11

Author's Note:

Uhg. I just went through all the previous chapters and updated their editing, as well as doing another sweep over them for spelling and other minor problems.

I hope this chapter comes out okay for all of you. Between writing it and then going back and forth with editing the last ten chapters, it's been a bit more tiring than usual. Let me know if it's convincing enough too. Or not. I'm just glad it's done.

Partial Maiden Yuki Tenno

I am not dead.

I think, therefore I am.

And I am still thinking.

The soulscape stretches out seemingly forever, and I have to put away thoughts of experimenting with the conceptual space. As tired as I am, there is much less to concentrate on right now. No body, no fighting, no healing or Magic. Only this one gamble.

Cinder is here. Pyrrha is here. My body is that of an Alicorn again. The odds of success are already up.

"Well done." I start by turning to face Cinder. "Well Done!" I clap, slowly, by clicking a hoof on the hard ground. Must play the part.

Pyrrha leaps between us, and I get a good look at us. An inversion of the last time we were all in the soulscape, this blank white place, Pyrrha is the most healthy.

Across my body are cuts and holes, on my back is a great weight that I can still support, my wings are broken, my horn is snapped off, and there is a constant slow burning fire that is slowly eating away at my neck. All representative of my tiredness and the people I couldn't save.

Pyrrha stands tall, a bit heavy, but tall and powerful. Flickers of Jaune's Aura intermingle with her own, though Cinder will not recognise that. Not that it's really Jaune's Aura, but a representation of the warmth and love she feels from and for him. Four days, we are past midnight, and I guess their relationship is going well. Her weapons have come with her too, and like her armor they are untarnished and sharp.

"Stand aside, Nikos." I command. Trust me, please remember those words.

"But-"

"It's over. She has the greater claim." I can already see the magic, represented by two orbs above us, a current flowing from mine and over Pyrrha's head before joining it's larger whole. "Stand aside."

I have already clamped down on the flow of magic, but it is inevitable that I will lose all of it. I am merely slowing the process down. Cinder knows this, and as Pyrrha stands aside I get a good look at her.

Cinder looks terrible, at first. Before my words sink in and her 'self' begins to recover. Her wounds close and I see her victorious grin taking her face. She has won, so parts of the mushrooms and mold growing across her body recede. Rotten flesh unrots in a reverse timelapse as her mental state improves from the simple idea of her victory.

Cinder knows the magic is coming to her, that I am only buying pointless time. Ha. Time isn't pointless.

We walk to eachother and I start the process. The gamble, one of two. Ha, it was one a few seconds ago. Seems I can't stop myself from coming up with ideas, even dead. If my second one fails, this will be the last and will determine the fate of the world. "You have questions, and we do not have much time."

"What are you?" Good. She is asking.

"A good place to start. The technical term is OUTSIDER" I intone the word in a way that human vocal cords can't make, leveraging the impossibility of the soulscape even as I impart the 'sound' with meaning. "Or Outsider, if you are unable to pronounce it. I am someone, or something, from outside of your reality, your universe if you will."

I need to convince her, the sand in the hourglass is falling but the image of a causal thing is needed. It's half working, she's not believing but willing to believe I think. "That is why I seem so much more powerful than you, despite the infinitesimal splinter of power I wielded, this is not the first magic system I have used. With every passing moment I familiarised myself with your reality's magic, the more I could leverage my own skill into it."

It's even fucking true. Just the 'magic' and 'skill' I was leveraging was physics and chemistry.

And there we go. "Really? Teach me then." Not trust, but Hunger. If there is one thing that defines Cinder Fall, it's her ambition and power lust. Or, more accurately, her fear of being powerless. The Madame of the Glass Unicorn defined her and still defines her.

"There is no time, but you will reach this level in time. No, there are far more important things to talk about. First, I want to thank you."

Now to spin the bullshit, mixed with truth to make it 'edible'. "4, Cinder Fall, is an important number. It is written into your reality. 4 Maidens. 4 Relics. 4 Academies. 4 years at each with teams of 4. 4 basic types of Dust. 4 weeks in your month. 4 seasons. 4 key phases in your lifespan. Oh, and 4 days I have been in your reality." Every word, every bit of information confirms things. Now she is infected with an idea, and her own conformation bias will do the work.

"Because Destiny" 'Do you believe in Destiny?' 'Yes.' She believes in Destiny, let's use that. "isn't some laid out path for people to walk, it's a collection of influences acting on everyday people." Make her feel special. Play into her fantasy. "Or being acted upon and influenced by choices and actions of certain powerful people." You Cinder. You are the chosen one!

I put a smirk on."4 is important, so much so that is is more desirable... lets say stable, than the also important 2."

A smirk that turns into a full grin. "So thank you, Cinder Fall. When you intervened with the classical 2 of the Maiden transfer process, when you changed it from the stable 2 to an unstable 3, you gave me the opportunity. Soul Magic, after all, is a dangerous thing to be tampering with."

"You..." She 'realises' and I have her now. How does magic work? 'Through a series of stupid and convoluted rules.', Qrow said. I bet Cinder doesn't know all of them, especially something as complicated and powerful as soul magic.

"I snuck in through a dream and a corpse, through a tiny crack in reality." I straighten up before bowing. "Thank you, Cinder Fall, for inviting me."

Time? Enough. Now for the main payload, let her ask. Let her suspicion and trade based mindset work through things. Nothing comes for free. "Why are you telling me this?"

Got you. It's easy when you know how someone works, what their defining traits are, and when they think they have won and let their guard down. "Because I do not want to come back to this reality in 4 years only to find the board empty."

Got you. 'I'm coming back, even after death. I'm not human, after all.' Before she can process that I hit her with the main goal of this entire stream of bullshit. "Salem's ultimate goal is the death of all sentient life." She didn't know that, and the absolute certainty of my voice throws her. "And she is clever enough to not to tell everyone about it. You are a net, Cinder Fall."

Cinder does not like being used as a tool. Not really. She will play the part, bide her time, but she hates being underneath someone else. It reminds her of Madame.

She call's Salem Master, not because of fealty, but so she can further her own goals.

"Salem's plan with you is simple. She wants the Relics, or barring that the Maiden powers." Because of course she does, that's exactly what Cinder wants (just in the other order) so she projects that desire onto her opponents. Well, the ones she takes seriously anyway. Like Ozma, Salem, herself, and me.

I turn her psychology against her. "You are a net, cast out to get them. When you have all the Maiden powers, or when she feels you are no longer useful, she will use the exact same method she Gave you" Power is not given, it is taken. Well, I consider power something to be earned not taken, but 'Cinder the Maiden Thief' is a taker. "to take them from you, and then walk up to the vaults herself and open them, her death resistance preventing anyone from stopping her."

"I know that!" Not that hard to put together. Except...

"But she controls the Grimm, Cinder. Like the Grimm inside your body." And Cinder pales as my point hits. "A leash, a collar, a shackle. I cut your arm off to free you. I broke your shackles. Some on them. Do you still have her brand on you back?"

Yes she does, and the idea works it's way into her. Shake her harder. I lean forward to emphasise my point. "If you go to her, she will offer you a new arm, made from Grimm. You will have to 'work for it', but ultimately it is hers. It will tell her every word you speak, every person you visit, and when she is ready, it will kill you and give the power to her."

I lean back. "Or, she will just kill you." Simple.

"That has a far lower risk than putting all 4 Maidens in one body, especially considering 'your failure'." Bite it. "It would be far more effective to send out more nets and..." I pause, having a genuine thought as I follow up on the poisoned logic. "there are probably already more out there, at least one for each kingdom, now that I think about it. Salem is immortal, after all. All she has is time."

I straighten up again and shake off the thought. "You asked why I'm telling you this? Simple. No Nemesis of mine is to be a slave."

Pride. Just like her. That's right, Cinderella, I'm just like you. "People like you and I, we don't get love." 'No one's ever loved you.' Cinder's sings her song, titled 'The Truth'. A 'truth' I can use. "But we can have enemies."

I have her. So I propose. "So Cinder, will you hate me? Will you do everything to gather more power to kill, torment, brutalise and destroy me? Will you be my Nemesis?"

I watch as her symbolic wounds close faster as she accepts my proposal. Odd, not actually what I was hoping for. I merely wanted to 'explain' the psychology of the character I am playing. Not the Love that has failed her, but Hate that has driven her. She doesn't say any words, any except the ones she can use. "How do I get more power?"

Got you. "The machine in Beacon's basement, it does the same as your arm, if a bit more painful and less convenient. But it's designs are in Atlas. And It is impartial." I lean forward, as if to share a great secret. "More than that, they could only design such a machine if?"

Her eyes glimmer. "If they have a Maiden to examine."

"Sick, comatose, or very old, I'm not perfectly sure, but she is bedridden." Weak, vulnerable, ripe for the taking. Go get, Cinder.

I grin and lean back again, ready to say goodbye. To seal the deal. "I look forward to trying to usurp you, Empress Cinder Fall." She grins. She likes the sound of that.

"I hate you." She vows with a hostile grin. Ah, a sick and twisted love, one built on hate.

"I hate you too." And our time is up. I wink. "See you later, Nemesis."

Now for my other gamble. 1% Aura, the fact that our souls are touching, the fact that this has happened before, the last of the magic I am wielding I both let go and use.

Transference.

Pyrrha Nikos

Yuki is dead.

She...

"Yuki is dead." Qrow's voice comes over the scroll, from the call to her. From her scroll, her body.

"what" Jaune goes still as we ready our weapons on the Bullhead. We were doing that, before...

"No." Ruby's voice echoes despair. "She can't..."

Before she turned Cinder again- {HAHAHAHAHA! SCREW YOU DEATH!} I'm... Hearing her voice in my head. And a cough? {Excuse me, had to get that out. Well, that probably won't work again, not without me getting Maiden powers at least. Pyrrha, can you tell Qrow to save the body, I think I managed to save the Silver Eyes from Adam.}

"What?" The word escapes me. The sounds of fighting come over the scroll as Qrow and Yuki's killer fight. It doesn't last long.

{Hello? Pyrrha?} She's dead. Right?

"Oh, nice of you to join Ice Queen. You're too late, he got away." Qrow mutters spitefully. So why am I hearing her voice in my head?

"Dust, is that her?" Weiss' sister swears.

"What's left of her." Qrow mutters. "Try not to... I'm on a scroll call with... I was too late."

{I'm taking control, you're in shock I think.} "I'm- She's- fine." My body sighs. "Yuki here. I hijacked the Maiden Process and leapt to Pyrrha at the last moment. Pyrrha's a bit numb right now. Jaune, can you kiss her?" My mouth moves on it's own.

Jaune's hand grips my shoulder and shakes me out of... Semblance! Her Semblance isn't Growth, it's Transference! 'What are you going to call it?' 'It already has a name, if I'm Tenno that is. Transference.'

"I'm fine." I shake the numbness away. "Jaune. I'm fine."

"You sure, Pyrrha?" It's almost a question of if I'm me. I did give her permission. Before the Void, she asked me to trust her. Her last words were...

"Yes!" I jump back up into full alertness. She's alive. Well, dead, but alive.

{Great, now tell Qrow to save the body.}

Right. "Qrow, Yuki says save the body, the eyes especially."

Qrow's dry, relived laughter comes over the scroll's speaker. "Of course that's the first thing she's worried about. Never mind the condition it's in." A moment passes. "They eyes are intact. But... Why're they Silver?"

"Yuki copied them after asking me." Ruby sounds relived. "She's alright?"

"She can copy Silver Eyes?" Qrow mutters disbelievingly at first before it shifts into 'of course' territory. What can't she do?

{Well, not anymore. Growth and Magic was required. And I'm fine. Hehee. Tell Yang I'm just a nobody.} I start coughing at the sudden pun.

"She's. She's fine Ruby. She says to tell Yang she's just a nobody." It's terrible. It's awful. It breaks the tension and people start laughing and groaning.

{Right, change of plans. Without Magic, we can't safely use plan Nora Storm... Err, the directed battleship reactor plasma beam. So we are switching to plan Silverlight. Pyrrha, I need Jaune to give me a little Aura, and then refill Weiss as much as he can. Meet up with Team RWBY.} As she speaks, I echo.

It's strange, having a second voice in my head. Can she read my mind? No, Qrow and Weiss tested that, only if I 'think' at her can she hear me. {Hello?}

{Hello back. Testing the mental communication?} There's a bubbly lightness to her voice I haven't really heard before. She has been excited, but this is almost... Maniacal. Unstable.

{Ye-yes. This is very strange.} Has she been hurt by her Semblance?

{Well, think of it as a scroll call to me in your head. Weiss said... thought... communicated that to me that helps.} Oh, that makes a lot more sense and I relax a bit. The Bullhead turns as it gets new orders from the General. {Okay, tell Jaune to stop, that's enough.}

I nod to Jaune and he stops. "So what's the plan?"

{Silverlight. I'm going to give Ruby her laser eyes.} I echo before Yuki privately speaks to me. {I'm an idiot for not teaching her before, too caught up in her and everyone's Semblances.}

{You didn't know the attack was coming.} I try to offer my support.

{No, but even at the start of the attack, I should have spent time with Ruby on the Bullhead over teaching her the basics rather than playing with Team SSSN's Semblances. Or remembered that I sent Raven out on a mission. Or even remembered Taiyang's existence. Or-}

{Stop.} I push firmly. {You are doing the best you can, that is all we can do.}

{People are Dead, Pyrrha.} The hollowness in her voice stalls me. {You didn't see the wall, just like I planned. I was too concerned with keeping all of you safe, with coming up with clever solutions with... Every life who died here was my fault.} How many are dead? We weren't allowed near the wall, our job was to... Lie and Inspire.

{Tunnel vision. That's my current problem. I get fixated on an idea, or a few ideas, and forget everything else. Just like the attack on Beacon, I was so concerned with taking out the Grimm Dragon, then the battleship, then healing Yang's arm... I didn't apply myself better. How many could I have saved if I slowed down a tad and then-}

{This doesn't help.} I push back firmly again. Keep fighting, don't get caught up in what you could have done in the middle of the fight. I've made that mistake a few times before.

{Your right. One last push and I can brood later. Seems my impending breakdown will have to wait just a bit longer.} Impending breakdown? Why is she... The wall. Not once did she stop fighting, and it has been hours since the fighting started.

How did she not get tired? Growth. She was abusing her... Amber's Semblance to keep fighting, Magic doesn't run out. The strain on her body must have been immense, even with the Semblance. Everyone is trained to know whe- She isn't trained. Not everyone gets proper training, but she is even worse having absolutely no idea what kind of damage she has been doing to herself.

Worse than Jaune. He didn't know what Aura was, but there was a cultural understanding, a framework to build off about the soul. Yuki's instability is probably the effects of Semblance overuse. Is her Aura even recovering?

{Right, here's the plan in detail.} I nod and play speaker for the 'nobody'.

Ruby Rose

"She's asking if you're sure." Pyrrha asks for Yuki. She does that a lot, asking if we are sure.

"Yes, I'm sure." Pyrrha nods and puts a hand on mine before I feel her jump over. Whoa, that's weird. And what was that flash of white? Oh shoot, I better say hello.

{Hey! Um, welcome to my head?} That was terrible, oh no. I'm screwing up talking to her.

{Hi Ruby.} Wait, is she shy? {Um, thanks?} I giggle at her stupid response before looking to Weiss.

"We're ready." I tell her. {Are we ready?}

{I am. How about you?} She replies. {It's going to be okay.} I nod and look to Weiss.

A Glyph forms, Jaune's hand Amping up Weiss and we all hop on. "This is stable, right?" He asks.

Weiss snorts at his question. "Of course it is." Hehe. Best partner ever.

And we take flight. Again I'm grinning as Weiss flies, this time with all of us. She's smiling, I don't think Yuki realises just how important something like this is to her. Or me. We're flying buddies! I wonder if Yang can fly, I mean Yuki seems to think so and she's done some pretty amazing stuff already. Team RWBY, taking over the sky! So cool!

A pair of bullheads form up beside us as we float and I step into the front of the moving Glyph, close to the edge. Max exposure.

"Everyone needs to be quiet, let Ruby concentrate." Yang says reminding everyone of Yuki's plan.

Hehehe. Laser eyes, pew pew. {So, Lasers?} Don't jump up and down, we are on a floating round thing in the sky. I'll have to use my Semblance to get back on, and Weiss will glare at me.

{Now I know how Maria felt.} She grumbles. {Right, the first thing you need to understand is that you aren't destroying Grimm. That's not how Silverlight works. Instead the power is comes from the need to protect.}

We hurtle forward, the roar of wind in my ears and through my hair, the feeling Yang's, Blake's and Weiss' hands on my back. {Protect. Got it.}

{I want you to- Actually, do you mind if I play a song? Your theme song, to be precise. Or part of it.}

My... I laugh, Awesome! I have a theme song! {Calm Ruby. Calm. I want you to close your eyes and remember. I want you to remember your friends. I want you to remember the good times with them. I'll send what memories I can too.} Right, she can share memories. I wonder what else her Semblance can do? She took ours and immediately helped us get better. No, not immediately, she had time on her homeworld, (a real alien) watching us and- I'm getting distracted.

Music starts playing in my head, a slow steady beat of a few repeating notes. {Now playing: Red Like Roses (instrumental).}

I.. {I know this song.} It's familiar in a way I can't...

{You do? Do you want me to stop?} She's a bit confused.

{No, it's nice, just... Sad.} Where have I heard this? I shake my head and try to concentrate.

Breathe. The Glyph slows down and I hear fighting underneath us. {Ignore the fighting, focus on your friends. Let's... start here.}

A memory comes, and I smile. 'Come on, you totally could have dodged that.' It's before Yang goes to Beacon, before we both went to Beacon. Back before I got permission to attend. A Grimm attacks but before that... 'I wanna make sure my little sis can hold her own while I'm gone.'

Yang. A warm glow in my chest at the memory of her trying to help me fight without my baby. How evil she is.

Another comes across, but it's fuzzy. Except it's not, my own memories filling in what Yuki doesn't know. Weiss and I are in our dorm, alone. I'm trying to study and she's helping me. 'No team leader of mine is going to get bad grades. It would reflect poorly on me. Now, again.'

Weiss. Claiming it's about her, but I know. We are besties! My grin grows and the world fades away.

'Whatcha reading?' Blake sighs as I pester her, taking a quick peek at the cover. 'Ohhh, that's a good one. Have you reached the part where Shade sneaks into the temple?' I cover my mouth. 'Opps. Spoilers. Sorry.'

'No, It's alright, I'm rereading it.' Her bow twitches, (how could I have not seen she was a Faunus back then?) as she tilts her head to the side. 'You've read this?'

'Yeah! Shade is cool! He sneaks around and is really creative when he fights. Ninja are cool.' I cross my arms, does she think I can't read books without pictures or something. Weapon ma- that has pictures actually.

'Of course that is what you focus on. I just didn't think you read-' Books like that? I skim past the sappy romance... well..

Maybe I read some of it... 'Hey, I'm a big girl, I-'

'Drink your milk.' She finishes for me with a smirk. Now I'm pouting. Hey.

Blake. Quiet but not shy, just a bit cautious. At least at first, now she...

'I don't care! You said you're not one of them anymore, right?' Weiss huffs after the docks. 'Ah-bahp-bahp-bahp! I don't want to hear it. All I want to know is that the next time something this big comes up... you'll come to your teammates.'

One from Yuki. 'I'm Queen of the Castle! I'm Queen of the Castle!' Nora yells and Team RWBY gets ready to fight.

'Justice will be swift! Justice will be painful! It will be delicious!'

'Yeah!'

Faster and faster they come. My memories and those from Yuki, of Team RWBY sticking together.

RWBY sit on the edge of the landing pad, looking over the city.

RWBY messes about in our dorm setting it up. 'I always wanted bunk beds as a kid.'

Jaune, Nora, Ren and I sit around a camp fire with Uncle Qrow.

Jaune in a skirt takes Pyrrha's hand.

Nora sneaks pancakes off Ren's plate when she thinks he isn't looking.

{Life is precious.} The music picks up and the Glyph we are on stops.

Yang spazzes out on the arcade machine, trying to beat Ren's high score at the dancing game.

Weiss walks up and gives Yang and I coffee before sitting down.

Dad and Yang stand infront of home, cheering my return.

Penny in a new body flies towards me. 'Sal! U! TATIONS!'

Cheering team JNPR on in the Vytal Festival.

Jaune getting teased by his sister in Argus, her wife next to her and an adorable little baby in their hands.

Weiss snuggling Zwei at night. 'No puppy. Stay with Weissy.'

Grabbing Uncle Qrow's arm. 'Did you miss me, did you miss me!?' 'Nope.' He lies.

Weiss smiling the first time she pushes herself up by her Glyphs, before I challenge her to a race.

Right now, my friends are all behind me. My team's hand's on my back and JNPR on theirs.

{And it Must Be Protected.}

Mom stands at the edge of a cliff, turns and pulls her hair away from her eyes.

Sees me.

And smiles.

I open my eyes.

I Will Protect My Friends.

Silver Light radiates outwards as I Protect them. Grimm fall back, scream blinded before they get vaporised and I am filled with the deep sense of Rightness at the action.

She's right. It's not about destroying Grimm. It's about Protecting the people I Love.

More and more Love pours out, and I feel Yuki digging into my memories. Finding...

Mom. Singing that song to me while I...

She reads us a fairytale as I fall asleep. 'I love you. Just the way you are.'

She holds me up in her hands and spins me around. 'Don't let go!'

She shows me Sundered Rose and I watch as it transforms. 'Sooo coool!'

She kisses dad before punching him lightly. 'Ow. Okay, I deserve that.'

Yang carries me on her shoulders as we run after her. 'We're on a mission sneaking through the jungles of Mistral to find a forgotten- hey, are you two listening?'

A plate full of cookies gets snuck into bed. 'Don't tell dad, and make sure to clean up you two.'

We didn'tand he was fake angry at her the morning after.

More and more memories of Mom come, almost forgotten.

Not anymore.

And the world becomes brighter.

General James Ironwood

The wall is being cleared. The Grimm in the immediate vicinity are gone in flashes of Silver Light as Weiss Schnee moves the platform around the wall. Cheers at the miracle roar, heard even from inside the building I am in up on Amity. The Warbeat growing louder and stronger.

The Grimm are in retreat even before the Ruby Rose reaches them.

The day is saved.

When was Ozpin going to tell us about this? He said that Silver Eyes were important, but nothing about being able to almost single handedly turn the tide of a falling Kingdom. Unless Ruby Rose in particular is more powerful than most...

Yuki knew. She said so in her story, but she made it out as only Beacon. Unless something has changed... Still she is using it now, Yuki planned on it but she didn't want to reveal it. Salem... Salem will be after Miss Rose now. Perhaps that is why Ozpin didn't speak of just how powerful it is. I can already feel myself running tactical applications of this level of Grimm destroying power.

That is why Yuki ripped out her own eyes and tried to copy them. She knew how powerful they were... and she knew that Salem will be after them. She tried to protect Miss Rose, even going so far as to prefer using the insane battleship plan over revealing just how potent a weapon Miss Rose is.

If she were still alive, well, still had that body (What a Semblance. And dangerous too. Qrow told me she only just discovered it, and yet she already has used it to avoid death.) she would be the prime target, drawing attention away from Miss Rose and onto herself. No doubt her plan, if it were to come to it, was to stand next to Miss Rose and fake being the one to use it.

Hm, that feeling, that's respect. She will sacrifice herself to save the people she cares about, at any and every personal cost. Just like I... Did. Would have.

Someone needs to keep her in check, to prevent herself from making the same mistake I would have.

But for now, there is still the matter of clean up and making the people feel safe. "Specialist."

"Sir." Winter responds immediately. "He is gone sir. Qrow nor I can find him." Taurus has slipped through our fingers again. A quick check, and there are no more reports of him elsewhere either. It seems as if he came only to target Yuki... Cinder perhaps? Or her master...

"Understood Specialist. Switch to cleaning up the remaining Grimm and support, but keep an eye out. He is still trapped here, for as long as the wall is still up." Until morning, I hope. Without the constant threat of Grimm, people will start to relax.

They aren't soldiers I can order to stay at their posts. "Understood Sir." Unlike Winter.

"Qrow, the same." I order him anyway.

"Not one of your men, Jimmy. But I think I can lend a hand, if you ask nicely." Qrow... I growl the name in my head. "Just messing with ya. I'll join up with Tai and we'll get to work."

I check the clock. There is still a lot of work to be done before Mistral arrives and I feel truly safe in leaving my post. Miss Rose cannot keep her efforts up forever.

The only question I have is why. Why didn't Yuki open with such a powerful weapon? Why did she wait until the kingdom was about to fall before using it, or her plan for the People's Service.

Why did anyone have to die?

Yuki Tenno

I need a new name. Yuki Tenno isn't really going to work anymore. Not with my 'plan'. I speak through Ruby, with her permission. "Glynda, James. Martyr me. Specifically, claim Yuki Tenno was an alias and use Amber's name. Release a story of how she was put into a coma for having a powerful Semblance, people after her, and only after advance Atlas tech was shipped in and Jaune" He winces as I put him in the limelight. "used his Semblance to heal her did she act. Act so quickly that she didn't waste time putting clothes on."

Laughter around the group as I very carefully surrender control of Ruby's cheeks so I don't flush in embarrassment. "I'm not sure you're allowed to martyr yourself." Qrow jokes over the line.

"Of course you can. It's just that no-one has done it before on account of, well being dead." Snorts come over the scroll. "Look, just ask the next person. I'm sure they'll be happy too say the same. Oh, and I will need a new name. Sorry Oz, but I never actually liked Yuki. Tenno can stay though, I'll just claim I'm using it in memory of Amber or whatever."

Hmm, maybe Ghost, or something ghost like? I don't know. I surrender control back over to Ruby. {I need to rest. If someone needs me, I'll be somewhere. Just pass me over, kay?}

{Okay.} Ruby replies and then hugs Yang, crying. Memories of her mother, locked away behind age, now brought back.

I slip backwards and find it's trivial to ignore her body's sensations. Just like with taking control, I can 'un' take control, disabling the sensory feeds of a lot of things and slipping into the blackness.

Not that it is blackness, it's really nothing. Well, almost nothing. I keep a few senses active so I don't go crazy, but vague things like the feeling of body temperature and pain. If Ruby gets hurt, I will know.

{Uh, Yuki. Or Tenno?} Oh, I'm already being called. Or did I lose track of time? Is 'time' a sense? It is, right.

I pull myself together for a moment. {What's up Ruby?}

{Yang... Wants to see if you can do the same for her.} Really? She wants me to hop over? That's still too much trust for someone like me.

{Yep, I should be able to. May I copy a memory of both of you with her to use as a spark? That's how I found them in here, under all the weapons.} I joke. {I knew of one from the show, and used that to follow the path back.} And the song, a simple tune Summer hummed to Ruby when she was sad.

Ruby pushes a memory of her riding Yang's shoulders, chasing Summer through the trees. {Got it.}

I bring myself to full awareness again and find that not much time has passed outside. I didn't lose track of time, Yang just made sure Ruby was really alright, that she wasn't crying for bad reasons, before asking.

If she had to choose between Summer and Ruby, I think she would choose Ruby. Just like with Raven.

"Alright, come on over." Yang puts her hand on Ruby's shoulder.

Transference over, it's getting easier the more I use it. Well, not easier, but more familiar. Good thing Jaune gave me too much Aura, damm does he have a lot, before. I have one more use of my Semblance left at the current levels, without magic it seems to cost about 6% every time.

Which is remarkably cheap, right? Or do I have big reserves? What is a reser-

{So, I talk like this, right?} Yang interrupts me.

{Yeah, you got it right. Once again, I can't read your mind, I can take over your body without your will, but I won't. We are able to share memories, and I can 'dig' into your psychology and alter it, but not only won't I do that, but you will know if I am. It's not subtle.}

{Yeah, I know. No offence, but I don't really trust you with my sister.}

{Finally.} I exhale. Somehow. {I'm sick of all this 'no, your a good person, we totally trust you, let's be friends.' stuff. I've got a bloody evil superpower, and none of you really know me.} I'm not sure I'm ready for friends either.

"Yang?" Ruby asks.

"She's here." Yang smirks. "So, what's it like being inside a woman?"

{Did you just dare imply Weiss isn't a woman?} I 'narrow my eyes' at her.

{Watch.} Yang 'grins' back.

"Hey!" Weiss exclaims, her picking up on the veiled insult. "She's been with me." And now she is suddenly blushing as Yang cracks up and she realises what she said. As well as how it could be interpreted.

"Oh, been with you, eh?" Yang elbows Weiss with an open mouth grin.

"So that's how the Schnees got so wealthy." Blake gangs up on Weiss, her face getting redder and redder.

So strange. It's so strange to see them smiling and joking like this. Ruby rushes to Weiss' defence, or more accurately starts harrassing Yang for setting her up. Her face is still wet from the tears, but the smile on it tells everyone that it's alright.

It's so strange to see them like this, unlike what people were like on the wall. It's only been a few hours, about 7 or 8, but the last 6 of them were brutal. Nobody was joking and laughing, not really, during them. Has it only been 8 hours since I started? It feels like so much longer. Months.

It's so strange to see them like this, because I keep thinking of them as their Volume 7-8 counterparts. There were a few good moments in them, but they didn't last.

And Ruby most certainly wasn't smiling.

{Do you want me to go looking for memories of Summer for you?} I ask. Yang might have only wanted me over in case my Semblance or something is somehow hurting Ruby, but the reason she asked for me is valid. {Best to do it now, while the memory Ruby gave me to start with is still fresh.}

I wait, Yang thinks and doesn't immediately jump on it. {Okay.} Yes? Alright. I'm not really used to people trusting me like this, especially Remnant's morality and laws (That I don't know) on mental manipulation. {Stop if I tell you to stop.}

{I will.} I swear.

I pull up and send the memory of- {Oh. I didn't know Ruby remembered that.} Yang already remembered this one, it seems.

{She didn't. Or, more accurately, she forgot and I helped her remember.} And there is the trace of it. I uncover and 'dust off' the blurriness of it, the memory becoming clearer and more focused. Summer's voice goes from an indistinct haze to clear and- Ruby looks at Yang, takes her hand as Yang gasps. I get to work on the further ones, the less recalled ones.

I think that most people believe memory is a glimpse of the past, a perfect recall of how things are except with time. Like a mirror that gets dusty and covered with time. I know better. It's fallible, it's faulty, and importantly, it's not real. Not really. What people this is 'Remembering' is actually a natural delusion based on saved data, reconstructed stimuli to give a sort of accurate representation of events that passed.

Nothing at all like a saved video on a phone. Scroll. Whatever.

Details can change with time, or be invented entirely. False memories are a real thing, it's why good Courts of Law prefer physical evidence like video or pictures or recordings over eye witness reports.

The mind is a complicated trick. And it's damm complicated.

The brain (and I am very pointedly ignoring the soul because where do I even start with that?) is a web, an interconnected net of ideas and sensations, each link a different level of strength of connection. Memories are really just a particular 'shape' following those nodes of ideas and sensations, all about the same level of strength connecting them.

Which brings me to my Semblance. By inputting a single stimuli, say a colour, I can get back a mesh networked response of data of the mind.

With that mesh, I can then 'pull' on a linked node and start putting together a 'shape' of the memory. Of course, a single colour is all but useless, even one as emotionally charged as Silver. Silver is damm near everywhere, so it links to too many things, at every level of strength.

But a memory? An existing shape? Like say, the feeling of a little sister on your shoulders chasing after a woman with Silver Eyes through a forest?

That has a bunch of links. Most of them concentrate of the little sister on her shoulders, but I am not an impulsive thing like the lazy brain, constantly looking for the easiest path, the strongest link, to the next memory. I'm picky.

And I pick that path.

"Ruby..." Yang starts crying as I pull a memory out, and she hugs her sister. It's still shared, both Ruby and Summer, but with more and more 'data' on Summer, soon I'll start to get a 'shape' of what she looks like in Yang's mind.

Then I'll be able to find the ones of just Summer and Yang before spreading out to everything else. Tai, Ruby, Yang and Summer together. Maybe I'll even find some Raven in here, but I'll doubt it.

Raven only really became emotionally important afterwards. The strength of the links is determined by repetition and emotional strength.

I realise I'm using this as a distraction for myself again. I'll have a breakdown later. Soon even. Just got to help Yang first.

I pull another, the cookie one I vaguely remember from Ruby. Even though I only just helped Ruby recall it, I can barely remember it. It's not my memory. I can't hold onto it unless I put the work into copying it to my brain... soul... whatever. Even then it's not right, because I am not the original person. I don't have the same emotional responses and links of ideas as they do. So copied memories are deeply imperfect unless I want to 'copy' the entire personality and mental understanding of the person into my head.

That might kill me. I'm not sure how much 'space' my brain/soul has, but it's not hard to think of it as 'one person's worth' of 'space'. That 'space' currently being occupied by me. It is something I am keeping a careful watch on though. If my Semblance starts to affect people... like Ozma affects his hosts, then I'll have to leave or.

I pause my work and consign myself to the truth. I'll have to overwrite myself with whoever it is I am with. I won't kill someone like that, that would make me as bad as Ozma. Worse, he never asked to be saddled with a very ineffective and malevolent form of immortality.

Maybe I could defeat Salem like that? Doing the same thing, overwriting, but in reverse?

The idea conflicts with me. Salem is evil, stupid too, but evil. Could I compromise my morals to hurt her like that?

Damm. I would. Ruthless again. Logically, I should develop the skill to make it an available option. Except Morality. To Paradigm Shift it or Evolve it to do so would require me to actually test and try do that to other people.

'For enemies.'

No. Only Salem, and only as the last resort of Plan T.

My very particular brand of morality forbids such an action.

I turn back to the work of finding memories of Summer for Yang, and as I find another one, as her tears start up again, I know this is right. Good.

'Can you protect Ruby while I'm gone?' Summer kisses Yang on the forehead and runs her hands through her hair. 'It's just a little mission, only a few days, but I need you to be a big girl, okay?'

'Kay! I'll fight anyone who tries to make her cry! But um. Come back soon.'

'I will. I promise.'

Qrow Branwen

My girls are crying when they hop off the bullhead on Amity, but three words from Ruby halt my reactive anger. "I remember Mom."

"Oh Kiddo." I deflate and look to Yang as she points to her head. Yuki is in- Yang gasps and fresh tears fall out as Yuki finds another memory of Summer for Yang.

My arms are around them as they sob. First she saves Ruby's friends, then fixes my Semblance and now she's helping them remember Sum. My luck really has turned around.

We walk into the closest thing of a secure office on Amity, but not before grabbing a broken Knight along the way for her to transfer into.

It doesn't work. "Tenno says: Bad news, Knights, and maybe Paladins are 'too small' and that broke her Aura, so she's stuck with me. Good news is that if it breaks halfway through Transference, she 'snaps back' to who she was before. Oh, and even without Aura she can still talk." Yang turns her head slightly as she listens to Yuki. Tenno. Whatever she wants to call herself is fine. "Yeah, having a broken Aura isn't fun."

This is the first time she has broken her Aura? No, she broke... Ozpin broke it in the office, but then I suppose she was in shock at the time. And she passed out healing Yang from the shock the first time. I remind myself that she isn't a Huntress. 'I don't know how to fight.'

We enter and Tai is by their side in a moment, the doors closing behind us a second later. Glynda, Ozpin, James and Winter already here. I flick a message and a portal opens, Rae stepping though.

We secure the room. "Who has her?" James asks the moment everyone is ready to talk, Yang and Ruby wiping away their tears.

"I do." Yang slouches in a defensive posture at James' slightly pissed expression.

He notices and relaxes slightly, realising that he can't talk to her face to face. "Why did we not start with that."

"James." Ozpin warns.

Yang looks to the side slightly as she 'talks' to Tenno. The Tenno? She better get a new name quick this is already getting a little irritating. "She's taking over a bit." Yang doesn't need to take this from the General.

Suddenly her posture shifts and damm, is it weird to see Yang look like that. Not just standing straight, but all the subtle cues are off, and a deeply wrong feeling fills me looking at her. This is probably how the Ice Queen felt seeing her sister when we were testing it. Oh great, now I'm sympathising with the Winter Schnee.

"Do you have any idea the kind of target I have put on Ruby's back?" She shifts into the Atlesian military at ease stance, ice thrown back at James, and I almost reach for my hipflask before I remember it won't help. "I came up with three 'instant win' solutions before the battle started proper. The first, Mass Silverlight Deployment. Second, Nora Storm. And third... Well I'm glad we didn't have to come to that. Each one had their own problems."

James motions to go on, and Yuki... Fine, until she gets her name sorted out it's Yuki. She starts anyway.

"First, the obvious. The Black Queen will be after Ruby now, and not in the 'oh, what a slight inconvenience, I'll get around to it.' kind of way. Tyrian was deployed to capture her from a much lower level use of Silverlight." Her first thought is Ruby's safety. 'Why do I care about her? It was just a show.'

"Second, the first time Ruby used Silverlight, she passed out. How bad would everyone in this room have been affected had that happened at the start of the battle, minor miracle or not." James winces slightly at that. Half of us might be able to take losing her, but everyone else here? Tai, myself, all of her team and friends, Rae if I'm feeling optimistic. Everyone would fight worse, and that would show in the Grimm attracted and the propaganda filmed, not to mention the team dynamics of Ruby's team.

"Third, passing out again. I don't know what the costs of Silverlight are. I don't know what kind of 'strain' for lack of better word, it may put on her soul." Semblance overuse, except possibly worse. It's hard to tell if Ruby's current state is from just the combat all night, the stress, Yuki helping her remember Sum, or possible Silver Eye overuse.

"Fourth, long term, Salem now knows we have a very powerful Silver Light wielder. One we can not only 'deploy', but utilise so effectively she can, and did, turn a darkest night around." Target again on Ruby's back, but more than that, the fact we can do this is revealed now.

"Fifth," Damm, she can keep going. "long term, people here did not 'earn' their victory. The moral state of Vale, and possibly other Kingdoms, will shift slightly to depend on miracles, ones we may not be able to provide." Shit. People giving up, no longer fighting. There's a major moral boost from having someone who can pull miracles out their ass, but Yuki is thinking on a cultural level.

"Sixth, Ruby is only one person, even if Qrow did recover Amber's body and we can install the eyes, with her permission, into Maria, that is only two." Install, that's one way to put it. Still, she's right. If Ruby's involvement gets made public, then people will want her nearby. Everyone will want her nearby.

"Seventh, the image we were projecting with Team JNPR is half ruined by the sudden miracle of Silverlight, again affecting long term moral and our long term plans using them." That's harsh, even if it is true. And again, it's cultural. She wanted common heroes to win the day, inspire everyday people to stand up and fight.

"Eighth, Ruby is not alone, Salem will keep a very close eye, far closer, on Everyone here." Everyone is a target now, far more than before. That will make all our future moves all that much harder.

"Ninth, and you won't like this one. Whatever Reasons Ozma has for not announcing to the world the existence and function of Silver Eyes." Bastard has reasons, even if they aren't good ones.

"Tenth, ask Willow what some people would do if... they were to exploit Genetics." Oh Grimm. I have to...

Yang takes over again and I see her retching as the implications hit home. I have to sit down, there are no chairs her. I've never even considered... Tai. I look to him. He did consider them. He and Summer, they knew.

Yuki takes over again. "I have a degree of trust in Ozma, if not for his competence than for his moral standing. The fact that you have Huntsmen Academies rather than... taking up Farming..." Farms. I throw up a little in my mouth and James staggers. "is a testament to that. It must of occurred to him, if you have any understanding of what even one thousand years means. Yet here we are."

"Dad, what does she mean?" Ruby looks to Tai. 'Prime age' 16 year old Ruby, asks her father about 'Farming'.

Yang takes over again and hugs Ruby. Tai and I to do the same. She gets that what Tenno was saying bad, but she doesn't get just how bad it is. Yuki chose her words, Genetic, Willow, Farming, carefully. The true horror of what she is implying hidden behind scientific jargon, an obscure name, and a common job.

"You don't want to know, kiddo." I whisper and rub her hair. She hates that, so it'll distract her.

I look up at and see the Schnee's staring at eachother, resolved. Ozpin, the bastard, is controlling his breathing, pale at the idea. Competent, no. Moral. Well, not a yes, but not a no either. James is reeling a bit, realising just how bad things are now. Some of her points weren't that great, but the last one was shaking. He looks at Winter Schnee and shudders a moment.

Yuki did everything she could to protect Ruby. She paid lives for her. Her own life for her, in a way. That... That is why she had Silver Eyes. If we had to use it, she would take credit. Blame. She would paint a death mark (Or worse) on her own head. She moved herself to protect Ruby.

It's a terrible thing to grateful for. Guess that makes me a terrible person. But I am grateful, even if it didn't pan out. Even if Ruby is in the firing line.

Eventually we let go. Ruby, she doesn't quite understand. I hope it stays that way for as long as it can.

"Soooo, what's Nora Storm?" Nora asks, trying to get us back on track. Probably curious why it's named after her.

Yang shrugs and Yuki takes back over. "I've explained some of it over the call. With Jaune boosting, Oh sorry. Amplifying," It's a joke. Not a good one. Nobody laughs. "Nora's Semblance, myself riding shotgun and doing the same as well as applying what control I have, and Pyrrha trying to keep the lightning off Nora, we would pump the main power of the ship through Nora's Semblance and use it to control the lightning and direct it onto the Grimm. I discarded it, mostly, because that would kill Nora."

She glances at the girl in question. "You can't take that level of power." A nod and she returns. "It was only later, after hours of fighting and improving my control of magic, did I consider it viable, only with Pyrrha as the main control. Probably to a lesser degree, but still viable."

Yang, no not Yang. Yuki, takes a breath. "It's downsides are: First, Nora's death, though that was resolved. Second, it tells Salem the game has changed, and not in a small way. I'm, I was, only about 30% a Maiden, and therefore unable to call up on the needed power that a battleship's worth of lightning would give us. Which would get her thinking, as well as Cinder thinking." Yuki turns to Ozpin, the Bastard. "How much Dust is in the Grimmlands?"

Fuck. A lot. If Salem could get that... "Quite a lot." Ozpin, the Bastard, realises.

"Some of you fear Salem." A glance at Rae. "I don't. She's not a Civilisation level threat. If she was, she could just walk in and win. She is also either not clever enough, or is suffering some kind of disorder, probably related to immortality. Not to disrespect you, Ozpin, but your competence is in question, and yet." She waves Yang's hands around. "Here we still are." They go down. She takes a breath.

"If it were me you were up against, you wouldn't have a chance." The smug grin fits well on Yang's face. "After all, I don't play chess." That's a horrible though. And Jax, he has a mind control Semblance. We are going to need to clip that one in the bud.

"I actually put more respect in Cinder than Salem. She is the one who collapsed the city with a few words and a scroll virus. Had help, sure. But she did it. Not Salem." Ozpin, the Bastard, disagrees but doesn't say anything.

Yuki returns to at-ease (Still weird) and continues. "Which I'll get to my latest attack on her later."

She sets herself back on track. "More than that, my, let's call it style, is unusual. We don't really want her to know there is a new player in the game. It's why I'm having Ozma play defence, as if nothing is wrong. She'll notice my actions, sure, but she will attribute them to Ozma and some scheme he is cooking rather than the complete overturning of the board it will be. Doing something like Nora Storm is... well too flashy for Ozma and will get her questioning, far more than the cheeky wink with Silver Eyes I did to the news camera." She swallows, a tad unsteady. "I'm sorry I can't put into words just how bad something like that is. It's more a vague unsettling. At the moment, things have been dramatic, but still par for the course. We don't want Salem thinking, really thinking."And yet she was going to do it anyway rather than put Ruby in harm's way.

"You said three." James points out.

"You don't want to know. And you shouldn't, your civilisation isn't up to that point." I have to chuckle as she plays the 'alien' card. "If my understanding and control over magic was better, I might have used that, but as it is..."

"You don't mean...?" Pyrrha asks. Why does she know?

"I do. And please don't talk about it. I probably shouldn't have told you, even what little I did, but I got a bit carried away with playing with Semblances. Simply put, there is a risk that using something like that will result in the death of all life on the planet."

What.

She's serious.

"I don't even know if I'm capable of pulling it off, if I still had magic. And even if I were, I would need a lot of time to get it right or risk... Well Salem would still be alive, but." Yuki in Yang's body gives a dark chuckle for a moment. "It also has all the disadvantages of Nora Storm."

"You can destroy the planet." Winter blinks.

"Well, not anymore." Oh thank- A tilt of Yang's head and she thinks. "Well... If I were to get..." Oh no. She can. She shakes Yang's head. "I'm not going to."

She can destroy the planet.

Yuki shifts to explaining. "Terra these days is always on the verge of destruction. Political factions with super-weapons, and the knowledge of how to make them publicly available if you want to put them together. Wow, when I say it like that... Anyway, it's the resources that is the limiting factor, spec- I'm going to stop talking about it now."

"That's probably for the best." Ozpin, the Bastard, states.

She nod's Yang's head, and again I am hit with how strange it is to see. "Yeah. I get the feeling that Remnant, Atlas especially, is getting close. Can't be sure, not with Dust messing up my understanding of tech, but enough for concern. When I said this was the last generation, I wasn't over exaggerating." She looks at James. "If I tell you to stop some project, stop. Understood?"

James sighs and runs his hand though his hair. "I'm going to have to brief you on all our scientific projects, aren't I?"

"Probably. I'm actually slightly terrified of someone working out how some things work and then applying their Semblance in an unusual way, dooming us all. It's why I've had Pyrrha sworn to not do some things with her Paradigm Shift." Pyrrha nods, reaffirm whatever Yuki swore her to not do.

"No wonder you are not afraid of Salem. Or the Grimm. You have lived with the constant threat of your world blowing up." Tai mutters.

"Yep." She should not be that cheerful about that. "Oh, and it goes without saying, no using a Relic to find out how to do stuff." A shiver runs down my spine as I realise that Salem only really needs to get one Relic. She turns to face Raven. "The Lamp especially. The others need you to phrase things just right, but the right question and it's all over. She already has magic."

Rae seems cool and collected, but Tai and I know better. She's afraid. Of what, well even I can't tell. Maybe it's that the entire planet rests on her shoulders, maybe it's Yuki effectively holding a knife to Yang's throat as she uses her body.

But I think it's that she has finally realised that Yuki could kill everyone here. Not by fighting, but by using her alien science to do... Something. That she is not afraid of Salem, not because of ignorance, but because Salem just isn't that much of a threat compared to what she has lived through.

That she could be worse. 'I don't play chess.'

No fancy moves or careful manipulations. No prolonged sieges or vast Grimm armies. No spies and information control. She would just find a corner somewhere and blow up the world.

I have to suppress a chuckle. A girl who can blow up the world, and she is looking out for my family. It's half comforting, half disturbing. When did my luck turn around? Oh right, the Coin sits in my pocket.

"So that's the three 'instant wins'. Now onto hopefully good news. I may, if I did well enough, have turned Cinder against Salem while I was dead." Oh, and she died to protect them. "Pyrrha, what is your assessment?"

"I think she believed you." She turns to James. "General, she will be going to Atlas and be after the Aura Transfer Machine and the Winter Maiden."

"You told her?" Ozpin, the Bastard, is pissed now, staring at Yang... Yuki.

Yuki defends herself. "Salem has forceful Maiden transfer technology. Well, Grimm magic, whatever. Cinder is missing an arm now. I made it a clear as I could, amid all the bullshit I had to spin to get her to take me seriously, that if she goes and gets a new fancy Grimm arm complete with Magic sucking power, she is giving Salem a backdoor to kill her at any moment. Oh, and a spy listening in on her every word. But Cinder isn't like that, she wouldn't just stop. She would think herself clever or something and go for it. So I told her."

Yang- Yuki in Yang, shrugs. "I had to give her something. Or, would you rather Cinder walked up to Salem, gave her the Maiden power, and then Salem snuck in and pulled the Relic out of the Vault with you and everyone here unable to stop her. Cinder is a fishing net, and she has already caught one fish." She stares down the Bastard.

Then she hits him. "With how the Vaults work, Maidens are just as important as Relics now." Raven mutters and looks at her hands. The blood on her hands. She killed a girl to take the Maiden power, though Yuki said she didn't know precisely why.

"Then we know what her next target is." James probably isn't happy Tenno threw his city under the bus, but the alternative is, probably worse. "Thank you." That... wasn't sarcasm. "Atlas will take care of her." His gaze resolves as he looks into Yang's eyes. "I won't make the same mistake as Mettle."

Ha. She talked to him.

Heh. The image of her softly speaking stupid fluffy feel good stuff to Irondick comes to mind. Or not, I mean her style is to call everyone an idiot and then point out how stupid we're being. The Coin sits in my pocket.

And... She talked to Yang. She talked to Ruby. She talked to me. She talked to Jaune and Pyrrha, I think. She definitely talked with Ozpin, the Bastard. Has anyone talked to her? 'She thanked me as she died. As she entrusted her burdens and sorrows to a fake.'

She talked to me. But I'm not the best at the whole moral support thing. That was Sum. 'I remember Mom.'

Seems I owe it to her to try.