"Weiss thinking."
"Salem thinking."
Weiss was standing on one of the few balconies in Beacon, staring off into the Emerald Forest. It was currently dusk. She's been here for the last couple hours now taking in the fresh air and thinking about a lot.
Earlier she went to see Professor Ozpin about Salem being in her head. But when she saw the shocked look on his face, she faltered. Deciding to instead keep quiet about Salem and made up some excuse about Ruby as her reason for being there. It was a bit crude but she managed to scrape by and left without incident.
She took a deep breath.
"Salem, are you still there?" She asked.
"Of course I am. But I have to say, I've grown bored of the Emerald Forest by now."
Weiss ignored the latter remark. "I've decided to believe you."
"Oh? In everything I've said up until now?"
"Yes. If this was a semblance then you would've ran out of aura by now." She answered and then sighed. "And that look on Professor Ozpin's face when he heard me call him Ozma like proof enough, as you said it'd be. So for me to just pretend everything is fine isn't okay."
She wasn't sure how, but Weiss could feel relief in that moment. Was it Salem feeling it and not her?
"I'm glad you see it that way. Because everything is certainly not okay."
Weiss turned around and leaned back against the balcony's stone railing and crossed her arms. "So what now? Are you simply stuck in my head forever, or do you have some sort of plan we can work on?"
"Truthfully I'm not completely positive there is anything to do about our situation. However if anyone would know, it's Ozma."
Weiss made a confused expression despite not actually having anyone in front of her to see it. "But I thought you said Ozma can't know about you?"
"He can't. But that doesn't mean he can't help us." She answered and Weiss waited for her to elaborate.
"You see, Ozma didn't live forever like I did. He reincarnated into a new body each time he died. I'm unsure how it works, but during certain times throughout the centuries there were moments where he and another inhabited the same body, much like with us."
Weiss' eyes widened. Part of her still wanted to push all this talk of immortals and magic away, but she already decided to give Salem the benefit of the doubt. It wouldn't do her situation any good to just ignore her at this point. However one thing was irking her from Salems words.
"What do you mean there were 'moments'?"
"You're perceptive. It means that eventually he took over their body and mind. If our situation is anything like his, then you're on the clock, girl."
Weiss didn't really know how to respond to something like that and was silent in both in and out of her mind. Instead she felt a spark of fear travel down to her stomach. She was going to lose herself? Lose to this... This witch?
She lowered her arms and her fists clenched and while she did feel fear, she also felt anger. She wasn't about to just sit around and lose her mind. It seems Salem caught on to her fury.
"I like your enthusiasm." Salem said which took Weiss away from her thoughts. "If I were in your shoes, I'd feel that same. Which is why I say we help each other out."
"... And how do we do that?" Weiss asked after a moments pause.
"I didn't just randomly die, this is the result of my trying to kill myself."
Weiss' eyes widened. "You committed suicide?!"
"I've lived for over a millennium, girl. I'm tired of this life. So yes, I killed myself. Something I can genuinely say with pride now because it didn't work the first few hundred or so... Though I didn't intend for this result."
Once again Weiss wasn't sure how to respond. This was pretty heavy stuff... But if she thought about it, if you lived forever and could only die by your own hands... Was that wrong? She wasn't sure of the answer to that.
Weiss took a deep breath and pushed the whole 'suicide' issue aside.
"Okay. So what do you have in mind?"
"Ozma's lived through many generations, trying to help humanity as he did so. He's even wrote a few stories in his time. Many of which became fairy tales you know of today."
Weiss felt skeptical. "Fairy Tales? That's your grand plan? They're all made u-" However she stopped short.
"I see you've realize. Yes, there are many 'fairy tales' which are based off history and facts. However many of them have been tampered with throughout the generations. As magic became more secret and fictional, the stories lost much credit."
"... Are all fairy tales real?"
"Of course not. Only those written by Ozma or maybe those close to him. For instance 'The Girl who fell through the World' or 'The Story of Seasons'."
Now that was a shock to Weiss. "Wait, hang on now. The Story of Seasons had girls who could control nature! You're telling me that's true?!"
"I see you know of it. It is true, all of it. They were four girls Ozma bestowed power upon. The old man in the story was the current incarnation of Ozma at the time. He was quite the pest, giving them those powers. Changed the whole world doing so."
"He changed the world? How?"
"Those girls, Maidens of Spring, Summer, Fall, and Winter, as they're referred to as in the books, their magic is still alive today. Each time they die, their magical powers travel to the last young woman they're thinking of."
Weiss was suddenly being overwhelmed with new information now. "So you're telling me that there's four super-powered woman out there?"
"Correct. Though two are currently... Indisposed if my latest intelligence is anything to trust. And the other two haven't made themselves known just yet this generation."
"Indisposed?" Weiss questioned.
"One's severely injured and the other's an old hag."
"... I see."
"Well, technically that's not entirely true. The Fall Maiden's powers are currently in a bit of a limbo. Half is in one person while the other half is in another."
"Is that normal?"
"No... A bit of an experiment gone awry on my sides part. Though it will correct itself in time."
Weiss pinched the space between her eyes. "Okay... Okay. Let's rest with the history lessons for now." She thought and didn't really want to know anything more than that just yet. She had to remind herself that she's apparently dealing with the Queen of Grimm. Maybe the less she knew the better.
"So our plan is to find these stories, read them, then hope they have some insightful information?"
"Basically. The older the text the better. The modern day versions don't give all the details. I've read a few in the past but it was far too long ago to recall every detail."
"At least it's something to go on. And I know just who to ask about this."
"Oh? Seems you know our next step then."
"My roommate is a big book-reader. Owns a few Fairy Tales herself. We can find the authors from her books and go from there to try and find the inspirations for their works."
"Excellent. Let us be off then."
Weiss pushed off the balcony railing and walked to Beacons doors, walking inside them.
This one was shorter then the rest, but it was a needed info dump for Weiss. Otherwise things would just be weird. I also didn't fully do the Ozpin scene because it would've just been Weiss making an excuse to be there which would be boring to write. Sorry if you were looking forward to awkward Weiss and Ozpin moments, but there'll likely be more interesting ones later.
