RWBY: Son of Salem
Marek's POV
"Really?" I asked the kid. "You're Ozpin?"
"I know it sounds crazy-"
"Unbelievable. Insane. Impossible." I interrupted.
"Those too." he sighed. "But I am Ozpin."
"Okay. Okay." Qrow said as he walked back into the room from the kitchen.
"You sobered up quickly." I said as he glared at me before sitting down on the couch.
"Mind showing us your parlor trick kid?" Qrow asked.
"Yeah...okay." Oscar looked at us. "Just so you know, I'll still be here."
I crossed my arms and tapped my foot as he closed his eyes. A few seconds passed and he flashed green before relaxing.
"It is so very good to see you again, students."
"Holy shit." I said with a chuckle.
"Professor...Ozpin?" Ren asked.
"Correct. And though I may be the one speaking, Oscar is still present, mentally." Ozpin said. "He's merely handed over the control, so to speak. I'm afraid this all must be very perplexing."
"And alarming, and bizarre, and-"
"We get it." I said, cutting Nora off.
"It's good to see you children still have your sense of humor." Ozpin said with a chuckle. "I know you've all been through tremendous hardship already. I'm sorry."
"It's not your fault." Ruby said softly.
"It's all my fault." Ozpin said. "I told you once that I made more mistakes than any man, woman, and child on this planet, and I wasn't exaggerating. I'm...cursed. For thousands of years, I've walked the surface of Remnant, living, dying and reincarnating in the body of a like-minded soul. The Professor Ozpin you all met was not my first form, and clearly wasn't my last. It's...an extraordinary strenuous process on everyone involved."
"So...what are you?" Jaune asked.
"I am the combination of countless men who've spent their lives trying to protect the people of Remnant." Ozpin replied. "With every rebirth, my soul is eventually merged with another and I am changed, but my memories stay with me. This curse was bestowed upon me by the gods because I failed to stop Salem in the past."
"What?" I scratched the back of my head. "Then why would you...uh...hmm...I'm lost."
"But we must stop her now." Ozpin continued.
"And how do we do that?" Pyrrha asked.
"We start...by ensuring the safety of the relic of knowledge." Ozpin replied.
"This is perfect!" Nora shouted as she jumped off the couch. "We were stuck at a dead end, but now, we can just take cute little boy Ozpin to Lionheart and have him set things straight."
"Please don't call me that." Ozpin said.
"We're not sure that's the best idea." Qrow said.
"But I thought the headmasters all took their orders from you." Ren said to Ozpin.
"That was the intention." Ozpin replied. "Four lieutenants I can trust, especially during times of reincarnation. But Qrow told me about your meeting with Leonardo." he stood up and walked to the middle of the room. "He isn't just behaving irrationally, he's disobeying specific instructions I had left him. Something's wrong. I don't want to jump to conclusions, but I don't want to rule out any possibilities either. No one outside of this room knows that I've paired with Oscar, and I think it may be best to keep it that way."
"Play things close to the chest until we get a better hand." Qrow said.
"Precisely." he turned to face us. "Now, we have two steps ahead of us. The first is enlisting the aid of more huntsmen."
"But the Mistral council-"
"Doesn't own every huntsmen in the kingdom." Qrow interrupted. "And I've been here enough times to know where we can find some more."
"So long as they're trustworthy." Ozpin added.
"You can trust them to put up a good fight." Qrow said. "I'll throw together a list tonight." he put his foot on the coffee table only for it to break.
"Good luck with that." Nora said.
"After that, we can move on to step two." Ozpin said as he walked back to his chair.
"What's step two?" I asked.
"Getting you six into fighting shape." Ozpin replied, extending his cane.
"But...we already know how to fight." Ruby said.
"You can only fight so long as you have Cresent Rose," Ozpin said, pointing his cane at her. "but you're still lacking in hand-to-hand combat."
"Actually." I said. "I've been training her in hand-to-hand."
"Then I'll see how much you have grown." Ozpin said. "Mr. Arc, I'm glad to hear you've improved, but sorry to say, you've yet to unlock your semblance. All of you still have a ways to go before you're ready to pose a real threat against Salem and her forces. And though Oscar can give me temporary control, he'll need to strengthen his body and his aura. He'll inherit my muscle memory in time, but practice will expedite the process."
"But if Qrow is out looking for Huntsmen...then who is going to teach us?" Ruby asked.
Ozpin jumped onto the chair behind him while spinning his cane in a circle. "Well, I believe I was the headmaster of Beacon Academy. We have approximately one month before classes resume at Haven. If Salem were to plan an attack, it would make sense that it would occur prior to students' return. It's not much time, but it's better than nothing. Just don't expect me to go easy on you."
He flashed green again before falling backwards off the chair, knocking it over.
"You've gotta be kidding me." Oscar said with a groan.
"Wait." I paused for a second as I realized something. I burst into laughter as everyone stared at me confused.
"It wasn't that funny." Oscar said as he stood up.
"No, it's not that." I said as I took a deep breath. "I just realized I'm the son of a 14 year old kid."
End of chapter 27