Beta-ed by xenosaiyan and MasterPrince713

"Errrggggh…"

Qrow Branwen had inflicted many an unpleasant morning-after on himself over the years. Some had been due to alcohol, some had been due to innkeepers with extraordinarily short skirts, and many had been due to some combination thereof. Given that he was slowly coming to in Tai's bedroom, and was lacking another warm body beside him, he could only attribute his hammering migraine to the drink.

The drink… and the lies…

"You're up. Good."

Qrow winced, the soft, respectful voice magnified tenfold by the havoc of his hangover. He clapped a palm to his forehead and turned towards the room's open door.

Carla stood in the entryway, the Exceed transformed into her faunus girl form and frowning at the bedridden huntsman. In her hands was a table tray with two of Tai's best cups on it, one steaming, the other not.

She strode over to the bed and held out the drinks. "Drink this tea. You might feel less like death."

"Ergh, right," Qrow moaned. He'd never been a big fan of tea, the Tribe Elders had downed way too much of the stuff, but Tai had whipped up a few over the years to help with his hangovers. They all tasted like shit, but they did their job well enough.

He reached out and gingerly clasped the steaming mug off the tray and gently brought it to his lips. The hot liquid swished into his mouth – and he immediately spat it out.

"Gah, what the hell?" he stuttered. "That's not Tai's tea!"

"No. He fell asleep right after getting you back here," Carla revealed. "This is one of Cana's old remedies. Well, an attempt at one. Certain ingredients no longer exist."

"No longer—what?! Are you trying to poison me?" Qrow demanded.

Carla scowled. "You're fine. If you can't handle the taste, just wash your mouth out with the other."

"Right, right," Qrow groaned, snatching up the other cup. Only to spit that one out as well, gagging and sputtering as spittle flew from his lips. "What the actual fuck?! That one was even worse! Are you sure you're not trying to poison me?!"

Carla stared on, unamused. "That was water."

Qrow blinked, glancing down at the cool cup and its notably clear contents. "Oh. How drunk was I?"

"Exceedingly."

"Heh. Sounds about right," he chuckled, though there was no mirth in his hoarse voice.

Carla placed the tray over his lap and came to sit beside him on the bed, supervising him until he set the water aside and managed to down the steaming cure. As much as he hated to admit it, the hammering in his skull started to fade a few minutes after he drank that damn tea. Apparently the Exceed's approximation of her guildmate's remedy wasn't poisonous after all.

Not that he particularly wanted to be able to think given recent events.

"You were right," he stated. "About me, about trusting Oz, about everything. You were right all along."

Carla glanced away, no joy or vindication on her face. "I'm sorry."

Qrow snorted. "What are you sorry about? You didn't lie to me. You just put together the obvious. Thought for yourself. Instead of putting your faith in a bastard who led you around by the nose since you were a teenager."

"Ozpin…" Carla muttered. "You were not wrong about his intentions—"

"His lies got Summer killed," Qrow growled. "She believed in him, believed he knew how to save the world, and ran off to die for him and his worthless 'war'. He and his intentions can go to hell."

Carla pursed her lips, her cat ears flattening into her hair. "Fair enough. But putting Ozpin…Ozma aside, what will you do now?"

"Do now?" Qrow repeated. "What's there to do? Everything Happy and End were spouting about Salem being your guys' long-lost buddy is true. Yang and Jaune aren't in any danger."

"Don't spout out things you're not actually stupid enough to believe. You're not drunk now," Carla chastised. "Sitara's past does not justify Salem's present."

Qrow scoffed. "You can't say that like they're two different people. She's your buddy, and she's the one behind Beacon, Haven, who had Ironwood killed. And she's also the only one with any sort of plan to keep the Umbral Spirit King from finishing us all off."

"By risking everything against the Brothers," Carla snapped. "You've seen what they're capable of! Are you really going to put aside everything she's done for a 'maybe'?"

"Ha!" Qrow barked. "You really think she'll let me live long enough to matter? With my semblance? Bad luck isn't exactly something she can afford to have around, and it's not like the chump it's attached to is worth taking the risk for. Or worth much of anything, really."

All his life, he'd just been a follower. First to Raven when they were kids, then to Summer at Beacon and beyond, and finally he'd latched onto Oz when his team leader had bit the big one. He devoted himself utterly, believed in them and their ideals, worked his ass off to support them while trying his best to keep his semblance from harming them.

And no matter how many times it bit him in the ass, he never seemed to learn.

Now what did he do? Latch onto Ruby, the niece he'd trained who'd grown so much? To Erza, the shining new leader that had even managed to instill hope in Raven? Or maybe even Salem, the driven monster who he was sure would kill him to save the world?

Maybe that was why he was wavering towards that last option so much. A useless drunk who'd lived a worthless life, unable to keep the sister who'd raised him from becoming a murderous coward, unable to see that his teacher was playing him for a sap, unable to save Summer…

If his death could play a part in saving the world, could do some scrap of good—

Carla snatched up the mug of water still on the tray and tossed the cool drink in his face.

Qrow blinked the water out of his eyes, rolling his lips to let it dribble out of his mouth. "You got something to say, kitty cat?"

"Don't call me that," Carla glared. "And yes, in fact, I do have something to say."

"Then lay it on me," Qrow snuffed, shuffling up to the headboard of the bed. "My head's finally calmed down, so I might be able to enjoy a laugh."

"You are. Not. Worthless," Carla declared. "Every day back at the guildhall, Ruby would go on and on about her incredible Uncle Qrow, the man who took her from being complete garbage, her words, to the second greatest scythe-wielding huntsman in Vale. Again, her words. Erza taught her magic and Fairy Tail's philosophy, but you taught her to be a huntress."

Qrow scoffed. "Ruby was always a huntress. It's all she ever wanted to be, even before Summer—"

"The dead can only shine so much light for us to follow. We live for the living! For those who love us and we love in turn!" Carla shouted. "I've seen the feelings that Ruby, Yang, and Taiyang have for you. And no one who is so loved can possibly be worthless!"

Qrow's hands tightened around the blanket, his knuckles turning white as his knees curled up like a child. The Exceed probably meant that to lift his spirits. A few decades ago, it might have, when all he felt was that no one could ever care about a jinx like him.

But now, knowing that his family loved him, would do anything for him… it was an anchor tied around his neck.

"All I ever do is cause them pain or get them killed. I love them, more than anything… so for their sake, shouldn't I—"

"You don't die for your friends. You live for them," Carla insisted. The Exceed glanced away. "Even if you don't know exactly how."

That prompted Qrow to cock an eyebrow. "What do you mean?"

The white-haired girl bit her lip, unable to meet the huntsman's eyes. "Wendy has been… changing. Or at least her tactics are."

"What, like hiding that the dragon lady's spirit is inside her?"

"That, advocating the torture enchantment back in Mistral, and now…" Carla sighed. "Part of me wants to blame Irene, but it'd be insipid to lay this all at her feet. Wendy is her own person. She makes her own choices. But I am still concerned that as the dangers we face grow more complex and extreme, having received such success with the steps she's taken so far will lead her to go even further. And at some point, she may become party to something she can't take back."

"Salem?"

"Perhaps. Or maybe something smaller. For family."

Qrow frowned. "So, what are you gonna do about it?"

Carla shrugged, hopping onto her feet. "Whatever I can. All I've got are a few parlor tricks. In the grand scheme of things, maybe it won't amount to anything. Maybe my constant worrying will accidentally cause Wendy to doubt herself when she should take extreme measures. Or maybe it will keep her from going too far when she might destroy herself. I don't know. But leaving her alone, abandoning the love she feels for me, won't help anyone."

She reached out and planted a hand on Qrow's shoulder. "The world would not be richer without you in it. All that would do is hurt your family and friends. Myself included."

Qrow looked up at her, only to find himself stunned by the Exceed's stalwart face, and his own inward agreement with her final words. Over their months of travel, fighting side-by-side at Oniyuri and Haven, he did consider Carla his friend.

Wasn't sure if he should be happy about that, given what usually befell his friends.

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It had been a while since Blake had had a good old Team RWBY magic training session. Granted, Yang's absence was keenly felt, but after months on her own, it was comforting to have Ruby and Weiss in the yard with her as she practiced her Take-Over.

Which given almost nothing else about their situation was remotely reassuring, she'd take what comfort she could get.

She sat cross-legged under a tree, a Griffon talon over one arm and a Deathstalker claw over the other. Each Grimm limb radiated with Seram's Madness, less than either form would in a Full-Body Take-Over, but more than if she only called upon limbs from one species. Her hope was that eventually she'd be able to increase her tolerance to the divine insanity enough that she could have complete control in her Full-Body state. Salem was proof that it was possible to gain control of oneself despite the God of Darkness's influence, and if she worked at it, she might have been able to combine all the spirit power she'd absorbed into a single superpowered state, like Mira's Alegria Form.

It was distressing to think about her lost mentor and her old friend/possible new enemy. One was lost to her forever while the other had been twisted by Blake's own words. Mira had taught her to seek equilibrium while the cat faunus had unknowingly pushed Sitara into the same kind of ruthlessness that she'd run from the White Fang to escape.

What equilibrium was there in her current powers though? She'd managed to reach some kind of control with the Grimm she'd absorbed, but it wasn't enough. She was only aiming the power, twisting Seram's Madness to suit her purposes. Would that be enough to override Salem's control if it was used against her?

Did she really believe that Salem would try to control her like that? She wished she could say for certain. She had experience with friends turning out to be less than she thought them to be.

Adam… Sienna… Mercury's words from Haven rang through her mind. The bull faunus she'd once called partner was dead, and the tiger faunus who'd been her idol had joined with Salem. What was she supposed to feel about either of those revelations? The partner who'd taught her so much yet also become a murderous, gaslighting monster was gone. Was she supposed to be relieved? Sad? Pitying? Her surrogate aunt had joined with the friend she'd accidentally radicalized. Was that a sign that there was some legitimate need for Salem's measures?

Blake glanced up at the yard, watching as Weiss knelt within her Ice Arma Gigas Armor and dismissed her suit. If there was an actual need for Salem's actions, it would be a titanic sell to the white-haired huntress. For very good reason.

The heiress strode across the grass towards Ruby, who was grumbling as she failed to trace mystical designs across her forearm. Blake rose to her feet and followed her, the trio of wizards meeting up around their leader.

"Any luck?" The Take-Over Wizard inquired.

"Nope!" Ruby grumbled, her newest crimson tattoo disintegrating into dust. "I remember how it felt when I used Mavis's setup on the tower, but I just can't get the ethernano to stay in the same position."

"Don't worry, Ruby. You'll figure it out. You always do," Weiss reassured her partner. "Besides, Cana figured it out when she was drunk."

Ruby scowled. "Uncle Qrow's probably got some stuff lying around. But it tastes terrible!"

"And I have seen firsthand that it isn't truly helpful," Weiss cheekily replied. "But I don't think it will be much trouble to find your equivalent."

Blake cracked a gleeful smirk. "We can get some cookies in town."

Both she and Weiss broke out into chuckles.

Ruby pouted. "Don't mock my delicious crumpets."

"You have never had real Atlesian crumpets," Weiss giggled. "Those store-bought crackers cannot compare to Klein's homemade…"

The white-haired girl trailed off, her light joy banished from her face by a sheet of melancholy. However, even that only remained for a moment before Weiss's brow furrowed with boiling rage, her ivory hands closing into fists at her sides.

Blake swallowed. "Weiss?"

"It's nothing," her teammate responded.

Ruby shuffled forward and took her partner's dainty hands in her own. "It's not nothing, Weiss. Do you want to talk about—"

"I don't want to talk about it," Weiss growled, though she did loosen her fists to clasp Ruby's hands. "I'm just going to enjoy getting some payback when we save Yang and Jaune."

Blake and Ruby shared a furtive, worried look. Unfortunately, Weiss caught their wordless exchange, an incredulous frown marring her face.

"You both… you're not still thinking about talking with Salem, are you?" Weiss demanded. "She's not our friend anymore!"

Ruby winced. "We understand, Weiss. It's just… even if we could beat the Gates in a fight, even if we could beat her and End, where does that leave us? The Umbral Spirit King would still be coming for us, and we'd have just exhausted ourselves fighting—"

"Fighting for justice!" Weiss shouted, tugging her hands away from Ruby's. "People have died! We're huntresses! It's our duty to bring them justice!"

"And if we can, we will," Blake assured her. "But we also have a duty to protect those who are still alive."

"We can do that without Salem and Rosenflos. We always have," Weiss argued. "No matter the odds, we always fight!"

"We are going to fight. But we need to prioritize," Blake said. "Whether the plan to go straight for the Brothers is our best option or not, we don't stand a chance against the Umbral Spirit King as we are. Salem has been planning for this war for millennia, we have to at least see if those preparations have borne fruit."

"Yeah," Ruby nodded. "We have to protect the people who are here before we—"

"Would you be making these excuses if it was Cinder behind everything? Or Rosenflos? Or Watts?" Weiss challenged. "Hell, would you be bothering at all if our dear friend Sitara had taken anyone you knew—"

"None of us have forgotten The Fall of Beacon, Weiss," Blake intervened, her hands spasming as visions of Yang's arm tumbling to the ground and Kuo Kuana's crumbling in a firestorm filled her mind. "And you're not the only one who was attacked by a Gate. Half the Menagerie Guard died fighting Tyrian."

"So let's avenge them!" Weiss yelled. "Do we just stand by and do nothing because of Salem's 'good intentions'!?"

"No!" Blake shouted back. "But if we spend all our strength fighting Salem and can't beat the Umbral Spirit King because we didn't even try to negotiate, that's it! Everyone will be dead and what will justice matter then!?"

"I will not be pressganged into being Esper Rosenflos's toady!" Weiss screamed.

"Enough!" Ruby declared, stepping in between the pair. "This isn't helping. We're all on the same team."

Weiss scoffed. "Are we? I'll have no part of a team that wants to partner with my mother's murderer."

The white-haired girl whipped around and stomped for the woods. Ruby reached out a hand after her. "Weiss, wait! Weiss!"

Her partner did not heed her pleas and after a few steps, the red hooded girl could only deflate.

Blake came up behind her and placed a comforting hand on her leader's shoulder. Ruby looked up and managed to flash the cat faunus a waning smile.

"Well, last time you guys had a big argument, you ran off. I guess it was her turn," the silver-eyed girl tried to joke. To Blake's credit, she managed to contain herself to a wry smile.

"And I came around," the black-haired huntress reminded her. "She will too. She just needs time. She's gone through more than anyone should have to."

Ruby frowned. "Is she right? Are we being cowards? After everyone who's died, do we have the right to just… ignore it?"

Blake sighed. "Would the dead want us to sacrifice the living to get them justice? They deserve it, but if the cost is oblivion for all the innocent that remain… I'm not saying we should ally with Salem no matter what, but we have to at least investigate any option we can. We have to… we have to find the one that works."

Ruby chuckled, a dry, humorless thing. "That's kind of what you said to her back then, right?"

"… yeah," Blake gulped. "It is."

Ruby raised her arm and stared at the scarlet guildmark inlaid on the back of her hand. "Fairy Tail inspired us. We inspired Salem. Now we want to use what we helped create for our own ends."

"Saving the world isn't exactly a selfish goal."

"But that's her goal as well. If her good intentions don't excuse her actions, why should ours redeem us?"

Blake gulped. She glanced down at her own arm, spying the black Fairy Tail emblem on the back of her hand. Then, her magic flared and for an instant, her flesh was replaced by a Griffon's talon.

For a moment, she idly wondered what the Grimm thought of them, the Umbral Spirits beneath Seram's Madness. Did they think anything of them? Did they know anything of them? Or did they just obey their king's command to go forth and kill the demons that betrayed their god? Were humans and faunus the monsters Umbral Spirits told their young about?

And how far could they go to protect themselves before they truly became them?

"We can't run from this," Blake quietly resolved. "We inspired Salem. We set the world on this path. All we can do now is move forward, wherever that takes us."

"Move forward…" Ruby mumbled. "Until when? Cross any line until we die a hero, or the rest of the world sees us as villains?"

Blake closed her hand into a fist, the memory of Adam filling her head. "Not any line. Never any line. But with the stakes this high… we have to at least consider every line. In order to protect the people of the world."

She could only hope that, together, they'd be able to do so without suffering the fate of her old partner. Those that burned the brightest of all, had the furthest to fall.

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Yang wondered if it was possible to get whiplash from being whipped from one emotional extreme to the other.

Just as she'd been wallowing in confusion and despair upon her arrival in the Grimmlands, and her discovery of Salem and the truth of the world, it had all been turned on its head when she'd been handed the miracle of her mother being alive. In a moment, she was a child again, with no knowledge of Raven, or magic, or the good guys ever losing the day. And that bliss was euphoric.

However, it wasn't something that could last. As mother and daughter caught up on what they'd missed in each other's lives over the years, Summer insisted on not glossing over the horrible things she'd done for the sake of Salem's plan. She wouldn't lie to Yang or manipulate her.

That didn't mean the truth wasn't horrible itself.

"Weiss… poor Weiss," Yang whispered, her flame arms closing into fists as her eyes blazed red. "This Watts… why isn't he dead?"

Summer sighed. "Because unfortunately, we need him. He's the reason the Ascension Chamber is usable at all, as well as the genius behind the perfection of many of our other advancements. We kill him permanently, and we potentially cripple the crucial projects he's working on. Which could kill us all."

"He disobeyed your orders," Yang snarled. "He murdered Weiss's mother."

"And he will get his, of that you can be certain," Summer firmly assured her, disgust slipping into her voice when she spoke of the petty Atlesian scientist. "Like me, the good doctor's sins will be revealed to the public when the world is safe. And we will all face justice for what we've done."

Yang frowned but nodded. "Good. I can't say I'm a fan of Weiss having to wait for justice, but if it's just so we can use the bastard against the Gods…" the blonde's anger broke, and she whirled on her mother with surprise. "What do you mean, 'like you'?"

Summer raised an eyebrow. "I will face justice. My crimes, those of Esper Rosenflos and COMMAND ESR, will be revealed to the public along with Arthur, Tyrian, and most all of us, and we will stand trial for our actions. Well, if we survive the war that is, there's no guarantee of that—"

"But…" Yang mumbled. "But you didn't…"

"I did. Arthur was under my command. I am responsible for not being able to keep him under control," Summer declared. "Even if he wasn't, the failsafe was of my design. I tried other options to keep it from becoming necessary, but that does not mean I wouldn't have done it in the end. Willow Schnee, Klein Sieben, James Ironwood, Harriet Bree, Vine Zeki, Elm Ederne, Sleet Margrove, and countless other good people are all dead because of the choices I made. Would you have them receive no justice simply because it was I who killed them 'for the greater good'?"

Yang turned away, her answer clear in her mind. Just hearing all the names was a punch to the gut. Some she knew and could put faces to and some she didn't, but they were all people, people who didn't deserve to die who were now dead.

If it were just Watts and this Tyrian guy, she wouldn't be hesitating at all. Only because her dear mother would have to suffer consequences was she sour over the matter. She'd just gotten Summer back, she didn't… she couldn't lose her again so soon.

A firm yet gentle hand took hold of Yang's shoulder. The Devil Slayer's anguished face rose to meet Summer's comforting golden gaze.

"I am sorry, Yang. I am a monster," she said. "I do not deserve your forgiveness—"

"You have it." Yang immediately interceded. "It's mine to give, and you have it."

Summer's eyes widened, surprise lighting up her face. "That… Thank you, firecracker. That means more to me than you could know. But Weiss—"

"Won't. And she shouldn't have to," Yang agreed, even as it broke her heart.

She'd given up her arms to help her teammates and Weiss was one of them. As Summer said, she couldn't deny her justice for her lost loved ones. When the Gods and Umbral Spirit King were dead, The Grimm extinct, and Remnant saved, the world would have to move on. And all the victims would need justice.

Yang didn't want to give her mother up, but it was the right thing to do. So… so she would treasure her time with Summer until the war was done. And hell, given that she would have saved the world at that point, maybe her sentence would be life in prison. That way, she'd be punished, but Yang, Ruby, and the rest of their family could still visit her.

Summer flashed a proud smile at her daughter. "I wish I could join you in the new world, Yang. But you and your sisters will have to get on without me."

"Right. I guess we'll have to…" Yang's voice trailed off, an eyebrow cocking up her forehead. "Sisters? Plural? I know you were away from dad for a while, but did you really—"

"No! Yang, no. Whatever else I've done, I have honored my marriage to your father," Summer assured her, a light blush coating her cheeks. "Cinder is not my daughter by birth, but by choice."

Yang's eyes widened as soon as the name left the Spirit Slayer's lips, momentarily wondering if Mercury had hit her harder than she thought and everything since had just been some weird coma dream. "Cin… der? Cinder… Fall…?"

Summer sighed, her face as dour as could be as she nodded. "I am aware of what she's done to you."

"Aware? Aware!?" Yang yelled, leaping off the bed to her feet. She raised her right stump, putrid black demon flesh riving off her arm. "I lost this because of a terrorist attack that she launched on Beacon. An attack where… so many people died. Salem and End said they weren't behind that, that Cinder went off book so she could get the Fall Maiden's powers."

"She did," Summer confirmed. "And thus, part of her punishment was to be relieved of those powers."

"Part of her punishment?" Yang scoffed, recalling how Emerald obtained the Fall Maiden's mantle. "And what was the rest of her punishment? She didn't do what she did to save the world, so what was it? What could possibly make up for all those people?"

"Death."

Yang blinked at that, stumbling back at the bluntness of her mother's response. "Death as in death or as in…"

"She has been resurrected by Neo-Hell's Core. The Queen may be furious with her, but she won't murder a member of the circle for stepping out of line. Not permanently," Summer clarified. "But make no mistake, Cinder did die. After decades wasting away without food or water, being cooked alive in the Vault of the Spring Maiden, she died. And from there, the void awaited her."

"The void?"

"The hell worse than hell," Summer explained, unable to hide the trembling in her hands. "It is meant to be a natural barrier between life and death, one departed souls pass through quickly on their way to the afterlife and cannot bare to remain in long enough to escape their passing as a ghost. But Neo-Hell's Core pulls an Eclipse Etherious through it, inch by inch, over a period of what feels like years. If you're lucky."

Yang gulped, her blood running cold from the sheer horror permeating her mother's voice. "You've… you've been there."

Summer nodded. "I understand what Cinder has done, Yang. But between her time in the Vault and especially her time in the void… so long as she truly learns from this experience, I would submit that she has paid for it. And if there is anymore that needs recompense, then I will suffer it in her place."

Yang wasn't quite so sure about that, on either count. Granted, she hadn't actually interacted with Cinder at all, but she knew the bitch had nearly killed Ruby and Pyrrha on Beacon Tower. Her mother should have wanted her head on a platter, not pleaded that she'd suffered enough and offered to take the punishment in her place.

Yet, for some reason, she called the former Fall Maiden her third daughter. Yang could believe that Summer would do anything to protect her and Ruby even if they did do something awful (and ream them out for it later herself), it was part of what made her super-mom. But why was that protection and care extended to Cinder Fall of all people?

Summer rose to her feet and gently took hold of the Devil Slayer's purple flame arms. "I understand if you can't forgive her or call her sister. But, please, do your best to tolerate her. If you must hate someone for her crimes, hate me."

Yang frowned. She couldn't do that. She'd already decided to forgive her mother for what she could and, with only until the time before the end of the war to spend with her, she wasn't going to waste any energy hating her. But still, she had to understand…

"Why?" she demanded. "Why are you so determined to protect her?"

Summer's mouth listed open, only to close shut as her lips rolled over each other. Even with all the guilt that had covered the Winter Maiden's face since she'd reunited with Yang, only now was there shame in her eyes equal to that which had filled her gaze when she'd returned the blonde's memories of her flight from Patch.

"Because I made her," she eventually proclaimed. "Everything that she's done, everyone she's hurt, every black mark on her soul, is a direct result of my failures."

"How?" Yang inquired. "What did you do?"

Summer swallowed, a long, exhausted sigh flowing over her teeth. Her hands meandered over to her opposite forearms, the Gate's nails stabbing into the thin cloth of her shirt. For a moment, Yang thought she even saw pricks of blood rising up from the holes.

"There was once a young girl named Ella Autumn…" The Golden Spirit Slayer murmured. "And I destroyed her life."

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

Go Forth and Conquer!