"…keep your powers," Sun repeated as he looked up at where the colossal form of Jinn would be, only to find a stone ceiling with candle-lit chandeliers in the way. "Salem promised you that you would be unaffected by whatever she did, and… you weren't, were you?"

As if to answer, the ceiling melted away and Jinn fixed Sun with a sorrowful look. The scene around the group seemed to pause as Jinn closed her eyes and shook her head.

"You know that I cannot answer. While I appreciate the concern, your focus should not be on me as I am now. I can only show you this once. Do not break focus out of misguided compassion…"

"I won't, I just…" Sun began before letting out a heavy sigh. "…whatever it is she's about to do, she used you. None of this is right. Is there anything we can do to… you can't answer even if there is."

"Sun…" Blake tried, putting a hand on his shoulder as the boy balled a fist. His tail thrashed behind him, smacking her in the back of the thigh as he made a frustrated noise. In response, Blake softened her voice and gave her partner's shoulder a gentle rub. "Jinn is right. If there is anything we can do, we might learn how to do it by watching what she has to show us."

"You are… incredibly sweet, Sun Wukong. I will not forget this, though there is little I can do for you beyond addressing your question as best I can."

"Yeah," Sun said flatly. "Don't worry about it. I'll… find a way, once this is all over."

"…you don't even know who she is," Cinnamon balked as she folded her arms over her chest. "What she is. What if she's complicit in something horrible that Salem did? Would you st-"

"You're asking him that question?" Daisuke interrupted as he coiled his tail around Cinnamon's legs and pulled her a bit closer. "Think for half a second why you shouldn't be questioning any of this. Look at yourself. Ilia. Corsac. Emerald. Arguably even Weiss. This is a pattern with him. Let him stew."

"Do not," Jinn advised. "Refocus him on what truly matters. Being so distracted by things that cannot be changed can only harm your efforts at combating Salem. You cannot save everyone, Sun Wukong. You will soon need to learn to just let some things go."

Sun blinked in surprise as he looked up at Jinn once again. Her expression of sadness hadn't changed. It almost looked as though it had intensified.

"…I… okay. Go ahead and resume all of this. I'll shut up, now…"

"He's just going to bury it and keep it to himself," Yang muttered.

"I won't let him," Blake reassured as she and the other huntress exchanged a nod.

"Neither will I."

Salem unfroze before the group, watching Jinn's movements within the crystal as she looked over her shoulder and called out.

"Ambrosius. Come."

Slowly, the larger male spirit within the crystal came into view and regarded Salem with curiosity much like his sister.

"…you again? This is quite an interesting method of contacting us…"

"Perhaps it is," Salem agreed. "However, I am not here to show off, and our time is limited before your apparent captor returns. Speak with me. Who are you? What are you both doing trapped within a crystal?"

"'Captor' is an apt title," Jinn mused. "I suppose there is no harm in entertaining your questions while we have a moment alone. We are- or were- gods, much like the God of Light you seem to be so familiar with. I was once the Goddess of Knowledge, while Ambrosius was God of Creation. The God of Light- Marius- is our brother. He and another of our siblings, the God of Darkness- Rinnal- successfully plotted against us and two others. We are now mere demigods, confined to crystal cages and split into pairs in each of their domains."

"This comes as no surprise," Salem hissed as she clasped her hands behind her back and began to pace. "Marius. He seems to have little concern for those that should be important to him."

"It was his idea to upset the balance," Ambrosius considered as he balled a fist beneath his chin and 'sat' cross-legged in midair. "Things were ordered, before all of this. They flowed. Thousands of years ago, long enough for all of your kind to forget, he and Rinnal decided they wanted more for themselves. There there was little we could do to stop them, given that we were taken by surprise. They each now share the majority of our domains- Knowledge and Creation to Marius, Destruction and Choice to Rinnal."

"Choice?" Salem asked as she stopped pacing and faced the rift. "What exactly does that entail as a godly power?"

"The ability to control the will of others, thus robbing them of their own ability to choose," Jinn clarified. "Our brother spirit of Choice can also alter reality at will, selecting for things to be replaced as he sees fit. It is a dangerous power- the one that was used against us to greatest effect when it came time to imprison us. There is little we can do now, and quite honestly… I would advise that you don't get involved. Your spouse may be gone, but you do still have family, Salem. Family that seems to care greatly about you. Treasure them. Focus upon those bonds, so that they might never turn against you or do harm to the world at large."

"…maybe she's right," Lora said, looking up at her mother. "Maybe we just… have to let Dad go. We still have each other. I know you must be feeling like the world is ending right now, but…"

Salem spared her daughter a brief glance before she closed her eyes and looked away.

"…it isn't enough. It will never be enough."

Lora's mouth twitched as she tried to force a smile. There was a distinct pain in her eyes that Salem didn't see.

"You… don't mean that…"

"She does," Emerald said quietly. "Nothing is ever enough for Salem, and that's the point of all of this. This is where it all began. All the bullshit, all the lies, all the scheming… she could never just accept things as they are."

"…perhaps I am just… unwell, after everything that has gone on," Salem said, avoiding both an apology and her daughter's eyes. "Of course we'll focus on family and value our relationships… but that does not mean we simply give up on Ozma, either. Jinn- tell me the details of this binding crystal. How it was used to contain the two of you, where it came from…"

"And so we did," Jinn narrated, Salem and her daughter fading to flecks of dust before being swept away on an unseen wind. Only Salem returned, silently working in her lab as the rift, too, disappeared from the scene. "We told her of the origins of the crystals, the war between gods, the betrayal of Marius and Rinnal in detail, and where Marius had been going when abandoning his realm. In short, after learning that the brother gods were experiencing tension over a recent disagreement about their responsibilities, Salem devised a plan."

"Of course she did," Ilia commented.

"…a plan to turn them against each other in full," Raven guessed, "with the help of the spirits of the Relics. Sibling rivalry is… easy to exploit from the outside."

"You don't say?" Qrow said with a roll of his eyes as he watched Salem teleporting about the lab, the speed of her movements seemingly increased as the sun rose and fell quickly outside of the window. "Looks like it took ages for this plan to come together…"

"Salem spent months researching," Jinn confirmed. "She isolated herself within her lab and sent her daughters out to obtain more of the crystals used to imprison us. Upon their success, she began forging what you now know to be the Relics. She chose objects personal to her- or replicas of those she no longer had access to- and embedded the precious stones within them. We helped her when we were able, and half a year later, Salem and her daughters were ready."

"Wait. Pause," Sun said aloud. Jinn acquiesced to the request, the surroundings of the castle fading out as Salem held up an incredibly familiar-looking lamp. The faunus turned to address the group, taking a deep breath before he did so. "Okay. Team- this is it. We now know what the Relics are. All that's left is what they do, and how we can use them against Salem. Once we see that… I'm assuming we get kicked out of whatever realm this is and separated. Is there anything that needs doing here before then? I don't know when we can all realistically see each other again…"

"Yeah," Emerald answered as she raised a hand up to shoulder level. "Sun, there's… something you and Neptune should hear in person. I know we're supposed to stay focused on the Relics, but it feels wrong to drop it on you over a scroll call."

Neptune shook his head and spoke up, looking miserable.

"Listen, even if doing it over a call isn't ideal… we can handle it later and neither of us is going to blame you over not telling us in person. We can handle everything else later. Nothing is more important to the overall war than what we're about to see. Sacrifices have to be made… and stalling like this isn't like you. What's going on, Sun? Why are you so hesitant to continue?"

Sun looked down at the void below, only to find it unsettling. He looked up and away from Neptune, instead focusing his attention on the small part of Jinn's legs he could see without looking up.

"…Ozpin told me that I might be able to stop Salem, right before I kicked him out of my head. It has something to do with the Relics, and the way he said it after doubting me so harshly before… it makes me feel like all of this- our entire shot at taking her down- hinges on me. Whatever Jinn's about to show us to tie this off, if I don't figure it out…"

"Stop," James ordered as he took a few steps forward to stand in front of the faunus. "Just… stop, Sun. None of us can do this alone. I can't, you can't… Ozpin certainly couldn't. You don't have to figure out or notice anything. Even if you end up being the one to ultimately use the Relics one way or another, that doesn't place the burden on your shoulders and yours alone. We are a team, and it took me nearly reaching a breaking point to truly understand and accept that. Part of me still doesn't, and it's something I need to work on in the coming days. I also understand that your friends have been trying to impress that fact upon you for months, probably years… but actually taking it to heart and accepting it is difficult. Just do the best you can and rely on us to pick up any slack."

"I'm trying," Sun said frustratedly. "And I get it. I really do. We have been over this again and again, but…"

"But you've just been agreeing whenever someone points it out and brushing it aside," Blake pointed out. "Things need to change, Sun. You can't just say you're going to start accepting help and sharing the load and then keep on doing what you always do. I love you- in their own ways, I'm sure everyone here does- but it's time to stop. It's time to actually slow down and rely on us fully, with everything that's on your mind. You were doing well with it for a while, but you can't just clam up again and put the responsibility of being 'the chosen one' according to Ozpin on your shoulders."

"Like Ruby did," Yang added. "That's… all I have to say."

Sun watched as Jaune took Yang's hand without a word. The faunus took another deep breath and shook out his hands before clearing his throat.

"…you guys are right, and I'm not just saying that. I'll try to ease up on myself. I need you to believe that…"

"We do," Weiss reassured. "But we'll also be watching you closely. Well… the group that's with you physically will. Please don't think we planned this and we're all coming down on you at once. This isn't so much an intervention as much as a sudden refocusing. It's just something we've all noticed, and now things are coming to a head."

"No, I get it," Sun acknowledged. "And I understand. I'll talk to my team as soon as this is over."

"Good," James said with a nod and clear finality in his voice. "In that case… Jinn?"

"I am… pleased to see things progressing this way," the spirit admitted as a new backdrop began to materialize around the group. "You have a wonderful group of friends, Sun Wukong."

"Family," Ilia corrected. "We're his family."

"…yeah," Sun agreed as a dark mountain path overlooked by twisted, dead trees began to assemble around them. "They're my family."

Author's Note:

Coming up near the end of the "Lost Fable" arc… and things aren't quite the same as canon…

-RD