A/N: I have accidentally discovered that control+enter will immediately post anything you're working on. I apologize for the ghost alerts; as compensation, have an early part of the chapter that keeps getting bigger.

The Fall
Refuse Change II

Blake's body tensed, screaming, and she threw herself forward without hesitation, blades extended towards nothing.

Ozpin blurred, a smearing line of afterimages, cane and saber crashing into her own weapons in the span of a blink. They slammed together into a spinning tangle of weapons.

He's so fast, I - I can't -

Magic thrummed all around her, drowning her senses as each strike from her Headmaster came closer and closer to breaking her guard. At the last moment, with a ragged scream, Yang crashed in from the flank.

Ozpin turned on his heel, cane slapping the outside of her wrist, foot planted in her path to send her spinning off to the side. As she passed by him, his blade skittered across her back, scraping her Aura. Blake took the opportunity, dropping low under the extended cane and striking at his legs –

– only to abort, her shadow pulling her backwards as he blurred again, snapping back to neutral and whipping his blade through the space her head had occupied.

How can he... I thought it was a Semblance, but I feel so much magic around him.

He manipulates the flow of time. It is highly advanced magic.

If he's that skilled, then...

She watched for a moment, eyes rapidly tracking his movements as Ruby flickered in and out of her own Semblance. Ozpin's movements were smooth and precise, repositioning between each of her dashes. Finally, Ruby blurred around him in a tighter turn than Blake had ever seen her manage, appearing immediately behind him, Crescent Rose raised –

– and he flickered around, perfectly positioned with both weapons raised to counter. Blake pounced, heart pounding in her chest.

A glyph bloomed at Ozpin's feet, spiraling for a moment before grinding to a halt and turning black. His teeth grit in effort as he sank lower, cane planted firmly in the deformed stone as his blade knocked the incoming scythe aside. He twisted his cane oddly into the stone, and a green shimmer rippled along it... and the glyph shattered.

He turned to where Weiss stood, mouth open and blinking in shock.

Then he was in front of her, afterimages smeared behind him. "I'm afraid –" the sword lashed out, Weiss' practiced motion only barely intercepting it, "– that I am quite familiar –" he spun in place, pushing her blade out of the way as the cane lashed out across her jaw with a resounding crack. "– With Semblances like yours, Miss Schnee." As she stumbled backwards, the blade caught her shin and pushed her leg up and out.

She tilted, and the cane descended again.

"Don't you fucking dare!" Yang's hoarse roar echoed against the stone as she surged forward, pouncing forward on all fours in an oddly catlike motion, fingers digging into the broken stones of the Tower. Ozpin turned, meeting her head on once again. Each blow was parried, nudged aside by the cane or the sword, as Ozpin retreated one step and then another. Yang advanced in his wake, pushing him further from where Weiss stumbled back into her stance, teeth grit. "You're supposed to – my dad looked up to you, you know!? Said you were what Huntsman should aspire to be! This is... you...!" She trailed off, blows coming faster and faster as her eyes flickered colors, her Semblance trying to activate and running up on the limits of her strained Aura.

"Unfortunately, Miss Xiao Long, I am not. I made the Huntsmen to be better than I have the luxury of being." In a blink, the end of the cane tapped her throat, and Yang stopped dead with a choking cough. He stepped close, left hand striking across the jaw and leaving her Aura sputtering and cracked across her body.

Blake leapt.

The sword rose.

Her shadow connected to Yang's, wrapping around her body and pulling her to the ground as the sword descended – and instead of her neck, it scraped a harsh red line across her cheekbone. Ozpin's head shifted, eyes flicking to Blake as she landed, heart hammering desperately in her chest. Yang almost...

He turned –

– and tilted his head to the side as a white projectile soared past, splashing against the soulstone walls. One eyebrow raised, he glanced over Blake's shoulder to where she knew Penny was standing with her single remaining weapon. "Penny?"

"I am sorry, Headmaster Ozpin," she heard from behind her as she dashed in, shadow dragging Yang further away.

Ozpin sighed. "Your teamwork is truly impeccable."

Then he blurred to meet her halfway, and she no longer had time to think. Shroud & Veil met the cane and sword, desperately parrying each blow as it came. She tilted, hair parting in the air, and felt the heat of another of Penny's blasts pass by her. Ozpin frowned –

– he blurred in place, weapons repositioning around her guard –

– her mind itched and she moved without thinking –

– and her sheath struck him in the collarbone, sending him back a single step. For a moment, he locked eyes with her as they each processed what had happened.

"Miss Belladonna..."

How did I...?

She felt it again as he blurred back, a sensation that she couldn't have put into words but that her body clearly recognized by the way it stepped forward to give chase.

He manipulates the flow of time.

I know, you said that... wait. Her eyes widened. You told me...

You remember my senses, even after our merge, Blake.

And you can feel time... then... we might be able to...

She glanced around the room, watching as Yang climbed to her feet, teeth grit.

Penny stood, one arm hanging limp and the other holding her last rifle, exposed circuits and lights flickering.

Weiss breathed heavily, the tip of her rapier shaking slightly.

Ruby's eyes burned silver, the harsh light casting her complexion pale.

Despite being surrounded, Ozpin casually raised both weapons, eyes never leaving Blake.

Through the gaping hole in the wall, she could see smoke rising from the city below.

And Salem knelt, face taut with desperation, frantically glancing between each of them, the heavy chains shaking and tense.

In her heart, she remembered a train. Back then... being apart had been the wrong choice. She would have lost something irreplaceable, if she'd turned her back on them.

But she also remembered another burning city. She remembered hearing each of the names in the wake of the Silver-Eyed Reaper. She remembered the story of the evacuation of Beacon. If they hadn't been where they needed to be...

Yang tensed, and Ozpin's eyes flicked to her –

"Wait!" Blake cried, hand extended. Yang's movement stuttered, glancing to her but not letting the Headmaster out of her sight. "Ozpin..." She swallowed the foulness in her mouth and pushed the roiling in her stomach down. "You said... you said that we could leave."

"What!?" Yang cried as the rest of her team turned to look at her. In the corner of her eyes... she could see Salem giving her a small, sad smile. As if there was something to be happy about.

Out of everything, that hurt the most.

"I did," Ozpin confirmed with a nod. "I would be glad if you did, in fact. There is only one person here who cannot leave."

"Blake, you... what are you planning?" Ruby peered at her, the light in her eyes no less bright than before.

She took a deep breath. "... The city's burning. Everyone... everyone needs our help, now. And... if we keep going like this? We aren't going to... going to be there to help anyone."

For a moment, she could see the desire to protest in her team. But she could also see the way Yang, Weiss, and Ruby all glanced warily at Ozpin. It wasn't fear, exactly, but... it was knowing. It was a feeling she understood.

"It's okay, Blake," Salem said softly. "Thank you. Really, thank you. You've been... my greatest and closest friend. I -"

When Blake shook her head, the princess' expression shifted to confusion. "Salem. I can't... I'm not leaving you behind." When Ozpin tensed, she stood up straighter. "Let my team leave, Headmaster. Then..." She raised her arms to the sides in a parody of his casual stance. "Then we'll settle things."

"No fucking way!" Yang shouted, arm sweeping through the air. "You think – we're not going to leave you here with –!"

Weiss stared at her, more intensely than she had since finding out she was with the Fang. "Blake," she said quietly. "You..."

"You can't... it isn't your fault. If we were fresh, things would be different. We could do something. But... we're all weaker. All it takes is one more mistake." She took a deep breath. "With Obsidian, I... I have a chance. But I can't fight and defend. I can't be everywhere."

"So that's how," Ozpin mused quietly. "I had wondered. In all my years, I have never encountered something like what you and your teacher have done, Miss Belladonna."

She inclined her head. "I don't think you ever will again, Headmaster."

He blinked. Then he chuckled. "I see... well said."

Yang's fists tightened, but Weiss reached out and laid a hand on her arm. She spun, and there was a long moment of eye contact. Then she turned back to Blake. Without letting Ozpin out of her view, she closed the distance.

"You... you're not going to budge on this, are you?"

Blake smiled. "I'll throw you out of the tower if I have to."

Yang let out a huff of pained amusement. "I hate y - no. I hate this. If you don't... don't you fucking dare repeat what happened last time."

There was no way she could make that promise.

"I promise, Yang." She held out a fist, sword still clutched tightly in it.

"I'll fucking hold you to it, partner. If I have to cross time and space again to do it." Yang tapped Ember Celica gently against her knuckles.

Blake pretended not to see the moisture in her eyes.

"I do not want to rush you," Ozpin said quietly.

"Shut the fuck up," Yang snapped. "I..." She growled wordlessly, turning back to Blake. "... Kick his ass for me, partner."

Blake smiled.

"And Obsidian? Don't you dare let her lose."

For a moment, there was silence.

I will not.

Ozpin leaned back slightly, his face shifting into something more wary. Yang edged around him to the exit.

Penny turned to them both... then saluted Blake with her functioning arm. She peered at the Headmaster for a long moment before wordlessly turning to leave.

Weiss glanced at her with a complex expression on her face. "... I trust you, Blake. You and Obsidian both. Please... don't..." She wordlessly struggled for a moment longer before she, too, turned and left.

The light from Ruby's eyes flickered violently for a moment, and then she smiled. There were more emotions packed into that smile than Blake could process in the short moment she had. Just looking at it... hurt.

"I know you'll win, Blake," she said. "You're a hero." She didn't even look at Ozpin before leaving.

Ozpin tilted his head. "I suppose that makes me the villain, then."

Blake took a long, deep breath, eyes closing for just a moment.

I am with you.

She smiled.

And every shadow in the room snapped into place, connected to hers in the center.