3

Authors Note:

Good news, readers. It looks like I'm commiting to completing this, and we are just getting started.

*Rewatches volume 3 episode 11*

Hmm, my timeline is all wrong. Good thing I thought of that before I went in and made an excuse. The world is just a little more AU now. Amber's scarred face, her skirt and now the battleship falling. Whoops.

This is why you do you study before the test, kids. Memories might make perfect sense, but they're not the most reliable source.

I have rewritten these next two chapters several times and it still doesn't feel quite right. Maybe because it's a retelling about the show (Which you should have seen if you are reading this), even with me stripping out as much as I can. Or maybe it's because the stipped down version of the retelling doesn't allow me to convey how it is being told, which gives critical information.

I can either bore you with the story you already know, sprinkled with drops of characterisation, or I can try only show the characterisation, the reactions of characters except the speaker. I am not a skilled enough writer (yet) to get that perfect middle ground, so you will have to use your imagination. Or I could just tell you in the author's note.

The Tenno has a soft spot for a few characters which bleeds through how they retell the story. Try guess who?

When writing good SI fiction, there comes a point where the character seperates from the writer, where the character stops being a Self-Insert and becomes their own 'person'.

It's called Character Development.

Lot of stuff going on in this chapter and the next.

Old Note, as the Fic has a title I am happy with now:

This fic needs a name. Amber's Fall is just a working title, and now it's past that. Oh, and a decent description.

Partial Maiden Tenno

I'm early. So is almost everyone else.

Ozma's office is actually quite large, something I didn't really pick up on from the show. A feeling I have been having more and more. It's one thing to see the world on a screen, quite another to actually be here.

Is this why people love VR? I only got a small taste of it once or twice, quite liked it, but I couldn't justify a headset of my own.

I stand at the round clock window with a nice view overlooking the no longer burning Vale and Beacon. Half wrecked airships are visible from here, the only traces of smoke in the city coming from them. It's almost evening, the sun is slowly going down though it's not dark, not yet.

All day spent on recovery and putting out the fires and now a celebration has taken the city. Not a big party, that will come later when the place is fully recovered I think, but still a party.

I don't understand how people can celebrate this. Yes, we won, but people died during the attack. I doubt even all the bodies have been recovered, dead counted. Yet... It's probably the Remnant way, at least publicly, is to celebrate everyone who lived. That another day has gone by and that most are still alive, meeting those who did survive and reconnecting with family and friends.

In a way it parallels a wake, if a wake were a party. A tradition to ward away negativity and the Grimm.

Grimm. It always comes back to Grimm and Dust. I wonder how deeply have they messed up the world.

This time yesterday, the Vytal Festival was in full swing and the world seemed safe. Today the illusion is broken, yet people still smile and are thankful, not because of the death, but because there is a today.

I wonder how many families I saved. How many I didn't. The disconnect between my feelings is strange as I feel nothing for those I did and faint guilt over those I didn't. What do I have to be guilty for? I did everything I could and the world is a much better place than the OT.

Survivors guilt, I think it's called, but mine is something else. I could have chosen earlier, I could have turned up on the first day of Beacon, been a voice of support in a younger Jaune's head or maybe manifested myself more directly. Somehow. Maybe. I don't know how anything of how I got here works.

The morality of time-travel stabs at me. Even if I went back to before the attack and managed to save every person here, what happens to this timeline? Either they are left without me as I jump to technically an alternative reality, or this timeline gets overwritten.

Overwritten, in other words killed. Never to have existed as near perfect duplicates walk around, an invisible grave around their lives. Time travel is omnicide.

So then what happened to the timeline where I never existed? Where Amber dies and everything plays out as in the Original Timeline? Did I kill every living thing on this planet when I drifted over here?

I don't know. I can't think like that. It doesn't help, and unless time-travel is made possible, thoughts like this won't be.

Just... Put it aside, move on.

James walks up and stands beside me, to support me or to do his own thinking? I don't know. Probably both.

I have to ask. "How many alive on the crashed?"

How many did you lose, we lose, before I could get there? "Less than if you did nothing. Focus on that."

Not many then.

"I could have done better." I tell myself and James. I should have done better.

A better breaking speech. I could have been faster or more responsive. Pulled myself out of my half 'dream or videogame' state and really applied myself.

But... then I would have broken down, like I did near the end. I became fixated on healing Yang, tunnel vision and finite understanding of the world around me. I was fixated the entire night, jumping from one objective to the next. Kill Cinder. Kill the Dragon. Kill the Knights. Heal Yang.

I didn't need to go aboard the ship, I could have used Amber's Semblance to heal people, save just a few more people. Yet they ship went down faster, didn't it? And it didn't explode, it was kept afloat, the people on board still alive.

Choose lives.

"Then do so next time, but never regret those you saved this time. You can't go back and change anything, only move forward." Can't I? I picked my destination, if I could eject then... No, no going back. Time travel is omnicide.

Save those you can as best as you can, there is literally nothing more I can do. In the distance the one remaining airship floats outside of Vale, weapons occasionally firing at incoming Grimm. They don't want it over the city, not after how disastrous it's image is now. The fact that it is killing Grimm will help recover much of the image, but there will be resentment for years I expect. It crashed and exploded in the OT, didn't it? Before Cinder got the Maiden powers... Or was that just the order of the show maximising dramatic timing? I don't know. "The airship, how many survivors?"

"More than it seems. The White Fang send squads to protect the communications node, but they lost discipline and started roaming the ship. My men cut them down. Not many Grimm could fit though the doors, and most of the knights were deployed." His hand rests on my shoulder. "Thank you."

"Was the most optimal course, we needed the firepower, the presence." I justify. I didn't do it for your people. All I could think about was the Knights and then the guns on it. Then later the loudspeaker system.

Even with it's ruined reputation, the combined effect of it's change in fate shifted the city's moral, saved lives. The airship again under Atlas control, the death of the Knights, broadcasting a message demanding surrender to the White Fang all together made a powerful message, especially after the Dragon's death. The tide has turned, fight back, the day is not lost.

"Still, thank you." I'm an idiot. How do you think that sounded to him, hm?

"I'm sorry, that came across bad. I feel no hostility to Atlas or your people. I just-"

"No, I understand. You made a call." His hand hasn't left my shoulder. "One that saved the people on the ship, even if that wasn't your primary objective."

He doesn't care that I almost decided to blow up his ship and kill his people. He is just happy that they are still alive. "Thank you, James."

Opps. Another flub. I'm suddenly embarrassed. "I can call you that, right?"

He chuckles and removes his hand. Okay, we are good. "Tenno isn't your name."

"Ah... No. I haven't decided on one yet." I don't need empathy like Ren to feel his curiosity. "I'll explain soon, that's why I've gotten everyone here. I will need everyone to turn off their scrolls and any other devices, by the way."

No questions, just a nod. Data security is compromised hard, another reason the airship is outside of Vale. Scuttling charges are places so if it falls under hostile control again, the crew can down the ship before it gets over Vale to hurt anyone.

I take a breath and ready myself. 10 minutes before we start. "Done with the view? I need to put up extra privacy. Not paranoid if they really are out to get you."

"You think someone might be watching, even up here?" It's not hostile, more a question to explain myself.

"I can think of at least two methods of listening in to remote conversations. No, three. Semblances too, though I haven't taken them into account. " Long range telescope or sniper scope, laser microphones, miniature drones. Thermal vision? "Hmm, four, though that one wouldn't tell them what is being said but will give away everyone's position and possibly body language. Not to mention give snipers a target."

"Would need to be a pretty powerful sniper rifle." A good sniper can hit targets over a kilometer away, and that is using normal technology.

"I suppose by your understanding it would be." How do you explain a gauss rifle or railgun to a civilisation that doesn't have solenoids. The sniping arts aren't that advance here either, not with how their culture has developed.

Ruby's rifle is considered a high powered sniper rifle, and sure I can do that, but it's not used as one. Between Grimm coming in such large numbers, how fast Huntsmen move, Aura, and cultural/technological limitations imposed by Dust, actual sniping is probably frowned upon and a dead end development.

That, or because a fight with snipers doesn't look very good on screen. Not for this style of show.

James steps back and I pull up my hands before dropping them. I don't need to wave them around, right? It's all conceptual.

The sun will be setting soon. Shame I can't enjoy it.

I concentrate my effort on my magic and generate blinds. Advance blinds. Airtight frosted glass to prevent external observation and sound escaping, ice layers to stop thermal vision, specifically rotated quartz sheets to convert what mechanical energy gets through into electrical. I create a composite material in alternating layers to prevent any vibrations from getting though, and those that do would be too distorted for a laser microphone to pick up anything.

Hmm, add a layer of liquid water on the inner side, just in case. Wish I could create metal, or something conductive, so I could Faraday-cage the inside of this room and stop any incoming or outgoing radio. In all honesty, I'd rather have this meeting the Vault. Shame the elevator is barely working as it is and repair crews shouldn't know about the underground Vault.

A few minutes later, and we are still waiting on Qrow, Ruby and Yang. They're late, which is fine. I need to prepare still.

I designate seating, (At Weiss' protests, she wanted to do something it seems) to keep those three from Ozma for when I break the news. My chair has it's back to the door, the rest form an almost circle around me. A definite gap though, I'm not one of them. An outsider. Or Outsider, if you take into account my alien nature.

Right, seating. To my right is Qrow, Yang and Ruby. On Ozma's side is James, Winter, Ozma and Glynda. The rest are empty spaces for Team JNPR and the rest of RWBY.

Glynda is next to Ozma and should jump to his defence.

No hiding behind a desk, no headmaster, today you are laid bare.

I catch Ozma's expression as I kick him out from his desk. Ha, A power play? Is that what you think this is Ozma? No. This is security. For you. Even if I did take a little pleasure from it and putting him into one I created. He didn't even give himself a chair.

Again I feel the definite gap in the circle where I sit in the center of. I would love to say we are all equals, but I am an outsider from the circle of chairs.

That's fine. I'm not really one of them, and I'll get my own share of punches when I tell them how personally I have invaded their lives. I didn't mean to, it was just a show, but now I know secrets they haven't told me. Not to mention the body snatching thing.

I put the thoughts aside, I don't know enough about Remnant's culture to gauge their reactions. Instead I sit down and think on it's technology.

There was no Einstein here to start the discovery of relativity or quantum mechanics. No Nikola Tesla to lay down the laws of electromagnetism. As much as they know electricity exists, some of what it does, they don't understand it.

Even a look at the CCTS reveals just how weird their technology is. They have radio, but no electromagnets? Like, it's a coil of coated copper wire with a current running through it. What do you mean 'Dust repulsion pairs'?

Remnant's science is distorted by the existence of Grimm, Aura and Dust. Badly. As advance and amazing as their technology is, it is all Dust based. Things I understand in simplicity are replaced with the field of Dust tech.

Like solenoids, they don't exist as far as I can tell. Instead a variant of lightning Dust is set in pairs and pushes against eachother in a fashion almost like magnets. For more power, like the Paladins, they are powered by hydraulics from the matter creation of water Dust.

Not that they are stupid, Remnant has just always been at war. A culture of Engineers, not Scientists. Of what is needed not what might be. Resources and effort spent on what is immediately viable compared to the exploration of what might be, which when you take into account the amazing powers of Dust and the ceaseless tide of Grimm, it's no wonder they have developed that way.

Engineering... Ruby Rose built her kick ass sniper scythe before she even attended Beacon, and she went early at age 15. Something like Crescent Rose isn't really viable on Terra. Even if we could build it, before long it would break apart under the stress if anyone even attempted to use it. Especially the way that Ruby uses it.

Engineers. Ha, no wonder everything is a gun and a melee weapon, even Terran engineers like to over design things. This whole world is full of engineers and Dust makes it possible.

I'm grinning at the thought as Qrow, Yang and Ruby finally arrive. Yang gripping her arm oddly. A raw red band runs around the edge where it was severed. Strange, that shouldn't be there, I healed that, right? And her Aura should have healed away something like that, if my understanding is right.

Weiss shouldn't have a scar across her eye either. Yet both have them. How many scared Huntsmen are there? Qrow, he's an old Huntsman, yet I don't see any on him. James is half robot, so I'm dismissing him as an outlier. Glynda, no, none there. Blake doesn't look like she has any either. Ren and Nora, they lived out in the wild for a while. Nothing there. Scars aren't common. Yet why does Yang have one? Why does Weiss have one?

Personality.

Weiss earned that when she fled her father, when she proved herself. It's an act of defiance, no longer the perfect doll her father controls, but something that makes her, her. Yang... She's still suffering from Adam, no matter how the physical seems healed. Aura is a manifestation of the soul, and her soul is hurt. The healing factor won't heal everything. I healed her arm, but not the suffering it causes. So the scar remains.

The soulscape. Amber, Pyrrha, Cinder and I, our images were of ourselves... could Aura do that to someone? If I saved Amber, would her Aura have turn inwards on her and cut her up to make her body like her mental image? Or would it simply refuse to heal any new injuries. Again I wonder how long was she in there, tearing herself apart with her failures. Was her 'mental image' like that when she was attacked, or was it because she was left alone for months with nothing but her failures?

'Thank you.'

It doesn't matter, she is gone now. Happy I hope. Ozma's voice knocks me out of my thoughts. "Shall we begin?"

At least Qrow is sitting down, after a moment's hesitation and a glance at me. Ozma probably pointed him at me, after my declaration that I don't trust him. "Going to be one of those talks, is it?"

He's the one closest to me, between me and the people he loves. People are looking at me now to start, I guess I should. Slight flares of public speaking get pushed down. Huh, when was the last time I did this, I used to be good about it.

"Final checks. Scrolls off? Desk and computers turned off?" The room is almost airtight, I managed at the last moment remember that people need to breath. Still, it's secured enough.

Right. Terra or Remnant. My credibility will take a major hit, but once we reach Jinn, that will no longer be a problem. Instead we will have other problems. "Ozma would start by asking your favourite fairy tale. I'm not him. I will start with me."

Deep breath, and prepare to tell the truth. "I'm from a world called Earth, though I have started calling it Terra in my head to avoid thinking about it."

"You're an alien?" I glare at Nora's outburst. "Right. Sorry."

Already off to a bad start. Um, compare Terra to Remnant. "Terra is unlike Remnant. There is no Dust, no Aura, no Magic, no Semblance, no Faunus, and no Grimm."

Let that sink in. A 'perfect' world. Not. And no Dust, so they probably think no advance technology. I suppose that is kind of true, in a few very specific fields.

"None?" I have Ozma's attention now.

"None. Our technology and culture is radically different, or should I say cultures, as with a population of just over 8 billion-" Someone, Jaune I think, goes whoa while the rest try to wrap their head around the number. Yeah, that big. "- and a lot more free land, Terra has a lot of different cultures."

No response or calling me out. "Not that things are some perfect paradise." Doesn't matter, move on. How do I break the news? Just say it. "With such a large population base..." No, that's not right. Uhg. "On our version of the CCTS Network there exists a lot more media. Music, books and shows."

Okay, dream. "The last thing I remember of Terra is falling asleep in my bed, and then thinking I was dreaming of a black void. So, I picked a destination, inspired by a show I liked, and found myself in the soulscape of a dying Amber. Where I tried to help."

She's dead. "I failed. Amber is dead."

Stop. I'm screwing it up. I take a breath and start again. "Lets start at the beginning. With four trailers for an upcoming show call RWBY."

Here we go.

Red. Who visits her mother's grave and fights some Grimm.

White. Who sings a song intercut with a final test.

Black. Who attacks a train, but refuses to kill the innocent.

Yellow. Who trashes a nightclub looking for her mother.

"You've been watching us?" Blake feels attacked, secrets are part of her 'mysterious' persona, her 'character'. It took her a long time to open up to her team about being a Faunus and her White Fang past. Everyone else has that kind of tension now too.

I want to attack her, spit hostility back at her like I am being attack, but I stop myself. I struck first, knowing that which shouldn't be known. She is just defending herself, let it go. "I'm sorry, this will be more than a bit personal."

Another breath and I start Volume 1. "Chapter 1 of the show proper begins with Roman Torchwick robbing a Dust store." I nod in Ruby's direction and start explaining the fight before slipping into full recounting.

The airship. Vomit boy and the bee's-knees. Short, sweet, rolls of the tongue meets crater face. I tell the story they all know, coming to the Docks. Then it's onto Volume 2. Then 3.

Occasionally they stop me, ask questions, especially Ozma who is mining for information on Cinder and Salem, but mostly they let me tell the story. Just a story...

Until we reach the tipping point.

Amber dies and I do not exist.

Ozpin commits suicide via Cinder, Pyrrha kisses and pushes away Jaune, and I recall the fight before finally turning to her.

"Do you believe in Destiny?" I recite her last words back to her face without emotion.

Pyrrha dies, but the story goes on without her. Ruby blazes silver, the dragon frozen but not dead. The CCTS is destroyed, Cinder defeated but not dead, Beacon is lost.

I have been picking up speed, only to be slowed down and have to backtrack as I respond to question after question. Finally, it's time for Volume 4. I do not have the skill to interweave the stories, so I don't.

I tell the Red story first, her linking with the rest of JNPR and forming team RNJR, Qrow following. Fight after fight, weapon upgrade at terrible cost, Jaune's sleepless nights pushing himself, blaming himself.

Tyrian's attack after Ruby. Qrow's light injury and poisoning before linking up with them proper.

"What's your favourite fairytale?"

Maidens. Gods. Relics. Immortals. Oh, and Qrow's Semblance. Finally his poisoned condition turns foul, forcing the team to go to Kuroyuri. Sorry Ren and Nora.

Nuckelavee, only to find nothing there. Only the smoke from the Grimm and a stroke of luck lets them get picked up and taken to Mistral for recovery. Yeah Qrow, Luck.

Recovery and finding Oscar. I back step and tell his story, not that it's much, making note of Hazel before Oscar meets with Qrow.

Now it's time for White.

Weiss is taken back to Atlas, now under Dust embargo and borders closing soon. Dressed up by her father and played as a doll before her 'outburst' gets her heiress status taken. James is the only one to defend her at that party. Klein helps her escape, and she smuggles herself out on an illegal Dust shipment.

Distress call, lancers and a fight, before the cargoship crashes. She is pulled from the wreckage by a watchful Raven, who is taking advantage of the Dust embargo to hit isolated smugglers. A trail of smoke on a single cargoship would let everyone know. Weiss is taken hostage and kept in a cage.

I jump to Black. "Hey! What about me! You can't just leave me in a cage!" There are sniggers around the circle at Weiss' outburst. At least they are listening now, even if they don't believe me.

I smirk and ignore her as Blake and Sun save a ship on their way to Kuo Kuana. I tell of Adam's ascent and what steps I can remember them taking against it. Not much effect, Adam's popularity and his use of the White Fang name during the attack is pushing everyone to follow him. "That's why you called them the Red Fang." She realises. "To give them a choice."

I nod to her as returns a thankful one. "There is a line between freedom fighting and terrorism. White or Red." Weiss, Winter and James are not so agreeable, still thinking the majority of the White Fang are evil. Morals later, story now.

Continue. Blake is with her parents, Adam assassinates Sienna and takes full control of the White Fang, before he attempts to kill her parents. Illia confesses and one of the Fennec brothers- "Albain brothers, Fennec and Corsac." Blake corrects.

Well, one, probably Fennec seeing as I remember his name, dies. Blake rallies a lot of people to her side, Adam's attack on the Belladonna's does not go lightly.

"So, is Blake like a Faunus princess or something?" Which we have to explain why that's important after Jaune interrupts. I still thank him for asking, it's better to get information than it is remain ignorant only to need it later.

They get a ship, the same one they saved I think, and head to Haven, where Adam is planning on 'recreating his success'.

Right, Yellow.

This one is painful. While everyone is out having adventures, Yang is not.

She isn't now either, and I make it clear that it's okay she isn't okay. That even knowing 'the future' doesn't mean she has to pick that, or end up like that.

I detail Raven's Semblance, Yang's recovery and training to not over rely on her Semblance, and her finally taking up the arm. Ruby is in trouble.

Mistral, where she hunts down Raven but not to talk. I ask the question everyone already knows the answer to. "If you had to choose be-"

"Ruby." No hesitation. No delay, didn't even let me finish the question.

"Yang?" Ruby looks up to her sister with tears in her eyes. "You really mean it?" She knows. Even with how important Raven is to her, she knows that Yang would throw it all away to keep the family she has over what she might get, over some answers to questions.

To just throw away her dream because Ruby was in trouble, not even giving her a chance to talk.

Raven still invites her in and tries to talk, in her own... difficult way, but Yang is having none of it. Which is when Weiss escapes and starts kicking ass. "Finally."

"You were only in there for a day, tops. Summoned a complete mini Arma Gigas to cut your ropes." I giggle. "It was adorable, a pint sized knight." I hold up my hands to show how big it was. Giggles spread around the room.

"Then it holds up it's sword to make itself seem taller." Well, to be ready to attack, but I got the feeling it was more 'Yeah I'm small, I'm still ready to fight.'

Right. Weiss kicks ass, Raven and Yang come out with Yang jumping in to stand by Weiss.

"Your Mom kidnapped me?" Story Weiss yells.

"You kidnapped her?" Story Yang turns on Raven.

They use Raven's Semblance to portal to Qrow. They didn't know where Ruby was, only that Qrow would be near or with them.

Ozma takes command and they try to recruit Huntsmen, only to be blocked by Leo and to find that all of the free Huntsmen Qrow knows are dead. I break narrative traditions and flat out tell them that Leo is a traitor, fearful of Salem, before going over how he drip fed Huntsmen into ambush after ambush.

"Qrow, I don't know if it some special Huntsman tradition or just courtesy, but I clearly remember the scene of your reactions as you go from bar to bar asking, finding no-one, before going back and paying off their debts."

"Not a tradition." He drinks from his flask. "Would just seems right." I nod.

Ozma's inner circle is not taking my story well, and I can see by their expressions, especially Ozma, that they are questioning if my presence here is some play by Salem to divide them. Never mind the saving of Beacon and Vale, but...

It won't matter soon.

Training from Ozma, both for himself and the group, a lack of answers, then Leo calls them into Haven and into an ambush. Outside the White Fang begin their attack.

Weiss is impaled, and I justify her lack of normal skill as her basic skills faltering after her confinement and dedication towards summoning practice, something that Winter glares at her for. Far better explanation that 'the writers needed her to loose'. Ruby flashes Silver hurting Cinder again.

Jaune's Semblance is revealed, and I make note that he already has it, he has been using it to bolster his already considerable Aura reserves. With time and Aura now on her side, and a recently killed Queen Lancer, the battle turns and Blake joins the fight with the Faunus of Menagerie and police of Mistral to capture the White Fang. Adam escapes disgraced, failure, but more importantly leaving his people behind.

Cinder, Vernal and Raven make it down into the Vault though, the ante-chamber anyway, and Cinder kills Vernal for the Maiden powers. Only for it to be revealed that she was a decoy and Raven had them all along.

And now she is pissed.

Raven beats the every loving shit out of Cinder, barely relying on her Maidenhood where as Cinder spews fire all over the place, before killing her.

Yang comes down and breaks ties with Raven. With the only real reason she is being hunted is to open the Vault, she does so and gives the Lamp to Yang before leaving. I don't try to play Raven as sympathetic, I simply state the events as they happen and as many exact quotes as I can.

Ozma directs the group to James in Atlas, and they choose to take the Argus Express. Leo is killed by a Seer Grimm, begging to live, but is painted as a hero who died in the attack.

"That's not fair." Ruby complains.

"No. It's not." I counter Ruby's protest. "But how would the news be taken that the headmaster was a traitor? That the huntsmen who have disappeared have been deliberately killed? Especially after the attack on Haven, mirroring the one from Beacon."

"Grimm, kiddo." Qrow backs me up. "The city would get overrun, especially with the Huntsmen gone. Not fair, but the best that could be done."

Nobody likes it, but at least Ozma is making plans to check Leo's loyalty. He asks, and I try to remember where the Seer is hiding, but all I can remember is that he died in his office.

Right. Now for the really bad news. Cinder isn't actually dead, despite everyone's belief that she died. I turn to Omza. "Did we find her body?"

"No."

I sigh. Of course. "Then she is still out there. Stubborn, clings to life. She'll probably be even more Grimm when she comes back than the OT." A deep breath. "At least she isn't after Ruby this time."

"You?" Ozma confirms, probably for everyone else than himself.

"Probably. Pyrrha didn't do much in the fight, threw some stakes" which I didn't notice in my murderous rage. "and you were always an enemy. But I took 'her' magic, cut off her arm, and infected the wounds. Not to mention killed the Dragon and once word gets out I helped turn the drones off... Well, my voice was all over the city."

I call up some water and take a drink, have been taking sips all evening after checking with Ozma that it's safe. "I need a break, and this is a good place to stop anyway. Things get Bad after this."

Qrow snorts. "You don't call that bad?"

"Capital B, Bad." Have I eaten? I can't remember, too wound up from the story. I shake my head. "Sorry, long story, thought I could get through it all in one sitting." I snort. "It seemed shorter in my head until I actually started trying to remember everything."

Ozma stands, slowly. "Then we will reconvene in an hour. I'm sure the cafeteria is open, and you are welcome to join us."

Great. How long will that welcome last? Not past Jinn, I expect. "Thanks."

I look out at the frosted window made of layers of semi-translucent material. Even with the cold of night, the outer ice will have melted into a second water layer by now.

The ride down takes several trips, as we don't really want to stress the broken elevator. Fortunately there are two, a detail I never noticed in the show.

Ozpin's office is at top of the CCTS tower, so our walk out of the building is met with waves and smiles at the technicians here checking the system for the Black Queen virus. Rechecking, really, and making sure the defences are up. I thank them as we pass for giving up the time to do so, there is a party (of sorts) going on outside.

Some time during our talk, well, my interrogation, the CCTS came back online. So that's what that thunder was. A cheer from Vale.

A sign of normality, and a powerful tool to coordinate people again for the recovery efforts.

"So, what do we call you?" Blake asks.

"Don't know. I'm going to pick a new name, something Remnant. I'm stuck here, as far as I can tell. Tenno for now, I guess, until I actually get a name." She dies. Don't think about it.

"Is Tenno not a name?" Pyrrha asks. She dies. Don't think about it.

"Is Huntress a name?" I try to jab back.

"So, you're an alien Huntress?" Weiss dies.

I snort and try to cover the growing sense of... something. Fear? Apprehension? Discontinuation. I have seen almost everyone here die. I'm dead too. "No, it's just something from a game I played far too much." Distract them from my hesitation. Why aren't they hating me anymore? Is it because the War is coming. Not coming, it's here.

I call up a Skana. "Cool weapons though."

Ruby's moving corpse pouts. "It's not even a gun."

"Hey!" Jaune's blade is broken. He had to kill Penny. "I thought you said you liked the classics."

No, it's just a show. Put it away, they don't even look the same. Different clothes, hairstyles, the fact they aren't 3D models. Jaune doesn't even know how to fight ye- 'Let me choose. This one thing. Trust me.'

"Hey, you alright?" Qrow stops me, his gaze drifting from the quiet Yang for once.

"I'm fine." He's not convinced.

"We'll catch up." Qrow states, and they walk off, Ozma and his crew with them. It's just Qrow and I. "I've seen that look before."

Of course he has. "I'll tell the story."

"Yeah, you will. But you can barely look them in the eyes, and I think I have a right to a little preview, especially if it's about those two." Bastard. He's right.

I try to fight myself, but it's coming out anyway. He does have the right. "Out of the two teams, Nora and Ren survive." Survive. Everyone else dies.

I give a pained chuckle. "It's just a show. I shouldn't feel like this." Is it possible to feel something that hasn't happened?

Idiot, of course it is. That's how art works. "Is it?"

"Multimedia franchise. Crossovers and plushies, emblem pins for sale." That's not what he's asking, and I know it. "No. Remnant celebrates uniqueness."

The part of Terra I grew up in doesn't. I latched onto a little show about girls who fight monsters, cartoon talking horses and a game with a ridiculous amount of customisation because they made me feel like I wasn't a waste of space.

Because being unique there was good, special, not the abused and neglected world I had to live in. "We are only just starting our colour war. Not a war-war, but a cultural shift. It started as gay rights I think, but it's been picking up more and more causes, slowly growing towards acceptance of... well almost everything as far as I can tell."

How dare you be born neurodivergent! "It's hard to know, social dynamics were never intuitive to me. Give me a programming or technical problem any day, just don't put me in a room full of people."

He chuckles as we start walking. He distracts me by comparing me. "Sounds like someone I know." Ruby. 'Let my baby do the talking.'

I smile, still half sad, and counter his absolute faith. "Na, Weiss is best girl."

"I'll be sure to let her know that." Oh shit.

"No please don't." I suddenly beg. "I'm not even sure I can afford to think like that anymore, the dissonance between how I thought and how I will have to think..." I groan. "That's a problem for another time."

We stride though the cool air towards the cafeteria in silence for a minute before I feel I have to apologise. "I'm sorry. Did you know Amber that well?"

"No, not really." The mood drops again. Sorry. "Followed her around a bit, but kept my distance. Protecting her." There are flickers of guilt across his face. "That turned out well."

"Could have turned out worse." Cinder with full power right from the start.

"Yeah? Think Cinder would go to all this trouble if she had all of it?" We are out in the open talking about this, so much for my security measures. Then again, vague terms.

"Yes." The absolute certainty in my voice gives him pause, is firm enough to knock him out of his guilt trip. "Yes she would. She could have done it quiet, but she chose to go loud and brutal. That's the kind of person she is. Clever, but arrogant."

Qrow mulls over my words as we near the building, lights on and repaired by Glynda during my nap. Mmm, smells good, I think there is a barbie going. "Had to make sure everyone knew she won, huh?"

"Exactly. Haven wasn't really the group's success, it was her failure. Get all her enemies into one place and kill them all. Arrogance." I quote a part of Watts' speech, his Semblance is clearly Savagery considering how brutal he put Cinder down.

Too bad that was exactly what she needed.

We walk in and it's half crowded. Huh, seems Beacon is still hosting people. Then again, it's a boarding school and a lot of aircraft are down. As for the aircraft that are working, a lot of people are trying to leave Vale, trapped her after the Festival.

Some, like Ren and Nora, don't have anywhere to go. Ruby waves Qrow down, having saved him a seat next to Yang. She's... thinking things over. I grab a tray and get some food before trying to sit down. My tray slides on it's own across the table. Wh- Polarity.

I sigh. Apparently, I have to sit with the group. Ugh. Fine. "I suppose I should thank you, Pyrrha." I grumble.

"So, what were you and Qrow talking about?" Weiss asks.

"Skirt length." I counter immediately, causing juice to come out of Jaune's nose. He, and Pyrrha, know where this is going. "Ask Yang, she knows how Qrow gets around short skirts. And I was running around Vale in the shortest there was."

I stick my tongue out at Qrow and take a bite out of a scrambled egg and mayo sandwich. "Naked. She was running around Vale practically naked." He just flat out says it.

I flush a bit at that, don't just say it. "I thought I was dreaming!"

Qrow grins. Oh dear. You wouldn't. "About 'Best Girl' maybe?" Right for the throat. Here he comes again, ripping it out. "Weiss has another admirer."

Deep breath. Stay calm and joke back. "It seems I will have to educate you on the finer points of fandom. There is a distinct difference between Best Girl and Waifu. Fortunately, I don't have a Waifu, or this would be very awkward."

Flickers of heat run up my spine, pins and needles too, as I half start freaking out. Blake joins the ruined food club along with Jaune. She knows fandom, it seems.

Weiss narrows her eyes at me while Black clears her throat. Nora is completely oblivious, maybe, and declares my opinion incorrect. "Well, your clearly wrong. I'm best girl!"

Why don't they hate me? I violated their privacy. Deeply. This is... Too easy. What is going on. When Blake recovers she spots my discomfort. "Tenno?"

My smile is fake and cracking apart. "Why don't you hate me?" The words just come out and kills the mood. "Blake, how well do you know your favourite book characters?" Pause, now ask. "And how well do they know you?"

She understands immediately. "It's creepy, yes. But you didn't know."

Didn't know. Didn't know. Is that the excuse? Oh, I'm sorry officer, I didn't know he would die when I stabbed him, which means he will be getting up any second now. Yeah, that's how causality works.

I know you, Blake. You look into my eyes and see I recognise you where you don't recognise me. Hostility flares up in me, the only way they are 'accepting me' is because of what I know, what I can do. Attack her. "Going to tell Yang?"

Her eyes widen and she loose enough control for me to spot her bow moving as her ears react. "Blake?" Yang asks before getting defensive, a little angry at me. "If she doesn't want to tell me, she doesn't have to."

"See, my point." Then again, they accepted Oscar... No, they accepted Ozma and then he ditched them. Maria? How much of that was the writers messing up and how much was them.

Maria didn't know them, didn't violate their secrets like I have.

I look down and go back to my food, trying to smile again, trying to force down and hide the growing anxiety attack. Pull the muscles, no, not like that. Too much that one. Again, there we go. Now the eyes. Put the sparkle in the eyes. Everything is alright.

I'm alone.

Just need to keep going. Eyebrows next, that's how a smile works. A dozen different facial muscles cover the face, a communication tool as important, if not more so, than voice. Take a bite and look back up.

Everything is fine. "I can see that." I flinch at Weiss's words, and my 'smile' falters. "And much of my life has been public anyway. You are hardly the first invasive fan I've had."

Don't just dismiss it, this is so much worse. I am so much worse. "Or mine." I roll my eyes at Pyrrha's comment and swallow. I don't know much about her, she-

"You're nice, Pyrrha, but I'm not really your fan." -she died too soon. Ren has a quiet laugh at that.

Blake attacks again. "No, Weiss is Best Girl."

Anger flashes across the left side of my face before I have to put down my sandwich and breathe, calming myself as I stare at the table. I hear her voice smug and imagine her smiling. "Well, that's just undisputed fact."

No. Calm. Just, let it go. "Do you not want to be friends?" 'Whatever you wanted, I hope it was worth it.' asks.

I get up. "No. I can't." And leave the table. "Sorry, I need some sky."

I flee the room and lift off the ground the moment I get out the doorway, rising into the sky.

Breathe. Just breathe. Feel the wind on my face, how it ripples across my -STOLEN-

I fall and catch myself before thrusting upwards. Some people call out to me from below but I'm not listening, need to get to a roof. There. Sit down.

Try not to cry.

It's magic, yeah. That's why my hands are wet. Not tears, just magic. I can't have friends. I can't be loved. I can't.

I'm not good enough.

They're just using me. 'Would they do that?' No, but they have to be. I'm worthless.

My mind grasps at delusional possibilities, trying to make the data fit the theory. 'I'm dreaming.' 'They're faking.' 'It's an elaborate simulation.' 'I'm in a fanfic.' 'They don't understand just how bad I have hurt them.'

They don't understand just how useless I am. Big hero, wakes up, saves Pyrrha and fights of Cinder, goes on to kill a Dragon and stop the robots from overrunning the city before commanding the White Fang to surrender. Even re-attached Yang's arm.

I'm fake. I'm hollow. I'm worthless. I don't deserve friends.

"Is that what you think?" Qrow. Skana!

What is he doing here? How did he get-

"You're holding it wrong." He steps closer and my grip tightens. "You've never held a blade before, have you?" Both of my hands are up over my shoulder gripping it, body turned to the side, with the blade tip pointing at Qrow. Ready for what I think is a thrust.

He walks up to me, must have flown up, must have been reading my mind. No, I'm just that broken. "You're grip is too tight. How were you even fighting before?"

"Magic. Can move the blade with my mind, according to memory and imagination. Amber's body knows how to use a staff."

"Useful, but you don't want to rely on that." He's trying to get under my guard.

"I know. I need everything. She's coming for me. Can't let her hurt Ruby." My arms fall down and the blade clatters on the ground along with new tears. "Why do I even care about that? It's just a show."

His foot pulls the blade to him and he picks it up. "Don't know, don't care, but I'm glad you do." Why? He doesn't know me, how broken and useless I a- "Now, make another and follow me."

"You were a teacher at signal." The fact comes from lost memory.

"Yep, and school is in session." I need to learn. Push aside everything, ignore the tears. I call up another Skana. "You right or left handed?"

"Right, but need to be ambidex to fight like a Tenno." Gun and Blade, the Ak and Dex series of weapons require it.

"We'll start with your right then. Look at my hand, see where my fingers are?" I mimic his grip with my Skana as he instructs me how to use a bloody sharp rock.

Other hand. Need to do both at the same time, build them both up. "Amber was left handed." I realise. How much was I using my-her... My left had in the fight.

"She was also vegetarian." Qrow adds and I give a half hacking sob. I had meat on my plate. "Not too tight, or the force of a blow will travel into your arm. You're picking this up fast."

"No, I'm not." Amber has old skills probably back before she picked a staff. Some knife skills too, no doubt, if for survival's sake.

"Pyrrha said she gave it to you." I stop. Gave wha- Amber. Her skills. Her body. Her burden. She choose wrong, I'm no help, just a delusional...

"She gave everything to me. She was broken." Was I broken too? In that soulscape? How much of the damage there was- No. Cinder is broken, and she looked fine. Mental image depends on current feelings.

Amber was so broken, no matter how I tried to help, it wasn't enough.

"She gave everything to me. I promised she would be okay. I tried to heal her, take her pain away." I look up at his face. "She thanked me as she died. As she entrusted her burdens and sorrows to a fake."

It's a terrible day for rain. I'm not using my magic, so it must be raining. How else would my face be wet?

"Then you'll just have to become real, won't you?" He doesn't try to say I saved people, because I didn't. My knowledge, magic and stolen skills did that. None of them me. All stolen. All taken.

He says the truth. That I am fake.

But...

The Tenno did not suddenly become masters of Gun and Blade. They trained and fought in the Old War.

The Lotus speaks to me, her words echo through my head and out of it. "Dream."

I don't have to stay that way.

Straighten my back.

"Not of what you are."

Grip my blades, like this but not too tight.

Shift my stance, wide but not too wide. Stable. Tall. Poised.

"But what you want to be."

I am fake.

I will not remain so.

"So what are you gonna be?" He asks me.

I speak the single word, clear and true. "Tenno."

A light chuckle comes from him. Not what he was expecting. "We don't know what that means, so I guess you'll just have to show us." I turn and give a grim grin at him. I'm ready. "Now, lets go over the grips again."

I didn't eat much, but I did eat enough, so the rest of the break is spent doing the most basic of basics. Thank you, Amber, for your help.

Then it's back in the office with refrozen seals and turned off scrolls. Time for the bad news. No, something I have to do first.

I stand at my chair without sitting down, not until everyone else is seated.

"Before we start again, I want to apologise." Air in, hold for a second, and out. Right, ready.

"I'm not the most sane person, and that was before I was pulled into a work of fiction. Err, alternative universe that seems to greatly resemble a work of fiction." Don't insult the locals, that's like rule one or something. Well, at least some are sniggering.

"Still, I shouldn't be using what I know to push you away, especially if it hurts you. You are trying to help, and keep an open mind. It is my own failings that..." I lose steam.

Be honest, just drop the half assed attempt at formalities. I know them, they should know me. "I can't have friends. I have no self esteem, rooted in a deep seated belief that I'm worthless. And I don't know how."

I sit down. Not collapse, (don't lie to yourself) "useless apology too" There goes all the nice feeling of progress from learning how to hold a pair of swords and stand right. Progress? For something so tiny?

I look to Weiss, the real Weiss. How did she do it? Stand defiant against such a hostile environment? Winter. How did she carve the path? They were in a worse place than I. Not just neglect but active hostility. I can't even break right.

I'm staring. Say something. "You're lucky to have Winter." I had no-one.

I see her mind shifting. "No wonder I'm best girl."

I flinch again at her words. Fuck. NO. Don't do that. Don't understand. It was just a show, I just wished I could... be like you. "You were practising your smile before."

Rage flares and struggles with my forced attempt at character development. I get angry at intimacy, to defend myself against attack. Angry at me trying to open myself up to these people. It's not fair, make it fair. I want run. I can't run. Oh, and now my eyes are wet again, great.

I HATE YOU! No. I don't. The rage is false, desperate to stop me. Do it anyway. Open your heart.

Air in, and sing the one word. Trust. "Mirror."

"Mirror." She sings back.

It snaps into place. I stare Weiss dead in her eyes and we see eachother. Defiance and Shattered. Real smiles and false ones. The girl I aspired to be versus the girl she fears to become.

'Who's the loneliest of all?'

I break the connection.

I wipe my tears and look at James. "How about some good news. Did you recover Penny?"

Her name stills most of the people here, but two most of all. Ruby and Pyrrha go stiff. "Yes." He confirms.

"Then she'll be fine." I turn to look at Pyrrha and Ruby. "Her critical components were undamaged, she'll be rebuilt." I recall her joy and strange dismissal of her 'death'. "Better, even, with the cutest little thrusters on her feet." Adorable little nubs.

The mood breaks, smiles and hope fill the room. Loss un-lost. Ruby is almost in tears smiling. Pyrrha feels another weight off her shoulders.

Shame I need to break that. "Where was I?" I know where I was. Every second is a delay.

"The Argus Limited." Huh?

"Don't you mean the Argus Express?" I ask James.

"No." Damm.

"Well, I can't get everything right." I huff, pretend everything is fine. Someone sniggers. "So the group boards the Argus Express." Another snigger. "Stop doing that."

No? Nothing? Fine. Good even. "And head off to Argus, quickly. Say, taking an express route." I look around for the snigger-teer. There are a few pursed lips that are trying not to snigger. Funny, this feels like mood whiplash from my little breakdown a few seconds ago, maybe it's canon or a Remnant thing? To ward away the Grimm, perhaps.

I shake. "Cinder. She pulls herself out of the grave and recovers before finding Neo. Or more accurately, Neo finds her."

I start telling the story again. Cinder's isolation and her going to the Spider for information, how they delay her a week so they can sell Cinder's position, which Neo takes and attacks. Then how Cinder convinces a distraught Neo to work for her, blaming Ruby.

"Torchwick is alive." Ruby interrupts.

"Really? No Griffon eating him in the middle of a speech about the hopelessness of the world?" That's actually good news, those two would go full revenge rampage if the other died. It does mean I can't point them at Cinder, but it also means she can't point them at us.

"Well... There was a speech. And a Griffon. But then someone up in the sky started shouting nonsense and the Wyvern died." Tease and play, don't think about how fake you are.

"Nonsense?" I take a sharp breath. "You think Yol-Toor-Shul and Strun-Bah-Qo is nonsense?"

"No! It was really cool! I was just distracted and I don't know what it means." Ruby backpedals hard, was I too harsh?

"Yol-Toor-Shul. Fire-Inferno-Sun. The fire breath Thu'um, or Dragon Shout, of Skyrim." I sigh. "Which I would call a videogame, but now I have to question every work of fiction I know, which is a lot. Strun-Bah-Qo is Storm-Wrath-Lightning, or the Storm Call Shout. It calls up a lightning storm."

I try to shrug off the embarrassment. It was cool! Ruby said so! So it must not be cringe. Uhg, I'm probably blushing, I don't know how to control this body's blush response. "I was dreaming?"

"How many magic systems do you know?" Ozma asks.

"Um." I almost start trying to count and give up. "A lot." Why is he ask- "You don't think they're real, right? Not here."

"The Storm Call?" I nod. "was particularly powerful. More than a Maiden should be able to do, and far more than you should have been able to." Ah.

"I was using science for that one." He blinks. "I understand how lightning works and applied my magic far more directly. I wasn't just 'calling up lighting' I was commanding the conditions which lightning occurs naturally and then amplifying it. The storm above me wasn't for show, nor was the fire breath before it. Each spell fed into the next."

"You chained them together." His eyes widen. Is that impressive?

James speaks. "You almost sound impressed, Ozpin."

"I am." Whoa, okay.

Um. "Thanks?" I shake. "No, I don't think the Thu'um works here. Hold on, I'll try it."

"Inside?" Nora immediately points out a problem. I roll my eyes.

"Powerful elemental attacks aren't the only thing the Thu'um is good for. It's an entire magic system. Now shush, if I'm going to do this right, I need to intone the syllables very precisely and gather sufficient understanding."

I close my eyes and focus.

Time. Causality. Feel the flow of one event to the next, how each one ripples and melds with those around it. A thousands trickles of tiny event chains all blending together into a roaring current. Grasp the flow and slow it down, try to stop all but my thread. Slow down all but my Time. "Tiid!"

I do not shout the word, but I do Shout it.

I open my eyes and wave my hand in front of me slowly. "Well, did it work?" Nora asks at normal speed.

I huff. "Nope."

"Aww." She slumps back into her chair.

"Ren, pat Nora on the shoulder for me. I am disappointed too." I snort as I think of what would happen had the Thu'um worked.

Meanwhile, in an alternate-alternate universe I kick down the door to Salem's castle with the gang and shout 'Joor-Zah-Frul!' Moral-Finite-Temporary. I snigger as I imagine her lying on the ground as we kick the shit out of the now mortal Salem.

Or I stand outside and Shout names, summoning Curse-Never-Dying or Destroyer-Devour-Master or Snow-Hunter-Wing or maybe Ambition-Overlord-Cruelty.

'What are all these dragons doing here, and why aren't they Grimm?' Chomp! Down an immortal hyper-powerful Dragons throat. Oh, wait for them to die? Ha! Good luck.

I shake. "Sorry. War would be over in hilarious fashion if I could use the Thu'um. Where were we again?"

"Neo joined Cinder." Ruby provides.

Right. Well they go off to Atlas. Meanwhile the rest of Cinder's team arrives at Salem's castle with the rest of her assets where they poke around and lament their life, thinking she's dead. Well, Emerald does. Mercury goes full Salem and I think that's when he gets promoted to inner circle.

Right, back to Ruby's team. And the train.

Jinn.

The train first.

It gets attacked, the group gets separated and Team RWBY, Qrow, Oscar are left behind, along with a little old woman named Maria Calavera, AKA The Grimm Reaper.

"Seriously?" Qrow leans forward.

I smile at him. "Seriously Seriously."

"I thought she died. Where has she been all these years?"

"Hiding." Yeah, not a trait you want for a Huntress. "She has, or had, Silver Eyes."

"Ah." Ozma realises. "I had always suspected. I assumed Salem had killed her."

"Almost did." Another distraction I seize upon.

I retell her final fight.

"She later teaches Ruby how to use hers on will. I recommend we get her back to do the same, she sticks with the group the rest of the way."

"You're hiding something." James states. That obvious huh.

"Avoiding. Yes." I sigh. "No avoiding it really, we are here. I picked this seating layout for a good reason. If everyone could be ready to restrain Ozma and Qrow?" That gets some looks, but there is a readiness to everyone now.

"Ozma explains that the Lamp is what drew the Grimm to the train." His cane tightens in his hand. Not too tight I notice, still in learning mode. "Sick of not knowing, and Ozma not telling them anything, they turn to the one other source of information they have."

"No." Ozma is quick, or my story telling is good. "I forbid you."

I continue anyway. "The Lamp works like this. Every 100 years you get three questions, but to use it, it requires a password to use. Or, to be more accurate, a name. The name of the spirit in the lamp. The staff works the same, and I have no doubt the other two do as well, though I don't know that."

"They don't need to know this, you are putting us all at risk." I stare him down. Liar.

Ignore and continue. "Ozma forcibly takes control of Oscar to prevent it him from learning it-"

"Stop." He commands. "James, Glynda."

"-but Oscar fights back hard enough to rip back into his mind and speak it. A single word."

He suddenly standing, cane at the ready in attack mode. I stop speaking for a moment. "Going to kill me, Ozma?"

"If I have to. We have enough from you." That sends shock though everyone, including me. No, he wouldn't, right? No. He can't they will second guess him otherwise.

I wave my hand at the group. "They need to know. Everyone needs to know."

"No, they don't." You think her Name is what is at stake? Idiot.

"I am trying to break it to them slowly." Trying to help.

That puts him off his game, just enough to make him curious. The exact phrasing is what is important. "What did they ask?"

"What is Ozpin hiding?" He draws a sharp breath. An open ended question, and one that attacks directly at him.

"Oz?" Qrow doesn't like this. "Oz."

"James, Glynda, please." They do not move.

I let the room hang silent.

Once again we stare at eachother, two players of this game for immortals. A game. Ha. Lives are at stake here, Ozma, and you have killed them. This is no game.

"If you do this, you will gain no assistance from me." He threatens.

I crack up laughing. "That's your best threat? Death and isolation?" The mood of the room drops a dozen degrees colder. "I am intimately familiar with both. This?" I wave my hands around gesturing at the people around. "The fear of opening up, of having friends? That scares me far more than any force or terror a Broken Knight can bring to bear." I spit the truth of what he is at him.

Try again. Convince me. "Very well." That isn-

Maiden Power flare to life as I realise he has committed to killing me, desperately trying to throw myself aside. Too slow.

The Long Memory impacts me dozens of times as I am suddenly thrown back by the force. Magic flares his free hand, he has no hesitation, and impacts me as the cumulative force slams me into one of the privacy screens. Sharpened pieces of glass, quartz, ice, and a slosh of water falls on me as the cold night wind blows in.

In the time it took me to realise I was under attack, he has broken my Aura.

I give myself a slight push and I roll out of the broken window and fall.

Another bolt of magic skims over me, only missing because of the other occupant's reactions.

Fear and flight, I fall from the secret obsessed headmaster.

He attacked me. Tried to kill me. Never mind the power going to Cinder, he put his secrets over- that's the ground coming up.

I should do something about that. Nah, Tenno don't take fall dam-

Bad Thought! Bad Thought! Apply thrust please.

I boost and turn myself around before igniting my hands and feet, jets of fire blasting out and slowing my fall. Slowing. Slowing. Okay, I've stopped.

Cinder only started flying around when she got the Maiden powers, but that's just to fly at full speed and because she was in hiding. We can both fly like this.

I move myself under the lip of the tower, out of sight. I don't want Ozma leaning or jumping down to take shots a me.

Ruby Petal Bursts down to my level and I absent-mindedly generate a disc of stone for her to stand on. "Oh, hey Ruby." The words are light and discordant, mask faltering. He tried to kill me.

"But your Aura? I was." She realises. "Ohh, Magic! Right."

I'm still dazed. Some Tenno I am, barely- focus on Ruby's platform and my flight. Not how useless I am.

I stare blankly ahead, reeling. He really tried to kill me. This isn't suppose to happen, especially not in front of so many of his... they will question, I thought I had him in check. Just how deep-

Trauma. He is more broken than I thought. "Tenno?" Who?

"Hm? Oh, hey Ruby." Ruby is still here. She didn't disappear, I just stopped focusing on her, mind split three ways in flight, disc and Ozma.

"You, uh, already said that. Do you want to go down?" She's so young, still unsure of herself. Does she still smile? What did she ask again?

Oh. Stop flying. "Is up safe?"

She looks up. "I think so?"

He will kill me. "Why don't you go up and check. I'll be here." He won't kill her.

"Okay. Be right back." And she is gone. Petal burst in person looks so much more... Everything. Complex, vibrant, flowing, more petals. None of that blob of colour painted in petals look from the show, it's a flowing mass of them. Pretty even. "Back. It's safe."

Fast too. "Okay."

We rise and only now do I question if Ruby might be working for Ozma to pull me back into firing range.

No, she wouldn't do that, but I do need to ask myself these things. What about Emerald, or Neo or some other Semblance?

It takes almost four times as long to get up there as it did to fall, if only because I am not going at full speed. Both because I'm carrying Ruby on a stone disc, and because I'm hesitating. Can they hold him? Will he use some dirty or magic trick to attack me that no-one is expecting?

Am I about to die?

I hide behind the wall while I put Ruby up to the broken privacy screen. My attempt to leap to the side coupled with Ozma's overwhelming blow forced me away from the elevator that was behind me. An elevator wall block that I am now hiding behind.

She is inside. My turn.

Time to die. It was a nice dream anyway, that someone might care for me, that I might have friends and a world to help. Time to wake up.

I slip out behind the wall and spot the inside of the office. five more screens are broken, almost all the chairs are overturned (including Ozma's stone one) and his cane is knocked aside. I pull it towards me and catch it, looking it over. This thing has magic in it, enough to detonate a town.

Or one very large Grimm.

I work it's mechanism and retract it, tucking it into the belt at my back. Step in and close up the screen behind me, before walking around and sealing up the rest in a half daze.

A full circulation later and I come back to my chair and sit, the cane makes it a bit uncomfortable.

We are secure again. Numb, I say the word. "Jinn."

I'm not dead, and even in my dazed state I see the tension, the hostility, in him break.

With that word, Ozma knows that my story is true, and that I will tell them.

In his chair, he goes slump as he is hollowed out by resignation.