Beta-ed by xenosaiyan and MasterPrince713

"Who was that?" Jaune demanded, striding down the hall after End. "Who was that woman?"

End sighed. "Summer Rose, Ruby and Yang's mother."

"Who is she really?" Jaune asked again. "Ruby didn't talk about her mom much, but she did say that she was dead, and everyone around her thought the same. Raven would have had a link to her—"

"Raven's Kindred Link was severed upon Summer's death," End cut in. "And make no mistake, despite her revival, she did die."

Jaune's eyes narrowed. "Died at your hand? And she just decided to join up once you brought her back and said sorry?"

End chuckled. "You think she believed us after that? She tried to return to her family and the timeline nearly wiped out everything she cared about just like we'd warned. It was hard to deny we were telling the truth then."

"So she signed up with Salem?"

"What else could she do?" End rhetorically queried. "She couldn't let her family, or anyone that might come into contact with her family, know she was alive. She wasn't enough of a coward to run and hideaway like Raven. Even if she tried to act as huntress elsewhere, she'd have to acquire a new identity and a new license, and, as she now knew, it would all be pointless anyway. Killing a few Grimm doesn't matter when everyone, including those she'd in theory save, would be slaughtered by the Umbral Spirit King's invasion. If she wanted to help people, save the world, we were the only option. And I must say, she's improved our plans by leaps and bounds, taking Atlas with almost no bloodshed."

Jaune grimaced, not particularly thrilled with the news that Atlas had been taken over. But despite his sudden fear for Weiss's wellbeing, there wasn't much he could do at the moment. Though, he had a feeling he'd have to decide how to handle what little he could do very soon.

He and End walked on through the castle, first to the demon's room to retrieve a spare black cloak for the blond, who hadn't had the opportunity to replace his destroyed hoodie since Beacon, and then deeper into the fortress. The huntsman had been promised a deeper look into Salem's strategy for the Gods and it seemed he was going to get it.

And honestly, Jaune was hoping that it would work, that it was enough to convince him to get on Team Salem. The Queen's methods were monstrous, and if Pyrrha hadn't made it out of any of her near-death experiences, he probably wouldn't even be considering the option of joining her. He'd be going after her head, whether he'd found out about the immortality Ozpin had kept from them or not.

But the fact was, even more than killing Salem was impossible with the resources at their disposal, it wouldn't help in the bigger picture. The Umbral Spirit King would still be coming to murder all of humanity and they would have removed their biggest guns from play. Of course, what if the blowback from those guns destroyed everything they sought to protect anyway…

Ergh! No wonder Ozpin had been so hesitant about this. That whole story about turning people into weapons, and he couldn't even claim that he was doing it to save anyone. Just stave off the inevitable. Jaune didn't like having been kept in the dark about all this very important information, but he got why the headmaster had felt the need to do so.

"We're here," End declared, throwing open a towering set of double doors. "Welcome to the planning center."

Jaune's eyes widened, though not for the reasons he'd anticipated. He'd expected some sort of laboratory of eldritch horrors, an even more demonic version of Neo-Hell's Core. Instead, he got a student's dorm room during cram time.

The walls were nearly completely covered with posters of ancient glyphs and runes, threads of golden string connecting several together and forming them into new hand-drawn, more elaborate symbols. Strewn across the various obsidian tables were piles of intricate technical blueprints of cannons, webs, and…

Jaune snatched up the largest blueprints on top of the pile, recognizing the familiar picture. "Is this… Amity Coliseum?"

"Very soon to be the Amity CCT Tower," End revealed. "We'd been planning to launch a network of satellites both to ensure worldwide communications and to wield orbital firepower against the Gods for some time now but acquiring the resources would be difficult even for one of the kingdoms. However, then General Ironwood of all people came up with the brilliant idea to use the Coliseum chassis to cut down the necessary expenditures into the realm of possibility. What would have taken years, perhaps decades, to construct is now nearly ready to launch."

"The world will have communications back," Jaune whispered, only for a frown to wrinkle his face. "Which would mean a lot more if you guys hadn't been the ones to destroy Beacon Tower in the first place."

End sighed. "Cinder was only supposed to—"

"Get the Fall Maiden powers, so you've said," Jaune cut in. "But what happens if she jumps her leash again. You couldn't keep her in line at Haven after all."

"Cinder does not respond well to brute force. The Queen disciplines her to keep her from overstepping herself, but if that brat has anything in common with her sisters, it's her durability," End noted. "Beat her down all you like. Unless you kill her, which we don't do to our own, she'll just pop right back. Now that Summer is here though she'll be able to coax her into willingly learning from her mistakes. Rest assured; the Fall of Beacon won't happen again."

"Cinder has sisters… oh no," Jaune muttered, piecing together what Summer being the one able to corral the Gate of the Archer must mean. "Ruby and Yang… oh, that's not gonna be good."

"Nope. No idea how the hell Summer plans to work that miracle," End nodded. "But we're not here to talk about Etherion infused with my power or the endless soap opera that is the Rose-Xiao-Long family. You want to know if we can help you achieve your purpose."

"Ah, yeah, my purpose," Jaune moaned. "We talking about what you think it is or what I think it is?"

"In this case, they're one in the same," End reasoned. "You want to protect your friends and the only way to do that is to fight, and kill, Ankh and Seram."

Jaune frowned. "Is it? I mean, they're gods. The Gods. We may not have a chance in hell against the Umbral Spirit King, but there's no way they're less powerful than him."

A thin smile slithered over End's fanged mouth. "They have more raw magic energy. But power? Power depends on—"

"The situation," Jaune finished, recalling Erza's lesson from Haven. "Preparation. Optimizing and exploiting every available advantage."

"Set the conditions how you want them to be, and you can win the battle before it starts," End grinned, looking on the blond huntsman with blooming pride. "In practical terms, both the Gods and the Umbral Spirit King's forces outmatch us in raw magic to such a degree that we stand no chance against them in a traditional fight. The gap between their energy is irrelevant to us. But the difference between them is that we have no idea when, where, or how the Umbral Spirit King is going to attack, nor do we have any method of gaining intelligence that could change that situation. And trust me, Salem has been experimenting on Grimm for centuries in an effort to try. The Gods on the other hand…"

The horned demon strode over to the wall and smacked his claw against the largest and most intricate glyph of the menagerie, spread across several massive posters. "Them, we have plenty of information on. And the tools to exploit their weaknesses."

Jaune cocked an eyebrow. "I know you have a high opinion of me, but I've only had magic for a few months now. Care to put that in layman's terms?"

"It's an enchantment," End revealed. "Universe Omega."

"Universe…" Jaune murmured, his brow furrowing. "That sounds familiar."

"It's gone through extensive modification and evolution over the millennia, not the least of which is the fusion of my curse power into the matrix, but the first iteration was used during the Alvarez War. Wendy may have mentioned it to you," End elaborated. "Back then, it merely reshaped continents. Now, it will chain down gods, rend their souls, and allow our army the opening to both avenge the old world and save the new."

"Again, layman's terms?"

End sniggered, clearly enjoying the huntsman's gumption. "Universe Omega will bind the Gods' essence with Remnant's, trapping them in physical form and drastically reducing their abilities. Also, it'll hurt. A lot."

"Of course," Jaune replied. "And they'll just step on this enchantment because?"

"They have to. They set the rules of the Relics and even they can't break or change them. As soon as all four are gathered, they have to immediately teleport to their location. We control when and where they arrive and the instant they do, they'll be trapped."

"Trapped in their huge dragon forms?" Jaune inquired. "I'm not saying the handicap won't help, making sure they can't one-shot the planet or take out the moon again is great, but couldn't we just use this Universe Omega thing on the Umbral Spirit King instead?"

End groaned. "Would that we could. But the enchantment is made specifically to work on gods and gods alone, based on research from The Queen's past time with them and analysis of the Relics. We'd have to tune it to the Umbral Spirit King's unique essence as a higher Umbral Spirit, which we have no way of doing, and even if we could, a Universe Enchantment is one of the few things that can bypass the protection we'll gain from the last Fairy Sphere. It's likely the spirit elements of our Eclipse Etherious would be just as vulnerable when they had to move in to attack."

Jaune pursed his lips together, trying to come up with any other flaws he could see in the plan. They had no way to bring a battle with the Umbral Spirit King on their terms. They had a way to put the Gods right where they wanted, weaken them, and slam them with all the power Remnant had to offer. Based on everything he'd learned since Beacon, from Erza, from End, from Ozpin, and even just his own experience, taking a shot at the gods was a better option compared to waiting around for the Umbral Spirit King to execute them.

Save for one detail he was pretty sure was the reason Ozpin had been so afraid of the plan for so long.

"Look, you can praise my gumption, or cunning, or whatever all you want. The fact is, even with Wendy backing me up, you still kicked my ass back at Haven," Jaune pointed out. "No matter how clever, or persistent, or plucky you are, you still need enough strength to hit in the same weight class. You really think humanity, even all together, can get in the ring with Ankh and Seram, even crippled?"

"No," End bluntly responded. "That's what the mass-Ascension and enchantment with my and the final Fairy Sphere's power is for."

"Oh, right," Jaune noted, nervously scratching the side of his head. That was a fair point.

End sauntered over to the blueprint table and leaned against its side. "Strength, training, ingenuity, perseverance, intelligence, and preparation. These, among other aspects, form power. Through power, we can achieve our purposes."

"And what's yours?" Jaune challenged. "You talked about Ren killing the Nuckelavee, huntsmen killing Grimm or protecting people, but what about you, great and powerful demon you are? You in this for revenge?"

"Revenge is an indulgence, one my trauma has unfortunately left me more vulnerable to than I would wish," End scowled. "I need to do what I need to do before I do what I want to do, else I'll lose everything I seek to protect."

Jaune raised an eyebrow. "Your purpose is to protect-?"

"I had another once. To kill my creator, my father. To finally end his pain," the demon spoke on, embarrassedly glancing away to purposefully ignore Jaune's question. "I failed him. Failed him because I had no control. I won't fail my friends now."

Jaune sighed. He could understand that feeling. The demand in his mind that he do his part to the fullest extent of his ability. It was what had driven him to learn every trick he could to help, from Vacuum Shields to his semblance. His friends were priceless to him and he would do everything he could to back them up.

"You said at Haven that I'm your pick for a spot on the Gates," the blond huntsman said. "That still true?"

End perked up, an air of hope wafting over his face. "It is. If anything, our battle there only confirmed that you are worthy."

Jaune took a deep breath, absorbing the information, and then nodded to his benefactor. "Everything I've learned, everything that's going on… I can't help my friends, can't fulfill my purpose, without power. As I am, I can help. But against enemies that are on another level even from Fairy Tail, we need more. If I can provide that, I'll do whatever it takes."

End smirked. "Are you saying-?"

"I accept your offer," Jaune confirmed. "Put me in the Ascension Chamber and I will become an Eclipse Etherious."

End let out a hearty laugh of pure joy. He marched over to the Holy Barrier Wizard and clapped him on the shoulder like a proud older brother, his skin warm and comforting like a fireplace in winter.

"You're making the right choice, Jaune," The Ophiuchus assured him. "We're going to save the world, together."

"Together," Jaune repeated, throwing on his best poker smile.

Somehow, he actually felt a bit guilty about manipulating the fire demon. End was a natural disaster waiting to happen, but he was genuine in his attempts to bond and befriend them, as well as his intentions for Remnant. But unfortunately, as Jaune himself could attest to after watching Pyrrha drop everything to go after Cinder at Haven, good intentions did not automatically equate to good things for everyone, especially when trauma was involved.

The truth was, Jaune was not certain that Salem's side was the 'right' side to be on, no matter the stakes or the current lack of other options. Maybe her actions, the attack on Haven and whatever they'd gotten up to in Atlas, really were the only way to save as many people as possible. But there was also a good chance they weren't and The Queen, afflicted by her own trauma, wouldn't be able to accept that the plan she'd spent millennia on, that she'd murdered people for, wasn't the right thing to do.

The fact was, whether his friends chose to go along with the Universe Omega plan or against it, they needed the power to act on their ideological decision or it would all just be meaningless moralizing. And having an Eclipse Etherious at their back would certainly provide them with some welcome firepower no matter who they ended up fighting, either Salem or the Gods.

There was a foreboding itch at the back of Jaune's mind, something concerning how this 'army' of all humanity would be assembled. A simple question that he'd need to raise in order to make his own decision.

But not yet. Something told him that it'd be in his best interest to be able to go mano-e-mano with Salem's faction, just in case he got the answer he feared and had to fight his way out.

Jaune remembered Wendy's words from back on Patch, that he couldn't die for his friends. He had no intention to, and he'd make sure that none of them needed to die for everyone either. No more Pyrrha throwing herself at Cinder, or Yang cutting off her own arm to warn them. He would live for them, and they would live.

They would be free to live however they chose.

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As she laid atop Yang's old bed and stared at the ceiling of the Xiao-Long house, Pyrrha wondered when she'd lost control of her life.

She used to know what she wanted, what was right, what she could do. When she'd felt alone and isolated on her pedestal as The Invincible Girl, she'd gone to Beacon to get away from her fame. When she'd drowned in guilt and failure after The Fall of Beacon, she'd thought she could persevere by pouring herself into hard work, training to make sure that Cinder never hurt anyone ever again. But now? After those same efforts had led to her leaving her partner to be captured and then the truth of the great shadow conflict had been revealed to her, she knew the truth.

It was useless. Everything she'd done was completely and utterly useless. At best.

Most of her efforts had only made things worse.

"Alright, I believe you're in as good shape as you can be after that last healing session. You'll still need to rest so your body is ready for Wendy's next spells."

Pyrrha sighed. Case in point.

Penny Polendina, the girl she'd killed, stood over her, running scanners down her body to make sure that everything was alright. Wendy had been in earlier performing healing, but with the amount of damage Pyrrha had taken at Haven, it couldn't be fixed all at once. The body had to be given time to rest, and the robot girl had volunteered to check over the patients' bodies after each session to make sure everything was healing properly, allowing the Sky Dragon Slayer to move on to the next person. The delegation would significantly cut down on their group's recovery time, so they'd be ready for the Grimmlands sooner, ready to save Jaune and Yang.

Who needed saving because of her. When Wendy was absent, she had been supposed to support Jaune against End, but instead she'd let her grudge against Cinder blind her with rage and now—

"Your aura seems to have taken control of the healing process," Penny announced, shutting down her scanners and shooting a small smile at her patient. "You'll need one more session to get back to full health, but you shouldn't be in any pain until then—"

"I'm sorry," Pyrrha interrupted.

Penny tilted her head to the side. "I am confused. To the best of my knowledge, an apology is not traditional in a medical scenario unless the professional is delivering unfortunate news to the patient. And I assure you, your current news is very fortunate—"

"No, not about that," Pyrrha insisted, rising to sit on the side of the bed. "About… what happened at Amity Coliseum. During the Vytal Festival. I'm sorry."

"Oh. That," Penny noted, her smile disappearing. "I am still confused. Why are you apologizing for that? It was not your fault."

"Not my—" Pyrrha stammered. "I killed you! I tore your body apart with your own blades—"

"But you did not mean to," Penny argued. "You were a victim of Emerald Sustrai, just as I was."

"But I still did it!"

"And I have since been repaired," Penny calmly pointed out. "I do not hold any significant grudge against Ms. Sustrai for what occurred in Amity Coliseum, so why would I blame you? There is only one person in this world I hate, and he is—"

"I didn't know you'd survive!" Pyrrha professed, pleading to be judged by the girl she'd so wronged. "I should have been better, should have kept my focus, should have realized the illusion was obviously a fake—"

"Pyrrha!"

Pyrrha's head whipped towards the door, only for her face to immediately glance away in shame as soon as she saw who had arrived.

Nora sighed, helping Ren limp into the room and setting her boyfriend down on the bed beside her teammate. "Penny, could you please give us the room?"

"Oh, of course," the android girl nodded. She made for the exit, only to pause. The redhead stepped over and stood over the disheartened champion. "I do not know how to solve the greater issues we face, but I can say with certainty that you are not one of them. I have seen what a monster looks like. One killed my father. I can assure you, he and you are nothing alike."

"Thank you," Pyrrha mewled back, no more at ease.

Penny frowned with sympathy, but she knew there was nothing else she could do and left the room. Leaving the three members of Team JNPR to stew.

Pyrrha couldn't bring herself to look at them, even as Nora stood before her and Ren silently sat at her side. Instead, she tried to gaze out the nearby window, but she found no more relief in that sight.

Team RWBY, or rather the three members on the island, were out in the backyard together. Blake, like her and Ren, was still healing from Haven, sitting off to the side as her arms cycled through various Grimm forms, while Weiss coated an Arma Gigas in black ice and ran through sword forms inside it. Strangely, instead of jumping in to spar with her partner, Ruby ran a hand over her arms, weaving golden streams of magic over her forearm.

All of them were training to get Yang back. Yang, who they'd gone to Haven to save. Yang, who'd sacrificed herself to provide them an easy way to save Jaune from capture. Yang, who would be with her team again if Pyrrha had just stuck to the damn plan!

She'd chosen to take up the mantle of the Invincible Girl again, to become strong enough to protect her friends from any foe. But the only thing her stupidity had accomplished was needing her to be saved over and over again. By Wendy, by her mother, by Raven of all people! And to top it all off, to find out that she'd been fighting a war that wouldn't save anyone even if she won—

If she couldn't help anyone, what was the point of her?

She wasn't the Invincible Girl, she wasn't a huntress, or a Fairy Tail wizard. Just a burden who was getting everyone else killed—

"It's not your fault," Ren suddenly spoke up. Pyrrha whirled towards him, only to receive a small smile. "I can sense emotions, remember. And, at the moment, you might as well be a burning ship to my lighthouse."

"Heh," Pyrrha snorted. "Poetic."

Nora sighed. "Pyrrha, what happened at Haven… to Jaune—"

"Was my fault!" Pyrrha yelled, tears dripping down her face. "I should have learned my lesson from Beacon and stuck to the plan instead of going after Cinder again, but I didn't. I'm not strong like mom, or Wendy, or my ancient dragon grandmother, I can't fix this! I thought we could do it together, but I'm just dragging you all down, and Jaune and Yang are captured, and… and…"

"Pyrrha," Nora said softly. "It's not your fault—"

"Why does everyone keep saying that?!" Pyrrha shouted, rising to her feet and helpless staring at the friends she'd failed through tear-stained eyes. "Why don't you hate me? Both of you, why? You trusted me. Jaune trusted me. Everyone trusted me, and I blew it!"

"You weren't the only one there!" Nora yelled back. "And we didn't lose Haven. We got the lamp!"

"Which just told us that the war we were fighting was pointless!" Pyrrha screamed. "Jaune got captured for no reason. Ozpin has no more idea how to save everyone than the rest of us. Hell, the only one who seems to have anything resembling a plan is the person we've been fighting all this time!"

Ren winced. "Pyrrha, that's not what we're—"

"So what, you think we should side with Salem?!" Nora demanded over him. "She might be Team RWBY's old friend but she's still the one who's been behind everything. You want to side with someone who works with people like Rosenflos and Watts? Like Cinder?!"

"Nora," Ren said. "That isn't helping—"

"What choice do we have when the alternative is everyone on the planet dying!?" Pyrrha begged. "They're monsters. But in the face of extinction, any other alternative is preferable!"

"She nearly killed you!" Nora reminded her. "Twice!"

"My life doesn't matter!"

Nora's eyes widened, only for a veneer of raw fury to twist over her face. The shorter redhead snarled and snatched up her teammate by the lapels of her armor. She wrenched Pyrrha around and slammed her into the wall, startling the champion's face ghost white.

"Don't you dare!" Nora growled, tears trickling down her cheeks. "Don't you dare say that! Do you… do you have any idea how terrified we were after the tower? We had no idea if you had even survived and we… we had to get to you. So you don't get to say your life doesn't matter! You don't get to say all that was for nothing! Alright?! You don't!"

"I don't matter more than Jaune and Yang!" Pyrrha yelled. "And all I've done is lose them—"

"Enough!" Ren roared, shooting to his feet.

Pyrrha's panic-ridden tirade froze, her emerald eyes blinking at her final teammate with flailing incomprehension. She didn't think she'd ever heard Ren raise his voice.

The green-robed huntsman stalked across the room to his teammates. He wrapped his hands over Nora's knuckles and gently caressed her grip off of Pyrrha's mesh armor so that he could look the former champion in the eye.

"I know what you're feeling, Pyrrha," he said. "But, breaking down like this won't help."

Pyrrha snorted out a single humorless laugh. "Ren, semblance aside, how could you possibly know how I feel?"

Ren sighed. "I don't need my semblance to know how you feel. I know what it's like to hate my own powerlessness. To be terrified that no matter what I do, I'll lose everyone and everything I want to protect. I've felt like that since I was five years old."

"Since you were…" Pyrrha muttered. "… what… what happened… back then?"

Nora reached over and placed a hand over Ren's shoulder, a gesture her boyfriend thanked with a nod before turning back to Pyrrha. "What always happens to outlying villages. There was a Grimm. A Nuckelavee in this case. We encountered it on the way to Mistral and I killed it. But before I did, I made a bunch of stupid mistakes that nearly got everyone else hurt."

"Ren," Nora mewled.

"It's alright," The pink-eyed man assured her, keeping his focus on Pyrrha. "You did the same thing with Cinder at Haven. You broke down after trying to keep everything bottled up inside. And now you want to do it again, but you can't. Because it's too much. And the truth is, it was always too much. We can try to be professionals all we want, but we're not Atlesian Knights. We're not robots. We're only human, and these emotions won't go away. Accept them, and trust that we will not abandon you for them."

Pyrrha moaned, collapsing back against the wall and skirting down to sit on the floor. "And then what? We talk about our feelings, but that doesn't solve the big problem."

"Right now, nothing will solve the big problem," Ren replied, offering down a hand. "But we are not powerless. You and your mother beat Cinder. Yang, Blake, and I beat Mercury. Together. They were supposed to be unstoppable, but we beat them. And even if this mess with the Umbral Spirit King is a thousand times more complicated, we will figure it out too. But first, we need to take care of the issue at hand."

"Jaune," Pyrrha murmured. "Yang."

Ren nodded. "Salem claims she's our friend, despite everything she's sponsored across the kingdoms. Here's her chance to prove it. If working with her is the only way to keep all of Remnant from dying, we'll see if working with her is a line we can cross."

Nora smirked, punching a fist into her open palm. "And if she tries to hurt Jaune or Yang…"

"We'll burn her castle to ash and salt the ground it stood upon," Ren finished. "Together."

Pyrrha gulped. "What if it's not enough? What if we lose?"

"We'll do that together too."

Pyrrha didn't know what to say. She had failed. She had gotten her friends captured, and she had no way to solve the larger crisis bearing down on them all.

But they didn't hate her. She was powerless, but they didn't hate her for letting them down, for not having the answers she'd promised. For not being invincible.

In hindsight, she really should have expected as much. After all, they'd never loved her for being invincible. They'd loved her for being Pyrrha. Part of her wondered if that'd be enough to face the crisis ahead.

But for now…

She reached up and clasped Ren's hand, allowing herself to be yanked to her feet. Once there, she melted into Ren's arms, Nora coming around the other side to complete the warm embrace.

These were her friends. This was her paradise. It was incomplete, lacking a pair of blonds. But they'd get them back.

Jaune. She'd get him back. And this time it wouldn't be a trade.

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Oscar grunted as he thrust The Long Memory through the air, flowing from sword form to sword form with each stab as sweat dribbled down his brow. The farm boy danced across the front yard of the Xiao-Long family house, having left the back to Team RWBY's training. He very much doubted they wanted any reminder of Ozpin at the moment after everything that had happened last night.

Honestly, he could relate. But unlike them, he couldn't get away.

"I'm sorry, Oscar. I didn't mean for this to happen—"

'I know!' Oscar snipped off.

He felt Ozpin… Ozma recoil in his mind and he instantly felt guilty. He did not hate the old wizard. Despite now knowing that the old man had been stringing him along, letting him think he had the full picture only to keep so much more hidden, he did understand why he did it. Didn't make him feel any better about it, but he tried to keep his temper under control. Blowing up about it wouldn't help anyone.

Still, it proved difficult when his main method of keeping calm, training in the yard like the mornings sparring with Pyrrha and Scarlet in Mistral, only served as a constant reminder of his unique situation. Every move, every slash, every thrust wasn't even his, his muscles simply absorbing the muscle memory of all Ozma's lives. He had trained for a few months but because of the ancient wizard, he was better than most became in years. Because he wasn't even him.

He was just a damn meatsuit!

"Rrraagh!" Oscar snarled, whipping The Long Memory around in a wild, sweeping swipe…

… only for it to clang off against a familiar shining steel buckler.

"Gah!" the farmboy gasped, hopping back from the unexpected sparring partner. "Wendy?"

The Maiden of the Sky shot him a sheepish smile. "Sorry. Didn't mean to sneak up on you like that."

"No, it's fine. I should have been paying better attention," Oscar replied. "How is everyone?"

"Healing about as well as expected. Raven's concussion is probably the worst from going out to find Qrow. He's sleeping off his hangover," Wendy reported. "Not much to do before their next sessions."

"Ah, cool," Oscar said, nervously rubbing the side of his head. "Uh, Ruby and the others are around the back if you're looking for them."

"I know," Wendy nodded. "I was looking for you."

Oscar had to blink at that. "Me? Why would you be looking for—oh. Oz. Got it. No problem, I can have him in just a sec—"

"No, not Ozpin. I think he deserves a rest for a bit," Wendy clarified. "But you don't get a rest. And I was wondering if there was anything I could do to help with that."

"Oh," Oscar said, a bit shocked that she was so forward. Though, this was the girl who'd been kind enough to give Ozma a hug right after Jinn had revealed everything, so it wasn't too surprising that she was so considerate "Um, thanks."

Wendy shot him a smile like fresh morning dew and the pair moved to somewhere more comfortable. The wizards strode across the yard and took a seat on the front porch, their weapons rested across their laps.

"How are you feeling? About all this?" the Dragon Slayer inquired.

"The end of the world?"

"That," Wendy confirmed. "Most of us have dealt with it before, or at least signed up to deal with something like it. You… didn't."

Oscar sighed. "Not much to do about it. I'm not happy about being led on without knowing the whole score, but that's hardly unique right now. Same with not knowing how to handle the whole 'ally with Salem or let the Umbral Spirit King wipe out humanity' dilemma. All I can do is keep helping however I can. Even though I'm not sure how much help I can be."

"What do you mean… oh," Wendy cringed, sympathy flashing over her face. "The merge."

A small nostalgic smile flickered across Oscar's face, the simple image of water flowing back into its spout filling his mind.

"When I first saw Oz do magic, I was so amazed," he revealed. "I mean, the world was suddenly so much more terrifying, but it was also… more. And I could be more. Like a hero out of the storybooks. A few months ago I had never even seen a huntsman, but now? I was able to help at Haven, block Cinder's barrage, fight Emerald with Nora and Leo. I was scared out of my mind, but I… fulfilled. It felt like I was finally doing what I'd always been meant to do. Only now, I can't really hide from the caveat of it all. That none of it was exactly me."

"Jinn?" Wendy guessed.

"She was a wake-up call," Oscar nodded, his eyes glumly staring at The Long Memory. "Seeing Ozma make the deal with Ankh, him getting reincarnated for the first time, dying for the second time… that's going to be me one day. These skills, this magic, this weapon, they're all his. And that's all I am. I'm just going to be another one of his lives."

"I'm so sorry, Oscar," Ozma professed in his mind. "I never wanted this for you—"

"This isn't your fault," Oscar hissed, more furious at the situation than the old man. "You didn't ask for this any more than I did."

Wendy raised an eyebrow. "I'm guessing that last part was directed at him, not me?"

"What? Oh right!" Oscar stammered, his hands flying up in apology, all previous traces of anger evaporated. "I am so sorry! I've just gotten so used to responding to him, I didn't mean—"

"No, no, it's alright," Wendy assured him, actually having to hold in giggles. "I do the same thing all the time with Irene."

"Oh, right. Scarlet—I mean Erza's mom. The Queen? Dragon? Queen Dragon?" Oscar bumbled, before awkwardly smiling at the bubbly enchantress. "Sorry. I guess if anyone gets this part of the whole thing, it's you."

Wendy shrugged. "I'm here if you ever need to talk to anyone about it. Though, I'm not sure how much help I'll be able to provide for avoiding the merge. Irene says we'd need an empty body—"

"Avoid the merge?!" Oscar exclaimed, only to press his hand to his head as Ozma squealed with shock in his mind. Once the former headmaster's excitement died down, the farmboy refocused on Wendy. "You can avoid the merge? How… wait, you said… Erza's mom was enchanted into you, so in theory… you can enchant Oz out of me?!"

"Well, yes," Wendy answered. She angled her head to the side and nodded before turning back to him. "Irene says you're smarter than you look… oh. I swear she is trying to give you a compliment."

"If you two can stop the merge, she can call me the dumbest moron on the planet," Oscar cheered. "So how do we do it?"

Wendy winced. "Ergh, technically I can enchant Ozpin out any time before the merge is complete…"

Oscar's excitement slowly deflated at the Dragon Slayer's expression. "I'm guessing there's a 'but'?"

The Maiden of the Sky sighed. "Ozpin isn't a free spirit like Lady Irene. His curse limits who I can enchant him into. I'd need a completely new body to put him into. Without that… you'd be freed, but he might die… well…"

"Permanently," Oscar muttered, his head falling onto his hands with a groan. "Well, that's out."

"Don't be so quick to dismiss it, Oscar," Ozma argued. "All these millennia, all those who have suffered because of me. I don't want you to be one of them. I don't want you to be just another of my lives."

"You'll die," Oscar replied.

"I've died a million times. My life can be measured in the rise and fall of kingdoms. It has gone on for far longer than any should have. It doesn't matter anymore—"

"It does to me," Oscar declared. "End of discussion."

The old man fell silent after that. Maybe he was touched. Maybe he was exhausted. After last night, maybe it was a mix of both.

Either way, Oscar wasn't killing him to save his own skin. Maybe it was stupidly self-sacrificing of him, especially given Ozma was perfectly okay with dying to save him, but he wasn't so willing to toss away the wizard. No matter how vexed he was at the time wizard and the wider Umbral Spirit King situation, he wasn't going to justify the other man's suicide.

Because, somehow, on the winding road from his aunt's farm to Mistral and then halfway around the world to Patch, he'd come to consider Ozma a friend. And he didn't want him to die. Not when he could live on a bit more and still find some scrap of happiness.

Of course, he then remembered that Ozma could read his thoughts. And then he realized he now knew what it felt like to have someone cry inside his head.

"Let's talk about something else, please," he pleaded to Wendy. "How are you doing? You've been running healing everybody since you woke up. Anything you need to work out of your system from last night?"

Wendy chuckled, a far-off look filling her soft chocolate eyes. "Would you believe 'no'? Like actually 'no'."

"I'd be skeptical. I don't think anyone could go through what we did last night and be fine."

"Eh, I'm not sure 'fine' would be the right word," Wendy conceded. "But I guess… I don't know. I'd already had my world ripped away once. Finding out that this new one is in danger, even with the complications involving Salem, it's almost comforting. And not all of Jinn's visions were unpleasant to see."

"They weren't—oh," Oscar said, the answer coming to him. "Your guildmates."

Wendy nodded. "After I learned what Remnant was, I never thought I'd see them again. So seeing what happened to them, knowing for sure that they lived long and happy lives… it's comforting, in a way. I'm going to find a way to save this world, and I don't plan on dying doing it, but… if worst should come to worst, they'll be waiting for me."

Oscar blinked in amazement for a few moments, gazing in awe as the morning sunlight lit the Sky Dragon Slayer like a goddess. "That's… a very optimistic way of looking at things."

Wendy grinned. "Breaking down won't help. And whether we ally with Salem against Umbral Spirit King or not, with Happy or not, whether we have to rescue Yang and Jaune or pick them up, I still have one friend I need to find."

"Natsu Dragneel, right?" Oscar queried. "Ruby's question didn't reveal much about him. Were you able to get anything out of End at Haven?"

"I was too busy trying not to get burned to death," Wendy flinched. "I don't know whether he's gone, or stuck in End's head like End used to be in his, or if Salem figured out the Mind Transfer Enchantment and put him who knows… where…"

The Sky Dragon Slayer's head twitched to the side, tipped as if listening to something. Oscar assumed it was Irene, but given her enhanced senses it could have been just about anything—

"What?!" Wendy suddenly squeaked, her hands diving for her crimson jacket's inside pocket. "And you're just mentioning this now? Well, yeah, things have been hectic, but—you know what, nevermind."

She unzipped the pouch and dug around its confines, yanking out a small folded over piece of paper.

Oscar raised an eyebrow. "What's that?"

Wendy unfolded the thin slip of paper, her eyes darting across its dark lettering. After a few moments of reading its short message what must have been a half dozen times, she dropped it to her knees and stared off into the distance.

"What is it?" Oscar asked. "Is something wrong?"

"I'm… I'm not sure," Wendy responded, a hopeful smile spreading over her lips. "I need to talk to the others, but if I'm right… I think I might have a solution to both your problem and Lady Irene's. And just maybe, a way to get Natsu back."

Team JNPR chapter this time, delving into both the repercussions of the reveal and The Battle of Haven.

Jaune's doing his best to fly by the seat of his pants in a situation with no clear way out. And making the not unreasonable idea that if his viewpoints are to matter at all, he needs the power to enforce them.

Pyrrha meanwhile is unknowingly taking a page from her father's book and blaming herself for EVERYTHING, having realized that, as justified as her drive for vengeance may have been, it has only cost her more of what she had to pursue it. Fortunately, due to having learned of the stakes of the war (or in this case, supposed stakes) earlier than canon, Ren went through his Volume 7-8 character development after Oniyuri, which his victory over Mercury only solidified. Let us hope the will to fight is enough to save them, because they still need to figure out the very important question of 'how?'.

And finally, Oscar and Wendy bond over having ancient wizards in their heads. Fun times.

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

Go Forth and Conquer!