Two Minutes Silence

by catsvrsdogscatswin

When Yang falls, its quiet. Calm. She did what she had to do. When Ruby and Blake fall, it's a jolt, a cold shock of horror that they didn't quite make it. When Weiss falls, it's almost with relief. Living or dead, she'll see them again. When Jaune falls, he thinks of his team, of one more letter knocked off of Team JNPR. When they wake up, they're at Beacon. Fix-it fic after V8.

12. Parting the Veil 1

I know even as I write out the final bits of the next chapter, this is probably too soon, but fuck it. Two years of waiting, the clocks in the background of Jaune's shot in the opening PROBABLY don't mean anything in regard to the mechanics of RWBY's reality, I think I can squeak this out.

Here goes nothing.

Ahem, anyways. As I stated in the last chapter but I'll restate again for posterity: this chapter only summarizes the basic plot of RWBY thus far through Jinn. The next chapter is the one where the fic mechanics are explained, so if you're not interested in what's essentially a reaction fic, skip this chapter.

I'll say it again.

THIS CHAPTER IS A SUMMARY OF THE SERIES TOLD BY JINN. IF YOU'RE NOT INTERESTED IN A REACTION-FIC-LIKE CHAPTER, SKIP THIS ONE AND READ CHAPTER 13.

But yeah, it turns out I had to split this in two, because otherwise the end result would've been over 65,000 FUCKING words in one chapter, Jesus H. Christ.

Ugh. I have to wonder how high-count this fic will get before things finally hit the turnoff point, like when most people will look at the length of the whole thing start to finish and go "oh yeah, no, that's way too much." I bet it'll be these two chapters. It's a damn fic on its own is what it is, yeesh. Hopefully it won't be as much of a slog to read as it was to write because there were some moments when I was like "surely I don't need to summarize the ENTIRE series from V1-V8, right? We can skip a bit."

RIP to V1 and V2, whose ripple-effects and relevance on current canon can be summarized to like. A small paragraph. And fuck V8, which is so dense and with so much important contextual dialogue that I practically had to write out the whole damn thing all over again, and even now there's stuff I'd still have liked to jam in there.

---

"…Ruby Rose."

Yang blinked and cocked her hip, watching Ruby have an exchange with the mook who was obviously here to rob the shop. They were going all the way back to the beginning, huh? She wondered how the others would take that.

More blue smoke ghosted across the world, sculpting the streets of Vale as the vision of Ruby's past self bounced past Yang, dodging gunfire and machete blades and whirling Crescent Rose around with a bit more flourish than strictly necessary.

"Trained from childhood to become a Huntress, Ruby was an earnest and hardworking young woman who wanted nothing more than to become a hero like those in the storybooks and fairy tales that her sister read to her."

Torchwick sauntered out of the shop, crushing his cigar under his cane. Yang scowled at him, even in image: behind her, Ruby's echo straightened up, obviously preparing for a fight.

"But although Ruby was skilled and brave, there were others around her that wanted to crush the light of hope."

Jaune flinched involuntarily as the blue cloud of mist washed over the world again, blocking out the image of Ruby in the ruined street –was this what it had been like before, when RWBY had asked Jinn about Ozpin?

He watched the world reform to a rooftop in Vale, where the images of Ruby and Professor Goodwitch were striking out against a hovering Bullhead. His hands clenched as he saw a silhouette in the Bullhead's bay, a woman with a red dress and eyes that glowed like fire, blocking Ruby's sniper shots with one negligent hand as her dress shimmered with woven Dust patterns in molten red-orange.

"Cinder Fall. A powerful adversary, trained as a Huntress, but serving the enemy of humanity rather than humanity itself. She and Ruby would cross paths many times during Ruby's time at Beacon."

The world trembled and faded away to nothing, like it was less than mist, before more of that blue fog rose up to create Beacon's cafeteria. The sound of laughter made Jaune turn, and he smiled sadly as he saw the past images of RWBY and JNPR all gathered around the repaired tables, spattered with food and laughing like the children they had been as the image of Yang crashed down from the ceiling.

"But Ruby did not face Cinder Fall alone. She made allies and friends at Beacon, a team and a family that would last her all the rest of her life. Her sister, Yang Xiao Long, the Dust heiress Weiss Schnee, and the Faunus Blake Belladonna, once a member of the White Fang."

Pyrrha's fond smile at seeing herself with her friends trembled a little, hesitating. Hadn't… Jinn said that she couldn't show the future? Pyrrha couldn't remember ever having a food fight with the others.

And what kind of question had Ruby asked? Falling and- and someone named Ambrosius, and a certain location, and her whole team? What on earth was that about –it didn't have anything to do with Lionheart or the conspiracy that threatened the schools!

…Did it?

"Jaune Arc, Ruby's first friend and leader of Team JNPR; Nora Valkyrie and Lie Ren, inextricable companions; and finally Pyrrha Nikos, humble champion. The future seemed bright, despite the gathering shadows."

Gloomy flashes of Vale echoed before Pyrrha's eyes –cars zooming by as a Paladin fled headlong down the highway, a train, Grimm in the city– and at last an image of Team RWBY sitting at the edge of Beacon, gazing out over the sunset.

"Though their trials were fierce, Team RWBY always prevailed, and they came to have confidence in themselves. But their suspicions were ever-growing: the criminal Roman Torchwick was amassing a large amount of Dust, had caused a Breach in the outer defensive walls that led Grimm into the city, and yet why would a criminal, someone who relied on the existence of safe cities in order to make their living, do such a thing? Especially when it gave him no profit. They were missing the bigger picture… and when they began to see it at the Vytal Festival, it was too late."

"So, have you chosen your guardian yet?" the image of Qrow asked, leaning against the wall in Ozpin's office.

"Maidens choose themselves." the image of Ozpin said, swiveling his chair around a bit more quickly than he usually did, before he began to gesture. "I simply believe I have found the right candidate. Ever since the day I met her, I had a feeling she would be the one. She's strong, intelligent, caring. But most importantly… she's ready."

Blue mist ghosted across the world, but this time only a little changed: the image of Pyrrha was seated on the other side of Ozpin's desk, and he was regarding her with his hands steepled before him.

"What is your favorite fairy tale?"

"I'm… sorry?" the image of Pyrrha asked, her eyebrows furrowing.

"Fairy tales, stories from your childhood. Surely you must remember some of them."

"Well," she began with a little shrug, obviously confused by the question but happy to reminisce. "-there's The Tale of The Two Brothers, The Shallow Sea, The Girl in the Tower…"

"What about The Story of the Seasons?" Ozpin asked, almost cutting off that last one.

"Well, of course!" Pyrrha laughed. "A callous old man, who refuses to leave his home, is visited by four traveling sisters. The first understands his reclusive nature and urges him to use his time in solitude to reflect and meditate. The second brings him fruits and flowers, tending to his crops and revitalizing his garden. The third warms the man's heart, convincing him to step outside and embrace the world around him. And the fourth and final sister begs him to look at all that he has, and be thankful. In return for their kindness, the man grants the maidens incredible powers, so that they may continue to help others all over the world. They graciously accept, and promise to share their gifts with the people of Remnant til the end of days. Winter, Spring, Summer, and Fall: the four Maidens. My mother loves that story."

"Would you believe me if I told you that one's been around since I was a boy?" Ozpin said.

The image of Pyrrha snickered. "You're not that old, Professor."

"Well, would you believe me if I told you it was true?"

Pyrrha fell silent, blinking at him for a few moments before she coughed out a laugh and smiled.

"I beg your pardon?" she asked.

"What if I were to tell you that there were four Maidens existing in this world, that could wield such tremendous power, without Dust?" Ozpin asked seriously.

"You mean… like a Semblance?" Pyrrha tried.

"Like magic."

"I…" Pyrrha faltered, and jumped when the image of Qrow spoke up again from where he was leaning against a pillar.

"E-yeah. First time hearing it's pretty crazy."

"You're serious?" Pyrrha asked tentatively, turning back to the headmaster. He regarded her with a solemn frown.

"Do I look like I'm joking?"

"…No." Pyrrha said, lowering her head for a moment, before a spark of confusion entered her eyes. "Why… why are you telling me this?"

There was a moment of silence as Qrow and Ozpin looked at each other, before Ozpin looked back to his confused student.

"We are telling you this, Pyrrha Nikos, because we believe that you are next in line to receive the Fall Maiden's powers."

"'We'?" Pyrrha repeated warily, and flinched as the elevator dinged, turning around to see Glynda Goodwitch and James Ironwood standing inside it.

"Sorry we're late." Ironwood said, straightening his tie.

If Pyrrha had hackles, they would have been up as she turned to Ozpin, eyes narrowed warily.

"Wait –what is this? Who are you?" she asked, looking like she was prepared to argue –or flee– at any moment if the conversation went south.

"You know who we are." Glynda soothed. "We're still the same teachers and Headmasters you met when you arrived at Beacon."

" 'Cept we've got a little part-time job." Qrow snorted, moving to stand with the other two.

"We are the protectors of this world." Ironwood said, more formally.

"And we need your help." Ozpin finished.

Blue mist washed over the world again: when it cleared, the image of Pyrrha was walking down a dimly-lit vault accompanied by all four of the adults. The light was tinted a shadowy green, like the bottom of a very deep pond during a sunny day, and the ceiling soared high above, several stories more than what was apparently necessary. The visual echo of Pyrrha didn't look any less nervous as she was led down this deep corridor, but she looked less wary.

"I'm sure you must have questions." Glynda's image said as the last flickers of blue fog faded away, pausing for a moment and turning to Pyrrha.

"Maybe one or two." Pyrrha scoffed, looking at the vaulted ceiling, taking it all in, before continuing with the others. "I still don't understand. You said I was next in line to receive the Maiden's power. What do you mean by that?"

"The Maidens have existed for thousands of years." Glynda said. "But much like in nature, the seasons change. No two summers are alike. When a Maiden dies, her power leaves her body and seeks out a new host, ensuring that the seasons are never lost, and that no individual can hold on to that power forever."

"So," Pyrrha said, her voice almost small, her posture hunched. "-how does the power choose?"

"Through a series of stupid and convoluted rules." Qrow said over one shoulder.

"Qrow." Glynda growled.

"Hey, don't get mad 'cause I'm right!"

"At first, the only thing that was certain was that the powers were specifically passed on to young women." Glynda sighed, turning back to Pyrrha. "But as time went on, it was discovered that the selection process was much more… intimate."

"…In…timate?" Pyrrha gulped.

"As we understand it now, when a Maiden dies, the one who is in her final thoughts is the first candidate to inherit her power." Glynda explained.

"Unless it's a dude or some old hag." Qrow added in. "Then the power goes to someone random, and our job gets a lot harder."

"Why tell me all of this now?" Pyrrha asked as they walked across a nexus, where another and equally large vault crossed the one they were walking along. "Why not wait until I've graduated?"

"Honestly?" Qrow said. "We've run out of time. I don't know if you've noticed, but things are getting a lot scarier out in the world. Tensions are high. Grimm are growing stronger, more prevalent. And it's not gonna be much longer before the peace we've been enjoying so much goes out the window.

"You're not… talking about a war?" Pyrrha asked slowly.

"Not a war between nations." Ironwood said immediately.

"We can fill you in on the details once we know that you're with us." Qrow grumbled, glancing over his shoulder at her again. "For now, all you need to know is that one of the Maidens has been attacked. And for the first time in history, part of her power was stolen."

The group came to a stop, in front of what looked very much like a pair of large, mechanized coffins connected by tubes. Each one had a glass plate over the front, a viewing window to allow others to see what was inside. One of these was empty, but the other…

"Is that…" Pyrrha asked, tentatively stepping forward.

The upright coffin held a dark-skinned woman, her brown hair cut in a short, forward-flicking bob. She wore only a white chest wrap and undershorts, and her eyes were closed, as though she was asleep. Her face, though… it was heavily marked, with darker lines running outwards from a large discoloration just under her left eye, like the roots of a tree or the twisted, tangled legs of a fat spider. It was like a birthmark, or a very, very old scar –you could still see a beauty mark underneath, a little mole underneath the woman's left eye.

"The current Fall Maiden." Ozpin sighed wearily. "Amber."

"She's… still alive." Pyrrha gulped, half-horrified and half-relieved.

"For now." Ironwood said confidently. "We're using state-of-the-art Atlas technology to keep her stable. But there is a lot about this situation that is… unprecedented."

"What do you mean?"

Ironwood sighed, closing his eyes. "Well, we don't know what will happen if-" He hesitated a moment, before he opened his eyes, reluctantly changing the word. "-when she passes."

"Won't… her power just transfer to the next host?" Pyrrha tried.

"Look who's been listening!" Qrow said, before stage-whispering to Ozpin. "She is smart."

"Under normal circumstances, yes." Ironwood answered her. "But this is a delicate situation. It's not uncommon for the last thoughts of the slain to be of their attacker. And to make matters worse, no one's ever seen the power split like this before. For all we know, it will seek out its other half."

"Her assailant." Pyrrha realized.

"And that would not bode well for any of us." Ozpin told her. Pyrrha hesitated a moment, before slowly walking forward, listening to the irregular beeping of the machine that kept Amber alive. She placed a hand on the glass, looking at the woman inside, before speaking suddenly.

"If all of this is true, why keep it secret!?" she blurted. "If this girl is so important… if… if we're truly on the brink of war, why not tell everyone?!"

"From what we understand, it used to be common knowledge." Glynda said gently.

Pyrrha blinked. "Excuse me?"

"How do you think legends and fairy tales get started?" Qrow drawled, pulling out his flask. "Even the craziest ones come from somewhere."

"Our group was founded in order to protect both mankind and the Maidens." Glynda continued, a shadow of a frown crossing her face. "Those hungry for power hunted them with the hope of inheriting their strength."

"And as you can imagine," Qrow said as he finished his drink. "-the ones that succeeded weren't exactly the kind of people you'd want to have unimaginable power."

"And so this brotherhood chose to remove the Maidens from the public eye, allowing their existence to fade away into legend." Ironwood ended firmly.

"The things we're telling you go against hundreds of years of human history, religion." Glynda said.

"No one would want to believe us." Ironwood continued, bouncing off of her. "It would cause an uproar."

"It would cause panic." Ozpin said finished. "And we all know what that would bring to clawing to our kingdoms' walls. Which is why we would like to…"

"I'll do it." Pyrrha said softly. Ozpin blinked as she raised her chin. "If you believe that this will help humanity…then I will become your Fall Maiden."

There was a moment of silence, and Pyrrha's brow furrowed as the teachers all looked at each other without words.

"That's what you wanted, isn't it?" she asked incredulously.

"It is," Ozpin said hastily, stepping forward. "-but I'm afraid it's not that simple. Given Amber's condition, you won't be able to inherit her power naturally. However, General Ironwood believes he has a solution."

"For the past few years, Atlas has been studying Aura from a more scientific standpoint; how it works, what's it made of, how it can be used." Ironwood explained, shaping images with his hands, before folding them behind his back. "We've made… significant strides. And we believe we've found a way to capture it."

"Capture it and cram it into something else." Qrow said, and gestured to Pyrrha. "Or in your case…"

Pyrrha flinched in realization and turned to Ironwood. "That's-"

"Classified."

"-wrong!"

"The feeling is mutual." Glynda said, frowning at Ironwood, before looking back to Pyrrha. "But desperate times call for desperate measures."

"And these are indeed desperate times." Ironwood said, stepping forward. "We can't transfer Amber's power to you, but we can give you what those powers are bound to."

"Her Aura." Pyrrha said with a nod.

"Her life… would become intertwined with yours." Ozpin said. "The question is…"

"What's that going to do to you?" Qrow asked as uncertainty and horror flashed over Pyrrha's face.

"You have an important decision before you, Miss Nikos." Ozpin said solemnly. "There's no guarantee this transfer will work. And there's no telling if you will be the same person if it does. I advise you to take time on this matter. But understand that before the Vytal Festival is over, we will need your answer."

"The old man and his guardians did not lie: the situation was dire, and time was short. However, even they failed to realize the enormity of the disaster about to befall Beacon, and through it, Vale. Cinder Fall had infiltrated their halls, Beacon, even the Vytal Festival itself, and her plans were coming to fruition. On the very same day that Pyrrha Nikos received her revelations, they made their first move."

Blue mist swayed over the world, and Ren flinched as the sudden roar of a crowd assaulted his ears, instinctively falling into a crouch as he reached for StormFlower. He was on the floor of the Amity Colosseum, and not more than a dozen yards away, the images of Yang and some other student were fighting –a boy with silver hair and grey clothes, who fought with his legs against Yang's fists. He was outmatched, though: Yang's Semblance let her take power from every hit he dished out, and she eventually crushed his defenses and broke his Aura in a devastating rain of blows.

"Using the technology given to her by her ally, Arthur Watts, Cinder manipulated the tournament matchups, sending her disciple, the assassin's son Mercury Black, to face Yang Xiao Long. In the stands, her other follower, Emerald Sustrai, prepared to activate her Semblance."

Ren saw the image of Mercury stand up again, spit a threat at Yang and then lunge for her. Ren instinctively withdrew his weapons, preparing to come to her defense, even though he knew it was pointless –this was all an illusion, a story of some kind. Besides, Yang didn't really need his help: she lashed out in retaliation, sending a round into Mercury's leg as he screamed and fell to the ground, curling up and clutching his injury.

Boos washed over them all, and several Atlesian knights rushed past Ren, their edges blurring into blue smoke as they washed through him to surround Yang. Ren squinted in confusion, but this had to be something about the Semblance Jinn had mentioned, right?

Confused and lost as she was told by a panicked announcer to stand down, Yang looked up to the screen, seeing herself and Mercury Black: seeing him approach her calmly, trying to shake her hand for a good match, and herself kneecapping him out of nowhere.

"Affected by a clever use of illusions, Yang was the only one to perceive an assault, and her apparently senseless attack against another student was recorded and broadcast all across Remnant. Negativity began to pool: suspicions rose as to what kind of student, and what kind of school, would produce such an outcome."

Nora coughed and waved a hand as the figures around her dissolved into blue fog, then reformed to show an echo of Pyrrha, her face drawn and worried, facing off against an excited, enthusiastic-looking Penny.

"Yang Xiao Long was disqualified from the tournament, but it proceeded, allowing the second and most cruel attack of the Vytal Festival to occur. It was arranged that Pyrrha Nikos, whose Semblance allowed her to manipulate metal, would face off against Penny Polendina –a girl who was the first artificially-created soul on Remnant, a girl whose Aura was housed in a metal, robotic body."

Nora took a step back, covering her mouth as she suddenly realized what was about to happen –what that Cinder woman and her lackeys were about to make Pyrrha do.

"Pyrrha Nikos was deceived into seeing many blades where there were few, and tore apart Penny Polendina with her own weapon."

The shriek of dying metal made Nora clap her hands over her ears, closing her eyes and bending her face towards the ground, trying to block it all out. She didn't want to see this. She didn't want to know this.

"Silence and horror fell across the assembled crowds of Remnant –and with the stage set, Cinder Fall made her move."

Tearfully looking up, Nora saw the screens flicker red, with a black chess piece in the center.

"This is not a tragedy. This was not an accident." came a slow, sultry voice. "This is what happens when you hand over your trust, your safety, your children, to men who claim to be our guardians, but are, in reality, nothing more than men. Our academies' headmasters wield more power than most armies, and one was audacious enough to control both. They cling to this power in the name of peace –and yet, what do we have here? One nation's attempt at a synthetic army, mercilessly torn apart by another's star pupil. What need would Atlas have for a soldier disguised as an innocent little girl? I don't think the Grimm can tell the difference."

Maybe that was true, but Nora would trust whoever had built this Penny girl a thousand times over whatever stuck-up, sneering witch was talking over the speakers.

"And what, I ask you, is Ozpin teaching his students? First a dismemberment, now this? Huntsmen and Huntresses should carry themselves with honor and mercy, yet I have witnessed neither. Perhaps Ozpin felt as though defeating Atlas in the tournament would help people forget his colossal failure to protect Vale when the Grimm invaded its streets. Or perhaps… this was his message to the tyrannical dictator that has occupied an unsuspecting kingdom with armed forces. Honestly, I haven't the slightest clue as to who is right and who is wrong. But I know the existence of peace is fragile, and the leaders of our kingdoms conduct their business with iron gloves. As someone who hails from Mistral, I can assure you, the situation there is… equally undesirable. Our Kingdoms are at the brink of war: yet we, the citizens, are left in the dark. So, I ask you, when the first shots are fired… who do you think you can trust?"

The screens went blank again, before the alarms began to sound and chaos descended. Chills crawled down Nora's skin as she heard the fatal announcement.

"Alert. Incoming Grimm attack. Threat level: Nine. Please seek shelter in a calm and orderly manner."

"It was a mercilessly brilliant plan. With the virus given to her by Watts assuring that her message would get out during a time when the entire world was watching, Cinder sowed distrust and fear all across Remnant in one fell swoop, while simultaneously engineering the destruction of Beacon. Grimm fell upon Beacon and Vale in hordes beyond counting, attracted by the negativity and fear."

Blake scowled as the world shifted and ghosted away to reveal an Atlas airship, scattered with unconscious or dead uniformed bodies as the image of a tiny figure with a parasol skipped towards a cell.

"Well… it's about time." came Torchwick's smooth, smug voice as the door hissed open.

"Her subordinates, planted in the command ship of Atlas's army, took control of all robotic Atlesian military forces, and turned them against their creators and allies. The carnage spread further: aided by the presence of the White Fang and the Grimm that they brought directly into the heart of Beacon."

Blake's ears laid back completely as she saw the image of Adam, still alive, still as spitefully wicked as he had ever been, standing in the cargo hatch of a Bullhead as it landed. Even knowing that none of this was real, she fumbled for Gambol Shroud.

"Bring them to their knees!"

"Ruby Rose went to thwart the ones responsible for the virus that was turning the Atlas drones against their creators and allies. Roman Torchwick, imprisoned on the Atlas flagship, had been freed by his partner in crime, Neopolitan, and the two were left by Cinder to take control of the skies."

Neo frowned a little, tucking her arms closer to herself in a tight fold, as she saw the image of her past self cockily take a photo of the Huntress trainee to send to Roman. If she just hadn't done that, had tried to take care of it herself instead, would he have still been alive…?

"Though outmatched, Ruby managed to split the two partners by expanding Neopolitan's parasol and sending her flying off into the skies. Stricken by her loss, Roman Torchwick turned to Ruby in a fury, but was unable to kill her before he was swallowed by a Grimm."

So Little Red hadn't been lying. Neo watched with compressed lips as Roman struck at the cowering Huntress trainee again and again with his cane: she flinched as he raised it high and the shadow of a Grimm swooped down upon him. If she'd just been there…

"The ship crashed, leaving the robots inactive, but it was too late. Seeing this destruction, this carnage, Pyrrha Nikos made her choice. While other students sprung to the defense, she ran to seek out Professor Ozpin and take on the power of the Fall Maiden, so that she may protect all those she cared about. Her partner, Jaune Arc, rushed to her assistance, and together they descended down into the vaults of the school."

Blue smoke swirled around her to form the vaulted greenish chamber beneath the school again, and Weiss took an involuntary step back as shades rushed at her.

"You've… been here before?" the image of Jaune asked as he and Pyrrha ran with Ozpin towards the machine that held Amber. Weiss winced as she watched them pass by, saw the haste and the confusion in their movements.

Haste makes waste, she heard in her ear, the echo of so many years of business training, and she shook it off, stepping past the image of Jaune as he stood on guard, his shield up, to defend Pyrrha in the machine. Weiss had never been down to this vault before, and on the off chance that she would need to be in the future, she intended to scan and remember as many details as possible.

The machine whummed to life, and Pyrrha began to scream and shudder as the rich glow of Amber's power began to drain into her.

"Wha- Jaune stop!" Weiss blurted angrily as Jaune's image rushed past her, flocking to his teammate as she cried out. "Are you insane? Ozpin put you on guard-"

Too late. As Weiss turned, seeing a groggily awakening Amber, she also saw Cinder Fall standing across the length of the vault, raising a black glass bow and taking careful aim at the Maiden. Weiss's fists clenched as she involuntarily lurched towards Jaune, wanting to warn him, but she was helpless to stop this, as helpless as she had been when it had actually occurred and she'd been miles away.

"The Aura transfer failed. Cinder Fall took the power of the Maiden for her own."

The glass arrow sailed through the air, impacting Amber right in the heart. The rich orange glow of power withdrew from Pyrrha like water running in reverse, funneling back to the dying Amber in an instant, before she fell still and a seeming fireball shot out of her chest and impacted Cinder, who rose into the air with her eyes aflame. Pyrrha screamed and hammered against the machine as an attacking Jaune was blown backwards by the blast wave of Cinder's burgeoning power.

"Jaune Arc and Pyrrha Nikos were forced to flee as Professor Ozpin engaged the newly-created Maiden in single combat –and unbeknownst to them, fell. They were ordered to seek reinforcements, but as they saw Cinder Fall ascend to the top of the tower, Pyrrha Nikos realized that reinforcements would do no good."

Ruby winced and closed her eyes as the blue smoke settled around her feet. She heard Jaune try to reason with Pyrrha, then start begging as there was a clang of metal against metal when she shoved him into a rocket locker. Her entire body flinched as she heard it take off.

"She sent Jaune Arc to safety, and prepared to do battle atop Beacon Tower. Soon after, her partner managed to call Ruby Rose and Weiss Schnee to her aid. However…"

Blue fog washed over the world, and tears began dripping down Ruby's face as she saw the images of Cinder and Pyrrha fighting in the ruins of Ozpin's office. Pyrrha fought like a champion, like the hero that she was, but Cinder was a Maiden, and Pyrrha was all alone. A choked cry of despair so profound that it withered her heart escaped Ruby as she saw the glass arrow enter Pyrrha's heel, pinning her to the ground with a cry. This had been moments before she'd arrived on the scene –if she'd just been faster, if she'd just said less to Weiss and gone, she could have made it in time to save her friend as Cinder sauntered around Pyrrha's prone body.

"It's unfortunate you were promised a power that was never truly yours." Cinder said as she lifted Pyrrha's chin with a smirk. "But take comfort in knowing that I will use it in ways you could never have imagined."

Pyrrha shook herself free, staring up at Cinder with defiance.

"Do you believe in destiny?" she asked raggedly.

Cinder frowned.

"Yes." she said, and summoned her bow again. Ruby turned away –she couldn't bear to watch, to see this again. The sound of the arrow hitting home was like a dagger between her shoulders, and she choked on her own sobs as she saw the image of her past self slump where she knelt on the ruined cogs.

"PYRRHA!"

"Though Pyrrha Nikos died on the tower, Cinder Fall's victory was not absolute. Ruby Rose, upon seeing the death of her beloved friend, activated the power of her silver eyes for the first time: a power that could freeze Grimm or destroy them utterly, a power handed down to her from her mother. Cinder Fall, who had used a Grimm parasite to initially acquire and split the powers of the Maiden, lost her arm, her eye, and briefly her voice in the face of the attack, and the Wyvern atop Beacon was petrified, though not killed. But neither was Ruby Rose's victory absolute –nor was it even a victory."

Yang winced and cupped her wrist –whole, undamaged– as she saw the cafeteria aflame, saw Adam and Blake arguing inside. The events that haunted her nightmares played out: her reckless attack, Adam's punishing rebuttal, Blake dragging her maimed body desperately to safety.

"Despite the gallant defense by students and teachers alike, this was a day of tragedy. Beacon was destroyed, rendered nothing more than a nest of Grimm. The CCT there was broken, extinguishing long-distance communication across Remnant. Swaths of Trainee Huntsmen, Huntresses, and Hunters fell from every school and every kingdom. Teams were torn apart. Survivors were shattered. And as for Team RWBY, they were divided. Weiss Schnee was taken back to Atlas by her cruel father, Blake Belladonna fled to Menagerie to recuperate, and Ruby Rose and Yang Xiao Long were both injured and unconscious for many days. Team JNPR had lost a teammate, and when Ruby awoke and learned something of both her silver eyes and Ozpin's next plan, her choice –and theirs– was obvious."

Standing in snow that wasn't cold as blue mist settled around her feet, Yang's shoulders sunk as she saw the image of Ruby outside their home in Patch with a backpack on, looking furtively at the echoes of Jaune, Nora, and Ren, who were similarly equipped for a long journey. She knew where she had been when this had happened –inside, sunk in a sullen haze, brooding over what she had lost. Yang knew that she'd needed some time to recover, but she should –so much of her felt like she should have been there with them. She should have been there with Ruby. She was the big sister –it was her job to be there and support her.

"They would go to Haven, alone, leaving Yang to recover in Patch. It was at Haven, or so they thought, that they would find answers. Yet it was not Haven at all, but along their route through Mistral, that they found what they sought. Qrow Branwen, agent of Ozpin and uncle of Ruby Rose, had followed them, and after confronting the serial killer Tyrian Callows, he joined their party and began to explain."

"This world's been around for a long time, long enough that people have created dozens of gods. But if you believe Ozpin, two of them are actually real." the image of Qrow said, slouching back against the log he sat on.

Team RNJR were gathered around him, staring at his face over the crackling fire that they had kindled. Trepidation and distrust were almost tangible in the air: the image of Jaune's arms were folded, and he was almost glaring at the older man. He and the other members of JNPR also sat slightly apart from the image of Ruby, who was on her own log.

"They were two brothers." Qrow began, unperturbed. "The older sibling, the God of Light, found joy in creating forces of life. Meanwhile, the younger brother, the God of Darkness, spent his time creating forces of destruction. As you can imagine, they both had pretty different ideas about how things should go. The older one would spend his days creating water, plants, wildlife. And at night, his brother would wake to see all the things that the elder had made, and become disgusted. To counteract his brother's creations, the God of Darkness brought drought, fire, famine, all that he could do to rid Remnant of life. Life always returned. So one night, the younger brother went and made something –something that shared his innate desire to destroy anything and everything."

"The creatures of Grimm." Ruby shivered. The image of Qrow smiled without humor and saluted his niece with a bob of his head.

"You guessed it. The older brother finally had enough. Knowing that their feud couldn't last like this forever, he proposed that they make one final creation… together. Something that they could both be proud of, their… masterpiece. The younger brother agreed. This last great creation would be given the power to both create and destroy. It would be given the gift of knowledge, so that it could learn about itself and the world around it. And most importantly, it would be given the power to choose, to have free will to take everything it had learned and decide which path to follow –the path of light or the path of darkness. And that is how humanity came to be."

"But…what does that have to do with us?" the image of Ren asked slowly.

"Well, that's the kicker. See, the four gifts to mankind –Knowledge, Creation, Destruction and Choice– aren't just metaphorical." Qrow huffed. "Each of them exists in a physical form, left behind by the Gods before they abandoned Remnant, and each of them is extraordinarily powerful. If someone were to collect all four, they'd be able to change the world. That's exactly what the enemy wants. The Huntsman Academies were created to train generations of humanity's protectors, but they also serve another purpose –guarding the Relics. When Ozpin's predecessor founded the schools, he built them around the Relics to act as a fortress. Not only would they be easier to defend, but they would constantly be surrounded by trained warriors. The hope was that hiding them would keep mankind from using them against itself… and, of course, keeping them out of her reach."

Qrow waved his hand.

"So yeah, there's that."

"Her." Ruby said softly. "You mean, Salem?"

"That's right." Qrow sighed. "Not much is known about her –quite frankly, that's not what matters. What matters right now is that she wants the Relics, and if she gets them, it's not going to end well."

"Qrow Branwen spoke truth. This, then, was the key to why Salem hunted the Maidens, why Cinder Fall was sent to assault and kill first Amber and then Pyrrha Nikos. Aside from their gift of magic, only the Maidens were capable of opening the Vaults to reach the Relics: Winter for Creation, Summer for Destruction, Fall for Choice, and Spring for Knowledge. It was at Haven, from the traitorous Headmaster Lionheart, that Ruby and her friends learned this, and though he had long ago buckled under the fear of Salem, he still spoke truth. However, unbeknownst to Leonardo Lionheart, Ozpin had returned… in the form of a boy named Oscar Pine."

The blue fog faded away, and Jaune chuckled ruefully as he saw Oscar in their Mistral house, looking in bewilderment from one member of RNJR to another as they all flustered over him. He almost missed it, seeing Oscar as off-balance as he himself had once been. Jaune wished there had been time, that he'd had the understanding, to build more on that kinship.

He wished he could see Oscar again. It hurt, a little, to know that he might not see the younger boy for years –if he ever saw him again.

"The man Ruby and her friends knew as Ozpin was in fact far older than any record in their understanding would suggest. Though they did not know it then, he told them something –only a little– of his curse, how he was to live and die in the bodies of those with a like-minded soul until the day he could stop Salem. They believed him, and began to plan for the assault on the Branwen tribe's camp, where they believed the Spring Maiden to be hidden. However, in that time, both Weiss Schnee and Yang Xiao Long had made their way to that camp –Weiss Schnee as an accident when the airship smuggling her out of Atlas crashed, and Yang Xiao Long deliberately, in search of her lost sister. It was at the Branwen Tribe camp… that the first seeds of doubt were sown in their minds."

Jaune tilted his head with unmitigated interest as the blue mist sculpted itself into a variety of strange shapes, seeing the images of Yang and a slightly-grungy Weiss sitting at a tea table on the ground inside a tent, with Raven. He'd never seen a bandit camp before, and even though he had his own reasons to distrust Ozpin –those reasons being Pyrrha and Nikos– he had never really figured out why Yang was so snippy with him. Apparently, this was it.

"Your Uncle Qrow and I didn't attend Beacon to become Huntsmen… we did it to learn how to kill Huntsmen." the image of Raven was saying as the mist faded and flickered away. The images of Weiss and Yang gasped and exchanged a quick look, and Raven smirked. "Daddy and Uncle left that part out, hmm?"

She began to refresh her cup.

"Aside from the Grimm, Huntsmen were the only ones capable of ruining our raids and hunting us down. Our tribe needed a counterforce." She sipped, then stood up. "And Qrow and I were the perfect age. The entrance exams were child's play compared to what we'd already been through. We were good."

Raven came to a slow halt, facing away from them.

"So good, that we caught the attention of Beacon's very own Headmaster, Professor Ozpin. Even after we were put on a team, I could tell he was keeping his eye on us. Back then, I thought it was because he knew, but it was Team STRQ he was interested in."

"What do you mean by that?" Yang asked impatiently.

"Constant attention, extra training missions, turning a blind eye whenever we happened to break the rules and get into more trouble than we should've." Raven turned towards them. "Sound familiar?"

Weiss and Yang shared another glance, before Weiss flicked her eyes towards Raven, encouraging her teammate to continue.

"What's your point?" Yang huffed.

"How much do you know about Professor Ozpin? About his past?" Raven asked, still frowning.

"He was… a prodigy." the image of Weiss said slowly, cautiously. "One of the youngest headmasters to be appointed to a school."

"Because that's how he planned it." Raven scoffed. "Because the man you know as Ozpin designed those schools and has followers inside every academy on Remnant that are loyal to him, and no one else."

"That doesn't make any sense! How could he have…?" Yang caught herself as she looked aside, before glancing back to Raven. "No. Why would someone even do that?"

"Because old man Oz has a great and terrible secret." Raven said, smirking serenely. "One that could spread fear across the world. One that he eventually entrusted to our team, and once I knew, there was no going back. I needed to know more –but with every new discovery I made… the more horrifying the world became."

"Okay, then tell us." Yang said, unimpressed. "What's the big secret? What's so crazy that the rest of us don't know?"

"The Creatures of Grimm… have a master named Salem. She can't be stopped, she can't be reasoned with, and she will not rest until humanity crumbles at her feet." Raven said.

Blue smoke arched across the world, dissolving to show the outside of the tent, where the images of Weiss and Yang watched in shock as a raven flew through the air –then transformed into Raven herself.

"How… did you do that?"

"Well, I could explain it to you," Raven said, before slashing a portal open with her Semblance. "-or you could ask your uncle."

"You're letting us go?" Yang asked slowly.

"I'm giving you a choice." Raven said. "Stay here, with me, and I'll answer all your questions and more. We can have a fresh start. Or… you can go back to Qrow and join Ozpin's impossible war against Salem, and meet the same fate as so many others. But can you really go back to trusting someone that's kept so much from you?"

The same blue mist washed over the world before Yang and Weiss could answer, and Jaune blinked as he found himself in an empty white void, where the statue of Jinn that had stood in Haven's entryway was the only other shape.

"Though Raven's words stuck in her mind, Yang decided to go to her uncle and sister, and find out their answers. Ozpin soothed her suspicions with the truth, that both Raven and Qrow had accepted their abilities from him willingly, that once long ago he had sacrificed much of his own personal store of magic to create the four Maidens, and he gave all the students a chance to back out. None did, and plans moved forward on all sides to seek the Relic of Knowledge –my Relic– that lay beneath the school."

Pyrrha stepped back nervously as the mist cascaded around her, forming a series of scenes, one after another, of faces and places she had only recently come to know.

"Cinder Fall planned to take it and kill Ruby Rose, as well as the woman she believed to be the Spring Maiden –one Vernal, member of the Branwen tribe. Raven, with whom Cinder struck her deal, planned to take advantage of the confusion and steal the Relic for her own, to provide a defense against Salem in the future, knowing that Cinder would betray her without hesitation. The White Fang, having gone through a change of leadership with the murder of Sienna Khan by Adam Taurus, planned to attack Haven and destroy its CCT, furthering his perceived ideals of bringing Faunus supremacy through human fear. Those on Menagerie, emboldened by Blake Belladonna's heroic words and the example set by the unsuccessful assassination of her family, set out to oppose the White Fang's assault. It was all to come together on the night of the full moon, when the traitor Leo Lionheart planned to lure Qrow and the others to Haven, where Cinder Fall and her allies awaited, and where the White Fang would attack."

The blue fog washed away to show Haven's entrance, and Pyrrha instinctively drew Miló as the image of Ruby was shot past her with a yelp, a fireball dissolving upon impact as Cinder Fall sauntered through a portal created by Raven Branwen. The huge front doors slamming shut heralded the arrival of another foe, a huge man with beefy scarred arms, who announced that the White Fang were here and setting demolitions, and no one would get in or out.

Her heart twisted and went out to Qrow as he berated the image of Lionheart –the betrayal, the raw anger in his voice, it was agonizing. It hurt her, too, to think that this might have been her school if she decided to study at Haven, that every day she would have put her life and trust in the hands of such a man as this. She wondered how many of the older Hunters she had always admired were still alive, how many had already been blithely sent to their deaths.

"Aw, now don't beat yourself up about it, Lionheart. I'm sure Tyrian and Hazel would've found them on their own eventually." Cinder drawled, and Pyrrha clenched her fists around her weapon.

Jaune's image spoke before she did, however.

"What is wrong with you…?" he seethed, head bowed and trembling. "How can you be so broken inside… to take so many lives, and then come here and rub it in our faces like it's something to be proud of?!"

His voice broke on those last words.

"Jaune…" Nora said gently, and Pyrrha's heart twisted again as she saw the grief, the understanding on her teammate's face.

"All with that damn smile on your face!" Jaune screamed, bringing his head up as tears streamed down his cheeks.

The images of Yang and Ruby drew their respective weapons as Qrow held out a hand, trying to stop the situation from escalating further.

"Everybody, stay calm…"

"I'm gonna make you pay for what you did!" Jaune shouted at an implacable Cinder, at the woman Pyrrha recognized as her future murderer. "Do you hear me?!"

"Kid!" Qrow snapped as Nora unfolded her hammer.

"Well?! SAY SOMETHING!"

Mercury and Emerald both looked to their leader, who had remained silent all this time, and regarded Jaune as she might a bug.

"Who are you again?" she asked carelessly.

Jaune jerked back, shocked, before his expression twisted with hate and he drew a version of Crocea Mors that Pyrrha didn't recognize, charging the woman as she summoned a sword of blackened glass and twisted to meet him.

"The Battle of Haven was a messy, hasty one. Emotions flared, tempers snapped, and Ruby and her friends had yet to reach the level of their opponents, despite their training. While Ozpin and Oscar faced the traitorous Lionheart, Ren and Nora fought the giant Hazel, and Qrow Branwen his sister. Weiss Schnee engaged the supposed Spring Maiden, Vernal, in combat, while Yang once again fought Mercury Black and Ruby, Emerald Sustrai. Jaune continued his duel with Cinder Fall, and it was the sight of his life in danger that pushed Ruby to use her silver eyes for the first time since Beacon."

"NO!" the image of Ruby screamed, and Ren winced as bright white light suddenly flashed across the world, even though unmitigated relief swept through him when he saw that his leader was okay and Cinder had fallen to her knees, somehow affected by that silvery light. It cut off quickly, though, as Emerald knocked Ruby out with her green sickles.

"Enraged, Cinder struck out at Ruby and Jaune's friend, Weiss Schnee, who had been faring ill in the battle against Vernal. She was impaled, but it was this danger that led Jaune Arc to discover his Semblance, which boosted the Aura of others and saved his companion's life. While they were thus distracted, however, Cinder, Raven, and Vernal descended down into the Vault, leaving behind Lionheart and an enraged Hazel, who blamed Ozpin and through him Oscar for the death of his beloved sister, Gretchen. It was in the Vault of the Spring Maiden, however, that Cinder's arrogance began to betray her."

Ren blinked as he found himself in the same underground chamber that they had walked through before, except it was the three women standing on the giant wedge-shaped platform instead of him and his team. The image of Raven shrieked a warning and lurched forward, only for the ice Cinder had fired to encase her completely. The image of Vernal whirled away from the door, but not in time to defend herself against the claws –the claws?– that sank deep into her belly.

Icy horror crept down Ren's spine as he took a heedless step back, almost to the edge of the platform, seeing the long, Grimm arm that extended from Cinder's shoulder, no longer hidden by her billowing red sleeve.

"It's nothing personal, dear." Cinder drawled, stepping slowly towards the bandit, who seemed just as paralyzed with horror as Ren. At least he was only watching this, at least he knew that the image of Cinder couldn't hurt him, couldn't even perceive him. For Vernal, all this was very, very real. "You're just not worthy of such power. But I am."

His gut churned as Vernal was sent screaming to the ground, struggling and clawing at the talons embedded in her bloody stomach as Cinder smirked, arm twisting to draw out more pain.

"So I will take… what is mine." she growled, her face becoming dark with avarice. Faint crackling noises drew Ren's eyes sideways, glad to see anything but the woman writhing on the ground in agony, and he narrowed his eyes at the cracks spreading across Raven's frozen form. It burst just as the image of Cinder began to sputter denials, turning towards the image of Raven with rage and bewilderment in her eyes.

Raven's eyes burned with the power of a Maiden.

"Deceived by Raven's long-planned decoy, Cinder was forced to engage the older Maiden in combat. Already off-balance, Cinder was unused to fighting someone of equal or greater power, an unyielding warrior who would not rest until their opponent was defeated, and fared badly against her older foe. A final shot from the forgotten and dying Vernal was all that was needed for Raven Branwen to encase Cinder Fall in ice and leave her to drop to the bottom of the Vault. Raven's acquisition of my Relic, however, was stalled by the timely arrival of her daughter, who had sacrificed her prosthetic arm in order to leap down the shaft to the Vault."

Nora wasn't even paying attention to her surroundings anymore, just staring with a slack jaw and an uncomprehending mind as the image of Yang faced off against her birth mother, right on the large glowing blue circle where Nora had been standing not ten minutes ago. This was so real, and yet so impossible at the same time, her head was spinning.

"I warned you, Yang." Raven's image said as the orange petals from the tree crowning the vault cascaded down around them. "I gave you every opportunity to walk away from Qrow and Oz. So you can believe me when I say this wasn't personal."

"You opened the vault." the image of Yang replied, tersely. Raven smirked.

"Thanks to the chaos you and your friends caused upstairs." she said dismissively, turning away. "I knew you could handle it. You're my daughter after all."

Nora frowned and tried to stop her wince. What she'd seen of Yang's biological mother wasn't kind, but at least –at least she acknowledged her. At least she didn't leave her behind like trash and then never come back.

"Qrow and Oz told me how the Maiden powers are transferred." Yang said by way of reply, making Raven stop walking. "The girl you found… she would've had to have trusted you if you were in her final thoughts -cared about you a lot."

"I'm sure they told you plenty, and you just sat and obeyed." Raven sneered.

"No. I'm starting to ask questions like you said. So tell me: what happened to the last Spring Maiden? Did she die in battle? Was it sickness?" Yang demanded.

"What does it matter to you?" Raven asked dismissively, turning around to face Yang again at last, her expression cold. The anger, the pushiness in Yang's face slowly faded away, replaced by horror as she understood what Raven had done to the former Spring Maiden.

"I can already see the answer." she whispered. "It's all over your face. How could you?!"

"She was scared when we found her!" Raven snapped, folding her arms –but looking down, as though ashamed. She sneered when she looked back up again. "Weak. No matter how much training I put her through, she never learned! She wasn't cut out for this world, and with those powers, she would've been hunted her entire life! What I did-"

"Wasn't personal." Yang huffed, mimicking Raven's earlier words, her mouth twisted in dislike.

"It was mercy!" Raven spat.

"Which is it, mom?" the image of Yang snapped, gesturing curtly with her remaining arm as she began to circle Raven like a jackal. "Are you merciful, or are you a survivor? Did you let me walk into that trap because you knew I could handle it, or because it meant you could get what you wanted?!"

"It's not that simple." Raven said, turning to face her as Yang came to a stop. "You don't know me, you don't know what I've been through, the choices I've had to make!"

"You're right. I don't know you." Yang said, her voice breaking a little. "I only know the Raven dad told me about. She was troubled, and complicated, but she fought for what she believed in, whether it was her team or her tribe! …Did you kill her too?"

Raven's eyes widened before she briefly looked away.

"I've stared death in the face over and over again!" she snarled when she mastered herself and looked back to Yang, eyes flaring with Maiden power. "And every time I've spat in that face and survived, because I'm strong enough to do what others won't!"

"Oh, shut up!" Yang scoffed, sneering at her as she started to circle again. "You don't know the first thing about strength! You turn your back on people, you run away when things get too hard, you put others in harm's way instead of yourself!

Her fist curled, tightened, before it relaxed and she pointed to Raven.

"You might be powerful, but that doesn't make you strong."

There was a second's pause, and Nora's mind whirled. One thing stood out to her, one thing caught her attention –a single loose thread in the complex weave of this conversation and everything she had just heard from Jinn.

The Maidens could open the Vaults. Raven was a Maiden.

Ruby and the others had known that. They had said, right from the beginning, that they knew someone with the "Semblance" to open the Vault, and they had pointed at Raven without hesitation, without even mentioning Vernal. Somehow, some way, they had the memories of the things she was seeing right now, and Nora didn't. She had been joking before when she talked about Jaune being some super-secret agent, mostly, but now she was confronted with this and this was-

Brainwashing? Time loops? A mercy? A punishment?

She didn't know.

She couldn't know.

"Who do you think you are, lecturing me?!" the image of Raven snapped, eyes flaring brighter as she took a furious step closer to the visual echo of Yang. "Standing there, shaking like a scared little girl?!"

"Yeah, I'm scared." Yang acknowledged, before leaning forward and spitting her next words. "But I'm still standing here! I'm not like you. I won't run, which is why you're going to give me the Relic."

"And why would I-" Raven began haughtily.

"Because you're afraid of Salem!" Yang barked, making her mother flinch. "And if you thought having Maiden powers put a target on your back, imagine what she'll do when she finds out you have a Relic. She'll come after you with everything she has."

There was a pause as Raven's seething expression subtly deepened into horror, her eyes sliding aside.

"Or she could come after me." Yang said, making Raven whip her head around to look at her. "And I'll be standing there, waiting for her."

"You don't want to do this, Yang." Raven said after a moment, her Maiden powers fizzling away as her voice softened and the fight went out of her.

"Nope." Yang agreed. "But I'm gonna do it anyway."

She bodily pushed past her mother, checking Raven with her shoulder, and walked towards the open door of the Vault without looking back.

"Thus did the old man and his forces win my Relic. Yang Xiao Long retrieved the Lamp of Knowledge, Cinder was left for dead, though reluctantly, by her comrades, and the back of the White Fang was broken, leaving Adam Taurus outcast and on the run, and reuniting Blake Belladonna with her teammates, who welcomed her with open arms. Lionheart, too, was killed by the Seer Grimm he used to communicate with Salem, a coward to the last. Since Raven Branwen had fled, however, the Relic could not be safely sealed up again, and the group elected to take it with them to Argus, from whence they planned to take ship to Atlas. However, the actions of Ozpin sowed mistrust and hesitation amongst his followers, for even after swearing to tell them no more lies and half-truths, he hid the effects of my Relic, which drew Grimm to it and thus halved their party upon the train ride to Atlas."

Nora let out a half-incredulous laugh, choosing to take her amusement while it was offered, as the image of Yang furiously struggled to tug Bumblebee out of a drift of snow, ranting louder with every tug.

Sure enough, Nora was right to take her jollies when she could, as Yang's complaining began to take a far more dangerous turn and everyone began to argue with Oscar/Ozpin about the Relic, Lionheart, and Ozpin's decisions regarding both of those things.

"Look, we're supposed to be in this together." the image of Yang said, looking frustrated. "You can trust us! We're not gonna turn our backs on you."

"Do you really think Leo was the first?!" Ozpin's image snapped, his voice raising abruptly. The others all froze as he spoke again, his voice becoming tired, resigned. "That he didn't say those exact same words to me? I'm sorry, but you have to understand that my behaviors are backed by experience. I'm not saying that I have reason to think you will betray me. I'm saying that I have reasons for the things that I do, the secrets I keep, the reason I…"

He stopped, hand going to his hip, eyes widening.

"Where's the Relic?"

"It had been picked up by Ruby Rose, who then, at the prompting of Oscar –who knew some of Ozpin's secrets with the slow merging of their minds and souls– used my name to summon me. Two questions remained that era, and Ruby used one of them very simply: What was Ozpin hiding from them? Thus did I begin to spin my tale of his life."

Blake blinked as the image of the snow-lashed forest dissolved into the selfsame white void they'd been in before, accompanied by blue smoke, and her head spun as she realized that Jinn was now telling a story within a story.

Well, perhaps that was a good thing: Jaune and the others would get a firsthand account of the same things she and the others had seen, and know it was the exact and literal truth. They'd told JNR about it afterwards, in Argus, but telling and showing were two vastly different things. You could trust what you saw, especially when it came to Jinn, but people's words were twisty things, capable of even unintentional deceit as shades of meaning colored their words and prior perception warped their understanding. Now Jaune and the others could know the unvarnished, undiluted truth for themselves.

'Once upon a time, there stood a lonely tower, that sheltered a lonely girl, named… Salem. Locked away by her cruel father, Salem was a girl who desired but one thing: freedom.'

Blake watched the image of Salem walk across the tower room, sitting beside her vanity and splaying her hand as balls of magic circled above it, her expression shuttered, melancholy. Blake wondered, irrelevantly, what magic was like, and if it felt anything like a Semblance.

'She lived in a time when kings and their kingdoms were plentiful, when men and women were capable of greatness, and magic was a gift from the gods that all could wield. And yet, there she sat within her tower.'

Neo's jaw hung open a little. She'd –she'd thought of herself as like the Girl in the Tower before, when she was younger, before she'd been able to escape her parents, but to think that this story among all the other fairy tales was real? That this was Salem?

She looked so –ordinary. She looked like Glynda Goodwitch, like Lil' Miss Malachite, like any other statuesque blonde that Neo had seen in Vale or at Haven. She looked like any other woman that had ever existed, like someone you could mistake for a simple housewife in her plain light-colored gown. Nothing like how she was in her later years, like she was when Neo had first met her.

'Until one day, a legendary hero came to brave the challenges within the tower's walls. The people of the lands knew him… as Ozma.'

Neo knew this story. She knew this story. The man in the ancient, ornate armor was someone she knew well, the hero in this tale who braved the tower and rescued the lonely princess from her mad, miserly father.

She knew it down to the very words –So, where should we go now? Wherever you'd like.– because she had always thought that a man like this, courageous and heroic, was as much a fiction as the story of a world blessed by gods and magic. She knew that these two would fall deeply in love and live happily ever after, go adventuring across the world –so why had all of this happened, why was Salem now an enemy of everything…

'Unlike those who had come before, this warrior was not driven by the prize of the young maiden's hand. He fought only for righteousness, and his pure heart and courageous soul prevailed.'

Weiss folded her arms and sighed as she watched, again, as Ozma's image fought through the castle to the tower where Salem was kept. She supposed that she should keep an eye on how he fought, analyze his style on the extraordinarily distant chance that she might need to use that knowledge against Ozpin or Salem at some point, but she just couldn't be bothered.

He fought with a scepter and with magic, and while Ozpin had kept that scepter in the modernized form of his cane, he didn't use magic in fights anymore –not as Weiss had ever seen him. The magic he wielded was not an infinite resource, and he had further drained his pool by giving Qrow and Raven their shapeshifting abilities, and by creating the four Maidens in another lifetime.

'They escaped the wretched fortress, and yet something bound them together. Ozma had been ready to give his life for justice countless times, but now saw a woman worth saving it for. And Salem, to her surprise, found her freedom not in the outside world she had yearned for, but in the eyes of the man that had saved her.'

"So, where should we go now?" the image of Salem asked, a little shyly. Ozma smiled and offered her his hand.

"Wherever you'd like." he said simply, and she took his outstretched hand as her smile grew dazzling.

Weiss shook her head sadly as blue smoke rose up to fade the world away.

'The two fell deeply in love, planned adventures around the world, and lived happily ever after. Or at least…that's what should have been. Ozma, the infallible hero of legend, fell ill. And where all the beasts and blades of the world had fallen short, a single sickness prevailed.'

Sobbing echoed in a small, tight room, the bed now empty, with the effects of many adventures scattered throughout the cozy space. The dry, heaving sobs bounced off of them, a lament that was increased by every tangible, visible scrap of a life that was now no more. The image of Salem clutched Ozma's long, ornate emerald scepter in both hands as she wept.

"How could the gods let this happen?" she whimpered.

'The gods: brothers of light and darkness, creation and destruction. Salem prayed they would see the injustice that had befallen her love and make things right, and thus traveled to the Domain of Light. It was a sacred place, and it was here that the elder brother dwelled beside His fountain of life and creation. It was here… where mankind would fall to ruin.'

Ruby watched the God of Light more curiously even than she had the first time, touching the corner of her eyes. He had been the one to give them silver eyes, right? According to Miss Calavera, at least, and Ruby saw no reason why her guess might be wrong.

"Please…" the image of Salem gasped, falling to her knees and holding out the scepter. "Please, bring him back to me."

"I understand your pain, but you demand of me that which I cannot make so." The god said in His rich, golden voice, speaking gently, as though He was trying to make her understand, while He gestured with both hands. "Life and death are part of a delicate balance."

Salem's eyes widened. "So… you won't do it then?"

"To disrupt the cycle of-"

"But, that's not fair…" Salem managed incredulously, before her face twisted with anger and she shot to her feet. "That's not fair!"

The echoes of her shout had faded and gone among the rocks and the water of the God of Light's pool before He spoke again.

"Let. Him. Rest." He said sternly, and the golden-yellow leaves from His tree blew across the world, leaving Salem suddenly at the bottom of the mountain again, looking up the long flight of stone-carved stairs. She looked down at Ozma's scepter, before straightening her shoulders, her jaw firming.

"No."

'The God of Darkness… None dared to enter His home, as men knew what monstrosities emerged from His blackened pools of annihilation. And so you must understand the dark lord's surprise when He found a lone woman kneeling before Him. Salem understood it well. She told Him of her loss and professed that she knew only He could answer her prayers, all while careful to make no mention of His elder.'

Ruby tried and failed to stop her shiver as the smoke died, showing Salem as she knelt before the bruise-black god and His pools of Grimm, offering up Ozma's scepter again. The God of Darkness couldn't be that bad, surely? She'd heard the gods argue, heard the God of Darkness saying that His brother basked in the powers of creation but did not "own" them, which had to argue that He wasn't completely bad, right? And He'd brought Ozma back in good faith, something that she was seeing all over again as the poor man thrashed and looked about himself with swirling eyes, obviously uncomprehending of everything around him, calming slowly as Salem insisted over and over again that everything was and would be okay.

Ruby was not 100% on whether her thoughts on this were correct or not, but the gods seemed… well, not as godly as she might've expected. Since this wasn't all new and raw to her, she had more time to process things as the argument played out across the world Jinn made, with the image of Ozma being blasted and reincarnated over and over again before her eyes –and Salem's, too. For omniscient beings, the gods didn't seem very good at considering a person's feelings, or finding good solutions to a problem.

Salem had been locked in a tower for her entire life up until she met Ozma, with only the occasional visit of her father and her nursemaid for company, as far as Ruby could understand. Her social skills were probably as sharp as a rusted blade, and her emotional control even less efficient. As a young child, Ruby had learned that when she threw tantrums, she would be punished by having to sit in the time-out corner or by having her treats taken away. When she tried to hog the cake at her and Yang's birthday parties, she was told that that wasn't fair and that sharing was important.

Who had taught Salem even those most simple of social lessons?

As her father lavished gifts and praise upon her in her tower prison, who had taught Salem that her needs, her wants, her desires, weren't the most important thing in the world?

Really, who had taught her that they weren't the only thing in the world?

Children learned manners and emotional control from socializing with other people. Ruby had gotten it drilled through her head by the time that she was seven, that the world didn't revolve around her and that other people had needs and wants just as important as her own.

Salem hadn't.

She had had no one to teach her, except perhaps books and stories, and so by the time she was a grown woman, she did not have nearly the amount of control that she should have at her age, the emotional intelligence that would let her grieve and process properly. Her beloved, Ozma, had been taken away: she would get him back, because she wanted to get him back, and after living a life of privacy and luxury in her tower, there had been no one to ever deny her wants –only her freedoms.

The God of Light hadn't seemed to realize that. He had looked at her and just seen a grieving widow like any other, and hadn't seemed to realize that Salem simply couldn't handle the resulting slew of emotions. She literally did not have the tools to do it.

He had thus told her off and sent her away just as He would any other petitioner who asked to resurrect the dead, not understanding that refusal would only make her sink her heels in deeper, and now, as He and His brother smote and remade Ozma over and over again, they seemed completely unaware of how that sight would affect Salem. They both seemed… inexperienced, in the matter of being godly. They'd called Remnant an experiment, hadn't they? Maybe this was the first world that they'd ever made. Even gods had to start somewhere…

Ruby was brought back to herself with a wince when Salem cried out, the God of Darkness erasing Ozma for the final time. The image of Salem clutched at his ashes, watching them slip out of her fingers with a horrified expression, before she gathered herself with gritted teeth.

"You… you monsters! Give him back to me!" she seethed, before launching herself to her feet, wreathed in crackling magic. "GIVE HIM BACK!"

The God of Light swarmed towards her, mouth agape, and the world tilted upside-down as Salem fell through the sky. Ruby watched as she tumbled, plunging through the pool as something like and unlike Aura shimmered over her, before her tumbling came to a halt and she landed on the surface again, somehow not sinking, like the gods that stood before her, one with arms linked behind His back, the other with His arms linked before His stomach, side-by-side.

"When you first came to me, I did pity you." the God of Light said sorrowfully. "But it is clear now that your selfishness and arrogance have led you astray."

"What did you do to me?" the image of Salem managed as she got to her feet, looking helplessly at her hands.

"I have made you immortal." the God of Light answered.

"Immortal…?" she breathed, confused.

"You cannot die." the God of Darkness elaborated, leaning forward slightly as He expounded upon her punishment. "You cannot be with your beloved."

Disbelief turned to horror on Salem's face as the gods pronounced their judgment in ominous harmony.

"So long as this world turns, you shall walk its face."

"You must learn the importance of life and death." The God of Light finished. "Only then may you rest."

Yeah, see, this was what Ruby was talking about. If the gods were as omniscient as they were supposed to be, they would've realized that Salem was basically throwing the adult equivalent of a tantrum. She didn't understand that following her desires was wrong, because no one had ever taught her that following her desires was wrong. The punishment of immortality didn't fit her crime: if Ruby was the god here, she'd whack Salem over the head with the divine-blessing equivalent of a how-to manual on emotional control and dealing with your grief and be done with it, because Salem's problem wasn't defiance, it was hubris.

She wasn't entirely innocent, though. This was hubris and no mistake: Salem was an adult and she should have been able to understand, even with her lack of socialization, that making a god resurrect someone would set an extremely difficult precedent for everyone else on Remnant, leading to either huge overpopulation problems down the line if the God of Light kept agreeing to such requests, or accusations of favoritism if He didn't. Salem did deserve at least a little punishment for selfishly trying to trick the gods into doing what she wanted anyways.

But not nearly this much.

The image of Salem shook her head in despair, stepping forward and giving a beseeching reach towards the gods –in vain, as the yellow leaves blew past her and whisked the world away to the bottom of the mountain, under a dark, storm-streaked sky.

'Salem was a prisoner once again. Her fruitless attempts to reunite with Ozma eventually became nothing more than acts of spite and defiance against the gods. But perhaps the gods… were not as powerful as they seemed. She had lied to them, turned them against one another. They… were fallible. If she were to turn humanity against light and darkness, she could rid herself of their curse, or at the very least… she could make them suffer.'

Yang stepped out of the way of the sword as the image of Salem flung it across the room, her expression unimpressed. She'd seen this all before, and she thought the same things that she'd spat at Salem on that monstrous Grimm-whale. Yang could excuse heartbreak: she drew the line at trying to break the world in return.

'Salem traveled from one kingdom to another, telling tales of how she stole immortality from the gods, welcomed any swordsman to cut her down, and demonstrated her powers. With the kings and queens in awe, she pulled them deeper into her scheme. She painted them pictures of a time when they would no longer have to watch their loved ones wither and die, when they could claim the powers of their creators for themselves, and in turn, perfect their own design.'

Yang watched expressions flicker across Salem's face as she walked down royal hall after royal hall, boasting, cajoling, and consoling in turn. It was a masterful display of manipulation: Yang barely needed Jinn's narration to know what the image of Salem was saying as she alternatively pleaded with and inspired the ancient rulers in turn.

'All they needed to do… was destroy their old masters.'

Jaune watched in horror as dozens of armored and robed figures charged up the steps to the Domain of Light, trampling the flowers laid down as offerings. Was this what Ruby and the others heard when they saw the vision Jinn used to explain all of Ozpin's crimes? Maybe the gods hadn't been all that perfect in these people's eyes –they had to be discontent in order to take Salem up on her insane offer, after all– but violation of a sacred space, attacking deities… that was just stupid. If the gods could grant immortality, didn't it follow that they'd also have other powers? Powers that these people didn't know how to combat?

Maybe it was the fact that Jaune was so used to being the underdog, so used to video games and comics, but –even without knowing what was about to happen, he knew it would be bad. You couldn't attack the game's final boss when you were still in tutorial: he couldn't have fought Cinder Fall when he'd first gotten into Beacon. Like it or not, there was a hierarchy of power, and between humans and gods, it was pretty obvious who was going to be on the highest and lowest rungs, respectively, even if these ancient humans did have magic.

'The gods had hoped that Salem would learn from her eternal curse, and she did. She learned that the hearts of men are easily swayed.'

The smoke seethed and settled around his feet as Jaune found himself near the pool again, standing on the bright yellow grass between the army of ancient warriors and the gods, as the God of Light rocketed up from His pool, twisting to hover in the form of a sinuous dragon, and the God of Darkness soared down from the sky a moment later, landing on all fours beside His brother. He was more lizard-like, built low to the ground and with ragged purple-black wings, and He gave a bellowing snarl at the gathered humans.

"Who has led you down this path?" the God of Light demanded sternly, coiling to hover before them. He soon got His answer, the image of Salem walking through the crowd of mages and warriors as they parted around her, to stand defiantly before the Brother Gods.

"You…" the God of Darkness said, then roared, rearing up and flaring His wings in a threat display. The image of Salem snarled, and alongside the rest of her army, cast a bolt of power at the god. Colors of every description split and cracked the air, formed from countless sigils and swipes of hand –and the god negligently lifted and spread a clawed forepaw, gathering it all into a roiling ball of purple energy.

A stunned silence fell over the army, the archers lowering their bows and the warriors gaping as the mages looked at their hands, as though seeking an answer.

"My own gift to them…" the God of Darkness murmured, bringing the ball of energy up to consider it. He glanced to the humans again, clenching His fingers around the seething mass. "…used against me."

The God of Light hung His head, looking away as His brother squeezed the sphere tighter and tighter, and Jaune's blood froze as he instinctively started forward, trying to warn the people gathered here.

"Hey, guys, you should run-!"

Too late.

The God of Darkness extended His clawed forepaw and clenched it shut, and a shockwave of purple light slammed out and through Jaune's chest, even in image. It seemed to last forever, a shining, piercing light that hung just at the edge of the color spectrum he could perceive, the endless roar of it rushing in his ears. When Jaune's eyes cleared, he gaped in horror, seeing a spread of golden grass, a still pool, the two gods –and nothing else. The army was gone, and he saw only dark fragments of ash drifting away on the wind as the image of Salem groggily sat up, shining in her immortality.

"No…" Salem gasped, then whimpered. "No…"

She was knocked back with a grunt as the God of Darkness slammed His massive foot into the ground a few feet from her.

"You thought there was no greater punishment we could bestow upon you?" He asked, with the sense of a leer behind His immobile draconic face.

"I'll come back." Salem spat, getting to her feet. "I'll tell the rest of the world of this massacre, build a new army-!"

"You do not understand." the God of Darkness chuckled dreadfully. "There is no one left. You… are all that remains of humanity."

Salem's eyes widened, horror and despair striking her palpably, all at once. Were she not before the gods she so hated, she probably would have fallen to her knees. Were she not still shocked by what had happened, she would have wept.

"This planet was a beautiful experiment, but it is merely a remnant of what it once was." the God of Light said sadly. "We will learn from this failure. I hope that you will learn from yours."

"No!" Salem cried, watching His glow brighten as He began to dissolve into specks of light. She ran forward. "You can't leave! You can't leave! COME BACK!"

"Still demanding things of your creators." the God of Darkness rumbled, and flapped His wings as He surged upwards. A pillar of black-purple light thrust into the sky, and far above, the moon cracked and shattered, one edge crumbling in flames as the god shot straight through it.

As the flaming debris from the moon tumbled out of the sky, meteors striking the ground on every side, Salem finally fell to her knees, and screamed in pure despair.

Mercifully, anything further was blocked out by a rock streaking down from the heavens and landing less than a dozen feet away.

'Once again, Salem was alone…'

Pyrrha exhaled shakily, turning in circles as that blue smoke billowed around her, showing that woman, Salem, walking through an endless vista of destroyed and crumbling civilizations, watching Grimm reclaim the empty buildings and turn them to ruins. Her mind was shuddering at the edges as she tried to take all of this in, understand it, make sense of this senseless horror. This couldn't be –but this had to be real, Jinn said that it was impossible for her to lie or show the future, but what was this if not the future, a future where she was dead? If it was the future, couldn't it also be a lie?

'She cursed the gods. She cursed the universe. She cursed everything: everything but herself. She wandered the face of the planet, awaiting a death that would never come, until fate led her back to the Land of Darkness. This was it. This had to be it –the brother's Grimm, the pools of black that continued to give rise to horrific nightmares. If the fountain of life granted her immortality, then surely, the pools of Grimm would finally take it away.'

Pyrrha shivered in horror, torn between the urge to wrap her arms around herself and curl up into a ball of terror or whip out her weapons and strike everything in sight as the image of Salem strode slowly towards a rocky outcrop, in a sky stained red and purple and black with clouds, with Grimm screeching around her and a viscous pool of black below. This was –insane. The moon was shattered, yes, but the fragments spinning in the sky were much, much farther away than she was used to, and this was all so

–insane–

Pyrrha watched as Salem opened her arms and fell into the black pools willingly, her face almost serene. She watched the murky reflection of Salem beneath the water as her body was thrashed back and forth, like a thousand sharks were trying to rip her apart over and over again, saw the color leach out of her healthy pink skin and golden hair, saw her dress melt away as the destructive force of the black liquid ate away at whatever it could get its metaphorical hands on.

She watched as Salem finally clawed her way out of the pool, dripping tarry blackness, skin stark as a blank page, hair white as snow on the mountaintop, and with eyes that glowed like Grimm.

She must have caught a Chill in the forest.

The infamous line that was included in every single version of The Grimm Child that Pyrrha had ever heard echoed through her mind, but no. No, this wasn't a mere Chill.

This was something far worse.

'She was wrong. This force of pure destruction could not destroy a being of infinite life. Instead, it created a being of infinite life with a desire for pure destruction. And in time, she would find her adversary…'

Ren looked around, nonplussed, as the blue smoke fluttered away to reveal a simple white void, where the image of the man, Ozma, was standing, the God of Light standing before him.

"Where… am I?" Ozma asked slowly.

"We are between realms." the God of Light said gently. "I'm afraid a…tragedy, has befallen your home at the hands of my brother. We have chosen to depart this world, but in our absence, I would like to offer you the chance to return to it."

"I… don't understand."

"Mankind is no more, yet your world remains." the God of Light explained. "And in time, your kind will grow to walk its face once again. However, without our presence, they will be but a fraction of what they once were."

He spread His glowing arms, and four objects bloomed, golden sparkles of light turning to black negative images as an ornate staff, a sword, a crown, and Jinn's lamp manifested and spun in a slow circle before the god.

"Creation, Destruction, Choice, and Knowledge were the ideals upon which humanity was made. Now I leave them behind with the hope that you will learn to remake yourselves."

The four Relics shrunk back together into a golden ball of energy, which the God of Light lifted with one hand to show to Ozma.

"If brought together, these four Relics will summon my brother and I back to your world, and humanity will be judged. If your kind has learned to live in harmony with one another and set aside their differences, then we shall once again live among you, and humanity will be made whole again."

His voice darkened.

"But if your kind is unchanged, if you demand our blessings while still fighting amongst yourselves, then man will be found irredeemable, and your world will be wiped from existence."

Ozma blanched, falling to his knees. He listlessly glanced up as the god went on.

"Until your task is complete, you will reincarnate… but in a manner that ensures you are never alone."

"I'm sorry, but… that world just isn't as dear to me without her." Ozma murmured at last, looking aside with dull eyes, before glancing respectfully back up at the god. "If I may, I'd rather return to the afterlife to see Salem."

"You will not find her there." the God of Light answered, and Ozma's shoulders immediately straightened as life was breathed back into him.

"You mean… she isn't gone?"

"Salem lives." the God of Light answered after considering him for a moment, reluctantly. "But the woman you hold dear in your memories is gone. Heed this warning… where you seek comfort, you will only find pain. So, will you-"

"I'll do it."

Ren watched as the God of Light raised an eyebrow, or what passed for an eyebrow in that featureless face, but didn't argue.

"Very well. Our creation rests within your hands."

'And so Ozma was reborn, and found himself in a world completely unfamiliar to him. Cities looked different. Creatures known as the Faunus bore fangs and claws and were locked away in cages. And without the blessing of the gods, no one could perform magic like mankind was once capable of: no one but himself and a woman known as… the witch. During his years of travel, he heard the same frightened whispers that spoke of a terrifying sorceress who commanded dark powers in the wilds among the beasts and monsters. Ozma was convinced that this witch was Salem, and decided he needed to see what she had become.'

Blue mist solidifying into the shapes of trees and bushes around him, Ren frowned as he watched a man with floppy white-blond hair –apparently Ozma's reincarnation– walk along a forest path, unarmed, unafraid, heading for a dilapidated old cottage. When the door opened, a woman came out, her face set in a snarl and her red eyes glowing –literally– with defensive rage. She wore a long black dress that fell to her feet, edged with red, with a vertical slit over her breast, and a high collar. The sclera of her eyes were black as pitch, and her skin was white as bone. She looked like someone possessed by a Chill, only minus the veins –or was the Chill story merely a warped tale of her, passed down through the centuries?

The anger on her face faded out immediately as she saw Ozma. If Ren had to put a name to her expression, he would've called it 'incredulous joy.'

'Call it magic or call it something stronger, but in that moment, the two knew exactly who it was that stood before them.'

Like they were drawn together by a magnet, Salem walked down the stairs of her cottage, and Ozma walked up the path, and they joined hands, weaving their fingers together in silent greeting.

"What do we do now?" the image of Ozma asked in a voice almost exactly like Professor Ozpin's.

"Whatever we like." Salem answered in a voice that trembled with joy.

'As Salem and Ozma recounted the events which had brought them back together, each withheld parts of their story. Salem, fearing Ozma would reject her, blamed the end of the world on the gods. Ozma, still unsure of where the truth lay, kept his task and the Relics a secret. Though time passed and all seemed well, Ozma's conversation with the God of Light still lingered in his mind. He had found happiness, but humanity seemed more divided than ever before.'

"Are you surprised?" the image of Salem asked, cradling a cup of tea in what seemed to pass for a kitchen. "This world is quite literally godless. These humans have no one to guide them. Perhaps that's all they need."

"What are you saying?" Ozma asked slowly, putting his own tea aside as he raised an eyebrow.

"We could become the gods of this world." Salem murmured, staring into the depths of her cup with shining eyes. "Our powers surpass all others. Our souls transcend death. We can mold these lands into whatever we want –what you want… create the paradise that the old gods could not."

Ozpin hesitated, but then he smiled into Salem's eyes as she laid a hand on his shoulder. She smiled back.

'The hearts of men… are easily swayed.'

Nora tensed as the image of an enormous Nevermore dive-bombed a screaming crowd, and every instinct in her screamed to whip out Magnhild and blow it away with a Dust canister, call for other Hunters to come help –but this was the past, apparently, the far past, and while she'd seen piles of Dust in a marketplace, it was clear that people didn't have Hunters.

She watched with relief, however, as the Grimm was seized by the glow of magic and rapidly bent into a complex knot –unsurprisingly, breaking most or all of its bones in the process as it then collapsed to ashes. Hand in hand, Ozma and Salem rose into the air, wreathed by the glow of more magic, and Ozma had the same scepter that his first incarnation had possessed.

'The two amassed a following. That following grew into a prosperous kingdom. And at the head of that kingdom blossomed… a family.'

Nora blinked in surprise as blue fog billowed up, changed, showing the sort of room that belonged to a rich mansion, with four little girls playing in it, chasing each other around the padded leather couch, with a painting of them and their parents above the marble mantlepiece. The real Salem and Ozma watched with soft eyes nearby, and Nora bit her lip around a snicker as she recognized the bitter feeling of jealousy welling up in her. After seeing all this, seeing everything that this story had to tell, she knew that this tranquil scene wouldn't have a happy ending –but wasn't it funny that some witch-queen of the Grimm looked at her daughters with more love than Nora's own mother had?

The girl in a green dress toddled up to her mother, tugging excitedly on her gown and showing her the small, stuffed black dog that she carried. Nora turned away with a sniff, wiping her eyes, and watched gratefully as the smoke washed over the world again, showing her a glowing red globe filled with the twisting images of combat, Salem watching with satisfaction as her husband looked pensively out the window.

"Are we sure this is right?" the image of Ozma asked, his arms folded.

"You said we needed to bring humanity together." Salem replied evenly, looking over to him. "In order to do that, we have to spread our word… and destroy those who will deny it."

Ozma swallowed and looked away, folding his arms behind his back as he looked to the window again.

"What are we doing?" his reflection asked of him, pointedly. Ozma flinched back and away from the image of his new body, half-raising his arm as though to defend himself, before he regained control and looked down at the ground.

"This isn't what He asked of me…" he whispered. Salem stiffened and looked over to him.

"What did you say?"

The doors swung open, distracting both of them as one of their daughters ran through the gap.

"Mother, father, look!" she gasped excitedly, holding up her hands –as the same multicolored balls of magic Salem had first used whirled into a circle, spinning above and before her daughter as she looked excitedly from one parent to the other, waiting for praise. Salem's face softened all over as she clasped her hands to her chest, smiling proudly, but Ozma looked shocked –then conflicted.

'It was a miracle. Their children could perform magic. But what should have been a joyous occasion was short-lived. Ozma told Salem everything: the true reason the God of Light had brought him back, the Relics that lay scattered around the world, and the day of judgement he had been told to prepare for.'

"Don't you see? None of that matters anymore." the image of Salem huffed, standing up from where she was leaning against her desk. "Why spend our lives trying to redeem these humans, when we can replace them with what they could never be?"

She offered her hand again, and Ozma hesitated –but this time, he backed away, his jaw firm.

Smoke arched across the world, and Blake closed her eyes and turned away as the glow of candles went out. She knew what was about to happen, knew it in the pitchy darkness of night and the soft shuffle of feet across the stone floor, furtive, hushed. She bit her lip as her ears laid back, not wanting to hear this, not wanting to see, not wanting to relive this horrible, horrible moment all over again.

"Mommy?" she heard, innocent and curious. It was merely the voice of a little girl who saw her mother where she should not be, and was happy to wonder why –not Ozma, who saw Salem and knew her to be boiling with rage, saw her hands crooked into claws at her side.

It was the voice of a little girl who didn't know her mother was about to kill her.

Blake covered her ears and backed further away as Salem roared and magic split the air around her, tears stinging her tightly-shut eyes. She hadn't heard the screams the first time, and didn't want to hear them now, didn't want to hear Salem and Ozma raging against each other as they tore the castle down around themselves. She didn't want to see their daughters die, didn't want to know how it had happened, didn't know who, if anyone, they'd been reaching for when magic seared them or masonry crushed them.

She heard Ozma's gasps as he dragged himself, bleeding, away from a tarry smear on the ground, heard the crackle and squish of bone as Salem reformed and regrew herself, ashes and cinders falling all around them in the cracked ruins of their castle. Salem kicked her husband's body over with a snarl, planting a foot on his chest.

"We finally had freedom." she seethed.

"I-" was all Ozma had time to croak before he was engulfed in flames.

'Thus began a long and painful cycle of death and rebirth for Ozma. Some lives were spent in mourning: many were spent attempting to forget it all. But no matter what, his mind would eventually turn back to the task he had been burdened with.'

Neo watched as a parade of men with various skins and ages trudged their way through time. Part of her wondered, if this had been her rather than Salem, if she had the opportunity to make that choice… would she have done it for Roman? Would Ruby have done it for her teammates?

She wasn't sure. She loved Roman to bits, was more than willing to go down swinging by his side, but Neo had always been an in-the-moment person, and the prospect of facing an eternity in which she would, eventually, inevitably, get bored, was a daunting one. And stuff like this! There wasn't a guarantee she'd even be happy by the end of it, and Neo'd had more than enough of stifling circumstances like that back when she'd still lived with her parents.

'And as the centuries went on, Ozma began to learn the importance of living with the souls with which he had been paired.'

Neo let the blue fog take her, and she tilted her head in interest as she saw one of Ozma's reincarnations with a silver-eyed family, clearly his own. They were significant too, weren't they? Salem had wanted silver-eyed warriors for something, had referred to them as important for some reason.

'But no matter where or how he lived, her presence was always felt. If humanity were ever to stand a chance at being united, one thing was clear.'

"He had to destroy Salem." Weiss muttered, folding her arms crossly as she watched one of Ozma's reincarnations charge towards a horde of Grimm overtaking the village he lived in. So much death, so much suffering… and all of it because of a few stupid mistakes. Were the gods such idiots? Did they not think of the consequences of their actions? Punishing Salem was all very well and good, but why punish the whole of the rest of humanity with her? Did they honestly believe that she'd greet the new humans with a smile and a wave, or that she wouldn't eventually attempt to destroy herself in the pools, and thus become corrupted?

'Knowing he could never rid the world of her through any mortal means, Ozma sought out the power of the Relics. Armed with my knowledge, he believed he could fulfill his promise to the God of Light.'

Guilt twisted at Weiss's heart as the smoke blurred the world away again, and she watched the image of the gangly other incarnation of Ozma walk towards Jinn in that same white void. Their responses to this revelation the first time around had been… undiplomatic in the extreme, though she did feel that some of the blame was still on Ozpin's side for not confiding in them more.

"Where are the other Relics?" Ozma asked urgently, stepping forward with the Lamp in one hand as he kept his eyes locked on the floating spirit.

'He asked me his questions.'

"What powers do they possess?"

'And though I gave him my answers…'

"How do I destroy Salem?" Ozma finished, holding himself on tenterhooks as he looked up at Jinn, sitting amid her glowing cloud of smoke.

'…not all of them were to his liking.'

Jinn smiled serenely and leaned forward.

"You can't." she said without fanfare, and Ozma's eyes widened in despair, before he fell to his knees and Jinn faded away in wisps of blue smoke.

"The fallout of my answer was intense. Qrow Branwen, Ozma's trusted agent, struck him and dubbed him the worst luck in Qrow's eternally misfortunate life. Ruby Rose and her friends lost much of their trust in the old man, who, in despair, locked himself away within Oscar's mind, becoming all but gone. It took the long-forgotten farm of Brunswick, and the attack of a swarm of Apathy, to make them reassess their despair."

Despite the unbridled terror this memory carried, Ruby still smiled a little as she saw the basement flash white, burning silver with the power of her eyes. This was a good memory, a good feeling, the first time she had started to grasp the power of her silver eyes and use it to protect people. She still remembered the warmth, the calm, the determination that flowed over her.

Blue smoke flowed over the world, and when it retreated again, they were on the bed of the trailer as Yang zoomed through the snow, Oscar with the diary open in his lap.

"The Apathy." the image of Miss Calavera said tiredly. "They're not strong or ferocious… they drain your will to go on. Bartleby's estate was hemorrhaging money towards the end. He wanted to cut costs on Huntsman protection, but in order to do that, he needed everyone calm…always."

"'Managed to get two away from their pack.'" Oscar read off. "'Hike back was miserable, but got the bastards in the cellar. Wife thinks I was out sealing the waterway entrance. I'll do it tomorrow and tell her the truth once these things take the edge off of everyone… I'm tired.'"

"The next page proves that he did, but not before the rest of the pack followed their missing pair all the way home. My guess is they made their way beneath the estate…through the water tunnels that Bartleby sealed up the next morning. Bartleby's plan worked." Maria said, taking the book gently from Oscar. "No one was angry or sad or scared. No one was anything. And then… no one was left."

She looked sadly at the final page, which only had the words 'I'm tired.'

She then closed the book and tossed it out into the snow.

"Maria Calavera, otherwise known as the Grimm Reaper, was one of the most legendary Huntresses to ever live. She once had silver eyes, cruelly cut from her in an attack ordered by Salem, now replaced by prosthetics. Even after her surgery, however, she did not return to the front lines, afraid that someone else would finish the job. But now, in Ruby Rose, she saw a chance to redeem all her years of inaction, a chance to teach a new silver-eyed warrior to combat the forces of darkness. While entrance to the Atlas military base in Argus was denied to them, Maria set about teaching her new protégée."

Ruby giggled sheepishly as she watched the image of her past self sway back and forth while sitting back on her heels, Miss Calavera enthroned, unimpressed, in the deck chair before her in the back of Saphron and Terra's yard.

"It's not your fault." Maria sighed. "I had my father to teach me, and even he didn't have all the answers. But what he told me makes sense, given what I've seen."

"Was he a Huntsman too?" Ruby's past self asked curiously, tilting her head.

"It wasn't really an official title back in his day. I only knew him as an old soldier and an excellent teacher." Maria said, smiling reminiscently. "I never attended one of those fancy academies of yours, but I scored higher on the license exam than any other Huntsman or Huntress that day."

"You must've been proud." Ruby sighed dreamily. Maria snorted.

"He would've scolded me for showing off." she said, before her smile slipped away. "He'd never been able to find much information about our abilities. Just legends of warriors whose eyes shone like mirrors, reflecting the light of the world into darkness. He found so little, in fact… that it made him cautious. How could such powerful bloodlines be so rare? Unless something was actively seeking to destroy them."

"Salem…" Ruby murmured, lowering her eyes.

"I tried to keep my powers a secret, but as you know, it wasn't enough. I owe my life to my training, and my Semblance. At the end of the day, those are still your most powerful tools." Maria cautioned. Ruby looked up curiously.

"What is your Semblance?"

A lemon dropped out of the tree Maria was sitting under, and her hand shot out to catch it.

"'Preflexes'! A silly name I came up with." she chuckled. "Hard to explain, but I can sense everything better than most, and react to attacks almost before they happen. Combine that with my training and secret ability to turn Grimm to stone… or blind them… or vaporize them. Ahem! And that's how you become the Grimm Reaper!"

Ruby nodded, her eyes shining, before she giggled and tapped her fingers together.

"So, how do I laser beam monsters with my eyeballs?!"

Maria whacked her over the head with her cane as Ruby yelped.

"First, you stop thinking like that!" she barked, then sighed. "I want you to think of all the times you've triggered your powers. What did those moments have in common?"

"I… w-was scared, and stressed." Ruby tried. "Is it emotional? Like unlocking a Semblance?"

"It's emotional, but more focused than that. Think, what is it you wanted?"

There was a moment of silence, before Ruby exhaled softly.

"I wanted to protect my friends." she said.

"Precisely!" Maria applauded. "It is the desire to preserve life which fuels the light inside you. And make no mistake, it is light. Preservation is an extension of creation –or, at the very least, an enemy of destruction. The Creatures of Grimm were made by the God of Darkness, but your light comes from His brother."

"How do you know that?" Ruby asked, blinking in confusion.

"I always knew how to use the light, but never why it only worked on the Grimm. Then, Jinn showed us her vision. Were you paying attention?"

"The God of Light… His eyes!" Ruby exclaimed, then stood excitedly. "Okay, where do we start?"

"Well, not here. The light will only work in the presence of Grimm, meaning the only practice you'll get will be a trial by fire." Maria said regretfully, lifting a butterfly from her platter of fruit. "But, what you can do is focus on creating a state of mind that you can tap into when you need it. Don't think about your light as a means of destroying evil, but as a way to protect the people of Remnant."

"But… that can't be right." Ruby faltered, looking aside.

"Hm?"

"You said the light only reacts to Grimm, but… I used it during our battle at Haven." Ruby explained. "It reacted to Cinder."

"Interesting…" Maria hummed, looking down at her hands, clasped atop the head of her cane. "Perhaps there was something that you just weren't seeing?"

"Maria Calavera spoke truth. While she and her companions were focused on dealing with the revelations caused by the truth of old man Ozpin and the implications it had for their lost fellows, Salem had not remained idle –nor had Cinder, who survived her freezing and her fall to the bottom of the Haven Vault. Using underworld connections, she learned that Ruby and her friends were headed for Argus, and through it Atlas, but was discovered in turn by the criminal Neopolitan, who attacked her in revenge for the loss of Roman Torchwick, slain by Grimm in the Fall of Beacon."

Yang grinned appreciatively as the blue fog dissolved away to show a bar in Mistral at the very same time Neo landed a series of blows on Cinder with her parasol, eventually knocking her heel back into the table where a plump blonde woman and her lackeys sat.

It was nice to see someone else fighting Neo and Cinder, and Yang paused for a moment to sigh regretfully and wonder what it would have been like if one of them had actually managed to kill the other. Since Cinder had apparently been the one to recruit Neo into Salem's inner circle, it would've been beyond therapeutic to watch Neo stab Cinder straight through her remaining eye and then take the powers of the Fall Maiden –and then, knowing Neo, probably bugger off to Vacuo somewhere.

"Cinder, however, was able to sway Neopolitan to her side, and together they set out to Atlas, where –after a scuffle involving a Leviathan Grimm and the first intentional, masterful use of Ruby Rose's silver eyes– Ruby and her friends also arrived. There, however, they were confronted with a kingdom choked by fear, a sky that bristled with the Atlas armada, a city that lay under the heavy-handed burden of military forces –and an old friend."

The blue fog sculpted a smoky street splashed with the glow of Dust lamps, and Yang watched fondly as the image of Penny alighted on green jets of light in front of Yang's past self and the others. Her green eyes, already sparkling, gleamed further as she saw Ruby and her friends, who looked at Penny in awe, mixed well with delight.

"Sal…"

Penny leaned forward as Ruby's excited expression dropped a little.

"U…"

Penny lowered herself to one knee as the air whummed with charging power.

"Tations!"

Ruby yelped in protest, flailing her arms, but was completely unable to stop Penny from tackling her at full speed as Aura scraped against the concrete and Ruby was left groaning on the ground.

"It is such a pleasure to see you all again!" Penny chimed as she bounced back to her feet, Ruby groggily climbing to her own while clutching at the side of her head.

"Penny, I…" she breathed, her eyes starting to shine a little. "I-I thought you…"

"Died?" Pietro chuckled as his robotic chair moved over to Penny's side. "I guess, in a manner of speaking, she did. But we were able to recover her core from Amity Arena once it had made its way back to Atlas. It took me some time, but…"

"I'm as good as new!" Penny said, saluting cheerfully. "Better, even! And now I'm the official protector of the city!"

Blue smoke fountained up around her, and Yang's smile slipped, her face turning sad as the world vanished away.

"While Penny Polendina moved off to secure the rest of the city, Ruby and her friends made to return to her father's workshop in order to learn more of the condition of Atlas. Though they had hoped to make contact with General James Ironwood, the sharp mental and physical divide between Atlas and Mantle –not to mention the presence of his military– made such a proposition difficult. A blessing in disguise came, however, in the form of Ironwood's Ace Operatives."

Now it was Yang's turn to wince as they were all taken out by Dust-loaded bolas, sent wriggling to the ground in ignominy without any warning whatsoever. She'd have liked to think that they'd give a little better showing… but then again, the Ace Ops had taken them by surprise.

"Doctor, good to see you." the image of Clover said, standing over a bound Ruby and gesturing slightly with the Lamp. "Well, we heard a report of an unauthorized ship making an unauthorized landing, followed by an unauthorized use of weapons by unlicensed Huntsmen."

"You can stick your unauthorized straight up your ass." Yang muttered to herself, folding her arms with a scowl as she watched the Ace Ops gather the past images of herself and her team up, ushering them into a transport ship. Oh sure, the Ace Ops could come down to arrest some rogue elements, but when it came to actually helping out while Grimm were running rampant in the city, no no, they were too busy, too important. Penny could take care of all of it on her own, along with whatever droids were clomping around in the city walls. No wonder Robyn had been just about ready to bite Ironwood's head off.

And Uncle Qrow has a license, you absolute morons. Yang thought bitterly. He's practically famous!

"They were taken up to Atlas, the soaring city in the sky, pride of the kingdom. There, at long last, they managed to meet with General Ironwood in his office, and make their plans together. Much to the surprise of Ruby and her friends, Penny, Winter Schnee, and all of the Ace-Ops had been made aware of Salem and the threat she posed, the importance of the Relics and the vital need to protect the Maidens."

"Did you really think you were the only one who got to work on a new plan after Beacon?" the image of Ironwood asked as the blue fog swirled away, standing up from his desk with the echoes of Penny and Winter flanking him on either side, the Relic of Knowledge dangling from one hand. "With Ozpin gone, I needed my own team of people I could trust. So yes, I told them. The Ace-Ops too. Which is why I'm so glad you're here… with this."

The image of Ironwood nodded towards the Lamp as Jaune leaned forward a little, furrowing his eyes in concentration. This was it –everything else so far, all that they'd done, Jaune didn't regret it. When they'd actually made choices to try and combat Salem, he didn't have any that he regretted, any that hadn't turned out okay in the end. The only thing he'd change about anything so far was Pyrrha's death, and that had been out of his hands from the beginning. But this –this was where they had started making mistakes, and he needed to find and identify them.

"Until now, I believed it was impossible to… truly turn the tide against Salem." Ironwood continued, folding one arm behind his back as he continued to hold out the Relic. "Oz has pushed her back, has kept victory out of her claws, but she will keep returning, stronger and stronger… unless we destroy her."

He set the Relic down on the desk, where it hovered. The image of Ruby followed the movement with her eyes, looking down in thought for a moment before glancing up at Ironwood.

"But… what about the Atlas Relic?" she asked with a worried shrug.

"You mean the Staff of Creation?" Ironwood replied.

"It's safe inside the Vault!" Penny chirped, cutting off any answer he was about to give as she jabbed a gloved finger up in the air.

"And the Winter Maiden?" Qrow asked.

"She is secure," Winter replied promptly, and hesitated before adding, "-and in stable condition."

"Stable condition?" Yang asked skeptically, both arms folded across her chest as she raised an eyebrow at Winter. "What does that-"

"She's, uh, not exactly a spring chicken." Qrow interrupted sheepishly, holding out a hand to stow his niece's suspicions.

There was a long pause, and Ironwood sighed.

"I know how this all looks." he said. "Recalling my military? The embargo? I probably don't seem the most… trustworthy right now."

"Then why continue it?" Blake asked, a little confrontationally.

"The people of Mantle are hurting!" Nora added, throwing out her hand.

"I needed to ensure Salem couldn't infiltrate Atlas." Ironwood said firmly. "And I wanted my military here, protecting my people."

"But it's not protecting them!" Yang pointed out. "It's making everyone hate you."

Ironwood closed his eyes and gave another little sigh.

"It's a price I'm willing to pay." he said, opening them. He tapped a button on his desk, making shutters slide down over the outside of the bay windows of his office, bathing them all in darkness. Ironwood surveyed the group as he pushed his shoulders back, his voice becoming brisk. "Just as you all have been entrusted with the knowledge of Salem's existence, I need you all to trust me. I have a plan."

The circular floor design marked with Atlas's emblem began to rise, making Ruby and Oscar hastily step off of it as the floor cracked and separated, spinning in several neat segments as it expanded to form a large table.

"Ozpin believed the best way to fight Salem was to do so in secret –whether that was the right choice or not… isn't for me to say." Ironwood said, walking down the small flight of stairs where his desk was placed to stand at the table with the rest of them. "But we find ourselves in a position of needing, well, a new approach."

"And what do you suggest?" the image of Qrow asked, quirking an eyebrow.

Ironwood pressed a remote that he had been holding behind his back, creating a floating hologram of blue Hard Light Dust. Jaune's past image blinked in recognition.

"That's… Amity Colosseum." he said, staring at the cone-shaped building with a series of massive Dust crystals sticking out of the bottom.

"Where the Vytal Festival is held?" Oscar asked, glancing aside.

"Indeed." Ironwood said as the gathered students all looked at each other and back at the hologram. "When Beacon fell and everyone on Remnant lost contact with one another, I knew our current system was outdated. Amity was built to bring the nations together, and it will serve that purpose once again."

He pressed the remote again as a slender antenna spiked upwards from the Amity Colosseum's roof.

"Isn't it great?" Penny gushed. "We're not going to just replace Beacon Tower. Building a new tower on top of Amity Colosseum will re-establish global communications!"

"By launching the tower high into the atmosphere, our scientists believe we can create a sort of… satellite, out of reach of the Grimm, and capable of maintaining global communications even if we were to lose another tower." Winter continued solemnly.

"That… is great." Ruby murmured, looking back to the projection in awe.

The image of Qrow seemed less enthused.

"James…" he said warily. "You don't need the entire military for this."

"I will for the next part. Ironwood said after a moment. "Where I finally tell the people about Salem."

There was another, much longer silence, as RWBY, JNR, and Oscar all looked at each other.

"Huh." Qrow huffed out an almost-laugh. "So that's why you withdrew your troops –to handle the panic that would break out in Atlas."

"Yes." Ironwood agreed. "Panic is inevitable, and panic brings Grimm. But I believe we are ready. Once Atlas has come to grips with the fight ahead, I'll use Amity Tower to spread the message to all of Remnant."

"But everything will fall apart." Weiss said. "Grimm will be everywhere!"

"You're right." Winter said calmly from beside her. "But Atlas is willing and prepared to assist."

Atlas would gain a political and military foothold in every kingdom on Remnant. Jaune thought. If this worked, they'd be touted as the heroes of the age, as the saviors who spread the world of a global enemy and nobly rushed in to help the other struggling kingdoms… while they resolutely ignored the fact that it had been their news to control from the beginning, their announcement that had caused the other kingdoms to struggle against increased Grimm hordes in the first place.

"Trying to hide the truth from the world will eventually kill us all." the past image of Ironwood said, and pushed the button for the final time as the hologram disappeared and the table withdrew back into the floor, the shutters pulling up.

"Oz spent his whole life, many lives, keeping this secret." Qrow said reluctantly after a few moments, lowering a hand from his chin to look at Ironwood.

"I know." he agreed, closing his eyes and bowing his head. "But since Beacon, things have changed."

"Things had indeed changed. Fearing the imperial might that Ironwood had shown himself willing to wield, Ruby and her friends kept the secrets of my Relic from him –the knowledge I had bestowed that there was no killing Salem, and the knowledge that there was one question left to ask. Hidden too was the knowledge that Ozpin had begun to tentatively return to Oscar's mind, for they did not quite yet trust the general, and wanted to be sure of their hand before it was shown."

The rising fog of blue mist faded away again, showing a group of ships plowing through the icy Atlas air. The side door of one of the sleek Mantas slid open, revealing the images of Ruby, Weiss, Blake, and Yang, all in much different outfits. Ruby's hair was choppier, slicked and spiked and swirled around her head, and Weiss wore her side ponytail in a long braid, while Blake had chopped hers short at the shoulder in a sleek bob. Only Yang's golden hair remained the same.

Pyrrha watched as they all leapt out of the ship, Ruby, Yang, and Blake using their weapons as Weiss used her Semblance to slow their descent towards what looked like an abandoned mine. Those same –Ace Ops?– tumbled out of the sky along with them, and then Pyrrha moved with the world to see her team in another Manta, similarly changed. Jaune had his hair cut and styled upwards, spiky just like Ruby's, whereas Ren's long hair had been braided in a tail down his back. They, too, wore different outfits, but something clenched around Pyrrha's heart as they leapt out of their own ship and she saw that Jaune's armor, his weapon, they were all the same to the upgrades he had now, and Ren and Nora's were just as suspiciously familiar.

She watched as the Ace Ops and the two teams fought their way into the mines, and her heart clenched again as she saw that Team RWBY, too, had the same upgraded weapons that they had been showing off in spars towards the latter parts of the semester. What was- did this mean-

Jinn could not show the future. Jinn could not lie.

So why was Pyrrha seeing familiar things so far in the future, a future when she was supposedly dead? How could this be possible?

"In the wake of their first successful mission, Ironwood at last awarded Ruby and her friends with what they had sought for so long –licenses that proved them accredited Huntsmen and Huntresses. During their time spent at Atlas Academy, Ruby and her friends trained and put these licenses to good use, providing aid to the beleaguered Mantle and supporting the efforts to build the Amity Communications Tower."

Pyrrha had decided, somewhere around the ending of Salem and Oz…ma's tale, that she was just going to sit and absorb this barrage of information, and try to deal with and understand it later. The tale Jinn was unweaving was slowly and steadily building up to something, answering almost every question Pyrrha could think except why and how all of this had become what she knew now, and Pyrrha trusted the spirit to eventually finish it out.

She therefore watched her friends and teammates slaughter Grimm, walk along the Mantle protective wall, and in Jaune's case, guide a group of schoolchildren across the street, without judgement. Pyrrha even scoff-laughed as she saw a group of older women ogling him, one even going so far as to offer him a baked casserole.

She saw as her friends slowly mastered themselves, going from playing catch-up with the Ace Ops to fighting them and the other Hunter cadets in the large training arena with skill and confidence.

"But though their skills were improving, though Ironwood had taken draconian steps to guard his kingdom… they were not alone in Atlas. Arthur Watts and Tyrian Callows had infiltrated the kingdom, and they were not slow in advancing their plans, nor in choosing their most effective pawn."

"A spitting image of you, this lad, Jacques."

As the blue fog seethed and settled, Ren watched a tall, mustachioed man wearing a dark coat lined with fur push his way into what seemed to be an expensive office, brushing past a boy who slightly resembled Weiss.

"Creepily so, I might add." the image of the man, who Ren presumed to be Watts, added in an undertone. "He's definitely inherited your… heh, affect."

"Arthur…" Jacques breathed, then sternly looked to his son. "Whitley, leave us. And shut the door."

Whitley hesitated a moment, glancing suspiciously at Watts, before his father barked at him.

"I said shut the door!"

Whitley obeyed, and Jacques turned back to Watts, who had been making a casual perusal of the many bookshelves lining the office. Ren watched the two images warily, wondering what was about to happen. Would Jacques be killed? Salem's forces had already shown that they had no mercy towards their enemies or even their allies when they were no longer of use, but… Jacques was still, presumably, of use.

"I… you're supposed to be dead." Weiss's father said, apparently trying to recover his image as a cool businessman as his voice smoothed over and he leaned back in his leather armchair.

"That is what I wanted people to think, you're right." Watts said amicably, pausing to bend over the chair slightly. "However, I've heard things about you too, Jacques. Namely… that you have an Ironwood problem."

"Tch!" Jacques scoffed as Watts leaned away from his shoulder. "That bastard is costing me more money every day with this embargo. I'd lay off every employee in Mantle if I wasn't trying to get their damn votes for this Council seat!"

The image of Watts folded his long legs into the chair beside Jacques's.

"What if I said you can have your cake… and eat it, too?" he asked suavely.

"Tensions were heating up in Atlas and Mantle both as the Huntress Robyn Hill vied with Jacques Schnee for the council seat and the ability to make decisions for the people. Ironwood, who trusted neither of them, watched the approaching elections with dread, while on the very eve of the final announcement, Robyn Hill and her followers preemptively staged a victory party, confident in their 70-30 lead. Ruby Rose, Lie Ren, and Nora Valkyrie decided to attend while Penny Polendina and Marrow Amin acted as security, and their friends partook of movies and dance clubs in an effort to take their minds off the situation. However…celebrations of any kind would prove premature."

Ren found himself in what seemed to be a warehouse in Mantle as the blue smoke swirled away to form the walls and ceiling, watching a large crowd cheer at a woman with white-blond hair tied back in a high, sloppy ponytail as she walked off a stage. Above her was displayed her face and the face of Jacques Schnee, with a 54% and 46% counter respectively.

A familiar sigh had him turning, and he saw the images of himself and Nora standing a little bit away from the crowd as she looked at him in exasperation.

"Ren, what's going on? Why won't you just talk to me?" she asked, her voice almost breaking.

"You know I've…" Ren's image mumbled, and took a deep breath. "Never… been really good with talking."

"Then screw talking!" Nora said, and grabbed him. Ren's mouth dropped open as she pulled him –er, his image– into a passionate kiss, and he turned red as he saw his other self clearly responding.

Well, that was. That was a thing.

He looked around, trying to find Ruby's image to see what she was doing, what she was thinking of this, because it was wildly uncomfortable to watch himself kiss Nora, but then he saw Ruby standing rigid at the front of the crowd, staring in horror at something beyond his line of sight as everyone excitedly began to count down to the end of the vote.

"WATCH OUT!" she cried, and the room suddenly went pitch black. Oddly enough, Ren could still see, and what he saw as he hastily pushed through intangible, rushing shapes was a man with a long brown braid and a metallic scorpion tail, whirling and slashing in a disturbingly familiar manner as he hacked his way through the screaming crowd.

Across the room, Ren saw the echo of Penny's eyes glow green, sweeping the room in panicked but steady movements as she sought for the killer.

"Put down your weapon and surrender!" she shouted at the man the moment she spotted him, her swords whirling to point in his direction. Rather than answering, he darted into the crowd and was gone again, heading for the front of the room.

As Ren looked up at woman on the stage, Robyn, he saw that she was guarded by a sheep Faunus with white hair, but even as he watched, Ren saw the image of the assassin jump up on stage, swiping through the Faunus's Aura with a purple-glowing hand before he slashed open her torso with his wrist blades, making her scream and crumple. The man flipped over the collapsing Faunus's head as Robyn whirled, her own weapon at the ready, but the wounded girl's cry had attracted Penny's attention as she turned.

"Robyn!"

Penny's boots flared green as she shot herself off, tackling the image of Robyn to the ground as the man stood –and then, oddly enough, jumped up into the rafters and was away. On the ground, Robyn rolled over and pointed her crossbow-gauntlet at the only thing she could see –Penny standing above her, slowly turning in place as her floating swords spun in a circle around her, the lines on them glowing as green as her eyes.

The lights suddenly flickered on, and Ren was left standing in a scene of carnage as Penny looked around in clear bewilderment, standing in the center of the stage.

"And the winner of the Atlas Council election is… Jacques Schnee!" a robotic announcer intoned as the screen changed behind her.

"It's Ironwood's robot!" someone bending over one of the bloody victims cried, pointing at her viciously.

"Penny…" Robyn breathed, still staring at her as disbelief slowly turned to anger.

"I…" Penny's image began, taking a half-step back as her swords folded up and stored themselves, clutching her hands to her face in horror. "I didn't!"

The world dissolved into wisps of blue smoke.

"In a masterfully conducted effort to sow distrust amongst all levels of Atlas and Mantle, Tyrian Callows killed Robyn Hill's supporters while Arthur Watts moved to ensure Jacques Schnee's victory, as well as digitally edit the videos to show that it was Penny, not Tyrian, who had been responsible for this massacre. Tensions flared across the city, and Ironwood conducted a prohibition of assembly, while Robyn Hill and her Happy Huntresses engaged in hit-and-run attacks against the supplies meant for Amity, redirecting them towards the city of Mantle. Within Ruby's group of allies, loyalties and ideas began to fracture."

Nora tilted her head with interest as the smoke washed away to show Ironwood's office again.

"But we're so close." Ruby's image was pleading. "There has to be some way we can finish the tower."

"There is." Winter said. "Declaring martial law."

Nora was happy to see that the image of her was displeased with that idea.

"You're not… actually considering that, are you?" the image asked.

"What's more important?" Ironwood muttered, almost to himself. "Establishing communications, unite the world? Or appeasing a few city blocks?"

"Don't make it sound trivial when you know it isn't!" Nora's other self snapped. "You keep talking about how we just need a little more time, but you're not the one having to struggle!"

"We have all had to make sacrifices for the greater good." Ironwood said, turning to face her. "Mantle has had to bear a lot of the burden, yes, but-"

"They're bearing all of it!" Nora's image snarled angrily, stepping forward. "The longer this waiting game goes on, the harder each day gets for people down there, and now you wanna send in more soldiers? You can't force people to fall in line! If you do that, you'll just be trading all of these problems for the Grimm!"

Nora grinned and gave her image an approving shoulder-bump as blue smoke began to fountain up again, not really caring that her fist went right through the image of herself.

"His choice to arrest rather than cooperate with Robyn Hill marked the first true sprouts of rebellion in Ruby's group. Yang Xiao Long and Blake Belladonna, who had been sent on the mission to stop her from stealing supplies that were being ferried to Amity, pursued Robyn and stopped her in an alley, begging her to listen."

The blue fog darkened, hardened, and Nora looked around with interest at the shadow-shrouded picture of Mantle's back streets, and Robyn Hill, stepping forward into the moonlight.

"Take my hand." she said, reaching for the images of Nora's two friends as they blinked at each other.

"What?" Yang asked, which Nora figured was fair enough.

"You said time is short." Robyn snapped. "Either take it, or I'm gone."

Blake firmed her jaw and stepped forward as Yang remained where she was, taking Robyn's hand as a shimmering lilac Aura spread up both their hands to the wrists. Robyn looked Blake dead in the eye.

"Tell me again." she said. "What is Ironwood building out in the tundra?"

"A new communications tower." Blake told her after a moment of hesitation. "He's trying to help… everyone."

The shimmer of Aura turned green, and Robyn let go of Blake's hand in surprise.

"You're telling the truth." she breathed.

"Handy Semblance." Yang commented as Blake backed away, looking at her own hand in surprise.

"Why keep that a secret?" Robyn scoffed, throwing out her arms.

"Because he doesn't know who he can trust." Blake explained. "Atlas isn't out to get anybody. The people murdering civilians in Mantle are just trying to make it look that way. And if those same people learned about Amity, they'd do everything in their power to destroy it."

"So who are "they"?" Robyn asked impatiently. "Who's actually behind this?"

Nora jumped a little as a communicator beeped and an unfamiliar voice came through. "Yang, Blake, where are you?"

"We can't tell you that part yet." Yang said to Robyn hurriedly, tapping her ear to dismiss the message.

"Bullsh-"

"Look, we are trusting you," Yang snapped, stepping forward a little. "-so trust us when we say that Amity Tower needs to stay a secret until it's done. We just need a little more time."

Several voices echoed in the distance, hasty, martial.

"Run!" Blake said to Robyn, already turning to dash down the alleyway. "We'll throw them off."

Robyn hesitated a moment, until she began slowly backing away.

"I won't stop, until I know the whole truth." she told Yang, who hesitated for a moment before running off to join Blake as they were all shrouded in bluish smoke.

"Unaware of the first small crack in their unity, General Ironwood was telling Oscar Pine of the Atlas Vault, and the Staff of Creation, and what lay within. Oscar, meanwhile, was troubled by Ironwood's hardheaded approach, by his reluctance to consider other options, and offered what little council he could."

Blake watched as the images of Ironwood and Oscar walked along the path to the Vault of Creation, surrounded by jagged blue rocks and glowing lines that almost blended in with Jinn's wispy fog. Ironwood was talking even as their images wavered into place.

"-with the Staff, we have a constant, seemingly limitless energy source. Oz once speculated it could take us as high as we wanted… To tell you the truth, that served as the inspiration for the Amity Project. Get a communication tower up in the sky, higher than the Grimm can survive… so we never lose contact with each other again."

"But… you're not using the Staff to raise Amity." Oscar said hesitantly.

"The Staff can only be used for one purpose at a time." Ironwood explained. "We're going to have to do Amity the old fashioned way, Dust and all."

There was a companionable moment of silence, before Oscar spoke up again.

"It feels strange, knowing that part of me helped come up with all this." he said, looking up at the glowing yellow door.

"You'll get used to it, I'm sure." Ironwood said complacently. "Eventually, you won't even know who's who anymore."

Oscar did not look pleased with that assessment, his eyelids lowering in a flat look before he glanced at the ground and breathed out a small "Right."

"We… didn't always see eye to eye." Ironwood said, still looking ahead to the Vault with a slightly mournful expression, not even noticing Oscar's discomfiture. "But… ah, I wish I could ask Ozpin what he thought of all of this."

"Well, I can tell you what I think." Oscar said with a hint of forced brightness, stepping forward to stand even with him. "The path you're heading down, where you're the only one with the answers, where you do the thing you think is right no matter the cost… it's not going to take you anywhere good."

Ironwood hesitated a moment, before his expression went a little cold and he turned, walking back toward the elevator.

"We have to stop Salem." he said, leaving Oscar where he stood. "Nothing matters more."

"Some things matter more, I think." Oscar called after him as Ironwood paused. "Keeping our humanity. It's… what makes us different from her."

Ironwood started walking again, coming to a halt only as he reached the elevator pad.

"Sometimes I worry that's her greatest advantage. Without humanity, does she still feel fear?" he murmured, starting to type out a sequence. "Does she ever hesitate? When Salem hit Beacon, even with all my ships, all of my soldiers… I was no match for her. I've never felt so helpless. The way she… told me she was there."

His powerful body trembled for a moment, eyes going blank, before Ironwood shook himself a little, visibly coming out of his fugue, as the elevator whirred down to their level.

"It's okay to be afraid." Oscar reassured him. "You just can't let that fear control you."

"I am not going to end up like Lionheart." Ironwood scoffed, before looking at Oscar. "Do you believe in me?"

Oscar hesitated for a moment, thinking, and then walked forward to join him.

"I do believe in you… but, not only you." he said, passing Ironwood to stand on the elevator platform. "I think the best thing you could do, is sit down and talk with the people you're most afraid to."

Ironwood blinked, then chuckled fondly. "Now you are starting to sound like him."

"Wishing to lord it over his defeated enemies, Jacques Schnee held a banquet and invited Robyn Hill and James Ironwood to attend, as well as the rest of the Atlas Council. Suspicious at the coincidences involved in his election, Ruby and her friends determined to investigate, and upon interrogating her mother for the records of the video network she had strung throughout the estate, Weiss Schnee learned the truth."

As she watched the image of Weiss burst through the doors amidst a cloud of settling blue fog, Blake was unable to stop her grin. Years of mental and physical labor were culminated in this moment –seeing Jacques Schnee get what was coming to him as Weiss laid down her Scroll and projected the damning video of her father sitting with Watts.

For the merest fraction of a microsecond, she almost wished Adam was here to see it.

"What did you have in mind?" the recording of Jacques asked.

"James Ironwood never recognized my genius." Watts sneered. "After everything I gave him, he still disgraced me. I simply wish… to return the favor."

"What's in it for me?"

"A seat on the council. All I need is your login credentials for the Atlas network. You promise to make Ironwood's life a waking nightmare, and I will guarantee you victory at the polls by giving the voters down in Mantle a little… "digital push," if you will."

"I always knew you were a good scientist, Arthur… but I never knew you were such a good salesman."

"Enough." Ironwood growled, and Blake smirked without shame as everyone turned to the flinching image of Jacques, who sputtered denials, then tried to flee. He was stopped, however, by Weiss's summoned Armor Gigas, and she held up her Huntress license with pride.

"Jacques Schnee, you're under arrest!"

"The first perceived crack in the armor of their enemies invigorated Ruby and her friends, and they quickly sat down to an interrogation. They learned, however, far more than they liked."

Blue fog lifted up and swirled everyone away, but then Neo blinked and looked around from her spot lounging in one of the meeting room's chairs as it swirled back again, forming the rest of Team RWBY, as well as that Penny girl, standing and watching. Jacques Schnee was now pinned in his chair while everyone glared at him, from council members to Huntresses.

"This is all a great leap, James." Jacques was saying nervously.

"No, it's quite simple really –now that I know Arthur Watts is alive." Ironwood growled. "Working with a madman like Tyrian Callows, it would be easy for someone like him to coordinate an unthinkably heinous act like the one in that warehouse. Watts designed Mantle's entire security network, he used that access to hack the surveillance system… and frame someone else for the job."

Everyone looked at the robot girl as Ruby put a comforting hand on her shoulder, before glancing back at Jacques.

"All while stealing an election. And once you became a Councilman, your newly granted clearance gave him a backdoor into Atlas' secure network. But you probably hadn't even considered that, had you?"

"The people that died that night, their blood is on your hands." Robyn spat.

"Jacques Schnee must be tried, not only for treason, but as an accessory to murder." one of the council members agreed, some old man with a suit and greying black hair.

"These are outrageous accusations!" Jacques shouted desperately. "I only intended to win the election. I had nothing to do-"

"'Only'?!" Robyn snarled, whipping her chair into the wall with a crash. Neo gave an appreciative whistle: wanton destruction always pleased her, and there was nothing as fun as destroying the possessions of a rich man.

"What else will he be able to do with the access Jacques has given him?" the other council member asked after a startled pause, a stout woman with dark skin and a maroon suit.

"With enough time… whatever he wants." Ironwood admitted reluctantly. Before anyone could say anything else, before Jacques could do more than cringe, all three council members' Scrolls pinged. They withdrew them, the man answering a call as the woman opened her display screen.

"Wait… wait, what?" the man spluttered, incredulity warring with fear in his voice. "What do you mean the heat has gone off?!"

"You have to believe me, I-I-I didn't know he was planning this." Jacques stammered as everyone gasped. Winter slammed her hands on the arm of his chair, making her father flinch away.

"You are going to shut your mouth, and get the heating grid up and running again." she snarled. Jacques gulped.

"I… I've been informed that we can't get into the system." he said reluctantly. "It's… it's been blocked off."

"Without heat down there… people are going to die." the councilman said as Robyn walked over to a window, putting her hand against it. Neo rolled her eyes –she might not have been here for this meeting, but she knew all this already. It was old news, and not even the novelty of being in the Schnee manor's meeting room could make up for it. She'd already canvassed the estate prior to this meeting in the original timeline, when she'd gone in on Cinder's… orders. Not request. That still grated.

"General Ironwood?" Ruby's past echo asked, walking over to the general. "How bad is it?"

"He's using Jacques' credentials." Ironwood answered grimly, paging through his Scroll. "We can follow that activity on the network. If he's found his way into the Amity system… no, the secret is safe. For now. But, if he learns about Amity, she learns about Amity."

"Can you block his access?" Weiss asked as he began to pace, and Neo rolled her eyes and stuck out her tongue as the ghostly image paced right through her feet, extended off the edge of her chair.

"It's too late." the image of the general answered, oblivious. "He's already starting to lock us out."

"Can we trace him somehow?" Blake tried. "Find out where he's hiding?"

"He's going to be mobile. We need his access point." Ironwood said, coming to a stop, eyes still fixed on his Scroll. "We need to get him out in the open."

"Okay, so let me get this straight." Robyn said, making them all blink and look up at her.

"Yep, still here everyone." she drawled, shooting a finger gun at them, before sobering and starting to walk towards Ironwood. "How do a disgraced scientist and disappeared serial killer find each other, General? Why would they target you? And why are you working so hard to hide the Amity Communications Tower from them?!"

"You know?" Ironwood asked, shocked.

"I used to think you were hiding something to protect yourself." Robyn answered, coming face to face with him. "But I can tell there's something much bigger going on here. Now I think it's to protect something else. Us… Atlas, maybe even all of Remnant. And you're afraid of what might happen if you tell the truth."

Neo looked up and over as the doors swung open, revealing one of the Ace Ops and Ozpin's new host.

"General, the Grimm are all over Mantle." the man said. "The air fleet's doing everything they can, but they can't easily target Grimm in the city without risking casualties."

"This… this is what I was afraid would happen." Ironwood almost hissed, turning away from everyone and walking towards the wall as he put a hand over his mouth.

"Sir, we need ground support, now." Clover said.

"What we need is to start evacuating Mantle." Robyn argued. "If it's completely overrun, it's not going to be safe anywhere. Use the fleet to get-"

"If I move the fleet, then Atlas is vulnerable!" Ironwood shouted, gesturing sharply. Atlas, Neopolitan noted with a cynical roll of her eyes, not Mantle. Mantle could take care of itself, lack of technology and army be damned. "I… I tried to keep the kingdom safe. And now we're losing everything."

"General?" Oscar said tentatively, stepping over. "Earlier, you asked for my advice."

"I wanted Ozpin's advice." Ironwood muttered, not looking at him.

"And his advice probably would've been to keep your secrets." Oscar said. "When we first got here, you already knew that wasn't the right course. You had a new plan."

"It's time to give up on that plan. It's all falling apart."

"The panic you were worried about? It's already happening. The secrets you're keeping? They're about to be in the open anyway." Oscar said, spreading his arms. "It's time. Tell the truth."

"You're not alone." Ruby added, stepping up to him with a smile. "We can do this together."

Ironwood nodded, and smiled, before smoke arched across the world.

"While General Ironwood organized troops to protect Mantle, he also laid a cunning trap to lure out Arthur Watts. By a creative use of Robyn Hill's Semblance, he broadcast an announcement that would inspire the people of Atlas and Mantle, telling them of Salem and how she sought to divide humanity. Worked within this message of truth was a lie: the fact that the Amity project was complete and ready to launch. Knowing that Watts could not resist such a target, Ironwood and Robyn worked together to hide this fact while still proving the truth of Salem's existence via her Semblance to citizens."

Neo stretched her mouth in an even-more-obnoxious yawn, pretending to fan herself, as the Huntresses and Huntsmen of the two teams were shown scurrying around saving civilians, and the message that she had seen on her Scroll while Cinder hovered over her shoulder played out over holograms all across the city. She knew this, and she hoped that wherever Jinn was, she could see how bored Neo was with this repetitive story.

"Everything was going according to plan. Citizens of Mantle were being loaded and ferried to Atlas, Tyrian Callows had been arrested due to the combined strengths of Robyn Hill, Qrow Branwen, and Clover Ebi, and James Ironwood had faced Arthur Watts in open battle and defeated him, taking his bag. However… Cinder Fall had come to Atlas, and she knew her foe well. By leaving a chess piece made of black glass –a queen, no less– in his office, she sent James Ironwood spiraling into paranoia. Believing himself already compromised, he sent Winter Schnee running to protect the Winter Maiden, and claim her powers. And… he called Team RWBY and JNR back to Atlas Academy. Jaune and his team went to secure Oscar Pine, who held my Relic, while Ruby and her team went to answer the general's call… alongside the Ace Operatives."

Weiss took a deep breath as the smoke sculpted itself into the familiar shape of Ironwood's office, of her team, of the Ace Ops standing with them. She didn't want to see this again, and yet, in a way, she knew that she had to. When emotions weren't running high, when she wasn't involved with this scene, she could read it and let it play out, could analyze it and perhaps eke something helpful out of this unmitigated fiasco of a situation.

"We have made a critical error." the image of Ironwood announced as he swung around in his chair. Slowly, deliberately, he placed a queen chess piece made of black glass on his desk. "The Black Queen was the symbol Salem showed us before we lost everything. Her way of telling us she was inside… that it was too late. We stopped Watts. We stopped Callows, but someone was here."

He jabbed a finger at his desk to emphasize.

"They put this in my office to tell me that-"

A look of panic crossed his face as he raised his hand, almost clutching the side of his face.

"What if Mantle was just a distraction?! What if it was just to draw us away from the academy to, to-!"

"Sir. I-it's going to be okay." Weiss's past image faltered, stepping forward and gently holding out her hands. "We've got Mantle on our side now, and-"

"How do we know that wasn't part of their plan?" Ironwood demanded, slapping his uninjured hand onto the desk, before shooting to his feet. "How do we know they didn't want us to bring people into Atlas by the thousands?"

"In trying to save everyone, we left ourselves most vulnerable." the image of Vine murmured thoughtfully.

"Salem has been one step ahead of us this entire time!" Ironwood said, slamming his fist down onto his desk with enough force to dent it, jostling the chess piece and making it roll over the wood with a soft clinking sound.

"It's… glass." Ruby murmured, stepping forward tentatively to look at it, before her voice hardened and she looked up. "Black glass. This was Cinder."

"She's alive?" Yang hissed. "And she's here?!"

Ironwood gave a weary sigh, propping himself up by his arm resting on the desk. "If Cinder's here, then –for all we know, Hazel's here, too!"

"Sir, this isn't over yet." the image of Blake said, soft and encouraging, as she took a step forward. "We're with you."

She put a hand to her chest, meeting his eyes levelly. Ironwood straightened up, his voice dropping low, ominous.

"Are you with me?"

Blake's ears folded over in guilt.

"Sir?" Vine asked, confused, as Blake slowly backed away.

"How did Robyn know about the Global Communications Project?" Ironwood asked, slowly enunciating each word. The Ace Operatives each inhaled, swiftly turning to glance at Team RWBY. The image of Yang glanced down for a second, before her resolve firmed and she looked up again.

"We told her." she said, defiant. "The night of the ambush."

"You did what?!" Elm gasped.

"We were trying to help." Blake replied, her voice faltering a little.

"By going behind our backs?" Marrow said angrily.

"Wait. Does that mean you let her escape?" Harriet demanded, marching over to them.

"Robyn is on our side!" Yang scoffed, turning to face her with equal belligerence. "She always has been."

"We didn't know that for sure." Ironwood growled, and Weiss's image clutched the sides of her head.

"None of this matters right now!" she snapped in irritation.

"Loyalty always matters!" Ironwood shouted back, and the bag that he had placed on the side of the desk suddenly burst open, disclosing a Seer Grimm, a jellyfish-like thing that hovered in the air with its tentacles dangling underneath.

Everyone froze.

"General Ironwood." came Salem's voice, ringing out in disharmony for a moment before it seemed to synch up. The Seer shrilled, its tentacles curling like the legs of a dying bug, as a crack crept across the black surface of its head. Ironwood backed away, holding up his gun, before the tentacles crumpled in completely and the Seer fell to the ground, tumbling down the steps that led up to his desk.

Team RWBY backed away as well as black smoke boiled up, curling and coalescing to form Salem's image as she unfolded herself to stand before them, a towering apparition of black smoke and swirling white hair, with a red glow pulsing in her chest and fluttering around the bottom edges of her form.

"The brave Huntsmen and Huntresses bested Arthur Watts." she drawled, spreading her arms. "Congratulations."

"We stopped Tyrian, too." Ruby said, showing no fear as she stepped forward. "And we'll stop Cinder, and anyone else you try to send here."

Salem seemed unruffled.

"Dear girl, their goal was never victory." she said. "It was merely to set the stage."

"For what?" Ironwood asked from the wall he had backed himself up into.

Salem turned her head to look at him and smiled.

"For me." she said simply, starting to drift forward. "Time isn't on your side, James. It's always been on mine."

Ironwood watched with wide, terrified eyes as the apparition loomed over him by a good three feet and more.

"The people of Atlas have suffered enough." Salem continued softly, her voice calm, reasonable. "Surrender the Staff and the Lamp to me, and they needn't suffer any further."

"That's…" Ironwood breathed, lowering his gun, before his eyes hardened, clenching his teeth. "Not going to happen."

"Simply accept the futility of your situation… and this can all be over." Salem murmured, leaning over him.

"We've seen what you're capable of." Ruby said behind her, making Salem pause. "The Lamp showed us."

The apparition of Salem slowly straightened up to her full height, almost brushing the ceiling of Ironwood's office. She turned to regard Ruby with narrowed eyes as the young Huntress continued to speak, staring up into Salem's face without a hint of fear.

"It showed us everything. We've seen that you can't be killed… but we've also seen you fail." Ruby told her, not backing down as Salem slowly drifted to stand before her again, her face unreadable. "We don't have to kill you to stop you. And we will stop you."

"Your mother… said those words to me." Salem hummed thoughtfully. The confidence drained from Ruby's expression, her face going pale.

"My… mother?" she faltered.

"She was wrong, too." Salem said smugly as tears began to streak down Ruby's face, and Ruby ducked her head, pressing the heels of her hands against her eyes. Her silver eyes flickered as she lowered them, before emitting a brief flash as the image of Ruby yelped.

Weiss's heart went out to her as the image of Ruby collapsed and Yang dropped to her knees beside her, holding her younger sister as tears ran down her own face. She didn't know what Ruby had thought of to make her eyes act like that, and she regretted the fact that Jinn hadn't shown them what it was almost as much as she was thankful for it.

Salem smiled in satisfaction and faded away, leaving not even a wisp of black smoke behind, and the image of Blake knelt to help comfort a sobbing Ruby.

"That's Salem?!" Marrow finally gasped into the stunned silence. "That's who we're up against?!"

"And she's apparently on her way." Harriet said tightly.

"But… we'd be alerted if any forces had approached the Kingdom." Elm protested as Vine rummaged around for his Scroll. "We have long-range proximity alarms all along the coast, and-"

"They're offline." Vine said, tapping out a sequence on his screen before looking up at his team. "With all of the chaos, we didn't notice."

"Watts must have shut them down!" Marrow snarled.

"Or they've already been destroyed." Ironwood said, his voice bleak. There was a moment of stunned silence from the Ace Ops as he stepped away from the wall, moving to stare out the windows.

"What?" Elm whispered. "All of them?"

Ironwood was silent.

"You said in your speech that Amity Tower was ready to launch." Blake's image said, picking up the conversation in an effort to keep their forward momentum, to do something. "Was that true?"

Ironwood didn't move, staring out the window with no response. Blake and Weiss glanced at each other worriedly, before they were interrupted by Yang.

"No." she said harshly, shaking her head before looking up. "You just said that… to lure out Watts."

Even now, he did not respond, and the image of Weiss took a nervous step forward.

"General Ironwood?"

"I've sent your sister to claim the power of the Winter Maiden." Ironwood finally told them, and the image of Weiss gasped.

"What?"

"When I realized we'd been compromised, I knew we couldn't wait any longer." he said. "The Staff and the Lamp have to be locked away."

The image of Ruby finally sat up, wiping her eyes.

"I thought…" she faltered, before her voice strengthened a little, still uncertain. "You said we could –keep it."

"Well, that was before you lied to me about the Lamp." Ironwood said, anger slowly coloring his monotone voice. "Before you lied to us about Robyn, before Salem was right on our doorstep."

He turned away from the window, stepping towards them.

"Before Mantle was nearly destroyed, and myself and my army were left exhausted!"

At those last words, he lashed out with the gun he still held in his hand, violently knocking Watts's bag off his desk. Ironwood stood there for a moment, breathing deeply, before he straightened up and set his gun on the desk.

"The timeline has changed. And so we must change accordingly."

Harriet snapped to attention as Ironwood picked up the glass chess piece.

"What are our orders, sir?" she asked briskly.

"We are going to take our plan for Amity Tower, and apply it to the city of Atlas." Ironwood announced, and crushed the glass to powder in his metallic fist.

"What?!" Ruby gasped, jumping to her feet.

"It was Oz's plan, in a former life." Ironwood explained, dropping the fragments from his hand before folding his arm behind his back. "But he didn't take it far enough. If we harness the power of the Staff, and raise ourselves high into the atmosphere, the city's artificial climate will keep citizens and food supplies unharmed. Always out of reach of whatever Salem may try to send our way."

"But we're nowhere near finished evacuating everyone!" Blake said, stepping forward from amidst her horrorstruck team. Her voice lowered, becoming pressing. "You'd be leaving Mantle to die."

"Yes." Ironwood said simply. "I would."

The images of Ruby and Blake stared at him as Yang ground her teeth, and the image of Weiss's past self shook her head almost unconsciously, her eyes shining with unshed tears.

"We can't allow Salem to capture the Relics." Ironwood continued. "This is our best chance at getting the Staff, the Lamp, and the Maiden as far away from her as possible."

"But- we have an opportunity to reunite the world." the image of Ruby protested desperately, gesturing a little. "If we launch the tower, we can all work together again… we could even call for help! I-if we can hold out long enough-"

As Ruby spoke, Ironwood picked his gun back up, holstering it.

"Sometimes, doing the right thing… means making tough decisions." he said as he walked over to stand before her.

"You're right." Blake said implacably, and leaned forward just a little at Ruby's side, her eyes narrowed. "And I think the right thing to do, would be to stand our ground."

"Me too." Yang agreed quickly.

"Me too." Weiss's past self said, her voice cold and low.

"Me too." Ruby finished, staring up defiantly at Ironwood.

No one else spoke. In the silence, Ruby glanced uncertainly over her shoulder, seeing that Vine's face was calm and unreadable. Marrow looked at the ground, almost guilty, but he did not speak. Ruby fully turned to stare at Elm and Harriet, both of whom were frowning.

"We ran ourselves ragged, trying to save Mantle tonight." Harriet said, glancing aside with a reluctant scowl. "We try that again against an even larger force-"

"But you're Huntsmen and Huntresses!" Yang snapped, spreading her arms and stepping forwards. She gestured wildly at the windows at the back of the office with one hand, her voice wavering a little as her eyes turned distraught. "You can't just back down from a fight!"

"You can't focus on one single fight, while trying to win a war." Vine said gently.

"What's the council going to say?" Weiss demanded.

"Nothing." Ironwood told her as the image of Weiss turned towards him again. "Once I declare martial law."

"No." Weiss's past self whimpered.

"What about Robyn?" Blake asked, spreading her arms as she whirled to face him, ears folding back.

"Who exactly are you loyal to?!" Elm ground out ominously.

"We're loyal to the people counting on us to save them!" Ruby snapped, stepping towards her.

"We are saving who we can." Ironwood said, his voice flat as Ruby turned back to face him. His eyes were expressionless. "And you're standing in our way."

Team RWBY stared at him for a moment, but before anyone could say anything else, a blue light flickered and flashed from Ruby's side as a tinny voice came through.

"It's Jaune! We've got a serious problem!"

Ruby's eyes widened as she half-spread her arm and looked down at her hip, then glanced back at Ironwood. His eyebrows drew downwards into a foreboding glare, and Ruby matched him as her own eyes narrowed and she sank onto her heels slightly, bending her knees like a duelist about to draw. Ironwood's arm twitched, but before he could bring his gun out Ruby blurred into her Semblance, splitting around him in two streaks of red, moving to reform behind the desk, her Scroll out.

"Ironwood's declaring Martial Law and abandoning Mantle!" she blurted frantically into the group chat. "Salem is coming, and he's going to use the Staff to move Atlas. If we don't stop him, Mantle's going to be des-"

There was a beep, and the communication symbol turned red with a diagonal white slash, the screen displaying the word "LOCKED".

"What? No!" Ruby gasped. She stood up from behind the desk, turning to look at Ironwood, who had pressed a button on his own Scroll.

"I'm sorry it's come to this," he said, turning away from them and stepping towards the doors. "But until Atlas and the Relics are safe, you're all under arrest."

"We won't just let you take us." Ruby said defiantly, and the Ace Ops closed ranks behind Ironwood as he paused at the threshold.

"I know." he said softly, and left.

Weiss looked aside, clenching her fist, as blue smoke washed over the world.

"Ruby's frantic call to all her allies had unexpected consequences. She alerted the remaining members of Team JNPR, yes, alarmed Penny Polendina as she went with Winter Schnee to claim the power held by Fria, but… she also communicated with her uncle, Qrow Branwen, on the ship flying back to Atlas with Tyrian Callows as prisoner, and Clover Ebi as a fellow passenger."

Weiss blinked as she found herself manifesting inside a Manta, and she saw Clover put his Scroll away and stand up with a weary sigh. Qrow stiffened as the other man started walking towards him.

"Clover…?" he asked warily, putting a hand behind himself to grip his weapon.

"Qrow, you should know, that I've been asked to bring you in." Clover said.

Back on the bench, the image of Tyrian giggled.

"A free ride and a show!" he cackled, wriggling slightly in his excitement.

"There's… also an alert out for Team RWBY's arrest." Clover continued.

"What?" Qrow rasped, outraged. "Has James lost his mind!?"

"He's trying to stop anybody who might get in the way of this inhumane plan." Robyn snarled, standing up and deploying her crossbow with a jerk of her arm. "Looks like he underestimated me. Again."

"Only Qrow is under arrest." Clover said, turning to look at her as she aimed her weapon at him. "After everything we've been through tonight, please don't make me arrest you too."

Robyn's teeth drew back in a snarl by way of answer as she pulled back on the string, cocking her crossbow. In response, Clover quickly drew his fishing rod.

"Cut it out! Both of you." Qrow said from his seat, clearly trying to be the voice of reason. "We're almost back to Atlas. Let's talk to James personally, and-"

"It's taking a very long time for this show to get to the good part." Tyrian groaned, swaying himself in his seat.

"Shut. Up." Qrow growled at their prisoner.

"He's right." Robyn scoffed. "Let's get this over with."

"Robyn!" Qrow warned, but it was too late.

She shot a bolt at Clover, who knocked it aside as Robyn immediately followed up, swinging the bladed edge of her crossbow at him. Clover caught her blow and hooked it with his weapon, swiping around and throwing her to the floor.

Qrow gave an annoyed sigh, still not having taken his hand off his weapon.

"Fine." he said, before shooting to his feet as he drew his sword, swinging at Clover. Clover dodged, but caught the next swing in a bodylock as he held his fishing rod horizontally above his face, holding Qrow's vertical sweep.

"I wish it hadn't come to this." Clover said through gritted teeth.

"It doesn't have to!" Qrow snapped back.

Robyn swung her shield down between them with a yell, making both men leap backwards as she put her back to Qrow, aiming at Clover. Her words were addressed to her ally, however.

"You can hug it out once we've taken him down!"

Weiss watched in horror as Robyn deflected Clover's hook. Drawn, perhaps, by some strange twist of Jinn's magic, her eyes followed it to see that the weapon broke the part of Tyrian's restraints that were holding him in his seat. Cackling quietly to himself, the scorpion Faunus quickly rose and ducked towards the pilots' bay, not even bothering to slip off his handcuffs.

The ship rocked violently not thirty seconds later, sending Qrow to the ground as Robyn and Clover staggered back. Weiss looked from them to the cockpit in horror, seeing Tyrian crouched there, cackling like a madman, with a pilot's hat incongruously perched on his head.

Qrow staggered to his feet, surging up to grab and shake Tyrian by the shoulders.

"What are you doing!?" he shouted.

"The will of our goddess!" Tyrian shouted back, kicking him away and launching himself into the pilot's chair –complete with slumped occupant– in the same move. He grabbed the control stick with both bound hands and wrenched sideways, making Weiss stagger reflexively as the ship dipped towards the ground. Clover ran for the bay door and hit it, leaping out without a single glance behind himself, while Qrow lurched back towards the bay and Robyn only just managed to meet his panicked gaze before snow shot through the open door, covering her with a cry.

Blue smoke arched across the world a moment later.

"Robyn Hill was left unconscious in the aftermath of the crash, and following orders and the habits gained over a lifetime as a member of Ironwood's special operatives rather than trusting his heart, Clover Ebi did battle with Qrow Branwen. He ignored Tyrian Callows, focusing instead solely on Ozpin's agent… to his ruin."

Ruby looked from one man to the other, frantically, as she watched Uncle Qrow stagger out of the crash, saw him trade barbed words with Clover. She knew Clover had died, that Uncle Qrow had been there, but… had he really killed him?

Their weapons clanged and clashed together, Qrow managing a nice double-whammy that sent the Ace Operative flying, but then Ruby saw Clover stiffen and pause, staring over Uncle Qrow's shoulder, and she turned to see Tyrian standing there a few dozen meters off.

"Oh, don't stop on my account." Tyrian cackled, spreading his arms, and Uncle Qrow growled, his hand tightening on Harbinger.

"Wasn't planning on it!" he snarled, turning and running towards the escaped serial killer. Ruby's heart lifted as he spun and whirled his weapon, because surely now that Clover saw that there was a bigger threat against both of them they could work together and-

Uncle Qrow's wrist was caught by the fishing hook twirling around it like a bola, jerking his next swing to a halt as Clover pulled him back and around.

Ruby gasped and stepped back, hand over her mouth, as Clover launched himself towards Uncle Qrow, ignoring Tyrian, and started hammering away at her uncle with his weapon. What was he doing? Couldn't he see Tyrian right there in front of him? Was he really so focused on just –just following orders, on bringing Qrow in, that he forgot that he also had to contend with a serial killer, and not just any serial killer, but Tyrian, a devotee of Salem? Was he willing to let Tyrian go just as long as he got a chance to arrest Uncle Qrow? Did he seriously think he could take Uncle Qrow and Tyrian down all on his own?

Tyrian jumped into the fight, dueling them both as Ruby's heart lurched into her mouth again, and she froze as he kicked Clover away and-

"So what's say we put the kid to bed and then finish it." the image of Tyrian hissed, jerking his chin towards Clover.

"No!" Ruby cried, as she stepped between them, holding out her hands towards her uncle, forgetting that the image of Uncle Qrow couldn't hear her, wondering if he had- if he had- but no, he wouldn't.

And he didn't, as Qrow's jaw tightened and his eyes narrowed, moving from Clover to Tyrian, and he ran towards the latter. But Clover ran forward too, stopping Uncle Qrow mid-charge, hooking Harbinger with that fishing rod again and tugging Qrow around, turning him so that he faced away from Tyrian and was forced to engage with Clover instead. Their images whirled through Ruby as they clashed, dissolving into blue smoke at the edges, and she hastily stepped back and away, wanting to see the fight properly, needing to know how this had gone down…

Tyrian made himself known with a solid kick to Clover's head, barely blocked in time by his arm, and as Clover was sent skidding back, Tyrian straightened up beside Uncle Qrow, who whirled Harbinger around into sword form, glancing over at him…

…and didn't attack Tyrian, instead jerking his chin towards Clover. Ruby's heart sank all the way down to her boots, but Uncle Qrow had been the one who had taught her the most on how to fight, and… and he really didn't have a choice, here. Clover would try to arrest him, and if he succeeded, Qrow's Aura would be broken or he would be immobilized, in handcuffs, and Tyrian would have an opening to kill him, an opening he wouldn't miss. It was Qrow Branwen, after all, one of the most legendary Huntsmen on Remnant. Killing him would be a huge victory for Salem –and Clover wasn't good enough to take Tyrian down on his own, not after a fight with her uncle.

And if Uncle Qrow kept splitting his attention between Clover and Tyrian, he would get worn down and the same thing would happen. Clover might not be able to arrest him, but Tyrian would definitely be able to kill him. If Uncle Qrow wanted to survive, he had to team up with someone, and Clover… Clover was not allowing it to be him.

Ruby saw Uncle Qrow glance down at the ground, ashamed, for a split second before he and Tyrian both launched themselves at Clover. She watched as they tangled with each other, watched as Clover was the one forced to engage on two fronts, watched as Harbinger was sent spinning away into the snow. She watched as Uncle Qrow glanced at it a second, before moving to press his attack, slamming his fist into Clover's side and sending him flying across the snow as his Aura flickered and broke.

"Why couldn't you just do the right thing…" Uncle Qrow panted, his voice rasping and breaking as Clover slowly raised himself to one knee, holding his side where Uncle Qrow had punched him. "Instead of the thing you were told?!"

"Sometimes the right decision is the hardest to make." Clover replied, lifting his head to glare at him. "I trust James with my life!"

He got to his feet, the implacable façade flickering and breaking a little behind his eyes as the pain showed through.

"I wanted to trust you." he faltered.

Then he lurched forward with a yelp, Harbinger bursting through his back in a spray of blood. The image of Uncle Qrow stared, frozen in shock, as Tyrian used his weapon to kill another man, and mixed relief and horror flickered through Ruby –relief that her uncle hadn't been the one to actually kill Clover, horror as the Ace Operative staggered forward, stumbling and dropping to the ground.

"I'LL KILL YOU!"

Uncle Qrow's scream rang in her ears as blue smoke wisped the world away.

"Meanwhile, Cinder Fall's plan had come to fruition. By implying that she had entered Atlas Academy and all his secrets had been laid bare, she prompted Ironwood to send Winter Schnee to secure the Winter Maiden, thus showing Cinder Fall the way to the other Maiden's location. There, she engaged in combat with Penny Polendina and Winter Schnee in an effort to defeat Fria's guardians and wrest the power of the Winter Maiden from her."

"You had your time in the sun," the hated voice oozed into Ruby's ears as the smoke faded and formed the shape of the Winter Maiden's room, except much more intact than it had been when Ruby had first laid eyes on it. "-but now I'm afraid your time is up."

"Yes." the old woman lying in the Aura transfer machine murmured to herself, eyebrows furrowing a little. "I've been, waiting here… for some time, I think. What was I waiting for?"

Cinder smirked, her eye lighting up with avarice –and the flames of a Maiden.

"Me." she purred. She drew her Grimm hand back, preparing to plunge it into Fria's chest –but then Fria grabbed her wrist and stopped her.

"No." she said, her voice growing firmer, eyes growing clearer as blue flames flickered to life around them. "I had a job to do."

Cinder ripped herself away with a gasp, before gritting her teeth and creating a black glass knife with her Semblance. She swung it for Fria's chest with a yell, but a burst of blue slammed out through the room, flinging her back as she landed in a crouch. Fria rose into the air, cradled by a maelstrom of snow-laced wind as the lights flickered and cold spread outwards. Cinder cried out in pain as the temperature plummeted and that freezing ice spread over her Grimm hand, leaping away and to her feet, and she ducked as the door of one of the transfer machine's pods came loose, torn from its hinges by the circling wind and flung straight at her.

Fria clutched her head, then tilted it back and screamed as the whirlwind rose, punching straight through the ceiling and pouring out of the hole in the wall.

Ruby found herself standing atop the room now, watching as Penny flew in with Winter on her shoulder. They both stared at the cone of wind and ice as it roared upwards before them.

"What is that?" Penny asked.

"That's the power of a fully realized Maiden." Winter murmured, and then staggered to her feet, running for the whirlwind. She crouched by the hole in the roof, trying to reach in, but the icy wind tore through her gloves and reddened her fingers within seconds as she cried out in pain.

"It's too cold." she gasped, shaking her burnt hand before glancing back at Penny. "We have to do something!"

Penny hesitated a moment, looking at her own, metallic hands as Winter frantically tried to peer past the whirling, glowing wind –and then Penny ran past her, jumping into the hole.

"Penny!" Winter cried in alarm.

In the room again, Ruby saw that Penny had landed safely, but even she was squinting as she cautiously moved forward, shielding her face with one arm and leading with her left foot. A second's pause had her right foot frozen in a lump of ice to the floor, and Penny fired her rocket boots to break free, before finally stumbling into the eye of the storm.

Fria still hovered there about a meter off the ground, hospital gown flapping in the magical wind of her own creation as she stared outwards. Penny stepped forward, hesitating a moment before cautiously grasping Fria's ankle, making her gasp and look down as the Maiden flames died around her eyes.

"Are you okay?" Penny asked, and Fria considered that for a moment.

"I had a job to do." she said, looking up thoughtfully. "I… was supposed to protect the power of the Maiden…"

Penny looked to the Aura transmission machines, now frozen under several feet of ice, before glancing back up at Fria.

"…until I was ready. I worry I may have lost track of time." Fria said ruefully. "But you can tell James that I'm ready, now."

"Ma'am, if you do that…" Penny said, taking her hand away.

"I'll be gone." Fria replied. She glanced down and finally smiled at Penny, directly. "I know I have a hard time remembering, but I remember that."

Penny didn't respond, looking up at her with sorrow. The room now enshrouded with a cocoon of ice, Fria let her powers fade, sinking to the ground as Penny quickly moved to catch her, helping Fria lower herself all the way to the ground. No longer protected by the use of her magic, Fria shivered, and Penny looked at the ice blocking them in.

"What's your name?" Fria asked after a moment.

"It's Penny, ma'am."

"Hmm…" Fria smiled thoughtfully to herself, as though tasting the name. "Penny. Are you the one?"

Penny's eyes widened in realization, and she looked back up at the hole she had come through, now frozen under a thick layer of ice. She looked back to Fria in consternation.

"I… I… I…"

There was a groan and a grate of ice, before an explosion sounded and Cinder burst through the walls, her Grimm arm emitting a faint black smoke. She glared at Penny, baring teeth, as she straightened up.

"She's mine!" Cinder shrieked, her voice breaking, and hurled her Grimm arm at Penny as she hastily bent over Fria and closed her eyes. The clawing hand dissolved to ashes, however, before it could reach them, and Penny glanced up as Cinder started screaming in agony, seeing Winter standing between them in a landing pose with her sworn drawn. Winter glared at Cinder, then glanced to Penny, and worry softened her face as she saw the other girl bent over the Winter Maiden.

"No." she whispered, before the gruesome sound of cracking bone and stretching flesh rose over Cinder's tortured cries, and Winter turned to see the Fall Maiden panting raggedly, looking at her regrown hand as black smoke coalesced around it. She glared at Winter as the Maiden flames flared around her eye, and created two swords of black glass that she flung with reckless force, shrieking her anger as she did. Winter blocked and broke them with her own sword as Cinder continued to hurl glass, and Penny looked away from the fight as Cinder finally drew blood.

She took Fria's hand in hers as a soft blue light, much like Aura, crept over their enjoined hands and began to swirl around them.

A different blue light rose around them as Ruby squinted her focus, tinting the world with mist as the scene slowly dissolved away.

"Penny Polendina took the power of the Winter Maiden for her own. However, in all this chaos, forgotten by Ironwood and Team RWBY both was Team JNR and Oscar Pine, who had been assaulted by Neopolitan, and the Lamp taken."

Yang winced as Oscar, charred and bruised, was sent flying against the wall amidst the settling blue smoke, and someone who looked a lot like Nora, but with the Lamp clanging on their belt, went running past him.

"No!" Oscar cried desperately, reaching out.

"Oscar!" Jaune cried, his voice cracking from the effort, as he ran out into a nearby intersection. He turned just in time to smack away Neopolitan's parasol –still in the guise of Nora– as she flipped over him and used his shield as a jumping point to launch herself farther down the hallway. She ran straight into Ren's ambush as he fired StormFlower at her, but as he ran to engage with his sickles, Neopolitan collapsed her canopy and looked up at him with shocked, hurt turquoise eyes.

Ren froze as he stared into the face of his dearest companion, and Neopolitan slammed the base of her parasol into his chin and flipped it around to hook his legs, sending him to the ground.

"Stop!" Jaune cried as she fled, running past Ren as he sat up, eyes haunted. Jaune rounded the corner, however, to see a knot of Atlas soldiers, who all aimed their guns at him.

"Drop your weapons!" one growled as they started to fire, and Jaune blocked the shots with his shield as Ren and Nora –the real one– caught up with him. As they ran, Nora looked back to see Ren, tears streaming down his face.

"A running battle was fought in an effort to reclaim it: an effort that was, alas, to no avail."

"So this is where that whole angst thing started, huh, Ren?" Yang mumbled to herself, seeing Ren and Jaune and Nora and Oscar collapsed in the training room, the lights outside stained red and the grid on the floor and platforms glowing white.

"I'm sorry." the image of Oscar choked, bent over his knees and panting.

"Don't be." Jaune said with a self-depreciating scowl of his own, sitting on the floor with his back to the wall. Oscar exhaled.

"We weren't ready to become Huntsmen." Ren panted, leaning on his elbow against the wall.

"That's not true!" Nora gasped from her place kneeling beside him, and Ren pushed away from the wall, starting to gesture with sharp, aggravated movements.

"Then why aren't we holding the Relic?" he asked as Oscar looked down guiltily. "Now Salem has the Lamp, Ironwood has the Staff, and we have nothing!"

"Ren, that's enough." Jaune said sternly, coming to his feet.

There was a moment of uncomfortable silence, before their Scrolls chimed and Pietro's voice came through.

"Hello? Anybody there? Can you hear me?"

"Our Scrolls?" Jaune blinked, before whipping his out with an excited cry. "Doctor!"

In the background, Yang grinned fondly as Maria gave a triumphant cackle.

"Haha! Finest mind in Atlas!" she crowed.

"Maria!" the image of Nora cried with equal excitement. "What are you doing?"

"Grabbing our getaway ship." Maria announced. "We need to hightail it out of here. Where are you?"

"The academy training room." Nora said. "We slipped away from some soldiers, but it won't be long before they-"

She cut herself off with a cry as a hail of bullets streamed through the door.

"They're here!" shouted a soldier.

Nora ran with Ren behind Jaune's shield as he crouched and expanded it into Hard-Light form.

"We're on our way. Just stick together!" Yang told them. Jaune stiffened, noticing that a member of their team was not present.

"Oscar?" he whispered in horror, before shouting. "Oscar!"

Before he could do anything else, a barrage of bullets pelted the shield, making him duck back down.

"Sorry, but you all need to go on without me." Oscar replied through the coms.

"What are you talking about!?" Jaune cried.

"There's something I have to do alone." Oscar told him, and blue smoke rose up as the world faded away.

"Indeed, though the old man slept quiet in Oscar's mind, he was not, and never would be, alone. Wisdom was trickling into him with the merging of their minds and souls: wisdom, and the knowledge and ability needed to mimic Ozpin, to know and do as he might have done, regardless of the old man's presence. It was this ability, combined with his own unyielding faith, that Oscar believed might be able to even now help Ironwood turn back."

Jaune watched as the blue fog cascaded away, shaping the Atlas Vault, which he had never entered. Ironwood was standing on the platform, but Jaune had only a second to look around in interest at all the blue lights and dark metal before the whirring sound of a descending elevator caught his –and Ironwood's– attention. Jaune turned with him, seeing Oscar descending down through the various levels on a bare metal platform.

Or… was it just Oscar? Something in how he stood, the pose he took, the way in which he held his cane, reminded Jaune all too much of Ozpin. When Oscar got close enough to see, the unruffled calm on his face was even more reminiscent of the headmaster, making Jaune swallow tightly. He liked Oscar. He didn't want this to be Oscar's fate –some mystical blending between him and Ozpin, a person with the face Jaune knew but the personality gone, with only enough traces to hurt left over.

There was silence as Oscar descended, silence as he stepped forward off the elevator, using his cane with each step. Ironwood was the one who finally spoke first.

"And… whom do I have the pleasure of speaking with?" he asked, uncertain.

"Still just me." Oscar mumbled, and Jaune looked nervously from him to Ironwood. Oscar had said he'd blasted a hole through the bottom of Atlas, a hole that led here, but… he'd never really had the time to explain why. Ironwood being Ironwood, Jaune didn't like the options for a possible motive.

"It was smart of you not to bring the Lamp down here." Ironwood acknowledged, looking down slightly. "I wouldn't trust me either, right now."

"Trust is what I'm hoping to fix." the image of Oscar said, coming to a halt about a dozen feet away. "I know we can still figure this out –all of it– together. Please."

"Do you intend to fight me?" Ironwood asked incredulously after a second's pause.

"No." Oscar said with a shake of his head. "That's exactly what she wants."

He lifted his cane slightly, looking at the gear mechanism at the base of the shaft.

"I guess it's because of Oz, but… holding it helps calm me down, when I'm afraid."

He squeezed the handle, collapsing it, and attached the cane back to its place on his belt.

"You still think I'm afraid?" Ironwood scoffed.

"We all are." Oscar said. "It's what we do in our fear that reveals-"

"That's easy for you to say!" Ironwood said with sudden venom, before starting to circle around Oscar as he backed away, towards one of the platform spurs. They stopped when they were standing even with each other again. Jaune flexed his hand by Crocea Mors, wondering for a second what it would've been like if he and the others would've been here to back Oscar up, to help him.

"You can label me whatever you'd like, but the fact of the matter is I. was. right!" the image of Ironwood spat. "The minute I softened, let my guard down, that's when Salem had her opening."

"If you abandon Mantle, you abandon our best chance of reuniting the world, you abandon Remnant, leaving millions to fend for themselves so a few can survive!" Oscar said desperately. "What kind of-"

"All excellent philosophical points!" Ironwood groaned, rolling his eyes. "-that won't matter if Salem wins!"

"Listen to me!" Oscar pleaded, his voice breaking.

"Oscar Pine failed in his self-appointed mission. Ironwood cast aside his mission, and his loyalty to the old man."