The desk broke into many pieces and the glass window had been cracked severely as headmaster Ozpin struggled to get back to his feet. When a sudden alert came to his office signaling that Amber's conditions had complicated, he moved from his desk and furiously and repeatedly tapped on the elevator buttons as the image of a writhing Amber was still playing in his mind. Why had this happened? Why now? He didn't know at first but quickly got his answer when a black queen chess piece filled his scroll's screen about a minute after. There had been no doubt that it was their doing somehow.

Chaos must have been brewing by the time that speech came from those speakers. Their enemies have seized the initiative. How long that would last, he did not know. All he knew for certain was that it needed to last as long as it needed to; this was nothing more than mere distraction.

Damn it! Damn it! Ozpin cursed. The flaws in the elevator's design had been made clear to him when he kept tapping on the button. He wished that he had an emergency line that would lead directly to the Vault in that moment. Each aching second that past meant that Amber's life was worsening, if she was still alive at all.

A faint explosion was heard; it had come from Amity Colosseum. A quick glance over told Ozpin that the floating Colosseum was still mostly intact; they must have targeted the airships, trapping those inside. Many black spots begun to appear in the skies, Grimm. They were being boxed in and with Atlas' own ships being small in number, there was little that could be done. A drizzle of Grimm at best, but all that mattered to them was that it would keep many of the huntsmen and huntresses trapped there; they would have to prioritize keeping civilians safe.

It was there, in that moment, when the dinging of the elevator was heard, that a meaty fist flew directly towards Ozpin. He didn't have much time to react and took the full force behind it, sending him flying. He was in a daze. Someone had come for him in his office directly. Aura had healed his wounds as his vision cleared.

When he could see clearly who it was that attacked him, Ozpin's jaw opened wide as the sight of a furious Hazel Rainart stomping into his office. His eyes burned a vengeful fury as he stared down Beacon's headmaster. There could only be one reason for Hazel's presence here in his office.

"For too long I've waited for this." His voice was low and his speech slow. Each step caused the very room to quake. "For what you did to her, I will end your life, over and over again, monster."

"She was a huntress, Hazel," Ozpin replied. He kept the point of his cane towards his bulkier opponent as he was finding his balance; that punch had been unexpected. It had been the wrong answer. Hazel charged towards him like a speeding train, roaring as he did so.

Ozpin sidestepped as another fist, charged by raw Dust crystals that have been stabbed into his muscles, broke the cracked glass window behind him. If Hazel had been furious before, he was a raging inferno now, quite literally as he jabbed fire crystals into his person.

"You knew from the very beginning!" Hazel accused, raging voice matching the flame. "You knew that Salem couldn't be killed. Still, you keep throwing children against her as if any of them could do what you cannot. All your years, all your experience, has been for what? A fool's hope? How many lives, Ozpin? How many did you send to their deaths?"

Like his earlier duel with his own staff member, Ozpin had no qualms in imagining that Hazel would see to it that he would die today. Unlike said staff however, not only was it reality and not mere imagination, Hazel would most certainly keep going even if he had lost. The man didn't have any sort of pain reflex even though he would still feel its effects. Ozpin cursed at the man's semblance.

The chairs and clocks broke apart. Gears turned to scrap metal as Hazel pommeled his way to Ozpin. The headmaster kept distance between them as his all of his covers turned to metal scraps and wooden splinters. The flying papers were his only respite if the winds favored him.

He could only thrust his cane once or twice as Hazel kept charging forward, uncaring to the damage that may have been dealt to his bulky form. His body would still respond to the momentum of Ozpin's strikes but Hazel's inability to feel that pain made it so that he could easily recover in record time. Aura would heal whatever wounds that may come, so long as he had enough of his reserves by the end of it.

A heavy arm grabbed hold of the cane. Rather than hold onto it, Ozpin let go of his weapon as Hazel pulled it closer towards him and threw it aside. In that second, Ozpin quickly fired a hook at Hazel's cheeks and hopped back before the bigger man could grab hold of him.

Ozpin's eyes left Hazel to check on the elevator. There was no one else who would arriving. His eyes returned to his opponent; Hazel wouldn't let him near the elevator. Did he dare do it? Ozpin wasn't sure if his office was spacious enough to let him get to Amber.

The cold draft of the wind continued to blow inside. His current reserves would probably allow him to survive the fall. However, there was no guarantee of what will happen after that. Ozpin had no certainty of what would wait for him down below. Besides, he was certain that Hazel would follow after him anyway.

Everything rested on his shoulders, not just as a reincarnating man who helped shaped civilizations in the shadows but also as headmaster and thusly the leader of huntsmen and huntresses here in Vale. There was James as well but the general was still in Amity; he was occupied.

Hazel and charged at him again. Ozpin had backed himself into a wall; the timing needed to be right.

Using the wall as platform and with his arms carefully wrapped around the charging Hazel for support, Ozpin leapt to the other side of his opponent and rushed to get his cane; Hazel was thrown over his shoulder to add more time The floors shook as Hazel went for him again, screaming in fury. Swinging with all of his weight behind it, Ozpin sent Hazel flying to the side, bending the metal that shaped the windows' frames, as an added measure.

With that moment's respite, Ozpin dashed towards the elevator. There was no one else using it and he managed to get inside. Hazel nearly placed an arm between the closing elevator doors before it fully shut and the elevator made its descent. Ozpin slammed his own back against the elevator when he thought that Hazel's fingers would get between the closing elevator doors.

Ozpin's back rested against the back end of the elevator. He took that time to breathe.

If Hazel is here, he thought. Then, she must have brought the cavalry for this. Grimm were still smaller in number, courtesy of their intervention of Mountain Glenn, no doubt. With that lessened amount, she must have decreed that Vale needed a human touch.

What damage was already being done in Vale? He had only seen avian Grimm in Amity, the other kinds must be entering the city by now. Under his nose, on his shoulders, within his reach and yet, they are still capable of acting.

Suddenly, the descent of the elevator increased in speed. Hazel must have destroyed the cable. Ozpin felt himself become lighter a moment later.

Reacting quickly, Ozpin reinforced his entire body with aura. Boosting his legs and arms as he forced shot himself outside of the elevator.

His aura flared as he estimates that he had used a lot of it just to survive. His gamble didn't go to well; his formed scraped the floor as he flew out. The screeching of the elevator grew fainter as its descent continued to hasten. He was still within school grounds, one of the lower floors perhaps.

"Amber…" Ozpin said. A fist slammed on the ground. "Damn it!" Had he dared to hope that Amber would somehow survive? Had he still hoped for some kind of miracle? "Damn it! Damn it! Damn it!"

From above him, some part of a wall had busted open. Hazel jumped out of it and left behind a crater when he had landed. His aura flared as well from being used though one couldn't tell if Hazel felt the impact at all; no one ever does because of his semblance.

Hazel observed the elevator before looking down on him. "Either way, Amber is dead. And you only have yourself to blame."

"Me?" Ozpin didn't hide his frustration. The nails of his fingers left behind imprints on his skin. "Had Cinder left her alone, none of this would have happened! None of their lives would have been lost."

The bulkier man growled in response. "Lives lost now or later? You would have thrown them to their deaths at one point or another. You call yourself their friend when you're nothing more than a monster. Just like her."

Ozpin grind his teeth. "Is this all that is to you, Hazel? Do you think Gretchen would have been proud of you?"

"You don't get to say her name! She was only a child!"

"And those on Amity are not? How many of them chose to become huntresses like Gretchen? How many of them would have taken this path even if I hadn't existed? The Grimm had existed long before I or Salem had been cursed!"

"How many Gretchens did you send to death, Ozpin?"

"How many of them were by your hand, Hazel?"

Both men attacked one another soon after. There were no words after that exchange. Hazel had the superior strength but Ozpin had speed and reach; the latter was thanks to his cane. Rather than being strategic, Ozpin fought Hazel head-on, both driven by their anger and fury.

The floor tiles cracked and the walls were punctured. Paintings that decorated these hallways fell apart and burned by the reactions caused by Hazel's use of Dust. Lights flickered with some of the bulbs having been broken when one threw the other over their shoulders. The ground beneath them became uneven.

The few students that were here in Beacon ran as far away from them as they could. Not one stayed behind to aid him. Ozpin didn't blame any of them; they would only get in the way. Their clashes shook the decorations that had beautified Beacon's halls. Turned hideous and full of stains, black ashes dotted these floors. Curtains were torn with some currently burning.

Hazel's heavier form slammed hard against the walls that it holed through it and landed into the classroom on the other side.

Ozpin stepped inside the room. They were the first to cause any sort of damage to this specific part of the school.

"So," Hazel said as he went back to his feet, ignoring any pain as he normally does. Even now, bruised and battered, he stood defiantly against Ozpin. "The parasite finally shows the monster he truly is."

The headmaster sighed. "I have lived many lifetimes, Hazel. Made more mistakes than any man, woman, or child could ever hope to commit. Do you honestly think that I've never once been frustrated? With all this weight on my shoulders? Forced to fight her when her only crime had been grief for her husband?"

His grip on Long Memory tightened. For a moment, a thought entered his mind; it was that of his own staff member.

Hazel raised his arms. Had his reserves gone low enough that he had to be cautious for once? Good.

"But you can take it," Ozpin said. He had lifetimes' worth of frustrations built up. "Can't you, big man?" With all that anger inside, he wondered if this was what it felt like to be Jekyll and Hyde.

/-/

Monster. Headmaster Ozpin was a monster. Hazel Rainart always knew that the parasite that calls himself human was a monster. Taking over innocent and like-minded hosts, that man had been responsible for so many deaths. Hazel had always been against Gretchen becoming a huntress and that man didn't do anything to stop her. He let her into his cursed school. Ozpin let Gretchen die. No. He had caused her to die; he killed her.

At first, he had blamed Salem for the death of Gretchen. After all, she had ruled over the Grimm and it was her Grimm that led to his sister's death. However, when he learned that Salem could not be killed, and when he learned that Ozpin knew of this? Who else was he to blame if not the headmaster? That man knew that she could not, yet he still set Gretchen against her. He continued to set children against Salem. Hazel should have stopped her. He should not have let her become a huntress. She would still be alive by now.

Hazel flew across the destroyed classroom. Dust clouds and smoke built as he winced in pain. His aura reserves were running low. Not only did he need his reserves to protect himself and heal from wounds, he needed that to keep his semblance, Numbing Agent, active. His reserves should be recovering at a fast rate to compensate. The fact that even then, his aura was still rather low spoke of the monstrous power that he had to overcome.

Struggling to get back to his feet, Hazel's head slammed back on the ground as the blow on Ozpin's cane only increased. The façade of an aloof and caring but mysterious headmaster had slipped and the monster that Hazel always knew him to be had shown himself. Of course, there were no other witnesses; one needs to keep this mask on, after all.

So that's what you see in Hyde, Cinder. He understood her now, better than the others perhaps.

Ozpin's groaned as Hazel's fist struck at the liver. Seizing that opportunity, Hazel threw Ozpin over his shoulder, slamming him into the uneven classroom floors. The edges on each individual steps on those stairs focused that force to a finer point, hurting Ozpin more than if it had been a flat surface.

Grabbing him by the arm, Ozpin's body rose as Hazel swung him around. He kept spinning until the headmaster parallel to his shoulders. When he was, only then did Hazel let go, sending Ozpin flying and crashing onto the front of the classroom. The screen that hung on the walls dislodged and fell on Ozpin. Shards fell and made tears in his clothing. There were a wires that shock him, if only a little.

Hazel's approaching steps were cautious and slow. Ozpin was more than capable of surviving that. He knew that much when he could still see movement. Of course, that monster could still move after something like that. Unlike Salem however, Ozpin can be killed. Again and again if he must, Hazel will make sure that the parasite will die.

Then, he paused. Were his eyes playing tricks on him? Was he seeing things? Ozpin may have been an infinite man but he still had the body of just one. Hazel should only see one of him.

Ozpin rose and approached Hazel. No. They were not other people behind him but rather, silhouettes.

Likeness, indeed. Hazel recognized some of them. How could he not when some of them shared his features and faces as well? All his hosts. All the lives he had taken. How many of them had families of their own? Families that he tore apart by existing? It was almost a pity. Almost.

They all shared the same expression as well. All of them had that fury behind their eyes as they all burned through to his mind. They were too similar. They would have done similar things.

Ozpin, with those faces behind him, grappled Hazel by the neck and slammed him down to the ground. Both hands gripped Hazel's neck tightly as Ozpin repeatedly slammed his head. If it wasn't the floor, Hazel's head was thrown towards the students' desks and chairs.

"They've had family, too, Hazel." It may have been only one mouth, but Hazel heard many voices. Each one filled with an fury of an old man. "Lives before I took over them, dooming them to this accursed replacement. You don't think I felt them? Felt their sadness? Felt their grief? How many lives have I seen die before me while I remain?"

Pushing Ozpin with his feet, Hazel put some distance between them as he got back up. His aura reserves were not recovering fast enough to offset the lost.

Was he shaking? Was Hazel trembling? He looked up. Ozpin was approaching him again. Rather than run, that monster walked calmly, as if nothing was wrong. Hazel could still see the previous lives of the headmaster. Now, they, all of them, bore an expression of apathy, uncaring of what happens next. But Hazel could not deny the fury that raged within.

The cane's hitting of the ground was like the beating of drums. Drums that sounded and echoed in the classroom. Though Ozpin's footsteps were slow, the cane's hitting continued to beat like drums. An old rhythm sung in the classroom as the man of many faces towered over Hazel. Though he puffed his chest and squared his shoulders, defying the countless years behind his opponent's eyes, Ozpin remained unimpressed as the drums continued to sound. Drumbeats sounded faster and faster.

"Monsters," Hazel managed to say; his voice had gone weaker, softer. Vulnerable. "Both of you."

It must have fallen on deaf ears. Drums continued to beat. Ozpin's face remained unreadable. The fury Hazel felt coming from him remained vast like the oceans in the storm. Ozpin stopped a few meters away. Despite the difference in height, it was Hazel who felt himself small. In front of him was a man older than the kingdoms of Remnant. In front of him was a man who had made those kingdoms.

The cane may have stopped hitting the ground, but the drums never ceased. Hazel could still hear their beating. Drums kept beating. Drums kept sounding. Drums kept singing. Doom stood in front of him.

"I am not just a monster, Hazel," the infinite man answered. "I'm an old man. A tired and very angry old man."

The silhouettes all vanished, all that remained was a doom contained into a confined into a singular vessel. Rage raised his cane as Hazel braced for impact. The last of his aura had depleted as the bulky man flew through many of Beacon's halls; he had travelled many meters. When his flight stopped, Hazel coughed blood; his aura had been spent.

Hazel raised an arm instinctively. Time spent in training and combat had honed his senses when danger was coming. With Ozpin, that danger was always near. Always approaching. Always with the drums. He could still hear it, beating drums increasing their tempo. He wailed in pain as a cane slammed hard against it.

Grabbing the leg, Ozpin had fallen on his back. Standing back up, Hazel used this time to leave and get away. He needed to get some distance between himself and that monster. The arm that had been struck was bruising with its skin already turning blue. Hazel was groaning. Without his semblance, all strikes and attacks done on his body rushed back into feeling.

"So." Though it was only Ozpin who spoke, Hazel heard a multitude of voices. Like a wrathful choir, they were together. "The pain finally caught up with you, Hazel Rainart."

Faintly, in the distance, the sounds of a bird's wings could be heard. But here, such sounds couldn't reach either of their ears.

Hazel raised his other arm. A cane quickly struck it away and bounced off, striking his cheek. More blood spilled out of his mouth. There was a tooth that flew out.

Desperately, Hazel struck Ozpin with his foot. That accursed cane struck him in the shin. The end of it pressed hard the shin that the bones' breaking was heard. Hazel cried out in pain.

"You miss her, don't you?" all of Ozpin's hosts spoke. "Care to see her, Hazel?"

Once more, Ozpin raised his cane and swung it down, aiming for Hazel's head. He closed his eyes and waited for his end.

But it never came.

"Oz! Oz!" Qrow Branwen repeated as he held Ozpin back. "This isn't you, Oz! You don't want to do this!" To Hazel, he cried out. "Get out of here and never come back." His eyes were similarly filled with anger and fury. "Oz has enough blood on his hands. Don't put yours on it."

For a moment, Hazel had considered it his opportunity to strike back. He could feel his aura recovering already. His was always the faster ones in that regard. However, it was clear that Qrow was only holding Ozpin back to prevent him from killing Hazel. He had no doubts that the former Branwen Tribe member would do it himself.

"Enjoy this life while you can, Ozpin." He will have the last word though. "You won't get that privilege next time." Hazel will make sure of it.

/-/

Holding back years of burdens and anger was a difficult thing for Qrow. It was only by the virtue of his semblance that Ozpin didn't so easily break free from his hold. At least, that is what Qrow believes. Behind those old eyes, he could still see the same man that he followed in the years prior.

When Hazel had left and Ozpin calmed down, only then did Qrow let the headmaster go.

Ozpin fell on Qrow, exhausted but still awake.

"Oz," Qrow asked, voice full of concern. "What was that? There were like, a lot of you. Were those…"

"My hosts." Ozpin's voice was weak, tired. "These eyes may not have seen it but the many lives that were lost, that are still being lost, remained ingrained in this old soul of mine. Always brought onto the shoulders of the next. I'm sorry, Qrow. And thank you."

"Hey, I mean what I said. You have enough blood already. Let us stain ours while you wash yours."

Ozpin was nodding. "Amber…"

"Let's not think about that. Vale is under attack by some… thing. I don't know what it is but Peach is already there, along with whatever huntsmen happen to be in the area. It's not looking good from what I saw, Oz. That thing was like a juggernaut." Last he heard, it was getting bigger too.

"Grimm?"

"I wish. It had the same skin and color but I would never call it a Grimm. It's something worse, much worse."

Ozpin nodded once more. "Then, take me there. Let's see what we can do. Leave Amity to James. He'll do fine enough there."

"Right." Qrow didn't hide his relief. He had never seen Ozpin like that before. When he heard of the fight going on, he rushed as quickly as he could. At first, that had been to help Ozpin with whoever his opponent was. Qrow never expected that it would be the reverse.

With Ozpin accounted for, Qrow went down the entire list of people that he needed to keep safe. He knew Yang would be there in Amity, being a contestant which meant that only leaves one more person.

Ruby, he thought. Where are you? She hadn't responded to any of his calls. He could only hope that she was safe. You better run, Ruby. Don't be a hero. Not now. Just not now… Jekyll. If you find her, keep her safe.

AN: Don't know if it shows here but one of the best things I've found out while learning about JnH for this fic is "Jekyll and Hyde" by Five Finger Death Punch. Definitely one of those "me frfr" kind of song, lmao.