The next morning, I woke in an unfamiliar place.
I was warm and comfortable and for once I was well rested. I didn't move but I slowly became aware of my surroundings.
Ah, now I remember.
I felt the warm body curled around mine and the steady heartbeat of the man whose bed I had fallen asleep in.
I didn't remember him coming in but it was the first night I had truly slept in weeks.
His firm, muscular body was curled around mine protectively and I enjoyed the feeling of his breath on the back of my neck.
"I know you're awake, so don't pretend you aren't." An amused voice said in my ear.
"No, I'm definitely still asleep." I said turning to face him with a sleepy smile on my face.
He propped his head up on his hand and looked down at me smiling like an idiot.
"And for once it's a good dream." I murmured as he bent his head down for a chaste kiss.
"Me too." He said, wrapping his other arm around my waist and pulling me close.
"I meant to stay awake and talk to you, but I made the mistake on laying down." I said laughing a little. "I don't mind. You made me tea so I guess we're even." I smiled. "I figured you'd like some when you came back. I know exactly how you like it."
He was so warm and comfortable.
"And that's one of the many things I love about you." He said, brushing his nose against mine.
My eyes flew open. Love?
"Did I say something wrong?" He asked worriedly.
Then I remembered what he said so long ago about never having done this before, so he didn't know that springing it on a girl would leave her speechless.
"No... no I just didn't... know..."
His sober brown eyes stared into mine and seemed to pick the feelings right out of my soul. "Do you not remember last night?" I shook my head slowly.
"Why is it that every time I tell you something important, I'm so tired that I can't remember it?"
He laughed, the sound warming me. "Well, I suppose that is true. Last night though you said something very special." He whispered. I blushed. My whole face blushed. I'm pretty sure my eyelids blushed.
"Say it again for me." He murmured, brushing his fingertips over my cheek.
I-I..." I laughed at my own stupidity.
"I love you, Oz." He smiled. His emotions were indescribable. They were the most intoxicating substance, more heady than liquor.
"And I love you, Dahlia."
I kissed him. "I like the sound of that."
I traced a pattern on his neck. He closed his eyes and enjoyed the gentle sensation of my fingertips on his skin.
"I'm glad we got that out in the open. It now feels less like I'm trying to hold a hurricane in my chest." He murmured softly.
"Our hearts are wild animals, Oz. That's why our ribs are called cages."
His Scroll beeped. Then mine beeped.
"Ugh." He said rolling over to grab his spectacles and our Scrolls.
Mine was just Elise asking if I was okay.
I quickly typed back a message that I was fine and would be back later.
"We have to get up, don't we?" I asked, stretching. For a moment, he forgot to look at his Scroll as he watched me stretch.
Then he looked at his Scroll and grew very quiet.
"Oz?"
He began to panic, his eyes growing huge and his fear and anger spiking.
"Oz?" I asked concerned.
"My dear, if you'd like to sleep a little while longer, I've got company soon and I'm afraid it'd look strange to see you leaving my office this early. You'll have plenty of time to pack but for now, I need you to just stay in here." He said rising.
"Oh... okay..." I said, still sitting half tangled in his covers. He set his scroll down and went into his bathroom.
I waited till I heard the shower running to grab his Scroll.
I felt guilty for going through his stuff but I knew it was important.
I memorized what page he was on and then began searching.
My fingers flew over the screen.
Ah. The General was in a fit because…
Someone had broken into the CCT and done something. One witness. Ruby Rose.
I tried to dig deeper but too many correspondences Oz had put protections on and I couldn't access them. So I looked at what I could.
I absorbed everything I could before going back to his original page and closing it, setting it exactly back where I had picked it up. I heard the shower turn off and I silently crept back into the bed.
He came out a while later and dressed. I laid down and pretended to be dozing.
"They are almost here. Are you hungry?" He asked sitting down next to me.
There was a cold knot in my stomach. I shook my head and he petted my hair gently, taking comfort in my closeness.
Be brave, Oz.
I smiled at him and kissed the palm of his hand.
All of his information I had just stolen flashed across my eyes and the cold crept from my stomach to my chest. I shivered.
He tucked the comforter around me and then pulled a lever that would let the staircase into his office down.
I immediately went to the square of floor the opened with the staircase and forcefully pushed down on it, cracking it open then I shoved a book in it to keep it open. I could hear Oz walk to his strange looking chair and sit down.
I needed to hear what was said.
Again. Assassins are not above listening through keyholes. Or trapdoors.
I heard and felt Goodwitch come in feeling worn and frustrated. Then the General came in and the emotions whirled together and became a storm of feeling.
Ironwood was furious.
Oz sat behind his clockwork desk, probably looking pensive, listening to the General pace and yell.
Apparently, last night as I was climbing the tower, a woman had infiltrated the CCT. She was caught by Ruby Rose but they had no idea what she had done before Ruby showed up.
James was angry because he had told Oz before that there were enemies disguised as exchange students.
I already knew that though. My assassination attempt and my old mask were proof.
"They were here... Ozpin they were here!" He yelled, slamming a fist on the table.
It took effort to keep myself from intervening. All I could do was lend my strength to Oz.
Glynda was in a mood as well. "We are very much aware of that. Thank you, James." She said frostily. "Fantastic. You're aware of it. Now are we going to do something about it or should we just stay the course and continue to ignore what is right in front of us!" Ironwood was inconsolable.
He felt impatient and angry that he had let the enemies slip through his grasp.
A feeling shared by the whole room.
There was a beeping and I heard Oz stand up. "Come in."
Ah, Ruby was there. Now the real things to hear would be said.
A nervous Ruby entered. "Oh, sorry it took so long. Someone accidentally hit all the buttons in the elevator on the way up here... It wasn't me."
I had to stifle a giggle. Of course, she had done it.
Oz's humor eased some of my tension. "Thank you for coming, Ruby. How are you feeling?" He asked gently.
His feelings toward the little red hooded girl were similar to the feelings he shared toward team RWBY in general.
Like a watchful uncle perhaps.
"Okay, I guess. I'd feel better if my bad guy catching record wasn't oh for three." She said jokingly. But inside it really affected her confidence.
Subtly I stretched a thin thread out to her to ease the guilt.
No one laughed at her joke. "Okay, so that's the tone we're going for, got it?" She said meekly.
The General responded first.
"Ruby. I feel it's appropriate to let you know, that I think what you did last night is exactly what being a Huntress is all about. You recognized a threat, you took action and you did the very best you could."
That last sentence ran through my head. I put it in a file in my memory for later reflection.
"Thank you, sir." Ruby said, feeling the effects of my healing and Ironwood's compliment.
"Now, the General here has already informed us of the events that... transpired last night. But now that you've rested we were wondering if you had anything to add."
I listened closer to the door.
"Was anyone else with her? Did she look familiar to you at all?" Glynda pressed.
The Huntress had a sneaking suspicion that she was considering.
"I.. I don't know. She was wearing a mask and she never said anything to me. But I know she fought with glass. I don't think that was her Semblance though. Her clothing lit up whenever she attacked."
I rifled through my brain. Glass…
"Save for the glass... that sounds like the woman I fought the night we met Ruby." Glynda said, confirming her suspicion.
The General was frustrated though.
"Embedding Dust into clothing is an age old technique. It could have been anyone."
"Wait." Ruby said. "You think this girl is connected with Torchwick and the White Fang?"
My heart slowed. Torchwick... White Fang... Dust infused clothing... Glass... Cinder.
I hissed quietly, feeling the rage like a rising tide inside of me.
Cinder!
"Actually, I think remember hearing her say something about a hideout or something in the Southeast, just outside the kingdom." Ruby felt nervous divulging such a secret. "Interesting." The Headmaster replied.
I filed that away too.
Oz felt a spark of hope while Ironwood and Goodwitch felt confused and suspicious.
I couldn't deal with all the rage. Couldn't focus anymore. I was so furious I was seeing red. Blood pounded in my ears, blocking out the rest of the conversation with Ruby. I felt her go.
I took several deep silent breaths to calm myself enough to listen to the three adults talking.
Ironwood was sure that an all-out attack, wiping out everyone they found there, was the ideal solution. Finish it before it started.
Glynda ranted over his need for military bravado till Oz silenced her before she said something unspeakably crude.
"She is right. As much as I too would love to end this situation once and for all we must remember that this might go beyond Vale. Beyond Beacon. And if this truly is part of some master plan for which we know not the final move we mustn't be so bold. Nor can we risk the spread of panic."
Ironwood was mutinous. "I have served you faithfully for years. But if you mean to tell me that your plan is to merely hold the defenses and wait-"
"It is not!" Oz said fiercely, standing up.
I couldn't breathe. I couldn't breathe. Cinder was part of this. Another connection to Omar.
She had come into my kingdom, to hurt the people I loved again. Just like…
"You're a General James. So tell me. When you prepare to go to war, which do you send in first? The flag bearer or the scouts?"
The question silenced Ironwood.
"Now if you please, I must prepare for today's excitement." Oz said. A dismissal.
I pulled the book out and let the trapdoor close quietly before I stood up and went to the eastern part of the room and pressed a hand to the cold glass. Looking up I saw a small handle. An emergency escape.
I opened in and pulled myself through, reveling in the frigid air.
The wind whipped across me, chilling me to the bone in my short night dress. But it wasn't enough to cool my anger.
So I looked up and saw the cleverly hidden rungs that ran up and down from the hatch. Seizing the ones above me I pulled myself upward and began to climb the seemingly flat diagonal surface.
The General and Goodwitch left.
I ground my teeth. I felt no pain, only fury.
I reached the top. Only thing above me was the point of the tower. I still wasn't high enough.
So I grabbed a hold of the thin vane above me and hauled myself up the steep incline till I wrapped my hand around the very tip of the tower and I looked out.
The wind was ferocious up there, whipping my gown about, stinging my eyes to tears and chilling my skin.
Only up there, at the top of the world, did my anger begin to cool into determination.
This mission grew more personal with every step I took in it.
Cinder and I went way back. Too far for my liking.
I'd tear her throat out with my teeth if I ever got my hands on her. She had caused me enough pain already to last a lifetime.
"Dahlia?!" Oz cried, sticking his head out of the escape hatch and looking up.
I looked back out at Vale, as far as I could see. I could see the transporters and all the glory of the Atlas military. I wished they would leave so that I could deal with Cinder and her ilk quietly, as the assassin I once was.
"Please come down." He yelled into the wind.
I sighed and began to edge my way down the steep glass roof.
My anger gone, pain returned in force. That was a stupid trick I pulled.
When I reached the hatch and slid inside, Oz had to catch me. My leg would no longer support me.
"What in the name of all that's good happened? Why were you were on the roof?" He said wrapping his arms around me. I had grown very cold.
My teeth chattered. "H-Hard to explain."
He looked concerned. "Please try."
In his arms, I grew warm enough to stop my shivering. I sagged under the weight of secrets. Maybe I should just tell him...
"It's complicated, Oz. I was listening to the conversation…"
I chanced a glance at him, in case he was mad. His expression didn't change. "And… I heard what you were talking about and I got so angry. So very angry." I couldn't believe it. Cinder was here and I didn't even notice. One of Omar's prize pupil's. He must have warned her to stay out of my way or I would notice her. I would know her even from a distance. I'd never forget her.
"I had to cool down and the air outside was the only thing that helped."
He didn't really understand but I could sense him trying. "Why were you so angry?" He led me to the bed where I sat down and ran a nervous hand through my wind knotted hair. "Because… I think I know… who attack the CCT…" Letting go was so hard.
His concern instantly was mixed with curiosity and need. "What can you tell me? My dear, this could be vital information." I nodded, knowing it was but I also knew that sharing this information would lead to sharing more and then the most terrifying thing: the truth.
"She's one of Omar Children, or at least she used to be. I knew her from when I was growing up…" She and I had fought over my Father's attention like rabid dogs. Then one day, soon after she had helped my Father break me to his regime, she was gone. Sold, like a slave to one of Omar's business partner's. I turned and grabbed Oz's shoulder's, my eyes boring into his so that he would know what I said was true and very serious.
"Do not underestimate her, Oz. She is clever, cruel and has the backing of my Father. She has no empathy or caring for those that get caught in the middle of his schemes. If she is here, then she has orders. Don't let Ironwood get caught up in her games. If my Father has given her orders, then I can bet my life, that the General will lose. We will all lose."
Oz held me as the memories came for me. Unrelenting in their horror, I watched Cinder's gleeful face as she burned out my Mother's eyes with her thumbs. A test of her new power and the final straw for my spirit. I had listened to my Mother scream and cry, her beautiful ice blue eyes melting from the heat.
I had been held down, unable to do anything but watch, as Cinder Fall murdered my poor mother.
"It's alright, Dahlia. I promise I won't let them play their games. I promise, I won't let them hurt you." Oz said, rocking me back and forth soothingly. He was so kind, so understanding. I hadn't had to say how dangerous Omar was. I hadn't had to trot out the horror stories to make him understand that my Father was possibly the most powerful and the most insane man ever born.
Oz knew. He understood me, even when I didn't say anything.
I looked up at him after the tears were gone. "I love you. I love you so much." His fingers were gentle as they brushed away the last of my tears. Inside, I could feel his heart swelling with that intoxicating, indescribable feeling.
"I never knew that love was like this. My friends always described it but I assumed that I just wasn't the kind of man who deserved that kind of bond. I didn't really believe in it."
He murmured as I laid my head on his shoulder.
I looked into those words and the festering wound inside him.
For a man who isolated himself so well, he had a deep fear of being alone. Of living the rest of his life lonely. And of losing the few people he had come to care deeply for.
He had truly believed whoever it was when they said that he didn't deserve love.
It was shocking how deeply I could feel him. How I could feel almost brushes of memory, like the memory of someone pounding it into him that he would always be alone.
It hurt more because this hurt resonated in the dark part of my own soul.
How many times had Omar told me that something like me was never meant to be loved?
I was meant to be used, nothing more. A tool. A weapon.
But, I wasn't. I was a woman who loved a man. A man more complex and uncertain than I was. I might be a weapon but I was a healer. So for the man I loved, I Healed that crack in his soul with all the love I could bring to bear. It was a powerful experience.
Oz gazed at me with wonder in his eyes. I wasn't sure if it was me or him, but when I Healed him, suddenly the wound in my heart vanished as well. The sorrow, the joy, oh the relief.
I could be Healed. I wasn't as broken as I'd thought.
A weight I hadn't noticed I had been carrying was suddenly gone, leaving me lighter than I had in many moons. I was loved and I could love in return.
The best part was, it was as simple and natural as breathing.
"What is love, my dearest? What is this feeling inside my chest that I get whenever I see you? What does the warmth in my heart mean?" He asked me after he settled.
I thought about it for a second, just tracing his face with my fingers.
"Someone once wrote in a book, Love means never having to say you're sorry. But I think it's something more than that. I mean even in people in love make mistakes that need apologies. I think, love means never having to say goodbye."
His brow crinkled and he felt confused.
"Never saying goodbye? But we've said-"
"No, we have never said goodbye. We've said goodnight, see you soon, and all those but never goodbye. The things we say mean until next time, apart for only a short time before being reunited and even then apart only means physically. Even when we part, you're still with me. Goodbye means leaving. To me, goodbye means forever."
So many have said goodbye to me.
"So love means never having to leave forever?"
"Exactly. If it's true love, you're never truly apart."
He cuddled me close.
"Then I must be in love. I'd rather cut off my arm than lose you."
And he really meant every word he said. "We've discovered the meaning of love, Oz." I smiled happily.
"Love means never having to say goodbye." He murmured happily.
"Never." I agreed and we kissed again.
He nuzzled my cheek. "I'll never say goodbye, but you probably need to go get ready. I have a nice speech prepared for today." I got confused.
"You receive your missions today. You'll be leaving this evening." He said sadly.
I kissed him. "I'll be fine Oz, my love. Don't worry so. I'll just be shadowing remember?"
He pursed his lips in thought. "Mmmm."
"I promise I'll be careful." He laughed. "That's reassuring."
I stuck my tongue out at his sarcasm and began to finished gathering my things up. I slipped into his bathroom, took a sketchy shower, brush my teeth, brushed my hair and dressed in my normal attire.
When I stepped out, Oz's feeling flared. "There is my warrior lady."
"Your warrior lady?" I said incredulously.
"Of course, you're mine." He growled running his hand possessively over my hair.
"I'm going to pack. I'll try to see you before I leave." I whispered, nuzzling his cheek.
"Just try to leave without seeing me."