"As impressive as the results of your actions are, Ozpin, we would have liked to be kept informed of the situation as it developed rather than find out after the fact." One of the members of the Vale Council said over the video call, a note of censure in his voice.

The Headmaster of Beacon sat calmly as he waited for the councillor to finish speaking. The council's mild displeasure was essentially meaningless, and they all knew it. After the previous night's events, Ozpin and Ironwood's positions had been strengthened immensely. Any move against either of them, even as a symbolic gesture, would not be well received by the public.

The foiled attack on the Kingdom of Vale was all that anybody spoke about. The news network was going over everything they had learned endlessly, and the message boards were full of speculation and conspiracy theories, as was usual.

The Grimm assault that occurred during the night, which was easily repelled by the (magically enhanced and reinforced) defenses left no doubt in the minds of the general populace of the seriousness of the situation. Had the defenses actually been disabled or subverted, things would have been incredibly dire. Fortunately the people were now reassured by the fact that the Heads of the Academies were so on top of things that they successfully caught the attack early and nipped it in the bud.

The event also reinforced in everybody's minds that the peace they lived in couldn't be taken for granted. A fact that Ozpin planned to use to wring as much funding as he could out of the Council. After all, their reasoning for cutting back on funding being that hunter training wasn't as necessary anymore thanks to the peace they were living in had been proven to be completely incorrect. He'd be a fool not to take full advantage of the opportunity that had presented itself.

Still, best to remain civil. "We were worried about any information leaks." Ozpin explained calmly. "James and I agreed to keep the amount of people in the know small till everything was over and done with, in order to keep our actions from being countered. We fully intended to inform you of everything relevant after everything was over. We will both be submitting reports on exactly what has been going on by the end of the week."

"Very well." Another of the councillors said as she observed him. "Do we already know what the repercussions of this event are?"

"Thankfully they are mostly positive." The councillor who had remained silent throughout the discussion chimed in. "There is some lingering fear after such a near miss and the revelation of how the people had been manipulated into bringing the Grimm down upon themselves. However, that is more than balanced out by their renewed confidence in the city's defenses and defenders. The other Kingdoms are consolidating their defences in case they are targeted as well."

Ozpin took a sip of his coffee, pleased by the information being provided. The heightened state of awareness would make things harder for Salem's agents, which could only be a good thing.

"Good, good…" One of the councillors said, pleased. "On another note, where is General Ironwood, Ozpin? We had hoped to speak with him as well about what happened."

"James is currently headed to Menagerie." Ozpin said. "He left early this morning with all due haste."

One of the councillors leaned forward. "Why is the General heading there?" The mild disgust in the man's voice was missed by no one, and his fellow councillors all gave him a warning look.

Ozpin didn't let his aggravation at the man's clear racism show. "Due to the fact that a radical faction of the White Fang took part in the attempted attack, we're worried the faunus population will suffer blowback. He is hoping to try to head that off, if for no other reason than to keep the negativity of such an occurrence from growing and making things tougher due to the Grimm."

"Sensible." The female councillor said with a nod. "We wish him good luck, then. More conflict is something we need to avoid." She glanced at the others before turning back to Ozpin. "I believe that is all for now, Ozpin. We'll be waiting for that report you promised us." Without another word, the call ended.

Ozpin sighed and set his mug down, rubbing his eyes. He hadn't gotten any sleep due to having to deal with the fallout of the failed attack, and he was starting to feel it. He glanced at his computer when Cortana showed up on it. "Hello Cortana. How can I help you?"

"It's more like how can I help you. I've taken the liberty of writing the reports you promised the council for you and the General. They have everything we want them to know in the way we want them to know it. All you need to do is read through them and sign off if they're to your liking."

Ozpin smiled gratefully. "That's a great help, thank you. I'll read through them soon."

"No hurry. We need to wait a day or two before sending them so it doesn't look odd that you got it done so quickly." The AI peered at Ozpin. "You look tired, Oz. I think you need to get some sleep."

Ozpin sighed. "Far too much to do before I can do so."

"I already told Glynda to go to bed while I fill out her paperwork. I'm more than willing to do the same for you." She smiled sardonically. "It's not like it'll unduly stress my capabilities. I can get it all done in a few minutes at most."

Ozpin thought about it, feeling the siren song of his bed call to him. Finally he gave in to temptation. "Alright. Please fill out what needs to be done and I'll apply my signature to it all once I wake up."

Cortana nodded. "You got it. Rest well, Oz. Things went right for once. Savor it."

The headmaster chuckled as he stood up. "True enough. One should always take the time to appreciate when things work out." He yawned. "I'll speak to you later."

As the computer shut off behind him as he took the elevator down to his quarters, Ozpin once again found himself giving thanks to whichever god was listening for bringing his new friends into his life.

Alice stood by as the Beacon nurse checked Amber over in one of the infirmary rooms, the Maiden dressed in a simple hospital gown. The young woman was weak and lethargic after so long spent in a life support pod, and she was glancing hungrily at the tray of food she had been brought, her stomach giving an audible rumble.

Finally the nurse declared that she was in as good health as could be expected considering she'd been in a coma for months. She'd need to slowly build up her muscles again, along with eating plenty of high protein foods.

Once the nurse had left to attend to her other duties, Amber descended on the food as ravenously as she could considering how weak she was. It wasn't really all that much of a meal, but to someone who hadn't had anything fill her stomach in months it might as well be a feast.

Alice slowly approached as she watched the woman inelegantly consume her meal. "How are you feeling, Amber?"

Amber stopped eating, blushing as she realized what she was doing. She swallowed before looking up at Alice. "...Better. I'm alive and awake, so I can't really complain."

Alice smiled as she watched the Maiden resume eating at a more sedate pace now. "Well, we're happy that you're awake as well. We were reasonably sure that you would once Cinder died, but there were no guarantees."

Amber stopped eating again, eyes darkening. She reached up and felt the extensive scarring on her face that had been inflicted when Cinder had first stolen her powers, remembering what had happened when she'd awoken.

She'd been confused, scared by how weak she felt and her last memories, when she was attacked. The feeling of something important, a part of her very soul, being ripped away from her.

When she'd sat up with Ozpin's help and saw the corpse of her assailant on the floor in front of her, surrounded by a growing pool of blood, part of her felt a thrill of fear, the rest of her, relief. She'd looked up at Ozpin, still dazed and confused, and he'd reassured her that she was safe now.

She was drawn from her thoughts as she felt the other girl place a hand on her shoulder. She looked up at the green eyed woman, feeling a bit of reassurance from her presence. Ozpin had been too busy dealing with the night's events to provide proper introductions, but if he trusted this girl, then Amber felt she could do the same.

"Sorry." Amber said. "Just trying to deal with… everything, you know?"

"I understand." Alice said kindly. "I know what it's like to wake up after some time has passed due to a traumatic event." At Amber's confused look she decided to explain. "My family was murdered when a man set our house on fire when I was a child. I survived by jumping out of my window onto a snowdrift, but the event left me partly catatonic. I don't remember much about that time, though I heard I had… difficulties." Alice absently rubbed her wrist, remembering the scars that had marred it.

Amber flinched. "I'm sorry."

Alice shook her head. "Don't be. It's not your fault. And neither is what Fall and her subordinates did to you. They were prepared to face a Maiden, and they'd planned it all out well. It really is lucky that Qrow was nearby to rescue you."

Amber looked down at her food, listlessly putting some in her mouth. "I still should have been able to fight them off." She said once she had swallowed. "Salem almost got her hands on a powerful asset because I wasn't strong enough."

"Like I said, you were caught off guard by people who knew how to counter you." Alice said soothingly, her hand lightly rubbing the other girl's back. "You managed to hold them off long enough for help to arrive. You should feel proud of that much, at least."

"I'm a Maiden." Amber argued stubbornly.

"That doesn't make you infallible." Alice responded kindly. "Harry, Garfield and the Chief could handle a Maiden on their own with various degrees of difficulty. Don't think that just because you have power that means that you have to be unbeatable."

Amber looked at her, brow furrowed. "Who?"

The ravenette chuckled. "You'll meet them soon enough." Then she motioned back to the food. "Now eat. You need to recover your strength. We can discuss what comes next once you're better."

Amber nodded, still melancholy but not to the extent she had been, and resumed eating as Alice sat beside her, offering silent support.

Harry sat with his legs dangling from the edge of the Beacon cliffs, watching the trees sway in the breeze. Music filled the air from his phone's speakers, Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata soothing him. He'd decided he needed something other than his usual rock to help him unwind.

He was thinking about the team's next steps. They'd stopped the Fall of Vale, which made the rest of their knowledge of future events mostly useless. Arguably they could leave now and leave the rest to Ozpin and his group, now that they were in a better position than they had been. Cortana had analyzed the lance and stated that it would be ready for use in a few weeks.

He toyed with the idea of just making a random portal like he had to travel from Alice's world to Lara's, but he'd discarded it. He'd never told Beast Boy and Alice, but doing that had taken a lot out of him, and had been very unstable. He'd felt it as he'd passed through. The interdimensional portal he could make was ready to fall apart at any moment, ripping whatever was passing through to shreds.

By contrast the lance was safer. The portals it created were stable and would stay open with a minor application of will and magic. The fact that the jumps were random ever since it was damaged didn't detract from its usefulness, as Harry's own portals were just as random due to the fact that he had no idea which 'direction' his own universe was in. Thus, waiting for the lance to recharge after each jump was currently their best option. At least till they landed in a universe that had another, more reliable method of dimensional travel.

He pulled his mind from that train of thought and focused back on what was next for his group. It was tempting to just sit back and relax till the lance had finished doing its thing, spending their time training and learning. But a part of him didn't like leaving things undone, and it was that part that was telling him to go put Salem down.

Of course, he knew it wouldn't be as simple as walking into Salem's base (wherever it was located) and politely asking her to drop dead. He'd need an army to get through all the Grimm that would be in the way, not to mention her lieutenants. Which was why he was now contemplating a foolhardy idea that would probably backfire horribly. Before he could decide what to do, however, he needed to ask some questions.

Slowly he reached into his pocket, pulling out the Resurrection Stone's ring. He gazed at it thoughtfully, before slowly turning it, thinking about who he wanted to speak to and hoping it would work even though he already knew he couldn't call spirits from other universes to him when he had moved on.

The wind whistled through the trees and Sam Dillard's Yearning Hope played from his phone as he waited. His patience was rewarded when she spoke from her seat beside him, legs kicking absently as she sat at the cliff edge with him. "So, how did you know you could call me?" Teleute asked with a small smile on her lips, a black lace parasol held in slim, delicate hands, protecting her pale skin from the sun. The beautiful goth girl twirled it absently as she waited for his response, dark eyes gazing out across the Emerald Forest.

"I figured you might have some connection to the Hallows from our last meeting." Harry explained. "I think you might be a goddess associated with death, though I don't know which one. I'd need to do some research. Maybe ask Hermione. Besides, Rager told me that you helped me get in contact with him to save Cortana. That means we're still connected somehow, and the Hallows are the only objects of significance I have from our universe. Calling you with the Stone rather than the Wand or Cloak made sense to me."

Teleute's smile widened a bit, her eyes shifting to gaze at him from the corner of her eye. "Well reasoned. You could say I have some association with death, yes." She turned her gaze back towards the forest. "I was watching when you fought the demons at Stonehenge, and before you got drawn into the portal I placed a bit of myself in the Ring. I knew where it led, and I wanted to make sure I'd be able to keep watch over you. After all, even if a version of me exists in another universe, it won't be me, so it seemed like the best option. If I hadn't done that we might not be able to speak right now."

"Why are you so interested in me?" Harry asked, curious. "Rager called you my patron, and you obviously came along for the impromptu interdimensional ride, but why me?"

Teleute was mostly silent for a few seconds, simply humming along to the music. Then she spoke. "Your actions in Silent Hill did draw my attention, Harry, that's true. But I'd been observing you long before then." She finally turned to look at him directly, her dark eyes gazing into his green ones. "You got so much more from your mother than you realize, Harry, not just your eyes. The gift she passed down to you is one of the reasons you survived Silent Hill."

She stopped talking for several moments before continuing. "It was my power that Lily Potter called upon to save you. Her sacrifice alone, while undoubtedly powerful, wasn't enough to save you, and she knew it. After all, other mothers had died for their children before, but that didn't stop the Avada Kedavra. So instead she called upon me, hoping that the fact that I'm… connected… to death, would help stop the Killing Curse. I could, of course, but not directly. So she channeled my power through herself, burning her magic out, in order to leave the temporary protection that shielded you from the curse on your skin. When Tom Riddle killed her, she was already dying. She had less power than a mundane human, and her organs were shutting down, but she still stood to shield you." Teleute smiled softly as she saw tears gather in Harry's eyes. "I'm sure I don't need to say it after you spoke to her in that cemetery, Harry, but never doubt Lily's love for you."

The two were silent for a minute or so after that, the goth waiting patiently for Harry to regain his composure. Finally he spoke. "Is that why I'm immune to the AK now? And what do you mean about her gift helping me survive Silent Hill?"

"In reverse order." Teleute began. "The ability to absorb and channel power comes from her bloodline. Your aunt could technically do it as well, though at a much lower capacity. It's one of the reasons she was well known for being powerful. Thanks to that, you were able to absorb the ambient energy of Silent Hill, keeping yourself going."

"As for your immunity…" She continued slowly. "Yes and no. Lily only had the time to gift you with a single 'charge' of protection. And as I said before, she burned herself out doing so because she had to channel a massive amount of power at once to do so rather than take the dozen or so hours she should have. The ability remained within you, though inactive, along with the lower key, more 'minor', for a given value of minor, protection granted by her sacrifice." She cocked her head to the side. "The power of her sacrifice is what kept the Horcrux in your scar from taking over your body as a child, by the way. It kept the soul fragment at bay, even if it couldn't completely block its influence. However, then you left Silent Hill with Samael's power as your own. And you did so while freeing the many souls trapped in that place. You were deserving of a reward, which gave me the opening I needed. I visited you in the infirmary of the Watchtower and reactivated the ability, since you now have the power required to be able to use it, and nobody could argue about me breaking the rules since I was rewarding your actions rather than doing it on a whim."

"I see…" Harry said, head spinning as he tried to process all the new information. He was going to need to set it aside and really think about it all when he had the time.

Teleute evidently thought the same. "In any case, we've gotten sidetracked. You called me up to ask me a question. So go ahead."

Harry looked at his apparent patron deity. "Is my idea feasible?"

Teleute hummed in thought as a Bach piece played from Harry's phone. "Yes, but there will be consequences. You'll be using up years of your life when you do it, depending on how many people you do it to. And despite the fact that your lifespan has been lengthened quite a bit thanks to what you took from Samael, you aren't immortal. If you do this, it'll take anywhere from fifty to a hundred years off of it. So it isn't something you can do on a whim." She leaned forward, face serious as she made sure that her words were taken with the intended severity. "And you can only do this to willing subjects. You will be utilizing the dark, malevolent power that you now wield to do it. You cannot do this to anybody who doesn't want to and doesn't know the repercussions, because it will not be pleasant for them. It'll be damn well tortuous." The unspoken threat in her words if he ever went against her words was blatant and couldn't possibly be missed.

Harry nodded seriously. "I know. I don't plan on doing it ever again if I can help it. But we need an edge." Then he smiled sadly. "Besides, I think they deserve the opportunity to seek justice against Salem."

Teleute studied Harry before nodding, satisfied. "Good. Though there is a… complication… when it comes to Salem."

"Complication?" Harry asked.

Teleute shook her head. "It's not my story to tell. Get Ozpin to tell you about it. Make sure you get the entire, unsanitized truth. This is important."

Harry raised an eyebrow but nodded, taking her words seriously. "Alright, I will."

Teleute smiled and sat back. "Alright. I think that's enough for today. You have a lot to think about." She looked over at him. "Call me again sometime, though. I'd enjoy talking to you some more, though maybe next time we can avoid the heavy topics."

Harry nodded in agreement. "Sure. Thanks for your help, Teleute."

Teleute winked at him with the eye tattooed with the Eye of Horus. Then she was gone.

Harry took a deep breath before shutting off his music and getting up, heading back to the school to check in on how things were going.

Blake stood hesitantly in front of a pair of heavy steel doors on board one of the Atlesian ships. She'd asked Ozpin for a favor, and he had agreed, despite showing some hesitance, though he'd added a couple of stipulations. Thus the reason why she was on one of the Atlesian ships with Beast Boy and Master Chief accompanying her.

She felt her hands tremble, her knees shaking slightly, as fear and apprehension filled her form. She couldn't bring herself to move forward, yet her legs were locked in place so she couldn't run away either.

She was so lost in her conflicting thoughts that she almost jumped out of her skin when Yang rested a reassuring hand on her shoulder. The blonde looked into her partner's eyes with concern. "You know you don't have to do this, Blake."

Blake took a deep, shuddering breath. "Yes, Yang, I do. I need to settle this, once and for all. I can't move forward till I put this behind me."

"Don't worry." Beast Boy said, a soft smile on his face. "Me and the Chief won't let anything happen to you. The most he'll be able to do is run his mouth a bit, and we can put him on mute if needed." Beside him, the large man in green power armor nodded, a rifle held in his hands, ready to be sued.

Blake closed her eyes and took another breath before nodding. Then she turned back to the doors and stepped forward, the heavy steel parting easily for her, the others following behind.

Inside the room they stepped in was a sturdy wall with a thick bulletproof glass window showing the inside of a cell. To the side of the window was a speaker system, which Beast Boy made his way over to as the Chief took up position in a corner of the room, his rifle up and aimed at the occupant of the cell.

Beyond the glass they could all see Adam Taurus pacing angrily. He'd been stripped of his weapons and clothing, leaving him clad in a white t-shirt and pants with some cloth slippers, the bandaged stump of his arm exposed. Nothing he could use to attack any guards was anywhere on his person or in the cell.

The most notable difference in his appearance was the fact that they'd taken his mask away. With his face now revealed, everyone could see the SDC logo seared into the skin of his face, covering his damaged left eye, which was bloodshot and painful looking.

Blake's breath hitched as Adam turned angrily to glare at her through the window. Yang was at her side in an instant, hand on her shoulder once again, her own violet eyes narrowing as she glared back.

Beast Boy hit the button on the speaker just as Adam began to speak. "Are you satisfied, Blake? Is this what you were hoping for when you sided with Atlas and the Schnee? To have me caged like an animal? Well you succeeded."

"No Adam." She said, arms rising to hug herself as she shrank back at the seething hatred in the voice of the man she used to believe she loved. "You brought this on yourself. Your vendetta did this, not me."

"Liar." He snarled. "You left the White Fang. You left our cause. Because of your betrayal, now humanity is going to stomp us back into the dust."

Blake's eyes flashed. "Because of me? You just tried to murder thousands of faunus, not to mention the humans! And you're saying I'm the one that betrayed our people?"

"The humans needed to be taught a lesson! They needed to learn that we're not animals!"

"Well they sure know that now! We're not animals in their eyes anymore. We're monsters! You've just killed not only the White Fang, but also any hope of equality we had!" Blake cried out, tears of frustration in her amber eyes.

"I did it for our people!" Adam snapped.

"No Adam, you didn't. You did it for revenge, plain and simple. The plight of the faunus is only an excuse, and it always has been. You proved that much last night. You not only betrayed our people, you betrayed your subordinates when you left them to get captured just to take revenge on me." Blake said, her breathing ragged now.

It was like she was truly seeing him for the first time. She'd always known him to be angry, intense, but where before she'd thought that was simple passion, now she could see it for what it was. Adam was a petty and driven by rage. He didn't care about anybody but himself and how he had been slighted.

It was hard. Hard to see the man she'd worked with, that she'd cared about, be revealed to be a monster. Some part of her had hoped he could be saved from himself, even after the train job, but now she knew that was a fool's hope.

Blake turned around, not letting him see the tears that began to flow down her cheeks. "Goodbye, Adam. We won't see each other again. I'm going to do what you always proclaimed you would, and save our people." With that she began walking away without turning back, Yang following behind her with a proud smile on her face.

"Blake, come back here! Don't walk away from me!" Adam pounded his remaining fist against the glass with a vicious snarl, not noticing the armored human shift to aim at him better. "Blake!"

Once the doors had closed behind them Yang pulled a shaking Blake into her arms. "I've got you, partner. I'm so proud of you."

Blake simply sobbed and clung to her friend, clutching her tightly. Beast Boy and Chief respectfully left them alone, leaving the blonde to comfort the other girl.

"Hopefully she can move on now." Beast Boy said lowly once they were out of even faunus eashot.

Chief nodded. "Something tells me they'll be fine as long as they have each other."

Beast Boy smiled. "Yeah. That's the joy of friendship."

I AM HERE!

Hey everybody. Sorry this tooks so long. As stated before, my motivation for this story has been a bit spotty due to the recent lore reveals in RWBY canon making things more difficult for me.

I've managed to mostly figure out what I'm doing and how this is going to end, as shown by Harry discussing his plan with Teleute. The only issue is figuring out how to get the characters from RWBY I want involved in the situation. I can't just say 'Oh, and they just happened to be there'. That wouldn't go over well, and I wouldn't find it satisfying either.

Because of my slight fatigue with this story I've made a decision. It'll still be updated every month, no worries, but rather than try to force myself to do two chapters a month, which I haven't been managing anyway, I'll do just the one. The other week when I would have worked on Brightest, I'll either work on another story, type out one of the many other ideas swimming in the toxic sludge that is my mind, or just take the week of writing to relax. Last thing I want is to start to feel like writing is a chore. On occasion I might do a second chapter of Brightest in a month. Depends on my motivation.

Now, onto the chapter itself. It's mostly the aftermath of the failed invasion. We se Ozpin speaking with the Council and Alice do her best to help Amber heal.

Blake's confrontation with Adam isn't perfect. I'm well aware that it feels a bit clunky. I did some reworking of it a couple of times, and I think this is up to my standards, at least for the time being. It was important for Blake to at least try to put Adam behind her.

The discussion between Harry and Teleute is the most consequential part of the chapter, and I went back and forth on whether to include the backstory tying Harry to Teleute, or leave it aside and simply focus on them discussing the plan.

The backstory is something I've been coming up with for a while now. I've seen many other fics that introduce the idea that Lily called upon some higher power to save Harry, so I felt it wouldn't be that outlandish. In the end I decided to include it because I felt that it deepened Harry and Teleute's relationship, and explained why she's his patron deity when so far I've only shown her as taking an interest in him due to Silent Hill.

Next chapter will be some more of the aftermath, as well as the steps towards the final endgame on Remnant. I'd say there are maybe three or four more chapters in the RWBYverse, and then we'll be moving on.

I think that's all that needs to be discussed…

Don't forget I have a Pat A Aron where each dollar you spend gives you a vote in what I write each month from a poll I put up. Just go to Pat A Ron dotcom /athanmortis. Thanks a ton.

Till next time.

Excelsior!