Vault of the Spring Maiden.

"LUCINA!" Jaune screams.

Cinder watches on with no emotions as Jaune rushes past her. Oscar watches Jaune approach and pick up the motionless Lucina from his position. He then looks over to the unconscious Ruby. Angered, he smacks Lionheart with his cane, causing him to fall down the stairs and into Hazel, who remains unfazed as Lionheart falls to the ground. Oscar quickly runs over to Ruby, with Nora joining him.

"Ruby, get up! Get up! We need you!" Oscar begged.

Hazel picks up Lionheart by his collar, lifting him off the floor "You're lettin' that boy make a fool of you".

"That's not just a boy! It's Ozpin" Lionheart said, Hazel's eyes widen when he says this "He's already reincarnated!".

Hazel drops Lionheart and looks over to Oscar, who is still trying to nudge Ruby to wake her up. He then notices The Long Memory being held in the young farm boy's hand.

"Ozpin?" He spoke silently... Suddenly, the usual calm demeanor of Hazel slowly turns infuriated.

Ruby stirs for a bit, Oscar noticed this "Ruby! You-".

"OZPIN!" Hazel shouts.

Oscar looks up as Ozpin speaks mentally "Oh no...".

"You thought you could hide from ME?!" Hazel rips his coat off, and then grabs a pair of lightning Dust crystals from a couple of pouches on his legs "You'll pay for what you did! You'll die over and over again!".

He stabs the lightning Dust into his arms, with his blood vessels turning yellow and popping out from his skin as well as having some lightning coat them. His eyes glow yellow, and he lets out an intimidating roar.

Oscar slowly backs away, holding his cane up cautiously "Do- do we fight?".

Ozpin sounded afraid "No, run!".

Hazel leaps forward to charge into Oscar, but Qrow gets him out of the way in time. Qrow transforms Harbinger into its scythe form while Cinder watches. Raven and Vernal walk to her sides.

Cinder looked angry "Ozpin is here?!".

"Is that a problem?" Raven asked.

"I'm not sure, but right now we got the upper hand. Let's not waste it" Cinder said before looking over at Lionheart who is on his knees when Cinder's voice gets his attention "Leo! Open the path to the vault!".

Lionheart gets back up and approaches the statue in the room. He takes out his pocket watch and places it in a small niche on the statue. The hands on the watch gradually spin faster and the statue lowers. Yang watches the situation in front of her. She looks to Jaune and Ren as they tend to Lucina and then looks over to Nora who is still trying to wake Ruby up.

Nora looks to Yang "Stop them! We've got your team covered!".

Yang lingers a bit before heeding Nora's advice, but she is interrupted by Mareeta who strikes at her with her sword "Get out of my way Mareeta! Mom is leaving you behind! Just like she did to me!".

"She is going to save our tribe! I will not let you stop her!" Mareeta said before attacking again.

Severa tries to go after Cinder, her yes burning with the desire of revenge for what Cinder did to Lucina. But she gets kicked to the ground by Mercury. He is then joined by Emerald .

"You wanna get to them? You're going to have to get through all of us" Emerald uses her Semblance to create multiple copies of Mercury, which surround Severa.

Meanwhile, Jaune uses his hands to apply pressure on Lucina's wound, while Ren holds her wrist checking her pulse "Ren, talk to me!".

Ren shakes his head sadly "This is bad".

Jaune's eyes widen in horror "No, no, no, no, not again! Lucina, c'mon, please!".

Weiss approaches after having the chance to catch her breath when Vernal broke of their fight "Lucina... No, wake up... Lucina wake up! We need you... Ruby needs you".

She looks up and sees Líf had recovered from his rather embarrassing fight against Jaune... And he was approaching Oscar whith his sword ready, his eyes full of hate. Weiss wasn't at 100% yet, but she could not let him kill Oscar. So using a glyph she dashed at him and he barely reacted in time to block her strike.

"Get out of my way Schnee!" Líf demanded angrily.

"No. I will not let you hurt anyone else" Weiss declared as she got in to her stance.

"Then you can die with them!" Líf said before rushing Weiss, his fury growing more and more.

Meanwhile, Vernal steps onto the platform leading down to the vault.

"Make sure they leave Ruby alive. This won't take long" Cinder steps onto the platform. Raven looks back a bit as she hears her daughters fighting each other... One trying to stop her, the other trying to help her... she shakes her head before she steps on the platform too. The platform then lowers down.

Oscar is dodging out of the way as Hazel slams his fist into the ground.

"Oscar" Ozpin spoke.

"No!" Oscar dodges another attack from Hazel.

"Oscar!" Ozpin said more urgently.

"I told you, no!" Oscar gets punched back by Hazel several feet into a column."

"Please, let me take over! I can handle him!" Ozpin said

"You told me I needed to fight for myself!" Oscar reminded while standing back up "So I will".

"This is not your fight!" Ozpin said.

"What does that mean? Why is he so upset with us?" Oscar demanded.

"He didn't tell you my tale, did he, boy?" Hazel said as he approaches Oscar menacingly "I thought you looked familiar, to think that evil was inside you when our paths first crossed" He holds his fists in the air "Your blood won't be on my hands, it'll be on his".

Qrow jumps in the way to block Hazel's attack, but he slams his fist into the ground, the shockwave knocking both him and Oscar back. They both get back up as Qrow engages Hazel. Qrow dodges a punch then slashes at Hazel, who blocks the sword with one arm.

"What was he talking about?" Oscar asked.

Hazel holds Qrow back while glaring at Oscar "Tell him, Ozpin! Tell him how you KILLED HER!"

"Her?" Oscar asked.

"Gretchen Rainart was Hazel's sister. Despite her brother's wishes, she enrolled at Beacon Academy to become a Huntress and tragically lost her life on a training mission. Hazel... holds me responsible. Please, let me fight. I know Hazel. He's wounded in a way that cannot be healed" Ozpin explained.

"You know now!" Hazel tosses Qrow aside and begins approaching Oscar "You can forgive me for what I'm about to do".

"Did she know?" Oscar asked and Hazel stops in place at his inquiry "Did she know the risk of being a Huntress?".

Hazel was silent for a moment before his anger returned "She was only a child! She wasn't ready!".

"She made a choice! A choice to put others before herself!" Oscar said, holding his cane up defensively "So do I".

Hazel just glares at him "Then you've chosen death!".

Oscar glares back, determined.

"I'm sorry" Ozpin said.

"What?" Oscar's eyes glow and his body falls to the ground as Ozpin takes over him.

Ozpin looks up, and Hazel looks back at him, enraged "OzzzzPIIIIIIIIN!".

Meanwhile, Jaune and Ren continue tending to Lucina.

"She's hardly breathing. I... I don't know what we can do..." Ren said.

The both of them look down to Lucina as she struggles to breathe, before suddenly stopping.

"No, it wasn't supposed to be like this! Please!" Jaune said his voice breaking "We can't lose anyone else...".

Jaune sadly closes his eyes. Suddenly, a faint shimmering sound is heard and a white aura starts to coat over Lucina's body. She suddenly gasps for breath again.

Meanwhile, Weiss was barely holding of Líf's relentless assault. She was lucky Líf was playing with a full deck himself, or she would be dead by now. Regardless, Líf was as fast as he was strong, and Weiss didn't get any chances to summon her glyphs. A vicious punch to the face sent Weiss to the floor. She looks up and gasped as Líf lifted his sword to finish her... But an explosive arrow hits him in the chest, causing him to stumble back.

"Weiss!" Bernadetta called out as she fires another arrow.

Líf deflects this one, but it leaves him open for Weiss, who delivers several strikes before forcing him back. Líf growls in anger before unleashing a blast of dark aura which sends Weiss back. Bernadetta runs to her side, holding another arrow ready.

"I am not interested in any of you... But you stand in the way of my revenge!" Líf said through angry snarls.

"You lost your sister, didn't you?" Weiss asked.

Líf stops "So... Ozpin told you about me".

"He did... He told us your sister tragically died on a mission and he believed you had died with her" Bernadetta said.

"Is that what he told you?! He just assumed we were dead after sending us out to confront a threat we were vastly unprepared for!?" Líf asked, his rage growing by the second "He sent us both to die! I am only alive because of Salem's horrific experiments!".

"If Salem did this to you, why are you fighting for her?" Weiss asked.

"Because... The pain she inflicted on me was nothing compared to loosing the only family I had... And thanks to her, I have a chance for revenge. I am going to destroy everything Ozpin cares about! Just like he did to me!" Líf declares as he attacks and the girls quickly got ready.

Hazel and Ozpin fight each other intensely, Ozpin dodges several blows as one punch hits a column. Lionheart tries to intervene by launching another attack from Stalwart, but is stopped by a gunshot from Qrow. The two of them begin to fight each other, with Qrow swinging Harbinger at him. Then following up with a kick before blocking several of Lionheart's projectiles.

With the two busy Ozpin and Hazel engage each other again. Hazel tries to smash him with his fists, but Ozpin is too fast for him. Nimbly jumping around while striking the man several times. Using Hazel like a springboard to launch himself away, their fight moves back over to the terrace. Ozpin kicks off a wall dodging fists and electric blasts, striking Hazel's face then jabs him several times in the chest. Eventually, Ozpin manages to roll under him and knock Hazel down on all fours with a hit to the legs. Ozpin then twirls his cane and prepares to deliver the finishing blow, but Hazel roars and smashes his fists into the ground, creating another lightning shockwave.

Meanwhile, Lucina starts to gasp and breathes normally again as the white aura encoating her continues to glow.

"Huh? Wha- what's happening?" Jaune asked.

"Lucina!" Nora helps Ruby up on her feet, who then quickly runs over to her girlfriend's side "What happened? What's going on?!".

Ren smiles "I think she's going to be okay! She seems to be stabilizing".

With Lucina breathing again, Ruby smiles, relieved that her girlfriend's life is not endangered anymore. Ruby then hears her cousin struggling, she looks over her shoulder to see Severa getting knocked back by Mercury. Severa charges forward, but Mercury's form disappears as a result of another one of Emerald's Semblance hallucinations. Emerald then creates an image of Yang, which Severa is hesitant to attack. Severa then blocks another attack from Mercury, but his next series of hits manage to knock her down again.

Ruby then looks over to Oscar fighting Hazel, with the latter's attack becoming too wild and unpredictable for the young boy. Oscar is then hit by one of Lionheart's projectiles and holds his shoulder in pain. Hazel is about to punch at Oscar again, but Qrow pushes Oscar out of the way and takes the blow in his back, launching him upwards.

Ruby then lifts Jaune's hands up to see that Lucina's wound has closed "Whatever you're doing, don't stop!".

"I won't" Jaune promised.

"Good. Oscar needs help" Ruby said.

"I'm on it" Ren said.

"Jaune and Lucina still need cover!" Ruby reminded.

Ren takes out StormFlower, while Nora approaches his side holding Magnhild "No one's gonna touch 'em".

Ruby smiles "Okay, make it happen, Team!".

Ruby stands back up, transforming Crescent Rose into its scythe form and flips over. She lands to her cousin's side, knocking Emerald back. Emerald's Semblance copies of Mercury then disappear, reforming back into the main Mercury.

Severa smiles "Thanks, cousin. You okay?".

"No, I'm angry" Ruby said as she proceeds forward.

"You and me both. Let's show them what family power can do!" Severa declared.

Ruby smirks at that "Yeah! Let's go my Cousin!".

Meanwhile, Yang fired several shots at Mareeta, who blocked them with her sword, Yang continued firing at her, forcing Mareeta to dodge by leaping. Mareeta slashed her sword at her, Yang ducked under the blow and struck Mareeta with three heavy punches, Mareeta holds her sword up near Yang, almost cutting her. Yang then kicked Mareeta, who kicks Yang back in the chest and lands a blow with her sword on her sister's chest.

Yang's aura saved her from a mortal wound before blocking another strike before headbutting Mareeta in the face and kicked her away. Mareeta recovers and tried to attacking again, but Yang delivered a blow to her sword, sending it flying out of her hand. Now disarmed of her weapon, Yang managed to slam Mareeta in to a wall.

"Enough Mareeta! I know you don't want to do this!" Yang said while holding her sister against the wall.

"You're right, I don't! But I don't have a choice! My tribe is in danger! My family needs me!" Mareeta said as she struggled against Yang's grip.

"I am your family! Ruby is too!" Yang argued.

"NO!" Mareeta screamed as she managed to free herself and kicked Yang back "You stopped being my family when you sided against mom! Against me! I wanted you to be my sister... But we can't always have what we want. I learned that the hard way".

Yang closed her eyes for a moment before getting ready "I'm sorry... I hope you see reason once this is over".

The two sister stood ready for a final clash, both ready to prove which one of them was trully on the right side... Little did they know, their fate would be decided by a different battle below them.

.

Tell me what you think.