The 'Lone' Hero of Vale (RWBY & Link)

by SRenthusiast

Team RWBY runs into a classmate while on a self-assigned mission, when they realize he does not have any teammates because he is a one person team. Link quickly proves he's not just a swordsman and is very much worthy of calling himself a huntsman despite a dark past that correlates with major events (More of a fusionfic since its Link in Remnant; starts in the middle of Volume 1)

52. The Exposed Slippery Slope of Lies

Continent of Anima: Outskirts of Mistral

With every passenger on board the 'Argus Limited', the train ride through Grimm territory to the city of Argus is underway. After waiting for a long period of time, in which Ruby Rose had time to go shopping, Link got the chance to officially meet Blake Belladonna's parents, Ghira and Kali and Ilia Amitola, Qrow had the difficult task of describing the details of the events that transpired in a statement to the public. Meanwhile, he also sent an individual letter to James Ironwood, informing him that his group will be traveling to Atlas. New faces and people were met as well, with Dee and Dudley, professional huntsmen hired to protect the train, attempting to shake down team RWBY, Jaune Arc, and Oscar Pine of lien in exchange for extra protection, only to be promptly dismissed with minimal effort by Link and Qrow. Now that the train is moving and everyone is getting situated in respective cars such as the lounge, dining, and rooms to sleep. The latter of which have four beds set up as bunk beds, leaving the group to solve a few more problems

"Okay, let's not bicker and decide who is rooming with who." Qrow shrugs. "There's eight of us and four beds in each car, let's just separate into two groups of four and call it a day." He turns to Link. "I know you were used to having a dorm all to yourself at Beacon, but those days are over."

The rest of the group laughs at Qrow's remark, with the exception of Link who is staring at the ground, mind somewhere else, only moving out of sheer instinct and some guidance from Weiss

"Kid?" Qrow raises an eyebrow

No response, the only action that comes from the blonde young man is the closing of his eyes

"Link?" Ruby sprints over and shakes him by the shoulders. "Weisss, do something!"

"M-Me?" Weiss' eyes shoot open widely. "I don't have all the answers! Besides, weren't you the one who figured out how to get through to him first, Ruby?"

"You're absolutely right." Jaune chuckles

"She gotcha there sis!" Yang giggles

"W-Well I ummm…" Ruby scratches her head in embarrassment. "Maybe."

"Is he okay?" Blake asks

"Why wouldn't he be? He experiences them often." Qrow nods

"Experiences what often?" The cat faunus narrows her eyes

"You guys didn't get the emo girl up to speed on everything?" Qrow glares at the rest of the group

"Caught me up on what?" Blake turns her teammates for answers whilst blinking in confusion

"There is not a lot to catch you up on, uncle Qrow is being dramatic." Ruby groans. "He's talking about changes Link went through since Beacon fell."

"What kind of changes are we talking about?" Blake mumbles

"How do I even begin?" Weiss sighs. "Here is what Link described to me on the day we reunited in Mistral."

Meanwhile, only inches away from his girlfriend, Link's body starts to gently shake in what appears to be frustration. However, in reality, it is fear and anguish as he is frozen in place, stiff as a statue, and experiencing visions first hand, the same visions Weiss is describing to Blake at this very moment

---

(No no no… What's it going to be this time?!) Link frowns as he begins to hyperventilate in anticipation of the horrible vision that will come soon

"Ahhhhhh!"

(Not again! I know this scream…)

Link grits his teeth and balls up his hands, aware that his actions are likely being seen by everybody but not having any concern for that, as he wants to suppress the emotions and pain by attempting to fight off the visions that haunt him. Unfortunately, his efforts fall completely short when the train, other passengers, Dee, Dudley, his friends, and his girlfriend all fade away, with the entire scene from the top of Beacon Tower forming in front of him. Within seconds, Pyrrha is on her knees, she looks weak and defeated after having endured a long battle. Cinder appears out of thin air moments later, and the blonde swordsman angrily grunts, knowing what is about to happen while he cannot prevent a single thing

"Do you believe in destiny?" Pyrrha sternly speaks with no fear in her voice

"Yes." Cinder's smile disappears as her forehead wrinkles and eyebrows furrow in anger

The new fall maiden steps back and forms her bow and arrow again from what seems to just be shards of glass. Cinder pulls back on her bow, then she raises the bow to aim at Pyrrha's head. The red haired student shuts her eyes and accepts her fate, refusing to give Cinder the satisfaction watching her suffer. And for this, the maiden narrows her eyes even further, lowers the bow down, and releases the arrow! Said arrow only soars through the air for a split second before it strikes Pyrrha directly in the chest, impaling through her body as the tip of the arrow slightly exits through her back

(Stop… Stop… STOP!) Link opens his eyes, but nothing happens as the scene remains the exact same: Pyrrha gasping for air, reaching for the arrow with shaking hands, eyes widened, and no sign of himself or Ruby arriving any time soon to try and save her

The next sound heard are Cinder's clicking heels, they get closer and closer to Pyrrha and soon enough she places a hand on the red haired huntress' head, using her maiden powers to incinerate the young girl. Pyrrha slumps forward, glows orange, and then scatters away into ashes. All that was left of the girl is the circlet she wears on her head, which is in the fall maiden's hands now. Cinder drops the accessory on the stone ground as if it were a cheap hunk of metal

(You deserve to rot Cinder!)

Link shuts his eyes again, a feeble attempt to get rid of the vision burned into his head. By some miracle, his vision goes black, granting him some peace for the time being… Until the same vision re-appears at the beginning of Pyrrha's death at the hands of Cinder

---

Back on the Argus Limited, Weiss' softer approach of lighting squeezing his arms, hands, and gentle shoulder shakes do not faze the grief stricken Link, who grunts and clenches his jaw, only appearing to get worse and worse

"Maybe you need to be more aggressive?" Blake approaches them and signals for her teammate to back away

"Be careful!" Weiss shakes her head

"C'mon Weiss, do you really think Blake would hurt him?" Ruby smirks

"Yeah, you need to chill." Yang nods. "Link is clearly on another level from us, a little slap from Blake wouldn't hurt."

"I'm not talking about that." Weiss gasps. "Wait-! Are you going to slap him?!"

"N-NO!"

Blake shakes her head in horror, she rolls her eyes with a big smile on her face, and then quickly wraps her arms around Link, pulling him into a hug and squeezing with all her might

"If this does not work, I am not sure what will. You've given all of us a hug at some point so I figure this is the best way to snap you out of… This."

The rest of the group looks on, waiting but mostly hoping for positive results. Luckily for them, Blake's idea works to perfection when Link opens his eyes and takes a deep breath

"Blake?" Link quietly hyperventilates while he blinks in confusion

"Hey." The cat faunus says with a small grin present, though it is not visible to the blonde when resting her chin on his shoulder. "You had everyone worried… Again."

"Of course I did." Link sighs and looks to the rest of his friends and close allies. "I apologize, if I had control they would never happen."

"Don't be sorry kid." Qrow nods. "We all have our own issues we deal with, yours are unfortunately more 'out there', which I'm sure you don't want."

"Not at all, no." He nods and gently hugs the cat faunus back. "And thank you for snapping me out of it."

"I'm glad I could help." Blake nods. "Weiss told me about these visions you have. Is it true that they occur every day? You shut down and visualize them with precise details?

"Mhm." Link nods

"I'm so sorry."

"Thanks. It is very difficult and I wish I knew how to stop them." He shuts his eyes once more, this time to hide his emotions

His decision to hide his feelings stems from seeing Weiss, Ruby, Yang, Jaune, Oscar, and Qrow look at him with concern, which saddens him; on top of thinking about Pyrrha and her death. While dealing with his emotions in his own way, he inadvertently prolongs the hug, making everyone smile in relief, apart from Weiss, who's eyebrow twitches in angst

"Okay that's enough of that." Weiss steps in between and breaks up their hug with her entire body

"Weiss!" Blake gasps

"W-What?" The ex-heiress attempts to play it off by shrugging. "We have to decide who is rooming with who, r-right?"

"Sure thing Weiss." Link nods

…And her 'subtle' interruption is anything but that. Ruby and Yang giggle, point, and laugh. Jaune sarcastically grimaces, Oscar smiles, and Qrow rolls his eyes

"That was awkward as hell but she's right." Qrow nods

Blake nods and smiles at Link one more time, before regrouping with Ruby and Yang, standing next to the latter. Weiss stands beside the blonde young man in blue and leans over to whisper

"Are you feeling better?"

"I am, thank you." Link covers his mouth, resisting the urge to snicker or laugh. "Did that hug… Upset you?"

"N-No! What makes you say that?" Weiss turns away to hide her blush from the rest of the group, but not her partner

"You do not have to hide or deny it, I find it adorable." He grins. "I think everyone noticed, so who is not keeping things a secret this time?"

"That's it!" Weiss whispers aggressively. "You're on thin ice!"

"Heh." Link gently nudges her forehead with the side of his head

"So… Any volunteers?" Qrow looks around. "Otherwise I'm just choosing whoever and I will not listen to any protests from you brats."

"Team RWBY volunteers!" Ruby extends her arm in the air and waves her hand erratically

"Fine by me." Qrow nods

"Wait a second! The whole team did not agree." Weiss shakes her head as she steps aside to stop hiding her face

"Fine. Team vote!" Ruby smiles. "Do we stay together in our own room?!"

Ruby keeps her hand raised, Yang gives a thumbs up, Blake smiles warmly, and Weiss drops with her with a frown

"You have been overruled, three to one!" Yang grins

"B-But! Weiss pouts

"How about a solution for everyone." Oscar clears his throat. "What if Ruby, Yang, and Blake stay with you, Qrow? The other room can be Link, Weiss, Jaune, and me."

"At this point, I just want a drink and you're all delaying from that." Qrow rolls his eyes

"What do you guys think?" Oscar turns to Ruby, Blake, and Yang

"I guess if Weiss really wants that." Ruby pouts

"No no no! We put it to a vote and yes won by a three to one vote." Yang shakes her head and looks directly at their hesitant teammate. "Come on Weiss, you've practically spent weeks attached to Link. Being away from him for a bit won't hurt, I promise."

"How dare you accuse me of being neglectful! So we are just going to ignore how Link was unconscious and needed someone there for him?" Weiss narrows her eyes

"You know what I'm trying to say!" Yang sighs

"We want to spend time with you too, Weiss." Ruby purposely makes her lips quiver as her silver eyes are now big and watery. "Team RWBY just reunited, let's spend some time together!"

"Why are your eyes like that?" The elegant ex-heiress gasps. "Stop trying to manipulate me!"

"They're not wrong. It would only be a few hours and I just came baaaack too." Blake says with a smile

"Not you too!" Weiss scowls at her team

"Link, help us out here." Ruby turns to him and claps her hands together. "Pleaseee!"

"I feel like it is not my place to decide for her." Link chuckles. "But, you all make a point."

"Link!" Weiss raises an eyebrow. "Are you sure?"

"Yes." He nods. "But if Ruby and Yang drive you insane, you can always leave and we can be together somewhere else for the rest of the train ride."

"Deal!" Ruby squeals with joy

"Sounds good to me." Yang nods. "Weiss loves us too much to ditch on like that so your stipulation is worthless!"

"I suppose that settles that." Weiss sighs. "Okay, team RWBY gets their own room."

"Cool." Qrow nods. "Little squirt and emotional blondes, you're with me. Follow or get lost, doesn't bother me."

"HEY!"

Jaune, Oscar, and Link all shout consecutively as Qrow walks away with a big smile on his face

"Enjoy your time with your team." Link mumbles. "They missed you a lot and you did too. We will see each other soon, yes?"

"Definitely." Weiss smiles. "Thank you, Link. I'm sure that was not an easy decision to make."

(Weiss… I did it for you. If I really chose with my heart, you and I would be following Qrow right now.) Link nods his head, exchanges smiles with his partner, and gently squeezes her arm. "Have fun."

"I will. See you soon."

Weiss politely waves before she joins her team and walks with them as Ruby leads the way to their room. Link watches the four girls walk away, his eyes fixate on Weiss, and he smiles at the cheerful team conversing with one another. Despite having just experienced a horrible vision, the blonde young man feels happier and more positive than he's ever felt in the past seven months combined

---

Moments Later

Having remained behind to watch team RWBY and making sure they found their room, Link finds himself carefully walking through the car, turning his head when passing by every room until he finds his spacious room. Oscar lays in bed, Jaune sits on his bed positioned below the former's, and Qrow looks out one of the three windows with a martini in his hand

"How did you get a drink already?" Link asks

"You did take a while to find us, kid." Qrow shrugs, then raises his left, holding a coffee cup. "I even got you a drink."

"Really?"

"Don't get your hopes up." The older huntsman rolls his eyes. "You like coffee, that's what I got you. Thank the other nutcase for how it's prepared, he apparently knows how you like your coffee."

"Nutcase?" Link raises an eyebrow

"He's talking about me." Jaune emits an annoyed groan. "These nicknames are becoming tiresome."

"Well kid, find new ones for me and I will gladly drop the current ones." Qrow chuckles

"No thanks." He shrugs

"I appreciate the thought." Link nods as he walks up to Qrow and takes the coffee from his hand. "Thank you, Jaune."

"No problem." Jaune nods. "He was only going to get you black coffee."

"Hey!" Qrow frowns. "How was I to know he loads his coffee with cream and sugar like Ruby?"

"I do not do that." Link sighs. "Only a bit of both."

The former one person team walks over to the empty beds and claims the one beneath by sitting on it and taking a sip of warm coffee

"Delicious." He nods

Although, it is clear that all the attention is on Link before he can take a second drink of his coffee, with Oscar and Qrow glaring at him out of the corner of their eye's and Jaune making direct eye contact

"Did I do something wrong?"

"N-No, you didn't do anything wrong, it's just…" Oscar stops speaking as he glances in Qrow's direction

"It's multiple things." Qrow nods. "First of all, we never had the chance to thank you."

"Thank me?" Link takes a small sip to resume communicating while enjoying his beverage. "For?"

"Do we really have to spell it out or something? The older huntsman shrugs

"He's talking about what you did at Haven." Jaune nods. "It was horrifying but also incredible to watch. None of them stood a chance and Cinder couldn't even use her maiden powers to full capacity."

"She never got out of first gear." Qrow shrugs. "Neither did that Vernal girl. You effectively shut down two maidens with nonstop pressure and caused some serious damage to the rest of her crew."

"And!" Oscar takes the small opening to re-enter the conversation. "You totally saved the day, Link. From what I was told by Oz, had the two maidens gotten down to the vault immediately, they would've made away with the relic long before Yang jumped down."

"They likely would have but luckily for us, Leo-!" Qrow angrily grips his glass. "Lionheart… Was a coward to the very end and took his sweet time opening the path to the vault. Then you handled the rest."

"I…" Link shakes his head, smiling gracefully. "I do not know what to say."

"Then don't, just listen." The older huntsman nods. "If you don't want all the credit then fine, but you were the biggest reason we won that fight. Before Oz took over, it was only me fighting off Hazel. Everyone else was tending to Weiss and Ruby."

"Is that a problem?" Jaune narrows his eyes

"No, idiot." Qrow rolls his eyes. "It's perfectly reasonable to not be focused on fighting when one person was dead and the other was out cold-!"

"Weiss was not dead." Link furrows his brows

"Sure, if it helps you sleep better at night." He takes a sip of his martini. "But thanks for getting angry, that reminds me of the other point. How were you the angriest person in the world a few weeks ago and more emo than the cat in black, but now you're… Chipper? Energetic? Happy? And-!"

"I… do not know how to answer this question either." Link sighs. "My emotions have always been my weak point as you all know."

"Understandable." Jaune nods. "But he is mostly asking about you being so happy all of a sudden?"

(Damn… I was hoping they would not say that.) Link races to think of something that does not involve his relationship with Weiss. "I think the main reason is our victory at Haven. It came against some dangerous opponents and thankfully we emerged mostly unharmed. Apart from Ren, I feel bad that I was not there to stop Hazel."

"You shouldn't feel bad." Qrow shakes his head

"Huh?" Link gasps, before turning to Jaune nervously

"H-He's not wrong, although it shouldn't be said so coldly." Jaune stares daggers at the leader of the group. "Everybody, Ren included, knew what we were signing up for, we knew the risks, and it really sucks. I wanted him and Nora to be here right now. We got Blake but the group is still split…"

"It's unfortunate but this line of work isn't pretty after all." The older huntsman gazes at the snowy terrain, "Now back to what I was saying before you cut me off." He shoots a nasty look toward Link. "You were angry, hateful, and desperate for revenge. Now you're strangely happy all while still experiencing those visions that bring you back down to your depressed state. Just… How are you doing it, kid?"

"I still do not know how to answer as I unfortunately do not have any control of my emotions. My journey has sent me in many directions emotionally and physically, special people die, things get taken away, good places get destroyed, and even now… People are still getting hurt and I cannot prevent it."

"That's not your job either, kid." Qrow shakes his head. "There are too many people getting in trouble for you to possibly protect everybody."

"It feels like my job when those people were close friends." Link drinks more coffee. "I do not need to go into detail however, since you all know who they are."

"Right." Qrow nods. "Well, this was eye opening but now I'm gonna go see what's up with Ruby and her-!"

"You can go into detail if you want, Link." Jaune firmly nods his head. "W-When you see your visions… What were Pyrrha's last moments like?"

Link's eyes widen in shock as he finishes his coffee with a head tilt and chugging of the warm liquid, Qrow clenches his jaw, and Oscar shakes his head in disbelief

"Jaune…" Oscar mumbles

"I need to know. Ruby refuses to tell me and maybe talking about it will help you as well."

"Okay." Link sighs. "Pyrrha's last moments were… Awful. I-I-!"

"Hey." Jaune waves his hand to grab his attention. "It's okay, take your time."

"What's gotten into this one?" Qrow tilts head to the left, confused by Jaune's patience. "If this conversation were taking place two weeks ago, he would have screamed and tried to force everything out of Link."

"Is there anything specific you want to know?" Link shuts his eyes while he takes deep breaths to calm down

"Sure." Jaune nods. "Did she have any final words? Maybe a dying wish or promise for you to fulfill?"

"You will be very disappointed." The blonde boy with an empty cup in his hand exhales deeply one more time. "Sadly no. She did not say anything to me or Ruby but from what I saw, she was in a lot of pain. She exceeded all her aura and it looked like she gave up on fighting back when Cinder eventually… You know."

The 'room' goes silent just as expected from discussing such a dark and heavy topic

"Which made it apparent that she fought valiantly, but it was not enough. If I had gotten there sooner maybe I could have…" He shrugs his shoulders whilst shaking his head. "Someone should have been with her."

Jaune nods in agreement, his bottom lip quivers as he is more than aware that he could not stop Pyrrha from fighting Cinder, and that he could have been with her

"Pyrrha was a warrior and a real hero to the very end." Link opens his eyes and tears spill down his cheeks, "When she was near death, Pyrrha looked at peace in those last moments, but I could not possibly know what she was truly feeling." He looks Jaune in the eyes, but quickly looks away. "Reliving her death every single day since the day Beacon was destroyed has been one of the worst feelings I have ever experienced."

"I'm sorry Link. Have you tried-!"

"Yes, Jaune." He nods. "Ruby has asked me that same question. I have tried everything in my power to 'handle' these visions and nothing has worked. I told myself getting revenge on Cinder would likely be the only true way but… She's dead and I am still experiencing these visions."

"I understand." Jaune nods

"Well, you three can keep talking among yourselves in this depressing environment. I am taking this chance to step out and check on the girls." Qrow finishes his small drink and scowls. "May as well get another drink while I'm at it."

The olderman, scruffier huntsman quickly turns around and walks out of the room, empty glass in hand, along with a grin on his face

"He's going to be okay, right?" Oscar asks

"Yes, he will be fine." Link weakly smiles. "Knowing Qrow, the only thing that would upset him is if they do not serve the kind of alcohol he wants."

Jaune and Oscar laugh in amusement as some life returns to the room after a sad conversation

"Hey." Link calls out specifically to the blonde sitting across from him. "How are you holding up?"

"M-Me?" Jaune points to himself in confusion. "You… Are asking about me?"

"Yes." Link nods. "I feel like ever since I re-joined the group, the attention has been mostly on me. Whether it was concern from Ruby and Weiss or-!"

"Anger from Nora and I?" Jaune awkwardly chuckles

"I was about to say that." He grins. "But anyway, the emotion involved is irrelevant. It does not feel like anyone has asked about you."

"R-Right, sorry for being skeptical, it's only because you and I weren't exactly on good terms until after the battle."

"Yes, that is correct." Link looks away, "And while I hold plenty of resentment for how you and Nora treated me and talked about me… I feel grateful to you both at the same time. Ren's condition was unknown, your semblance was not working on him, and yet Nora went out of her way to gather Ray's pink stone, her canteen, Pyrrha's circlet, and the rest of my stuff." He promptly returns to looking at Jaune, meeting him eye to eye. "And apart from being grateful, I feel like I owe you a lot. Weiss thanked me for saving her, but it was really you who saved her. Words cannot describe how thankful I am."

"Please, you don't have to. Weiss is my friend and we all love her. If any of us had healing abilities we would use it to save her in a heartbeat." Jaune smiles, though it does not last very long. "I have been doing the best that I can. It's been tough but hey, nobody said it was going to be easy, right?"

"If only it were easy." Oscar mumbles. "The three of our lives were very different only a few months ago, weren't they?"

Link and Jaune nod at one another first before looking up at Oscar and nodding at him as well

"Y-Yeah, and now here we are, tasked to save the world." The farmhand lowers his voice. "And you two have experienced so much pain and loss that has undoubtedly changed you."

"Speaking off loss." Link says, intending on redirecting the conversation back to the same person he is showing concern for, "I know it is already painful to go on without P-Pyrrha." He turns away, as even saying her name is agonizing. "Now with Ren and Nora staying in Mistral… You are the last one from your team that is here. Tell me Jaune, how are you feeling as we travel to Argus?"

"Truthfully…" Jaune raises his eyebrows, shrugs his shoulders, and displays an uncertain expression. "I don't really know."

"What do you mean by that?" Oscar leans over his bed to looks down at the person bunking underneath him

"I care about all of you of course, but I feel alone. Team RWBY reunited, Link got to see Weiss again and they rekindled their close friendship from Beacon, something none of us saw coming." Jaune smiles, "Qrow got Professor Ozpin, and even you are getting along really well with everyone, Oscar." His smile fades. "But I lost my entire team and I feel… Lost."

"Lost?" Link mutters. "In what way?"

"In the sense that when Nora, Ren, and I first joined Ruby on her journey to Mistral, our main goal was to get her there, have her back, and protect her at all times." Jaune shuts his eyes. "We did that, which then started our second goal. Which was to help stop the people who destroyed Beacon and took Pyrrha from us."

"Now that is done too, Yang said Cinder was gone and she is the one who killed Pyrrha."

"Exactly. But at what cost?" Jaune opens his eyes and lets out a deep sigh. "Knowing that Cinder is dead does not make me feel any better. Does it make you feel any better? Or am I going crazy?"

"No, you're right. The void in my heart that was left behind with Pyrrha being killed was not filled in when learning about Cinder's demise." Link nods. (Maybe because I did not get revenge myself or maybe it is something else?)

"See, that is precisely how I feel." The lone member of team JNPR sadly looks at the ground. "More importantly, despite the fact that Pyrrha's killer is no more, it came at the cost of my closest friends. I do feel better knowing Ren is alive, but in a coma is another story."

"Do you wish Nora stayed with us?" Oscar asks

"Of course." Jaune nods. "But I don't blame her for staying behind. Ren has been with her since day one and even though she would not admit it… She and Ren were closer than we thought, if you get what I'm saying."

"I understand." Link glances up at the farmer, who looks a bit confused. "Oscar?"

"Hmmm…" Oscar looks to his left, as if he were talking to someone. "Ohhhhh, I see now."

"Did Professor Ozpin give you the answer?" Jaune chuckles

"N-No!" Oscar leans back to lie in bed, avoiding the looks of the two blonde young men

"It is okay, we cannot possibly know everything." Link grins, before looking back at Jaune. "I am probably the last person who should be giving advice considering my emotional state and how I handle losing people but… We all appreciate that you are still here Jaune. And hey, now you can focus on a third goal."

"Oh yeah?" Jaune raises an eyebrow. "What's that?"

"The same goal as everyone else who is standing by your side right now. To stop Salem and anybody associated with her." Link says with an unusually happier tone. "It will be difficult, but we are going to do it together."

"I love the enthusiasm." Oscar sits up and excitedly nods. "Oz does too."

"That does sound ambitious, and all of us working together will make the process a lot easier." Jaune mumbles

"Think of it this way, maybe Ren will make a full recovery, he and Nora can join us in Atlas, and our forces will be stronger." Link nods

"Y-Yeah, you're absolutely right. Atlas might have closed its borders, but if General Ironwood is on our side, an exception can be made."

(Exactly.) Link silently chuckles

"When it comes to our goals, I guess I can think about them more positively since team RNJR's main goal was accomplished but-!" Jaune suddenly scoffs, his lips curling into a smile. "Oh who am I kidding? When it comes to getting Ruby to Mistral, you could have gotten her there by yourself, Link. So I guess-!"

"That does not matter." The blonde in blue shakes his head. "Protecting Ruby is what really mattered. I could have done it, the same applies to Weiss, Blake, Yang, and Qrow, but I was not there… They were not there. You know who was?" He smiles. "You were there, Jaune. So were Nora and Ren. The three of you were there when nobody else was and that is something Ruby will always cherish."

"Do you really think so?"

"Yes." Link nods. "If you feel forgotten, it will wear off soon. Ruby is thrilled that her team is back, mainly because we had no way of knowing when we would see them again. Yang was ready to give up being a huntress, we had no clue where Blake went, and Weiss was forcefully taken back to Atlas…"

Oscar slowly stops paying attention as he looks at his newly acquired scroll purchased in Mistral, his facial expression crumples as he squirms when reading the story written about the battle that took place at Haven Academy

"...And it is also bad timing." Link shamefully nods. "You lost your team at the same time Ruby regained hers. I would not take it personally if-!"

"Don't tell them Oscar!"

"Stop!" Oscar blurts out

"Huh?" Jaune jolts from his bed, startled

"Is everything okay?" Link mumbles

"O-Oh?" The farmhand sighs. "Sorry for interrupting, but you guys need to see what was written about the-!"

"Enough Oscar!" Professor Ozpin blurts out. "Let them enjoy this ride to Argus before they find out."

"They do need to know, Oz!" He turns to the left and frowns at the voice in his head. "Regardless of what you say, everyone is going to see it eventually."

"Oscar, slow down." Jaune shakes his head. "What do we need to see?"

"You need to see what Qrow wrote about the battle." Oscar sighs. "And y-yeah… I already knew this was going to be written since I could hear his conversation with Professor Ozpin. But the guilt has been eating away at me all day."

Link does not ask questions and immediately reaches for his scroll. His eyes widen as he goes over each detail: First, basic information such as it being two weeks since the attack on Haven, then how the White Fang intended to destroy Haven Academy, starting with Mistral's CCT Tower, but it was prevented by Ghira Belladonna and the faunus militia from Menagerie. But this next part is a major lie, mentioning a huntsman and some students who happened to be visiting the school and its headmaster were able to lend 'some assistance'. Even more baffling is the official reporting of Leonardo Lionheart's death, as it tells that he 'unfortunately' lost his life while trying to 'defend' his school. Lastly, the main culprits responsible for organizing the attack managed to escape. There is no mention of Raven Branwen, Vernal, maidens, the relic of knowledge, Professor Lionheart's true colors, or how the battle between Salem's crew and Qrow's group transpired

"What the hell is this?!" Jaune frowns, his reaction is immediate, "This is what Qrow and Ozpin came up with?" He whips his head upward to confront Oscar. "Why didn't you tell us earlier?!"

"I-I-I-! Oz convinced me it was for the best to let you guys enjoy this time to relax before finding out the news yourselves. He feared you'd react this way too." Oscar sighs. "I'm really really reallyyy sorry."

"Can you get Professor Ozpin out here right now? He has some explaining to do!"

"I can certainly try." The farmhand nods and shuts his eyes

Oscar deeply focuses to communicate effectively with Professor Ozpin, but when there is no glowing of eyes or aura prominence, Jaune scoffs and angrily rises to his feet

"I'm going to let Mister Arc process this information himself before I address him or anybody else."

"H-He doesn't want to speak to anyone right now." Oscar shakes his head

"That's not good enough Osc-! Wait a second." Jaune turns around to face Link. "Why aren't you saying anything?"

"Yeah, I was thinking about that too." Oscar glances at him as well

"I…" Link closes his scroll and stores it away back in his pouch of projectiles. "I do not understand why Qrow and Professor Ozpin would lie to this extent. Giving all the credit to Blake's parents and Menagerie does not bother me but-!" He stops himself. "The world needs to learn about the maiden's and Salem at some point and-!"

"How are you so calm?" Jaune shakes his head, baffled at the composure being shown. "Everything Qrow said was a lie! Especially the part where Lionheart-!"

"You're right, it was more lies than truth and I do not understand why Qrow and Ozpin did that but…" Link shuts his eyes, inhales deeply, and promptly exhales slowly. "I am calm because I understand why they lied about Professor Lionheart."

"HUH?"

Oscar gasps and Jaune's eyes widened respectively as they process the words of justification from the person they least expected to hear them from

"I…" Jaune blinks in confusion. "E-Explain, now."

"Okay." Link nods. "I do not know why Professor Lionheart made the decision to join Salem and like Cinder said, he was not a recent addition to their group either. His life had to have been threatened long ago."

"Maybe he was never a good person and immediately switched teams when he realized how much power and influence Salem had." Jaune mutters

"That is possible, although I do not agree." Link quickly wags his head. "And I will not defend the fact that he betrayed everyone. His life was on the line and he chose the coward's way out. The way I see it… Qrow and Ozpin wanted to preserve his reputation for Mistral's sake. The city would have chaotically flipped if the truth was revealed, is that something we can agree on?"

"W-Well…" Jaune crosses his arms and shrugs. "You're not wrong, Lionheart was the headmaster of Haven, thousands of students and hundreds of professors put their trust and faith in him to keep them safe."

"And Professor Lionheart was on the Mistral council." Oscar chimes in. "He was essentially one of the city's protectors too."

"Precisely." Link opens his eyes. "Besides trusting him, people looked up to Professor Lionheart too."

"Like who?" Jaune tilts his head in annoyance. "Name three people you knew personally who looked up to him."

"I can name four actually." Link narrows his eyes, "Skylar, Leo, Violet, and Ryker, but especially Skylar. She enrolled in Haven the same way Ruby enrolled at Beacon, a student two years behind her peers in age and experience, but the headmaster allowed her to skip ahead." He grins. "Lionheart did something for Skylar that nobody else did except her mother, he believed in her."

"Link, I understand your point, but is it okay to lie? All in order to preserve the feelings of some people who happened to look up to or trusted a man who stabbed all of us in the back in the worst possible way?" Jaune asks. "Professor Lionheart may not have done it personally, but his actions-!"

"No, I am not saying it is okay to lie, honesty is the best way to approach everything. But…" Link quietly sighs. "...Skylar would be devastated if she found out the truth. It is the type of betrayal that can break a person, and she is only one person, imagine the rest of Mistral? You would say people need to know the truth, yes?"

"Obviously yes." Jaune nods

"What about this, would the truth help the person you're breaking it to?" Link glares at the taller blonde, as an uncomfortable knot forms in his stomach. "Is the truth about someone Skylar admires going to improve her as a person or huntress? Will it make her happier? Does it benefit her?"

"I-I-!" Jaune stutters and balls up his fists, knowing the answers to Link's questions

"No, it would not benefit this Skylar person." Oscar nods. "The same goes for her team and the people of Mistral, but it is still not right."

"Oscar's correct." Jaune releases his fists and sighs. "Qrow, Professor Ozpin… And by extension, the rest of us blatantly lied to those people and now what? They are going to carry on, life as normal? Find a new headmaster and that's it?"

"I don't have the answers to that." Link frowns, but not at the hard hitting question, instead at a soaring Grimm he notices out of the corner of his eyes. (We are passing through grimm territory. My body is not completely healed but… I better go check it out.)

"Hello?" Jaune waves his right hand directly in Link's face

"Sorry." Link jolts and blinks to snap himself out of it. "I have to go."

"Go?" Jaune looks around. "Where?"

"I have a feeling about something." Link nods and walks towards the door

"But what about our-!"

"When it comes to my opinion, our conversation is over. I don't approve of what Professor Ozpin and Qrow did by lying to the public, but I understand why they did it. We need Qrow and Ozpin's input, only they know why they lied." Link stops, turns his head, and flashes a smile. "And… I believe I'm calm because truthfully? My biggest fear is losing everyone again, so I'm happy and only care that we are here together, rather than divided."

Link nods at them gently before he exits their shared room, as soon as he is out of sight, the former one person team takes the chance to immediately sprint away initially…

(Ouch! D-Damn… Training and improving my speed is going to be a challenge but I do not have the time to relax and recuperate.)

Only to immediately reduce that to a brisk jogging pace when pain shoots down his legs

---

Moments later, on top of the Argus Limited, the huntsmen hired to protect the train on its journey, Dee and Dudley stand back to back as multiple Manticores, aerial Grimm with significant resemblance to a lion, a stinger tail, wings, sharp claws, and the usual Grimm features, follow the train and fly in circles at the very back of the rapidly moving train, focused on the huntsman who appears nervous and clearly out of their depth

"D-Do we activate the turrets?!" Dudleys shouts

"NO! That will just scare the passengers, we have to give off the impression that we have this under control!" Dee snarls

"But we don't!" The tanned huntsman shakily raises his rifle, an ideal weapon for fighting aerial Grimm

"They don't have to know that!"

Suddenly, a much larger Grimm known as a Sphinx, with a more slender body, a human shaped head similar to the Nuckelavee's, a snake tail, and other Grimm features, lands on the train and lets out an ear piercing roar!

Grrrawrrr!

Dee nods with foolish confidence as he activates his weapon, the spiked metal club in both hands switches on, rotating and generating electricity, another ideal weapon for fighting aerial Grimm

"What are you doing?!" Dudley gasps

"I'm doing what we're being paid to do!"

Dee tightly clutches onto his electric spiked club, and charges forward to attack! The Sphinx roars again and a manticore that surrounds the two huntsman soars downward, with full intention to snatch Dee and either eat him for lunch or send him crashing down to a brutal death by a large fall

"Watch out!"

Dudley aims his semi automatic rifle and fires at the manticore, but his bullets barely even graze the Grimm

"N-NO!"

"W-What?!" Dee cliches his jaw, plants his feet on the train and tilts his weapon to the side in a blocking motion

The huntsman shuts his eyes, almost accepting of what is going to come next as the Manticore is moments away from grabbing him with its razor sharp claws

SLICE!

Luckily for him, Link enters the fray, as he had a feeling something was wrong and decided to see for himself. He stands across from Dee with his body in a twisted position, legs bent, and arms fully extended, both weapons drawn… And the Manticore is sprawled out on top of the car, split in half from its midsection

"H-Hey experts." Link grunts as his eyes glow with a flickering golden color, pushing through the agony of the pain his body is already experiencing, on top of dealing with the freezing cold temperature. "Are you two okay?"

"Y-Yeah, who's asking-!" Dee opens his eyes and jumps back in shock, making his way back to Dudley, "Wait, you're that kid from the station!" He turns to the dissolving Manticore and frowns. "Y-You did this? What's up with your eyes?"

"Well… Yes. I saw the grimm and thought something might be up, then I saw you guys trying to valiantly fight them. As for the eyes, I do not exactly know what they are." Link smiles whilst turning to the other huntsman. "What about you? Are you okay?"

"Y-Yes, thank you for saving my friend." Dudley sighs in relief. "What's your name? I didn't catch it back at the station."

"Link." He nods

"Thanks, Link." Dee speaks up, his eyes shake in fear as the realization that he almost died settles in. "Saved by a damn kid, I need to make some major changes."

"No problem, but keep fighting. We still have grimm around us." Link retreats as the Manticore's continue circling around them, while the Sphinx unleashes another screech!

Grrrawrrr!

"I can take on the big one. Can I leave the rest to you two?" Link asks

"Y-You want to take on the big one?!" Dee says as he nervously gulps

"He may want to, but he won't do it alone."

Dudley, Dee, and Link turn their heads, behind them are Qrow and team RWBY with drawn weapons and determined expressions

"Nice job, kid." Qrow snaps his wrist forward to pop open 'Harbinger' and expose the shotgun barrels, "And you." He smirks while shaking his head in disappointment at Dee. "You almost got yourself killed trying to act tough."

"Grrr!" Dee narrows his eyes

"Enough." Ruby steps in front of Qrow, with 'Crescent Rose' in its scythe form. "He survived and that's what matters. Nobody is dying here, am I clear?"

Everyone swiftly nods in agreement, then nearly all begin fighting at the same time. Qrow, Ruby, Yang, and Blake fire away with their respective guns, Weiss summons glyphs and fires sharp icicles at the Manticores and single Sphinx. Dee and Dudley retreat to another train car, luring a Manticore away and fighting it from a distance, but Link is the odd man out, rather than switching to his bow or the other variants of it, he remains with his sword and shield drawn

"You are in big trouble!" Weiss shouts at her partner while thrusting her rapier 'Myrtenaster' forward and partially stabbing a Manticore, but enough for it to go down, crashing into the snow in defeat. "You were supposed to be resting, not fighting!"

"Sorry!" Link chuckles as he finds a job to defend his friends when the Manticore's who stay high in the air begin shooting fireballs from their mouths, he leaps forward, backward, and in zigzag motions to block the fiery attacks

"Heh, thanks!" Yang calls out while swinging and blasting Grimm with her shotgun gauntlet 'Ember Celica'

"No problem!" Link smiles, aiming to continue this while the Grimm are being taken out one by one

"Don't listen to Weiss, she's just worried about you!" Blake shouts whilst rapidly firing away with the handgun feature of her sword 'Gambol Shroud'

Until another loud screech suddenly draws the pack of Manticore away from team RWBY, Qrow, and Link. The six of them turn and immediately realize why, there are now turrets that emerged from the top of each train car and they are shooting the aerial Grimm. This would be a positive, if it did not attract the Grimm to the unguarded train cars and most importantly, the front of the train

"That is going to be a problem." Link mumbles. (There are not enough of us to protect the ENTIRE train.)

"It's those idiots!" Qrow frowns as he decapitates a Manticore with ease. "They're the huntsman protecting the train, which means they likely have defense features accessible from their scrolls. Look!"

The older huntsman gestures for the girls and lone boy to look below them, as the train cars they stand over are now heavily armored to withstand anything

"I don't get it! Why didn't they just activate the armor?!" Blake shouts

"Your guess is as good as mine, kid!" Qrow growls

"How can I help?!"

Oscar's voice draws everyone's attention as he nearly bumps into Qrow from running with such intensity, Ozpin's cane and the Relic of Knowledge remain attached to his belt

"Oz?" Qrow asks

"N-No, it's me." Oscar nods

"Well in that case, if you really want to help… Get those idiots to shut off the turrets." Qrow extends his arm and points at Dee and Dudley. "They're drawing the grimm toward the rest of the train! Or in other words, the passengers!"

"Got it!" Oscar runs off, unaware that he was dismissed for not being controlled by the Beacon headmaster

"You're saying sorry to him later!" Yang barks

"Sure." Qrow rolls his eyes

"Hey Link!" Ruby calls out as she shoots down a Manticore with her sniper rifle-scythe, all while having her back covered by a close friend

"Yes?" The blonde firmly holds his shield, heels dug as much as he can into the metal

"Why aren't you joining in? I helped you with the finishing touches on your rifle back at Beacon! And it worked great against that scorpion freak!" Ruby exclaims

"I…" Link bites his tongue, not wanting to reveal his true answer, (Do I tell her I was to personally ensure everyone's safety…? Probably not, I would get yelled at by everyone except Blake.)

As luck would have it, his hesitation pays off as he turns his head to not meet Ruby in the eyes, where he spots the opening of a tunnel approaching them at a breakneck pace

"Ruby!" He points with his sword, then slides it back in its scabbard, then places his shield over it

"...!" Ruby gasps and takes in a deep breath, knowing what to say, "TUNNEL INCOMING! EVERYONE BACK IN THE TRAIN!" She says with a booming, louder, and more prominent voice, which grabs the attention of her team and uncle

"Let's go!"

Link sprints to Weiss and Ruby, grabs both of them by their arms and leads the way. Blake grabs Yang by her arm, does the same, and while the cat faunus and blonde woman pass by Qrow, Yang grabs her uncle by his arm. The group of huntsman and students quickly make their way to the end of the nearest train car, jump down onto the connecting corridor, and quickly enter the train car

"Phew! That was too close. Is everyone okay?" Ruby sighs and tries to pull her arm away, but faces immediate struggle. "Link?"

"Hm? O-Oh!" Link jumps in shock, unaware of his action, then quickly releases her arm. "Sorry. Yes, I'm okay."

"It's fineee, you wanted to get us to safety and you careee a lot." Ruby giggles

"Yes I do." Link smiles as he looks to his left, where an angry pale girl awaits him. "Weiss, let me explain. I-!"

"No! Just no!" Weiss frowns and pulls on his arm, hugging it for comfort. "I don't want to hear it, okay? I'm just happy you're not hurt."

"Of course I'm okay, as long as you are safe." Link nods and hugs her in return. "Blake? Yang? Qrow?"

"We're good over here." Yang gives a thumbs up as Blake is too focused checking on her blonde friend, in a very overprotective manner

"So am I." Qrow shrugs as his weapon returns to its sword form, then deactivates before slotting it away behind his back. "Where are those two idiots and Oz-! Oscar?"

Before any of the students in front of him can respond, the three individuals who were mentioned seconds ago burst into the train car!

"AHHHHH!" Dudley immediately crashes to the ground, holding his left arm in pain, there is bruising from his forearm up to his bicep, and the huntsman's elbow appears to be dislocated or broken

"T-Talk to me! How much does it hurt?!" Dee asks

"It looks broken, don't even try to move it." Oscar says with a firm tone

"YOU!" Qrow turns to the 'professional' huntsman and storms to them. "You were told to turn those damn things off! Why didn't you?!"

The older huntsman displays his strength when picking up both Dee and Dudley by their collars and and shoving them into the door of the train car

"OW!" Dudley groans in pain. "T-Those things are keeping us alive!"

"Us? Sure, maybe you two idiots, me, and the kids behind me, but they're putting the passengers in danger!"

"H-Hey, relax! We're the one they hired for this job, okay?!" Dee frowns. "We're in charge here!"

"Well forgive me if I'm not exactly reassured." Qrow scoffs. "Maybe that kid should have let you DIE."

"QROW!" Yang gasps

"W-What's going on?" Jaune enters the train car to rejoin his friends

"Grimm attacked the train." Link mumbles. "Ruby, Weiss, Blake, Yang, Qrow, and I helped out Dee and Dudley, but now we have a problem."

"And that is?"

"The turrets on the train." Ruby speaks up. "Normally they would be good and they are destroying the grimm, but they are also luring the grimm to the rest of the train, something we can't stop."

"I see." Jaune nods

While her uncle argues with Dee and Dudley, a scared Ruby takes the chances to look out the window. She gasps when noticing the rest of the Manticore pack and Sphinx enter the tunnel, therefore continuing their pursuit of the train. The silver eyed warrior then looks at the passengers who inch towards them, the huntsmen meant to protect civilians

"Psst! Link!" Ruby whispers while carefully prying Weiss away from her secret partner

"What are you doing?" Weiss yelps

"I need to borrow your special friend for a second." Ruby grunts

"You can just say friend." She frowns

"Okay okay!" Ruby rolls her eyes. "Liiink!"

"Yes Ruby?" Link smiles, amused at the brief conflict between another pair of former enemies turned close friends

"Just walk with me, if my uncle Qrow tries anything, push him away if you must."

"Um… Okay." Link sighs and before walking away, he sneakily squeezes Weiss' hand

"Y-You!" Weiss lowers her voice and turns away to hide her blush

With a determinant nods and a boost of confidence from acquiring backup, Ruby walks forward to the arguing adults with Link right behind her

"Get off me!" Dudley growls

"Yeah! Can't you see he's injured!" Dee attempts to break free of Qrow's grip, with minimal success

"Who cares!" Qrow clenches his jaw. "You played a dangerous game and now you're paying for it! If you two bozos had been doing your job instead of shaking down passengers for money, maybe we wouldn't be in this-!"

Ruby quickly steps in front of her uncle, and Link puts a hand on Qrow's shoulder as the former walks up to Dee and Dudley

"Hey. Look, I'm sorry about your arm. But please, just shut off the turrets." Ruby looks at the pair of huntsmen with pleading eyes. "It's the good of the train."

"She's right." Jaune approaches them as well. "If that's what my friends want then trust us. We know what we're doing."

"And if that does not convince you, our friend here can heal your arm." Link nods. "So how about we trade healing your arm for turning off those turrets."

"Seriously?" Dee's eyes widen as he glances at Jaune. "He can?"

"Yes." Link smiles

"What are you waiting for then?" Dudley excitedly nods

"Show him, Jaune."

"You got it." Jaune walks up to Dudley, hovers both hands over the large injured area, and activates his semblance 'Aura Amp' to heal the broken arm

Dudley feels instant relief as the injury is slowly dealt with. Dee looks on in shock before he turns to the students and Qrow, reluctant to agree but honoring the agreement

"Okay, fine." He nods

Ruby happily nods, Qrow smirks, satisfied by his niece's persuasion, before shrugging his shoulder and signaling Link to remove his hand. The rest of the students in the train car look out windows and spot the Grimm trailing behind them, just as Ruby did moments prior

"What do we do now?" Yang asks. "As soon as we exit the tunnel that big grimm is going to fly on the train again and we're right back to square one."

"Man…" Jaune sighs. "Ren's semblance would be great right now."

"How so?" Link asks. "I thought he could only use it on a few people and for a brief period of time."

"Yeah but…" Ruby begins. "With Jaune's new semblance, maybe he could have used it for the rest of the train ride, or at least long enough to shake off those grimm."

"Ohhh, you're both right." Link narrows his eyes. (Damn… I am sorry for being unable to help you, Ren.)

"What can we do instead?" Oscar rubs his chin, when suddenly the same voice who refused to speak earlier, decides to make a re-appearance

"May I?"

"S-Sure." The farmhand nods, shuts his eyes, and only a second passes before his eyes open, flashing gold, thus completing the transition. "I'm afraid even with Mister Ren's semblance, the results would be the same."

Oscar, being controlled by Professor Ozpin, steps forward and gestures to the relic on the left side of his hip

"The grimm are also attracted to this."

"What is that?" Dudley asks

"It looks valuable." Dee's eyes light up

"None of your business, clowns." Qrow steps in front of Oscar to block him from the vision of the greedy huntsmen. "Oz, are you being serious?"

"Why wouldn't you tell us that?!" Yang crosses her arms and angrily scoffs. "What happened to no more-!"

"Enough." Ruby cuts her sister off. "His reason doesn't matter right now."

"How the hell not?!" Yang balls up her fists

"Calm down, Yang." Link looks at her with a calm expression

"I can't! The real question is why are you so calm?" She frowns

"What good does getting angry do for us or any of the passengers on the train?" Link shakes his head

"Bingo." Ruby nods and steps in front of Ozpin, protectively. "Every second we're on board this train, we're putting everyone else in danger. So I've come up with a plan. Do you want to hear it? Or do you want to argue with Professor Ozpin?"

"Sure, let's hear it, sis." Yang sighs and opens her hands, before exhaling calmly

"Dee and ummm…" The silver eyed girl giggles in embarrassment. "Dud?"

"It's Dudley!"

"R-Right, hehe." Ruby scratches the back of her head in shame. "Anyway, can you two control which turrets are on and off? Or do they all turn on at the same time?"

"We can control individual turrets, yes." Dee nods

"Good!" Ruby nods, then looks at Jaune, "Hey, I need you, Dee, and Dudley to get the passengers to the front of the train. Then you two!" She turns to the huntsmen. "Turn off the turrets to the front cars… And the rest of us will stay behind."

"W-What?! We can't split up." Jaune shakes his head

"It's the only way to get the grimm away from the passengers." Ruby grins. "We're all trained warriors, we can deal with them, but innocent people shouldn't have to."

"That's too risky." Jaune sighs. "What if something happens and the train stops? You have no way of starting detached cars and-!"

"Trust us, Jaune." She says as her grin turns into a smile. "We can have someone cut off the back cars with myself, Link, Weiss, Blake, Yang, Oscar, and uncle Qrow staying behind. We can deal with the Grimm while you, Dee, and Dudley make sure the rest of the train makes it safely to Argus."

"Fine." Jaune mumbles. "But only if you promise you'll meet us there."

"I promise." Ruby smiles while holding her scythe with both hands. "Does anybody oppose my plan?"

"No." Link nods confidently. "It is the best chance to get rid of the Grimm, unless we plan on defeating all of them."

"Is it a brash and idiotic plan, but it wouldn't be a Ruby plan without some chaos." Weiss smiles

"Count me in." Yang chuckles

"Me too." Blake nods

"Seems there's not much of a choice." Qrow shrugs as he hesitantly agrees. "Let's do it."

"Yes, let's." Ozpin nods

"Full offense intended, but let the kid take over." The older huntsman narrows his eyes

"Qrow…"

"Just do it Oz. I don't want to talk to you right now." Qrow turns away

"If that is what you want."

Professor Ozpin sighs, closes his eyes, and the transition back to Oscar is faster than before

"W-Whoa!" Oscar chuckles. "I have to learn how to do that so fast."

"Maybe another time." Link calmly says, before turning to Jaune, Dudley, and Dee. "You three should get the passengers to the front as soon as you can."

"We will!" Jaune nods as he retracts his hands and smiles. "How's your arm?"

"It's…" Dudley flexes his elbow, then fully extends his arm, and sighs in relief. "It's perfect, good as new. Thank you."

"No problem, it's the least I could do."

"Do you want to lead the way?" Dee places a hand on Jaune's shoulder

"R-Really?" Jaune gasps. "But you're the pros!"

"We might be professionals with licenses, but we still have plenty to learn." Dudley sadly exhales. "Maybe we can learn a bit about leadership from you."

"In that case, follow me!" Jaune grins as he sprints to the nearest train car

"You got it!" Dee nods and trails behind

"W-Wait up!" Dudley hustles to keep up with his friend and new temporary leader

"Looks like you can always learn something from kids." Qrow smirks. "Now, time for us to go as well, we should be exiting the tunnel any second now."

With some quick but careful climbing up a rapid train and narrow space in between said train and the tunnel walls, Ruby, Yang, Weiss, Qrow, Link, and Oscar make it to the top of the train only seconds before they exit out the tunnel. As soon as the Grimm emerge, Ruby lifts her scroll up to her lips and shouts into it

"NOW!"

On cue, Blake, who did not climb up, separates the back half of the train with one slash from her sword, choosing to cut as many train cars as she did to give everyone who stayed behind space to fight. Their set of cars maintain a steady speed, while the rest of the train picks up speed

"Okay!" Jaune nods as he glances at Dee and Dudley. "Shut the turrets off! But not theirs!"

"You got it." Dee opens his scrolls and disables the turrets on their side of the train

"I hope your friends will be alright." Dudley mumbles

"They will. We may not look strong, but we have faced a lot more adversity than this." Jaune smiles

"H-Hey, we're missing a passenger." Dee gasps. "The sassy old woman, under 5 feet tall, uses a weird cane to walk?"

"Maybe she's at the front of the train. I will go look!" Dudley sprints off, his head snapping from side to side, making sure to get a look at everyone on board

…

Returning to the group who stayed behind, each person now finds themselves in a fight. Qrow takes on the Sphinx, the largest Grimm, while the rest take on manticores. Weiss and Blake fight them with long range attacks: sharp, rapid icicles and bullets. Meanwhile, Ruby, Yang, Oscar, and Link are fortunate to have Grimm land on the train to combat them head on!

"You made a grave error." Link grins and runs forward at a brisk pace

He comes face to face with a Manticore that attempts to jab him through the chest with its stinger tail, but having dealt with many stinger attacks from one Tyrian Callows during their fight, Link shifts his weight forward, raises his shield and stands firmly

Block!

Link grunts, then rolls forward and to his right side when the Grimm attempts to swipe at him with its razor sharp claws! Now with a clear opening, the former one person team from Beacon leaps in the air, grips his sword, and spins rapidly!

Slice! Slice Slice!

Three aerial spinning slashes are flawlessly executed, with each attack striking the neck and decapitating the manticore! When landing on the train, Link turns to his left and spots Oscar riding one of the aerial Grimm as he attempts to land strikes to the head! And when turning to his right, Ruby and Blake are using their superior speed to outmaneuver and eventually overpower their enemies with fatal stabs to the spine! Yang uses her brute strength to grab a Manticore by its horns, send it spinning for a loop with a neckbreaker technique, and then punch the monster to oblivion with a straight right hand!

(Good job everybody!)

"W-WHOA!" Oscar is thrown off the Grimm's back, onto the train, and the Manticore flies off the side, charging up a fireball from its mouth. "Uh-oh!"

But luckily for him, he is saved from a fiery death when Weiss leaps in the air to redirect another Manticore in the direction of the Grimm about to blast Oscar with fire. With a flying spinning slash, Weiss uses Link's identical form with pride to strike! Next, Ruby, who is right beside her, drives her scyther into the redirected Manticore and launches with blazing speed into the other aerial Grimm about to strike the farmhand, the creatures then violently slam into the snowy terrain below them and cease to exist

"S-Sweet." Oscar turns to the duo regarded as Ice Flower and gives the girls a shaky thumbs up

"Hehe." Ruby giggles

However, the girl's amusement wears off when realizing her uncle is having difficulty with the Sphinx. Even with direct attacks to the head, stabbing and spinning, he only angers the massive Grimm. The monster follows up with a tail strike from its snake-like tail, forcing Qrow to retreat, but the follow up attack is worse, as the Sphinx rapidly blasts a fireball out of its mouth and straight at the older huntsman! Qrow thinks quickly and uses his usual defense technique when dealing with fire's or attacks that are not made of solid materials, and rapidly twirls his scythe to withstand and eventually get rid of the fire! Unfortunately for Qrow, his hand speed and scythe spins are not enough and he is sent crashing to the floor

"Uncle Qrow!" Ruby narrows her eyes

"What should we do?" Weiss asks

"Well, all of the smaller ones are gone!" Yang says as she, Blake, Link, and Oscar regroup with Ruby and Weiss. "That means we can assist uncle Qrow!"

"Hmm!" Ruby thinks quickly, but with limited time, she blurts out the first thing that comes to mind. "We need to ground it before we strike!"

"On it!" Blake grins, then raises and gestures towards her weapon, having the perfect attachment to restrain a monster. "Yang!"

Yang nods as she takes off and runs towards the Sphinx, hoping to grab the creature's attention when she slides under and in between its legs. As planned, the Sphinx turns to Yang, ready to focus on the confident blonde girl. That is until Blake spins her weapon by the ribbon on the handle of her blade for momentum, then launches it over the Grimm! The ribbon, which can also act as a grappling hook, wraps around the body of the Sphinx, with Yang assisting by punching it and sending the ribbon under and over the Grimm. Punch! After punch! After punch! After punch! Each punch further wraps the ribbon around the torso of the monster tightly. Finally, the fifth and final punch is to embed the blade into the train's roof

"PULL!" Yang shouts

"You got it!" Blake nods

The efforts of the two girls as they pull the ribbon together seem to pay off, keeping the Sphinx down… But only momentarily. It slowly begins to get up and gradually overpower the girls

"A little help guys?!" Yang grunts whilst using the fully power of her prosthetic arm and her physical strength

"Oooh! Idea!" Ruby turns to Link and slaps on his chest with both hands. "Your super fast and super lethal slash move thingy! Wow you really have to give it a name."

"Now might not be the appropriate time for naming a move." Link chuckles, but his laughter quickly subsides. "I-I don't know, I already used it earlier to save Dee, and I felt like I barely had enough for that."

"Then you won't do it!" Weiss shakes her head. "We're not risking anybody more than we need to."

"Oh come on!" Ruby pouts. "You were able to slice off all four legs from that giant Grimm we fought in Kuroyuri, and it was wayyyy bigger."

"Link?" Weiss turns to her partner. "Be honest with us. Can you do it?"

"I may need some help."

Link grins, remembering an earlier instance where Weiss bounced between glyphs to avoid the attacks of a Manticore

"Weiss." He turns to her. "That lightning dust you held onto. Should we put it to use now?"

"You're a genius!" Weiss gasps with excitement. "It would help you preserve your energy and help out with that grimm."

"Precisely." Link smiles. (Her glyphs, combined with lightning dust, will give me plenty of speed to not exert myself. Knowing Weiss, she definitely has the same idea as me, and this will go perfectly.)

Weiss closes her eyes, holds her rapier up and by its handle, blade inches away from her face, she takes in a deep breath, opens her eyes, and executes an elegant twirl before firing a beam of golden light from the tip of the weapon! The beam strikes the surface directly under Link's feet, summoning a golden glyph in the form of a rotating clock, spinning rapidly and covering the blonde swordsman's body with a faint golden energy

(I feel the same.) Link raises his right arm, and gasps when noticing it rise far quicker than usual. (Wow, even a simple action is this fast.)

"HELLLP!" Yang desperately exclaims

"GO LINK!" Ruby shouts

"Right!"

Link bends his knees forward and confidently grips the handle of his sword as his dark blue eyes remain that way, showcasing his control over the 'demon' that has not been in his head for some time. Despite his eyes remaining as is, the small triforce engraved on the back of his left hand lights up, and he takes off!

"Whoa!" Ruby gasps. "I remember this, you used it on Blake when we were fighting Torchwick!"

"I'm glad your memory spans that far back." Weiss giggles sarcastically while she watches her partner go. "He's moving faster than Blake. I could only imagine his top speed when he isn't injured, runs as fast as he can, has a boost from the lightning dust on his clothes, and my glyphs."

SLASH!

Similar to how he split a Manticore in half moments ago, Link is in on the other side of the Sphinx, leaned even more forward, left arm across his body and the blade of his sword is touching the roof of the train car, posing unintentionally in style next to Yang, who chuckles

"Show off."

"Hmph." Link grins

As for the large Grimm, its four legs emit a sizzling sound as black smoke flows through the air, and just like when the blonde young man left the Nuckelavee on stumps, the Sphinx screeches in pain instantly…

GRRRAAAWWWRRR!

…Before crashing down body first on the train, its legs are no more and all it can do now is helplessly flail when Blake and Yang pull on the ribbon and restrain the Grimm even further

"HRAH!" Weiss shouts as she leaps forward, summoning multiple white glyphs to jump in the air without any risk

She uses a glyph to stand in front of the Sphinx, then summons two larger blue glyphs directly against its wings to freeze them! Qrow and Ruby instantly shoot the icy wings, shattering them to pieces! The older huntsman and his silver eyed niece look to each other and nod, extending their weapons into their 'war scythe' form as the Sphinx opens its mouth, charging up one more fireball. Qrow and Ruby launch themselves forward with gunfire from their respective shotgun barrels and sniper rifle! The uncle and niece spin with their weapons as they are mid-air, with Qrow holding his scythe behind his back and Ruby holding her scythe in front of her; both of them move with perfect coordination. Their scythes soon slice and split the Sphinx in half by its midsection! Qrow lands next to Oscar, and Ruby lands in between Yang and Link

"Awesome!" Yang jumps

"That was very impressive." Link's jaw drops

The three of them run forward to rejoin the rest of their friends, and unfortunately for the group of huntsman, students, and farmhand, the large Grimm's head turns to its left and launches the fireball, despite its inevitable death

"NO!" Oscar gasps when the fireball surges forward and ahead of their train cars

Unable to do anything, everyone watches in fear as the fireball destroys the rails in front of the train. Weiss frowns, reacts quickly, and drops to one knee, stabbing her rapier into the metal roof! She activates her black Glyphs to hold everyone in place as the train derails within ten seconds and crashes into the snow with a fierce intensity! Eventually Weiss' glyphs fade and everyone flies off the top of the train, plummeting into the snow!

…

With the back half of the Argus Limited completely derailed, all train cars crashed and scattered in the snow, and an unknown amount of time passes, Link is the first to move out of the entire group

(H-Have to… F-Find… Weiss.)

He groans, but his eyes fixate on something light blue. Assuming it to be Weiss in his head, the blonde swordsman crawls towards the light blue figure. One minute later, he finds himself grabbing something, it is not Weiss' arm or leg… But the Relic of Knowledge

(Oh… I suppose this is important.)

Link pushes himself up to his knees, grabs the relic, hooks it to his belt, carefully slides it behind his back, then groggily rises to his feet, his eyes light up when Yang, Blake, and Qrow are on their feet, while Weiss is on one knee. Then his expression drops when spotting Ruby, face planted in the snow

"Ruby!" He jogs over, kneels, and shakes her by the shoulders

"H-Huh?" Ruby mumbles, her voice muffled from the snow, until she frantically shoots up to her feet. "What happened?! Where are we?!"

"Hey! Ruby, we're all okay." Link stands again and shakes her harder

"Oh!" She sighs in relief upon realizing her friend, along with her team, other friend, and uncle are okay. "Phew. I thought I was out for much longer."

Ruby walks forward and gently hugs Link whilst letting out a sigh of relief

"Your attack was really cool also."

"My attack?" Link grins. "You've seen it before and I could not have done it without Weiss. But your attack with Qrow was something else, you two looked incredible."

"Awww well!" Ruby giggles. "Thanks!

"Unbelievable, we could have died and you two are being nerds about fighting some Grimm." Qrow shoots a glare at his niece and her friend, before turning to the rest of the group. "Is everyone okay?

"Yeah." Weiss mumbles. "I'm fine."

"Same here." Blake nods as she wipes away snow from Yang's back

"M-Me too." Oscar mutters

"Still alive!"

Everyone whips their head to look at the new, unfamiliar voice, and notices an elderly woman stepping out from the train. She has fairly tanned skin and silver hair in a single braid. This older woman also hunches over, requiring the use of a cane, which appears to be homemade with a metal bottom, wooden base, and a skull on top to grab. Lastly, she wears goggle like prosthetic eyes that look damaged as they are only slightly open, down the smallest sliver

"That sure was a close one, huh?"

"W-Who are you?" Qrow blinks in confusion

"My name is Maria Calavera." The woman cackles. "And I-!"

"Who cares?!"

Yang loudly complains as she storms over and uses all the strength can muster to get her motorcycle out of the snow

"How could this day get any worse?! We're stranded in the middle of nowhere, it's going to take us a hundred years to make it to Argus now!" She growls in frustration. "We lost the train, Jaune, have no way of knowing if they're okay, and to make things even worse, we've gained a defenseless old lady!"

"Relax, Yang." Link walks over and joins her to retrieve the bike

And with one big heave, Yang manages to pull her bike, 'Bumblebee' out of the snow, with the help of two extra hands courtesy of Link

"T-Thanks." Yang mumbles in a pissed off tone

"How dare you, young lady!" Maria turns to the two blondes, "I am not defenseless! I'm just a little hard of hearing… And blind without my eyes… That are in desperate need of repair" She taps on her prosthetic eyes, which open wide initially but then shut completely, narrowly opening. "Okay, I'm starting to see your point."

"Yang…" Qrow shrugs. "Knock it off. If we lose our cool now, we'll just be inviting even more Grimm."

"Does staying positive even matter?" Blake shakes her head. "Apparently, we've been attracting Grimm."

"Great point, Blake." Yang turns to Oscar. "What happened to no more lies and half truths?"

"Yeah." Oscar nods. "I couldn't agree any more. What's going on, Oz?"

Oscar's eyes glow as control of his body is almost taken over by Professor Ozpin, who focuses his attention on Yang

"Miss Xiao Long." Ozpin begins. "I did not lie to you… Or any of you."

"Well you certainly didn't tell us everything about the Relic." Weiss stands in solidarity with her teammates

"Please, now is not the time." Ozpin sighs

"No, we're long past that!" Yang balls up her fists. "I want to know why you're still not telling us everything!"

"So be it." Professor Ozpin turns Oscar's body around and walks forward, both hands formally behind his back. "It is true that the Grimm are attracted to the Relics and regardless of why that may be, I feared that making you all aware would only add anxiety and negativity. It was the safer option."

"You know…" Weiss places both hands on her hips as she and the rest of the group, with the new addition of Maria, follow along. "I'm getting real tired of people choosing what's best for me."

(Hm…) Link takes in the back and forth between the Beacon headmaster and his friends, unsure what to make of it all, then decides to stay at the back of the group to conceal the relic

"Is that why you chose to lie to everyone about Lionheart too?" Yang growls. "Surely you didn't think we wouldn't notice what you and Qrow wrote about what happened at Haven?"

"Of course you were going to find out, nothing was hidden from you." Ozpin mumbles. "But yes, that is why I lied. I believed the Kingdom of Mistral deserved better than the truth. Leonardo deserved to be remembered for his lifetime of service, not for the unfortunate missteps-!"

"Missteps?!"

"Please, do not interrupt me." The Beacon headmaster shakes his head. "Yes… What Professor Lionheart did was reprehensible. But does one lapse in judgment truly negate all of his good? That may be how you knew Professor Lionheart, but you never met the man he was before Salem found him."

"Look, we're supposed to be in this together, are we not?" Yang angrily asks. "You can trust us! We're not gonna turn our backs on you or-!"

"And do you really think Leo was the first to betray me?!"

Everyone stops when Oscar's voice is raised, mixed with Professor Ozpin's anger. This sudden halt also leaves the group split in two now. Ozpin, Maria, and Qrow stand on one side, while team RWBY and Link stand on the other

"He said those exact same words to me, Miss Xiao Long. I'm sorry, but you have to understand that my behaviors are backed by experience." Ozpin sighs and turns back to face everybody. "I'm not saying that I have reason to think you will betray me, but I do have reasons for the things that I do. It is the reason I must-!"

Suddenly, the angry man in the body of a boy ends his tirade when he realizing the Relic of Knowledge is no longer by his side

"Where's the Relic?"

Without hesitation, Link shakily raises his left hand and steps forward. His brows are furrowed, but he is more angry as he shakes from the cold, rather than expressing anger towards Ozpin

"I h-have it r-right here." Link gestures to his back, but does not race to grab it

"Mister Link, that's great." Ozpin smiles. "Please, hand it over."

"In d-due time." He sighs. "F-For what it's worth, and this will p-probably disappoint all of you… B-But I understand why you and Qrow l-lied about Professor Lionheart."

"You what?!"

Team RWBY, as a collective unit, turn their heads and stare daggers at their friend, who does not back down regardless of the eyes and pressure on him now

"Like Professor Ozpin s-said, what Professor Lionheart d-did was horrible. He b-betrayed everyone in the w-worst possible way, he lied to all of us, and to make things worse, he had been on Salem's side for… W-Who knows how long?" Link shuts his eyes, and shivers as his nose and cheeks turn red. "But in a way, O-Ozpin is right. He was not merely the h-headmaster of Haven Academy. How m-many people do you think looked u-up to Professor Lionheart? As a role model? As a h-hero? As a person?"

"You are very wise and mature for your age, Mister Link." Ozpin nods. "I am glad you see why I told Qrow to write what I had in mind."

Blake and Yang turn to one another, anger is displayed on both girl's faces. Ruby and Weiss turn to each other, they look shocked that their friend and the latter's partner is saying this

"So you're fine with him lying to us?" Blake mumbles

"N-No?" Link exhales calmly, trying his best to acclimate to the snow. "I am only offering my opinion that-!"

"I don't want to hear it!" Yang says, directing her anger at a person she only recently made amends with. "Professor Lionheart's actions were the catalyst for why Beacon suffered the fate it did! Everyone who got hurt, lost their homes, and died!"

"She's right. Think about everyone who died." Weiss nods in agreement

"I understand." Link raises his hands up to his mouth and breathes on them for warmth

"Do you?!" Yang shakes her head. "How about I list them all out to you. The innocent citizens of Vale, Atlas soldiers, the Professor Ozpin we knew, Penny, Py-!"

"Y-Yang…"

Link's understanding demeanor, aided by a recent feeling of positivity, instantly fades when the beloved friend is almost named. His coldness persists, but now he is calm when speaking

"Do not use Pyrrha's death to prove a point or win an argument." Link narrows his eyes, his hands drops, as his left reaches for the relic setting next to the golden circlet. "I stand by what I said. Professor Lionheart was not a good person. He lied, was the reason many people died, and was a coward to the very end. But to other people, he mattered… That is my point."

With a gentle pull from his left arm, Link holds the relic in front of himself whilst standing in between the two groups

"Good, you really do have it." Professor Ozpin sighs. "Be careful, the relic is a powerful item and I feel as though it is my burden to bear."

"Your burden?" Ruby raises an eyebrow. "But… You said it couldn't do anything right now, right?"

"I did say that yes Miss Rose." Ozpin nods as he takes a step forward and outstretches his arm toward the blonde, but suddenly he is stuck and cannot move any further

"W-What's happening?" Ruby gasps

"Oz?" Qrow tilts his head in confusion

The farmhand's head drops, his eyes lose their golden color, and for a brief moment, Oscar is in control

"D-Don't give him the Relic!" Oscar grunts. "He's... Trying to stop you!"

"Stop who?" Yang scowls. "And from what?"

"He's afraid…" Oscar drops to both knees. "You'll-!"

The farmer's eyes glow again, signaling Professor Ozpin has returned

"M-Mister Link!" He stutters initially. "The Relic please."

"Don't you dare go near him." Yang mumbles

Link sighs loudly, slowly growing frustrated and exhausted by the arguing

"Enough. Why don't we settle down and figure out what our next steps are first? I think that is more important than the relic. I'm freezing out here." He slowly walks towards Ozpin, with the relic firmly grasped with his left hand. "Here let me help you."

Link's calm and understanding nature translates as naivety to everyone else. His carelessness with the safeguarding of the relic makes the entirety of team RWBY raise and point their weapons whilst glaring at Link and the struggling Professor Ozpin with intense looks

"Not another step!" Yang shouts

"Yang told you to not go near him!" Blake frowns

"Huh?"

Link turns his head and his eyes widen when meeting the barrel of Ruby's sniper rifle-scythe, the tip of Weiss' sword, Yang in a fighting stance with her prosthetic hand balled up and shotgun gauntlet on her left hand ready to fire. Lastly, Blake partially sheathes her blade, but not enough to imply she would back down

"Y-You're… D-Drawing your weapons… On m-me?" His voice cracks, the shock of their actions quickly settles in, and what he feels next is heartbreak and anxiety consuming him instantly

Team RWBY hesitates, but do not relent with their current actions, feeling as though they must ensure the relic is nowhere near Professor Ozpin right now

"Guys?" Link blinks as his eyes well up and breathing rapidly increases

He looks at Ruby first, a look of sorrow consumes her, then Yang who has fire in hers, Blake radiates fury, and all of them remain silent. Then of course there is one more person…

"Weiss?" Link focuses on her more than the rest of the girls, expecting at least her to be on his side

Sadly, even Weiss stays silent, although her eyes tell a different story, they are narrowed but full of regret. Despite showing regret, the damage is done and a feeling of betrayal consumes the blonde swordsman, as Link feels his heart change rhythm, going from an unnatural rapid pace to sometimes skipping beats, his breathing maintains the same rapid speed, and his body shakes again. This time however, it is due to nervousness. Additionally, he experiences feelings of unease, with tightness in his chest, and a pit in his stomach that makes the former one person team feel sick

"Ngh!"

"Kid?" Qrow waves his hand, attempting to grab his attention

"Can't you see?" Maria shakes her head. "He's shook up. Clearly these four girls aiming their weapons at him have made him sort of… Shut down?"

A long period of silence ensues, with Oscar regaining control of his body, internally combating with Professor Ozpin, Qrow and Maria trying to diffuse the tension, and team RWBY remaining firm on their aggressiveness. Until Link speaks up, thus regaining all the attention

"You want this relic that badly? Take it."

Link turns to glare at Ruby, Weiss, Blake, and Yang, then rudely tosses the Relic of Knowledge at the leader's feet. He nods at the silver eyed girl, then walks forward without acknowledging anybody else

"W-Where are you g-going?!" Weiss shouts, voice cracking from sadness

"To find somewhere to go before we freeze to death." Link mumbles. "I… Don't want to be around you guys right now."

"How can you say that?" She gasps

"..." Link does not respond, instead he shuts his eyes and sighs as he feels a sharp jab course throughout his body, his signal that another visio is coming. (I normally hate reliving deaths but… Take me away.)

Accepting his inevitable incoming vision, Link drops to both knees, freezes up, and stops moving as the whimpers and cries from Ray ring throughout his head. Upon 'opening' his eyes, Link's vision is no longer the snowy terrain, derailed train, and thin trees, instead it is Garanda during the night, it is rainy and atmosphere is chaotic with the people of the small village dropping left and right at the hands of the cold blooded Atlas soldiers who murder everybody in sight. The last person to die right in front of him is the aforementioned Ray, who is gunned down in cold blood, followed by her gut wrenching gasps and squeals whilst covering her bullet wound with both hands

"L-Link?" Ray moves her hands out of the way, both are drenched in blood, chest fatally wounded, and her newly unlocked aura can do nothing about it

(I regret what I said already.) Link gasps while attempting to close his eyes to not seeing the up close visual of his friend slowly dying yet again. (It should have been me, not you.)

"W-What's happening?" Ray mumbles, struggling to speak, "A-Am I? I d-don't want... I don't want to die, t-there's so much-! So many things I want to-! I don't want to go, p-please… H-Help me!"

(No… No… NO! I hate that you died such a painful death!) Link angrily shakes his head as he holds the injured girl in his arms

"Promise me Link... Y-You w-will never give up on your dreams, a-and while you're at it… D-Do your best to live out my dreams too." Her eyes well up again as she weakly smiles. "T-Thank you Link, for e-everything."

(I am trying my best, Ray. I explored the world and went to Beacon, you always wanted to be an explorer and a huntress.) He sighs internally as the vision continues with Ray slowly dying from the pain of a gunshot wound and bleeding out. (I am sorry for ever coming into your life.)

"G-Goodbye… Link."

(Mark my words Ray, I will find those responsible for what they did to your village, your family, and you… And make them pay. I promise!)

The second the young brunette girl takes her last breath in the vision, the entire world begins to intricately disappear around him. The buildings, soldiers, deceased villagers, and lastly Ray, are soon engulfed in darkness and the scene is forcefully ripped away, the vision erased like a powerful whirlpool tearing through a sea

"Do whatever you think is right, kiddo."

(Hm?) Link opens his eyes, returning back to the reality, and immediately looks over his shoulder, where Yang, Weiss, and Blake still have their weapons drawn, this time pointed at Qrow, while Ruby safely holds the relic in both of her hands

And behind the team of girls is a giant, semi nude woman who is clearly not like any of them. She is clearly a magical entity, as she floats in the air with light blue skin, dark blue hair, long pointed ears, dark blue eyes, and she is decorated with a plethora of gold jewelry and other accessories: a chain on her forehead, big hoop earrings, an earring in the right ear, choker on the neck, cuffs on her wrists with dangling chains, a bracelet on her left forearm, anklets, and a belt of chains around her waist

(She was the statue of the chained woman holding up the platform.) Link turns to face this woman, and nearly gasps when noticing her ears, which makes him reach for his pointed ears. (I have never seen anyone else with ears like mine, what could that mean?)

"Jinn?" Ruby firmly speaks

Then she turns around to face the mystical being, who has a curious look on her face, while Oscar grits his teeth in anger, indicating Ozpin is back in control

"What is Ozpin hiding from us?"

"NOOOO!"

Ozpin springs up to his feet and lunges forward. Qrow, Maria, and Link watch in disbelief, the members of team RWBY with drawn weapons do not attack, and their leader Ruby gasps, but as her former headmaster is about to touch her, the world disappears and leaves everyone in a blank white space

(W-What is this?) Link walks 'around', expecting an immediate return to the real world any time soon, but when that does not happen, his eyes widen in panic. "Weiss?! Ruby? Qrow…?"

"Once upon a time, there stood a lonely tower."

"Who's there?!" Link's head whips back and forth

The voice of Jinn is loudly heard as a world manifests right in front of Link, a brick road leading to a castle in the distance. Humming from a woman can then be heard in the background as the brick road and castle disappear into smoke

"That tower sheltered a lonely girl."

The same smoke engulfs the former one person team as a new scene forms in front of him, placing Link only a few feet away from a beautiful woman sitting in front of a mirror but nothing else. She has platinum blonde hair, light skin, and light blue eyes, the exact appearance of a princess in a fairy tale

"And that girl… is Salem."

(T-This is Salem?) Link gasps. (What happened to her?)

---

Flashback

With complete authority and control, Jinn tells the tale of a woman named Salem, who was once a normal human, living during a time where magic was available to all humans, was being kept isolated in a tower by her father, desperate for freedom. A young man named Ozma rescues her, and the two promptly fall in love

(Ozma huh? So that is his real name, not Ozpin… I see.) Link shuts his eyes and sighs, expecting things to only go downhill. (This story is already too good to be true… Unfortunately.)

And as expected, Ozma dies of illness, Salem begs the God of Light to resurrect him, but when the god refuses, she runs to the God of Darkness, who agrees despite not knowing she already went to his older brother. Ozma is reborn but not for long, as the God of Light arrives and destroys him. The God of Darkness resurrects him out of spite, leading the two to fight. However, they soon stop when the God of Light reveals the truth and exposes the young woman's deception

(Oh no, please do not tell me this is-!)

Before the blonde swordsman can finish his thought, the God of Darkness destroys Ozma, leading Salem to foolishly attack both gods. Her vision goes black and the next thing she knows, she is tossed in the pool known as the Domain of Light. After surviving the impossible that was drowning in an endless pool of water, Salem is informed that she is now immortal, and can never be with Ozma as a consequence

(Immortal? That sounds like a blessing and a curse at the same time.)

Salem, knowing she once fooled the gods and momentarily turned them against each other, resorts to scheming by roaming the part of the world she resides in, claiming to have stolen immortality from the gods. Through manipulation and lies, she is praised like a god, thus learning that, "the hearts of men are easily swayed". When Salem and her followers confront both gods and attack the God of Darkness, he wipes out all of Humanity except for Salem with a single attack. The gods then leave the world, with the God of Darkness shattering the moon as a result

(That explains why the moon looks at that. I always thought it was beautiful, but destruction caused that.) Link shakes his head

The next part of the story shows Salem at the Land of Darkness, and in another attempt to commit suicide, she leaps into the Grimm pool where she initially met the God of Darkness. Her attempt not only fails, but corrupts her soul and gives the young woman her modern look of pale skin, hair, and red eyes

(I never did wonder how Salem got her looks, but that was even darker than anything I could have imagined.)

The God of Light then speaks to Ozma, who is offered another chance at living when humanity is eventually reformed. But rather than receiving guidance from the Gods, they will leave behind four relics: Choice, Knowledge, Creation, and Destruction. When the relics are gathered, the gods will return to judge humanity, where they will either return to guide humanity once more, or the world will be destroyed. Ozma refuses at first, preferring to join Salem in the afterlife, but quickly accepts when told she is still alive. In spite of the warning that she is no longer the same woman

(His intention was to change her and make her who she once was.)

When Ozma is reincarnated, the world he is in now is far different from the one he knew. With frequent Grimm attacks, no magic, and Faunus now living among them, but treated like wild animals. Regardless of the changes, he looks for and eventually finds his way back to Salem and reunites with the corrupted young woman, another happy moment in this dark tale

(This story could have ended at the beginning or right here… D-Damn it,)

Ozma and Salem then find themselves changing the world and leading it as if they were the new God's, replacing the ones of Light and Darkness, and this leads Jinn to repeat Salem's words that "the hearts of men are easily swayed". She and Ozma dramatically and theatrically destroy a Nevermore attacking a village, which makes the villagers bow down before them. This leads to the creation of a kingdom, which they rule as God and Goddess, and raise four daughters in 'harmony'

(...) Link smiles at the four innocent girls running around, playing and having fun, with one of them even clinging onto Salem's leg for comfort

Regardless of the fact that he found his lover and started a family with her, Ozma eventually tells Salem about the mission given to him by the God of Light, but her response is simply to not save all of humanity, countering with a suggestion to eradicate anyone who does not follow them. Her cruel and evil response soon leads to Ozma attempting to sneak their daughters out of the castle, but Salem stops them and a battle between the powerful man and woman ensues

(I-Incredible, this is the strongest magic by humans in action.)

The results of the fight are more than predictable with Salem being immortal, but Ozma is not the only one to suffer, as a burnt doll of one of their four daughters is seen next to a small hand that is cold and lifeless. With their castle near complete destruction, Salem kills Ozma's incarnation with a burst of fire, lamenting that they were free to do whatever they wanted

(And this was only the beginning…)

Ozma reincarnates again, again, and again, each time he returns to the world, his mission becomes more clear in his head. Humanity cannot be redeemed by the Gods without destroying Salem. However, after battling her countless times, the cursed warrior knows he cannot win by normal means, leading him to the Relic of Knowledge. When obtaining it, Ozma uses the three questions to ask for the locations of the other Relics, their powers, and how to defeat Salem. Unfortunately for him, Jinn's ability to answer every question does not apply to the last one

(What are we truly up against then?)

When Jinn utters the words "you can't" and realizes there is no way to destroy Salem… Ozma falls to his knees in disappointment, and then the story comes to a close

---

End of Flashback

The real world returns and everyone is in disbelief, all eyes are on Professor Ozpin, who is on his knees, head lowered, in the same way his previous reincarnation was at the end of the story

"Salem can't be killed…" Yang narrows her eyes

Ozpin looks up to face the music, tears streaming down his face. Qrow looks away in disgust, Maria looks at the ground, Link rises to his feet and turns around to watch the scene, and team RWBY continues to stare

"I…" The disgraced professor speaks, but no words of significance come out

"There was so much you hadn't told us!" Yang frowns. "How could you think that was okay?!"

"M-Miss Xiao Long…" Ozpin hangs his head in shame once more

"Professor…" Ruby mumbles. "Be honest with us, no half truths or deceptions. What is your plan to defeat Salem?"

"I…" Ozpin sighs. "I don't have one, miss Rose."

Silence…

"GRRRAHHH!"

Suddenly, Qrow turns back towards his longtime friend in the body of a child, sprints towards him, and punches Professor Ozpin in the face! The straight right hand sends him crashing back first into a tree trunk

"No one wanted me, Oz. I was cursed! I gave my life to you because you gave me a place in this world!" Qrow follows him, "My sister said I was a fool for trusting you!" He sighs. "I thought I was finally doing some good…"

(He's going to hurt Oscar just to get some form of revenge on Professor Ozpin.) Link briskly walks to them

"B-But!" Ozpin's voice cracks as more tears stream down his cheeks. "You are!"

"Meeting you…"

Qrow grabs Professor Ozpin by the collar, lifts him up, and slams him against the tree

"Was the worst luck of my life!"

"Maybe." Ozpin's eyes widen in disbelief upon hearing Qrow say that. "You're right…"

"You're damn right I am!"

The older huntsman angrily balls up his fist and winds up another punch as Ozpin's eyes glow, signaling control is transferred back to Oscar. He holds his cheek and immediately flinches when another punch is thrown!

"Uncle Qrow! NO!" Ruby gasps

Block!

Having wisely followed him to prevent any more fighting, Link steps in and blocks the powerful right hand with an open left palm and the gritting of his feet, displaying slight struggle

"Phew, nice save Link." The silver eyed girl internally sighs

"What do you think you're doing?" Qrow frowns

"Do you realize you were about to punch Oscar?" Link shakes his head. "You know better… I know you're angry, but you're not blind, Qrow."

"..." He shrugs and lets the farmer drop to the ground backside first. "Whatever kid. You can let go of my hand now."

Link complies, but makes a statement by aggressively shoving the hand away

"T-Thanks." Oscar mumbles

"Mhm." Link nods

"Are you okay, Oscar?" Ruby asks. "What happened?

"I'm fine." The farmhand slowly nods, wincing at his aching cheek. "Ozpin is gone."

"WHAT?! That piece of shit!" Yang growls. "Tell him we're not done!

"No, he's gone gone. I-It's like he's locked himself deep inside my head. His head? Our head?" Oscar grunts as he holds his head in frustration. "I hate this!"

"He just left us?" Weiss gasps

"What are we gonna do now?" Blake looks around, worries

"Enough! All of you be quiet for ten seconds, please!"

The former Beacon students, headmaster, and older huntsman all turn towards Maria, who walks forward and gets in between the group

"What matters right now is that we get a move on." She commands with a firm tone whilst pointing to a trail a fair distance away. "There's a trail over there and trails usually lead somewhere. We should go, it'll be dark before we know it, and every one of you is spewing negativity!"

Maria then points her cane in Link's direction out of nowhere

"Besides him. He was the only positive one, but you fools had to ruin that."

"Who cares about being positive right now?" Yang shakes her head. "Did you not just hear-!"

"No buts!" Maria slams her cane into the snow. "Look, I understand that you're upset. But, if we don't get moving, we will die, especially when it is nighttime. I'll be damned if I've lived this long just to die out here in the cold!"

"She's right." Ruby nods as she walks up to Oscar and offers him a hand. "Come on."

"O-Okay." Oscar smiles at the girl in front of him and happily takes her hand

The successful commands of Maria, backed by Ruby's never ending determination, makes everyone return to the derailed train cars. First, to grab their belongings and second, to pick up as much dust as they can carry with them. Everyone except Link that is, as he only picks up lightning dust crystals, and purposely leaves behind the black bag with the spare outfit provided to him by team RWBY. However, this does not go unnoticed as Weiss remains closely behind the blonde swordsman, concerned over his well being, and she gasps when realizing what he did

"Link…" Weiss' lip quivers as she picks up the black bag and slots it into the case where she stores her rapier and dust. "I'm so sorry."

With no more words being spoken, the group, plus the addition of Maria, heads northwest until they step foot on the trail mentioned by the latter. Qrow angrily walks with both hands in his pocket, with Ruby and Blake walking side by side behind him. Weiss sadly walks behind her teammates, keeping to herself and occasionally looking up to glance at her upset boyfriend. The older woman sits on Yang's motorcycle, as the blonde girl walks and pushes her bike. Oscar is at the back of the line, hesitantly gripping onto the handle of Professor Ozpin's cane, 'The Long Memory', unsure of who he is or whether he will be just another sacrifice. As for Link, he leads the way with a good distance between him and Qrow, the person behind him, deliberately wanting to avoid any form of conversation with the entire group that now walks in silence, feeling more defeated than ever

---

(Author's note: Hello! It'll be a short note today but now that Ozpin's secrets are exposed, where do our heroes go from here in terms of trust and their journey to Atlas? You'll have to wait and find out! Chapters 33 and 34 have been updated if you would like to give those another read. This is my first chapter of the new year and I hope you've all enjoyed it :) Until next time, have a wonderful day!)