Weiss Schnee
"So. This is what you're reduced to." The door shut with a gentle click behind her as she stepped into the room. Immediately, she heard the sounds of his laboured breathing, immediately, she could smell the rot consuming his body. Age had caught up to him, it was taking everything from him, sapping his life like a parasite. "No one thought to open a window?" Weiss commented drily as she arrived at the bed's side, eyes still looking over him at the shut blinds. The room was dark, it took on an almost gentle blue hue in her eyes.
"The sun would do me more harm than good now." Each word took longer than it should have, his voice was tired. Weiss was sure that he only had a certain number of words left before his body would no longer allow him to speak. Sitting down by his bed, she reached a hand over and gently rested it on his arm, a gentle Green glow escaping from between her fingers. "Healing is unnecessary. It won't stop what's coming."
Despite that, she kept the Magic flowing. Even if she couldn't stop or delay his death, at least Weiss could alleviate the pain. His face was an uncanny sight. Gone was the glow of sass in his eyes, it had vanished with his hair. Ozpin's skin ebbed and flowed, she could actually see it shift and change as his body collapsed even now. He looked old, but it wasn't just age, not just age could do this.
"Do you know why I asked for you?" In her ears, the sound of his throat tearing and his lungs heaving was louder than his words.
Weiss nodded; she had known this was coming for years. "Whatever plan you have, whatever things you've set in motion, you need to make sure someone can hold the reins before you come back." That was her assumption, and it was a logical one.
"Maybe," He thought aloud. "I'm not quite sure myself... I only know I need to tell you this. I need to explain some things before I go. It will be a long time before I'm back..." His eyes fell to the sheet covering his body. "Ah... Ozpin... He has been my favourite vessel so far. So strong, so resilient... He lasted more than three times what my other vessels have." The way he spoke, it was like he spoke of an old friend.
It made Weiss uncomfortable. "You stole his life." No more needed to be said than that.
"I know." Ozpin... No, Ozma, looked up again, staring at the ceiling as he spoke. "When this vessel ends, I will appear in another... But it will take time for the right vessel to appear. Male, always male. Young, not yet reached the end of his second decade. Human... It would be so much easier if they weren't Human. And... Their name, it must begin with 'Oz' or 'Os'... I still have no clue why."
Some pretty straight forward rules, in Weiss' opinion. "Will I need to look for you?" Or, more accurately, would she send Qrow to?
"No. I will be able to find my way back to Vale, of that, I'm sure." Closing his eyes, he counted momentarily in his head. "One hundred and forty... That was Ozpin's number. Next will be one hundred and forty-one. They usually only last fifteen years... Though, some were much shorter."
Refusing to yell at him for having stolen one hundred and forty lives, Weiss knew right now wasn't the time. "Such a strange price to pay for casting Genesis." She commented to herself.
"Yes... Quite odd. Neither myself nor the other primary caster of the ritual could ever work out why it went so strangely." Thinking for a moment, he almost smiled. "Oh, of course, I never told you about the other primary caster... Eirwen Schnee."
"I know her," Weiss cut in. "At least, somewhat." What she knew was limited, but it saved at least some time.
Closing his eyes again, Ozma continued. "While my price to pay was to walk Remnant like this forever, Eirwen's was more straight forward. She was split in two. Mind, Soul, body, everything. She existed twice at once." If Rory had known about that, Ruby certainly would have mentioned it, so where was the other Eirwen? "Though, she tried to fight her fate. Literally. Eirwen's two halves battled, one slayed the other, the victor remained on Remnant."
Well, that answered some questions. "Why tell me about that? What's the point?"
"Perhaps there isn't... But I am telling you simply what I have to." That made no sense to Weiss, but she continued to listen. "When someone dies, their Soul is emptied of all satisfaction and all regrets, then, they move on. In a time long gone, a Soul could go to either Heaven, or Hell... But now, there is no one left in Heaven to call Souls... They all go to Hell now." That was common knowledge, but it wasn't as bad as it sounded. "Without satisfaction or regret, a Soul has no agency nor personality. They cannot feel suffering, they cannot be tormented. They will most likely be used as a currency, traded and exchanged by Devils... But, sometimes... Something worse happens.
Sometimes, an emptied Soul is stuffed full of satisfaction and regret by a High Devil, filling them again, remaking them. Not as they were, but as a Demon. A new personality, new memories, a new body. But... Still the same Soul, technically." Weiss didn't like where Ozma was taking this, after all, she believed she already knew what he would say next. "That half of Eirwen, the half that went to Hell. It was taken by a High Devil, the strongest of them, Asmodeus... And turned into a Demon. That Demon, it would later take the name 'Cinder Fall'."
There it was, the thing Weiss was fearing. Yet, "That doesn't matter. I don't care about Eirwen, nor do I care about Cinder above the want to kill her." Knowing why she existed wouldn't change that. "What I do want to know, though... Is what does it mean to empty a Soul of satisfaction and regret?" She had never heard anything about that before, Weiss wanted to know. Information was rare, she planned to seize this opportunity for as much as she could take.
"Yes... I can tell you that." The more Weiss heard him speak, the more it sounded like he was reading aloud. "Satisfaction, it is the foundation of Magic. Well, the Magic you know, anyway. Regret, it is the other half of Magic, one the creatures of Remnant cannot access. Only a small handful of things use Regret... The Grimm are one of them. The other, would be the Harbinger Titles."
"I knew there was a connection between Grimm and the Harbinger Titles... But, a different kind of Magic?" Weiss wanted to know more, luckily, he wasn't done talking yet.
"Remnant was meant to be the home of a singular God. One that would be known as the Grim Reaper," Weiss shuddered at its name. "But before it could be born, something went wrong. The World was Cursed, Titles were flung into Remnant, and its power was split into pieces. Those pieces, are the Harbinger Titles."
"So that's why they're so strong?" Weiss guessed.
Thinking for a moment, he eventually agreed. "Yes. But, uniting them wouldn't bring about the Grim Reaper. Not anymore. Like me, it requires the right vessel. One strong enough to handle its power. A Dragon."
Sighing, Weiss put two and two together. "So that's what happens when a Dragon gains a Harbinger Title. That's what happened to Salem."
"But it takes time... And before she was complete, Genesis took away one of the key pieces." Ozma continued. "I was a fool. It was a mistake... Yet what came of it is perhaps a chance for things to be better."
"You think the Remnant we live in now could possibly lead to something better?" She was clear with her disagreement.
Yet he didn't back down. "I cannot see what comes next... But the one who can, the one who sees all and has mastered the art of cause and effect... It guides me."
His meaning dawned on Weiss, and outrage filled her. "The World!? You speak to, and listen to, The World!?" She rose to her feet, ripping her hand from his arm and practically growling her rage. "It's their fault that we're in this mess! Or did you forget that?"
Speaking softer now, Ozma said, "I haven't forgotten. I will never forget. But I alone cannot guide us out of the mess that is Remnant. The World cannot manipulate much, it can only influence those without Magic, and not to a great extent. I, on the other hand, can hear its words, and influence people of a much greater strength. The World shows me the way, the decisions I must make, the things I must say... All in service of a happy ending."
Outrage didn't describe it anymore, Weiss wanted to put him down right here and now before his body fell apart. "A 'happy ending'? What happy ending!? Remnant is split! We just exited a war! Salem and her forces grow stronger! And the love of my life was taken from me!" Her voice grew louder as she yelled, ending in a scream of despair she had been trying to keep locked away inside for months.
Perhaps she should have saved it, Ozma wasn't finished. "You have me and The World to thank for that love."
Silence filled the room for a moment. Then a moment became a second, then ten, then a minute. "What did you just say...?" Emotion had left her as she whispered.
Ozma spoke slower, as if being careful with his words. "You and Ruby... It was fated that you would fall in love. No matter the decisions others made, in more futures than not, you loved one another. In all the ones you didn't, it was because you didn't meet. But Remnant is cruel. Despite your love, you never could have been together. You simply didn't have the time." His words were confusing, Weiss didn't want to hear them. Her heart could only take so much. "So, we intervened. For whatever reason, The World wanted you together. So, while you were both Human, it enhanced your feelings for one another, like adding oil to a fire. Meanwhile, I ensured that you would meet earlier.
That meeting oh so long ago... I could have kept your father from finding out about Ruby. If all I wanted was the Dragon Formula, him not knowing would have made it easier. But we needed you and Ruby together more than we needed that Formula. So, I let him find out about her funding, just not what she researched... And thus, you met for the first time. After that, your feelings grew abnormally fast, I know you've realised that." She had, but Weiss kept her mouth shut, she didn't want to agree with anything he had said.
"You needed to love each other earlier. You needed to know your feelings as soon as possible. Thanks to that, you did your best to delay your wedding with the Arc heir, and Ruby worked harder and harder for the Formula as fast as possible. Even with all our work, you still only had seconds to spare." When he finally stopped, Weiss fell to her seat again.
What was she supposed to do with that information? She didn't know what to feel. Weiss and Ruby were influenced, made to love each other... But, only earlier? In truth, shouldn't she be thanking him for ensuring that her and Ruby could be together? But it still felt wrong, perverse even. Weiss had been controlled; Ruby had been controlled. Even so long before they had to deal with Rory and his memories, their minds had been tampered with.
The how aside... Weiss had perhaps an even more important question. "Why." What was the point? Ozma said that The World needed Weiss and Ruby together even more than securing the Dragon Formula... Now that Weiss thought about it, wouldn't The World already know the Formula? Was all of Ruby's work in vain? She spent years of her life in that one room, working away for something The World could have just whispered into her ear. Of course, for all Weiss knew, that was what actually happened. But she refused to entertain that thought. Weiss, more than anyone, knew how great Ruby was.
"I don't know." Perhaps the single worst answer she could have heard. "Perhaps The World has need of you both as Dragons... Perhaps it has need of one of your children, or both... Or perhaps this is just the path to the ideal future."
"No. I refuse to accept that our lives have been pre-ordained. Destiny... Fate... I reject it." Weiss didn't want to believe that all they amounted to was pawns on a chess board. Yet, would her belief even matter if it came to that?
Ozma shook his head slowly. "Fate... Destiny... The World cannot control Remnant, nor its people. If neither you nor Ruby wouldn't have loved each other, then The World wouldn't have been able to enhance that. It is weak, all it has is its knowledge. It does not choose fate, it simply reads the flow of cause, and determines the effect. A butterfly flaps its wings, and The World knows what will come from it. From there, it simply does what little it can to guide Remnant."
Still, Weiss felt sick. "It wants Hell gone... I get that... But why this path? Why take Ruby from me? Why take her from Argus, from Summer... If it had told us about Carmine... If it had told you-"
"I knew." Once again, Weiss froze. "I knew about Carmine. I knew what would happen. I knew about Rose." It boiled over, her anger was too much, even as he spoke, scales began to form over her body. "I asked why, so it explained. It told me of futures that would spawn if not for that path." Turning his head, he looked into her slitted eyes as she stood again. Horns sprouted from her head, wings from her back, Weiss was more than ready to kill him. "It told me of what would happen. Of your children dying, of Remnant burning. It showed me you facing Salem's forces and losing. It showed me its own death. I know how much it hurts, but this was the best possible result. Ruby needed to become Rose, she needed to acquire that power. As an added benefit, Carmine was taken care of."
He spoke of perfect logic, he made sense, his words all rung true. Even in her mind, Weiss understood and knew that he made the right decision. But, still, she couldn't forgive it. "Why!?" She roared. "Why did it have to be this way!?" She screamed. "And if it had to be this way, if there was no other way then...!" Weiss grew quieter. "... Why couldn't you at least have let me say goodbye...?" Tears fell from her eyes. By the time they fell from her cheek, they drifted off as snowflakes.
Ozma was quiet for a minute, perhaps longer. Before finally, he spoke again. "You wouldn't have let her go. It's as simple as that." Once again, perfectly logical. And once again... He was right. "But, if it's any consolation... It wasn't goodbye. Not really. It's just... For now."
Her eyes widened, shooting open with a shine of something she hadn't felt in months. Hope. "What? What do you mean? Ruby will-" Her quick questions were interrupted by his slow voice.
"She will return." That was all he would say, Weiss knew she wouldn't be able to get more out of him, not unless he volunteered it. That was the issue, she was finding. No matter if she begged him or demanded it, he wouldn't tell her anything that wasn't in service of The World's plan. She could assume that kept a few things from her reach.
"He won't tell me the Dragon Formula. I doubt he'll tell me about any weaknesses of our enemies. Most importantly, he won't tell me about the future. About whatever ending The World is chasing." Yet, still, she asked about all of them. None received an answer, well, not properly anyway.
When she asked about the future, about this 'happy ending' Ozma said: "If The World told us of it, it wouldn't happen. That is the unfortunate situation of the butterfly effect. Even the smallest thing can change our path."
The way he phrased that; Weiss noticed something important. "The happy ending... You don't know what it is either. You're really going along with this blindly?" Unlike how he usually was, it was strangely stupid of Ozma.
Perhaps he was just that desperate. "Happiness in any kind will be enough for me. When I reach it, I know it will be enough."
"Yet, I know you've pictured it more than once." His lack of response was enough to tell Weiss that it was a common thing for him. "Tell me, when you picture this happy ending... Is Salem with you?"
Despite it all, despite what she had done, destroying his plane, killing everyone he had ever known. Weiss knew in her heart, in her Soul, that he still loved her. Because if she was in his position, if Ruby had done that to her... Weiss knew she would still love her. "... In more than she is not." Was his answer.
"I wonder if you ever considered that The World might be making those feelings stronger too." Despite having the Soul of an Angel, his vessel was human. Weiss wasn't sure how that interaction would work.
Ozma thought on that. "I have considered it, but... Like I said, happiness in any kind will be enough for me. If my love is a fabrication, so what? At least I know my path to happiness."
For a moment, all was quiet. Things grew calmer. Weiss wasn't sure how to feel. Did she still want to kill him? Was she just relieved, knowing now that she would get Ruby back one day? How did she feel about Cinder, about the Grim Reaper, did she even care? As her mind wandered, something took her attention. Those sounds, his lungs heaving, that smell, his body rotting, it got stronger. She could tell, it was almost time. He didn't have long left. But he knew it too.
"If there is anything else... Your Highness..." His voice grew ever weaker. The damage to his throat was too much now.
Weiss could ask anything. In this moment, she knew for a fact that the question she asked would be answered. But... Of everything she should have asked, of all the information she knew would be the most helpful... There was only one question she could bring herself to ask. "How long? How long must I wait... Before she's back in my arms?"
Ozma was silent. He was silent for so long that Weiss feared he had died before answering her. But, eventually, when the smell of his body matched a corpse more than anything else, he responded. "A Faustian Bargain. I will tell you, but you cannot tell anyone else in any way shape or form." His hand gently resonated with Magic, all she had to do was reach out and grab it in order to seal the Bargain.
Could Weiss do it? Could she make this deal? It would mean knowing the answer, knowing how long she had to wait until her wife was back by her side. But more than that, it would mean not being able to share it. Not being able to tell anyone. She would have to leave Ruby's father and uncle in the dark, she would have to leave Yang and Blake waiting for her.
She wouldn't be able to tell Argus when his mother would return. And depending on how long, she wouldn't be able to tell Summer either.
Weiss hated this, she hated this so much. But, more than that, she hated herself. She hated herself so much, so painfully much. Because her answer was without delay.
She reached out and grabbed his hand.
The door shut with a gentle click behind her as she stepped out of the room. Behind her, inside all that remained was a corpse on that bed. Waiting for her, Glynda and Qrow stood a bit down the hall. They rushed over as soon as they saw her.
Despite their haste, neither of them asked what happened. All it took was a look at her face to know that Ozma was gone. "Who knows when he'll be back..." Weiss felt numb. All of the information he had given her weighed on her heavily. From Cinder, to the Reaper, to her and Ruby's love, to The World. All of it was too much to handle, yet she knew that it had to be shared.
The three of them walked in silence. Weiss would need to assemble a meeting with the others, the people she trusted. Sharing what she had learnt was paramount, it couldn't be delayed, even if she needed time to process it herself.
But as she walked, her steps took on a stronger stride. Despite all that she felt, mixed in, there was some levity. Weiss knew how long she had to wait. Even if she felt guilt for not being able to share it, even if she still had to wait, it was made easier by knowing. Weiss had been counting the days, not knowing how high the number had to go. For all she knew, she was counting down the days of eternity.
Now she had a number. And despite everything, that made things easier. Because next to eternity, every number is small.
"It'll be easy." Weiss was sure of it. There would be times that she faltered, there would be times that she couldn't handle it anymore, but that came with everything in life. No matter what she did, time would tick away. Every second that passed was a second closer to having Ruby back in her arms. Entering the council room, a final thought passed through her mind.
"You're worth that wait. You're worth any wait, My Love."