Chapter 6: Someone Remembers Oz Part 2

After Pyrrha assured her parents that yes it was just a cockroach, no it just surprised her, yes she was fine, no she wasn't under attack, and can dad please put down the giant ballista he calls Angry Bird, she locked herself in her room and cancelled all her plans for the day.

She grabbed her weapons, anxious and terrified. The voice had been quiet while she was talking to her parents.

"Hello?" She uttered.

"Hello again, Miss Nikos," said Oz, making Pyrrha flinch.

"You…I wasn't imagining things," she said, eyes widening, her heart rate shooting through the roof. "Who… what are you?"

"I am Professor Ozpin, or was, or am, I suppose, it's hard to explain."

"Why?"

"Hm, perhaps the first thing to know is that when I die, my soul will transfer into another person of like mind," replied Oz.

If it weren't for the fact that there was a voice in her head claiming to be the headmaster of Beacon, Pyrrha wouldn't have believed them.

She still doesn't.

"Wait, does that mean you're now dead?" She has heard of the venerated Professor Ozpin on the news. The youngest person to ever become headmaster of a Huntsman Academy, and a formidable huntsman himself. She shuddered to think what could have done him in.

"While usually that is true," said Oz. "A few things have happened that makes my, or our, particular situation unique. Most likely there are now two of me running around in this time period, myself as the headmaster of Beacon and as a voice in your head."

Silence.

"How," asked Pyrrha after an uncomfortably long amount of time.

"For one, I am from the future," he said , making Pyrrha gasp.

"The future?" She asked.

This was just getting crazier and crazier.

"Indeed. Four years from now, to be exact," confirmed Oz. "During a battle against an ancient foe, an unfathomable amount of energy was released, enough to send both me and my former incarnation back in time. There are a few other details that I shall explain later, but somehow I have separated from my host and am now with you."

"Wait, wait, wait," said Pyrrha suddenly, hands raised up, her weapons gently placed on her bed. "How do I know any of this is real? What if I'm just going crazy?!"

"Well, there's a voice in your head talking–"

"Besides that!"

"Hm, can you remember the office of the headmaster in Beacon?"

Pyrrha frowned. She racked her brains for details of a place she has never been to before, but comes up short.

"No," she said. "How did you expect me to know? I've never been there."

"That's odd," replied Oz. "My hosts can usually recall some of my previous memories from the start, when I first incarnate into them."

Pyrrha narrowed her eyes."Is there anything else you can do to prove all this?"

"Another effect of the Brother Gods' method of time travel, perhaps?" began Oz. "Has it slowed down or even halted the merging process?"

"Hey, mister voice in my head, I'm talking to you," Pyrrah reminded him, a tinge of annoyance and mild terror in her voice. "And what do you mean by the merging process?"

The thought of him merging with her was a terrifying one.

"Ah, apologies, Miss Nikos," replied Oz. Pyrrha could feel him thinking. "Hm, there is another way to prove this. You wanted to get out of the city, didn't you? If my previous host has indeed gone back in time with me, there is a place where he will head to. Let me be your guide to the city of Mistral in the meantime. I shall explain the merging process on the way."

"And that's all the produce sold," said Aunt Pine as she and Oscar counted their earnings. It was still nine in the morning, and already they had sold all their products and were packing up their stall in one of the more affluent farmer's markets in the city.

"I gotta say, you were right," she said as she held a very large bag full of Lien in her hands. "Even accounting for the train ride to and from the farm, we made three times as much profit selling directly to people here in Mistral instead of in our village."

"Just a bit of marketing to say it's organic and all-natural, and all the health-conscious folks will flock like rats to cheese," laughed Oscar. "And we didn't even have to lie about it."

Aunt Pine gave half of the Lien to Oscar. "Here, is this enough for a scroll?"

Oscar looked at the pile of cash in his hand. "Auntie, how about–"

"Don't worry. There's more than enough leftover cash for three weeks' worth of supplies, along with our expenses for our trip to Beacon."

"Actually, I was about to say that I can pay for it myself."

Aunt Pine looked at him skeptically.

"No, really," smiled Oscar. He leaned closer to her and whispered. "Ozpin has a safehouse on the outskirts of the city. There's a lot of Lien stashed in there, so much that we didn't even get to spend it all when we were in Mistral last time."

"And it's not guarded?"

"Nope," Oscar replied. "Ozpin is not expecting anyone but him and his closest allies to know about it, but I know the way in. Come on, I'll show you."

"This is a nice house," was Aunt Pine's first remark upon seeing Ozpin's house in Mistral.

"I know, right?" said Oscar. "Let's spend the night here. It's got multiple rooms and a training area on the back."

He closed his eyes in nostalgia. "We spent a month here in preparation for assaulting Haven. I can almost feel my face getting punched again."

"Why were you planning to attack Haven again?"

"We thought Salem was going to attack Haven to get the Relic, so we tried to get it first," Oscar replied, laughing. "It ended up being a four-way battle between us, the White Fang, Cinder's forces, and the Branwen Tribe and just an overall clusterf-"

They heard the door knock.

Oscar and his aunt looked at each other. He frowned, no one from Ozpin's circle besides Lionheart was supposed to be in Mistral at this time, and Lionheart was in Haven most of the time.

It's very possible things may have changed and Qrow was here, which would be a relief, but just in case…

"Auntie, grab your rifle and go behind that hallway," he said, his voice serious.

Aunt Pine looked tense, but did not argue.

Carefully, Oscar went to the door.

"So you're telling me that our souls are going to merge together?" He heard from the other side. A girl's voice that was vaguely familiar.

What?

"And you're sure it won't happen to me ?" The voice continued. "I need assurance!"

Oscar opened the door.

A red-haired girl in brown casual attire stood in front of him. She seemed annoyed, but there was also a hint of nervousness in her features.

Oscar felt like he's seen her before. Not in Ozpin's memories, but more recently on television.

Her expression was one Oscar was familiar with, that of seeming like he was hearing voices in his head.

"Hello, can I help you?" he said, snapping the girl out of her thoughts.

"Oh, uh, I'm sorry," she began.

"..."

"Uh…"

"Shut up, I'm getting there," she said suddenly. "Oh, sorry, not you. Um…"

'Okay,' thought Oscar. 'Why does this seem like deja vu?'

"I'm supposed to tell you," said the girl. "I'd like my cane back?"

Oscar stared.

The girl fidgeted.

"Oz?" He said. "Why are you a girl?"

Author's Note: Pyrrha seems uncharacteristically not nice this chapter. I wonder why.

If I were to describe Aunt Pine, I guess she would look like Ysolda from Skyrim, only wearing green robes.

Thanks for reading!