RWBY Through Worlds (End)

220: Try to Fight It Just Like Every Other Careless Mistake

Ozpin had been separated from everyone for the longest time, at least so he thought.

He was trembling when it happened, for he was sure, and with some justification, that the god of light would be furious with him and this conversation would not be pleasant.

Surprisingly, he was left alone for what felt like a long time, though time might not have passed here at all.

["Set Me Free"--Casting Crowns. May be one of the darkest contemporary christian songs from this band.]

At first, he thought Oscar was not speaking to him out of fear, but as the time slipped past at a snail's pace, he thought it was very unlike Oscar not to speak now that the gods were doing nothing.

Then he tried to speak to him himself and find him inside his mind.

He got no answer at all.

Ozpin began to fear the worst... what... what if this last shock and move of magic had been too much? Suppose the gods' influence had snapped Oscar's last shred of control from his body and soul and he was now gone?

More reason to fear this came when Ozpin looked at his own hands and suddenly realized they were not Oscar's hands.

He didn't recognize them at all, though he thought he probably should have. They didn't seem like his previous form's either.

And this... seemed to seal it. Oscar was not there.

At this, Ozpin forgot about the gods for a moment and became despairing.

He'd done nothing but argue with Oscar for months, and had seen him often as more of an obstacle to his success than a helper, but yet in all that he always knew Oscar was only doing what he thought was right, and was a brave and honest lad at that and didn't deserve any of this.

He'd often felt guilty for what he had to go through because of Ozpin and had half only fought him because he didn't like to watch the struggle anymore. If it was inevitable that he win.

But of course he'd been so focused on his quest lately that he'd spent little time thinking of how it would end for Oscar if he won, but he should have realized that it was no good thing.

Suppose he really had been the death of the boy? Not just the reincarnation, but the death?

How dreadful.

Oh, why had he ever accepted this quest to begin with?

Falling to his knees, Ozpin began to weep, as he had no other recourse.

Of course, one reason that eluded him at this juncture was that Oscar would likely have preferred just dying as himself to being merged with him and changed from what he was. Whether you argued that Oscar or Ozpin was predominant, weren't they all Ozma in the end, with his poisonous curse...

But that didn't make it right.

The god of light found him still in this state after what seemed like ages, and seemed quite surprised.

"What is the matter with you, Ozma?" he said at once. "You needn't worry so much. I know that you didn't want to do this, those devils of Worldlings forced your hand, and those disrespectful children and that witch of a woman. It's all right, I understand it was unwarranted interference, of course it's not your fault."

"But it's all my fault," Ozpin said, surprisingly not at all reassured by this, though he'd been worried about it not an hour ago. "If I had never accepted your burden, I wouldn't have stolen the lives of so many men. I didn't know what it would be like when you told me I would 'never be alone.' I imagined it would just be a sort of prolonged existence into a new child, not into men and boys who knew nothing of me. I've not been able to end it for thousands of years and you never told me how long it would be."