Beta-ed by xenosaiyan

Ruby sat against the entrance of the cave, smiling up at the night sky, her silver eyes locked on the shining full moon.

"I thought you'd be resting with your teammates," Sitara said, striding out into the open air. "Most humans would be exhausted after the time you've had."

Ruby giggled. "Oh, don't get me wrong. Fighting Kyouka, Weiss and Yang getting hurt, and then partying far later than we probably should have, has made this a longer day than most."

"Then why not rest? Why not sleep and be done with this day?" Sitara asked.

"Because silly," Ruby grinned, pointing up to the heavens. "The stars are out, and the moon is full."

Sitara raised an eyebrow. "They are. And?"

"And they're really pretty," Ruby stated. "The moon's different where we come from. It's not a full circle, and they're little pieces broken off around it."

"So, it's shattered?"

Ruby shrugged. "Still good. Just… different. But we're not going to be able to see it once we go back home, so I want to enjoy it while I can. Want to join me?"

Sitara raised an eyebrow, but she only hesitated a moment before she sat down next to the red hooded girl, gazing up at the night sky. The two women sat there in peaceful silence, simply enjoying each other's company.

"Flecks of gold amidst a blanket of darkness, a beautiful cloak wrapped securely around the world," Sitara murmured.

"That's a nice way of looking at it," Ruby said.

"An old friend… a big brother, really, described it like that to me once. I wanted to see it so badly," Sitara frowned. "And because of that stupidity, I fell into Mard Geer's grasp."

Ruby tilted her head. "Being curious isn't stupid. He manipulated you, took advantage of you. That's not your fault."

Sitara snorted. "My father said something similar, back then. And here I am, still cursed by the gods. Alone."

Ruby frowned. She scooted over and enveloped her companion in a hug. When her arms wrapped around the blonde woman, she instinctively tensed, a flash of magic and curse energy spiking within her. Fortunately, it died down soon after, but it was still concerning that Sitara automatically assumed contact was an attack.

"This curse, what is it exactly?" Ruby inquired. "Weiss is a God Slayer, maybe she can destroy it."

Sitara shook her head. "I've tried that before. I've been searching for three hundred years. The only hint of something capable of destroying a god's curse is something in Zeref's later research notes. An E.N.D.? Whatever that means."

"Acronyms," Ruby scowled. "What's the point of them? If you're going to give something a kickass name, why shorten it?"

"Whatever the reason, I've had to give up on killing myself through conventional means."

"Too bad—wait what!" Ruby leapt to her feet, gazing down on Sitara in horror. "I thought we were talking about getting rid of your curse! Where'd all this talk about suicide come from?"

"My curse is immortality, bestowed upon me by the gods until I learn the importance of life and death," Sitara explained. "Though I have no idea what that means given that I am well aware how horrible it is to live on while everyone I care about dies! It was why I asked them for the boon in the first place, I thought that maybe now that they had separated back into their original forms that might actually be kind now but… but… nothing had changed. I was a fool to think that they'd help. I had one light left in the world… and now he's gone."

Ruby took a step back, shocked by the despairing vitriol in her new friend. There was clearly a very long, painful story behind Sitara's outburst.

"Do you… do you want to talk about it?" Ruby asked. "I want to help however I can."

Sitara glanced up and flashed her a small smile, wiping the beginnings of tears from her eyes. "No. It… It was a long time ago. And I am grateful for your help today. Once we get the book back, I can modify it to get you four home and then return it to its original purpose. To end my suffering."

Ruby's eyes narrowed. "How? You said there was no way to destroy your curse."

"But there is a way to erase it: ensure that it was never decreed in the first place," Sitara revealed. "Using the data I acquired from the Eclipse Gate and the magics it utilized, I will travel back to before I fell for Mard's tricks and prevent myself from ever leaving home."

"You… you want to change the past?" Ruby whispered. "But… when my friend Wendy told me about the last time the Eclipse Gate was used, she said that anyone from the future who traveled to the past who changed things, really changed things, so that they couldn't exist as they were… were wiped from existence. If you went back—"

"I would be erased after preventing my past self from making my mistake," Sitara confirmed. "This nightmare will finally be over."

"But you'll be dead."

"Even if I disappear, my past self—"

"Will be your past self. Not you, not the person that everything you've gone through, everything you've met, has made you," Ruby argued. "I can't imagine what you've had to suffer, but just giving up? Letting these gods treat you like their punching bag?"

"I cannot fight them," Sitara replied. "One might as well fight nature itself. What other way out is there?"

"I don't know. But there must be some solution out there. And you won't find it if you throw yourself away."

Ruby knelt down and helped Sitara to her feet. She raised her hand and gestured to the sky, the stars twinkling gold.

"Look at them. A thousand, thousand fairies glowing in the heavens, lighting the way for travelers across Earthland," Ruby said. "Do those fairies have tails? Or not? Do they even exist?"

"Stars aren't fairies, so no," Sitara interjected, turning her gaze away from the stars and towards her friend.

"It's a metaphor. Or imagery? It's something the guild says to be inspiring," Ruby confessed. "The point is, Fairy Tail dedicates itself to moving forward on our endless adventure, to always finding a path forward."

Sitara sighed. "Most people's adventures aren't truly endless. Mine is. And ever since I lost my husband, it has been—"

"How many people have you had since then?"

"What?"

Ruby shot Sitara a soft smile. "I've seen how you are around us. You're not used to company. How many people, how many friends, have you had since your husband died?"

"Um… well…" Sitara stuttered, glancing away. "I suppose you all are the first I've spent real time with in quite a while… but I've been busy with work, my research requires a great deal of time and…"

"You were afraid."

"… I will outlive them. I will have to bury them. In the end, I will be alone. It seems easier to just keep the pain away."

"You're not. Just because you've numbed yourself to the fire doesn't mean it isn't burning you," Ruby pointed out. She put her hand under Sitara's chin and guided their gazes together, silver eyes shining a guiding light to misty blue orbs. "My mom died when I was little. She was a huntress, a warrior who protected people from the Creatures of Grimm, and one day she didn't come home from a mission. For a while, my dad lost himself. He didn't really talk to me or Yang, he barely ate, he wasn't living, just existing. He only started to get better when my Uncle Qrow forced him to look around at what he still had, instead of what he'd lost."

Tears trickled down from Sitara's eyes. "I don't have anything. My love is dead. My family cannot see me. I don't have any friends."

"You do now," Ruby declared. "Team RWBY are your friends now, Sitara. Always and forever. No matter where you go, even when we can't see you, we'll always be watching over you."

Sitara's eyes widened, a laugh that might have been a sob gushing out of her mouth. "Why? Your entire goal is to go back to your world. Why would you bother being so kind to me?"

Ruby shrugged. "We're Fairy Tail wizards. It's just what we do."

"Just what you do…" Sitara mumbled. "Just like him…"

"When we all first got here, we didn't have anything except our weapons, and the clothes on our backs. We didn't have any idea where we were, and we didn't know anything about magic. Fairy Tail changed that," Ruby continued. "Wendy, Erza, Natsu, Lucy, Gray, everyone. The guild gave us hope, a new family, a way to make something impossible like getting home to another world seem not just possible, but doable. Alone, we would never have gotten that far, or we would have just run straight after Tartaros without thinking."

Sitara flinched. "Considering how well you fared against Kyouka even with training, I can't say that would have gone well."

Ruby nodded. "After we've gotten the book back and return the Eclipse Gate pieces to Crocus, come with us to Magnolia, to Fairy Tail."

"What?" Sitara gasped. "No, I couldn't possibly impose."

"You're not imposing. I'm offering," Ruby assured her. "Come on. Everyone will love you! And maybe you'll find something worth sticking around in the present. Have hope, Sitara. There's still so much in the world worth living for."

Sitara stared at her for a long moment, her eyes shifting as if they were the crystal ocean depths they resembled. All she'd suffered, all the unfair tortures she'd been forced to endure, and she still had such clear, beautiful eyes hiding her despair. Ruby couldn't help but wonder what she would do if she had been left with no one by her mother's death. Would she grow so desperate that she'd resort to unmaking herself to bring peace?

Finally, however, Sitara shot Ruby a gleaming smile. "Tell me more about them. Your guildmates, I mean. Your friends."

"Oh, where to start? We're going to be here all night!" Ruby cheered. "Alright, important safety tip when you get to the guild, don't touch Erza's strawberry cake…"

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Raven screamed, her mind desperate to escape nightmares of azure fire, darkness, and a hundred judging faces. Her tribesmen, the ones that she had led to their doom by remaining among them after she was cursed with the Spring Maiden's abilities, Vernal chief among them, demanding an answer.

And before even her were a pair of silver eyes, still waiting on theirs.

'Why did you tell me, Raven? Why didn't you let me stay ignorant? Why didn't you come sooner? Why didn't you save me?!'

"AAAAHHHHHHH!"

"Ms. Branwen! Ms. Branwen! Please calm down!"

"Raven! Gods dammit, Raven, stop screaming!"

Both voices yelled at her, the second one familiar, finally snapping the former huntress out of her stupor. She glanced about her new surroundings, recognizing that they were not the infernos of her worst nightmares, but a simple Mistralian style bedroom, herself plopped on top of the covers, and the black night sky visible through the window. Qrow and the blue-haired girl she'd spotted with him back at Higanbana gripped her arms. Standing off at the back of the room was a tall, red-headed woman, Summer's daughter, and some farm boy.

"Qrow," she gasped, collapsing back against the headboard of the bed. "Where are we? Is he here?"

Her brother frowned. "He's not. He's holed up at Haven."

"And we're in Mistral," she muttered. "We need to go."

She instinctively turned to her side, reaching to grab Omen and summon up a portal, but she found neither scabbard nor blade at her hip. Time caught up to her in that moment, she recalled the fate of her trusted sword, her weapon since Beacon melted to ash along with… along with…

Qrow had grabbed her arm again, probably predicting what she would try to do. "You're not going anywhere until you tell us how the Ophiuchus found out the tribe had the Spring Maiden and what happened to—"

"He killed them," Raven murmured, a stone falling in her throat. "The tribe… Qrow, it's gone. He incinerated them."

Her brother released his grip on her, his face ashen. Qrow may have abandoned the tribe for Ozpin, but he had still grown up with them. They had known some of the people who had died there since they were kids, ate beside them, trained beside them, fought beside them. Even if he had an abysmal view of them as human beings, to hear that they'd been slaughtered by the Ophiuchus must have been a shock.

"Yang…" he muttered, his eyes regaining their steel. "He has her."

Raven cocked an eyebrow. "He didn't kill her?"

"He's taken her hostage at Haven," Summer's daughter, Ruby Rose, explained. "He wants us to bring you, and if we don't, he'll kill Headmaster Lionheart and take her to Salem."

"So you'll throw me to him instead?" Raven challenged, her face pale. "You'll just hand Salem the Relic of Knowledge?"

"Of course not," Ruby reassured her. "We're going to fight. Together."

Raven barked out a laugh of terror. "Gods, you sound just like your mother. There is no beating Salem, or the Ophiuchus. All we can do is run."

"And leave Yang behind," the redheaded woman growled. "Like you did."

Qrow sighed. "Scarlet, this isn't the time to bring up the past."

"I'm not talking about the past. I'm talking about a few hours ago when she came through the portal," the woman, Scarlet, replied, glaring bloody murder at Raven. "End only called after his attack on you. Time enough to get to Haven if that flying cat is as fast as I've been told."

"What? You're saying that she left Yang to him…" Qrow frowned and turned his gaze on his sister, his fists clenched at his sides. "You did, didn't you? Of course, you did. Because why wouldn't you abandon her away again!"

"I didn't have a choice!" Raven shot back. "I was on fire when I came through the portal, remember!? You know how powerful he is! He was toying with us the entire time! If I didn't leave when I did, he was just going to get both of us!"

"Then you should have let him get you!" Qrow roared. He stomped towards his sister, his fist pulled back for a punch. Raven's eyes lit with the maiden's power, ready to defend herself if her brother tried to attack her.

Fortunately, the blue-haired girl stepped between them, her small size disguising enough strength to keep Qrow's furious charge back.

"Out of my way, Wendy!" he demanded.

"I've only just finished healing her wounds from End. If she's going to be in any shape to fight in an hour, you can't hurt her," the girl, Wendy, pointed out.

Qrow snarled but stood down. Still, his murderous gaze never left his sister. "She's your daughter, Raven. How could you leave her in the hands of him?"

"I didn't want to. I didn't pick this fight," Raven shot back. "You want to blame someone, blame Yang. She brought that monster straight to me."

"Yang would never do that!" Ruby shouted.

"Not on purpose," Wendy muttered. "But End… he sounded exactly like Natsu. It's possible he was able to trick her somehow, get her to trust him."

Raven smirked. "Well, nice to see that someone has their head on straight."

Wendy's eyes turned on her. Not hateful like Qrow, but still harsh. "Don't get the wrong idea. I may understand the logic of what you did against End, but I know what you've done before too. I put a tracking enchantment on you while I was healing you. If you try to portal away before tonight, and End takes Yang away because of it, I will gladly trade the traceable signature of the spell to Salem to get her back."

Raven's eyes narrowed. "Enchantment? You mean you're a wizar—who are you?"

"Wendy Marvell. Your daughter is my guildmate, and my family," the blue-haired girl declared. "And I don't plan on losing anyone else I care about."

The glare wasn't too intimidating given the girl's frankly puppy-like looks, but Raven had enough experience with Summer to know it would be wise to cross portaling to Patch as soon as possible off her list of plans. Besides, given Yang's display of magic far beyond what she could do without the Spring Maiden powers, the former bandit leader was more than a little curious how this wizard had popped up.

"I like you," she said. "I'll need a dust sword."

"No way," Qrow protested. "If you have that, you can run away whenever you want."

Raven pointed to Wendy. "I'm in no hurry to have her sell me out to Salem. Unless that was a bluff?"

Qrow kept his stare leveled at her, but the blue-haired wizard shared a brief, worried look with Ruby, enough for Raven to tell that something about the previous threat had been bluster. She felt some small bit of satisfaction from having caught them in that, being able to use her experience to outplay these newcomers to manipulation and deceit, but it still wasn't enough for her to ignore their warning entirely. After all, she didn't know what part of it had been a bluff, whether there was no tracker on her, or if Wendy just lacked the ruthlessness to hand her over to Salem. And if it was the latter, well… desperation could make people do things they'd never thought they could.

No, as much as she dreaded it, as much as her heart quivered at the thought of being within a mile of the Ophiuchus' flames, she wouldn't be able to get out of this mess immediately. She would be going to Haven, and she'd have to stay long enough to reunite Yang with her friends. After that though, she'd be making a portal to Patch at first opportunity. She'd take Yang with her if she would come, but if she had inherited Tai's penchant for extreme personal loyalty, that outcome was doubtful.

So be it. She couldn't save the girl if she didn't want to be saved. She'd tried with Summer, and all it had gotten her was a front-row seat to Salem putting her fist through her best friend's chest.

Never again. If they wanted to run towards their deaths, fine. But they couldn't make her watch them die.

Ruby held out her hand. A flash of white light blazed through the room and when it faded, a three-foot-long silver odachi appeared in her palm. The red hooded girl walked forward and presented it to Raven.

"We don't have any dust blades, but you can use Stalwart Stem," she said. "Will you still be able to make portals with this?"

"Faster than with nothing, but not as fast as I would with a dust blade. Easier to channel aura through that," Raven explained, taking hold of the offered longsword. Her eyes scanned the reflective sheen of the blade, her fingertips gliding over the silver edge. "Where did you get this? The craftsmanship is exquisite."

"I made it. I based it off a friend's sword called Archenemy."

"Archenemy," Raven admired. "A fitting name."

Ruby's eyes narrowed. "This sword is named Stalwart Stem."

"Why do you have this? Do you even know how to use an odachi?"

The silver-eyed girl's eyes flickered around the room. "I was planning to learn."

Raven couldn't help her chuckle. It was neat to know that despite looking like Summer's clone and sharing her boundless will, little Ruby wasn't exactly like her mother. Summer hadn't grown up with enough money to make a personalized weapon, let alone multiple. Her old leader had just used whatever knives she could get her hands on, each one cheap and replaceable. As long as they were sufficient for her semblance to work on them, they were good enough for her. How ironic that her daughter was such a talented blacksmith, growing so attached to each of her creations.

"Look, just stay here, and rest up," Ruby commanded. "We've only got an hour until Haven, and we still need to finalize the details of the plan for the Gates."

"Don't bother," Raven advised. "Even if you all can use magic somehow, even if I'm there to provide you all with ethernano, all of you together are no match for the Ophiuchus' power. As soon as he gets the Relic of Knowledge, he'll burn us all to ash."

"Not necessarily," Ruby remarked. "For whatever reason, Salem wants some of us alive. He won't be able to risk using his full power."

"You're a fool if you think he needs it."

"What would you have us do?" Scarlet interjected, still standing by the door. "Run? Abandon our allies?"

Raven shrugged. "You've already made it perfectly clear you won't. Even if it would be the smart thing to do."

"The smart thing," Scarlet scoffed, her brown eyes narrowing.

The redheaded woman stalked towards Raven, all her companions save the farm boy at the back suddenly growing pale. Ruby and Wendy both pressed themselves in the woman's path while Qrow's hand listed towards Harbinger's hilt. Even Raven herself, whose fear supply had been drained dry by her encounter with the Ophiuchus, found herself subconsciously gripping Stalwart Stem tight, as if she'd pricked a Goliath without realizing it.

"Scarlet, please," Wendy begged. "We need her, and I don't have the time to fix her again—"

The redheaded woman put a hand on the blue-haired girl's shoulder, the wizard's eyes going wide with fear. But when Scarlet's gaze found her, there was no malice, only resignation.

"You called me Scarlet," she noted.

Wendy gulped and nodded. "It's your name. I accept that. I won't force you to be someone you're not."

Scarlet chuckled. "Thank you. But if this Ophiuchus is as powerful as they say, and Cinder Fall will be there besides, then Pyrrha will need someone stronger than I."

"You mean…" Wendy muttered. "I… I don't know what will happen. I don't know if you'll survive, or even if she'll be brought back at all."

Raven cocked an eyebrow. She had no idea what this mysterious talk was about, but from the sound of it, Scarlet was volunteering herself for something that would more than likely kill her. Which was ridiculous. In the face of the Ophiuchus, in the face of Salem, power meant nothing. The strong lived and the weak died, and that meant that everyone was weak before the unkillable.

As soon as the thought filled her head thought, Raven found herself the target of Scarlet's disdainful glare.

"I heard a great many rumors about the infamous Raven Branwen, nightmare of the wilds and bane of innocent settlements and Grimm alike," the redheaded woman mused. "I always imagined her like the tall tales said she was, a ruthless, heartless monster, without mercy or conscience. Now, she's lying in one of my guest bedrooms and it turns out she's not a monster at all. Just a coward. How pathetic."

Raven gritted her teeth. "You have no idea what you're talking about. No idea what I've been through. Retreating from a fight that can't be won is not cowardice."

"It is when it's from a battle that must be fought," Scarlet countered. "You abandoned your daughter to fend for herself out of fear, left her to fight this war alone. Gave up any chance of any help you might have been able to offer."

"All that would have happened was that we would have both died—"

"Then you die with her!" Scarlet shouted, the fury in her voice freezing everyone in the room. "That is what a mother does. We do whatever we can to give our children their best chance, no matter how frightening, no matter how painful. To think I almost allowed myself to become as wretched as you."

Raven scowled, but she found she could not meet the other woman's eyes.

Scarlet scoffed and whirled around. "If she's not going to collapse during the battle, we should prepare the ritual, Wendy."

"Right."

Scarlet marched out of the room, Ruby striding out in her wake. Qrow shot Raven one last glare and shuffled out afterward, shaking his head.

Wendy made to follow but hesitated at the foot of the bed. She turned back to face Raven, pity of all things in her eyes. "She's right, you know. You've done horrible things."

"I am aware of what I have done," Raven bit out. "I don't need your pity."

"It is not pity. It's hope," Wendy remarked. "You're right, in a way. We don't know what you've gone through, what pain and fear you've suffered. But that is in the past, so I'll have hope for you, that you can be better. Like Fairy Tail always does."

"Fairy Tail?" Raven queried.

"The guild I was… that I am a part of. We were hired to take down bandits like you all the time. If we met without Salem in the picture, we'd probably be enemies," Wendy turned away and strode out of the room. "But in Fairy Tail, an enemy today can be a friend tomorrow. But only you can choose that path."

Raven sagged back in the bed. What was that girl talking about? She didn't even know her, and she was talking about redemption? She'd only ever done what she'd had to do, what needed to be done to survive… hadn't she?

Besides, even if that wasn't true, even if she had committed sins that needed atonement, she wasn't foolish enough to think redemption existed. Yang, Qrow, Tai, they would never forgive her for what she'd done. No, her only home left, horrid as it was, had been her tribe.

And she'd failed them utterly.

"Well, that could have gone better," the farm boy in the corner finally spoke up.

"Piss off, boy," Raven snarled. "You don't want to talk about things you don't understand."

"I think I might be one of the few people on Remnant able to begin to understand."

The farm boy reached behind his back and withdrew a familiar cane stub, one Raven recognized instantly.

"The Long Memory," she gasped. "Ozpin."

Her old teacher smiled his twinkling, all-knowing smile from the face of a child. "Hello, Raven. It's good to see you again."

"Spare me the pretty lies," Raven growled. "However this ends, I'll never be your pawn again."

"If you wanted to stay out of the game, you shouldn't have become the Spring Maiden," Ozpin countered. "How did you come by them? I recall that the girl idolized you after Team STRQ saved her from Hazel, enough to give you access to the Relic of Knowledge when you requested it. But to seek you out once you'd become an infamous bandit queen… what happened to her?"

The girl she'd saved so long ago? The one who'd given her access to the Relic of Knowledge, where they and Lionheart had all discovered the truth of Salem's immortality? The one who'd come for her years later, when she'd lost all hope? The one who could not master combat or her powers no matter how Raven tried to teach her? Who kept summoning freak storms that endangered the entire tribe and held up a fucking beacon screaming for Salem to find them? The girl who'd desperately begged not be abandoned when Raven had kicked her out for the rest of her followers' safety? The girl who'd screamed that she'd join Salem herself if it meant being free of her constant fear? The girl who'd cried tears of joy when Raven had relented to her ultimatum and welcomed her to stay?

"I killed her in her sleep," Raven muttered as coldly as she could, hoping to shove down the maelstrom of guilt that surged within her soul. "She was weak. It needed to be done. It was mercy."

Ozpin hummed. "Funny, I remember you being a better liar. I doubt that one even fooled you."

"What do you want from me, Oz?" Raven demanded. "I'm already stuck on this suicide mission, there isn't much more for you to do."

"An answer and a realization," Ozpin cryptically replied. "Let's start with the answer. Why haven't you told anyone else about Salem's immortality? If you look down on Qrow and the others for being my pawns so much, why haven't you let them know why my war is so hopeless?"

"I…" Raven looked down at Stalwart Stem, seeing her wavering crimson eyes in the odachi's blade. "Because knowing ruined my life. If she's just another Grimm, another monster to be slain, it's easy to fight, to protect what you care about. But knowing she can't be killed, that no matter what, it's all for nothing, that in the end… you can't save anyone you love? Summer died because I told her. Qrow, fool that he is, has devoted everything to your crusade. Knowing that his efforts are meaningless, that you can't deliver the victory you've promised? It would destroy him."

"He'd become you," Ozpin surmised. "And what have you become?"

Raven's eyes narrowed, waiting for the condemnation. "A survivor."

"Yes, you have survived. You have survived by throwing away everyone bond you've ever held dear and lying to them in an attempt to keep them safe, making the daughter you loved more than anything in the world despise you, casting the man you love into a depression, causing the deaths hundreds of innocent civilians, and making those that look up to you into a shield against Salem," Ozpin counted off. "Sound familiar?"

It did. Raven wanted to deny it, but the parallels were obvious, as was what the ancient wizard had meant by a 'realization'.

"Oh gods," she muttered. "I've become you."

"Ha!" Ozpin laughed. "No, Raven. I assure you that as far as you may have fallen, your deeds are not yet nearly so horrible as my own."

"But you've done all you can to hold her at bay," Raven argued. "I've… I've just run. Run to save my own skin."

Ozpin shrugged. "When as many people have died by your actions as they have mine, motive tends to matter a bit less than deed. What you have done is horrible, Raven, do not mistake me as trying to excuse that. But, if you acknowledge as such, you may still do some real good, even if you do die in the war to come. Take it from someone who has been around a long while. The trick isn't living. It's living with yourself."

She'd lived with herself for over a decade now. Her mistakes that killed her partner. Her regrets at having lost the love and friendships she'd forged at Beacon. At having abandoned Yang, twice, so that she might live. She'd wanted to be a mother so badly, but once she'd held her daughter in her arms, once she'd had her to lose, her terror of Salem had skyrocketed and led her to seek the Relic of Knowledge to find a way to end the war. And in her quest, just as Scarlet had said, she had failed. Completely and utterly.

And she had run from that failure like a coward.

She didn't know what to do. She didn't want to be that anymore but… but…

"I can't stop her," she whimpered. "I can't stop him. Together, with the Gates, no force on Remnant can. If there was, you would have found it by now."

"Things have changed," Ozpin informed her, though his face was marred by a frown. "Fairy Tail has returned. The flashpoint she's been waiting for has arrived. One way or another, the end is coming. If you do not fight now, there will be nowhere to run."

"Why would they fight beside me?" Raven asked. "Why would they forgive me?"

Ozpin let of a blithe chuckle. "To answer the former, we'll need all the help we can get. As for the latter, I don't know. You've hurt Yang, and Qrow, and Tai a great deal. They may never forgive you, and even if they do, the bonds you had once will be scarred forever. That will be their privilege and their choice."

Raven snorted. "I suppose the same holds true for you."

"What do you mean?" Ozpin replied. "I forgive you, Raven."

The huntress's eyes widened. She scanned the young boy's face, trying to catch any tell that her old headmaster was lying, hoping that his implacable façade hadn't had time to set in this new body. Maybe it had.

But she could still tell. He was being truthful.

"How?" Raven gasped. "You can't… you can't just forgive me."

"If I was still headmaster of Beacon? You're right. I couldn't. As your teacher, I won't. But as your friend? I already have," Ozpin declared, rising to his feet. "Call it sentimentality for one of my favorite students, call it penance for the role my secret-keeping played in your sins, call it being used to betrayal if you want. Of all those that have learned of Salem's immortality over eons, you are by far one of the best reactions I've ever gotten. Most end up joining her or burning down whole kingdoms out of despair. Compared to that, running away, even to become a bandit queen, doesn't seem like something so unforgivable."

"No, I suppose not," Raven conceded, even if her heart didn't feel any less heavy. "I'm sorry."

"For what? There is a great deal we've covered today."

"For blaming you for her," she clarified. "I understand now, why you hid the truth. It was patronizing, but also strategic. An attempt to be kind."

Ozpin sighed. "Sometimes attempts are the best we can do."

The headmaster strode out of the room. Leaving Raven alone with her thoughts on what attempts she could possibly do in the future. What could a coward do in the face of annihilation?

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Cinder smirked as Emerald walked into the massive atrium of Haven Academy, joining herself, Mercury, Lionheart, and End atop the staircase covering the entrance to the Vault of the Spring Maiden.

"Well, how did it go?" she queried. "Will you be able to put on a convincing performance?"

Emerald nodded. "With her aura down, one touch is all it took."

"Excellent," Cinder complimented. "Your new abilities shall enhance your infiltration skills even further."

"Oh, thank you, Cinder," Emerald smiled, a red blush flaring over her cheeks.

Mercury rolled his eyes beside her, catching Cinder's glare. After his disrespectful showing at the gardens, she'd like nothing more than to throttle him. Implying that her father was anything like his drunk, slob of a sire. If only the Ophiuchus wasn't there, she'd beat him into the dirt.

But Lord End was there, even if he nodded with approval at Emerald's words. "Good work. I've received word from Argus that the Mistral Council approved the expeditionary force's presence. ESR is on her way."

Cinder's grin blossomed across her face. "Teacher."

Lionheart gulped. "And you're sure Lady Esper will be able to keep the White Fang from going too far?"

The Gate of the Archer's golden eyes narrowed at the cowardly faunus. "You dare suggest that Teacher cannot handle some pathetic terrorists!"

"No!" Lionheart recoiled, throwing up his hands defensively. "No, no, no, I meant no offense—"

End raised a clawed hand and silence reigned. "The school will be fine, headmaster. Even if worst should come to worst, Esper has warned the Council that an attack might be incoming. Your assurances have kept them from setting up any significant defenses, but they are on guard. The general populace will not learn of what occurs here tonight until it is all over, and thus there will not be sufficient negativity to draw in a Grimm invasion such as the Fall of Beacon. All you need to do is stay with Yang in your office and pretend to be a good little hostage."

"Yes," Lionheart nodded. "Of course, my lord."

End held out his hand and the headmaster handed him his pocket watch, the key to the passage to the vault. The demon turned to the three of them. "I'll remind you all that we are not here to kill Ruby and Wendy's group. We are here to get the Relic of Knowledge and escort any Team RWBY and Fairy Tail members to the Grimmlands. Ozpin and Qrow seem to have effectively set them against the Queen. Likely told them she'd gone mad since they last saw her. We'll need to get them a face-to-face meeting to clear everything up."

"But we can still kick the crap out of them, right?" Mercury asked.

End gave him a flat look and shrugged. "If necessary. Fairy Tail is used to taking a few knocks."

Mercury grinned. Cinder would have done so as well, if his words from her father's grave about them being alike hadn't rung in her ears.

She frowned, though she would privately admit that she was also looking forward to the battle. She might not have been allowed to kill Ruby or Wendy, but she would take great pleasure in beating them within an inch of their life. And Raven Branwen.

The Scarab within her chittered away, ravenous for the power of another maiden. Cinder felt that same hunger deep within her soul, the yearning for strength unbound, unlimited. They said the leader of the Branwen Tribe was strong and clever, but the Ophiuchus had made her cower like a child. The Gate of the Archer would take great pleasure in finishing her off.

"You all know your assignments. Take the remaining time to prepare yourselves," End commanded. He strode down the staircase to the floor of the atrium. "Cinder. A word."

"Ooo, someone's in trouble," Mercury gloated. Emerald elbowed him in the gut.

Cinder merely glared at him. If he had told End that she had disobeyed his orders and left the academy, she would turn him into deep-fried sushi.

She followed the fire demon down the staircase to the marble statue under the staircase. Salem told her that it was the spirit contained with the Lamp of Knowledge, Jinn, Ozpin's way of paying tribute to a being that found him amusing at best. It mattered little, as the effigy descended into the vault as soon as End placed Lionheart's pocket watch within it, replaced with a state-of-the-art elevator.

"You were supposed to stay in the vault," the Ophiuchus noted. "You did not."

Cinder gulped. "I don't know what Mercury told you, but he is a lying—"

"Mercury told me nothing," End interrupted, instantly muting the Fall Maiden's protests. "Ruby, however, informed me that she was very much aware that you are here. If they know of Mercury's presence as well, then we have lost crucial elements of surprise. We are very lucky that Emerald was wise enough to remain hidden."

"Indeed," Cinder noted. While it was possible that Ruby and her allies would suspect Emerald's presence as the final member of their team, they had no knowledge of her semblance or mystical abilities. They would not be able to see their planned use of her coming. "I apologize, my lord."

"It's done," End waved off. "There is no point dwelling on it, or whatever you found to be so important that you disobeyed my orders. I am not your Teacher, Cinder. I do not give you orders to coddle you. I give them because it is a crucial part of the battle plan meant to keep you safe and give us the best chance at victory."

Cinder snorted. "You are here, my lord. What greater assurance of victory could there be?"

"Power does not guarantee victory, no matter how much it may help," End noted. "You will take the opposite wing from Happy tonight. You will both provide cover fire."

"Cover fire?!" Cinder gasped. "But my lord, the maiden—"

"Will not stand there quietly and wait for you to suck out her powers. I will make the offer, but if Raven refused to simply give us the Relic, it is unlikely she will do so while losing her magic as well," End tossed the pocket watch up and down in his hand. "Not to worry. I will handle Raven and bring her to the Vault myself."

"That's not good enough!" Cinder shouted. "You let her escape once already!"

That was the wrong thing to say. The air temperature rose a noticeable margin. The pocket watch melted to slag as soon as it landed in the demon's palm. Cinder took a fearful step back, her glass heel clicking against the floor. End turned and marched up to her, his eyes narrowed with fury.

"You are correct."

Cinder blinked. "What?"

"Raven did escape me," End repeated. "She escaped me, alone. Happy did his job and I was too busy with Yang to finish it."

"Oh," Cinder remarked. A confident smirk quickly formed on her face. "Then you should—"

"Ensure that you follow the plan," End cut her off, his displeasure palpable in his words. "I alone, no matter how powerful, cannot triumph. But myself, Happy, and three mighty Gates working together, in sync? There's nothing we can't do."

Cinder frowned. "I should be the one to handle Branwen. I can take her maiden powers and open the Vault myself."

"In a lengthy process that can easily be interrupted, especially in combat. We just need to force Raven to make contact with the Vault door to open it. Anyone can do that," End pointed out. "Business before pleasure, Cinder. Do what you have to do before you do what you want to do. You will get the maiden powers after we have secured the Relic for the Queen."

"Not if you kill her before I get the chance," Cinder growled.

End raised an eyebrow. "Do you really think I'm so lacking in control?"

"Just let me handle it myself!" Cinder demanded. "I have the power! I'm strong enough to crush Raven Branwen!"

"Yes. You are. But Raven will not be alone."

"Then I'll crush her weakling allies as well! Wendy is the strongest of them, and she could barely defeat me when I was but a maiden. Now as a Gate I will annihilate her!"

End frowned. "I see. So, you still don't understand."

"Understand what?"

The fire demon crossed his scaled arms in front of his chest. "Your first thought when you learned I knew you'd snuck out was that Mercury had betrayed you."

Cinder scowled. "So?"

"You call them friends to satisfy your Teacher and the Queen, but you still do not understand," End sighed. "How did you defeat the Fall Maiden?"

"Through cunning and skill."

"And?"

"… and with Mercury and Emerald's help," Cinder admitted.

End nodded. "None of you were Amber's equal in power, but together, you were able to defeat her. And you think of them as pawns."

"With all due respect, my lord. What is your point?"

"My point is that even if you do not become a zealot of friendship, you must at least understand the power it grants those who are," End instructed. "Else you shall always be alone. And by extension, powerless."

Cinder grit her teeth, her hands clenching into fists at her sides so that she didn't do something foolish. She couldn't mouth off to the Ophiuchus anymore than she could Salem herself. She had to control herself, use her wit to make her superior see her point, and allow her to go after the Spring Maiden personally. She was to have all the maidens' power, the ability to control all the ethernano on the planet apart from Salem's. She could not risk Branwen either escaping or dying and sending the magic off to some random fool.

"My lord," she said, tempering her voice to be as sweet as she could. "Would any group on Remnant stand a chance against you? If you were going all out, looking to kill—"

"They'd stand a better chance than any of them would alone. The fact that such a chance would still be minuscule is irrelevant." End brushed past her and walked back up the stairs toward Lionheart's office. "You'll be providing cover fire with Happy. That is final. I suggest you familiarize yourself with the school's pillars. As I recall, you have a certain knack for jumping over rooftops."

Cinder bit her lip, stifling her impotent rage. "Yes, my lord."

"Good. And Cinder?"

"Yes."

"We both know you should have been able to last longer against Wendy than you did. If you let your trauma keep you from using your eyes, you'll never reach your full potential. It's your power. Use it."

Cinder's eyes widened, all anger dissipating in an instinctive shiver. No. Never. She hadn't accepted the Scarab for the evolution it provided to the Spirit Slayer Magic in her eyes, she had taken it for the control it allowed. The control to seal it away forever, with no chance of it slipping out ever again.

'I'm sorry, Benjamin.'

'Daddy!'

Never again.

Emerald and Mercury descended down the stairwell, the latter leaning against the railing while the former shuffled towards her former mistress.

"Cinder," Emerald murmured. "Are you okay—"

"Rehearse your performance," Cinder growled, whipping around and marching past the insipid girl. "I have rooftops to grow accustomed to."

"Great," Mercury smirked. "Have fun—ah!"

She shoved the insufferable git over the railing, drawing a hint of a smile from the thud of his landing.

Pyrrha Nikos had asked her if she believed in destiny. If Ruby hadn't so rudely interrupted, she would have answered yes. Because those who controlled their own destinies held power over their own fates. And no one would ever keep Cinder from holding any power ever again.

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"Alright," Wendy said, a soft turquoise light fading from Ruby, Pyrrha, and Oscar's forearms. "This should let you sense the tracking enchantment I put on Cinder. Is it working?"

"It is. I can feel her at Haven, like some sort of tugging in my soul," Pyrrha grinned, clenching her hand into a fist. "She won't get away. I'll chase her to the ends of the world if I have to."

"Yeah, Pyrrha, that's the idea," Ruby nodded. "We've got to rescue Yang and keep them from getting the Relic of Knowledge."

Oscar cringed nervously at the girls, his gaze especially focused on Pyrrha. From what Ozpin had told him, he got that being gung-ho about these sorts of things was a habit of those two, but he couldn't help but be worried that her nemesis's confirmed presence had made the younger Nikos… intense. He'd thought that problem had been dealt with when she and Jaune had talked, but now he feared that it ran far deeper than he'd realized all these months.

"How about you?" Wendy inquired to him. "Oscar? Is it working for you?"

"What?" he muttered, quickly facing the cute Sky Dragon Slayer. "Oh, yeah. It's working great."

"Good," Wendy smiled. "Are you nervous?"

Oscar chuckled. "That obvious, huh?"

Ruby laughed and slapped him on the back. "Don't worry, Oscar. Everyone gets nervous before these things."

"Anyone sensible," Carla added, sitting cross-legged on the couch with her brow furrowed. "Fighting to the death is not an enjoyable situation at the best of times. Being so heavily outmatched hardly helps."

"Any luck on the Future Vision?" Ruby asked.

The white Exceed shook her head. "The most I can manage are flashes. Blue fire and golden light. Lightning in black water."

Qrow frowned, leaning against the wall. "The fire is obviously the Ophiuchus. No clue about the rest."

"The light looked a bit like arrows, I think," Carla mused. "I'm sorry I can't see anymore."

Qrow waved her off. "Don't worry about it. We don't need future sight to know we're in for the fight of our lives."

Oscar gulped, his hand clenching around the Long Memory. He glanced around the living room.

Nora had her hands out, casting a blue tinge over Ren's body, finally succeeding at only refracting light instead of stopping its transmission entirely. She let out a deep breath and shared a quick hug with her boyfriend, but otherwise was completely subdued about the accomplishment.

Jaune stood a bit off from them, one of his ankh shields hovering in front of him. The golden glow flickered, a series of green hexagons shimmering over it for a brief moment before completely disappearing. Ozpin had done his best to impart what knowledge he could to the huntsman of the Shield of Memory, but with so little time to learn and even less to practice, the leader of Team JNPR hadn't had much time to master the technique, let alone incorporate it into his own magic. It didn't help that he kept stealing worried glances towards his girlfriend every few seconds.

Everyone was so terrified, even Ruby with her enthusiasm and Pyrrha with her grudge. And they were all experienced combatants, used to facing off against the most dangerous forces in the world. Oscar had had plenty of spars over the last few months and he had a decent grip on his magic and fighting style, but he had never been in a life-or-death fight against people who were trying to kill him. He couldn't rely on Ozpin to carry him through the battle either, it cost too much energy for the old wizard to take control in combat for longer than a few minutes. And given his crucial role in the plan, if he messed up, everyone would be trouble.

"Don't think like that, Oscar," Ozpin chimed in. "You have trained for this. And even if I cannot do it for you, I will be with you the entire way."

Oscar grimaced, both he and his mental companion knowing he was far from reassured. Having watched Ozpin's conversation with Raven, knowing that the time wizard was intentionally keeping Salem's immortality a secret…

"It is a necessary deception," Ozpin insisted. "I don't like it any more than you do, but Raven deserting and becoming a bandit is one of the better outcomes of our allies learning the truth."

'Do you think maybe part of that is because they had to find it out on their own?' Oscar challenged. "I haven't seen all the memories yet, but it really seems like you're asking them to help you hunt a Beowolf when it's actually a Leviathan."

"Because they would lose all hope if they knew what the metaphorical Leviathan really was."

'Would they? I mean, really, the people in your past might have, but after everything you've heard, do you really think Fairy Tail wizards would be discouraged so easily?' Oscar sighed. 'Look, I'm not trying to accuse you of anything. I've only seen a fraction of what you've been through and I know you're trying your best to do the right thing. If you're not comfortable, I say keep your time with Salem before she became what she is to yourself. That's personal. But the immortality? They need to know about that if you're going to have any chance of winning."

"Winning… one of the hardest things I've ever had to accept is that there might very well never be any 'winning' this war. No special savior in some distant generation. I forgot that with Summer, and I filled her head with a fool's dream…" Ozpin shook his head with the mindscape. "After this battle, I'll tell them. If we do it now, it's just going to distract them from the task at hand."

Oscar nodded. If they tried to pile on such a mind-blowing truth about the war on their allies now, they might very well lose the battle.

"Oscar?" Wendy asked, rousing the young time wizard from his thoughts. "Are you sure you're ready for this?"

The farm boy did his best to smile reassuringly. "As Ruby would say – nope."

"What?" Ruby squawked. "I don't say that."

Pyrrha giggled. "Yes, you do. All the time."

"You get it from me," Qrow chimed in.

"I think you said it every day back at the guild," Carla nodded, a playful smirk crossing her face. "And my future vision is telling me that you'll say it at least a dozen times in the coming week."

Ruby pouted. "Meanies."

Wendy and Oscar chuckled at their friend's embarrassment. As tense as the atmosphere was, it was good to laugh. It might be the last one they ever got.

The Maiden of the Sky clapped a gentle hand on the farm boy's arm. "You blocked Grand Chariot. Jaune and I will take care of the Ophiuchus, so you'll be able to take care of anything the Gates throw at you."

"Thanks. I won't let you guys down," Oscar assured her, enjoying the other blue-haired wizard's palm on his bicep. It was comforting. "Are you going to be okay with this End guy? Even though he sounds like your friend?"

Wendy let out a deep breath, her brown eyes hardening. "I have to be. Jaune and I stand the best chance out of everyone of holding him off. And if he has any clues to Natsu, I have to know. I'm not losing anyone else."

"Wendy," everyone in the room turned to Scarlet, descending from the stairs followed by Raven. The redheaded woman looked to the Sky Dragon Slayer. "It's time."

"Right."

Both women walked towards the center of the room, the memory ritual's runes freshly refreshed on the floor.

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With only a half-hour left until they had to be at Haven, fifteen minutes before they had to set out, they were cutting it far too close. But Scarlet had only agreed to the ritual when Raven had woken up at nightfall, and it had taken time to restore the ritual's symbols from the damage they'd taken when End's fire had nearly burnt the house down, so it couldn't really be helped.

That said, as Wendy placed her palms over Scarlet's scalp, she couldn't help her pounding heart. This was a torture enchantment. She was going to use a torture enchantment on her friend, hear her scream, all in the hope that it would restore her memories. She wanted to do this so badly the first time, but now that she'd seen it fail, seen the heaving, horrified wreck it turned her mentor into, she found her nerves were on fire at the prospect of doing it again.

"Calm yourself, little shrimp," Irene soothed, a spectral hand on the young wizard's shoulder. "She was unsure before. She is determined now."

"Determination will only do so much," Wendy whispered. As strong as Scarlet was, as mighty as Erza's will was, there were still inherent biological limits at play. If all her painful memories were unleashed at once again, it could very well overload her mind and give her a lethal heart attack.

"It will be enough," Scarlet assured her, thinking the Sky Dragon Slayer was talking to her. "I'm ready."

"You heard her," Irene noted. "You don't have time to lose. After the painful memories forge the new path in her brain, it will take a bit to restore the rest."

"Maybe, I can moderate it somehow," Wendy murmured. "Stagger the pace of restoration."

"We don't have time for that," Scarlet protested, glancing fearfully towards Pyrrha. "Give me everything. I can take it."

"Stop stalling, Wendy," Irene advised. "This enchantment was always made to work through brute force. There is no way to lessen the blow from this end without drastically reducing its effectiveness."

This end? Did that mean…

Wendy's eyes widened. "Within her mind. Something to cushion the impact, to guide her along."

This time not just Scarlet, but everyone in the room cocked an eyebrow at her words.

"So, I realize that I'm new to you lot, but does she usually talk to herself?"

"Shut up, Raven."

"Wendy?" Ruby asked, unsure.

Carla took a step forward. "Are you okay, child?"

"Yeah," Wendy grinned. "Let's do this!"

The others looked less than reassured, but they didn't raise a fuss.

On the ghostly plane however…

"You want me to enter her mind and run damage control on the ritual?" Irene asked, the Queen of the Dragon's eyes completely stunned. "You… you realize what I could do in there, correct? If you give me your permission to leave your body and enchant myself into her, I could take control of her body, just like I had tried to do… why would ever let me do that?"

Wendy grinned. "Because I trust you."

Irene recoiled in shock, her mouth opening and closing without any words coming out. The great High Enchanter, the Scarlet Despair, had no response to Wendy's simple declaration.

At last…

"I'll do what I can."

Her spirit shimmered into a fine mist and flowed into Scarlet.

Wendy knew what she'd just done, understood the faith she had just placed in someone who had once shattered every one of Erza's bones. But she did not think it was misplaced. Even in the midst of Remnant's darkness, she would not ignore the light. And whatever she had done, the Sky Dragon Slayer knew that Irene loved her daughter. So, she would trust in that love to protect her friend.

She thrust her fingertips into Scarlet's scalp. An azure glow shimmered over the points of contact and Wendy let herself become lost in the ritual.

Ah, the setup is made. The battle begins.

Lots of important scenes in this chapter, not the least of which is the first one. As you can see, Salem did in fact not instantly come up with the idea of rebellion against the gods. First, she sunk into despair and wanted to do the same thing as Zeref and just erase her mistakes to escape her curse. But then Ruby tells her of Fairy Tail and inspires her to never give up even when the odds seem impossible, a classic protagonist move that could not possibly have ANY negative consequences.

Then we get the Raven scene, which I almost thing goes on a bit long, but it has a lot of awesome stuff in it that I had to get in before the Battle of Haven for certain character arcs. Between Qrow giving her the tongue lashing she so richly deserves, Scarlet giving her a scathing Reason You Suck Speech and using her a foil to give herself the final push to move past her own fear, and Ozpin extending a hand in sympathy, it was a pretty packed time. I think the Oz bit might be my favorite, as it very much shows that while the old wizard certainly has his sins, he does everything he can not to get on a high horse over others, seen in early Volume 6 when he protects Lionheart's legacy both out of pragmatism to make the Battle of Haven a purely heroic narrative for the faunus, and a desire not to let his old friend only be remembered for his mistakes.

End and Cinder's talk might have been the hardest to write, mostly because there was so much I wanted to throw into their dynamic that just wouldn't all fit. Cinder is at a very crucial stage for her arc in the story, but it isn't the most fun to write. That comes later, with the upcoming battle going to have a lot of eventful moments for her.

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

Go Forth and Conquer!