Oscar had planned to spend this day of resting more quietly, but Ozpin seemed restless, and he wondered why.
"All this has made me think," Ozpin said, "that I really should talk to Qrow... Finding out about Summer could not have been easy."
"He seems okay," Oscar mused.
"Looks can be deceiving," Ozpin said. "I have put this off long enough...though he does not seem to wish to speak to me, but prolonging it is...folly."
"I'm not going to argue that," Oscar said. "I'll find him."
Qrow, surprisingly, after such news, had not gone on a drinking bender. He was actually taking it better than Tai, or Ruby or Yang, had expected...
Far better than Yang or Ruby were, in fact. They were still upset. Tai didn't know what to tell them.
Even Zwei couldn't cheer them up, and Little offered Ruby cheese, to no avail.
But Qrow was calm enough. Though not happy with Hazel, who wisely avoided him.
Oscar half wondered if this conversation would trigger an Alicia flashback--then he realized that Ozpin probably had no memory of actually confronting someone after being outed as a liar, so that probably wouldn't happen.
"I heard that," Ozpin grumbled. "This is so undignified."
Oscar tapped on the wall of the room Qrow was in.
Qrow glanced up. "What is it, kid?"
"I...well, not I, but Oz, wants to talk," Oscar said slowly. "If that's okay?"
Qrow frowned at him. Then he sighed. "Go ahead."
Oscar relinquished control to Ozpin--this was starting to feel weirder and weirder to him lately, instead of easier.
"Hello...Qrow," Ozpin said slowly.
It wasn't like this was the first time they'd ever been in the same room since the falling out, but Ozpin had never directly spoken to Qrow, or vice versa, that Oscar could recall.
"This about Summer?" Qrow knew Ozpin wouldn't have just broken his silence for no reason.
"It's...not exactly." Ozpin picked up his cane, slowly. "Though that was...a shock. To myself as much as the rest of you. Even if I suspected it had to do with Salem, I never dreamt Theo and Henry were involved."
Qrow sighed.
"But I also feel I have...shirked something," Ozpin said. "I owe you an apology for everything that has happened. I have let Oscar do most of the work lately, and that is partially to help him stay himself, but if I was honest, it was partially because I didn't know what to say. I still do not know exactly what to say, but walking through my memories made me realize how I've become a very different man over the many centuries than I started off as, and I had not even noticed it. I was warned, once, that my course would not bring peace...twice, even. But, I did not listen--or I could not listen. That has brought pain on all the world, but especially on your family, even if it was not planned that way. I am sorry for that."
He looked regretful.
Qrow sighed again and leaned on one hand.
"You know, if you said that weeks ago, I probably would have punched you," he said. "I was furious...but, in hindsight, it's not like we didn't choose it. All of us blew Raven off when she told us you were a liar. In a way, we chose not to see it. Blame it on luck or fate, or our blind faith, but we could have known, and we didn't. Doesn't make you right, but it's not just you either. The question is, what now?"
"A question I have been very concerned about," Ozpin said slowly. "I know what Oscar wants...and I should let him have it. But I feel it is abandoning my duties also."
"Hey!" Oscar said inside his mind. "That's not fair!"
"I'm aware it's not fair," Ozpin said, though it was hard to tell if he was answering Oscar or just continuing his thought, "but if we were to fail, my journey would go on, and I would be no better off. Worse off, in fact."
"So people are just expendable?" Qrow said.
"Qrow, I think that the reappearance of Miss Nikos has reminded us all that it is very easy for us to start treating people as pawns." Ozpin was still savage at times, even after his many humiliations. "I wish I didn't have to look at it that way, but whether I do or not, people have always paid for it. The temptation to try to minimize it and control fate is immense. I'm sorry that it has come down to you. I never meant for it to end that way--but I always knew it was a possibility...and even so, everyone is outlived by me. Ages of hoping that one day my students would be the last ones I would ever have and would actually surpass me, has made it hard to see any difference between them. It is not pleasant...but I have wondered if it is inevitable for someone like me to become something less than human."
"Maybe it is." Qrow didn't even say that like he was angry, just resigned. "I guess we can't do anything about that... I guess giving the kid the reins is the one thing you could do to stop it."
"Oscar is...different than I am now," Ozpin said. "But...he will still struggle with it. Miss Likstar has made that clear to us. No matter what I do, the curse is with me... You know of...my friend Alicia now."
"Yeah." Qrow narrowed his eyes. "Just how close were you?"
"Not close enough, I fear, for it to have mattered." Ozpin was not giving himself enough credit there; Alicia's influence was evident in much of what he'd done since then, even in the way he spoke. But Oscar couldn't interrupt and point this out. "I did her an injury she ought never to have forgiven, though it seems she has anyway. But she warned me of this also... She would be furious with me at times for doing, what I see now, were pigheaded things...at least the way I did them... I learned to be more subtle later, as a headmaster and leader, but back then my approach was still very...rough, even after 1000 years... She was patient enough. She put down a lot of it to the curse in my mind. I didn't want to think she was right...but I've not gotten any closer to defeating Salem in all this time. It really is as if I'm trapped in some loop. I thought if I told you all that, you would not help me nor respect me...and as foolish as it is, that is about all I had left."
That had to hurt to say--Oscar could feel it.
Qrow frowned slightly. "Maybe we could have still helped... We're still here."
"I never expected that," Ozpin said. "Nor can I express my...gratitude at that fact." He seemed to be struggling to maintain his calm demeanor. "But it had not ever happened before. Alicia is the only one who has ever known the full story and accepted it... Considering what I did to her, I never wanted to let it out again. And it has crushed you all. I suppose I can thank the two DJs for the fact that it has not destroyed us. I did nothing to warrant this mercy--it is on Oscar's behalf. But I would ask that you do all you can to help him, then. Any anger at me is not worth taking out on Oscar. He may be the one who can stop this madness... At the very least, without his help, I do not think it can stop."
Oscar wished that the pressure wasn't on him here... It sounded so pathetic when you put it like that. He was 14, almost 15, and he didn't know what he was doing... That was even more apparent when he was just a voice in Ozpin's head instead of vice versa. He felt so small then. He half expected Qrow to laugh.
But Qrow didn't laugh.
"It's pretty tough to put that on a kid," he said instead.
"I had no choice in the matter," Ozpin said. "It is what it is... That said, if he was to succeed...I would be gone. I would not want that to happen without at least attempting to make things right. Anything I can do to help you all, I want to do it...but...I must ask you something else."
"What?" Qrow scowled.
"And this is for you also, Miss Schnee."
Ozpin had noticed Winter coming in to put a book back--though she'd been trying to go right back out and not eavesdrop.
Winter stopped literally in the doorway, about to shut it, and shot him a wary look.
"It's all right. You should hear this." Ozpin motioned at her.
Winter came in, looking a bit put out.
"It's...not certain that I will...always be as clear-headed about helping Oscar as I am now," Ozpin said slowly. "The curse is tricky. It's very hard to resist... I think, even, I have only realized this from being out of control for so long, and from Oscar's efforts...and after some things I have remembered. But this perspective has never lasted. I have wished to evade it before...but I am not...strong enough to do so. If it happens that I begin to fight against this again, and even though I may retract everything I'm saying right now, both of you, and the other leaders, must stand by the truth. I can't pretend to know what that is, but, you should not help me if I'm using Oscar. We must guard against those errors happening again."
Qrow was shocked to hear Ozpin talk like this. He had never heard him doubt himself, not ever. What had the last month and a half done to the guy?
Winter was less shocked, as she didn't know Ozpin as well, but it sounded very unusual to her.
But her duty was clear.
"Of course," she agreed. "We should do all in our power to help Oscar rid himself of the curse."
"Oh...you know about that?" Ozpin said.
"Professor, it's not that difficult to put together what Oscar is trying to do," Winter said. "I am not a fool. Nor have I missed the many allusions to it that the others have made, some less than subtle... It's also natural. Who would want this?"
"I figured that's what this was about," Qrow said. "Those two have always said something along that line, and I'm sure Nikos is in on it too. I've noticed how cozy she and Oscar are. I suppose she feels like they're the same."
That was actually pretty perceptive for Qrow.
And more true currently than he knew, thanks to Vara.
"Then we are all understood?" Ozpin said.
"I have no idea how to help the kid, but if you want me to stop you if you try something, I can do my best," Qrow said. "Can't guarantee success...but who knows? Maybe you'll get weaker."
Ha ha ha.
"I do have a question," Winter said. "Theodore alluded to something, that the Maiden may have a weakness to the silver eyes... Is this actually true? It would explain how Miss Rose was able to burn Cinder's arm and eye off before we knew she had Grimm appendages."
"I have never proven it," Ozpin said. "Silver-Eyed Warriors have hardly even met Maidens that I know of. They are rare, and I never hunted them as Salem did. I've known a few, the latest being Ruby and Summer...but Summer never fought any Maiden that I knew of, and Ruby's effect on Cinder was one we didn't fully understand. But if it is true...I presume that you are wondering about yourself."
Winter wasn't just wondering about herself, but that was part of it.
"It would be bad if that cracked inventor heard about this," Qrow muttered. "I bet she'd love to experiment on it."
Winter made a disgusted face.
"I suppose you simply will have to be careful never to be too close to Miss Rose when she's fighting Grimm," Ozpin said. "I have never felt any effects from it, however. But then, my curse is from the god of light--maybe none of his creations could harm me... However, the magic I gave away may have morphed, and it may be vulnerable. I don't know how far my protection goes... Or it's possible that Miss Fall's connection with Salem twisted it in her to be vulnerable. Theo's story was the first I heard of it affecting anyone else with magical powers--and...I think connected with Salem...and Kanap's experiments... If it could really have affected the previous Maiden at all, I don't know. Miss Likstar keeps saying the intention matters, and how you get something changes it."
"She has told me that also," Winter said. "Question: Did Vienta inherit the power by killing the previous Maiden?"
"I don't know," Ozpin said. "I didn't think so."
"That explanation won't help then," Winter mused. "I wonder if it was perhaps that stealing them changed how they worked."
[The show is inconsistent about this, btw. Salem clearly hints in Volume 4 that Cinder's magic will make her weaker to Ruby, indicating that Salem already knows that magic is affected by the Silver Eyes. But it never affects Raven when Ruby uses it in the battle of Haven while Raven is still in the room. It does not affect Penny at all. And it does not affect Ozpin, who is magical. Also seems it did not affect Salem, if Summer tried to use it on her before she died. So the rules make absolutely no sense. My attempt at fixing it is haphazard, but I hope the readers will bear with me. Trying to make the show make sense is kind of like patching drywall.]
"Perhaps the silver eyes lock onto the biggest current target," Ozpin said, "so if the Grimm are present, they focused on them, not magic, but without Grimm, magic will also be affected...or if it's in direct line of fire... There does seem to be a limit to range. I can't say."
"We needed another problem to worry about there," Qrow said flatly.
"I don't recommend testing it," Ozpin said. "If it went wrong, someone could lose an arm or eye or other limb."
Winter did not wish to test it either.
"I will have to stay clear of Miss Rose," she said. "I suppose Raven should also be told to do so...not that I think she hasn't already discerned it."
"Miss Branwen is clever enough to know that," Ozpin said.
"I told you you'd sound like him," Qrow commented.
"Shut up," Winter said.
Ozpin was amused by that, to Oscar's confusion.
"Well," he said in his old professor tone, "it certainly is nice to see you two finally getting along. I remember it was quite a different story back in my office in Beacon. I never thought we'd get this far."
"We're not getting along," Qrow said.
"It's barely tolerance," Winter said.
Oscar thought they'd not been acting that touchy about it before... Was it because Ozpin was someone they didn't like?
[No one likes their teacher catching them flirting, Oscar.]
"But it's really a good thing." Ozpin didn't let it go. "I mean, co-leading a team, I think James and I never thought that would ever happen. And here it's happened so naturally, I wonder what we made such a fuss over."
"I really wouldn't call it that," Winter said. "And this is not on subject."
"Well, as your headmaster, I just feel some satisfaction in seeing students get along better," Ozpin said.
"You are not my headmaster," Winter said.
"Actually, Miss Schnee, technically I am, since I designed the school system, curriculum, and oversee them all," Ozpin said. "Who do you think James learned it from?"
Winter didn't enjoy being reminded of how much her fate had always been in Ozpin's hands. She frowned at him.
"Well, if that's all you want to debrief us on, I think I should be going," she said.
She left in a huff.
"She's changed," Ozpin said to Qrow. "She's softer than she used to be. I wonder if it is because her family has been here, or if it is Miss Likstar's influence."
"She was more entertaining before," Qrow said. "But it's fine. I can still get her riled up if I really try. But there's not as much point now that Atlas has fallen. Kind of like beating a dead horse."
"I always thought your flirting should be less destructive," Ozpin said. "I mean, destroying courtyards, it's really not an efficient method."
"Flirting?" Oscar questioned inside his head. "What part of that is flirting to you?"
"Quiet, Oscar," Ozpin said primly.
"Very funny, Oz," Qrow said. "I forgot how sick your sense of humor is."
"Oh, I don't need spectacles to see that, Qrow," Ozpin said patronizingly. "But if you want to pretend, I suppose I am no one to advise... I see, though, her being the Maiden does complicate matters."
"Oz, that's not funny." Qrow frowned at him.
"I wasn't being funny," Ozpin said more grimly. "It's always been difficult for them to have any kind of connection. I don't really like her other family being here--too much leverage for the enemy. I am relieved that one of them was not kidnapped on top of it all...though, I will say, I believe Miss Schnee would handle it better than your sister. She has proved herself to be made of sterner stuff than James."
"Who knew?" Qrow didn't deny it. "Maybe should have put her in charge of Atlas all along."
"Well, if I could still do so, I would," Ozpin said. "But then, as the Maiden, she really shouldn't be in the public eye like this. I don't like this arrangement. I wish she could be persuaded to just abdicate her duties entirely, but even if Miss Likstar has persuaded her to step back, she won't abandon it."
"I think you shouldn't make Winter give up her life just because she has Maiden powers now," Oscar piped up. "Isn't it her choice?"
"Yes, that is what I'd expect from you," Ozpin said to him. "But it doesn't make it the smart choice."
"It won't matter. Everyone already knows who she is," Oscar said.
"Yes...everyone does know who she is," Ozpin said in a different tone. "I know, Qrow...both of us have been thinking that her chances are not...good."
Qrow frowned deeper.
"Unless she can defeat Miss Fall, at least, and buy some time," Ozpin said. "If the DJs could protect Miss Schnee...but sadly their reach does not appear to be infinite. I just...want you not to feel it's your sole responsibility either, but it is our responsibility."
"I know," Qrow said. "I've been watching her. Just because we don't have the best personal history doesn't mean I'm not going to do my job."
"Oh, is that why?" Ozpin said, again amused. "I had not thought so."
"Someone has to," Qrow said. "But you're right about one thing: She's not careful. Raven at least tries to stay under the radar...which, I hate to admit, kind of makes sense now. But not Schnee."
"I wish she was not in Vacuo," Ozpin said. "Spreading the Maidens out more would make sense. But then...the Bandit Camp seems to prove that it won't help for long. I wish there was more we could do."
"Maybe sticking together is better for now," Qrow said. "At least...our way didn't work. Likstar might be right, the Maidens might protect each other. It's weird, but Raven went along with it, which is weirder... Still, she's gotta be careful."
"Yes...I suppose I owe her an apology also," Ozpin said. "But I don't know how I'll make it. She's not very easy to approach, nor do I expect her to be forgiving."
"Heh," Qrow chuckled bitterly. "Nope."
[Though, on record, Raven is more forgiving than Qrow is, if we really look at it.]
* * *
Victoria was packing up the last of her stuff when Kip told her someone was outside.
Expecting it to be those heroes, she instead found the grey-haired, steel-footed kid who she thought was one of Cinder's little drones.
"Who sent you?" she asked.
"Watts had a message," Mercury said.
"Tell him to go die in a hole," Victoria said.
"He said you'd want to hear it," Mercury said. "Because we could get you what you wanted."
Victoria paused. "Oh? But no...that's nonsense. If you haven't noticed, boy, I've been compromised. Kip and I are moving to a different hideout, and I'm not going to tell Arthur of all people where it is. I'm only surprised no one has come for us already, if they were so worried about it. So much the better. And Theo...no doubt he's been found out too. So I have nothing to offer you."
"Maybe we can offer you something then," Mercury said. "This whole thing is just a setback. We have two Maidens with us...and we can lure the Fall one here. You need to research more... Do you think if you had that many, you could get a breakthrough?"
"If I had that many--" Her eyes gleamed. "--I wouldn't even need one. The power alone would be enough to run the whole city of Vacuo if I converted it into energy...let alone what I could do with Aura. Why, if I had them, we could magi--but why would you sacrifice this most valuable commodity?"
"Because all we want are the Relics," Mercury said. "So we need the Fall Maiden powers...but we don't need it to be Cinder...or we don't need it to be her choice, anyway. You can contain Maidens...so you've got some way to nullify their powers. Watts thinks we could help each other."
Victoria put a hand to her chin. "You do the hard part, I get the fun part?" she said. "Hmm...I do like not having to risk Kip or myself on capture and retrieval..."
She glanced at her shop. "But how do I know for sure you'd give me the Maidens?"
"Because you could keep them contained, and we can't," Mercury said. "So you keep them, we get what we need, Salem is happy, and you get what you want. We don't care what you do to them as long as they're trapped. We just need to make sure those heroes stay off our backs. You got a better hiding spot?"
"I actually have a spot I don't think they'd be able to find so easily," Victoria said. "But, I want the Fall Maiden first."
"First?" Mercury said.
"You bring her, your own, to me, and I'll know this is legitimate," Victoria said. "If you only turn over your enemies, then, for all I know, you'll swoop in and take the power for yourself. I want Cinder first... She's insurance. She can steal power also... In fact, I'd very much like to study that arm she has now. Salem has been stealing our technology for years--don't think I don't know that. I couldn't stand Arthur...but I might even forgive that if I get the key to this. Cinder first, then Schnee, and Branwen...and then, I will take Vara's magic when I have perfected the method, but she is not to be harmed. You will allow me to give her magic a different home. You will not kill her."
"Oh, sure," Mercury lied. "Why would we bother? If you can do what you say you can do."
Actually Watts had every intention of making sure Vara and anyone else who knew about this was killed by the end of it, but he wasn't going to tell Victoria that.
Victoria was not the best at reading people clearly. She didn't seem to doubt it.
"Then we have a deal," she said. "I'll be in touch. Get Cinder here by the end of next week. Theo will not let me just disappear if he has a use for me, so I'll have to come up with some story for him. But he might accept this."
Mercury nodded.
Later, he called Tyrian.
"We've got it all lined up," he said. "We can get the Relic and Maiden, but Watts wants Cinder's help. We can't retrieve the powers without her."
"So it's time to send her in?" Tyrian said. "Well, finally... Our goddess was most surprised to learn that Watts was still alive...but Cinder doesn't even know that Watts is alive yet. She's been away."
"Doing what?" Mercury said.
"I believe she was trying to find the Fall Relic," Tyrian said. "The Queen is getting impatient with it. She is also not pleased at the disappearance of many of the Grimm she had looking for it after Beacon, and they are somehow rid of that giant Wyvern."
"What?" Mercury said.
"Yes...according to Fall, the people say that some strangers rid the kingdom of it." Tyrian sounded murderous. "The Queen is convinced it was those two pesky nuisances who apparently helped rescue Ozpin, that cursed fiend. I have not had the pleasure of seeing them in person, but I'd love to--"
He described a very visceral end to them that even Mercury was disconcerted by, but he swallowed it and tried to act unmoved. "So they killed it...and now Beacon is not as weak, is that it?"
"Oh, it's still much weaker than it was," Tyrian said, sounding bored. "We could take it again easily, but she just wants the Relic. Still no luck there. We really need Ozpin's knowledge of it...but I suppose you couldn't get that out of him."
"I don't think he's told his own team that," Mercury said. "I don't even think his dumb host knows."
"Ah, well, if even our goddess couldn't get it out of him--you probably can't." Tyrian was only forgiving where Salem was concerned. "But if she agrees to send Cinder to Vacuo, you had better be ready. We expect you to show us their weakness."
"Oh, don't worry, I'll be ready for that," Mercury said, putting on a cocky tone. "It's not even that hard. They leave themselves wide open all the time."
He hoped he never had to tell Tyrian that Theo had already been outed... He didn't think Theo was going to tell them himself...but if he knew Mercury was also spying and reporting, he'd flip his lid. He might blow the whole thing... He hadn't told them his own part in it, but he'd sell them out in a heartbeat. He didn't want Tyrian to get kill-happy and trying to take Theo out--it would ruin everything...
Sure, Salem probably wouldn't let him...but Tyrian could be unpredictable... What if he did it before asking her? Nope, it made more sense to keep him in the dark.
But Mercury lacked the imagination to feel very sure of himself when trying to play more than one hand at a time. He had no idea how Shine didn't lose her mind doing it herself.
Wouldn't she be livid if she knew, too?... And he was worried that she was sharp enough to catch on... She'd seen through Watts...
The only reason she didn't see through him had to be because of Emerald...
Which meant he needed to make sure Emerald and Hazel both were still confident of him.
Which meant...he was going to have to keep up the friend act.
Ugh...social deception was so exhausting.
[#relatable.]
[Also, geez, Mercury, when does it end? Why do you keep working for these people!?]