The elevator doors opened and as before he even stepped off Ozpin stood in front of him offering him a cup filled with coffee. Silently taking the cup into his dirt and blood covered hands he nodded a thanks and walked to a lone chair across the glass floor. He sipped from the cup as he waited for Ozpin to take his seat behind the desk recalling the events of the past three weeks in his head, his thoughts interrupted by a hand on his shoulder.
Glynda Goodwitch, even though her expression remained neutral as it almost always was when their eyes met he could see the grief within her and her concern for his well being. He wanted to tell her he was alright, but in truth he wasn't. Physically he was fine and unharmed, but mentally, emotionally he wasn't holding up as well. Peach was more than a colleague, she was a friend and he was unable to save her.
"Whenever you're ready" Ozpin said calmly taking his seat at the desk.
Sin set his cup down, "It was six days ago."
"We had finished our mission, the Grimm in the area surrounding the town were wiped out and we decided to spend an extra day to scout and make sure. While we were setting up camp one appeared and attacked us and by the time we killed it others appeared. We managed to fend them off and I ordered another sweep of the area to be sure we were clear. It was an Ursa Major that did it. According to Griff, Peach had pushed him out of the way and she took the full force of the Ursa's attack, her aura must have depleted from it because she struggled to fight back and wasn't able to defend against its bite. We heard Griff calling for help and rushed in and killed the bastard, but when I saw her arm I..."
Ozpin slid his cup toward him, "Take your time Sin."
"I did what I could for her" he continued, "I treated her fever, gave her painkillers and a few muscle relaxers, tried to keep her comfortable. I ended up exhausting our medical and water supply trying to help her in whatever way I could, she lasted for four days before succumbing."
Ozpin asked, "Did she suffer?"
Sin shook his head, "No I managed her pain and kept her fever in check. Not that it mattered. She pleaded with me, begged me to end it before she changed, but I couldn't do it, couldn't accept it. Even after I used the last of our supplies I kept trying, long after she closed her eyes and her skin changed, I. I just couldn't accept losing her as well."
He felt Glynda squeeze his shoulder, but he couldn't bring himself to look at her or Ozpin, "Another one happened upon us as the ship was landing to extract us. We managed to capture it alive, I had the soldiers escort it to my lab, I would imagine we have less than sixty hours before it dies."
Ozpin and Glynda exchanged looks, "I'd rather you get some rest instead" he told Sin, "You'll have time to work later."
"We're on a clock Ozpin" Sin replied, "For whatever reason those monsters can't live in captivity and die within three days, time resting is time taken away from studying them and maybe finally finding a cure."
Ozpin countered, "And if you don't rest you'll only make things worse. I know you Sin, you'll be up for the next three days taking blood samples, analyzing and running tests, but if you don't rest you'll only slow down your own work or maybe even make a mistake and let's not forget the last time, you worked yourself for days without sleep. Rest, you can continue your work afterwards. And don't forget, you still have students to teach."
"That's why I have a substitute" Sin told him, "I'm only in that class maybe two days out of the week anyway, my work studying those monsters is more important than teaching children how to keep themselves alive. We shouldn't even let them hunt the Grimm in the first place, their just kids."
Ozpin set his own up down, "I feel the same way you do. It is my hope that one day the world will be rid of the Grimm for good and we won't have to train children to fight them. But until that day comes we must continue training them so they can safeguard the world after we've left it."
"All the more reason to find that cure as soon as possible" Sin exhaled, "Something I can't do by wasting time on sleep."
"Sin" Glynda said finally removing her hand from his shoulder, "You need to rest" her tone stern and unforgiving, "He's telling you and so am I."
Sin stood up, "Fine" he said, "Can I go now?"
Ozpin stopped him, "One last thing, Professor Peach's body. Did you bring her home?"
Sin nodded, "Yeah, I brought her back."
Ozpin stood up as well, "Thank you. I'll see to it she receives a proper burial."
With nothing else to say Sin left returning to the elevator and to his lab. Washing his hands first he watched the dirt and dried blood being washed down the sink's drain, his last image of his deceased haunts him. Her grey skin, her once ginger hair had become white and her brown eyes a deep red.
Drying his hands he heard the Boarbatusk in the next room growl aware of his presence. Stepping into the room Sin stood in front of it's cage glaring at it, they all looked the same to him after all these years, Boarbatusk, Ursa, Nevermore they were all the same. The beast snarled as he stood there, bashing its head against the bars in a futile attempt to attack him.
Sin kept his eyes locked with the Grimm's refusing to back away, "You have no idea how much I want to kill you" he said knowing the monster couldn't understand him, "To make you suffer, cause as much pain as possible and keep you alive through all of it before finally pulling the trigger."
He crouched down in front of the cage, "But you're more useful alive. For now at least."
The Boarbatusk rammed against the bars again and Sin stood up turning his back to the creature and returning to his desk. Multiple files and reports of test results covered his desk in stacks according to dates. The center pull out drawer lined with dozens of multicolor pens and the three side drawers filled with labeled files.
A former student at Beacon, Sin decided to become a doctor instead of a huntsman after he graduated. He spent five years studying the Grimm virus with dozens of others and over a hundred more across the world. It was his work that drew the attention of Beacon's headmaster and it was through Ozpin's offer he returned to Beacon as a doctor, teacher and researcher. He had been at Beacon for nearly fifteen years now, teaching classes on field medicine and other emergency first aid practices, but as the years moved on he was in his class less and less, leaving another teacher to sub in for him as he spent time in his lab.
Throwing on a clean lab coat he grabbed his tape recorder from his desk, "May twenty-fourth" he said aloud for the tape recorder to hear him, "Time almost nineteen hundred hours. Specimen Boarbatusk, condition, battered, but stable. Left tusk broken off at the half point, multiple slash marks from weapons on both sides of the body and one more over its left eye at an angle leading to its broken tusk."
He grabbed a syringe from the workbench, "Intramuscular injection of a tranquilizer to specimen prior to capture and another during transport. Dosage was zero point seventy-two milliliters, specimen remained under the effects for five hours each so the dosage was enough to keep it incapacitated. The specimen currently weighs almost eighty-two kilograms and is about a little over one point one meters at shoulder height. Aggression at expected normal levels, taking first blood sample from the right shoulder area."
Unable to move in its cage the Boarbatusk slammed its side against the bars when the syringe pierced it's skin, but the human next to it remained unfazed. Staring at the crimson liquid Sin brought it back to his workbench taking his seat and aiming the blood at a slide set in his microscope. Squeezing the plunger he watched as the crimson liquid turned black a chemical reaction that happened with the infected blood came in contact with oxygen. Setting the syringe aside he placed his eye against the magnifier and watched the cells dance about in the liquid.
"Blood sample suggests this specimen is somewhere between half a year to a year old" he said for the recorder to hear him, "Specimen was captured in quadrant four in the south of Vale, region three approximately sixty-four kilometers from the base of Mountain Glenn where heavy Grimm activity is known to be. So far blood analysis is the same as prior specimens."
"Gene therapy prospects in Mistral have failed and attempts at radiation treatments in Vacuo have yielded no useful data. Atlas facilities as usual are proving to be of as little use as possible believing the best cure is to completely eradicate the Grimm and any infected individuals before another victim can be claimed or at least that's how their government views the issue."
"My own attempts sadly have not yielded any promising results, electrical stimulation sent the virus cells into a frenzy causing them to attack every other nearby cell including each other, but beyond that nothing of note. As with many known viruses when exposed to freezing temperatures the cells slow down in reproduction and when exposed to sub-zero temperatures become inactive altogether. Sadly neither method actually kills the virus cells."
Backing away from the microscope he returned to the tool bench continuing to narrate his preliminary analysis and findings as he moved about his lab. Occasionally the Boarbatusk would be heard ramming against its cage still riled by the sound of Sin walking around and speaking, but for the most part he ignored it. His watch alerted him to the arrival of midnight and once more Sin stood up from his desk a new report written out of the tests he had gone through and his failures documented in detail, twenty-seven pages of results and none of them worth anything.
"Preliminary results" he exhaled, "Reveal nothing new. Next series of testing, I can only hope. Pray for something, anything, too many have been lost to this curse."
Rubbing his eyes he reached for the recorder, "I'm going to take a short break, for now end of log."
Setting the recorder down he rubbed his eyes once more, "Coffee" he said to himself.
His feet dragged across the monolithic floor to the back storage room, inside the eight by eight room were two white storage cabinets one organized, but filled with spare equipment and the other containing a bedroll and pillow. It was not uncommon for Sin to sleep if he slept at all preferring to be as close to his work as possible in the event of anything happening or a new idea. Next to the closets on the side wall was a double door brown cabinet with a coffee maker sitting on top. Crouching in front of the double door cabinet he reached inside for his preferred creamer, but his hand only touched the hard wood of the shelf. Patting his hand around for a moment he withdrew his arm and looked inside, empty, of course it was empty.
"Why is the creamer always gone?" he sighed.
Grabbing a paper cup he set it under the maker, placing the flavor cup in the hatch above and closing it. He felt his eyes grow heavy as the hot water poured through draining the flavor from the ground beans into the cup below, his balance was off as well he could feel himself swaying. He had been up for three days already, not the first time, but the fact that he also hadn't eaten in the same amount of time was taking its toll on him.
"Are you kidding me?" he heard a sharp voice as he returned to his desk.
Closing the door behind him he saw Glynda striding over to him angry and glaring.
"I'm busy" he told her as he walked back to his desk.
"So I see" Glynda said crossing her arms as she stood in front of him, "I seem to recall Ozpin and I telling you to get some rest instead of working."
"Yeah I'm almost positive you did" Sin replied sipping from his cup.
"I'm not in the mood for your jokes Sin" she retorted, "You lied to Ozpin, to me, you said you would get some rest and yet here you are."
"Well if I don't do it no one will" Sin reminded her setting his cup down.
The Grimm in the separated room snarled hearing their voices ramming against its cage once again.
"Shut up!" Sin yelled snatching his stapler and throwing it at the cage.
Seeing the way he stood how off balance he was Glynda relaxed her shoulders reining in frustration, "Sin, I know you. You already haven't slept in days, you can't keep this up."
"I can and I will" Sin said bracing himself against his desk.
"Why won't you listen?" she asked him, "You know Ozpin and I are both worried about you. You weren't always like this, when did you decide to lock yourself down here, when did you let this consume you?"
Sin slammed his hands on his desk, "Since Peach died!" he yelled, "Since Simmons, since Tucker, since Kenneth and his daughter. Every hour I spend on something else is an hour not used for finding a cure, and we've lost too many people for me to stop."
"You don't have to stop" Glynda told him trying to remain calm, "No is asking you to. We only want you to take care of yourself."
"I can't" Sin said, "I have to keep working, what if there's a Grimm attack tomorrow? I could find a cure tonight for all any of us know, but if I sleep instead and then there's an attack somewhere what then? Who else has to be lost? What if it's Port? Or Oobleck? What if it's you?"
"Now" Sin continued not wanting to give her time to counter his argument, "I have work to do" he sat down, "And you're distracting me."
Maybe it was the fatigue, maybe it was the stress, maybe it was the hunger and exhaustion, maybe it was all of them, but he didn't have the strength to continue arguing anymore he was on the verge of collapse and had to keep working to stay awake. He opened his folder again grabbing one of his pens before shooing her away and returning to his work. His strained mind focused once more on his reports he didn't notice Glynda had walked behind him, he didn't even feel the slap against his neck when she struck him, all he felt were his eyes becoming too heavy to keep open until finally he leaned forward against his desk.
Opening the door to the storage closet Glynda retrieved his bedroll and pillow, walking them back out to his desk and setting them up on the floor. Using her semblance she lifted him from his chair and laid him down, setting the blanket over him she glanced at the clipboard and the papers of test results. Though she didn't understand any of what was written down she knew how much work he had put into them, the amount of time and energy he had devoted to this. All for a good cause sure, but if it came at the cost of his health or possibly his life would it really be worth it.
Taking one last look at him she closed the door to the room containing the caged Boarbatusk and locked it before turning lights out before leaving.