Chapter 67
Jaune Arc felt like he'd lost control of his life. Like he'd never had control of it in the first place - because one moment he was fighting for it, the next he and his remaining living friends were being taken by an alien aircraft to an alien war boat and being shipped across the planet to the largest mountain in the universe because 'That's where we need to be'. Initially, Jaune had been so exhausted, so hungry, that he didn't care - he just got some food with Weiss and Blake, gorged themselves, and then promptly fell the hell out in the first beds they could find, all of them clenching their weapons, none of them really trusting where they were or the people around them. Jaune took first watch, but nothing happened - apparently word had spread that they weren't people to be messed with. It was fine with him, it let him sleep once Weiss woke up to relieve him.
But once he woke up, he woke up to frantic activity, the war boat's PA going ballistic about some General's quarters, and a man in the strangest combination of a formal suit and body armor being held off by Blake's sword. Zed, he called himself, was a representative of something he called the 'UN Security Council', and one of a very small number of people who knew where they were going and why. As he explained it, because Ozpin had singled them out, and because 'someone very important' had singled out Jaune specifically, they were now the most important people on this ship, seconded only by him, and they were going to accompany him to Cerise.
Jaune was the first to put the pieces together, with the man's last words, about him specifically being important, being what tipped him off, and when he confronted him about all this being orchestrated by Ash, the man didn't deny it. As they loaded onto one of their rotor-wings, he explained that Ash had a veritable signal flare he'd set up before Beacon fell, that he'd intended to use to lead everyone to Salem's domain and initiate the final battle. If it was used, everyone who got it had to go there, and they had to bring everything they had, because for better or worse, it was all or nothing; and with how the world looked now and with the distinct lack of Ash, it was determined that when this 'flare' was 'lit', it wasn't him calling for a battle, but rather him leading everyone to his last resort.
Whatever was in Cerise, Zed explained, would either end the war, or equip them to do just that. He knew it, Ozpin knew it, others just as important knew it, and, if the sheer number of Grimm the Terran satellites could see moving were any indication, Salem and the Grimm Aldric were aware that something big was happening, and where.
Jaune wanted to argue with this man, to question him, to try and understand all the things he was telling them, but he couldn't summon the energy. He felt numb, and cold, despite his healed injuries and the heat in the aircraft. With the things he'd seen the last few months, with everyone he knew dead, the only thing keeping him moving forward was some vague idea he'd once believed in, but at every turn that was getting torn apart, stomped into the ground, and trashed. Of the three Beacon Rookies still alive, the only one who seemed to have any energy left at all to function as a normal human being was Weiss, but Jaune could see the glaze in her eyes, could feel the lack of energy in her voice. She was just as broken as all of them, she just had years of practice of hiding it and pretending she was fine.
Jaune only partially snapped out of it when the aircraft landed in the thick snow and ice and Zed, after throwing a coat on and offering the same to the three of them, opened the door. Jaune felt the subzero temperatures and the harsh, howling winds hit him in the face with an almost physical impact. He leaned back, pulling the coat on slowly, like an automaton, and following the others out. He didn't care about, and barely even took in his surroundings - the thousands of Terrans growing in number every minute, all busying themselves with building fortifications, all their guns pointed away from the mountain, all their minds set on readying themselves for this battle they were expecting.
And yet, through it all, Jaune wondered if it would work, or this was just a last ditch effort at delaying the inevitable. None of them even knew if Ash had buried anything in the first place, only that he'd sent a message almost a year after he'd died begging everyone to come here because reasons. How did they know that this wasn't something the Terran Grimm hadn't thought up, using Ash's memories? How did they know that there weren't billions of Grimm waiting in the mountain, and they were just biding their time to strike at everyone unawares?
Jaune wouldn't admit it - not to anyone - but he genuinely thought that they'd lost. That everything happening now was the desperate actions of two whole planets in denial, and that as more time went on, as more of his friends and people in general died, he just got more and more tired. Ozpin was the one ray of hope, but then with all the things he'd said, the things he'd revealed, even that was clouded by the darkness that was his, Salem's, and Ash's war.
Jaune just wanted to go to sleep.
The only thing that kept him going was perhaps the vainest hope that maybe, somewhere, there was a light at the end of this tunnel. That he had to fight, that he had to try, because everyone else was, because those stronger and weaker than him were, because Ruby and Pyrrha, Ren and Nora, Qrow - Gods, even Ash, even though he was just a character, a lie - all of them would have tried too, and because, damn it, it was the right thing to do.
So he trudged on, forcing himself forward, leading in front of Weiss and Blake and following Zed as they and their Terran soldiers ascended the giant pile of densely packed snow and into the mouth of the gigantic mountain. Inside, the cave, lit by glow sticks and with equally massive and thick fortifications, went downwards, descending further into the mountain and deeper into the earth. While fewer, there were still Terran soldiers buzzing about like bees, working on turning this tunnel into a killzone, the absolute last stand in their predicted battle.
Jaune spared a random, strange pedestal and a welcome mat a brief glance as they passed it by, noticing Blake give it a strange glance, and Weiss just ignore it altogether.
Further into the cave, they reached a giant, looming blast door, surrounded by sandbags and turrets. Zed barked orders at the soldiers manning the defenses, and one of them produced a small red button with a word written on it in Terran English. Zed took it and cracked a grin, shaking his eyes as he placed it in a small depression in the blast door, and clicked it.
"That was easy!"
The door shot open with a loud bang, and hot air flowed outwards from the brightly lit bunker inside, it all happening so fast that Jaune found himself briefly stunned by the sudden change.
What Jaune saw, stunned him.
Cinder Fall knew that there wasn't a snowball's chance in Hell that she could get the Watchmen to believe in and trust her. She'd have an easier time trying to convince Salem that Aldric had been a traitor from the very beginning. But, after sending her clarion to the four corners of Remnant, and as she followed FILS' directions to 'Sephiroth's' hanger, she knew that she might not have to. Disguising herself to trick Aldric's hologram and his AI had given her an idea, that she could change her appearance and voice, and just make up a mildly believable story, and her simply being here, alongside the direness of their circumstances, meant the Watchmen would have to listen to her.
And she knew Aldric had to have some means of disguising himself, there was no way in hell he didn't.
She entered Sephiroth's hangar, and stopped, raising her head higher and higher as she beheld the ship Aldric had bet a third of everything on. Bigger than any airship she'd ever seen before, bigger even than any building or Academy she'd ever even heard of, the gigantic, bulky space ship loomed over her, lit up from its own exterior lights and of those of the hangar in which it sat. It had hundreds of support struts holding it in place, and, looking in the direction the ship was pointed, Cinder could see a long tunnel extending outwards - no doubt the escape tunnel it would fly through.
At the ship's belly were multiple dozen openings leading inside. Cinder entered, briefly taking in the ship's own utilitarian hangar, filled to the brim with fighter craft and vehicles of all shapes and sizes. FILS now spoke through the ship's own PA systems, and led her further inside. Leaving the hangar, Cinder followed the AI's instructions, and after a few minutes, was brought to an elevator that took her the rest of the way to the armory level. It, as FILS explained, was just a single part of the sheer number of things Aldric had stored in here, and it was where Cinder felt she had the best shot at finding what she was looking for.
After a half hour of walking and riding elevators, Cinder finally made it to the armory level, and then was directed to the 'hall of armor' located deeper inside. Once she arrived, Cinder found herself having to stop and marvel. Lining the walls were racks of thousands of different kinds of armor. She saw red and gold suits with bright chests, bulky suits of plates and gears that appeared as big as beowolves. There were suits of skin-tight armor not dissimilar to what Aldric had put on before his fight with his father, and there were giant behemoths the size of multiple men, there was so much in here on the walls alone that she could barely comprehend it - and she hadn't even looked at the crates lining the center of the floor, dividing both halves of the rooms.
Rolling her gloved hand through her hair and approaching one of the suits at random, Cinder let out a long, exasperated sigh.
Where do I even start? She thought, looking at a scarlet suit labelled 'Iron Spider.' No doubt a great many of these were meant to augment a person's combat abilities... But so too do almost all of them look like they would, intentionally or otherwise, mask a person's identity. She thought, turning around and admiring a sleek suit of plated armor labelled 'Mark L.'
"FILS." She called out, Aldric's voice rumbling out of her throat.
"Yes, Mister Aldric?"
"I need something that can mask my identity... People are coming and I can't let them know who I am."
"Oh my, I see... I'm afraid you will have to be more specific, Mister Aldric, as there is quite a bit in the Hall of Armor that can hide your face." FILS said, in a voice so chipper that Cinder almost didn't think she was being deadpan.
The multi-Maiden rolled her eyes. "I..." She hummed, "I don't need anything fancy. Just a mask that can make my face look like someone else's."
"Oh!" The AI called out, gleefully. "Yes! Please direct your attention to crate forty two." The lights dimmed in the hall, while one almost halfway through the room grew brighter, attracting Cinder's attention.
Cinder approached the crate, the sound of her heels clacking against the metal ground being the only thing to break the silence around her. Reaching the crate, labelled 'Octoc/Face Camo', she opened it, and inside she saw several neutral gray, muscular suits folded up on one side, and what looked vaguely like sacks made of the same gray material, stacked up on the other.
"I have a pre-recorded message for you, if you would like to hear it."
"Okay..." Cinder grabbed one of the sacks, inspecting it as FILS turned the lights back on.
"Octo-camo." Aldric's voice suddenly spoke. "They'll mimic the appearance and texture of anything they touch, double as muscle suits for a little enhanced strength, and will even mask your heat... Somehow." Cinder stretched the mask, finding it surprisingly pliable. "And the masks are really fun. They do the same as the suit, but can mimic faces too."
Okay... Cinder thought, nodding. "Can you program this mask with a specific face?"
"Certainly!" The AI responded, "did you have a face in mind?"
A story forming in her head, her brow furrowing, and a grin perking up one corner of her face, Cinder nodded again. "Yes..."
It was like stepping into a completely different world, a different time, even. On one side was the cave under the mountain, dark, damp, and cold - but natural, swooping, and compact. On the other side, past the open door and spilling out, was bright, pure white light, illuminating a sterile complex of utilitarian metal walls and floors. Jaune and his few living allies followed Zed and his guards inside, and with every step Jaune felt further from Remnant, despite perhaps never having been closer to it.
"What is this place?" He heard Blake break the silence.
"It's a bunker..." Weiss remarked, turning as she walked, taking it all in. "My father had one like this built, but it's so... Empty, compared to his."
"I'm willing to bet that's because it's meant to take in a lot of people in as short amount a time as possible." Zed spoke up, as Jaune noticed the floor begin to slope downwards, and when they reached this slope's crest, down at the lowest point they saw a huge array of computer screens and terminals lining the wall, and a figure standing in front of them.
Jaune squinted his eyes, as one of the Terran Soldiers shouldered his rifle and held his fist up, halting the rest of them.
"Is..." Jaune murmured, recognizing the figure. "Is that..." He frowned, mouth agape as he tried to make out its finer details, but with the distance involved all he could see was a black amorphous blob with a pale head.
"Sergeant?" Zed asked, folding his hands in the pockets of his jacket.
"He's not moving." The soldier at the front of their pack responded.
"We gonna talk about how flat he is?" Another soldier, at the far right of their group, quipped, also looking down the scope of his rifle.
Everyone looked at him.
"What?" He nodded down to the figure, "dude's flat. Like, two dimensional... Maybe it's a hologram?"
"Well I guess you volunteered to go check it out, then." Sergeant responded.
The soldier rolled his eyes, and jogged down to the figure, the rest of the soldiers covering him, while the huntsman and the huntresses readied their weapons, ready to spring into action at a moment's -
"Yeah! This thing's a hologram!" He shouted, "come quick, it already started playing!"
Needing little more prompting, everyone rushed to the soldier.
Jaune slowed down before they even reached it, as he realized he recognized the hologram.
It was him.
It was Ash.
"- in case your need is urgent. You're here because either I activated it or someone else followed the clues I left in my journal and found this place. Whoever it was, it was determined that the situation here on Remnant was dire, but salvageable, so your response will be simple -" Green lights lining the floor and the ceiling lit up, leading deeper into the facility. "- follow these lights and you'll find a space ship. I chose that one specifically because I felt that we had the materials and science to be able to create more like it on Earth, today. For all intents and purposes it's a heavily armed lifeboat, but with some goodies inside: If you're from Remnant, you use what's in there as a bargaining chip for asylum on Earth. I guaran-goddamn-tee you they'll give you anything short of the literal moon for some of the things I've got stashed in the Halls of Armor, Tech, and Weapons." He leaned back, whistling. "Study what's in there on your own time, but if they ask for an example, they'll probably go apeshit for these: Iron Man suits, fusion technology, and any number of Super Soldier serums." A beat, "and if that isn't enough, I may have stolen about half of what Torchwick stole from Vale, so there's a metric fuckton of Dust in there, too." He grinned, "now, how many people do you have? Or do you even have anyone?" He asked.
Zed cleared his throat, "there are people coming."
Aldric whistled, "how many people are coming?"
Zed frowned, thinking a moment, before making eye contact with the hologram. "Unknown, but I wouldn't be surprised if some millions come. Ozpin sent for Atlas."
"I'm sorry, my responses are limited. You must ask the right questions."
Zed sighed, and gave it a number. "Three million?"
"Well then congratulations, because now you get to be in my shoes for a few minutes: The Infinity can only hold about fifty thousand. Seventy five if you fill the cryo pods and go standing-room-only."
Zed blinked.
"So you either get to tell all those people they can't be saved... Or you let in everyone you can, and then divert the rest to the Chambers."
Zed backed up, a hand going to his face, as the soldiers exchanged worried glances.
Jaune took the bait, "what are the Chambers?"
The hologram blinked. "I know that voice... Jaune Arc. I'm genuinely sorry you're here, and I'm sorry I lied to you for all that time, but I swear it was for a good cause." He shook his head, a small grin gracing his face, but not reaching his eyes. "I always saw something in you dude, even before I got wrapped up in all this. You drawing the sword proved it... More than Ruby and Pyrrha I think you may have a shot at ending this. If you ever get a shot at Salem, take it and go for the head. If not, keep that sword safe. Who knows? You may not be the only one who will ever get to use it." He said, before sighing. "But to answer your question... Five rooms each containing a kilogram of the Life Eater Virus, something that can cover a planet in minutes, fill the atmosphere with toxic chemicals with a flash point below room temperature, and burn everything so damn good that no organic matter will remain. So people go in, virus gets released, ashes get vacuumed up, they don't come out."
It was the mother of all Hail Mary's, but if Cinder's plan was going to work, there was no better way to make it do so than by trying this.
Shivering from the cold of a long, high-altitude, high-speed flight, Cinder came in for a landing, hitting the ground with a huff.
Surrounding her was a giant stone quarry on one side, and a forest in the distance, on the other, both bearing the scars of a titanic battle, one of which stretched off into the horizon. Around her the sky was red, but she ignored it, instead lowering her eyes on her objective. She didn't know if it would work, considering what Aldric had told her about it - no, in all honesty she didn't even expect it to work. But, it was something that would gain her the trust of everyone who knew of it, and would be perhaps be a wildcard against the Grimm Aldric, one that may give her an advantage in their inevitable battle.
Approaching that which captivated her thoughts, Cinder looked down on it. Its leather haft and exotic metal both still pristine, without an ounce of dust. It seemed to sense her approach, as text - in her language, no less - appeared on its side:
Whosoever holds this hammer, if she be worthy, shall wield the power of Thor.
She sighed, knowing she was speeding towards a dead end, but also knowing that she would gain nothing if she didn't try.
She looked up to the red sky.
"I... I know." She whispered. "I know... I know... But please, I understand the path I walked was wrong. I understand I killed your son and I understand I'm the reason he is what he is now... But please... If I have this, if you can help me... His death will not be in vain. His plans will work, and by the gods... I believe we would even win. I could make it right... So please..." She begged the sky. "Please..." She gulped.
Then, with a shake of her head, she slid her hand inside the thin leather lanyard, grasped the haft with both of her hands, and braced her legs on the ground.
She pulled.
"Christ..." Gasped one of the soldiers, shaking his head. "Fucked up kid."
Jaune was flabbergasted, as Weiss' hands covered her face, and Blake, face red, demanded of the dead man, "why the hell would you make something like that?!"
The hologram blinked. "I know that voice... Blake Belladonna." A beat. "I... I got nothing, gotta be honest with you. You and I never really interacted much, not for no reason, just you and Ash didn't really mesh well, and you got enough of his brand of person from your team leader." He shrugged. "But I know enough to at least give you a bit of advice: Taurus may surprise you, he's actually done a job of convincing me. Not perfectly, but there's enough doubt in me that I decided not to tell this assassin friend of mine to kill him if I died." He held up his hands, "now I'm not telling you to start sleeping with him, but maybe interact with him again. Be the voice of reason if and when he assumes power." He sighed, "anyways... To answer your question:
"Hope is a powerful thing, and losing it is even worse. Trust me, I fucking know. What we have here isn't a deus ex machina, it's not a 'we save everyone and then win the war and ride off into the sunset' situation. It's not a perfect solution, it's a last ditch effort to avoid everybody dying, and since you're speaking to me, that means it was someone else who activated it, and that means you assholes -" He pointed in front of him, "- didn't read my journal or heed the warnings I left with my mother, and decided to bring absolutely fucking everyone, which, I'll remind you, I specifically wrote in there was a bad idea, and would not work the way you want it to.
"So in this particular situation, because you sounded the alarm and didn't bother calling the people who could have staggered their evacuees, you can either tell millions of people that barely even a tenth of them will survive, or you can lie to them and say they'll all make it, and once we're at capacity, let those we can't rescue go to the Chambers... Where they'll be quietly put down. Not out of malice, out of mercy, because otherwise they'll turn around and die to whoever's forcing them to run here, or spread the message that their only chance at salvation is full, and they'll subsequently riot and kill eachother off before Salem and Cinder can, or they'll just lose all hope, empower and attract the Grimm, and... Die on their own. Alone and scared." He shook his head, looking down at the ground. "It wasn't my first option I assure you, but others - a bifrost to teleport them all to Earth, more ships, a gigantic Vault to take and sustain them all - it was all just untenable...
"But... In the end, it's your choice, I'm just offering you an option. Maybe you have something better, I pray you do, I pray this isn't a worst-case scenario, but if it is... Get a good look, because this is the reality I live in, because yes, I genuinely have had to make choices like this, and while I always sought out the best option, I have to be prepared for the worst case scenario, and the point Sephiroth is literally 'The world is about to die, get a sustainable population off of it to rebuild somewhere else, preferably safer.'... It's a contingency for a worst case scenario. By this point it's a reality that we can't save everyone, only enough to ensure your two species - human and faunus - don't die out."
Blake fell back a step, shaking her head. "You -" She looked at Zed. "You and Ozpin actually trust that?" She asked, "I don't know who's the bigger monster, him or his reanimated corpse."
Zed, his face set in a tight frown, was interrupted before he could answer. "Aldric..." Weiss began, "theoretically, could the excess people survive in this bunker?"
"I know that voice..." Aldric responded, "Weiss Schnee. The optimist in me wants to say you hunted your way here, the pessimist says that Daddy Morebucks may have had something to do with it, but..." Shrugged. "Suppose it doesn't really matter. You were always the most level-headed of the bunch, even had a bit more sense in you than Pyrrha. Lacking Ozpin - who I barely trust - or any leadership, like Ironwood - who I also barely trust - I'd vote you to head negotiating with Earth once the Infinity makes it to lunar orbit. Just have some patience and do at least try to look into the things you'll be giving out... I actually do trust your judgement when it comes to you bargaining Sephiroth's inventory against asylum and alliance with Earth." He nodded after a deep breath. "But, to answer your question... I'm sorry, my responses are limited, you must ask the right question."
Zed shook his head, "much as he may have tried to make it easier with his powers, we're still dealing with a computer here." He said, "be more specific..." He cleared his throat. "Can this facility act as a fallout shelter?"
Aldric shrugged, "theoretically, sure, but the better idea would be to activate Sephiroth and pack everyone onto the Infinity, get them the fuck out of dodge. I could not tell you its maximum population, though, especially as Aerith would remain closed unless it was needed... With all this and the Infinity's hanger, it'd pretty much be a Metro situation, you'd maybe be able to pull in a few thousand, maybe... Ten? At most? I couldn't tell you, but after that you'd have to refuse everyone, and since they won't just go 'oh, okay...' And leave, you'll have to kill them."
Jaune saw one of the soldiers whisper something to another, and the other shrugged.
"So at most... Eighty five thousand, ten of which would have to stay here." Zed looked up to the giant screens looming above them, and then down to the green lines leading deeper into the bunker, he sighed. "Shit."
"Sir -" One of the soldiers spoke up, "a few Grimm just approached our perimeter." He said, lowering his hand from the side of his helmet, "they took them out, but more will come eventually."
Zed nodded absently, eyes still focused on the direction of the green lights, frown still affixed to his face.
He turned to Aldric, "you mentioned Sephiroth and Aerith. What are those?"
"Contingency plans. Sephiroth, Genova, Aerith." Aldric began, before he explained each of them to their fullest extent, and then, "like I said earlier, you were called here because someone turned on Sephiroth. So get your asses on the ship before it's too late."
He sighed, "okay." A nod, "okay." He turned to the soldier, who straightened his back. "Get a perimeter set up... Get word to the fleets. I want one CSG to remain, everyone else falls back through the wormholes." He spouted off, confidently. "That CSG is giving us everything we've got here... We're turning this mountain into a fortress. It'll take time - maybe days, maybe weeks - before everyone Aldric called will start showing up, and Salem won't fail to notice that movement. She'll follow them, and we'll have the mother of all battles on our hands." He turned to the three former students, his expression steeled. "You won't agree with my decision, and that's why I'm making it and not you. We're going with Sephiroth, and with Ozpin on his way to Atlas, and Adam Taurus no doubt already on his way from Menagerie, we've got a sizable population of both major species. We need to buy everyone on Remnant time, and the only way we can do that is in blood, you can either fight with us, or you can be the first to be put in cryo on the ship."
Jaune shook his head, "you've got to be kidding me."
"Unfortunately not."
"Atlas and Menagerie... But all those people - not even half of them will fit!" Blake argued, as she shrugged off a consoling hand from a solemn looking Weiss.
"If you've a better solution, I'll hear it." Said Zed, "interrogate him if you want." He nodded to the hologram, "but this is the worst case scenario. So the best-case solutions won't rightly work here.
"We'd need a fucking miracle." He growled, walking away.
The hammer stayed stuck fast. It felt like it was actively pulling away from her, with exactly as much power as she put into trying to tear it from the ground.
She tried again and again, but it didn't budge, it simply rung with its ethereal, otherworldly metal ring, as though singing in its defiance, before she finally let go, stumbling back, a defeated look on her face. She looked to the sky again, her exasperation briefly igniting to anger, before the heat that fueled her for so long again gave out on her, and her shoulders fell.
"How did you do it?" She asked. "How did all of you do it? For so long?" She felt a throb in her chest. "How did you... How did you live with it?" She looked back down to the hammer, its message still etched in its side. "How did you resist the temptation? How did you know?" Her lip quivered, as she grabbed at her chest with a gloved hand. "I..." She sighed, hand falling limp. "I'll still try... I just hope you know I'm sorry." She wondered if there was some fragment of Aldric up there, and if what remained of him could even understand what she was saying.
She turned around, taking a few steps away from the hammer.
But just as she pushed magic to her feet, just as she was to take off for the skies: "I recognize that look on your face, young lady."
She blinked.
"I wore it myself, once... For far too long a time."
Cinder turned, seeing a young boy, barely in his teenage years, skin tanned from a lifetime of work outdoors, garbed in a farmer's outfit, hands in his pockets, and his eyes - which shone with an age far beyond that of his own - locked onto the hammer she'd just been forsaken by.
"Gods... The both of you remind me of myself... How you both had the strength to carry on and not simply give in, I wish I could know." He turned to her, a frown wrinkling his face, his eyes glowing gold.
Cinder sighed, "you're back." She frowned, "so soon." She ran her eyes over the boy, they couldn't have been linked long, how had they synergized so soon?
Ozpin nodded, "a minor miracle... But one I attribute to age, more than anything. The longer I live, the weaker I grow, the easier it is for new hosts to take to me." He smiled morosely. "I tried too, you know." He nodded to the hammer. "To lift it. It rejected me as it did you." A pause, "did he?"
Cinder shook her head. "He seemed to already know its answer... Only his father could."
Ozpin nodded, a look of surprise gracing his face. "So it was his father..." He looked out to the scarred horizon, to the aftermath of Aldric's blast attack. "Oh my..." He turned back to Cinder, "did he know?"
She shook her head, "I never told him, and I don't think he suspected."
"For the best... Unfortunately." Ozpin responded.
The two shared a silence.
"Why are you not attacking me?" Cinder asked.
Ozpin chuckled airily. "I know better." He said, "besides... I can sense it." He lifted his hand and then, fingers splayed out, waved it down from his head to his hips, as though scanning Cinder. "You've changed... Be it because you have genuinely seen the errors of your ways, or because the souls of four young women have injected enough light to overpower your darkness..." He stowed his hand back in his pants and shrugged. "Or perhaps... Something else... I don't know." He shrugged, "and I suppose it doesn't matter, now." He gave her another appraising look, humming to himself, but not saying anything further.
"I am surprised you're here, and not... Anywhere else, bringing people to the mountain."
At this, Ozpin sighed. "Ironwood is..." He hummed, briefly glancing northward. "Doing what he can. I've given him what he needs, what he does next I can only influence, I cannot decide."
They went silent again, the only sound between them being the shifting winds of a dying world, and the distant screech of an airborne Grimm.
"Tell me." Cinder said, stealing the undying boy's attention from the hammer. "Is... Was he ever..." She nodded to the sky. "Where you go?"
Ozpin's frown deepened, and he closed his eyes, nodding. "Only long enough to experience pain and torture the likes of which I cannot describe." He said, "I tried to contact him... To gather his scattered conscious... But I was too late. Salem did what she did." He turned away from Cinder, hiding his face. "What remains of him now are just his basest instincts." He said, tilting his head back, staring up at the sky.
"Really?" Cinder looked up, her eyes falling on the shattered moon.
Ozpin nodded. "Alone, his will, it seems, is great enough to defy death, but not enough to piece himself together." He intoned.
Cinder looked down to him, noticing that his shadow appeared split in two, one of his body, of a young boy, curled up and seated, facing away from the second shadow, one of his soul, the ancient man, standing tall and reflecting the pensive stance of the body, his hands behind his back, head tilted to the sky.
"I see..." She murmured. "Could that mean the others -"
"Unfortunately not." Ozpin cut her off. "That kind of will... It is rare... And his was forged in a crucible like no other. Had he made any one choice differently, even his may have been insufficient."
Cinder sighed, "what do you intend to do then?"
Ozpin hummed, "I don't know yet." He peered at her over his shoulder. "What about you?"
Cinder blinked.
"You don't know?" She shot back, "how can you not know?!"
Ozpin's face grew the smallest grin, "well... I've an idea, but I'd prefer to hear your thoughts before I voice mine. I did it to him all the time." He turned back forward.
Cinder, however, wasn't having it, and marched forward, passing over Ozpin's split shadows, dissipating them both when she grabbed his shoulder and forcibly spun him around, meeting his expectant gaze with one of ire.
"I will do what you should do!" She barked, teeth bared. "What they tried to!" She waved at the hammer, "what..." She sighed, shoving him away. "What he would do. That mountain will buy Earth and Remnant their victories... But only if his walking corpse is destroyed. So by my dying breath I will do that." She proclaimed.
Ozpin's smile remained, it appearing to Cinder as though her were satisfied with something, "why?" He said, barely above a whisper.
Cinder, breathing hard, frowned at the immortal man. He was baiting her into something, but what?
No, she wasn't going to play his game. The multi-Maiden folded her arms, frown deepening. "Why do you want to know?"
"Because, Miss Fall... You and he are very similar. Truly, your lives swapped, I feel you would have taken up each other's roles perfectly, and I would be speaking to..." He hummed, "I suppose we could call him Ash Fall?" He chuckled to himself.
Cinder fumed, "do you think all this is a joke, Ozpin?"
"In a way... Yes." He squared his shoulders, folding his hands behind his back. "Tell me how you got here."
She blinked.
Ozpin pounced, "you made... Quite a few decisions on... Instinct, didn't you?"
She shook her head, "not so much instinct, no." She said, mentally rolling her eyes. "Seeing everything add up the way they did... Learning what I did about him, I realized I was wrong."
"Well, while I could certainly infer something from that, I will instead focus on the more important point." He said, "did you not find it strange how often you were able to just... Synchronize with his way of thinking? Practically guess answers he'd designed to be so ridiculous as to not be guessable?" He asked, "that you adopted his clothing -" He waved his hand at the utilitarian outfit she'd adopted, the coat she'd draped over herself. "- his artifacts -" He indicated the mask stuffed into one of her pockets, the lightsaber fastened to her back. "- and when you felt your back against a wall... Your first thought was to seek out a weapon from his world, instead of obeying instincts forged on ours?"
Cinder blinked, "you're not saying -" Her voice got stuck in her throat.
Ozpin's smile turned morose. "What I did not tell you was that in those weeks and months between his death and his unholy resurrection, while we did not speak, I did observe him. He tried to rebuild himself, optioning for a slower and inefficient method, one he'd read in a book... Rebuilding his body, atom by atom." He explained, "he experimented for weeks, creating blood and tissue, bones, and eventually attempting to piece himself together. He tried this for months... Creating twisted, malformed corpses, some unfinished, some broken, some inside-out, but all failures, and he abandoned them all when they failed him." He paused, "but then, you killed Winter, and Salem got the idea to bring him back.
"She harvested his soul, taking his power and leaving anything she deemed useless, creating a machine in the shape of a man, with the spirit of a Grimm. One of raw power and sheer efficiency, and she left behind... Instinct. Emotions. Ideals... Even some memories, those torn from his mind, hidden from me, and etched onto his soul... So without his intelligence, without the whole summation of his life, with only fragments of his memory, and all of his instincts, ideals, and philosophies... To wit, Miss Fall: I said that Aldric's will was strong enough to reject death, but not bring himself back to life... But he didn't have to bring himself back to life. He could hold himself together in the hereafter, no longer, at which point he became beholden to the laws of our world. What remained of his magic, of his soul, would pass on...
"Who do you think was the last person in his thoughts, Miss Fall?" Ozpin finished, his hazel eyes locking onto her own amber orbs.
Cinder's gloved hand slowly reached up to her chest, her eyes widening as she felt her heart slow down. "No... I'm -"
"Female?" Ozpin cut her off. "I would think you smart enough to know that such a stipulation was created by me. The Brother Gods were just that - Gods. They would care not for gender." He paused, eyes briefly glazing over as he looked away, but then back to her. "What you possess is the concentrated willpower and instinct of either the luckiest, or unluckiest, man in history. You have the shredded fragments of his soul. Alongside the four Maidens, what remains of Nebo Aldric is inside you, Miss Fall."
Cinder fell back a step, eyes falling to her now trembling hand, her heart hammering in her chest, breaths coming faster.
"And an opportunity."
She barely heard him, as she tried to wrap her head around what he was telling her.
"You may know this by now, depending on what you found in that mountain... But Aldric held within him a great fear that I, and perhaps others, could read his thoughts, see his memories, know his secrets... And I will admit that he was not unfounded in those fears. From the very beginning I did exactly that... At first to know who it was who so brazenly attacked and maimed a Maiden and in that same action demanded a parley with they who were ostensibly his enemies... Initially I did with him what I did with all whom I fear, I felt his surface thoughts, experienced his most recent memories... I did it with him back then, I did it with the Terrans when I first encountered them, I did it with you just now..." Cinder's head snapped up, and she didn't miss his coy smile, as he finally dropped the game. "But unlike all of you, for him on multiple occasions I had and took the chance to go deeper... So Cinder you see I possess not everything - not even remotely close to everything - but I possess the tiniest insight to who he was in the purest form possible: Unfiltered and straight from the source..." He turned back to her, "and you, you have that which he hid from me. I believe, together... We may be able to find, or create, a solution parallel to his contingency plans, perhaps better than them."
Cinder gulped, "what are you implying?"
"You were a wildcard he never considered. Not... Once... Did the possibility that you could be redeemed ever enter his mind. And that means you can change things... Twist his plans, turn them into anything you want them to be. You can do something he never considered - you may be able to turn a worst case scenario into a best-case one. Turn oblivion to providence." He urged. "And all you would have to do..." He held his arms out. "Would be to make us whole."
And the illusion was shattered. Those three words made everything come crashing down, as Cinder realized Ozpin was playing her. He was, in a way, doing what Aldric always did: Lying with the truth. He was trying to make it seem like she had this big choice, like she was important beyond measure, like she held the fate of the world in her hand, but what he truly was, was afraid. He was afraid that the Terran Grimm Salem had made was too strong for him, and that the only way to defeat it would be if he took back the power he had given away so many ages ago.
Distancing herself from her emotions, thinking on what he was telling her for any longer than a fraction of a second, the greatest hole in his argument presented itself: How could a Grimm possess a soul, and still be a Grimm? He was trying to argue that Salem had carved up Aldric's soul into tiny pieces, taken his aura and his strength, and given it to the Grimm, when such a thing was impossible. He was trying to convince her that Aldric could reincarnate like him, despite the fact that Aldric had never been cursed like him, that he had no viable reason to return to life like Ozpin did. He was trying to connect dots and string together threads that sounded like they could go together, but were in reality incompatible with eachother. Cinder wasn't using Aldric's memories to reach her conclusions, she'd pieced everything together - from the treachery of the Masters, to Aldric's own deception and his methods in constructing the Mountain - herself! She knew him better than perhaps anyone else! She hadn't been influenced by the instincts some fragmented soul, she'd concluded she was wrong by herself! She wasn't being changed by the concentrated willpower of a dead man - that sounded insane!
Ozpin was desperate, he was playing her, because he knew he couldn't force her to do what he wanted.
Cinder's face fell, from disbelief and sorrow, to dull anger and disappointment.
Ozpin blinked, appearing to realize she'd caught onto his game.
She shook her head, "I wonder... When you tried to lift it... Did you truly expect it to let you?" She asked, turning away from him.
Mt Cerise was a mountain like no other, nearly as big as Mars' Olympus Mons - a mountain so tall it broke through the planet's atmosphere - and covered almost entirely in snow and permafrost, it was the biggest thing on Remnant and its most northerly landmass.
And now it was the most important thing on the planet.
Nobody on the ground knew what was in there, but the fact that someone knew and had called Ardennes for it, meant that it was really important. Ardennes was the 'it', the best, worst-kept secret by the United Nations, ever since the first fight with Remnant had ended and they started to get an idea for what was really happening there, and how it had spilled out onto Earth. No one who couldn't launch nukes or declare wars knew the specifics of what it was, only that the rumor was that if Ardennes was called, the entire shroud the Earth had erected, the secrecy they had created, the lies they told about what they truly knew about Remnant, it would all be thrown away, that if Ardennes was called, Terrans wouldn't be fighting Humans anymore, but rather they'd be focusing their efforts on Remnant's own personal Baron von Evilsatan.
Obviously a lot of people didn't really agree with this, especially the ones who'd had nukes fly at their own countries or had lost families in the second Grimm attacks, but those who dissented were vastly outnumbered by those who didn't, and something they all shared in common was that they, like everyone after Los Angeles, had read up on the most popular story since the Bible, and they, like everyone, knew what kind of threat the Grimm and their master posed, not just to Remnant, but to Earth as well.
So when Ardennes was called, for the briefest of moments everything was still. The whole world of Remnant was quiet, radiowaves silenced, bullets stopped, engines idled, some even said the Grimm paused, as all eyes looked North.
And when the first Seer Grimm, its dark master having sensed all of the movement north, reached the continent to figure out what was going on, and it died by Terran gunfire, the Grimm Lady knew something important was there. Likely, she thought, her missing, traitorous multi-Maiden, because what or who else but her and something she found attract the attention of an entire planet?
For whatever reason, Cinder betrayed them, and had summoned all of Remnant to Cerise for a final battle. Salem chose to acknowledge her. She would give her a final battle, and, using power the likes of which she hadn't called upon in eons, she summoned every Grimm she could influence. The Terrans may be mighty, but even their power would wane under the sheer might of her unspeakable numbers. Every single seer spoke to every single Grimm on land, air, and sea, and as one, they all turned North.
All but one.
The Terran Grimm, he stayed put, landing at the foot of what had once been Beacon Academy.
Looming above him was the petrified corpse of Salem's first and last creation. The great Grimm Dragon, encased in a tomb of stone, not dead, but not alive.
The Terran Grimm raised his hand, sheathed inside a mail of dark, otherworldly metal, peering down at it from inside his dark, scorched mask, and then looking up to the petrified beast.
He clenched his fist.