A/N: Well first of with this Chapter I would Like to thank Robert Harrison for all of the help they gave me with editing this story before the rewrite, and for the intro to this chapter. Which was the intro to the original Chapter 4. With the thanks out of the way Chapter 20: Remnant's Darkness!
Chapter 20: Remnant's Darkness
Darkness, darkness, everywhere, and all the people do hide. Darkness, darkness, everywhere, without a light to provide.
The parody of an old poem rang in Ozpin's mind; the truth of it biting deep, clawing at his soul.
A year. It had been a full year since Amity Coliseum had been destroyed. The aftermath of that single event was incalculable. Darkness and despair had descended upon Remnant shortly thereafter. Grimm bayed at the gates of cities and ran rampant through the countryside, driven into a frenzy by the powerful emotions of their natural prey. As a result, Huntsmen and Huntresses the world over were pushing themselves past the point of exhaustion trying to stem the tide. And failing more often than not.
As if that wasn't bad enough; rather than helping matters, the common man was riotingRioting!over food and power rationing that had been enacted after the trade between the kingdoms began to falter. Ozpin could appreciate that they were hungry, so was he, and hated living in houses that only received power for a few hours each day, so did he. The alternative though was starvation in weeks rather than years or burning through the kingdom's strategic energy reserves and having the automated defenses go offline at a time when they were needed most.
Ozpin sat in the chair behind his desk, looking out the window. His eyes took in the night sky and the fractured moon that seemed to hang over the city. The lights in his office were off. Despite being a school, Beacon wasn't immune from the power rationing.
Though, its state as an institution of learning was questionable these days. Beacon, as a school, was probably finished. Ever since that day when so many of its students and faculty were lost in that awful explosion. Those that had survived were out there, fighting the good fight, earning their stripes in a different kind of school.
Ozpin hadn't been idle. He'd been out there, fighting and bleeding with rest, he was still Huntsman and he had a duty to safeguard the lives of the innocent, anyway, he could.
That thought brought a small, sad, smile to his face. It reminded him, painfully, a young silver-eyed girl. All she'd wanted was to help people, to be a good person who helped because it was the right thing to do.
Now… She's gone. Lost to us. Although…Ozpin turned back to his desk and the items spread out upon it. A Huntsman he may be but he was also an academic, which meant knowing when to fight smarter.
They were three items that been found following events at Amity Coliseum. One was a map the likes of which Ozpin had never seen. Sure he'd seen maps of Remnant, even star charts showing constellations but never one of an entire galaxy. With locations given in a language he had never seen before, with locations pointed at in the map but he could decipher nothing. The second was some sort of cube-shaped information storage device.
The amount of data it contained was almost staggering given its small size. Upon opening for the first time he gained knowledge on how to decipher the language on the map. with this new knowledge, the professor consulted map once more. this time he could read it, he saw the names of planets, their capital cities, and major trade routes. though one stood out among the rest Coruscant.
The third was an energy sword that had once belonged to Cinder Fall. When he was particularly tired, a small voice in Ozpin's mind had taken to calling the thing a 'Light Saber,' out of sheer ridiculousness.
As interesting as trying to wield the energy sword was or learning the best ways to get to "Coruscant," Ozpin had found the data cube to be the most interesting. He reached out to it, feathering his fingers over it. The hardest part had been accessing it. Once he had, though, the information on it had made him glad he'd been sitting at the time, as rapidly learning a language can be quite shocking to one's mind.
As it turned out, Summer Rose and Cinder Fall weren't the only dimensional travelers on Remnant. There was at least one other, the producer of the data cube. Her name wasn't included in the files anywhere that he could find, but it didn't need to be. There was a picture of her and that was enough.
She was a stunningly beautiful woman despite her severe expression; tall and slender, with waist-length platinum hair, and eyes that could have been made from chips of glacial ice. The most surprising thing, though, was that Ozpin knew her at a glance. Given who her husband was, most people would have recognized her. They'd met, Ozpin and this traveler, a handful of times over the last few decades and more recently both her daughters had been at Beacon. The younger daughter had even been a student at the time.
Ozpin pulled his hand away from the cube on his desk and turned back to the window. The sun hadn't even begun to peek over the horizon and he was waiting, anxiously, for the dawn.
He was scheduled to leave in the morning aboard a fast military airship bound for Atlas. While he hadn't been invited to the Schnee household in some time, he had business with the Lady of the manor… and Atris Schnee would see him, one way or another.
He stood, up packing the objects into a briefcase. he was a lone man in his tower. They were all gone, Glynda, Port, Oobleck, Peach, all of his staff and friends, gone in an instant. He had opened beacons door's to anyone who needed shelter, but the Grimm were being relentless, they had left very few refugees outside of the walls. Despite those fighting's best efforts, they were in dire straights.
Walking outside, Ozpin looked at the empty void of the sky that was left by the loss of Amity. The blast shattered windows and damaged structures in Vale directly underneath, due to the air blast caused by air filling the giant empty space. The blast also attracted the Grimm to flood Vale and all of the other kingdoms. Despite the damage done to the kingdoms, the CCT remained active, allowing the four kingdoms to coordinate and communicate. Ultimately the attacks on the four main Kingdom's were repelled.
After the loss of Amity, everyone that could fight was drafted into the defense of their kingdom, from children from Signal to the elderly all were expected to fight. The normally colorful society of Remnant had abandoned all colors for one color, the color of loss and grief, the night and darkness, Black. This color was chosen to honor those four knights that were lost in the destruction of Amity.
She wanted to be a hero, Now they are all Heroes Ozpin lamented internally as he walked down the quiet and abandoned courtyard. Everyone saw the reports and watched them in action. The Black Knights became a light in the darkness and inspiration for many of those younger Huntsmen and Huntresses on Remnant along with those touched by their story. Black cloaks became quite popular and their wearers took on the title of Black Knights. Some even went as far to recolor their gear black, while some went even as far to get replicate their armor.
Ozpin himself even took up a black trench coat, his appearance looked scrappy due to the lack of a razor for shaving. Walking along with his briefcase and cane, he watched the Bullhead land on the airship dock. He was to take the Bullhead to the airship dock in the city as it had vital supplies to offload into Vale from Atlas. Flying above the city, he could watch the sun dawn on the war-torn city. The bullhead was flying low to remain in the defense network's range and to make a crash more survivable.
With each sunrise, Ozpin sighed. They had survived another day in the war against the Grimm's onslaught. He saw the Airship in the dock, With Ironwood gone, Atlas wanted to make up for its shortcomings in the Amity crisis. Ozpin was both saddened by Ironwood's disappearance, but he was glad, as Atlas's Military had proven critical in the Resistance against the Grimm, and under Ironwood he feared they would not have helped. Right now Atlas's military was under the command of Jaques Schnee's brother Nacht. Despite the bad blood Ozpin had with the Atlesian he was unlike Ironwood. Nacht understood the situation to the fullest. Despite his very anti-Faunus views, and use of elite corporate teams to attack people, he was quite the leader. He respected Ozpin, unlike Ironwood, or Jaques Schnee. Nacht didn't agree with how Ozpin assisted Weiss, but there wasn't anything he could have done, as he told his brother 'Weiss is an adult if she wants out she is going to get out.' Sadly his brother took one of his teams and sent it out to get Weiss. That was something Ozpin couldn't understand about Ironwood, is why he betrayed what they stood for. He singlehandedly allowed this to happen. To reference a song, Ozpin knew, Ironwood was the 'the man who sold the world.'
As Ozpin's bullhead touched down at the Airship dock, he saw a squad of Black Knight Huntsmen that had just returned from battle. They were beaten and weary, they needed rest, though so did the rest of Remnant. He got out of the bullhead thanking the pilot as he disembarked. As soon as he was off the team he noted before embarked onto the bullhead and took off swiftly. With his briefcase and cane, he walked up to the airship dock. Machines were busy unloading the critical supplies Vale needed to continue the fight.
"Professor Ozpin," A voice said from his left as he approached the ship, glancing over he saw a man clad in the White Atlesian military uniform, though over his uniform was a black Schnee Dust Company long coat, marked with the logo of SDC Security. Unlike all the other Schnees, this man had black, hair that was black as night.
"Ah Nacht, I did not expect to see you," Ozpin admitted setting the briefcase down to shake Nacht's hand. The man's grip was firm as he said,
"I am here to oversee the first test of Project Gateway," He explained calmly. This shocked Ozpin as Project Gateway was just a theory, though after the loss of Amity it was a theory Ozpin himself took great interest in. Apparently, the project had been completed and was ready to be tested.
"Are you sure it is ready?" Ozpin asked, just to make sure.
"It is we are moving it to the Beacon Vault as that is the most secure place near the Amity blast zone we can think of," Nacht explained, his face told Ozpin that he was banking on this project. They needed help from this 'Galaxy' to defeat the Grimm. "The only issue is we only have enough Distortion dust for one try, so we need some who can get us the help we need to go through," Nacht explained, to Ozpin who looked deep in thought, though when Ozpin responded to this news he spoke with absolute conviction.
"I will volunteer." He said, he knew his powers but, he felt this was his duty, and maybe this galaxy could help Remnant.
After the Project Gateway was unloaded and put into a cargo bullhead, Ozpin boarded the Airship, and shortly after it departed. The high-speed flight took him high above the clouds. Within a few hours, he was no longer over the ocean, he was now in Atlas territory. As the airship started to slow and eventually dock, He was in the main airship dock for the Atlesian Military in the floating island that was the city of Atlas over the city of Mantle. Despite its military usage, the structure was stark white, then again so were most of Atlas's buildings. As he disembarked from the airship a masked soldier guided him to the bullhead he would be taking him to White Castle.
The flight was calm, though after passing over the floating city, he could see the gleaming white structure. It was a fortress, recently outfitted with more defense cannons and security to keep the Grimm out. Originally this meeting was not to happen by Jacques's command. but Atris overruled him, she wanted to meet Ozpin in person. The structure of the castle was grand, even grander inside. Upon his entrance, he was greeted by a jovial butler who immediately informed him that,
"Lady Schnee will see you now, Ozpin," a butler named Klein announced to Ozpin as he walked out of one of the many rooms of White Castle. The butler escorted Ozpin through the cold, white icy interior of the castle. The snow outside was harsh as he looked out the windows, eclipsing the sun that he longed so much for each day. Carrying on, Ozpin was led to a room where it was warm and serene almost like a meditation room complete with a Zen Garden, and various other decorations some looking very different from anything he had ever seen on Remnant.
Sitting in the center of the Room was Atris Schnee, though something looked off about the woman. As she stood, he noted what was off, Atris was pregnant. Despite her age approaching the forties, The SDC had the heir apparent but what could be guessed was Jaques wanted a backup, of as both of their daughters were involved in the Amity incident, and thus lost. Now Whitley was the Heir and was being trained hard for his new role.
"Professor Ozpin" Atris greeted her guest pleasantly, "I must apologize for my Husband's rash behavior, he was just upset at how you supported Weiss," Ozpin knew upset was an understatement, but after a while and a standoff, Jaques had backed down.
"If I may say, congratulations," Ozpin smiled faintly as she gestured for him to take a seat at a nearby table. Once seated she asked
"You weren't clear on your intentions of why you wanted to see me, professor. What is it that you want?" her voice was pleasant, Ozpin had dealt with her before, she was always pleasant, though he probably figured it for a facade.
"I am here Atris to see what you can tell me about these three Items" Ozpin replied as he laid the briefcase on the table opening it, exposing the three items inside. Atris immediately recognized two of the three items; one was a Holocron, one she had made, the other a lightsaber that had a dark side aura emanating from it, the other looked like a holo-projector with a large data storage device on it.
"So I see you found out who I was, most interesting Ozpin," she responded, never once thinking she would have ever seen her Holocron again. Though she knew dark times were ahead as they were heralded by the Red blades at Amity, "I take it this is all that remains of Amity?" she asked figuring another force sensitive found her Holocron.
"Correct," Ozpin nodded, though before he could continue, Atris asked a question Ozpin did not expect.
"Now, since you know who I was, I am quite curious where did my daughter and her team learn to use the force and arm themselves with Lightsabers?" Atris asked quite concerned about how they did that.
"I have no idea, I had never seen weapons like that before, as for the force what is that?" Ozpin asked he had heard of it from Summer, but that was the extent of his knowledge. "The other reason I am here is I plan to go into that galaxy to find my students, so I need to know what to expect."
"Well then, where to begin," Atris smiled as Ozpin gave off the signals of a man that wanted to redeem himself.
One month later in the vaults under Beacon, Project Gateway was fully ready to be tested. Ozpin steeled himself mentally for what he must do. His cane was modified to turn it into a disguised lightsaber and he kept a black trench coat on, along with some new gloves. Though the most distinct change was his glasses, he took up a pair of black tinted sports sunglasses replacing his small circular ones. He tried to calculate where he would want to land using Project Gateway's distortion field generator.
Atris gave him a crash course in the use of the force mainly to defend himself though in that lesson he learned a disturbing fact, All Remnants were force-sensitive, just Remnants blocked the force unless they learned from either a master or had prior knowledge of it to use it. Thusly he was also trained in the art of the blade, though his skills with the lightsaber were basic. He needed to find his students before remnant Rell apart. Standing on the platform, Nacht's team activated it knowing full well the device could kill him and that it was a one-way trip unless he could find a way back, which according to Atris there was a way to get back using the force. For the sake of Remnant, he had to do this. he was a man both lost and nothing to lose now, in a flash of light he was immersed in the vortex.
Ozpin felt calm as the vortex swirled around him, it was slightly soothing to his mind. He smiled when he walked out on the other side. The place he arrived in was dark and eerie and the gravity felt weird. He knew from Atris's description he was not on Coruscant.
Looking out a nearby window all he could see was stars, nothing but stars, no atmosphere to impede the lights of the galaxy. Moving on Ozpin noted the light rumbles of machinery through the structure. approaching a door he pressed a button on it to get it to slide open granting him access to another room, a large chamber almost. Surrounded by darkness Ozpin saw a figure kneeling in meditation. In a split second, the figure bolted up with a purple lightsaber blade in hand. Ozpin prepared drawing his saber off his cane, unignited and using his semblance, he slowed time around him side stepping the incoming attack. The dark clad figure missed his lunge not sure how the man did this he latched his throat using the force. Ozpin grunted using a basic force push to disrupt the choke. Distorting time Ozpin dodged his retaliation. In that dodge Ozpin spotted the Red mask he wore, Summer mentioned a man who wore a red mask as a symbol of who he was. Ozpin put up his hand in a gesture of peace as if this was Revan he would stop. Revan stopped but just barely the blade of the purple saber was only millimeters from his neck.
"You must be Revan," Ozpin suggested coolly, trying not to get his head cut off.
"Most everyone knows who I am," He growled at Ozpin, as that was a fact, most everyone knew of Revan.
"Does the name Summer Rose mean anything to you?" Ozpin asked before Revan continued, this caused Revan to hiss and lurched his blade very close to Ozpin's neck.
"To know that name you must know Meetra or as she liked to call herself, Summer Rose." Revan hissed one twitch of Revan's wrist and Ozpin would be without a head.
"I did, do you know where she is?" Ozpin asked calmly hoping Revan would help him.
"If you are from that damned planet, let me tell you a few things about that whore," Revan growled taking his mask off to reveal his very scarred face and his golden eyes.
A/N: Well that was this chapter, I didn't have much to put into it as this chapter wasn't meant to be that long as Ozpin is one of the few characters left on Remnant, and there isn't much that I felt like needed explaining her, so I decided to prepare a few things for later in the story and leave it at that. Those things being the Black Knights of PRWN are heroes on Remnant now, and there is another Schnee on the way. As for what effects this will have on the plot will be seen later when Remnant comes back into the picture, which won't be for a while!
Now with that feel free to ask any questions if you have them, or give suggestions or corrections once again if you have any please give them or leave a review. With that out of the way, be safe, have fun, and may the force be with you! (and ENJOY V4 of RWBY!)
EDIT Note: I wrote this well before Willow was a thing, and I do not feel like retconning that.
Blitzing Raptor
