Originally, the last section of this chapter was to be saved for next week, but while writing, it turned out to fit in rather well. The wonders you learn during the process.

In the meantime, my Patrons have voted on the newest Teaser Chapter for this month. The first Teaser Chapter of my RWBY/One Piece crossover 'Beacon Pirates' is now available on my Pat reon.

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Beta-ed by xenosaiyan

Emerald had never made a secret of her opinion of Mercury. Her 'partner' was a crass, juvenile showoff who talked too much. Skilled he may have been, if Cinder hadn't thought they'd need him for Beacon, she would have left him to bleed out next to his dad's corpse.

But even still, she couldn't help but cringe in sympathy as his screams echoed throughout the castle.

"I thought it was safe now?" she asked Cinder. "Why is he screaming?"

Cinder shrugged, leaning against a large glass cylinder filled with some strange dark fluid, pale tentacles riving within. "The upgrades have made the pain manageable, not nonexistent. Besides, Watts has never been a doctor that cared whether his subjects were comfortable or not. By having Mercury go first, we make sure the threshold he's set isn't a fluke."

"Really, Cinder?" Salem sighed, shaking her head sadly. "Your subordinates are not disposable. If you believe they belong among the Gates, then you must be willing to see them as equals. As friends. Just as your teacher will you once you've ascended."

The Fall Maiden glanced away, chastised. "Of course, your grace."

Emerald pushed down the urge to jump to Cinder's defense. She wanted to shout about how of course Cinder had made sure Mercury went first, he was just a brute, replaceable. Risking either of them would be too great a risk. But as much as she owed the older woman, the only person who'd ever cared about her, challenging Salem was a bit beyond her capabilities.

The three women stood in a massive chamber, deep within the lower dungeons of the castle. The Mother of Grimm had called it her Neo-Hell's Core, and it certainly earned its title. Rows upon rows of the sludge-filled capsules were packed into the room, each drowned with demonic tentacles, scraping and churning through the fluid as if trying to sculpt something from clay. Most of the cylinders held Grimm, smaller species like the bulbous Keepers or Cinder's Scarab. A scattered few contained vaguely humanoid masses of flesh, constantly soothed and massaged by their tenders. Lining the center aisle were the most impressive of the bunch, twelve glass tanks capped with elaborate black steel engravings, six on each side. At the foot of each was the image of a key, a different symbol inscribed within every carving. When asked, Salem had eagerly explained that each key represented half of each of the Gates' being, from which they drew their title from. Cinder's Teacher, for instance, was the Gate of the Maiden, while Tyrian, predictably, was the Gate of the Scorpion.

But as fascinating as the history lesson was, none of it compared to the terror at the far end of the laboratory. The capsule within which Mercury howled in agony as purple lightning flashed over his body.

The Ascension Chamber didn't look too impressive from the outside. If anything, it appeared to be a darker, bulkier version of the Aura Transfer Chamber Cinder had described finding Amber in beneath Beacon. Except Emerald was willing to bet that Ozpin's device hadn't twisted its subject's skin nearly inside out as black energies pervaded their body. At its side, Watts fiddled with a cornucopia of levers and knobs as an eldritch pen scribbled down line after line of glowing mystical cursive in a thick brown tome. On the text's cover was a drawing of a key inlaid with a pair of intertwining fish, accompanied by two crossed hammers, a demonic eye, and a radiant gold star.

"He really is doing quite well," Salem noted.

Emerald raised an eyebrow, unable to stop the snark that escaped her lips. "He's been screaming for twenty minutes."

Her eyes widened in terror after realizing who'd she'd talked back to her, her hand shooting up to her mouth as she readied her semblance to let her escape.

Fortunately, Salem only chuckled good-naturedly. "True, but it took Arthur a whole hour to quiet down, though to be fair that may have been my subpar handling of the device. I am a wizard, demonologist, enchanter, alchemist, conjurer, summoner, and biologist, but I must confess that my mechanical skills are quite inferior to our good Dr. Watts."

"Thank you, your grace," said doctor preened, only to scramble down another lever as Mercury's screams rose.

Cinder scoffed, throwing up her arms to gesture all around the hellish laboratory. "You built all this without him. He can't be that crucial."

"It took me centuries to create and perfect this place, and I was working off the research of others to do it," Salem confessed humbly. "The fusion is my work, and reviving the art took a great deal of effort, but I could not have done it alone. No one can truly triumph alone."

Cinder frowned. "And yet, in the end, we all are."

Salem sighed. "Not if we don't have to be. You truly do need to understand that, my dear, or else you'll never be happy."

Cinder's eyes narrowed at the Ascension Chamber, unperturbed by Mercury's riving form. "I'll be happy when I'm strong."

Emerald's brow furrowed in confusion. For all that she adored Cinder and would follow her to the ends of Remnant, she didn't really understand her motives. She'd known she wanted the maiden's power, but she'd assumed that had just been a step to further Salem's plans. Now, it turned out she just wanted to be strong. Why? Did she have her own cunning scheme in the mix somewhere?

Or was it just that if she were strong, no one could ever hurt her?

No. No, that was ridiculous. That might have been what Emerald would desire power for but Cinder… Cinder was fierce, she was calculating and methodical. She would never want strength for something so… small.

Besides, the thief's desire for security was borne out of her years and years of destitution on the streets, out of being utterly powerless her entire life. What could Cinder have possibly gone through to make her share such a mundane objective?

Salem shook her head. "I am one of the most powerful beings in history, my dear, and I can tell you for a fact that strength alone will not bring you peace—"

The Queen's voice suddenly cut out; her blazing crimson eyes suddenly fully drowned by the black depths behind them. Her head shot up, her body ramrod straight.

"I see," she muttered, as if in a trance. "So that's where you're going—wait!"

Her face returned to normal, her muscles relaxing. Her hands curled into fists for a moment before she released them with an exhausted sigh.

Emerald took a hesitant step back, unsure if she was in any danger of being stress relief target practice or not.

Cinder, on the other hand, cocked an eyebrow. "My lady, is everything alright?"

Salem closed her eyes for a brief moment, before opening them again with a sigh. "Arthur, how soon until his ascension is complete?"

"His book will be finished in a few minutes," Watts relayed. "After that, he'll be able to begin training in a few days."

"Good. Gather the books after everything is done and take them with you to Atlas. If everything goes well, the safest storage space will be there." The Queen turned to Emerald. "My dear, please fetch Tyrian. I have a task for him."

The thief gulped, glancing fearfully between Salem and the Ascension Chamber, Mercury finally sagging into silence within. She looked to Cinder, but received only a curt nod in return.

She bowed to her mistress and dashed off to find the psychopath, aware that soon she would lose her humanity entirely.

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"That was so awesome!" Sun squealed.

Blake glared at him pointedly, tilting her head towards all the surrounding refugees she didn't want to advertise her presence or her unusual abilities to. The monkey faunus grinned sheepishly.

"Sorry," he said, quieter. "But seriously, Sea Feilongs can sink entire convoys, and you literally just had to touch it and it was gone. You probably saved the entire ship."

Blake sighed. The refugee ship she and Sun had hitched a ride on to get to Menagerie had been attacked by a Sea Feilong, an aquatic/aerial Grimm that was about as dangerous as a Grimm could be without being a Wyvern or a Leviathan. The captain had certainly been more prepared than most boats that ferried faunus to their island (kinder too), but he was still outmatched. His broadside guns didn't have the strength to penetrate the monster's armor, and his heavy cannon couldn't land a hit on the nimble beast. If Blake hadn't been there to jump on and absorb it, there was little chance the vessel would have survived.

Even still, she found it difficult to find any joy in Sun's praise. For all the absorption had gone far smoother than her transformation, the oily ocean of power that passed through her still reminded her of the moment she'd gone under at Beacon, where she'd maimed her partner without even realizing it. And then there was that voice, so distant, yet so familiar. She felt like she should have recognized it, but there was too much mystical static. The entire thing felt far too distorted.

No matter. Whatever it was, perhaps it would become clearer as she trained. That was why they were there after all. The place she never thought she'd return to.

The port of Kuo Kuana was as crowded and hectic as ever, small fishing vessels and short-range patrol boats cluttering up the water. On land, faunus of every feature and subspecies scurried about the packed waterfront stalls, browsing every kind of ware one could imagine from such a place. The wafting scent of tuna, herring, salmon, and even a few swordfish made Blake's mouth water with desire.

Her hunger must have slipped onto her face, as Sun chuckled as they walked down their ship's ramp onto the harbor. "We can pick up some snacks if you like. We've still got plenty of lien from Vale."

She entertained the thought (the delectable, succulent thought) for a moment before reluctantly discarding it. "We don't know how long we'll be here. We'll have to ration our money. I know a fishmonger that can get us good fish for a fair price."

"And some bananas?"

Blake shrugged. She only knew about the fishmonger because it was the place that her mom had always taken her when they were little. There weren't many fans of fruit in the Belladonna household.

"Great," Sun smirked as they strode through the dirt streets into the city proper. "Because I've been meaning to see if I can gather more ethernano before I eat or after. You know, just to make sure I'm not missing anything. I could be a Banana Dragon Slayer for all we know."

Blake smiled and patted him on the shoulder. "You've only been at it for a few days. It takes time to get down, especially when you don't know what you're aiming for. I only started making progress once I knew I had Take-Over."

Since they'd had little else to do on the ship, she'd taken the opportunity to begin imparting magic training to her friend. Strangely though, despite Sun throwing himself completely into the endeavor, he'd made even less progress than Team JNPR had. Enough that Blake was starting to wonder if there was more going on than she'd first assumed. After all, even with the extremely thin ethernano levels, someone in the history of Remnant should have been able to use magic other than the Maidens and Salem. Even if only about ten percent of Earthland had the origin capacity to be full-fledged wizards, everyone else was still able to use minor magics or items. So what was so different about their world that the mystical was able to be buried so effectively by Ozpin?

"So, where to?" Sun inquired, rousing her from her pondering. "Straight to the desert, or do we stop somewhere first?"

Blake's eyes furtively glanced about the dark nooks and alleys of the bright city, scanning carefully for even the slightest hint of a Grimm mask. She wasn't sure if the island had received the full details of the Fall of Beacon and branded the White Fang a terrorist group or not, her dad certainly wouldn't let their actions stand, but either way, she knew there was a cell in the city. "We have enough supplies for a bit. We should get to the desert. The sooner I get control of my powers, the sooner we can join the others at Haven."

Sun cocked an eyebrow. "Are you sure? Yang mentioned that you have family here."

Blake's ears drooped over top her head as a scowl spread her across her face. "Of course she did."

"Hey, don't be like that. She's worried about you. And so I am," Sun insisted. "Are you sure you don't want to just see them? They must have spotted you at the Vytal Festival, but they'll have no way of knowing if you survived everything."

"They won't care if I did," Blake declared with certainty. Her amber eyes gazed over the crest of the city's main hill, at the base of which sat her family's manor, a stalwart fortress of order among the ramshackle wooden city surrounding it. "We… didn't part on good terms. I had to choose between them and Sienna Khan, her vision of a violent White Fang, a stronger White Fang I thought back then… and I choose wrong. I chose so wrong; said things I can never take back."

Sun clasped a comforting hand on her shoulder. "They're your family. Once they see what you've done, how you've tried to make things right—"

"What? Like how I dismembered my partner? Oh yeah, I'm sure they'll love how I made my best friend left-handed," Blake snapped. "They won't forgive me. And they shouldn't."

"Yang did," Sun reminded her.

Blake sighed, shifting out of his grip and turning away from the mansion. "And I still don't understand how."

All the people she'd hurt, all the loved ones she kept hurting despite her best efforts… it was horrid. Even if she'd arrived at a good and righteous path in time, she'd still spent years as a remorseless terrorist. That time, those sins, they didn't just disappear because she was trying to be better.

No, the only thing that redeemed evil methods, at least to some extent, was results. When she had those, when she'd actually obtained a tangible victory in her fight to defend her friends and bring some measure of justice to the world, then maybe she'd dare to beg her parents' forgiveness.

Until then, she was only a monster.

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"But why do we have to stay while you guys get to go on the totally awesome wizard job?"

"Because we weren't the ones who blew up a building!"

Ruby pouted at Yang's scolding, leading Blake to sigh at the sisters' childishness. "You guys said you were fine with mounting the Full Magnolia onto the float."

"Because we thought you wanted them for aesthetic appeal!" Weiss yelled from further up the scaffolding. "You didn't mention that you'd loaded them, you dolt!"

"They're guns! Why wouldn't they be loaded?"

"Get up here and help me!"

Ruby growled, but bounded up to Weiss' scaffolding, where Elfman and Lisanna were assisting them in laying new brick for the house they'd blown to bits. Thank goodness the cannon had only gone off by accident after the Fantasia Parade had finished. If they'd disrupted the crown jewel of the Harvest Festival as their introduction to Magnolia proper, the huntresses probably would not have been well-liked by the city. As it was, causing a bit of accidental property damage just made them average Fairy Tail members.

Apparently, while most cities just forwarded their many, many complaints to the Magic Council, who passed them along to Master Makarov, the guild had long had a simple but effective arrangement with their hometown. If they broke something, they fixed it, no backtalk, no charge.

Which was why Ruby, Weiss, and whoever they could ask for assistance were now leaping across scaffolding right outside Kardia Cathedral, which now had one less tower than it had the other day. Erza wore a construction worker's uniform as she carried a pair of I-beams over her shoulders while Juvia and Wendy ferried spackle up to the higher levels. At least, when Juvia wasn't mooning over a shirtless Gray while he made an elevator out of ice to move supplies up and down or glaring at Weiss for doing the same thing far more subtly. Blake didn't think her teammate had the same level of affection for her teacher as the water wizard did, but a shirtless body of handsome muscles was a shirtless body of handsome muscles. It was not difficult to appreciate.

But, Natsu had promised to take Yang on a job after the parade and, being Natsu, had already promised the client that they'd be their right after the parade. Thus, since Ruby had loaded the cannon without telling them and Weiss had been the one to accidentally set it off, Yang had declared that they would stay behind to fix things while she and Blake went off with Natsu, Lucy, and Happy.

Levy came over to the five of them, handing Blake and Yang a pair of maps. "In case you get separated. Natsu can move pretty fast when he gets worked up and you won't know the area."

Yang smirked. "I think we'll be able to keep up."

Blake cocked an eyebrow at her partner and snatched up the maps. She turned to Lucy. "So what is this job, anyway?"

Lucy cringed. "There's a giant monster wandering around near Hosenka Village. We've been hired to kill it."

"It's going to be great!" Natsu grinned.

"I told you to get an easy job to ease them into this." Lucy reminded him, a bead of sweat dripping down her forehead.

Natsu shrugged. "Yeah. That's why I made sure there'd only be one monster. They're huntresses after all, so this should be a piece of cake."

"Aye, sir!" Happy cheered. "Besides, shouldn't you be happy about this job, Lucy? Hosenka Village is a resort town, so it's got more than enough of a reward to cover your rent for the rest of the month. Plus, we'll get a spa session out of it!"

Lucy let out a pleased sigh, like Nora thinking of pancakes or Erza of cake. "It will be nice to soak in those hot springs again."

"Hot springs, eh?" Yang smirked. "I don't suppose they're unisex, are they?"

"Uni… sex… oh, you mean boys and girls use the same ones?" Natsu replied. "Afraid not. It's just like the guild's baths."

Yang pouted, her eyes flickering between both their guildmates. "You mean I have to choose?"

"What do you mean choose—"

Blake's face went red at the same time as Levy and Lucy's, Yang eagerly wiggling her eyebrows at both the latter and her teacher.

The Fire Dragon Slayer just tilted his head in confusion. "Why would you need to choose? It's the same water. What'd be the difference?"

"It's a difference in loooooove," Happy snickered.

"She loves water?"

The Exceed sighed and floated over to Yang. "Are you sure you want to do this? There's got to be better options out there."

The huntress grinned. "I'm going for the threesome. I don't plan to lose."

"He's dense and she's not sure of herself yet. You will."

"Really? You asked out Carla yet?"

"Oh, look at the time," Happy sputtered before flying off. "We need to hurry so we can pick up fish at the train station!"

"Ugh, trains," Natsu moaned, following after his partner.

"Right!" Lucy shouted, running along, clearly just wanting to escape the awkward atmosphere. "Fish at the train station!"

After the three dashed off into the distance, a small cloud of dust following after, Blake finally found the courage to turn to Yang.

"You don't really plan to get together with both of them, right?"

The blonde brawler shrugged. "There's something between them already, something powerful, even if they don't realize it themselves. If I can help them figure that out, and get some action myself along the way, it'll be time well spent."

Blake cocked an eyebrow. "So, you're not trying for anything… you know, deeper?"

The roguish charm evaporated from Yang's face, replaced by a resigned melancholy. "I'd love to. They're both amazing, plus smoking hot. But we're not going to be here forever. And once we get back to Remnant, there's no guarantee we'll be able to figure out how to use the book to come and go as we please. How can I try to start something like that if I know I'm not going to be able to finish it?"

"Oh," Blake muttered. "Well… um… maybe we won't get home. Nothing stopping you if we're trapped here forever… I am really bad at comforting people."

Yang let out a dry chuckle. "Yeah, you really are. Thanks for trying though."

"We always do," Levy said, putting a comforting hand on Yang's shoulder. "You should talk to them. I don't know how they'll react to the idea of… well, a threesome, but they'll appreciate you being honest with them at least."

All of a sudden, a cheshire grin slipped over Yang. "You're right, Levy. I'll go do that… right after you talk to Gajeel."

Levy promptly did her best impression of a cherry tomato.

"That's what I thought," Yang teased. "Come on, Blake! We've got monster hunting to do!"

Blake smacked her face into her palm as her partner dashed off, Levy stuttering behind.

"She means well," she assured her fellow bookworm. "She's just… complicated."

Levy's face calmed down, the blue-haired girl pulling a small book from her bag. "Yeah, I get that. Gajeel can be similar sometimes. Wanting friends, sharing an exaggerated posturing version of himself to win people over, yet always afraid that the real him isn't worth being cared about."

Blake frowned, recalling Yang's overzealous protection of Ruby and the tragedy of her two mothers. No one, no matter how outwardly confident and sure, spent over a decade searching for a woman they'd never met if they didn't have some doubts they wanted answered.

Maybe a relationship with Natsu and/or Lucy would do her some good. No complications, no worries of worth, just pure kind friendship. It could help her strengthen her belief in herself.

She was roused from her thoughts when Levy pushed forward her tome. "Here. You won't be able to read Erza's books when you're around the others, so you might enjoy this."

Blake flinched at the subtle admonishment but smiled as she took the book. "Thank you. I'm sure I will. What's it about?"

Levy's eyes lit up. "Oh, it's amazing! It's the story of an ancient wizard that helped bring the world out of Zeref's dark age. He slew lots of demons and monsters, and even pioneered some of the Lost Magics! It's incredible!"

"Really?" Blake said, already starting to look forward to reading it. She flipped open the cover and beheld the silver title on the first page. "The Saga of Ozma, the Great and Powerful. I like it already."

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Wake up, pump the water, feed the chickens, till the fields. Wake up, pump the water, feed the chickens, till the fields. Wake up, pump the water, feed the chickens, till the fields. For years and years, that had been the schedule Oscar had lived his life by, barring any momentary interruptions for a Grimm scare or his aunt chewing him out. It was hardly the most glamorous life on Remnant, but he had no huge complaints about being a farmhand. It put food in his stomach and a roof over his head, and there was certainly nothing wrong with that.

At least until he'd started going insane, that was.

"You're not going insane, Oscar."

"Says the imaginary voice in my head that's claiming to be a dead huntsman," he countered.

"I am not imaginary," the voice claiming to be Professor Ozpin insisted. "Our souls have been mystically bound together by a curse placed upon me long ago by the Brother Gods of Light and Darkness."

"Is that supposed to make me feel better?"

"Hardly. This is not my first rodeo, my boy. I would be extremely surprised if you felt 'okay' with any of this."

"Wonderful," Oscar moaned. "Then how about you shut up, never talk to me again, and I can pretend this bout of insanity never happened."

"If only that were possible," Ozpin mused, not without sympathy. "But a game is being played with the fate of humanity in the balance. And we cannot stand by and do nothing."

"You mean you can't stand by and do nothing," Oscar countered. "I am fourteen years old. Even if what you're saying is true and you are real and the world really is in danger, there's nothing I can do about it. So just… I don't know, unbind with me and hop into some huntsman's head. They'll do a better job than I ever could."

"It doesn't work like that. I do not control who I bond to. But the very fact that my curse has brought me to you signifies that you have the potential for greatness. And, no matter your misgivings, the will to achieve it."

Oscar didn't reply to that, unwilling to divulge to the maybe insane, maybe magic, voice that his daily routine had gotten a bit… dull over time. He loved his aunt, but the farm was not the most engaging place to work all the time, especially when they were close enough to Mistral's capital for tales to trickle down from the city about the daring exploits of the huntsmen and huntresses of Haven. When he was pumping the water, feeding the chickens, and tilling the fields, it was hard not to let his mind wander to other, more exciting adventures.

But he was also old enough to recognize that said adventures would come with a high probability of horrible, painful death. If he'd gone out into the world, he wouldn't be fighting some small garden Beowolf, he'd be facing titanic Grimm older than the kingdoms themselves. Huntsmen and huntresses started training long before his age and most of them still died in the line of duty. He simply did not have the skills to qualify for an Academy, let alone actually be of use in the fight.

"You must not think so little of yourself."

Oscar frowned. "You can read my thoughts?"

"Well… yes. I'm in your head as well. But you shouldn't feel ashamed just because you've never trained before. Every great warrior or wizard starts where you are now. If they can do alone, I see no reason why you can't do it with my help."

Despite his fears that the voice was just telling him what he wanted to hear, Oscar couldn't help a pang of gratefulness that shot through him. At least, until he realized exactly what the supposed huntsman had said. "Wizard?"

Within his mind, he felt Ozpin give the mental equivalent of a nod. "Indeed. Truthfully, it's not surprising my curse sought you out. Your origin is larger than any I've seen since… well, for a very long time."

"Origin?"

"Magic works by having a metaphysical organ called an origin take in ethernano from the atmosphere and convert it into magic power. The larger the origin, the more magic power. Unfortunately, since the world was deprived of the vast majority of its ethernano a long time ago, the average human's origin has shriveled to the point where they can only use the simplest of magic without artificial augmentation. My curse seeks out those with the largest origins to aid in the fight, but even then, I often have to use dangerous techniques such as the Second and Third Origins to perform anything truly spectacular. And then… there's you."

Oscar rolled his eyes. "Let me guess. I just happen to have the biggest origin you've ever seen?"

"Not that I've ever seen. But the largest one in this era that isn't from a Silver-Eyed Warrior or otherwise amplified."

"Well isn't that just convenient that you just happened to find me."

"Not convenient. Like I said, my curse seeks out those with such power. The fact that you were born as a genetic permutation is the reason I've bonded to you. And it means I can teach you magic I have not used in a long time."

Oscar frowned. Even if he wasn't going crazy, even if there was some instinctive, buried feeling deep down inside of him that told him that everything Ozpin was telling him was the truth… this all seemed far too ridiculous.

But if it wasn't… then that meant the world really was in danger of ending. Everything he'd ever known would be annihilated, his aunt and their farm included. If he could do something about it, then he couldn't just stand by.

"Prove it," he demanded. "Prove that this magic is real and that I can do it, and I'll believe the other stuff too. We'll… save the world."

One again, despite being unable to see his face, he felt Ozpin smile.

"I'm going to take over your body for a moment. Don't be alarmed. You shall have it back in a few moments."

"Wait, what—"

A flash of green filled his vision and suddenly Oscar felt like a passenger in his own body. He could still see, hear, and use all his other senses, but he couldn't feel any connection between his brain and the rest of his muscles. And yet, his body walked towards the water pump without his command.

'Well, this isn't terrifying at all.'

"My apologies," Ozpin spoke with his lips, but with the formerly disembodied voice's cadence. "In the future, I will not do this without your express permission, I promise."

'Right. Like you need it.'

"Perhaps, but I wish to be your partner, Oscar. Not your slavedriver," Ozpin assured him. "We are in this together."

The huntsman pushed down on the pump, drawing up water from within and spilling it onto the ground.

'Can you at least use a bucket? We really can't afford to waste that.'

Ozpin ignored his request. Instead, he took in a deep breath, something more than air filling his body. Oscar could feel it, a strange tingling sparking beneath his chest, filling him with warmth. And yet, he felt it was only the barest fraction of what it could be, like he could contain so much more.

"Flashback."

The effect was instantaneous as the word left their lips, a burst of energy flashing from their body and into the water and pump before them. Suddenly, they began moving in reverse, the water shooting upward and into the pipe as the pump worked in reverse to allow its return. By the time it was finished, there was not a drop on the formerly soaked ground below.

Oscar realized he had control of his body again when his jaw dropped.

"Ah, it has been too long since I've been able to use my true magic," Ozpin sighed. "Thank you, Oscar."

"Uh, sure. No problem," Oscar muttered, his eyes still glued to the pump.

Magic was real. Magic was real, and that meant everything else was real too. He was bonded to an ancient wizard who was apparently also the ex-headmaster of Beacon Academy who could possess his body at will and was trying to stop the end of the world. He should have been terrified, and he was… and yet…

"Can you teach me how to do that?"

He felt the old man grin. "We have a long way to Mistral. I don't see why not."

A bit of a transition chapter here, getting the last of the pieces moving across the board. Salem's castle provides a wealth of foreshadowing and Chekov's Guns while Emerald tries to figure out exactly what's going on in Cinder's head. And Tyrian is dispatched on a hunt.

Blake and Sun arrive in Menagerie, an arc that I have a complicated relationship with in canon. I like a lot of the pieces involved (Sun is always a blast and Ghira and Kali are lovely), but the arc itself just feels lacking in tension. I knew Ilia's character arc from her first scene in Volume 5. Predictable does not necessarily mean bad though and the arc itself was done well, but it lacked any real impact because the only other antagonists of the arc, the Albain brothers, might as well have been cardboard cutouts (which one died again?), leaving the fact that she, the only interesting antagonist, was going to predictably turn good as a moment to dread instead of long for, because that would be the moment when I really would have nothing to fear for the heroes (Because there was no way the Albain brothers were going to kill anyone with a name). And if I do not fear for the heroes, then there is no tension, and if there is no tension, there is no engagement. That said, I hope to be able to play around with the excellent parts the arc and setting provide in order to create something I would have enjoyed seeing on screen. And with any luck, it will be enjoyable to read.

Then we have the flashback, where we glimpse a bit of Yang's psyche as well as her romantic ambitions. Will they come to pass? Will she bring Nalu together with herself in the middle? No, Fairy Tail canon still happened as written, so she struck out in that department. But perhaps she will have better luck in the present.

And everyone's favorite farmhand has arrived! Huzzah! Always nice to have Oscar on board, even if he thinks he's insane for a bit.

An extra huge thank you to my patrons: ArcherMcMuffin, Gregg Tracton, Keith Traction, StabKingPro, Annaya Chan, Nora Okonus, Paula mandel, and KefkaesqueXIII.

Thank you for Reading! I hope you enjoy what comes next!

Go Forth and Conquer!