A/N: Chapter 3, right on time for once. Hope you guys enjoy it as we finished the prologue and get into the real stuff with this story. Prepare for, hopefully, really good scary stuff. Pooor Oscar has no idea what's about to happen to him going forwards.

RWBY is owned by Roosterteeth and the late Monty Oum.

The Catalyst

Chapter 3

As he continued down the corridor, that endless corridor, Oscar kept his eyes open, searching for something, anything, in the darkness beyond the pale light of her flashlight. In his right hand he held the flashlight, in his left his revolver.

He glanced from time to time to either wall only inches from his side as he continued down, deeper into the darkness. It was so cold. So cold!

He blinked and rubbed at his eyes again, fighting off the strange weariness clinging at him. That had descended on him as soon as he entered this… accursed passageway.

Oh, how he wanted to get out of it. To get away from the darkness, clinging to him. Clawing at him.

And, lo! Was that whispering he was hearing now? He paused and cocked his head to the side as he focused on the darkness ahead, and listened. Yes, yes it was! Great! Truly, this was some kind of Hell!

He gritted his teeth and cocked the hammer back on the revolver as he stepped forward once more. He remained that way as the whispers, those dissonant whispers continued. Too distant and quiet to hear coherently, too loud to simply be ignored, burrowing into his mind. Beckoning. Beckoning him forth into the Darkness beyond.

/ /

He huffed a breath out as he glanced around, ignoring the sudden blast of fog as he did so. He didn't know where he was now.

The Darkness was absolute and all encompassing, yet far, far away now. He was no longer in that tiny, narrow passageway, but in some great, empty expanse.

There was nothing. Nothing, but the Dark.

Not even the whispers remained.

He squared his shoulders and took a step forwards. Instantly, the Darkness and the Expanse vanished! And he found himself in a small room, lit by a dull red glow.

He looked around and realized, that he was in some kind of shrine. A temple, it seemed, to something, but what?

He turned around and suddenly found a great altar there that hadn't been there before. He looked on as he saw a portrait-No-a tapestry, of a man. One, familiar to him, somehow. Was it his uncle?

He stepped towards the altar then as he focused on the face before him. No. It wasn't his uncle. It was… someone else. Someone familiar.

He blinked as he looked up at the man there. The one with brown hair and holding a scepter of some kind with green stones inserted in its head.

And, as he gazed up into the familiar, yet not familiar man he looked back at him. His hazel eyes widened as they looked into the brown ones gazing back at them, and his world swam.

He collapsed then, as his world went dark.

When he came to, he found himself still in that room, that shrine. That sanctum. He didn't know why he called it that, only knew it to be correct.

He forced himself back to his feet. Silent, unsteady, but standing upright. He blinked and shook his head, banishing the fog that still held to it.

Then, he stepped towards the shrine, the altar, once more, and the object on the cushion on top of it. He looked at it, gazing almost longingly at it as he beheld what it was.

And what it was, was a small, silvery grey cylinder with brass markings. One with flowery green vines of some type painted or etched along the sides of the shaft, and at its top was a series of exposed brass gears in a circular portion from which silvery handle projected. The bottom was a large pommel-like structure.

For some unknown reason he went and picked up the cylinder and gripped it in both hands. As he did so, suddenly a dark brown shaft of metal extended outwards from the top of the cylinder, turning it into some kind of walking stick. A cane , perhaps.

As he picked up the cane, he failed to notice as the red glow lighting up the room changed to a green glow instead. When it did, the fog in his mind suddenly vanished.

He blinked as he instinctively retracted the shaft of the cane and attached it to the back of his belt. He then turned and stepped away from the altar. As he did he suddenly found himself transported back to the narrow confines of the passageway again. Only this time it wasn't quite so dark. Or long.

Or cold.

Before he could do more that blink at that and look around he heard a long bang from behind him. He turned and ran back that way instinctively.

He crashed through the hidden door he had only entered through moments earlier to find the confines of his uncle's office a mess. The ornate desk and chair combo were knock on their side and the two bookcases to either side of the hatch were broken and disheveled.

before him on the ground were Glynda and Tyrian. The former being strangled by the latter.

He immediately moved to fire his revolver as soon as he saw that. He pointed it at Tyrian and pulled the trigger. With a blinding flash of light and an explosive crack of noise the revolver fired and Tyrian jerked as a sudden fountain of blood exploded from behind his left shoulder.

The man immediately rolled off of Goodwitch and rose to his knees, a feral grin on his face as he saw who had shot him. "Master Pine!" He shouted gleefully. "You've returned! Finally!" He drew forth a bizarre, jagged dagger from his back pocket and he shouted out, "I have-swish!-so much to talk to you about! Kindly answer every question truthfully, eh!"

He let out a bloodcurdling shriek as he launched himself toward Oscar then. Oscar fired again, and again. And again.

Each time he shot at Tyrian, the man somehow blocked the bullet. The first two times were with the silvery bracers he had strapped to his forearms and the third time was with some kind of glowing light that enveloped him.

Oscar paused at that, not sure at what he was seeing. His mind was still reeling from what had happened earlier within the passageway, if it had happened at all.

As he was thinking that, Tyrian suddenly appeared right in front of him. He dodged backwards just as the man slashed at him with the dagger. The blade of the weapon still cut through the front of his coat and slashed him across the chest. He cried out in pain as he felt the metal tear across the meat of his flesh.

That was when Glynda got back into the fight. With a sudden flick of her wrist a faint pulse of purplish light emitted from the thin black stick she was holding. As she did so Tyrian was suddenly launched through the air. He spun through the air, tumbling end over end, before slamming against the wall.

He then fell to the floor in a slump.

Without thinking about what had just happened, Oscar turned and fired twice more at the madman. The heavy calibur bullets impacted on Tyrian's chest just as he was getting back to his feet. The bullets once more did nothing except knock him backwards against the wall as the purple light emanating from him somehow stopped them from injuring him.

Oscar froze as he saw that, and felt his mind breaking even more at the impossibility. That didn't stop Tyrian, though. Once more, he leapt forth, dashing towards the young man so fast he blurred before his eyes.

He laughed manically as he lifted the dagger overhead to stab down at Oscar. Only to stop mid swing. He glanced around only to be suddenly flung through the air as Glynda once more flicked her wrist and sent him flying through the door of the office.

It shattered under the force of his flight as he was flung through it. He crashed against the floor outside of the room, bounced into the air before slamming back down again to roll to a stop halfway down the hallway outside. He landed with a pain-filled grunt.

He then struggled back to his feet with a groan and looked to see Glynda limping out of the room after him. He made to snarl at her as he brandished his dagger, only to realize that he had lost it in his tumble. Not only that, but he realized that his protective barrier had been dispelled from all the damage dealt to him.

He knew then that he was now outmatched. Especially, if the new master of the abbey rejoined the fight himself. He couldn't survive another shot from his revolver. Not without his barrier.

There was only one thing left for him to do. He cried out in anguish at what that meant as he turned and fled from the blond woman limping after him.

Back in the room Oscar watched in all in a kind of detached manner. He had no idea what had just happened. When he had driven here this morning it was in an attempt to discover what had happened to his uncle. Now, there was all of this, whatever this was.

He took a step after Glynda as she limped out of the room, the thing rod in her hand pointed menacingly after where Tyrian had fled while her other continued to clutch at her throat where bruises were already showing up. That when another spell of dizziness struck him then. He jolted in place and his eyes rolled up in his skull as he blacked out once more.

/ /

He came to hours later.

He found himself lying in a bed with the sheets tucked up under his chin. He blinked in confusion at that and turned his head to look around. He immediately winced from the jolt of pain that struck him behind his eyes and hissed in pain.

"Master Pine," a voice croaked next to him then. On his other side. He turned around with another wince and found Glynda sitting in a chair next to him. He briefly noted the bundle of gauze wrapped around her throat before he focused on her face as she spoke once more. "I regret that you came at such a time to Beacon. What happened with Tyrian, it should've never gone that far. I can only apologize."

Her eyes were dulled, whether from pain, medication, or grief he didn't know. She swallowed and winced in pain herself.

"If you have any questions," She said as she blinked and focused on him. "I shall answer them to the best of my knowledge."

"Who," he started with a growl before coughing and wincing once more. He paused to take a breath in and Glynda handed him a spoonful of shaved ice from a glass by her side. He took it and chewed the ice for a bit before swallowing it with a sigh of relief. Well, that helped the pounding in his head, at least. "Who killed by uncle?" He then asked after he found his voice once more.

Glynda's closed her eyes at that and almost seemed to wince at the accusation in his tone. She held that pose for a moment before opening her eyes back up to say, "I don't know. Official reports say that he died in some kind of fire. But I've seen a flame that can incinerate a body touch nothing else in a room." She sighed then before looking at him squarely as she stated, "Unless it's some form of magic."

He frowned at that before saying succinctly, "Magic, isn't real."

Glynda's full lips almost twitched in that of a faint smile before she mastered her expression as she said, "Of course, sir."

They stayed like that in silence for a moment more before she asked with an eyebrow raised, "Is there anything else you wish to ask, Young Master Pine?"

He paused as he laid there in bed. Where to even start? That fight, between the two of them and Tyrian? What he had discovered in the hidden passageway, if that was even real? No. Better to keep these thoughts to himself for a bit before he asked anything more of them.

Right now, he had more pressing matters to uncover. Like the reasons behind his uncle's untimely death. But, where to begin?

"Where was my uncle's body discovered?" He finally asked.

Glynda seemed to pause at that. She sat back in her chair then and thought about what to say. Already she could see the signs of Ozpin in Oscar. The drive, the curiosity. The lack of concern for himself.

She would have to keep an eye on him while he stayed here at Beacon. For his safety, of course. Though, if he had already completed the Ritual like Ozpin had… there might be even more of a reason to keep an eye on him.

For Humanity's sake.

Still, there was should be no concern with this information. So, she answered the question truthfully, "He was going to the small island of Patch, of the Valean Coast. He had apparently discovered something that he felt needed a more in depth look there."

Oscar frowned as he thought back to the notes he had read on his uncle's desk. "The Red Reaper? Really? That's what he was researching before he died? A ghost story?"

Glynda shrugged as she said, "Mayhaps. There are stranger things that fiction in the world, after all. Regardless, he died before he could complete his investigations there. Perhaps you'll discover the Truth along the way."

Oscar narrowed his eyes at her in a glare as she said that, but didn't reply other than a nod of acknowledgement.

""Very well then, Master." Glynda then said as she got to her feet, if a bit unsteadily, and turned to leave the room. "I'll get the paperwork ready for you then."

Then she left him alone with his thoughts. The worst, and best, thing for him, right now.

A/N: Alright , well that's it for this story so far. I'm going to be uploading the next chapter for DnD, RPG, The Beast, and and Clout soon. With maybe the rest of Scars behind all of that.

See you soon.

Essiter out!