In fact, Weiss wasn't sure what she thought when Winter showed her the current Maiden, Fria.

She was very frail and old.

Winter said she was the only one allowed to see her.

Weiss put it together. [Again, duh. Who was surprised by that? Qrow? Are you in there?]

Weiss asked Winter if it bothered her that her destiny was chosen for her in this manner.

Winter said at first, but then she began to see it as a privilege to be able to serve her country. That she chose it herself, now, because of that.

Weiss wasn't sure what to think about it.

* * *

The day following this, Ruby, Penny, and Qrow were all going with half of the Ace Ops to deliver dust to Amity Tower's reconstruction site--and they still weren't sure why they needed such heavy security to do what Ruby considered to be such a boring job.

While they were gone, the others had smaller missions, like patrol or training, etc.

Pyrrha opted to train with Oscar. She didn't expect Weiss to join them.

"Uh...Pyrrha," she said, after a few rounds of half-hearted sparring that made Pyrrha feel kind of bored, "can we talk for a second? Privately."

"Sure..." Pyrrha couldn't imagine what Weiss would want to talk to her about.

Oscar wasn't sure why they went off to a different corner of the room, but he was rather awkwardly left alone.

The DJs were doing something else, they'd said studying and worship--he wasn't sure what that meant.

"What is it?" Pyrrha asked Weiss.

"I...have kind of a personal question." Weiss found this pretty uncomfortable now that it came to the point. "And don't take this the wrong way, all right...? But you were supposed to be the new Fall Maiden, right?"

"Yes..." Pyrrha felt a chill run down her spine. She shivered a bit.

"Right... Can I ask, would you...uh, make that choice again, knowing what we know now?" Weiss asked.

Pyrrha looked her right in the eye. "No," she said. "Not now. Not for that reason, certainly."

"Oh..." Weiss looked down. "Mind if I ask why?"

"Because we don't know if it will work," Pyrrha said. "I know that we must keep the powers away from Salem...but I wouldn't try to take them this time. If they came to me by accident, I suppose I would...learn to deal with that. But not at the expense of hurting someone else. That was wrong. Did you know that part?"

"No... Uh...what part?" Weiss said.

Pyrrha covered her eyes for a moment. "There were these...machines the General had invented. To try to take the soul out of the Maiden and put it into my body...without being sure of the consequences...what it would do to either of us. Now, it looks as though it might do what it's doing to Oscar--or perhaps something worse...or more instantaneous. I'm glad, looking back, that it didn't happen, though I'm not glad that Cinder has the powers. If there was some other way... But there's no use living in the past now. She just must be stopped."

Weiss hardly heard that part, she was too hung up for the first part.

"Did you say machines...? What did they look like?" she asked.

"Like these...big, metal coffins, as grotesque as that sounds," Pyrrha said, "with tubes running out of them, glass doors. Why?..." She frowned. "Weiss, did you...see something like that here?"

"I...I don't know." Weiss was not a very good liar. "I just...I was just thinking that I couldn't imagine the General doing that."

"Me neither, but it was his invention," Pyrrha said. "I had hoped it was the only one, because of the special circumstances...but I can see from your face that it's not. You saw some...didn't you?"

"I...can't be sure they were the same thing," Weiss hedged. "But if they were..."

"Then if the Winter Maiden does not...willingly pass her powers on to Winter, does that mean that...?" Pyrrha's eyes widened.

"How did you know that?" Weiss took a step back.

"It wasn't that hard to guess..." Pyrrha said. "I'm...sure I'm not the only one who suspected Winter was the next in line. Even if her name makes it almost seem a little odd..."

"Winter is fine with inheriting the powers." Weiss lowered her voice. "And I thought I was okay with it... I mean, who can I trust more than my sister to use them responsibly? But...I'm not okay with it if it means she's...not going to be the same person anymore. What if that's what happens?"

"We don't know for sure..." Pyrrha felt sick thinking about it.

"But if she ends up like Oscar!?" Weiss hissed. "One person like that is bad enough! I can't handle two! Not if it's my sister! Or...she could just be gone! Is that even worse?"

"I can't say which is worse," Pyrrha said. "Does she know that she runs that risk?"

"I don't know!" Weiss said. "I don't know what the General would have told her about it. He warned you, right?"

"Ozpin did... I'm actually not sure if Ironwood would have or not." Pyrrha hoped so, but she had a terrible feeling that Winter Schnee was not one to make this decision so lightly if she knew this part.

"What do we do?" Weiss asked.

"Do? Weiss, you have to tell her," Pyrrha said.

"If I told her that, she'd want to know how I knew that," Weiss said. "I'm... She's never listened to me. And...if we didn't explain the parts we haven't told them, do you think she'd care? She'd say it's just us guessing..."

"Weiss, don't you want to stop your sister from doing this?" Pyrrha couldn't understand the hesitation.

"I do, but Winter has always made her own choices, and she's never listened to me," Weiss said. "I mean, I never tried to tell her to do anything before...and when I asked, she seemed pretty sure... I just don't know. If we try to talk her out of it and if the General finds out, he's going to be furious, and she could get in trouble for telling me about it. But if we don't, it could be any day now. But maybe it'll just happen naturally--"

"Slow down, Weiss," Pyrrha said. "I know what to do. I'm going to go ask Shine and Wally."

"Them?! Why them?" Weiss said warily.

"Because they already guessed Winter is the new Maiden," Pyrrha said. "And it can't hurt to tell them what's going on. They know about these things. I'm sure they'll have perspective on what we can do... I for one am not sure if we have the right to stop Winter, but I'm even less sure we have the right to withhold this information from her."

"Okay, fine," Weiss said. "But I don't want them to talk to Winter about it. Not if I can... I mean, it should be me, right?"

"Let's just...discuss it," Pyrrha said. "And let's include Oscar in this, please... He of all people would know."

"Yeah, and so would Ozpin, so no deal." Weiss frowned.

"But, Weiss, Oscar's opinion has more weight because of that," Pyrrha urged. "Please..."

"Well...if Ozpin doesn't get involved..." Weiss said. "But if I see any sign that he is, farm boy is out."

Pyrrha supposed, for Weiss, this was a compromise.

* * *

"Okay, slow down," Wally said about 30 minutes later when they were all in one of the empty study rooms not currently in use.

It had taken half of that 30 minutes to round him, Shine, and Oscar all up, and Weiss had been greatly annoyed by how Wally would run off to find someone else and then not come back for several minutes.

But finally they'd filled them in, with numerous interruptions from Oscar because he was confused about how Weiss knew the parts she wasn't there for with Pyrrha.

"So this is the plan, or is it the worst case scenario fail safe?" Shine asked.

"Winter didn't say," Weiss said. "The thing is, I'm not sure she knows if there's a difference..."

"I can't picture Winter agreeing to do that unless she thought it was the only choice," Shine said.

"What do we do?" Pyrrha asked. "We cannot let her do that."

"Let her? Aren't you worried about Fria?" Shine said. 

"Yeah, how about the part where someone wants to kill an innocent old lady in this weird, creepy, science-y way," Wally shuddered. "That's so messed up."

"I guess the General doesn't think of it that way," Weiss said. "I mean...she's going to die anyway."

The look of utter scorn she got from Shine when she said that made her skin crawl.

"Isn't it still wrong?" Oscar said, looking nervous. "Even if she's old, she's still a person."

Pyrrha gaped at Weiss.

"What?" Weiss got defensive.  "What are you all looking at me like that for?"

"I wasn't," Wally said. "But that was kind of cold."

"Cold? But...she's... Isn't that what maidens are supposed to do?" Weiss said.

"Die?" Shine said, in a chilling voice.

Weiss wasn't sure why she was starting to feel like she should be bowing and then standing up straight--until she realized Shine sounded exactly like Winter did when she was disappointed in you.

"Well...that's the way it works..." she said nervously.

"Yeah, thanks, Ozpin." Shine turned to look at him.

Oscar squirmed. "I know you're not looking at me, but that's still kind of intimidating..."

"Honey, I think you're scaring the kids," Wally said.

"Sorry." Shine rubbed her face. "Few things anger me more than attacking innocent people for selfish reasons."

"Yeah, same," Wally said. "Still, she's just saying what she's been taught to say...which sucks."

"Hey, I am not!" Weiss said. "I think for myself!"

"In that case, I don't know what your excuse is," Wally said, rather easily, considering it was kind of a burn.

"I love the part where no one cares about anyone else's life unless it's someone they know," Shine said, with killing sarcasm.

"I do care!" Weiss stood up. "I just think that, either way, we're just waiting for her to die, so I'm more concerned about Winter... I mean, it doesn't change anything for Fria, does it?"

"It could," Pyrrha said.

"And who says we're waiting for her to die? I think the whole thing is sick," Shine said. "Ozpin is the most short-sighted immortal being I've ever heard of. Other than those two idiot gods of yours. It's like a disease around here. Anyway, that aside, Fria has clearly done a good job of guarding her powers...or Ironwood has, so a fat lot of good it does anyone for her to have them. You know, if Ozpin wanted to keep those Relics safe, a magical key would have done a way better job and not had to steal people's lives on top of it. I'm not sure what good those Maidens do anyone locked away."

"Initially they weren't meant to be," Ozpin said inside Oscar's head.

"Oz?" Oscar thought at him. "You want to jump in here?"

"I didn't mean for you to hear that." Ozpin went radio silent abruptly.

His consciousness didn't seem as good at hiding since Shine had done what she did; Oscar was noticing his movements more often, but he didn't speak, not till now.

"Maybe they weren't meant to be locked up," Oscar spoke up.

"It's about the general idea," Pyrrha mused. "The point is, for both of them, this is a terrible idea. What if it ends up like Oscar?"

"You don't want that," Oscar said to Weiss. "Winter doesn't... This is the worst feeling."

Weiss glanced at him like she hadn't given his feelings much thought before, and looked sad. And scared. "The thing is, I think Winter would do it anyway. She won't care about herself."

"So you all found out." Qrow startled them suddenly by popping in the window.

"Ah!" Pyrrha hadn't seen him turn into a bird yet and had no clue how he got in. She jumped back and hit a table, falling onto the floor.

"Easy there, Carrot Top," Qrow said.

"Qrow, I thought you went with Ruby to the tower?" Shine said.

"Yeah, I came back early," Qrow said. "Ran into some trouble there. Wanted to ask Jimmy what's going on, but he's not in, of course." He cocked his head. "But I heard you talking. Guess it didn't take long to put together who the next Maiden would be."

"I thought you'd have guessed." Shine leaned on her hand. "But you knew as far back as the Fall of Beacon, didn't you? Even before that."

"I suspected for a while why Jimmy was keeping the Ice Queen so close," Qrow said.

"Ew..." Wally said. "That's messed up. You shouldn't be keeping someone close just so you can use them. I mean, doesn't she look up to him? Wasn't it kind of a slap in the face to find out that he just wanted her to be a holder for these magic powers?"

"And that he's willing to risk her life and safety and soul on this." Shine added.

"I doubt she sees it that way," Qrow said. "Those Atlas Elites are all so frustratingly loyal."

"Don't talk about her that way," Weiss said. "What's wrong with being loyal?"

"At the price of your own soul?" Shine said. "I see much wrong with that, Weiss."

Silence.

"Don't tell me you two are thinking about getting involved in this." Qrow narrowed his eyes at Shine and Wally. "You'll never talk Schnee out of this, trust me."

"Did you ever try?" Wally asked.

"Why would he? He didn't talk me out of it," Pyrrha said tightly.

Qrow cast her a sort of guilty look.

"Look, kid, I didn't know all the details back then," he said.

"Did you know Ozpin had two souls?" Pyrrha asked, still tightly.

"I..." Qrow trailed off.

That was a yes.

"And you didn't warn me?" The betrayal in Pyrrha's voice was heartbreaking...even if she was still angry behind it. "You knew what it would be like and you didn't say a d--- thing?"

No one could believe Pyrrha had just sworn in front of them.

Weiss looked like she'd been dashed with cold water.

Qrow winced.

"I...didn't know all of it. I didn't know how hard it was on the person," he said. "Oz mentioned it, but he just said that the other soul faded into his... We thought it was instant...or at least less difficult. I never knew anything like what the pipsqueak here is experiencing would drag out this long."

"Qrow," Shine said tersely, "that does not make it okay."

"Look, it was what we had to work with." Qrow got more defensive. "You're telling me you would have done any different?"

"Uh, yeah." Wally was actually kind of offended by the question. "I would have."

"The thought of shoving someone's soul into someone else's body would never have crossed my mind even once," Shine said, fiercely. "Nor should it. And someone should tell James that humans are not soul sardine tins that you can just treat as such. We are people! Individuals, made in the image of an all-powerful God, and He made us to be our own personalities, not to combine with anyone else."

She stood up, now all worked up. "Perhaps it's not all your fault, but standing there and making excuses about it is not improving anyone's opinion of your actions. As for Winter, we owe it to her to at least try. She's Weiss's sister, for the love of all things holy. Does that mean nothing to you, Qrow?"

Qrow looked like she'd stabbed him.

He looked down then.

"Look...do what you have to," he said in a low voice. "Just don't be surprised if it doesn't work out. That woman is easily one of the most stubborn people I've ever met. And Jimmy can be pretty persuasive... They won't trust us easy, and you two didn't ingratiate yourselves very highly to the Ice 🧊 Queen either."

Pyrrha shook her head at him. "Maybe she'd listen to me," she said.

"I wouldn't count on it," Qrow said.

"It seems you wouldn't count on much." Pyrrha was still angry at him. "Now that Ozpin is not here."

Qrow looked up at her. "Look, kid--"

"Don't," Pyrrha said. "I'm tired of hearing that this was all you all knew to do... Did you even try to find another way? There was so much even you held back on, Qrow, and it was not fair..."

She hugged her sides.

"What exactly did you not tell her?" Weiss was wary.

"I thought we told her all she needed to know," Qrow said. "It was never fair...but it wasn't fair to any of us. But we thought we were protecting the world."

"A little tip," Shine said, "don't sacrifice other people to do something. Geez, why didn't Glynda just take the powers?"

"Oz didn't want the headmaster's to have them," Qrow said. "Too many targets."

"But young girls are better?" Shine said. "Qrow, do you hear yourself? At what point was this okay? What if it had been one of your nieces? Would you have allowed this?"

"I..." Qrow hesitated.

Pyrrha looked like she might cry, but she wouldn't do so in front of Qrow. 

"Well, I suppose I can't expect it to be the same. I'm a complete stranger," she said, with forced dignity. "We should talk to Winter--as soon as possible... We have no idea when we may run out of time."

"Right," Weiss said. "Well...knowing all this, I think we should hurry." She shot Qrow a reproachful glance.

They left the room.

Qrow shook his head.

Oscar looked up. "Look, maybe it wasn't your fault exactly," he said. "I just think that, Pyrrha, she might feel better if you told her it was wrong and that you were sorry."

"It wouldn't change anything," Qrow said. "Sounds like a pathetic excuse now."

"It's the only fair thing you could do," Shine said, firmly. "Oscar is entirely right, as usual--the childlike approach is the wisest. If you do something wrong, you apologize. It's not about excuses. If you think you were wrong now, then tell her. You can't earn back these kids' respect by denying your actions, Qrow."

"Who cares?" Qrow said.

"Dude." Wally shook his head. "Really?"

"Well, Qrow, you may not care what people think of you," Shine said, folding her arms, "but given that it's between you and Ironwood and Winter for the adult figures around here that these kids will be stuck looking to for guidance, and we know what Atlas is like already, I'd think you'd see that you need to be there for them."

"Look, you've been saying it yourselves--I've done nothing but make bad decisions," Qrow said. "I was duped just like everyone else. These kids were smarter than me! They aren't going to care what I think, and I really wouldn't expect them to. You two seem to have ideas of your own--why do you need to lecture me on what I should be doing?"

Wally winced. "But...we're not their family."

Shine softened a little and nodded at him. "He's right, Qrow... We're not insensible of the fact that you've been putting your life on the line for these kids for weeks. We haven't done that. I'm sure we would, if necessary, but they haven't seen that from us. They trust you more. That's nothing to take lightly. It's not a great thing we're asking of you...just to acknowledge what went wrong. That's all we could ask of any man, or woman, to do. There's no way to atone for it, because these things are too complex to be easily fixed. But that's at least a start. Besides...Pyrrha died for that cause, like so many others, only because you all put her in that position--and we all know it, the kids as much as us. If they already forgave you for that, then, could it hurt to try to show you wanted that forgiveness?"

Qrow shook his head.

"Well, your nieces love you," Shine said quietly. "And if the others were smart, they'd realize that it's better to trust someone who at least knows they don't have all the answers than someone who's trying to make them up by sheer force. Do not tell me you do not see exactly where this is going. I used to think you were the only one who saw as many problems with Atlas as I did."

Oscar wasn't missing a beat of this, though he was wisely staying quiet.

"Once, but it seems like it's past time to care. We need protection," Qrow said. "And what do you care? I can't find out why you two are even here. Why does it concern you? Why do you care about a bunch of random kids?"

"I find it heartbreaking that that is the strange thing," Shine said. "If we were trying to exploit you, you might welcome us with open arms. As you certainly have welcomed Ironwood."

Qrow shot her a wary look. "Jimmy's not all bad."

"What happened to 'if I were in your army, I'd shoot myself'?" Wally said. "That was a funny line... Also kind of see why you might feel that way--but now it's like you're begging him to make the tough choices for you. What happened, man?"

"How did you know that? That was in a private meeting," Qrow said.

"One of my mentors said, 'There are no private affairs'," [The Great Divorce] Shine said. "And my Lord said that 'Whatever you have spoken in the dark will be heard in the light, and what you have spoken in the ear in inner rooms will be proclaimed on the housetops.' " [Luke 12:3]

"Beats me why you two expect us to trust you when you spout off this stuff and tell us nothing about yourselves," Qrow said.

"The difference is," Shine said, "we have not asked anyone to risk their lives for us, so we can keep our private affairs, but when they start to demand people give their lives for what they do not know, that's when it becomes a bit of an issue."

Pause.

"The fact is, there's nothing we can do about it," Qrow said. "Atlas is still the safest place for the Lamp."

"And you don't think that two Relics will provoke Salem to bring her attacks here?" Shine said.

"It'd be hard to do that," Qrow said.

"It would be so easy." Shine shook her head. "I don't understand how you can think it's not inevitable. Does Salem care about fair? And you don't know where the Spring Maiden is either. Something you neglected to tell Ironwood. I know you're trying to pretend these loose threads will not come back to bite you, but they will."

"For all we know, Spring is dead," Qrow said. "Power could have gone to anyone."

"But I thought--" Wally began.

Shine elbowed him. "Not for us to say," she said quietly.

"You know?" Qrow said.

"Clearly you don't care," Shine said, "so why does it matter?"

"If you know, then we could actually do something about it," Qrow said.

"Well, sadly it's not for us to say," Shine said. 

"Don't give me that bulls--- after what you were just saying," Qrow said.

"This is not about you, Qrow," Shine said. "However, I do have a proposal for you. I'm tired of doing nothing and just waiting for things to happen. And, Wally, I suspect this is the time to mention it also. I don't think we should just be sitting around Atlas, waiting for disaster to strike."

"What do you mean?" Oscar asked.

"I can go places you can't go, easily," Shine said. "It's time to think about this. If you are willing to trust us, I can get you back in touch with your allies in Beacon and Haven... If and when Atlas gets in trouble, you're going to need them."

"How could you do that?" Qrow asked.

Shine raised an eyebrow. "Did you forget already?"

"And why would I trust you two newbies to do something that important?" Qrow said.

"Counterpoint: you trusted Ironwood, and he already had a track record of not listening to you or Ozpin," Shine said.

"We didn't trust him completely," Qrow said.

"No... You make no sense to me. You won't give the guy vital information on your enemy that he might need, because that would be too much, but you will give him free control over your time and talents and do his pet projects for him without a second thought because, somehow, that is far safer," Shine said. "You used to be smarter than this, Qrow."

"I'm not in charge of the team," Qrow said.

"I just don't get why you're letting the teenager lead," Wally said. "I mean, they're cool kids, but they have, like, 1 year of experience. My League would never let them be team leader with that."

"Well, we aren't your team, Speedy," Qrow said. "This is a bad situation, and you two aren't helping it. We never asked for your help."

"It's just like He said," Shine said to Wally. "We come in our Father's name, and you don't receive us. If someone else comes in his own name, him you will receive. We asked nothing for ourselves from you people, only that we be allowed to help you and do our jobs, and we're met with suspicion and insults. Ozpin asks you from day one to serve his purpose and his alone, and Ironwood also, and you don't suspect that at all. What kind of backwards view is that?"

"Because it's honest," Qrow snapped. "Everyone wants other people to serve their own needs--at least they admit it. Whatever it is you're talking about, it's just some watery way of disguising what you want."

"And are you serving yourself also, Qrow?" Shine somehow didn't get offended at that, though Oscar would have. "What are you getting out of this?"

Qrow paused. "That's not important."

"So only you can be unselfish?" Wally said. "Geez... What did we ever do to you guys?"

"I think they'd feel better if we had done something," Shine said. "But even so, think about it, Qrow. I could find the Spring Maiden for you also. But I won't do it for nothing... I think you need to make things right with Pyrrha and Oscar."

She nodded at Oscar, who had thought he'd been forgotten about.

"I suppose we should talk to Winter now," Shine said. "Even if she won't listen, someone should try. The girls are right about that."

"What happened at the dust mines though?" Wally remembered suddenly. "You said you came back."

"Had a run-in with this band of thieves," Qrow said. "I guess one of them is running for city council also."

"Robyn Hill?" Shine paused in the doorway.

"How did you know?" Qrow asked.

"We've seen her around," Wally said. "I mean, she is running for the government... She tried to snitch the dust?"

"Yeah, but Nuts-And-Bolts stopped it," Qrow said. "Still, I can't figure out how she's running for council if she's a known criminal. Maybe Jimmy can explain."

"While he's at it, he can explain how him holding two seats on the council is at all fair," Shine said. "And why, as only a General and Councilman, he has the power to put an entire city under strict surveillance without anyone else's input except those spineless cowards. Oh, and let's not forget sneaking a robot into a Vytal Festival against real people without that being considered cheating."

"What's your point?" Qrow said.

"Justice in Remnant is fricked," Shine said.

Qrow finally laughed, bitterly. "Well, you got that right."

"So did Robyn catch on that this is about the tower?" Oscar asked. "I thought that was secret."

"It is. She doesn't know, just thinks that the whole thing is fishy," Qrow said, "delivering dust to an empty, deserted area."

"Talk about your rust and dust facade," Wally joked. "Get it? Because it's dust, and you guys are lying about it..."

"Why can't she know? Isn't it a good idea to get communication back up?" Shine said. "It could only help Mantle to do so. Seems she'd probably back off if you told her--not that you should have to to stop her stealing from you. Way to ensure your trust in her."

"Yeah, does she seem like the most reasonable person?" Qrow said. "There's probably a reason she's not in the loop. Anyway, it's not any of your concern."

"Whatever," Wally said.

They left.

"If they're offering to help us..." Oscar said.

"Don't buy it, kid. Help always comes at a price," Qrow said.

"I wish it always came at the price of just admitting to someone that you were wrong," Oscar said, quite seriously.

Then he left too.

[Dang, Oscar is so savage, I love it.

And, boy, was it weird to see Pyrrha of all people get angry like that, but I think she's earned it.]