The Second Step: Chapter 13

Jaeger Chronicles: Part 1

A/N: Alright, this is a weird chapter, so I'm going to say a few things before we begin:

1. Gay men ahead. Let me inform you of something: I love White Rose and Bumbleby, problem is, it's statistically improbable that four lesbians would end up on the same team, if only because lesbians and gay men and the entire LGBTQ community is small compared to the number of people who are heteronormative. By making characters here gay, I'm heading this off before it becomes a problem by showing that there is a statistically greater number of non-heterosexual people in Remnant.

2. Original Charavter ahead. please, bear in mind, she isn't important, doesn't do anything to big, and we won't see her after this arc. Think of her as the blue wizard, of you've ever read Tolkein.

3. This chapter is very weird. As in, VERY weird. If it's too weird, I may need to include a synopsis of what'd happened, but I respect my reader-base enough to let you work through it. Kay? Kay.

4. Ozpin's first name is now officially Joshua. Deal with it.

I feel my self form within his soul. Instantly, my soul begins to warp the landscape, to meld our separate persona together, forming a collective Soulscape. Multi-story bookcases rise up around me, suitable walls from which to hang the nearly fifty-thousand paintings that fill Joshua's mind.

My self awareness begins to expand, filling the Soulscape with my influence. The familiar feel of his soul welcoming mine, comforting mine, is a pain, an opiate for my teenage years. I reject the merging energies and concentrate my self into the cardinal directions, sweeping the maze of book shelves as sonar. It is not long before I find his fracturing consciousness, crumbling underneath the literally tectonic forces that swirl within his body.

I walk.

The bookcases twist and run, an intellectual Pan's labyrinth. Here and there (more often then I am comfortable with) I see the scars that herald Panic: book's strewn across the ground, entire book cases toppled, with their contents sprawled upon the floor. I make careful but deliberate haste to avoid direct contact with the books and shelves that have fallen, promising, swearing to myself that when I returned I would set them right and rid my mind of the creeping fear.

As the walk stretches on, I regularly check the directories that riddle the path, manifestations of my Ego. The maps typically point me in the right direction, but unmarked dead ends and unknown hazards also herald a collapse of logical reasoning. Finally, I return to a directory and sit. My back is straight, my body is ice cold, and slowly, I take stock of myself in meditation. Objectivity, but not complete disconnection, fills my mind as the worry recedes. I stand, check the directory, and leave to find Joshua.

The paintings watch, silently, as I pass. Some wave to me, old friends smiling down and pointing me in the right direction. Others are silent judges of my presence, and a handful scream abuse at me, long dead soldiers that fell in the battle where me, Joshua, and Roman were shaped. As I walk, I chance a glance upwards, seeing the slowly blackening sky above, a sure sign that time was running short. My Ego begins to calculate how fast I could reach Joshua if I discarded all pretenses of morality and simply discarded to complex representation of my morality and ethics that was this maze.

I determine that I'd rather not. At least, not yet.

Finally, as the last stars sit in the sky dying, I round the last corner of my SuperEgo and discover Joshua. He is shattered, an arm in one corner of the room, a leg in another, pieces of his ribcage strewn about. In the center, the most coherent blob of his body is being kicked and beaten by three escaped souls, half faded beings that hold only malice to the man that, in a sense, killed them.

I call upon my semblance within the Soulscape. My skin grows transparent, cold and hardened. Here, I become Ice.

One soul turns as he hears me and charges. I casually backhand him, sending the poor old soul sailing across the maze, miles and miles away. Another tries to run, but a concentration of my semblance renders him immobile in a crystalline brace.

The last soul stands in defiance against me. This soul is different from the others, worn and faded, with nearly no definition. I take a moment to change my strategy.

Joshua's soul begins to thrum through my body, slowly concentrating in my left hand. His semblance shifts the coloration, as the hand of ice turns to something that is deceptively water-like. Quietly, his soul, warm and inviting, calls to me, not by any fault of my own or himself, but by our nature. I am ice, cold and often sharp, while in contrast he is warm and fluid and thoughtful.

But here, his soul is acid, corrosive to my own. I cool my arm further to keep him from hurting me.

The soul charges at me, ready to strike. I step in a slow circle, shifting his aim, when, at the last second, I strike. The fading soul is vanquished, his weak memories and identity absorbed into my own Soulscape.

Somewhere in the depths of the library that was my soul, a book appears on a podium, opened to a page of a picture, upon which a poor rendition of man has been inscribed. I feel his power for a moment, and allow myself, if only for a moment, a light smirk as I recognize his semblance as Camo. This could come in handy.

The acid that is my hand reminds my of my mission with a lance of pain.

I retract the soul of Joshua into my body and shut down my own semblance, reverting my body to flesh and blood, something a light, joking voice that echoes through the labyrinth informs me as being rather funny, as flesh and blood are now the only things in the hallway of the maze.

I chance another glance up into the vivid night sky. The stars continue to twinkle, but are noticeably dimming. I'm running out of time.

Rushing, I collect the severed portions of Joshua's body, arranging them into their proper positions. That completed, I steel myself for the most difficult task ahead: recollection.

I scan his body and select a rib. The smaller body parts tend to represent memories of lesser importance to the identity, so starting small, I place my hand upon his rib...

And I remember our names for him.

(Age 17)

Joshua Ozpin glared at his teammate. "What do you have to say for yourself Roman? Hmm?" He leaned towards the group, his ear turned almost accusingly at them. After a beat of time, he turned his face to them again. "I'm not hearing anything."

"Oh, come on. It's just one test," Roman, pointed out. "It's not like I can't make that up."

Joshua stepped back and raised a finger. "One failed test isn't simply a bad grade Roman. It's an indication you've failed to understand the principles behind the questions, and failed to fully grasp building blocks that are required to solve further problems."

Joshua held up another finger. "This leads to a continued stream of failure, as you fail to understand the principles behind the problems you are presented, and then the principles that govern the problems based off of earlier principles, and so on and so forth until you have successfully flunked out of your class. You will bring your entire team down."

Ozpin held up his third and final finger leaning back in for effect. "And Roman. I will not have Team Orange be anything but the best team in Beacon."

Roman held Joshua's gaze for a few moments before looking away. "Like we'll ever amount to anything. The headmaster made our call sign ORGE. Seriously, what kind of name is that?"

Ozpin sweat dropped at the rather invalid, but still incredibly embarrassing point. "Regardless Roman, I'm team leader and thus, I have final say in this matter. Isn't that right girls?"

Glynda, having watched Joshua's dissertation of Roman's grade point average, answered with an immediate, "Absolutely Joshua." The team's other girl however took a moment to finish cleaning her weapon, a collapsible, bladed machine pistol. Roman took it as a moment to appeal to her.

"Evanora, you know that I tried. This isn't fair to me. I studied, and the teacher has an insane policy with grading. Come on sis."

Evanora finished cleaning her gun, 'Hana no Arashi' and triggered the securing mechanism in her sleeve, watching with some satisfaction as the weapon retracted neatly in. "Roman, Joshua is right you know." Evanora smiled at her adoptive brother. "He just wants what's best for you, same as me."

Roman was doing a fairly decent impersonation of a goldfish, while Ozpin's self-satisfied smirk was quickly killed by Evanora's following remark. "It doesn't stop him from being a self-absorbed twat though."

The three other teammates in the room managed to stare at Evanora unresponsively for all of five seconds, at least until Roman threw back his head and howled in laughter. Joshua went on to mimic Roman's reaction while Glynda Goodwitch decided to be indignant on Ozpin's behalf. "Take that back Evanora!"

Evanora smiled and got back to cleaning her guns. Ozpin overcame his immediate annoyance (while in the background, Glynda continued to try and extract an apology from Evanora) and focused on his wayward teammate. "Alright Roman, I know that you think all this is funny-"

"It's hilarious."

"-but we need you to succeed." Joshua rested a hand on Roman's shoulder. "I need you to succeed."

Maybe it was the inflection on the "I" but Roman's laughter died with the last sentence. He took a moment to remove his teammates hand. "Hey, just let me do what I do."

"That doesn't seem to be working".

"Who needs a letter grade when you can handle yourself in a fight?"

"The teachers need one for you."

"And when it comes down to it, I can still pull us of of any situation we get into."

Joshua tried not to let his hand touch his head and face-palm. He really did. 'This guy is going to get himself killed.'

Roman sat back down, confidence restored, when a thought crossed his mind. "Hey, do we really need to go by our team name?"

Joshua blinked, caught off guard by the sudden switch of topics. He recovered quickly enough to beat Glynda's response though. "Yes Roman, we need to keep our team name."

Glynda's reply was more utilitarian. "If we didn't call ourselves Orange, then what would we call ourselves Roman?"

"Well..."

Evanora finished cleaning her second gun and set it aside. "You have to admit though, it is silly."

That Evanora considered this silly actually surprised the group. Evanora happened to be the most unscrupulous member of the team. She continued in the silence. "And besides, no one on our team actually wears orange."

That particular fact was true. Roman and Evanora were wearing white and green cloaks respectively, while Glynda typically wore a purple overcoat, and Ozpin usually wore a green turtleneck. Between the four of them, there wasn't a single speck of orange.

"Well, it's supposed to be indicative of our names and a color," Ozpin defended. He swept his arm around the room. "Ozpin. Roman. Glynda. Evanora. Team-"

"ORGE," Evanora interrupted. To put her point across, she pronounced the phrase phonetically. "Come on Josh, even you hated it when the name was announced."

Joshua leveled a glare at Evanora. "It's the name we were endowed with."

"We were endowed...with an ORGE?" Evanora's eyebrows said it all. "Come on. We need a new name."

Glynda set her essay aside and stood up to confront her teammate. "Evanora, we have this name because we are a Team. Like it or not, we have to keep it...or at least answer to it." Glynda slipped a furtive glance at Joshua, illustrating her point, or at least communicating what Ozpin though was her point to him: change the name, pleeeease.

Joshua's gaze roamed from Roman to Evanora and Glynda, and then back to Roman. All three were standing against him, and to an extent, he wasn't really sure that they were wrong. If he continued to stand against them, the group would begin to look for someone other then him to lead, fracturing authority and sewing the seeds of discord, which would almost certainly sprout in a combat situation. And from there, cue slaughter.

Joshua Ozpin groaned internally. He had to either back off from his stance (weakening his team's trust in him) or he would have to remain against their judgement (creating even greater problems in the long term). Now he groaned verbally. A legitimate lose-lose situation. Might as well minimize the foreseeable damage now. "Fine. We'll come up with a new name. But there is one rule."

Roman laughed and high-fived his adoptive sister. Glynda smiled lightly. "Alright, Joshua. What's that rule?"

Joshua turned and started to pace. "We won't tell anyone about it. Keep it quiet."

Evanora chuckled. "Sure we will. You'll never even know we were anything other then an ORGE."

Silence reigned for a moment. Roman coughed awkwardly. "Enough with the ORGE jokes sis."

Evanora laughed chaotically. "So, any ideas?"

No one answered.

A few minutes past. Roman and Glynda sat back down. Joshua started pacing. Evanora cast downtrodden glances from teammate to teammate. Finally, Roman broke the silence. "So...I got nothing."

"I can't think of anything either. Can you Joshua?" Glynda asked.

Joshua shook his head. "I know that it needs to have all of our initials with no repeats, but I can't think of anything."

Roman rolled his eyes, when an idea struck him. Pulling out some paper, he quickly wrote J, O, R, T, G, G, E and T in a circle. "Here we go." Everyone crowded around him. "We'll mix and match the order until we get something. Any takers."

Glynda snorted. "Roman, that is the most ludicrous, idiotic, simplistic, ridiculous-"

Ozpin took Roman's pencil and connected J, G, E, and R.

"-brilliant, inventive and amazing idea I have ever heard," Glynda finished.

Ozpin kept his face neutral, but on the inside he groaned. 'Could she be any more obviously in love with me?"

"JGER. What's that for?" It was Evanora who asked this, as Roman was preoccupied with staring forlornly at Glynda, and Glynda and gazing longingly at Joshua. Joshua elaborated.

"It's a word from Vacuo, and it means hunter." Joshua wrote the word from the contraction. "We are now team Jaeger, Hunters amongst Hunters."

The world resolved itself around me, and I examine my handiwork. Joshua's body has taken the rib back, and is healed slightly.

I now look up, seeing the twinkling stars and dim nebulae of Joshua's Soulscape. This, more then anything, illustrates the health of his soul.

I select another rib and place it upon his body...

And I remember his greatest triumph.

(Age 27)

Rain falls in sheets, driving the inhabitants of the city of Vale under cover. Few venture out without an umbrella. Almost none do so without a coat.

Through this late winter rain walks a man who uses neither. The rain has long since stopped trying to further soak his jacket and rain cloud gray hair, and as such the man now saw no need for them. In their place is merely his head and shoulders, and an honest, if quirky, enjoyment of the rain.

Fortunately, the ground here is cobblestone, thus negating any possibility of sullying his shoes with mud. The man simply walks through the pouring rain, far beneath the dark skies, enjoying a moment of peace and serenity.

Presently, the man arrives at the building that marked his destination and entered, making sure to discretely apply Meta Burner semblance to his body to dry his clothes and hair. When he passes the bouncer, he looks as if his day wear, a suit with a black undercoat and a green turtleneck beneath that, has been freshly ironed.

The bar obviously was not used to the company of people of such wealth. Most tables were empty, save for a handful that hosted the drunk, drinking, or the few that simply enjoyed the atmosphere of a bar. On the left was a pool table, hosting a small game between two patrons, the right containing the actual bar. Sitting there was the woman that the man, Ozpin, wanted to see.

"You know Glynda, I never pegged you as the drinking type. You always seemed more in line with a girl who collected stamps."

Glynda Goodwitch nursed the tall glass gingerly, savoring the hoppy aroma. "You wanted to meet somewhere. Here we are." She took a sip of the beer. "How'd it go?"

Ozpin smiled. "I got the job. You professor Goodwitch are looking at the new Headmaster of Beacon academy."

Glynda's beer paused in it's assent to her lips, before she downed the rest of the glass in one go and motioned for the barkeep to bring her another. "Gods help us."

Joshua Ozpin chuckled. "Oh Glynda, you know that it won't be so bad."

Glynda took the next beer, leveled a certain look at her new boss and downed the entire tankard in one go. Ozpin wilted a little. "That bad?"

"That bad." Glynda set the empty tankard aside and turned to fully face Ozpin. "Ozpin, are you even sure that you want this job? You'll have gone from teaching children to just...being a desk jockey. Are you completely sure you can expect that change?"

Ozpin's smile returned. "A king is the first of his subjects to be seen, but each citizen of his realm is a reflection of him, and he'll strive to be the best example of mankind. So, yes, quite frankly I am sure."

Glynda blinked, not quite understanding the metaphor, before she shrugged. "If you are dead set on this, you have my backing. But Ozpin..."

Glynda reached forward on the table and pressed her hand into Ozpin's. "Joshua, you are amazing, but you aren't perfect. If there is anything you need, anything at all, all you need to do is ask."

Ozpin looked away. "There is one thing you can do for me Glynda."

"Anything."

"...You can get your hand off me." Joshua felt the weight on his hand vanish, and sighed with relief as the touch of her memories, of her soul, faded away. "Thank you."

"You're welcome."

The two sat there for a moment, the world seemingly still around them. Finally, Ozpin mustered up his charm again. "So, is there any particular reason you brought me here, other then to see if I'd drink you under the table?"

Glynda rolled her eyes, professionalism reasserted. "First off, I'd beat you. Secondly..." Glynda made a face and pulled a newspaper off the seat next to her and showed it to Joshua. "Torchwick made the front page again."

Ozpin looked at the paper, eyes not quite taking in the words or pictures in separation, as if avoiding looking at the print would render it untrue. "Roman's delusional. He doesn't need arresting, he needs a shrink."

Glynda scoffed with more then a little scorn. "Roman doesn't need a shrink, he need's a good killing."

"Glynda!"

"Joshua, Roman is one of us. He has the training, the power, and the brains to become a monster. Joshua-" Glynda's voice became conspiratorial. "He still has your Aura. He can still use your semblance. If he chooses to do that, to cross that line, there is literally no one who is safe in this city."

"If he absorbs someone else's soul, he will go mad. And then there is no telling what he will do."

I retract my hands, the air shuddering around me as Joshua's body accepts the fragment of memory.

I reexamine the mess around him. The gore has begun to recede, the soul healing slowly from the damage that it had incurred.

I take another rib, and count what remains. It appears only three more ribs, along with the arm and leg, are needed to heal him.

I take another rib, this one close to his collar...

...and I remember his awakening.

(Age 13)

Joshua shook.

The doctors looked in, one speaking, the other silent and observing. 'He wants to help you.'

"Shut up."

Tears drenched his cheeks, something that continued to surprise him. He had thought he had run out of tears many times now. 'You don't need to dry boy. Come here. I'll comfort you.'

Joshua slapped his ears with his hands, but the voice kept speaking, kept telling him that he was quite sane and innocent even as he knew that somehow his mind was beginning to break.

The door opened, a shadow falling on him. "Hello son."

Joshua ignored the voice. It barely seemed any more real then the voice that murmured in his head, that tried to absolve him of guilt.

The shadow shifted, taking a different shape. "Now son, I know that you're worried, but the teacher is fine. He's just recovering from extreme Aura exhaustion.

'What did I tell you Joshua. I'm fine.' Joshua cringed in fear. The shadow continued.

"Now now, I know how strange it is when we all first unlock our Aura, but we all have our own little gifts. These gifts aren't meant to hurt other people, and when we learn, we can control them."

"When I figured this out, do you know what I did?"

'He became a teacher.' The thought cracked through Joshua's brain like a bullet, the source being the very same maddeningly persistent voice in his head.

"I became a teacher." The shadow seemed to produce a strange relish at the revelation of this fact. "I learned to help people, the same way I'll help you. Joshua, if you let me, I can help you."

Joshua cringed, trying to fold away and shrink out of sight. The voice pointed out that he was in a room with another man looking straight at him. Joshua told it to shut up.

"If you want me to shut up boy, then you'll need to talk to me directly."

Joshua shook as he heard the voice in his head try and tell him to speak to him. He knew better then to talk back to voices in his head.

It took him a moment to realize, to his horror, that the voice that spoke to him belonged to the shadow.

"Boy, I know you're scared. I want to help you, so please, look at me."

Joshua gulped and, with a supreme force of will, looked up at the room's other occupant. At first, Joshua thought he wasn't all that much to look at. Gray shirt and black pants.

You know if someone's attire can be described in all of five words, then their appearance really is unremarkable. Other than his clothes, the man was only notable for the black hair with red tips, and the weapon hilt just visible over his shoulder. It was seeing this that drew Joshua's gaze to the man's eyes.

Green, the shade of the dark forests of the west, with just a hint of pure crystal hiding within the deeper depths. "Joshua, you may not know who I am, but I want you to know that I want to help you. All I ask of you, is for you to tell me my name."

Joshua blinked in confusion, thrown off balance for a moment as honest shock overcame him. The voice seemed to chuckle in his head. 'I can see what he's doing. Let me help you Joshua: his name is-'

"Qrow Rose." If the words hasn't left his mouth, if Joshua hasn't felt his lips form the words, he would have never believed he had said them. Qrow however, was very satisfied.

Qrow pulled a sack from behind his chair and liberated it of a sheet of paper. "Joshua Lyman Ozpin, aged thirteen, born August 8th, enrolled in Signal Academy two months ago by Alicia and Bertrand Ozpin, began attendance three days ago and had your Aura unlocked at eight seventeen AM this morning, after which my coworker and close friend Frank Baum promptly fainted and you reported hearing voices."

Qrow set the paper aside. "So, Joshua. Here is my brilliant theory: you think you're crazy."

Joshua indulged himself with a laugh. "I'm hearing voices-" '-I'm not just a voice you know-' "-I nearly killed someone, and I'm pretty sure that if someone like you would want to talk to me, I'd need to be pretty crazy."

Professor Rose held up a placating hand. "You're not crazy Joshua. Crazy people hear voices that only know as much as they do. If you were crazy, you couldn't possibly know that I am the head of advanced weaponry development at Signal academy, or that I had a degree in psychology."

Qrow began to smile. "You wouldn't know that I absolutely love black coffee, or that my niece Summer is also attending Signal in your year." Qrow leaned in conspiratorially. "And you almost certainly wouldn't know that Frank owes me money."

'Heh. I kinda do.'

Joshua was shaking slightly, confusion now mixed with his fear and worry. "Where's my mom and dad?"

Qrow's smile grew slightly. "Your mother and father are coming into the city. They should be here within the hour. They must love you very much Joshua."

Joshua failed to look Qrow in the eye. "I'm the world to them. They love me." Almost to himself, Joshua added: "They have to."

Qrow stood up and looked Joshua straight in the eye. "Joshua, if I may, I want you to take my hand."

Joshua blinked, but the voice, apparently the voice of Frank Baum, said, 'don't worry. He wouldn't do this if he didn't have a plan.'

Joshua Ozpin gulped, and looked at Qrow's outstretched hand. It was clean, simple, unmarked and inviting.

Slowly, Joshua reached forward and took it.

The world spiraled around him, memories, thought patterns and idea's crossing like wires in his head. The world nearly, nearly, seemed to break.

Underneath, or perhaps within, this turmoil, a single, unifying concept arose: Aura. The construct that separated the living, the very manifestation of the soul. An imprint of memories and morals. One person could not hope to understand the power flowing through everything, or everyone.

Except for him. He alone, the first and perhaps only in a whole generation who had been born with a Leecher semblance. The ability to absorb, manipulate, and endow souls, the very essence of life and self unto others.

This power, godlike as it was, came with a truly devastating cost though: any man or women so inflicted would never escape the souls locked within their body. They would, if they weren't careful, lose their minds to the onslaught of power within them.

With this great power would come great insanity.

Joshua Ozpin separated from Qrow Rose with a gasp. Qrow smiled down on his new student. Without a word, Joshua stood up and nodded to his teacher. "If you can help me...when do we start?"

I groan as the psychic backlash filters through. That memory had come loose before, but replacing it always ended up being a pain for her.

I struggle to regain my sense of self, but a single upward glance assures me that I'm on the right path.

The stars have returned to Joshua's mind.

I collect the remaining two ribs and contemplate them. Finally, if only to overcome the more difficult memory first, I choose...

...and remember the day he came out.

(Age 17)

The day had, in Joshua's mind, began rather normally. He and his team (officially team ORGE, privately team JGER) woke up at six in the morning, got dressed, ate, finished any lingering homework and set off for class.

After first period, Joshua snuck out, had a quick smoke (something Roman detested greatly) returned for second period and turned in his exemplary homework, as was custom.

It was after his third period though that the day promptly, completely, and irrevocably shifted into a completely new direction, a change signaled only by Evanora and Roman calling him an Glynda back to their room.

The sight to see there wasn't much. Evanora was sharpening the blades on her guns and Roman was cleaning his swords. Between them, there didn't seem to be anything overtly noteworthy, which left Joshua and probably Glynda in the dark.

Finally, Glynda couldn't take it, and she addressed her teammate. "Evanora, why are we here?"

Evanora stopped sharpening her blade and seriously considered the question. "Well Glynda, I've always wondered why we're here-"

"That's not what I meant."

Evanora withered under Glynda's deadpan. "Well, I guess the reason is...eh. Well, it's um..." Evanora turned to Roman, who tried to look supportive. "I guess, it's...I mean I'm..."

Joshua Ozpin groaned into his hand as the dots suddenly connected. The fear, the worry, the not so subtle glances at her brother: it all led to, in his mind, one conclusion. "Evanora, are you pregnant?"

Silence.

"WHAT!?"

Roman shot to his feet, followed almost as rapidly by Glynda. "How dare you say she'd be pregnant!"

Glynda didn't get so angry with Joshua, but instead went to Evanora's side an took her teammate's hand in her own. "Evanora, are you?"

Evanora shook her head, actually rolling her eyes. "I'm not pregnant Glyn. Not again."

That brought the conversations to a halt. A moment passed as Roman, Glynda and Joshua all stared at Evanora. Evanora laughed a little though. "I'm kidding guys. Just kidding. I'm not, nor have I ever been, pregnant. And Roman?"

Roman cocked an eyebrow at his adoptive sister. "Yeah?"

"Can you stop strangling Josh?"

Ronan's gaze went from his sister to his teammate, who was currently glaring at him while also gaining a slight blue pallor. With a gasp of shock, Roman dropped his friend. "Sorry."

Ozpin rubbed his throat, marshaling his thoughts back into coherency.

Evaporate cleared her throat again. "Well, I guess there really is only one way to say this. I mean, I'm...well...the whole thing is...complicated."

Roman went to her side. "Maybe I should go first, tell them something that'll get them ready."

'Ready for what?' Joshua thought.

Roman didn't wait for his sister's nod, instead turning to Glynda and Joshua. "Everyone, I have an announcement. Though I have answered to it for the past three months, my name is not, in fact, Roman Torchwick, but is actually Theodore."

Glynda and Joshua went from staring at Roman, to staring at each other, and then back to Roman. It was Glynda who said it best: "So?"

"I'mtransgender."

"Roman, why would you say hub blub bluh buh..." Glynda trailed off as Evanora's rapid fire words registered. She stared at her teammate. She opened her mouth, and closed it, silence reigning throughout.

Joshua tried furiously to reorder his thoughts into something that resembled coherent. Unfortunately, every time he tried, his mind would remind him that Evanora had just said that. He decided to wait it out, and see what happened.

Roman (well, Theodore, but Roman was a much cooler name so honestly who cares?) took a gulp of air and moved to stand beside his sis...Evanora. "That was very brave Evanora. Good job."

Evanora seemed downcast for a moment, then looked at her...his...their brother and smiled a smile that made sidewinders look straight. "It's just two words Roman. I don't care that I said them."

Joshua and Glynda shared a discreet look. At least they knew that the other was as shocked by this as they were.

Theodore "Roman" Torchwick looked at his teammate and friend. "So, you got anything to say to this?" The look on his face was what made the real message clear: 'Hurt my sister's feelings and I will end you.

Glynda coughed awkwardly. "So, um, Evanora?" A moment of realization walked into her brain. "Is your real name Evanora?"

Evanora shrugged. "Most of it is. I just added the last bit." Evanora sighed. "And before you ask, can you please just, you know, use female pronouns. Please."

Glynda and Joshua numbly nodded. Suddenly, a thought popped into Joshua's head. "Evanora, what sort of transgender are you? Male to female, female to male-"

"Male to female. I figured that out a few years ago. Got pretty scared when I hit puberty. Figured that if I couldn't use PMSing as an excuse for eating chocolate, I might as well not bother being a boy." Evanora seemed to be regaining a touch of her...her, yes, her humor.

Joshua and Glynda contemplated these facts for a moment. Evanora remained seated. Roman stood between the three, shielding the girl he called sister from their teammates.

Joshua finally stood up, coughed into his hand and addressed the group. "Well, if this is all, I motion that we continue to treat miss Torchwick here as the eldest women on our team. All for?" He, along with Roman and Evanora, and after a moment a still slightly reeling Glynda all raised their hands.

Joshua dropped his own hand, and adopted a smile. "Well, we have mister Torchwick here and miss Torchwick here both handing out their secrets. I might as well come clean: everyone, my name is Joshua Ozpin, and I'm gay."

The three other teammates remained silent for a moment, and then Roman gave a little nod. "Okay. Good for you."

Evanora smiled herself. "Thank you for sharing Joshua."

Glynda fainted.

I stagger from the memory, fighting to control myself and the word around me. I am again reminded of why I hated that memory for so long.

I glance down at the final rib in my hand, and then up into the starry night sky. The world of Joshua's mind is rebuilding itself, and it is magnificent.

I take the final rib, and press on.

(Age 24)

The sky was a painted visage of stars. Far below the cold pinpricks that filled the heavens sat the walled city of Vale, smokestacks sending pencils of smoke up into the atmosphere as tribute, both to the unreachability of the vast emptiness above and the progression of the multitudes of man below.

This city was vastly contrasted by the memories of what it had been but a handful of days ago: illuminated by bonfires, the smokestacks empty of their dark, choking clouds, replaced by the rainbow of sparks that were fireworks, some launched by children celebrating the return of their mothers and fathers, some launched by men and women to celebrate their return from the terror that had been the Faunus war.

It was this sleeping, relieved and rejuvenated city that Joshua Ozpin looked out upon, perched from the railing of the balcony of St. Barbara's Hospital and clinic. Far below, the could earth swelled and shrank in time with Ozpin's conviction to throw himself from the highest perch he could reasonably access.

The ground swelled up, and Ozpin cast a single foot from the railing, balanced on one foot now. The wind whipped the hospital clothes trying to drag him from the precarious position he was in. With a single huff of breath and a surge of courage, Ozpin tilted forward from the balcony, sliding free from the platform and into gravity's embrace...

...only for a grappling hook to neatly slap him in the back an pull back him from the edge. "Oh."

Ozpin was dragged, quite against his will, back into the hospital room. Finally he can free of the hook and slid the last few feet sitting up, organized and composed, straight into the boots of a man wearing a white coat with a red lining and a bowler hat. It took him a moment to wrench the memory of this man from the grip that countless souls held in his head. "Hello Roman."

Several emotions played across his teammates face. Anger, disgust, a touch of fear, and strangely, pained weariness all rolled through the subtly beautiful humors of Roman's face. His ace eventually settled on annoyance for it's purposes. "You know Joshua, if you're going to kill yourself, you could have called earlier."

Ozpin tried to smile. Despite the immense headache and roiling guilt that crushed his soul, he thought he managed. "If I called earlier, would my knight in shining armor be here to save me?"

Roman glared, then stepped to the side and let Ozpin fall on his back. "No. It would be Glynda. We both know she'd much rather be here then me." For a moment, agony, born from heartache, crossed Roman's face.

Ozpin marveled that he could take a hint in this state. "I'm curious Roman. Where'd you get the coat?"

Roman's glare lessened a little. "You remember that girl I saved from the forest fire? The one with the shepherd's crook for a weapon?"

"...Yeah. She was Qrow's niece, right? Summer...Rose?"

The glare on Roman's face was in danger of fading all together now. "Yeah. She said that she owned me for ruining my cloak. Bought this one for me."

Ozpin smiled a little. "Maybe you could, well, you know..?"

Ronan's glare returned full force. "No. Me and her...I don't even know her. She lives in Mistral anyway; I can't leave Vale. I won't."

Ozpin grimaced and got to his feet. "Roman, I know that you hate me after everything we've-"

"Oh I'm sorry, did you think that I'm here because I like you?" Roman's glare turned downright murderous now. "Your plans killed my sister. Your little trick with the generals of humanity resulted in a slaughter. And did I mention that you personally destroyed the lives of fifty thousand people, not Faunus, not Humans, people. Honestly Joshua I'm pretty sure I'm entitled to push you off that balcony."

Ozpin clenched his jaw and forced down his emotions and the surge of voices in his head. With great difficulty, he articulated a response. "If you hate me so much, why are you here?"

Roman sneered. "Because Ozpin, wether you like it or not, I happen to enjoy the city of Vale. And I know what would happen if you died."

Ozpin already knew what Roman was talking about. If he killed himself, the outrush of pure power, the release of nearly fifty thousand individual Auras, would promptly destroy the entire city of Vale. He'd leave a crater the size of, well, Vale.

Roman turned from Ozpin, stalking to the balcony and looking out into the clear night. "You know Joshua, when I saw you on the battlefield, I thought I was going to die. When I saw you unleash that power, I knew I was going to die. But when I felt your soul, your thoughts and mind..."

Ozpin walked up beside his teammate and once friend. "Roman, when I saw you there, lying broken and dying, I didn't want to go on living."

Roman looked at Ozpin, his face devolving from anger to a more subtle guilt. "I know. Shade, Glynda knows. We were sharing a single mind after all."

Ozpin turned from Roman and looked out into the night. "You felt...what I feel for you. You know..." Ozpin gulped, fighting back tears "...that I love you."

Roman stared at the distant wall that separated Vale from the Grimm, man from beast. "And then you know that I only ever loved Glynda. And that she only ever loved you Joshua. We can't all be happy here."

Ozpin choked, trying to compose himself. "I know that. I hate knowing that, but I know that."

Roman watched the wall, unwilling to meet Ozpin's gaze. "Joshua, I came here to tell you something. Please, live. Because if you die, Glynda...she won't be able to go on. Even I won't be able to stop her from killing herself."

Ozpin looked at his teammate...his love. "Roman, stay with us. Please Roman. Think of all the good we can do, as team Jaeger."

Roman's mouth twitched. It curled. Quietly, a chuckle slipped out. Then, a dam breaking, he laughed. He laughed long and hard, mocking. His insane laughs filled the air, threatening to ruin the peaceful night. "St...stay? With you!" He laughed again, anger and madness coloring the noise with haunting shades.

"Roman..."

"No." Roman turned and looked at Ozpin. "I don't deserve peace. I don't deserve to be a hero. I saw what you did in the war, you saw what we did, what the humans did, what the Faunus did. You know that I can never, as long as I live, be a part of a world like that."

"I'm a monster Joshua. And it's time I start acting like one."

Roman climbed on top of the balcony railing. Ozpin reache to take him by the coat, but Roman brushed him off. "Joshua, I am a monster. And if I'm not..."

Roman looked into Joshua Ozpin's eyes. "Then what is a monster?"

Roman leapt, drawing his shaung guo and shooting himself a grappling line to a nearby building. And off into the night he swung, leaving behind a life...

...and a broken heart.

I bring myself back into the now. I try to compose myself, struggling to disconnect myself from the memories of Joshua's life.

Finally, I grab the arm and leg, and for a moment, look up.

Stars, and galaxies, forming an infinite web of pure beautiful complexity stretch out above me, the construct of the sheer power of Joshua Ozpin.

I prepare to finish this.

A/N: well, hurray. As usual, thanks to Enderkiller77, Chas1881, and Knives4Cash. I really couldn't have done this without you three, so this chapter is dedicated to you. Long live editing!