The wait for the others was absolutely excruciating. Sun occupied himself by sitting upon the hospital bed with Blake at his side, listening to the steady beeping from his heart monitor that echoed around the small room. Blake's hand hadn't left his since he had awoken in the ambulance, and her touch was still vaguely cold despite the warmth Sun provided.
It was a familiar cold, not just from all of their intimate moments and hand-holding- it was there during his bout with Professor Ozpin. He was sure of it. It was her that he was feeling in the air, and the odd flickers of lightning had come from somewhere outside as well. Even though Sun was almost convinced of the theory, his memory of the specifics from the fight was fading fast.
"…can you find paper?" Sun asked, giving Blake a worried look. "And a pen?"
"I usually have one on me…" Blake lamented as she finally let Sun's hand go and moved toward the nearby counter on the side of the room. It was only then that Sun registered that Blake was wearing only a black nightie and lingerie beneath it, likely due to her panicked state and pressing need to get him help. "Those might be hard to get unless we use the call button and ask. What's up?"
"I… I need to write some things down," Sun explained, rubbing at his forehead. "Before I forget the details. Ozpin was telling me things, and it's already starting to get fuzzy…"
Sun blinked as Blake seized his hand and brought it closer to herself. Immediately afterward, she deposited her scroll into his palm and offered a nod.
"Text it to yourself," Blake suggested. "Though I might be tempted to read it afterward. I know I said to just wait for the others to get here so you don't have to repeat yourself, but… this is torture. Ozpin is just gone? And you feel totally fine…?"
"He's gone," Sun confirmed as he began to do as Blake suggested, his thumbs tapping at the screen as quickly as he could make them. "And… yeah. Weirdly enough, I feel great. I mean, I'm tired, since it's the middle of the night and I haven't been sleeping well lately, but other than that… I feel physically fine."
"…you were dying," Blake said quietly, her face full of anguish. "I was… so, so scared. The way your body was convulsing, the noises like you couldn't breathe… I was pretty sure I was going to lose you."
Sun paused his typing mid-sentence and turned his attention to Blake in full. The girl looked awful- her hair was an absolute mess, her eyes were red, and her cheeks were streaked with tear trails. Though Sun had spent the remainder of the ride to the hospital trying to reassure her that he was fine, it clearly hadn't been enough. Whatever was happening outside of his head throughout the fight had clearly been horrific… and Sun knew immediately what his priority needed to be.
"…come here," Sun said softly as he lowered the scroll. "Climb in with me."
"I can't distract you like that right now," Blake denied, bringing her arms across her chest to hug herself as she looked at the tile floor of the small hospital room. "I'll… I'll be fine. Just make notes before you forget."
"This is the distraction," Sun insisted as he set Blake's phone onto the rolling table next to the bed and shook his head. "You're more important to me than anything else, especially right now. We've got time, so let's use it."
Blake looked up at Sun rather sheepishly before letting out a sigh and slowly beginning to climb atop him.
"You're sure you're not hurt and that this isn't going to cause you pain?" the girl asked with a frown. "I just… find it so hard to believe that you're totally okay after all that…"
"I'm good," Sun reassured as he pulled Blake into a tight embrace. "I can't explain it, and I get the feeling you're not going to be happy with the details of what went down inside my head, but… I'm good. One way or another, we're going to figure this all out. We've apparently got a shot at stopping Salem, though… I don't know how, or why, or what changed."
"…we do?" Blake asked curiously, resting her head on Sun's chest.
"Yeah. I mean, if Ozpin is to be believed. I don't know if I do believe him, but…"
The sliding glass door of the room opened and the remainder of Sun and Blake's squad entered the small space. Jaune, Yang, Corsac, and Neopolitan were all wearing some form of pajamas or missing articles of clothing… but Harriet had somehow added to hers, as though she hadn't yet gone to sleep. The woman was wearing Qrow's jacket that she had taken from the basement, along with a pair of black leather pants. She was the first to speak, making her volume louder than was to be expected in a hospital setting as she closed the door behind herself.
"What the hell happened? Are you alright?"
"I echo that, but in reverse order," Yang added as she immediately walked to the side of the bed and wrapped her hand around the railing, leaning in close to check over Sun. "I don't think I've ever heard Blake scream like that."
"Sorry…" Blake said sheepishly, her ears flattening against her skull.
"Do not be," Corsac said gently, though he kept his distance from the couple. The man was the only one without a shirt, though his bandages served more or less a similar purpose. "From what little I heard, your reaction is completely understandable."
"Yeah," Jaune agreed with a quick nod. "Sun, do you need me to boost your aura? How are you feeling?"
"Guys, I'm fine, I just…" Sun began, shaking his head. "I don't know how to explain it. Yang, can you… do you think you could call Raven and ask her to go somewhere she can't be heard?"
Yang stared blankly for a moment before taking a deep inhale through her nostrils, signaling that she wasn't exactly thrilled with the idea.
"…last I heard, she was in the infirmary, so she'd either be alone or with Dad, unless Marrow's in the room."
"I…" Sun started, only to pause. "…I want to trust Marrow with this, but… I don't know if I can, yet. This is big, and he's a direct line to Ironwood. He's a great guy, and I know he isn't thrilled with how Ironwood's handling everything, but we need to discuss this in-group first."
"In-group and with Raven?" Harriet asked, putting her hands on her hips. "If we can trust any other Ace, it's Marrow. Don't be a dick."
"I'm not trying to be a dick, I'm just…" Sun replied before heaving a massive sigh. "Yang, just call. If Marrow's there, he can hear this, I guess. Sorry for being cautious. I might not be thinking straight right now…"
"I think it's at least worth discussing," Yang consoled as she dialed the number and rested the scroll on the tabletop. "Hopefully she picks u-"
Before the other line could ring a third time, a wash of red light occupied the hospital room, causing everyone inside to shield their eyes. Raven Branwen stumbled through the dimensional door, a singular, unsheathed katana with a bright red blade clutched in her remaining hand. The woman wore a hospital gown and had disconnected tubes dangling from her hand, seemingly ripped out of a machine in a hurry and trailing droplets of blood upon the otherwise immaculate floor. Neopolitan took several steps backward and smacked into the glass door of the room as the older woman nearly ran right into her.
"What the hell!?" Jaune asked as he instinctively grabbed onto Yang's shoulder, partially hiding behind the girl.
"What's going on!?" Raven snapped, flicking her eyes to Yang. "Where do you need me?"
Yang just stared before slowly moving her hand to disconnect the call with the press of a finger.
"…we wanted to talk to you about something…"
"At three in the morning?" Raven seethed, placing her katana upon the countertop and closing her eyes while pinching the bridge of her nose. "I expected you to be in imminent danger, or…"
"Sorry," Yang said earnestly. "Sun asked me to make the call. He just… had some kind of seizure in the middle of the night, apparently, and had something to tell us. Apparently, he has something to tell you, too."
"Out with it," Raven said harshly as she turned her full attention to the faunus. "Taiyang is probably having a heart attack right about now. I just leapt out of bed and rushed here to offer help…"
"Couldn't you have brought him?" Sun asked.
"And made myself unable to return to Atlas via portal?" Raven asked, eyes narrowed. "This situation isn't easy to maintain. This had better be important, especially if Yang trusts you enough to summon me like this."
"Alright, alright!" Sun relented as Blake sat up in the bed to allow Sun to do the same. "Sorry! I've got a lot on my mind, and… listen. Ozpin was… he was manifesting in my head. I was becoming his next host, after Oscar died. It started while we were en route to Mistral."
Raven's expression soured even further, and she clenched her teeth as she looked away.
"That bastard…"
"…was?" Jaune asked. "As in… he's not, anymore?"
"Yeah," Sun answered. "He's not. I, uh, I 'woke up' in this weird… this place that I can't really remember anymore. All I know is that it was shifting, constantly going back and forth between places from my memories, and places from Ozpin's. He explained to me that we were merging, that my nervous system was becoming attached to his, and that the process was irreversible. We argued. I told him I was tired of his shit, that he had led us astray, that he was still hiding things, and then, we… fought."
"You fought?" Raven asked. "You're telling me you dueled Ozpin, in some sort of spirit-realm, or inner arena, and won?"
"I did, yeah," Sun nodded. "Barely, but… I did."
"How?" Yang followed up. "I mean, we only saw him do a few demonstrations back at Beacon, and he looked untouchable. He knows magic, and I doubt you had dust in your dream."
"It wasn't a dream," Sun corrected. "It was real- very real. I was able to somehow use some of his magic, or his Semblance, or… something. The connection between us was weird, and damage seemed to be a one-way transfer from me to him. We went back and forth and he was initially kicking my ass, but in the end, I… I shot him."
"You… shot him," Blake echoed, looking wary. "When you say you shot him, you don't mean…?"
"…I killed him," Sun confirmed. "He was on the ground, unable to move, and I… shot him. In the head. That's when I woke up, feeling… fine. Whatever damage his attempted takeover did to my physical body, and… whatever damage I was apparently doing to myself by resisting seems like it was immediately undone, and I can't feel him in my head anymore. I'm pretty sure he's gone."
"What does that mean?" Yang asked, turning her attention to Raven. "Is he gone gone? Will he manifest in someone else? Are we just… are we now flying blind and totally rid of him?"
Raven swallowed, keeping her eyes on the floor as she mulled the question over.
"…I doubt it," the Maiden answered. "I doubt you got rid of him entirely, but what you're saying is consistent with what little he told STRQ about how his reincarnation works. Only a few have ever resisted, and far less have succeeded. One, that I know of, not counting you. Sounds like you saved your life with some quick thinking."
Sun let himself flop back into the pillows as he stared up at the ceiling in thought.
"Maybe… but I might have also screwed us all over. Based on something I did- something I can't quite remember fully or explain the details of- he told me that there might actually be a way for me to fight Salem. I finished him off because he absolutely refused to explain himself, and now I… kinda regret that. I was just furious, and he had already refused to answer any of my questions about Salem, or how the Relics worked. He told me that only she could use them without some kind of terrible cost, so I think they might be the key? But he's also apparently never told anyone but Oscar what they do, and that knowledge ruined him to the point that succumbed to Ozpin's control almost immediately."
"That's not exactly true," Raven let on as she looked back up at Sun. "Summer knew what the Relics did when brought together, and according to Salem herself… Summer Rose is apparently still alive…"
Author's Note:
A lead? Or a dead end? It could go either way…
-RD