True Colors

Oscar Pine, who is currently letting Ozpin take over, and Qrow Branwen and Jared Shay are sitting together.

Qrow takes a sip from his cup, "Things aren't looking good, Oz, Jared."

"Ever the optimist." Ozpin said, sipping from his cup. "While I would not say our current predicament is…ideal, I think the three of us can agree that the situation could be much worse. Humanity is a resilient force."

"That is true, humanity back in the Doctor's world. They have people like Torchwood, Symphogear, and Sarah Jane. Who defends the Earth." Jared said, sipping from his cup of coffee. "If humanity from that world can do it. Recover from threats like that. So can the ones from this one."

"Your optimism has come back, I see. You place your faith and hope in humanity and your friends again. You know that we can do this, even if it could be hopeless." Ozpin said, looking at Jared.

"Yup, I do. Must be because of my current traveling conditions with the Doctor. It's me, him, and Amy. Always."

"Oz, Jared, pro Huntsmen like that don't just bite it all at once. Salem's powerful. Like Shem-ha and the Daleks. It seems like her reach is growing by the day. What does that say about humanity?" Qrow asked, looking between Ozpin and Jared.

"That there are indeed a misguided few who have filled their hearts with malice. It doesn't take a great number of people to cause harm, but I still believe there are far more people in this world willing to prevent it." Ozpin said. "Like how there are far more people in the Doctor's world to prevent harm."

As Ozpin is about to take another sip, Ruby Rose is walking into the room.

"Um, excuse me?" Ruby asked. "Jared, you were in here?"

"For a little while, Little Red." Jared said, happily. "We played Animal Crossing for a bit. Now I want to hang here."

"Ah, Miss Rose, join us. We were just about to gather everyone to discuss our next steps." Ozpin said.

"Oh, uh, great." Ruby said.

"Something on your mind kiddo?" Qrow asked.

"Uh...uh, it's...if it's okay to ask."

"Sure it is, Ruby. Ask us anything. I tell you basically everything." Jared said, smiling.

"Well, uh...we've been talking about the Relic at Haven...and the Spring Maiden, but...what about the Fall Maiden?"

"Is it about Cinder? Because she was responsible for what happened to Beacon after all. Cinder dragged Roman Torchwick and Neo into this. When they were common criminals! She killed Penny and Pyrrha!"

"I think you should calm down." Qrow said, walking towards Jared. "No need to do a tantrum."

"Sorry. Sorry." Jared said.

"Does that mean...Salem has the Beacon Relic?" Ruby asked.

Ozpin, Qrow, and Jared share a brief look with each other.

"Very astute, Miss Rose, I was wondering who would be the first to ask. No, thankfully she does not. It's true that the Relic at Haven is very much at risk, and for now, that should remain our primary focus. Let's just say I made finding the Relic at Beacon a...bit more challenging than at the other schools." Ozpin said.

"Oh." Ruby said, sighing in relief. "That's good to hear."

"It is, but let's not forget the challenges that still lie before us." Ozpin said, while Ruby nods. "Now is there anything else we can help you with?"

"Oh, uh...well, I did have one more question."

"No, my cane is not a Relic."

"I have no more questions."

"Really, Ruby?" Jared asked, drinking the cup of coffee. "I stayed at a house for 3 days. And that's the important question you gave Ozpin."

They all giggle.

"Would you say something better than that?" Ruby asked.

"Yes, while this cane is indeed very precious to me, it is also just that...precious to me. While I admit it still has a few more tricks up its sleeve, I can firmly say that being a Relic isn't one of them. Now why don't you run and get the other students?" Ozpin asked.

Suddenly, Qrow's scroll is heard vibrating.

"Great…" Jared said, sadly. "I forgot what this will be."

Qrow takes it out from his pocket to see 'LEO LIONHEART' calling.

"Jared, my question." Ruby said, looking at Jared. "What would you ask Professor Ozpin?"

Qrow takes the call.

"If he was the Avatar. Or a version of it." Jared said, smiling.

"Yeah...Okay...yeah, we'll be there." Qrow said, hanging up.

"Who was it?" Ruby asked.

Qrow sighed while taking out his flask, "It was Leo, says he had a breakthrough with the council. Thinks he might be able to get together a small raiding party for the bandits. He wants us to meet up at the school tomorrow night to walk us through it."

"Really? Oh that's great! Come on, Jared! We'll go get the others." Ruby said, gasping and smiling.

"Right." Jared said, grabbing Ruby's hand.

Ruby and Jared run out of the room while Qrow takes a drink from his flask.

"Mmm, that sounds drastically different from your original conversation, does it not?" Ozpin asked.

"It does." Qrow said.

"Interesting…"

"Things aren't looking good, Oz."

"I know…"

Leonardo Lionheart's office…

The Haven headmaster sits at his desk in front of a blue holographic screen with the text 'CALL END' before deactivating.

Raven Branwen stands a few feet away from him, arms crossed and smiling, "I still have questions for you."

"You're not alone in that." Lionheart said.

"You know, I never expected you would be the one to have the guts to betray Oz. Which makes me wonder, what does she have on you?" Raven asked, walking in front of his desk.

"I'm helping her for the same reason you are...I'm afraid. We...we can't stop her...no one can…"

"That's why I tried to leave when I did. I'm not afraid, I'm smart."

"You can call it whatever you want, it doesn't really matter. We're here...helping her." Lionheart said, burying his face in his hands, sighing. "I've crossed a line...I've done things that Ozpin will never forgive, and he shouldn't! I don't know where I go from here."

"Man up! You did what you had to do to survive, there is no shame in that." Raven said, placing her hands on Lionheart's desk.

"Who are you trying to convince?"

Raven doesn't say anything, she just leaves the room while Lionheart sadly leans back sighing.

Menagerie…

The assault on the Belladonna Family Home continues. In the darkened tea room, Kali Belladonna and a guard fire back at assailants. Kali runs out of ammo in her pistol and throws it to the ground in annoyance. She then picks up a tea tray to block another shot. She looks to a wounded female guard leaning against a pillar, who just stares back.

"Do you have a better idea?" Kali asked.

Suddenly, Yuma flies in and knocks down the other guard to the ground. He wraps his hands around the guard's throat to choke him out.

"Quiet now…" Yuma said.

Kali then lifts the tea tray above her head, and does a loud battle cry as she runs toward Yuma.

"Ma'am, no!" The female guard said.

Yuma lets go of the guard's neck as he looks back in surprise as Kali approaches him. The sound of a thunk is heard as it transitions to the next scene.

Belladonna home...

Blake Belladonna and Ilia Amitola stare at each other from their positions, both holding their weapons.

"Did you come in here to hide?" Blake asked.

"I told you, I didn't want this." Ilia said.

"But you're still here!"

"I don't have a choice!"

"Of course you do!" Blake said, as Ilia doesn't say anything, she just looks away. "Just...stay out of my way."

Blake puts Gambol Shroud on her back and starts walking away. Suddenly, Ilia leaps and charges at Blake but her form disappears. Blake then reappears a few feet away behind Ilia. Blake holds Gambol Shroud in a defensive stance, while Ilia begins to attack with the whip form of Lightning Lash. Blake dodges and rolls. She runs along the desks and chairs in the room as Ilia tries to use her whip to hit her. Blake manages to dodge and block Ilia's attacks, and uses her ribbon to wrap around Ilia's wrist. Ilia is pulled toward Blake, followed up with the latter kicking the chameleon Faunus to the ground. The two then lock blades with each other.

"Why do you feel like we have to hurt people to get our way?!" Blake exclaimed.

"Because it works!" Ilia said, grunting.

"That doesn't make it right!"

Ilia pulls the trigger on her weapon, giving an electrical charge that causes Blake to drop her katana a few feet away from her. Blake pulls out her cleaver, but Ilia jumps from the desk and does a turn kick that knocks Blake over another desk, causing her to drop her weapon. Ilia whips at Blake again, but she uses her Semblance to get out of the way. Blake takes cover behind a desk.

"Stop lecturing me!" Ilia said, angrily.

Blake peeks from behind the desk and notices Ilia's Grimm mask left behind on the ground. Ilia quietly turns the lights off in the room, causing it to go dark. Blake quickly goes to pick up her katana while Ilia sneaks around the room camouflaged. Blake hears a creak on the floor, Ilia quickly knocks her back. Blake uses the pistol form of her weapon to shoot at Ilia, who quickly evades the shots.

"Why couldn't you just leave?!" Ilia exclaimed.

"Because I run away too much." Blake said, transforming her pistol to katana form. "And I assume Jared does it too. That might be why he visited me earlier."

Blake dodges a couple more whips from Ilia. As she takes cover from behind the desk, Blake takes out two cartridges - one with fire Dust and the other with ice. She loads the fire Dust cartridge in her weapon and aims at the shrubbery at the top corner of the room.

"Sorry, dad." Blake said, firing her weapon and the spreading flames start to light up the room, revealing Ilia's location.

With camouflage not an option anymore, Ilia engages Blake in combat. The two start off with a mixture of sword clashes and hand-to-hand. Blake dodges out of the way of one of Ilia's attacks and starts shooting at her with the pistol form of her weapon.

Ilia deflects the shots with her whip, "Quit taking potshots and fight me like you mean it!"

Blake dodges another one of Ilia's whips and lands on the balcony above her. She takes cover behind the railing as Ilia rants at her.

"You used to see things the way I did! The way Adam did! If no one's going to do anything to stop the humans that attack us, then the only choice we have left...is to attack back!" Ilia said, angrily.

Blake loads another cartridge in her pistol and begins to fire at Ilia again. Ilia deflects the shots, but when she goes to use her whip again, her weapon is frozen in place. Suddenly, a ribbon is wrapped around her weapon as Blake pulls it away and she leaps from the balcony to kick Ilia to the ground.

Blake holds Ilia down, "You're wrong, there's always another choice."

Ilia struggles to get up as Blake continues to hold her down.

"Ilia...please. You're a good person but you're making all the wrong decisions!" Blake said.

"SHUT UP!" Ilia said, annoyed.

"Is this really what your parents would've wanted?!"

"I don't know what else to do!" Ilia said, her voice breaking.

Suddenly, Ilia ceases her struggling and her eyes start to well up.

"I don't know what else to do…" Ilia said, sobbing.

As Ilia continues sobbing, Blake hears a rumble. Corsac Albain is thrown through the wall, dropping his half of Cyclone and Inferno. Ghira Belladonna jumps into the room as he growls at Corsac. He then notices his daughter pinning Ilia to the ground.

"Blake!" Ghira said.

Suddenly, Fennec Albain stabs Ghira in the back, who cries out in pain and slumps toward the ground.

"Dad!" Blake said, worried.

With Blake distracted, Ilia gets her off her and kicks her into a nearby chair, knocking Blake out momentarily. Ghira then gets Fennec off his back and tosses him away as Corsac runs to him. Ghira pulls the dagger out of his back and clashes fists with Corsac. The two then struggle to push each other as their hands interlock. Ilia just stares in disbelief at what's going on around her, before a voice snaps her out of her trance.

"Ilia! What are you doing?! Fight!!" Fennec said, pulling out another dagger and charges at Ghira.

The chieftain manages to push off Corsac and dodges Fennec's swipes as he begins to fight both of them at once. Fennec gets tossed away for a bit and begins to charge his weapon while Corsac and Ghira continue exchanging blows. Fennec then charges in again, giving a loud battle cry. Ghira notices him and grabs his wrist, pointing his weapon as it fires at Corsac, who gets blown back several feet away and is knocked unconscious.

"BROTHER!" Fennec said, as he tried to attack Ghira again, but Sun Wukong jumps in and kicks him away.

Sun sees Blake struggling to get back up and angrily glares at Ilia.

"Go help Blake!" Ghira said.

"On it!" Sun said, pulling out Ruyi Bang and Jingu Bang and engages Ilia in combat.

He delivers a flurry of attacks with his shotgun nunchucks that overwhelms Ilia and disarms her. She is then pushed against pillar by Sun. As she struggles to get out of his hold, the pillar she is getting pushed against starts to crack.

"Stop!" Blake said.

Sun and Ilia stop to look at Blake.

"Please…" Blake said, while tears start streaming down her eyes.

Ilia manages to push Sun off her and falls to the ground. Suddenly the pillar starts to crack even more, Sun moves out of the way quickly as the balcony above Ilia starts to give way. Ilia yelps as the balcony is about to fall on her. Suddenly, Ghira is shown lifting the broken part of the balcony with his own strength. Ilia stares in awe.

"Go!" Ghira said.

Ilia quickly gets out of the way as Ghira is forced down on one knee to keep the balcony from falling on him. Sun uses his Semblance to summon two light clones that go and help Ghira lift. Blake grabs her katana and transforms it into her kusarigama form. Unbeknownst to them, Fennec gets back up and sees his brother still unconscious. He grabs both of their daggers and runs towards Ghira. Blake sees this and quickly uses her weapon to wrap it around her father's torso and pull him out as Fennec lands just below the falling balcony. Fennec is then crushed by the balcony, and the Dust in the daggers explode from impact, killing the younger Albain for good. Afterwards, Kali enters the room dragging an unconscious Yuma, who has his hands tied behind his back.

"Mom!" Blake said, happily.

Kali drops Yuma as her daughter comes up to hug her. Their embrace is cut short as a voice gets their attention.

"What have you done?" Corsac asked, darkly as he was standing back up. "You ruined everything…" He inhales. "EVERYTHIIIIIIING!"

The Belladonnas and Sun take defensive stances. Corsac angrily runs forward, but suddenly, Lightning Lash wraps around his body, electrocuting him and knocking him unconscious. With the battle over, Ilia starts to cry and falls to her knees as she breaks down, with the Belladonnas and Sun looking on.

Outside of the Belladonna's home…

A large crowd of Faunus gathers outside, noticing the smoke coming from the building.

"Back! Everyone, stay back! We've got people inside doing their best." A guard said.

"Look!" A Faunus said.

From the smoky doorway, Ghira walks out carrying the motionless bodies of a White Fang soldier and a Menagerie Guard on each of his shoulders. He hands the bodies to two guards as Saber Rodentia arrives.

"Get in there! Search for any stragglers!" Saber said.

More guards walk out keeping Corsac restrained, followed by Blake, Kali, Sun, Ilia and others.

"We came as soon as we got the call." Saber said, looking at Ghira before noticing Corsac being forced to his knees. "And Fennec?"

Ghira sadly shakes his head. Saber walks over to Corsac.

"Was it worth it?" Saber asked, snarkily.

Corsac looks down, defeated. As the commotion continues, Blake shares brief looks with Sun and Ilia. Blake takes a deep sigh as she goes down the steps. Ghira notices his daughter walking away.

"Blake!" Ghira said.

Before Ghira could go any further, his wife stops him, and both look on.

Blake then stops at one of the steps as she begins to address the crowd, "Humans didn't do this."

Blake points at the smoke coming from her house.

"We did this: Faunus. We did this to ourselves. We are just as capable of hate and violence as the humans, but I don't think any of us would jump at the chance to point that out. So why are we letting Adam do it for us?! By doing nothing and staying silent, we let others speak and act in our place. And if we're not proud of the choices they make, then we have no one to blame but ourselves. This is the message that Adam Taurus will bring to the world if no one stops him. But we can stop him! You have to understand that all of you are looking for simple answers to a very complicated problem. And I can't give that to you. I don't know how to make hate go away, I don't. But I know that this kind of violence is not the solution. I understand that to ask you to leave your homes and protect Haven Academy is asking you to put your lives at risk. But that's what's at stake. So I'm going, and I'll stand by myself if I have to." Blake said.

"I'll stand with you!" Ilia said.

Blake turns around with a surprised look on her face as Ilia stands up. Her pained expression then looks down.

"If...if you'd have me." Ilia asked.

"Isn't that the White Fang girl?" The Male Faunus asked.

"I thought she hated the Belladonnas." The Female Faunus said.

Despite some of the crowd's murmuring amongst themselves, Blake smiles at her old friend. As Ilia proceeds forward, Saber suddenly stops her.

"You're not going anywhere!" Saber said.

"Let her come." Blake said.

"Huh? You're just going to forgive her? After everything she did?!"

"I am."

Saber looks to Ghira, who nods to let Ilia go. Ilia continues to walk down the steps to stand next to her friend.

"What does she think she's doing?" Saber asked.

"She's learned a lesson that evaded me until I was much older: That there is strength in forgiveness." Ghira said, smiling.

Blake puts a hand on Ilia's shoulder, sharing a smile together.

"I'll go!!" Mata said.

Mata the ram Faunus steps forward and raises his hand, followed by many more.

"I'll go too!" A female aquatic Faunus said.

"I'll stand with you! I'll go!! Yeah!! Me too! Let's go! Yeah, let's go!!" Various Faunus said, at the same time.

As more Faunus start to give Blake their support, Sun walks down the steps to join her and Ilia. The crowd is heard cheering as a majority agree to volunteer. They all smile at the crowd.

"Looks like we've got work to do." Sun said.

"Thank you." Blake said. "Something tells me Jared tried to do something similar with the Doctor. And that might have backfired."

"Really?" Sun asked. "Are you sure?"

"Positive. He does take after us. When I last saw him."

"You stabbed me." Sun said, pointing to Ilia.

Ilia looks down sorrowfully.

"I…" Ilia said, while Sun playfully pinches her arm. "Ow!"

"There. Let's just call it even." Sun said.

Ghira and Kali then walk down the steps to join their daughter and her friends.

"We have about two weeks before Adam's attack on Haven. We're going to need shields, training, whatever we can do to protect as many people as possible." Ghira said.

"We'll need transportation too. For everyone." Kali said.

"I think I know a ship captain who owes us a favor." Blake said, smiling.

Sun grins and nods in agreement.