Drabble one of: Saturday Night's Alright For Fighting
Prompt: Purpose
Summary: In which Ozpin sips and the Goodwitch despairs.
7/ 27/ 14
In all her years of being in close affiliation with the famed headmaster of the prestigious Beacon Academy, Glynda Goodwitch has learned to place an absurd amount of faith in him. Because she has come to realize after years of frustration and headache inducing games of tug o'war for half-truths and cryptic information intermixed with clever side steps and smiles hidden behind that godawful mug of coffee, that whatever move Ozpin makes across the proverbial chess board, will always hold a purpose.
And most of the time she never understands what that purpose is.
She has spent decades dealing with him in all his glorious anonymity and riddles and is definitely closer than anyone else on the road of understanding why he does the things he does, says the things he says. However, as much as it physically pains her to admit it, as much as it boils her blood to concede defeat, even she will never be able to guess what will become of his actions.
And she must say, these new knights thrown into the game confuse her like never before.
"They're supposed to be the defenders of the world!"
They are nothing but children, all of them still hold that glimmer of wonder and hope in their eyes about the world around them. Perhaps Ms. Belladonna is the exception to that, but it is obvious by the way she looks at her team leader that she is attempting to crawl her way back through a narrowing tunnel and regain that little spark of something worth fighting for.
How can that man just tell her to 'let it go'? These laughing dolts will stand against depravity in four short years (perhaps even shorter than that), will be the gray area between good and evil and he expects her not to panic? Not after witnessing a weaponized food fight that destroyed half of the cafeteria? Not after watching Ms. Rose drooling on top of her latest homework assignment?
No. Telling her not to panic was a very foolish suggestion.
Glynda Goodwitch may not fully understand Ozpin and his decisions but she can damn well dislike them.
" ...And they will be, but right now they're still children. So why not let them play the part? After all, it isn't a role they'll get to have forever."
"How can you be so calm?"
A slim, silver eyebrow raises at the question, dark orbs don't even move from the paperwork in front of him. He brings a mug to his lips and takes a sip.
Glynda watches this and grits her teeth.
The headmasters office is a cluttered affair, full of a good amount of dust and an assortment of mugs as well as large stacks of documents that were meant to be finished but most likely never will be. The walls are lined with book shelves filled with priceless originals, all left to rot behind cobwebs, the chandelier that used to gleam with a brilliance now is in much of the same state. And at the center of this whirlwind of disorder sits a mahogany desk that was once polished and well taken care of, now its surface is littered with various scrapes and bruises, half empty mugs of coffee and an assortment of different colored sticky notes.
Glynda vaguely realizes that he did not in fact listen to her when she told him to clean up this monstrosity last month. Just another disappointment to add to an ever growing list.
"They will die you know." She states this with conviction and has the momentary satisfaction of gaining his attention. He observes her beneath a mask, betraying nothing. "The White Fang, the Grimm, Torchwick, and the others, the children will face them and lose."
He shifts in his seat, takes a sip from the mug, and then leans back in the ragged leather back chair that has seen better days. "Such little faith you have in them."
She runs her fingers through her hair in frustration and pushes up her glasses, pacing agitatedly across worn granite. He doesn't understand! They're children being put on the pedestal for slaughter. "You know as well as I do that their enemies will not wait nicely for them to graduate fully prepared to face capture, torture, and death. You know that they will always have targets painted on their backs. Children who wanted to become hunters and huntresses. They will face so much very soon and you know they are not ready! So why, Ozpin? Why would you allow Ruby Rose to make herself interesting! Why would you allow fake transcripts to pass through inspection when that boy cannot fight as well as the rest of them? A former member of the White Fang in our midsts-!"
Ozpin raises a hand for silence and Glynda's ringing voice fades even as more words full of potent acidity claw their way up her throat. He crosses his legs and reaches for his beloved mug before wisely rethinking the action as Glynda eyes the infernal object with killing intent. Instead he plucks a glowing crystal from beneath a stack of papers and holds it up for her to view. Pulsing red races under the surface of the gem, strong and steady in its rhythm, like a human heart, she swallows and must concede that it is beautiful in its cut. Ozpin looks at the crystal held between his fingers as well and in this little moment of silence she thinks she understands what he is thinking, if just a little bit.
"Why are wars started?" He speaks, and Glynda watches another pulse of red race.
Beautiful.
"Wars?" She raises her eyebrows at this. Wondering if he was going to throw out more cryptic garbage.
"Yes. Wars. Curious things aren't they?" His glasses slide low on his nose and he palms the crystal, rotating it between thin fingers. "That such grand displays of power start with such a small emotion."
Glynda Goodwitch has spent years attempting to understand the enigma that is headmaster Ozpin. And she understands now that she will never truly know why he makes the decisions that he does. But when he says things like that and she has absolutely no idea what he is talking about (emotion?) she wishes with a passion that she did.
"These children that you seem so ready to condemn with failure, all contain a staggering amount of that emotion that starts wars, fuels them, and finally finishes them. They are young, yes, and it is with my deepest regret that I play a hand in the events to come," The headmaster of the prestigious school of Beacon rises from his old chair and drops the red gem into her hands. "But I know that even in the darkest of times, these children will triumph. They have my complete faith."
Glynda's shaking now, repressed anger and sadness hardening her features. "It is our job as their guardians to protect them! You say we just let them face demons alone? You say we just lead them to die? WITHOUT HELP? NO AMOUNT OF SIMPLE EMOTION WILL SAVE THEM IF WE DO NOT HELP!"
With her growing rage, Glynda watches him shake his head and sigh.
"I am not saying that we cannot help with their physical battles but psychological ones, I am afraid we could never help them there. They have each other for that."
"But why can't we? If anything we have more experience with pain!"
"Ah, but that's just it. We have felt the slice of steel and have watched comrades fall for far too long. Long enough to numb our sense of passion. Another battle another day," Ozpin makes his way around the desk and drops a tentative hand on her quivering shoulder. "But these children, weak in singularity but strong together are not numb to the world around every pain, even the ones that are not their own, they still feel. They still care. And that alone makes them stronger than we could ever hope to be.
Glynda Goodwitch has spent many years attempting to understand the man in front of her and has drawn up short every time. However, sometimes in rare moments like this, he gives her just a bit of insight into that mind of his.
And for now that is enough.
She draws in a shaky breath and grips the red crystal tightly, feeling the deep grooves cut into her skin.
"They will live," She whispers, "I will make sure of it, help them in any way I can if what you say is true."
Ozpin let's loose a ghost of a smile and pats her shoulder.
It is times like these when Glynda Goodwitch realizes why she so inexplicably trusts the mysterious man.
"Ozpin." She hovers around the heavy wooden door, hand perched on the center ready to leave.
The man in question is currently seating himself back in his chair and reaching for that mug. He raises his eyebrows at her. "What does spark wars, fuels them, and finishes them?"
A twitch in the man's face, hidden by the now present coffee cup, and Glynda swears he just smiled.
"Hope."
Glynda Goodwitch has spent years with him, trusts him, and still sometimes forgets the most important thing that she has learned from him.
Everything the headmaster of the prestigious Beacon Academy does, it is done for a purpose.
So that's the end of this drabble 'Purpose.'
Hope you enjoyed?
I have watched RWBY ever since episode one and have always wanted to do a drabble series about it, and have decided to do so after watching the season 2 premier. This series has no definitive length, the one shots will not be related (probably), and I will most likely post after each new episode (perhaps, it has been a long time since I have poster anything on this site.) However, I would absolutely love to take prompt requests and ideas, AU's are allowed, ratings will vary, but please do not give me pairings that aren't even remotely about to happen in canon (such as Ozpin and Ruby, Weiss and Yang.)
I can't wait to see what you guys have in store, for these prompts either leave it in the review or PM me!
Speaking of reviews….. I would be honored to receive them!
