Salem, who was watching Beacon from one of her Seer--grimm, was surprised to see that the Spores had disappeared so quickly.

And even more so to see Oscar running around apparently putting a stop to them. What was the meaning of this?

Rather than being afraid, the people of Vale were actually following him and the others around in astonishment. The other grimm were leaving because the mood had lifted.

Salme threw a chair across the room.

Then she went to where she'd kept that stupid looking book and began to check over it.

Tyrian contacted her in the middle of doing this, to her great annoyance--but his message angered her further.

"She said what exactly?" she frowned at him.

"I knew it was nonsense, your grace," Tyrian said. "But that is what she said to tell you. And to fire me."

He didn't seem to think that was a weird thing to repeat.

Salem ignored that last part, but the idea of that woman throwing this God in her face--she'd been reading about him, and it was all nonsense, she was sure of it.

On the other hand, she knew better than to rule it out. But where was this God? Not here, surely. His little minions must be weak, or they would have done more damage in all this time. She could deal with them. Just as she did with Silver Eyed warriors. And all the foes the gods threw in her path.

"What will you do to her for this impudence?" Tyrian was angry.

"Why did you run?" Salem had a better question.

"I..." Tyrian looked oddly puzzled. "I don't exactly know...It was...strange."

It wasn't like him to hesitate ever...Salem didn't like it.

"Surely there was a reason," she said in tone that said punishment was imminent if it wasn't a good one.

"Perhaps she hypnotized me," Tyrian suggested. "She has a strange power about her. A horrible one. It messes with one's mind, till you almost see things that are not there. I could feel it grip me. I had to run or she would have turned me like the others! That's probably why they've gone with them."

"No," Salem said. "If I know them, it's their plan to get the relic...and they had better succeed."

If Cinder got this close and failed, Salem was going to do more than just burn her arm...which oddly she hadn't been able to reach in days but she assumed this was Shine's doing also, she had no idea that Victoria was capable of these things.

"How may I serve you?" Tyrian asked.

"For now, you need not do anything," Salem said. "I have a few more plans for those foolish huntsmen. Soon they will beg me for mercy--and then we will crush them."

Tyrian laughed in anticipation. 

Salem ignored him and cut off the connection.

No matter, she hadn't really expected him to be able to stop Likstar anyway. But she only had to wear her down. They were all mere mortals, unlike her, and they'd run out of strength, and then she would get the last two relics.

* * *

Cinder paced impatiently till the teens and Wally and Theo came back.

"It was incredible," Oscar said. "They all were just healed...mostly."

"I've never seen anything like it," Jaune said. But he frowned. "We were too late for a few."

Shine looked up. "Jaune, that's going to happen sometimes," she said gently. "Not every single person can be reached, but you stopped it. That's still a reason to be happy."

"I guess..." Jaune didn't look convinced.

"So no trouble here?" Theo asked, looking at Cinder pointedly.

"None," Pyrrha said.

"Let's just get this over with," Cinder said.

Glynda must have been told more about the plan while they were away, because she no longer argued.

"If Ozpin is all right with this, then I agree we shouldn't waste any time," she said. "I will prepare the elevator."

She walked toward the back.

"That will take a few minutes no doubt," Shine said. "Enough time to choose who will go to the vault."

"Why don't we just all go?" Yang said.

"That's not smart," Shine said. "The grimm are gone for now, but they'll be close, because Salem has been watching Beacon for months. No doubt she already knows what happened here. As soon as we take the relic out, they'll attack, so you need to watch for them, these kingdoms have suffered enough for this."

"I'll handle that," Ruby said. "I'm not going in the vault anyway."

"But wouldn't you be the best person?" Yang said. "If she...?" she jerked her head at Cinder.

"No," Ruby said somberly.

Cinder, while she would have liked to strike fear into Ruby's heart on her own, couldn't for the life of her understand why Ruby was suddenly nervous about her when nothing had really changed since a few days ago, when she'd seemed fine. Cinder had hardly spoken to her.

Watts also thought it was odd.

"I suppose I don't get to come," he said.

"Do you really want to?" Shine fixed him with a look.

Watts shrugged. "Not particularly. You girls have fun. But what will I do?"

"If you're good with tech," Theo said. "We could get a broadcast going to the city to let them know to expect a bit more grimm but not to panic. They'll listen to us after what the kid pulled."

"I really still don't get how you did that," Tai said.

"Because he is capable," Penny said cheerfully. "I will patrol the air, then, and alert you all if I see Grimm. They won't get close without going through me!"

"Should I stay or go?" Wally asked Shine.

"I think you should stay up here," Shine said. "Because if one of us isn't it might be difficult to counter Salem's tricks, since Oscar will go with me. Jaune you'd better stay up here in case they need medical assistance."

"Right, and Pyrrha and Neptune and Yang," Jaune said.

"Sure," Neptune said.

"Yeah, I'll stick with Ruby," Yang said.

"Actually, I'm going with Shine," Pyrrha said.

Jaune gave her a look. "No," he said.

"If you want to settle this," Shine hissed at him. "Please step outside of the room, I won't have Cinder overhearing you talking. Don't give her ammunition."

"Fine," Jaune took Pyrrha by the arm and led her into the outer room.

"Jaune, I already made up my mind," Pyrrha said. "I understand what Shine wants to accomplish with this, and I need to see it through. It's important to me."

"Pyrrha, this is one of those times where it's just wrong," Jaune said. "There is no way this is a good idea. I'm not kidding. Cinder's bad enough when she's around people she's indifferent to, but she wants you dead again. And you know you can't take her."

"I will not be alone this time," Pyrrha said. "And she may not wish to fight, she doesn't seem that anxious to fight now."

"You know we can't trust her not to do that," Jaune said. "I'm not going to let you do this. Not again."

He sounded near tears.

Pyrrha felt guilty. But she held up a hand to his shoulder. "Jaune--"

"Don't," Jaune stepped back. "Don't you even think about trying to distract me again. I let you go before, I shouldn't have."

"You didn't let me, I did it," Pyrrha said. "And it was wrong, and I'm sorry. I had hoped you knew I regretted it before."

"Just because you regretted it doesn't mean you won't do it again," Jaune said.

"If you can't forgive me, Jaune, I understand," Pyrrha said, frowning. "But, one thing is no different than before, I still want to be able to make my own choices."

"Is that really your choice?" Jaune said. "This is Shine's plan, and you're trying to be okay with this, just like before. Even if it's tearing you up inside. You always hide it when you're going through something. And just like with Ozpin, you're going here. Because you think you have to. But you don't have to do this."

"You knew I was going to want to help," Pyrrha said.

"I didn't want you to come!" Jaune said. "But she let you. I don't know what she was thinking. I thought she wanted to protect you, but maybe she's caught up too much in her own ideas, just like Ozpin."

"Jaune!" Pyrrha got angry. "Shine is not like him. She loves us. You know that. Don't make accusations like that just because you're upset. Blame me, but don't blame her. This is not her fight, you know, she's chosen to take it up. I just want to do that same thing. I've learned something watching them. It's not that we have to fight other people's battles, it's never that I had to do what Ozpin wanted--it's that we can choose to join people in their fights. They joined our fight, freely, Oscar has joined Ozpin's fight, and I want to do this because it's not my problem. Because that's what means something, in the end, it's the battle we fight when we don't have to. When we could just walk away. If I have reconsidered my reasons before for what I did, I have not forgotten that, at least. If nothing else, I know this is something that matters to me."

She paused, hoping that Jaune understood.

But she didn't think he did, from the look on his face.

"Pyrrha, that's not at all the same thing as basically giving someone who hates you a free shot," he said.

"She's weaker than she used to be," Pyrrha said.

"Not weak enough," Jaune said. "Don't you ever think about what it's doing to the rest of us when... I want to be able to protect my team."

"So do I, Jaune," Pyrrha said.

"Then I at least have to come with you," Jaune said. "Don't do this without me."

Pyrrha gave him a long look.

"No," she said.

"What?" Jaune said.

"Please, please believe me when I say it's not because I don't want you there, there's no one I'd rather have by my side," she said slowly. "It's not for me...it's...I don't think, if it comes down to it, you're...unbiased. I don't think if we need to make a choice that's going to be counterintuitive, you're willing to do it, you've said all along that Cinder is no one to trust--and maybe you're right about that--but if the fate of Beacon is in her hand, because for better or worse, she is the Maiden...then we are going to have to work with it. I think I can do that. I've...I've understood her, in a way, that I think the rest of you haven't. I can let go. But you're too close to it. You see her as a threat only, and that...I'm sorry, I don't think that's good. I think that might stir her up, to be honest."

All this made perfect sense, if Jaune had been calmer. Cinder would dauntless be encouraged by having someone she could mess with, whereas it had been shown many times that when she couldn't do that, she was far more likely to run from a fight--but Jaune was not calm, and all he heard was Pyrrha saying that he couldn't handle it.

"I thought you believed in me," he said, crushed. "But, when it comes down to it, you didn't think I could handle it. And you still don't."

Pyrrha felt as if she'd been dashed with cold water.

That wasn't it at all.

She'd left Jaune behind before because she didn't want him to die with her--and because she thought that it was her problem, not his. And maybe selfishly, she hadn't wanted to allow him a choice that might have hurt her.

But it wasn't that she didn't believe he was capable, she knew he was--but she also knew him better than most people did.

Love is not always blind, in Pyrrha's case, it made her only more aware of how easily Jaune could hurt himself with this anger at Cinder, and determination to protect the team, even if, in the long run, taking some risks was necessary to win this fight. She knew him well enough to know he'd probably do something reckless at a critical moment, if Cinder said or did the wrong thing.

And she knew Shine well enough to know that Shine, while passionate, never lost her head when it came down to the wire. And neither did Pyrrha, if it came to it.

They made more sense to do this.

Pyrrha thought all this in the space of about 5 seconds, and realized that she couldn't express it in any way that would matter.

She looked down. "I do believe in you," she said slowly. "I'm sorry...It's...It more like, I believe too much. And...I'm not sure we should trust ourselves right now. Shine is all right with me going, but not you, she sees something."

"She can't always be right," Jaune said.

"She's not always right," Pyrrh said. "But she is always right when it really matters. Call it a gift, of guidance, or just wishes, but I trust her. And I feel in my soul this is right. I'm asking you to trust me."

Silence.

"You don't, do you?" Pyrrha said.

Jaune looked away. "I trust your intentions," he said. "But I don't know if I trust your judgment."

Pyrrha flinched.

Well...in all fairness, she thought to herself, he did have some reason to doubt her on that.

Pyrrha was a little too fair to be good at taking offense easily.

But, she knew she wasn't interested in going to the vault because she felt confident against Cinder. She had simply remembered what Shine had said to her about it...and there was something Alicia had told her also.

That when you ceased to see your enemy as an enemy, you have true victory over them.

It had clicked while Shine was talking to Cinder and Watts before. Giving them the choice of whether or not to help save the world. Shine refused to see these people as her enemies...and Pyrrha had thought they knew it, if she was reading their eyes. And Pyrrha had realized that she wanted to believe that also.

https://youtu.be/G0BS8pPvhrQ

[Doflamango Mingo AMV to Rise, Katy Pery. The first time I saw this it gave me chills. I love this song for Pyrrha.]

But, there was no way to put this into words, when Jaune hadn't been there, and probably wouldn't agree anyway.

Also Pyrrha wasn't blind to the fact that it might very well be seen as an act of betrayal if they went through with this idea.

But she felt she needed to. 

"I'm sorry," she said aloud.

"Stop saying that," Jaune said. "You're still going to do it, I can see it in your eyes."

"I have to," Pyrrha said. "I can't explain it."

"What if I have to also?" Jaune said.

"We both know, if they don't want you to, you won't," Pyrrha said. "They can stop you. Oscar and I can do it...without fear."

"Sure," Jaune turned and walked away from her.

Pyrrha hugged her sides and swallowing any tears that might have come to her eyes, this was no time to lose her composure.

She walked back to the other room.

Glynda had returned, and was motioning at them.

Shine gave Pyrrha a look and she nodded.

"Well, let's go," Oscar said nervously.

He felt like Ozpin might try to stop this again, but so far, nothing had happened.

* * *

The walk to the vault felt very long considering it only took about 5 minutes.

Cinder was real quiet.

Oscar kept looking at Pyrrha like he wondered why she'd want to do this.

Shine put a hand on her shoulders.

"He's only upset because he loves you," she said in a lower voice. "Once this is over, he'll be okay."

Pyrrha nodded. "I suppose I shouldn't be surprised that you guessed what happened."

"I don't think it's that hard, you both are kind of open books," Shine replied. "If it helps, even Wally and I still argue over how many risks we should take alone. He recognizes my abilities, but, it's hard, very hard on a man to let someone he cares about go into danger, even if they're tough. It's twice as hard if he's the kind of man that both Wally and Jaune are. But I trust you know that."

"I do," Pyrrha said. "And I understand it. It's just that there are things beyond personal feelings sometimes, and I feel this is one of those times. But...it is too similar to before. I can't say this isn't bringing back some painful memories."

She remembered it all too well, running across the courtyard, running into the elevator, finding Cinder...fairly sure she'd die, but determined to try anyway.

"Why did you let me?" she asked Shine. "You told me I didn't need to fight her."

"I didn't think that's why you'd were coming," Shine said. "You're not planning to fight her, you're seeing this through. And for that, I can't blame you. Part of me wishes you'd stayed up top but it's your life, Pyrrha. Not mine. I told you that months ago."

So she had.

"I hope you know that I appreciate that you are able to make the choice," Pyrrha said. "I...don't like to be handled with kid gloves, even if people mean well. But I understand why they do it. I wouldn't want to be ungrateful, but, with you, I never feel like that."

"And with you I never feel judged for being this way," Shine said. "So we're even."

She glanced at Oscar. "How are you feeling?"

"I guess it's a little late to let you know that Ozpin is not happy about this," Oscar said in a lower voice. "But so far, I've been able to maintain control. It's my choice. That's all. I couldn't let you do this alone."

"I just hope it was wise to leave Wally with the others," Pyrrha said. "With him, you'd be unstoppable."

"Will it sound crazy if I think that might be why it was a good idea?" Shine said. "I wouldn't like to be told later that it was inevitable for this to go our way."

"That does sound crazy," Oscar said. "But strangely, I kind of get it."

He was gripping his staff way too tight, Pyrrha could tell he was way more nervous than he wanted to let on. She couldn't blame him.

Glynda led them as far as the elevator.

"I suppose from here you'll want to go on alone?" she glanced at Oscar. "Or should I accompany you?"

"Thanks, but no," Oscar said. "Beacon needs you up here."

"Very well," Glynda gave Cinder a very hostile look. "Later I will have questions about this."

She moved back.

Oscar opened the elevator door and they all got in.

Slowly he put in the right combination, not as confidently as Ozpin would have, but it worked, they shot down.

"Well this brings back memories," Cinder said, smugly. "Remember, Nikos?"

Pyrrha shrugged.

"And Ozpin also...I mean this is where I killed both of you," Cinder said.

"And Ruby took your arm off," Shine said helpfully. "So painful memories all around."

Cinder glared at her.

Oscar almost laughed but checked it. That wouldn't be very professional.

But he smiled at Shine like "thank you."

Somehow it was hard to be as intimidated by Cinder when Shine was there, her presence was so strong and forceful that Cinder lost a lot of her deadly flavor just by the way Shine spoke to her. That had to be why she always sassed villains, Oscar realized.

All things become clear with time.

The elevator opened and let into the outer vault.

"So, it really was down here huh?" Shine could feel the difference in the air already. "This isn't like the other vaults. More magic went into it, that's why it's harder to find."

"I didn't get full memory of it," Oscar said, as they kept walking. "But I got that Ozpin did it this way because after what happened to Amber, he was worried about Salem finding this relic. He feared that Cinder might be able to trace it somewhere. I guess that didn't happen, but it's also that the Relic of Choice is more dangerous."

[I'm going to take poetic license here, but I guarantee it probably makes more sense than anything CRWBY would come up with after the disaster of the creation relic.]

"What does it do?" Pyrrha asked.

Oscar frowned. "The relic of choice...the crown...I think it depends on how you use it. When you wear it it presents you with two choices that can lead to different outcomes, both of them are risky. And they're opposed to each other. Then in some way, the relic helps you make whatever you chose come to pass."

"Like a wish?" Pyrrha said.

"No," Oscar rubbed his head. "It has limits, like the other two. You can't choose anything that will force someone else to do something against their will, because that's their choice. And the Crown doesn't tell you what exactly the outcome will be, it doesn't predict the future. It's just the obvious consequences for your choice, and then how it plays out after that depends on what you do and how other people respond. And you only get two. So if there's a third option, you don't get it."

"So, hypothetically, if the choice was whether to destroy Salem or not," Shine said. "Or rather, to  go along the path of doing that, I would get tips on the way to do that, that the Crown doesn't make happen, but only those immediate steps. And after that, it's up to me to finish it."

"Maybe kind of like that," Oscar rubbed his head. "Maybe it's like, you can pick a recipe, and follow the instructions, but after that, you can't make someone eat it, or you could eat it or throw it out. You have to follow the steps to get the outcome, but the outcome of that outcome is still up in the air."

"That's hard to understand," Pyrrha said.

"How is that even useful?" Cinder spoke.

"You'd have to know exactly when to use it," Oscar said. "And you have to be really sure what choice you want to make."

"The Monkey's paw rule applies," Shine said. "Just like with the staff, what you do can have inherent hubris in it. We think things are simpler than they are. Unlike God, who sees everything because he is far, far smarter than us--we call it omniscient in my faith's language--we do not have that information. God can plan anything to work in his favor because He knows what we'll do. All freedom we have is only what He allows us to have within that framework. Which is why people argue whether we have choice or we're predestined. And the answer is both. We have a choice, but we have only the ones He presents us with. We are not allowed to pick an option that is not in His realm of possibility. But within that, He allows us to have some freedom, or we couldn't be considered good or evil. It's an odd balance. There's a verse that says " in his heart a man plans his course, but the Lord determines his steps."

"That sounds unfair," Cinder spoke tightly. "That's not freedom."

"Cinder, you should ask what true freedom from God would be like before you say you want it," Shine said. "I've heard many, many people complain about God controlling too much. And the same people will whine when He doesn't save them from consequences of what choices they do make. As if they both don't want freedom and they do want it. What we really want is freedom and no consequences. But you see that's not realistic. Even God's actions have consequences. Even if they are ones He knows will happen. There is no life without consequences. And they will not always be pleasant, or else they would not be real. But if you want to live in a world God does not control, I want you to keep in mind that the very force that keeps us on this planet and not flying out to space to die in the void is gravity, something that no scientist I know of has ever been able to explain. Or why you cannot make your own heart beat, and one day it will stop. You couldn't design an airship I daresay, and God designed the human body, which is more intricate in one cell than any ship we've ever created on this planet! You want to run this world? Can you make water? That's only three molecules...but can you? Do you understand it?"

"That's not what I meant," Cinder said.

"Then you should think before you speak," Shine said. "I now see why Ozpin thinks this relic is the most dangerous--it's impossible for a man not to mess this up. I try to never make my own choices without consulting the Lord when it's something big. But when you think about it, even something as simple as eating an egg could endanger your life if it was poisoned. There are no small choices. Thank God for the mercy to make any of them without dire consequences. Still most of us have phobias that relate directly on that uncertainty. And the thing is, the fear is not unfounded. Anything can go wrong at any time. But it doesn't. A lot of that is God. No force actually compels a volcano to erupt, you know. Nothing in our body stops our cells from becoming cancerous--but there are things that stop a volcano from erupting, and there are cells that stop cancer cells once they form. It takes intentional action to stop destruction, not to start it. If that's not God, then what is it? Men are fools, and God is Wise. But in his mercy He gives us sense to run our lives by as long as we obey his rules. Otherwise we all would have perished ages ago, whether you acknowledge that or not, it's true."

She folded her arms.

"God does do things we don't understand," Oscar noted. "Like...I don't understand why He kills people sometimes...but I don't want to have to decide when that happens either. And it has to happen sometimes."

"Why shouldn't we decide, if we can?" Cinder said. "By your logic, it's just power. Even your God is just God because he is more powerful."

"That is an asinine conclusion," Shine did not mince words. "He is powerful because He is God. Creative, and Holy and True. Not the other way around. Might does not make right. That is what fools who can't see farther than that say to justify their own actions. And you might be able to take someone's life, but that doesn't make it wise to do so. Wisdom governs the world, not power--strength only gets you so far, karma catches up sooner or later. For lack of a better word."

"That does make me feel better about this," Oscar said, stopping suddenly in front of a hall that Pyrrha had never been down in this vault.

Oscar slowly walked up to a section of the wall and moved aside one of the sconces.

There was a key pad behind this.

Oscar typed numbers into it.

Then a mechanical voice said: Accepted. Please say Password.

Oscar drew a breath.

Ozpin squirmed inside him.

"Paradox." Oscar said.

"Accepted." The voice said.

The floor under them suddenly slid open and revealed another staircase that led under the ground.

"So that's why we never found it," Cinder said, not at all as if she was impressed. "Clever."

She smirked at them. "After you."

Oscar gripped the staff and walked down there.

"I guess this isn't a trick," Pyrrha mused aloud. "I wondered if Ozpin would stop us by now."

"He wants to," Shine watched Oscar closely. "But so far he's being held in check. Be ready though."

Pyrrha wondered if she just meant for Ozpin.

They walked down the steps.

The light was even more dim down here. It reminded them of the labyrinth under Vacuo, but less intricate.

At the end of the walk they found what looked much more like the other vaults. The tree designs, the magical energy.

Cinder was walking last, as if she still expected they'd try to stop her.

But one could see in her eye that she felt it too. She had a hungry look.

They went up to the doorway, which was green themed.

"After a desert, a pool of water, and a grassy field, I can only assume this is going to be the top of a mountain, or a cave," Shine said.

Cinder walked past them toward the door and looked up at it.

Oscar was tense--but he didn't expect the sudden spring of Ozpin's willpower over his.

"Don't let her do it!" Ozpin took control of his body and held out the spear. "She's going to kill you!"

Magic came out of his hands and blasted at Cinder.

Shine stepped in front of her and used her sword to deflect it. The magic flew over Oscar's head.

"Oz, let him go," she said firmly. "I know how you feel, but--"

Glass formed around Cinder, suddenly.

"Wait," Pyrrha said, "it's not him, it's Ozpin. It would be a mistake to fight now."

Cinder gave her a look of contempt, and then she formed the glass into a kind of bar and slammed Pyrrha with it into the wall.

Pyrrha activated her Aura before this ran her through, but it hurt a lot.

Shine didn't have time to react before Cinder blasted her with magic all the way across the room, sending her sprawling towards the steps.

Ozpin looked at Cinder warily.

"I suppose I should have known you'd see this coming." Cinder formed a spear in her hand. "After all, you're the only one of these fools who still didn't think I was convinced. But it won't matter now. That frail, little body of yours is no match for me."

"I think you forget my power is greater than yours." Ozpin got a very dangerous look for him. "You're already weaker than you used to be."

"The thing about that..." Cinder suddenly summoned magic in her hand and blasted Ozpin almost before he could even use his Aura, smashing him into the other wall.

"...Ever since I looked at that spear, I've been feeling much better," Cinder said, smiling smugly. "I have to thank Pine for that, really. And now that I have both eyes, it should be easy to aim."

She summoned more magic in her hands. It felt just like Salem's.

"Wait--" Oscar cried.

Cinder zapped him anyway. It didn't hurt as much as Salem's did, but Ozpin was still left reeling, and he collapsed.

"Stop this." Pyrrha got to her feet.

Cinder turned and blasted her also.

Pyrrha screamed and fell to her knees.

"If I'd known how to do that before, I could have killed you much faster that time," Cinder said.

But instead of killing Pyrrha right then, she turned and put her hand on the Vault door--perhaps she didn't like to risk Shine recovering before she was finished.

The Vault slid open.

[Well, if they bet on this, someone would have won money right about now.]

[If you were curious about that password, here's what Paradox means:

A seemingly absurd or self-contradictory statement or proposition that when investigated or explained may prove to be well founded or true.]