Chapter Four

Same Day

Atlas Academy

"You didn't even call him ahead of time! More than that, you didn't tell us you didn't call him! What did you expect to happen?"

My mouth moved in response without my telling it to. Just like my hand was gripping this cane and I was sitting without touching the back of the chair without intending to. This sucked, to say the least.

"I expected you to recognize the necessity of this. Had I informed him in advance, Jacques could have intercepted the message. Had I informed you, the negativity generated could have attracted the Grimm." Ozpin loved that dry, even tone. I was pretty sure it made him feel like he was more in control of the situation than he really was.

"That doesn't matter! Jacques could have found out, the Grimm could have come, you don't know any of that for sure!" Jaune was the one yelling, but everyone looked upset. At least, as far as I could tell without being able to turn my eyes and look at them.

My mouth responded, "You are correct, I didn't know that for sure. The chance, however, was far too great to risk. Had the Grimm found us, we would likely have been killed, and Salem's plans would have advanced even further. Had Jacques found us, Miss Schnee in particular would have been taken, which would have weakened us for the future."

"What gives you the right to decide what chances are too great? What gives you the right to decide what we get to know?" A different voice spoke up this time, shocking me to hear even as another part of me lit up with excitement at hearing it. Even Ozpin felt surprised, even though he hid it well. I could feel his emotions running through my brain, even as I felt my own at the same time, somehow distinct.

"Experience, Miss Rose. I have been alive for many, many years, and I have been fighting Salem for nearly as long. You are far from my first allies in this fight. Were we to fail here, you would not be the first ones to suffer for it. I can understand your accusations of being overly cautious, but believe me when I tell you my caution is backed by experience."

Ruby got very quiet after that.

Ozpin continued. "I have been outsmarted, outfought, betrayed, and killed more times than I can even remember. You would do well to remember that I have been cursed to battle Salem for centuries, and she is still alive despite the fact that she lacks my reincarnation abilities."

That was another reminder that I'd probably end up dead soon. Ozpin had told me about some of his past lives, and as far as I could tell, he had lasted longer than pretty much any other, and only because he'd locked himself into Beacon Academy for a few decades. I hadn't forgotten the fact that our personalities would apparently be… merged, somehow after this.

"Now, does anyone else have any questions?" No one responded even if a few didn't look happy about it. He'd talked them into submission again. "Good. Now, I have something to discuss with General Ironwood, and we will very likely be going on a mission soon after." I saw their faces change again, but they didn't seem to want to argue this time. "I don't recommend you get too comfortable."

With that, he walked me out the door, closing it behind us. I had kind of stopped talking so much when I didn't have control, but I spoke up this time. "I wish you wouldn't do that kind of thing."

Contrary to my usual reaction to hearing a weird voice in my head, Ozpin didn't so much as blink. "And what kind of thing is that?"

"Get the others mad at us. They have a point, why couldn't we just-"

He cut me off, which was impressive considering I didn't even have a mouth. "You heard that discussion the same way I did, you know what my response will be. You are a special case - you'll find out anyway eventually, and it would be difficult to conceal these things even if I wanted to."

We'd had this conversation before. I had a responsibility to keep his secrets for him, yadda yadda. I'd thought about telling the others before, but I knew he would just take control of my body if I tried.

What had happened to my life in the past few months?

"Can you at least tell me what the mission's going to be?"

He considered that for a minute as we stepped into the main hallway. "Not here," he whispered under his breath, keeping an eye on a pair of soldiers walking down the hallway as they gave us weird looks.

He turned and began walking in the general direction of Ironwood's office, not looking behind him. I could hear the soldiers following us, though.

"You hear them, right?" I didn't want to get thrown out of the building because they thought we were supposed to be here. Especially because I was pretty sure we weren't supposed to be here.

Instead of talking where they would notice, he just kept walking. He locked my eyes on a specific door down the hall - Ironwood's office, I guessed.

"Young man, can I ask what you're doing here?" One of them asked, in a voice that even I could tell was trying to sound nicer than it actually was.

Ozpin totally ignored them, suddenly turning towards Ironwood's office and knocking on the door. The soldiers behind us started running and shouting, "Kid! Stay out of there, that's-"

He was cut off by the door opening, and the man himself stepping out. Ozpin looked up, which must've been an odd feeling for him since I only came up to the man's chest in height. Ironwood took in the situation in an instant and spoke before his soldiers could even come to attention.

"Corporal Russell, Sergeant Riviera. No need to be alarmed. Oscar here is a prospective Academy student, I asked him to come here." He must have come up with that on the spot. I was a little impressed. "Return to your duties, soldiers."

"Yes, sir!" They turned and walked away, but not before giving me some weird looks. Ironwood stepped out of Ozpin's way as he walking into the office, shutting and locking the door behind us.

"Ozpin."

"James."

Ironwood paused. "What happened, Ozpin? Last I heard, you got killed during the fall of Beacon, then the Wyvern got frozen to the side of the Beacon CCT in a big silver flash that has yet to be explained. Next thing I hear, my specialists have found Amber's corpse inside a severely damaged, albeit apparently used Aura transfer pod, right after finding your corpse sitting outside it, while your candidate for inheriting the power apparently vanished sometime during the fighting. I need information, and I need it now. I notice that Pyrrha Nikos doesn't seem to be with you, so I assume she doesn't have the power?"

Ozpin nodded. "To my understanding, Ms. Nikos was sadly killed in action shortly after my own death." It was amazing how matter-of-factly he said that, like him dying was something that happened every other week. Fantastic. "The Maiden's power was lost to the original attacker, one now-deceased Cinder Fall. Unfortunately, I do not know who inherited the power after her death."

He was being weirdly forthcoming with him. In my experience, that usually meant he was lying, or at least not telling the whole truth. "You know who it is, don't you?"

Ironwood took that in, took a deep breath, and slammed his hand against the desk hard enough to leave an imprint. "What killed her? You?"

"I'm afraid not. Cinder was killed by an as-yet-unknown assailant while trying to access the Relic of Knowledge. I have suspicions as to who her opponent might have been, but I don't know for sure. More important is the fact that the assailant took the Relic with them when they vanished." Ironwood stood with a start, pushing his chair backward as he did so, and began pacing behind his desk. Ozpin continued, "We may have lost access to it, but thankfully, Salem likely has as little idea where it is as we do. For now, we should focus on securing what power we still can."

Yeah, he totally knew who it was. "You're going to tell me who it is later, right?" I hoped so. Ozpin's lies were annoying enough when I did know everything.

Ironwood paused and turned to face us. "You want to find Eira." Who?

Ozpin nodded. "Along with the others. Fall and Spring are missing, but it should be possible to find Summer as well. I presume Atlas' Relic is still locked safely away as well?"

"It's in the vault, right where it should be. I couldn't tell you where Eira is, though - you know how she is."

Ozpin chuckled. "I do, yes. Anything you can tell me would be useful, however. If we can narrow it down, then the team I brought with me can track her down and, hopefully, bring her back."

"Fine. I'll give you what I know, but don't expect her to do what you ask." Ironwood seated himself at his desk and began typing.

I felt Ozpin smile. "It won't be a problem, I assure you. If you could grant us the use of an airship and pilot, we will track her down as quickly as possible."

Ironwood nodded. "I can get you a ship tomorrow. Before that, I need more information." Hah, good luck with that, General.

"I'll tell you everything I can," my body lied through its teeth.

Ozpin's being a dirty rotten liar, isn't he?

Alright, so. Like I mentioned last time, I'm getting increasingly unsure about what I had planned for this story. I'm not calling it off or officially putting it into hiatus, but I can't guarantee the next chapter coming out on the 12th or 13th like I'd originally planned.

If I don't post it then, then once I finally get Scatterer moved to Spacebattles, I might start posting chapters of this out-of-order there, as I'm inspired to write them. I'd then move them over here once it wrapped up over there. That's the plan I've got right now, but it's subject to change, and if anyone has better ideas, feel free to give them to me.

Thanks for reading, and I'll see you next time! (Whenever that may be.)