Chapter 96: Divide and Falter

In which Sky lays out his grand plan, and Qrow, Cinder, and Cardin struggle to execute it.


"I was reviewing some old history books in hopes that there would be something about Atlas that would give us an edge," Sky explained. He honestly had thought the idea to be a long shot, and he'd no idea that it would actually work. Of course, there wasn't an answer written out in plain English for all to see, but after a few hours of poring over every bit of reading material on Atlas he could find had finally revealed the hidden bit of knowledge to answer his prayers. "And I've come to the conclusion that the city of Atlas, along with its Hard Light barriers, is completely impenetrable."

Team Stark, Team Castle, the headmasters, Team CE, and Yang looked entirely unamused.

"B-But Mantle…that's the trick. If I can get you into there, then all we need is for Professor Branwen to fly up into the city floating overhead, disable their shields, and let everybody in. He can't do that from where we are now because of the harsh weather, but the two cities share a common defensive perimeter. The temperature within Atlas, Mantle, and the airspace between them is more regulated, so an intra-Atlas flight should be a piece of cake."

Goodwitch frowned. "So how do you get into Mantle?" she asked. "It's easily as fortified as Atlas. You said it yourself; they share a defensive perimeter. All sides of the side are protected by the same shielding that our heaviest of weapons cannot penetrate."

"Not all sides," Sky said joyfully. He'd carefully planned out every little detail before he'd even thought of presenting it to the big cheeses. "We're coming in from below."

Cinder shook her head. "I grew up in Mantle. The bedrock upon which that horrid stain of a city was constructed is solid. Unless you have an SDC-grade mining drill in your back pocket, you won't be getting in."

"I don't," Sky admitted, his eyes sparkling. "But I do know where we can find the hole that one left." He swept widely with one arm. "Straight into Mantle."

"Impossible," said Theodore. "There's no way that Atlas would be so stupid as to leave an opening right into the heart of their city. And they certainly wouldn't publish their locations in a child's textbook."

"Oh, they most certainly did not. But let's just say–"

"Oh my fucking fuck!" shouted the woman who looked an awful lot like Ruby but apparently didn't talk like her at all. "Stop it with the cheeky damn riddles and sly little 'I know but you don't' bit! Just tell us the plan!"

Sky blushed and stuttered out his findings. "I read in the history books that the Burning Gate Riots twenty years ago took place because of massive Faunus casualties in twelve failed mines in the same year. That piqued my interest about the idea of going in underground, so I looked up a bunch of archived new reports about all the mines leading to and from Mantle. All of them were sealed but one – the Tempest's Heart."

"What's so special about that one?" asked a big blond male Yang. Was it secretly parent's day, and Sky just missed the memo?

"The Tempest's Heart experienced an exceedingly rare gas leak. Unlike most pockets of gas that dissipate over time, this one was phosphene. It's denser than air, so the gas literally sank to the bottom of the mine and flooded it. All those noxious fumes have remained there undisturbed to this day. They can't seal it because it's just too risky to send anyone down there to place the charge. It's a lake of poison."

"How on Remnant did I get partnered with such a nerd," Cardin muttered under his breath.

Phosphene gas was a rarity to be unearthed in the soil beneath humanity's feet, but the combinations of naturally occurring Ice, Lightning, and Fire Dust, combined with the right chemical makeup, could produce it.

"Why not just ignite the Dust from the mine, if it's already there?" asked Yang, ever the demolitions fan. "That would seal it."

"It might also collapse half of Mantle, if the vein reaches further than they expect. For Atlas, and especially for Jacques Schnee, it was cheaper just to just let the mine sit there. Ironwood probably thinks that it's safe because the gas will prevent anyone from getting in. Well, Ironwood probably doesn't know the thing exists. Some poor schmuck of a Major or Colonel who's about to get his ass fired probably thinks it's safe."

"Excellent investigative work, Mister Lark," said Headmistress Goodwitch. Sky beamed at praise from the woman who so rarely offered it. "Now, how do you intend to get Team Stark past the gas safely?"

"Oh, that's easy. We'll fly."

"Birds aren't affected by it?" asked Professor B.

"No, they are. We'll fly them in a steel box welded shut aboard in a autopiloted bullhead along a pre-programmed flight path."

This was met by a silence that was more stunned than contemplative. Sky knew that of all the aspects of his ingenious plan, none would be more challenged than this one.

Theodore, ever the naysayer, made to interrupt, but Goodwitch silenced him with her trademark glare. "Please allow my student to speak, Headmaster. After all, if he intends to propose such a wild, perilous, foolhardy course of action to sneak Team Stark behind enemy lines, he must surely have an equally reliable explanation to guarantee their safety."

All eyes landed on Sky once again. You know, it had sounded really great in his head, but with all these people looking at him like they were now, he kinda felt a teensy-weensy bit unsure if his idea would be all that well received.

Fortunately, he was not alone. Ren's thin fingers wove themselves through his much larger hand, and Cardin, in spite of his exaggerated rudeness, nodded as if to confirm that he would have his partners back. Also, if anyone bullied Sky, Nora would probably murder them in the face.

"First of all, no one can survive the gas. The contaminated portion of the mine stretches for almost two kilometers, and no semblance, respirator, or trickery could protect you from the gas for that long. The only way to get past it is to hermetically seal yourself in an airtight container to get through. I'm thinking six solid steel walls welded together, carried in the cargo bay of the bullhead.

"Second, it's too risky to pilot it in person, and the interference from Dust could block out a remote signal. Our only option is to write up a flight path in advance according to the schematics of the mine. We're lucky, because the SDC always uses a standardized pattern when they dig, and it's available online. And before you ask, yes, Atlas took down documents with any strategic relevance about the SDC before the war, but they didn't take down the cache. Heh, leave it to the most technologically advanced kingdom on Remnant to be outsmarted by a single scroll-savvy teenager.

"Thirdly, the way you spoke suggested that I was carelessly throwing Professor Branwen and his team into danger. I am not, because Team Castle will be going along with them."

"Mister Lark, yo–"

"This in non-negotiable."

Nora had said it best – until they were sure, there was no one they could truly rely on but themselves. Sky was prepared to withhold the mine blueprints if they fought him on this one.

Fortunately, Professor Branwen was not argumentative about it. "They can come, Glynda."

"Qrow, I cannot send children on a–"

"Then don't. Send hunters. That's what these guys are. I speak for Team Stark when I say that there's no one we'd be happier to bring along as the backup."

Sky was pretty sure from the reactions of old Missus Ruby and old Mister Yang that Qrow didn't speak for them, but neither of them bothered to argue about it. Whether it was out of deference to Qrow's judgement or indifference to the presence (or existence) of Sky's team altogether, he knew not.

"Very well. I suppose that we brought the three schools' full populations here for war, so it would be remiss of me to demand you not participate when you are willing. But I shall insist that this mission be carried out with the upmost standards of safety and…"

As Goodwitch droned on and on about something or the other, Sky exchanged high fives with the rest of his team. They all knew that any plan he made was surefire, so the hardest part, pitching it, was done.


Qrow, honest to the Brothers, had thought that sneaking through the cave would be some action packed, thrilling, edge-of-his-seat adventure. In hindsight, it should have been obvious from the basics of the plan itself that that would not be the case.

All ten of them were outfitted with oxygen tanks, both to provide something for them to breathe while they were boxed in and to use as a lifeline if something went wrong. Then, they armed up, squeezed into the tight space, and sat quietly for three frickin' hours. It was cramped, dark, sweaty, and smelled like ass. Sky had spelled it out for him that they wouldn't be piloting, but he didn't understand it until he was actually sealed in.

The solid steel chamber they'd been shoved into could only fit about nine people if it was to be stowed in a bullhead's widest open space, the cargo hold. Naturally, there were nine other people in there with him, so Qrow made ten. As a result, things were kind of uncomfortable. At least they'd been given headlamps, so he could gaze upon the handsome visages of the other rats he'd been packed in with.

With him was Team Stark, minus Summer. Or was it minus Raven? No, wait, Raven wanted to be called Raven, so even if her body was dead, it was Summer who was the missing one. Now that Qrow thought about it, that made them leaderless. Maybe that was why no one stepped in when Qrow insisted that the Castles be brought along.

Yeah, those crazy kiddos had hopped on for the ride. Or maybe they were the leaders, and the Starks were the ones joining them. It was hard to tell. Surprisingly, Nora Valkyrie, despite being a born leader and technically higher ranking than him, was deferring to Lark on all matters related to his plan. That was some true humility right there.

Yang had come to, despite the ardent protests of her relatives. It had been impossible to convince that bullheaded girl to not come aboard the bullhead (and yes, she had made that pun) when the mission was saving Ruby. Plus, Yang claimed that she was the only one among them who had any past experience with 'whimsical high-velocity mineshaft adventures'; Qrow knew better than to ask.

There was only room for one more person after that, but Cinder Fall had insisted that her petite partner Emerald could fit in with her. The dark-skinned girl had, in fact, fit, though she made it incredibly unpleasant for the lot of them. However, Cinder had brought up a good point: hunters often relied heavily on teamwork, and there was no way that they could fit a full team of four people in the remaining space. As Team CE was the only functioning team of two in existence, it was the most logical that they be assigned on this mission. Having seen Cinder Fall in action at Vytal, Qrow could offer no arguments.

Qrow knew that a quiet flight tended to be better than the alternative, but he couldn't help but wish for a little, you know, something. A gas leak requiring the plucky band of heroes to mount a daring operation to seal the ship, a secret colony of underground Grimm that needed fending off while the countdown to the bomb going off got lower, that sort of thing. Sitting still for three hours was pretty damn boring.

I mean, c'mon. The one time I wanted a little bad luck to be thrown my way, nuthin' went wrong. Maybe that was the bad luck.

The entire subterranean flight was completed without incident, and they exited by having Cinder melt the weakened metal at the welds apart and free them. They were still underground, but now they were on the side of the gas closer to Mantle than the tundra outside of the shielding. The rest of the way, they would have to walk. For now, though, everyone was satisfied to simply exit the vessel and stretch about.

"Ugh," said Yang, flexing her arm. "That was so boring." It had only been made worse by the fact that they all were wrapped up in scuba suits with air masks, so they couldn't even talk. Also, Cinder and Emerald had been making googly eyes at one another the entire duration of the trip. Bleh.

"I don't know about you all," began Cardin, "but I sure could go for some fresh air."

"We're still in a mine," said Sky. "It won't be fresh air outside."

"It'll be fresher than breathing the same stink that we all just lingered in for the better part of the day."

As the others began to disembark from the ship, Qrow held back for just a second. He had a hunch, but he wasn't sure, and he absolutely did not want to embarrass himself if he was wrong.

"You coming?" asked Taiyang.

"Go on ahead. I'll catch up."

When they were gone and Qrow was alone with his thoughts, he took a peek in the cockpit. Just as he'd thought, there was the boy, Dave Whateverwing, sitting hidden under the control panel, coughing up a storm. Qrow knew that he'd heard something.

"Damn, kid. How're you still alive?"

"S-Semblance. Created…air…barrier…" He couldn't get out anymore before he was racked with another fit of wheezing. Qrow tossed him his leftover air, which was greedily accepted.

Qrow was pretty sure that whatever the young man had done during the flight hadn't been enough, based on how he was choking like a toddler with a laundry detergent pod. Being in the ship probably helped, but it hadn't been airtight like the tin can Qrow was sitting in. Seeing how messed up Dave's lungs were, Qrow started to feel kind of glad that nothing had gone wrong after all.

Except something did go wrong. If he was here the whole time, my semblance probably was close enough to…actually, I'd best not think about that.

"Kid, I know why you're here. You came after Ruby, didn't you?"

Dave looked up at Qrow with terror in his eyes. The poor thing was probably horrified by the prospect of being sent back after all that he'd endured to get here.

"Don't worry. I'm not upset or anything. You're her boyfriend, so I get that you'd want to sneak out to save her."

The saddest part had to be that if Dave had just asked, he probably could've come with. After all, Yang had barged her way onboard, so Dave could probably have taken Team CE's spot. The boy was kind of small, as it was, so it might've been nicer to have one him than the two chicks.

"Look, I get it. You're young, you're in love, you stop using one brain and start think with the other. But just promise to be smart about it next time, okay? Now, you're already across the great gas sea, so you can come along. It'd be tougher to send you back, anyways. I'm going to fly up to Atlas to turn off their shields, Team CE is going to hunt down Jimmy the Tin Man, and Team Castle is taking Yang to find Ruby and bring her in safely. You'll want to tag along with them other kiddies. Look, I gotta go, but, uh…well, I gotta go. Good luck."


Cinder and Emerald were the perfect union. Strength and technique, power and skill – only an imbecile would have denied them a spot on this vital mission.

Their objective was simple. Obtain their own means of transportation to the Atlesian flagship and assassinate General James Ironwood.

And so far, they were well on their way to completing it.

The three units had split up upon exiting out the abandoned entrance to the Tempest's Heart mine. From there, the duo's talent at stealth alone had enabled them to move without detection to an air field. A simple illusion had convinced the lone operator (Atlas' forces were stretched thin) that she and Emerald were high ranking officers in need of transit back to Atlas. Between the uninterrupted bullhead flight through the mine and this, Cinder was fairly certain that this entire mission would be a breeze.

Temper that optimism. Do not let victory defeat you.

Rhode's useful advice rang in her head. Cinder had never known her parents, and her stepmother behaved like she was less than dirt. He was the only person to ever treat her like a human being. It was because of him that she was anything more than a slave to that wretched woman.

The memories of her tormented childhood stung ever worse now that she'd returned to Mantle. If Cinder wished to, she could probably search for The Glass Unicorn itself out the viewport of the military airship she was piloting. She did not wish to.

That cesspool of an inn was the last place Cinder wanted to think about. The orphanage that had sold her to it was the first location Cinder could remember. If mattered not if her parents had died or discarded her; she had no memories of them, so they meant nothing to her. Perhaps others might feel some longing for the pair that had brought her into this world, but not Cinder. They had never interacted with her, so she neither owed them nor despised them.

On the other hand, Cinder had plenty of memories regarding her bitch of a stepmother, and she absolutely did hate her. How that woman had placed an electrocution collar around her neck in public view of Mantle's citizens and managed to get away with it legally, she knew not. One of the reasons Cinder was so eager to attend this mission was to expedite the destruction of the country that housed such a loathsome woman and a crowd of patrons that tolerated her wickedness.

Rhodes had been her savior. A huntsman himself, he noticed Cinder's predicament and chose to act on that knowledge. He hadn't freed her, but he'd enable her to free herself. While Cinder had felt some resentment for his willingness to let her remain in The Glass Unicorn, she now looked back on his choice with acceptance. She'd learned the value of pride, and that was worth more than enduring a thousand years of domestic abuse.

Alarm bells rang as they deviated from their flight path and broke her out of her thoughts.

It was probably best to let the past stay buried. Not even Emerald knew of her ignominious history. The former thief would probably spin it in some positive way if she found out ('Oh, look how much you rose above, Cinder! You're so amazing!'), but Cinder wasn't in the mood for any of the usual groveling, at least not during a hunt. She preferred to keep business separate from pleasure.

The radio chimed. "Unidentified aircraft, you are entering the restricted airspace. Ple–"

Cinder shut it off. Their Manta-class flyer was fleet enough to outmaneuver any other ships that may intercept them. Furthermore, the flagship was coming into view, with a delectable view of the non-reinforced cargo bay broadside to Cinder as though to tempt her.

"Brace yourself, Em. We're docking the old-fashioned way."

Emerald strapped herself in with her seatbelt as Cinder accelerated their airship to breakneck speeds towards the target. Drawing up her aura, Cinder surrounded her entire body with it. They were now moving like a missile towards the flagship's weak point. Anti-air tore through their Manta, killing their engines, but their momentum would carry them the rest of the way.

"Let's give the Headmaster of Atlas Academy a proper Haven greeting, shall we?"


"So…"

"Um…"

"How do we find Ruby?"

Cardin looked at his partner. "Sky, you got any idea?"

"Me?" asked Sky. "No way are you putting this on me! I got us in like you asked. Nora, you're the team leader."

Queen Nora shrugged. "I've never been to Atlas before. I don't got a clue where our missing Rose is. It's Yang's little sister, so she's our best way to track Ruby. Yang, do you have a TrackMyScroll app logged for Ruby or something?"

"Uh…I kind of assumed you guys knew what to do. I mean, Sky was all gung ho about coming along…"

"Because Nora said – argh, this is impossible. Maybe we should go back and join Stark or CE."

Cardin shook his head. "We can't fly, and Cinder's long gone. It's up to y'all to fix this. I'm the meathead. Aren't you guys supposed to be super smart or something?"

Cardin and the others were walking through the streets of Mantle, unsure of how to proceed. He'd initially been worried that people would recognize and stop them (their weapons were pretty apparent), but Ren had pointed out that the roads were just about empty. He'd attributed the absence of civilians to a curfew or evacuation of some sort. Whatever it was, it made it a lot easier for them.

"Shut up!" said Yang. "We're going in circles, and Ruby is out there, all alone! Now, let's put our heads together and think of some way to find my baby sister." Cardin didn't need his semblance to detect that Yang was about to blow her lid.

Ren spoke. "She's controlling the Grimm. Maybe if we find one, we can –"

"You will need my help to locate Branwen."

The five of them turned to see…that guy. Jaune Arc and Pyrrha Nikos' old teammate…Devito? Or was it Daniel? The name slipped Cardin's mind. Anyways, the guy was armed, armored, and looking like he was ready for a fight.

"My semblance will be necessary, as I have the capacity to track and locate specific people. You will need me."

Queen Nora beamed. "Just–"

"Hold it, Nora," said Yang, holding an arm out in front of the bubbly girl. The blonde casually approached Doug, but Cardin was a good enough fighter to tell that she was wary. "Dove, my man."

Dove. Dove. He committed it to memory. I should write it down.

"Xiao-Long."

"You see, I can't help but remember that you were saying some absolutely cooky things when Rubes last met with us. Real out there stuff, about fighting Ruby…"

"I was emotionally compromised over the death of Arc. I apologize for the breach in discipline. I have abandoned such foolhardy goals and now seek that which you do – a peaceful resolution to this war, and treatment for Branwen."

Yang smiled most convincingly. "Well, you see, that's not exactly a risk I can take, not without proof."

"I can check him." The words shot out of Cardin's mouth before his brain could carefully consider them. Everyone turned to stare. Clearing his throat, Cardin began again. "I can check him for malice with my semblance. I mean, we do kind of need his help finding Ruby. We're flying blind otherwise." Cardin winced at his poor choice of words when Dove didn't turn to look at him. "Yang, would you accept that? It'll only tell us if he has malicious intent, but that would probably be better than nothing. I mean, only if you want me to. If not, we can always search by…splitting up and…uhhh…" Cardin trailed off. There was a reason he left the strategy shit to the others.

Yang looked at Dove for a stiff second. The bronze haired boy did not turn to face her, staring straight ahead instead. He must have been quite insulted by the implication that he would hurt his own girlfriend.

"Check him," Yang ordered at last. "Then we'll decide."

Cardin let the emotions of those around him feed into his aura. Nora and Ren were calm. Sky felt a tiny bit testy, but that was probably a side effect of the argument they'd been in before Dove had arrived. Yang was royally pissed, for obvious reasons. Dove was…

…entirely neutral. No anger, no nothing.

"He's good."

Cardin walked over and patted Dove on the back, causing him to briefly start. Yang watched him with doubt for a second more before her expression melted into a warm smile.

"Glad you're back on the light side, Lovey-Dovey. Now, let's get a-Ruby-huntin'. Which way are we headed, Dove?"

"I've no idea."

"W-What?"

"My semblance has a limited range of 200 meters. I will perpetually scan our surroundings for Branwen, but I shan't know her location as long as she remains beyond that range. We will need to patrol the streets for a while. Lie, please map an optimal course so that we do not overlap on previously covered ground. Lark, please form a way to get us to Atlas in the event that Branwen is not located within the crater."

"You heard the bird!" shouted Queen Nora. "Chop-chop, people!"


Ray was miffed that she couldn't go with Qrow, but she made it clear that magic stayed with the original body during an aura transfer, so she'd lost her bird form altogether. Qrow pretended to care, but secretly, he was loving his sister's petty jealousy. On the other hand, leaving Taiyang behind hadn't sat well with him, but unless he secretly turned into a goldfinch, there wasn't all that much he could do. Qrow had promised to hijack an airship and fly down to them when he was done, but disabling the shields took precedence.

Qrow never had any kids, but he couldn't help but feel a touch of paternal pride as he flew up to Atlas. Sky had been entirely right – the subzero winds of Solitas were blocked out within Atlas and Mantle, enabling him to freely ascend without fear of icing over. No one on Team Castle was related to Qrow, but he kind of felt like a father to the group after everything they'd been through together. I hope they're ok…

Atlas was just like Qrow remembered it. Gray, boring, and devoid of any touch of humanity. Soaring past the towering buildings, he set a course for the heart of the kingdom – the military command center. Being forced to spend his time collaborating with James for all those years had carved the location into Qrow's brain.

Urgh. James.

A headmaster of a hunter academy had stooped so low as to side with the Grimm themselves and steal the relics for his own kingdom's personal gain. Salem was finally slain, and instead of working towards the betterment of Remnant as a whole, Jimmy had taken advantage of Oz's brief absence and tried to come out with Atlas on top.

Urgh. Oz.

Was no one good? Was there truly no right or wrong in this damn life of Qrow's? The signs of Ozpin's betrayal had always been there, but Qrow was too wrapped up in his own misfortune and liquor to notice.

He shouldn't be too hard on himself, though – he had voluntarily quit. It took him a while, only done after Ozpin pushed things too far by suggesting that Nikos not use semblance to search for the relic…after the aura transfer…

Oh.

Oh shit. Was Qrow fucking blind?

Ozpin had killed her, and Jaune too. He'd forbidden Nikos from searching for the relic because he knew she wouldn't be alive after the transfer. Qrow's last memory of that night was Nikos not waking up. Now, with Raven's story filling in the missing pieces, he knew that she had woken up, she was just one tube over.

Nikos…that poor kid. She must have woken up from the transfer, distraught and alone with no one but Ozpin. Now, she was dead.

And Qrow had led her right into the machine.

Qrow had been correct before. No one was good. Not even himself.


Emerald had been less than useless, but that was no fault of her own. Cinder had blown a hole in the side of the Atlesian flagship teeming with soldiers, so stealth and illusions weren't going to be much help in this scenario. She'd done well to hold her own for a while, but in the end, she was a burden. Cinder didn't mind. Emerald belonged to her, and she was Cinder's to protect.

Eventually, when Cinder had killed everyone between them and the bridge and thinned out the enemy numbers a bit, Emerald began to pull her weight again. No longer were waves of soldiers advancing on Cinder, but now just the isolated one or two. In cases like those, Emerald could use her hallucinations to make Cinder look like she was two feet to the left, causing their guns to miss. It wasn't much, but it helped Cinder conserve a bit of aura here and there, so it was appreciated.

Cinder made sure to destroy everything that looked important along the way. The Dust combustion engines were smoking heaps of scrap metal, the main computer was naught but debris, and the escape pods were wreckage. It might have seemed brutal, but this was war. If the soldiers on this ship escaped, joined the battle that was soon to be, and shot up some first year idiot from Vacuo, their blood would be on Cinder's hands. Besides, there were probably only three people on this airship who still drew breath. Her, Em, and the man whose death was going to decrease that number to two.

The doors to the bridge opened. General James Ironwood stood like a steel giant at the helm of the flagship, a revolver of some sort in each hand.

"So, does the Captain go down with the ship?" Cinder asked mockingly.

"You will pay…" Ironwood's face tightened before loosening. "No. I will not condemn you. You are as much a pawn in this great game as I had been. This was not your doing but his."

"I am no one's–"

"Do you even know why you fight?"

"You betrayed humanity. You now serve the same master as my coward of a headmaster."

"You do not know, then."

Cinder had heard enough. Midnight loosed an arrow directly at the heart of the tin man. To her great surprise, his hand dropped the pistol and caught it by the shaft midflight. It snapped in his grasp.

"How…ah. I see." His hand was made entirely out of metal. Cinder was unsure as to the extent of his prosthetics and decided to play it safe. "Emerald. If you would be so kind."

Ironwood dropped the two halves of her arrow to the floor. "Salem is dead."

"And yet you still fight to further her goals."

"The relics are not what you think they are. And neither is Ozpin. It matters not whether I live or die, but he must be stopped."

A second arrow fired. Again, Ironwood stopped it midair without flinching.

"Emerald, I told you to–"

Emerald's voice cried out. "Cinder!"

She turned to see a white-haired woman gripping Emerald tightly, a saber at the trembling girl's throat.

"Surrender, or she dies," said the Schnee.

"Go ahead," Cinder spat back. "Kill her."

Emerald's eyes widened for a fraction of a second before she noticed that Cinder had placed her hands on her hips, fingers touching the hem of her red dress. Her look of fear disappeared, and she clearly got the cue to raise her aura, just like Cinder had raised her own.

"N-No! Cinder, you have to save me!"

The hostage taker's already hostile look of disgust grew only sharper. "Mistrilians. Your kind disgust me. No Atlesian would ever sacrifi–"

The freshly woven Fire Dust in Cinder's dress ignited, blowing up the bridge. The explosion triggered a chain reaction, likely igniting the Dust fuel stores aboard the ship. Within seconds, the entire vessel was a fireball of chaotic destruction. Fire had always been Cinder's ally, and it would bend to her will. Thus, she and Emerald were spared from the flames, even though it broke her partner's aura. The same could not be said of Ironwood and his lackey.

When the smoke cleared, Cinder took stock of the situation. She and an unconscious Emerald were freely falling out of the sky to Mantle, surrounded by fragments of the warship. Landing strategy it is…

As she fell, Cinder noticed that the Hard Light shields flickered twice before powering down.

So, the bird brain succeeded in his mission. Now the war can truly begin.


They were a quarter of the way through Ren's optimized map of the city when the shields went down.

"Oh, shit," said Cardin. "Time to pick up the pace, Dove."

"There won't be enough time," Sky admitted. "By the time the Vermillion Alliance gets here, we won't be half done. Besides, Ruby will start moving when the battle starts. Dove's searching only tells us if she's in an area now. For all we know, she's doubled back to one of the places we've already searched."

Ren scoffed. "Yang, as much as I respect your uncle, I wish he took a little bit longer to fly up."

"Fly…up…" Dove looked at Yang. "The professor was unable to approach Atlas in his corvid form due to the winds. But the younger Branwen had no such issues encroaching upon the Amity Colosseum. How …?"

"It's because she rode a dragon," explained Yang, as though that was some minor detail.

"A what?!" Cardin shouted.

"That's so cool!" said Queen Nora.

Yang nodded. "Heck yeah, but I don't think the people of Atlas would much appreciate a Grimm horseman landing on them. Ruby's trying to keep a low profile on her command of the Grimm."

Cardin could have sworn that Queen Nora said the horsemen were all dead, but now there was a dragon still out there? The thought didn't exactly sit well with him, especially since dragons rarely tended to be on friendly terms with knights in shining armor like him.

"She isn't anymore," said Ren, pointing to the distant black specks dotting the skyline. "That must be tens of thousands of Grimm converging on the city. Mankind and Grimm vs mankind. This battle shall truly be like no other."

"No, shut up!" said Yang angrily. "That's not the point! Dove's onto something. Where's the dragon?"

"It's still in flight, above the clouds," Cardin realized, looking across the horizon and not seeing anything larger than a Griffon at most. "And if Ruby's sitting on its back…"

They'd been looking in the wrong place this whole time.

Sky spelled it out. "We won't be able to find her unless we're airborne."


It was surprisingly easy to steal a police aircraft from Atlas. Apparently, with all the available forces assembling to fight off the Vermillion Alliance, they'd left no one guarding the ships within their borders. It made sense from a practical standpoint; no one was expecting a secret mineshaft to lead straight into the heart of the city for a plucky band of allied hunter kids to utilize, so they focused their attention on the literal army in front of them instead. Except it did, and they had. Well, all the better for Cardin.

So much was happening in short succession that time seemed to speed up, at least from Cardin's perspective. One moment they'd decided their plan, the next they were aboard a transport vessel. Then someone was asking Cardin if he could hotwire it. He couldn't even remember who'd asked him. He hotwired it on muscle memory alone, as nothing he did at this point was a conscious choice. It was like his body was responding because his mind couldn't keep up with all the shit that was going down. He might have even called Queen Nora by just Nora at one point. And on top of it all, there was something else nagging at the back of his mind. He couldn't put his finger on it, but he was sure that he was missing something obvious…something important…

He finally got a chance to sit down and decompress when they were flying up to Atlas. Yang was at the helm, Nora and Sky leaning over her shoulder and pointing stuff out. Ren sat down next to Cardin.

"You okay?"

"What's going on, Ren? We've done some wild shit before, but this is just too much."

Ren offered him a simple smile. "Stealing an airship is crazier than fighting a mutant Grimm while crossdressing?"

"There're dragon horsemen flying around, and Ruby's a Grimm, and we're fighting soldiers – actual soldiers of a kingdom's military. We're in a war. A real, honest-to-the-Brothers war. It's too much."

"Would you like my aid in relieving some stress?"

"Dude. Hands off. I'm not gonna cheat on Queen Nora."

Ren rolled his eyes. "With my semblance, you asinine oaf."

"Your insults can't hurt me if I don't know what they mean."

Ren's calming influence washed over Cardin and swept away his panic. Too much of it would leave him numb, but the Castles had found that short bursts were good for winding down after a mission. This was the first time that Cardin could remember using it during one.

I probably shouldn't get used to it.

"Ruby?"

Cardin was calm, but Ren nearly leapt out of his seat at the unexpected interruption. Dove, who neither of them had seen quietly sit down next to them, spoke at random. Equally disconcerting was his rare use of a first name.

"What about her?" asked Cardin.

"I see her. Branwen is…is…I don't understand…."

"But we're just passing Atlas," pointed out Ren. "If she's on the dragon, then she's probably higher than–"

"She's not on the dragon. Turn the airship around! She's beneath Atlas!"

Yang tilted the stick as Dove frantically ran to the front of the ship to give her directions. "We just passed by her…she's in range again. Guh…"

"You okay, Dove?" asked Queen Nora. "You're sounding kind of…icky."

"It's my semblance. To look with the full range, I have to exert myself and expend more aura than I'm used to. Up to this point, I've just been doing quick bursts to converse aura."

Aura, said Cardin's brain. Aura…

"She's in some chamber beneath the city. I think it's the vau–"

Cardin's breath caught as he waited in anticipation for Dove's next word.

It never came.

"It's a what?" asked Yang. "Dove?"

"It's a vast area. It would seem that there is a narrow walkway of some sort with empty space beneath it. There are drop offs on both sides of the walkway. We can pull up from beneath and land on the walkway."

"How'd Ruby get in there?" asked Yang.

"By elevator," Dove answered instantly.

Aura, aura, Cardin, aura…

The shadow of Atlas consumed all light, but as they came closer to the 'vast area,' faint blue crystals beneath the floating landmass illuminated the sky. Cardin had a C- in Dust Theory (because Queen Nora was helping make sure he passed), but he was smart enough to recognize that those crystals were not any kind of Dust.

The airship, piloted by an overeager Yang who had needed to be calmed by Ren in the final maneuvers, landed on the walkway. True to Dove's word, Ruby was there, tightly pulling her cloak over her skin. Weiss Schnee, the Faunus rights nut from Cardin's first year at Beacon, was with her.

"Ruby!" shouted Queen Nora excitedly. She ran over to hug her friend but ran into some glowing white floaty circle.

"That's close enough," said Weiss.

Cardin, curious, checked the two of them. He could feel a boatload of fury coming from Weiss, but Ruby wasn't angry at all. She actually seemed quite pleased, albeit jittery.

Aura. Why do I keep thinking about aura?

"Have you come here to betray Ruby again, Yang?"

"You're the one who betrayed her, Weiss. She's clearly delusional about her condition, but you're enabling her. Enablers are the worst. I'd never be an Enabler."

"Condition?" asked Sky. "What's wrong with her?"

Ruby shrank away further under her cloak as the jitteriness rose. "I didn't mean to…"

Queen Nora was quick to reassure her. "Ruby, if you need help, you can always come to us. We're you're friends."

"We've always got your back," Cardin added for good measure.

"Yang…I'm still me…"

"We can help you, Rubes," Yang offered imploringly. "This doesn't have to be the end of Team Rainbow. You don't have to pull a Raven."

"Raven's my mom, Yang. Don't use her name as an insult."

A black scythe, held by a pale hand, emerged from the tightly hooded figure. Schnee raised a similarly colored…wait, she still used a pickaxe? Dust, what a geek.

Queen Nora raised her hands to silence the sisters. "That's enough out of you two." She turned to Ruby. "Ruby, as envoy of the Vermillion Alliance, I'm prepared to offer you amnesty for whatever's happened. Just tell us what happened, and we can work this out. We don't have to fight."

Cautiously, Ruby took off her hood. Cardin gasped involuntarily.

The little tyke he remembered from his early days at Beacon was hardly recognizable. Her skin was now the color of dusty ashes, and dark veins extended along the length of her wrists all the way up to her throat. One of her eyes was still a faded silver color, but the other was pitch black save for red pupils. With that color scheme, she looked like a Grimm.

"Cardy!" shouted Queen Nora. "Don't be rude!"

"Sorry, Queen Nora."

"It's not me your supposed to apologize to."

"Sorry, Ruby. I didn't mean to gasp. My bad." He rubbed his hand along the back of his neck in embarrassment.

"Lovin' the new look," said Sky. "And is that a Grimm scythe? Not gonna lie, that's freakin' sweet."

"Can you make me a Grimm hammer?" asked Queen Nora. "With Grimm grenades? Ooooh, we'd call it – Magrimmhild!"

"Y-You don't hate me?"

"Why would we?" asked Ren. "Because you look different? That would be incredibly shallow of us."

"But you're with Ozpin…"

"Ruby, we came here to help you," said Sky. "Ozpin and the others were just the best way to cross from Sanus to Solitas. We heard you got messed up and turned evil, but that's kind of hard to believe."

"I mean, our little cookie gremlin, turning evil?" said Nora. "Pssshh! I'd sooner believe that Weiss turned nice."

"H-Hey!"

"So you're on my side?"

"Ruby, what sides are there? What's going on?" asked Ren.

"Okay, so it turns out Ozpin's evil and wants to use these things called relics to summon the Brothers and blow up the world! Because religion!"

"Huh," said Cardin. "I always did get a megalomaniac vibe from the old dude. Yeah, the math track."

"We'd probably ought to go and stop him," supplied Ren.

"What?" screamed Yang. "You believe that, but you don't see that there's obviously something wrong with Ruby?! She's a Grimm monster!"

"Chill out, Yang," said Cardin. "If it makes you feel any better, I can check her aura for

.

.

.

.

aura

.

.

.

.

It all clicked into place.

Cardin's semblance looked at a person's aura, an extension of the soul, for malice and hatred. Thus, it didn't work on Grimm, non-aura users, or people whose aura was depleted. When he'd checked Dove, he hadn't felt anything at all. He assumed that was because Dove was perfectly calm, but it could have also meant that the boy had intentionally broken his aura to hide malicious intent. If he'd known in advance of the inner workings of Cardin's semblance, it would be the easiest way to falsely gain Team Castle's trust.

And he made us plan out the search for a few minutes before he started…enough time to regenerate it back up.

Cardin looked at Dove and activated his semblance to check again, but an explosively loud burst of air blew him and the rest of Team Castle off the edge of the walkway, plummeting toward Mantle.


Next Chapter: Prosperity – In which old friends and old flames come to blows, and souls are claimed.


Omake

Dove: Excuse me.

Yang: Dude, don't just rip one like that in public without a little warning first.


Author's Notes

Hey, Chapter 97 is next! Wasn't that supposed to include some major important event? I briefly recall there being something in the last POV of Chapter 79 that was mentioned as a spoiler…might be worth a re-read.

Happy rats, and don't do crime!