Hello everyone! Holy crap its been a while. As usual, writing inspiration only comes in crazy flashes. So enjoy my take on why Ozpin is so bloody secretive.
"Do what makes you happy, children. Please? I'm begging you."
SIXTY YEARS AGO
"What happened?"
"We found him in a village to the far north of the city. He hasn't spoken since we found him."
"And the report is accurate." Ozwald said as he came to a halt in front of the two-way mirror. His words were a statement, not a question. Upon seeing the boy on the other side, Ozwald could tell he was… different. The data in his Scroll were no doubt accurate, despite their impossibility.
"Yes, my king." The Captain of the Outriders shifted on his feet. "Sir, I… the men that found him. They… they say he is a Faunas."
"And?"
"Well, its just… given the report and what we saw… his heritage could explain it-"
"That will be all, Captain."
"But-"
"You are dismissed."
The Outrider clicked his feet together and saluted almost on instinct. The response was automatic. After all, who wouldn't salute the King of Vale these days.
Once the Captain left, Ozwald entered the room. His bones ached but kept his head high. Bad habits from years of politics. Never show weakness. Never let them think you have anything but all the cards. He didn't know why he was acting so on edge. After all, it was just a boy he was about to talk to, not an enemy.
He closed the door behind him. "Hello, young man."
No response. The boy continued to stare into the metal table in front of him. He wore little more than tatters, no one having been able to pry the ruined clothes off him to replace them with something more comfortable or presentable. Ozwald sat down. The chair scraped loudly in the silent room. He felt the noise from his ear down to his bones. The boy didn't even flinch.
"I understand your name is Tyler."
No response. Ozwald took his Scroll out and extended it to its fullest. He retrieved the report.
"It is my understanding that your village was attacked a few days ago. I can't imagine what you must be feeling right now."
No response.
"My Outriders tell me it was a Grimm attack. We understand you were found in the ruins." Ozwald decided not to bring up the fact there were no other survivors. The boy didn't need that.
Still no response.
"My Outriders saw the final minutes of the attack." Ozwald brought the video up and moved the screen so the boy could see it, "Is this you?"
The images were of Tyler, obviously, moving with speed and ferocity not unlike that of a hunting animal. He punched, kicked, bit, clawed and otherwise eviscerated every monster he came across, oblivious to the wounds he suffered. All the while, the boy was screaming. Not from pain, not from rage. Just screaming.
For the first time since he was brought into the room, indeed for the first time since he was found among the evaporating remains of the creatures of Grimm, the boy reacted in a way that didn't appear robotic.
He spoke, with a voice that croaked from lack of use and no doubt a still raw throat, "I… I just couldn't let them destroy it."
"Destroy what?" Ozwald leaned forward.
"The church. They didn't belong there."
Ozwald looked at the footage again, noticing the building behind Tyler. Indeed, it was a church to the Gods. Ozwald felt a twinge of sorrow.
"And how does a faithful boy such as yourself learn how to do this?" He motioned to the combat, the butchery of the Grimm.
Tyler looked away as if ashamed, "I don't know. I just felt- I couldn't- they couldn't be allowed to defile it."
"You defeated them to protect the church?"
"No, I- I didn't defeat them." The boy began to sound panicked. "I destroyed them. I couldn't let them do it. it was the only way I thought I could-"
"Tyler, its fine." Ozwald held his hand up in a calming gesture.
"I'm sorry, its just I promised. I promised."
Ozwald paused, "Do you know who I am?"
Tyler looked him straight in the eye, "You're King Ozwald. You're the Headmaster of Beacon."
Ozwald smiled, "Hello."
"It is an honour."
"Would you like to come to my school and learn to serve the Gods?"
"…more than anything."
FIFTY-FIVE YEARS AGO
"Incredible." Ozwald studied the medical report, "And you are sure this is his semblance?"
The Doctor nodded, "We cannot rule out his… other heritage." Ozwald inwardly sighed at the clear discomfort concerning Tyler's Faunas features, but said nothing of it. There was no point right now. "However, such longevity is far more likely to be the result of Tyler's personal experiences and aura. We can conduct more tests to be sure but-"
"No," the Headmaster said with finality, "that will be all. I wish you good fortune on your journey back to Atlas," The Doctor bowed and left. "And if you could tell Tyler to come in as you leave." Ozwald called out.
The boy entered. Tyler had changed since Ozwald found him. The boyish features had become gaunt but hard like rock. His height was practically unchanged but his posture was that of someone far more confident in themselves. His scars from five years ago were proudly visible on his abdomen. His Faunas features were hidden however, something Ozwald was sad to say was probably for the better. Anti-Faunas sentiment was only growing and avoiding open conflict with students would avoid unnecessary deaths.
"You wished to see me Headmaster?"
"Yes, Tyler. I was wondering if you have any idea what your semblance is yet."
The boy's face dropped and the headmaster couldn't blame him. Five years of training and no sign of his semblance would dishearten any Huntsman-or-Huntress-to-be. "So the tests came back negative?"
"On the contrary," the old teacher smirked, "They came back with exactly what you hoped for." He laid the file on the table and Tyler rushed to see. After a few seconds, he frowned.
"Professor, I-"
"Don't understand what any of it means?" Ozwald chuckled, "It took the Doctor some time to explain it to me too. But let me just point you to this?" Tyler's gaze was drawn to the conclusion which made several notes of a decimal: 0.2.
"I still don't understand professor."
"Its your cellular division rate. Do you know what aging is? It is simply the continued division of our cells. Eventually they will cease to divide and that will lead to death. I am simplifying it for expediency but suffice to say, eventually our cells will not do what they are supposed to do and we will die. For some reason, yours are not acting as normal. You appear to have a much slower rate of division without any of the negative side-effects that would normally come with that. Your semblance, Tyler is-"
"Longevity." The boy's face was still. Ozwald was unsure if he was taking it well.
"Yes. By the Doctor's estimations, you will likely live five times longer than a regular person. With the right training regimes, you could extend that even further."
"But… so long- my friends."
"I know," Ozwald said those words with a sincerity Tyler could not hope to understand. Not yet anyway, "Such a long life would make interaction with people difficult. However, before you thought about it further, I was hoping you would be able to listen to an old man tell you a story. Tyler, what's your favourite fairy-tale?"
THIRTY YEARS AGO
Tyler sat in the library, scanning the texts on the shelves absent-mindedly. Beacon's library had long since stopped holding appeal for him, having read nearly every book on the shelf. He had hardly aged, but the friends who would recognise him were few and far between these days "So," he said, returning his gaze to the young man in front of him, "You want to be called Ozpin now?"
The grey-haired boy's eyes flashed with anger, "It's my name."
Tyler smiled, "Ah, so Ozwald and you are still not one?" he rubbed his chin, smiling. "I must say, I never really believed what he was saying. But this," He looked down at the cane the boy was holding. Tyler nodded, "Yes, you really are him. Incredible. To think I stand in the presence of a man blessed and sent by the Gods." He shot up from the chair with such speed Ozpin took a defensive step back but was even more startled when Tyler knelt before him, "I swear that I will follow you to the end, my lord. If this is the god's will, then I will see it done. Whatever you would ask of me, I will do."
Ozpin looked around his cheeks flushing. To any onlookers, this would appear to be a man in his late twenties, no doubt a recognised Huntsman, prostrating himself before a boy barely old enough to be a student. "Err… thanks."
Is he always like this? Ozpin asked in his head.
You get used to it, Ozwald replied, you have to remember, he met me when I was technically still a King.
This is super weird.
I'm afraid this is only the beginning. If I may.
Ozpin's eye's briefly began to glow and Ozwald placed a hand on Tyler's shoulder. "Thank you, old friend. It has been… difficult over my lives to be unable to form long friendships. Knowing you are here, and having saved me from that attack on Ozpin's home. It makes me glad to be your friend."
He looked down at the fresh scar on Tyler's chest. When Ozwald reincarnated in Ozpin's body, Salem found him far quicker than he had anticipated. Tyler took a sword strike meant to incapacitate him. He saved Ozwald and Ozpin from a lifetime at her mercy.
"I have a pair of gifts for you." Ozwald too out an ornate box with intricate circuitry around the lock, clearly Atlesean in nature. Pressing his finger on the pad, the lid clicked open, revealing a pair of black wristblades. "I had the best craftsmen work on them. Perfectly balanced and to your measurements. I hope you like them."
Tyler reached tentatively for the weapons. For so long, he was used to his bare-knuckle style of fighting. It wasn't elegant, but it was his. But these… "They are perfect." His voice almost cracked with emotion. He slipped them on and almost immediately, the blades sprang forth, resembling a pair of pincers. He also noted the faint outline of where the barrels were hidden, ready to spring forth with quite literally, a flick of his wrist.
"And that isn't all," Ozwald smirked.
Tyler looked up as if shaken from a day dream. He frowned. What else was there.
"Tyler, what I'm going to say… it doesn't come easy. For years I've had to keep secrets. Our fight, it is not something easily won. But it has to be fought. You understand that, right? I was given a mission and that mission must be carried out."
"Of course, Ozpin," Tyler nodded. He could feel the old man was leading up to something.
"I… for so long, I've had to keep these secrets. But I need to tell them to someone. And you are the one friend I have been able to count on and, because of your semblance, can continue to count on. It's time I told you everything."
TWENTY-FOUR YEARS AGO
Ozpin rushed to the office. He knew what to expect. But he didn't want to see it. He kicked his own doors down, and entered, cane drawn, "Tyler!" He shouted, the sound echoing the dark room. Something was wrong, it shouldn't be this dark. The lights should be one. Someone cut the power.
Someone? Who was Ozpin kidding? He knew exactly who.
"Well, hellooooooo again Ozpin." The Faunas' voice was faint and distant, more like a whisper than an echo. "Long time, no seeeeeeee."
"Tyler, what have you done?" Ozpin moved cautiously, weary of the hidden threat. One false move and he was dead.
"Oh I just came to drop by and see my old friend. Heheheheheheh." The laughter reverberated around him, briefly disorienting the headmaster. He began to quickly scan for an attack, but none came.
"The Fall maiden, Tyler. How could you do that? Do you have any idea the damage you have caused."
"But I needed to see, Ozwald. I needed to see the relic with my own eyes."
"I'm not Ozwald, not anymore."
"Then use the name I have chosen for myself. That's only fair."
"And that is?" Ozpin felt a presence. Right behind him and turned, cane up to block the pincers.
"Tyrian! HAHAHAHAHAHAH!" The Faunas pushed away and landed on Ozpin's desk. His tail swayed hypnotically over his crouched body. His face, normally so composed was contorted into an insane smile. "All those years, bottling up those truths. I see now, why you keep your pawns in the dark. After all, who in their right mind would side against the true Goddess of this world?" He shot forward, the table slamming into the opposite wall from his push. Ozpin met him head on before his semblance kicked in and showered his former friend with blows. Tyrian shrugged them off laughing and punched the headmaster square in the chest, knocking him into the doors with a sound akin to a thunderclap. "All this time, I served a man, a deceiver led by the nose by false gods, undeserving of my praise, when the real power of this world was always within reach."
"Tyler, what happened to you?" Ozpin panted, his anguish clear in his voice.
"NOT TYLER!" Tyrian screamed. He leaped onto the headmaster, blades only stopped by the cane. His leg wrapped around Ozpin with a vice-like grip. There was no escape. His tail was free. All he needed was to break Ozpin's aura and it was over, "Tyler was my slave name, my false name. The one given to me by parents unaware of the truth. Truth that you keep from the masses because you are afraid they will agree."
Ozpin struggled. This close he was finished. Thankfully, Tyler, no, Tyrian, didn't know all the tricks this cane had. With a flick of a switch, a force field bubbled out, throwing the deranged Faunas back. "Salem cannot be allowed to win. She will doom this world."
"She will save it!" Tyrian sprang forth again, but was repelled once more by the transparent shield. He began to howl in rage.
Ozpin sighed. He looked at the hate and rage and delight in his former friend's eyes and shed a tear for the first time in years, "I am sorry, Tyler. I should never have told you the truth about Salem, about me. I won't make that mistake again." The force field evaporated and he lunged forward. Tyrian caught the blow seemingly unawares. The force sent him flying through the window, the glass breaking with an almighty shatter and sending Tyrian plummeting into the darkness of Forever Falls. Ozpin stepped onto the precipice, to watch as his closest friend vanished forever. "I'm sorry."
Tyrian woke. He wasn't dead. There was too much pain for that. Alive then. He tried to get up but found his arm unresponsive. He saw bone protruding out of his arm, his leg and his chest. He laughed, despite the pain it caused. Falling a hundred feet and this was all he got. What miracle was this? What had he landed on.
It was then he noticed that he wasn't alone. Around him, burning red eyes stared at him from the darkness. Shapes moved just out of vision of the moonlight and he could feel the monstrous feeling of hunger around him. He didn't feel fear. After all, these were her children. If he died by their hands, it was clearly her will. But they didn't. instead of being set upon, a single Grimm approach. It clicked and clacked with disturbing unseen teeth and its floating tentacles reached for him. Tyrian knew he lay in the presence of something to be shown reverence. The barbed appendages caressed him and he sighed in apprehension. Yes, she was aware of him. She was interested in him.
The barbs receded and an Ursa approached, before leaning down. Tyrian realised it was so he could get on its back. With his one working arm, he dragged himself up by the Grimm's fur. The creatures around them growled at his pain but did not attack. Eventually after a minute of struggling, he lay on the beast's back. At once it began to move, each lumbering step sending a bolt of fresh agony around his body. But Tyrian welcomed the pain. Because he knew where the Ursa was going and knew where each excruciatingly exquisite step was taking him.
To his Queen. To his Goddess. To Salem.
Comments and criticism is appreciated! See you all next time!