Chapter Text
“General!” Oscar bounded off the elevator before it even stopped at the bottom, running to catch up to Ironwood, Winter at his side.
Both turned, reaching for their weapons out of instinct at the shout. The vault was open behind them. Winter dropped her hand once she saw it was Oscar, but Ironwood’s hand remained on his gun, peering at him.
“Oscar,” Winter stepped towards him as he came closer, “it’s good you're here, is the lamp safe?”
He stopped in front of them, hand moving over the lamp on his hip, glancing at Ironwood who had his eyes narrowed watching him. “Yes,” he finally answered after taking a few deep breaths, “I have it. A girl named Neopolitan tried to take it, but the others are holding her off. They told me to find you.” He turned his head towards Ironwood, wary. “Sir…?”
The General didn’t move. “Salem is coming. We don’t have any other choice right now. We have to keep Winter and the relics as far from her reach as possible. Cinder Fall already tried going after her, Penny was able to hold her off long enough for Winter to complete the transfer process and escape.” Oscar didn’t miss the flash of sadness, or regret, across Winter’s face.
“Sir…..” He began, clutching at the relic. He needed to choose his words carefully right now, the others had warned him about Ironwood’s plans and them all being under arrest right now. “Is this really necessary? Is this really what we have to do? Isn’t there another way? A way we could figure out together?”
He moved to face Oscar fully, his shoulders slacked slightly, but his hand remained atop his gun. He surely noticed how Oscar’s eyes kept flicking to it. “There is no other choice.” He spoke slowly. “I appreciate your honesty with me before, but the others all betrayed my trust in keeping the secrets they did, and now those choices have led us to be left completely vulnerable and on the verge of destruction. To keep my people safe, this is what has to be done.”
“Your people are also the ones still down in Mantle!” Oscar shot back. “And you’re leaving them to die after promising to save them tonight!”
Ironwood sighed, gritting his teeth. “I did. And I am keeping that promise, by saving who we can.” His voice turned low. “That’s war, Oscar. You can’t save everyone, and not everyone is going to make it back. There’s nothing else we can do now.”
“There’s plenty of things that we can do!” Oscar raised his voice, stepping a foot forward. “There always is! Your duty as a General, and as a huntsman is to protect the people of Remnant with your life. That means everyone ! No matter what! And we can do that together , if you would actually let someone help you!”
“I did let you help me! All of you! And look at where that got us!”
“Because you can’t let anyone question your actions. You talk about needing us to trust you and follow all your orders when you couldn’t even do that at Beacon!”
Ironwood flinched. So did Winter. For a moment the grip on his gun slacked. He blinked, shaking his head, before the grip returned. “Oz should have listened to me. If he would have, we wouldn’t be in this mess in the first place.”
“Neither of us can know that.” Oscar narrowed his eyes up him. “I don’t have all his memories. And he kept all those secrets. But you can’t just assume that your way of blind obedience is going to just work against Salem! She’s already using it against you! Sometimes as a leader you have to be questioned about your choices, so that’s what i’m doing now when I say that you shouldn’t be doing this!”
“I was hoping you would be the one person to understand….” Ironwood’s voice was low, closing his eyes and looking down. Oscar saw his hand move, lifting the gun.
“Sir-!” Winter reached out as he snapped the gun up, firing a shot at him. Oscar jumped out of the way between Ironwood and Winter, rolling to his knees, finding the General pointing his pistol at him again. Winter stood between the two on the side, unsure what to do.
“Hand over the lamp, Oscar.” His tone now dark. “I don’t have time to ask you twice.”
“Sir,” Winter took a step into the center, “he’s just a child….”
“Winter!” He barked, not taking his eyes off Oscar, cutting her off, stopping her advancement. Her eyes flashed to Oscar.
Oscar narrowed his eyes, standing up, hand moving to over the lamp. The General didn’t waiver, waiting.
They read each other in that second. Ironwood firing another shot as Oscar’s hand shot to the cane, pulling it forward and deflecting the shot, running up the stairs to the door. More shots nipped at his heels as he reached the top, running inside.
“Sir, wait!” He stole a glance back at Winter trying to stop Ironwood from moving forward, reloading his gun, only to be brushed aside. He readied his cane, as Ironwood started up the steps, until suddenly a black glyph appeared below his feet, holding him in place.
“Schnee!” He growled, trying to break free of the gravity.
Suddenly the whole room shook as a shockwave rushed through. Winter and Ironwood turned towards the lift. It lay destroyed in a heap of flames, and above it, Cinder floated down slowly.
“You can’t escape me that easily, girl.” She cooed, flexing the fingers on her grimm arm.
Winter took a step back in fear, holding up her sword, her eyes flicked between the three of them. Ironwood has turned his attention now to Cinder, standing up as the glyph faded, firing his gun. “Winter, get back!”
Winter jumped back onto the top of the steps behind Ironwood.
“Get to the relic! Use it and raise Atlas!” Ironwood ordered. “Lock yourself in if you have to, I’ll hold her off!”
“But, General, you’ll-”
“That’s an order, Winter! Do as I say!” He kept firing, Cinder flicking away the shots as she moved forward.
Winter looked down, her eyes flicking back and forth, they raised to Oscar for a moment. He blinked, reading her expression.
“I’m sorry, sir…..” She said. She raised her hand to the door, pressing against it. Suddenly it clicked and whirred, the gold edges starting to reappear and close, with Oscar still inside.
Ironwood glanced over his shoulder. “Winter, what are you-”
She looked to Oscar, frozen in place. She didn’t say it out loud, but he could hear it in her eyes. I’m trusting you to make the right choice .
“No!” Oscar shouted, rushing forward.
The door shut, sealing him off from the other side. The last sight being Winter’s face. He banged on the door as he reached it. “No!” They couldn’t face Cinder alone. Ironwood was still injured and Winter had just become the maiden. He banged at the door, as if trying to will it open, sinking to his knees when it remained closed. He couldn’t even hear anything from outside.
Lifting his head, he looked around at the room. Was it even a room? He looked out at the sand stretching out far beyond him with a white sky. A path of giant brown stones laid before him, and at the end floating above a small stone, was the staff. He squinted, everything looking like it was fuzzy or dissolving? Like pieces of the walkway and the staff were floating away endlessly.
He slowly walked forward towards the staff. He could feel the lamp pulsing at his side, as he reached it. It was bigger than he thought, but at the same time it was a familiar sight. This whole room was familiar in a way. He reached up a hand to the staff, but stopped. Shaking, his hand hovered in front of the staff.
His brows furrowed, lips trembling. What should he do? Does he use it? Does he take it? What did Winter want him to do by locking him in here to make the choice? What choice should he make? He blinked rapidly, his breathing quickening, tears pricking at the edges of his eyes. Breaking away, he whipped around, curling to his knees, gripping at his sleeve.
“I don’t know what to do!” He cried out, moving his hands to hold his head.
He sat, crouched there, only the silent yet loud looming of the vault answering him. He sniffled, choking in breaths, not noticing the footsteps softly crunching in the sand behind him. A presence emanating, and tickling at the back of his neck.
It spoke; soft and peaceful. “Hello, again.”