Cover Art: Curbizzle

Chapter 87

Two nights spent trying to dream of Salem yielded nothing but dreams of Cinder. Ozpin had grown increasingly paranoid about that, keeping Jaune up late into the evening with stories about her to try and make him focus. It was only after the second night that Qrow, mostly recovered from his injuries, suggested that the reason it was failing might be because Salem had taken herself out of range.

The fact that his dream had before been capable of reaching out from Beacon to Vale meant that she was even further – or that the first time he'd done so, she'd been closer to Beacon. Vale was a big city and there were a lot of places she could be hiding.

"I cannot see Salem coming this far for Mr Arc and Miss Fall and leaving without either," Ozpin said. "It just isn't like her."

"Then maybe she hasn't left permanently," Qrow said. "Maybe she's left to do something."

Ozpin leaned back, his face going pale for a moment before he recovered himself. "Perhaps," he said. "We had better increase security toward the forest. The only thing she would find of use outside the city is Grimm.

That was normally a saying. "You won't find anything out there but Grimm" meant that it was pointless to go out because you wouldn't find anything of use to you. The only problem was that the Grimm were very useful to Salem, so the saying took on another meaning entirely.

"Want me to do a fly over and take a look?" asked Qrow.

"Yes. Keep me abreast. And Mr Arc…"

"Private conversation," Jaune said, tiredly. "I get it."

"Thank you. There's no need to cause panic among the students."

"That said…" Qrow cleared his throat. "It might be worth having a plan if the worst does occur. We know she's after him, so what is he meant to do? Flee? His Semblance won't be much use in an actual assault. Not like any of the attackers are going to fall asleep."

"What did I just say about not causing panic? Mr Arc…" Ozpin turned to him. "In the event of an assault on Beacon, the best thing you and your team can do is get you out of Beacon. Miss Fall with you. Do not stay to fight as your presence will only encourage our enemy to stay and fight as well. Remove yourself from Beacon and, with any luck, they shall remove themselves as well."

Run away. Jaune scowled. It was the kind of answer his dad would have given him when he didn't want to teach him to fight. Anger surged within him as it had back then as well, mixing with pride in a demanding urge to tell Ozpin he hadn't trained this hard for nothing, and that he could defend himself against the Grimm.

"You are not fleeing," Ozpin said, noticing his expression. "You would be luring the enemy away. Do not think of this as saving your own skin when it is your skin she wants. You will be saving lives by leading her away from Beacon."

Swallowing his anger, Jaune nodded. It was different. Salem would give chase. In that sense, running away was like luring Grimm away from his family back home. It would be a courageous act of self-sacrifice. Now, he just worried about bringing his team along with him. They'd almost be safer if he abandoned them here in Beacon to fight the Grimm, because Grimm were what they trained to kill every day, and immortal witches were not.

"Where should I go? Is there somewhere safe?"

"Anywhere I might give you would be at risk of being known or discovered by her. I have no safehouse. You should stay on the move. Loop around Vale, keep yourself safe, then slip back in once any threat is over. Salem cannot keep up a sustained siege on Beacon."

"But what if she destroys Beacon…?"

"Schools can be rebuilt."

Jaune couldn't say he liked that answer.

/-/

There was no not telling his team about the meeting. Ozpin had asked him to keep Salem a secret, but that cat had come out the bag the moment she crashed his and Yang's date. He kept some parts of it a secret – her past, her immortality, her relation to Ozpin – and explained her away as just being something unknown, some kind of Grimm-human hybrid, or maybe even a Grimm which had evolved into a humanoid shape. Beowolves had evolved to look and act sort of like wolves, Ursae like bears, and so on. Therefore, it wasn't outside the realm of possibility that one could evolve to look and act like a human.

Yang knew that wasn't the whole truth, but she did an excellent job not reacting to it. He hadn't initially planned to bring them in on this, but Pyrrha pointed out that Team RWBY might try and hook up with them in the event of an assault, and that they might panic if they didn't know where Team JNPR had gone.

The only one truly absent from this meeting was Cinder.

No reason to jog her memory.

"Can't we just kill this Grimm woman?" asked Blake. "Human or no, she's still Grimm."

"Uncle Qrow didn't stand a chance against her and he's better than all of us combined," Yang said. Ruby was still refusing to make eye contact with Jaune, though Yang had texted him to say she'd cleared things up and Ruby just needed time.

"I get quality over quantity but there'd be eight of us against just her. All it'd take is a lucky shot."

"The same goes for them," Ren said. "Except they won't even need a lucky shot – just enough force to pin Jaune down and carry him away. Throw enough Grimm at us and the weight of numbers will keep us too busy to react. And this one can apparently summon Grimm at will. In the middle of the city, no less."

Everyone looked worried about that. Grimm in a city hadn't been seen since Mountain Glenn, and Jaune had the second-hand stories from his mother about how that had felt. The terror, the crushing helplessness, the complete overturning of everything people had taken for granted. The cities were safe; that was how it had always been.

Until it hadn't.

"What do the Grimm even want his Semblance for? Do Grimm dream?"

"Yes." Jaune answered Blake's question. "Or that Grimm dreams. Salem does. I've been in there."

"And you couldn't kill her?"

"No. Her dream almost consumed me. I've a feeling it could have killed me."

"What does it want you to do?" asked Weiss.

"We're not sure. It might want me to make it stronger, or to make more of it, or to overwhelm and kill good people if it can turn me."

"You wouldn't turn," Nora said.

Jaune shrugged. "I'd try my best not to, but no one knows for sure. I have seven sisters. How many would I have to watch be tortured and killed before giving in?" Everyone looked uncomfortable. "And that's assuming the Grimm don't have some way of parasitising my mind. For all we know, that's a thing that can happen. I could be controlled or turned into a Grimm hybrid myself."

He couldn't be. Salem had survived the pools only because of her curse from the gods. Ozpin had told him that. Lying to his team and Team RWBY was necessary to get them to stop thinking about staying and fighting, however. He had to drill it into their heads that they shouldn't try and fight Salem when running was an option.

"The teachers think Salem and the Grimm will stop attacking Beacon if I run," he explained. "That they'll give up here and pursue me instead.

"They want you to act as bait!?" Yang gasped.

"I'm bait whether I stay or go. They're coming for me. In a sense, letting me stay in Beacon is putting every other student at risk. And if Beacon is assaulted and looks like it might fall, I shouldn't stay and put everyone in danger."

Pyrrha scowled. "We're not leaving you, Jaune."

"I know that. That's why Team JNPR is to run with me if Beacon comes under attack. And you guys…" He glanced to Team RWBY. "Your call. You can stay and fight or come with us. The Grimm shouldn't focus too much on you."

"Yeah, they'll be focused on you instead," Yang said. "What do you lot think?" she asked her team. "Part of me says stay and protect the school, but the school isn't the main target. It's not the thing that needs protecting."

"Arc does," Weiss answered. "We should go with them. If they're the ones in danger, they'll need the most help. Not to mention the consequences of Arc being taken by them."

Blake and Ruby agreed with silent nods.

"Thank you," Jaune said, nodding back. "We'll take Cinder with us since we need to keep her out of Salem's clutches as well. Where we go is up in the air. Vale might put civilians at risk, but the forest means running right into the Grimm."

"Can't we get to Atlas for help?"

"There's been an attack on their flagship. Emerald was freed and the flagship crashed outside the city."

There was shock at the news, because Atlas had kept it off the news for obvious reasons.

"When did this happen!?" Weiss asked.

"A couple of nights ago."

"Then if the Grimm were planning to attack, now would be the best time," Ren said. "Before Atlas can return with another ship. I don't suppose we can head to your home, can we? We'd be leading the Grimm back to your family."

"I'm not taking Grimm to Ansel."

"Then we're stuck in the wilderness," Blake said, sighing up at the ceiling. "If we can't go to a population centre for fear of civilian deaths, our only choice is to keep moving. We can deal with Grimm. We'll have to deal with Grimm. We can loop back to Beacon once Atlas is back. Hopefully, this Salem Grimm will die in an attack on the school."

"Hopefully," Jaune said, knowing it wouldn't happen. "There is one last thing."

"Oh?"

"If the worst comes to happen…" Jaune hesitated. Everyone was watching him, listening, and what he was about to say sounded bad. It sounded bad and dramatic and even a little over-the-top. But it had to be said. "If we're well and truly screwed and my capture is an absolute guarantee, or if the Grimm have me and are taking me away…" He licked his lips. "I'll lower my aura. And I'll need someone to take the shot."

Their reactions were predictable. Horror. Distress. Denial.

"No." Pyrrha hissed. "Jaune, no—"

"I'm not saying it will happen or that it should be our first priority. I just mean if we do our best and we're doomed. If the Grimm literally have me in the claws of a Nevermore and are carrying me away." It didn't calm any of them down. "Think of what awaits me. It's either me getting tortured, me being consumed by Grimm, or me watching my family die. It'd be a mercy to put me out my misery before that happens."

No one said a thing.

Better he die than Salem have him, too, but he didn't think that argument would win them over. It was best to focus on the idea of saving him from worse pain – and they all knew that there'd be no rescuing him if he was taken away. No one even knew where they'd be taking him to, other than Ozpin, and Ozpin wouldn't throw lives away assaulting Salem's tower.

"I won't ask anyone to say they'll do it." Jaune told them. "It's your own choices. Just keep in mind that I'd rather be dead than tortured to the point of it. If things get bad, I'll probably do my best to commit suicide-by-Grimm anyway." There were flinches all around. "But that's only if things are really bad. I'm hoping we can just run away and hide."

"Y—Yes…" Ruby finally spoke. "We should focus on running. We can take him to Patch."

"Good idea!" Yang joined in, pale as a ghost. "Dad is a huntsman and our home in well outside the town. Not to mention the island is a natural barrier. Any land Grimm she might have wouldn't be able to follow us across the channel."

It wasn't a bad idea. In the interests of cutting the tension, Jaune went with it. "Good plan. Let's flee south first so they think we're heading deeper inland, then loop back around to Patch. With any luck, Salem will head south and miss us entirely. We can then contact Beacon from Patch to find out if it's safe to return."

There was approval all around. That, and a growing sense of relief at dragging the conversation away from mercy killings. They weren't ready to think about it. Jaune knew that. He'd seen as much in Port's dreams that students rarely were. But he'd also seen that sometimes a huntsman couldn't save everyone, and that the kindest thing you could do was give someone a swifter death. End them quickly, rather than leave them to bleed out in misery and fear.

He could only hope one of them would take the shot if it proved necessary.

Or better yet, that it wouldn't prove necessary at all.

/-/

Adam was well aware of the anxiety among his faunus. They didn't like it when an outsider was among them, but for once their gaze wasn't fixed on the lone human. Emerald Sustrai was not nearly as attention-grabbing as the Grimm that loped among their number.

Grimm which followed their orders.

That alone would have been enough to have Adam calling the whole thing off normally. It should have been enough. No desire to see Blake was worth joining hands with the Grimm. And yet… wouldn't that secure faunuskind forevermore? If the Grimm could be reasoned with, if they could learn to see faunus as allies, then Menagerie would be safe. The rest of the world would burn, but they would be spared.

It was a reckless hope, he knew. The true reason he didn't back out was because it was too late to. By the time that creature which called itself Salem appeared, he knew the choice was gone. They would be eradicated if they tried to back out the deal made with Cinder.

The best we can hope for now is that our sacrifice buys our friends and family back home safety from the Grimm. I should have taken us away long ago.

Hindsight always was easy.

"Where is Cinder?" he asked. The girl flinched, which was telling enough.

"She's been compromised."

"Dead?"

"No. Her mind has been overtaken by false memories."

"Courtesy of the dream walker? I hadn't thought him capable of that."

Not that he knew much about the boy, other than what Cinder had told him. Adam had always known that information flow was doctored; Cinder only ever let him know what she wanted him to. Adam played along because he had his own spies in Vale; there were many faunus sympathetic to the cause who didn't have the freedom or means to rise up. The White Fang accepted any support, no matter how small, and information was always valuable. Alas, the average person in Vale knew little of the Semblance of one boy in Beacon. Not even their sympathetic ears inside Beacon knew of it.

"It's a new thing," Emerald hissed. "And only if he's in your dreams. That's why we attack during the day."

"Mmm. It wouldn't matter when we attack since we'd be awake for it. The night would suit us more."

"Not my decision."

And she lacked the confidence to take it to Salem. It went unsaid but it was obvious between them. Adam doubted his word delivered to the Grimm-woman would yield any better results. The only one she listened to was that toad, Watts, who was as slimy as they came. Once again, Adam considered the viability of them abandoning this foolish cause. He could probably cut his way out and escape, but the others…? The nervous men and women who had followed him and trusted him this far? They would be cut down.

They have entrusted their lives to me. I cannot shirk that responsibility.

Adam sighed. He'd always known he'd give his life for the cause, and now it looked like that time might be now. If death was a certainty, better to die with his people than running with his tail between his legs.

"Very well. How far can we trust these Grimm?"

"Well enough. They've been told not to attack any faunus." Her eyes slid to his. "That might be a weakness."

It certainly was. Beacon had its fair share. Still, he'd rather the Grimm were overly cautious than tearing his people apart. Presumably, the Grimm would respond to attacks on themselves, so it wouldn't much matter. The original plan had called for them to take over Atlesian robots and droids and use them in the assault, but that plan had died along with Atlas' flagship. Adam had roamed the wreckage in the forest in search of salvage and seen much of the devastation firsthand. It was a worrying show of what the Grimm could manage when controlled by a singular will.

If that will were ever turned on Menagerie…

No. It wouldn't be.

"I assume you have your own plan that doesn't involve us. It would be best I know it." Adam let the girl ponder than in silence. "Cinder, I assume?"

Emerald nodded.

"Are you to rescue her or kill her?"

The girl gritted her teeth.

"Ah. You are to kill but mean to rescue." He chuckled when she tensed up. "Don't worry. You haven't confirmed it and I don't care to share wild suspicions before a battle. Especially not with someone who won't even listen to our ideas."

"Will you get in my way?"

"You're not in ours, so no. My advice, though, is to take her and run quickly. Don't get greedy. This whole situation is out of control." The Grimm, Salem, Beacon. It was all a madhouse at this point. Rational planning had gone out the window. "Don't let her arrogance make you stay. Take her and run. Knock her out if you must."

Emerald looked to be torn between defending Cinder and asking him why he was helping her in the first place. The answer was simple: he was not. It was simply a last bit of advice from a man who didn't expect to make the morrow.

A nevermore flew overhead, circling three times.

Emerald trembled. "That's our signal."

"To Beacon, then." Adam stood with a tired sigh. "It's as good a day as any."

Perhaps he would see Blake before the end.

/-/

"Has there been no response from Raven?"

"She refuses to take him."

Ozpin let out his frustration in a great sigh. "Why? Her Semblance would let her move the boy around with ease, and with little to no risk to herself. I understand she hates me, Qrow, but surely she must understand why he can't fall into Salem's hands."

"I know that, but Raven is Raven. I've tried to explain it. I don't know if it's because she'd have to open a portal to Yang and doesn't want the drama, or because she's afraid of what the boy's Semblance might do to her. It might be more the latter. Her exact words were that she didn't want him anywhere near her."

It was comical in a sense. His big, bad sister afraid of a boy her daughter's age. Raven had always been paranoid, though. The Arc boy wouldn't approve of Raven at all if he met her, which might mean her caution was justified. Qrow didn't think he'd go rewriting her personality like he had Cinder, but it didn't much matter. Raven wasn't playing ball.

"Raven won't help us and James can't." Ozpin massaged his temples. He was a younger man now, but his mannerisms were much the same. "That leaves us precious few options. I've half a mind to suggest training Miss Fall up. We technically have a Fall Maiden now, and one that could be used to protect him."

"Except that if her memories come back…"

"Yes. If I were to teach her how to control her power – well within my abilities now my magic has returned – then I risk empowering a future enemy. I made that mistake before when I created the maidens."

"Why did you? It seems a dumb idea in hindsight."

"One man with all the power isn't as useful as you'd think. I couldn't be everywhere, which was an even more pressing problem before the CCT, internet and scrolls. If Salem struck on another continent, it would take me months to respond. I needed people I could trust, and they needed to be powerful enough to protect themselves. Hence, I decided to split my power. Four maidens for four kingdoms. There was method to my madness, Qrow. The world back then wasn't as it is now."

The distant past, then. It was hard for Qrow to rationalise it, but he supposed technology wasn't much back then. Besides, it was easy to look at a problem now and criticise its making. Especially when he wasn't the one left to protect the world against Salem.

"Cinder might be our only option," Qrow said. "I can keep an eye on her for—"

The door to the office slammed open. "Sir!" Glynda shouted, rushing in. "Grimm. They're gathering in the forest. A swarm of Nevermore. Look!"

They turned to the window she pointed at, and Ozpin stood from his desk to approach. In the distance to the east, a cloud of black had risen up over the forest several kilometres out. It reminded Qrow of documentaries he'd watched about locust swarms and mating habits; scenes where millions of insects would emerge and fly at once to form an almost volcanic smog of buzzing life.

That was what rolled over the Emerald Forest in the east, toward Beacon. A swarm of what must have been thousands of Nevermore – and they weren't likely to be the only ones. There would be other Grimm below the canopy.

"Beacon can't fight that," Qrow whispered. "The kids will be slaughtered."

They were good, of course they were, but there were probably a hundred Grimm per student, maybe more. This was far beyond them.

Ozpin moved from his desk, holding his cane under his arm. "I shall face them."

"What!?"

"I can kill them all," he said, with a calm so shocking that it knocked Qrow's panic clean out his mind. The way Ozpin said it didn't make it sound a boast. "I can best them with my magic, which I expect is why Salem is having them show themselves so brazenly, and at a distance. This is to lure me out."

And, suddenly, the fear was back. "Then it's a trap."

"Not for me. My death means nothing as I'll come back. The trap is in luring me out so that she can assault Beacon and take Mr Arc with a smaller force. I can't afford not to address this, however. If I do nothing then that swarm will roll over Beacon, and perhaps Vale as well. The bloodshed would be catastrophic."

It was a very successful trick on Salem's part, then. One they couldn't not respond to.

"Glynda, sound the alarm and see to the safety of the students. Have them hunker down together. Surrender as much of Beacon as you need to. Let Salem learn that her quarry is not here, so she will leave. Then you need only wait for me to return to sweep the Grimm clear. Qrow, alert Mr Arc and get him out of Beacon with his team – and your niece's team if they're there. Steer them to safety. Salem will be in pursuit once she realises our gambit. Keep him from her at all costs. Do whatever you must."

Qrow was already running for the door.

/-/

Jaune was running the moment he heard the alarm. He barged through the door to Cinder's room. The woman flinched back, then calmed on seeing him, then worried again when she saw how panicked he was.

"We have to go," he told her. "Grab only what you need. We're moving light."

"What's happening, daddy?"

"A bad person has come for us."

Her eyes widened. There was very real fear there, which was odd given that she shouldn't have known who to be afraid of. He didn't question it. Maybe it was just a sign of how much she trusted him. Cinder snatched her scroll and put her shoes on, then ran to him. Good. She was taking this seriously.

"Where do we go?" she asked.

"Outside Beacon, then we loop around and head for Patch. Team JNPR and RWBY will be coming with us." He took her and led her down the corridor. "You'll be okay, Cinder. We both will be. I'm here."

"Hm. Okay, daddy."

Jaune didn't notice her eyes flicker with yellow fire.

"I'll look after you."

Next Chapter: 27th February

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