Author's Notes
This chapter is titled Red Like Branwens because fuck you, I don't give a shit. There is no other reason.
Happy rats, and don't do crime!
Chapter 99: Red Like Branwens
In which three quarters of Team Rainbow and three quarters of Team Stark get beaten up by a thirteen-year-old boy.
"So that's it?" asked Weiss. "We've won."
"We've won," confirmed Ruby. "The relics are permanently sealed within, save for the lamp." She held it up to drive in the point. "They can never be united. We've won."
Yang frowned. "It doesn't feel like a victory."
"It came at a heavy price."
"Penny," said Weiss.
"Dove," said Yang.
"Jaune and Pyrrha," said Uncle Qrow. "The green mohawked one, too."
"Summer," said Mom.
"General Ironwood and Winter," said Ruby. "And all the headmasters and those Faunus bros and…uh-oh. Big uh-oh."
She sensed it with her maiden powers from miles away. Looking about the battlefield, she had a wider range of detection than even Bronzewing at his best. Unfortunately, that extra range came with extra detailed visuals of all the people she'd lost, and an increasingly clear image of the young boy zooming towards them.
"Okay. So, we have a bit of a problem."
"I thought we'd won?" asked Mom.
"We did. And nothing's going to change that. But, uhhhh, as long as the six of us want to stay alive to enjoy that victory, we're going to have to do one last thing."
"Well, whatever it is, we'll do it," Dad reassured her. "We're your family, Ruby, and we've got your back no matter what."
He was right. Her parents, her uncle, her sister, her Weiss – they were all Ruby's family. And hopefully, she wouldn't die surrounded by family. Well, hopefully she would, but in, like, 70 to 75 years or so.
"So, what's the sitch?" asked Yang.
"Ozpin is on his way here, and–"
"WHAT?" screamed each and every Stark.
"He's flying to the vault, and–"
"WHAT?" screamed both of the other Rainbows.
"We're going to have to fight him. You guys have got my back, right? Family and all that?"
"Y-Yeah. Definitely, R-Rubes," Uncle Qrow said weakly. He shook himself and stood up a little bit taller. "I mean, you're a maiden. Er, two maidens. And a Salem. That's half of his power and then some. You should be able to take him in your sleep."
"Actually, the maidens are only a portion of his magic, about 50% of his total. And my Grimm powers are new, so I'm still getting used to them."
"Ruby," said Mom. "You know bedside manner? There's also such a thing as about-to-be-deadside manner."
"We –"
Ruby stopped herself from assuring them that they were all going to be fine because, if she were being fully honest, there was no way to say for sure. The previous two Ozpins had died pretty easily, but that had been through carelessness or sacrifice on their part. This one was going to be coming in hot, fully expecting a fight and fully prepared for it. True, she had magic too, but Ozpin had only split up amongst the four maidens a sum of half his power, which meant Ruby had half of that half. Ozpin was at fifty percent leftover strength, and she was at a total of just over twenty-five (including the rook transformation).
Mom, Dad, and Uncle Qrow were fully trained hunters. Weiss was out of Dust but otherwise fresh, and she apparently was immune to getting her throat slit. Yang was somewhat the worse for wear after taking Weiss' attacks, but she still packed a punch.
Between the five of them, not one would stand a chance against Ozpin alone. Together, they would last for minutes before perishing, most likely.
This would all come down to Ruby.
Ruby touched the palms of her hands to the walkway on which they all stood and pushed her creations of the Grimm into it. She might not be a master of Grimm yet, but she had the advantage of preparation on her side. A dark black liquid spread across the floor, sweeping out across the entire surface. It passed beneath the shoes of those standing alongside her without issue, though they recoiled at the unexpected change. Ruby couldn't help but make a few Grimm flowers, just to give it a nice little touch.
"This will give me control of our environment."
The next step was to lay the traps. Ruby drew up Grimm vermin and scattered them across the vault. They weren't based on mice, rats, roaches, or any living animal but were a novel creation of her own that she'd been playing with before. At their core, they were simply a lump of non-sapient sentience bound to a single eyeball scurrying around on three legs ending in sharp claws – the minimal biology required to see, move about, and know to attack.
After them came the Grimm webs. Ozpin, Ruby, and Qrow could fly, but nobody else could. Thus, to even the playing field a bit, she created a thick layer of webbing to catch any stragglers who fell off the edge of the vault. Ruby had already lost the Castles and Weiss; she wasn't going to let anyone else fall down to Mantle, not when she needed every set of fighting fists she could get.
The final piece was the Grimm stalactites. Ruby covered the top and sides of the cavern with them, then closed her eyes.
My family. My friends. The people I love.
Silver eyes opened just a crack, and the edges of the vault became lined with razor sharp spikes.
"When Ozpin gets here, I'll fight him head on with Grimmrose. Stay back and take ranged shots. Try to whittle away his aura and his magic reserves. My Grimm will help you. When he's weak, I'll try to impale him on the spikes."
Weiss gripped Antiheld tightly and braced herself.
"He'll reincarnate," said Professor Branwen. "We'll only be delaying him."
"He'll have lost the relics, and he'll be mad as heck. If we don't delay him, he'll slaughter us all."
Seconds passed, or maybe it was minutes. Time was hard to keep track of when her heart pounded like a jackhammer. The Grimm critters that Ruby had made were all gone by now, hiding themselves within cracks in the walls. Her nets had to be the most unsettling; every now and then, the cords would tense up and slightly move, perhaps just to screw with Weiss' already fragile sanity.
To prepare, or perhaps to keep herself occupied, Weiss checked and doublechecked Antiheld.
Yep. Still just a Grimm pickaxe. No changes to report.
At this point, Weiss felt ready to pass out from the sheer anticipation. Why couldn't Ozpin just show up already?
Yang patted her on the back. "We'll make it through this. I…I'm sorry about Winter."
Winter. Ruby had mentioned her passing moments ago, but the threat upon their lives had been far more pressing. Now, with time to spare, Weiss had a moment to think about her sister.
When she was young, Winter had been her hero. Not only had she escaped Father, she'd managed to make a life for herself beyond the SDC. And what a life she had lived – joining the military, defending the kingdom…laying down her life for Atlas.
But she hadn't been perfect. Winter changed, or perhaps Weiss simply grew up enough to stop idolizing her and see who she had really been. An imperfect woman. A cold, racist manipulator. A Schnee. Honestly, Penny's loss impacted her more now. As it was, Weiss and Whitley were the last of the Schnee line. Somehow, that last name no longer meant as much to her as it used to. I guess when the world ends and kingdoms fall to bits, things like company titles lose their significance slightly.
"He's coming. Five seconds out."
Perhaps the Schnee line would soon be just Whitley.
A broad red laser beam tore through the Grimm net, and out came Ozpin, or Oscar Pine. The netting beneath him sewed itself back together, and he descended to stand on it. The young boy took in his surroundings and observed the six hunters, each with their weapons drawn.
"I was hoping it would not come to this."
"Headmaster."
The polished accent of their esteemed headmaster did not fit with the farm boy's aesthetic he'd borrowed…stolen. "Ah, young Miss Rose. I'm sorry to see you in such a poor way. Rest assured, we will return you to normal before this dreadful affair is concluded. You have my word."
"It's Miss Branwen." Ruby braved stepped forward. "And I choose to stay like this."
Ozpin raised an eyebrow. "Jaune gave his life to stop Salem. He was your friend, Ruby. Are you truly the type to spit on his memory by continuing her work and impeding me?"
Raven twirled a katana that Weiss was fairly certain she didn't have when she got here. "You lie. Jaune wasn't the lapdog you pretend him to be. I met him; he was struggling to overcome your influence. He despised you."
Ozpin's expression grew dark. "Jaune Arc was like a son to me, and I a father to him. You are unfit to speak his name, Summer."
A rippling wave of magic shot at her, stopping when it collided a wall of interlocked hexagons.
"Leave my mom alone!" Ruby spat out, her palm raised. Weiss hadn't ever seen her so enraged.
"Gladly. If you all will hand over the relics, I shall depart. To show my goodwill, I'll even sweeten the deal – Miss Rose may even retain her aberrant Grimm form, if she so mistakenly chooses."
"The relics are gone."
Ozpin sighed. "Please, please, do not force me to fight. All I've ever known is war, ever since Salem began this by stealing the Gods' blessings. Do you think I'm a monster? Perhaps I am, but I am the monster who wishes for it all to end. Please, let my eternal quest finally conclude. Tell me where the relics are. I beg of you."
Ruby reached into her hood and pulled out a small lamp. "Knowledge. It's all yours." She tossed the small object to Ozpin, who scrambled forward to catch it with desperation that looked, in every way, pathetic. He fell to his knees and cradled it like it was his child and rocking it back and forth, making Weiss cringe.
"Oh, thank you. Thank you thank you thank you ohhhhh so very much. This changes everything." He held out the lamp with a shaking hand. "Jinn, I summon thee."
Nothing happened.
"Jinn. Jinn, I…Miss Rose, how many questions have you used?"
Ruby held up three pale Grimm fingers. "All of 'em. You can hunker down for 100 years…actually, just 73, and then ask Miss Jinn where the relics are located then. No one will be there to stop you by then. Salem's gone, and since I'm not immortal like her, I will be too by then. You've won, right? This means you've won. Just go. No more war."
"I wish I could," said Ozpin, rising to his feet and stowing the relic on his belt. "But too much blood has been split for this to all be in vain. Furthermore, with victory so close in hand, my appetite is whet. Today is to be the day, my students. You will understand the truth when they are returned. I must have all four, and I must have them now. I cannot compromise on this."
"Oz. Just take what you've been given," pleaded Professor Branwen. "Please."
"I am sorry, Qrow."
"Are you? Were you sorry when–"
Ruby held him back with a swift arm blocking his path. "Uncle Qrow."
Professor Branwen kicked his boot into the ground. "Fine. He's all yours, pipsqueak."
"I know you may think you can best me in combat, but this is not the case," said Ozpin. "You may have altered the environment to your advantage, but it won't be enough." With a wave of his hand, a flowing purple ribbon appeared and rapidly swept across the room. As it went, it smashed apart the spikes Ruby had made. "We need not fight. Just tell me where the relics are, and provide one of your own as a hostage until I can verify–"
"They're in the vault." Ruby nodded in the direction of the door that Penny had sealed herself behind.
"See? If we use our words, this can be resolved peacefully, students."
He exhaled and shut his eyes as his head lulled forward.
"This can all be resolved peacefully," he repeated. He wasn't addressing Ruby, and he certainly wasn't addressing Weiss or any of the four others. Ozpin's intended recipient of that advice was himself. Weiss suddenly wished she'd conserved her aura, or that it could regenerate faster.
Ozpin's eyes opened back up. "There is no need for you to make it turn violent. We are all reasonable people. Now, who is the Winter maiden?" His eyes scanned the female members of their party before landing on…
"Is it Miss Schnee?"
Weiss froze, but Ruby stepped forward and placed herself between her and Ozpin. "It's not Weiss. It was Penny."
"Miss Polendina?" He emitted a short, cut off laugh at that – surprisingly, not a malicious sounding one. "I was unaware that a synthetic person such as…oh well, it is of no consequence." His head fell, and he shook it from side to side. "If she is the maiden, then I suppose my reservations over her personhood were ill-conceived and my biases unfounded. Perhaps my own growth is not yet complete. Now, where is she?"
Ruby looked at Weiss. Weiss nodded and told him. "Penny Polendina chose to enter the vault and…and…self-terminate. She's shut down inside there, but her aura generator is still running."
Ozpin looked aghast. "Then her powers?"
"Are still in there with here. Forever."
"No, you can't…it mustn't…the Gods…"
"It's over. It can't be changed."
Ozpin fell to his knees and covered his face. The lamp was dropped and rolled away. Weiss heard him begin to make great, heaving sobs.
"Why would you do this? Why would you do this, why wouldyou DO THIS?! WHY? The Gods are our creators, our kind, merciful, and just creators, w-who would've converted this damnable wasteland into a utopia." He swept out a hand in all directions, seeming to gesture to Remnant as a whole. "Whuh – just why would you not seek to restore them to their rightful place? What possible fucking reason could you have to justify this egregious offense?"
Weiss reached a hand out to him. "H-Headmaster–"
His hand flew towards her in the blink of an eye, and then she was flying back into the rock wall behind her.
Ruby's friend's head snapped backwards from the impact with the cavern wall, but the Grimm spiderwebs caught her.
Good call, kiddo.
Taiyang hadn't interacted with Oz since he was a stupid-ass young man (Tai, that was; Oz had been several stupid-ass young men since then), but he recalled just how stubborn the little shit could be. When he got an idea into his head, it would take a miracle or the Brother Gods themselves to dissuade him from it. And now, he'd somehow gotten it into his thick skull that taking out his frustrations on Tai's family would make him feel better.
Yeah, that's not gonna fly.
It had been years since Team Stark fought as one, but when he and Qrow jumped into the air and Raven gave them a boost with Summer's old semblance to propel them forward, just like their deceased leader had used to do, things clicked back real fast. Qrow went straight for the throat with Harbinger while Tai unleashed the dragon.
Oz instinctively swung an empty hand at Taiyang's head, but the immortal wizard had short arms and no cane, so the attack missed in its entirety. It felt kind of bad to punch a pre-teen boy, but Raven had said that Oz sped up the soul-eating process, so Oscar was long gone and couldn't feel anything. Harbinger hit Oz's lime green aura, causing it to crackle, and Tai socked Oz's lights out.
The boy went flying back but flipped midair and stuck the landing. Wiping his cheek, he said, "You caught me unawares. I shan't make the same mistake again."
Instantly, Oz's hand flashed upwards and caught Ruby's Grimm scythe. A shower of petals rained across him, indicating that she'd used her semblance to get up close to him, faster than human eyes could perceive. If she had, she'd certainly improved. Tai hadn't even seen her coming.
Qrow brought his own scythe down, forcing Ozpin to catch it with his other hand. This left him defenseless when Raven stabbed him through with her katana.
Or at least, it should have left him defenseless. The crafty bastard kicked his legs into the air and nimbly wrapped them around the blade before it impaled his heart. Then, he rotated his body with such force that it yanked all three weapons out of their wielders' hands.
Oz threw Harbinger and Raven's new sword (it wasn't Omen; Tai could tell) across the vault, but the Grimm scythe stuck to his hands like it was coated in glue. He tried to shake it off, but the thing wasn't budging. Then, the hilt and the blade flopped down like noodles and wrapped themselves around Oz. Ruby was on him in a flash, her maiden eyes flaring as a stream of iced frost consumed her foe.
"Dad!" Tai turned to see Yang pointing to herself.
"My semblance! Hit me!"
"You sure?" he asked.
"Do it!"
Tai reluctantly closed his fingers into a fist and socked his daughter in the face.
She stumbled backwards. "Dude! I wasn't ready!"
"Oh Dust, I'm so sorry!"
Yang smirked. "Naw. Kidding. Now let's kick his ass!"
Raven shouting something about Yang minding her language was the last thing Tai heard before he and Yang launched a father-daughter combo straight into Ozpin's face. Ruby let up her ice attack the millisecond the two of them were in punching range.
Their fists hit a green barrier, and it wasn't aura. Oz had made a spherical shield around him and was hiding behind it. Taiyang and Yang kept punching at it with their three collective fists, but it showed no signs of breaking.
"Stay back! I said, do ranged attacks!"
"We're not letting you do this alone, Rubes!"
"No! It's not that! I'm the only one who can combat his–"
She didn't get a chance to finish the sentence because Ozpin's shield exploded outwards. Both blondes were sent flying, but Raven's airstreams prevented them from joining the white-haired friend of his daughters in her blissful unconsciousness.
She gets to have her beauty sleep while the rest of us deal with Oz. Lucky bitch.
A crow flew up to Ozpin from behind and transformed into a man, but Oz assembled some gleaming golden chains out of thin air and tossed them around Qrow.
"My traitorous old friend. Siding with Salem, are we?"
"There is no Salem, jackass!" Qrow screeched. "I'm fighting to protect my niece! I should never have joined you!"
"Then allow me to rescind…my favor."
Oz reached out and made a pulling motion with his fist. Qrow screamed as a luminous orb was torn from his chest, then fell backwards. Oz opened his hand to allow the orb to settle in it.
Then, Oz was on the ground. Rather, he was 'in' the ground. The dark black floor that Ruby had screwed with had swallowed his feet whole, and he sank about half a meter down. Tiny Grimm bugs that looked like they'd come straight from ever bad dream Tai ever had poured out of the many nooks and crannies of the vault. Together, they swarmed into a wave of writhing, squirming legs and descended upon Ozpin. Taiyang turned backwards to see Ruby chanting quiet commands under her breath that sounded like no language he'd ever heard.
I mean, I'm happy she's on our side, but this is some freaked out shit.
The bugs poked and prodded at Oz's aura. Individually, they couldn't be doing much harm, but the combined mass of them had to be draining him pretty fast. Ozpin struggled and swatted some off, but more came to take their place faster than he could remove them.
Tai didn't even see Ruby make the snakes, but shadowy zigzags moved around and between his feet before sinking their fangs into the wizard. They looked like miniature King Taijitus but each only had one head. Guess Ruby isn't one for redundancy.
"Get off! Don't touch me!"
Ozpin finally got fed up with the nightmare fuel that was assaulting him. Spitting out some of the eyeball bugs, he lit himself on fucking fire, instantly burning away all of the Grimm and the tar on the floor. It must've cost him a pretty chunk of aura or magic or whatever was empowering him so, but he was free, and the Grimm were gone. Had he not, the little creepy crawlies might have just chewed away until there was nothing left. Even as it was, his tanned skin was covered in prickly bug bites.
Raven didn't wait for an invitation. Bereft of a sword, she kicked Ozpin in the stomach and pinned him onto the stone floor with a boot to the midsection. She began to wave her hands above him as though she was scooping chunks of peanut butter out of an invisible jar (Tai definitely should've had lunch before going to war). Oz began to sputter and choke as the air was sucked out of his lungs, his face straining and turning bright red.
Ruby reached to the side, and her white-haired friend's Grimm mattock flew toward her. She chucked it at Oz, and the thing fell apart into strands on Ozpin's face. The strands, moving like inchworms, wrapped themselves around his chin and forced his mouth open, allowing Raven to speed up the semblance-induced asphyxiation.
Naturally, Ozpin had some secret magical way to escape certain death once again. Because of course he does.
The wizard slammed his hand into the ground beneath him, and a chunk of cavern broke free from the ceiling. Raven backflipped out of the way before it crushed her, giving Oz time to get standing and block an opportunistic slash from Qrow with is bare hands.
Tai took her place and threw a few punches at Oz. Yang stepped into formation beside him and turned up the pressure. Oz dodged their attacks so fast that Tai was fairly certain he could see an actual afterimage of the boy as he flickered back and forth out of the way.
They weren't winning, but this was actually going pretty well. Five on one meant that each of them could tap out when they were in trouble and let someone else take the heat off them. Maybe they would be able to take him out after all.
And then Ozpin stopped defending and attacked.
It wasn't even a magical blow. Just a simple chop to the shoulder, and Tai fell to the ground. He wasn't sure, but it felt like the entire arm was broken. No, more than that. It felt like every bone in his right arm had been shattered into dust.
Still, he was a huntsman. Adrenaline pushed him past the pain, and he still had one good arm. Feinting a right cross, he went in with an uppercut.
Another quick chop to his right arm, and Tai was out of the fight.
Maybe he could kick, or…?
Nope. Ozpin grabbed him by the throat and slammed him into the ground.
This wasn't working.
First Weiss, and now Dad? They were losing hunters faster than they were doing damage. Yang needed to step up her game.
Fortunately, she had a pretty good idea what to do.
Mom and Uncle Qrow were keeping Ozpin on his toes with their swords, so Yang dashed over to Ruby to outline her plan. Ruby nodded and placed an open hand out with the palm facing down. Closing it, she squeezed tightly and produced the custom Grimm that Yang had requested.
Here goes nothing.
"Hey, Ozpin!"
The boy kicked Qrow away and turned to face Yang. Yang steeled her nerves and held the Grimm microphone up to her lips.
.
"Yo, it's DJ Yang, here to beat the wizard of Oz,
The old man still fighting for a stupid lost cause.
Imma split you in half with a mad karate kick,
I may be missing an arm, but you ain't got no dick!
.
Get real, man, there aren't any gods counting on you,
They ditched you, you bitch you – c'mon, get a clue.
This fight's gonna finish with a mega big bang,
'Cause your old wizard butt just got schooled by Yang!"
.
Yang dropped the Grimm microphone to the floor, panting with exhaustion. Fortunately, the fiery beats seemed to have burned Ozpin, and his pale green aura dropped drastically. Ruby and Uncle Qrow cheered at Yang's sick moves, and she could see Mom nodding her head in approval.
The rap battle may have been won, but the rap war was far from over. Ozpin formed a magical transparent green microphone out of light and began to rhyme in retaliation.
.
"MC Ozma in the vault, here to bring the house down,
Time for a wizard-slash-farmhand to out-rap a clown.
Your hotheaded lyrics can't hurt me, ya bitch,
I'm more scared of a bad grade from Glynda Goodwitch (RIP).
.
A slayer of Grimm and a slayer of thots,
Give up on the gods? No sir I will not.
I've been Ozpin and Jaune, now I am Oscar Pine,
You don't stand a chance 'gainst a jumper of minds."
.
It was almost too much. Yang doubled over in pain as her golden aura sunk. Checking her scroll, she saw that she only had about 20% left. She had come into the battle starting in the red, and Oz showed no signs of slowing. But there was one thing the immortal hadn't counted on – Yang's semblance, Burn. Every time she got hit, she would dish it back out twice as hard. Time to turn up the heat…
.
"A farmboy? Oh no, I'm quaking in my boots,
This withered up wizard's blinder'n eye of newt.
I'm callin' you out, you ain't no slayer of Grimm,
My body count's bigger even without one limb.
.
Two bloody brothers meant more to you than Salem,
You left her for the gods, but you still gonna fail'em.
You musta given me the power to turn into a bird,
Cause I'm flyin' circles around this lame little turd."
.
Ozpin's magical microphone exploded from the fire verses. Unarmed, he stood no chance; the rap battle was as good as hers. No one could burn hotter than Yang Xiao-Long, and it showed. Ozpin was sweating, and he looked like he was about to collapse from the dope bars she'd been spitting. Ruby had already turned into a rook and was flying in short circles, cawing up a storm above Ozpin's head.
"Impressive, Miss Xiao-Long," he admitted.
"Damn straight."
"But there's one thing you didn't consider."
Yang's smile fell as Ozpin's straightened out.
"You have your semblance, Burn, and it is most useful. But you failed to take into account that my newly-discovered semblance, Diss Track, allows me to rap without the aid of any auditory equipment! MWAHAHAHA!"
"Yang, no!" cried Ruby from across the room, but it was too late. Ozpin had already started.
.
"My aura's getting' hot, and these beats getting' hotter,
No way Imma to lose to my own student's daughter.
Xiao-Long will this take? Cuz I got places to be,
There's a war I must win and two gods I must free.
.
Yeah, that's right – I stole your own puns,
You can try as you might, but I won't be outdone.
Weiss is out cold, and you and Ruby are next to go
I guess you could say that I'm…over the Rainbow."
.
Puns and rapping? It was too much. Yang staggered backwards as her aura broke, and unconsciousness claimed her.
Qrow didn't waste a split second of the opening Yang had given him. They were losing hunters, and fast, but Oz had to be getting pretty damn tired by this point. Given that the bastard hadn't stretched his magical muscles since empowering the maidens, Qrow figured he ought to be slightly rusty.
Yang and Weiss were out of the picture, but if Qrow were being entirely honest, those two were kind of holding him back. Make no mistake, those kids had spirit, but compared to the decades of experience behind pro-hunters like him and Ray, spirit didn't mean jack.
A̶n̶d̶ ̶a̶s̶ ̶Q̶r̶o̶w̶ ̶w̶a̶t̶c̶h̶e̶d̶ ̶l̶i̶t̶t̶l̶e̶ ̶R̶u̶b̶y̶ ̶t̶h̶r̶o̶w̶ ̶b̶a̶l̶l̶s̶ ̶o̶f̶ ̶e̶l̶e̶c̶t̶r̶i̶f̶i̶e̶d̶ ̶i̶c̶e̶ ̶a̶n̶d̶ ̶l̶o̶o̶s̶e̶ ̶a̶ ̶s̶l̶e̶w̶ ̶o̶f̶ ̶j̶u̶v̶e̶n̶i̶l̶e̶ ̶N̶e̶v̶e̶r̶m̶o̶r̶e̶ ̶a̶t̶ ̶O̶z̶p̶i̶n̶,̶ ̶h̶e̶ ̶c̶o̶u̶l̶d̶n̶'̶t̶ ̶h̶e̶l̶p̶ ̶b̶u̶t̶ ̶w̶o̶n̶d̶e̶r̶ ̶i̶f̶ ̶s̶h̶e̶ ̶w̶a̶s̶ ̶j̶u̶s̶t̶ ̶w̶a̶i̶t̶i̶n̶g̶ ̶f̶o̶r̶ ̶Q̶r̶o̶w̶ ̶t̶o̶ ̶t̶a̶p̶ ̶o̶u̶t̶ ̶s̶o̶ ̶s̶h̶e̶ ̶c̶o̶u̶l̶d̶ ̶f̶i̶n̶a̶l̶l̶y̶ ̶l̶e̶t̶ ̶l̶o̶o̶s̶e̶.̶
Forcing any doubts to the back of his mind, Qrow leapt into the fray and brought down Harbinger. Oz was pinned down by both Ruby and her mother from either side, so Qrow was hoping that he would have no way to escape.
And he was…right? Oz made no move to block the scythe, and Qrow cut directly into his aura. It was such a clean blow that it triggered alarms in Qrow's head. It shouldn't have been easy to dodge, but Oz didn't even try. Something was wrong here. As much as Qrow wanted to appreciate a free hit, familiarity with his own semblance taught him the tough lesson that nothing was every truly free.
Are you really this petty, Oz? The vault's closed, and killing us won't change that one bit.
Until Ozpin revealed whatever game he was playing by letting himself get pummeled, Qrow's only choice was to let things play out. It didn't sit well with him, but what else could he do? Not fight?
Despite the three of them never having fought together, the Branwen teamwork was immaculate. Ruby switched into her corvid form, and Qrow jumped; both switched places, flapping or leaping across the vault. Meanwhile, Raven kept Ozpin from zapping them out of the air by keeping his hands occupied with her katana. He'd made some kind of cane out of solid fire to duel her with, but the master swordswoman that was Qrow's sister wasn't allowing him to land a single blow. When Ruby and Qrow touched down, both swung their scythes at him – one from the front, one from the back. If they got him, Oz would be turned into a human shish-kebab.
And they fucking did! Naturally, the short boy survived, 'cause aura, but both scythes hit their mark. Okay, now Qrow was sure that something was wrong, because there was no way a man who'd downed Winter's little sister with a single punch couldn't do something to avoid such an obviously telegraphed move. Qrow had even flourished his wrists a little bit before he'd launched.
"Ray, Ruby, back off! He's messing with us!"
"But –"
"Let me! You switch to ranged!"
Qrow shifted his weapon back into a sword, flicked down the blade, and fired a steady stream of bullets, stepping forward as he did. If Oz was going to play games, so be it, but he would have to face the full, uninterrupted effect of Misfortune. Harbinger straightened back into a sword, and Qrow bashed it into the burning cane.
Though he could neither see nor hear the others due to his immense concentration on Ozpin, Qrow could practically feel their grumblings at having been relegated to backup for him. But it was for the best this way; if one of them got too close, it would be them tripping instead of Ozpin. The wizard hadn't yet un-lucked out, but Qrow was sending a frenzy of stabs, chops, and slices his way. It was only a matter of time before his palms got sweaty and he lost his grip, or his foot got caught on one of Ruby's Grimm cobwebs, or something. Just a little further…
There!
The seam of Ozpin's glove caught on his collar button, stopping the momentum of his arm abruptly. The cane slipped out of his grasps and flew randomly through the air, leaving him entirely defenseless. Qrow seized the moment to go for an all-in finisher.
It was after the levitating cane drove itself into Qrow's stomach, pushed through to the other side, and came out from his back did Qrow remember how one's physical grasp on a weapon made out of magical fire didn't mean all that much.
First it was six hunters.
Weiss went down first, but she'd been taken in by a surprise attack, so it didn't count. Her aura was already broken and had only just begun to rez.
Next was Tai. He hadn't trained in years, though, but she started to get antsy at that point.
Then Yang. Yang's weird music-y fight-y thing was still confusing to Raven, but she picked up on the trend the fight was taking. Hunters were going down left and right, one by one, but Oz was still standing.
And now her baby brother was dead.
Raven would be damned if she lost her daughter next.
Omen had been her weapon throughout most of her life, but she was never stupid enough to not to carry her hunter weapon in triplicate. The replacement katana she currently twirled in her fingers wasn't folded steel like the original, but it would serve its purpose.
This would be the sword that killed Ozma.
She'd held back before on account of Qrow's ridiculous semblance, but now she could go all out. This little farmhand wasn't going to see what hit him.
In her youth, Raven's sole focus in life was accumulating and safeguarding her strength. She did not limit herself to physical muscular strength as some like Tai had, nor did she obtain skill without the brains to back it up, like Qrow. Her specialty was that she had no specialty. It had been a grueling experience, but she relished every moment of it. Every ten-mile run, every carved up practice dummy, every cardboard target peppered with bullet holes, every aced combat practical – they all had made her who she was.
She had nearly split apart from her team in her arrogance, misguided in her belief that she needed to prove herself independently. It was her first brief romance with Taiyang, later upgraded to a full-on marriage, that had taught her a valuable lesson: you could do more than one thing at a time. Single-minded focus and determination were commendable traits in the proper circumstances, but obsession led to isolation, which itself was weakness. Teamwork could be a unique form of strength. If a pair of two could do better than a singular one, then it logically followed that the number one was inferior to the number two.
From then on, she had vowed to focus on becoming the most powerful team. After all, if Raven Branwen was invincible on her own, think of the wonders she could perform if she whipped up three other flabby, limp hunters into shape.
The results were astounding while they lasted. The four of them became Ozpin's personal saber of justice, cutting the force of Salem into mincemeat. Yes, it was quite ironic given her current predicament, but it had been no one but Raven Branwen, not even their leader, that had guided her partner and their comrades to glory the likes of which no hunters had ever seen before. Summer called the shots in the heat of the battle like no other, but Raven had always been the one to push her comrades training and the hunters themselves to new heights.
But in spite of all the teamwork and unity and fraternal/sororal bonds of friendship, she never lost the ability to be strong while standing alone. And that knowledge was going to be very useful right about now.
Ozpin's little trick had worked on Qrow because the old man knew exactly how her brother thought. He had been lured in by Ozpin letting a few hits go, and then he'd assumed that any and all mistakes the man made were due to his bad luck.
Raven decided to take a page out of his book.
She went in with a move he'd taught her back when he was her teacher in Beacon – a left punch to disorient issued to the chin, a pivot, and a follow up right punch to the stomach while clutching the metal hilt of her blade for extra punishment. Oz must have been sure he had her, and he leaned back after the first hit in preparation for the second. Unfortunately, he seemed to forget that she had been busy improving herself for the better part of two decades since they'd parted ways. She intentionally let go of her katana entirely.
Rook. Yang. My family.
Summer Rose's silver eyes opened and burned the world away.
Wizard or not, he'd been relying on his sense of sight. Depriving him of it so suddenly forced him to take a single second to shift to whatever other senses he could use.
Raven made full use of that second. Catching the fallen katana at its center of mass with her boot, she kicked it right back into the air, caught it with her left hand, and swung the flat of it up between his legs. Aura was a good shield to prevent burns and cuts, but force carried through it into the body. Experience as the leader of a rowdy crowd of bandits had taught Raven that unruly men and blunt force to the groin tended to go together like cookies and milk.
Ozpin staggered backwards, but he didn't go down.
Impossible! The pain from…oh, right. Pre-teen. No puberty yet. Shit.
Her red armor protected her from the blast of continuous dusty air that Ozpin followed up, but the sandblasting started to eat through the leather and prick against her aura. Raven leapt backwards to put some distance between herself and Ozpin, speeding up her leap with some semblance-induced air currents to carry herself.
Then, one of her daughter's Grimm hands reached out of the ground, wrapped around her waist, and threw her back towards him!
"Rook, what the f–"
"It's a trap! Behind you!"
Raven spared a brief glance backwards and saw that she'd nearly impaled herself on icicles sticking out of the vault wall. Oz had gradually been directing the flow of their fight to the edge of the vault, and he'd managed to sneak some shards of ice behind her.
"Thanks for the save!"
"No prob. Let's not – duck!"
Raven dropped to the ground, but it soon became apparent that that wasn't what her daughter had meant. A mallard flew over her head, transformed into Ozpin's human avatar midair, and landed on her.
Dust, does he only know one class of animal? No mammals or reptiles, just birds? Is it too much to ask for him to transform a human into something snazzy like, I dunno, a capybara?
The pair of them locked limbs and wrestled back and forth, rolling across the floor in an undignified mess of fists. For such a tiny boy, Oz was unnaturally strong. Raven surmised that he was most likely using the full capability of his miniscule muscles. Oscar Pine's body would be ruined after this, but what did that matter to someone like Ozpin? All he cared about was enacting his vengeance on those who'd taken away his dream of impressing his two puny gods. If it cost him his life, he could just inhabit another body. Dust, if he crippled himself permanently and left him in unending agony, he could just reset.
It's kind of bumming me out to think about that. Killing him won't save us, it'll just buy us some time until he reincarnates and hunts us down.
Still, she needed to give this fight her all, or else. Raven and Rook were the only things standing between Ozpin slitting the throats of Weiss, Tai, Yang, and Qrow while they were down. As soon as he was the only conscious fighter, they were all as good as dead.
Wait, no, Qrow is already…right.
Fuck.
Raven balled up a fist.
FUCK!
"FUCKING DIE, YOU DAMN BASTARD!" she screamed.
Ozpin had nearly killed her earlier by taking control of the direction of the fight and pushing her closer to a domain he controlled. Perhaps it was time for her to do the same. Wrapping her arms around Oz, she rolled them both from the walkway of the vault into Rook's Grimm mesh, cutting as much of it as she could as she went. Stray strands of severed Grimm tangled around them both. Ozpin tried to break free of her grip, but she refused to let go and held him with all her might.
"Do it, Rook! Kill us both!"
"NO!" screamed Ozpin.
Raven braced herself for Grimm spikes to shoot through her and pierce Ozpin, or for the Grimm to form up into a wrecking ball and smoosh them both into paste. Or perhaps her daughter would be merciful and entomb them both in a Grimm coffin that she could incinerate at her leisure while they asphyxiated within. Either way, there was just far too much Grimm mass wrapped around them both for either to escape, and beside that, they were too closely entangled in one another's grips for either one to get away now. Raven closed her eyes.
Goodbye, my little fledgling. At least you still have your father and sister.
A second passed.
I'll miss you.
Another second passed.
The death she awaited never came. Opening her eyes, she caught sight of black tears pouring out of Rook's eyes.
"I'm sorry! I can't do it! I just got you back!"
Ozpin elbowed her in the stomach, knocking the wind out of Raven. She caught his next punch, but not the one after that.
"Your semblance! Catch them before they hit the ground!"
Raven was about to ask what Rook meant when the Grimm mesh retracted from beneath her.
All of them fell. Yang, Weiss, Mom, Dad, Ozpin, even Uncle Qrow's body. Ruby hadn't planned it that way, but they all were on the Grimm web that she'd woven to fill the gap between the vault's walls and its walkway.
Mom's semblance would keep them safe. Dad and Uncle Qrow used to regale her with stories of the great Summer Rose and her all-powerful gusts of wind that could lift a whole powered down bullhead into the air like a dumbbell for weightlifting (and frequently had). Mom now had Summer's semblance, and she could catch the others before they went splat on Remnant. The war might still be going on down beneath as far as Ruby knew, but anywhere had to be safer than in Ozpin's line of fire. Her Grimm would protect them from all other threats.
Ruby hummed, then leapt over the edge herself.
Ozpin was diving towards Weiss, the closest body to him, when Ruby tackled him. She'd meant to grab hold of him, but her balance wasn't very good, and she ended up slamming into him and flying away after the collision. Either way, it prevented him from getting to Weiss. Throwing a tentacle of Grimm around him, she levitated in the air using her maiden powers to propel herself upwards and closed her eyes.
The memory of everyone we lost. Those who I can still protect.
Silver eyes opened, and the Grimm tentacle around Ozpin hardened into stone. It only took about five seconds before he struggled enough to break free, but by then, at the speed at which they were falling, the others had to be hundreds to thousands of feet below them. Ozpin had no way of catching up to them without turning his back to Ruby, and he knew it.
That meant his full attention was focused on her.
"EEP!" Ruby squeaked. Letting go of the invisible force holding her in the air, she dove downwards, turned into her bird form, and peeled upwards towards the floating city above them both, humming until she lost her lips to a beak. Ozpin flew through the air with his magic, hot on her heels.
The chase dragged on for at least a nerve-wracking minute as Ruby maneuvered along the rocky underside of Atlas towards the top. It helped to remember that regardless of what happened to her, Remnant would be safe and the others would get away. There was no more weight of responsibility to protect everyone else from Ozma's wrath. All she had to do now was survive.
And hopefully kill him, but that was priority number two.
It was absolutely bonkers that she had the magic of two maidens, command of the Grimm, silver eyes, and her now sorta OP semblance, and she was still the one being chased. Ruby tried to lose the ex-headmaster by weaving around the wings of some of the few airships still in the sky and utilizing targeted bursts of her semblance, but Ozpin simply powered through the metal hulls, tearing holes in the ships in his dogged pursuit.
Ruby cawed (the rook version of humming), slightly louder this time. Come on, Kraky. I really need a Deus Ex Grimmina right about now!
The higher she got, the closer her dragon would be. Ruby beat her wings harder as she soared high enough to see the imposing skyscrapers poking into the clouds.
Suddenly, the world around her began to expand. Ruby was turning back into a human! Why? She hadn't–
Ozpin was closer to her than he had been before. He'd stolen Qrow's powers, and she felt like a fool for not thinking he could steal hers. Fortunately, maidens could fly too, and Ozpin didn't seem to be able to take that back either. If he could, I'd be toast. Queen of the Grimm is nice and all, but I only survived dipping my toes in the pools of darkness because of my unusually high levels of magic compared to everyone else.
Her cloak fluttered from the turbulent winds as she rose up through the sky past the clouds. If anyone were flying a commercial airship up this high, they would be in for quite the weird sight – a hooded Grimm girl being chased by a little farm boy, both of them flying about with neither jetpacks nor hang gliders.
Oh, and a heckin' big Grimm dragon descended from the stars straight towards them.
"Nice of you to grace us with your presence, Kraky!"
"I came over as soon as you gave the order, my queen."
Kraken spoke through his gills, so his mouth never moved. Nevertheless, Ruby was sure she could make out the trappings of a sly grin across his enormous maw. You little liar, she thought. I bet you were scared silly.
Ozpin made a U-turn away from Atlas and Mantle as the massive wyvern joined the aerial fray and left him outnumbered. Ruby decided to conserve her magical energy and lifted herself onto Kraken's backside. She had the power of two maidens, and he was Salem's last horsemen, so between the two of them, they possessed…still not enough to rival Ozpin at his best.
But he's not at his best. The others weakened him.
"Kraken!"
"My queen."
"We're never going to win if we let him keep chasing us. Let's take the fight to him!"
"I was thinking as much. And there is something else you must know if you are to fully utilize my aid."
Ruby cocked her head. "What's that?"
"I am the horseman of creation. Melion transferred his knowledge to his kin, Thrace breathed raw destruction, and Azeban chose his own path. My gift is simpler, and far more easily utilize. When my aura is broken and my blood spilt, new Grimm are formed."
"That's great! Is there any way to get those Grimm without cutting you up?"
Ruby took Kraken's lack of a response to indicate that there was not.
"Ok, so I guess that's a good backup for if he hurts you, but I think I'd rather have my last horseman with me than bleed him dry for a couple of Beowolves."
"As you command. I simply wish to make you aware of what will happen should I fall to Ozma."
"I'll keep it in mind. Now mush!"
In spite of how long he'd taken to show up, Kraken was actually quite a bit faster than Ozpin when he reached his top speed. Unfortunately, Ozpin was quite a bit more maneuverable as he wove between airships and the tethers to Mantle that kept Atlas from floating away into space (or so Ruby assumed; she didn't actually know what they did).
Ruby decided to speed things along. Standing atop her noble steed, she hurled a lightning bolt at Ozpin. It missed; the immortal was too fast, and her attack too poorly aimed. A second and third bolt yielded similar results.
"I can't hit him like this," Ruby muttered to herself. "I wish I had Crescent with me. I never missed with her."
"M-My queen…"
"Oh, right!"
Ruby needed this to work, so she put every upgrade imaginable into the new Grimmrose. Sniper stocks, long range scopes (with molten maiden-produced sand forged into glass lenses), even some Grimm equivalents of fancy barrel modifications that she'd seen in weapons magazines when she was little. It was a little flashy, sure, and it required her to continuously hold it together with her Grimm powers, but Ruby needed something special to take down a fast-moving target like Ozpin. When her masterpiece was finally complete, she adopted a kneeling pose and looked down the sights. Ozpin was there; she had him dead to rights. Ruby pulled the trigger, and nothing happened.
"Why isn't it working?"
"Do you not need to load it?"
"Shoot! Or, well, I guess that's the problem, heheheh. Sorry, I'm so used to having tons of Dust cartridges on me, so I didn't think to bring any. No worries, though."
Ruby condensed an orb of magical energy into the palm of her hands. It was made of all sorts of elemental power – flaring heat, frigid cold, raw crackling lightning, harnessed air. Pressing down on it, she squeezed so hard that the magic was compressed into a physical form – Dust. This wasn't Fire Dust or Ice Dust or any of the others, though. Ruby couldn't recognize the color or feel of it, so she surmised it must be something entirely new.
Magic Dust, I guess.
Coating it with a Grimm shell, she loaded the truly one-of-a-kind ordnance into the chamber of Grimmrose and lined up her shot. The three of them had long since flown away from the city, and Ozpin was now darting around some frozen rock formations in the wild tundras of Solitas. Ruby fingered the trigger and waited for him to fly out from behind a peak.
There!
The bullet struck true, and Ozpin was knocked out of the sky. Kraken was on him instantly, landing on the ground and attempting to sink his fangs into the downed wizard. Ozpin, lying face up on the ground, caught the creature's upper and lower jaws before they could clamp down on him. Ruby leapt off her mount and sprung forward with her semblance and her scythe.
Time was slowed down from in her bubble, as were Ozpin and Kraken's movements. It wasn't enough though. Oz must have reacted instantly when he saw the first rose petal, because his body began to glow when Ruby was midway towards him. As fast as she was, she couldn't claim to be able to outrun light itself, and the blinding flash of light left her dazed and rubbing at her eyes. She collapsed next to Ozpin and, for a second, she actually missed being blind, if only for the protection it would have afforded her.
Her concentration broke, and the upgraded Grimmrose fell apart into strands of raw Grimm. When Ruby finally opened her eyes and blinked away the burning image of Ozpin, the boy was lifting himself off the ground. Kraken was still pushing down on him with his mouth, but the young boy was strong enough to repel the huge beast.
"WWWRRRRAAAH!"
It happened too fast for Ruby to do anything until it was too late. Ozpin had one hand on Kraken's upper lip and the other on his lower lip. The motion was simple, and the result was instantaneous. He moved one hand left and the other right, and Kraken's lower jaw snapped off. Ozpin slammed his foot down into the rocky ground, and a solid spike shot through the open wound, piercing Kraken's skull and tearing his entire body in half. And with that final strenuous burst of activity, Ozpin's aura flickered on the brink of breaking.
Ruby wanted to mourn her most faithful Grimm subject. She wanted to scream at Ozpin for killing a being whose only fault was being loyal to his queen. She wanted to run forward and punch the stupid headmaster in his stupid face and throttle his stupid throat.
But more than any of that, she wanted to properly avenge her friend.
And so, dipping her hand into Kraken's spilt blood, she drew forth a third and final Grimmrose. Ruby mentally manipulated all of the precious fluid to flow upwards, converging into a single, incredibly dense scythe, stronger by far than any Grimm ever designed before. Kicking Ozpin's feet to trip him, she stood up, raised her weapon into the air, jumped into her semblance with every remaining drop of aura she could muster up, and sped up to the fastest she'd ever been. Ozpin, mid-fall, stopped moving entirely.
Ruby's scythe tore through his aura and caught him in his chest with such force and speed that it ripped into the solid rock beneath him, cracking down several feet into the solid stone. The world around them rumbled from the shockwave of such a heavy weapon being brought down. The young wizard's body didn't endure such a blow, and bits of his flesh splattered behind him as the scythe ripped him apart, splashing outwards in a shower like they were a liquid.
Her own aura broke from the impact and exertion, and she felt herself reaching the limits of her control of the Grimm, but it didn't matter now. Ozpin was no more. The battle for the fate of Remnant was finally over, and they had actually won this time, with finality. She couldn't enjoy the feeling, though; she was exhausted.
Ruby sat down on her butt and kicked out her legs. Leaning backwards slightly and supporting her weight with her arms on the ground, she looked over to Kraken to check if he'd perhaps somehow survived, but his body was already beginning to fade away into tiny black speckles.
Rest in peace, big guy. Tell Uncle Qrow and Team Adventure that I miss them.
"I-It…is…"
Ruby knew he would go to them. Kraken was no Grimm; he had a soul, and he was good and kind. They would all be happy, in whatever next world they now resided. He could even say a proper goodbye to Salem without Ozpin ever coming by to disturb them.
This corner of Solitas had to be colder than Weiss' dad on SDC paycheck day. Ruby flexed her fingers and tried to make a small flame using her mostly spent maiden powers, partially succeeding as a few sparks flickered to life. It wasn't much, but it would warm her up just a tad. As an added bonus, the maiden fire coming from her eyes helped to defrost her nose and ears.
"I will…"
The most horrible part had to be the irony that almost all of the fallen had died at the hands of heroes, or at least non-villains. Cinder had damaged Penny and assassinated Ironwood and Winter, but she was a good person. Salem and Jaune had taken one another down; neither had any goal but saving the world in their own way. And Dove…
Perhaps they would all understand when they met up in the next life. O̶r̶ ̶p̶e̶r̶h̶a̶p̶s̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶y̶ ̶w̶o̶u̶l̶d̶ ̶a̶l̶l̶ ̶h̶a̶t̶e̶ ̶R̶u̶b̶y̶ ̶f̶o̶r̶e̶v̶e̶r̶.̶ ̶ ̶N̶o̶t̶ ̶e̶v̶e̶r̶y̶t̶h̶i̶n̶g̶ ̶c̶o̶u̶l̶d̶ ̶b̶e̶ ̶f̶i̶x̶e̶d̶.̶ ̶ ̶N̶o̶t̶ ̶a̶l̶l̶ ̶s̶t̶o̶r̶i̶e̶s̶ ̶h̶a̶d̶ ̶h̶a̶p̶p̶y̶ ̶e̶n̶d̶i̶n̶g̶s̶.̶
"It's…"
"Urgh. WHAT?" Ruby snapped, turning around in irritation. Oz seriously needed to read the room. Or canyon. Whatever.
"It's –cough– it's not over." Blood dribbled out of Ozpin's small mouth as his internal organs responded to the shock of being cleaved in two. Grimmrose XXXXL was still pinning him to the ground through his torso. "I will return, and…"
"And what? What will you do?"
"You shall all suffer. This trespass against the –cough– Gods cannot be forgiven."
"Why bother? The war with Salem is over. Both of you lost, headmaster."
"I cannot simply…my entire life has been…"
His face got paler and paler as the seconds passed by, but no further response came. He was shutting down, but with as much experience at dying as he must have accumulated, he clearly knew how to squeeze every last drop of life from a body. At least Jaune got to go quickly without being wrung dry.
"It cannot end like this…"
"It already has. The relics are sealed away, gone forever," pointed out Ruby. "End of story. Nothing you say or do is gonna change that. Why keep going when it's all for nothing?"
Oscar Pine's hazel eyes met Ruby's silver and Grimm ones, staring blankly into them with no response, and Ozpin was unable to speak any answer.
Then, he died.
Next Chapter: Epilogue – In which life will never be the same again, and that's not a bad thing (it's not a good thing either).
Omake
Oh, you want a joke, do you? Just reread the Yang POV section (or, for a little extra fun, imagine it as a Dr. Seuss book).
Author's Notes
Another long chapter – actually, the longest I've ever written for any fic. The third chapter of this fic is about 1.5K words, and this one is about 10K.
Not much Weiss could do, but if she goes down to White Fang Lieutenant in the other long chapter, I don't think she could fight Ozpin here. And yeah, I couldn't resist Yang's part being a silly rap battle. That said, given this fic's ignoble origins as half-way to crack, I think most of us would have it no other way.
The end of the story is next chapter. See you there!
Happy rats, and don't do crime!