We have reached Volume 6, the next journey volume for our characters. The battle at Haven ended with their victory over Raven and Salem's group. And now, they need to make their way straight to Atlas. What will happen along the way? Only one way to know...
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*3rd Person POV*
A busy train station in Mistral is shown. People going about their business, whether they be buying a train ticket, going shopping, eating food, and more. Holographic screens showing different locations, amongst them are Argus, Shion, and Vale, the latter shown to be crossed out with an "Out of Service" message next to it. Azure, now wearing the blue cloak he received from Ruby, looked around the station before starting to walk towards a mail box. As he does so, he remembers what happened after they got their hands on the Relic.
*Flashback*
Team RWBY, AVRN, JNR, and Qrow are back at the house in Mistral.
Azure: "Atlas?"
Ruby: "We need to take the Relic there?"
Qrow: "That's what Oz said."
Everybody looks to Weiss.
Weiss: "You've got to be joking..."
Nora: "I mean, bright side, we finally get out of this house!" Weiss sighs at this.
Qrow: "Well trust me, I'm not crazy about it either. And without the Spring Maiden here to seal the Relic back in its Vault, it's our best option."
Ren: "Atlas may be the safest kingdom we have at the moment, but their borders are closed. General Ironwood called everyone back."
Qrow: "Eh, not everyone." He activates his Scroll, showing a hologram of a highlighted portion of land. "The city of Argus is a ways north of us and it's the primary trading port between Anima and Solitas. They've got the largest Atlas military base outside the kingdom. There's no way they'd leave it abandoned, and if we play our cards right, I think there's a good chance we could convince them to escort us straight to Ironwood."
Blake: "I mean, we do have the missing Heiress to the Schnee Dust Company."
Weiss: "Ex-Heiress, actually."
Yang: "True, true. But if there's a chance of reward money, I say we go for it."
Nero: "Really?" He said plainly.
Weiss: "Ugh..."
Ozpin: "Hopefully the first option will suffice." Oscar, letting Ozpin take over, walks into the room.
Qrow: "Glad to see you're feeling better."
Ozpin: "Likewise, and while I'm sure we could all use more time to recover, I'm afraid time is of the essence."
Blake: "Right, as long as that thing's out in the open, its power could fall into the wrong hands."
Jaune: "Speaking of, what does it do exactly? Qrow never really told us."
Everyone looks to Ozpin, who turns around to face them.
Ozpin: "Of course." He detaches the Relic from his hip. "The Relic of Knowledge has a wonderful, and incredibly dangerous ability." The Relic grows into it's original size as it was found. "Its user can ask any question, and the Lamp will provide an answer." He places the Relic down, and it floats on the table.
Vert: "Any question?"
Ren: "Intriguing..."
Blake: "That's incredible..."
Ozpin: "Indeed. However, it's not without drawbacks. The Lamp cannot tell of events that have yet to happen, and it will only ever answer three questions every one hundred years."
Yang: "Well, I guess that's not so bad. Adds a lot of pressure though."
Rosa: "Only three questions? They sound like wishes to me."
Nora: "Then let's put it to a vote!" She zips around the room, causing Ruby to jump and Qrow to spit out his coffee. "What should we ask first? Oh! Can we ask for more questions? CAN WE ASK FOR MORE QUESTIONS?!"
Rosa: "My point is proven."
Ren: (facepalming) "They're not wishes..."
Ozpin: (chuckling) "I'm afraid you won't be able to ask it anything at the moment." Nora grunts in frustration. "The questions were used before I sealed it away."
Ruby: "Well, at least now we know what it is."
Azure: "And we'll be sure to keep it safe!"
*End of Flashback*
Azure reaches the mail box and sees Qrow up ahead. He is narrating a letter he wrote to Ironwood, detailing recent events, in his head.
Qrow: 'It's been two weeks since the attack on Haven. The official report states that the plot to destroy Mistral's CCT Tower was thwarted by Ghira Belladonna and the Faunus militia group from Menagerie. A Huntsman and some students coincidentally visiting the headmaster were also able to lend some assistance. Unfortunately, Leonardo Lionheart lost his life while trying to defend his school. And those responsible for organizing the attack managed to escape. As I'm sure you can guess, there's a lot more to this report than I'm willing to say in this letter. But for now, what I'm trying to say is that we're on our way to Atlas, James. There's a good chance we'll get there before this letter does, but in case we don't, I need you to know that we're bringing a lot more than bad news with us. See you soon, Qrow.'
Qrow places the letter in a mail box. Azure walks up to the mail box and pulls out something from his pocket. It was a letter to his mother. He starts to recall the contents within the letter in his head as he looks at it.
Azure: 'Hey Mom, it's me, Azure. I just wanted to write to you to let you know that I'm alright. The others and I are still together, and I was able to get my team and Ruby's team together again. We are on our way to Atlas, so if you're wondering how much longer I will be gone... I would say weeks. But I'll remember to write more letters to you after I reach Atlas. If only we could use our Scrolls to communicate, but no time for complaining! I will continue to keep myself, Ruby, and my friends safe. Trust me on that! I'll write to you soon. I love you and stay safe.'
Azure comes back to reality and places his letter inside the box as well. Suddenly, Ruby runs by and bumps into Qrow, who bumps into Azure.
Azure: "Woah!"
Qrow: "Hey, what's with the running?"
Ruby: "And what's with the standing? It's almost time!"
Ruby sees the people chattering in the station lobby. She uses her Semblance to get something and fly through the gate. She then emerges smiling and humming, approaching the benches where her companions, minus Blake, are waiting. Azure comes up behind her, having used his Semblance as well.
Yang: "And?"
Ruby: "Ahh!" Ruby shows them a bag.
Weiss: "What an absolute waste of time--"
Yang: "What did you get me?"
Ruby: (singsong) "You'll have to wait and see!"
Yang: "No fair!"
After Ruby sticks her tongue, Yang attempts to snatch the bag from Ruby, who recoils back behind Azure. Nora jumps in between them all.
Nora: "Oh, I can't believe we're taking the train to Argus! The beautiful northern coastline... You really think it's too early for beach season?"
Rosa: "That would be nice! Don't you agree, Vert?"
Vert: "I guess..."
A daydream of a shirtless Ren holding a beach ball by the sea turns out to be by Ren himself. The imaginary ball in his hands pops.
Ren: "Unfortunately, but we will be one step closer to Atlas."
Nero: "It'll be very different compared to Vale and Mistral."
Weiss: (unamused) "Well, I'm glad you're all excited. But I don't think you appreciate the trouble I went through to leave Atlas."
Ruby: "I know you're worried, Weiss, but trust us. Team RWBY won't leave your side for a second! I promise."
Azure: "The same can be said for us Team AVRN. We'll be there for you."
???: "No one's gotta be worried with us around."
A pair of Huntsmen, Dee and Dudley, confront Ruby and her friends with proud looks on their faces, holding their weapons.
Nora: "Aaaand you are?"
Dee: "Why Dee and Dudley of course. The Argus Limited's very own Huntsmen. We'll be keeping everyone safe as we pass through Grimm territory."
Dudley: "But for a generous tip, we can make sure your passenger car gets extra special attention should things get dangerous."
Dudley winks as Ruby, Weiss, Yang, Jaune, Ren and Nora give unamused looks. Nero, Vert and Rosa simply ignore the two idiots. Azure saw Dudley wink at Ruby and has his hand on his sword, which was now located on his left waist, and purple electricity was sparking from his eyes. Nora has her arms crossed and Weiss rolls her eyes.
Qrow: "Yeah, I got a tip for ya." He suddenly appeared.
Dee and Dudley: "Huh?" They turn to see Qrow confronting them. He has his hands in his pockets and gives Dee and Dudley a frown.
Qrow: "Buzz off." He stands between Ruby and Yang as they make faces, mocking Dee and Dudley in the background. Azure calmed down when Qrow stepped in and joined Ruby and Yang with mocking the two. "Looks like Mistral's really scraping the bottom of the barrel these days."
Dee: "Hey! You're talking to a--" Qrow holds out his huntsman license to the two.
Qrow: "A professional Huntsman, right. Well, it seems one of you heroes left the staff entrance to the caboose wide open." Dee and Dudley turn around to the left in surprise at this revelation. Qrow simply crossed his arms.
Qrow: "It'd be a shame to lose your job before it even started."
Dudley: "I... I didn't do it!"
Dee: (scoffs) "Come on, dummy."
Dee and Dudley walks away from them. Oscar watches the two leaving.
Dee: "Well, I didn't do it either..."
Ozpin: (mentally) 'I do hope those weren't Beacon graduates.'
Oscar: "You know sometimes the burden of saving the world feels overwhelming." He turns to everyone. "But then people like that come along and make me grateful that it's our jobs and not theirs."
Everyone collectively agrees with Oscar as they nod at him together.
Ruby: "Uh-huh."
Azure: "Right."
Jaune: "Yeah."
Qrow: "So, you kids ready to go? Bike all loaded up?"
Yang: "Yep!"
Weiss: "Just waiting on Blake. As usual."
Yang sees that Azure was now wearing a blue cloak and decided to tease him and Ruby.
Yang: "Gotta say, you two look adorable together with the matching cloaks." She directed her statement towards both Ruby and Azure, who look at each other and face away with blushes on their face.
Nero: "You look cool with it." He said, nonchalantly.
Vert: "When did you get that cloak, Azure?"
Rosa: "Yeah! You didn't have one before!"
Azure: "It was a gift... from my cute girlfriend." Yang, Rosa and Nora turn to look at Ruby, who's nervously pushing her index fingers together while blushing.
Nora: "That's so cute!"
Rosa: "Ruby, did he give you a gift as well?"
Ruby: "Yeah... he did. It was this necklace." She holds out the red rose necklace that she's wearing around her neck for the others to see. They gasp in surprise and turn to Azure.
Yang: "When did you give this to her?"
Azure: "I gave it to her on her birthday after the party."
Yang/Rosa/Nora: "Awww! That's so sweet!" Azure rubbed the back of his head while blushing.
Everyone's attention was then turned to Blake as she finally joined up with the others after saying her goodbyes to Sun, Ilia, and also Neptune. Azure mentally thanked Blake for saving him from any more embarrassment from the girls.
*Timeskip*
The train, Argus Limited, is seen traveling in the snowy countryside along a mountain. Inside, passengers walk through the halls. An elderly woman is seen passing by a room that Team RWBY is staying in and noticed Azure inside before continuing on. Azure and Nero are inside as well, while Vert and Rosa are in another room. The four girls are all on beds reminiscent to their old dorm room from Beacon. Weiss is reading a book, Ruby plays a game on her Scroll, Azure is reading his book his mother gave him, Yang is reading a magazine, and Blake and Nero are looking out the window.
Ruby: "All right, girls, guys, I think it's time for an official team exercise. Who wants to play video games?" She said enthusiastically.
Azure: "Sure, I'm down for that!" He closed the book he had and placed it in his left pocket.
Nero: "I'll pass on that."
Yang: "I mean, if you want me to kick your butts, yeah sure. Let me grab my Scroll." She goes to grab her Scroll from her bag. Blake notices this and quickly walks over to her.
Blake: "Here, let me help you with that." She helps get Yang's bag down from the shelf, much to Yang's dismay.
Yang: "Blake, you don't have to do that." She takes her bag from Blake.
Blake: (saddened) "I don't know what you're talking about."
Yang: "I'm fine. We're gonna be fine. It's just gonna be a bit before things are back to normal. But... I am glad we're all back together."
The two smile at each other, with Ruby, Weiss, Azure, and Nero joining in as well.
Blake: "Yeah, okay."
Qrow: "How touching." He is at the doorway holding a cocktail in his hand.
Ruby: "Oh hey, Uncle Qrow! You wanna play too?"
Qrow: (chuckles) "Kick your butts? Sure."
Suddenly, the train jolts, causing Qrow to drop his drink. Passengers can be heard screaming in fear.
Blake: "What was that?"
Weiss: "Exactly what it sounds like."
Blake: "Just my luck."
Qrow looks out the windows.
Qrow: "It's not yours... grab your weapons!"
Qrow runs out of the room and Team RWBY along with Azure and Nero follow suit, grabbing their respective weapons on their way out the door. Vert and Rosa see them passing by their room and get their weapons before joining them. Qrow climbs to the top of the train and notices a group of Manticores approaching from the back. Dee and Dudley are already up top and prepare to fight the Grimm. A much larger Grimm, a Sphinx, lands on the train and lets out a loud roar.
A few train cars down, Team RWBY and AVRN join Qrow as they too arrive on top of the train with their weapons out. Dee charges his weapon, an electrical spiked club, and charges forward to attack. The Sphinx roars and a Manticore flies by to snatch up Dee.
Dudley: "Dee!!"
Dudley watches helplessly while his partner is dragged down to the forest to his unfortunate death. The Sphinx roars again and all of the Manticores fly forward to attack.
Blake: "What's the plan, Ruby?"
Ruby: "Don't let anyone else die!"
Azure: "You heard Ruby! Let's do this!"
With that, Team RWBY, Team AVRN and Qrow charge forward into battle.
One Manticore flies in but is shot down. The Manticore rolls along the train before being sliced by none other than Ruby. The Grimm dissolves and Ruby poses with Crescent Rose behind her back.
Ruby: "Got him, now who's next?"
A Manticore tries to attack Ruby from behind, but it is stopped by large shards of ice that cause to crash into the mountain. Weiss zooms by Ruby on her glyphs.
Weiss: "Thank me later!"
Weiss proceeds forward and takes down two more Manticores. Meanwhile, Blake uses Gambol Shroud's kusarigama form to swing into the air.
Blake: "Incoming!"
She wraps Gambol Shroud's ribbon around the neck of a Manticore, allowing Yang to punch through it, causing it to dissipate. Yang and Blake land back on the train, standing next to each other.
Yang: "Good to see you're not rusty."
The two proceed forward as Team RWBY continue taking down Manticores.
Azure stands before a Manticore, sword in hand, who leaps at him. He slides under the Manticore before he turns around and slices the Manticore in two.
Azure: "Quite easy for me!"
A Manticore approaches him from behind and lifts its paw to strike, but gets set on fire before a shotgun blast is heard. Azure turns around to see Rosa with her shotgun-axe behind the disintegrating Grimm, grinning at her leader.
Rosa: "You should be paying more attention, you know!"
The two run past each other as they take on more Manticores. Over in another train car, Nero slices across another Grimm as he stabs his sword to the roof of the car, freezing the Manticores in place by their paws. They use their wings to try and break free, but Nero freezes them completely before breaking into tiny pieces of ice that disintegrate.
Nero: "That takes care of them."
Up in the air, a few Manticores get shot down by Vert's sniper, but the others still alive move around a lot. This made sniping no longer an option for Vert. He uses his Semblance to push the Grimm down onto the train roof with his wind. He runs straight to the Grimm and spins his polearm around his hand before slashing across three Manticores, killing them.
Vert: "That wasn't too bad."
Down below in the train, Oscar opens up a window to see the commotion, a Manticore barely missing him.
Ozpin: (mentally) 'Shall I?'
Oscar: "No, I'm keeping control." He walks out and bumps into Jaune, with Ren and Nora behind him.
Jaune: "What's going on?"
Oscar tries to answer, but is interrupted by another jolt as passengers scream in fear. Jaune's expression then turns determined.
Back outside, Team RWBY, AVRN and Qrow continue to work on cutting down the Manticores. Dudley runs toward the front of the train and takes his Scroll out, activating the train's defense systems.
Dudley: "Come on, come on."
The train's armor activates, with reinforced plating covering most of the train while metal bars criss-cross on the windows. After that, a series of turrets rise above the train and begin targeting the midair Grimm. A group of Manticores get shot down.
Dudley: "Ah, yes!" He pumps his fist.
Meanwhile, Qrow engages the Sphinx, using the scythe form of Harbinger to attack. The Sphinx tries to crush Qrow with its paw, but Qrow manages to transform into his avian form before changing back to land an attack from above. The turrets fire at the Sphinx from behind, causing it let out another loud roar. Two Manticores fly down, one does a tuck and roll into a turret, destroying it. The other evades turret blasts and spits a fireball at one, destroying it. The passengers inside the turret's train car scream as it jolts from being destroyed.
Qrow: "Hey! What are you doing?" He shouted to Dudley.
Oscar and Team JNR climb up to the top of the train to join the battle.
Nora: "Why is it always something?!"
Oscar runs over to Qrow, who is shooting at Grimm.
Oscar: "How can I help?"
Qrow: "You can get that idiot to shut off the turrets. They're just drawing the Grimm toward the passengers!"
Oscar: "Right!"
Oscar runs forward, dodging Grimm attacks along the way. He manages to approach Dudley, who is firing at Grimm with his own rifle.
Oscar: "Stop! You've gotta shut the turrets off!"
Dudley: "Are you crazy? No way!"
A turret continues fire, knocking more Grimm out of the sky.
Dudley: "Yes! Another one down!"
Oscar places his hand on Dudley.
Oscar: "Stop! We have to lure the Grimm to the back."
Dudley: "What does it matter if they're dead?" He shoves Oscar off and continues to fire at the Manticores.
Suddenly, they notice the Sphinx and the rest of the Grimm fly off the train, keeping their distance.
Dudley: "Where are they going?"
Oscar, realizing something, quickly turns around.
Oscar: "TUNNEL!!"
Dudley: "Huh?"
Everyone takes notice of the fast approaching tunnel.
Ruby: "Go!"
Everyone proceeds to get below into the train cars. Weiss almost falls off the train when a Manticore's fireball barely misses her. Ruby catches her by her wrist.
Ruby: "Thank me later!"
Ruby then uses her Semblance and the two of them manage to get below into the train before the tunnel approaches.
Oscar quickly gets below the train. Dudley does the same, but inadvertently leaves his arm stretched out as it impacts the wall of the tunnel. The sound of a bone snap and Dudley yelling in pain is heard.
Team RWBY, AVRN and JNR quickly run into the train car as Oscar tends to Dudley, who holds his bruised arm in pain. Qrow enters and approaches Dudley.
Qrow: "I said, turn those damn things off!" He picks up Dudley and shoves him into the wall.
Dudley: (groaning in pain) "Those things are keeping us alive!"
Qrow: "Us, sure, but they're putting the passengers in danger!"
Dudley: "I'm the one they hired for this job, okay?! I'm in charge here!"
Qrow: "Forgive me if I'm not exactly reassured."
While the two argue, Ruby looks out the window and notices the Manticores enter the tunnel, continuing their pursuit of the train. She then looks behind her friends at the passengers, a baby can be heard crying as passengers murmur among themselves. Ruby then walks forward to her uncle and Dudley.
Dudley: "Get off me!"
Qrow: "Look, if you bozos had been doing your job instead of shaking down passengers, maybe we wouldn't be in this--"
Ruby stops her uncle and walks up to Dudley.
Ruby: "Please just shut off the turrets."
Jaune: "Trust us, we know what we're doing."
Jaune activates his Semblance to heal Dudley's arm. Dudley looks to the students before giving his answer.
Dudley: "Fine." Ruby nods at him.
Nora: "Ren, could you use your Semblance to mask everyone on this train? With the guns off and emotions hidden, they might lose track of us!"
Ren: "Hm, I never attempted to affect this many people."
Ruby: "Well, you've never had Jaune's help before."
Weiss: "He could amplify your Aura!"
Qrow: "Yeah, that's an alright plan."
Nora: "Don't look so worried, Ren. You can totally do this!"
Ozpin: (mentally) 'May I?'
Oscar's eyes glow as Ozpin takes over.
Ozpin: "I'm afraid there's one complication... The Grimm are also attracted to this." He gestures to the Relic of Knowledge on his hip.
Dudley: "What's that?"
Qrow: "None of your business. Oz, are you serious?"
Yang: "Why wouldn't you tell us that?!"
Ozpin: "I--"
Ruby: "It doesn't matter right now."
Yang crosses her arms. Azure walks up next to Ruby.
Azure: "She's right, every second we're on board this train, we're putting everyone else in danger. We need to get the passengers to the front cars, Ren will mask the emotions and Dudley will kill the turrets... We just can't come with you."
Ruby: "If we cut the back cars with us and the Relic on them, we can deal with the Grimm. You just make sure the rest of the train makes it safely to Argus."
Upon hearing this, Jaune finishes up healing Dudley's arm and walks over to Ruby and Azure with a conflicted expression.
Jaune: "Only if you'll promise you'll meet us there."
Ruby: (smiling) "Promise."
Azure: "We promise, Jaune."
With that, Team JNR begins evacuating all of the passengers to the front half of the train. The elderly woman from earlier is seen walking, taking a look behind her.
Outside, the turrets are shut off. Blake jumps down and decouples the train, allowing the front half to continue forward. When she looks up, she notices a hooded figure resembling Adam in front of her on the next train car. Blake prepares for a fight, but then realizes that no one is there and it was just her imagination. Blake sighs before jumping back up to the top of the train. Ruby is seen a few train cars down looking at her scroll, which shows portraits of her teammates and Nora, the latter's signal low compared to the rest. Ruby looks back up and notices the Manticores and Sphinx exiting the tunnel and taking flight once again. The Sphinx lands on the train.
Ruby: "Now!"
Nora gets Ruby's message and gives the okay to Jaune and Ren. The two boys combine their Semblances, with Jaune enhancing Ren's Aura to the point where the entire front half of the train is grayed out by Ren's Semblance. Oscar watches the train as it disappears into the snowstorm, before being attacked by a Manticore. He manages to fend it off temporarily while team RWBY and AVRN take out several Manticores one by one. Ruby notices Oscar's struggle and takes advantage of Weiss taking one down in order to send it crashing into Oscar's Manticore. Meanwhile, Qrow is seen struggling against the Sphinx. Ruby notices this and she and her team go to assist him.
Ruby: "We need to ground it!"
Blake: "On it! Yang!"
Azure: "You guys deal with the Sphinx. We'll keep the others occupied!" He shouts at them as he and his team handle the Manticores flying above them.
Yang takes out a Manticore before launching off it and runs towards the Sphinx, ducking under it. Blake spins her weapon, with Yang punching it back and forth, the ribbon wrapping around the Sphinx's torso. Yang punches Gambol Shroud one more time, embedding the blade to the train's roof, and she and Blake pull the ribbon together, keeping the Sphinx down. Weiss uses her Glyphs to freeze the Sphinx's wings, with Qrow and Ruby shooting at them, shattering them. The uncle and niece ready their scythes as the Sphinx prepares to launch one more fireball. Qrow and Ruby launch forward, spinning their scythes together rapidly as they bisect the Sphinx's torso, finishing it off for good. Before it dies however, the Sphinx launches the fireball, destroying the rails in front of the train. Weiss activates her black Glyphs to hold everyone in place as the train derails and crashes into the snow.
The back half of the Argus Limited is completely derailed, with the train cars crashed in the snow. Qrow, Oscar, Team RWBY and Team AVRN all get back up.
Qrow: "Is everyone okay?"
Weiss: "I'm fine."
Rosa: "I'm good."
Blake: "Yeah."
Vert: "Same here."
Then, an unfamiliar voice is heard.
???: "Still alive!"
Everyone looks up and notices the elderly woman stepping out from the train.
Woman: "That sure was a close one, huh?"
Azure saw who it was and was surprised and happy to see her again.
Azure: "Grandma!" He ran towards the woman and kneeled down to hug her. "Oh, it's nice to see you again."
Grandma: "It's good to see you too, mijo." She smiled and hugged Azure back.
While they were having their reunion, the others were confused by this.
Rosa: "Uh, Azure. Who is she?"
Azure lets go from his grandma and stands back up, turning around to face the group. He clears his throat and gestures his hand to his grandma.
Azure: "Everyone, this is Maria Calavera, my grandma! She taught me some stuff when I was traveling through Mistral with her and my uncle."
Maria: "It's nice to meet you all."
After everyone was introduced to Maria, they searched for things they can salvage in the snow. Ruby scours through the train wreckage and picks up Dust bullets, before looking to see the Relic of Knowledge slightly buried in the snow nearby. Yang can be heard complaining as she struggles to get Bumblebee out of the snow.
Yang: "Great! This is just great! We're stranded, we lost a fourth of our party, and we've gained Azure's defenseless grandma!"
With one final heave, Yang manages to extricate Bumblebee, but falls over to the ground, with her motorcycle following suit as she's partially covered in snow.
Azure: "I wouldn't exactly call her defenseless, Yang."
Maria: "He's right, I'm not defenseless! I'm just a little hard of hearing. And blind without my eyes, that are in desperate need of repair." She taps on her prosthetics, which open wide and close, before opening narrowly again. "Okay, I'm starting to see your point."
Qrow: (grunts) "Yang, knock it off, will ya? If we lose our cool now, we'll just be inviting even more Grimm."
Nero: "And that would be troublesome."
Blake: "Does that even matter? Apparently, we've been attracting Grimm ever since we left Haven."
Yang: "Oh, and how could I forget about that?" She turns to Oscar. "What happened to no more lies and half truths?"
Oscar: "Yeah, I think it's time we got an explanation..."
Oscar's eyes glow as control of his body is switched to Ozpin, who furrows his brow at Yang's accusations.
Ozpin: "I did not lie to you..."
Weiss: "Well you certainly didn't tell us everything about the Relic."
Ozpin: "Please, now is not the time."
Yang: "No, we're past that! I wanna know why you're still not telling us everything!"
Rosa: "We need some answers, Ozpin!"
Ozpin: "It is true that the Grimm are attracted to the Relics. It's faint, but undeniable. I believe it has to do with their origin, but I'm not entirely sure. Regardless, I feared that making you all aware would only add anxiety and negativity. It seemed like the safer option."
Weiss: "You know, I'm getting real tired of people choosing what's best for me."
Yang: "Is that why you chose to lie to everyone about Lionheart too?"
Ozpin: "Yes, as a matter of fact, I believed the Kingdom of Mistral deserved better than the truth. And I believed Leonardo deserved to be remembered for his lifetime of service, and not for the unfortunate missteps he made in his final years."
Yang: "Missteps?!"
Vert: "He was a coward who was working for Salem."
Ozpin: "What Professor Lionheart did was reprehensible. I am not here to argue differently, but does one lapse in judgment truly negate all of his good? Do we not all have regrets? You may have met Professor Lionheart, but you never met the man he was before Salem found him."
Yang: "Look, we're supposed to be in this together. You can trust us! We're not gonna turn our backs on you."
Ozpin: "Do you really think Leo was the first?!"
Everyone stopped when he raised his voice.
Ozpin: "That he didn't say those exact same words to me? I'm sorry, but you have to understand that my behaviors are backed by experience. I'm not saying that I have reason to think you will betray me. I'm saying that I have reasons for the things that I do, the secrets I keep, the reason I... Where's the Relic?"
Ruby: "Right here." She holds it in her hands. "It got scattered in the crash."
Ozpin: "Please, hand it over."
Ozpin reaches his hand out, but Ruby hesitates. Azure and Nero quickly get in front of her, holding their swords out defensively.
Ruby: "So all those times you talked about having faith in humanity, that was just for everyone else?"
Ozpin: (sighs) "That's not what I meant to suggest. Miss Rose, the Relic is a powerful item and I simply feel as though it is my burden to bear."
Azure: "But, you said it couldn't do anything right now."
Nero: "Why does it matter who carries it?"
Ozpin: "I need you all to listen to me--" He reaches his hand out, but suddenly is stopped, stuck in his position.
Qrow: "Oz?"
Oscar: "Hurry... he's... trying to stop you!" Oscar is fighting back for control of his body.
Yang: "Stop her from what?"
Oscar: "He's afraid... you'll find out what he's... hiding!"
Oscar suddenly collapses, Yang, Weiss, Blake, Vert and Rosa glare at the boy with intense looks while Ruby holds the Relic of Knowledge defensively. Azure and Nero continue to stand in front of Ruby defensively.
Oscar: "Her name is Jinn. Say her name to summon her."
Ruby: "Her name?"
The wind picks up much more gradually, blowing snow even harder. The Relic starts to glow in Ruby's hands.
Ruby: "Jinn?"
Suddenly, the snow stops, floating in midair. The wind stops blowing too.
Qrow: "What?"
Ruby then lets go of the Relic as it floats a short distance away, cyan smoke emanates from it. Suddenly, the lamp is enveloped in the smoke, and from it, a giant feminine figure emerges. Her skin and hair is colored blue, and decorated with gold jewelry and ornaments. The figure stretches and moans as she has been awakened once again. This is Jinn, the aforementioned being inhabiting the Relic of Knowledge.
Jinn: "Wonderful."
Everyone stares in awe at Jinn.
Jinn: "Tell me, what knowledge do you seek?"
Maria adjusts her goggles to get a better look at what's in front of her.
Jinn: "I am Jinn, a being created by the God of Light to aid humanity in its pursuit of knowledge. I've been graced with the ability to answer three questions every one hundred years. You're in luck, as I am still able to answer--"
Ozpin: "That's enough!"
Everyone looks to Ozpin, who managed to regain control over Oscar's body.
Jinn: "...two questions this era."
Everyone is shocked, despite Ozpin telling them that the Relic won't work for them beforehand.
Jinn: (chuckles) "It's a pleasure to see you again, old man."
Ozpin: "Ruby, please... Don't."
Qrow glances to Ozpin, and steps forward.
Qrow: "Hey."
Suddenly, Yang, Weiss, Blake, Vert and Rosa get defensive at Qrow. Ruby, Azure and Nero stare in disbelief.
Qrow: (relenting) "Do whatever you think is right, kiddo."
Ruby ponders her question.
Ruby: "Jinn?" She turns around to face Jinn, who has a curious look on her face, while Ozpin grits his teeth in anger. Azure and Nero see this and get ready to stop him if he tries to interrupt Ruby.
Ruby: "What is Ozpin hiding from us?"
Ozpin: "NOOOOOOO!!"
Ruby gasps and looks behind her. Ozpin lunges forward and is intercepted by Nero while Azure holds Ruby, but suddenly, Ruby finds herself alone with Azure in a blank white space.
Ruby: "What? Azure?" She looks at him, then he lets her go as she looks all around for her teammates. "Weiss? Yang?" Azure does the same for his teammates.
Azure: "Nero? Vert? Rosa? You guys in here?"
Ruby and Azure go off screen, Yang and Rosa come from their position.
Yang: "Blake? Ruby?"
Rosa: "Vert? Azure?"
Yang and Rosa go off screen, and then Weiss and Vert appear, also calling out for their team leaders.
Weiss: "Ruby? Ruby?"
Vert: "Rosa? Azure?"
Weiss and Vert go off screen, and Blake and Nero then appear.
Blake: "Yang?"
Nero: "Azure? Vert? Rosa?"
Suddenly, an environment manifests, showing a path leading to a castle in the distance. A woman humming can be heard in the background.
Jinn: (narrating) "Once upon a time, there stood a lonely tower..."
Smoke envelops Blake and Nero, and Qrow appears where they were. He looks behind him.
Jinn: "...that sheltered a lonely girl."
A woman sitting in front of a mirror then appears. Ruby and Azure are seen walking up to her.
Jinn: "Named... Salem."
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That is the end of the first part of Volume 6. We reunited with our grandma Maria and we summoned the big blue lady to answer our question. We'll pick this back up next chapter.