Breathe Chapter 66: Grimm Tidings

“Home sweet home,” Yang breathed. Jumping up, she landed on her mattress, causing the makeshift bunk to shake precariously. “How I missed you.” Letting out a soft yawn, she cuddled into her pillow and began to doze off.

“Oh, no you don’t,” Weiss muttered, marching up to Yang’s bed. “Don’t think you’re getting off that easily. We’ve still got a lot to do... Starting with unpacking. Yang, you can’t just dump your suitcases on the floor.”

“Eh, tomorrow’s Yang can deal with that,” Yang shrugged, turning over to lie on her side. “There’s no need to stress, Weiss cream. We’ve still got another day before classes start. Take a load off. You look like you could use a break.”

“I think I’ve had more than enough time to relax on the flight back,” Weiss murmured. Turning towards the pile of Suitcases littering the floor, she scowled. “Fine, if you won’t handle this mess, I will.”

“Suit yourself,” Yang shrugged.

Staring at her own pile of luggage which sat at the base of her and Weiss’ bunk, Ruby turned towards Blake, only to find her sitting on her own bed with an assortment of books piled in front of her.

Yeah, she should have expected that.

Truth be told, Ruby also wanted to just sit and relax for a while before unpacking... Maybe play a few games while she was at it. The past week had been really cool, but it was also exhausting and she wanted a little time to herself. Then there was also the fact that long trips always made her sleepy, but... There was just something off about Weiss today.

Kneeling down next to her partner, Ruby offered a friendly smile. “Hey there, Weiss... Everything good, buddy?”

“Ruby, what... Can’t you see I’m a little busy here?” Weiss asked, turning her attention back to the pile of suitcases. “Now which one did she use to store her dirty laundry and which is the clean one.”

“Yeah, you might need to do a sniff test for those. I didn’t think to organize my laundry,” Yang lazily called out.

Smiling awkwardly as Weiss appeared disgusted, Ruby pushed the suitcases to the side. “So, about what I said earlier...”

“Never mind that,” Weiss sighed, standing up. “Everything’s going to need to be washed. I’ll head down to the–“

“Weiss, please! I can see something’s wrong,” Ruby said. “Just... How can I help?”

Thinking back to what could have set Weiss off, a single name popped into Ruby’s head. Salem. In hindsight, it should have been fairly obvious. She and Yang kind of went through the same thing back in the mining camp, although it was a little more immediate thanks to Salem making a personal appearance.

“I... I need everything to make sense,” Weiss murmured. “After everything that we learnt... There’s some ancient evil force out there that’s set on destroying the Kingdoms. Our Headmaster’s apparently immortal and has been fighting off said evil force and... Oh, right, we came face to face with a living, breathing fairy tale. I just... I don’t know what to do.”

“We take it one step at a time... Together, as a team,” Ruby replied. “You’re not alone, Weiss. We’re all in this together... Besides, we’re already being trained by ‘The Huntsman’ and got these super cool upgrades to our weapons. We’re... Uh, how’s it said again... Ahead of the corner?”

“Ahead of the curve, you dolt,” Weiss smiled. “But, I see what you’re saying. It helps. Thank you, Ruby. I’m... I’m glad that you’re our team leader.”

Feeling her smile grow, Ruby practically vibrated with giddiness. Hearing a creak above her, she looked up and let out a startled squeak just as Yang dropped down from her bunk, landing just behind her.

“Yang,” She moaned. “You almost landed on my head. Dad always said you needed to–“

“I’ll get you a box of your favourite cookies.”

Giving her sister a long hard stare, Ruby smiled when Yang held two fingers up. And just like that, she’d doubled her fee. “Bribe accepted.”

Nodding, Yang turned towards her white haired teammate. “Look, Weiss.” Rubbing the back of her head awkwardly, she took a small breath. “I’m sorry. Everything’s become so normal to me that I didn’t realize what you were going through... I should have, though.”

“No... It’s fine,” Weiss waved her off. “The blame falls on my shoulders as well. That being said, I would like to hear about your side of the story... At least as far as Salem and Ozpin are involved.”

“That’s doable,” Yang hummed. “Hey, Blake, you wanna put the books down for a minute and join us for a moment?”

“Actually,” Blake said, not bothering to look up. “I believe that these books might be useful to our current situation... Ruby!”

“Ah, yes,” Ruby stuttered, having not expected to be called out so suddenly.

“You mentioned the story about The Girl Who Fell Through the World... Do you have it here?” Blake asked.

Thinking for a moment, Ruby shook her head. “No, sorry... I actually lost that book a few years ago.”

“Mhm,” Yang grinned. “I’m sure you didn’t accidentally cut it in half with your first Scythe or anything, right, Rubes?”

“Uh, no?” Ruby hummed. While she wouldn’t deny that she’d done her fair share of damage when she first learnt how to use her weapon, she was pretty sure she hadn’t destroyed any books.

“That’s a pity. It’s the only book I’m missing,” Blake muttered under her breath. “I suppose we’ll have to make do with what we have for now. I’ll check if there’s a spare copy in the library a little later.”

“... Alright, I’ll bite. What’s this about?” Yang asked, looking over the collection of books that littered Blake’s bed, each of them turned to a different page.

“Fairy tales... Stories... Books that might be linked to our current predicament,” Blake answered. “The Infinite Man... The Girl in the Tower... The Warrior in the Woods to name a few.”

“Oh, I see. You’re checking to see how they’re linked to Salem and Ozpin. Smart.” Weiss nodded. “But what about the story Coal told us the other night.”

“It’s on my list of things to check when I go to the library.”

Yang shared a short glance with Ruby. “Yeah, I’m not sure how much that’ll help,” Yang murmured. “Back when we first met Coal, he told us a story that not even Ozpin had heard of before... One about a girl named Pandora and a box. If someone as old as he is hasn’t heard of it, then you probably won’t find it in the library.”

“That is a problem,” Blake sighed.  “I’ll still check to see if there’s any mention in the library. Do you think you could tell us about this other story?”

“Yeah, sure.” Yang shrugged. “This shouldn’t take too long. It’s a pretty short story.”

Watching as Blake’s ears twitched with interest, Ruby was grateful that she now had something that would give her a better read on her quiet teammate and had to wonder if she chose to not wear her ribbon or if she’d just forgotten about it entirely.

Eh, either way, it wasn’t that big of a deal. If someone had something to say about it, she’d simply introduce them to her newly improved Crescent Rose.

...Breathe...

Letting out a quiet yawn as a feeling of vertigo washed over me, I stared at the plain steel doors of the elevator, waiting for it to reach its destination.

It’d been a fairly long week which, while not physically tiring, had been a little mental draining... Although, the same could easily be said about Winter, especially after such a long trip. Pyrrha on the other hand was wide awake and full of questions.

“So this place was built far underground to protect it from Salem?” Pyrrha asked.

“In a manner of speaking,” Glynda answered. “I trust, however, that you understand why this place needs to remain secret. Should Salem become aware of its existence, this will become her primary target.

“Of course,” Pyrrha hummed. “I was just a little curious about it. Do all the Academies have something like this built under them or is Beacon the only one?”

“There are other places like this one,” Glynda replied. “But I’m not aware of their exact locations. All I can tell you is that they’re hidden somewhere in each of the Academies and are only accessible by a Headmaster or by those that are granted access.”

Pyrrha nodded along eagerly.

It was pretty endearing to see her so excitable about something as mundane as using an elevator... On the other hand, Beacon’s Vault was a point of interest for me too, although, for different reasons.

This was supposed to be the resting place for the Relic of Choice, but it was either hidden extremely well or somewhere else entirely and I was curious to see which it was.

“We’re here,” Glynda announced as the elevator finally came to a stop.

Finally.

Stepping out, we were greeted to a large, green lit chamber. Unlike the Vaults beneath Atlas and Haven Academy, Beacon’s Vault wasn’t just one large room. It branched outward as a set of corridors stretched into the distance.

“To think that this place exists beneath everyone’s feet without anyone being the wiser,” Pyrrha commented, looking around in wonder.

“It is fairly impressive that such a place was constructed in secret,” Winter added. Glancing back at the elevator, she let out a short hum. “This Vault has likely existed for a number of centuries, if not longer, but the elevator seems relatively new... Likely having been installed in the past fifty years.”

That was a surprisingly good point, one I hadn’t even considered. Knowledge of the Vaults could easily have been lost to time, but that didn’t really account for all of the modern pieces of technology and, more importantly, who was maintaining them, unless Ozpin was doing it himself.

If things had been a little different, Ozpin would have had a whole life support system hooked up to an experimental Aura transfer machine down here. How the hell would he get something like that down here?

“This way, please,” Glynda announced, taking the front as she led us down one of the corridors. “We are on something of a schedule.”

“Of course,” Winter hummed.

Following Glynda deeper into the chamber, I caught sight of a number of things that decorated some of the corridors.

Weapons, old and new were placed on some of the walls along with a small plaque sitting in the center. A tapestry of the King of Vale hung between a pair of pillars. Portraits were placed periodically throughout the Vault. Somewhere, just at the edge of my vision, I was able to make out what looked to be a scribbled drawing.

It didn’t take me long to realize what I was looking at. This Vault and everything in it was Ozpin’s Long Memory. All the allies he’d made, his reincarnations, his families... Everything that he’d ever lost, all kept safe in one place.

I’d always known that he’d lived for a long time, but seeing it all laid out like this was humbling. Going through something like this myself would be unimaginable. Ozpin had my deepest respect.

Nearing the end of the corridor, I glanced between Ozpin and Qrow who stood to the side, just in front of the now heavily restrained Jabberwalker. There was, however, another person standing with them. Someone that I knew, but hadn’t met yet.

Upon noticing that we were here, the woman elbowed Qrow who looked up and coughed loudly, getting Ozpin’s attention.

“Ah, Coal, Pyrrha, Winter. It’s good to have the three of you back. I trust you had a safe journey,” Ozpin greeted cordially.

“It was pretty peaceful,” I hummed.

“Good,” Ozpin nodded before gesturing towards the woman. “Allow me to introduce you to one of our more... Reclusive members,” He said, getting an annoyed grunt from the woman. “Amber, our resident Fall Maiden. Amber, this is–“

“Oh, I know,” Amber interrupted, stepping forward. “I don’t think there’s a Huntsman or Huntress alive who hasn’t heard of you and what you did. It’s a pleasure to meet you.”

“Likewise,” I replied, shaking her hand.

Releasing my hand, she moved to greet Winter and Pyrrha. “I’ve also heard about the two of you. Ozpin’s told me what the three of you’ve been up to. I have to say, I’m a little jealous. If I’d met you three sooner, I would have asked if I could join in... I guess there’s always later, right?”

Blinking, Pyrrha’s eyes widened. “Wait, what?”

“Of how you’ve been going around completing some of the most dangerous missions Vale has to offer,” Amber explained, tilting her head to the side at Pyrrha’s confusion. “Being a Maiden, there aren’t many opportunities for me to team up with others. What did you think I meant?”

“Oh, um...” Shooting an awkward glance my way, Pyrrha shook her head. “Never mind. I just thought that...” She trailed off, looking a little embarrassed.

Smiling along, Amber waited patiently for Pyrrha to finish, before nodding. “Okay, sure.”

Waiting for a moment to see if anyone had anything else to say, Ozpin continued. “Amber will be staying in Beacon for now... At least up until the end of the Vytal Festival.”

That was good.

Outside of making sure Cinder wasn’t able to ambush her, having two fully realized Maidens staying at Beacon added a ton more firepower... Although, it was a bit of a double edged sword. Beacon would be better protected, but it would also draw more attention from Salem if she found out.

I still wasn’t entirely sure if Salem knew that Raven was the Spring Maiden... Or that she was currently staying at Beacon.

“Although, that is only part of the reason for why I called you here so soon,” Ozpin said, turning back to the Jabberwalker that struggled against its constraints. “With my schedule so consumed by the Vytal Festival, I find myself bereft of time... This being one of the few moments I can steal for myself and for the first time in a while, I find myself seeing something new.”

Having seen all the mementos on the walls, I couldn’t blame him. Life could probably get quite boring for him. I’d imagine it was like watching the same movie on repeat for your entire life.

“What is it that you want to do?”

“A simple test should more than suffice,” Ozpin replied. “Nothing too extravagant. I’m simply curious if it is able to sense things other than Aura.” He nodded in Amber’s direction.

“...It was able to sense Ruby’s eyes and it even managed to track her through a forest,” I noted.

“Excellent, I suppose this won’t be a waste of time then,” Ozpin hummed. Reaching up, he removed one of the straps pinning the Jabberwalker down, allowing it to move its head.

As expected, its head snapped to the side, scanning the room, before its gaze landed on me. A muffled grumble came out as it stared at me for a few moments before turning its gaze towards Amber who stared back with apprehension.

“Are you sure that this is totally necessary?” Amber asked, gripping her staff tightly. “Wouldn’t it be better if we just killed this thing?”

“Killing it would remove the immediate threat,” Ozpin nodded, drawing the Jabberwalker’s attention next. “But we would also lose the chance to learn from it. This... Jabberwalker... Somehow managed to slip into our world and I would like to learn how so as to assure that it doesn’t happen again.”

Straining against its bonds, the Jabberwalker let out a muffled screech full of hatred and anger. Pulling hard enough on its straps, there was a loud snap as one of its limbs broke.

“Liar... Hypocrite... Unmake–“ It snarled, before Glynda used her Semblance to secure it once more.

“What the hell was that?” Qrow asked, unconsciously grabbing his weapon as the Jabberwalker continued its struggle. “That thing seems to have a grudge against you, Oz.”

“That it does,” Ozpin responded calmly. “I suppose that it doesn’t like what remains of my own magic. I’m going to need to look into this.”

“Yeah, sure,” Qrow muttered, taking a sip from his flask. “You... You do that.”

I wasn’t entirely convinced that there was nothing else to it. Ozpin was hiding something here and while I doubted it was all that important, I was still curious as to what it was.

Shooting a glance in his directions, I blinked and the world peeled back on itself, revealing everything that was hidden, before suddenly reverting back to normal as I let the Transparent World fade.

Closing my eyes, I took a slow breath as a headache washed over me with all the subtlety of a sledgehammer hitting a sheet of glass.

Feeling a hand on my shoulder, I opened my eyes to find Winter staring at me with a concerned look on her face.

“You’re bleeding again and your eyes are bloodshot,” She noted, pressing a tissue under my nose. “Perhaps it’s best if we continue this another day. This... Jabberwalker seems to have an adverse effect on you.”

“I’m fine... It was my fault this time,” I said. Grabbing a hold of the tissue, my headache slowly began to fade. “I just... Looked at something I shouldn’t have.”

It’d only been for a moment, but I saw it... I was pretty sure it saw me too and it didn’t like that. I wasn’t sure how happy I was getting on the bad side of the spirit that resided in the Relic of Choice, but it wasn’t like I was ever planning on using the thing.

I guess the Jabberwalker, having been created by the God of Darkness, wasn’t too fond of the God of Lights Relics.

“Perhaps it would be for the best if we call it here for the day,” Ozpin suggested, a contemplative look on his face. “I have more than enough to work with for now. Qrow, if I could ask to meet with you in my office a little later...”

“Hey, whatever gets me away from that creepy thing sooner,” Qrow shrugged. “I think I’ll check in on my nieces... It’s bad enough I’m not allowed to kill it.”

“Only for now. Once we’ve learnt all that we can from it, the Jabberwalker will be safely disposed of,” Ozpin said. “Glynda, could you please ensure that Amber knows where her room is.”

“Getting rid of me already... And after all the effort you went through to get me here,” Amber sighed dramatically before smiling. “I still know my way around Beacon... You really don’t need to babysit me, Glynda.”

“You may know the general layout, but this Academy has changed since you walked these halls,” Glynda noted. “Head down the wrong corridor and you might just end up bunking with a team of hormonal third years.”

Mulling her options over, Amber smiled awkwardly. “I suppose I wouldn’t mind having you show me around... For old times sake.”

“That’s what I thought,” Glynda smirked.

Watching as the trio left, Ozpin’s sight washed over Pyrrha, Winter and myself, before finally settling on me.

“Coal, if I could have a word with you in private.”

Glancing at Pyrrha and Winter, I smiled at their concerned look. “I need to have a quick talk with Oz... Meet you back at our room?”

“As long as you don’t take too long,” Pyrrha hummed softly while Winter nodded.

“I’ll be right behind you,” I replied.

Watching as they headed towards the elevator, I turned my attention towards Ozpin, only to find him standing a small distance away, right by a pair of pillars that had nothing in between them, cradling a golden crown with turquoise gems.

“I take it this is what you saw,” Ozpin murmured, holding the crown up.

“It was,” I nodded, heading over. “Although, I don’t think the thing inside was happy when it noticed me staring at it.”

“That’s understandable. The Relics can be somewhat temperamental... Even on the best of days,” Ozpin replied. “Each one has its own limit. Whether it’s only usable a few times every hundred years, can only be used on a single thing at any given time or even damages the user with each use.”

It seemed he was talking about the Relic of Knowledge, Creation and Destruction... But what about Choice?

“I’ve used them all a number of times throughout my lifetimes, but have only used the Relic of Choice three times,” Ozpin continued. “And each time I have regretted it dearly.”

That sounded oddly menacing for something that’s supposed to be used to help unite humanity. “Why are you telling me this?”

“I thought you would like to hear what it does while we put it back in its proper resting place,” Ozpin said, gesturing for me to follow him. “Back when I’d first used it, I was shown a vision of the future... Of the village I’d spent several lifetimes building burning down... And then I was given a choice. Kill a seemingly innocent woman or let her live and damn my village. Can you tell which choice I made?”

“You let her live,” I guessed.

“No, I cheated,” Ozpin answered. “I had her wear the crown and she saw a vision of us being married. Believing that I’d undone the future, I married her and lived my life, no longer burdened by the worries of my village collapsing. I was, however, mistaken. It was precisely our marriage that brought the end to the village.”

Sadly, I could see exactly where this was heading. In trying to prevent the future from happening, Ozpin accidentally caused it.

“One often meets his destiny on the path he takes to avoid it.” Seeing the intrigued look on Ozpin’s face, I smiled. “I heard that from a turtle a long time ago.”

“Then I would very much like to meet this turtle,” Ozpin chuckled. “To finish my story, it was the celebration of our marriage’s anniversary that destroyed the village. The peasants shot off a set of fireworks, but some of them exploded prematurely. It took three days before the final fire was extinguished... The village was lost.”

“I’m... Sorry that happened,” I apologized, awkwardly patting Ozpin on his shoulder.

“This happened far before your time, there’s no reason to apologize,” Ozpin said calmly.

Coming to a stop, I found myself standing in a small chamber with a large glowing door at the end... A large glowing door which was currently sealed shut and could only be opened by the Fall Maiden.

“Ah, it seems that we’ve finally reached our destination,” Ozpin commented. “Now, if you would allow me one trick.”

Tapping his cane to the ground, there was a click and a humming sound as it began to glow. The cogs that made up its side whirred rapidly.

Feeling the ground shake, the door slowly shifted to the side as the room rotated, revealing another door, although, unlike the previous one, it was open.

Lifting his cane, we began walking once more and passed through the door, stepping onto an almost medieval stone floor. The cloudy sky above drizzled raindrops which never seemed to hit the floor.

Walking up to a charred chair sitting at the end of the stone floor, Ozpin gently set the crown down on what remained of the scorched upholstery before stepping back.

Was that... It was one of the few things that survived the fire, wasn’t it. Ozpin’s old chair. He really wanted to make sure that he never used the crown again... Not that I could really blame him.

Although it seemed to promise future knowledge, the Relic of Choice seemed to be downright malicious when compared to the two that I already know of. If this was what Choice was like, I had to wonder how bad Destruction would be.

...Breathe...

Groaning, Roman’s head thumped against the bar table. His cigar sat forgotten in the ashtray, slowly burning out while his drink sat next to his head, only mostly empty.

“The bar’s going to be closing pretty soon. Do you want me to top you up one last time, sir?”

Looking up towards his bartender, Roman nodded slowly. “Yeah, sure. Why not? It’s not like I’ve got anything better to do.” Closing his eyes, he was perfectly content to just waste away, only to feel a sudden stabbing pain in his ass. “Agh, Neo! What the hell?”

Smirking, Neo fell onto the barstool next to him, casually twirling her umbrella in her hands.

“Look, I know what you’re thinking, but this is different,” Roman sighed. “There’s no fighting this one. You weren’t there when I first met her. She just... Has this way of inspiring despair. And then there was that creepy black hand of hers.”

Neo blinked.

“No, seriously. One moment it was normal and then her skin started to ripple...” Roman railed off. “Look, you just had to be there. It was creepy. The best thing for us to do now is to do what she wants and steer clear.”

Raising an eyebrow, Neo huffed.

“Well I don’t care what you think. At the end of the day, we’ll still be alive and that’s all that... What’s that you got there?”

Slipping a piece of paper from her pocket, she placed it on the bar table in front of Roman, before stealing his hat for herself.

“Him?! You do realize he’s the reason why you needed to break me out of prison, right?” Roman gave Neo a pointed look, before turning back towards the paper. “Then again, I suppose it’s worth a try,” He said, already punching the number into his Scroll.

Waiting as his Scroll rang the number, Roman was just about to put down, before...

“Hello? Who is this?”

“Well damn, it actually worked,” Roman muttered. “This is Roman by the way... Torchwick, kind of a big deal. You gave my partner your number before having me arrested in case anything came up. Well, do I have a story for you...”