The silence didn't last long, catching nearly everyone off guard.

"Well, I'll tell you what we don't do," Kali chimed in. "We don't extend Salem any sympathy or change our stance against her at all. Did you see the look in her eyes at any point during all of that? She barely even gave a shit as each of her daughters was killed right in front of her. She didn't care at all about her family, other than Ozpin. She doesn't care at all about Remnant, or the planet burning around her. Sure, she went through it, but… this is the second time she's putting the entire world in jeopardy."

"The second that we know of," Glynda corrected. "In my time as Ozpin's protégé, he alluded but never outright said that Remnant has gone through… cycles. Periods where Salem was largely in control and periods where he had the advantage… but Salem never did manage to get her hands on more than two Relics at a time. Thankfully, we currently have all four… more or less."

Harriet cracked her neck, loudly enough to make Sun flinch.

"And two of the keys to the vaults, in me and Raven. Salem has Cinder, and… who even knows with the Summer Maiden. If we found her, do you have any idea where the Vault is or how to open it?"

"I do not," Glynda admitted. "I've had teams scouring through Beacon, and it's just… it doesn't appear to be here at all."

Sun was struck by sudden inspiration, his tail beginning to move on its own once again.

"Hey- has Ozpin ever directly said that the Vault is at Beacon? I mean, pattern recognition would suggest it is, but… you know what I'm saying. Is it possible it could be somewhere else, and the idea of it being at Beacon exists to throw Salem off the trail?"

Raven closed her eyes, looking incredibly annoyed.

"I don't want to believe that that man would sacrifice so much at Beacon Academy and allow such loss of life to simply keep up a façade… but if you told me he did, I would…"

"This is a long shot and an answer I think I already know," James prefaced, "but has anyone on this call ever laid eyes on the Crown?"

There was silence again, until Cinnamon spoke up.

"We had one opportunity to ask…"

"While you're not wrong, I hope you're not trying to put that on Sun," James snapped immediately. "Almost losing our question was absolutely my fault, and by all metrics, Sun saved our asses. We can't afford to get caught up on ideological clashes anymore- all that matters is the path forward, and figuring out what we can do with the information that we did manage to get, thanks to him."

Sun couldn't help but smile at the continued shift in James' tone, and he offered the hologram a nod.

"Yeah. I think… maybe we should take some time and recap what we saw with our individual teams. Then come back together and make a plan from there. I don't know about the rest of you all, but I feel like I need some time to process all of it."

"We can also take that time to fill in everyone who isn't on the call," Qrow suggested. "I know we have a few at Beacon, and I don't see everyone involved in Atlas."

"Good call," James agreed. "Alright. Let's… take the day, and reconvene tomorrow morning, same time. By then, Yang's arm should be ready to ship out, those outside of the call can get the information they need, and we can determine exactly what everyone's doing from here on out."

"Sounds good," Sun agreed. "Ilia- I'll call you in a second and patch Neptune in."

"I… don't know if now is a good time," Ilia admitted. "It's bad news, Sun. Really bad. Right now, you should be focusing on your team and everything we just saw. Not this."

"If you're sure," Sun resigned. "Alright, I'll call tonight instead. Later, everyone."

The faunus disconnected the call and flopped backward into the couch with a heavy sigh as he sank into the cushions.

"Tell us how you really feel," Blake said flatly as she rested her head on his shoulder. "This is all just… awful. Everything we saw…"

"One thing isn't awful," Yang volunteered as she scooted forward in her seat. "The fact that we have your boy with us. Seriously, Sun- listen when we tell you you're the man. If you hadn't jumped in when you did, we'd be totally fucked."

"I hope you're right," Sun replied as he rubbed at his forehead. "We did learn a lot, but I've got no idea what we can really do with any of that information. All we really gained from all of that is knowing why we have to keep the Relics apart."

Jaune cleared his throat, scooting next to Yang and putting his hand atop hers.

"We also learned Salem's motivation, and her goal. She wants to reshape Remnant in her image and become a god. Or at least, that's what I got out of it."

"Take care not to make assumptions," Corsac suggested from Yang's other side. "While that did seem to be her goal in our collective vision… we do not know how much time has passed. Things may have changed between then and now, and we can only guess at what she was thinking then or has been thinking since. We never saw how she took losing her entire family…"

"Not particularly well," Harriet said as she began to pace in front of the furniture. "She tried to take down the brother gods- one of which is dead, by the way, and yet both are still worshipped here and there to this day. And the other one directly tried to wipe us all out. That's information that wouldn't go over well if it got out…"

A sudden round of buzzes echoed throughout the room, and everyone took out their scrolls to see Neopolitan's contribution.

I can kinda understand where she was coming from, at least. When I thought I lost Roman, I completely lost my shit and just wanted to destroy everything. I threw myself into a suicidal vengeance quest at Beacon, with Salem, and then against Cinder in Argus. I thought it all made her look like less of a monster, not more.

"…are you fucking serious right now?" Yang asked as she looked up from her scroll. "You're taking her side in what happened?"

"Whoa, whoa," Sun jumped in as Neopolitan shot Yang and glare and began tapping out a new message. "Alright, hold on."

I never said that, but would it kill you to try to understand where she's coming from?

"Yeah, probably," Yang snapped. "Doing anything but fight her has already killed way too many people."

"Enough," Sun called, scooting forward to the edge of the cushion to put himself between the girls. "We're not having any infighting. Period. We all need to just cool off and work through this in our own ways."

"Then I'm leaving," Yang announced as she stood up. "I'm going for a walk. Alone."

Jaune sat back down as the word was added alongside a glare at him.

"…oh. Okay…"

"I'll be back later," Yang said as she stormed toward the door. Her shoulders visibly rose before she shook her head and looked over her shoulder. "…Neo… I'm sorry. Just forget I fucking said anything."

The blonde left the house without waiting for a reply, slamming the door behind her. All was quiet for only a few seconds.

"Should I g-"

"No," Corsac answered before Jaune could finish. "No, you shouldn't. Let her work through it on her own. Be there for her later, when she wants it."

"Yeah, I dunno," Sun said with a shrug. "I trust her on her own. I think… I need to just go and think for a while. Maybe all of us should."

"Alone?" Blake asked softly.

"Not necessarily," Sun answered, taking Blake's hand as he stood up. "C'mon."

The pair of faunus left the living room together, heading for their bedroom in silence. Sun closed the door behind them before sitting upon the bed and falling backwards to stare up at the ceiling. He didn't move as Blake fell into his side and immediately put a hand up onto his chest.

"…you okay?"

"For the most part," Sun answered as he raised his arms to put his hands behind his head. "I've got a lot of things I'm trying to figure out about the vision, and also the whole… trying to save everyone thing."

"Sun, that's just a part of who you are," Blake reassured. "And I love that about you. I'm sorry if we made you feel like you were doing something wrong in the moment…"

"No, not at all," Sun replied. "I just… I can't stop thinking about some of what we saw, and how things could've gone differently."

"With Salem?" Blake asked.

"Honestly… she's not even the one at the front of my mind, after seeing all that," Sun admitted.

Blake's ears twitched as she shifted herself upward to catch Sun's eye.

"Then… who?"

Astrid continued to make her way down the living hallway, grimm slime dripping down her body as she went. The organic tunnel she had emerged from several feet behind had already begun to close and recede, fading back into the pulsating floor of tissue. Everything around her was dark, and she wasn't sure where exactly she had risen within in her mother's citadel. All she was sure of was that she was underneath the upper palace and had to find her way up. That, and the fact that a pair of glowing yellow eyes was leering at her from the opposite end of the hall.

The Maiden didn't hesitate, continuing to make her way forward until she found the source of the leering… and the clicking. Cinder stood in her way, glaring daggers as her bisected jaw continued to clack and twitch against itself. Upon reaching the other woman, Astrid narrowed her eyes and took a moment to brush back her long, orange hair.

"…well. You got uglier. Move."

"Explain to me," Cinder began, her voice dripping with venom, "Why I am now being exiled to Vacuo, while you get to lead the front line in our next move on Ozma's forces."

"Ask Salem," Astrid answered flippantly. "Or is she refusing to tell you?"

"Would I be here demanding information from you otherwise?" Cinder hissed. "Mantle and Argus are burning, a-"

"Atlas is still in the sky," Astrid interrupted. "Arthur Watts is dead, and we have none of the Relics. Was that part of the plan, or did something go wrong? I wasn't there to see it, so why don't you explain what happened to me before I give you any privileged information."

Cinder continued to seethe, looking up at Astrid as she narrowed her eyes.

"None of that was my fault…"

"I also hear we've lost contact with Neopolitan, Mercury, and Emerald," Astrid pointed out. "Hazel is overdue to check in. That leaves us Tyrian. Thoughts?"

Cinder said nothing, spreading her wings slightly to block off the hall entirely.

"Didn't think so," Astrid mocked. "I've been away too long. Go to Vacuo, and get something done. I set up more than enough dominoes for you to tip over, if you're smart enough to figure out how. Given your track record, though, I wouldn't be surprised if you manage to fuck this up as well."

Cinder lunged forward, only for Astrid to anticipate the move. The elder Maiden grabbed her arm and twisted it behind her before shoving her up against the pulsating wall.

"You never should have acquired a portion of our power," Astrid seethed into Cinder's ear. "You're unworthy, just like the rest of them. Trusting in you was just another of my mother's mistakes… and you are nothing but a stain on my sister's legacy."

Astrid released her grip and stormed on past Cinder without another word. The younger Maiden watched her superior go before letting out a noise of disgust and swiping her claws at the wall, tearing deep scratches into the surface as she continued to stew in anger.

Author's Note:

Back to the present.

-RD