'I think this divide might have run its course. It's time we start thinking about a way out. Not having our cane certainly limits the options, so-'
"No," Oscar grunted as he rolled onto his side, "I don't like what happens when we use magic. Every time we use it, I can feel us merging faster. I'm not ready for that."
'I don't blame you. Honestly, I think you're doing just fine on your own.'
There was a griding sound as the entrance to the chamber opened up. Oscar braced his aching body for another round, but the footsteps that entered weren't Hazel's heavy tread. They much lighter and softer and quicker paced. He gazed upwards. Coming towards was a man he'd never seen before; tall, thin, green haired and wearing a trench coat. His eyes were obscured by white lensed glasses. The longer Oscar stared at the man, the stronger the sudden sense of déjà vu became. Logically, he thought he should be afraid of the stranger, but he found he wasn't.
'Do you know him?' he asked.
'Yes', Ozpin replied, 'And I have for a very long time. We can trust him.'
The stranger knelt beside Oscar, gently rolling him onto his back and lifting his shoulders up slightly. "Are you alright?"
Oscar nodded stiffly. His body pulsed dully with aches that he was sure would really sting the next day, but he was alive.
"Good. Can you stand?"
Oscar nodded again and started pushing himself up. The stranger supported him as his legs shook.
"My name is Bartholomew Oobleck. Yours?"
"Os- Oscar."
Bartholomew nodded. "Very good, very good. Let's go."
"Wait- the lamp. We have to get the lamp."
Bartholomew frowned but nodded. He lead the way out of the chamber and glanced down the empty halls.
"Do you know where it's being kept?"
Oscar sighed. "No."
Bartholomew tilted his head, brown furrowed in concentration. "Left."
Oscar nodded, following a few steps behind the taller man. Bartholomew strode ahead, stopping every few paces to check Oscar was still with him. He didn't seem to realise how fast he was walking until Oscar started lagging.
"So… how did you get here?"
Bartholomew grinned slyly. "I have my ways."
"And you know Ozpin?"
Bartholomew chuckled. "There will be time for questions later. Preferably when we are not in the belly of Salem's whale ship."
Oscar shot him a suspicious frown but inside his head, Ozpin was laughing.
He'd lost track of how many turns they'd taken. Everything looked the same. Bartholomew continued to lead the way confidently, seeming sure they were heading in the right direction. Oscar wondered if he could sense the lamp.
They turned yet another corner- only to be met with weapons. Oscar's heart skipped a beat before his brain registered Yang, Ren and Jaune.
"Oscar!" Jaune cried, running forward, and lifting Oscar off the ground.
Oscar grimaced but didn't have the heart to interrupt Jaune's elation. The other two stepped closer and Yang ruffled his hair.
"Doctor Oobleck?" Yang exclaimed, "What are you doing here?"
"Later, Miss Xiao Long. We must make finding the lamp and escaping our first priority."
"Actually," Jaune interjected, "We don't have long. The Atlas military the whale up."
Bartholomew groaned, pinching the bridge of his nose. "Very well. We'd best leave the lamp and go straight to escaping. Come on."
Once again, the green haired man lead the way, navigating through the fleshy corridors with ease.
Yang leaned close to Ren and whispered, "Did you sense him here?"
"No," Ren whispered back, "And I'm not getting anything from him now either."
Oscar didn't know what they were talking about and he didn't care. He focused his eyes on Bartholomew's back and Jaune's presence at his side. Though the rest of them were sprinting, Bartholomew was moving at a light jog and still easily heading up the pack. Oscar wheezed through his battered ribs. He really wanted a nice long nap in a warm bed.
They ran passed a window. Oscar didn't know how a giant whale could have windows in it's body and he didn't care. "We're almost out!" he gasped.
They skidded to a halt as the floor started rumbling beneath their feet.
"What is that?" Jaune asked.
Bartholomew just groaned in frustration.
A terrible screeching split the air. Oscar clutched his ears as the sound ripped through his ears, sending spikes of pain through his brain. Around him, he could see the others doing the same, except Bartholomew. He was reaching for his thermos, clearly readying for a fight.
The wall exploded with a blast of purple.
Oscar cried out as he was knocked to the ground. Naturally it was only Bartholomew who stayed on his feet. The thermos expanded out into a club.
Salem stepped out of the hole, calm, and poised as ever. A tiny flicker of surprise crossed her face as she saw Bartholomew. Then it was gone, replaced by a sharp glint. "Samael." She said scathingly. She drew her shoulders back, her eyes calculating and her posture carefully statuesque.
"Salem." Bartholomew returned with obvious false politeness.
"Or should I say… what is it you're calling yourself these days?"
"Doctor Oobleck." Bartholomew replied testily.
"Ah yes, that was it. Now, where is the lamp?"
Bartholomew sighed heavily, only seeming mildly concerned by the threat before him. "I don't know. We don't have it. We came for the boy and now we're leaving."
Salem smirked. "After all this time, you're finally getting involved?"
"I've always been involved." Bartholomew shot back.
"No. You haven't."
She lunged. Indigo energy bubbled in her hand. Bartholomew deflected it with his club easily.
"Enough, Salem. I'm not in the mood for a fight."
"You broke into my ship and took my prisoner. You don't expect me to believe you don't want a fight." She retorted.
Skeletal black claws shot up from the ground, grabbling and snatching at them, pulling them to the ground and holding them down. At their cries of alarm, Bartholomew glanced back and growled. "Do not touch my students!"
With a cry, Salem was thrown back against the wall. No one had touched her. Was it Bartholomew's semblance? Salem struggled against whatever force was holding her. She screeched- her skin tore open in violent slashes, gushing black blood. Bartholomew stalked towards her and wrapped his hand around her throat. Electricity crackled from his hand. Salem screamed again, her body seizing.
"Now," Bartholomew said lowly, "We can either take our leave peacefully or I can remind you about the dangers of crossing me."
Salem snarled incoherently. Bartholomew's hand dropped from her neck and she fell to the ground. Turning his back to her, Bartholomew waved his hand and the claws holding Oscar, Ren, Jaune and Yang disintegrated.
Oscar looked to the other three as they stood up. They were staring at Bartholomew with shock and awe and horror.
Before anyone could say anything, Salem roared. A hot blast of light exploded from her hand, headed straight for Oscar. He threw his hands up, bracing himself to die- Bartholomew leapt in front of him. The magic hit him in the chest, and he didn't falter at all. The magic flowed to his hand and he threw it against the wall. Thunder rumbled from outside, lightning lighting Bartholomew's features hauntingly.
He growled. "I warned you, Salem!"
He held up a hand, clenched his fist and opened it again. Salem exploded- her body disintegrating to dust, her scream echoing faintly.
Bartholomew turned back to the group, his face set in determination. His eyes burned yellow behind his glasses and Oscar felt a chill run down his spine.
"We need to go." Bartholomew said.
"Wait," Oscar said, "The Grimm. I can- I can stop them."
"Oscar, we need to go!" Yang said.
Bartholomew glanced between Yang's near panic and desperation and Oscar's steeled steadfastness. "You three go. I'll make sure Oscar is safe."
The three exchanged looks. There was distrust in their eyes, but they nodded. Ren lead the way out, the other two following. Jaune cast Oscar one last look. Oscar nodded to him and Jaune disappeared.
"This- this won't hurt people, will it?" Oscar asked.
"No."
'No.'
Was the simultaneous response.
Oscar sucked in a deep breath, expanded the cane, and let the magic flow.
The next thing he knew he was in Bartholomew's arms. They were outside now. Ash was falling from the sky and he had to squint to see through the thick smog. Bartholomew set him down as Ren and Jaune hurried over. They eyed Bartholomew cautiously but stayed close all the same. Jaune placed a hand on Oscar's shoulder, his hand glowing with aura.
Yang paced, her beeping scroll in hand. "Blake?"
"Yang! Are you okay? Where are you?"
Jaune made his way over, looking into the screen. "Yeah, we're fine. Is everyone there all right?"
"We're… alive. This'll help though. Guys! They're okay."
Weiss's voice came through the scroll. "I'm sending you a map. You're in the agricultural area. Just head to this access point to reach the red line subway tunnel then follow the route I've drawn for you."
"Got it," Jaune said "We'll see you soon."
"If you'd prefer, I have a quicker way to the Schnee manor." Bartholomew said.
Yang's eyes narrowed. "And why should we trust you after what we just saw in there."
Bartholomew sighed. "I suppose I deserve that. Regardless, I'd like to see you reunited with your teammates as soon as possible."
"Maybe we should hear him out." Jaune said.
"I can teleport," Bartholomew said, "I just need you all to be touching."
Yang and Jaune exchanged looks.
"I trust him." Oscar said quietly.
"Fine," Yang huffed, "But I will blow your face up if you try anything."
Bartholomew smiled. "Of course."
Jaune and Yang linked hands with Oscar and Ren. Bartholomew placed his hands on the shoulders.
Oscar blinked and they were standing outside the Schnee manor, though there was now a rather large hole above the door. Thunder rumbled overhead. He breathed in a deep breath, only now realising how filthy the air had been outside the whale's corpse.
"You really can teleport." Yang mumbled in disbelief.
"Yes," Bartholomew said, looking distastefully up at the sky, "I really must work on not setting the weather off when I do it though. I'd rather not be announcing my presence to the entire kingdom."
Jaune knocked on the door. "Bet they're going to be surprised to see us so soon." He joked.
The doors flung open to reveal Ruby, Blake, and Weiss.
"How did you get here so fast?" Weiss asked, but no one bothered to reply as Ruby launched herself into Yang's arms with tears running down her cheeks.
Oscar was nearly bowled over with relief that everyone was okay. A hand fell on his shoulder. He looked up and met Bartholomew's eyes. The green haired man watched the reunion with a soft smile. Oscar noticed that behind his glasses, his eyes were brown, not yellow.
"Where's Nora?" Ren asked.
Ruby and Weiss's faces fell.
Oscar stepped forward and opened his arms to Ruby. She hugged him gently. Over his shoulder, she finally registered Bartholomew standing there.
"Doctor Oobleck? What are you doing here?"
"That, Miss Rose, is rather a long story. But it's good to see you."
"I guess you'd better come in then." Ruby said.
Weiss lead the way into the large dining room, where they all spread out, some in chairs, some standing. Bartholomew made his way to the window, gazing out at the Grimm starting to flood back into the city.
"So," Ruby began, "What happened to you guys?"
"Oscar was kidnapped by a talking Grimm and taken to Salem, so we went into the whale to get him out, but Doctor Oobleck beat us to it. Then he took out Salem and teleported us here." Jaune explained.
"What?" Weiss asked eloquently.
Yang crossed her arms, anger bubbling up again. "Yeah, how did you any of that any way? And why did Salem call you… Samuel?"
"Samael." Bartholomew corrected softly.
"Yeah. That."
"Because it's my name. I've only been using Bartholomew Oobleck for the last twenty… twenty four years. It's been my favourite so far though." He sighed, peering at them over the rims of his glasses. "How much do you know about Ozpin and Salem- why they fight?"
"All of it." Ruby replied. "We asked Jinn and she showed us everything."
"Everything except you, apparently." Yang said bitingly.
"Yes, well, if you didn't ask the right question, she wouldn't tell you anything about me. I'm a little bit of a sore spot for Jinn, I'm afraid. I'm one of the very few things she doesn't have all the knowledge about."
"Why?" Jaune asked.
"Because the lamp has limits to the knowledge it can contain- very few, I grant you, but one of them is that it doesn't have knowledge of what is beyond Remnant and the Brothers' creations."
"Meaning?" Weiss prompted.
"I'm not from Remnant, Miss Schnee. I'm not even human."
"Like… a faunas?" Blake asked hesitantly.
"No. I'm what's known as a demon." His eyes flashed yellow. "A prince of Hell, to be exact."
"Okay, so what does that mean?" Yang asked.
"It means, Miss Xiao Long, that I'm a creature from your worst nightmares. You may believe the Grimm are monsters, that Salem is a monster, but she pales in comparison to me."
"If you're not from Remnant," Ruby said slowly, "And you're not human, then why are you here? Why did you teach us history at Beacon? Why did you take us on a field trip? Why do any of it?"
Bartholomew stared out of the window, but Oscar didn't think he was seeing Atlas anymore. "To try and be a good person. I was created long ago by a very powerful being to lead his armies against his enemies. I was meant to be cruel, ruthless and without mercy; able to kill dozens effortlessly. But I quickly lost the taste for bloodshed, but I couldn't just leave. So I faked my death and fled into the ether, and I found my way here. A world outside of my master's reach. And I've been here ever since."
"You expect us to believe any of that?" Yang snapped.
"You've seen the truth of Remnant," Bartholomew replied, "You accepted that. You saw what I did to Salem. Try to explain that to me."
"Well… maybe you have the same semblance as Professor Goodwitch. And you used dust." Yang said, sounding uncertain to her own ears.
"He exploded her with a wave of his hand," Ren said quietly, "That kind of power doesn't come from a semblance. It does also explain why I can't sense him."
"Yes, you probably wouldn't want to anyway." Bartholomew said.
"So how did you meet Ozpin?" Ruby asked.
"When I first arrived on Remnant, I lingered near the Grimm for several years. They were similar enough to demons that they tolerated my presence until I grew curious about the humans that populated the planet. I found my way to a city and took a vessel to explore it."
"A vessel?" Jaune interrupted.
"The body you see me in. Demons don't have physical forms so we must possess one."
"Possess?" Yang repeated darkly.
"Yes. This body was dead when I found it, and from what I could tell, had no one mourning him. However I didn't realise that he'd been an advisor to the king of the city, despite how reclusive he was. The king saw me walking around in this body and cornered me, naturally wanting to know how his dead friend had been resurrected."
"And that was Ozpin." Ruby said.
"He was still Ozma then, but yes. Once I explained myself he brought me back to his palace an introduced me to his wife Salem. I became good friends with them both and was there as their family grew. When Ozma confided in me about his mission to unite humanity, I thought he was insane. I didn't think it was possible- I'm not sure I do now either. I told him about the scores of corrupted human souls I'd seen in Hell and I urged him to just enjoy what he had and leave humanity to it's own devices. How I regret that now.
"When Salem killed Ozma for keeping the truth from her- killed their children, I was furious. That was the first time I used my demonic powers to their fullest extent since arriving in Remnant. I killed her and left to wander the world, looking for my friend. Finding him was easy enough, but it took a century for him to be ready for my help.
"We searched for a way to kill Salem or break Ozma's curse, but we've found nothing. Then when he created the Maidens and the battles for their powers started to become more and more frequent, he sent me out to kill the ones who stole the powers so they could be transferred to better hands."
"You can kill Maidens?" Yang asked.
Bartholomew nodded. "Very few have proved to be a challenge."
"Didn't stop my mom, though."
"Ah, yes, Raven Branwen. She took the Spring powers after I started teaching at Beacon when my focus shifted away from hunting and killing and more towards protecting the school. Ozpin hoped Raven could be reasoned with and didn't want to hurt Qrow by ordering his sister's death."
"Does Uncle Qrow know about you?" Ruby asked.
"No. Ozpin kept it a secret out of fear that it would be a repeat of what happened with the Maidens. Someone could do an awful lot of damage with a prince of Hell under their control and there are ways to bind me against my will."
"You once told me that you were a huntsman because there was nothing in this world you'd rather be. Was that true?" Ruby murmured.
Bartholomew turned to her with the eyes of a man with his soul exposed. "Yes. In my eons of life, I've been many things- most of which I regret. I can say with absolute certainty that my years as a huntsman, as Bartholomew Oobleck, have been the best."
"So did you see our broadcast? Is that why you're here? To help?"
"Glynda told me about it, but I didn't see it personally. I put myself on standby, I suppose. I don't know the general well, but if he is as untrustworthy you say, he isn't someone I'd like to deliver myself to. But when Ozpin summoned me, I knew I was needed."
"When Ozpin what?"
"It was subconsciously during the torture, but it was enough to-"
"Wait, what?" Yang exclaimed.
"Oz is back?" Jaune said.
Oscar sighed. "I know how you feel, but he saved my life. When we were being tortured, he took it. So I wouldn't have to." He took the cane from his belt and extended it. "He entrusted me with this. And the massive amount of power he had stored up in it. Kinetic energy that he spent lifetime after lifetime accumulating in the cane he built."
"So that's how did that?" Jaune asked. "Using all of the stored up power?"
"Did what?" Weiss asked.
"Destroyed the whale." Jaune replied.
"That was you?" Blake said incredulously.
"Not all," Oscar sighed, "But most. We have to be careful with how we use the rest. They trusted my judgement and it saved us. I want to reciprocate that trust. There's a lot to sort out but Oz and Bartholomew really want to help."
"Thank you, Oscar."
'Thank you, Oscar.'
"Well, we could use the help." Ruby smiled.
Bartholomew nodded. "I'll do whatever I can." His eyes flickered yellow again. "If I have these powers, I might as well put them to good use."
"So are all the teachers at Beacon secretly immortal or is it just you two?" Jaune asked.
Bartholomew laughed. "I can assure you that it's just Ozpin and I. Everyone else is mortal and human just as you are."
"You should talk to him." Oscar said into the empty bedroom.
'You should sleep,' Ozpin returned, 'You're exhausted.'
"I think he'd like to talk to you. And I know you want to talk to him."
'It can wait until tomorrow.'
"I can feel how much you care about him, you know. You've missed him."
'Never the less, this is your body, Oscar. I'm not going to make you do anything you're not comfortable with.'
"I'm comfortable with you talking to the man you're in love with. Just don't do anything else, alright."
'Oscar!'
Oscar couldn't help but laugh at Ozpin's scandalised tone. "Come on. Time to talk to your boyfriend." He grinned, pushing himself to his feet.
'He isn't my 'boyfriend'.'
"Then what is he."
'Relationships as immortals are…. Complicated. We aren't exclusive to each other and go decades as nothing but friends sometimes. The emotions aren't constant. We spend a lot of time apart.'
"Well, right now, you need him and I'm pretty sure he needs you, so go get him." Oscar said, relinquishing control just as he pushed open the door to Bartholomew's room. Bartholomew was sat on the window seat, staring up at the moon.
"Hello, old friend." Ozpin said.
Bartholomew smiled. He got up from the window and moved to the bed, patting the mattress beside him invitingly. "It's good to hear you again, Oz."
Ozpin sat down beside him and leaned against his side. "It's been too long."
Bartholomew chuckled. "It's been 7 months."
"Yet it feels so much longer."
"Yes it does. The world is changing fast now."
"We don't control it anymore. We're being left behind."
"Perhaps that's a good thing. In my experience, nothing good comes from immortal rulers. Everything stagnates."
"I suppose you're right."
Ozpin leaned upwards, suddenly as desperate as a drowning man is for air. A warm finger settled on his lips. Despite wearing a dead man's skin, Bartholomew always had that warm flush of life.
"We can't."
Ozpin sighed, pressing their foreheads together. "No, I suppose not. I just miss you, Samael."
"So do I, Ozma. But we can wait."
"Yes, we can."