For this chapter I tried to match the melancholy feel of a song called end of a life by Calliope Mori, hope I managed to evoke a similar feeling as that song does.
Emerald rested her chin on her knees, watching as Mercury sparred against a stone column. The castle was quiet, aside from Mercury's grunting.
"Can I ask you something?" she asked.
"You're going to anyway," he replied.
"Why did you come with us? That night when Cinder found you."
He paused, looking over his shoulder at her. "What kind of-?"
"Answer me," she said.
He shrugged and resumed his sparring. "Made the most sense for me given the situation. I didn't have a home anymore and needed help after what my father's knife did to my legs. That bastard had been raising me to be an assassin like him, and that's what Cinder was needing. Why wouldn't I stick around?"
"You're not in it for anything else?"
He paused again, looking back at her. "What else would there be for someone like me? We help Salem create her new world, and we'll be at the top. What more could someone want?"
Emerald sighed. "I'm just… I don't really know what I want now that Cinder's gone. She was the only person in my life who ever cared about me, and I don't know if Salem feels the same way about us the way Cinder did."
Mercury laughed, turning away from the pillar, and resting his hands on his hips. "You really think Cinder cared about us? We were her tools, nothing more."
Emerald sprang to her feet, her fingers curling into fists. "You don't know what you're talking about! She cared about us!"
Mercury laughed again, shaking his head. "You're delusional. Do you want to know what we are? We're guns. Cinder and Salem point us at what needs to be killed, and we kill it. That's all that we are to them. If you want to have some personal crisis because you're just now realizing it, then keep me out of it."
Emerald's lip twitched and she threw a punch at him. He sidestepped it easily, glaring at her.
"You really don't wanna do this." He said.
"No, I think I do." She sneered.
She swung her leg at him, the look of annoyance on his face growing as he dodged her kick. He rushed her, hurling a kick of his own. She sidestepped, throwing a punch, grunting as he parried her.
Emerald leapt back, smirking, flaring her semblance. She should be invisible to him now. She saw him glance around and turn to the side. She ran toward him, leaping into the air, and pulling her arm back.
Emerald gasped, clawing at Mercury's hand as it latched around her throat. He looked at her, smirking as he tightened his grip. "Your semblance is pretty handy, but you gotta remember, I work with you. I know your tells." A strangled gasp escaped Emerald's lips as his grip tightened. "My father beat me every day during training to try and get my semblance to appear, but it never did. You know what I did to deal with not having one?" Emerald sucked in air as he released her. She screamed as his boot slammed into her face, hurling her to the floor. "I figured out how to counter people's semblances. And I do a damn good job at it."
Emerald got to her feet, grimacing. He took a stance, beckoning her toward him.
"You might not like it her without Salem, but I'm doing just fine," he said.
"Children."
The color drained from Mercury's face, his stance going lax. Emerald felt the air go cold, goosebumps bristling across her skin. She looked over at the door.
She stood there, watching. She was hidden in the shadows of the hallway, her red eyes glowing, the only thing clearly visible.
"I would prefer it, if you did not fight," Salem said. She stepped into the room, the gloomy purple light from the windows falling over her. She glanced at Emerald before looking at Mercury. "I need to speak with you. Come with me." She said.
Mercury swallowed and nodded. Salem smiled and turned and left the room. Mercury followed after her, shutting the door behind him.
Emerald sat down, resting her back against a pillar, her knees against her chest, her chin on her knees.
Mercury follow Salem through the dark corridors. The very air around Salem appeared to absorb the darkness, her pale skin and white hair the only thing sticking out from the black shadows.
"I am glad that you are doing well after Cinder's passing," Salem said.
Mercury grunted. He rubbed his arms; it always grew so cold whenever she was around. "She was just my boss, nothing more, nothing less."
"To you, perhaps, but dear little Emerald seems to have thought otherwise."
"She's just an idiot." He said.
Salem chuckled. "Do not underestimate the power of love, Mercury."
"Love? Love is a pile of shit that people like to pretend exists."
Salem clicked her tongue, glancing over her shoulder at him. "You will learn, one day."
Mercury stopped and crossed his arms. "Did you bring me out here just to lecture me? I thought you needed something."
Salem stopped and turned to face him. "I did. You will be leaving for Vacuo shortly."
He cocked an eyebrow. "Why?"
"I can trust Tyrian to find the Summer Maiden, but Tyrian is… unstable, to say the least. I need someone with her to keep her in check. Watts, Hazel, and Tyrian are close to the cut off age for the Maiden powers to transfer over, we need the Maidens alive and brought to me, incase their powers don't transfer over.
"What about Emerald? Why not send her to get it instead?"
Salem approached him, he swallowed, resisting every instinct that told him to flinch, to turn away. She stopped before him and rested her hand on his shoulder. "Because I still have need of Emerald here. Sweet, young, Emerald."
"You're going to use her for the Maiden powers."
Salem smiled, her sharp white teeth contrasting her inky lips. "So clever, Mercury."
"Is that possible? Can she have more than just one season at a time?"
"I can make it possible."
"But what will happen to her?"
Salem's smirk grew, he flinched as her fingers dug into his shoulder. "Oh? Are you feeling affection for her, after what you said about love? Are you worried that she'll become an unstable husk? That she won't be able to control herself, when all she needs to be is our key?" she said. Mercury looked away and yelled as she squeezed. "Do. Not. Look. Away." She growled.
He looked at her, staring into the empty bloody pits that were her eyes. "N-no. I don't care what happens to her."
Salem loosened her grip, and slid her hand up to his cheek, caressing it before letting her hand fall to her side. "Good boy." She clasped her hands together, her smile turning warm. "Now go get ready, it's a long trek to Vacuo, after all."
She left him, the hallway brightening the further away she was. He rubbed his shoulder, and glanced down the hallway, where Emerald had been. He shrugged, and turned away, following into the darkness that Salem cast.
Qrow looked up from his scroll at a knocking at his door. "Yeah?" he called out.
The door creaked open; Yang stood in the doorway. "Hey uh, Uncle Qrow?"
"Everything alright?"
"Yeah, I just wanted to know if you wanted to hang out or something."
He cocked an eyebrow, and collapsed his scroll, pocketing it. "Your friends busy?"
Yang shrugged. "That, and, well, I wanted to talk to you."
Qrow nodded and stood up from the bed. "Alright, firecracker. Lead the way."
"We've been fighting something we can't even beat? What the hell are we even doing then?" Nora mumbled through her fingers. She could feel Ren's hand against her back, running up and down the length of her spine.
"I'm sure that Ozpin has a plan, or that Ruby does. They wouldn't-"
"Ren? Turn off your semblance."
His hand stopped. He slowly pulled his hand back, and she looked at him. He took a breath, closing his eyes as the pink shimmer around him faded. His hands started to shake, and he gripped his knees, trying to stop the trembling. "I don't want to deal with this," he said.
"We have to, you can't just bottle it up and bury it with your semblance."
"What else am I supposed to do? Jaune died for nothing, we've been fighting for nothing. What point is there to any of this?"
"I don't know." Nora said. She ran a hand through her hair, exhaling. "Maybe that's the point, not having a point?"
"What?"
"I don't know, just trying to make sense of this." She said.
Ren sighed. He opened his eyes, looking out across the room. "I think we should go find Pyrrha," he said.
"Why?"
"She didn't take Jaune's death well, I can't imagine she's taking this well. We need to be there for her. And she needs to be here for us."
Pale twilight filtered through the curtains of her bedroom. Saphron sat on her bed, the twilight filtering in the only light. She rubbed her thumb over the photo in her hand.
The photo of herself, and all of her siblings.
She sniffled, rubbing her thumb over Jaune.
The door to the bedroom opened, light filtering in from the hallway. Terra stood in the doorway "Everybody's left the house, and Adrian is asleep, do you want t-" Terra stopped, cocking her head. "Everything okay?"
Saphron shook her head. Terra's face softened and she went to the bed, sitting next to her. Saphron leaned against her wife as she wrapped her arms around her. Terra rested her head over her own.
"I miss him," she sniffled.
Terra's fingers ran through her hair. "It's okay to miss him."
Saphron's chest ached, the tears spilling out. "He never told me he was trans, I had to figure out it from watching the Vytal Festival. He never came to me for help, I could have helped him, or at least known that about him."
Terra squeezed the arm wrapped around her.
"I didn't even know he was dead. I never got to go to his funeral. I never got to tell him goodbye." She hiccupped. She squeezed her eyes shut, the tears stinging her eyes. "I'm the older sibling, he's not supposed to die before me. I…I…"
"It'll be okay," Terra murmured, her fingers still trailing through her hair.
Saphron trembled and clung to her wife, sobbing. Terra cooed in her ear, never letting her out of her loving embrace.
Weiss gripped her cup of coffee, watching the steam waft from it. Blake sat across from her, sipping on her tea. A plate with a large slice of cheesecake sat between them. Blueberries sauce was finely drizzled over the top of it, whole blueberries sat on top of the sauce.
She looked away from Blake, admiring the café. It was finely furnished with mahogany floors and dark oak tables and chairs, sleek black metal accentuating the wood. A piano was situated near the glass windows near the front. She cocked her head, watching the holographic pianist play.
"You okay?' Blake asked.
"Yes. I just… haven't been out to something this nice in a while," she said. She took a sip from her cup; the latte was brewed perfectly, not too sweet, not too bitter.
"I… I meant with all of…" Blake motioned toward the sky. She lowered her voice to a whisper. "Legion. Salem."
"Oh." Weiss swished her cup around, watching her coffee for a moment. "It's… hard to truly grasp. That I'm… not a human, that Dust isn't real. It hit me a lot harder when Jinn told us and when we were at that farm, but now its… just kinda in the back of my head. I don't really know what to do with that knowledge, or if I can really accept it." She looked up at Blake. "Is it the same for you?"
Blake nodded.
Weiss offered a smile "Do you think faunus run places will believe us when we tell them I'm not human too?"
Blake snorted, and started to laugh, covering her hand with her mouth. "No, I don't think they will."
Weiss took a sip from her coffee, smiling as Blake laughed. She set her cup on the table as Blake finished laughing. "There was something that the Colonel said that I wanted to ask you about?"
Blake cocked an eyebrow, her ears moving. "About what?"
"What's a faunus fetish?"
Blakes ears dipped down, and she made a face. "It's… how do I put it." She took a sip of her tea before setting the cup down on the table. She rested her chin in her hand, looking out over the café. "It's when a human is sexually attracted to a faunus because they're a faunus. That a human wants to date one of us because of our 'exotic' beauty and stuff like that." Blake's cheeks grew red, and she coughed. "It's, um, a common reason why so much porn is about faunus', or people wearing animal parts if they don't want to hire a faunus."
"I see," Weiss said. She took a sip of her coffee, watching the blush fade from Blake's cheeks. "Do you have any experience with that, humans wanting to date you just because you're a faunus?" she asked.
Blake shook her head. "I… didn't really get to casually interact with humans much when I was with the White Fang. Only person I dated before you was Adam."
Weiss looked down into her cup. Her family's initials seared into his skin, his deformed eye, the pure hatred in his screams. Her voice was quiet, low enough for only Blake to hear "I grew up really sheltered in Atlas. Are there a lot of faunus like that? With my family's name burned onto them?"
Blake's ears sunk down, pinning against her head. "Most of my missions were in Vale, I only did a few jobs in Atlas. But from what the members there told me, it's a common enough site in the Frontier towns, where the reach of the Council is weakest."
Weiss gripped her cup, her nails digging into the glass. Her brow furrowed. "I am never going to let another Adam be made."
Blake was quiet, her ears still pinned back.
They sat in silence, the chatter of the cafe and the piano filling the space between them.
"Is that Weiss Schnee?"
Weiss glanced around, noting a few people glancing over at her and Blake's table.
"What's she doing here?"
Blake reached for the fork next to the cheesecake, her ears perking up as she dug the fork into the cake. She held it out to Weiss, a blueberry perched perilously on top.
"Is that a faunus?"
Weiss felt her cheeks grow warm as Blake smiled at her. "People are watching." She mumbled.
"Let them watch" Blake said.
Yang took a sip from her strawberry sunrise as she looked out over the bay. The shattered moon was hidden behind gray clouds, the surrounding ocean an inky black. Lights were strung between beach shacks and the street were lit up with streetlamps. Snow coated the beach, bits of ice appearing like marshmallows in the dark ocean.
She set her drink down on the warm wood table. Qrow sat across from her, a tray of fried calamari between them. She could hear muffled voices from inside the restaurant; boisterous shouts and laughs. It was empty out here on the patio, only a lone old man hunched over his drink on a table nearby. Qrow had a bottle of soda in front of him.
"Not in a drinking mood?" Yang asked.
Qrow shook his head. "Something your sister said, back at that farm. I'm trying to cut back. For her sake."
Ruby is not really your sister
Yang drummed her fingers against her glass. "Is she my sister?"
Qrow was quiet. "That's… not my place to say. Ruby can talk to you about that."
Yang sighed, her breath puffing out, and took a drink from her strawberry sunrise. She ran her finger around the rim, watching the streets as people walked by.
"How are you handling this?" Qrow asked.
She looked over at him and shrugged. "I mean, I never really believed in god, so Legion being real was a surprise. But they were never really here, and never did any of the stuff all those religions said god did, so it doesn't really matter much to me." She took a sip of her drink. "The stuff with Salem… I don't know how we'll beat her, but if Ruby thinks there's a way, I'll support her no matter what." She glanced down at Qrow's throat, at where his cross lay. She looked back up. "How about you, Uncle Qrow?"
He gripped his soda and took a long swig from it. "I could really go for a hard drink right about now. Learning all of that? That everything I had been fighting for was meaningless, that I had been lied to for so long? It hurts, kiddo." He picked up his cross, running it between his thumb and index finger. "Do you know when I joined the Church?"
She shook her head.
"It was after Summer died."
Qrow is the reason why Summer is dead
She shook her head and took a drink.
"I converted after she died. This used to be hers." Qrow said. He let the cross fall to his chest before reaching back and undoing it. He held it out to her. She cocked an eyebrow at it. "I know you were never a believer like your mom was, and believing in anything now seems silly, but I think this would be better off with you. You were Summer's daughter just as much as Ruby was. She'd want you to have it instead of me."
Yang gingerly took it from him and held it up to the light. She ran her thumb over it, feeling the smooth metal, looking at the rusted bits that started to flake when she dug into it with her nail a bit. She looked over at her uncle. She smiled at him. "Thanks, Uncle Qrow."
Pyrrha stormed down the steps, ignoring the people on the snowy street. Her hands trembled, and she took a shaky breath.
"Pyrrha."
She looked aside; Dijon was leaning against the front of Saphron's house, her leg propped against the wall. She motioned with her head, pointing down the street.
"Walk with me," Dijon said.
"I want-"
"To be alone? I don't know what kind of news you just heard, but I can tell that's not what you need right now."
Pyrrha frowned. "How do you know what I need?"
Dijon shrugged and stepped off the wall. "Won't know unless you walk."
Pyrrha exhaled, feeling her shoulders sag. Her hands had stopped trembling. "Fine. Lead the way."
Dijon turned, and started down the street, shoving her hands into her coat's pockets. Pyrrha matched her stride.
The sun was setting, the lights of the various buildings across Argus flickering on. Smoke and steam wafted buildings and the roads. Bright colorful lights were strung up between the streetlamps, small crystals of Red and Yellow Dust. People clogged the streets; large crowds were huddled around street vendors.
They reached the end of the street, a road stretched out before them. People crowded around them, waiting to cross.
"Can you tell me what made you storm out?" Dijon asked.
Pyrrha shook her head.
"Confidential Hunter stuff, eh?"
Pyrrha shrugged.
Dijon chuckled. "You can tell me what made you upset without saying the secret stuff."
Pyrrha glanced at her before sighing. "What if I told you that everything you've ever fought for was for nothing? That the people you've cared about have died for nothing? That there was no point to any of our struggles? How would you feel?"
"I felt pretty bad when I started dealing with those thoughts."
"But these aren't just thoughts, that's the reality of our situation."
"I know."
The crowd walked past them, crossing the road. They stayed in place. Dijon turned to the right, heading down the other street.
"What do you mean you know?"
Dijon shrugged. "I don't know what exactly you got told but I came to conclusions like that on my own. After my partner, after Jaune, the Fall. I don't think there's any inherent meaning to any of this."
"Then what's the point of going on? Why are you still fighting?"
"Because I have to give myself meaning if the universe won't."
A yellow moth flew by them. Dijon stopped, watching it flutter by. Pyrrha cocked her head, watching it hover in front of her.
"You see it too?" Dijon asked.
Pyrrha looked at her and then back at the moth. "Why wouldn't I be able to?"
Dijon chuckled. "Moths are usually dead this time of year. And they don't usually come in that color." Dijon smiled. "I think you should follow it; he wants you to see something."
"He?"
Dijon said nothing, she merely motioned toward the moth.
Pyrrha looked at the moth and started to follow it when it fluttered away. It led her through the city, the lights of the buildings dimming. Trees started to take their place, the paved streets becoming stone paths. Bits of Red and Yellow Dust were strung up between the trees, lighting her path.
She reached an open area of the park, a ring of frozen olive branches encircling the space. A stone plaque was set in the ground. She felt her hand start to tremble again as she looked upon the statue resting on the plaque.
The bronze statue of herself.
The yellow moth fluttered toward it, stopping, and resting on her shield. Pyrrha approached the statue, her stomach twisting into knots as she drew closer. She stopped before the plaque, swallowing as she stared up at herself.
Her bronze eyes stared back.
She ran a hand over the side of her face, trailing it over the eyepatch and scars.
She heard a gasp, and something hit the stone. "Pyrrha?"
Pyrrha slowly lowered her hand and looked over at the voice. Her mother stood, her mouth agape, a bouquet of red lilies at her feet. "Mom?"
Her mother's eyes darted over her, her breath misting out. "You… you're…" Her mother closed her mouth and looked at the statue. She picked up her bouquet and motioned toward it with the flowers. "They um, they got your armor wrong."
"Why would I care about them getting my armor wrong? Why is there a statue of me here?"
"After the Fall, I thought you were dead. You never tried to contact me or let me know otherwise. People in Mistral started tarnishing your name after you…um… hurt, that girl. I came here because I knew the people here would still cherish you for all that you did. I had to fight tooth and nail to get this built, I couldn't let your legacy end like that, people have to remember how great you are."
Pyrrha stared at her mother. "My legacy? I never wanted a legacy. The only person who ever pushed me into fighting at the arena was you! I didn't care about it! Any of it! The awards, the cereal brands, it's all meaningless!"
Thetis frowned. "Please don't talk to me that way, I'm your mother."
"A mother more concerned with making a statue out of me than trying to find out if I was still alive."
Thetis stepped toward her, her frown deepening. "That's not fair, the CCT was down, and all travel to Vale was cut off, how could I have gotten in contact, I'm not a strong warrior like you are."
"No because you never were strong enough, never good enough for the arena, that's why you had me, to make me good enough for your dreams."
"Pyrrha-!"
"You didn't want a daughter; you wanted a legacy!"
"Stop it!"
"You never loved me! I don't mean anything to you outside of what fame I can bring!" Pyrrha screamed. She shoved a finger toward the statue, her chest heaving. "And that's just proof of how little you care."
Thetis wiped at her eyes, shifting her glasses with her gloved hand. Pyrrha glared at her.
"Say it."
"S-say what?"
"Say you never loved me. Tell me the truth for once in your life."
Thetis sniffled and lowered her hand as she finished wiping at her eyes. She didn't say anything, her head hung low. She wouldn't look up at Pyrrha as she came toward her.
Pyrrha gasped as Thetis embraced her, nuzzling her head against her shoulder, the flowers pressing against her. "I am going to tell you the truth."
"The truth is… you're right. I was more focused on having a legacy than a daughter. I never did well athletically, you know that. Soul and aura studies were what I was good at. But I always wanted to be a star in the arena, and I made that into your dream, your destiny. I never considered what you wanted, I pushed you into the arena." Her mother squeezed her. "I should have paid more attention whenever you showed an interest in my soul studies, our talks about aura when you were growing up where the only times I remember you being genuinely excited about doing something with me.
"The truth is, I pushed you too hard and never showed how proud of you I was. You were able to do everything I never could, and I never showed that I cared about your success. I only pushed you further and further until I pushed you away.
"The truth is, the very last thing you asked me before I thought you died, was if I loved you, and what I would do if you were gone. I know you think I had that statue done for my ego, but it wasn't. I know being a star athlete wasn't your dream, but it's what people knew you for. I could never let my girl be remembered as something she wasn't." Thetis looked up at her, offering a smile. "Because my little girl isn't a heartless killer like people were saying. She was a kind young woman who gave her all to everything even if she didn't want to. My daughter is stronger than I ever could be.
"The truth is, Pyrrha, I do love you. I'm just… not very good at being a parent. I failed you as a mother by trying to live my dreams through you. And it took me losing you for me to realize the mistake I had made for your entire life. I don't expect you to forgive me, or that this will make things right between us. But you need to know, I do care about you."
Thetis smiled, her eyes brimming with tears beneath her glasses.
Pyrrha got out of her mother's embrace, turning away from her.
The rage and hatred screaming through her veins at the very sight of Cinder, the thought of doing nothing else than killing her. Pyrrha took a breath, keeping her back to her mother. "You're wrong about me. But when have you ever been right?"
"Pyrrha…"
"I didn't want to kill Penny. But I wanted to kill the woman who tricked me into doing that. I wanted to kill the woman who took my love away. I wanted to make her pay for killing the me everyone knew and loved that night. I wanted to be a killer."
"You don't…" Thetis trailed off before taking a shaky breath. "Is that still what you want to be? Is that your destiny now?"
"I don't know what I want anymore. She's dead. She's dead, and I'm still here, and I don't feel any better." Pyrrha wrapped her arms around herself, rubbing her chilled arms. "Everything I've fought for has been pointless. Nothing would change even if I had killed her, why does anything I do matter?"
She heard Thetis approaching her, her footsteps quiet. "It matters because you matter." Thetis said.
"How? How do I matter?" Pyrrha asked.
Thetis hugged her from behind, her mother's face resting between her shoulder blades. "You matter because you're my daughter, and that's all I'll ever need you to be from now on." Thetis said. "Killing that woman wouldn't make things better for you, and you know that, deep down. You're not a murderer, Pyrrha. I don't know a lot about you but I know enough to know that would weigh on your mind for the rest of your life."
Pyrrha's vision was fuzzy, and she let her arms fall to her side. The yellow moth fluttered past her.
Tears started to slide down her cheeks as her voice cracked. "What am I supposed to do for the rest of my life? What is my destiny? I'm not the star athlete my mother wanted, I'm not the hero my teachers wanted, I'm not the killer I thought I wanted to be. Who am I? What am I supposed to do?"
"Pyrrha?"
She looked aside, seeing Ren and Nora through her tear-filled vision. Dijon hung by a tree quietly, a leg propped up against its frozen trunk. The yellow moth fluttered between the three of them before flying back to Pyrrha. She felt it perch on her head, walking around before taking off again.
She heard Ren and Nora run up to her, and felt their arms wrap around her. She closed her eyes, feeling the warmth of their skin against the cold of the air.
"Your destiny is not set in stone, and it is your own. It isn't what I want, it isn't what your teachers want, it isn't what you think your dead friends would want. You don't need to know your destiny right now, Pyrrha. You will figure it out as you live your life and do what you want. Pyrrha Nikos is whoever you want her to be, free of what is expected of you by me or others."
Pyrrha opened her eyes, her breath hitching in her throat.
The Corpse stared back at her. It stood between the trees; its blue eyes filled with sadness. The burnt parts of its skin began to flake away, fading away with the drifting snow.
She was left facing Jaune. He smiled at her, his hands resting in his hoodie. "Kinda hard to talk with a broken jaw, and well, being all burned up like that." He said.
Pyrrha couldn't speak, her voice stuck in her chest. She could feel her Nora and Ren and her mother still wrapped around her, but none seemed to notice him.
"I can't do this for very long, but I needed to tell you this." His smile didn't falter, but the sadness returned to those blue eyes. "You don't need to kill Cinder for me. I made my choices, Pyrrha. I went up there with you because I wanted to help you. And I mean I got to finally do something good for once. I saved your life, and I wouldn't change that for the world."
Pyrrha couldn't move, she could only watch as Jaune's body started to disappear, yellow moths fluttering around. He gave her one last smile. "I'll always love you, Pyrrha, but you don't have to always love me," he said.
The yellow moths flew away.
Pyrrha found her voice, letting out a cry, wrapping her arms around her teammates, feeling her mother tighten her hug.
Oscar floated, alone, in a void of darkness. He could feel it, floating at the edge of the void. Quietly watching, thousands of hidden eyes.
"Oscar," the Oz hivemind said.
"Leave. Me. Alone." He said.
"I do not wish you harm." The Hivemind took the voice of Ozpin, the kindly old man. "You're going to need our help in Atlas, to be able to use our various semblances."
"What about your magic? That gift from Legion?"
"I… no longer have any left. Our gift to the Branwen twins was the last bit we had."
Oscar laughed; the sound joyless.
"You will be joined with us, whether you want to be or not. It is only a matter of time, why are you prolonging this?" the Hivemind asked.
"Because I want to be me, I want to be Oscar, not… whatever you are." He replied.
Oscar waved his hand, the black void filling with memories, his memories, not that Things.
Working on the family farm, tending to the crops, dealing with the stubborn animals.
He could see it slithering in the darkness between his memories.
"We are not the bad guy, Oscar. This is something all of us had to deal with. Your memories shall become our memories." The voices said.
"I won't ever let that happen."
The Hivemind chuckled. "It has already begun."
The earliest memory he could pull up faded, as it slithered forward. A great green mass, its long body lined with the faces of every Oz incarnation. Their mouths opened and closed, their voices each a whisper in the chorus of the Hivemind. His lip quivered as he stared at the front of the Hivemind.
His own face stared back at him.
"Oscar?"
Oscar gasped, his eyes snapping open. He was sitting on the stone porch in front of Saphron's house. His fingers were numb, snow coated his body, his breath white puffs in the air. He looked aside. Ruby stood next to him; her head cocked to the side.
He shifted, resting an arm on his knee. "How do you know I'm Oscar?" he asked quietly.
"Your eyes." She said. He looked at her. She smiled. "Your eyes are hazel. Oz's are green. I can tell when it's you in there." Ruby sat down next to him, resting her hands in her lap. "Everything okay?"
"No. Why would I be okay with all of this?"
"Yeah, dumb question, I guess."
They sat in silence, the snow drifting down, people passing by.
"If you want out of this, I won't stop you from leaving." Ruby said.
Oscar glanced at her before looking back at the street. "Like I really have a choice in going or not. Oz would just take over and force me to follow after you. To help stop Salem and all that crap."
Ruby said nothing for a while. She drummed her fingers against her knees before finally saying "It's going to be cold in Atlas."
He looked at her. "Okay?"
"Why don't we go shopping? You can pick out new clothes for Atlas."
"Why would it matter?"
"Because it's something that you would be making a choice on."
He sighed. I guess it can't hurt.
He got to his feet, shaking off the show that had piled on. Ruby sprung to her feet, flashing him a smile. She grabbed a hold of his hand, and started to drag him down the street, her cape fluttering behind her.
Ruby opened the door to Saphron's house, letting Oscar walk in before her. She shut the door behind her, glad to be out of the cold.
Everyone was gathered in the living room, talking to one another, a tea set rested on the coffee table alongside some sandwiches and pastries. Nora looked over at them, flashing Oscar a smile.
"Looking good!" she said.
Oscar blushed and rubbed the back of his head sheepishly.
Ruby went to the couch, sitting on the arm of it, next to Yang. "Everyone doing okay?" she asked.
Pyrrha looked at her, and then over at Dijon, Terra, and Saphron. "Can you wait outside for a minute?"
Terra cocked her head to the side "Why? Is this confidential stuff?"
"Sort of like that," Pyrrha said.
Terra looked at Saphron, who nodded at her. The trio stood up, going to the sliding glass door in the back of the room, and stepping out into the backyard, sliding the door shut behind them.
Pyrrha looked over at her. "What are we going to do? If we can't stop Salem, what are we going to do in Atlas?"
"…there is no defeating Salem."
"WHEN THEY HAVE BEEN RETURNED TO OUR DOMAIN, WE SHALL RETURN TO THIS WORLD AND BRING ABOUT JUDJEMENT."
Realization crept up on her, her eyes widening. "We're not going to try and beat Salem." She said. She felt their eyes as they all stared at her.
"What?" Ren asked.
Ruby shook her head. "Salem is immortal, we can't beat her. So, we're not going to try and beat her." She said. She smiled. "At least, not in the normal way."
"What other way is there?" Pyrrha asked.
"She wants the Relics so she can summon Legion to end the world. She's been trying to sow as much chaos and hatred as possible so that humanity and the faunus look bad and unworthy when Legion arrives." She said. She motioned with her hand. "We can't stop Salem, but that doesn't mean we can't stop her plans, or get the Relics first. We stopped Haven from falling and helped it rebuild, Vale is being rebuilt after the Fall, we just have to stop her plans in Atlas and Vacuo and get the Relics before her."
"And then what? Just try and hide them again? She'll just wait us out and find them after we die."
Ruby shook her head. "We're going to summon Legion before her and prove that Remnant is worthy of existing."
They all stared at her. Oscar's mouth fell open, bewilderment in his eyes. "Are you crazy?"
Ruby rubbed the back of her head. "Is it that bad of an idea?"
"No." Pyrrha said. They looked at her. Pyrrha crossed her arms. "Ruby's got the right idea. If we can't beat Salem in a standard fight, then we just have to beat her at her own game." She said. "And figure out our own, individual, meaning for Legion to judge."
Nora shrugged. "I don't have any ideas how to beat her, and I can't really drop out of this now."
Ren nodded.
Ruby looked at her team. "We can show Legion that the people they made can work together and love each other." Her eyes trailed from her sister, to Blake, to Weiss. "Human, Faunus, Trucii," she placed her hand over her chest. "and Silver Eyed Warriors."
"This idea is absolutely crazy," Qrow said. She looked at her Uncle. He met her gaze, and sighed, crossing his arms. "But Nora and Pyrrha are right. We can't kill Salem, so that makes trying to hide the Relics pointless. We just have to beat her to the punch and hope that's enough."
"And what about what happened to the rest of the Trucii? What will we tell Legion?" Oscar asked.
Ruby exhaled, feeling her team look between her and Oscar. "I'll take responsibility for what happened to the Trucii."
Hope this chapter was enjoyable, was very difficult to work on.