AN: Sorry this took a while. I was busy.

A lot of people were mistaken in their belief that what happened last chapter was me setting up Anti-Aqua like in KH3. I'm actually just straight-up turning her into a Heartless.

I would like to thank Lord Maximus and ZeroTheOne for the help with this chapter.

Chapter 111

Outside Haven Academy, the militia from Menagerie and the Mistral Police continued fighting Adam's White Fang, and Blake watched as Ilia tackled one of the terrorists that refused to surrender. She gave her a quick nod before looking back down at Adam, who was getting back up from his knees.

"I'm going to make you regret ever coming back…" he growled.

"More police are on their way, Adam," Blake informed him. "Huntsmen too."

He chuckled. "Still too afraid to face me on your own."

"I'm here for Haven, not you."

Adam growled again and drew his sword. Blake quickly drew her own.

"Heh, you still are afraid, and you should be," he said. "I've made powerful friends while you've been away."

"Oh yeah?" Sun asked, approaching him from the left with his staff in his hands. "Where?" Adam looked at him, and then to his right, where Tifa was approaching, cracking her knuckles.

"Tell me, does Blake made all of her classmates fight for her?"

"Nah, it's a volunteer gig, right?" Sun asked.

"I'm not even a classmate," Tifa said.

"I'm just sayin'," Sun continued. "For someone who claims to have such great friends, there doesn't seem to be a lot of people here willing to fight for you."

Adam took a look around the courtyard, seeing his forces surrendering to the Menagerie militia, and suddenly one of the police airships shined a light down on him.

"You can try and make me regret coming here, Adam, but honestly…I've got more important things to deal with," Blake said. Adam growled and charged at her, but was interrupted when he collided with a blue form that suddenly appeared in front of him, surprising everyone present.

"What the…?" he asked, as Genie loomed over him.

"Didn't you hear the lady?" Genie asked. "Buzz off." He leaned over to whisper into Blake's ear. "Some guys just can't take a hint, am I right?"

"Uh, I guess," Blake said.

"What the hell is that thing?" Adam asked, gripping his sword.

"That thing is Genie of the Lamp, but my friends call me Genie," Genie explained. "But to you, it's 'Mr. Of-the-Lamp'. And I'm here to help…uh… What was your name again?" He asked, looking at Blake.

"It's Blake," she said.

"Nice to meet you, Blake," Genie said, just as Adam swung his sword at the large blue man. To the bull Faunus's surprise, the sword passed right through him. "Now that was rude. Can't you see we're having a conversation, here?" A pie suddenly appeared in Genie's hand, and he slammed it into Adam's face, blinding and stunning the man. A comically large boxing glove appeared next, and Genie punched Adam in the face, hard enough to knock him back. Genie held his fist in front of him, moving them in circular motions. "There's plenty more where that came from, buddy!" Genie said. After a few seconds, Adam sheathed his sword and bolted into the forest. Sun moved to follow him, but Blake stopped him.

"Sun, wait!" she called out.

"But he's getting away! We can take him!"

"No, we can't," she said, sheathing her sword. "He wants to lure us away so he can pick us off. We need to protect the school and the people here. Besides… now he can see what it feels like to run away." She looked up at the boy with a smile. "Thank you.

"Eh, we all need help sometimes," Sun said, before Genie was suddenly looming over them, inspecting Blake closely with a large magnifying glass.

"Uh, can I help you?" Blake asked.

"You know, I thought I felt it last time, but there's something about you that seems really familiar," Genie said. "Are you sure we've never met before?"

"I am absolutely positive that we've never met before," Blake said. "I'm pretty sure I'd remember someone like you."

"Aw, thanks, doll," he said, before holding his chin in thought. "Maybe… just maybe…" he pointed his finger at her, and a golden beam fired out of it towards Blake. Blake, surprised, held her hands out in front of her, but when the beam hit, it didn't hurt.

It just felt… breezy?

When she looked down, she saw that her clothes had been magically changed. She was wearing a light blue outfit, with a low-cut top that left a lot of her stomach exposed, with straps loosely hanging from her shoulders. In addition, she wore baggy light blue pants, and her hair was tied back into a long braid.

"What the hell?!" She exclaimed, blushing fiercely and trying to cover herself with her arms.

"Whoa…" Sun said, his eyes glued to her.

"Hmmm, nope," Genie said, snapping his fingers and changing Blake's clothing back. "Weird. Wonder what that feeling was. Oh, well."

"Never do that again!" Blake said, angrily pointing her finger at him, before Sun caught her attention. "What?"

"Check it out," he said, pointing at the hole in the wall that winged man flew through. There seemed to be fighting going on inside, and it was…

Was that her team?!

"G-Guys?" she asked, stunned to see them here, of all places.

"Cloud!" Tifa suddenly yelled, running towards the Great Hall.

"Tifa, wait!" Blake called out to her, before looking uncertainly at Sun.

"Go, I've got things covered here," he said. She nodded to him, and took off after her fellow feline, Genie floating in the air behind her.

"What did you do?!" Yang yelled, looking up from her position on the ground to glare at Cinder, her eyes bright red. "What the fuck did you just do?!"

"I-I didn't do that!" Cinder yelled back in a panic, looking at her left arm in terror. "I swear I didn't do that!"

"GIVE HER BACK!" Yang roared, getting up and approaching Cinder. "GIVE ME BACK MY MOM, RIGHT NOW!"

"I-I don't know how!" Cinder said, before a red flash passed between them. Yang backed up for a second, and saw Raven had sliced right through Cinder's shoulder, completely separating the Grimm arm from her body. Cinder screamed in pain, quickly using her Maiden powers to conjure up a flame and cauterize the wound.

Yang looked angrily between the two of them, before Cinder finally stopped screaming.

"Yang, I'm sorry," Cinder said, still clutching her shoulder. "I don't know what happened. That parasite that Salem used to control me is gone, but I couldn't control that arm."

"And why the fuck should I believe you?" Yang asked, trying hard now to stop the tears. "How do I know you're really free? This isn't the first time you hurt her! Was crippling her not enough?! You couldn't stop until she was dead, huh?!"

"I didn't want to hurt her!" Cinder yelled. "I never did! Aqua… She was the kindest person I'd ever met. She…always made me feel what it must be like to have a mother, a real mother that cares." Yang could see that Cinder's eye had tears rolling down it, now, too. "I would never want to kill her!"

"Whether you wanted to or not doesn't matter!" Yang said, raising her gauntlets. "She's dead, AND IT'S YOUR FAULT!"

Before she could charge at her, a black blur ran past her, slamming into Cinder's chest and knocking her off the stone bridge. As Cinder fell, Yang was stunned at the figure in front of her.

It was pitch black and humanoid, and when it turned to look at Yang, she could see the heart-shaped hole in the center of its chest, and bright glowing yellow eyes. Its face was frozen in a neutral expression, but the face was one Yang was very familiar with.

It was Mom's.

More specifically, Mom's Heartless.

"No…"

Ruby ducked under a sword swing from Sephiroth as Cloud jumped in to attack the silver-haired man. She backed up a few steps, seeing the large man fighting off Weiss and Ren as he tried to attack Oscar and Nora again. She took a quick inventory of the battle going on. Mercury and Emerald were still unconscious, though they were starting to stir, the girl still wrapped up in Ruby's vines. Yang and their mom were still down in the vault, with Raven, Vernal, and Cinder.

Ruby was starting to wish she had gone with them, but she knew they needed her up here. She just couldn't help but worry. It was taking them an awfully long time. Her uncle landed next to her, noticing her stopping.

"Everything okay?" he asked.

"Yeah," she said, before seeing Sephiroth knock Jaune aside. Cloud backed up, ending up near Ruby and her Uncle. Ruby nodded to him, before someone called out to him.

"Cloud!" a voice Ruby didn't recognize called out, and Ruby saw two people approaching.

One of them was a woman with long black hair and a tail, and the other was…

"Blake?!"

"Guys!" Blake called, drawing her sword as she ran towards them, with a weird blue man floating behind her. Cloud turned to look at the newcomers, but when he saw the woman, he flinched and covered his eyes as if he was being blinded.

Sephiroth took the opportunity to attack, but a beam of light appeared and caught his sword, the beam originating from the blue man floating behind Blake. Sephiroth sighed in frustration, before snapping his fingers and making the blue man disappear.

"Genie!" Blake said, surprised at seeing him disappear. Sephiroth flew upwards, landing next to Emerald. The girl was waking up by now, and the silver-haired man swiftly cut the vines and helped her to her feet.

"Huh?" Emerald asked, taking a quick look around. "Where's Cinder?"

"She's in the vault," Sephiroth answered. "With the Spring Maiden."

"What?!" Emerald asked in a panic. "And you let her go?!"

"What's the big deal?" Uncle Qrow asked. "Isn't the whole point of this to get the Relic? Why is it such a bad thing that Cinder's down there with Raven and the Spring Maiden? Not that they'll be able to get it with Aqua and Yang down there, too."

"No, you don't understand!" Emerald yelled. "Raven is the Spring Maiden, not Vernal!"

"What?!" Ruby asked.

"Why the hell would she lie about that?" Uncle Qrow asked, before his eyes widened. "Unless…"

"Yes," Sephiroth said. "Raven's plan was to kill Cinder, open the vault, and take the Relic for herself."

"I need to help her!" Emerald yelled, trying to turn around and head to the Vault.

"I'm sure that won't be necessary," Sephiroth said. "After all, the Keyblade Master is with her, isn't she?"

Ruby was about to say something, but she suddenly fell to her knees, a tight feeling in her chest, along with a crippling, overwhelming sense of dread.

"What the hell?!" Uncle Qrow asked, reacting similarly.

Ruby recognized this feeling.

She felt it right before Tyrian attacked them in Oniyuri, when Mom died on the operating table.

If she felt it now, then…

"Mom!" She said in a panic, when she suddenly felt a weight appear in her right hand. She looked down, and saw a Keyblade.

Mom's Keyblade.

"W-What?" She asked.

"Then again," Sephiroth said with a smirk. "Maybe not."

"M-Mom…" Yang said, staring in horror at the Heartless that used to be her mother. She had never seen one that looked so…human before.

Why did the first one have to be her?

The Heartless tilted its head, its movements jerky, as if it was appraising her.

As if she was prey.

The Heartless hunched forward and started running towards her. Yang lifted shaking arms to try to defend herself, but a fireball suddenly hit the Heartless, making it stop in its tracks to swat the magic away. Yang and the creature that was once her mother looked at the source of the attack, seeing Raven with flames emanating from her eyes.

"Don't just stand there!" Raven yelled, raising her sword. "Fight it!"

The Heartless focused all of its attention on Raven, charging at the Spring Maiden. Raven launched a blast of ice at the creature to try to freeze it in its tracks, but it sank into the floor like a Shadow or Neoshadow would, and burst out of the floor to attack her. Raven swung her sword, but the Heartless ducked under the attack, swiping its claws at her stomach and making her stumble backwards. The Heartless launched a ball of Darkness at Raven, knocking her down before jumping on her and swiping its claws rapidly at her face. Raven tried to swing her sword to get it off her, but it did something Yang had never seen a Heartless do before.

It caught Raven's sword arm, and with a rapid chop, severed the limb at the elbow, prompting Raven to scream in pain as both her sword and the hand still holding it fell into the abyss beneath them.

"Mom, stop it!" Yang desperately yelled, getting the Heartless's attention. Yang flinched and backed up, still too frozen at the face of someone she'd loved for so long now looking at her with no emotions, just the instinct to rip her to shreds. "Mom, please…"

The Heartless took a step towards her, and Yang froze.

"Damn it, Yang, run!" Raven yelled, trying to get up. The Heartless picked up speed, charging at Yang in a full sprint and raising one of its claws.

Logically, Yang knew she needed to defend herself.

But she kept seeing that face… and her hands wouldn't stop shaking.

"STOP!" She screamed, closing her eyes.

She felt something warm and wet splash onto her face, but felt no pain.

Slowly, Yang opened her eyes, and found Raven standing in front of her, the Heartless's claws impaling her in the chest.

"W-what?" Yang asked.

"To think…" Raven said, before coughing up blood. "This is how you used your save."

The Heartless forcefully removed its claws from Raven's chest with a disgusting squelch, and the woman collapsed to the floor.

And then Yang was overtaken by a bright light.

Yang opened her eyes, finding herself is a strange white void, completely empty.

Save for the woman standing in front of her.

"You…" Yang glared as Raven appeared, looking transparent, her right arm back where it should be.

"Me," Raven said.

"What did you do?" Yang asked.

"You mean you can't tell?" Raven asked, holding her arms out. "I saved you."

"After you led us into an ambush, and worst of all you got my mother turned into a Heartless! Do you expect me to be grateful?" Yang asked.

"You call her that with such conviction," Raven noted. "And in front of the woman who birthed you."

"That's about all you did. You birthed me, but then you dumped me on Dad and left. I had Summer as a mother first, and then Aqua," Yang stated. "It takes more than blood to make a family. I was taught that by the both of them."

"I see that," Raven said. "I would have expected you to come looking for me when you were ready, but clearly you took Aqua's lessons to heart."

"Don't sound so disappointed. You knew where I was. So why the hell do you choose now of all times to lift a finger for me?" Yang retorted.

"It's my rule. Everybody gets one." Raven held up one finger. "This one seems to be my last."

"And I'm supposed to be grateful? Where was this when we were attacked by Heartless and Grimm when we were kids? Where was this when you kidnapped Ruby? Where was this when Beacon fell and that bastard took my arm?" Yang held up her mechanical arm. "Where was all of this, Raven? And the Spring Maiden… Ozpin said that the Maidens transfer their powers to the last person in their thoughts so what happened to the last Spring Maiden?"

Raven barely blinked. "I think you know."

"I do… Mom already guessed from how things went when you first met. You killed her, didn't you? She would have been only a couple years older than me. A kid, Raven!" Yang shouted.

"She was scared when we found her, weak. No matter what training I put her through she never learned. She wasn't cut out for this world and with her powers she would have been hunted for the rest of her life. What I did—"

"Wasn't personal?" Yang cut her off.

"It was mercy," Raven corrected.

"And trying to get your own Keyblade? Did Mom tell you that the Heartless are drawn to anyone with a Keyblade? You would have been hunted by both Salem and the Heartless," Yang argued. "So which are you, Raven? Merciful, or a survivor? Did you set this up knowing I would make it through or because you wanted another shot at Mom for her Keyblade?"

"It's not that simple. You don't know me, Yang. You don't know the choices I've had to make," Raven argued back.

"And whose fault is it that I don't know you?" Yang asked, the biting nature of the question even making Raven flinch. "You wanted nothing to do with me, and I was fine with Dad, Mom, Uncle Qrow, and Ruby. I only know you by your actions and all of them tell me you don't care who you have to hurt to get what you want. So fill in the blanks for me."

"From the moment I was born, I always had to make a choice: from going to Beacon to learn how to fight like a Huntress so I could kill Huntsmen, from joining Ozpin, all the way to giving birth to you. I never had the freedom where any choice I made didn't have consequences," Raven said.

"And what would have been so bad about staying with me and Dad?" Yang asked rhetorically.

"I realized that Ozpin's war was unwinnable. The problem was, if I had stayed, I would have been dragged back into the fight whether I wanted to or not. If the rest of the team didn't push me to keep fighting, Ozpin certainly would have. So I had a choice to make. Staying was out of the question, so I had to decide whether or not to take you with me. I knew that leaving you with Tai and Summer would have given you a better childhood than I could have ever offered you. I was never cut out to be a mother, but Summer was. And besides, me leaving you behind eventually gave you that sister you hold so dear."

Yang's eyes widened ever so slightly, before narrowing again. It was far too late for regrets, and far too late for Raven to pretend that she ever truly cared. "And now?" Yang asked, gesturing around them. "What comes from this? You know you can't walk out of this."

"I know…" Raven sighed. "Guess I decided my rule would apply this one last time. Now… you still want to protect your sister?"

Yang just stared.

"I'll take that as a yes. My first gift to you was life. This is my second and last gift. You can do what you want with it, Yang." Raven stepped forward. "Just remember what you have to do."

Yang clenched her fists. "Why? Why give me this?"

"No one else is worthy," Raven shrugged. "Might as well be you so you can stand with Ruby. As for me, I'll be sure to tell Summer you said 'hi'."

"Don't kid yourself," Yang said, and the white void, and Raven along with it, began to fade. "You're not going where she is."

Raven chuckled humorlessly, and Yang could swear she could see a tear roll down her cheek.

"Yeah, you're probably right."

Yang opened her eyes, and found that she was back in reality, Raven lying on the ground in a puddle of blood, the Relic of Knowledge still strapped to her belt. Mom's Heartless was still standing over Raven's corpse, looking at Yang almost with a sense of curiosity.

Yang clenched her fists at seeing her mom's Heartless standing over the body of her birth mother, and she noticed that there was something different.

There was a warmth that wasn't there before.

No, "warmth" wasn't the right word for it.

It was more like a fire.

Yang took a deep breath and closed her eyes.

When she opened them, yellow flames erupted.

Yang gathered up what she knew had to be magic into her palm, and with a scream of anguish, fired a stream of flames at the Heartless. The creature crossed its arms in front of it to try to withstand the attack, and the flames pushed it back.

Yang kept up the assault until the Heartless fell to its knees, barely able to contain the attack.

Eventually, Yang felt her magic fade for now, and let up the assault. The Heartless knelt in a scorched crater, before slowly standing back up. It's head twitched unsettlingly, and Yang prepared to launch a fireball at the creature, when it suddenly looked up towards the entrance hall, it's eyes narrowing.

Yang was confused, before she remembered one fundamental fact about all Heartless.

They're drawn to the Keyblade. And one of them was upstairs. Yang quickly whipped her head up in concern, realizing who Mom's Heartless had just set its sights on.

"Ruby!" Yang shouted, turning back to look at the Heartless and using her new powers to launch a fireball at it. The Heartless jumped into the floor, merged with the shadows, and quickly crawled its way over to the elevator shaft and up the wall.

"Mom, wait!" Yang shouted, before she took one last look at Raven's body. She quickly reached down, snatched the Relic off Raven's belt, hooked it to her own, and ran towards the elevator shaft.

She looked up at the tall shaft, not sure if the elevator would be fast enough. Small flames burst from her eyes, and she clenched her left fist, forming a flame around it.

"Okay, how hard can it be?" She asked herself, before using her Maiden powers to launch fire from her hands and feet like rocket boosters.

Ruby tried her best to get back on her feet, but the pain in her chest was too strong. She felt someone shaking her shoulders, but all she could think about was her mother.

She needed to make sure she was okay.

And Yang was with her! If something had happened that had done something to Mom, what could possibly have happened to her sister?!

"Ruby, snap out of it!" Weiss shouted to her. "You need to get it together!"

"Mom!" Ruby yelled in concern, before she heard a strange noise coming from the elevator shaft. She looked up and saw a yellow blur literally rocket out of it, and when it landed, she realized it was her sister.

"Yang!" she said, confused when she saw flames emanating from her eyes, and she had a weird lantern strapped to her belt.

"You're a Maiden?!" Uncle Qrow gasped.

"Where is she?!" Yang asked frantically, looking around the room.

"Who?" Weiss asked.

"Where's Cinder?!" Emerald asked. Instead of answering, Yang dove for Ruby, sending both of them to the ground and avoiding a black mass that burst from the floor in front of her.

Ruby looked up, and her eyes widened when she saw a Heartless.

Except…

"Why does that Heartless look like Mom?" Ruby asked, her voice quivering from dreading the answer.

"It is Mom," Yang said.

"No…" Uncle Qrow said, falling to his knees.

"What happened down there?" Weiss asked, as Ruby and Yang slowly stood up.

"When I got down there, Vernal was already dead, Raven had the Relic, and Mom was trying to free Cinder. Supposedly, it worked, but then Cinder did something to Mom, and turned her into a Heartless."

"W-What?" Ruby asked.

"Then Mom's Heartless knocked Cinder down into an abyss, and Raven died when she jumped in front of an attack meant for me."

"Cinder's… Cinder's gone?" Emerald asked, her voice weak and fragile.

"We're done here," Sephiroth said.

"What?" Emerald asked, before Sephiroth put a hand on her shoulder. Her eyes widened briefly, before she fell asleep, the silver-haired man catching her in his arms and carrying her bridal-style.

"Where the hell do you think you're going?!" Cloud asked.

"There are too many interruptions," Sephiroth said. "Besides, Emerald should be removed from this place before she does something she'll regret. Cloud, you'll never defeat me as long as you're still afraid."

"I'm not scared of you," Cloud said.

"It wasn't me I was referring to," Sephiroth said, before he flapped his wing and lifted off the ground. "Hopefully next time, we can fight for real. Until then, Cloud." Without another word, he flew through the opening in the wall of the entrance hall. Ruby looked over briefly and saw Hazel leaving with Mercury slung over his shoulder, but quickly had to jump out of the way as… Mom's Heartless… attacked her.

She hastily raised both her own Keyblade and her mother's to block a swipe of the Heartless's claws, before Yang launched ice spears at the creature. The Heartless swatted the spears away, and then ducked under a swing from Weiss's sword. Cloud and the newcomer tried to rush it, but a blast of Darkness exploded outwards from the Heartless, knocking all of them away. Bullets suddenly riddled the monster's form, coming from a screaming Uncle Qrow. The bullets didn't make the monster flinch, and it charged at him, before a pink explosion knocked it back. Nora kept firing her grenade launcher, while Blake and Ren charged at it. The Heartless jumped into the floor, and crawled towards them quickly.

It leaped out, and swiped its claws hard at Blake, knocking her back, before throwing Ren at Nora, who quickly caught him. Mom's Heartless moved to continue pursuing her.

"STOP!" Ruby screamed, catching the Heartless's attention. "Mom, please…" she pleaded, tears in her eyes. "I don't want to do this…"

The Heartless turned, and the look in its eyes made Ruby freeze in fear.

How could she kill this Heartless?

It was her mom!

"Why did it have to be you?" Ruby asked, tears falling. The Heartless took a step towards her, and then charged.

"RUBY!" Uncle Qrow shouted, before jumping in front of her with his sword in front of him. Mom's Heartless couldn't correct its momentum in time, and impaled itself on the sword. It angrily swiped its claws at the man, but he held firm, standing just out of reach. "Do it!"

"W-What?" Ruby asked, before Uncle Qrow looked at her. She could see tears streaming down his face.

"You know what you need to do!" he shouted. "Don't let her suffer any longer!" He inched back again as the Heartless's claws got a little too close. "Just do it! Please, Ruby!"

"I…I," she said, before she took another look at the Heartless's face. He was right. Mom was suffering. And it was her job to set her free.

"I love you, Mom."

Ruby raised both Keyblades and slashed at the Heartless, still impaled on Uncle Qrow's sword. The creature stopped thrashing around, and after a few seconds, it weakly held out a hand.

Ruby braced herself for an attack…

And then the Heartless gently cupped her cheek.

Ruby's eyes widened, and she grabbed the hand with her own.

"Mom!" she choked out. After a second, the Heartless began to fade, and it closed its eyes.

Ruby could swear it almost looked peaceful.

When the creature had completely faded, Ruby collapsed to her knees, feeling herself being cradled by her uncle and sister.

She wailed, letting the tears fall freely.

"…Coward," Salem sneered, watching through her Seer as Leonardo Lionheart's body collapsed to the floor of his office.

The man ran from a critical battle, left his allies behind, and had the gall to beg for his life.

He was mistaken if he ever thought he was useful outside of his influence in the Mistral Huntsmen circles. Once the Relic had been secured, his usefulness would be over, and there would have been no reason to keep him alive.

He could have at least kept his dignity, but even that was out of the question for a coward like him.

Besides, Salem now had more pressing matters to deal with.

"Sephiroth…" she growled angrily. The man, despite ostensibly being an ally, had been more of a thorn in her side than an asset. She had been unable to kill him when he came to attack her, and of course the same could be said for him.

As if his constant insolence wasn't bad enough, now he had modified the plan for Haven in such a way that allowed the Relic of Knowledge to slip right through their fingers, and had cost her Cinder.

Something needed to be done about him.

But what?

The woman slowly opened her eyes, finding herself lying down in an unfamiliar bed in an unfamiliar room. She felt groggy, as if she had been sleeping for a very long time. She look down, seeing that instead of her usual jumpsuit, she was wearing something far more… pedestrian. A simple tank top and a pair of sweatpants.

She felt her abdomen, expecting to spot the tell-tale signs of a wound, but nothing.

"Where am I?" she thought out loud.

"A little house in the outskirts of Mistral," a voice suddenly answered, startling the woman. It was a man in a long black coat, with the hood up to obscure his face. "Morning, sleepyhead."

"Who the hell are you?" the woman asked.

"I'm the guy that saved you," the man answered. "But, there's a more important question here. You've been out for a while. Do you know who you are?"

"Of course I do," the woman said, sitting up.

"My name is Sienna Khan."

AN: And that's a wrap on Volume 5. Aqua's gone, Cinder is freed but separated from everyone else, Raven's dead, Yang is the new Spring Maiden, and Sienna is alive.

In fact, ZeroTheOne was actually the one to first suggest to me that I kill off Raven, and it was a really good idea.

To be honest, I'm not entirely sure that I'm fully satisfied with how this ended up, but I really needed to get this done. Let me know what you think.

Don't forget, there's a Tv Tropes page for this story! I can't wait to see what you guys put on it!

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