I took a little longer than I expected with this. It was finished maybe a day or two ago but I kept getting conflicting ideas about how I wanted to treat the Apathy. In the end, I did a full remodel of a lot of things, especially the house, and well you'll see.

I also got an interesting question from the silver-eyed knight. They asked how much power would Onyx and Salem have to exert to defeat Nova in his current state, and who would win in a fight between Onyx and Salem.

To put the answer I gave him in short: Onyx would beat Nova with around 60% (Maybe 70... situationally dependant) of his power due to Onyx himself not having tapped into the limits of what he can do. Salem will defeat Nova with little to no effort because Nova has no way of matching the wide variety of magic she posses, he is accustomed to hands on combat but Salem would defeat him before he could get close to her.

Onyx vs Salem would go to Salem. Onyx would put up a good fight at maximum output, but Salem's access to all magic, Grimm included, and her knowledge far outclasses him. Even if they were on exactly equal footing, she would win because she's a being of infinite life and even the pool of destruction could not kill her. There are weaknesses to both that render them killable, Salem obviously being Silver Eyes, but there are more, and saying them would be spoiling my plans.

Disclaimer: There will be some self-harm in this chapter. Self-harm is not to be taken lightly and is extremely serious. As someone who's been there myself, I know what it feels like so if you are there right now, or approaching that part of the pain, talk to someone. Find someone to confide in because you will end up doing things you regret. Seek help before things get out of hand, that's something I wish I listened to when I was there.


Chapter 57: The Apathy


It'd been a full minute since the Grimm above were defeated. Team ASHNRWBY fell exhausted on the ice, barely able to contain themselves. Weiss was the most shaken, having frozen an entire beast without even remotely knowing what or how she did it.

"What just…happened?" Oscar asked looking nervously toward Weiss.

The Schnee girl turned robotically toward him, her neck stiff and her eyes wide from a mix of surprise and fear, "I don't know, t-the stone, it… did something…" she said holding out the gem.

"But why would it react? Weiss, you're not even an Aspect like Nova or Luna let alone a Faunus…" Blake raised the point looking baffled, though was she really one to talk? She was also an exception, tapping into powers without a mark.

"I don't know why… but I'm glad it did. According to what we saw with Jinn, those gems are fragments of divine power, so maybe... it has a mind of its own?" Luna said as she helped Weiss to her feet and hugged her tightly.

The Schnee slowly thawed her frozen confusion and pet the blue dragon's hair.

"The stone did react to Weiss, it was calling for her… maybe, and call me crazy but, this thing wanted Weiss to find it…" Hex said as she and the others joined up. Qrow was pretty much taking a backseat to everything. The realization that Ozpin never considered him close, to begin with, was hurting him and the old Huntsman looked too emotionally burdened to provide any insight so they all excluded his input.

"Do the stones have minds of their own then?" Oscar asked he was voicing the obvious questions because he had nothing else. If he were to turn his mind toward himself for a moment he'd sink into a visceral pit of self-loathing, something that could get him killed in such an unfamiliar and hostile environment. He may be just a fourteen-year-old kid, but the wisdom of a centuries-old man in his head was providing useful, though he didn't like it.

"What do you think Nova?" Nitro asked looking around for his leader, "Uh… Nova?" when there was no response, everyone's face began to morph from relieved confusion to horror. Nova hadn't come back up from the water.

"Oh…fuck…" was all Luna managed to say before they instantly raced to the hole in the ice. There were no bubbles coming up, that was never a good sign. Air always sought an escape route and if the only available crack in the ice had no sign of life then…

Ruby's stomach began to knot and a sickening feeling was overwhelming her. The normally stoic to happy expression on her face was cracking, and Luna could see it, she was scared.

"Someone's gotta go down there! What if he's… he's…" Yang said looking fearful.

Nitro bit his lip, "I'll do it."

"NO! You'll freeze! I should go my semblance can…" the blonde responded getting ready to dive in but Nitro stopped her.

"My gauntlets have jet boosters. They're not as effective underwater but they can get me in and out of there before the cold gets to me." The redhead pointed out equipping Atomizer.

Before anyone could argue further he tore off his jacket and dived headfirst underwater.

Nitro spotted Nova, his body floating still in the freezing depths not too far from the surface so he activated the jet boosters on his arms and used them to speed toward his friend, the ice never having a chance to form due to how fast he was travelling.

The dragon leader's body was too cold, his skin was slightly turning blue but the Agniseki on his left arm was glowing a faint orange as if it were desperately trying to keep its owner warm, but it wasn't the cold that was keeping him down. There were no bubbles from his nose or mouth, only trails of blood.

In the split second he took to notice, Nitro scooped him up in his arms and sped him out of the water. The moment he crested the surface he tossed Nova's seemingly lifeless body onto the ice before helping himself out.

"WARM HIM UP NOW!" Nitro yelled, scrambling to the dragon's side.

Ruby took off her cloak and wrapped it around him while Yang took off her jacket and draped it over his chest.

Hex placed her hand over her mouth mortified while Ruby did her best to remain calm. The red leader knelt down and placed her ear by his nose then shot up in alarm, "HE'S NOT BREATHING!"

She then checked his pulse, it was faint, very faint, but it was there, this gave her some semblance of relief, "Oh thank Oum he's still alive… Does anyone know CPR?"

Nitro who'd shaken off most of the cold was there, "MOVE! I got this!" he brushed them aside and began repeatedly pumping onto his chest, "Come on! COME ON! DON'T GIVE UP ON ME NOW MAN!"

The redhead in his panic began forming graces of tears in his eyes though it was hard to tell with the water, "SHIT! I can't lose you… not again… we can't take it a second time…" he leaned down, opened Nova's mouth, took a deep breath, and blew the air into the dragon with his mouth. Then he checked for breathing, still nothing, so he kept pumping Nova's chest.

Ruby and the others sat there in anxious waiting as the Zephyr boy kept pumping and blowing air, for what seemed like ages. "Please… I can't lose my brother again… you, still have a mission to do…" Nitro's pumps were getting slower, as tears began to fall from his face, dripping onto the cold body of Nova.

Luna and Ruby began to tear up as well, "No…Nononono…." Ruby's face was pure horror, Luna's head buried in Oscar's shoulder with the poor boy awkwardly trying to provide comfort.

*COUGH COUGH* Nova suddenly began sputtering as Nitro felt his pulse quicken. Water began to come out in spurts as the dragon coughed harshly until he stopped and blearily opened his eyes.

"Hey… what'd I miss?" He asked hoarsely, his lips trembling as he struggled to smile. Everyone who was about to give up hope smiled with happy tears.

Ruby launched herself at her boyfriend and hugged him tightly, "Fucking hell, you scared me half to death…" she said through the tears as she kissed his forehead.

He chuckled, "Can't kill me that easily…" he said only to receive a light smack on the top of his head.

"Really? Because you were basically fucking dead. AGAIN! I don't know about you… but I can't handle my best friend dying twice in my lifetime…" Nitro said with a sad smile.

"Speaking of which… I was drowning…. Who…?"

"Gingerbread was the one who saved you… you should be thanking him," Hex said throwing a thumb to Nitro who was kneeling beside Ruby.

"Next time please don't eat so much tuna before drowning, that's all I taste right now…" Nitro groaned and gagged.

Nova turned slightly pink, "Wait so you… and… Oh…my…god. Well… what matters is you saved my life, I can be embarrassed about that later. For now…" he held out his right arm, "Thanks… brother."

"I'd give my life for you, man," Nitro smiled taking the arm in the form of a forearm handshake.

"Well, I certainly would prefer you didn't do that..." Nova rolled his head onto Ruby's lap, his eyelids were discoloured and dark, his lips looked a little blue and his general energy was fading, "I'm… a little tired…" as the words left his mouth his vision began to blur and swirl.

"Hey, are you okay?" Oscar asked worriedly.

"Yeah… fine… just…need…some…sleep…" the moment he said it his head lulled to one side and he blacked out in Ruby's arms.

Instantly she checked his pulse and breathing, "It's okay… he's asleep. I think he needs some rest to regain his strength. We all do."

The old woman popped up with Qrow, "We should head over there, maybe we can get some shelter in the village," she pointed to the group of housings that were located just beyond the treeline in the direction they were heading.

Ruby nodded, then wrapped Nova up in her cloak as Nitro helped carry him to rest on Bumblebee, "Come on. We don't have much time before that snowstorm shows up," Ruby said eyeing the darkening skies.

Luna grabbed Helios and Nova's clothes while Weiss made sure she kept a close hold on the Fragment of Remnant in her possession. They all made their way toward the village.


As the team neared the borders of the village, they could feel a level of unease settle over them. It was like this forest itself was harboring a curse, where every time they thought they were safe, something else would rear its ugly head and spit in their direction. Just like before, a wave of unknown and unsettling feeling creeping behind them just out of vision.

None of them could tell why they were feeling anxious, but they were, and though they would choose to ignore it, their unease was more akin to fear.

It was a piece of clay hovering behind them, the more they ignored it, the more it stayed behind, but if their nerves let up for a moment, it would creep up and take form, changing itself into whatever dark thoughts wandering through their brains, and after the ordeal with Jinn, there were many. Still, there was an unspoken agreement, they would not acknowledge their fears until they were within the safety of Argus walls.

For how long that agreement would last… well…

"I thought the forest was bad, but… this place is worse…" Nitro said shivering. They entered into the village through an arch of trees that seemed to have grown and warped itself to form a foreboding entrance. It was almost as if it wanted people to enter while simultaneously warding them off.

The snowstorm was beginning to make its entrance, with the biting winds picking up and the chill in the air all too prevalent to the weary party, especially the two who'd gone diving in the frozen lake. Nitro seemed to be doing fine, but Nova was looking pale.

"We need to get him indoors, this… is the first time I've seen him so cold," Luna said worriedly as her hand hovered over her brother. Normally Nova would radiate a comfortable warmth even in his sleep, but right now his body felt like that of any regular body temperature in the winter, with his skin somewhat cold. Normally that wouldn't be cause for alarm to normal people, but toward a dragon whose entire life was spent with an abnormally high body temperature… this was cause for concern.

The town was desolate and empty, the streets were blown over with snow and various objects were left in the snow, houses were open and some even had wide-open windows, yet there was not a single sign of life anywhere.

"HELLO! Anyone here?!" Nitro called out only to be punched by Hex and his mouth held shut by her hands.

"Shut up! Not so loud. We might've taken care of every Grimm in a ten-mile radius but I get the distinct feeling that announcing our presence here is a bad idea…" Hex said darkly, her face deadly serious. The redhead boy just silently nodded until she released him.

Ruby gripped Crescent Rose, "Come on, this house seems big enough. We should get inside before…" she was interrupted when the wind picked up harshly and snow began to fall at alarming speeds, "The storm hits…"

They all hurriedly filed inside a large, two-story house that bordered the centre of the village where a large open well stood. The house seemed in perfect condition, too perfect to be abandoned.

"Something doesn't feel right about this place," Ruby said as they approached the front door.

Weiss wrapped her arms around herself, but out of habbit not cold, as oddly enough, she wasn't feeling it as much compared to the others, "What do you mean?"

"This place is too… whole."

"Huh?" Oscar asked curiously.

"Most of the abandoned villages I found in Mistral were either broken or old and destroyed. This place… it's like it was perfectly fine up until yesterday, there's no sign of damages, no sign of Grimm, and no sign of people. The stuff we saw on the road, it's like the people just up and vanished while they were carrying about their daily lives." The red leader explained.

"Maybe they just all left in a hurry?" Yang asked hoping for some light.

"Maybe… or maybe not… we won't know until we find out," Ruby said holding out her weapon in sniper form. They all looked at her and nodded before barging in through the front door weapons armed and ready. Except… there was nothing inside, no people, no sound of danger, no rotting smells, no blood.

They lowered their weapons, "This is weird…" Oscar pointed out, slowly taking a few steps indoors.

The house was fully furnished, paintings hung on the wall neatly, the floors looked lightly dusted.

Ruby spotted a picture on the wall, it showed what looked to be everyone in the village standing at the entrance, smiling happily with their tools. The most notable people were a Faunus couple and their child, a mother who seemed to be a white cat Faunus and a father who was a wolf with dull grey hair. The child, a little boy, barely ten years old with his father's Faunus traits. The most curious thing about the picture was that it seemed recent, perhaps not more than a few months ago.

"Something's not right… this place, it's perfectly fine so… why did they leave?" the reaper felt a chill run down her spine.

"You guys get Nova to the living room, I think I saw a fireplace. Get the windows shut and a fire going before we all freeze to death. I'll check upstairs, see if there's anything useful." she instructed, going full leader mode.

"I'll come with you… just in case," Luna chirped though she didn't look as happy as she sounded.

Ruby climbed the staircase and began inspecting the rooms. A children's room, with blue wallpaper and a small race car bed. Pictures of various superheroes plastered on the walls, toys, and figures littered over the room as if the boy had left in a hurry.

The upstairs carpet was scrambled and shoved toward the stairs as if someone had slipped on it while running.

It was then she spotted, at the far end of the corridor, another door. She hesitantly cracked it open, with Luna behind her, and upon opening it she almost froze in fear.

Luna spotted what Ruby had seen and screamed in horror alerting the whole house.

Lying on the bed, still in their clothing, were the dried corpses of two Faunus, their hair and bodies still recognizable, no rotting, no blood. It was as if their life was drained from them as they slept, or they starved to death and their bodies remained. Their eyes shut and sunken in, the lids blackened, their lips dried, almost skeletal. The picture plastered itself to the inside of Ruby's eyelids and no matter how much she tried to look away, the image burned itself in.

Qrow came rushing up to the sound of the scream and saw the corpses, his face falling in pain, though he was more stoic than the girls, undoubtedly not his first dried up dead body.


The party sat together in the living room while Qrow came back indoors, dusting the snow that had clung to his clothes before it melted and soaked him. He'd just buried the corpse in the forest.

"It's horrifying…" Luna mouthed as she hugged her knees to her chest.

Qrow clutched his shoulder, "It's like this everywhere."

The fire in the hearth crackled and popped, "What?" asked Oscar.

"Every house, there's bodies in all of them, all in the same condition as the ones we found. Dried and dead."

"It's like the whole town went to sleep and never woke up," Nitro said morbidly.

"We're not staying here…right?" Weiss asked fearfully.

Qrow grimaced, "We don't have a choice. Snowstorms going to be up for a couple of hours, and it's almost nightfall. We'll freeze to death out there before we make it anywhere near Argus."

"Hauling him around won't make things any easier I guess…" Hex said dryly while throwing a thumb in Nova's general direction.

They all looked sick to their stomachs but knew they were right.

The dragon leader was laid out in front of the fire on his back, still wrapped in Ruby's cloak. They'd put his clothes back on, which were thankfully dry.

Ruby spared a glance toward her unconscious boyfriend before looking to her team, "Okay, since this place wasn't abandoned, chances are these houses have supplies. We can dig around and see what we can scrounge up before we head out. There's no telling just how long we have to make it to Argus."

"Well since we're stuck here, we might as well get comfortable…" The old woman said hopping onto an armchair.

Yang looked toward Hex, "Well we're the most able-bodied, let's go see what we can find?"

The purplette shrugged, "Sure why not, snow doesn't mess with my hair product anyway."


Weiss sat huddled by the fireplace next to the sleeping Nova, she was hungry, not cold but she still had that feeling. The gemstone that seemed so bright before was now normal, sitting between her fingers, radiating a cool feeling, and though she wanted to feel some sort of comfort from it, she only felt dread and foreboding as if the stone held something in itself.

She figured staying awake wasn't doing herself any good so she opted to close her eyes. Her mind was on edge, her instincts didn't want her to fall asleep in a house where sleeping seemed to have caused the death of its occupants. No matter how much she tried to fight it however, her tired body compelled her to rest, and before she knew it, she was nodding off.

The moment her mind finally drifted to sleep however, a cold pain shot through her palm where the stone lay, jolting her awake while simultaneously flashing her mind with images too blurry to make out.

She pried open her eyes in shock, her lids feeling heavy, "Shit…" she cursed under her breath. The stone in her hands had calmed down again, but why did it force her awake?

"Hey, Weiss? You okay?" Ruby asked looking concerned to the huddled girl.

Weiss turned her head slowly, the underside of her eyelids were dark, and shook her head, "No, I'm tired but I can't sleep. This whole place… it scares me…"

Ruby smiled warmly and took her friend by the arm, "Come on, food always makes me feel better."

As the two moved through the house looking for edible supplies, they came across a room past the kitchen. They entered to find a darkened room with no lighting, but candles on the walls and tables, thus Weiss used one of her glyphs to spark the wicks, bringing light to the room. It was a recreational room of sorts, small chairs, and a bar stocked to the brim with alcohol bottles.

"We should probably keep this room locked…" Ruby said with a ghost of nervousness in her voice.

"Why?" asked Weiss, looking confused.

"Well… I'm not sure how my uncle is taking all of this in. You saw him back there, it's like he's lost all motivation, and well… he's a bit of an alcoholic…" Ruby explained with her eyes downcast.

Weiss deadpanned, "Really? I wouldn't have guessed."

This made the reaper smile, "Oh shut up Weiss, there's one more room over there," she pointed toward another door at the back of the bar.

They went through it to find a staircase leading downward. At the bottom was a wine cellar with shelves fully stocked with bottles of wine.

"Great… more alcohol," Ruby said dryly.

"Hey, what's that?" Weiss asked pointing to a locked hatch at the end of the room. It was stainless steel with a thick chain wrapped around the handle. Weiss didn't know why, but she felt a horrifying feeling emanating from it, she wanted to chalk it up to her imagination but she swore there was a dark aura billowing out of the creases.

Ruby looked uneasy, "Okay… we should definitely keep this room closed. I don't know what's down there but I've seen enough horror movies to know not to fuck with the basement."

Weiss blinked rapidly, it was unlike the reaper to use swearing so frequently, but it seemed that since they left Mistral, she'd adopted a few words into her vocabulary, using them in choice scenarios. "Yup, totally agree. We should get back to the others."


In the living room, the old woman had found herself a collection of books from the shelves that seemed so well stocked. Blake had taken up a few and isolated herself to an armchair where she was sprawled over, while Oscar rummaged around looking for something to do.

"Well now this is interesting…" the old woman said, though she looked rather unsettled. She was holding up a bookmarked 'III', suggesting the third entry in its series.

Oscar careened his head toward her, almost too eager to find something to alleviate his boredom, "What's that?"

"A history of this village. Seems the folks here kept a written log of everything that's happened since they founded this place." She explained, thumbing through the pages upon which words were scribbled in various shapes and forms.

At this point, Yang and Hex returned from their excursion carrying a few cans, and after placing them in the kitchen, joined the team by the fireplace.

"We found an old cart we can hook up to Bumblebee outside, what've you guys got?" Hex asked dusting snow off her jacket.

"Perhaps something that can tell us what happened to this place," the old lady said. They all hummed with interest, while Nova just silently slept.

She began to summarize what she'd read so far, "Well, I've made it through a few books, and from what I can tell this village was perfectly normal. According to this, the place was lush and green unlike the freezing tundra it is now, and the village thrived on farming for a certain period of time."

"What stopped them?" Nitro asked curiously.

"Mostly Grimm, the longer they stayed the more they began attracting beasts, and while the trees did provide some sort of barricade, it wasn't enough to fully keep them out. They lost a few people and farming slowed down after that, so the village had taken to finding other methods, mostly through trade."

"Alcohol," Ruby said unconsciously.

"Excuse me?"

"Their primary trade was alcohol, right?"

The old woman blinked, "Yes… but how did you…?"

Ruby was about to answer when she held it back, "Um… never mind. Does it say what happened here?"

"No, not yet. Though there are still two more books, I'll get to that in time. For now, I think we all need a little sleep do we not?"

The team unpacked whatever cots they could find, cloths and blankets were spread out around the singular fireplace. Amidst all the fear and unease, the one thing that plagued their minds was that Nova hadn't woken up yet. The last time he was asleep this long, he was blacked out from blood loss in Beacon infirmary.

Ruby pulled herself next to his sleeping form and draped an arm around him. He was cold, normal for a person but for him to be cold unnerving, still she did her best to warm him up. The Agniseki on his arm was no longer glowing, it looked dull and deactivated.


Once they were all asleep, Oscar found himself distanced from the others, thoughts plaguing his mind and making him restless. Now that he was left with nothing to focus on besides himself, the vacancy in his head was like a blaring alarm.

He picked himself up from the fireplace and began walking toward the kitchen, hoping maybe a cup of water or something would calm him down, but once he was out of earshot of the others he collapsed on his knees.

He didn't know why he was feeling so awful. It was nothing but pure self-loathing overwhelming him from every angle.

He was Oscar Pine, or at least he was supposed to be. For all he knew now he was just some new form of Ozpin. He wanted to say that his thoughts were his own, that his life was his own, but who's to say everything he'd done to this point was even his own choice to make?

When he swung the cane he knew what to do, that much he garnered was because of Ozpin, but what rattled him was how accustomed he was to the older man's influence. The lines between Oscar and Ozpin were blurring and it was no longer black or white but sitting in the middle was a little swirl of the colours, an awful grey that was not enough to make a difference but the subtle overlapping ground at his gears like a person with OCD in an abstract art museum.

If his fate was to become the next Ozpin he didn't want to live anymore. He took pride in being who he was, and the fact that his own thoughts and actions were being subtly influenced without his notice by a mind that was not his own was driving him mad.

The fact of the matter was, that Oscar Pine did not want to be Ozpin, he didn't want his own consciousness erased, but it wasn't a simple matter of him being removed and Ozpin taking over, no it was much more complex than that.

He was beginning to realize it, his ability to think rationally in combat, leadership skills, calm in the face of danger, calculated and decisive, they all came from Ozpin. They weren't his own thoughts and experiences, yet he could not get rid of them. At first, he believed it was due to Nova's teachings, but the more it pressed on, the more he felt… wrong.

It wasn't that the consciousnesses that resided with Ozpin were removed, it was more like Ozpin's thoughts had latched onto them like a parasite, rooting itself in their minds until they could no longer differentiate between Ozpin and themselves, and then all that remained was a version of Ozpin with new memories.

He would never have been privy to this had Ozpin not locked himself away in his mind, hiding in the shadows like an insect that you know exists but whenever you looked for it you were blinded.

Whenever he had a stroke of genius or an idea, a string of thought or making a decision, he felt disgusted with himself, because he knew he was drawing from Ozpin's memory but he could not stop it. It was out of his control to pick and choose what he thought or didn't think about, and it made his skin crawl.

It felt like Ozpin was dirt under his fingernails, except it was in his head and under his skin like he was just the sleeve and Ozpin was the one behind it all. He hated it, every moment he hated it, but he couldn't escape from himself. But who was he really anymore?

"ARGH!" he cried in frustration. He couldn't take it anymore. He wanted Ozpin out of his head, gone, but it was beyond his power to do so. Before he knew it he began scratching at his own skin.

Sinking his nails into his arm flesh until blood poured forth in small amounts as if hurting himself was the only he could reassure his mind that this was him and not Ozpin. The pain was immeasurable but Oscar couldn't take it anymore, and he began sobbing, with his knees pulled to his chest.


Luna awoke from her spot curled up by the fireplace. She couldn't sleep, every time her eyes closed and she felt she would drift off, the dried corpses blared back into her mind, waking her with their horrifying image.

Sighing to herself she got up and quietly moved to the kitchen, she needed something, anything to ease her mind, but as she neared the kitchen she eared the quiet sound of sobbing. She was on alert now, thinking someone else was around, but as her head peeked around the door she saw Oscar with his knees to his chest, crying.

"Oscar…?" she called quietly.

The boy's head shot up in alert, his crying ceasing as he looked at her with his tear-stained eyes. Quickly he wiped his face in his hands, "Who's there?"

Luna stepped forward into his vision range so he could see her in the dimly lit room. She sat on the floor beside him too quickly for him to react and run away.

"It's me, Oscar, are you okay? I heard you crying…" she asked softly, concern marring her features.

Oscar flinched, "I… wasn't crying… I…"

"Oscar Pine don't you dare lie to me. The stains are plain as day on your face. What's wrong?" she asked placing her left hand on his right knee.

"Really it's nothing…"

"It's about what Jinn showed us… isn't it? About what happened with Ozpin?"

The boy felt his breath hitch in his throat and his fingers go numb, yet he said nothing.

His reaction was enough to justify Luna's theory, "Are you going to talk about it?" she opted for the subtle approach.

Oscar sighed and removed his knees from his chest and tried to adjust his sitting position with his arms only to flinch when his left touched the ground. Luna picked up on it instantly and her eyes trained on the left arm, her enhanced vision allowing her to see through the dark that his arm was bleeding slightly.

"Did you get hurt? Those look like…"

Oscar recoiled as she was about to touch his arm and hid it, "I said its nothing, I just need to be left alone…"

Luna felt a vein throb in her forehead, "Oh no you don't!" she used her powers and locked him down before he could move.

"You are NOT moving until you tell me what's wrong. Is that understood?" she instructed with a stern voice. Her face said there was no room for argument.

He sighed, "Fine… It's about Ozpin."

Luna released her bind on him, "Good now we're getting somewhere."

"Since Jinn explained how Ozpin's reincarnation works, I've been… noticing things." He said.

She tilted her head, "Elaborate."

"Well, I realized that I don't really know how to do anything myself. All the fighting and decisions, they came from Ozpin. I might not have realized it but I've been unconsciously drawing from his memories, or maybe he's been feeding them to me? I don't know, but since he locked himself away, I've been feeling… raw. It's like he's living under my skin like a parasite but I can't reach him, no matter how hard I try. I'm slowly adopting his styles and thoughts and I'm scared, Luna." He said with tears reforming in his eyes.

She softened but said nothing, allowing him to continue.

"I'm scared that, one day, I'll end up becoming him and I won't even know it. It'll be subtle like you can't tell its there until bit by bit who I was before gets erased and all that's left is some homogenous mixture of my memories and his, and I just… get absorbed in him." Oscar explained.

"Is that why you hurt yourself?" she asked forcing his hiding arm out and examining the damage. It wasn't deep but it looked like it stung.

"It probably sounds silly now that I think about it, but I felt like it was the only thing I could do. I was uncomfortable in my own skin if that makes sense." He said without meeting her eyes. He felt ashamed that he would even try something like that.

She forced his gaze to hers, "Oscar Pine it is not silly. This is serious, deadly serious. If you're worried that one day you end up becoming him, then you need to find the parts of yourself that are unique to you and hold on to them."

"Unique to me…?" he asked confused.

"What makes you, you?" she asked, only to receive a blank stare. "Nova's a leader but he's a goofball and maybe insane."

"Maybe?" Oscar asked rhetorically, causing her to giggle.

"Okay, he's insane. Yang is explosive, Nitro is earnest, Hex has her technology and sisterly vibes, Ruby is pure, Blake has her silence and bookworm tendencies, and Weiss is well… Weiss. The point is we all have something that identifies us as who we are, something that no one else in the world has. So I think you need to stop focusing on what Ozpin's ingrained in you, and try to focus on what makes you different from him." She explained taking his hand in hers.

"But I don't know what that is…"

"That's the beauty of it. We don't always know what it is, and there's a joy in finding it. You already have it but you just don't see it."

"Do… you see it? What sets me apart that is."

Luna turned slightly pink, grateful that Oscar wasn't a Faunus so he could see her blushing in the darkness, "Maybe…"

"OH You gotta tell me," he said eagerly, his earlier depression slipping away. It was incredible how she had that effect on him, just dragging him out of that pit he'd dug himself into with so little effort.

"Ugh promise you won't laugh?"

Oscar smiled, "Cross my heart."

"Well… Ozpin's cold and has a one-track mind. You on the other hand are caring, a little airheaded but sweet. There's a lot of kindness in you that you share with others, even if it's not intentional. I mean I've only known you for what, two weeks? And I can tell that you care about the relationships you build with people, you treasure them because everyone you're close to is special. You have something that Ozpin will never have." She said with a bright smile.

"And what's that?" he asked, though he was blushing furiously.

"A heart."

Oscar blinked rapidly, "T-Thanks…" he fumbled out of his mouth. An awkward silence fell over them and before they knew it, they'd fallen asleep on the floor, with Luna's head leaning on his shoulder.


It was Weiss' turn to rouse herself. She physically couldn't fall asleep, the stone kept waking her. At one point she'd mentally threatened to toss it, but she could find no fault in what it was doing. For some reason, it was trying to stop her from sleeping, as if there was something she needed to do.

"I need to use the bathroom…" she mumbled to herself, forcing out of her blanket. She was pretty sure she'd seen a bathroom upstairs, it was just a matter of remembering where it was.

As she approached the staircase she felt a sense of dread wash over her. A creeping feeling like something was up there, watching her out of the corner of her eyes, lurking in the shadows. "Mind over matter Weiss. It's just your imagination."

She inhaled deeply and began her ascent. The floorboards creaked eerily and she swore she picked up the stench of death in the air, but she chalked it up to the fact that this house did hold two dead bodies until recently. *tap* *tap *tap* came the subtle sound of something hitting against the window that stood just at the top of the stairs.

The outside was dark, and the snowstorm was thick. There was no semblance of light other than the silver moonlight washing through the window. *Tap* Tap* *Tap*

It was louder this time, she'd heard it for sure. She approached the window, peering out into the endless dark of the night.

Snow began to fall on the window, the white flakes latching onto the glass one after the other. She figured it was due to a change in wind direction, not uncommon during a blizzard. Still, she was mesmerized by the falling of the snow. It reminded her of the winter nights she would spend as a child, locked in her room hiding from the party her parents had going on downstairs, the snowflakes were her only friends back then.

Suddenly the stone shocked her with cold again forcing her away from the window. She looked down at the stone then back toward the window. Something had changed.

The snowflakes that were settled in what appeared to be random, was no longer random. They formed a picture, a distinct picture that when Weiss realized what it was, she no longer had the voice to scream.

The snowflakes had formed faces in the glass, multiple human faces of varying shapes and sizes, all staring at her with eyeless sockets and open mouths. She felt a shrill screech pierce her ears like a flashbang, but the fact that there was no echo suggested it was her own head that heard the screech. It shook her out of her fear as she tore her gaze from the window and bolted into a nearby room, as her eyes left its glued spot she caught a glimpse of something, she swore it was her imagination, but it was there, in the corner of the window, behind the faces. A ghastly figure, skinny and dark, with a skull for a head and gaping open mouths, glowing red eyes. Maybe it was Grimm, maybe it was something else, she wasn't sure.

She slammed the door behind her and crumpled to the floor, her heart hammering against her chest with ferocity. She gauged her surroundings. She'd stumbled into the children's room, or child's room granted the singular bed.

The stone in her hand suddenly began to glow and she felt her vision blur with images she'd seen before, the ones that were too fast to realize, but now they were slow and clear.

A little Faunus boy, clad in what looked to be a blue and white striped shirt and blue jeans sat playing with his toys. Then the boy heard something outside of his room, and he leaned his ears to the door. Whatever he'd heard scared him and he ran under his covers to hide.

The scene changed and now the boy was looking out of his window with fear on his face, something was scaring him but Weiss couldn't tell what was happening. The picture then changed, the boy was now writing something in his journal, a brown leather-bound book, before he tucked it under his pillow and ran.

Weiss, now brought back to reality, instantly raced for the bed and lifted the pillow. Sure enough, under the fabric was a small leather-bound book, tied together by a strap and a button. On its cover wrote the name 'Michael Frostfang, Mikey'.

Inside detailed the events of the boy's life, the first few pages were nothing abnormal, so she thumbed to the last set of entries and began to read.

"Oh… my… god… we need to get out of here…" she mouthed unable to hold back her fear. Thankfully, the sun was already beginning to rise and the sounds of the blizzard were already dying down, but it seemed exhaustion had taken hold of her and she'd unconsciously fallen asleep on the stairs.


The next morning Ruby awoke with a start, nightmares flashing through her mind of people screaming as others simply stood there and died without fighting against anything. It made her slightly nauseous, the very memory of it all, but it was just a nightmare... right?

She found Qrow asleep on a chair, the stench of alcohol radiating off of him like heat, a bottle of wine clutched in his limp arm, much to Ruby's disappointment. "Wake up, Uncle Qrow. It's morning," she said rousing her uncle.

The man woke up with a start, fear marring his features, but when he saw Ruby he calmed down, not in a good way. He looked depressed, the bags under his eyes suggested restless sleep, and the lingering stench meant he'd been drinking all night.

"It's still too early... take a load off... I'll wake the rest of you when it's time..." he said grouchily. Ruby nodded and left him alone, but proceeded to do the exact opposite and wake Yang first. Everyone else followed suit, minus Weiss who was nowhere to be seen, each member of the team barely managing to peel their eyes open from a night of restless sleep. Nightmares tormenting them all from the looks of it.

They'd found Luna and Oscar awake, sitting on the porch and chatting away, the two seemed to have grown awfully close as if overnight. After a series of morning routines, Yang and Hex wheeled in the cart they found, it was a sizeable wagon, probably used to carry goods.

"Alright let's see if we can get this thing hooked up…" Qrow said as he approached the two-wheeled cart and raised his foot to touch the wheel, as he did, the other side blew out a flat and deflated.

"You people are just magnets for bad luck aren't you," The old woman said dryly.

"Ugh, who's deflating balloons this early in the morning? And why the hell is it so cold?" a voice said coming from the house.

They all turned their heads to see Nova standing in the doorway, looking quite a bit better, though his skin was still a little pale.

"NOVA!" they all exclaimed looking brighter compared to how they were originally. Ruby ran up and hugged him fiercely, planting a quick kiss on his lips before taking her cloak from around his arms and wrapping it back on herself.

"Thank Oum you're back… I was afraid you'd be 'out cold' until we hit Argus," Ruby said giggling.

Everyone's jaw dropped, "Ruby… did you just… make a pun?!" Yang almost spat out.

"What you guys get to do it and I don't?!"

"No, it's just… unexpected." Hex said looking slightly unnerved.

"Come on, I think I saw a tire pump in the garage, let's go grab that." She replied trying to brush off the subject. Something felt off to Nova. Ruby seemed normal, but the others didn't react the way he'd expected. A few laughs maybe some high fives, but nothing but surprise and mild expression… as if they were… tamer.

It now begged the question, what happened while he was asleep.

"Why should we?" Nitro voiced out, finally. He was unusually quiet given his personality, something which was making Nova and Ruby feel uneasy.

"What do you mean…?" Nova asked eyeing him.

The redhead slumped against the staircase, "It seems to me that that's all we do. Fight to get by. We fight so hard every single time, and each time we just have to fight even more. What's the point?" he asked drearily.

This began to raise some red flags in the leaders' heads. "Nitro, bro, we signed up to save the world?"

"Did we…? Because to me it sounds like we're just delaying the inevitable, Salem can't be killed after all…" now it was Blake's turn to be despondent.

"Don't… say that. We need to make it to Atlas…" Ruby tried to argue.

"And why should we? Ozpin hid the relics behind large doors guarded by powerful Maidens, and Salem hasn't broken the vaults in what a hundred years? More than that? For all we know, we could leave it alone and things would be fine. Think about it, if we just dropped the relic down that well, or buried it, the Grimm would never find it! It'd take them years, maybe not even in our lifetime!" Yang said, sounding bitter and angry.

Nova felt a wave of unease, something was wrong, and it was infectious… so why wasn't he feeling it? Or Ruby?

"Guys please, we have a mission remember? Human lives are at stake!" Luna voiced pleadingly.

"That's bad… but I can't seem to bring myself to care right now…" Oscar said reclining until his back lay flat on the boards.

"…. Oscar?" Luna mouthed looking horrified. The boy had a blank, glass look on his face.

Ruby clutched the lamp in her hands, standing at the edge of the well, staring into its black abyss. "Ruby don't you dare! Whatever it is you're thinking, don't fucking do it!" Nova said in alarm.

The reaper, however, seemed to zone out, staring more into the well, until… she saw it. Eyes as red as crimson peering in from the dark depth. "WAH!" she screamed startled and dropped the lamp.

"OH NO! Oh no no no no!" she panicked while the others seemed morbidly apathetic.

"It's okay Ruby…" Yang said with no emotion at all.

"NO! It's not okay! We need to get that lamp!"

"I don't want to…" Blake groaned.

"WE ARE GOING DOWN THERE NOW!" She screamed startling them out of their stupor.

"Ugh fine… let's just… do whatever…" Hex said with lidded eyes.


The team filed down the well consecutively, with Ruby heading off first. The tunnels were a sort of waterway under the well, a series of connected pipes, more or less dried up with little runoffs of clean water. It was almost like a sewer had it not smelled like pure water.

As soon as they left, Weiss came through the door, "Ugh sorry guys, I fell asleep on the stairs… guys?" she asked looking around for her team. Only Luna, Oscar, Qrow, and the old woman sat on the porch. The woman was thumbing through the final volume in the history books with keen interest, on the page were the words in bold 'The Apathy'.

"Where are they?"

Oscar who'd sobered up a bit and was pumping the tire full of air pointed to the well.

Weiss was about to ask what they were doing in the well when they heard a shrill scream that was undoubtedly Ruby echoing out.

Ruby raced through the darkness trying to find the lamp. As she turned the corner, she saw it, lying on the floor unharmed, this made her breathe a sigh of relief. She hurried over and picked it up, but when she was ready to turn around and leave, her eyes fell upon the most horrendous sight.

Standing in a horde, in various deformed positions, were the lanky builds of skeletal Grimm, with their bodies hunched over like someone with no care for posture, their heads humanoid skulls with gaping maws. All heads simultaneously turned to her and screeched.

Ruby screamed instantly at the terrifying sight a bolted away, crashing into her team.

"Ruby?! What is it?" Nova asked as he caught her.

"T-There's something down there! EEP!" she squealed as the Grimm turned the corner, slowly, allowing the team to see the monstrous horde that crawled toward them.

Everyone drew their weapons ready for the Grimm to rush them, but the Grimm continued its slow pace, so once they were within firing range, Blake shot a series of bullets at them, which bounced harmlessly off their heads.

"Okay… bulletproof Grimm. Not good. Anyone got any other ideas?" Nitro asked gearing up his fists.

"I got one," Nova stepped forward and extended his left arm, "Roast 'em." He then began to channel his fire to blast the Grimm… except nothing came out.

He blinked in surprise, "Huh?"

"Uh… Nova, shouldn't you be setting them on fire now?" Hex asked worriedly.

"I'm trying!" he said desperately trying to gather energy. The Agniseki flickering like a lightbulb. He felt his arm getting hotter but not enough to do much, still, he shot the fire out anyway. All that came out was a spurt of flames that wasn't much other than a glorified lighter fire.

"SHIT! Okay… what about Maiden Powers?" Nova opted to his magic, his eyes glowing with the powers of the Fall Maiden as he felt the magic surge through him. He aimed at the Grimm and fired off… except the magic backfired on him, exploding in his face causing a blast that knocked him back and the others, encompassing the tunnels in front of him in a fiery explosion.

"Woah! Are you okay?" Ruby asked as she caught him from flying back.

The smoke cleared and a couple of the Grimm had burn marks on them, signaling that fire was effective, but it wasn't enough heat to burn them outright.

"Something's wrong with my powers!" Nova said in a panic. For the first time in a long time, he felt fear. True fear.

"Okay, what's the plan now?!" Yang asked as everyone began slowly backing away from the Grimm.

Suddenly the creatures let out a shriek that reverberated through the whole tunnel. Instantly everyone lowed their weapons unwillingly.

"My… weapon feels… heavy…" Blake said struggling to speak, her ears flattened against her head.

"So does… my body…" Nitro voiced weakly.

"Guys… pick yourselves up. Those things aren't fast but our attacks have no effect, we need to run!" Nova yelled, seeming the only one barely affected.

Everyone mustered whatever will they could and instantly bolted down the waterway, following the tunnels they weren't sure where they were going in the darkness until they came across the old woman and Weiss standing in the tunnels looking panicked.

"Weiss?! Old lady?!" Ruby exclaimed as they almost crashed into them.

"Quickly! No time! There's a way out follow us!" Weiss said in a panic beckoning them. The team followed the pair through the tunnels until they emerged through a hole in the wall to a staircase with barrels at the bottom. The Grimm however were right on their heels as just on the other side of the wall, a new group had found its way to them.

As they were about to climb the staircase to safety, the Grimm echoed a loud screech again, this time several in succession.

Everyone in the room felt their legs give out from under them as they crashed to the floor, not quite paralyzed but they didn't have the will to move.

"Come… on… it's… right there…." Ruby said as she crawled toward the staircase.

The Grimm were upon them, however.

"Blake move!" Ruby screamed but the catgirl just lay there, unmoving.

"It's… fine…" Blake mouthed, her eyes wide open but her face held no fear or emotion.

One of the Grimm approached her, reaching its long claws down, inching ever so close to her face.

Ruby felt a shot of fear in her, fear and power, and at that moment, the necklace beneath her cloak began to glow, "BLAKE!" she yelled with such emotion driving through her that her eyes lit up, encompassing the entire tunnel in silver light pushing the Grimm back as they screamed in pain.

Instantly everyone felt their strength return as they scrambled for safety, "What just happened?" the old woman asked curiously.

"Never mind that! We need to leave!"

They were almost all to the staircase when the Grimm shrieked again collapsing them.

The old woman rushed to Ruby, she was the only one somewhat capable, "Child what colour are your eyes?"

Ruby weakly turned over to her, "Silver…"

Were it not for the gravity of the situation, Ruby would've seen the surprise on her face.

"Quickly, you need to think about what drives you. Do you have a family? What about your friends?"

"What does that have to…" Ruby mouthed.

"Shut up and listen, what is it that you feel strongly for? What do you have a strong emotional connection to? It's the key to your eyes!"

Ruby shut her eyes and began to think.

"The urge to protect others. To become the guardian of those you care about! Protect them!"

Yang and the others had all but fallen, Nova was barely awake, rolling over to use his last ounce of strength to push through, he crawled his way to Ruby's side and took her hand in his.

"I… don't want this to be our last moments, Ruby…" he said weakly, his strength giving under him as he fell at her side.

This seemed to spark something in the reaper as she awakened with vigour, turning her eyes to the Grimm as they turned pure shining silver, beams of light shot out of them encompassing the room.

The Grimm shrieked in terror, trying to push away the light but it could not hide. The silver light enveloped them all, disintegrating them.

"What just happened…?" Hex asked looking at Ruby.

"Doesn't matter. MOVE NOW!" Nova instructed with renewed vigour. They all climbed up the staircase into the wine cellar. Rushing through the house and into the bar where they found Qrow drinking.

"Qrow! We need to get the fuck out of here!" Nova yelled at his uncle.

"Uh… what are you kids…" he groaned.

"Fuck this…" Nova grabbed him by the collar and bolted out of the door with the team in tow.

A screech was heard from the cellar signalling that more were coming.

"WEISS THE ALCOHOL!" Ruby said in realization.

Weiss nodded in understanding and began throwing bottles of alcohol at the doorway they came through.

"HEY WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING?! ARE YOU CRAZY?!" Qrow screamed in protest as he fought against Nova but the boy was still too strong for his uncle.

Weiss then drew a fire glyph and set the room ablaze while everyone scrambled onto the cart, with Yang driving Bumblebee.

As they left the village they saw the house go up in flames, not a single bit sorry for it.


"The Apathy." The old woman said as they were finally out of danger. "They're not ferocious, or ravenous like other Grimm, but deadly all the same, even more so. The signs were all there but I was too blind to see it. They usually wander in small groups, but those were in a huge pack…"

"You know about those things?" Hex asked as she leaned against the cart.

"Found one or two in my time yes. Normally they're not supposed to be in places like that. It's not natural, but this here explains a lot…" she waved the final volume of the village books.

"According to this, the village head wrote his secrets in it. Apparently, establishing a village with no constant Hunstman protection was dangerous since people attract Grimm. Just a single argument could lead to disastrous results. He needed everyone compliant, at all times." The lady began to summarize.

"What are you saying…?" Oscar asked with interest.

"The head found a couple of Apathy wandering around outside the village. A pair, normally dangerous in a pack, two lone ones were easy enough for a normal person to capture given their well apathetic nature. He stored them in his cellar and locked them down. Their subtle influence made people more agreeable… well… with effects. Of course, it was controllable up until the pack came around looking for their missing pair. They made their way into the village through the underground water tunnels and with enough Apathy, began to drain the whole village."

"That's horrifying…" Blake mouthed placing her hand over her lips.

"Says it right here… 'No one would argue, no one would fight. No one was happy… no one was sad, until… no one was anything anymore. I'm so tired'." She read aloud from the book.

"So… this Apathy, fed on people's emotions? Making them drained and feeding them negativity until they just gave up the will to go on? That's when it got them?" Nova asked with concern marring his features.

The old woman nodded, "Exactly, it explains why you were all feeling so tired just by being in the village. Why everyone was so restless and irritable."

"Do these Grimm have the ability to make you see things?" Weiss asked, remembering the horrid images in the window.

The old woman eyed her carefully, "Uh… no? They're not supposed to. Why?"

Weiss felt a chill crawl down her spine, "Uh… well I found this…" she held out the book she'd found in the boy's bedroom.

"This belonged to the son of the people living in that house. Most of the entries are typical of a kid, except for the last few. One is about how the adults in the village seemed different, they were sleeping more often, not doing as many things. The kids would play outside all day and no one would care.

The next one talks about the older kids, they were falling ill, looking tired. The parents weren't cooking for them, no one was doing anything, the kids had to find food on their own.

The following one talks about a group of kids trying to leave, but none of them made it very far… screams in the forest and garbled noises according to the writing." As Weiss read aloud Luna wanted to vomit. Hearing the story from the perspective of a child was much more horrifying than the other books, even the old woman looked mortified.

"The last entry says that the kids had run out of most food, and were tired of eating from cans. The boy gathered some of his stuff, ready to leave. He'd heard his parents finally moving one night, at least, he thought it was until there was a scream and the sound of dragging feet, and horrible scraping noises. He packed up his family's most precious item, a gem that his mother cherished, and a few of his toys and made a run for it. He figured he could sell the gem and toys for money to make a living, smart kid. That's where it ends though…" Weiss said with a tear in her eye.

"Adults are like a hive of dark thoughts and raw emotions. That explains why they fell first and most of the kids were unaffected," Qrow said bitterly, "What I want to know is what happened to the kid..."

Nova grimaced, " I think I can fill in the blanks…"

They all looked to him with curiosity.

"When I was in the lake, I saw things at the bottom… it was confusing back then but it makes sense now that I know the rest of the story. Seems like the kids were chased by the Apathy. It followed them out of the village. They thought they could outrun it by swimming across the lake, this was before everything snowed over. The moment they were in the water though, I think the Apathy used its scream on them, and…"

"They all lost the will to go on, and let themselves drown…" Oscar said with horror.

Nova nodded, "Exactly. At the bottom of the lake was like a graveyard. I even found that gem in the hands of a child's skeleton. I think that gemstone, the Fragment of Remnant that we found, it froze the lake over, sealing the bodies. There was so much negativity that it drew in The Phantom, and when the snow came in, it froze over the lake sealing The Phantom down there. That explains why the bones looked so fresh even though they'd been down there a while."

"The Phantom?!" They all exclaimed, even the old woman.

"That thing's a legend. You're saying you fought it and survived?!" The old woman said.

Nova blanched, "Oh there is so much you don't know about us."

"I doubt that your highness," she said with a smirk. This startled everyone.

"HUH?!"

"Took me a while, it really did, but now that my eyes got a good glimpse of you and the talk about Fragments of Remnant, well, there's only one family that comes to mind young prince," The lady said chuckling.

"Who… are you? Even back then how did you know about my silver eyes?" Ruby asked with interest.

The woman laughed, "Well, I do suppose its time I introduced myself. Honestly stuck out in the wilderness and not one of you asked me my name…"

Nova facepalmed, "Shit… well with all that went on, names weren't exactly on our priority list… so now's a good a time as any. Lady, just who in the living hell are you?"

She sat at the edge of the cart, her legs leaning over, "My name is Maria Calavera, and I once had Silver Eyes too."


And what are your thoughts on how I treated the Apathy? I wanted to make it a lot more supernatural, but then I wanted to go down the whole Lovecraftian plaguing your mind with subtleties of madness vibe. This was my compromise.

The thing with Weiss seeing faces in the glass is the Fragment giving a voice to the restless souls of the dead that still lingered in the village. The Fragments of Remnant have minds of their own, kinda. They are capable of storing memory, events that have directly influenced the stone are stored in them like video footage and are shown to whoever has the right to wield its power. The first instance of this was when Nova found the Agniseki and was given visions of the experiments on it.

What will Maria tell Ruby about her Silver Eyes? Will Nova's powers get fixed? Will Oscar stop being awkward around Luna? Find out next time on this crappy fic.