Chapter 20: Prepare For Your Finest Hour

(Mistral, Road)

Mercury could safely say that he was not having a good time during the walk back to the airship. Waltzing into a bandit camp was certainly not high on his to do list, but that ended well enough. Except for one little fact.

"Emerald, why can you not seem to follow simple instructions?" Cinder seethed.

To Cinder's credit, she had lasted fifteen minutes before she started berating Emerald. That was more than triple her last record of four and a half minutes. Mercury forced himself to keep track of these little factoids because it kept him from noticing how close Cinder's rants got to one Marcus Black.

Worthless. You can't even follow simple instructions. I should just leave you for the Grimm.

Mercury shook his head furiously. He had been doing good recently, no flashbacks or memories of his father. And all it took was Cinder being Cinder. Wonderful.

"I'm sorry, Cinder, it won't-" Emerald began to apologize.

"Be silent." Cinder interjected, "That did not require an answer."

"I'm sorry, dad. I'll do bett-"

"Did I give you permission to talk?"

Mercury gritted his teeth. He had to act, to protect Emerald, if only to keep Cinder from sounding more and more like his father. "Geez, Cinder, lay off of her. So she spoke out of turn, what did it actually hurt?"

Cinder turned to glare at him, and it took all of Mercury's willpower to hold her gaze. He had seen that glare before, usually right before his father would start making his fists familiar with Mercury. "I mean, if she hadn't said anything, we wouldn't know that Raven has the Spring Maiden." Mercury continued, "And here you are berating her for it."

"We would've found her eventually." Cinder said, "Your job is not to offer your opinion. Your job is not to act preemptively. Your job is to act when I tell you to. Without me, you are nothing."

"Yes, Cinder." Emerald said.

Mercury's heart broke. Seeing Emerald just accept all of the abuse and manipulation that Cinder had heaped on her made him realize something.

He had effectively gone from one abusive situation to another, never mind that he wasn't the direct target, it was still a toxic situation.

"Yeah, whatever." Mercury said, waving his hand dismissively.

If looks could kill, Cinder would've murdered everything that she laid eyes on. As she stalked ahead and snapped at Emerald, asking her how much longer it would be until they reached the airship, Mercury pulled out his Scroll and sent off a text to Emerald."Hey, you ok?"

Mercury raised an eyebrow as Emerald pulled out her Scroll. She had to be using her Semblance to mask her actions from Cinder, otherwise Cinder would be running her mouth. "I'm fine."

Mercury scowled. Like hell she was. "BS. Cinder just laid into you for an honest mistake. You didn't deserve that."

Emerald wasted no time in replying, and said reply almost made Mercury break his Scroll in frustration. "It's just how she shows that she cares about me, Merc."

Mercury set his jaw. Gods, Cinder had Emerald wrapped around her finger. No other option, time to go for the jugular. "Cinder doesn't care about you! As soon as she thinks that you've outlived your usefulness, you're dead."

"K." Emerald slipped her Scroll back in her pocket, signifying that the conversation was over.

Well. If I can't get Emerald to see what's happening... Gods, why am I even still here? The only reason I even joined up with Cinder was because I had just killed dear old dad and only cared about survival.

Then it hit him. He could just walk away, in theory. Salem probably wouldn't take that well, might even count it as a betrayal. Mercury shuddered, he had no desire to end up fighting Tyrian.

He could just run. Just slip away now while Emerald and Cinder weren't paying attention. Mercury rolled his eyes, that was laughable. Cinder would notice, and as soon as she figured it out, he was dead. Trying to run while at Castle Evernight was even more of a joke, just take a stroll through the middle of the Grimmlands? He might as well off himself.

It seemed like the only way out was to be captured by an enemy and defect, but who would be stupid enough to fight against...

Mercury bit his lip to suppress his laughter, Ozpin's merry band of guardians, that was his way out. All he had to do was hope that they were feeling merciful the next time they met.

Did he like the idea of joining up with those insufferable brats? No, Mercury didn't, but as near as he could tell, they weren't abusive to each other.

It would be nice to finally be able to drop his guard.

(Vale, Commercial District)

This was not how Qrow wanted to be spending his evening. He wanted to be knocking back a few drinks in the nearest bar until his Semblance acted up, pay for the damages and his tab, then move to the next bar.

But apparently his Semblance had decided to throw him for a loop. It had nothing to do with the fact that Raven had contacted him for the first time since Summer's apparent death. Not at all, no sir.

Raven wanted to meet, for reasons she refused to send over Scroll. "Too sensitive." She had said. So he was currently a crow, flying to a secluded rooftop in Vale. He alighted on the chosen rooftop, and mentally took hold of the magic Ozpin had given him. In an instant, he turned back into his human form. He sighed, it was a beautiful night, with the first snowfall of the year flurrying about.

It was a shame it had to be ruined by a meeting of the Branwen siblings.

He took out his Scroll, and signaled Raven that he was in position. Soon enough, he heard the caw of a raven behind him. He took a swig from his flask, then turned to face her. "Hello, Raven."

Her red eyes hardened into the perpetual scowl that only two people in the world had ever been able to change, "Hello, brother. I have some news that you won't like."

Qrow raised an eyebrow, straight to business? Since when had Raven been so direct? Something was off here. "Let me guess," Qrow quipped, "Some of your bandits poked a pack of Grimm and you need your little brother's help to deal with it."

Raven rolled her eyes, "Don't flatter yourself. I had a visit from some people that might interest you."

Qrow folded his arms, "I'm listening."

"Do the names Cinder, Emerald, and Mercury mean anything to you?" Raven asked.

"Shit." Qrow let slip, "What did they want?"

"Oh, nothing much." Raven said dismissively, "They just wanted to use my connection to Ruby to draw her in so they could kidnap her."

Qrow kicked at an imaginary rock, "Well, Rae, they already tried that once. We'll keep a lookout through."

Raven's temper flared, "You idiot, if they take her she's dead! She'll end up just like Summer!"

Qrow froze. "What?"

"Salem is kidnapping every Silver Eyed Warrior that she can get her hands on, and using them as test subjects. She's trying to figure out how to corrupt them into some sort of hybrid."

Qrow's face turned hard, "How do you know this?"

Raven gripped the hilt of her sword, for comfort if nothing else. "Twelve years ago, my link with Summer told me that she was in mortal danger, and I opened a portal. I arrived at Salem's castle, only to find Summer dead, and her body riddled with Grimm corruption. Is that enough, or would you like me to go into detail?"

"Uh, do the cleaning crew of this building a favor and don't," Qrow said, "Well, now we know why Salem's so interested in snagging Ruby."

Raven sighed. She knew Qrow all too well, and knew that when he was emotionally compromised he would focus on what he could control, and systematically eliminate any alcohol fit for drinking within arm's reach. True to form, Qrow reached for his flask and chugged what was left.

After taking a few ragged breaths he continued, "Alright, is there anything else I need to know, Raven? Because I am not in the mood for any more surprises."

Raven hesitated for a moment, Qrow was already in a rough spot, and would no doubt react negatively to what she had to say next. "I agreed to help them."

There was a beat of silence, then Qrow lost it. "Are you out of your damned mind, Raven? You just told me Salem killed Summer while using her as a lab rat and now you're going to just help them do the same to Ru-"

"Do not think for a second that I'm actually going to let them take Ruby." Raven hissed, "I want payback for Summer, and for that I need your help."

Qrow desperately wished that he had more alcohol on him, he wasn't drunk enough for this conversation. "After all these years, after abandoning Tai and Yang, after letting us stay in the dark about Summer for over a decade, after all that... you want our help?"

"Yes." Raven said.

"Nope." Qrow said, "You're on your own."

He began to walk away, when Raven spoke again. "Don't be so hasty, brother. You don't have all the facts yet."

Qrow growled and turned back to Raven, "I would be very excited to hear those facts, Raven."

"Salem knows where I am, so I have a bullseye painted on my back no matter what I do. So, there's no point in hiding this from you." Raven said.

"Cut the melodrama!" Qrow shouted, "Just tell me, damn it!"

Raven always was a strong believer that actions spoke louder than words, so she simply called on the Maiden powers.

Qrow's eyes went wide as he saw the flames around her eyes. "Oh, shit. Does Cinder know it's you?"

Raven shook her head, "No, she believes my it's my second in command. Also, it's Spring, if you care."

Qrow's mind was going about a mile a minute. This meant they had probable access to the Lamp of Knowledge, if Raven played nice. "Alright, sit tight, stall with Cinder as much as you can. I want to get the kids trained up as much as possible before throwing them at Salem's cabal."

Raven scoffed, "They handled Adam and the White Fang, didn't they?"

"Barely." Qrow admitted, "We almost lost our pocket tactician."

Raven turned and made a portal, "Hurry. I don't know how long we'll have. You have my number." She walked through the portal, which blinked out of existence.

Qrow pulled out his Scroll and dialed Glynda, who picked up after a few rings, "Hey, Glyn, it's Qrow. Yeah, I know it's late, but I've got news."

He took a breath, "Some good, some bad, and some terrible, which do you want first?"

(Beacon Academy, Airfield)

Beacon Academy offered many elective courses on a variety of subjects every term, with the mindset that it would help flesh out the skillsets of the students, and make each team more well rounded. There were classes on everything from Tracking to Siege Defense to Ordinance Removal. One class, that typically wasn't well attended was Piloting. Why should any Hunter learn how to pilot when the kingdoms would usually provide transportation to mission sites?

Well, this term, there were two members of team RWBY who had decided to take the class. Weiss Schnee and Yang Xiao Long. Their reasoning was simple, there needed to be someone in their group that could fly an airship. You never knew when you would have an airship and no pilot. Weiss had volunteered to take the class because she thought it was a useful skill to learn, not at all because her sister could fly too, no sir. Yang decided to go with her, simply because she "already had the aviator glasses and bomber jacket, might as well have the actual skill."

This term, Piloting met every Saturday, another strike against class sizes, with Weiss and Yang being the only members of the class. It was being taught by a retired Manta pilot, who used to serve in the Atlesian military. He preferred the moniker Count.

"Hey-o!" Count called out, waving to them.

Yang waved back, and two of them approached their instructor.

"Alright, so since both of you have more than proven that you know the book learning front and back, we're going to go for a ride today." Count said as he jabbed his thumb towards the Manta in the landing pad.

"Hell yeah!" Yang said.

"Excellent." Weiss said.

Count grinned, "I thought you'd say that. Come on, pre-flight checks, let's go."

Yang and Weiss leapt into action, Yang claiming the pilot's seat, and Weiss taking the copilot's chair. They began the checklist, having already practiced it over Scroll call while Weiss was sick.

"Dust Reactor operating at optimal capacity." Weiss reported.

"Copy that," Yang said, "Spinning up thrusters one and two."

Weiss flicked a switch, "Avionics online, radar active."

Yang checked her display, "Weapons system online, eighty-four missiles in the pipe. Ready for launch."

"Don't let me stop you!" Count called out from his seat.

Yang and Weiss put their headsets on, and Yang got on the radio. "Beacon Tower, this is Beacon One, requesting launch clearance."

The radio crackled, and a female voice responded, "Copy that, Beacon One, you are clear for launch, good hunting out there."

The launch went smoothly enough, considering it was their first time. "Alright, girls," Count said, "We're not just up here for a sightseeing cruise. We're taking a shift in Vale's aerial perimeter patrol."

"Copy that, boss." Yang said, angling the ship toward the patrol route. Vale's aerial patrol was instrumental in protecting the kingdom from flying Grimm such as Nevermores, Lancers, and Griffons.

Weiss kept an eye on the ship's radar, "So why do you go by Count?" She asked.

Count chuckled. "It was my callsign in Spare Squadron."

Yang raised an eyebrow, "Spare Squadron? That sounds like something out of a bad Mistralian cartoon."

Count let out a laugh, "Now that you mention that, yeah, that fits. You see, it was a last chance squadron. So, screw-ups, criminals, people like that."

Weiss nodded, "Definitely a bad Mistralian cartoon." She was stopped from saying more by the radar going off. "We've got a contact, a big one."

"Alright, let's check it out." Count said.

Yang grinned, "Hold on!" She cranked the stick, and increased speed, sending them careening towards the Grimm. "Oh, crap." Yang said, "It's a Sphinx."

True enough, it was indeed a Sphinx, with its wings, four limbs and humanish looking head. Weiss smirked, "Yang, I want it. As a summon."

"Um, what?" Count asked.

"As part of my Semblance, I can summon Grimm that I've personally killed, and I want that one." Weiss explained, "Take over for me, would you?"

Weiss vacated the Co-Pilot seat, which Count took over. "How should we play this?" Yang asked.

Weiss drew Myrtenaster, and turned back to Yang, "Get its attention, then get some altitude on it."

"Then what?" Count asked.

"I'm going to jump." Weiss said.

Yang grunted as she dodged a fireball from the Sphinx, "I'm all for thrillseeking, Weiss, but don't you think that's a bit much?"

Weiss smiled, "Maybe, but it's the only way to guarantee that I kill it."

Yang flipped a switch to open the doors, "I've got to say, I'm loving this new reckless bent you've got going."

Weiss didn't respond, instead taking the plunge as she leapt out of the Manta. The plan had worked perfectly, and the Sphinx was right below her. Which also meant that she was right in the line of fire.

The Sphinx was decidedly not a fan of the Huntress hurtling towards it, and made its displeasure known with a fireball. Weiss reacted not by dodging, but by testing a new glyph that she had been working on, to prepare for fighting Cinder and other similar opponents. She created the glyph, and held it in the path of the fireball.

"Weiss, dodge!" Yang yelled into the radio.

Instead, Yang could only watch as the fireball hit the glyph... and absorb it. Weiss then shot the fireball back at the Sphinx, and scored a direct hit. Due to the time this took, Weiss had fallen below the Sphinx, and created a series of glyphs so she could pinball herself back towards it.

Launching from the final glyph, courtesy of Velocity glyphs, she was headed straight for the Sphinx, but with the positions reversed. Creating a summoning glyph, she summoned the sword of the Arma Gigas above it, and propelled it downwards, impaling the Sphinx. As Weiss flew by, she swiped at its neck with Myrtenaster, beheading it, and killing it.

Using another series of Glyohs, Weiss made it back to the Manta, where she was greeted by an incredulous Count.

"Thank you for reminding me why I never became a Huntsman. Y'all are insane."

Yang grinned, "Only on Saturdays."

(Beacon Academy, JNPR Dorm)

Jaune slotted the can of shaving cream into place in the "practice" bomb that was currently sitting on the shared work desk in the JNPR dorm. When Jaune had signed up for Introduction to Ordinance Removal, he certainly hadn't anticipated Professor Greene's teaching style. The red haired, bespectacled woman was eccentric to say the least. After a pen and paper test to make sure that Jaune had done the theory based work, she had thrust a practice bomb, field defusing kit, and a eight pack of shaving cream at him, and told him to get some practice in before they started getting to the complicated stuff in class.

Ren and Nora were out doing something, Nora had said something about a DDR tournament at the arcade, which Ren wanted to attend. Meanwhile, Oscar was sitting cross-legged on his bed, with Nora's noise cancelling headphones on. He had discovered that blocking out any external stimuli helped with his forays into sorting through the memories of his various past selves. To assist him in this endeavor, Ren had taught Oscar some simple meditation techniques. Occasionally, Oscar would mutter something, usually some factoid about one of the Ozzes.

Jaune snapped the panel shut on the practice bomb, and a light blinked yellow, showing that it was armed. Time to go to work.

As per Professor Greene's instructions, he had set the bomb's difficulty to five out of a possible ten. She had said that given his mastery of the theory of bomb defusing, that he shouldn't have a problem.

He glanced at the LCD display, there wasn't any timer. Jaune let out a sigh of relief, at least Professor Greene was letting him work up to the bomb that had blown him up at Dust to Dust. He retrieved the X-ray device from his field defusing kit, and expanded it to its full size. He then set it to work analyzing the bomb's interior.

Seems simple enough, no pressure seal, no liquid trigger... So, why is this a five out of ten? There's got to be something I'm missing.

Jaune searched for a moment before he found it. A secondary trigger. If he didn't remove both triggers at the same time, it would blow up in his face. This meant without another set of hands, that he would have to get a little more creative.

Using his tools, Jaune popped open a panel on the bomb's side. All he had to do was gently remove the explosive, then cut all the wires at once. Jaune reached in, using the X-ray device one handed to check his progress. Careful as could be, he made his way to the explosive, then attempted to remove it.

It didn't budge.

Jaune frowned, and pulled a little harder. This time it came loose, but the yellow light turned red, indicating that detonation was imminent. His eyes went wide, what had he done wrong? He quickly grabbed the wire cutters from his kit, yanked the explosive out, and cut the wires.

In his rush, he missed the wire for the secondary trigger.

Nozzles popped out of the sides and top of the practice bomb, and hosed him down with shaving cream.

Jaune wearily took out his scroll and took a picture of himself. Nora would've been devastated if she had missed this. Afterwards he made his way to the bathroom and wiped his face, as he was making sure that he had gotten all of the shaving cream out of his hair, he realized something that had been the whole reason that he was growing out his hair to begin with.

He had enough hair for a Warrior's Wolf Tail. Jaune grinned, finally, his time had come. He reached for the drawer in the bathroom that was designated for his use, and retrieved a hair tie that he had gotten ages ago, just for this. He gathered up his hair, and wrapped the hair tie around it. Satisfied with his handiwork, he returned to the dorm room to try his hand at defusing the bomb again, and found that Oscar hadn't heard a thing.

Which was good, because Oscar had done a deep dive, and had begun to unearth the memories of the first Oz, a man by the name of Ozma.

He could see a tower, a girl, and felt soul-crushing regret. Why? What had this Oz done that was so... wait a second! Hadn't Ozpin said that this Oz died of the common cold? Time for some answers. Oscar mentally took a deep breath and dived in.

The man named Ozma strode confidently towards a tyrant's castle. Though once benevolent, he had become paranoid that every other being was trying to take his daughter, Salem, from him.

Wait, what?

Oscar watched as Ozma battled through every defense with his magic and his scepter, eventually defeating the tyrant-king in single combat, ascending to the tower, and freeing Salem. However, the tyrant-king's enchantments persisted after death, and the very walls came alive to keep Salem in her tower. They battled side by side to escape, Salem proving to be skilled with the use of magic herself.

With the castle collapsing into rubble behind them, Ozma turned to Salem, and asked her a question. "What will you do now?"

Salem turned away from her savior for a moment, "I always wanted to see the world, but I'm not sure where I should start,"

Ozma extended his hand, "Where would you like to go first?"

Salem took his hand, and the memory shifted, to one five years later. Ozma was bedridden with some sort of sickness, and Salem was doing her best to nurse her back to health. Unfortunately, Ozma's condition continued to deteriorate, and the memory along with it. The last thing he heard before the memory ended, was Salem.

"I swear we will be together again, Ozma. Ever if I have to defy the gods, even if I have to tear down the heavens, we will be together again."

Ah, hell. Salem's immortal, isn't she?

"Yes, Oscar, she is."

Oscar's eyes flew open, Ozpin probably wasn't too thrilled about him looking at this particular memory. Why didn't you stop me?

Oscar felt a shiver as a wave of pure weariness radiated from Ozpin's consciousness. "There's a reason more than a few of our past lives spent them as reclusive drunks, Oscar. Put simply, you were going to find out sooner or later. I would gain nothing by keeping it from you."

Oscar folded his arms, Do they know?

"No, they don't. Not for my sake, but for theirs. Do you really think that any of them, except for Miss Rose, would have committed to this fight if they had known?"

Oscar's temper flared, That doesn't matter! You asked them to risk their lives to fight an unkillable enemy they think can be killed!

"My mistakes, which are numerous, are not the issue here. The choice to tell them, and consequences of that choice, are yours."

Oscar opened his eyes, and took off Nora's headphones. He saw Jaune, working on defusing the practice bomb, again. How long had he been working on that? He waited until Jaune had finished, then bit the bullet.

"Jaune, I found a memory that everyone needs to know about. Right now."

Jaune turned in his chair, and gave Oscar a quizzical look, "Sure, Oscar. What's so important that we need to call a group meeting?"

Oscar's breath hitched, he could take it back. Just tell Jaune it was nothing, maybe just the tidbit that the Last King of Vale had used the Sword of Destruction during the Battle of Vacuo during the Great War. He teetered on the edge, between Ozpin's assertion that they were like-minded souls and Oscar's desire to be his own person.

In the end, it was an easy choice to make.

"Jaune, Salem is immortal." Oscar said.

The effect was immediate. Jaune paled, and the light in his eyes died.

"What did you just say?"

(Beacon Academy, Ozpin's Office)

It felt like the end.

It had taken a couple of hours to gather everyone together, since Ren and Nora had to wait for a rather tardy Bullhead to collect them from Vale. Once everyone had arrived, Oscar explained what he had seen in the memory. Ozma, Salem, and of course, the truth about Salem's immortality.

Everyone could only stare at him in silence. Nora reached for Ren, who enveloped her in his arms, and activated his Semblance. Taiyang had a blank look on his face, that said only one thing. It's happening again. Glynda could only turn away, and stare out of the window, trying and failing to suppress her emotions. Reign-Beau had his fist closed around the silver locket he wore, which contained pictures of his family. Qrow had his forehead pressed to the wall, his now empty flask tossed aside. Yang and Blake's hands found each other, desperately seeking something that hadn't been changed by this revelation. Ruby fell to her knees, silent sobs giving way to the tears that flowed down her face. Jaune and Weiss could only cling to each other, their shared dream of a simple life after Salem's defeat shattered into a million pieces.

No one said anything for a long time, until finally, Weiss hit on a realization. "We were idiots, it was right in front of us the whole time."

"How do you figure that, Ice Princess?" Qrow growled.

Weiss took a moment to gather her thoughts, then explained. "All of the fairy tales we were taught as kids are real, more or less, right? It's simple, really."

Glynda's gaze flickered back towards Weiss, "The Girl In The Tower."

Weiss nodded, "It all fits, the brave hero, the tyrant's castle, the girl, also it can be inferred that it happened thousands of years ago."

"That helps us... how?" Yang asked, her tone acidic.

Weiss opened her mouth to issue a withering retort, only to realize that there would be no point to it.

"I suppose someone has to say it," Reign-Beau said, "This is a no-win scenario for us."

"No." Ruby choked out, "I am not going to die like mom."

Qrow shot Glynda a look, they were the only two people in the room who knew the truth of that, after all. Almost imperceptibly, Glynda shook her head.

"Don't worry, Ruby." Jaune said, "I'll figure something out. I always do, right?"

Jaune continued, becoming more and more desperate as he spoke, "I'll just come up with a plan! That's what I do, I'm the plan guy, so I'll just come up with a plan to kill the immortal queen of the Grimm! It's not like my honor as an Arc is riding on this or anything!"

Jaune attempted to leave before the magnitude of the situation came crashing down on him. He got about three steps before collapsing into a sobbing wreck.

In that moment, to Weiss, all other signs of life in the room ceased to exist. All she knew was that Jaune needed her, right now.

In mere moments, she was by Jaune's side, rocking him gently as he cried. No one was quite sure how long it took for Jaune to calm down, what did time even mean any more?

"Are you done?" Weiss asked after he had calmed down.

Jaune nodded, not daring to speak.

"Then stand up, and let's figure this out. It's not over yet, not while we've still got that marvelous brain of yours on our side."

Jaune nodded, then slowly got to his feet.

Tai moved to help Ruby to her feet, "Alright, that's enough crying, there's still questions that need answered."

"Like what, Tai?" Qrow snapped.

"Like how Salem became immortal in the first place." Blake said, "People aren't just born immortal, something had to cause it."

Oscar, for his part, had began rifling through the memories. It had to be here somewhere, didn't it? How would Ozpin know that Salem was immortal if he didn't know how it had come about?

Help me look, old man!

"Oscar, you don't have to-"

Shut up! You might be alright with keeping your friends in the dark, but I'm not! If I can find out how Salem became immortal, then maybe there's a way to make her mortal again!

"You must teach her the meaning of life and death. If you can do that, she'll become mortal again."

Oscar blinked. His trick had worked. He was more surprised by that than anything, considering Ozpin knew what he was thinking. How do you know that?

"Ozwald, the incarnation before me, used the Lamp of Knowledge."

Thanks, old man.

"I got it!" Oscar cried.

Ren raised an eyebrow before dropping his Semblance, "That was fast, Oscar. You're improving that much already?"

"Yeah," Nora added, "You weren't even wearing my headphones."

Oscar winced, "Uh, that's because Ozpin basically told me what I was looking for. Well, not exactly. He-"

"Out with it, already!" Yang yelled, "Did he give us something we can use, or not?"

"I know how to make Salem mortal again!" Oscar said excitedly, "We just have to teach her the meaning of life and death!"

"To clarify," Reign-Beau said, "We need to teach an immortal, who has been alive for at least thousands of years, the meaning of life and death?"

"I can do it, in part at least."

Everyone turned to Jaune, with expressions ranging from confusion, worry, and exasperation. "How the hell do you figure that, kid?" Qrow asked.

"Because I lost Pyrrha the same way that Salem lost Ozma."

"Uh, Jaune... not to put too fine a point on it, but Pyrrha and Ozma died in very different ways." Tai said.

"That's not what he means." Weiss said, her voice cracking, "Both Pyrrha and Ozma had their lives cut short, leaving behind a potential lover."

Glynda shook her head, "It would be foolish to believe that Mr. Arc empathizing with Salem's loss will be enough to teach Salem the lessons she needs to learn."

And just like that, the rekindled hope that was so close to becoming a flame was doused to cinders.

"Well, why don't we just go get the Lamp of Knowledge and ask?" Nora said.

It was Nora's turn to be the center of attention, as everyone turned to look at her, dumbfounded. "Is it really that simple?" Ruby asked.

"Almost." Qrow said, "Unfortunately, we need the Spring Maiden for that. On the plus side, we know who the Spring Maiden is."

"Oh, gods." Glynda muttered.

"Who is it?" Reign-Beau asked.

Qrow braced for the explosion. "Raven Branwen."

The other members of team RWBY slowly backed away from Yang, as they had no desire to be inside the blast radius. "Do you want to run that by me again?" Yang asked, her eyes flickering red.

"Last night I had a conversation with Raven." Qrow said. He certainly wasn't in the mood to pull his punches, which Oscar would probably regret in the morning. Probably. "She said that she had a visit from everyone's favorite evil fire lady."

"Damn it, Rae." Tai muttered under his breath, "I thought you were trying to stay off of Salem's radar..."

Qrow continued, "Cinder wanted Raven and the clan to help kidnap Ruby, and take her to Salem."

"Again?" Ruby asked, "Why does Salem want me so badly?"

Qrow was about to explain, when Glynda cut him off, "Qrow, no! They don't need to hear that!'

Qrow whirled on her, "What am I supposed to do, pull a damn Ozpin and keep my nieces and best friend in the dark about what happened to Summer? HELL NO!"

"Just... do it, then." Glynda said.

Ruby and Yang looked at each other nervously. This seemed to be the day for world shattering revelations, so why stop now? "Just rip the band-aid off, Qrow." Tai said.

"Summer died because Salem was using her as a lab rat, trying to figure out how to corrupt a Silver-Eyed Warrior. She'll do the same to Ruby, given the opportunity."

Yang smashed her knuckles together, her hair becoming an inferno. "Over our dead bodies."

One would expect Ruby to crumple again, but instead, her typical defiance came to the fore. "I am not dying like that. I refuse to die like that."

Both sisters looked at their father, expecting him to shut down, instead he was... okay? "Well, that wasn't quite what I expected, but alright."

"Uh, Tai? You sure you're good?" Qrow asked,

"Yep. Why do you think I shut down all those years ago? It was because I couldn't stop thinking of all the possibilities. This was actually one of the tame ones."

With the Rose/Xiao Long family drama resolved for now, Reign-Beau brought it back around, "So, back on task. Cinder wants Raven to help her kidnap Ruby, and Raven wants us to... what?"

Jaune's eyes went wide, "OH."

With his trademark grin plastered on his face, Jaune began to explain his epiphany. "So, we need the Lamp of Knowledge, and Raven to get it, and Raven wants to get Cinder and the rest of her back. Which is tricky, because Cinder thinks that Raven is going to help them kidnap Ruby, so why not bring everyone to one place?"

Tai snapped his fingers, "That's it! Have Raven leak to Salem's forces that we're making a desperate mad dash for the Lamp..."

"And with Ruby out in the open, They'll come like moths to a flame." Reign-Beau concluded.

"Where we break all of their legs!" Nora yelled, her natural exuberance returned.

Everyone turned to Glynda, "It's your call, Glynda." Qrow said, "We might not have another chance like this for a long time."

Glynda turned and looked at the assembled adults, and her students. For a moment, she wrestled with the questions of what Ozpin would've done, what would James do? Which approach was right? In the end, she settled for somewhere in between. "You all have the next two days off of classes. Train as much as you can without being self-destructive. After those two days are up, we... what's the term used these days?"

Jaune grinned, "Saddle up, lock and load."

(Beacon Academy, Training Room 1)

Oscar knew walking into the training room that there was a high possibility that Qrow would be using him as a punching bag during their training. Especially considering that Oscar had just dropped the mother of all bombshells on him. At least he would figure out how durable he was.

Qrow was standing in the middle of the room, with his weapon leaning against the wall, and some of practice dummy that resembled a more lifelike Atlesian Knight. Oh, right. Today they were working on Qrow's bar brawling techniques.

Before, they had worked on Oscar's canesmanship, and had trained that up to a level that Qrow had deemed passable. Now was the time for the "fun stuff" as Qrow had put it.

"Hey, kid." Qrow said, "Ready to learn how to make people regret picking a fight with you?"

Oscar rubbed the back of his neck, "Yeah, I mean, it makes sense, until I can start doing some of the stuff that Ozpin was able to do."

Qrow nodded, then launched into his explanation. "So, because of the little problem of you having Oz in your head, you're a target."

"You don't say." Oscar deadpanned, "I had no idea."

"Brat," Qrow smirked, "Lucky for you, I like brats. Now, what's the worst part about Aura, that's actually the best part for you?"

Oscar mentally flipped through what he knew about aura, then arrived at the answer. "Aura doesn't stop pain."

Qrow snapped his fingers, "Exactly, kid, but it goes further than that. Aura's all well and good, but if you force someone's arm to bend in a way it ain't supposed to bend, that arm's gonna break, Aura or no Aura. Same with smashing someone's head into a wall. Might not do any actual damage, but you'll still rattle their brain around."

"So, first things first," Qrow continued, "Feet. This is why I wanted you to have some good stomping boots. Scrape the sole of your boot against their shin, then come down hard on the instep of their foot."

Well, now the presence of the practice dummy made sense. Oscar went over to the dummy and performed the technique. "How was that?" Oscar asked.

"Not bad for your first time." Qrow said, glancing at his Scroll to check the readings from the dummy, "But you didn't have enough power to really make it hurt. Do it again, with a bit more oomph this time."

Oscar did it again. Qrow blinked, he kept forgetting how fast Oscar picked things up, was it because of Oz? Whatever, didn't matter. Besides, the less he thought about Oz right now, the better.

"Qrow? Are you alright?"

Damn. Kid was more perceptive than he thought.

"I'm fine, kid. I'm just real pissed at Oz for lying to us for decades, and knowing you've got him in your head isn't doing me any favors."

Oscar looked down at his feet, "If it helps, he hasn't really said anything since he told me how to beat Salem."

Qrow almost snapped at him, but stopped short as he remembered the last line of Ozpin's death message to everyone. Don't let him live with my regrets.

"Kid, it's not your fault, so stop moping." Qrow said, "You ain't Oz, so stop trying to shoulder his regrets. He'd tell us that he made more mistakes than any man, woman, or child on the planet, but you didn't make those mistakes."

Oscar nodded, "Alright, what's next?"

Qrow grinned, "You should already be familiar with this next one, given that you've got Remnant's best leg breaker on your team..."

A/N: And with that, I've hit 100K words on this story. That's a milestone that kind of snuck up on me, but here we are.

Not much else to say, except thank you for reading. That being said, get ready, because things are about to ramp up in a big way.

Next Chapter: The Battle of Haven.