153

Chapter 153Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

"It's been some time, Qrow. I… do apologize for my behavior in recent months. I am not used to having secrets aired so openly- in the past, most of my compatriots trusted me at my word, and Salem was not as active as she is now, so I had thought it was… thought that it was necessary, to keep secrets where they were. Knowing that my allies would likely desert me the moment that they found out the truth- as Leonardo did," Oscar spoke with Ozpin's voice, the boy taking a backseat in favor of the man, while Qrow and Glynda sat before him- he hadn't taken his old chair back, but they were in his office all the same, sitting in a circle as though they were just friends instead of two adults listening intently to a grown man's voice coming from a barely fifteen year old child. "I will do my best to tell the truth from now on- the time of secrets has long since past, and… I'm sorry for my foolishness. Both of you. Especially you, Glynda, that you had to suffer my pride and petulance when Jinn revealed the truth to you, Team CMNE, and… Team JNPR."

Ozpin paused, shaking his head before looking down at his hands- Oscar's hands- with a sad grimace. "Once again, an old man's foolishness has caused the slow condemnation of another youth who didn't deserve the fate that was thrust upon him. I wish it wasn't so… but I suppose I cannot do anything about it now."

"Yeah… I still hope there's some way to get you outta Oscar's head. Even if he says he's okay with you being there right now, I doubt he'll be so happy when he starts losing more and more time to you instead of being him," Qrow mentioned lightly, trying not to get too pissed at the man before him- or at least the man' spirit because that was really all that was left of him after his original body had been cremated and buried on the campus grounds in a somewhat hidden area. "Speaking of the queen bitch in charge- the hell are we gonna do about her? We still don't know where she is but we know she's gotta be hurting with a bunch of her forces down, her ties to Spider shot, and her chief assassin dead- how the hell'd a buncha kids end up killing Tyrian fuckin' Callows in Haven anyway?"

"Surprisingly quickly, apparently. Neopolitan and Mercury already had assassin training, Emerald's Semblance allowed them to take advantage of disorienting all of his senses, and Cinder wields the power of the Fall Maiden and has become quite adept at blasting everything in an immediate area with fire until the only thing is left a smoking crater of glass," Ozpin explained dryly, with Glynda nodding along more or less in agreement to Ozpin's words. "As for Salem… I suspect we may have to take the fight to her, somehow. I have no doubt that she can be found on the unexplored deadlands north of Sanus, though where exactly she is remains to be seen, and the deadlands are vast and full of too many grimm to explore with any kind of efficacy."

"Unless we bring Ruby into it, I bet you'll say," Qrow deadpanned, crossing his arms.

"... Yes, Miss Rose will be exceedingly useful to every single one of our efforts, I have to admit. Her level of power, so long as it is not misused or wielded incorrectly, is enough that even a fully trained Maiden in her prime would have difficulty dealing with her, to say nothing of the newfound strength of soul and purpose she now exudes," Ozpin answered, at least having the decency to look regretful over the fact that he was, more or less, saying that Qrow's niece would be on the frontlines of their final fight against the enemy of humanity. "As for the Relics… you wished to know why I wanted to gather them all, correct? I know I said that the explanation would need to wait, Glynda but… after ruminating over it for some time… I believe it best to explain now."

"I have been wondering for some time now, yes," Glynda answered, narrowing her eyes slightly as she changed her posture and crossed her arms, expressing her displeasure at Ozpin even though she was listening to him talk anyway. "Why do we need the Relics? Is it to defeat Salem?"

"No- not entirely. The Relics are a tool to summon the Gods back to Remnant," Ozpin started, holding up a hand to forestall any interjection as he explained his point. "For the longest time, I believed that the only way to defeat Salem permanently was to unite humanity under a single banner- create a truly harmonious society in which man and Faunus coexisted without friction, where all nations came together as one in the service of a greater goal. That way, we could unite the Relics and bring back the Gods from wherever they went, and the Gods themselves would return Salem and I to where we truly belong- as dead relics of the past that have no bearing on humanity's future."

"Or, we could stuff her in a coffin and launch her into the sun," Qrow pointed out dryly. "Seems easier than getting some asshole pair of gods that're responsible for this whole situation to own up to their mistake and fix their own shit. Seems more likely that they'd blow us all up again instead of actually save anyone, if what that blue lady said is true."

"... Salem can teleport to any source of grimm in existence, Qrow. That she hasn't used that ability to manifest from your niece is a miracle likely borne from the fact that Miss Rose still has her soul. Locking her in a coffin and sending her to the sun does nothing unless we destroy all traces of the grimm pools and taint from the world first- and you know exactly how hard that will be," Ozpin shot back, giving him the same long suffering expression of someone who had already tried that and failed.

… Qrow did vaguely remember some myth he read about some old gods quarreling and one sending the other to stay among the stars…

"... Fuck. Then what the hell are we gonna do? I don't want to bring Ruby into this- she only just woke up from her coma again and I'm not going to put her back in one just because she's suddenly stronger or better now- and what the hell do you mean she's stronger, she's pretty much the same as when she went into that damn crystal rose," Qrow protested, while Glynda just remained silent as though ruminating on every available choice to get rid of the grimm witch plaguing their existence on Remnant.

"She is stronger because she seems more… complete for lack of a better term. Something in her soul seems older, more powerful. I suspect that whatever happened whilst she was in her coma had something to do with the same source of creation and destruction that imbues every facet of her being- the only reason why I think that we can even defeat Salem now without the Relics being together, and without a completely united humanity, is because Miss Rose represents something far more dangerous to Salem than anything we have tried before. Not strength, not military prowess… but…" Ozpin sighed, clenching his fists slightly. "A smaller, more honest soul. Someone with the genuine good will and strength of soul to see things through to the end, no matter how difficult the path to saving all of humanity is. That she seems to be nigh immortal and a superior version of Salem's own existence… well. I daresay Miss Rose might be the key to everything."

"There is… something else, perhaps," Glynda mentioned, bringing attention to her as she pursed her lips. "I happened to overhear something quite interesting during Miss Rose's birthday party the other day- after everything, when only she and Miss Polendina were awake. She mentioned that while she was in her coma, she dreamed of a sequence of events surrounding a great tree with rainbow leaves- one that is extremely similar to the one described in The Girl Who Fell Through The World. Given the sheer strangeness of Miss Rose's situation and her odd abilities that make no sense even as a being who is half grimm… might there be something going on there?"

"... I dunno… maybe. What do you mean she doesn't make any sense, by the way?" Qrow asked, raising his eyebrow.

"... Qrow. She can hold a nigh infinite amount of anything inside of her own mass. She can duplicate herself near endlessly, spit up weapons, shapeshift freely, turn into multiple types of other grimm, and create new grimm types on the fly. She's an amorphous liquid that doesn't turn into smoke when damaged, she's capable of regenerating from a single rose petal if need be, and she turned into a castle when she fell into a coma," Glynda deadpanned. " Nothing about Miss Rose has made any sense since day one, and the fact that she is how she is may be the only reason why any of us are still alive- gods know that if she was even the slightest bit more of a vindictive person, heads would roll."

"Hey- Ruby's… well… okay, if she was meaner, maybe… but… I mean…" Qrow frowned. "... How does she do all of that?"

"That's a question I think we may need to examine later on," Ozpin cleared his throat, then shook his head. "For the moment, I think that our primary plan should be to ready ourselves for whatever Salem's next move will be, and make sure that whatever happens, we will not allow ourselves to falter now. We must live, because to accept anything else is to accept that Salem has already won."

And with that- the glow in Oscar's eyes faded, and the boy himself slumped back into the armchair he was sitting in with a loud groan of discomfort.

"Ugh… why does that always give me such a headache?"

Notes:

Oh hey, the dead man is back