Chapter 80

For the Record

Alright, we made contact with Raven Branwen and I got a bomb dropped on me.

Venom Aldric's been hard at work. He hasn't been playing silent observer, he's actually been working on my behalf, wearing my face, making deals.
I mean, I knew this - George told me as much. But he and I both expected Venom to be running around and setting up the final battle.

The curveball comes from a deal Venom made with Raven Branwen. I have no fucking idea what they worked out, but they've got something going on, and my killing Ruby put that in jeopardy (as it did with many of my relationships.), so she needed me to resell her on the deal.

That I don't know the terms of.

Yeah, it wasn't easy, but fortunately all she wanted was my plan. Nothing big, right?

And considering how many of them I've had to throw the fuck out because of the whole Ruby thing, all I could give her was The Big One. My 'I did it thirty minutes ago' Squid Drop. My wish on the dragon. My Thanos snap. My Spirit Bomb. My 'Convince the Jedi to attack me so I can claim they attacked me and take over the galaxy' - I can keep going!
Yeah, nothing big.

Took a long time, a lot of arguing, and I actually had to show her the tools I had on hand to facilitate The Big One, but in the end I convinced her I had a better chance of winning than she did, so whatever deal she and Venom had, she's gonna honor.

Unfortunately, I don't think that means I'll actually have another set of hands in time for the final battle. It's possible that the deal was to get Raven running around and using her powers in the final battle, but unlikely in the first place, and even more unlikely after Ruby. As a result, whatever deal this is, it won't help me when the time comes to plunge the knife into Salem's back, essentially leaving me having taken one step forward, and one step back.

So, all this was really just another peek into how things could've been better, and how they'll all just fall the fuck apart in the end. Another example of how I thought I was playing in the big leagues, when I'd really been stuck firmly in my local park.

Ugh.

Cinder then pow-wowed with Raven, got Raven to agree to help us out. This was pretty much entirely because Cinder, strong as she's become, has at least cooled her head and learned enough to know it's not a smart idea to get into a fight when we're outnumbered a couple hundred/thousand to one.

Now I'm in the Aviator, flying to Mistral. I'm going to find the others in Salem's circle and give them their role to play, and then we'll go for the Relic.

The flight to Mistral was uneventful, with the only real noteworthy moment coming when Aldric landed and, after filling out all the paperwork the Mistrali government threw at him, he realized that where earlier he'd had to plan a dozen different maneuvers and endless amounts of contingencies to be given some time to himself, completely unsupervised, this time he'd just been given it, and perhaps most entertaining of all was the fact that he had nothing planned for it.

Stepping out into the mountainous city, head covered by his mask and body enshrouded by chainmail, Aldric felt the smallest flutter in his chest. The faintest shadow of a very old memory where he could just walk about because he could. Where he wasn't being watched, he wasn't trying and failing to hold the whole world together, where the blood of a horrendous amount of people was on his hands. It felt kind of good, walking around aimlessly, he'd even shut his Radar off, shrinking it back to him and just looking about - one advantage of this getup was that people assumed he was a Huntsman and gave him some space.

But, as with all things, it was over pretty quickly. It was just as he was beginning to consider how he'd find the others in the Legion, just as he'd landed on having to keep walking Mistral but with his radar pushed out as much as he could, that he was passing by a bar, and someone stumbled outside, lost their footing, fell from the landing and collided with him. Aldric kept his footing, but was still pushed back a step - and before he could even react, the person who'd ran into him was already shoving off of him and stumbling off, aimlessly.

Oh... Well this isn't ideal. Aldric though, as he frowned at the disheveled blonde that had run into him. Should've suspected this, though. She'd gone from her usual self, well groomed, fiery personality and looks, to taking after her uncle: Hair matted down, skin a shade paler than it used to be, violet eyes dulled, shoulders slumped, and a bottle of choice alcohol in one of her hands.

Yang looked like shit, she didn't even offer an apology as she grumpily ambled off down the street.

Aldric watched her trying and failing to fight gravity, appearing as though all of her weight was coming down on her at once, and considered again whether or not it was God, the Universe, or just his bad luck that continued to harass him like this. How big was Mistral? How many people? How many bars? And he'd managed to walk randomly down the exact street, past the exact bar, at the exact time, and line everything up perfectly to get a brief look at what his actions had wrought.

Looking at her, Aldric frowned as his eyes fell to a small object fastened to her belt. Was that a lightsaber? Was that his lightsaber? He'd lost that under Beacon, how had she gotten ahold of it?

Before he could really think on it too much, he heard a sigh, and then a, "Yang, stop, you're drunk!" And turned to see Weiss, the mirror image of her intoxicated friend, rushing out of the bar without compromising her usual regal, composed appearance, and towards the sloven blonde, who mumbled something back that Aldric couldn't understand.

Two... Aldric pushed his Radar out as Weiss bee-lined for Yang, and found Three on her way to the door. I should probably move. He thought, turning on his heel as he realized that Blake would probably recognize him in a heartbeat. She, too, looked terrible - not nearly as bad as Yang, but it was clear their last encounter had left a lasting impression: There were several scars she was hiding with thicker, more covering clothes, one of her hands was habitually rested against the swords on her hip, and her eyes rarely left the ground.

By the time Blake made it out of the bar, Aldric was past the door, so when she briefly cast her gaze upwards to ensure she wasn't about to run into someone, she missed him entirely, her focus instead going to Weiss, who had made it to Yang and was trying to get her to straighten up and stop leaning against a wall.

And if I had to guess... Aldric pushed out his Radar, and just as he thought, there was a crow staring him down. Bingo. He didn't even bother looking at Qrow, they both knew well and good that the other knew they were there, there was no point in bringing it up.

But, that didn't erase any of Qrow's rage to the general situation, and it was obvious he wanted an encounter. Aldric weighed the pros and cons of doing so, with the general question boiling down to how confident he was that Qrow thought he had actually managed to save Ruby, or at least had a plan to do so.

Might as well... If he's still on my side now, he's a resource I can use. No reason not do so so. And Aldric ducked down into a nearby alley.

Qrow didn't even wait, the moment Aldric was off the main street, the corvid dove into the alley and transformed into the human. Aldric expected what came next - Qrow thundered towards him, grabbed him by the cuff of his shirt, and pinned him to the wall, face a pure picture of rage.

"You did that." He pointed in the general direction of the bar. "You!" He was shaking. "I want - I -"

"Qrow, you know well and good that I don't have any proof she's alive. What I did had to work without me. Being connected to me would put the whole thing in jeopardy."

Qrow pulled him from the wall just to slam him back into it, "I -" He croaked, having to stop himself from shouting. "I need something!" He whispered, voice wavering, face twitching, teeth gritted. "You saw them! Belladonna's a wreck, Yang hasn't been sober in a week, and Schnee's losing her mind trying to keep them held together! Not to fucking mention the rest of them! I need to give them something, now!"

Aldric frowned, "all I have to give is Crescent Rose, Qrow."

Qrow blinked.

"Lady In Red kept it as a trophy. It's in the ship I came here on, hung up on her wall."

The rage melted away, becoming a mixture of it and shock. "You... She -" He shook his head, the grip on Aldric's chest loosening. "What the hell will that do?"

"I can't prove Ruby's alive." Aldric responded, "but I can give them something. Just a little push to get them going again. I can replace the sorrow with rage. Get them mad, and I mean fucking furious. It won't work forever, but it'll be a patch job until we've taken the Spring Maiden's powers and start going for the relics." Aldric was actually convincing himself that this might work, to the point where he felt the faintest flicker of hope that maybe he actually would have extra fighters for Salem. "Then after that, when everything is inevitable, then you - and Ozpin, if he's back - can tell them everything." But, as he did every time he got a flicker of hope these days, he killed it when he explored the possibilities, and in this case, the League even getting to Salem would rely either on Ozpin, who may not be back in time, the other Kingdoms, who would be in little position to help after he and the Legion trashed them for the Relics, or Earth, who he'd already determined wouldn't even try if they were the only major fighting force going in. As much as Qrow, and through him, the Justice League may actually be convinced Aldric hadn't betrayed them, there was little good it could do in the long run.

But in the short run, in the here and now, they still had a role they could play, which Qrow was beginning to grasp. "Everything?" He parroted back.

Aldric nodded, "you're here in Mistral, now. That means when we come by in less than twenty four hours, and get the Relic under Haven, there's no chance you can catch up to us in the other kingdoms - which itself would rely upon you knowing which ones we would be hitting and in what order." He explained, "so that means there is zero chance you, or anyone else, can blow my cover between then and now. As a result, the danger of the girls knowing about me is effectively eliminated. You can tell them whatever you want, whatever you think they can handle. Tell them the whole truth, about me and Earth and what I've been doing, or, fuck -" He pulled the next bit out of thin air, "I don't know, that their precious 'Ash' was recruited by Ozpin, or that he was pulled out from under beacon by Cinder and mind controlled. Whatever will let you then tell them that Ruby may, in fact, not be dead, and that everything will be coming to a head and soon.

"Hopefully, while it won't fix everything, it will give them something more sustainable than raw rage to keep them going to the final battle and beyond." Aldric finished, "let go of me, now?"

With reluctance, Qrow did just that, and backed off a step. "They'll hate you." Qrow told him. "Off the top of my head I can only think of one or two of them that will actually be able to see things clearly."

Weiss and... Ren? He wondered, before shrugging. "I don't care." He said, bluntly. "This all ends one of two ways. Either we win, or we die. In either case, it doesn't matter."

"But it might." Qrow insisted, clenching his fist and frowning. "I don't think any amount of trickery or truth will make at least Yang not hate you. Some of the others, Schnee, the faunus - they may just be willing to never see you again. The others may be willing to let bygones be bygones once we win and they see Ruby again, but you know her. You hurt and scared her sister, and soon enough you'll be killing her mother, and if I tell them everything, that means all the hurt and pain you've caused everyone she cares about will be revealed to her, and she'll know you've lied to her. She won't take that lying down - if we win, she'll come for you."

"I won't kill her, Qrow." Aldric honestly didn't know if he was lying, not after everything up until now. "Once this is all done I just want to rest. Want to be done with it all. She can have her pound of flesh if she wants it."

Qrow's frown only settled in deeper. "When's it happening?"

"The Masters and their handlers are already in the city." He saw Qrow pale at this, but the man's livid expression didn't change. "I'll go to see them after I grab the scythe. The plan is they're gonna cause one hell of a distraction -" Aldric cut himself off, "- if you want to help with that, pull some strings, get as many people as you can off fighting what they're gonna bring, I'd appreciate it." He said, before continuing. "Then Cinder, Raven, and I will head to Haven. You can meet us there - hell, get some licks in on me too if you want. If it goes the way I expect it to, she'll take Raven and her double down to the vault, and I'll be buying them time until they're done." That was actually the one part of the plan Aldric was wary of, but he was relying on his tamer, somewhat wiser, and obviously stronger Cinder to make it through her encounter with Raven just fine.

At this, Qrow snorted. "They'll be going for blood, kid." He said, crossing his arms. "You think you can last against all of them?"

"No." Aldric responded, "but I can take a hit. I can take a lot of hits, and I can use a trick I haven't used in a long time to make sure I make it long enough." It had been a long time since he'd played with his own balance of power, after all - if he dumped everything he had back into his defense instead of his offense, and add on the mithril shirt and the vibranium suit, he was reasonably confident he'd be able to take his ass kicking.

Qrow grunted, "fine." He said, backing off a step; it looked like he was about ready to take off, but he stopped, briefly lost in thought, before he looked back to Aldric. "I'll come for you too." He said, "if I don't see Ruby again, I'll come for you too. It's like Taurus said -"

"I, specifically, am Human." Aldric sighed.

Qrow nodded, "three of us together... Plus anyone else that wants a piece. We'll find you." He warned.

"Go for the head, Branwen." Aldric warned back, to which Qrow didn't respond, merely returning to his avian form and flying off.

With that brief little encounter having literally passed him by, Aldric first returned to the Aviator to retrieve Crescent Rose. As he pulled it from its mount on the wall, shrank it down and stored it in his utility belt, he came up with an off-the-cuff idea about how he could use it to throw the League off balance in a potential encounter, if Cinder got mad. Following that, he left the ship again and wandered Mistral aimlessly, his Radar pushed out as far as it could go. It took him a couple hours to find the Legion, during which he found JNPR camped out in a lavish-looking hotel near Haven academy, looking only marginally better than the remains of RWBY did. Eventually, he found the two old men, their handlers, and the psychopath scorpion faunus cooped up in a small hole-in-the-wall hotel, and went for them.

Finding the hotel, Aldric knocked on the door - and on the second knock, the door swung open, and Tyrian was there, eyes as wide as saucers, mouth stretched out in a wide cheshire grin.

"Oooooooh!" He gasped in a singsong voice, "a lonely wanderer has stumbled across our hovel! And what does he have to say for himself today, hmmmmm?" He giggled in a deep, rumbly way.

Aldric stared at the scorpion faunus, his senses telling him the Masters and Huntsmen inside were readying themselves, clearly not having expected him.

"I can say, my good sir, I'm not a fan of the silent treatment!" Tyrian pushed.

Aldric rolled his eyes and produced Paarthurnax, the miniature Grimm dragon curled into a ball inside the sealed glass vial.

Tyrian pressed his hands to his face, mouth open in an 'o' of excitement, "and the lonely wanderer reveals himself to be a friend in disguise, sent by our undeniable goddess!" The man pressed one of his dirt encrusted hands to Aldric's back, "come in! Come in, come in, come in, new friend!"

Aldric let him lead him inside, where the others were standing down. The Masters shared a brief look before turning their attention to him, their faces grim.

Arthur Watts spoke before Tyrian could keep on with his insane drivel, "your name was Aldric, yes?" And when Aldric nodded, he said, "I'm surprised Cinder isn't with you. She didn't get cocky and lose the fight with the Spring Maiden, did she?"

To which Aldric shook his head, "no, she actually had a little foresight. Convinced Raven to fight on our side, split the Maiden off from her tribe and potential reinforcements. They'll be here in..." He checked his scroll, "ten hours."

Hazel grunted, "they didn't come with you?"

"No. Raven Branwen has her own means of getting here, and she wanted Cinder to remain as collateral. I'm here to get the ball rolling on this end."

"And what would that entail?" Asked Helmut.

"Big enormous distraction." Aldric responded bluntly. "As many Grimm and as much property damage as you can cause, preferably as far away from Haven as possible. We want as few people as we can between us and the Relic."

Tyrian looked positively delighted as he fell into a fit of cackles, rubbing his hands together. "And uh - collateral... Damage?" He asked, dragging out each syllable.

Aldric shrugged, "that's on you, dude. I'd prefer you not kill wantonly, but it's not like I'll be there to stop you." And that in a nutshell was Aldric's view on Tyrian in general - he wouldn't be there to stop him, so if people died, what could he reasonably be expected to do? "Once you're done, or once you're confident enough things will keep going without you, head back to Haven. Help us with any stragglers that may try and mount a counter attack."

Helmut let out a huff and turned from the group, walking away and into another room. Aldric kept his eye on him and continued talking, "after today, we'll all be travelling as one - that's why I brought the Aviator. We'll be hitting each kingdom in turn until we have the rest of the relics. All of us together, plus Grimm support, we'll be home in time for Christmas." He saw Ben roll his eyes at this, but he otherwise didn't react. "Any questions?"

No one spoke up, so Aldric concluded things with, "then do what you need to. I'll be hanging around Haven. I'd like you to start your chaos about thirty minutes before they're supposed to come. Hopefully by the time it becomes self sustaining we'll be done, but if not, be ready for a fight." He said, turning to the door and making ready to leave.

"Uh, Aldric - a word." Said Ben, hurrying to accompany Aldric.

Aldric held the door open for the wrinkled old man, and shut it behind him as the two stepped out. "What's up?"

"I just..." Ben paused, looking into the eye-slit of Aldric's mask. "You know your father was one of the survivors... Right?"

"Salem told me." Aldric was somewhat curious if Ozpin had known too, because he just knew that if anyone would know, Ozpin would have found a way. "What of it?"

Ben blinked, briefly looking away, before turning back to Aldric and placing his hand on his shoulder. "You know you don't have to keep doing this." He said, "you can sit a fight or two out. Take some time for yourself... It must have been hard on you." A beat, "you know... To learn that he'd... Gone traitor." He said, slowly.

Is this old fuck testing me too? "Why do you fight for Salem, Ben?" Aldric asked, changing the question.

Ben slowly removed his hand, sighing. "She..." He paused, "did what no one else could. She gave me back my youth." A beat, before he indicated his face, "in a manner of speaking. For that I owe her... I can go through life as only a young man can, but now I know how to appreciate it."

"I assume you spent your own youth in Germany?" Aldric asked, leaving the implication obvious.

"Japan, actually." He corrected, "and later in Vietnam."

Well, that explains that, then. "Salem gave you what the times and circumstance took." Aldric nodded, "well, for me, she saved my life. Without her or her people, I would have died after surviving a fucking plane crash." Aldric explained, "and she gave me power I couldn't have even dreamed of. So you can understand why I feel I owe her this debt... But furthermore, she wants to do the tough things that everyone else is scared to do. She wants to rock the boat, to challenge the status quo now, for a better tomorrow." Of that Aldric was only partially sure, but he continued regardless. "You know the world we come from. Nobody cares enough to try and effect that kind of change. Nobody is willing to pay today to see tomorrow, and because of that I can give you a literal list of problems we'll have in the short and long term. So if that I owe her isn't enough, she actually genuinely seems to be working to some kind of endgoal, here. My Dad..." He took in a deep breath, "he betrayed that. He betrayed her. I may not have known at the time it was him, but for those reasons and more, if I was sent back to that time, knew then what I know now... I'd do the same thing."

Ben let out a hollow breath and nodded. "I see."

"Doesn't mean I feel good about it, mind." Aldric said, "but that's why I keep the momentum going. Eventually I'm going to get thrown at something that needs its lights knocked out, and that'll help."

Ben grunted, still nodding. "It seems that way in the moment, young man." He said, "we'll see you at Haven." He walked past Aldric, patting him on the shoulder.

For The Record

Haven looks nothing like Beacon. Beacon was this great castle surrounded by a bunch of dorms, but Haven is this gigantic pagoda with a tower jutting out of it, surrounded by a bunch of equally-sized pagodas filled with smaller dorm rooms. Like some place out of Chinese antiquity.
Really does make you wonder if Earth and Remnant had some kind of shared ancestry, for lack of a better term.

Anyways: I'm here. Hanging out on the roof of one of Haven's buildings. I ran into Qrow, and fortunately he's convinced himself I'm God (big G) and managed to save Ruby, so I was able to use him just a bit more to make the whole siege thing go a bit easier. The Masters and their Huntsmen are gonna... Set off a bomb or something, I dunno, and draw all of Mistral's fighters over to them, and Cinder, Raven, Vernal and I will fight for the Relic.

I ran into them - uh, the Justice League, that is. Almost literally.

Yang took Ruby hard. She's started taking pages from her uncle's group, according to Qrow there's not a moment that goes by where she's sober. Blake survived, somehow - I guess Jaune woke up his semblance and fixed her enough that a hospital could do the rest, but she's shook. Completely sank into herself, didn't say a word when Yang stumbled out of a bar dead drunk and Weiss went running after her. Might've had something to say if she'd seen me, but she didn't - she didn't even check her surroundings. Weiss is taking Ruby's role, trying to keep everyone together, but it's clear who's better at that kind of stuff.

I also took a peek at JNPR while I was wandering Mistral, but I can't really tell much about how they're holding up. Qrow obviously isn't quiiiiiite as invested in them as he is Yang's team, but I can at least hope they're doing better. Ren's pretty level headed, Jaune's a good leader, Pyrrha's smart, and Nora follow's Ren's example. So as bad as they'll take it... I have a little hope that they're not going down the tubes like RWBY is.

Good news: Jaune's still got the Master Sword, and Pyrrha's still got Old Glory.
Bad News: My pipe dream of Pyrrha becoming the replacement symbol to Ash has effectively went up in flames, thanks to how vastly accelerated Salem made the timeframe.

Aaaand fat lot of good it will do them anyways, since there's no way in hell they'll be going to the castle to fight.
Yet another plan rendered useless by my inability to pull Ruby out of the fire.

I genuinely think at this point that the better option would have just been to blow my fucking cover and pull Ruby's ass out of the fire. Dealt with the consequences. At least then I'd still have my options and resources available to me.

And.

You know.

Ruby would still be alive.

But yeah, in that scenario - I'd sacrifice my ability to be right behind Salem to plunge the knife into her back, for the ability to bring all the resources I'd gathered to bear against her. Potentially before she'd even grabbed the relics, to boot.

But, moot point, I guess.

It's just about time.

Wonder if I'll write in this thing again before it's time for The Big One... Hm.

'till next time.

The explosion was the first thing to tip Aldric off that it was time. He'd stopped checking the time after he'd finished the latest - and what he realized could be one of the very last - entry to his journal. He'd just spent the interim time laying on the roof to one of Haven's many pagodas, enjoying the very last moments of peace in his life before his days would become absorbed with either flying to another country, or assaulting that country's most secure facilities. The sky he stared deeply into was strangely peaceful, considering what was about to happen. A few clouds lazily floating by, some birds tweeting and chirping to fill the air with something that wasn't wind or the distant sounds of commerce and city-life.

But, it was all interrupted by a great, ground-shaking explosion off in the distance.

Aldric groaned as he hauled himself to his feet. He scanned the horizon until his eyes locked to a rising cloud of smoke to the south, and it was big. He didn't know who was responsible for it, but they clearly had the same flare for the dramatic as him.

Alarm sirens rapidly started blaring all over the titanic mountain-city, and Aldric sensed movement everywhere his Radar could reach. Despite class not being in session, Haven still held a lot of Huntsmen who either lived here casually, or were using it as a staging grounds, and once the sirens started singing their song, they all flooded the academy's grounds, saw the plume of smoke, and started pointing it out and amping themselves up, ready to fight whoever was dumb enough to assault their kingdom. Aldric even sensed this giant of a man descending Haven Tower and joining the thrall, he gathered them all up in the main grounds and started barking orders, no doubt letting them in on what all he knew of the situation - dick - and what their orders were - kill.

After doing this he waved them all on and joined the procession, but he didn't make it far - Qrow, with the rest of the League in tow, stopped him when they arrived.

Aldric watched from the edge of the rooftop as Qrow and the Giant got into a heated argument, the crowd of Huntsmen parting around them as they flowed outwards. The two screamed at each other loud enough that Aldric could almost hear them over the sirens and the rushing crowd, but after a few minutes, and just as Haven was completely emptied, Qrow appeared to lose the argument, and the Giant set a helmet on his head and joined the Huntsmen rushing for the cloud of smoke.

Aldric watched Qrow run his hand through his hair, Pyrrha approached him and asked something Aldric couldn't hear - probably something along the lines of 'what do we do now?'. Behind her, Jaune was kneeling in front of Yang who, from the way she was pressing her hand against her head, was nursing one hell of a hangover. Aldric supposed his semblance couldn't quite heal everything. Interestingly, where everyone was combat ready, Blake hadn't even drawn her weapon, Weiss was taking the chance to speak to her, while Ren and Nora both looked to the distance, observing the plume of smoke as it grew higher into the sky. After another prodding from Pyrrha, Qrow turned from her, looking up to the sky to think.

Qrow's eyes locked onto Aldric, and Aldric didn't need to sense the minute details of his face to see the frown wrinkle it.

Aldric was pretty sure he told them they'd just have to keep the castle themselves, because they all turned for Haven and started marching in.

Good timing, though. Aldric thought, looking down at his scroll and seeing that they were mere minutes from Cinder's arrival - and, right on cue, he saw a Raven dipping down from the sky and lazily making its way towards Haven.

With that being his cue, Aldric stepped off the edge and plummeted towards the ground. He hit it with a soft 'puff' after arresting his momentum with his semblance, and he lazily approached Haven, mentally counting down the clock as he reached the steps leading into the tower. He reached the great door before he hit zero, but he arrived just in time for Raven to turn back into a human and for everyone to process what was happening.

He stood there and watched the proceedings. Qrow remained silent, putting on a half-assed expression of shock mixed with anger, while Yang - be it because of the remaining alcohol in her blood or as a result of her usual hotheaded personality rising up - stepped forward and called her mother out, demanding to know why she was here. Raven, for her part, didn't answer, and appeared reticent behind her mask. Aldric noticed her look up, past the assembled group, and directly at him for a brief moment, before her expression steeled and she drew her sword, cutting it through the air and opening a portal - out of which stepped Cinder and Vernal.

Cinder's appearance caught everyone's attention, even snapping Blake out of her fugue.

"You -" Yang breathed, taking a full step forward, her eyes bleeding to red. "You - you! Where is my sister?!" She demanded angrily, her inebriation appearing to vanish at the sight of one of the objects of her rage.

But Cinder merely smiled, and revealed her scroll. A press of a button later, and while Haven's former headmaster was no longer a part of their inner circle, his work before Aldric had outed him to Ozpin paid off - and the statue at the base of the stairs began to rise, revealing an elevator big enough to fit a car onto it.

"Hey!" Yang called out, rushing forward, either ignoring or not even hearing the protests of her allies. "I asked you -" But she was stopped when she ran headlong into an invisible wall erected by Aldric. "Wha -" She pressed her hands to the wall, unable to go any closer, forced to watch as the three descended the stairs and loaded themselves onto the elevator. "HEY!" Yang's hair was beginning to glow just a shade brighter than usual as she pounded on the unseen barrier. "HEY!" She screamed, pounding on the barrier erected by the Master.

"Take care of them for us, Aldric!" Cinder called out, as the elevator began to descend.

Yang beat on the wall again and again to no avail, but it was Pyrrha whose head tilted. She parroted, "Aldric?" And turned around, surveying their surroundings until she saw him, standing before them, the bright sunlight spilling in from behind and drenching him in shadows. She gasped, called out, "behind us!" And raised her inherited shield.

Everyone about-faced as Aldric advanced, letting go of the barrier and instead using his semblance to close the two great doors behind him. His head was bowed, eyes locked to the ground before him as he took in a deep breath. He was about to be put in a lot of pain, very fast.

He sensed Blake gasp at the look of him, and her hand fell from her sheathed sword, her eyes growing wide, pupils as small as dots, as she fell back a step. "It's - it's him!" She gasped.

This made Aldric look up, the others spare her a glance as they processed her words, and Yang to briefly pause, her momentum stolen from her by the information presented. But when the doors thundered to a halt and sealed them all off from the world outside, the gears had started spinning again in the blonde brawler's head, and she rushed forward, shouldering her way through the others, her blood red eyes zeroed in on Aldric.

"It was you?!" She demanded, throwing off the hand of Weiss when the heiress tried to stop her.

Jaune tried to rush forward to back Yang up, but Qrow stopped him, with Aldric barely hearing his words. "If what's about to happen is what I think it is... We'll either just get in her way..." He paused, searching for the best words. "Or we'll become collateral."

Jaune and the others grew various looks of shock, but Yang stole their attention as her footfalls grew heavier and her voice grew louder. "Where is she?!" She demanded, her hair beginning to glow as though it were on fire, her fists clenched and arms shaking, each one swinging in tandem with her legs as she stomped towards Aldric. "What did you do to my sister?!" Aldric saw the ground splintering beneath her feet. "WHAT DID YOU DO TO HER?!"

Aldric could feel the force of her voice in his chest, as though she were an entire band wailing away, full-blast, at a rock concert. As he reached into his belt, Aldric pondered the fact that she was this mad now, and he was about to take her berserk button and hammer the shit out of it. She slowed down when he popped open his belt, and stopped entirely when he pulled out the vial that held Crescent Rose and crushed it.

The energy that was growing inside of her dimmed when Crescent Rose, smeared in Ruby's ashes, grew in Aldric's hand. Her jaw fell slack as the assembled fighters behind her realized what they were seeing. Of them all, Blake was the first to react - falling to her knees, tears streaming down her despondent face as Aldric tossed the collapsed scythe to the sister of its former wielder. It hit the ground, tumbled end over end, and slid to a halt just before Yang's feet.

Reactions came faster. Blake bent over, one hand holding her up while the other went to her chest, tears freely falling from her face and peppering the ground. Weiss leaned back, her blade falling from her hand as both of them covered her face, eyes quickly becoming red as tears formed. Qrow's face contorted into a grimace and he looked away. Ren tried to keep his composure, but his face twitched and his eyes were snapping back and forth from the scythe to Aldric. Nora's expression was one of shock, her entire world grinding to a halt, her eyes blinking as she found herself unable to process the implications. Jaune's entire body went slack as his jaw fell, his breaths came quicker and his sword nearly fell from his limp fingers. Pyrrha gritted her teeth, eyes wavering as she blinked away tears, trying to forcibly file away the revelation for later so she could focus on the battle ahead.

But Yang, she fell to her knees, her eyes losing their red sheen and her hair dying back down to its natural blonde. The energy that had been welling up in her just a moment ago had been sapped entirely, as the only remaining evidence of her sister's existence lay at her feet. She gasped for air, numbly reaching for the scythe, and then pulling her hand away before it even made it halfway. Her head tilted jerkily one way, and then the other, as though she were shaking her head in denial and trying to stop it at the same time. Her lips parted, she tried to form words that simply failed her, before finally her body stopped failing her and her arms lifted up, hands going to her head, fingers digging into her hair.

A single quake shook the ground.

"No..." Yang gasped, small lines of tears welling up in her eyes.

She tried to blink them away, and when her eyes opened again, they were both a bright, bloody red, and Yang screamed. A deep, guttural wail of raw emotion. Agony, sorrow, heartbreak, anger, fury, rage, it all boiled up into a scream that could be heard in even the most distant parts of the kingdom now under siege. Yang's aura returned in a display so bright that those around her who still had the eyes they were born with had to shield them as she was enveloped by a swirling vortex of golden fire. Her hands tightened into fists in her hair as she bent over and screamed again, another quake shaking the ground, even harder than before, before she tore them out of her hair and straightened back up - the veins in her neck bulging, her arms shaking, her fists clenched so tight that she managed to bend the very metal of her arm, as she screamed and cursed the heavens.

Aldric watched with equal parts fascination, dread, and horror, as he beheld the physical changes happening to her right before his eyes. He could see the golden fire almost literally bleeding out of her - some of the veins in her still organic arm were beginning to glow underneath her skin and trace their way up to her neck, and to her eyes, which had lost all semblance of humanity, becoming solid, fiery masses of red rage. Yang let out another scream - no, this one was animalistic, it was primal, this was a roar, and it accompanied a gust of wind powerful enough that she pushed everyone present back several feet and shook the walls of Haven academy. The building energy around her reached a crescendo and burst, even managing to temporarily blind Aldric's radar before it died down and revealed Yang, standing in a crater of her own making, teeth bared, blood red eyes bulging, hair glowing so bright as to be nearly pure white, aura enveloping her body in a layer of fire, and her rage directed at Aldric.

Oh... World-breaker Yang. Aldric thought, straightening up as she bent down, a deep growl coming from the pit of her gut.

"Fuck."

Yang launched herself at the Master like a rocket.