Important announcement in the author's note at the end. Don't worry, unlike most of my author's notes, I'm pretty sure you'll like this one.

Beta-ed by xenosaiyan

A clash with demons. A battle through hell. The sight of a Princess of Stars freed from chains and unleashing her wrath in full, Mard Geer and Kyouka reduced to ash by a hail of golden meteors.

Blake had seen many fantastical sights since coming to Earthland. But watching Sitara rise from Tartaros's trap they'd freed her from, watching her visit divine judgment upon the monsters who would have slaughtered them and turned her into a lab experiment… it could have come out of the climax of one of her fantasy novels.

One of the tame ones. If it had been one of the more… colorful novels, the princess's entourage would have then… played with her… without clothes…

Never before had she been so grateful that Yang was exhausted from the battle, trading barbs in the medical room of Sitara's cave with Weiss, the Ice God Slayer tending to her wounds. Blake had fled their bickering, using the excuse that she was intrigued by the creation of the device that brought them to another dimension. Which she was, but that was just a side benefit to escape the chatter.

Of course, given Ruby was standing right next to a woman who'd just obliterated two of the most powerful demons in the world, that might have been an empty hope.

"That was so awesome!" the red hooded huntress squealed, dashing about the workshop in a flurry of rose petals, acting out the battle they'd just barely survived. "They were all like 'We will kill you all! Muhahaha!', and then you were like, 'No you won't! Feel my golden meteors of justice!' and they were like, 'Gah! Oh no! The justice! It burns!'"

Blake was fond of her leader and her childlike wonder, but sometimes it could be a bit much. The cat faunus hugged the wall of the cave, gently raising the book Levy had given her to cover her face.

Fortunately, Sitara was far more amused by Ruby's exuberance, smiling fondly at the silver-eyed girl as she bounced throughout the lab. The golden-haired woman looked up from her workbench grinning at her hand.

"It's a pity you didn't get to see my Etherious Form in action," she grinned, clenching her fingers into a fist. "It's a bit flashy, but quite the show."

"Ooo!" Ruby cheered, dashing up to the blonde. "Show me, show me, show me!"

Sitara flinched, nervously scratching her cheek. "Well, it's a gigantic hydra…"

"Show me!"

"…um, by gigantic, I mean several stories tall."

"… Show me!"

Blake groaned. She napped the book closed and strode up to Sitara's workbench, looking her team leader straight in the face. "Ruby, if she transforms, the cave will collapse on top of us."

The red hooded girl finally deflated, realization finally overpowering her excitement. "Oh. Right."

Sitara chuckled and gently patted Ruby on the back. "Sorry. I actually need you to leave the room for now. The book is powered by Spirit Slayer Magic and after Mard tinkered with it, I don't want to risk it accidentally drawing in power from your eyes."

"What? Come on," Ruby snorted, dismissively waving her hand. "What are the chances of that happening?"

Blake cocked an eyebrow. "Ruby, that is literally how we got here."

"Oh, right," Ruby sighed. "Fine. You two can make the awesome dimension traveling book yourselves. I'll just… I don't know. Try to keep Weiss and Yang from killing each other."

An explosion sounded from deeper down the cavern. Specifically, from the direction of the infirmary, flurries of black snow floating through the tunnel.

Ruby groaned and clopped out of the lab.

"They just fought for their lives against Tartaros's best," Sitara remarked. "How are they not exhausted? Do they always fight each other so incessantly?"

"They picked it up from their mentors," Blake replied, glancing down at the book they had retrieved from their enemies. There weren't any symbols on it that she recognized from months ago, but the hard leather cover certainly looked similar. "So… this is actually it."

"It might take a bit to get it back in working order, but effectively, yes," Sitara nodded, tapping the pages of the tome, golden light seeping into the paper from her fingertips. "If the device that brought you here really is based on my work, then I should be able to modify this to get you home."

"Incredible," Blake murmured. "We've been searching for months. And now, it's here. It's so close. Being trapped in another world, I was worried it'd take years before we even got a hint."

"That would be one worst-case scenario," Sitara noted. "Though by that point, you might have already given up."

"Given up?" Blake repeated, before chuckling. "I doubt it."

Sitara shrugged. "Take it from someone who's spent three hundred years failing. It can be tempting sometimes. And with your friends in Fairy Tail, the magic you've gained here, who says you wouldn't grow so fond of this new world that your old one would become redundant? It isn't easy to keep yourself motivated to complete an impossible task."

Blake shook her head, a coy smile sneaking over her face. "That's not how we do things. Even before we got the Fairy Tail spirit in us, we weren't the type to back down from a challenge. We were still in huntress school when we went after my old terrorist outfit."

"Your old terrorist…" Sitara took her eyes off the book and tilted her head towards the cat faunus. "Huh. There must be a story behind that. I would never have pegged you for a terrorist."

"I never set out to be one. But I thought it was the only way to save my people," Blake explained. She pointed to her black cat ears as she elaborated further. "On Remnant, people like me with animal traits, faunus, we've faced discrimination and prejudice from humans for centuries. My father tried to form a nonviolent protest group to fight the racism but after decades of trying, its effects were limited at best. Eventually, a faction that favored more violent measures took control of the organization and forced him out. And I… I sided with them."

Sitara's eyes widened. "Oh. You…"

"It was one of the biggest mistakes of my life," Blake declared, melancholy taking hold of her face. "It did work, you know. My father was respected by the elites of Remnant, but the industry leaders who benefited from our cheap labor? The common people on the street? They only began to show us any respect when they saw that we were willing to fight back."

The golden-haired woman nodded, her lips pressing into an understanding, but displeased grimace. "I see. That makes sense. Kindness is good to have, but without strength? Without others fearing the consequence of harming you? People will do whatever benefits them, no matter who is hurt in the process."

Blake sighed. "The leader who took over the White Fang once wrote, 'If one must choose between being feared and loved, tis better to be feared if you are to achieve any common good'."

Sitara cocked an eyebrow. "An interesting point of view. Though, from the fact that you are a 'former' terrorist, I assume you take issue with it."

"I honestly don't know. My father's ways weren't working, at least not quickly. I believe in peace, but how much is that belief worth to people who've lost children because it didn't come fast enough," Blake mused, only for her eyes to harden as the specter of bull horns filled her mind's eye. "But what they opened the door to, the rampant violence and megalomania they fostered, that I refused to be a part of."

"Megalomania? That seems a bit extreme," Sitara said. "But if you refused to be a part of it, if you became a huntress, how are you going to stop the prejudice against your people?"

Blake grinned, Dr. Oobleck's queries at Mountain Glenn filling her ears. "Believe it or not, you're not the first person to ask me that. And honestly, I don't know. I've tried two different paths to peace and abandoned both. Now I'm trying a third and I have no idea if that'll work either. If it doesn't… I suppose I'll try another."

"Why?" Sitara asked. "Why keep trying after so many, drastic failures?"

"Because my goal is worth striving for. Peace is worth striving for, no matter how many mistakes I make," Blake professed. "Even if I know a method isn't working, that doesn't mean I can't seek another that will work better. And I will never stop searching for that path forward."

Sitara frowned, her brow furrowing in thought as she stared at the book. "Did Ruby tell you what I planned to do with this?"

Blake shook her head. "No. Why?"

"No reason. More and more, I'm thinking of abandoning it," the blonde woman proclaimed. "My goal… I'm not even sure if it's what I want anymore. And what I think I do want… it's impossible."

"Only until you make it real," Blake encouraged, patting her friend on the back. "If there's a way, find it. And if that way fails, learn from what went wrong and make a better one. Move forward."

Sitara looked up at her and mirrored the huntress's luminous smile. "Maybe I will. But first, I think I'll handle an easier trial. Like crossing dimensions to get you all home."

Blake sniggered. "Wow. If that's easier, I don't envy your goal."

"Nor I yours," Sitara replied. "I don't mean to discourage you, Blake, but I've been alive a long time. If men were angels, government would not be necessary. People don't need an excuse to hate each other. Having one, even such a petty coward's veil as race… the road ahead of you may not be one you reach the end of in your lifetime."

"Maybe. But I'll never know if I don't try," the cat faunus proclaimed. "And even if I don't, I'll lay the groundwork for someone to reach it in the future. The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step."

"Indeed," Sitara muttered, her hand grazing over the book's pages. "Though some must walk far more than a thousand…"

RWBYRWBYRWBYRWBYFTFTFTFT

"So, you summon the Arma Gigas around yourself, then coat it in ice? That's how you make the mech suit?"

"Essentially. From there my aura reinforces it from within, similar to how I suspect Blake's boost the capabilities of her forms."

"What?! No way! Since when can you fuse your semblance with your magic like that!?"

"It required me to learn a few improvements for my summoning glyphs. Though, isn't fusing your semblance with your magic exactly what you plan to do with your Reaper's Rose Armor?"

"Well, less 'plan' now. Wendy helped me finish it…"

Ozpin allowed a soft, wry smile to ghost across his face, looking down on Ruby and Blake entering the house with their prodigal teammate, the leader chatting animatedly with her white-haired partner. Overhearing the talk of their evolving skills was just the icing on the cake, the warmth of an educator's pride seeping through the old wizard. He'd established the huntsmen academies for many reasons, some less noble that he would have liked, but he had always relished the unique prerogative of watching his students grow.

Of course, a moment later, he was reminded of the exact nature of these particular students, their bond with his old love. The icy grip of fear took hold of his heart, Oscar worriedly inquiring what was causing him such dread.

He kept his thoughts shielded from his partner, thankful that their union was still early enough that such privacy was possible. He trusted the young man and was quite fond of him. He had truly meant to honor his promise to him and bring the rest of their party into the loop on Salem's immortality after the Battle of Haven.

But then Blake and Lucy had arrived and made it clear that Leo had told them everything he knew about Ozma's war. Including the true identity of their adversary.

"Lien for your thoughts?"

Ozpin turned away from the edge of the roof, a warm smile conjured across Oscar's face as Leo strode across the top of the Rose-Xiao-Long house, coming to sit beside him.

"You sure you want them?" Ozpin teased. "There's quite a lot and not all of them are pleasant."

"I figured. I recall you used to have a greater craving for company," Leo smirked. "Now, you're hiding on the roof like some pigeon."

Ozpin reached up and tapped the side of his head. "I'm never without company. Whatever else Ankh did, I do believe he was trying to be kind when he did that."

"He was trying to use a loophole to bring you back without strictly 'bringing you back' and breaking the laws of the universe," Leo noted. "He wanted you to clean up his and his brother's mess."

The former headmaster nodded. "That too. I take it the other Zodiac members were not the only ones to lose faith in their god. Does the Queen have any more advocates of her plan in the Celestial World?"

Leo shrugged. "Some. No one has any love for the Brothers anymore after what they did, but the Silver Spirits are rather split on her solution. Some say it's too risky. Some say justice is worth it, that she can win. The King and Ophiuchus are being run ragged maintaining order."

"I see. So… the fusion…"

"Some see it as death. Some see it as the evolution she intends it as," the lion spirit sighed. "I wish I could give you better news, Ozma."

"It's alright," Ozpin assured him, rubbing an exhausted hand over the face of his host. "Anything else would be a lie. And as Ms. Belladonna and Ms. Heartfilia have implied, those will not help us in this fight."

Leo frowned. "I understand why you did it. Both the immortality and who she is. I've only been on the outskirts of this war and it's the hardest thing I've ever gone through. For you to have been at the forefront… all this time… especially against her—"

"Her actions do not make my own righteous," Ozpin rejected. "I… I try to give everyone a choice about this fight, try to give them a chance to walk away. But even though I tell them of the danger, of what she's capable of… not telling them about her immortality, that there is not victory through strength… I do it to give them hope. To try to be kind… about leading them to the slaughter… but I'm still leading them there."

"You do what you can," Leo noted. "Do you really think Team RWBY would join her? Blake ain't exactly pleased with you, but she isn't pulling for her either."

"You don't know everything that happened. She doesn't know everything that happened, what I did in my fear," Ozpin murmured. "And I don't know what they'll do if they find out. We were outgunned before. Now with Atlas under her control, if they, if Fairy Tail, go over to her side, she's won. No force on Remnant will be able to stop her from building her army of Eclipse Etherious."

The old wizard glanced down to the isle of Patch, a beautiful emerald oasis plopped amidst the dark waters of the Gulf of Vale. The idyllic town, a settlement that wouldn't have been out of place on Earthland, shouldn't have been possible in the chaos of Remnant. And yet it was.

It probably had something to do with the sirens ringing through the air, the militia assembling to head off the danger drawn to the village by the Relic of Knowledge. Even here in paradise, the war that Salem sought to end threatened the innocent. All while he sought to maintain the status quo.

He knew why he stood against his love. But he could easily understand why she stood against him as well. Could he risk his enemy gaining even more strength?

A firm, comforting hand suddenly clasped itself around his shoulder. Ozpin looked up, only to be greeted by Leo's encouraging grin.

"You've changed, Ozma," he remarked.

Ozpin snorted, pointed to Oscar's face. "I'm aware."

"Not like that," Leo clarified. "I don't mean that to demean you or to praise you. It's simply an observation. You used to be so open, so eager to help anyone you saw who needed help, even when they didn't ask for it."

"And look where that got us."

"Perhaps. It is harder to be a leader than a hero, that is for sure," the lion spirit remarked. "But you cannot lead people if they don't trust you. And no matter how much they may want to, they can't trust you if they know you're not telling them something important. She has Yang. She's going to tell her. Do you really think you'll have any chance of the others trusting you again if they have to find out the truth from her?"

Ozpin didn't respond. He didn't need to. The answer was obvious. And yet…

"If I tell them, even if they believe me, I don't know everything," he pointed out. "There are gaps in her history that I only have her word on, if anything. I only knew Team RWBY's first names after all. If they ask about End or Happy, why they've chosen her side… I don't have all the answers."

"Neither do I," Leo acknowledged. "But there is someone who does. Someone who can show them everything, without bias. Does she have a question left?"

Ozpin sighed. "She has two."

"Even better. So… will you do it?"

"I don't have much of a choice," the ancient time wizard declared. "Team RWBY are here at last. Fairy Tail has been freed from their spheres. Atlas answers to her whether they know it or not. The flashpoint is here. I've tried to play things safe for so long, keep humanity secure behind the kingdoms' walls. I can't risk our entire species on a coin flip, but I don't think we have any choice but to gamble now."

"The coin is already in the air. Heads or tails, we have to call a side," Leo remarked. The noble spirit of the lion rose to his feet. "I'll head below. Gather everyone up. Come down when you're ready."

"Right," Ozpin nodded, gulping down a thick ball of nerves. What he was about to do went against every strategy he'd used for millennia. The armor of secrecy he'd built to shield mankind from the true threat it faced was about to have a giant hole ripped out of its side.

If he got this wrong, everything he'd built over the last eon would come crumbling down. Team RWBY and Fairy Tail would go over to Salem and nothing could stop her then.

"Ozma!"

Ozpin glanced around and caught Leo shooting him a massive, pearly white smile. "No matter the circumstances, no matter what either of us may have or may not have done… it's really good to see you again."

The ancient wizard's throat closed up, wet tears trickling down Oscar's cheeks. Suddenly, he wasn't a millennia-old warrior with the blood of more people than he could count on his hands. For just a moment, his sins were relieved from his shoulders.

For just a moment, he was just a boy again, crying in the corner clutching a golden key to his chest, begging it to open. It never would, he never had the talent for his parents' magic.

But the man in golden armor appeared anyway in a flash of light, traversing worlds under his own power just to kneel down and pull the boy into a hug he desperately needed. Letting him know he wasn't a failure.

"Thank you, Leo," Ozpin replied. "I've missed you so much, old friend."

RWBYRWBYRWBYRWBYFTFTFTFT

When Wendy opened her eyes, it was to a face she'd never seen before.

"Salutations, Wendy Marvell!" the orange-haired girl brightly greeted, bearing down on the wizard's body. "I am glad to see that you have regained consciousness!"

"Gah!" the Sky Dragon Slayer yelped, leaping up in surprise. Unfortunately, that just meant she jumped right into the girl, their foreheads colliding with a metallic clang. Wendy collapsed back to the bed beneath her, clutching at her forehead as her skull reverberated with pain. "Ow."

The girl above her, completely unfazed by the collision, frowned. "Oh, I'm sorry. I did not mean to startle you."

"Ugh… it's… it's alright," Wendy assured her, scrunching up against the headboard of her bed. "Who… who are you?"

The girl beamed at her with a radiant smile. "I am Penny Polendina! It is a pleasure to meet you."

Wendy blinked. "Penny… Polendina? Ruby's robot friend?"

"Affirmative! I am both Ruby's friend, and a robot!"

"Right," the Sky Dragon Slayer murmured. "Forgive me, but I thought you were dead."

"Understandable. My chassis was torn to pieces on international television," the girl nodded, her smile remaining just as bubbly as if she were explaining she'd woken up late for school. "But now, I have been repaired and am once again combat ready!"

"Oh… um… good?" Wendy stuttered.

"Calm down, little shrimp," Irene comforted her, flashing into spectral existence against the wall. "She is who she says she is. Your friends got you out. You're back on Patch."

Back on Patch? The last thing she remembered was being blasted into the forest by End's breath attack, Lucy still in the firing line despite her best efforts. The enemy… his power… how could they have survived, let alone escaped?

Nonetheless, as Wendy calmed her breathing and glanced around the room, she found that her ghostly advisor was correct. She recognized Ruby's bedroom from the last time she was on Patch, Beowolf figurines and weapon magazines cluttering the shelves, while a few old Crescent Rose blueprints stuck out of the stuffed closet door. Even the mattress that had been brought in for her during her last stay was still there, though now an unconscious Ren laid down on it, a snoring Nora draped over his body. And she wasn't the only one who'd fallen asleep watching over her friend.

The Sky Dragon Slayer glanced to the foot of her bed, Carla gently snoring atop her blankets.

Penny noticed her gaze and grinned. "According to Ruby, she was the one who retrieved you after you crashed. She hasn't left your side since."

"She never does," Wendy replied, a soft smile ghosting over her lips. Her partner always had her back.

And she'd lied to her so much lately. She'd done it to keep the promise she'd made to Irene, but still… the only time Carla had ever hid the truth from her was when she'd thought her life's purpose was to kill Wendy and she didn't want to go through with it. And even then, she'd immediately told her what she'd thought was the whole truth as soon as it became relevant. The Sky Dragon Slayer had been feeding her fibs about 'Grandeeny's notes'.

Friends didn't lie to friends about something like this. Irene may have been their ally now, but the last Carla heard she'd tried to steal Wendy's body, reshaped all Fiore with Universe One, and came closer than anyone to killing Erza. If it came out in another way, any other way but from her, who knew how she'd take it. She might think that the former Queen of Dragons was trying to hijack her body again.

She'd ask Irene about it later. After she'd helped bring back Erza's memories, there was no way the others would hold the Alvarez War against the Scarlet Despair. Right?

"Sensational!" Penny declared. "Anyway, Mr. Loke asked me to see if you were up for coming downstairs. Apparently, Professor Ozpin had information to disclose to everyone."

"Information?" Wendy repeated, raising an eyebrow. "Um, sure. Does anyone need any healing?"

"Oh yes," Penny nodded. "Blake, Pyrrha, and Ren were all heavily injured in the battle, while Ms. Raven has a concussion."

"They were?" Wendy frowned, her gaze returning to Ren's slumbering form.

If she'd been awake, she could have fixed them up in no time. But because she'd been incapacitated and unable to provide immediate medical attention, who knew what sort of long-term injuries had had time to set in? She didn't regret protecting Lucy from End's attack, but it was a sobering reminder that, in a purely strategic sense, she had a greater burden on her shoulders than her friends. They could all defeat their enemies, but only she could put their allies back together.

She missed Ms. Porlyusica.

Wendy pushed the covers off her and hopped out of bed. She unstrapped Fairy Scale and Endless River from around her forearms and set both down next to Carla. After that, she knelt down next to Ren and took a deep breath, refilling her origin with the ethernano in the air. Thank goodness Raven was nearby, or even that simple task would have cost her comrade precious time.

"I'll see what I can do about getting the others in shape to get downstairs," she told Penny. "Let Loke and Ozpin know it might be a bit though."

"Affirmative," Penny saluted. "I will relay your message!"

"Thank you," Wendy replied, an embarrassed blush powdering her cheeks. "And, Penny, sorry about the awkwardness before. It's nice to finally meet you."

Penny beamed at her. "It is very nice to meet you, too, Wendy. I hope that we can expand our mutual friendship with Ruby and the others to include each other."

"I think we can do that."

"Sensational!"

With that, the orange-haired girl strode out of the room.

"Well, that girl is the most pleasant Machia I've ever met," Irene remarked. "Granted, the one I spent the most time with was Wahl, so she doesn't have much competition."

Wendy cocked an eyebrow. "A Machia? On Remnant?"

Irene nodded. "I've only overheard bits and pieces of what went on in Atlas, but from what I've gathered, her father used data from the Relic of Creation to bring her about and didn't realize what he'd created. She's not just a robot with aura that can be reprogrammed on a whim. She's a living, self-sustaining, sentient being. She just happens to have a metal body."

"And if she's a Machia," Wendy grinned, a realization brightening her mind. "Then she can use magic. Even if she isn't as powerful as Wahl, we should train her!"

"A wise course of action. Irritating as he could be, Wahl's ability to reconfigure his body was quite useful. Even if she can't use his Weakness magic, she should still be a formidable—"

"Wendy?"

The Sky Dragon Slayer's eyes widened at the familiar voice.

She slowly turned around, coming face-to-face with her partner's suspicious eyes.

"Carla," Wendy gulped. "You're awake."

"You were talking to someone," Carla stated, knowing it to be fact. "You've been talking to someone when no one else is around. Ever since Oniyuri."

"Well… um…"

"Wendy, please," the white Exceed pleaded. "What's wrong? I can't help you if I don't know what's going on."

Wendy swallowed a ball of nerves. "No, you can't. But it's not a problem, I promise. It's just… it's just…"

"Tell her."

"Huh?"

Wendy glanced towards Irene, who leaned against the wall with indifference.

"I was primarily worried about Erza's reaction to my presence," the Scarlet Despair explained. "But she recognized my presence during the restoration of her memories. At this point, keeping it from the others isn't likely to do much good. She'll probably mention it herself sooner or later."

Wendy chuckled, a bead of sweat dripping down her forehead. "Yeah. That does sound like something Erza would do."

"What?!" Carla squawked. "See, that! What is that? Who are you talking to?"

Wendy turned back to her partner and took a deep breath. If she had permission, then there was no point in stalling any longer.

"Carla," the young girl spoke. "Irene Belserion is inside me."

She'd expected her partner to freak out, for her to explode in shock and worry. She'd expected her to be furious with her for keeping such a crucial secret, that such a dangerous former enemy who'd tried to take over her was still around.

Instead, Carla's face twisted into an expression of confusion and disgust. "What?"

Wendy blinked. How was she supposed to be more clear than… oh.

Irene's face fell into her palm. "Shrimp, please rephrase that."

RWBYRWBYRWBYRWBYFTFTFTFT

"So let me get this straight," Ruby said, rubbing two fingers into her forehead. "Erza's mom's ghost, who's also the inventor of Dragon Slayer magic, is bound to you?"

"Well, technically her spirit is enchanted into my body, but essentially yes."

"Right," Ruby continued. "And she's been teaching you useful enchantments, including the torture-y one that you used to bring back Erza's memories?"

"Yes."

Ruby sighed. "Okay then. Not a great secret to keep, but no one got hurt, right?"

The entire group had responded to Loke's summons and congregated in the Xiao-Long living room, even the injured being lifted over to the couch. Whatever Professor Ozpin had to tell them, it was something he only wanted to say once.

Wendy had pushed through her own wounds to begin tending to the injured, currently on Raven's concussion after she had disclosed to them all the truth she'd just revealed to Carla upstairs. The white Exceed frowned throughout the explanation of Irene's presence, but she did all she could to make Pyrrha, Ren, and Blake comfortable on the couch as they waited their turn. Ruby recognized that she was far from angry at her partner's secret. More concerned that she'd felt the need to do so.

As for the other Fairy Tail members…

"Huh," Gray remarked, seemingly unsure of how he should react. "Well, as long as she doesn't try to take your body again, I don't see the harm in having her around if Erza doesn't."

"She did help restore her memories," Lucy noted. "Are you okay with this, Erza?"

"She hurt you. Abandoned you," Weiss pointed out with a scowl. "If you don't want to forgive her, you don't have to."

Erza shrugged. "Thank you, Weiss. But I do, and I have. Besides, this way, Pyrrha gets to meet her grandmother."

"What?" Pyrrha stuttered, breaking away from guiltily staring at Penny. "Oh. I mean… sure. I remember what grandpa was like, so having a grandmother shouldn't be too different. Right?"

"Depends," Ren advised. "I can't account for the 'dragon enchanter ghost' factor, but from what little I remember of my grandparents, my grandmother spent far more time giving me candy than my grandfather. Though, he certainly did as well."

"Really?" Nora grinned. "Awesome! Pyrrha, your grandma is a dragon ghost that gives you candy, and your mom can beatdown a Gate! Your family is awesome!"

"Right. My… family…" Pyrrha murmured, pointedly avoiding meeting her teammates' gaze, shame filling her emerald eyes. She looked to Professor Ozpin. "How soon can we go after Jaune and Yang?"

"As soon as everyone is well," the former headmaster said, nervously glancing at the floor. "If you still wish to after you've heard what I have to say."

"What?" Taiyang barked.

Uncle Qrow calmed him with a hand on his shoulder, but even he couldn't hide his confusion at the wizard's words. "Oz, what are you talking about?"

"Yeah. Why would we not want to rescue our friends?" Weiss demanded. "Who knows what horrors Salem is inflicting on them right now!"

"Okay, everyone calm down," Ruby insisted, placing a placating hand on her partner. "I'm sure Professor Ozpin didn't actually mean we wouldn't go save them."

Ozpin frowned. "I didn't. But whether you will believe they still need saving… I do not know."

"Still need saving?" Raven repeated. The former bandit leaned forward in her chair, her head tilted in befuddlement. "I thought I knew what this was about, but… that truth wouldn't change whether…"

Loke placed a comforting hand on Ozpin's shoulder, receiving a grateful nod in return. The professor glanced at Blake and Lucy, before taking a deep breath and casting his gaze across everyone in the room who bore a Fairy Tail guildmark.

"Sitara Astra Lumos Estrella Malina," he proclaimed. "You all knew her. You all called her friend. She created the book that sent Team RWBY back in time, and she fought beside the Strongest Team against the White Witch in the battle that saw you all sealed away."

"Um, yeah," Ruby replied, cocking an eyebrow. "Sitara's awesome. But what's that got to do with anything?"

Ozpin hesitated a moment, then took one, final gulp. "Take the first letter of each of her names and put them together. What does it spell?"

"Ugh!" Weiss groaned. "We don't have time for word games—"

"Weiss!" Blake interjected, her dour amber eyes downcast on the ground. "It's 'S', 'A', 'L', 'E', 'M'. Salem."

Lucy nodded, looking no more pleased about the matter. "Sitara is Salem."

Weiss's eyes widened, joined by Gray, Wendy, and Carla. Even Erza couldn't keep her mouth from listing open with shock.

As for Ruby, her mind froze completely, the entire world seeming to stand still. The light of the shattered moon beamed down through the window, the broken celestial body trapped in the black mire of the night sky.

"Wha… what?" Ruby murmured, sweat quickly flushing down her forehead. "Blake… Lucy… come on. That's… that's ridiculous."

"It's impossible," Weiss added. "Salem is Cinder and Watts' master. She's Rosenflos' master. Sitara would never… She'd never…"

"She wouldn't do the things Salem's done," Gray jumped in. "She's our friend! Why would she want to do the things she's done? Why would she want to wipe out humanity—"

"But Salem doesn't want to wipe out humanity," Carla pointed out, staring furiously as Ozpin. "Does she?"

Ozpin glanced away. "From a certain point of view, she does."

"A certain point of view?" Carla repeated, her paws curling into fists.

"Okay, let's all just calm down," Wendy advised, striding into the center of the room. "I mean, it's probably just some evil possessing her, right?"

"It's got to be," Qrow argued. "I mean, come on. Even just logically, this Sitara person lived back in your time. If something's not using her body as a meatsuit, she would have died of old age long ago—"

"Sitara is immortal," Erza declared.

Qrow froze. Slowly but surely, he, Taiyang, Pyrrha, Ren, and Nora turned to the Queen of the Fairies.

"What?!"

"She's immortal," Erza repeated. "Completely ageless and unkillable. I've seen her head get blown off, get cut in half, and even had her body utterly disintegrated by Gildarts. She recovered from everything in moments."

Qrow stumbled back. "But then how… Oz… you have a plan, right? We can stop her, right?"

Ozpin said nothing. Instead, he snatched up the Relic of Knowledge from the coffee table and let the lamp jingle in the open air.

"I've kept far too much from you all. I had good reasons. At least, I thought I did. I've been afraid of failing for so long… I know I'm not the man I was, not while I've been in its grip," the ancient wizard explained, looking old, so exhausted, even within Oscar's youthful looks. "I don't know how to convince you all that I'm telling the truth after all my lies. I don't have all the details you'd want even if I did. I know nothing of the fate of Natsu Dragneel, or how End came to command his body. But she does."

"S… she?" Ruby squeaked. "Professor, what are you talking about?"

"There's a spirit in the lamp," Raven elaborated. "She can't see the future, but she knows everything about the present and past. She can answer three questions a century. Lionheart and I used the first years ago."

"You did?" Taiyang inquired. "Why?"

Raven paled, shocked he'd actually addressed. The bandit queen swallowed. "I wanted to find out how to destroy Salem."

Ruby's father nodded. "I see. And?"

Raven looked away. "She said there was no way."

"But there has to be!" Qrow shouted. "There has to be a way to beat her!"

Loke sighed. "Jinn."

As soon as the words left the Celestial Spirit's mouth, the high pitch of a church bell rang through Ruby's head. The world around her seemed to shift, the color of every object shifting into a slightly different shade. When she glanced over to the window, tiny particles of dust were frozen within the moonlight.

The azure heart of the lamp glowed a soft sapphire, its golden chains jingling as it rose into the air. A cloud of blue smoke rose out from its confines, coalescing around the center of the room. And from that cloud, emerged a woman.

Ruby's eyes widened, the women's blue skin only barely concealed by a few scant golden chains, her long lustrous hair clearly ethereal, but somehow still present.

"Greetings," she spoke, a playful smirk flashing across her face. "I am Jinn, a being created by Ankh, the God of Light, to aid humanity in their pursuit of knowledge."

"They know that, as you know," Ozpin grunted. "You can skip the rest of the introduction."

Jinn turned to him, her smile not fading as she glanced over him and those around him. "The old man, Lord Leo, and the little, terrified bird all in the same room. This is a treat. It's so good to see you all."

"Lady Jinn," Loke nodded. He gestured to Ruby and those around her. "They will have the query for you."

"Indeed," Jinn grinned, floating over to the silver-eyed girl. "And just what will you ask, Ruby Rose? What does The Scarlet Reaper wish to know?"

Ruby pressed her lips together. "Me? I don't know. Maybe Erza could—"

"It's alright, Ruby," her teacher spoke up, her voice soft and reassuring. "You can do this. All you have to do is ask."

Ruby paled, glancing at all her friends' faces, praying that one of them would speak, would voice their own will to inquire to the divine spirit before them.

But none of them did. From Weiss, to Blake, to Wendy, to Pyrrha, and even her own father, everyone was looking to her with complete confidence. Looking to her to ask the question, to make sense of all the confusion that'd been marring them since the Fall of Beacon. Looking to her to lead them forward.

Surrounded by family and friends… and she'd never felt more alone in her life.

That… was her burden. She couldn't fail to bear it. She had to fix everything. And to do that, she had to understand what was going on.

"How did Sitara become Salem and plan to do whatever she's planning?" she asked.

Jinn's smile grew. "Good. You'd be surprised how many waste words on a narrow field. Your question reaches wide. You will gain a great deal of knowledge from it."

The blue woman snapped her fingers and the world dropped away.

Fun fact, I don't usually cry at media, either my own or others, but for some reason, I could not stop tearing up while writing and reading Ozpin's short flashback to Ozma's childhood with Loke.

Now then, important announcement time. As those of you who've been following me for a while may recall, I traditionally take the month of November off in order to catch the opening few episodes of the new RWBY Volume and see what I can apply to my stories. However, that was back when this story slot was a weekly update and, more importantly, I am more than aware that you all will come at me with torches and pitchforks if I make you wait a full month for the lore dump that this entire story has been building up since the beginning. And since quality torches and pitchforks have been in ample supply recently, I wish to endeavor to keep you from having reason to point them towards me.

Thus, there will be an update NEXT WEEK, before I take November off.

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

Go Forth and Conquer!