The cold wind rushed into Ruby's lungs as she arrived on the other side of Raven's portal. A combination of the frigid air hitting her so suddenly and seeing the flames of Argus in the distance stole her breath and rendered her speechless. She had expected a tropical breeze, the smell of the ocean, and perhaps the smoky scents from inside of a tavern somewhere in Kuo Kuana where her uncle Qrow would be sat at a table with a mug of beer. Instead, all she saw, smelled, and felt around her was ice, ashes, and death.

"Ruby?" Qrow asked as he watched his niece and her companions hurry through the rift. "Ruby! You're alive!"

Ruby couldn't even bring herself to return the tight hug that her uncle scooped her into. She was pale, freezing, terrified, weaponless, and overwhelmed with emotions to the point that she barely felt alive. It was a unique sort of feeling that she had only ever felt once before- when everyone else was rushing in to engage Salem, and she found that she could no longer move. Then, Ruby had thought that she was paralyzed by indecision and fear of the situation. Being held by Qrow and listening to her friends and allies closing off the portal behind her, she instead came to a different conclusion.

She didn't want to speak, move, or act in any way because she didn't trust herself not to lash out and cost herself something she could never get back. It wasn't fear of the situation- it was fear of herself.

"Is everyone through?" Coco asked breathlessly as she kept her chain gun spinning and pointed at the portal. "Someone do a quick head count!"

"Everyone's here!" Oscar answered. "I made sure of it! Close it!"

"This… doesn't feel like Kuo Kuana," Fox said as he slowly guided himself to sit upon the ground while holding his side. "I feel… snow? That, or I'm dying. Potentially both."

"If you've still got enough spunk to be an ass, you're not dying," Coco snapped as the portal sealed itself. "And this definitely isn't Kuo Kuana."

"Northern Mistral," Raven informed. "The outskirts of Argus, to be specific… and the city is burning…"

"Yeah," Qrow said with a nod. "Yeah, it is… and there isn't much we can do to save it, at this point."

Finally, Ruby pulled back from the hug and surveyed the scene around her. Qrow looked worried, while Oscar was standing apart from the rest of the group. Coco had sat down into the snow next to Fox, uncaring about the cold powder mixing with the blood upon her usually immaculate clothing. Taiyang and Raven were stood next to the pair, where the portal had been only seconds before. Cardin had walked to the edge of the cliff to look out over the city under siege, while Neopolitan had moved to stand at his side and stare in silence. It took Ruby several seconds to realize that someone, or several someones, were indeed missing from the scene.

"…where's Blake?" Ruby asked in a small voice, dreading the answer. "And where are Neptune and Kali? They're not… they're not down there, are they?"

"No," Qrow answered quickly as he looked over his shoulder at the smoke rising from Argus. "Gods, no. Kali's safe in Kuo Kuana preparing the Black Claw for the coming war. Blake, Neptune, and Daisuke are a few hours behind me- I flew ahead to get a lay of the land before we headed out for Atlas. A lot's happened… a lot more than we realized. That grimm whale up there? It means Salem's here. Salem has already made her move, and we're too late to stop her."

"Salem isn't here," Cardin corrected. "Salem's in Sanus. We just killed her… and she got back up like it was nothing…"

"…what?" Qrow asked, turning his attention to Oscar. "Oz, what the hell is that kid talking about? What do you mean she 'got back up'?"

One by one, everyone but Neopolitan turned their attention to the farm boy. Their expressions were full of apprehension and distrust, while Ruby's was nothing but hatred. Oscar closed his eyes and shook his head as he collected his thoughts. Eventually, the boy took a deep breath and said what everyone was thinking, but hoping not to hear.

"Salem… cannot be killed."

"What does that mean?" Qrow asked, looking shocked. "What the hell does that mean, Ozpin?"

"Exactly as I said," Oscar reiterated. "Salem is incapable of being truly killed in any meaningful way. Death is but an inconvenience for her, as it is for me. Though our methods of reincarnation differ, she is just as immortal as I am… and maybe even more so. I was told explicitly by the spirit of the Relic of Knowledge that I cannot kill her, but I've yet to meet anyone or anything else that has the capability, despite all of my searching. She's functionally invincible, and anything but some method of permanent containment would just be buying time."

"…bullshit," Coco countered. "Absolute bullshit. There's a way. There has to be a way. No one and nothing is forever, and even if you tell me this is an unwinnable war, I'm not about to stop trying and just let her roll humanity over. Are you telling us you've given up?"

"Given up?" Oscar asked. "No. Of course not. But if it's the truth that you all hold so dearly, then there it is. All of you are likely to die before a method to contain her is found, and should she conquer Remnant… this wouldn't be the first time. What you are all witnessing is just another turn of the wheel. Another iteration of the cycle of life and death. The natural endpoint of Salem gathering her forces and her power to the point that she can enact her will. I doubt we have much longer before it is carried out once again."

"…so everything you've told us has been a charade," Ruby said slowly as she clenched her fists. Her voice increased in volume as she continued to speak, escalating until she was full-on yelling "Everything we've been doing, all the effort we've been putting in, the training, the running around from continent to continent, gathering our forces, transporting the Relics, my eyes… none of it matters? None of this is going to make a difference!?"

"I never said such a thing," Oscar replied calmly. "There can be no success if we do not press forward, a-"

Qrow rushed forward and seized Oscar by the collar mid-sentence before holding the boy aloft. No one moved to stop the huntsman as he pulled back his other fist. Even so, Qrow resisted the temptation to throw the quaking limb into the small boy.

"So all this time, there's been no plan!?" Qrow demanded. "You told me that I was serving a purpose greater than any other! That after being rejected everywhere else, you took me in because my semblance was key in helping bring Salem down! I had nothing left after Team STRQ disbanded, and even then, you… you let Summer go to her death knowing that it would mean nothing!"

Oscar fell back to the ground unceremoniously as Qrow threw him. The boy stumbled backward and landed on his rear, sending plumes of snow into the air as Ruby advanced upon him.

"It's even worse than that," Ruby added. "Mom is alive."

"What?" Qrow asked. "What do you mean Summer's alive? And you knew all this time?"

"I did not know about Summer," Oscar said as he raised a hand defensively. "To my knowledge, she was slain out on assignment, as I told you before!"

"I told you," Raven hissed as she moved to stand on Oscar's other side. "I told you all that he's been hiding things for years, grooming us- and all of his little hunters-in-training- for a fruitless war. What assignment did you send Summer on? Or are you going to continue to lie to all of us while we're standing here after barely escaping from certain death?"

Oscar took a deep breath and lowered his hand while looking up to Ruby.

"…I did not want to lie to any of you, and you least of all, Miss Rose. Had I known that Summer was alive, I would never have kept such a thing from you. I need you to trust in my methods, and underst-"

"This is what your methods have brought us!" Ruby interrupted as she stepped aside and swept a hand out beside herself toward the city of Argus. "Your methods of sending us in unprepared have Salem's forces at the doorstep of Atlas! Your methods of holding back information because you thought we couldn't handle it led to Pyrrha dying atop the central tower! Your methods just cost us both our weapons, Sanus critical reinforcements, the city of Argus, and potentially, Atlas itself! Who knows how many grimm are rampaging through Mantle right now? I am done with your methods! Where did you send my mother!?"

Oscar stopped to watch the smoke rising from Argus for a moment. He didn't take his eyes off the city as he began to speak.

"…to escort the Summer Maiden to Beacon Academy for protection. Neither of the women made it back. I conducted an investigation, and two unidentifiable bodies were found within the forest where they were to meet. A group of grimm and Salem's agents were in the area, and so, I assumed the worst. That is how I would have approached the situation had it been anyone else, as well."

"That… sounds fair," Taiyang said slowly as he moved to stand at Oscar's side, between Raven and Qrow. "As someone pretty personally invested in Summer's whereabouts… I can't blame him for the way he handled her supposed death. All I'm sensing with my semblance is sincerity."

"That may be fair," Qrow began, "but everything else? We're being played. What makes you any different than Salem, at this point, other than the fact that you're losing? You look at us as just 'another cycle'? A group destined to die, so when someone like Summer is thought to be dead and we find out she's alive, it's just no big deal? Moving on, back to fighting a war we can't win? That's your answer?"

"…what if she isn't alive?" Cardin asked suddenly. "What if this right here is exactly what Salem wants? She's just fucking with us, sowing discord within our group, and using the distraction to make another move?"

"Entirely possible," Oscar admitted. "And another reason to remain calm and avoid getting your hopes up."

Coco finally stood up, dragging Fox along with her as she kept his arm draped over her shoulder.

"You really think Salem's that petty and vindictive, to blow the last question from the Relic of Knowledge on pissing us off? There's nothing more pressing that she needs to know in order to get her win?"

"Another fair point," Oscar agreed. "And no, I do not believe she would waste the final question, all things considered… unless she knew that the Relic was a fake immediately. We are… more or less flying blind, at this point."

"Either way, you aren't steering the plane anymore," Ruby asserted. "I refuse to let you remain in control after all of this. I vote that Raven makes the decisions from here on."

"Hang on, now," Fox said with a pained groan. "Before all that… if Sun brought the real lamp to Atlas, and Ironwood is responsible for mounting a defense against Salem… do either of them know that she can't be conventionally killed? You must have told the General, right?"

Again, all eyes turned to Oscar as they awaited an answer. His silence was enough of one for Qrow to simply turn around and walk back to the edge of the cliff.

"…you've got to be kidding me. You left him high and dry, totally ignorant of the fact that all the preparation in the world isn't going to make a difference?"

"I have my reasons," Oscar said defiantly as he, too, stood up. "But right now… the situation in Atlas, whatever it may be, cannot be our focus. There are other things that all of you need to be made aware of."

"Oh, wonderful," Ruby said as she rolled her eyes. "What other essential information have you been holding back?"

"This information is actually new, and a direct result of your actions," Oscar accused. "We lost one of our most potent weapons against Salem back in Sanus. I no longer have the ability to cast magic…"

Author's Note:

From bad to worse.

-RD