An Old Face

Weiss' head felt like she'd just crashed through a forest. Then she remembered that was exactly what had happened. Groaning as she held her head, she slowly leaned up, looking around, realizing she seemed to be in a cage of sorts, and her hands were bound.

"Ah, the princess is awake." Glancing over, she saw a number of thugs advancing on her. The apparent leader of them was a young woman with short brown hair and blue eyes. She had Myrtenaster on her shoulder, and she was at Weiss the way a hawk might look at a mouse.

"We'd be set for life with this kind of ransom," one of the other thugs said, sneering down at the former heiress.

"Just make sure she's not harmed," the woman said, "Her daddy won't pay us as well if she's damaged."

"She is also right here, and can be addressed directly." That got the thugs attention, as they all looked down at her. The woman scoffed slightly, looking at Weiss

"Where am I?" Weiss asked, as she glared at her captor.

"Anima, and that's all I feel like telling you," the woman answered. Quickly deciding she didn't like her, Weiss' eyes narrowed.

"Trust me," she said, "You really don't want to do this." The woman snorted slightly.

"Why's that? You think your big sister's going to come and rescue you?" she asked, "Because newsflash: Winter Schnee's in Atlas. Ironwood closed the borders." Weiss was surprised to hear that, but otherwise remained silent, as she took a breath to calm herself.

"It's not my sister you'd need to worry about," she then said, "It's me." The goons stared at her for a time, before they all burst out laughing like hyena Faunus.

"Yeah! Watch out for the tiny girl in a dress and a pig sticker!" one said between guffaws.

"Just keep telling yourself that, kid," the woman said, before turning on her heels, and walking away, her goons following her.

"Worried about her?" another one said, "Hah! I think we'd have more trouble with an old farmer." As they left, Weiss took a deep breath, as she held up her hand, which turned into a claw.

"Yes, keep telling yourselves that," she said, smilign to herself, "Keep telling yoursleves that."

(in Mistral)

"Maybe he aged backwards?"

"It's gotta be possession!"

"Maybe it's reincarnation!"

"This is weird!"

"Yes, this is quite weird," Oscar sad with a sigh. Now RNJR was no stranger to bizarre, supernatural events at this point. They had all seen Darkness doing weirder things, but that didn't make this particular even any less weird. As they were huddled around the farm boy, Shade was sitting in his arm chair, his hands folded, looking directly at, or perhaps more accurately right through Oscar.

"Alright, kids," Qrow said, as he came up with some coffee, "Simmer down. You've seen crazier stuff than this."

"Yeah, I guess he's got us there," Jaune said. Oscar was silent, as he was aparently listening to something.

"He wants to speak with you," he then said.

"'He'?" Ren asked.

"Ozpin," Oscar said, and in short order, his eyes flashed yellow. He slouched down slightly, before leaning back up, though when he did, he had a much more confident look on his face.

"It's good to see you all again," he said. RNJR stared at him for a time.

"Professor Ozpin?" Ruby asked slowly.

"Indeed I am," Oz said with a smile, as he leaned forward on his cane, "It is good to see you are all well."

"Okay," Jaune said, holding up his hands, "Just what the hell is going on here?" Oz chukcled slightly at that.

"Just bear with me," he said, "This may take a moment to explain." With that, Oz broke down everything: his reincarnation, his curse, and his role in all that was going ong. As he was doing so, the students eyes slowly went to Shade, which didn't go unnoticed by the professor.

"Dr. Shade," Oz said, "I… did not expect to see you."

"And yet, here I am," Shade said.

"Forgive my bluntness," Oz said, glaring at the doctor, "But I fail to see why you have to be here."

"I have a vested interest in these children," Shade answered, with a shrug. Oz's glared hardened at the man.

"Why should I believe you?" he demanded, "Since the moment we met, you have not demonstrated the least bit of trustworthiness." He looked around expecting support from at least Qrow, but they were all looking at each other, like they knew something Oz didn't, something big.

"Show him," Ruby finally said to the doctor.

"Are you sure?" Shade answered.

"He's trusting us with all this information," Ruby said, "We should trust him with this."

"Yes," Oz said, frowning at the doctor, "And I believe some explanation may yet be in order. We can start with who you are?"

"Oh, this is gonna be good," Nora said with a grin.

"What're you talking about?" Oz asked, glancing at the ginger girl.

"Very well then," Shade said, as he rose to his feet, and held up his arms, as his Aura started glowing. As he did so, a strange sensation came over Oz. A feeling of familiarity, like he felt the power coming off the Faunus before, but he knew that to be impossible.

"What're…." He couldn't finish, as there was a flash of dark energy, and with that, standing in Shade's place, was the God of Darkness.

"It has been a long time, Ozma," the god said, folding his arms behind his back. Before Oz could even balk at the sight before him, the god snapped his fingers, as suddenly, everything around them froze, as if time had just been paused.

No… he thought. The god then flicked his wrist, and Ozma was expelled from Oscar's body. He flashed through all the different faces he had over the ages, until he finally settled on, of all things, his original one. The wizard stared at his hands in surprise, never thinking he'd see them again. That was when his gaze was drawn back to the god, who loomed over him. His thoughts started running a thousand miles an hour, as he stared up at the face he hadn't seen for eons.

"No! No!" he said, "You can't be back! The Relics…. the God of Light…. Salem…." He as then literally silenced, as Darkness made a zipping gesture, and Ozma's voice vanished.

"Now, I am only going to say this once," the god said, "I am not here the judgement my brother foretold, the children do know who I am, why I am here is no concern of your's, and you are not to tell them anything of the past. Is that clear?" He then reversed the zipping motion, allowing Ozma to talk again.

"I… I…."

"Is. That. Clear?" Darkness said as bluntly as he could, leaning forward slightly. It took him some time, but Ozma slowly nodded.

"Very good," Darkness said, "Now bear in mind, I have not figured out the consequences of you breaking any of these rules, but that only gives me options." With that, the god flicked his wrist. Suddenly, Ozma was sucked back into Oscar's body, and time started back up. A completely dead silence hung in the air for a long time, as the god stood in the room, looking over the group.

"Do you have anything to say to me?" Darkness asked plainly,.

"I…. I…..," Oz said slowly, not at all knowing what to say in his presence. Fortunately, RNJR came to the rescue.

"Is it true?" Jaune asked, "Did you curse him?"

"Actually no, it was my brother," Darkness answered.

"Why?"

"That is a question best left to him," the god answered. The team looked at him for a time, but had been around him enough to understand not to press for answers.

"Well… tell him about the Spirits," Ruby said.

"Y… Yes!" Oz suddenly said, "Tell me all about these 'Spirits'?"

"Are you giving me an instruction?" Darkness asked, glancing at the wizard.

"I… uh…." Fortunately, Darkness held up his hand.

"Relax, I meant that in jest."

"You still need to work on your way of joking," Jaune said, rolling his eyes. Oz was somewhat confused by that; the almighty creator, who had raised him from the dead, was making a joke? It almost didn't seem possible. With that Darkness explained what the Spirits were to Oz, as the wizard did his best to take it all in.

"Well… I can't say I've heard much about them, aside from them being worshipped by the Faunus," he responded, "But if they are also players in this game, it seems are problems are now much bigger."

"Do not underestimate these children," Darkness said, gesturing with his head, "They have already slain one."

"Is that so?" Oz asked, "How, may I ask?" RNJR exchanged looks with each other at the mention of that.

"Well," Ruby said slowly, "Remember the dragons at Beacon"

"Yes, wh…," Oz began, before suddenly putting two and two together, "Wait? How did…"

"Take a guess?" Jaune said, jerking his thumb at the god. Oz looked at Darkness, then back at the teams, then at Darkness again.

"I remember when things were so much simpler," he said, as he collapsed back into his chair.

"Makes what you did to me seem pretty small now, huh?" Qrow quipped.

"What he did to you?" Nora asked.

(somewhere else on Anima)

Yang motored down the road, with the thug from the gas station (whom she found out was named "Shay D. Mann") on the back.

"Just up here," Shay said, pointing to a small clearing, and once Yang pulled into it, he jumped off, "I'm going to alert the others." He then quickly hurried out into the trees. Yang, immediately realizing what he was doing, rolled her eyes as she took off her glasses and slipped them into her pocket. She then started doing some stretches in anticipation for what was coming next. And, true to form, Shay emerged from the trees with several other armed goons.

"Seriously?" Yang said, glancing at him like he was a side note, "You think I didn't see this coming?"

"Alright blondie," Shay said, as he held up a pistol, "We'll be taking your money, your bike, and your arm. Now be a good girl and…" He didn't get to finish as Yang was almost immediately on top of him, knocking out another tooth. The rest of the thugs quickly gathered to try and take her on. "Try" was the key word to that. To call what took place a "fight", would be being very generous. The thugs each lasted maybe a couple minutes against the dragon champion, and she wasn't even using any of said dragon power.

"So, which is the way?" Yang asked, picking up Shay by the collar. The man just pointed weakly.

"Thank you." With that, she dropped the punk, and kept walking.

"You can't beat our leader," Shay said, "You should just get out of here why you have the chance."

"I don't need to," Yang answered cooly, as she glanced at him, "I'm her daughter after all." With that, she kept walking, leaving Shay to balk after her.

"I am so dead," he muttered.

Note: Well, there you have it, the thing everyone was waiting to happen happened. This was harder than you'd think actually, because how would Oz have reacted to one of the gods he knew and feared appearing before him for the first time in ages?

Beside that scene, though, not much happens in this chapter. Again, I approach chapters mostly as if they were scenes instead of episodes, so I can give other scenes proper room to breathe and set in. But we've got Weiss and Yang set up for their future scenes. What is a raven to a dragon?

Be sure to review.