The rest of the break turned out to be quite the awkward affair.

  Ozpin had apparently said some cryptic things to Ren when his teammate reported to him about the situation, his family was understandably tense after one of them had been turned into a hostage, everyone in Mnemosyne gave them odd looks when they ventured out of the house, and, well…

  Jaune had been a little bit evasive when it came to answering questions about why Emerald had targeted Zinnia, or at least his family in general, and his team had backed him up on that. It wasn’t that he didn’t trust his father, more… well, his family worried about him enough as it was, didn’t they? And on top of that, how would they even begin to explain things without coming off as crazy? “You see, Emerald thinks that Second has some form of precognition and that I apparently used it to get her boss slash love interest behind bars, but in reality my semblance has viewed a variety of possible futures for Remnant through fictional media in his home world, which while theoretically capable of replicating the results of precognition, has ended up as more of a demonstration of chaos theory.”

  Not something any of them were quite willing to share with his dad or any other family members for that matter. It was hard enough to believe among themselves, and they’d seen it all thanks to Jinn.

  His dad believing the story might even be worse, sending him down the spiral of knowing that the person most involved in pulling levers to change fate lately was someone who viewed them as characters…

  Though… time and the conversation with Kiara at the bookstore were starting to wear down his stance on that… It might not be the same as when Second was… well, before he’d become Jaune’s semblance, but his blue doppelganger had quite literally taken bullets for his sister. That… it had to count for something, even if it felt a bit bitter to admit that just in his own mind.

  “Pay attention to me!” Aurelia demanded, bringing his mind out of the clouds and to the task at hand.

  Styling his sister’s hair.

  It had been a while since he’d last done something like this, but growing up as the only brother in a household with so many sisters meant that he had turned out to be a man of many talents. He was a dance partner, a dress up doll, a canvas for experimentation with makeup, and a hair stylist, among many other things.

  “I am paying attention to you, Aurelia.” His youngest sister had demanded some one on one time with him during the last day in Mnemosyne, and he’d obliged her, much like he had his other sisters throughout the break. The rest of them were being regaled with family friendly versions of tales of their time at Beacon by his team… though he really hoped that Nora didn’t give them too much embarrassing stuff to tease him with…

  She made a disgruntled noise in response, clearly not satisfied with either his answer or how much attention she was getting. Probably both, now that he thought about it.

  “...do you really have to leave?” She eventually spoke up once more, barely louder than a whisper. He couldn’t see the expression on her face while working on her hair like this, but he had a feeling it wasn’t a very nice one.

  “I do. This was just a break from school.” He tried to keep his tone gentle.

  “You’re going to run away from us again…”

  Jaune sighed. “Aurelia, I’m not running away. You can have mom call me, and I’ll try to answer as quickly as I can. But I have to go. You don’t skip school just to spend time with Citrine and Clementine, do you?”

  “...but what if someone comes for us again?”

  He could feel and see the tension in her body as she whispered that question. It shouldn’t be too surprising that she felt that way, given her age, but it broke his heart all the same.

  “Well… that’s why dad is here. To protect you all. He’s already done it for a really long time, right?” She nodded. “If dad had been at the mall with us… things would have been a lot easier.” In part due to the man’s semblance, but also because of experience.

  The scene kept replaying in his head over and over. His little sister’s life being threatened. The lot of them unarmed and struggling to do anything. If Emerald hadn’t been in such a sorry state to begin with… he didn’t want to think about how things could have ended.

  They needed to rack up more experience as quickly as they could, so he wouldn't be put in that situation again.

  And to think, this was tame compared to some of the possible futures they’d been shown. At least everyone made it out alive and in one piece this time.

  “...but he wasn’t there,” Aurelia whispered. “You were. And you saved Zinnia, but…”

  “I know, Aurelia.” He paused in his hair styling to wrap his arms around her, trying to bring his little sister some level of comfort.

  Doctor Oobleck may want him and his friends to “stay kids” for a few more years, but seeing his sister like this?

  He wanted to make Cinder and Emerald and all of the rest of them pay.

  Ozpin frowned down into his cup of coffee as he considered recent events. While the progress made was certainly a boon, the costs associated with said progress were worrying to say the least.

  Cinder Fall had been brought in and the partial power of the Fall Maiden removed from her, but it had meant that the grimm managed to get on the streets of Vacuo. So much death and property damage couldn’t possibly be made up for by the capture of a single one of Salem’s agents. They had the consolation prize of Samantha reappearing, but that did little to take the sting out of a blow like that.

  You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.

  Emerald Sustrai had apparently been captured as well just the other day, but according to the report from Lie Ren the girl had managed to take one of Mr. Arc’s sisters as a hostage. Her ability to track the family down at all was beyond what he thought the girl capable of, which led him to suspect the involvement of others, likely Watts. And if the man had thought to send her on such a mission in that condition… it was most likely tying up loose ends or distracting them from who-knows-what, so it was hard to call her capture a victory at all.

  What would happen if this trend continued? Would Atlas fall down on Mantle in exchange for taking Watts out of the picture? Would what little peace the faunus held in Menagerie burn in exchange for the defeat of the violent branch of the White Fang? He didn’t feel he knew nearly enough about Hazel to venture a guess as to what the potential cost could be in his case.

  And that was thinking of the consequences of dealing with a human. When his wi- when Salem was brought down… how much of Remnant would still be standing?

  Assuming she could be brought down, that is.

  His mind drifted to the promise of the Brother Gods. With Samantha back in the picture, they could gather the relics with relative ease… but that would end in disaster, wouldn’t it?

  Remnant had no need for Gods. It hadn’t needed them all those years ago, and it didn’t need them now, even if he dearly wished for the curse on Salem and himself to be lifted.

  Perhaps… he needed to more seriously consider the outrageous “ends” that had faced Salem in those other realities, no matter how ridiculous they might be. Or maybe those rather violent ideas that James had proposed. Torturing her for eternity was by no means how he wanted things to end, but if it meant that humanity no longer had to suffer…

  There was, of course, a means of finding the best path. It would be the last opportunity for a question until they reset decades from the present, but as much as he wanted to have one at his disposal in the case of an emergency, he did not think that there would be much opportunity to use it if it wasn’t used soon. Unknown Gods and semblances from other worlds put a bit of a kink in his original plans for this century.

  Better to potentially misuse a question now than when Remnant was in ruins. He’d lived with that regret far too many times already.

  He called Glynda.

  She picked up with a frown. “Ozpin, I am busy enough at the moment, please do not add any more to my to-do list.”

  He responded with a dry laugh. “I was just going to ask you to send Mr. Torchwick to Bartholemew’s classroom.”

  She raised an eyebrow, but did not question the order. “...fine. But if he breaks or steals or whatever-other-mischief he can come up with, I’m not going to be held liable for it.”

  “Yes, yes, I know. Thank you, Glynda.”

  The suspicion on her face didn’t fade, but she hung up the call regardless.

  Setting his coffee down, he slowly wandered down the elevator and through the halls of Beacon, his cane clack, clack, clacking through the empty space. The school always felt a bit dead when the students were on break, and as chaotic as the children could be, he did miss their presence.

  Being alone like this reminded him a bit too much of the many times through history where he had failed.

  Knocking on Bart’s office door with his cane, he let himself in to find the man flipping through a mess of papers, looking like he hadn’t slept in days. “Lost yourself in some research?” he asked.

  Bart startled at the question. “Ah! Yes, um… you could say that.”

  “I’ll have to ask you to take a break from it.”

  It was only a short trip to the classroom from there, and he half-heartedly listened to Bart’s chattering the whole way there.

  “About time you showed up.” Roman rolled his eyes from the professor’s chair, his feet up on the desk.

  Perhaps Ozpin had been a bit too lost in his thoughts on the way here if they’d been beaten out.

  “Roman?” Bart asked, clearly confused that it was only the three of them present.

  Ozpin ignored them both as he walked up to the chalkboard, writing in big bold letters. “JINN’S FINAL QUESTION:”

  “Gentlemen, I’ve brought you here to discuss something of great importance.”

  Roman scoffed. “I can sort of see why you brought this nerd,” he pointed his thumb at Bart, “but why exactly am I here?”

  “Because while Jinn has, generally speaking, seen fit to follow the spirit of my questions rather than the letter, I am not sure that she will be so generous with the next one, especially given her wording after the last one.”

  Reminding him of his previous punishments and stating that she’d let the “clever” phrasing slide just this once didn’t inspire a lot of confidence.

  “Bart is here because he’s the most well versed staff member in pouring over legal documents, and you’re here because you’re the most well versed in twisting the meaning of such documents in unintended ways.”

  The ginger scoffed once more. “Little old me? Why, I’ll have you know that I’m a gentleman thief, I’d never stoop so low as to-”

  “I have read the files on you, Roman,” Ozpin interrupted him. “I’m well aware that you’ve evaded capture through slimy definitions and interpretations just as often as you’ve done it with a failed chase through the streets.”

  That shut him up.

  “So, with your skills combined, we’re going to figure out the best question to ask Jinn.” Turning towards the board once more, he continued. “First, however, we need to establish what we actually want to know.”

  The chalk scraped against the board as he wrote out a short list he already had in mind. “How to kill/defeat/stop Salem?” and “Can the God previously shown to us assist us?” making the top of the list.

  “Thoughts?”

  Bart hummed. “It could be beneficial to know more about exactly what sort of relationship there is between the Brothers and Second’s God. This could be considered a subsection of the second question, but all we currently know is the initial offer of bringing what is presumably Second’s soul to Remnant. Were further deals struck? Is there some degree of stewardship? It’s possible that the Brothers have moved on and the other God has, for lack of a better analogy, invoked a sort of squatter’s rights over our abandoned world.”

  “I’m not too sure about the wording on that first one either,” Roman added. “If the last failed attempt wasn’t down to you making the question about you, then asking about killing her might be pointless. And “defeat” and “stop” don’t have a very permanent meaning to them. Could very well be taken as “defeating” her in a single battle only for us to lose the war, or “stopping” her for all of a day before things go back to how they are now.”

  On and on they went, an immortal, a doctor, and a thief, doing what they could to craft the perfect question to stop the evil that plagued their world.

  March 15th marked the 2 year anniversary of me starting this story, and writing in general. Didn’t think I’d be doing it for so long, but thanks everyone for reading.

  With this chapter we’re also getting to the beginning of the end. I’m not sure how much longer the story will be, but with this I think it’s safe to say that we’re entering into the final major Arc of the story.

  Unrelated, but something that may interest you if you like my stuff: Sometime this week the first chapter in my first attempt at an original work is going to be made available for reading. If that sounds like something you may want to read, I highly encourage you to join the discord. It will eventually be uploaded here on RR, but I plan to build up a bit of a backlog before that happens.

  As always, feedback is appreciated. (If you’re actually looking for a response, discord is the place to be)