SOMETHING MORE...

"Vale will send help. They have to, they wouldn't just abandon us would they?"

I remember the panic, the pain, and fear that befell everyone's eyes as the grimm marched closer and closer to the walls of Mountain Glenn. Days have passed since an accident cut off communication between the Kingdom of Vale and the territories within the Mountain. Our supplies were running out, and fatigue were starting to best even our strongest huntsmen.

"Eliza, you are the only one strong enough to make it to Vale, you're our only hope. Send word to Hathaway and Headmaster Ozpin."

Father begged my sister as she slung her backpack full of supplies behind her back.

"I won't let you down, father."

She was as beautiful then as she is now. A different kind of beautiful, younger of course, and less... tired.

"I'll be back as soon as I can."

Eliza muttered with a stern face, before turning to face me with a soft smile.

"Won't you wait for me? Ezra..."

"Ez..ra.. E..z.."

The voices were muffled at first. The ridiculous amount of snow on top of me pressed against my chest so hard that I was starting to suffocate. Every nook and cranny I had in my body was littered with snow, even up to my ears, but even then I could still hear my friends calling for me.

"Ezra? EZRA!"

Their voices were all I my consciousness could really focus on, as I struggle to even raise a hand, but somehow, my hand was able to break through the thick snow. I desperately waved my hand up, as it brushed against the harsh breeze of the Mistralian tundra.

"THERE!"

It wasn't very long after that that I felt the soft grasp of another hand tightly clutch mine. Even in the darkness, I knew who this hand belonged to.

"Bla *cough* Blake!"

Blake knelt down close to me with eyes slightly tearing up. She lunged towards me and wrapped her arm around my body.

"Are you okay? Are you hurt? Where's Swan?"

Swan? Yeah that's right. Blake frantically wiped the snow off my head and shoulders, as she swung her head up and down, trying to look for any signs of injury.

"I-I'm fine."

Yang and Ruby snuck up behind me and lifted me up my feet.

"Is everyone okay?"

I ask. To which Ruby replied.

"Yeah, everyone's here-"

But Yang cut her off.

"Everyone along with a defenseless old lady."

I look down next to Oscar, and sure enough, there stood an old short lady. She had long gray hair, and a special set of goggles bolted in her face, along with a cane that had a skull on top of it. She wore a faded blue dress and coat draped all over her slouching shoulder.

"My name is Maria Calavera, and I am not defenseless! I'm just a little hard of hearing. And blind without my eyes, that are in desperate need of repair."

Or so she claims.

"Yang, knock it off, will ya? If we lose our cool now, we'll just be inviting even more grimm."

Qrow raised his hand to try and calm Yang, but Blake quickly protested.

"Does that even matter? Apparently, we've been attracting grimm ever since we left Haven."

Hearing that mad Yang even angrier.

"Oh, and how could I forget that? What happened to no more lies and half truths?"

With all eyes focused on Oscar, the young boy nodded and resolved himself.

"Yeah, I think it's time we got an explanation..."

Oscar's eyes glow as control of his body switched to Ozpin, who furrows his brows at the accusations Yang threw at him.

"I did not lie to you..."

Ozpin reasoned, but Weiss wasn't having it.

"Well you certainly didn't tell us everything about the Relic."

The man trapped in the boy's body raised his hand, and reasoned once more to a group that was slowly losing patience.

"Please, now is not the time-"

Yang cut him off.

"Oh we're way past that! I wanna know why you're still not telling us everything!"

Tensions rose along with the shouting as Ozpin and our group began to argue about lies and secrets that should have been in the open. Motives were questioned, and trust broken. Everything about this whole scenario felt a little too familiar, but what really broke the camel's back was when Ozpin said...

"YOU THINK LEO WAS THE FIRST!?"

The silence that followed was deafening, so much so that even the gentle sway of the snow felt like a gunshot that can be heard across the frozen tundra.

"That he didn't say those exact words to me? I'm sorry I didn't tell you everything, truly, I am, but you have to understand that my behaviors are backed by experience. You all should know the feeling."

That last sentence Ozpin said, he made sure to look at me, like he was still condemning me for what happened at Beacon.

"I'm not saying that I have reason to think you will betray me. I'm saying that I have reasons for the things I do, the secrets I keep, the reason-"

His eyes widened as he frantically shook his head back and forth. Panic began to engulf his body, as he desperately ran his hands all over his waist.

"Where's the Relic?"

The Relic...

"It's safe right here. I found it laying next Yang's bike when they pulled me out the snow."

Ozpin curled his brows and pointed his eyes at me sharply.

"Please, Mr. Snow, hand it over."

He reached out to take it off my hands, but Ruby stood in between me and him.

"So all those times you talked about having faith in humanity, that was just for everyone else?"

Once more, an argument ensued between all of them, till all of a sudden, my eyes began to ache. I lifted the relic close to my face and stared at it, as it began to glow faintly, almost as if it was breathing. The sight of the Relic was breathtaking, so much so, that I was able to tune out the rest of the world as I stare at it.

"Jinn. Her name...is Jinn."

Suddenly, the voice of Oscar struggling knocked me out of my trance.

"Hurry, he's trying to stop you."

Oscar fell flat on the snow, losing consciousness. All of us assumed Ozpin was successful in trying to stop him, but oddly enough, none of us were concerned about them. All anyone of could think of was the Relic. I look to my right, only see Ruby nod, almost urging me.

"Jinn."

It was as if the world stopped. No, not the world, but time did. Blue smoke began to engulf the lamp, quickly transforming into the shape of a giant naked woman. She explained to us that she was a being created by the god light, able to answer one more question this century, confirming that Ozpin did indeed lie to us.

Suddenly, Ozpin began to regain consciousness. Horror began to engulf his entire body at the sight of Jinn. He tried desperately to intervene, but before he could Ruby asked the mysterious creature floating above us.

"What is Ozpin hiding from us?"

What we saw right after that was nothing short of magical... almost impossible. The terrain changed, the sceneries, the people, all of them changed as Jinn took all of us to a journey through time- through Ozpin's life... and Salem's.

But what was even more unbelievable than what Jinn was able to do was the truth Ozpin was hiding.

"Salem can't be killed."

Anger, grief, and confusion began to smother all of us, as Jinn brought us back to reality. Now all eyes are on Ozpin, who was kneeling down on the snow, defeated.

"Professor..." Ruby beckoned to the lifeless boy. "What is your plan to defeat Salem?"

Tears began to flow down Ozpin's cheeks as he was forced to finally reveal everything.

"I... don't have one."

Once again, argument between our group began, as tempers reached their boiling point. Only this time, no one felt the need to calm everything down. Overwhelmed with such hate, Ozpin shut down, retreating to the depths of his mind, as Oscar explained it.

We were lost, defeated, and now... abandoned.

"Enough!"

Before any of us could fall into anymore despair, Maria stomped her foot and raised her voice.

"We need to get a move on. It'll be dark before we know it, and every one of you is spawning negativity! There's a trail there."

She lifted her cane and started walking.

"Trails usually lead somewhere."

After growling and moping around, Weiss, Yang, and Blake reluctantly followed.

"I'm just going to be another one of his lives, aren't I?"

Oscar quietly whispered. Ruby puts her hand on his shoulder to try and console him, but Qrow stepped in between them as he chugged the rest of his flask.

"Don't Ruby, we're better than that."

Honestly. I feel some type of way towards Ozpin. The lies that he spun, the secrets that he kept. All of them reminded me of Beacon. After all that I've done, I figured I didn't deserve the kindness I received from them, but that the fact that I did gives a sense of hope that Ozpin might get it to one day.

But the kind of secrets he kept... Even I'm having second thoughts.

We walked for miles on end, and dragging our feet against the rising snow was incredibly exhausting. Hours passed with the thought of what we just heard sitting firmly in the back of our minds, like poison eating away at any sort of motivation we had for this fight that we found ourselves in.

Till all of a sudden.

"Brunswick Farms, huh? Looks abandoned."

Ruby pointed at the ranch gate ahead of us that had a sign hanging over it.

"Who cares."

Yang groaned.

"Let's just get in there please, I'm freezing."

That we can all agree on. Ignoring how creepy the entire village is, we made our way to the closest house big enough to shelter all of us. After ensuring everything is safe, we all decided to split up. Yang and Weiss started to look for blankets, while me, Ruby, and Blake started a fire.

"AHHHHH!"

"WEISS!"

Weiss' blood curling scream forced all of us to ran towards her. When we found her and Yang, we were greeted with the sight of a couple, rotting in their beds. Qrow and I began to scour each house, and found that every single one of them had the same rotting corpses laying on their beds. It was as if the entire town just simply went to sleep one night and never woke up.

"We're not staying here right?"

Weiss asked, as her voice shook in fear. Who can blame her? The thought of sleeping and never waking up is a frightening thought to be faced with. I wouldn't want to be here either, but...

"We don't have a choice. Storm's getting worse outside."

With everyone forced to settle in and wait for the storm to pass, we all reluctantly took time off to ourselves to try and make sense of what Jinn told us. Maria opted to read the homeowner's journal, Oscar gathered some firewood, and Qrow... began drinking. Everyone was keen on staying the night here reluctantly, except for Yang, who insisted on looking for a way out. Concerned for her safety, Blake tagged along.

"Can't be killed, huh?"

I folded my helmet up and yanked it off my head, before placing it on the table.

"Could be worse."

Ruby chuckled awkwardly.

"How could it possibly get any worse?"

Weiss asked, annoyed at what she just said.

"Stop, you're giving me a head ache, Weiss."

I fell down on the chair and slouched down, as I stare back at my helmet.

"I'm just saying..."

Weiss tried to justify her annoyance.

"Who am I kidding, you're right. If she can't be killed, is there any point in us doing all this?"

I ask, while the thought of hopelessness began to drape over the three of us. Amidst all this grief, only one of us refused to accept our fate.

"Well, if it can't get any worse, that means we can only go up from here right?"

"Ruby..."

I whispered.

"You're something else alright... I feel like every ounce of energy I have is being drained right now, and yet here you are, still smiling and trying. How do you do it?"

Ruby blushed and sat next to Weiss.

"How do you, Ezra?"

A question I never expected.

"What do you mean?"

I ask, but Weiss responded for her.

"What do you mean, 'what do you mean'? You've lost everything at Beacon, you've lost us. Yet you're still chugging along with that stupid helmet of yours no less. I'm sure, it felt..."

She stopped herself for a second to yawn before continuing.

"It felt hopeless at some point."

I ran my hands across my OWL helmet.

"Why did you choose to be an owl, Ezra?"

Heh. I guess that's a story I never told anyone huh?

"Well, part of it is because I think it's cool, but mostly its the symbol it stood for is why I chose to don the OWL as my moniker. I found out from Swan that the Nest were a part of the Tribe I grew up in. Made a lot of sense, I never really connected the dots before, I just assumed that grandmother interacted with the tribe enough to know their history but..."

I sighed, never losing eye contact with my OWL helmet.

"It was my grandmother that suggested it. She said that the OWL was a night predator, stalking its prey from afar in the cover of night. A terrifying sight for our enemies, she said, but the OWL is more than that to her... she said that the OWL symbolized wisdom, transformation, and good luck... things that she hoped for me."

I smile at the thought of my grandmother talking to me about it, as she gently swayed her rocking chair back and forth. She would pull out her pipe and slide it underneath the cloth that covered the lower half of her face, gently blowing the smoke through it.

"That she hoped I one day will be wise enough to stop what I had to do to live, that I'd transform myself from a criminal to something more, and be fortunate to live long enough to accomplish all of that she had wished for."

Ruby glanced at my helmet, then raised the Relic of Knowledge close to her face and her ran her fingers across its curved surface.

"To be something more, huh? A burden we all carry now..."

"What?"

Weiss ask, while she yawned once more.

"I know what you're all thinking, about what Jinn said, that maybe we should all just give up, but we all hold in our hands the fate of humanity. We can't just stop."

Ruby's eyes began to glimmer softly as she spoke, the same way Eliza's did. Weiss clenched her hands together, and pouted. You can sense the hesitation in her, she wouldn't be wrong to feel that way, but she eventually gathered up enough of her resolve to lift her head up proudly.

"I... I agree."

One step at a time. That's how I got back from my hopeless situation, and maybe, if we do the same here, we can rise above this as well. And I'm glad I have friends that feel the same way.

Blake

Me and Yang went door to door, desperately searching for anything, anything at all that can help us leave this forsaken village, till we found ourselves inside a barn shed, staring at a tractor.

"Something tells me that's not street legal."

I tried to make a joke, but Yang ignored me, hints of fear and confusion still lingering within her.

"What do you think happened here?"

She asks while she scoured through the massive pile of junk in front of us.

"There's that well in the middle, maybe they drank contaminated water?"

Yang shrugged her shoulder and nodded, though she was still skeptical.

"Could be."

I tilted my head, curious as to why all this time, Yang hasn't turned around to face me yet.

"Hey, are you okay?"

She placed one hand on her hip, and the other on her forehead while she sighed.

"Yeah... I mean, no. But, I don't know. I'm just tired."

Yang tried to power through, but I placed my hand on her shoulder and stopped her dead in her tracks.

"Yang, can we talk?"

She looked down on the ground and slightly tilted her head towards me, just enough to acknowledge me, but not enough to look me in the eye. I think she knew what it is that I wanted to talk about, and that she's wishing she'd avoid having this conversation, but the two of us know that this would eventually come.

Yang chose to stay silent for a little bit, trying to gather her thoughts before responding, till the sight of a cart, big enough to fit all of us lit up a smile on her face.

"Oh hey, look! We can tie that up to my motorcycle and we can leave as soon as the storm passes."

That is indeed good news, but I'm not stupid, I know what she's doing.

"Yang..."

Finally she relents. Yang took a deep breath and glanced at me.

"It's about Ezra, I'm assuming?"

She whispered.

"Yeah..."

Yang shrugged her shoulders and continued walking deeper into the barn, forcing me to follow.

"What's there to talk about? Me and him broke up, he went and stopped the White Fang, found you and fell in love. That's the gist of it right?"

About sums it up right.

"Yeah. Do you hate me for it?"

She paused for a second, still refusing to look at me.

"No. Of course not."

She says that, but her action says otherwise.

"Then you don't feel any sort of way for him? Like lingering feelings? Is it really okay for us to be together?"

The questions I asked were difficult, I know, but in order for us to move on, I need to know her answers. I expected some sort of defiance from her, but never this...

"What do you want me to say, Blake?"

Finally, Yang turned around and looked at me with her blood red eyes.

"I-I don't know, I just want to know how you really feel about Ezra? And me being with him-"

Yang's breathing began to speed up, her teeth clenched together, and her fist tightly curled.

"You wanna know how I really feel? I feel like you're too weak to stand on your own, and you need somebody else to help you get up. That's why you needed Adam. That's why when you left him, you needed us, and when you ran, you needed Ezra. What're you gonna do to him after this, huh?"

I have to admit, that kinda stung a little. Tears began to slowly roll down my cheeks not only because the things she said hurt, but it's also true. I've never been one strong enough to do things on my own, and I know that. I just haven't had the courage to truly acknowledge it. So hearing her say it out loud, hurts like hell.

Yang closed her eyes, and placed her palms on her face. The redness in her eyes began to fade, as the realization of what she just said began to dawn on her.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean that."

"But you do, otherwise, you wouldn't have said it out loud."

Yang looked away in tears, unable to say anything. She rubbed her mechanical arm, staring at it intently, as if she was trying to draw courage from it.

"I-I still get flashes from that night. Every now and then I see things, like Adam standing in the corner, stalking me and looking for an opportunity to finish the job. Blake, I'm sorry, but I'm scared and confused, and I didn't mean what I just said... and Ezra."

She began to break down in tears, apologetically gritting her teeth. Met with a sight like that, I was left with no choice but to give her a sincere hug.

"I understand, Yang. I forgive you, and I'm sorry too. For leaving you behind."

Yang wrapped her false arm around mine and smiled.

"I know this was going to come up eventually, and I was honestly dreading it, because the night Beacon fell... I have regrets too, one of them was Ezra. He tried and tried relentlessly to explain, but I kept pushing him away. He loved me and I loved him, and of the two us, only he honored our relationship and it's been eating away at me ever since. I wanted to apologize to him for all that, I wanted to make things right, and make him feel happy. It took a lot for me to realize that, so when I saw the two of you together..."

She paused for a second before continuing.

"Seeing you doing the things that I wanted to do for him felt painful. All that effort that I put in, all that soul-searching I did went down the drain, cause Ezra doesn't need me to feel happy anymore. He has you."

I can relate to what she's trying to say, after all, I too pushed Ezra away... but Yang wasn't done talking.

"Blake... I still... still-"

This is it, she's going to say it, that she still loves Ezra and I don't think my heart is ready to hear it...

"I still want all of us to be together, and I'm happy for you and Ezra. I really am..."

Wha-what?

"O-oh, of course. I do too, Yang. All of us, we'll get through this. I'm not going anywhere, I promise."

Yang and I hugged one more time, as we burry the hatchet. The worst of it all has passed, and Yang seemed to have accepted me and Ezra being together, though I'd be lying if I said I believed her. Maybe she is telling the truth, and that a part of her truly believed that, but I can see in the way she winces in pain, and the way she hesitates when I bring up Ezra... that a part of her still loves her.

And I don't know how to deal with that.

Eliza

My aura is almost spent, and every single inch of my body is in pain, making this trek in the roaring blizzard even worse than it already is. The harsh breeze of this storm is enough to cover my brother's track, and its howls, loud enough to deafen any whispers his group might make, but with that little crow by their side, luck was never in their favor to begin with.

"Brunswick Farm..."

How ironic that they'd seek refuge here. I stood a top one of the abandoned houses, surveying the land beneath me. Even from up here, I can feel it- feel them, the presence of hundreds of dormant grimm.

Why else would my eyes ache?

I would have been fine stalking them till they reached Argus, but when my prey would willingly corner themselves into a trap, how can I resist? Besides, it would seem I'm not the only one hunting them. Out in the corner of the nearby woods stands a man with a grimm mask and red hair. The disgraced Adam Taurus, likely looking for that faunus Ezra's got his hands on. He stood there patiently, waiting for the same chance I'm looking for.

Only difference between the two of us is that he doesn't know the grim situation my little brother has found himself in. As much I'd like for him to help even the odds, he's already been defeated by them once, he'd only get in the way.

"Perfect. I can test and see if my plan will work."

I send a small mist cloud towards where he's standing, rattling the snow with it, and awakening the grimm sleeping underneath it. The sight of the grimm popping out of nowhere startled the faunus, forcing him to run away, as the grimm chased him deeper into the forest.

"That'll keep him busy."

Now, it's time for you to come out and play, Ezra.