AN: I gotta say, I was surprised at how many people expressed their support for Nora and Oscar becoming endgame.

To be honest, I'm happy about that. Wink, wink.

I'm also really surprised at all the Ozpin hate going on the comments. Y'all know he's not the villain, right?

Anyway, onwards!

Chapter 108

"This has gone on long enough, James."

The voice made Winter hesitate outside the door to General Ironwood's office.

"The embargo was one thing, but now the borders have closed, and we have a military presence in Mantle. When is this madness going to stop?"

"It stops when the threat is over," she heard the General say. "You know as well as I do that tensions are still high in Mistral. Until I know for sure that we aren't going to go to war, the embargo stays in place. Until I can be sure that spies haven't infiltrated our Kingdom, the troops stay in Mantle."

"The people are nervous, James," the other person said. "They're demanding an explanation."

Winter chose that moment to open the door, stepping into the office before the argument could escalate. She could see that the person the general had been arguing with was Councilor Caelum, who was standing in the middle of the room in a dark suit. Both men turned when she entered.

"Winter," the general said in greeting. "Councilor, we can talk about this later."

"…Very well," the councilman said, turning towards the door. "Specialist Schnee."

"Councilor Caelum," she said with a small nod as the man left the room.

"He doesn't understand," General Ironwood said quietly to himself. "They'll never know the lengths I have to go to keep this Kingdom safe." He looked up at Winter. "You have a report for me? Were you successful in recovering Aqua Branwen?"

Winter took a deep breath, and stood tall, with her hands folded behind her. "Unfortunately, I was not."

"…"

Winter had to admit that his silence was unsettling. "I was able to track down the airship that they took to flee, but sadly, she had already sought political asylum in Mistral before I could catch up to her. We no longer have the jurisdiction to go and get her."

The general silently stood up and approached Winter, who continued to stand still. He gently put his hand on her shoulder.

"I'm sorry," he said.

"Sir?"

"I know this must be hard for you, seeing as she has your sister."

Winter's hand clenched into a fist behind her back.

It seemed he was still content to continue using Weiss against her.

"It is, sir," she said, trying not to let on that she knew what had really happened. "With your permission, I would like to still try again."

"I don't think I can allow that," the general said. "You were correct that we no longer have the jurisdiction to retrieve her without starting an international incident. If Mistral is really granting Aqua asylum, then if they're unwilling to give her up, forcing the issue would only make our already troubled relations even worse. A war with Mistral is something we absolutely need to avoid. For now, our only option until things with Mistral get better is to keep her bounty active and hope that somebody manages to bring her in."

"I…I understand, sir," Winter said.

"If our ambassadors can cool relations with Mistral enough, then we can press the issue with them and ask for her back. I'm sorry we can't do more to rescue your sister, but this is a delicate political situation."

"Yes, sir," Winter said.

"In the meantime…" the general said, and his office door opened, allowing five Specialists to enter the office. She recognized them as Marrow Amin, Vine Zeki, Harriet Bree, Elm Ederne, and Clover Ebi.

The Ace Operatives.

"General," Clover said, as he the other Ace Ops saluted.

"There's something I need to tell all of you about," the General said. "There's a threat that the rest of the world doesn't know about. An evil that threatens the existence of life on Remnant as we know it. I need a team of people I can trust. I won't lie to you, operatives. What I'm about to tell you will change everything you thought you knew about Remnant, about the Fall of Beacon, and about the Grimm themselves." Some of the Ace Ops looked worried at that. "If you decide that you would rather not know, I won't blame you. You will be dismissed, and that will be that. Does anyone wish to leave?"

The Specialists gathered looked at each other for a second, before they stood resolutely. The general smiled.

"Very well. The person we're fighting against is a woman… named Salem."

"Why hello," Headmaster Lionheart said as the group entered the Academy's entrance hall. He was standing on a terrace at the top of the stairs that was held up by a statue of a woman. "Thank you for… coming. There… Seems to be more of you than last time." The headmaster sounded nervous for some reason.

"Eh, you know what they say, 'the more the merrier'," Qrow said. "So what's going on with the council?"

"Why… did you bring your weapons?"

"What?" Qrow asked, confused by the admittedly very stupid question. "Leo, we're Huntsmen. You okay?"

"Of course! Of course, sorry. Just haven't had my evening coffee."

"Look, it's nice to see you, but we got work to do," Qrow said impatiently. "Are we getting support from the council or not?"

Aqua spotted something out of the corner of her eye, and looked up to see a black bird perched on the railing of a balcony.

"Raven?" she asked. Everyone else looked up at the bird, which flew away as Qrow tried to shoot at it, but he missed. The bird flew behind Lionheart, transforming into Raven Branwen.

"Raven…" Yang said, her eyes turning red.

"If you're going to shoot me, shoot me," Raven said, taking her mask off. She was pointedly ignoring Yang. "That was insulting."

"What are you doing here?!" Qrow demanded. Raven started walking down the stairs.

"I could ask you the same thing. You've been scheming, little brother. Planning to attack your own sister."

Qrow's eyes widened as he looked up at Lionheart. "Leo… what have you done?!"

"I..." Lionheart at least had the decency to look ashamed over his blatant betrayal.

"Leo did what any sane person would in his position- he looked at all the information he had in front of him, assessed the situation, and made a choice," Raven said. "And it seems you all have too."

"You have the Spring Maiden," Qrow said angrily.

"I do."

"Then hand her over and let's work together! We can beat Salem!"

"All that time spent spying for Ozpin and you still have no idea what you're dealing with," Raven said. "There is no beating Salem."

"So that's it, then?!" Yang yelled, finally getting Raven's attention. "All that talk about strength, and you're just gonna run to Salem with your tail between your legs?! I always knew you were a thief and a murderer, but I guess you're just a coward, too!"

"Yang," Raven said. "I would've thought you were raised better than to talk to your mother that way."

"Well, I guess it's a good thing you aren't my mother, then," Yang snapped back. Raven glared at Yang for a second before she suddenly drew her sword and created a portal. A fireball launched from the portal and hit Yang in the chest, knocking her back.

"Yang!" Ruby and Aqua called out, rushing to check on her. The one who threw the fireball was revealed a moment later, as Cinder Fall stepped out of the portal, an emotionless expression on her face. She was quickly followed by Vernal, Emerald, and Mercury.

"Cinder…" Ruby said, seeing the woman again after so long.

Mercury looked down at Yang. "You know, you always looked better on your back, babe."

"Don't call me that," Yang growled.

"Everybody stay calm," Qrow said, when they heard the doors behind them open, allowing a large man in a long green coat to enter.

"Oh, no…" Oscar said. The large man closed the doors and approached the group.

"The White Fang is prepping demolition and securing the school grounds," the large man said. "No one's getting in, and no one's getting out."

"Was this all just a trap?" Weiss asked.

"It appears so…" Ren said.

"Raven, tell me…" Qrow said. "How long have you been with them?"

"Only a few days," a new voice answered. One that made Cloud and Ren tense up. A new figure stepped out of the portal, this time a man with long silver hair, a black coat, a massive katana, and a single black wing.

"Sephiroth…" Cloud said.

"Hello there, Cloud," Sephiroth said with a smirk.

"So you're with Salem, now?"

"In a matter of speaking," Sephiroth answered. "I only allied myself with her recently, right before we went to find Raven. The original plan was to simply stroll in, take the Relic, and stroll out, and you'd never know we were here. But Raven was kind enough to set this whole thing up just so she could kill her own brother."

"What?" Qrow asked.

"As for Lionheart, well, Cinder and her team had to get entry into Beacon somehow. He's been giving Salem information for a long time, now.

"Stop it…" Lionheart said shamefully.

"It was you…" Qrow said, stunned realization coming over his face. "You sit on the Mistral Council. You had information on every Huntsman and Huntress in the Kingdom, and you gave it all to her?"

"I—"

"I couldn't find any of them, because you let her kill them!"

Lionheart didn't have any kind of an explanation for them, just looking down sadly.

"Those people had families!" Aqua said angrily. "Why would you sell them out like that!"

"You wouldn't understand!" Lionheart yelled. "I did what I had to to survive! You don't know the things she's capable of!"

"So you're just a coward, too, and a traitor! Are all of Salem's people as spineless as you and Raven?!"

"In a word, yes," Sephiroth said. "Most of them are."

"Cinder!" Ruby called out. "Why are you doing this?! Why did you join Salem? Why did you attack Beacon? Why did you betray us? Betray me?!" Cinder said nothing, continuing to stare at them with a blank expression. "Say something!"

"She can't," Sephiroth said. "From what I understand, Cinder here hasn't had free will in over ten years."

"W-what?" Ruby asked.

"Salem needed a vessel for the Maiden Powers in the event that any of the Maidens proved uncooperative. Cinder herself refused to bow to her, so Salem implanted her with a parasite. One that allows for direct influence over Cinder's mind and actions."

"Are you telling us that she was mind-controlled when she attacked Beacon?" Yang asked.

"Yes. And thanks to those Silver Eyes, the last parasite died," Sephiroth continued. "Unfortunately for her, Salem was able to implant a new one. This time, those eyes won't be able to save her. And this one is stronger. Believe me, all Cinder wants to do right now is rush to your side, give you all a big hug, and use her Fall Maiden powers to burn the rest of us alive. But as long as she's under our control, she can't move a finger without us telling her to. For example… Cinder, kill the brat with the Keyblade."

"Yes, sir," Cinder said, conjuring up her twin scimitars and charging at Ruby before the others could react. Before Cinder could attack her, though, Aqua jumped in front, her Keyblade in her hand to block the attack.

"Mom!" Ruby said.

"Cinder, come on!" Aqua pleaded. "You have to fight it!"

"That won't work," Sephiroth said, before a hail of gunshots were sent at him from Ren. The boy yelled and charged at him.

"Damn it, kid," Cloud said, before rushing past him to attack Sephiroth. Sephiroth blocked both of their attacks with a smirk on his face.

"I sincerely hope you both have gotten better since the last time," Sephiroth said.

"I'm not poisoned now, so we'll see," Cloud said.

Ruby summoned her Keyblade, ready to help her mom fight Cinder, but a chain suddenly wrapped around her leg, pulling her towards Emerald.

"You're not getting near her," Emerald said.

"And here I thought you were Cinder's friend," Ruby said, quickly getting up. "You're just keeping her enslaved."

"Shut up!" Emerald yelled. "Cinder was supposed to be mine! And then you had to show up! What does she see in you, anyway?!"

Yang tried to join the fight with her mom and Cinder, but Mercury stepped in front of her.

"Hey, Yang," he said. "What do you say we ditch this place and go have some fun like last time. I promise I won't record it this time."

"Oh, go fuck yourself," Yang said, cocking her gauntlets.

"Hey, that's pretty fun, too," he replied.

"Take out the heiress," Raven said to Vernal. "Don't bother wasting your power, she's not worth it." Vernal nodded and headed after Weiss, and Raven drew her sword in time to block an attack from Harbinger.

"I guess I shouldn't be surprised," Qrow said. "You always were a hopeless bitch."

"Is that any way to speak to family?" Raven asked.

"Shut the fuck up."

Qrow ducked under a swing of Raven's sword, and then jumped away. He dodged a few more swings before Raven kicked him and knocked him back.

"Let's see what the Schnee name really means," Vernal said as she approached Weiss, drawing her weapons, which appeared to be a pair of chakrams with pistols in the center. Weiss drew Myrtenaster.

"I'm more than a name," Weiss said.

"Hm, prove it."

Weiss created a white glyph underneath her, and used it to launch herself at Vernal.

"I don't wish to fight either of you," the large man said as Jaune and Nora stood before him.

"We don't really want to, either," Jaune said.

"But we will if you're with her!" Nora said, gripping her hammer in a fighting pose.

The big man cracked his neck and his knuckles. "Very well, then."

Oscar slowly walked up the stairs, trying to sneak up on Lionheart, who was still just watching the battles unfolding before him. Lionheart noticed him approaching, and turned to face him.

"Young man, I don't know who you are or what you think you're doing, but for your sake, I suggest you leave. Now." The traitorous Headmaster said. Oscar took a deep breath to calm his nerves and took a step towards Lionheart. "I'm warning you!" Lionheart raised his weapon, a metal Dust-infused disc on his arm, and pointed it at the boy. "That's enough!" A flying rock was launched at Oscar, who raised his arms and used to Aura to absorb to impact. He continued walking towards Lionheart, drawing Ozpin's cane from his belt. Lionheart's eyes widened at seeing the weapon. "Ozpin?"

"Not quite," Oscar said. He dove at the lion Faunus, driving him up against the railing. He swung the cane downwards, but Lionheart dodged it, causing Oscar to hit the railing instead. Oscar kicked out with his foot, sending Lionheart staggering down the steps. Oscar jumped down after him, and whacked him across the face with the cane.

"This can't be…" Lionheart said. "I knew you would be back, but… you made it here! You found Qrow! How?"

"Leo…" Ozpin said inside Oscar's head. "What happened to you?"

"Wait. You can't have had this form for long. You're… not really Ozpin right now. Boy. Child. If I deliver you to Salem, she'll have to be pleased with me, and I can finally get out of all of this! I can finally be free!" Lionheart raised his weapon again, finding a new source of determination.

"What do I do?" Oscar asked.

"Fight."

Weiss used her glyphs to bounce back and forth and dodged Vernal's weapons, the Spring Maiden throwing them around like boomerangs. After dodging several of them, Weiss quickly conjured up a wall of ice to try to hide behind it. She quickly stabbed her rapier into the floor and created a summoning glyph. The Arma Gigas started crawling its way out of the glyph, but suddenly a laser blasted through the summon and the ice wall.

A laser!

One of Vernal's weapons swung from around the wall and hit Weiss, knocking her back a few feet.

Vernal caught her thrown weapon approached Weiss. "Don't think I'm going to let you take the easy way out."

Aqua swung her Keyblade at Cinder, the brainwashed Fall Maiden ducking underneath the swing and kicking Aqua in the stomach.

"Cinder, stop this!" Aqua yelled. "I don't want to fight you! Don't let Salem control you!"

Cinder said nothing, instead just jumping back and combining her swords into a bow, firing several arrows at the Keyblade Master. Aqua conjured up a quick barrier to block them, and charged at Cinder, swinging her Keyblade down. Cinder blocked the attack with the bow, and then separated the weapon back into a pair of swords. Cinder swung both of them, and Aqua flipped backwards to avoid them, and pointed her Keyblade at her.

"Fire!"

A ball of fire launched from the tip of her Keyblade, impacting Cinder.

When the smoke cleared, Cinder was standing there, perfectly fine, a burst of flame erupting from her left eye. The sword in her right hand was engulfed in flames, and Cinder swung the weapon to extinguish them.

The flames in Cinder's eyes died down, and Aqua could see a tear rolling down her cheek.

"Cinder, I don't know if you can hear me, but I will set you free!"

Ruby tried to look at her mom fighting Cinder, but was forced to keep her attention on Emerald as the green-haired girl fired her pistols at her. Ruby spun her Keyblade to deflect them.

"Why are you doing this?!" the girl shouted. "Salem's—"

"I don't care about Salem!" Emerald yelled back. "Cinder is everything to me!"

"Then why are you letting Salem enslave her?!"

"She needs me!" Emerald shouted. "I'm the only one keeping her safe!"

A wall of fire suddenly erupted in front of Emerald, and Cinder charged out from behind. Ruby raised her Keyblade to block, but Cinder suddenly disappeared, and Ruby felt something hit her in the leg and trip her.

Ruby growled in frustration.

Cloud bent backwards under an attack from Sephiroth, Ren jumping over him to fire at the silver-haired man, who simply took the bullets and grabbed Ren by the neck. Ren held his pistols up to Sephiroth's face and fired point-blank, making him at least flinch and drop him. Ren tried to slash at him several times, but Sephiroth recovered quickly and blocked with his sword. Ren quickly tried to spin around and kick him, but Sephiroth caught his foot with his hand just as Cloud brought his sword down, Sephiroth using his own sword to block that. Sephiroth tossed Ren backwards, and turned his full attention towards Cloud.

Ren flipped backwards to land on his feet, and charged at Sephiroth while his back was turned. The silver-haired man slashed at Cloud, who blocked the attack, and kicked his leg behind him to try to attack Ren. Ren side-stepped and continued his charge, only for Sephiroth to block Cloud's sword with one hand, and gran Ren's face with the other. Ren felt an intense heat, radiating from Sephiroth's palm.

His eyes opened, and he quickly attempted to activate his Semblance, like he did against Midas.

"Oh?" Sephiroth asked, tilting his head to the side, before Ren kicked off of him and back away, Cloud standing next to him. Sephiroth pointed his sword at Ren. "You, boy, what do you hope to accomplish here?"

"I'm going to make you pay," Ren said. Sephiroth chuckled.

"I know you're upset with me for killing that Grimm, but you're living in a fantasy world if you think anyone but Cloud stands a chance at defeating me."

"I'm doing better than last time," Ren countered.

"Are you?" Sephiroth asked.

"Wait!" Cloud said, stepping in front of Ren as Sephiroth Suddenly disappeared, quickly reappearing and swinging his sword. Cloud blocked it, but then Ren felt an intense pain in his right hand.

He looked down, and was just to time to see the pinkie finger of that hand fall to the ground.

After a few seconds, Ren screamed.

Weis twirled Myrtenater to deflects Vernal's shots. She tried to stab her weapon into the ground to summon again, but a shot to the back stopped her. Vernal quickly ran up and slashed at her with her chakrams, but Weiss managed to block them before launching her with a propulsion glyph. She quickly stabbed her sword into the ground to try to summon again, but Vernal suddenly appeared right in front of her and pressed her weapon against Weiss's stomach.

Weiss's eyes widened. Vernal smirked and pulled the trigger.

"HYAH!" a voice yelled out, and Mushu suddenly materialized, jumping into Vernal's face and breathing fire at her. Vernal stumbled backwards, the beam she had been about to fire blowing past Weiss's shoulder instead of her abdomen.

"Mushu?"

"Did someone forget about me?!" Mushu declared, jumping off of Vernal and landing on Weiss's shoulders, grabbing her cheeks angrily. "Girl, I am your guardian dragon! You know what that means?! Call me out when you fight!"

"Well excuse me for forgetting about a little lizard!" Weiss said, grabbing Mushu and holding him close to her face.

"I just saved your ungrateful little behind!" Mushu yelled back. "Where's my respect?!"

Weiss looked up and saw that Vernal had recovered, and looked none-too pleased.

"Okay, fine!" Weiss said, throwing Mushu at her. "Keep her busy or something!" Mushu flew towards the Spring Maiden, but Vernal simply swatted him away. "Oh, for the love of…"

Weiss attempted to black Vernal's charge, but the bandit girl got inside her guard and threw her to the ground, pointing her weapon at her face.

"I was going to make this quick, but now you pissed me off," Vernal said. "I'm gonna make you wish you had never left that mansion of yours. You were never cut out to be a Huntress. Just a pampered little princess who was never told you weren't good enough."

"Shut up!" Weiss said. "You know nothing about me!"

"I've seen enough of you rich Atlas fucks. I'm probably not far off. It doesn't matter anyway. You can't be mad at me when you're dead!"

Weiss roared in anger, instinctively creating her summoning glyph. Vernal raised her chakram to strike her down, when a clawed hand suddenly swiped her and knocked her into a nearby wall.

Weiss looked up in surprise, seeing a white figure that seemed to be comprised of a floating robe and two arms.

She blinked a few times, realizing it was the Heartless that had attacked her and Aqua on the airship on the way to Mistral.

Huh. Apparently she could summon Heartless now, too.

Interesting.

The Phantom held its hand out towards Vernal, and suddenly a number appeared above her head.

20.

Weiss looked at the number in confusion, and Vernal pressed off the wall, a snarl on her face.

"You're going to pay for that," she said, and took a step towards Weiss…

…Only to trip and fall flat on her face. Weiss heard laughter, and saw Mushu laughing hysterically while pointing at Vernal. Weiss looked back at the Spring Maiden, and saw that her shoelaces had been tied together while they were both distracted.

Weiss smiled at the little dragon, before pointing her rapier at Vernal. The Phantom fired a large fireball, which impacted Vernal and knocked back into the wall again. Weiss launched herself forward with a glyph, and punch the Spring Maiden straight in the nose, knocking the back of her head into the wall.

Weiss could see her Aura dissipate, and the girl slumped forward, landing on the floor in a heap.

The number over her head now said 19.

"Aw, yeah!" Mushu cheered, doing a little dance. "I'm the best!"

Weiss sighed, but still smiled at him. "I will admit, you keep proving yourself more useful than I anticipate."

"I'll take that as a compliment," the little dragon said before Weiss heard a scream. She looked over and saw Ren holding his hand in pain, and Sephiroth pressing his blade against Cloud's. She looked back down at Mushu.

"Let's go!" she said, and Mushu jumped onto her shoulder.

Ren clutched his hand his pain, blood pouring out of the stump where his pinkie used to be.

"Ren!" Cloud called in concern, but the distraction was enough for Sephiroth to launch him away.

Ren suddenly felt a blade against his neck, and looked up to see Sephiroth pointing his sword at him, the tip touching him.

"On your knees," Sephiroth said. "I want you to beg for forgiveness."

Ren looked up at the swordsman in fear, when a sword suddenly knocked Sephiroth's away. Ren looked up in surprise to see Weiss, with Mushu perched on her shoulder.

"Ah, a friend," Sephiroth said nonchalantly.

"Yes, I'm a friend," Weiss said resolutely.

"…You'll need them," Sephiroth said, getting back into position.

AN: You know what, Weiss deserves to win every now and then, damn it. Since Cinder isn't a spiteful petty bitch in this version, I knew going in that Weiss wasn't going to be impaled, which is part of the reason why I had Jaune unlock his Semblance back at Beacon. I knew he would have this as the trigger for it.

And Mushu being Mushu. Her having him actually also helped turn the tide against Vernal.

And she can also use her Semblance to summon Heartless.

And yes, Ren has lost a finger to Sephiroth.

Haven is just going to continue being fun.

As always, thank you very much for reading, and I'll see you all next time!