Sun could feel his pulse hammering in the sides of his neck as he ran toward his insurmountable enemy. His system was overloaded with adrenaline before the fight had even begun, giving him a feeling of heightened ability intermixed with nausea. No decision he had ever made before mattered more. No fight in his life had ever had higher stakes.
No question had ever angered him as much as asking what his friends would tell him to do when told to submit to a tyrant trying to take residence in his very brain.
There was no connection between Sun and Professor Ozpin. No spark, no comradery, no shared experiences beyond those academic and incidental. The man had never taken any personal interest in the faunus or his friends, and yet, he pretended to know them all. To know what was best for them all… and to know that Sun had no real chance at standing against him. The arrogance and indifference was enough to fill Sun with a familiar, boiling rage that he had worked so hard to lock back down somewhere inside of himself. Only one other man had managed to bring such bile up into Sun's throat.
At least Adam Taurus had been straightforward with his intentions.
Sun dipped behind a tree in the familiar forest behind the Belladonna mansion as he approached, aiming to obscure his angle of attack. Upon emerging from the other side of the trunk, Sun lashed out with a strike for where Professor Ozpin had been standing, only to swing his staff through nothing but air. The sound of whistling wind from above tipped him off just in time to raise his weapon and block as Professor Ozpin landed from on high, their implements clashing against each other as the headmaster landed. Despite the man's lithe frame, the force with which he pushed was considerable, causing Sun to strain as he pushed back against the pressure.
"You do not understand the implications of what you're doing," Professor Ozpin warned.
"Yeah?" Sun asked, noticing that the older man didn't seem to be straining at all as he continued to push downward against him. "I could say the same to you!"
Sun stomped a foot forward, aiming to slam his heel into the toes of Professor Ozpin's shoe… only for the man to step backward and shift his stance without even looking. An attempted knee to the gut was met with a similar evasive maneuver in which Professor Ozpin twisted to the side before shoving his body forward and leaning into his cane, adding yet more force to the deadlock. A flare of glittering magic manifested around the weapon, and Sun saw his own beginning to smoke at the point of contact. His eyes widened at the sight, and he took a sharp inhale before executing his reaction.
With a quick pull to either side, the faunus separated the halves of Ruyi Jingu Bang into a pair of nunchaku as he leapt back, whirling the weapons to either side of himself. Sun slid the shafts down in his grip to reach the triggers as he continued to spin the linked shotguns. As Professor Ozpin raised his cane to prepare for the incoming assault, Sun brought his arms forward in an 'x' shape and fired off a dual volley of rounds in the other man's direction. Seemingly without moving an inch, Professor Ozpin struck the projectiles down from the air with his weapon, the only other indication that he had moved at all a pair of faint, vibrating wisps of multicolored energy trailing around his body.
"What…?" Sun asked, unable to stop himself.
"You are in over your head, Sun," Professor Ozpin warned. "I've seen you fight. I've watched you train. I appear to you now as you remember me, as that is what your brain interprets my form to be as we entwine. My capabilities are far beyond what you know."
"Yeah, I kinda figured," Sun snarked back as he spun his nunchaku back toward himself and secured them beneath his armpits while planting his feet. "That still doesn't mean I'm… giving… up?"
Sun's attention was drawn toward the sky as he noticed the space not quite getting brighter beneath the moonlight, but somehow, whiter. The broken moon itself had been partially obscured by a ceiling of white stone that was slowly creeping its way across the sky. Material of the very same texture and polish had begun to grow on the surface of a few nearby trees, wrapping its way around their bark and giving off the impression of columns rather than living plants. Sun felt the very ground beneath his feet begin to change as odd purple and yellow checkered tiles, each measuring about a foot from corner to corner, manifested amid the grass in random places. It was as though the forest itself was being taken over, turning into a building he didn't recognize at all.
"Pay attention!"
Sun felt the pain before he saw Professor Ozpin move. A lash struck against his uncovered arm, and the faunus immediately felt like his entire right side was on fire. He let out a cry of pain as he dropped one of his weapons and instinctively sank to a knee in the grass, breathing hard. The strike from Professor Ozpin's cane felt as though it had bypassed his skin and assaulted his very nerves, and Sun's eyes immediately welled up with tears at the burning sensation. He imagined that it must have been close to what going into shock felt like as his vision danced with black dots from the singular blow. The singular glancing blow that had clearly been pulled, if Professor Ozpin's stance as he stood above Sun was any indication.
"You are wasting time," Professor Ozpin spat, sweeping his unoccupied hand out to the side. "Look at what you're doing to yourself."
Sun hissed and clenched his teeth as he blinked through the tears, trying to see the area around him. The grass below was gone, replaced entirely by the garish two-tone tiles. He was kneeling on a stonework floor befitting of some ancient castle, and several of the trees nearby had been fully converted into stone. A stained glass window was beginning to appear in midair some distance away, and less than half of the surrounding area was still in the form of the forest.
The Belladonna mansion in the distance was beginning to disappear as well, overtaken by a marble staircase matching the other décor.
"What… w-what is this?" Sun asked. "What are you doing to me?"
"Memories," Professor Ozpin spat as he turned around and glanced toward the window. A white figure wreathed in black clothing was beginning to manifest within the glass, and the sight caused the man to look away. "My own, merging with yours. Overtaking yours, as you push me further. End this, Sun. Submit, and allow me to guide you. Slow your pace and accept that what you demand in the form of answers isn't yours to have, or even mine to give. This is a foolish pursuit, and I thought you better. You cannot win this fight."
Sun paused a moment, focusing on breathing. The pain in his side hadn't lessened at all… though the supposed 'castle' continued to creep into the surroundings at a slow and steady pace.
"…if I do…" Sun said slowly. "You'll… eventually answer me? Tell me what we're up against? Try to prolong my life?"
"Sun, I cannot make promises such as those this early," Professor Ozpin warned. "Tame your anger. I know it has been eating at you, b-"
"How can you possibly know that?" Sun seethed as he tried to get to his feet, grabbing his fallen weapon as he went. "You don't know me."
"I'm beginning to," Professor Ozpin answered. "I already explained. You are so blind in your hatred th-"
Sun forced himself to his feet and lashed out with an attack while he assumed the professor was preoccupied, only to find disappointment. Professor Ozpin spun in place as though he knew the blow was coming, striking out with his cane to parry the whirling weapon. Another spinning blow and gunshot was parried and ducked, and Sun whipped his head around quickly to make sure he was ready for the inevitable counterattack. Professor Ozpin did indeed lash out with another sideways sweep of his cane at neck level, and Sun managed to duck the swipe without getting tagged. A gunshot at point blank rang out as Sun thrust one of his shotguns straight for the man's stomach, only for a shimmering rainbow barrier to dissipate the bullet immediately.
"I do not wish to hurt you!" Professor Ozpin warned as Sun fired another shot and the man dipped his head to the side to avoid it. "My patience is wearing thin!"
Sun didn't- couldn't reply as he began to pant with ragged breaths, the pain in his side searing and seeming to increase as he lashed out with another blow and accompanying shot. As the strike was parried away yet again, he conjoined his staff and went for a simple overhead blow, putting his opponent in the position of resisting a deadlock. It was then that he noticed something curious- something that the other man seemed keen not to draw attention to.
The left arm of Professor Ozpin's coat was torn open. A gash- smaller than the welt that Sun had been given- had appeared on the man's flesh, echoing the wound that the faunus had endured. The implication was immediately understandable… though not something Sun was content to explore.
Only a few trees remained in the surrounding area as Sun braced his forearm upon the back of his staff, pushing down as hard as he could. Sweat was pouring from his hairline. His arm was bleeding badly. His eyes stung with the mixture of tears and perspiration.
He barely saw the ephemeral wisps rise up around Professor Ozpin before he felt an indescribable pain and collapsed to the tile floor.
Sun's vision was swimming and distorted, showing him rotating, doubled copies of the castle that had overtaken the entirety of the forest. Nothing of the Belladonna manor remained in the distance as far as he could tell, and the moon was obscured entirely by a ceiling that didn't belong. Sun was bleeding badly from his stomach and mouth as he laid atop the cold, stone floor, his weapons some distance away and out of reach.
Between them was a golden locket that had fallen to the ground, the stump it had rested upon no longer present.
"…I am sorry, Sun," Professor Ozpin said as the bottom of the man's cane crashed down into the floor just before the faunus' face. He didn't even have the energy to flinch or even look up at the headmaster. "I had to incapacitate you to prevent you from doing more harm to yourself. Our synaptic merge was nearing completion, and you simply refuse to listen to reason. I could snuff you out here and now. Save myself the trouble of your resistance… but I see something within you. Something worth preserving. That, and… I am not a tyrant. I am not unfeeling. I am not her."
Sun made a gurgling noise as he tried to will his body to move, only to come up with nothing. He couldn't even tell where and how he had been wounded specifically- just that moving in any meaningful way would be more or less impossible. The edges of his vision were blackened as everything continued to double and spin.
"I will… tell you what I can, as it becomes appropriate to do so," Professor Ozpin said softly. "That is the guarantee I offered you, and yet… why do you mortals cling so desperately to what you cannot have? Always pushing, always testing limits, and look at you now. How much you've shortened your lifespan is unclear. I can try to mitigate some of the damage utilizing magic, but given that this is your internal space…"
"Don't… touch me," Sun warned, breathing hard as he forced the words out. The boy closed his eyes as he saw Professor Ozpin kneel down near him. "I don't want… anything from you."
"Don't be spiteful and petulant," Professor Ozpin chided. "Stop acting like a child."
"How the hell…" Sun managed, hissing as he tried to deal with the all-consuming pain. "Are you… so fast…?"
Professor Ozpin let out a sigh and shook his head, unseen to the faunus.
"…time dilation. My original Semblance, carried with me from body to body. Had you just let me in, I could have begun to train you to use it. You could be well on your way t-"
"Not just that," Sun denied. "Hiding things… again. Can't just be… you can read my moves…"
Professor Ozpin let out a sigh and got to his feet once again.
"Well… yes, there is more to it. Were you not listening? Your nervous system is merging with my own, or… the closest approximation to one I have left. I am in your synapses. I can read your intentions on a reflexive level. There is no movement you can make, no thought that triggers any impulse that I cannot foresee and react to before you carry it out. Now, with our consciousnesses fully integrated, you stand no chance at all of taking me by surprise. Sun, I need you to work with me. I know what is best for our path forward. I know what the world should be. What it must become, in order to deal with Salem…"
Sun finally opened his eyes with a sniffle, locking them on the fallen locket. The boy squinted to focus more intently on the item, bringing it into focus as best he could.
"Not… fully merged," the faunus said weakly. "Not yet."
Professor Ozpin followed the boy's gaze to the piece of jewelry and let out a contemplative noise.
"…perhaps not, though that is hardly a significant remainder. In mere moments, it will b-"
"You're… in my nerves?" Sun asked. "My body. Anything my body thinks, you can… you can react to my body. This body…"
Professor Ozpin turned his attention back to the faunus with a quizzical look.
"…you're babbling nonsense, but yes. Let us return to the waking world. I suspect you will be suffering a migraine, but little if anything else. We can talk within your mind there. Remaining in this old space is a waste of time, and filling me with memories I would rather not revisit. I believe we sh-"
"…my… nervous system," Sun said again. "You can read me. Anything… I try to do. With my body… sent through my nerves…"
Professor Ozpin narrowed his eyes and shook his head.
"Sun, enough of this. You're wasting mental energy, a-"
Professor Ozpin stumbled forward, tripping over Sun's body as his glasses flew from his face and tumbled to the ground, one of their lenses cracking upon impact. The man barely saved himself from falling over completely by utilizing his cane for balance. Without a word, he whirled around to see who or what had struck him in the back of the head… and found it to be Sun.
A golden, sparkling image of Sun Wukong stood above its corporeal master, a copy of his staff clutched in its hands. Sun himself glared up at Professor Ozpin from the ground, his chest rising and falling rapidly as he rolled onto his stomach.
"My aura… isn't your aura. And aura… isn't linked… to the body. To the brain. Not physically…"
The faunus balled a fist and pressed it into the ground, his forearm trembling as he slowly got to his feet.
"You can't… predict that… through my nerves. I'm… not… done…"
Author's Note:
The conclusion of this fight next week…
-RD