon Academy to become a Huntress and tragically lost her life on a training mission. Hazel... holds me responsible. Please, let me fight. I know Hazel. He's wounded in a way that cannot be healed.
Hazel: (off screen) You know now! (tossing Qrow aside) You can forgive me for what I'm about to do. (begins approaching Oscar)
Oscar: Did she know?
Hazel stops in place at his inquiry.
Oscar: Did she know the risk of being a Huntress?
Hazel: She was only a child! She wasn't ready!
Oscar: She made a choice! A choice to put others before herself! (holding his cane up defensively) So do I.
Hazel just glares at him.
Hazel: Then you've chosen death!
Oscar glares back, determined.
Ozpin: I'm sorry.
Oscar: What?
Oscar's eyes glow and his body falls to the ground as Ozpin takes over him. Ozpin looks up, and Hazel looks back at him, enraged.
Hazel: OzzzzPIIIIIIIIN!
Meanwhile, Jaune, Weiss, and Ren continue tending to Cinnabar.
Ren: He's hardly breathing. I... I don't know what we can do...
The three of them look down to Cin as he struggles to breathe, before suddenly stopping.
Weiss: Cinnabar... Please... Don't... (she broke into tears, holding onto his hand tightly)
Jaune: No, it wasn't supposed to be like this! Please! (voice breaking) We can't lose anyone else...
Jaune sadly closes his eyes. Suddenly, a faint shimmering sound is heard and a silver aura starts to coat over Cinnabar' body. Cinnabar suddenly gasps for breath again.
Meanwhile, Cinder, Raven and Vernal are seen riding the platform down to the vault.
Cinder: (to Vernal) Are you nervous, girl? The first Maiden in - why, I'm not sure anyone knows how many years - is about to open a vault. I would say it's quite an exciting time. Don't you feel honored?
Vernal: No, I'm not concerned with any of this. All I care about is my tribe - my family. This is a burden, not an honor.
Cinder: (chuckles) You've conditioned her quite well, Raven.
As the three continue to ride down the platform, they see the vault under Haven Academy - a massive cavern with a large tree that has glowing orange flowers. The platform reaches the bottom, and the gate protecting the vault is lowered into the ground.
Cinder: Hm, it's certainly grander than Beacon's. I wonder what the extra effort was for.
Raven: Can we please not linger?
Cinder: After you.
Vernal steps off the platform first, followed by Cinder, and then Raven, the latter putting her mask back on.
Back above ground, Hazel and Ozpin fight each other intensely, Ozpin dodges several blows as one punch hits a column. Lionheart tries to intervene by launching another attack from Stalwart, but is stopped by a gunshot from Qrow. The two of them begin to fight each other, with Qrow swinging Harbinger at him. Then following up with a kick before blocking several of Lionheart's projectiles. With the two busy Ozpin and Hazel engage each other again. Hazel tries to smash him with his fists, but Ozpin is too fast for him. Nimbly jumping around while striking the man several times. Using Hazel like a springboard to launch himself away, their fight moves back over to the terrace. Ozpin kicks off a wall dodging fists and electric blasts, striking Hazel's face then jabs him several times in the chest. Eventually, Ozpin manages to roll under him and knock Hazel down on all fours with a hit to the legs. Ozpin then twirls his cane and prepares to deliver the finishing blow, but Hazel roars and smashes his fists into the ground, creating another lightning shockwave. Meanwhile, Cinnabar starts to gasp and breathes normally again as the silver aura encoating him continues to glow.
Jaune: Huh? Wha- what's happening?
Weiss: Jaune, is this your-
Ruby: (off screen) Cinnabar!
Nora and Rico helps Ruby up on her feet, who then quickly runs over to her teammate's side.
Ruby: What happened? What's going on?!
Ren: (smiling) I think he's going to be okay! he seems to be stabilizing.
With Cinnabar breathing again, Ruby and Weiss smiles, relieved that her friend's life is not endangered anymore. Ruby then hears her sister struggling, she looks over her shoulder to see Yang getting knocked back by Mercury. Yang charges forward, but Mercury's form disappears as a result of another one of Emerald's Semblance hallucinations. Emerald then creates an image of Raven, which Yang is hesitant to attack. Yang then blocks another attack from Mercury, but his next series of hits manage to knock her down again. Ruby and Weiss then looks over to Oscar fighting Hazel, with the latter's attack becoming too wild and unpredictable for the young boy. Oscar is then hit by one of Lionheart's projectiles and holds his shoulder in pain. Hazel is about to punch at Oscar again, but Qrow pushes Oscar out of the way and takes the blow in his back, launching him upwards. Ruby then lifts Jaune's hands up to see that Cin' wound has closed.
Ruby: Whatever you're doing, don't stop!
Jaune: I won't.
Ruby: Good. Oscar needs help.
Ren: I'm on it.
Ruby: Jaune and Cin still need cover!
Ren takes out StormFlower, while Nora approaches his side holding Magnhild and Weiss activates a summoning Glyph in her hand.
Nora: No one's gonna touch 'em. (smiles)
Weiss: We'll make sure of that. (smiles)
Ruby: (smiling) Okay, make it happen, RNJRR!
Ruby stands back up, transforming Crescent Rose into its scythe form and flips over. She lands to her sister's side, knocking Emerald back. Emerald's Semblance copies of Mercury then disappear, reforming back into the main Mercury.
Yang: Thanks, sis. (standing back up) You okay?
Ruby: No, I'm angry.
Ruby proceeds forward.
Back down in the vault, Vernal, Cinder, and Raven walk towards the Relic chamber. Suddenly, a symbol on the ground glows bright, as well as the circle enclosed around it. Similar circles with symbols in them also glow leading up to the Relic chamber's door. The tree's flowers then glow even more, and it's petals gently fall and float around the vault. One petal falls into Vernal's hand.
Cinder: Having fun?
Vernal glares back at Cinder as the petal in her hand dissolves into particles.
Raven: Vernal, stay focused.
Cinder: Oh, come now, Raven, let her enjoy this. It's a once-in-a-lifetime experience.
Vernal: How does this work?
Cinder: Once the Spring Maiden places her hand on the door, it will open. For you - and only you. Then I will walk into the vault, and retrieve the Relic. No one else. Is that clear?
Vernal: Yes.
Raven: It doesn't matter to us. Let's get this over with.
Cinder: Alright then. Vernal, when you're ready.
Vernal approaches the door. While she does so, Raven slowly reaches for the hilt of Omen, but stops when Cinder speaks.
Cinder: You know, I've heard so many stories about you, Raven. They say you're a cunning leader, that you're strong, that you're clever.
Vernal hovers her fingertips close to the door. Cinder glances back at Raven.
Cinder: It's a shame that they're wrong.
Cinder suddenly launches out a blue, frost-like projectile from her hand.
Raven: VERNAL!
Raven reaches out, but she is already encased in ice by Cinder's attack. Vernal spins around and draws her weapons, but her body suddenly jolts as something stabs her stomach. She looks down and notices an elongated Grimm hand coming from Cinder's left arm, its' claws piercing her torso. Cinder looks from Raven back to Vernal
Cinder: It's nothing personal, dear. (she approaches Vernal) You're just not worthy of such power. (she draws level with Vernal) But I am.
Cinder twists her Grimm arm, and Vernal screams in agony as she is thrown to the ground, struggling to remove the claws from her stomach. The ice coating Raven is shown cracking.
Cinder: So I will take... what is mine...
Vernal's struggles begin to weaken, her grip on Cinder's arm loosening. Cinder smirks as she looks down on Vernal's body, but then realizes that something is wrong.
Cinder: Wha- what is this? Where's the power?!
Cinder hears ice shatter from behind her and spins around, to see that Raven has broken free. A bluish aura glows around her body.
Raven: You won't find it, because Vernal isn't the Spring Maiden! (she takes her mask off and drops it) I am!
Raven opens her eyes, the telltale flames of a Maiden glowing around them.
End of Chapter 12
Author Notes
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Major thanks to the Transcripts and Battle Pages written on RWBY Wiki
