Swords of Intent (sequel to Rose of Titanium)

Chapter 16: Delve into The Past

POV: 3rd

Six stood up and began to fight the grimm once again. He eviscerated one with a spartan laser before spawning a shotgun and firing it in the mouth of another grimm that tried to swallow him hole. He despawned the shotgun to gain two sniper rifles. More grimm came flying at him, so the spartan started to dual wield the weapons and lull headshots. Six heard a roar behind him, he turned on instinct only to actually be eaten in one gulp. The monster suddenly exploded in a blue ball of fire, revealing the perfectly fine spartan. Six saw the others finally come up top. "Tell me you all thought of a plan!"

Rtas gave a nod. "Head to the back carts, lure the grimm away while Ren masks the passengers emotions! I'll keep them safe!"

Noble Six gave a nod in return. "I know you will, good luck!" The two split off, Six joining team RWBY, Qrow, and Oscar. Rtas went with team JNPR.

Noble Six saw team RWBY grounding a large grimm that was able to call others with a shriek. As Ruby and Qrow lunged at it and spin through the air, Six lunged at the head with a gravity hammer. The grimm was cut in half and its head knocked away from the train before being crushed. Before its head was smashed in however, the grimm shot a fireball at the mountain side. The ball of flame exploded and caused a rock slide, Weiss thought quickly and tried her best to keep the train carts upright as they derailed using her glyphs. The carts barreled through some snow before eventually crashing, throwing everyone off them and into the wilderness.

After a few minutes of stillness a hand erupted from the snow, Noble Six dug himself out and looked around to see everyone else coming together. "Everyone okay?!" He called out.

Everyone gave nods and mumbles that they were okay. "Still alive!" Someone called in a cheery tone. The group looked over to see the old woman from the train station calmly walk out of the wrecked train.

Six tilted his head to the side in confusion after taking his helmet off. "How are you alive?"

"I have my ways Iron Giant" the little old lady replied. Now that Six had a better look, the womans robotic eyes looked more like goggles both her necklace and her cane had the carvings of sugar skulls. "That sure was a close one, huh?"

"Great, this is just great!" Yang said as she tried to get her bike out of the snow. "We're stranded, we lost a third of our party, and we gained a defenseless old lady!" Yang fell back into the snow, her bike falling onto its side.

"Yang that's-"

"My name is Maria Calavera!" The old lady stated, turning to Yang and interrupting Six. "And I am NOT defenseless! I'm just a little hard of hearing... And blind, without my eyes." Maria tapped her eyes as she blinked, causing them to go a dit haywire before returning to normal. "That are in desperate need of repair... Okay, I'm starting to see your point."

"Yang, knock it off will ya?" Qrow asked. "If we loose our cool now we'll just be inviting even more grimm."

"Does that even matter?!" Blake asked

"Yes, it does matter" Six responded. "So both of you can it." Yang and Blake fell silent.

"Wait a second... Where's, the relic?" Oz asked

"Right here." Ruby pulled the lamp off her belt and held it in her hands.

"Please, hand it over." Ozpin held out his hand.

"So all those times you've talked about having faith in humanity, that was just for everyone else?"

"Okay, somebody tell me what'd I miss." Six said.

"The lamp attracts grimm" Qrow answered

"Okay, now we know. We just need to be careful."

Ozpin lowered his arm as he sighed and looked away. "That's not what I meant to suggest." He looked back to Ruby. "Ms. Rose, the relic is a powerful artifact and I simply feel that it is my burden to bare."

"But, you said it couldn't do anything right now."

"Why does it matter who carries it?" Blake asked

Ozpin started to walk over and reach for the relic. "I need you all to listen to m-" he froze in place, as if struggling to keep control.

"Oz?" Qrow asked worriedly.

"Hurry" Oscar replied. "He's... Trying to stop you!"

"Stop her from what?" Yang asked

"He's afraid... You'll find, out... What he's... Hiding!" Oscar fell to the ground, fighting to keep control over his own body. Oscar looked to Ruby. "Her name, is Jinn... Say her name to summon her."

"Her name?" Ruby asked, she and everyone else looked to the relic. "Jinn?"

The gang looked around as the falling snow seemed to freeze in place. The lamp floated out of Rubys hands and hovered in front of all of them. Smoke flowed out of the lamp and swirled to form a woman only covered by gold chains used as accessories. Qrow slightly blushed and looked away as Six covered Rubys eyes before he could see anything. Jinn stretched before looking toward the group. "How wonderful. Tell me, what knowledge do you seek?" The Lady of the lamp asked as she looked toward Ruby. Before Six could ask, Jinn decided to answer his unspoken question and introduce herself. "I am Jinn, a being created by the God of Light to aid humanity with the ability to answer any three questions every one hundred years. You're in luck, as I am still able to answer-"

"THAT'S ENOUGH!!!" Ozpin yelled, suddenly taking back control.

"... Two questions this era." Everyone looked at each other, the looks on them made it obvious what the sudden outburst was about. Jinn gave a small chuckle as she looked to Oz. "It's a pleasure to see you again old man."

"Ruby, please... Don't" Ozpin begged

Qrow tried to calm down tensions. "Hey-" team RWBY, excluding Ruby, drew their weapons on him. Qrow took a step back as his eyes widened in disbelief. He held up his arms defensively. "Do whatever you think is right kiddo" he said toward Ruby.

"Jinn..." Ruby looked over to the Lady of the Lamp. "What is Ozpin hiding from us?"

"NOOO!!!" Ozpin shot up and ran toward Ruby. Noble Six stepped in the way to protect her. Before anything else could happen, everything went white.

Noble Six looked around him, nobody and nothing was in sight. Just an endless white. "Ruby?! Yang?!"

Grass and a dirt road seemed to form under the spartans feet as Jinn began to speak. "Once up a time, there stood a lonley tower." A gust of blue smoke turned his attention to whatever was behind him. "That sheltered a lonley girl." The blue smoke formed a woman with blonde hair and elegant robe. She turned to where the spartan could see her face. Despite the beauty and wealth this woman seemed to have, Noble Six saw that for some reason she seemed to be depressed. "Named... Salem."