AN: Hey guys! I'm so excited for you guys to read this chapter. This chapter is a real game-changer!
*Yes. Yes.
Ozpin couldn't believe his eyes. He, Peter, Glynda, Oobleck, and Theodora were all sitting together at a table set up in a large rectangular room inside the temple. A flight of stairs on one side of the room led up to a balcony. Everything that Oz was hoping for was now coming together. It was two weeks after Glynda took him down a little bit of memory lane, an event that he honestly tried not to think about too much.
Oobleck dropped his dice immediately after scooping them up. Both of them turned up with twos.
"Four again," he announced. He took a quick drink of coffee from his mug and heavily sighed.
"Looks like your Nevermore is turning on you and I have the advantage in my hands," Glynda said with a gleeful smile.
"Now see here young lady…"
"My turn. Resourceful Raider," Glynda said, putting down one of the cards she had in her hands.
"My beautiful fleet," Theodora playfully whined as she slid her Atlas Air Fleet card over to Glynda. Glynda snatched it up.
"Thank you sister. Things are looking up," she said. Ozpin stole a glance at Peter, the only one in the group who wasn't playing the game. He had his nose stuck in a comic issue of X-Ray and Vav.
"I never actually knew you were a comic book reader," Oz said.
"It's sort of a new habit I picked up. I want to be celebrated as a hero, remember? So I try to gather as much inspiration as possible," Peter replied. Ozpin briefly thought about the fact that X-Ray and Vav were really only hero wannabes that couldn't get almost anything done right when trying to save the world. He had a bad feeling that Peter was trying to get inspired by bad role models.
Ozpin looked at Theodora who was engaged in the game. It was then at this moment that he knew what he wanted to do. He took up his glass and stood up.
"May I have your attention for a moment?" He asked. Everyone stopped and looked up at him. Oobleck foolishly put his cards down face-up.
"I have an announcement. First off, I must thank you for all of your perseverance and dedication to becoming the best Huntsmen and Huntresses this world has seen. One day very soon now, we will be professors running a new academy for people who want to make a difference in the world. All of you must pat yourselves on the back," Ozpin started. Oobleck patted himself on the back. Oz mentally pinched himself for dragging this out. It was time to cut to the chase.
"Second off, the real reason why I interrupted this game was because after much thought and consideration, I have decided who will have the position of assistant Headmaster for the new academy," Ozpin said. Everyone was deathly silent, holding their breath for the reveal. Ozpin looked at Theodora and raised his glass to her.
"Theodora Goodwitch. I have chosen her," he announced. Theodora gasped and her hands started to tremble.
"Me?" She asked as if Oz had to say it again. Ozpin just simply grinned and wordlessly nodded. Theodora looked down at the board game set out on the table. Her jaw was slack and her eyes were wider than Oz had ever seen them.
"I don't know if I—I mean, it's an honor but—," she stuttered.
"The position is yours Theodora, and I won't take 'no' for an answer," Ozpin gently insisted.
"Congratulations, sister," Glynda said, though she herself looked shocked. She was trying to put on her best proud smile. Oobleck and Port looked neutral. They didn't look proud of her but they didn't look like they were jealous either. This was not the turnout Oz was hoping for.
Then they all heard clapping, and they turned to see Ozpin's father Haman standing in the doorway. Oz noticed that he was still wearing the pants he had dumped brandy on.
"Yes. Congratulations, Theodora," he said. Oz felt his grip on his glass tighten.
"What are you doing here?" He asked.
"Why would I miss out on this? I've been raising Theodora for three years, I deserve to see her succeed in life," Haman said. Oz threw his glass across the room at the wall, watching it shatter to pieces.
"You've done nothing to take care of Theodora or Glynda!" He yelled.
"Theodora listens to me. Isn't that right my dear?" Haman asked, glancing at Theodora, who was shrinking back to get closer to Oz's side.
"Haman please, don't do this," she said. Oz raised an eyebrow. What was going on?
"Tell him Theodora. Tell him all about our plan. I'm sure he'd absolutely love to hear it," Haman encouraged. Ozpin looked his father up and down to try and spot any clues that he was drunk, but surprisingly he looked more somber than he had seen him in a long time. He turned to Theodora.
"What is he talking about?" He asked. Tears surfaced and Theodora pinched the skin between her eyes.
"I meant to tell you," she said.
Frustration rose in Ozpin and his fingers began to curl.
"How about you tell me now," he suggested. Theodora looked up at him. A scarlet hue was swallowing her face.
"I've been working for him. He's the one that really wants Collus dead. I've been helping him because I know that you want Collus destroyed too, so I thought—I thought that if I did what he said and helped him, I would win your approval," she confessed.
"Tell him about the red cabbage too," Haman added. That got Peter's full attention.
"What does he mean by that?" Peter asked. Theodora didn't even look at Peter. She was as still as a statue where she was.
"I was the one that stole the red cabbage, not Collus. Your father wanted to hurt his reputation first and humiliate him," Theodora confessed. Oz felt an overwhelming string of emotions that he couldn't tame. Anger and disgust bounced around his head so fast and hard it was difficult to pin either one down.
This can't be happening. This can't be happening.
"Theodora…," Glynda started. She couldn't say anything else. Tears streamed down her cheeks.
"Why are you making me tell them these things now? Our mission isn't complete," Theodora screamed at Haman.
"Because I know that it wouldn't matter. I know my son will destroy Collus anyway. He'll do the job for both of us," Haman replied.
The air was silent. No one spoke. Anger and the feeling of being betrayed infected the room. Finally, Ozpin spoke up.
"I trusted you," he said to Theodora.
"But isn't what I did something that you want anyway?" Theodora pointed out. Before Ozpin could answer, an explosion tossed Oz off his feet. Ozpin felt his face smack the floor. He felt his nose burst.
There were screams and smoke and coughing. Ozpin heard his own coughs as he lifted his head off the floor and looked behind him. A gigantic hole had been made in the wall. Tiny fires danced in random places around Oz.
"Theodora!" Oz shouted. Why was she his first concern? She had been deceiving him all this time.
"How sweet. I guess she will be the first to die," a voice said. Oz's heart fell through his stomach when he recognized that voice.
It was Jasper.
He saw Jasper standing in the hole with a small group of his followers accompanying him, including a human. Collus Torchwick.
Glynda scrambled to her feet, but before she could do anything, she was lifted up by an invisible force and pulled towards Jasper. Jasper struck her across the head, knocking her out cold.
"No!" Ozpin screamed. He tried hard to get up but his legs wouldn't work. They refused to respond to his mental commands.
"Sister!" Ozpin heard Theodora shout. Theodora suddenly popped up right in front of Jasper, having used her Semblance to teleport herself. She raised her sword up, but with a flick of Jasper's hand, the sword was pulled straight up with Theodora still clutching it and she was raised up off her feet.
All Ozpin was capable of doing was watching.
As Theodora, without any control over it, thrust the sword through her chest.
Her eyes widened in pain and her jaw fell. With a dismissing wave of Jasper's hand, Theodora's body dropped to the floor with the sword pulled out of her chest, still clutched in her hand. The bright light on the tip of the blade flickered and then completely went out.
By the time Ozpin had gotten himself onto his knees, Oobleck and Peter were on the ground with rifles drifting in the air with the barrels aimed at their heads.
Where was Haman?
As Glynda, Oobleck, and Peter were getting led away through the hole and outside into the night, Jasper turned to face Ozpin.
"You brought this on yourself," he said.
"Jasper—please, I'm sorry," Ozpin begged.
"Sorry isn't good enough. You're dangerous," Jasper insisted. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a coin, which Oz recognized as the one he had given to Jasper about a month ago when he saw him alone in the streets.
"You treat someone like he's something very special one minute, and then the next minute he's nothing to you," Jasper said. He threw the coin at Oz and it bounced several times before settling down on the floor right by his foot.
"Jasper—." It was too late. Jasper turned his back on Oz and followed the others out of the hole. Ozpin was too late to stop them as they boarded a ship outside and took off.
All gone. Everyone was gone.
Ozpin finally managed to stand up. A lava-hot pain spiraled up his leg. He needed something to hold him up and support him. He stumbled over to Theodora's body and fell down on his knees.
"Theodora," he whispered through his tears. Theodora's eyes opened and blinked several times and glanced at Oz.
"Ozpin…"
"You have to hang in there, Theodora. Use your Aura," Oz pleaded.
"I can't…I can't…I'm too weak," she groaned. Ozpin took her trembling hand that wasn't holding her sword and held on.
"Left pocket. Take my scroll," Theodora begged. Her voice was so quiet, Oz had to strain to hear her. Oz reached into her left pocket like she said and pulled out her scroll.
"Last journal entry," Theodora managed to say. Then she lifted her sword-hand as best as she could.
"Give this to Glynda," she said.
"Don't say that Theodora, you'll make it, don't say that," Ozpin demanded, but he took the sword anyway. Tears spilled down and stained Theodora's gorgeous scarlet dress. Theodora opened her mouth, trying desperately to say something else, but she was too weak to form words. Finally, she let loose one last breath and the hand that Oz held grew cold. She was gone.
This can't be real. It can't be. It's an illusion. A horrible dream.
But Ozpin looked at his hand stained with crimson and his fingers felt the blood. It was all too real.
"I'm so sorry, Theodora," he said. He bent down and kissed Theodora on the lips. He hoped that if there was an afterlife, Theodora would somehow feel that.
He stood up holding Theodora's sword and looked around at the mess. Tables and chairs were littered everywhere and some of the windows were shattered. Then he saw his father unconscious in the hallway.
"Father? Dad?" Ozpin called out as he ran to check on him. Haman was lying on his stomach. Oz turned him over and saw the massive bump on his father's head.**
*In the business district of Vale, the cars on the street made way for the incoming ambulance where Haman was on a stretcher with Ozpin by his side looking down at him the entire time. Ozpin was trapped inside his head, having very little awareness of the world around him. He unlocked a memory in the back of his mind, one that happened just a few days before his mother passed away.**
*Ozpin lay awake in bed listening to his father yell at someone he was talking to on his scroll.
"My wife is in bed sick and close to death because you were careless!" He screamed. There were several seconds of silence before Haman started ranting again.
"I trusted you. That explosion not only possibly cost my wife's life, but the lives of every employee in the area!"
The explosion was the result of a bad mixture of Dust, which Collus had requested himself, gone wrong in an attempt to create a chemical to fuel a new line of weapons. It wasn't the explosion that cost lives, it was the infected Dust that got released into the air from it.**
*Ozpin knew who Haman was talking to. His mother worked for Collus. She was a scientist who specialized in mixing different kinds of Dust to create chemicals for just about anything that needed power. Collus didn't bother to pay her much for the work, but it was enough to put food on the table.
Ozpin never wanted to believe that he and his father were alike in any way but it was obvious they did have something in common. They both wanted revenge.
Then he remembered Theodora's scroll. He took it out of his pocket, opened it up and looked for her last journal entry. It was an audio entry, which meant he had to listen to her voice. The thought pained him now that she was gone.
Without hesitating, he pressed the 'play' button and listened, even after the doctors got his father out of the ambulance. He followed the doctors into the hospital and let the audio run.
"Journal entry number thirty-three. I don't think I've felt so confused in my life until now. I thought I knew exactly what I was doing and where I was going. I felt that if I obeyed Ozpin's father and helped him kill Collus, I can win Ozpin's approval, and his love. I've felt so alone ever since Oz took me and my sister in, because Ozpin immediately befriended Glynda and I was just sort of left hanging…"
Ozpin felt his eyes grow hot and warm tears leak out. He half-consciously sat in a chair in the waiting room. He was the only one there. Good. He didn't want anyone else to hear this.
"Now I've become part of a team that's working hard to establish an academy for Huntsmen and Huntresses, and Ozpin loves me. All I had to do to win him was tell him that I would take care of Collus, and it was enough. The problem is, I don't feel like I deserve him. I've been deceiving him all this time. My love for him is real, but I was the one that stole the cabbage, and I'm trying to fulfill his quest for revenge for him with his father…"
There it was. The word 'revenge'.
"If I kill Collus, it won't be because that's what his father wants. It'll be because that's what Ozpin wants. But I'm having second thoughts now. I don't want our child to think that that's how we get back at people who've hurt us…"
Child? Did Theodora just say 'our child'?
"Several weeks after I was included in the team, I found out I was pregnant. I haven't told Oz yet, but I'll talk to him about it, and hopefully he'll agree to naming our child Beacon, which is the name of my mother's sword."
Ozpin leaned forward with bulging eyes, and sweat and tears wet his face. He stared at the sword which was resting beside him.
The light that shined at the tip of the blade when Theodora was using her Aura through it made sense now.
"I'm hoping for the best, and I'm hoping to make the right decision. End journal entry."
When nothing but silence followed after the recording, Oz realized that this was the first time in a very long time that he felt truly alone.
Haman was going to be fine. He was brought to the hospital because of a mild concussion. He'll live. His friends however might not if he didn't do something. Knowing what he had to do, Oz stood up and grabbed Beacon. It was time to pay Collus' son Roman a visit.**