Heart's Embers

by SugarLoaf12

It's been fifteen months hasn't it? Living from day to day, moving from place to place. Looking for the next payday, the next target... the next fight. I thought living outside their war would be easier. But sometimes knowing... is all it takes to leave you wondering "What if" I think back to why I left and I know I made the right choice... Ozpin be damned.

39. Mettle

Hey guys! Managed to get another chapter finished up for you! I'm absolutely delighted by the reception of the previous chapter and hope I continue to deliver for all of you! We're officially in the final stretch of the Atlas portion of this story. I plan on including Vacuo and possibly Vale at some point, but both of those portions will be considerably shorter than the time spent in Atlas. So, without further ado... enjoy!

Disclaimer: I own nothing!

"Speech"

Thoughts

---

Chapter Thirty-Nine: Mettle

Yang pushed the door open to Pietro's office, rubbing her eyes tiredly "Ms. Xiao Long! Good morning" he called cheerfully.

"Yeah, hey, Doc" she yawned "You wanted to see me?"

"Oh, yes. It was regarding our discussion about Jasmine's project"

Yang shook herself awake "What about it?"

"I think it'd be easier if you saw it" he motioned for her to follow him. He pushed his hand onto a tile on the wall behind him, the wall shifting back to allow entry.

"Why do you have a secret door in your office?"

"For several reasons. Well, don't just stand there! Come on, come on, come on" he spoke quickly, waving her in.

She followed him into the dimly lit room "Look, I don't know what you-urk!" she stopped when she felt a sudden pain in her side. Yang turned to see Slade standing with his wrist blade embedded in her hip "Slade... what're you..."

He placed a finger to his lips "Shhh" his emerald eyes changed to crimson, his sclera blackening.

Yang stared at him in shock, her viewpoint suddenly shifting to watch her own body slump to the ground. Salem's laughter echoed all around "No, no... this isn't real... it can't be real"

"Not real?" Slade's voice asked "You mean like... me?"

She watched as the room was suddenly filled with light, rows and rows of large tubes with young children inside them spanned the room. There had to be at least a hundred of them she could see from her viewpoint, it was an army, one Salem was growing all for herself. The sound of her laughter increased as the sudden realization she was dead struck her.

"You thought you'd gotten rid of me, but here I am, Yang. And now you're trapped in here too, forced to watch everything he's going to do to your friends... starting with your sister"

"No!"

"There's nothing you can do! Just watch! Suffer alongside me! Rage against your fate, Yang!"

"Stop it! This isn't real! It can't be real!"

"Yang! Yang!"

Her eyes snapped open, covered in a cold sweat, body shaking, heart pounding in her chest. She scrambled to get away from the hands on her, eyes darting around the room "No! No!" she cried.

"Yang!" Ruby's voice snapped her from her trance "It's okay, Yang. It's not real, just a nightmare" she assured her.

"Ruby... oh, thank goodness" she breathed out in relief.

She noticed Weiss and Blake were both awake too, watching her with concern "Hey" the Faunus girl spoke softly.

Yang noticed the tears streaming down her cheeks, she wiped them away quickly "Sorry, I... I didn't realize-" she looked down to see a hand shaped bruise on Ruby's arm "Ruby, you're hurt"

She quickly hid her arm "It's nothing, Yang. Really" she assured.

"Did I... do that?" she asked mortified.

"It was an accident, Yang" Weiss replied "We all know you wouldn't have done it intentionally"

Yang wrapped her arms around Ruby "I'm sorry... I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to"

Ruby returned the hug "I know, Yang. It's okay, I'm okay"

"But I could've really hurt you"

"Pft! I hurt myself more when we were still getting used to the bunk beds"

Blake laughed "You must've rolled onto the floor at least once a week"

"I thought there would be floor beneath me!"

"Yeah, waaaay beneath" Weiss chuckled.

Yang couldn't help but laugh at the pout on Ruby's face "Hey, I did it at least once too"

"See?! I'm not alone!"

Weiss lowered herself to Yang's level "Do you want to talk about it?"

Yang looked away "No..."

"It might help" Ruby offered.

"I just... it was hard to see"

"Yang" Blake tried, kneeling down "Was it about Slade?"

She sighed "It was Salem... she was controlling him... she made him do the same thing he did to Elise... to me. She was gonna make me watch him hurt all of you"

Weiss placed her hand onto hers "She can't control him, she's gone. You did that, Yang. Slade is free of her because of you, because you were too stubborn to give up on him"

She took a deep breath, exhaling slowly "I know..."

"And Slade would never do to you what he did to Elise. Now that he knows it's possible, he'd never do it again"

"I know, Weiss... it's just a stupid nightmare"

Her eyebrows knit together "It's more than just the nightmare isn't it?"

Yang rolled onto her side "I'm going back to sleep"

Blake's ears drooped "Please don't shut us out, Yang. We just want to help"

"And I just want to get back to sleep"

Ruby placed a comforting hand onto her arm "We're not going to force you to talk to us, Yang. But keeping it to yourself isn't going to help you"

She shrugged her off "You should probably sleep in your own bed"

"Yang-" she stopped when she saw the stern look in her eyes "Okay..."

"Goodnight" she said more forcefully than she'd intended.

Her teammates all shared a look of disappointment. Without speaking another word, they each got into their own beds and tried to get back to sleep. None of them finding much success. Ruby rolled onto her side and watched Yang, unable to focus her mind elsewhere. She knew she wasn't the only one who'd noticed it, her sister was keeping something from them. She didn't know what it was, but she knew it had something to do with going into Slade's mind with Pietro's machine. She wondered if seeing their mom again had been painful for her, but she figured there was plenty of other things that could've been bothering her too. Experiencing Slade's grief firsthand, his desire for revenge, and his disappointment with the situation regarding Neo.

Her thoughts went to Slade next, she remembered how shocked he was to learn she had helped them instead of attacking her. She figured it must've been confusing to him, she had wondered what had prompted her to help them as well, it couldn't have just been to get another shot at her, right? Otherwise she would've just left the rescue to Yang, Nora, and Ren. She wasn't sure they'd ever really know, but she hoped they could help her, she didn't want to be the reason Slade lost someone else he cares about. She couldn't help but smile at the memory of Yang experiencing Slade's love for the first time, she'd been so embarrassed and didn't go into much detail, but she could tell it had to do with her to cause her to be so flustered.

Yang stared at the wall in front of her in disappointment, chastising herself over how she reacted. She knew they'd just be more worried about her now, it would make keeping this to herself that much harder. Despite it all, she couldn't stop her mind from wandering to the memory she'd found of Slade's origin. She hated keeping it from him, she wanted nothing more than to tell him everything. But deep down, she knew Pietro was right, as much as he deserved to know the truth, telling him would only hurt him, and she couldn't be the one to do that to him. She looked down at her prosthetic in annoyance, not only was it a reminder of what happened to her, of what she lost, but now not only had it cost her the very thing she wanted more than anything, but it had caused her to hurt Ruby, and that was something she'd never forgive herself for. She was angry, angry at herself, angry at Adam for taking her arm, angry at Slade for rejecting her, but most of all, she was angry because she felt so helpless. She hoped tomorrow would bring better news, maybe something she could focus on to keep her mind off everything else... she knew she would not be getting much sleep tonight.

---

Ironwood sat in his empty office, running his hands through his hair in exasperation. He just couldn't understand it all, he told the Council the truth about Salem, he told them the truth about what they were fighting against. If a coward like Jacques could oppose her, why couldn't everyone? He slammed his fists onto the desk in anger, he knew he needed to keep fighting Salem, but there was no loss she would not turn to her advantage, no weakness she would not exploit. He had trusted the Council, he had trusted Ozpin, and look where that had gotten him so far, stuck right in the middle of this mess, steering a ship destined to fall off the face of Remnant if he made even one mistake. He took a deep breath, reassessing his current predicament. He knew there were countless lives hanging in the balance, not even counting those of the friends he wanted nothing more than to protect from Salem's evil. He. Would. Not. Fail.

He was snapped from his trance as a knock resounded from the door to his office "Come in" he called, quickly straightening himself out.

Winter entered with the others all filing in behind her "You asked to see us, Sir?" Winter inquired with concern clear in her voice.

Ironwood nodded "It's good to see you all, I hope you all got a good nights rest"

Ruby looked at Yang "Some more than others" her sister elbowed her.

Qrow eyed Ruby and Yang "Something wrong, kids?"

"Nothing" Yang answered curtly.

He looked to Ruby for an answer, receiving a nervous smile, her eyes darting between Slade and Yang. He clicked his tongue "Right..." he nodded in understanding to her.

Yang looked to Slade with a frown, then looked away when she caught him turning his head toward her. She kept her head down, averting his gaze for a short time before checking to see if he was still looking. She found his attention had returned to Ironwood. She shook her head, berating herself for being distracted as she refocused.

"You're looking better yourself" Slade called.

Ironwood exhaled "I apologize for my attitude last night, I was shocked to find one of the Council working with Salem. I updated Arthur of the situation, he's working on closing any potential holes we have with our automated security"

"At least we finally found the one sending all our secrets to Salem" Jaune offered.

"That's one thing less to worry about" Ren agreed.

Ironwood nodded with a small smile "Indeed. You all did fantastic work last night, we managed to prevent civilian casualties, and Jacques is no worse for wear from what I hear"

Weiss smiled "He said he's going to be taking Whitley with him to work from now on. Guess he figures there's no safer place than the academy right now"

"He's not wrong" Ruby shrugged.

Ironwood hummed in agreement "In any case, I'd like to go over what we found last night and pair it with what we already know"

Jaune stepped forward "Well, we know Councilor Harris was in contact with Weiss' mom and talked about someone else working with her in the letter. It could just be someone else looking to end the embargo, but after last night..." he let the sentence hang.

"No lead is too small right now" Oscar said in understanding.

"Agreed. We should check into this lead while we can" Ironwood replied.

Winter stepped forward "I did some research last night and discovered several unusual payments from Ms. Harris' account to one Meral Lawson"

Yang stiffened at the name, her eyes darting to Slade "It can't be..." she breathed out.

This did not go unnoticed by Qrow, but he chose not to comment, turning his attention back to Winter "Lawson?"

"She was previously director of the Atlas Military's Science Division until retiring to her home in Mantle. Considering the money she made, she could've easily moved up to Atlas. However, she always maintained that Mantle was her true home. It's highly likely the associate mentioned in the letter was in fact, Dr. Lawson" she finished.

"The letter was written to Weiss' mom, is she under suspicion too?" Blake asked.

Penny smiled "Yep! I've been tasked with keeping an eye on Mrs. Schnee's activities for anything suspicious. So far, I've turned up no evidence"

"We've also looked through her account records as well as Father's in case she chose to use his credentials herself. So far, we haven't been able to find anything suspicious outside of her... questionable lobbying, and some transparent bribery" Winter added.

"Keep looking. If she's associated with Salem, I want to know about it" Ironwood instructed.

"Yes, Sir" Penny nodded dutifully.

"What else have we learned?" Slade asked.

"According to father's autopsy reports, the guards who attempted to assassinate Councilor Schnee last night came from different settlements around the kingdom who'd been reported missing or killed during Grimm raids over the last few months. But most of them came from a small town called Ithaca" Penny explained.

"Ithaca?" Blake questioned.

Winter brought up a blue holographic map of the region "Ithaca was built over an estuary surrounded by towering cliffs and high mountains. In the past, these natural barriers have proven enough to keep the Grimm from being able to overrun them, despite the low number of Huntsmen occupying it"

"Until now" Yang frowned.

Winter gave a firm nod "Yes, the Grimm have overtaken it. They're currently maintaining a holding pattern about thirty miles north of Corinth" she pointed to the border of the region colored in red.

"Wait... the Grimm aren't attacking Corinth?" Ruby asked.

Ironwood nodded "It would seem either your mother left a bigger impression on them than we thought, or there is something more going on there. Based on aerial scans, that's the thickest concentration of Grimm in the kingdom"

Jaune pondered his words "Then that means they're hiding something there"

"That was our assumption as well" Penny agreed.

"Then we have two leads to chase down. I'd say we should split into two teams and see what we can find"

"Agreed" Ironwood stood from his desk "Qrow, you're our best scout. Take Penny and anyone else you'd like with you, then head out and see what you can find"

"Right..."

"I volunteer, Sir" Winter declared with determination.

Ironwood frowned "I would feel more comfortable having you lead the team in Mantle-"

Qrow removed his hands from his pockets, interjecting "I think having her along is a great idea. I'll take JNPR out with us, Ren's Semblance will keep us hidden from the Grimm. If there is something out there worth finding, we'll find it"

"Then I'll accompany Ruby's team to investigate the residence in Mantle" Slade offered.

Ironwood looked to Slade, his eyes asking silently for help as he questioned Winter "Are you sure you want to leave the city after what happened last night? Jacques could still be a target"

"That is exactly why I want to be out there, Sir. I want to find whatever we can as fast as we can, the better prepared we are for Salem's forces, the better off we'll be when the time comes"

"I-"

There was a soft knock at the door "General, I believe I have something important you'd wish to know"

Ironwood sighed "Come in, Pietro"

The door opened quickly, the man stepping inside "Sir, I-oh? I didn't realize everyone was... nevermind" he shook himself as he walked.

"What do you have for us, Doctor?" Winter questioned.

"I've been running over the results of our most recent scans with the new equipment we installed at all the checkpoints. I believe I have developed a counter signal for the control chips we found"

Ironwood sighed in relief "How soon can you implement it?"

"Right away, Sir. All I need is to broadcast it from the CCT tower here in the academy. No one but Penny would notice, but there is a problem"

"What kind of problem" he demanded.

"The signal would only work for anyone without Chimera equipment, their helmets are equipped with built-in transceivers"

Qrow sighed "Meaning anyone with one of those helmets on can't refuse orders"

"Precisely"

"Then how will this benefit us?" Ironwood asked.

"Sir... we've discovered over two hundred receiver signals for the chips"

"In Mantle?"

"No, Sir... everywhere" he answered breathlessly "It's not just the refugees who were targeted, it seems there were more than even we realized could've been affected. But so long as they're unequipped with Chimeran transmitters, we're safe from having our own citizens turn on us"

"How long would it take to remove the chips from each of them?" Ironwood asked.

"The better part of two weeks, Sir. I've done extensive research and believe I have found a way to remove the chips safely, but it's still a risky procedure. Thirty percent chance of failure"

Ironwood ran his hands through his hair "If it's not one thing, it's another. Salem has forces here, unsuspecting forces... or maybe even willing slaves" he spoke just over a whisper, not directing his statements to anyone.

"Sir?" Winter asked.

"If we cut off the source of her signal, no more soldiers. But we can't even find it... how're we supposed to fight something we can't see? No, no..." he rubbed his chin "There must be something I'm missing"

"Jimmy? Is everything alright with you" Qrow questioned.

Ironwood didn't even flinch, his breathing becoming ragged "If we can keep her forces from the city, there would be no signal for her to use with our countermeasure. We need Atlas secure..."

Slade saw his eyes had become glassy as he turned enough for them to see, he stepped forward "General, we need to focus"

"I... I..." Ironwood took a deep breath, slowly exhaling "With Pietro's signal in place, we'll keep ourselves from being vulnerable to an attack from the inside" he spoke directly to them now, his eyes regaining their focus "I want every doctor in Atlas starting on procedures to remove those chips within the hour"

"How? If they're working with Salem or Chimera intentionally, they'll put up quite a fight"

"Not to mention if Salem learns we're onto them, she could terminate them before we have a chance to help them" Slade pointed out.

"Simple. I'll have our men down in Mantle start with the refugee camp in the crater. All part of 'refugee processing'. We'll include all refugees so we don't arouse suspicion. Anyone not a refugee will be handled individually by our off duty Huntsmen, sedate them at night while they sleep and bring them in for the procedure. If we're careful, they and their families don't need to know the danger they were in"

"And if the procedure fails?" Winter asked.

"Pietro?" Ironwood directed the question his way.

"If the removal procedure fails, they'll die. We won't be able to conceal that"

Penny hummed thoughtfully "What if we didn't remove them?"

"What?"

"Could we disable them without removing them? We'd render them useless without endangering our own people, right?"

Pietro hummed in agreement "That's true, I could disable them with a concentrated low voltage pulse. But we'd still have to be very careful, if anything other than the chip is struck by the pulse, it could cause damage to their brain"

"Then we stick to the plan, you'll just disable them rather than removing them" Ironwood instructed "Would that be acceptable?"

Pietro nodded "I'll send you the specifics you'll need, we'll need to keep this within the military and Huntsmen ranks to keep this from getting out. It'll increase how quickly we can finish each procedure"

"How long?"

"Could be finished by the end of the week if we're efficient. But we'll need a way of confirming the chip is present before we can know for sure our method of detection was sound"

"Then we'll change Penny's directive to scanning the people individually to find the signal. I want to know for sure we have a way to combat those chips. That's not even considering how many people Salem has implanted with that Grimm substance"

"Which we still have no way to contain" Winter reminded.

"The rest of the plan stays the same. Ruby will lead her team to Mantle to investigate Dr. Lawson's home-"

"Lawson?" Pietro asked shocked.

"You know her?" Weiss asked.

"She's the only other surviving member of our team..." he breathed out looking subtly between Yang and Slade, Qrow took notice of this as well, his eyes narrowing.

"The one from the picture frame in your office?" Oscar asked.

Pietro nodded "Her expertise has always been in engineering, but to work with Salem..."

"She could've been the one to develop these chips then?" Ren asked.

"No, no. That's not her handiwork, she wouldn't dare make something so controlling of another's free will. She's always been a staunch advocate for individuality. She's never even liked the idea of Knights working to serve in our military. She helped me a great deal in Penny's construction, I can't see her doing something like this"

Slade turned toward him "If she didn't make the chips, then maybe she's another victim of them"

"Then we'd better get going and find out" Yang declared.

"Assuming you don't need anything else from us, General?" Weiss asked.

Ironwood shook his head "You all have your assignments" his gaze rested on Winter for a moment "Be careful, all of you"

"Careful, smareful!" Nora waved off dismissively "Where's the fun in that?"

Ironwood smiled softly "Just make sure you all come back to me, alive and unharmed. I don't like the idea of any of you going into Grimm territory without backup"

"We'll be careful, General" Jaune assured.

"Actually, I do have something else to add" Slade called as he stepped forward.

"What is it?"

"I was actually hoping Oscar could accompany us on our mission. He did well last night, and he needs more experience in the field"

"Oscar carries the Relic, if anything happens to him-"

"Exactly the reason he needs more experience. He protected it last night just fine, and we'll all be there to back him up. Nothing to worry about, right?"

Ironwood took a deep breath "I don't like it. But we don't know what Oscar will face when Salem's forces come here. Better for him to be overprepared than underprepared"

Oscar smiled "T-thank you! I won't disappoint you-"

"See to it you keep each other safe. That's all I ask" Ironwood moved behind his desk "This has been a stressful time for everyone. I don't know how the coming days are going to play out, but I know each of you will give it your all... I am proud to call each of you my friends, to have your support right now has been... I cannot express how much it means to me"

Ruby smiled "We support each other, right?"

He returned her smile "That we do"

Yang frowned, looking between Pietro and Slade. She averted her gaze to the floor "Yeah..." Qrow watched her with a concerned look, but still stayed silent.

Ironwood nodded to them "You're all dismissed. You know your assignments"

Winter smiled "We'll leave right away"

"Slade" Ironwood called "Stay a moment. I'd like to speak with you, privately"

He nodded, already knowing he'd likely get an earful for not backing him up with Winter "Of course"

Ruby looked to Weiss with a concerned expression, both of them turning to Yang silently. After a moment, Ruby called "We'll wait for you in the hangar"

Slade grimaced at the thought of flying again "Right" the others started filtering out slowly.

Qrow looked to Slade raising his fist to him "Keep safe, huh?"

Slade connected his fist to Qrow's with a smirk "Me? I'm not the one flying out into a Grimm infested town"

He snorted "Sure, but you're the one dealing with Yang's temper" he spoke barely above a whisper.

Slade frowned, looking away "Yeah... right..."

He furrowed his brow "Something going on between you two?" he asked noticing the earlier tension.

"It's... nothing for you to worry about right now. We can talk about it when you get back"

He frowned, but relented "Alright, Slade" he patted his shoulder "We'll be back soon"

Slade and Ironwood sat in silence as Qrow left "General, I know you wanted-" he started as the door shut.

Ironwood motioned for him to be silent "I'm not going to lecture you about backing Winter's decision against mine" he assured "I have something far more important to speak to you about... something we should've... I should've told you sooner"

Slade quirked an eyebrow "About what?"

He exhaled "Ruby told me about your vision, about... me"

Slade's eyes widened "I..." he sighed "I'm sorry, General. I wanted to tell you-"

"No, no, no. Keeping this particular one to yourself may have been the right call. However, given recent developments, I believe there is something you should know"

He crossed his arms over his chest "When did she tell you?"

"When you were with Chimera" he smiled "She was worried that your vision might've been coming true, and if it had..."

"Yang would die, and we would be enemies" Slade finished with a sigh "I see why she told you"

"Do not fault her for doing what she believed was right" Ironwood took a deep breath "But there's more to it than that... considering what happened last night, I believe you might already suspect"

"That you're losing control? I've noticed"

Ironwood nodded "Last night, were it not for your Semblance stopping me... I would've shot Harris without a second thought"

"Turns out I needn't have bothered" Slade shrugged "But at least the news isn't talking about a public execution"

"And that is exactly what I wished to speak with you about" he folded his hands in front of him "Salem has been removed from your mind, yes?"

Slade nodded "Ever since Yang woke me from whatever trance Salem put me under. It's not like before when she used to block me out, or the other way around, it's just... gone now. There's no connection to feed off"

Ironwood nodded, a sigh of relief following close behind "Good, because I want this to stay between us, and only us"

He frowned "Another secret? Don't I have enough to keep for you?"

Ironwood gave a light chuckle "Perhaps, but this isn't an order as your superior... this is a personal request, as a friend"

Slade's gaze softened "Alright, then... what is it?"

"It's... me"

Qrow hurried to catch up to Yang before she arrived at the hangar "Yang, hold up!"

She turned back to him, the rest of her team stopping in their tracks "What's up?"

"You tell me? What's going on between the two of you? You were getting along so well last night"

Yang grimaced "Me and who?" she asked trying to play dumb.

"You know damn well who"

"It's nothing, alright. Slade and I just... had a disagreement"

"One neither of you seem willing to talk about" he grumbled "What happened?"

"It's nothing, really-"

"Yang, I'm not stupid. I saw how you two were practically avoiding each other. And when Lawson-"

"I don't want to talk about it, Qrow!" she interjected.

"Tough! You've been acting like he killed your dog, spill"

Ruby stepped forward "Uncle Qrow-" she tried.

"He rejected me, okay!" Yang snapped.

Oscar sputtered "What?!"

Qrow's eyes widened in shock "Oh..."

She glared "Yeah, happy now?" she turned on her heel and stormed off.

He frowned "Yang, I-" he sighed when she refused to turn around "Shit..." he ran his hand through his hair.

"She's been in a mood because of it since we got back" Ruby told him.

"And I just had to keep pushing" he shook his head "Alright, now I've gotta kick his ass"

Ruby smiled "I'm sure Yang would appreciate the thought, but none of us have even been able to talk to Slade about it yet. We can't believe he'd just reject her outright"

"He's head over heels for her" Blake added.

"Yeah, just the way he looks at her makes that clear" Oscar agreed "There's gotta be more to it than she said"

Qrow sighed "Kids and your drama" he rubbed his forehead with his thumb and forefinger "Nothing is ever simple is it?"

"Don't worry, we're going to try and talk to her about it before the mission. We don't want her to start anything with Slade, at least not until we get back" Weiss assured.

He snorted in amusement "Yeah, good luck with that" he rubbed the back of his neck "Slade and I are gonna have a long talk if this isn't resolved by the time I get back"

---

Cinder stared out the window of the rundown building she and Neo had been hiding out in. Her Grimm arm seized for a moment, causing her great discomfort. The door behind her suddenly opened to reveal Neo, sauntering into the place. She strode over to a box and hopped up on it with aid from her parasol guiding her upward, crossing her legs as she got comfortable. Cinder glared as she stood from her place, making her way over to her silent accomplice.

"Where have you been?"

Neo shrugged, pulling an unopened soda can from her pocket, popping it open.

"You've been gone for hours, did you learn anything new?"

Neo placed her finger to her chin, feigning thoughtfulness, then with a playful smile, shook her head.

Cinder growled as she sipped from the freshly opened can, her Grimm arm snatched the beverage away from her, crushing it in her grip "You were supposed to be finding me something on the Maiden!"

Neo got to her feet with a threatening glare. She pointed to Cinder, then gestured widely around them before shaking her head. She pointed directly to the door in exasperation, silent frustration apparent on her features.

"You're upset, I get it. But I can't walk out in public and just walk into the academy like you can. Not anymore" she gestured to her arm "If I know who the Maiden is, I can attack her while she's unsuspecting and gain her power. If I have the power of two Maidens, I can keep the others from interfering while you..." she pressed her clawed finger into Neo's shoulder "...deal with Ruby"

Cinder heard the sound of a portal opening behind her "Ugh. It's about time, Emerald. I was beginning to think you-" she stopped when she turned to see a Seer staring back at her from the girl's side.

"Cinder... she wants to speak with you"

"She?" Cinder asked fearfully.

Smoke filled the head of the Seer, Salem's image appearing moments later "Cinder" she greeted with a smile.

"I..." she dropped to her knee "I've been working to learn the identity of the Winter Maiden. With her power we can open the vault and get the Staff-"

"I already know the identity of the Maiden, Cinder"

She looked up at her in shock "You do?!"

Salem's smile turned wicked "I do" the Seer wrapped it's tentacles around Cinder's throat, shocking her "I also know you plan to kill Ruby Rose instead of capturing her for me"

Cinder glared at Emerald, who looked away in shame "She did this to me... I want her dead..."

"And she shall die. When I have finished with her, you may do with her as you wish"

"If you would just tell me your plan-!"

"You want to know my plans now?" Salem laughed "You want to be a leader, Cinder? Then first, you must learn to follow"

"I-" the Grimm's grip on her tightened, silencing her.

"And if you want to learn to follow, you need to learn when to SHUT UP" she growled "Why not learn from the example of your new accomplice? She never talks back" she chuckled as the young girl shrunk away from her piercing gaze. The Seer released her "I don't blame you, Cinder. I blame myself. I know what you desperately desire, the power you want. I know you want to destroy Ruby for taking it from you, even if momentarily"

"I was supposed to be powerful! I killed Ozpin! But she almost killed me!"

Salem nodded "That, dear Cinder, is the fault of the method used to obtain your power, not the power itself"

"What?"

"You were only able to obtain your power because of me, because of the Grimm you fused with when you stole the Fall Maiden's power. Had you inherited the power as the other Maidens had, you would have remained unharmed by the girl"

Cinder grit her teeth "Then she is a threat to me, even now"

Salem hummed with agreement "She is, but I have another task I require of you"

"Anything"

"Yang Xiao Long"

Cinder furrowed her brow "Ruby's sister?" she asked confused.

"She has become a rather persistent thorn in my side, the same as Ms. Rose"

"How? She's nothing! She fell right into our trap during the festival, she lost her arm! She's useless!"

Salem glared "Cinder"

"Ruby was the one who stopped your Wyvern at Beacon, she's the reason we failed at Haven! She's the one who led them to Atlas and has been helping Ironwood-"

"ENOUGH"

Cinder cried out in pain, her Grimm arm writhing "Please, I... I..."

"You will listen to me, Cinder Fall" she warned "You would not like the consequences if you don't"

Cinder nodded quickly, cradling her shoulder "I... understand"

"Good" her gaze darkened "Ms. Xiao Long was the one who convinced Slade to join her cause over our own, she was the one who convinced her mother to give them the Relic, and she is the only reason I was purged from his mind"

"His..." Cinder's eye widened in shock "You mean..."

"I am no longer connected to Slade" she answered "The girl kept the information I desired from my grasp, then stole any chance at claiming it"

"We can reconnect you, if we just-"

"We're beyond that now" Salem interrupted "I want the girl brought to me alive. If she won't tell me what I wish to know, she will lure them in"

"You want Slade and Ruby to come after her"

She nodded "They'll do anything to protect Ms. Rose and the Relics from me, they'll keep the Winter Maiden out of my grasp... but her, they don't know I want her. They'll never suspect a thing, not until it's too late. But I can't afford failure in this, Cinder"

"I won't fail you, I swear to you, I will bring her to you"

"There will be no second chances, Cinder. I've suffered too many inconveniences from these children in recent months. The last time I was this desperate-" she stopped herself, grimacing at the name on her tongue "There is no room for error, not here, not anymore"

"Where shall I take her?"

"Emerald will provide the location" the Seer turned toward the frightened Neo behind her "There will be no interruptions this time" it turned back to Cinder "Do as I command, and I will tell you the name of the one you seek"

"It will be done" Cinder assured.

The Seer turned to head back into the portal "Beware Raven, Cinder. She's interfered twice now, do not allow her a third"

"She won't get the chance"

Emerald sighed in relief as the Seer exited "Cinder, I-"

"Leave. Now" Cinder glared "Haven't you already done enough"

Her eyes widened, hurt reflected in her gaze "I... I was just..."

"Just stabbing me in the back?" she growled "I was the one who brought you into the fold, not Salem. I was the one who gave you food, shelter, protection. But you always want more, don't you? You can't just be happy with what you have"

Neo rolled her eyes at the irony "No, Cinder. I didn't want to-"

Cinder's Maiden powers activated "LEAVE!" she shouted, startling the girl.

Without another word spoken, Emerald turned away from Cinder and walked through the corridor she'd created moments before. Neo glanced at Cinder, her power deactivating, she quirked her eyebrow at the raven-haired woman before her. Cinder took a deep breath as she turned back to Neo, determination in her remaining eye.

"Find the girl. We have a job to do"

---

Winter sat in the pilot seat of the Manta airship, soaring through the darkened skies north of Atlas. Qrow stood with his arm resting on the back of her seat, the rest the team situated around the airship. Nora leaned her head up to the window, tapping her finger against her chin thoughtfully.

"I spy with my little eye... something that starts with M"

"Mountain"

"Okay, that one was too easy. I spy-"

"Mountain"

"Damn you're good!"

Jaune chuckled "You know, Nora, it'd probably be harder if you spied something else"

Nora balked "How am I supposed to do that? The only thing I can see from up here is the mountains! It's too dark over here!"

"Yeah, it's strange for it to be so dark out. It's supposed to be the middle of the day" Qrow agreed "But these clouds don't look natural"

"You think Salem might be doing it?" Winter asked.

"How else would you explain it being this dark?"

Nora zipped up to him "Because there's no sun, duh!"

Qrow gave her an exasperated look "Ah... yes. That must be it"

Winter glanced down at an open field a few miles away from the town "I'm gonna put her down, get ready. Grimm could be anywhere"

"Right" Qrow removed Harbinger from his back, getting to the door.

Jaune's team followed suit, the Manta landing roughly as the wind picked up "Head for the treeline, that wind is getting dangerously strong" Winter warned.

"Earpieces in!" Qrow called as the door opened.

Winter exited quickly behind them, using her Glyphs to keep everyone from being thrown aside by the strength of the wind. As they passed through the treeline, the wind suddenly stopped "That's... quite the coincidence" Ren noted.

"I don't like this, the air feels wrong" Nora shuddered.

"Yeah, I've never felt anything like this before" Qrow agreed "Keep moving. Ithaca is to the east"

Winter readied her blade "Ren, conceal us, and keep your guard up... I feel eyes on us"

"Oh, good... I'm not the only one feeling that then" Jaune frowned, readying Crocea Mors.

They moved through the forest, watching all around them, each of them knowing beyond a doubt they weren't alone. Yet none of them could find the hidden gazes upon them, they kept moving until Winter suddenly stopped them, holding her free hand up in a fist. Qrow stepped ahead to her position, he looked ahead of them to see several shrubs moving.

"Grimm?" he asked.

"I don't know, can you get a look?"

Qrow transformed into his Corvid form and soared up to the top of the trees, landing on the edge of a branch. He caught sight of several shadowed forms moving in the distance. He transformed back, leaning his heel against the edge of the branch. He looked around, the sun was hidden behind the dark clouds, lightning illuminating them blood red...

"I don't like this, it feels like a trap"

"We're definitely being watched, but I can't be sure it's the Grimm" Ren pointed out.

"Uh... guys" Nora called.

"What is it?" they both turned back to find a Sabyr stalking in the distance, the distinctive metal plate on it's head.

"Here... here..." it hissed.

"It's talking... just like Ruby said"

"Here!" it shouted as it charged.

Ren fired for it's legs, only to have it slide out of the way of the incoming fire. It leapt up over a horizontal slice from Jaune's blade and caught Nora's hammer in it's maw, forcing it low behind her back. It raised it's claw to strike, only to find itself trapped in one of Winter's Glyphs.

"You... live..." it hissed "She... want-" it was cut off when Harbinger pierced it's chest from above, roaring in response.

Qrow landed on it's back, twisting his blade, cleaving the creature in half "We need to move. We've got incoming"

"How many?" Winter asked.

"Too many"

Cole stepped forth from the trees, looking down at them from one of it's branches "Kill them! Take her alive!" he commanded as several Chimera soldiers rushed out of hiding.

Several Grimm followed behind them, charging right toward the group "We need to go back" Winter pointed "Back!"

"There is no where to go back to!" Nora shouted as she fired into a new group of Grimm coming from the opposite direction.

"North! Run north!" Jaune shouted.

Winter deflected several rounds from the approaching soldiers, as Qrow fired back at them, dropping two with precise shots to the chest. They got back to their feet and moved back in to attack, Winter spun on her heel, impaling her blade into the ground, she summoned a pack of Beowolves to fight against them. She turned on her heel and ran with Jaune's team, followed quickly by Qrow, firing back at them with Harbinger as he ran.

"Where are we running to?" she asked.

"Anywhere but here" Qrow answered "We can't stick around with all these on our heels"

A Beringel with wings swooped down behind them, swinging it's fist for Winter. She dropped to her knees, leaning back beneath the strike. She stabbed her blade into the ground as she spun, slamming her heels into it's chest. The creature fell back onto Qrow's blade as it pierced it's chest, then cleaved up through it's head.

"Did that thing have wings? Since when do they have wings?!" Nora shouted firing Magnhild back at their attackers.

Winter summoned a Manticore "Worry about it later. Get on!"

Jaune and Nora both leapt atop the creature as Winter 'took the reins'. Ren leapt onto it's head, aiming StormFlower back at the Chimeran soldiers and firing at them as Qrow transformed into Corvid form. Ren dropped one of them with a shot to the head, then spun onto one foot as a round went past his shoulder, firing into his attacker as well, dropping him to the ground.

Qrow transformed as he landed on the back of a Sabyr, beheading it with Harbinger and riding it's dissolving corpse down an incline into one of Chimera's soldiers. He kicked him in the chest, throwing him backward into Nora's swinging hammer, throwing him through the air. He leapt up onto the back of the Manticore and continued firing back at their attackers.

"You missed a shot or two" Winter called.

"It's called covering fire, do you need me to get a picture book?"

"Heaven forbid. I wouldn't want to deprive an old man of his bedtime reading"

"Is now really the best time for this?" he asked incredulously.

Cole slid to a stop in front of them, slamming his fist into the Manticore. The beast was destroyed, throwing the group onto the ground, each of them rolling to a stop. They got to their feet quickly, but found the Grimm had stopped giving chase, Chimera's soldiers backing away slowly, and Cole was nowhere to be found.

"What's going on?" Jaune asked.

"I don't know" Qrow answered furrowing his brow.

Winter turned around to find them face to face with a massive ruined gate, a stone bridge connecting them to a set of large ruins built into the side of the mountain. She gasped in surprise, gaining the attention of her teammates. They all stared up in awe of the place, it was overgrown with dead vines, the ruin covered in snow from top to bottom. The wind howled around them, an uneasy calm settling over the group.

"I feel sick. Am I dying?" Nora asked.

"It's not just you" Winter answered "This must have been meant to discourage anyone who got too curious"

"Think this is a trap?" Jaune asked.

"You gotta ask?" Qrow frowned.

"Where are we?" Ren asked, looking to Winter.

"We're staring at the ruined city of Iapetus. No one really knows who founded it or when it was abandoned, but it's been here since the founding of the kingdom"

"Which means it was probably from Salem's time" Qrow turned back to find the Grimm blocking off any exit they could've used "It doesn't look like we're going to be able to leave"

"We need to call Ironwood, get us a ride out of here" Ren suggested.

"We still haven't checked out Ithaca" Jaune argued.

"I don't think we'll need to. I think we found what we were looking for" Qrow explained.

"No signal either" Nora told them, looking at her Scroll "We couldn't call for help if we tried"

"We're being jammed, how original" Qrow exhaled "Either way, we still need to check this place out"

"If it's a trap, we shouldn't just walk right in" Winter gestured to the entryway "Set up here, I can scout out the ruins and see what I can find"

"You want to go alone? Are you insane?"

Winter scoffed "I'm never alone, Qrow" she shook the blade in her hand, referring to her Semblance "Besides, you're the only one of us who can get away and get a signal to contact Ironwood"

"You've never watched any horror movies before have you? We don't even know what's in there"

"And staying in a single group could cause us to miss something vital. I'll be cautious"

"Just... be careful this time, okay?" he relented.

"Don't worry so much, old man" she smiled as she made her way through the ruined gate.

"Hey..." he feigned offense.

"Does anyone else think she's gonna walk right into a trap?" Nora asked worried.

"No. She'll be fine" Qrow said more to himself than to anyone else.

---

Yang paced back and forth in front of the Manta airship, stewing in her own anger. She just couldn't understand why everybody wouldn't leave her alone! She knew she wasn't exactly being discrete about it, but that didn't mean everyone and their mother had to try and force her to talk about it. She'd went and told Maria they needed a pilot, and the old woman was only too happy to join her. She was thankful at least one person wasn't pestering her about her obvious anger.

"Wanna talk about it?" she asked from the pilot seat.

She stood corrected "No, I don't want to talk about it!" she snapped.

Maria huffed "I'm not deaf, you don't have to shout"

"I wasn't-ugh, nevermind"

The rest of Yang's team as well as Oscar reached the entrance, watching Yang with varying degrees of concern "You think it's safe to be in that ship with her right now?" Weiss asked.

"I believe that's unclear" Oscar replied with a grimace.

"Come on guys, she wouldn't do anything to us... right?" Ruby asked hopeful.

Blake frowned "Us maybe, but you think she's gonna keep it together when Slade's with us?"

"Uh... no, probably not" Ruby laughed nervously.

They approached carefully, earning the attention of the impatient Yang "We finally leaving?"

"Well, we're still waiting for Slade" Oscar replied.

Yang grunted in annoyance "That figures"

Weiss forced a smile "Ironwood did ask him to stay behind, we can't exactly blame him-"

"The hell I can't"

Ruby grimaced "Yang, he's going to be on the mission with us..."

"So?"

"So... I know you're upset with him. But can you try and... not tear his head off until we get back?" she grunted, but otherwise gave no response.

Blake looked to Ruby in exasperation "This is going great already" she whispered. Ruby buried her face in her hands, groaning.

Slade entered the academy hangar to find the others waiting patiently for him, with one exception. Yang, who stood with her foot tapping rather impatiently "What took you so long? Qrow's team left almost twenty minutes ago?" she demanded.

"Sorry, Ironwood wanted to speak to me about something important"

"Anything we should know?" Yang asked, her tone still clearly agitated.

Slade eyed Ruby "Nothing important. He asked my opinion on a... personal matter" Ruby seemed to understand what he meant, offering him an apologetic look "Shall we?" he gestured into the Manta.

"Any longer and I would've settled in for a nap" Maria called back.

"Is there anything you do besides nap?" Weiss asked.

"Hey! I've been a Huntress longer than all of you've been alive! Now get in before I change my mind about helping"

"Alright, alright" Oscar laughed "Let's focus on what we're here for"

"What he said" Yang agreed coldly. Slade glanced at her with a frown "What?" she asked with a glare.

"N-nothing" he looked away, rubbing the back of his head sheepishly.

"Doesn't sound like nothing-!" she started, but was stopped by Ruby.

"Hey! Cut it out, we have a job to do. Anything else can wait"

"He-"

"Yang" she warned.

"Whatever" Yang turned away taking a seat as far away from Slade as she could.

"You're the boss, Ruby" Slade exhaled with a shake of his head, choosing to give her the space she clearly needed.

Blake rubbed her eyelids "This... is gonna be a long day"

Maria flew them down to Mantle in complete silence, no one daring to say a word the whole way down. Yang would occasionally steal glances at Slade. The more she did, the more she noticed he was actively ignoring her, her hands started to shake from anger the more she thought about it. Oscar closed his eyes, focusing on his Semblance as they came in to land. He could feel the concern radiating from the others and the annoyance from Maria, but Yang was a bundle of different emotions. Anger, hurt, guilt? He didn't know what to make of it. Slade however, was radiating one emotion and one emotion only... regret. The Manta came to a stop, Yang looked up in surprise when the doors opened, having not noticed their arrival.

"We're here" Maria called back.

"Thanks Ms. Calavera" Ruby smiled as she stepped off.

Slade left without a word, following behind Ruby. The others did the same, Yang taking the rear, drilling holes into the back of Slade's head "How far is the place?" Blake asked.

"Two more lefts, then a right" Weiss answered "Won't take long"

Oscar snuck up behind Slade "So... you and Yang?" he whispered.

"Oscar" he warned.

"Look, I'm not trying to pry, but I've never seen her so angry with you before..."

Slade sighed "I... messed up. And I'm not sure how to fix it yet" he answered.

"Then her being upset is... justified?"

"You could say that, yes"

"Okay... then you didn't-"

"We're here!" Ruby called with a smile "Slade, can you get the door?"

He moved to the door and placed one hand atop the handle, the second passed through the door, reaching around to unlock it. Removing his hand, he pushed on the door, finding it wouldn't budge "Uh, Slade?" Weiss called.

"One moment" he placed his hand back inside the door and felt around for another lock. Upon finding it, he unlocked it before checking for another "Just how many locks does this place have-?"

The door was thrown open by a powerful kick from Yang "It's open now" she said impatiently, stepping inside.

He remained silent for a moment, frozen in place "So it is..." Slade sweatdropped, remaining in his place as the others passed him "Six. The answer was six... locks" he deadpanned.

Following them inside, he was met with a series of dark rooms. Weiss flipped the light switch on to reveal the interior to be extremely squalid. From floor to ceiling, every available inch was covered in writing, equations, chemical formulas, and Grimm symbols. The others all covered their noses in disgust, a few of them looking extremely nauseous.

"What the hell is that smell?" Oscar asked.

Slade nodded "I believe that would be Dr. Lawson" he gestured to a corpse sprawled out in the corner of the room, clutching at her heart.

"Oh god!" Oscar raced back out the door, the sound of him purging his stomach causing the others to grimace.

"I'll check on him" Ruby offered, heading outside after him.

"Call it in. The Doctor will want to have a look at her" Slade suggested.

"Leave the room? Gladly" Weiss followed Ruby out with her Scroll in hand.

Proceeding into the next room, they found an alarming amount of scientific and biological paraphernalia. There were jars with fragments of animal limbs all around, and a tube-like machine giving off a distinctive electrical hum. Slade covered his face with his mask, doing his best to ignore the smell of decomposition. Blake chose to stay at the entrance to the room, not daring to go further. Noticing Yang's continued struggle, Slade removed his jacket and tossed it to her.

"Use that to cover the smell" she said nothing but nodded gratefully as she covered her face.

"This all looks like scientific experiments, but she has occult books about the Grimm all over the place. Pages ripped out and stapled to the wall" Blake noted.

"Like she was trying to combine science and magic" Slade mused as he lifted a book of fairytales from the table "It seems Dr. Lawson was onto something"

"She was working for Salem" Yang frowned.

"Of course she was" Slade sighed, annoyed they had yet another mystery to solve "The real question is... why?"

Weiss entered "Ironwood is sending men to recover her body and bring it back to Dr. Polendina"

"Oscar?" he inquired.

"A bit pale" she shrugged.

"Well, I'm sure he'll be fine in a minute"

"Whatever she was working on, she must've accomplished what she wanted" Blake deduced.

"What makes you say that?" Yang asked.

"Well, she'd still be alive if she hadn't, right?"

"Which is why we need to discover what she was working on. If it was for Salem, then we want to make sure she can't use it against us" Slade explained.

"And if it wasn't, we want to know why" Weiss finished.

"Right..."

"Well, I think I found it" Yang called.

They all quickly made their way over to find what she was staring at. It was a small vial, the bottom contained the Grimm substance they'd seen many times before. Beside it, was a circular casing, segmented at the bottom. Slade picked it up from the table and pushed on the top, three needles emerged from the bottom, dripping the same fluid onto the wooden table. His brow furrowed at the sight, surprised it wasn't reacting in any way to the vial or the table. He made his way back to the corpse in the entry hall, his wrist blade emerging on his right arm.

"What're you doing?" Ruby asked from the doorway.

"Testing a theory"

He used the blade to cut open the sleeve on her arm, he found three needle shaped puncture marks on her wrist. He pressed the item he'd found into the holes and watched as the substance shot out into her veins, yet there was no violent reaction. He closed his eyes, reaching out with his Semblance, trying to feel the substance within her body. Strangely, it felt different than puddle he'd found within Embermane. In comparison, this felt dormant, while it previously felt alive, hungry...

"Slade?" Blake called.

His eyes snapped open, replacing the segmented end, he placed it into his vest pocket "Ironwood will want to see this" he got to his feet.

"Does that mean we're done here?" Weiss asked hopeful.

"It does" Slade answered thankfully.

They all stepped outside taking a breath of fresh air, coughing as they did "That was awful" Blake gasped out.

"Didn't think I signed up to be a mortician" Slade held out the item from his pocket to Ruby "We found this"

"And this" Weiss held up the vial "It looks like this is how Salem's been keeping her people under control. Maybe even unwillingly"

"But if she had this, why did she need the control chips from Chimera?" Oscar asked.

"It's possible she wasn't aware of the chip, or maybe she just wanted more personal assurance" Blake offered.

"It's unlikely Salem would put all her eggs in one basket" Slade proposed.

"Whatever the reason, we have it now" Yang sighed in relief.

"Salem must be cleaning house" Blake frowned.

"You think?" Weiss asked with concern.

"Well, she hasn't been dead very long. No where near the level of decay we found back at Brunswick" Slade concluded.

"Then let's get this back to Atlas" Ruby suggested as she accepted the item from Slade "If Salem is making another move, we need to be ready"

"Right" they started to walk back toward the Manta.

Yang led the way, while the others followed, Ruby dropped back to Slade and whispered "Maybe you should talk to her"

He scoffed "Now? She's liable to rip my head off" he whispered back.

"Come on, she's really upset. It's obvious it has something to do with you, so..." she motioned for him to approach her.

"Ruby, I really don't think-"

"Just go!" she shoved him forward.

Slade inwardly groaned, moving faster to keep pace with the blonde "Hey, uh, Yang" she glared hard but gave no response. He fought the urge to back off and held his hand out toward her "May I have my coat back?"

Yang looked down in surprise to find she was in fact still holding onto his coat, she couldn't believe she'd completely forgotten about it. She briefly wondered how she could've been so distracted, chastising herself. She pressed it back into him more forcefully than she'd intended, stumbling him slightly. Yang's eyes widened, surprised by her own actions. She grit her teeth and turned away, he hadn't said anything, but the look in his eyes showed he was hurt by her treatment. She thought that would've made her happy, after how she felt the previous night, he'd have deserved it, right? But she found it only made her feel worse.

Slade mimicked her voice "Hey, Slade. Thanks for letting me use your coat" he returned to his own "You're welcome, Yang. I was delighted to let you use it"

Yang turned on her heels "Thank you! There, happy now?!"

"Very! Thank you for noticing I exist for the first time today!"

"Me?! You've been the one ignoring me all day!"

"Excuse me for giving you some space. Sorry I wasn't looking to get another punch to the face"

"Excuse me?! I wouldn't hit you just for talking to me!" her eyes flashed red.

"All evidence to the contrary"

"Guys-"

"Not now, Ruby!" they both snapped before turning their attention back to each other.

"What the hell do you want from me, Yang?"

"I just want you to talk to me! I want you to give me a damn reason! One good reason!"

"Okay, seriously. That's enough" Weiss tried, standing between them.

He rolled his eyes "Forget it. I'll find my own way back to Atlas"

Yang caught him by the arm as he passed by "Don't walk away from me! You're not leaving until I get a reason!"

"Watch me!" his hand passed through hers "We have enough to worry about without the two of us at each other's throats-"

"Cut the bullshit, Slade. What the hell are you scared of? Huh? Scared we'll end up like your family, your team? We're not them!"

"Oh, yeah? How many times have we almost lost someone? Tyrian almost killed Winter, Hunter would've killed Blake, they've tried to capture Ruby more times than I care to count, Weiss almost died in Haven, Qrow could've died when he was poisoned, Adam could've killed you and Blake at Beacon! So you tell me, Yang! How many close calls do we need to have before we make a mistake we can't fix, before one of us ends up dead?"

"Well we've been doing well so far!"

"I'm sure your friend Pyrrha would agree"

Yang did her best to reign in her anger, taking several breaths "I'm not your sister, Slade"

"What?"

"I understand you're afraid, but pushing me away isn't going to change anything"

"Yang" he warned, breathing heavily "You're pushing too far"

"Look, I'm sorry about what you've had to go through, Slade. But you're not the only one afraid of losing people"

"This isn't about them, Yang! This isn't... it's not... I just can't bear to be the reason-"

"Aw, your first lover's spat. How adorable" Cinder's voice called mockingly.

The six of them whipped around to face her with their weapons ready "Cinder" Yang glared.

"It's so cute watching you two at each other's throats. Neither of you can accept how the other feels about you, and it's tearing you up inside" she chuckled "It'd be funny if it wasn't so pathetic" fire spit from her mouth as her Maiden power emblazoned her eyes.

They all formed a wall between her and Ruby "You won't be laying a finger on Ruby" Oscar declared.

"Not without getting beaten to a pulp!" Yang smashed her fists together, her Aura flaring.

Cinder grinned "Looking to even out the other arm, are you?"

"Shut your mouth!" Yang charged right for her, punching for her face as she sidestepped the strike.

Cinder formed an obsidian blade in her hand and deflected a round fired from Ruby, then blocked Blake's own blade from behind. Flipping backward, she dodged a strike from Ruby as she fired Crescent Rose to launch herself forward. She threw a fireball at Slade as he fired at her, forcing him to avoid it by rolling out of the way. Several fireballs formed around Cinder, preparing to be launched at her opponents.

Slade pressed his finger to his ear "Maria, call Ironwood. Now!"

"What's going on over there?" she asked concerned.

"It's Cinder, she's-argh!" he was thrown aside from a second fireball striking him in the back.

Cinder laughed "You're all just pawns to Ozpin, pawns to Ironwood. Pawns in this little game of theirs, and your time is all used up!"

Slade got to his feet, gesturing toward her "Pot" he gestured to his friends "Meet kettle"

"Finally tired of getting others to do your dirty work?" Ruby called, trying to goad her.

Cinder shook her head "Don't worry, little red. I'm not here for you, not this time"

Oscar moved to strike, but stopped when he heard footsteps fast approaching from behind, he turned just in time to see Neo's blade, extending out of the edge of Hush "Neo?" Slade asked surprised.

Oscar managed to block the blade as she struck for his face, stopping it as the tip poked at his skin. Pulling her arm back to strike, Neo found Slade's grappling hook pulling her back. He slammed his heel into her chest, shattering her and Oscar like glass. He looked around desperately to find the boy struggling to keep pace with Neo's barrage of strikes and kicks. Cinder launched an arc of fire at Weiss, forcing her to flip sideways over it, then slid across several of her Glyphs away from a second wave of flames. Gambol Shroud swirled around Cinder, tying her arms to her chest, she turned her head in just enough time to receive a powerful strike from Yang's metal fist to her face, throwing her through the air. She flipped back, slowing herself with fire streaming out of her hands and feet, hovering in the air. She turned her attention to a nearby crowd of civilians who were trying to get away, soldiers lining up to attack.

"So many targets, so little time to choose" she unleashed a powerful burst of flame from her hand right at them.

Weiss managed to form a wall of ice just in time to block the flames, panting heavily from the effort. Cinder grinned propelling herself toward Weiss with a manic grin on her face. She was thrown aside as Slade slammed his heel into her face, throwing her to the ground. Slade spun Defiance between his fingers and fired several rounds at Neo as she attacked Oscar. Neo opened her parasol and spun it around, blocking each round as Oscar took advantage of the opening he'd been given.

Weiss looked to the soldiers "Get these people to safety and report this attack immediately!" she ordered.

"Yes, Ma'am!" one quickly saluted, leading the others away from the fight.

"It figures you wouldn't be able to help yourself, Slade" Cinder shook her head "You always did like playing the white knight"

"I'm done playing games, Cinder. I won't allow you to hurt anyone else ever again"

She grinned "Just try it!"

Oscar thrust for her chest, only for her to tuck his arm beneath hers, flipping backward one leg at a time. He was thrown in the air, the sound of Crescent Rose firing alerted Neo to her oncoming attacker, ducking beneath the strike as she opened her parasol, she launched Ruby over her shoulder with a surprised gasp. Neo winked with a grin back at her as she tumbled to the ground. Gambol Shroud flipped through the air toward Neo, forcing her to deflect the strike with the handle of Hush. Yang caught it in her hand, pulling it tight, Neo was close lined by it, knocking her onto her back.

Without wasting a moment, Oscar slammed his cane down onto her head from her place on the ground, shattering her like glass "What?!"

"Careful, she creates illusions with her Semblance" Slade called as he used his Semblance to deflect an arc of fire directed at him.

"Like Emerald?" he asked.

"Worse than Emerald. Her illusions are solid"

"Wonderful"

Weiss created a Glyph in front of Slade, protecting him from the next blast of flames, then a second Glyph black as night, pulled Cinder back into it, earning a growl of frustration. Slade was launched forward with a Glyph forming beneath him, his heel slamming into Cinder's abdomen, then a second strike as he flipped, kicking her in the shoulder, throwing her down into Yang's arms. She caught her by the back of her shoulders and hoisted her in the air, slamming her down into the concrete, shattering it from the impact, flipping back as she released her hold, kicking her in the face. Cinder grinned as she was thrown back into the air, her Grimm hand grabbing onto Yang's face, she pulled herself in, wrapping her legs around her waist, she slammed her face first down into the concrete with her legs, catching herself on her hands. Slade's eyes widened momentarily in concern, he advanced upon Cinder with his wrist blades drawn, she flipped forward, slamming her heel to the ground, an explosive blast of flame threw him backward, catching himself on his hands as he back handsprung into the landing. Oscar struck Cinder in the back with the Long Memory, unleashing a rapid flurry of strikes, then launching her toward Slade. He spun through the air, slamming his armored boot into her face, then dropping her into the ground, cracking the road in the process. Cinder expelled roaring flames from each of her limbs, throwing Slade back, sliding to a stop on his heels. Slade trapped her in his Semblance, keeping her motionless as Blake charged her with Gambol Shroud at the ready. Cinder growled, the ground beneath Slade swirling as it was superheated, the resulting explosion knocked Slade skyward, releasing her from his hold. She turned just in time to catch Blake's blade in her Grimm hand with a wicked smile on her face.

Neo twirled through the air, slamming her heel down onto Ruby's Scythe as she blocked with the handle. She flipped forward kicking twice while midair into Ruby's chest, but was stopped by the blade of her scythe. She flipped Hush in her hand and looped it around the center of Crescent Rose, throwing Ruby skyward. Ruby latched her scythe blade through the handle and pulled herself toward Neo, slamming both heels into her face. Neo was too shocked to move out of the way in time, knocking her onto one hand, flipping over one leg at a time to a standing position. Oscar leapt toward her, forcing her to block with her parasol held horizontally between both hands, he shifted to a reverse grip, jabbing her in the face with it, then tucking it behind Hush, pulled her down into a knee to her face. Blake vanished using her Semblance, appearing behind Cinder and striking downward, causing her to cry out in pain from the strike. The shattered concrete around them superheated as it rose into the air. Weiss' Glyph formed beneath them, pulling the shards of heated concrete down and forcing Cinder to her knees. Slade's grappling hook wrapped around her, Yang grabbed onto it with him, both of them pulling it tight to keep her in place. Blake twirled around, slamming her heel into Cinder's face, all of them wore shared expressions of shock as she shattered.

"Aurgh!" Oscar cried as he was thrown to the ground by a blast of flame from Cinder, the Relic clattering to the ground.

"Oscar!" Ruby rushed toward him as Cinder closed in on the Relic.

"Slade!" Weiss called.

"I got it!" he used his Semblance to pull the Relic toward him.

He gasped in shock when he felt striking pain in his abdomen "Slade!" Yang shouted as she turned to see him, Neo's blade piercing him from behind.

"N-N-Neo...?" she stood with tears welled in her eyes, she forced her eyes shut, looking away from him as they began to fall.

Cinder laughed as she scooped up the Relic, hooking it onto her belt "You kids really are so easy to fool"

Yang's Semblance activated, advancing onto Neo with a cry of rage. Neo turned just in time to block with her open parasol, only to be thrown back by the force of her strike. She flipped it into a reverse grip, bouncing on it as she righted herself, sliding to a stop on her heels. Yang moved too fast for her to react, slamming her fists into her left and right, throwing her into the air then crashing back down into the ground. Neo was skipped like a stone on water off the road onto the sidewalk, slamming into the wall of the building.

"I'm gonna kill you!" Yang pulled back her fist to strike one final time as she approached.

Yang froze in place just moments before striking, she forced herself to look back at Slade, holding his hand out toward her, stopping her with his Semblance "Don't... please"

"I... I..." Yang looked down to see Neo's eyes white with fear "I..."

"Yang, look out!" Oscar called.

Yang fired Ember Celica over her metal arm without turning, Cinder leapt over the shot, catching herself on her hands. The blonde looked back in surprise to see Slade had used his Semblance to make her attack, then released her. Cinder tucked her legs under her, blasting fire toward them both. Yang moved but saw Slade wasn't going to be fast enough.

"Slade!"

Ruby soared past her using her Semblance, spinning Crescent Rose as she slid to a stop in front of Slade, dispelling the flames as Cinder got to her feet "Little red..." she growled.

"We're not letting you leave with that Relic" Blake exclaimed, Gambol Shroud at the ready with Oscar beside her. Weiss, Yang and Ruby each took positions in front of Slade "And you're not hurting anyone else"

Slade forced himself up, his hand pressed firmly onto his wound as his Aura set to work healing it "I'll provide support, just get that Relic away from her"

"Right" Ruby nodded.

Cinder grinned "I admire your determination, but you really should pay more attention"

"What?"

Yang was grabbed from behind by Cinder's Grimm arm, pulling her backward and slamming her head into the wall beside her, cracking it from the force "Yang!" her sister cried.

Slade fired into the Cinder in front of them, shattering Neo's illusion "Dammit!" he turned back to Cinder and started firing at her as the others moved to attack.

Yang fell unconscious after multiple strikes made her crash through the wall. Without wasting a moment, Cinder hoisted her onto her back "Sorry, kids. Better luck next time" she propelled herself skyward using her flames.

"Yang!" Weiss made a Glyph behind Cinder, pulling her backward.

Slade rushed forward firing a grappling hook from his gauntlet, wrapping it around her leg. He pressed his heel over the end, pulling her down toward him. Cinder unleashed a powerful blast of flames from her mouth, destroying the Glyph and soaring away. Slade was pulled right along, leaving the city limits.

"Slade! We're coming! Just hang on!" Weiss called as she summoned a Queen Lancer to ride on.

"Don't worry, I'm not letting her go!"

Cinder looked back to find Slade still behind her "You're annoyingly persistent!" she launched a fireball from her hand back at him.

Slade used his Semblance to smother it before it could reach him "Maria! I need air support, right now!"

"You're about to get it!"

Slade turned just in time to catch sight of the Manta soaring behind him before it dropped beneath his feet. Slade fired a second grappling hook from his opposite gauntlet, embedding it into the roof of the airship. He pulled as hard as he was able, forcing Cinder back toward him slowly. She roared with anger, superheating the center of the cable until it snapped, dropping Slade onto his side painfully. Oscar landed beside him, surprising him at how quickly they caught up, he looked up to find the others riding on the back of the Lancer.

"You alright?" he asked

He got to his feet with Oscar's help "Yeah, I'm good"

"We're not losing Yang to her!" Blake called.

Slade nodded "Maria, did you contact Ironwood?"

"You bet I did, boy was he furious. Said he was sending backup"

"Well, where the hell is it!" Weiss asked.

Cinder suddenly flipped over, dropping Yang from her back as she soared toward the Lancer "Look out!" Oscar called.

"I got her!" Slade leapt off the back, his hook still embedded in the roof. He swung down and caught Yang in his free hand "Gotcha!"

Weiss formed a Glyph in front of her, but it was not enough to stop Cinder, crashing right through the Lancer like a speeding bullet. Weiss managed to catch Blake, Ruby, and herself on a Glyph as Cinder turned back toward Slade. She blasted the left wing of the Manta with flames, damaging it, then swooped down to his level. Slamming her heels into his chest, he was forced to let go of Yang, dropping her into Cinder's waiting arms. The damaged wing on the Manta superheated, causing it to melt off.

"I'm losing her!" Maria called.

Slade swung back atop the Manta as it dipped to it's left, barely managing to catch Oscar "I've got you"

The ship slammed into the ground, sending Oscar tumbling from his grasp and Slade skyward from the impact. The airship slid violently toward a nearby cliff, scrapping across the earth before it sailed clean over the edge. Slade was yanked right along, the cable from his gauntlet still attached to it. He planted his feet in the snow, sliding as he desperately tried to stop the vehicle with his Semblance.

"Dammit!" he detached the cable, freeing himself from it "Maria, are you there?! Maria?!"

The Manta slowly slid back up over the side of the cliff, Oscar and Slade watching in amazement "Penny!" they both called, seeing the girl pushing it from the front.

She struggled to maintain her hold on the ship, her thrusters working as hard as they could. Slade used his Semblance to help, while Oscar rushed to the ship and opened the door, Maria sat unconscious in the pilot seat. He quickly threw one arm over his shoulder and dragged her out. As soon as she was safe, Penny and Slade released the Manta, which slowly dropped over the edge, crashing into the trees below. Weiss, Ruby and Blake all rushed over to find them all safe.

"Are you guys alright?" Ruby asked with concern.

Slade dropped onto his back "Been better. Oscar?"

"I'm alright, but Maria got hit pretty hard"

Penny moved to his side, taking her from him. She scanned her over "Vitals seem normal, minor concussion, she's going to need medical attention. I can take her back to Atlas"

"What about Yang?" Slade called as he forced himself to sit up.

"I'm tracking her Scroll. She's stopped moving, pretty close by... that's strange"

"What is it, Penny?" Blake asked.

"We've lost our signal with Winter's team... right around the same-oh! There goes Yang's signal too"

"Sounds like a jammer, like the one Chimera was using back at their base. How far?" Slade asked.

"About thirty miles north, south side of the mountain. But the only thing out there is Iapetus"

"I-a-what-now?" Ruby asked.

"Old city ruins from before Atlas was founded, even before they changed the name from Mantle" Weiss explained.

"Abandoned then?" Oscar asked.

"Very" Penny answered.

"Not anymore, it seems" Weiss sighed.

"Sounds like the perfect place for a secret hideout" Blake deduced.

"Agreed" Slade got to his feet "We should start heading that way, but we should keep a low profile. If Qrow and the others were headed in that direction, it sounds like they might've run into trouble"

"I'll let Ironwood know what happened" Penny offered.

Ruby removed the vial from her pocket along with the implant device Slade had given her "Take these too, then. Your dad will want to have a look at them"

She nodded, accepting them from her before lifting Maria onto her shoulder "Be careful, Ruby. I'll be back to help as soon as I can, alright?"

She smiled "Thanks, Penny"

---

Winter crept across a stone bridge connecting to a deeper portion of the dark ruined city, weapon at the ready. She walked through the seemingly abandoned fortress, but the longer she remained, the more she was convinced that something else was in there with her, and she needed to find out what it was. She suddenly stopped, ducking behind an archway, she watched a Sabyr come up and sniff the air, searching for something. It turned away and rushed back the way it came, the way she had come from prior, she wondered if it had been stalking her. Winter gripped her blade with shaking hands, turning a corner she moved deeper into the shadowed ruins, as she neared the centermost point of the ruined building, she saw a torch lit with purple flames off in the distance. She moved to see better from a higher vantage point, climbing the stone wall silently. Her focus was drawn behind her when she heard roaring flames incoming. She witnessed Cinder Fall land on the connecting bridge, moving inside with something over her shoulder. She moved to her vantage point and watched her enter, dropping the body onto the ground.

"Yang..." Winter whispered in shock.

"I did as you asked" she called getting onto one knee.

The shadows pulsed, surging with life as a figure drew closer. Black smoke writhed within, she could feel that all too familiar sickening energy building. Salem emerged from the shadows, hands folded in front of her, Cinder's Grimm arm seized at their proximity, causing Cinder to wince in pain. Salem gently placed a hand onto her opposite shoulder, a soft smile on her face.

"You have done well, Cinder. Just as I had hoped"

Cinder removed something from her belt, holding it up to Salem "I retrieved more than just the girl"

Winter's eyes widened as she recognized the item "The Relic... Oscar..."

Salem's smile widened "Excellent work, Cinder" she accepted the item "You've truly outdone yourself. I believe your reward is well earned" she stepped away from her.

Cinder grinned "Thank you, allow me to take the Maiden's power and I will personally deliver you the Staff"

Salem hummed in agreement "You wished to know the identity of the Winter Maiden, you have more than earned your reward" she turned to her "Her name is Winter Schnee"

Winter's eyes widened in disbelief, she fell onto her rear in shock "No... that's not possible... I can't be..." she breathed out.

"What?!" Cinder bellowed "We've been watching Ruby's team for months. Every recorded conversation, every public interaction, if that were true, we'd have heard about it"

Salem shook her head "They're not stupid, Cinder. They knew I have eyes and ears everywhere"

"How can you be sure?"

"Are you doubting me, girl?" she asked lowering herself to eye level with her.

Cinder froze "N-no, of course not" she looked away from her in fear.

"Good" she straightened "When I wiped out their military base, I encountered her there. I could feel it within her, the same way I can feel it within you... and Slade"

"Slade?" she rose to her feet "Slade isn't even a girl, he can't be a Maiden"

"And yet..." she chuckled "Elise Stroud remains"

"His sister is still alive?!"

"Her soul persists, she is sharing his body. Even Slade wasn't aware of what he did"

"How... how did you discover this? You said you felt it?"

Salem nodded "I've known about it since her soul was extracted from her body. Although, it was only recently I learned that it was in fact her soul, and not just the power she wielded. I know, because she stopped me from siphoning information from Slade"

Cinder grinned "Two Maidens in one place... who'd have thought"

"It would seem all four Maidens are currently in Atlas for the moment"

"Quite the coincidence"

"Fate, it seems, leaves nothing to chance" Yang hovered into the air, following behind Salem as she left "Go back to Mantle and await my summons. My army marches soon, and you will play an integral part in my plan to secure the Relic"

"I will not fail you" she turned to leave.

"And, Cinder" she called "Don't forget the consequences if you or your accomplice kill Ms. Rose"

Cinder said nothing, soaring off away from the ruins. Winter got to her feet, forcing herself to move. She was still reeling from shock, but she knew she couldn't stay, she needed to report back to Qrow, and more importantly, Ironwood. She just hadn't decided if she was going to yell at him when she did yet. She used her Glyphs to quickly get away from Salem's last position, leaping from one to the next. Suddenly, one of the Glyphs shattered beneath her, causing her to crash painfully to the ground.

Manic laughter echoed around her, she looked up to find Hunter leaping toward her. She met his horizontal strike with one of her own, knocking his weapon backward. Releasing his hold on the weapon, it swung around him, slicing at Winter from the opposite direction. She flipped her blade into a reverse grip, blocking the strike with both hands. She slid back from the force of the strike, his hands grabbing the scythe and forcing her back with increased pressure. Using one of her Glyphs, she slid away from him, then propelled herself forward with a second Glyph, thrusting for his chest. Hunter arced his scythe, blocking the strike and forcing her arm behind her back painfully. She groaned as he spun on his heel, swinging for her back, she managed to block over her shoulder in just enough time, then sidestepped a kick for her hip. Spinning with the motion, she jumped into a kick for his chest, throwing him back a short distance, sliding to a stop, scythe scrapping against the stone.

"The Schnee returns" he laughed "You got away from us last time, but you won't be so lucky this time"

She straightened her stance "It'll take more than just you to defeat me"

He grinned "You sound so confident, but I can see just how frightened you are. Bold as you may be, even you wouldn't have come all the way out here on your own. Your friends won't stay hidden forever"

Hunter charged forward, slicing horizontally for her chest. Winter flipped back onto the square stone column behind her. She sliced her weapon as she jumped, forcing him to block before countering with a vertical strike of his own. Winter spun through the air, landing on one of her Glyphs, she launched herself skyward, landing onto an elevated walkway away from him. She was shocked to find his scythe soaring toward her, the top of it slamming into the left side of her face, stumbling her a few steps. His scythe embedded in the ground beside her, pulling him up to her position, laughing all the while. Winter slid away from him using one of her Glyphs, then arced her blade to block his strike. Her second blade emerged, dropping into her open hand beneath it. She stabbed it into his abdomen, then slammed her heels into him, throwing him backward from the force of the strike. Hunter flipped through the air, sliding to a stop on his scythe as it embedded into the stone ground. Using the handle like a springboard, he launched himself back at her, pulling his fist back to strike. Winter tucked his arm beneath hers and flipped forward one leg at a time, dropping him onto his back before delivering a powerful kick to his face, throwing him back toward his weapon. Hunter spun through the air, his scythe soaring toward him, he caught it on his right hand, embedding it into the ground in front of him, sliding to a stop at the edge of the broken walkway.

"You're good, Schnee. Much better than I'd have expected. This is going to be fun" he grinned.

"Is that why you serve Salem? For fun?" she asked with a glare.

He laughed "You think me like that maniac Callows, don't you? Well, I suppose we're cut from the same cloth" he shook his head "I don't believe Salem is a god anymore than you do, but I know she's the winning side, so I chose to work with her"

She frowned "How did she manage to recruit you and Larson? You were both so young..."

"No younger than those Ozpin recruits, right?" he chuckled "I don't know about Cole, but I just like cutting things apart" he resumed his stance "You're just lucky she wants you alive, means I can only cut off a few pieces"

Winter's gaze hardened "Come and try it"

Yang's eyes fluttered open "Ow..." she groaned out, trying to adjust to the light.

She blinked as she tried to get her bearings, looking up and around, she found she did not recognize this place. It was so dark, the ruins silhouetting against the shattered moon. The only source of light came from a torch of purple flames above her head. She could hear the distinctive sound of metal clashing with metal faintly in the distance. That was when she felt a familiar sense of dread, she tried to move, but found herself stuck in place. She looked to her arm to find it trapped in crystalized chains, attached to her legs as well. She looked to her other arm to find it was missing, she started breathing heavily, desperately pulling at the chains as she tried to get away, tears of fear threatening to boil over.

"So forceful" Salem's sickeningly sweet voice called from the shadows "Not at all what I'd have expected" she chuckled.

"You..." she struggled to hide her fear, glaring at the woman before her.

"I must say... I remembered you being taller" she cocked her head to the side "I suppose that's what happens when neither of us were fully present for our last meeting" she traced her finger against her cheek.

"Don't touch me! Get away from me!" Yang snapped, continuing to fight against her chains.

Salem smiled "My, such spunk. I can see why he likes you, beautiful and a fighter"

Yang's eyes widened slightly "You... you don't know what you're talking about"

"Don't I? You forget, I was the one in his head long before you came along. You dove straight in too, no concerns for your own safety at all" she laughed softly "I can't decide if it's stupidly brave or bravely stupid"

"Stick around. I'm full of bad ideas"

She chuckled "So I see. Though I must say, I am surprised someone so foolhardy could navigate a shattered mind so easily. Were it not for your interference, Slade would no longer be a problem for me, and I needn't have bothered with you at all"

"Yeah, I'm not sorry to disappoint!"

"Oh, it's hardly disappointing. It just changes my approach"

"Where the hell am I? Where's Ruby?!" she demanded.

Her gaze hardened "Calm yourself, girl. Your dear sister is unharmed, for the moment at least. Though I am certain she is concerned for your wellbeing"

"Yeah? And what makes you think I'll believe anything you say?!"

She shrugged "Fine, work yourself up over nothing. I care not"

Her eyes flashed red, Aura flaring "Nothing?! You kidnapped me! You've attacked my sister and my friends! You got Pyrrha killed! You killed my mom! What the hell do you mean nothing?!"

Salem watched her with a blank stare "True, I did do all those things. When you're reshaping the world, you can't worry about every little life that gets destroyed along the way. These things happen, just ask my dear husband" she finished venomously.

"It doesn't matter what you do to me, my friends will still fight you. They're going to stop you, and you will never win! Ozpin won't let you!"

Salem tilted her head "You sound just like her, you know"

"What?"

She smiled "Summer Rose. Your dear mother"

Yang's eyes widened, returning to their natural color, tears starting to fall "Mom..."

She returned to a neutral expression "Funny, I had never met a woman so adamant on protecting both her children, even the one that wasn't truly hers. She was certainly unique, I'll give her that much. She's the only person my Ozma ever recruited who forced me to deal with her personally... until now"

"What?" she asked in shock.

"Oh, Ozma wouldn't have told you about that would he? That man keeps so much from all of you, yet you follow him so willingly" she shook her head "I've been at this game for centuries, girl. And in all that time, only Ozma has threatened my plans, not even his Maidens were strong enough to stop me" Salem leaned closer "Yet Summer Rose proved to be the exception, she is the reason it took me so long to prepare for this moment"

"All that, and you're still gonna lose" Yang growled.

Salem smiled "No, I think not. Though your sister certainly has inherited your mother's determination and an irritating tendency to thwart my plans. Beacon, Haven, even Argus. That is why I have played this hand so carefully, that is why I let Slade play right into my hands"

"Except you failed then too, didn't you?" Yang smirked "We drove you out of his mind before you could find what you wanted"

Salem hummed in agreement "It's true. It seems both of you learned how to be true fairytale heroes just like her" she sighed "But this fairytale doesn't have a happy ending"

"Yeah, we know you want to erase humanity again, because something bad happened to you once, a long time ago. Get over yourself. You're so selfish you couldn't even understand what the Gods were trying to teach you!"

Salem's eyes narrowed "You know a lot for just another one of Ozma's sacrifices. Not even Summer knew the truth about me. I always wondered if perhaps Slade's connection to me was affecting him more than I'd expected, but for you to know the truth too, he must've trusted you a great deal"

"It wasn't Slade who told me, I learned it from someone else"

She snorted "Don't insult me, girl. I know Ozma would never tell you his secrets, not even after all you've done to try and stop me. He's a natural born liar"

"I don't really care what you think! You're just a monster who wants to kill everyone-!"

Salem grabbed her by the throat, her face expressionless "You can act brave all you want, girl. But I can feel your fear, you cannot hide it from me. I don't know how you've learned so much about my past. I don't care-" she suddenly stopped.

Her hand lowered "Ah, I see now" she smiled "You used the Relic" Yang's wide eyes confirmed her theory "Yes, it all makes sense now. How else would you learn what Ozma has kept hidden for so long, if not for the knowledge the Relic holds. You're all smarter than you look"

"Yeah, we know everything he wanted to keep from us. We know about your past, and we know you did this to yourself" Yang growled.

"Well then, if you know so much. You're going to answer some questions for me"

"I'm not telling you anything!"

Her lips turned upward "We shall see" she folded her hands in front of her "Beacon, the vault there continues to elude my forces. I assume Ozma hid it through some kind of trickery, but I cannot be certain. Tell me everything you know"

"I already told you, I'm not telling you anything!"

Salem gauged her reaction carefully "It seems the Relic didn't tell you everything after all. Very well, a question you're sure to know then. How do you use the Relic?"

"You must be hard of hearing! Because I'm not repeating myself again!"

"Very well" She held out her hand, palm up, black smoke emanated from her fingertips. It coalesced into a clawed hand, swirling around Salem before launching itself down Yang's throat. Yang found herself unable to cry out or breathe, the pain radiating throughout her body getting worse with every second.

Salem ended her torture with a tilt of her head, the hand retracting, then dissipating moments later "Still feeling uncooperative?" Yang breathed heavily from the pain, struggling to regain her composure "Have it your way"

Yang screamed in anguish as a concentrated blast of purple flames struck her, her Aura unable to keep up with the power behind the strike. Salem lowered her hand, extinguishing the flames on her with a snap of her fingers. She moved closer to the blonde, the sound of gunshots ringing out through the ruins. Salem shook her head with exasperation, she ran the back of her hand along Yang's cheek.

"It would seem your friends are intent on making themselves an annoyance to me, you all truly do embody what it means to be a Huntsman, don't you?"

"We are Huntsman" she growled out.

"Well you play the part well enough" she smirked "One of you is going to tell me what I want to know. It's up to you to decide if it's you, or which of your friends I'll need to... encourage" she chuckled darkly "I already have the Relic, and that will not be changing, no matter how hard you fight"

Yang's eyes widened "The Relic is here?!"

Salem turned away from her "Cinder was kind enough to bring it to me alongside you. Don't worry, I'll be back to play with you some more before the day is over. I'll be sure to bring along all your friends" Yang started thrashing against her restraints in anger, earning an amused laugh from Salem as she left.

---

Qrow poked his head around a corner, checking to see if it was clear. Jaune's head popped up over his shoulder "You know, I thought the point of holding position, was so that we would hold the position"

"Winter is in over her head, we need to find something so we can all get out of here. I don't like this place, it feels... sick"

"Do you think maybe that's why?" Ren asked.

"What is it?" they both quickly made their way over to him and followed his gaze.

The group all stood in shock, beneath them was hundreds of Grimm, more than any of them had ever seen before. Following the trail of Grimm up to the closest walkway, they found Chimera soldiers all lining the walls, waiting like statues for orders, rifles pointed skyward over their shoulders. Qrow grabbed them both, forcing them all away from the walkway, out of sight.

"This is where she's amassing her army, she's preparing to march on Atlas" he breathed out.

"That's so much Grimm... too much Grimm" Nora shuddered with fear.

"I've never seen so many before. Not even when she attacked Beacon, how are we supposed to fight against an army that size?" Jaune asked.

"That's not even the whole army, and don't forget she has those soldiers working for her now" Ren reminded.

"Not to mention people like Tyrian and Cinder working with her, and who knows how many people in the city secretly support her" Qrow sighed "We need to get out of here, right now"

"What about Winter?" Jaune asked with concern.

Qrow pointed back the way they came "Go back to the entrance. I'll find Winter" he leapt over the edge, shifting into Corvid form.

Seconds later, they watched as Cinder soared overhead, none of them got a good enough view to see what she was carrying, but it was clear she was not alone. They all moved back through the way they came, arriving to find several Sabyrs investigating the entryway. Nora grinned, pulling her hammer back to strike, she nodded to the others, leaping into the one closest to them, she slammed it down over it's head, firing for effect. The other Sabyrs were thrown back by the blast, Ren impaled the blades of StormFlower into the back of one, firing into it's head, while Jaune sliced straight through another's midsection, bisecting it.

"Do you think anyone heard that?" Nora asked.

"We should assume they did" Ren answered scanning over the ruins.

"We need to get out of here. We're outnumbered-get down!" Jaune grabbed them both and tucked behind a nearby wall, Cinder soared back overhead, leaving the area.

"She's headed back to the city" Ren noted.

"At least that means we won't have to fight her too" Nora offered trying to be optimistic.

"Yeah, but if she came here... that means Salem could be here too"

Nora paled "Oh..."

Suddenly a Chimera soldier rounded the corner with his weapon ready to fire. Jaune impaled his blade into the back of the wall, running along it as he did, he slammed both heels into the soldier, throwing him onto his back. Nora slammed her hammer down into his chest as another followed right behind him. Ren stepped forward from the shadows and impaled one of StormFlowers' blades into his neck, then fired it up into his helmet. Jaune spun as he removed Crocea Mors from the wall, a Teryx swooping down toward them. He sliced through the creature's neck, causing it to crash to the ground. In the distance, they heard the clashing of metal against metal echo through the ruin. They were unable to follow the sound as a winged Beringel screeched at them from above. It had one of the metal plates on it's forehead. It leapt down, flying behind them, just out of reach.

"Bridge! They bridge!" it shouted.

Magnhild shifted into it's grenade launcher form, firing two into it's chest, causing it to fall onto the ground beneath them. Ren leapt down after it, impaling his blades into it's chest, hanging off it as he fired into the creature. Jaune followed suit, impaling the creature's wing, making it unable to fly. The beast grabbed Ren and flung him away, turning to strike at Jaune, he was met with Nora's hammer crushing it into the stone floor.

"That sounded like fighting, but it's not us" Ren pointed out.

"Qrow? Or Winter?" Jaune asked.

"Impossible to tell from here. We need to help"

"Right, let's get after them" Jaune motioned for them to follow, heading after the sounds of battle.

Jaune stopped dead in his tracks when he turned a corner, at the end of the walkway, Cole stood with his arms crossed over his chest. Nora and Ren moved to either side of Jaune as he directed his blade at their opponent. He held his shield firmly beneath the blade as he slowly approached, careful for any tricks. Just as he passed an opening in the walkway, a Beowolf leapt up from the right while a Chimeran soldier came from the opposite side. Jaune blocked the creature's claws with his shield, thrusting his blade through it's chest. The soldier moved to smack him with the butt of his rifle, only for Nora to catch it in her hand. She flipped Magnhild in her hand as it shifted from hammer to grenade launcher, uppercutting him with it as it did. She twisted his arm behind his back with her grip on his weapon, then slammed the back of hers into his chest, dropping him to the floor. She fired two shots at Cole as he advanced on their position, crouching down to provide Ren with his own firing line. Cole ignored the fire from Jaune's teammates, walking through it and pulling his fist back to strike. Jaune deflected his attack with his shield, then thrust his blade toward his abdomen. He caught the blade beneath his right arm, grabbing Jaune with his left, he slammed him against the wall beside him. Jaune's blade hit the ground, but Cole gave him no reprieve. He grabbed him from behind and threw him into the opposite wall, shattering it as he fell through it.

"Jaune!" Ren called rushing toward him.

Cole moved to kick Jaune over the edge only to find his heel caught in Ren's grip. He pushed back against Cole, causing him to fall back into the wall behind him. Ren leapt into a strike to his face, the stones behind Cole cracking from the force of the strike. He then grabbed Cole and repeatedly slammed him face first into a stone pillar beside Jaune. Cole caught himself on the pillar after the second time and twisted around, wrapping his arms tightly around Ren's chest, using his stone skin to crush him in his grip. Ren sliced StormFlower across his abdomen, causing Cole to lose his grip from the pain, he threw Ren into the nearby wall in annoyance.

"Hey! Hands off!" Nora shouted as she charged toward him.

Cole kicked Jaune's blade up into his hands, swinging for her head as she approached. Sliding on her knees, she slammed Magnhild into his abdomen, then leaned back onto one hand to kick the blade from his hands, clattering to the ground. He grabbed her by her jacket collar, slamming his elbow into her back. He reversed his grip onto the back of her shoulders, lifting her into the air, and slamming her down onto his knee. Jaune slammed his shield into Cole's chest, throwing him back a short distance as Nora rolled to the ground.

"Nora, are you okay?" Jaune asked.

She groaned on her back, sitting up "Ow..." she rubbed her back "That kinda hurt" she whined

Jaune smiled "Then let's hurt him back"

Nora stood, handing him his blade back "I like that plan!"

"Uh, guys" Ren called.

"Yeah?" Jaune asked.

"Where did he go?"

They all looked to find Cole had vanished, leaving them alone in the hallway "Well... that's not creepy" Nora frowned.

"We'll worry about him later. Let's go" Jaune led them forward.

Winter soared through the air, deflecting strikes from Hunter as he relentlessly pursued her through the ruins. She used her Glyphs to keep just ahead of his strikes, flipping over his scythe and deflecting it with her blades as she ran. She held the larger blade in a reverse grip, striking back at him between his attacks, only for the chain on his weapon to block each strike as he expertly spun the scythe between each hand. Using a Glyph to slide out of the way of one of his attacks, she leapt back away from him. He caught one of her legs in his chain, pulling her back toward him with tremendous force. She used a black Glyph to accelerate her pace, slamming her heels into his chest, he flew back into the stone wall, shattering it, bouncing on his side to a stop. Several miniature white Nevermores attacked him, each of them striking against him as they passed. He growled in frustration, spinning his scythe around as he turned on his heel, slicing through each of the attacking summons from Winter. Using her Glyphs to launch herself forward, she caught Hunter's scythe blades in the mechanism to separate her weapons, wrenching it from his grip. He attempted to use the chain but Winter planted her heel on it, spinning with the movement, she struck him across the chest with her smaller blade twice before he could react. He managed to catch her arm by the wrist, twisting it, causing her to cry out in pain. He slammed his fist into her face, dropping her onto her side.

"You are not making this easy on me" he laughed, hoisting her up by her neck "Luckily, I like to play with my food"

Winter kicked his knee out from under him, moving to strike him with the pommel of her blade. He caught her weapon in his hand, then threw her into the stone wall beside him, cracking it from the impact. Hunter took his scythe out of her blade. He then kicked her blade away from her, planting his heel onto her shoulder with a grin on his face. Lifting his weapon to strike, his grin widened as he swung down for her arm. Hunter felt a sudden weight press into his back, a large blade blocked his arm as it's curved, segmented form trapped his movements.

Hunter was flipped onto his back, rolling to a stop as he glared at his new opponent "Qrow Branwen"

"Qrow!" Winter forced herself to her feet.

"Are you alright?" he asked concerned.

"I'm... I'm okay" she leaned against the wall "Qrow, she's got Yang"

"What?!"

"Salem, I saw Cinder drop her off"

"We'll get her" Qrow assured.

Hunter growled "You're not going anywhere!"

He leapt forward, slicing high for Qrow's neck. He ducked beneath the strike, leaning his weight to his left side, firing Harbinger into Hunter's chest. Hunter launched his scythe at Qrow as it spun through the air, sliding him back as his blade straightened, blocking each successive strike. He struck outward, knocking the scythe back, only to find it swinging back down at him from the chain on the end. Qrow spun, kicking it away with the back of his heel, embedding it into the ground beside him. Winter's Glyph pushed him back as the scythe shifted to strike him once more. Qrow flipped back with the motion, shifting Harbinger into a scythe. Qrow rushed forward, shifting to the right, away from a strike from behind, then ducking beneath the chain as Hunter caught his own weapon. He shifted the opposite direction, slicing across Hunter's hip. He followed up his strike with an uppercut as his blade shifted back into it's curved form, firing up into his chin, then kicking him in the chest, throwing Hunter backward. Hunter leapt forward, only to find his wrist caught in Qrow's grip, slicing across his abdomen, then slamming the handle into the same side, followed by a knee into the same place for the third time. He stumbled Hunter painfully with a punch to his face. Hunter growled, turning back to swing for his head. Qrow's blade straightened as he used his heel to block the strike by his wrist, kicking it away with his opposite heel as he spun, kicking him across the face. Harbinger scrapped across the stone ground as he swung wide, launching Hunter into the air from the strike to his chest, crashing to the ground painfully. Winter joined the fray, using her Glyph to slide around a strike for her left, she spun into a kick across his face, then slashed both blades in each direction across his chest.

Qrow's scythe blade curved around the chain of his weapon "Winter! Now!" Qrow's blade sliced through the chain, enhanced by a Glyph infused with Fire.

Hunter was thrown back by a powerful strike to his chest from Winter, throwing him painfully, his weapon clattering to the ground as the chain shattered "No!" he shouted as he reached for his weapon.

Hunter arched in pain as Qrow's blade pierced him from behind "Gotcha!"

Hunter pulled himself from the curved blade in his chest, limping forward as Grimm fluid poured from his wound, most of it evaporating on contact, but the rest pooled on the ground in front of him "You... you think you've won... you can't win..."

His wounds healed over quickly, getting to his feet, he removed his scythe from the ground, the chain falling out of his sleeve "How are we supposed to kill him if he just keeps healing?" Winter asked.

"Don't know, but we've gotta try something"

Hunter grinned "There is no-" he stopped suddenly "But... I'm in the middle of something here-no! I would never refuse-... yes, of course"

"Salem?" Winter whispered.

"Yeah..."

Hunter growled "It seems I am needed elsewhere. This isn't over" he turned and ran off in the opposite direction.

Qrow spun Harbinger in his hand, placing the blade onto his back "Well, that was... bracing. I can see why Slade had such a hard time fighting him and Cole the first time around. You okay?"

"I'm fine, Qrow..." Winter smiled warmly.

"Hey, what's with the-mph!?" Qrow suddenly found himself unable to speak, her mouth covering his, his mind racing.

He was shocked, but didn't deny what he was feeling. He responded eagerly to her movements, cupping her face with one hand and placing the other on her back, pulling her against him, allowing them to deepen the kiss. Neither of them wanted to end the kiss, but eventually they separated for air. Winter had a light blush on her cheeks, unable to force the smile from her face.

"I'm... sorry, I just... I don't know why I did that"

He smirked "I do" he pulled her into another short kiss.

She pulled away after taking a moment to enjoy the kiss, clearing her throat "W-we should... focus"

"Uh-huh" he crossed his arms.

Her face was red from embarrassment "Come on, the others need our help"

Qrow watched her lead the way, slicking his hair back with a smile "Yep, still got it"

---

Slade approached the ruined city, stopping just before he made his way onto the bridge. He looked the place over carefully, he couldn't spot anything, no Grimm, no Chimera, none of Salem's goons were in sight. But he didn't see Qrow's team either, however, the bodies that littered the forest path to the ruins told a different story. He knew something was concealing their presence, he briefly wondered if Salem could've been in the ruins personally, but he shook that thought from his mind.

"This is the place?" Oscar asked.

Blake grimaced "It looks completely abandoned"

"I think that might be the point" Slade noted, hand resting on Defiance now.

"I feel like I'm gonna be sick" Ruby groaned.

"Likely Salem's doing. I don't know what magic she uses to instill this feeling of dread... but it's... thick"

"So it's a trap, wonderful" Weiss deadpanned.

He removed Defiance from it's holster "Oh, yeah. It's definitely a trap"

They all prepared their weapons "What's the plan?" Ruby asked.

"Simple. Rescue Yang, recover the Relic, find out if Qrow's team is here, get out"

"It won't be that simple. It's never that simple" Weiss frowned.

"Relax, we'll just kill anything that gets in the way" Slade assured.

"That's not exactly a plan" Blake pointed out.

"What if Salem's here?" Ruby tightened her grip on Crescent Rose at the thought.

"We soil ourselves" Slade said under his breath.

"We run, and we run fast" Blake answered.

"Right. I feel much better" Weiss sweatdropped.

"Keep your weapons ready. We're gonna be in for a fight to get Yang out of here" Oscar warned.

Slade nodded "He's right, and keep your eyes open. We don't want to get ambushed here, too many corners"

They all moved slowly through the ruins, they passed many bodies, thankfully none belonging to their friends. The further in they got, the more they felt the pervasive sense of unease that had assaulted them at the entrance. Slade looked down and motioned for them to be silent, they followed his gaze to find an army of Grimm beneath them, their gleaming red eyes reflecting back at them.

"That's... a lot of Grimm" Ruby paled at the sight.

"Come on, we can't afford to waste time here. The longer we wait, the more likely we're to be found" Oscar suggested.

They heard footsteps from behind them, whirling around to face the approaching newcomers "Guys!" Jaune smiled "What're you all doing here?" he asked as Nora and Ren followed behind him.

Ruby sighed in relief "Long story" The group all traded hugs, glad to see they were alright.

"Where's Qrow and Winter?" Weiss asked.

"Winter went to scout ahead, Qrow went to find her. We've decided it's time to get out of here"

"I can get behind that plan" Blake shuddered "This place is unsettling"

"Among other things" Ren agreed "Wait... where's Yang?"

Slade sighed "She's the reason we're here. Cinder attacked us, took the Relic and captured Yang. We followed her here"

Nora straightened "Then we have to get her back, and find the Relic before we bail"

"We're all on the same page" Oscar nodded.

Slade directed Defiance down the crumbling hallway "Then keep low, and follow closely. Ren, we're going to need you to conceal us from the Grimm"

He nodded "That I can do"

"And I'll help" Jaune offered.

They made their way through, keeping close to the wall, surveying the surroundings carefully. Nothing moved, malice heavy in the air. Though they all knew the Grimm surrounded them, they were unsettled by the lack of sound as they pressed forward. They stopped upon coming to a dilapidated walkway, stopping them from advancing.

"Oscar, can you feel anything?" Ruby asked pointing down the broken pathway.

He closed his eyes "I can feel... anger, a lot of it... fear, and... love?" he tilted his head in confusion.

"Anything else?" Slade asked.

"Guilt, and hate from the same source... I can... I can also feel..." Oscar's eyes shot open, his body shaking "What... the hell..."

"Oscar, what happened?" Jaune asked.

"Salem... she... she's in so much pain. It was... unbearable"

Slade took a deep breath "Well, while I would normally bank on the anger coming from Yang, I think the safer bet would be to follow the fear"

Oscar nodded "I can feel it distinctly, along with the guilt. They're both close to each other, we'll probably be in for a fight"

Weiss grimaced "And the love?"

"That... is from two sources"

Blake rolled her eyes "Well, I guess we know who they are"

"Where are they?" Ruby asked.

"Back the other way, if we go left and hold that direction, we'll find them. I think they're headed the same direction as us"

"One thing at a time. First, we're getting Yang out of here" Nora declared.

"Right" Slade pointed over the bridge "Do we keep on straight, Oscar?"

"Yeah, but we're not gonna make that jump without help"

Weiss nodded "That I can handle"

Yang stirred in her bindings, she could no longer hear the sounds of fighting, she wasn't sure if that was a good sign yet or not. She looked ahead to see Sable approaching, she was uneasy, not sure whether her friends had been captured or not. After a moment of silence, he removed her metal arm from behind his back, making a motion for her to be silent.

"What?" she breathed out in confusion.

Sable held her arm up, placing it on carefully "I know you're gonna want an explanation, but we don't have a lot of time"

"We?"

"I'm getting you out of here"

Yang narrowed her eyes "Why the hell should I trust you? You've been trying to capture Ruby!"

He broke the chains on her legs "Don't exactly have a choice in that, kid. Control chip and all" he snapped the final chain holding her up, causing her to fall forward. Sable caught her carefully, helping her to her feet.

"If Salem is controlling you, how're you helping me?"

"The chip forces me to follow orders, but I don't have any orders on keeping you locked up here" he started helping her to the wall, allowing her to keep herself upright "Besides, wouldn't want to let your boyfriend worry"

"Boyfriend?" she asked confused.

"Slade, of course. We all know you're together, no need to pretend"

"We're not together... it's not like that" she frowned, looking away.

Sable titled his head slightly "Wow, you two are dense"

"Excuse me?"

"Kid, you were all he could think about the whole time he was stuck with me. I guarantee you he's interested"

"But... then why would he...?"

Sable released his hold on her "Your friends are close. Follow this wall to the end. I can't stay here"

"Alone? Do I look like I'm in any condition to fight?"

"Trust me, it's safer if I don't stay with you. If I see Ruby, I'll be forced to try and capture her"

"What about the Relic?" Yang asked.

"Salem can't use it right now anyway, you have bigger things to worry about" her placed Ember Celica on for her.

"Why? Why are you helping me?" Yang asked.

Sable chuckled "I'm a Huntsman, it's my job"

Yang looked away "I'm sorry this happened to you. You seem like a good man"

He shook his head "Once, perhaps. Now... now I'm just trying to make amends how I can"

She offered him a smile "Well, I think you're off to a good start"

His helmet masked his reaction, silently staring at her for a moment before he pointed down the hall "Go now"

Yang moved through an empty hallway, using the wall to keep herself standing. She tripped over an uneven brick, causing her to fall forward. She stared in surprise when she didn't make contact with the ground. She barely registered the arm around her waist, she thrashed against them, unwilling to be taken back to Salem. She pulled her fist back to strike, feeling it connect with her captor.

"Ow! Hey, woah, easy, Yang. It's me!" she looked up to find a familiar pair of emerald eyes staring back at her.

Tears ran freely from her eyes "Slade..."

She threw her arms around him, burying her face into his shoulder, sobbing loudly. He guided her down, returning the embrace, rubbing her back comfortingly "Shhh... I'm right here. I'm right here" he soothed.

"You came for me..." she spoke through choked sobs.

"Of course I did. I'd never leave you, Yang... you're too important to me"

"Yang!" Ruby called as she rushed to her side.

Yang looked up in time to be clobbered into a hug "You're okay!" Weiss joined the hug.

Blake did the same "I'm so glad we found you"

Yang looked up to see Jaune's team as well as Oscar "You all came so fast... how long have I been gone?"

"Only a few hours, thankfully" Oscar answered "We didn't give you up to Cinder easily, managed to get a look at where she took you"

Ren nodded "I'm sure Ironwood will have some lecture ready about going off halfcocked, but you're alright, that's what matters"

"Damn right" Nora agreed.

Yang smiled "Yeah... I'm lucky to have such good friends looking out for me"

"Yang!" Qrow's voice called as he slid to a stop beside her "What happened to you?"

"Salem happened..." she frowned.

"She tortured you?" Winter asked, approaching from behind him.

"Yeah, wanted to know how to use the Relic. When I wouldn't tell her..." she coughed roughly.

Qrow sighed "You did good, kiddo. Now let's get you back to Atlas"

Her eyes wavered "Yeah... I... we should..." Yang faded into unconsciousness.

"Yang, Yang!" Ruby shook her, receiving no response.

Slade stood "Get her out of here. She needs medical attention"

Jaune activated his Semblance "I can-"

"Not here" Weiss stopped him "We need you helping Ren conceal from all those Grimm"

Winter helped get Yang to her feet "We'll get back to the entrance, then use our Semblances to make us rides out of here and get us back to Atlas"

"She might not make it to Atlas" Jaune noted.

"Then we'll head to Corinth, get her stabilized there. We need to get moving either way"

Slade nodded "Get going, we don't want to stick around for Salem to come back" he turned away.

"Slade, where are you going?" Ruby called.

"Yang is the priority, but someone has got to get that Relic back. Even one Relic is too many for Salem to have"

Weiss got to her feet "Then you'll need backup"

"Weiss-" Winter started.

"I'm the only other one who can summon something that can fly. We'll need to make a quick exit once we have the Relic. We can't afford to waste time right now"

"Then I'm coming too" Ruby stood beside them "If any Grimm come after us, I can use my eyes"

Slade nodded "Works for me. Get moving toward Corinth, we'll be right behind you"

"Weiss..." Winter called "Be careful"

She smiled at her sister "Go"

"You better be right behind us, all of you" Qrow nodded to them "Good luck"

Qrow and Winter carried Yang on their shoulders, leading the others out as Slade, Ruby and Weiss advanced further into the ruins. They came upon an abandoned courtyard, a dense wall of fog rose, withering and searching for something, almost solid fingers reaching out from an unseen hand right toward Ruby. She recoiled away from it, all of them feeling the unwelcome sensation of Salem's presence, a faint, pulsing blue light visible through the fog ahead of them. Slade reached out with his Semblance, the fog swirling around them rapidly, coalescing toward his open palm. Thrusting his hands outward, the mist was blown back over the edge of the courtyard, seeping down into the ruins beneath them.

Ruby breathed a sigh of relief "Thanks, Slade. At least we can see again"

He nodded "Somehow, it doesn't make me feel any safer"

The Relic hovered above a small pedestal in the center of the courtyard, the ground around it having crumbled away. Behind the pedestal was an elevated platform with two stone supports horizontally positioned to keep it sturdy. There were several shadowed archways leading away from the courtyard, each of the Huntsmen watched them as they walked, anticipating an ambush.

"There is no way they're making it this easy" Weiss held Myrtenaster defensively.

"Feels like a trap" Ruby agreed.

"You don't say?" Slade murmured.

Slade chose to remain at the entrance, extending his hand out to the Relic, he used his Semblance to pull it toward him. Hunter leapt behind him from the mist below, knocking Slade aside with a swing of his scythe, throwing him over the edge. Slade managed to catch himself on the edge of a thin stone walkway, Defiance sliding to a stop on the ground.

Slade!" Ruby called after him with concern.

The Relic clattered to the floor as Grimm swarmed the area, forcing Weiss to fight them off. Hunter swung down at Ruby, forcing her to slide back to avoid it. He lifted his weapon and swung for her abdomen, meeting with her own weapon in an upward strike. She pushed it back, spinning Crescent Rose into a strike for his throat, meeting the handle of his scythe instead. He kicked her in the chest, throwing her back a short distance, rolling to a standing position as she spun her weapon expertly.

Hunter scooped up the Lamp, leaping down after Slade onto the mist covered walkway "Stroud... we meet again" he grinned wickedly.

Slade groaned as he got atop the walkway "Can't say I was looking forward to it"

He laughed "Worried you'll end up like the rest of your family? Or are you afraid I'll kill more of your weak friends?"

Slade snorted "You won't be hurting anyone today. And I won't be leaving enough of you for Salem to bring back this time"

He laughed "You really think-" Hunter was interrupted by Slade charging him, slashing his right wrist blade, then again with his left.

Hunter managed to block the attacks, then swung for his chest. Slade dropped low under the strike then flipped backward, slamming his heel down where Hunter previously stood. Handspringing backwards, he dodged multiple strikes from Hunter. Leaping forward as he charged, their blades clashed, throwing them both back several feet from the force, each of them sliding to a stop. Slade redirected a strike for his chest with his heel, spinning away from Hunter as he continued his assault.

Ruby dropped into a crouched position behind Weiss, firing Crescent Rose into the oncoming Grimm "He's got the Relic!"

"Yeah, I noticed!" Weiss cut through a Sabyr leaping toward her "Slade can handle himself. Focus on the Grimm!"

Slade sidestepped a downward swing from Hunter, the ground crumbling out from beneath him as he stepped. He leapt over the falling section, spinning as he kicked Hunter across the face one heel after the other. Catching himself on his hands, he kicked the scythe away, twisting on his hands, he unleashed a barrage of kicks into Hunter's chest, a single powerful kick to his chin threw him skyward as Slade got to his feet. Hunter swung from his left around his back, forcing Slade to block with his gauntlets, slamming his back against a wall from the force of his opponents strike. Using his knee, Slade kicked his scythe upward, rolling beneath an attack for his head shortly afterward. Leaning backward, Slade kicked for his face, forcing Hunter to duck beneath it, swinging his scythe for his legs. Slade lifted his leg up, spinning on his opposite heel as he turned around the strike, swinging his leg for his head. Hunter spun the scythe between his hands, striking for Slade's back. Slade's left leg kicked back, connecting with the bottom blade, he turned it away from his body. He then twisted around, kicking for his legs. Hunter jumped over his leg, kicking him in the chest as he did. They both continued to furiously strike at the other, each blocking and striking with near perfect timing. The stone beneath Slade's left foot broke apart, dropping him onto his back.

"Gotcha now!" Hunter flipped forward, slicing through the air.

Slade tucked his legs to his chest, using the armor on his legs to block the strike, a shockwave ripping through the air, slicing through a nearby pillar "Doesn't seem like you got me" With his hands free, he fired his gauntlets at Hunter, forcing him back.

They both flipped backward away from the other, Slade continuing to fire his weapon while Hunter blocked each round with his weapon spinning expertly between his hands "Always so damn annoying" Hunter growled.

Ruby was suddenly knocked aside by a winged Beringel, embedding Crescent Rose into the edge of the cliff, keeping herself from falling "Ruby!" Weiss called with concern.

Weiss moved to assist, but was blocked by a Beowolf. Ducking beneath it's claws, she impaled Myrtenaster through it's leg, then spun around the creature with a second strike to the back of it's neck severing it's head from it's shoulders. Using a lightning infused Glyph, she unleashed a stream of electricity into a crowd of Grimm of varying types, blocking them from intervening. She turned to see a cable bind the Beringel's arms to it's sides from below.

"Ruby! Move!" Slade called.

She didn't need to be told twice, firing Crescent Rose, she launched herself skyward. Latching the blade to the Beringel's side, she fired again, slicing through it's midsection, killing the creature. Hunter charged toward Slade when he ceased firing, swinging downward. Slade detached the cable, spinning into a crouched position, he sliced his wrist blades for his legs. Hunter leapt over him, slicing for his head, only to find a gauntlet blocking the attack. Slade kicked for his head as he returned to a standing position, forcing Hunter to duck beneath the strike. He spun as he slashed for Slade's face, causing him to lean back under the blades. Slade thrust his right arm for Hunter's shoulder, but Hunter caught the strike in his hand, his blade piercing through it. Hunter closed his hand over Slade's preparing to swing with one hand on his weapon. Hunter swung for Slade's head, causing him to duck beneath the strike, then again from his crouched position, dropping onto his back to avoid the second strike. Hunter flipped his scythe over with a grin, swinging downward for Slade's position. With his hand still stuck, Slade used his Semblance fire Defiance from behind him into his knee, dropping Hunter onto it as Slade wrenched his hand free. He passed through the scythe with his Semblance, looping his wrist blade into the circular handle of the Relic, he wrenched it from Hunter's possession. Planting his heel onto the handle of the scythe, he used his opposite leg to kick Hunter skyward, losing his grip on his weapon. He landed on the next floor up with Ruby and Weiss, but before he could fully stand, his own scythe impaled the left half of his body, pinning it to the floor. Before he could wrench it free with his remaining hand Weiss froze his right side with Ice Dust. Hunter flailed in anger, raging against the bindings.

"Ready to face death once again, Hunter?" Slade asked, aiming Defiance at his head.

"You don't know what you're doing" Hunter thrashed angrily "You'll burn for this!

Slade's smirk dropped when he felt an unwelcome sense of dread course through him "Well... shit"

Ruby tapped him nervously on the shoulder "Slade..."

Slade followed her gaze, looking up to find Salem hovering in the air above them "Salem"

Salem dropped to the ground suddenly, cracking it beneath her, the three of them stepped back away from her. Hunter looked up at her, swallowing nervously "I tried-"

"Silence" She removed the scythe from his chest, dropping it beside him "Leave"

"Master, I could-" she fixed him with a vicious glare, he buckled under her gaze "I u-understand"

She folded her hands in front of her, eyes scanning over each of them as Hunter ran off away from them "Ruby Rose" she called "You look more like your mother with each passing day"

Her eyes widened "My... Mom..."

Salem turned her head toward Weiss "You're Winter's sister, Weiss, was it?" she tilted her head "How nice to finally meet you all in person. In fact, I think the only member of your team I haven't met is that Faunus girl"

"Ruby, we need to go... now" Slade pulled on her shoulder.

Salem chuckled "My, my, my. Trying to steal my Relic, Slade? Tsk, tsk, tsk"

"Yeah, well. I'd rather not let you destroy the planet, thanks" he pulled on Ruby more insistently.

"What did you do to my mother?!" Ruby shouted, shrugging him off.

Salem tilted her head "Why bother telling you? You'll be seeing her again soon enough, once I send you to her"

Weiss growled "You won't touch her!" she launched a fireball at Salem, which dispelled as it reached her.

Salem trapped Weiss with a powerful force, keeping her perfectly still "Even the Grimm, mindless beasts, recognize the truth when you refuse to see what is in front of you. Nothing you do will ever matter, I cannot be destroyed"

Slade used his Semblance to push her back, freeing Weiss "Go! Run!" Slade turned to move with them as they did as he instructed.

Salem flipped back, hovering in the air "Not so fast, children"

Slade was lifted into the air, the Relic being removed from his belt "Slade!" Ruby called, firing Crescent Rose at Salem, she didn't even bother protecting herself.

Slade caught it in his hand, using his Semblance to force the movement. Salem narrowed her eyes, increasing the pressure used on him. Suddenly, the horizontal pillar behind Salem was launched at her back, having used his Semblance to pull it toward himself. Without turning to face it, she stopped it with an extended hand, shattering the pillar into individual bricks. She launched each of the bricks toward them, forcing Weiss to create a wall of Ice between them. Salem looked down to find a black Glyph pulling her down, forcing her to release Slade as she collided with the ground.

"Run!" Weiss shouted.

The Grimm throughout the ruins suddenly all chose to converge on their position, forcing them to take different routes to avoid groups from several different directions. Ruby fired Crescent Rose into the bottom of a statue as they ran, dropping it down onto the path behind them, shattering it. They reached the entrance to find Salem hovering over the end of the walkway, black clouds gathering around her, the ruins shaking from the surge of power.

"How the hell are we gonna get past that..." Slade breathed out.

Your Semblance, Slade! Use your Semblance!

Here I thought you'd gone on vacation.

Not the time!

Slade closed his eyes, focusing on what he could feel around Salem. The tendrils of darkness felt eerily similar to the substance he could feel within Salem herself. He could almost sense the individual molecules within the dark clouds, she may have been able to create from nothing, but it wasn't nothing itself. His eyes snapped open as the tendrils rushed toward them, his hands shot out, his Semblance creating a form of barrier of condensed air particles between them and Salem's attack. The darkness crashed against the unseen wall, thrashing against it as Slade forced them in on themselves.

"Weiss! We need to get out of here, now!" he called back.

"I'm on it!" she created a summoning Glyph behind them.

Salem outstretched her arms, forcing the darkness to strike harder, stumbling Slade from the force, dropping onto his back. The tendrils pulled back, surging forth with renewed strength, forcing Slade to increase the strength of his Semblance to keep them back. Ruby just watched in horror at Salem's display of power, she was amazed Slade was able to keep it from them at all. Weiss' Queen Lancer started to form out of her Glyph.

"I'm almost done!"

"Be quick! I don't know how much longer I can-augh!" Slade was snatched into the air by a wave of darkness slipping past his defense, smashing him to the ground.

"Slade!" Ruby called, watching helplessly as he was thrown back into the wall behind them.

The Relic was removed from his belt "That belongs to me" Salem grinned.

Ruby shut her eyes, focusing on what Maria had taught her. She thought of the night she earned her Huntsman license and the resulting celebration with her friends. She thought of reuniting with Penny in Atlas, she thought of Yang's birthday party, of Nora and Ren's budding relationship, finally, she thought to memories of her mother, and while painful, they fueled her desire to protect those she loved. Blinding streams of light resembling that of wings erupted from her eyes.

"Leave him alone!" she shouted.

The darkness evaporated in the presence of such powerful light, Salem completely lost it. She screamed in agony, her skin blackened as Grimm fluid spilled to the surface. She dropped to her knees, clutching her chest, her entire body felt like it was burning from the inside out. She thrashed about on the ground as Slade dropped onto his knees, the Relic sliding to a stop between them. He used his Semblance to bring it toward him, just as Weiss finished summoning.

"Get on!"

Ruby dropped to her knees from exhaustion, struggling to stand "I've got you" Slade assured, moving to her side.

Salem growled, her body slowly returning to normal "That... Relic... belongs... to me...!" she outstretched her hand toward them.

dark clouds formed behind her, snaking their way toward the group. Suddenly, Salem crashed through the ground, shattering the stone from the impact. Something had hit her from above, something fast, fast and strong. Wasting no time, Slade tucked his arm beneath her legs as he lifted him with the other, supporting her back. Weiss helped him get her onto the Lancer, followed quickly by himself.

Salem's unseen attacker hovered over the rubble, joining their side "Penny!" Ruby called, happy to see her friend.

"Are you guys alright?" she asked concerned.

"More or less" Weiss shrugged "We need to get out of here, now"

Penny nodded "Follow me!" she soared off away from the ruins, quickly followed by the Lancer carrying the three of them.

Slade quickly latched onto Weiss and Ruby, closing his eyes as they soared "Uh... Slade?" the heiress asked.

"Nope. Not letting go until you find solid land"

"You were hanging from Cinder by a cable, and you're afraid of being on a Lancer's back?" she asked amused.

"Yeah, well I didn't look down that time" he argued, tightening his grip on the girls.

Ruby couldn't help but laugh "Don't worry, Slade. We'll protect you"

"That's right, we won't let the bad sky hurt you"

"I hate both of you"

Salem got to her feet, climbing out of the rubble slowly, her body still recovering from the effects of Ruby's eyes. She looked out into the sky, watching them soar away with the Relic in their possession. She considered chasing after them, but the pain she felt just from standing made her reconsider, for the moment at least. The repetitive sound of metallic breathing alerted her to Sable's presence.

"Where... have you... been?" she forced out.

"Doing as you ordered. I can't disobey, remember?" he asked with clear resentment.

"Don't get smart with me" she growled, slowly regaining her strength.

"That's a rather vague order-"

"Stop. Talking" she seethed, Sable stiffened, groaning in annoyance "Are we ready?" he gave a blank stare, nodding slowly.

"The Grimm will march on Corinth at dawn. I want it burned to the ground... I want my Relic"

---

There you have it! Hope you guys all liked it, a few of you have even already been making some pretty good guesses as to what's coming next. Anyway, let me know what you guys thought, and I'll be sure to get another chapter out to you as soon as I can. Thank you guys for everything!