AN:
For those of you that celebrate it, consider this my Christmas present: A wham episode!
And for those of you who don't, a convivial Monday in December to you, Mr. Pool!
Chapter 26
For the Record.
You know, it's probably not important, doesn't really mean much, but uh - I gave the Justice League a copy of RWBY, and entered a philosophical pseudo-debate as to the benefits and drawbacks of the Manhattan project.
Yeah.
Here's the rub: Torchwick is a lot more of a dangerously genre savvy magnificent bastard than the show ever got to give him credit for.
How so?
Oh, well, it's simple, really: He's some kind of unholy trinity between Wilson Fisk (contacts everywhere, in both the criminal and government worlds), Whitey Bulger (dropping a lot of information to the feds in exchange for breathing room and functional impunity in regards to his enterprises), and Hans Landa (a clear willingness to jump ship and bat for the other team if he feels the need).
In other words, my worst fucking nightmare. Like me, he's batting for the League and the Legion, but unlike me, he isn't doing so with the intention of subverting one group for the betterment of the other, but rather with the intention of seeming loyal to both, such that he can very well stick with whoever wins.
I know I've made jokes about that inadvertently being what may happen to me, but for chrissakes they were jokes!
It reminds of Catch 22. The old man (I forget if he was named) claimed he was a fascist when Mussolini led his country, but once he was deposed, he was anti-fascist. But then when the Nazis conquered the place, he was full-on pro-German. Heil Hitler. But then, the US came in, wrecking shit, and he subsequently became the most 'America, Fuck Yeah!' guy in Europe.
Whoever won, or was winning, he voted for, and gave his loyalty to. Whoever lost, or was losing, he hated. There wasn't a bandwagon he wouldn't jump.
Torchwick feels much the same, but instead of simply being there on the sidelines, he's an active participant in the goings-on, and is playing the game in a way that makes his loyalties to each side seem as if he's working for them, when in reality he's only loyal to himself.
And apparently he thinks that because I managed to (and, in a way, still am) keep all of my clandestine goings-on a secret from Cinder and him for so long, that I may very well be a player on his, or Cinder's level. To that end, he proposed an alliance of sorts: We'll keep eachother's secrets, and provide help and resources if we need it.
In other words: The Watchmen now include me, Qrow, Ozpin, Adam Taurus, and Roman fucking Torchwick - and through all of them I have an army that could probably succeed where all others have failed: Invade Russia in the winter.
Jokes aside, I'm in one hell of a pickle, Rick, because not only am I pretty sure whatever 'help' he asks for is of the 'further stain my soul' variety, but the very instant I show any kind of weakness, Torchwick could decide to sell me out.
Wonderful.
Though it does occur to me that I can turn that right the fuck around on him, once Ruby Rose starts kicking his ass, only instead of tearing him a new one, I can show loyalty and support (to a certain limit), and that may win some from him, instead.
Food for thought.
And then there's Neo, which can be summarized as: She thinks even more than Torchwick that I may be a major player - on Salem or Ozpin's level, and she's double-dealing on everyone by all but throwing herself at me under the belief that I may champion over everyone, and keep her taken care of when I do.
I've discussed her and I to death though, and beyond that, not much has changed; you (whoever you are) will be the first (well, second) to know when it does. Moving on.
Considering the thin ice I've been walking on and all of the stuff I've done and clear and present risks to my life in the last few days alone, I decided I needed to lay all my cards out on the table, so I gave Ozpin a copy of my RWBY card, and a means with with to view it.
Time will only fucking tell whether or not that was a good or a bad move; I expect a response soon - the dust store robbery that puts Ruby Rose in Ozpin's sights will happen tonight, and that'll prove to him what all I have isn't BS.
I'm hoping, at least, he'll take the same Doc Brown stance I have, in regards to fucking with time. He told me that he had read about the Manhattan Project from what he recovered from the airplane, so I used the whole 'set the world on fire and they did it anyway' thing to impress upon him what it was we were dealing with, here, and how we had to deal with it.
I like to think he's smart enough to figure it out on his own... But his people don't have nukes, mine do, so I felt it prudent to make the point, just in case.
They also don't have superheroes (not like ours), so I used the Spiderman mantra too, but that was more to explain why it took me so long to bring this up and why I - among other things - didn't save Amber when I could have.
And then... Pretty much exactly when I thought I'd get it (the very next night), I got his response.
Apparently I put the pants-shittingly terrible fear of God into him, so much so that he wants to meet.
As in, face to face.
The good news is that, that probably means, like yesterday, I'll have done so much and been up so late that day, that I'll be so exhausted when I get done that I'll actually have a good night's sleep.
The bad news is that I'll actually have to be up so damn late in order to do so.
Oh, and, you know: I've got to have a pow-wow with the guy who fooled my Radar Pulse, which means I can't rely on him being as alone as he implies he'll be.
Welp: If I don't make another entry, you'll at least know I proooooooobably fucked it up.
Hopefully I'll leave as big a smear on the rooftop as possible, and ruin at least one more person's day.
'Till next time.
To:
PrivatePyleWhatAreYouTryingToDoToMyBelovedCorps-(a)-ScarletMailCCT; CC:CrowBar-(a)-SignalCCT
From:OzpinHeadMast-(a)-BeaconCCT
Subject: RE: The Scientific Method; Or - how YOUR LIFE can be saved by the miracles of post-modern thought!
Message:
Mister Drake, I do very much appreciate not only your placing this level of trust in me, but also the great risk you are taking in placing said trust.
As predicted by your 'Prophet', and ascertained by you: I did indeed make contact with Little Red Riding Hood, the very day you left me this message, in fact.
I must admit, I wasn't sure at all what to think of the implications of what you sent me when I first saw them, as they are staggering; and following my apparently pre-ordained meeting, I know even less what to think. Very few times would I ever fully admit to being out of my league, and I do believe that this will have to be one of them.
I believe, Mister Drake, especially following these developments, it may be time to follow your example and lay all of our cards on the table, as it were. As well, I do also believe that, much like how you left nothing but your discovery to chance and left me these things in purely a physical medium, I think my response must also be done physically. Suffice to say there are pieces to the narrative, questions that, much like how Crowley and I didn't quite reach in our last correspondence, you have just barely missed reaching yourself, in this one.
I, as I assume, do you, remember the place in which we first met, face-to-face. I will be there for one hour, every night at midnight, for as long as it takes for you to make contact.
-Ozbourne
Aldric waited until the Sunday before Goud would have to pack everything up and ship out to Beacon, to follow up on Ozpin's offer.
Two of the longest days in his life.
When the time came, he was so nervous that it took him forty five minutes just to lace up one boot. It was eleven thirty by the time he'd gotten fully decked out in his Nathan Drake disguise. True to his word, Ozpin arrived at Mogar's precisely at midnight, again materializing out of nowhere, in regards to his Radar. But, be it because he was - appropriately - paranoid, or because he'd been blindsided enough the last week, Aldric waited until the last minute to scope the place out, and when no one else arrived, at 12:59, Aldric took a single, steadying breath, and came in for a landing.
If Ozpin was at all put off at how long it took Aldric to arrive, he didn't show it, merely looking down at Aldric with a light frown, and a flash of something behind his glasses that Aldric couldn't identify. It almost looked like guilt, or even regret.
"Mister Drake." He nodded, turning to face him, the both of them framed by the harsh green light of the neon sign looming above them.
"Ozpin." Aldric rasped.
The edge of the headmaster's lips twitched in a brief grin, "still suffering from laryngitis, I see."
"I've been busy."
"Quite busy, it seems." Ozpin nodded, "both Adam Taurus and Roman Torchwick... You are proving to be worth your weight in gold, young man." He said, "I regret less and less each day convincing Qrow not to incapacitate you and take you in, that night."
"Still tried."
"And yet here we stand." Ozpin turned again, to face Beacon, off in the distance. "I can't tell you how many times I looked over what it was you gave me. I spent much of that first day doing nothing but committing them to memory..." A beat passed, "and, I admit, fiddling with your technology. Seeing what little you left, the symbols of your heroes, the records of their deeds. It is the first of its kind I have had the chance to study... It appears that the survivors of that crash absconded with nearly everything of digital value, before leaving."
"Had a good reason." Aldric responded, stepping up next to Ozpin, his hands in his pockets, as opposed to Ozpin, who held them respectfully behind his ramrod-straight back.
"Of that, I have no doubt." Said Ozpin, with a solemn nod. "Have you any luck in accessing your powers?" He asked, briefly looking down at his guest.
"Some." Aldric said, "Lady In Red wanted to recruit a telepath, intended to use her own abilities to spark mine, and test the new recruit's."
"A telepath... Troubling, but a fitting replacement for your lost illusionist, from that point of view."
"Telepath's dead." Was all Aldric responded with.
That attracted Ozpin's undivided attention, though Aldric kept looking ahead. "I'm sorry to hear that, Mister Drake." He said, genuinely.
"Necessary evils." The beat that came next was the longest in Aldric's life, but he did amend his statement. "But evil nonetheless. Haven't slept, see the telepath and Her in my good dreams."
"And in the bad ones?"
"The White Witch has a crash survivor. Sometimes one, sometimes more. Gets back to Earth, invades."
"That is what we aim to prevent, Mister Drake." Ozpin said, with conviction. "For what it's worth, Mister Drake, I would consider you a good man, despite your circumstances." He said, "and though it is true that sometimes good men must do bad things... That does not diminish their righteousness."
"Appreciate it." Aldric said, "but made peace with it before I made the cadaver. Not here for that."
Ozpin nodded, turning back forward. "Right." He said, "I understood the point you were making, in regards to those files and their metaphorical relation to your Manhattan Project... And while the idealist in me may wish for otherwise, the realist does at least agree that there are some things that mustn't be interfered with, lest we court catastrophe." He took in a deep breath, "I do hope to be able to save Beacon, even if it costs me my life, at the very least... But from what you've shown me, without an army on standby, that may be a fool's errand... And it worries me what may happen if we interfere with the Lady In Red's hijacking of Atlas' unmanned forces."
"World War Two."
"I wonder if we may call it that, if the time ever came." Ozpin mused, "but yes. The tensions between our nations have only barely cooled... And nearly everything Atlas does, does nothing to assist that. Merging their huntsman with their military, investing more money into their military than the next few kingdoms' budgets combined, and flaunting the power and influence that buys at every chance... One bad move, and we could find ourselves falling headlong into another great war, and thus only serving to further the White Witch's plans." He explained, "interfering with Lady In Red's takeover, while it would allow us complete victory in the defense of Beacon and the Vale, it would only throw more fuel to the fire, internationally." He shook his head, "the various councils of three will not understand... They know not the war we wage in the shadows, they only see their people and their borders."
"Human nature." Aldric opined, with a shrug of the head. "Same on Earth." It'd take an apocalypse to unite the terrans, and even then, Aldric wasn't sure on that bet.
"I suppose... But from what I've learned, the greatest threat posed to your terrans, is they themselves." He countered, "here, we face threats from within and without... And it is only in times of dire struggle, when the Grimm are tearing down their doors, that people truly begin to understand that." He said, sorrow in his voice. "Even I suffer from this... Many times I venture out to the ruins of cities and civilizations past, to remind myself of why I fight." He paused, "I commend you for that, Mister Drake. Your dedication, and how, so far as I've seen at least, you've never once lost sight of your goal."
"Hard to do when it's literally in my pocket."
Ozpin snorted, "perhaps." He said, "the good news is that I know there are things in which I can realistically intervene, without causing too much damage and courting too great a disaster." He made a sweeping gesture with his hand, "the breach, would be an example." He said, "already now, I can begin showing some interest in tracing Grimm activity in abandoned development and extension projects... Leading eventually to my discovery of Torchwick's operations... Perhaps even granting you an opportunity to win his favor, in so doing."
"Dangerous game." Aldric warned, "start too early, tip Lady In Red off, plan changes, information is useless... Even with update from me."
"I suppose there would be difficulties." Ozpin agreed, "but I do believe preventing, or at the very least majorly mitigating the damage of, the breach shall benefit us more than it could harm us."
"And your death?" Aldric asked, the chill in the air slowly becoming great enough that his breath left a light fog.
Ozpin hummed, "you seem to know as well as I that such a thing will only slow me down." He said, "serving, actually, as a perfect segue into why I called you here."
"Gonna tell me how you cheat death?"
"I will... But if you will humor me, I've a very old story to tell."
Aldric shrugged, "you're the headmaster."
Ozpin took in a deep breath, "it was many centuries ago." He said, "so many past that first dozen that, to be frank, I have lost count on more than one occasion. It was before the time of grand kingdoms, I lived in a small, fledgling village with eyes on expansion. It had been around for awhile already, when I was born, but it was in such an ancient time that only the lucky, prosperous few could get such a meager education that they could read. Fortunately, I was one of those people... And it was in being taught reading that I first discovered my voracious desire, and endless respect, for knowledge.
"One morning I was called away by my father; unlike I, he hadn't a great education, only enough to successfully run a mining operation for stones and precious metals. He told me that morning that one of his workers had discovered a strange, sandy substance, that glowed when a person approached it, and was warm to the touch of the few people brave enough to do so." He nodded to the side, "it is with the benefit of hindsight that I can properly identify it as Dust, and what we would know today as Ancient Dust - the very same kind from which the White Witch drew the power to bring you here... But at the time, not only was it an unheard of substance, but it hadn't yet been discovered in any quantity at all, let alone large enough quantities to mine; and I say that, knowing full well and good that the amount of Dust my father found was so comparatively small to what we find in modern times, that the Schnee Dust Company would have declared it a bad investment, and not pursued a mining contract.
"But I?" He shook his head, humming as he sank into his memories. "I was enthralled. I thought that perhaps this would be how I could earn my place among the other great scholars of my time and my ancestry... I followed my father to his mine and took up as much of the Dust as we could retrieve; barely three buckets-full... But enough to sate my desires, and more than enough to place me on the road to where I am today. So, we loaded it all in the buckets, and returned to home, where I could study it." He said, with a wistful smile. "Our beautiful home... A poet later in our history would call it 'Urbs Aeterna', the Eternal City... And for good reason, too. It achieved its dreams of expanding, and it stands tall to this day, after more than twenty eight centuries of continuous history. Though, as I said, I knew it before all of that...
"I knew it when it was just Roma."
Aldric blinked, pursed his lips, and took in a long breath through his nose, before letting it out slowly, and looking up to the silver-haired headmaster, who himself was glancing down at Aldric, with a knowing, however wistful, smile.
Aldric's response, however, seemed to fall outside of Ozpin's prediction. "Et tu, Brute?" He rasped, "had theory. Still have." He rasped. "Actually two. First, that Lady In Red knows everything I'm doing. Is allowing subversive action as a method to obtain information would not be willing to give in other circumstances. That apparent victories in convincing her am on her side aren't at all." He looked back ahead. "That she can read terran English. You can, apparently."
"That is an unhealthy way to live, Mister Drake." Ozpin said, his frown settling into one of equal parts pity, regret, and sorrow.
"Haven't heard second theory." Said Aldric, "but first takes precedence." He said, turning to face the headmaster fully. "Anyone can name names. Can memorize countries. Make implication that they are Master or Maiden, to use magic as means of proving validity."
"You seek a method of proving that you are wrong, and I am who I claim to be."
"Acknowledge that it is unhealthy. But am still alive. Is it paranoia if they are really out to get you?"
Despite his earlier words, Ozpin did nod. "So I cannot use my magics to prove who I am, I cannot name things or concepts from Earth, and cannot refer to our earlier correspondences, as all three could feasibly be replicated by the Lady In Red." He grinned, "nor can I attempt to name things from the tablet you gave me, as you imply a fear that your allies could access it, and could perhaps have its information and be feigning ignorance." He nodded, "an interesting challenge."
"Am well aware of the way it sounds. But also am at war with a demi-goddess, a demoness, and their collective armies and resources." Aldric reiterated. "Would rather sound insane and be alive, than the opposite." A pause, "and will apologize... If this turns out to be needless difficulty."
To which, Ozpin nodded. "No, I understand." He said, "you play a dangerous game, and have understandable fears and quirks developed by your experiences. Truly, I would have been more worried had you accepted my words at face value." He looked back into the distance, to Beacon. "Fortunately, I do have a means of proving my own validity to you. Of, perhaps, earning your trust." He trailed off, but Aldric's silence prompted him to continue. "I implied during our first meeting and in subsequent correspondences that we had discovered your air ship's crash site, and had taken everything we could from it and stored it in our vault."
"Been wondering how. Burned everything we didn't take for that reason."
Ozpin smiled, "burned what you had taken from their luggage, which we did find the evidence of, mister Drake. But not from the large section in the ship's belly."
The cargo hold. Aldric would give himself and Ozpin some credit - the former for his luck and the latter for finding it. That's why they didn't have any of our technology. No one ever drops their expensive electronics in their suitcases, they carry it with them in case it gets lost. So there could have been a treasure trove of books and reference material in the plane's cargo hold that Aldric hadn't even considered looting, but comparatively few tablets and computers. There could be parts, but little else. "Okay." He nodded. "You want to show me to the vault, because if Lady In Red could get in so easily, she would have done so."
"And I do feel that a small homecoming, as good as it can be, could be healthy for the both of us." Ozpin said, before holding his arm out. "Shall we?"
Aldric shook his head, "will meet you there." And with a grunt, he launched himself into the sky, before zooming off to Beacon.
It did occur to Aldric that he was being difficult, but he worked under the assumption that the long game would be rendered far simpler if he did these things now. If he proved beyond the shadow of a doubt that his suspecting Cinder of knowing everything was just paranoia, it would open up opportunities to build better relationships and alliances with the Watchmen - be they allies by choice, like Ozpin and Qrow, or by opportunity, like Taurus and Torchwick - by simple virtue of not constantly working under the assumption that Cinder was a magnificent bastard and already had all of them on her payroll.
But, as he landed at Beacon for the second time in as many days, to find Ozpin waiting in front of Beacon Tower, Aldric would admit that the unintended benefit of being able to sift through what the Justice League recovered from his flight would do wonders for his psyche. It felt like it had been far too long since he had even looked at anything from Earth, let alone taken time to watch a terran movie or read a terran book; and if he really was just being paranoid, and Ozpin's earlier implication that he was from Earth was right, that too meant that Ozpin hadn't dropped his 'we're all aliens' theory just because he could. It meant that Ozpin was the original Master, and perhaps he could assist Aldric in understanding and mastering his own abilities.
"Welcome back." Ozpin nodded, as he held his scroll up to the door behind him, and Beacon Tower opened up for them.
Aldric followed the headmaster through the building and towards the main elevator. "How many alarms did I trip?"
"Fewer than you would think." Ozpin responded, as they entered the elevator, and with a swipe of his scroll, it began descending.
The rest of the elevator ride was spent in silence, until they made it to the vault. Aldric couldn't help but give the place an awe-struck look over; it felt less like he was in some sort of nuclear bunker than it did he was in a cathedral. Long, pristine marble flooring, a fire-like warmth, enormous, looming pillars, an arched ceiling, and the ethereal green glow that pervaded the entire place.
The image was promptly ruined when Aldric spread his radar too far, and got an eyeful of the machinery shoved in the back. Two enormous pods that stuck out like a nun at a rock concert, with wires and pipes connecting the two to eachother, and to the ground and the wall. Inside, however, was what elicited a long, regretful sigh from the fighter. Inside one of the pods was an unconscious woman, barely any older than him, covered in scorch marks, bandages, and three long, raw-looking gashes spreading from one end of her face, over each eye, and to the other end in a macabre display. Were it not for the horrendous, still swollen red scars, Amber might have looked peaceful as she slept, but as it was now she only appeared to be in pain, barely kept in check by the technological tomb she had been stuffed in.
It served as a stark reminder of the effect Aldric was indeed having on this world, and, it seemed, his reticence and stillness was noticed by the headmaster, who spoke, "it isn't your fault, young man."
"Beg to differ." Aldric responded, shaking his head. "Made those scars. Almost killed her." He nodded forward, "let's keep moving." Though by this point, there entire reason for coming here was moot: Only Ozpin could do it. Aldric was more here to see the haul from the airplane.
Maybe they'd taken the alcohol he'd left behind?
A man could dream, he was honestly just glad he'd gotten away with, and still had, his stash of oxycodone, safely tucked away in his suitcases for Beacon. Never knew when he'd need it.
Regardless of dreams, the reality came back into focus as Aldric constricted his radar to a much smaller area, and followed Ozpin. They made it through half of the vault before taking a left turn into a closet-like room. Though he called it a 'room', knowing full well that this one room looked to be as big as his house, back home. Inside, it was remarkably well organized - something Aldric had a sneaking suspicion might have had to do with the riding-crop wielding teacher - with clear divisions based on the size of the books, and in the case of the food, drinks, and other items they had taken, by the type of item it was. But it was what was in the center of the room that stole Aldric's undivided attention.
Somehow, some way, the Justice League had not only recovered, but identified the importance of, the airplane's flight recorder, and had placed it on a pedestal in the center of the room.
He let out a long sigh, as he entered the room. "All roads really do lead to Rome." He nodded, "alright." He said, reaching up and pulling the shemagh from his head, before wrapping it up and stuffing it in one of his coat's many pockets. "Okay." Next he unfastened the mask that covered the bottom portion of his face, and then finally he pried off his goggles, before stowing those away too. "I have a shitload of questions, but top among them -" He turned to Ozpin, and pointed at the orange device before him. "How did you know to grab that specifically?"
Ozpin's response was delayed, as he was given his first good look at the prices Aldric had paid to fight in his war. An equal mixture of regret and pity seemed to flash through his eyes, worsening when it then dawned on him that the person in front of him was the same one infiltrating his school - meaning that in addition to the visible injuries on his face, he was missing an arm on top of that.
But if Ozpin had anything to say beyond his expression, he didn't say it, instead going with, "we were... Very thorough, Mister Drake." He nodded, slowly regaining his light drawl. "Indeed, we found it by accident, only after we had finished deconstructing the entire ship."
"Is that supposed to mean the parts and the fuel are somewhere around here?"
"Just across the way." Ozpin responded, nodding behind him. "Along with a detailed account of exactly how it was we took it apart... Should it ever be prudent to put it back together." He then nodded back to the flight recorder, as Aldric dropped his hand. "When we discovered the sheer amount of damage that one item could take without reflecting said damage, we surmised it had to have been the ship's black box."
Aldric hummed, turning back to face it, noting how it appeared to have been opened. "You guys crack into it?" He rumbled.
Ozpin nodded, "having Ironwood on our side proved to be beneficial in more ways than we initially predicted. Thousands of Atlas' best computer technicians and engineers, focused on interfacing with one device." He frowned, "poor thing didn't last a month."
"A favor, then." Aldric requested, placing his hands in his pockets. "I don't need all of it... But I would like the crash data. The recording of the pilots as it went down." Maybe it was morbid curiosity, maybe it was for posterity's sake, maybe it was because he still held out some infinitesimal hope that his father was still alive, maybe bumbling around in a village with a wicked case of amnesia, but the end result was the same: Aldric felt he needed to hear that data.
Ozpin seemed to understand, "of course. I can get it to you before you..." A pause, "well, I suppose your departure will only be temporary."
"My keeping that a secret was before you outed yourself as a terran, Ozpin." Aldric reasoned. "And I'm not dropping the mask for the others. I think you're just different enough of a case that it's warranted." He turned to the headmaster, who was nodding. "So... Rome." He said, getting the conversation back on track. "Does everyone else know?"
"My allies always knew as much as I believed they could handle." Said Ozpin, "it was only after our failed attempt to reach to the stars, that I introduced them to the idea of other planets with life... And told them of mine." A pause, "you know..." His wistful grin returned, accompanied by a thousand-yard stare. "After every technological advancement I was here for... I always spared some time to wonder the hows, and wheres, and whens, of my original home. Little did I know just how great 'little' Rome became, and that where we would fail to touch our moon... My people would not... And when I retrieved the books and materials from your plane... To see how far you came, and how fast in such a short time... I believe there is a great deal our two species could learn from eachother."
"Like how to travel to other planets." Aldric prodded.
Ozpin nodded, "now that I've revealed to you my little secret... A part of it, at least, I feel it prudent to backtrack a bit and tell you that that 'ancient dust'... It had a different name, for a while. We called it Roman Dust... Remnant's entire supply was what I brought with me from Earth, and what diluted populations I was able to make, afterwards."
Aldric nodded, "so the second I dropped the name, you didn't even need me to start saying Earth, you knew."
"I appreciated much more your telling us, it meant more than us prompting you." Ozpin said. "Unfortunately, the name didn't stick... Having to describe what Rome was each time... And later on, when I discovered that I hadn't merely left home, but abandoned it altogether, having to describe that it was from another world entirely... The meaning and intent was far more easily conveyed with the name it has now." A beat, "especially to those who knew.
"But to continue my story... You may be more familiar with it than you realize, however your arrival, and now my learning that it has merely been three thousand years back home, has added new facets to it." He began, getting back on track as he reached behind a bookshelf, and pulled out two folding chairs that, much like his very first appearance, hadn't been there in the first place. "To begin with the obvious: I am what you have termed the 'Original' Master." He said, handing Aldric the magic chair -
The Magic Chair.
All of Aldric's thoughts ground to a halt as his focus and his radar snapped wide open, and in the span of a second, he'd searched the entire room, until he found it. The chair that he did once, and still, claimed had saved his fucking life. Almost indistinguishable from the others it was surrounded by, except for the grass stains, Grimm-damaged upholstery, light fading from exposure to the fire, and the heavily worn pockets from having been stuffed with everything he'd deemed worthy of keeping with him at all times. It seemed like so long ago, but it all came rushing back to him about as fast as he picked up the chair and pulled it towards him.
Ozpin gave him a curious frown as he saw the chair zoom through the air, but he seemed to recognize that it was the chair that had been deliberately moved and lived in, so he didn't ask questions as Aldric took it instead of the one he'd been offered. For the first time since he'd stepped foot on the aviator, Aldric had an actual, full-on genuine smile on his face, and a feeling of irrational safety. As if Salem herself could pop into the room, and Aldric would survive.
He had his chair.
After the two sat down, and Aldric had his moment, Ozpin continued. "And while some things were embellished through legend... The general idea is at least true." He said, "but there is context very few know, and that context actually plays into my altered theories." He folded his hands in his lap, as Aldric let his rest on the Magic Chair's armrest; it was wholly uncomfortable, but the unbridled power it had over his psyche was healing far more damage than it was causing to his back.
"If I had to guess..." Aldric drawled, "you think you might have been shot through time and space?" He surmised.
Ozpin nodded, "I have been alive for far longer than twenty eight centuries." He said, "truly, I came to Remnant so early on in its history that many of its humans had only just left their caves and congregated into tribes. I was instantly aware of two things, upon my arrival: That I wasn't home, and that something had changed within me." He explained, "I studied the Roman Dust, as well as trained alongside the tribal humans to master my aura, and learned that my abilities were wholly alien compared to those of the people around me. I found that, through trial, error, and no small amount of willpower, I could replicate nearly any semblance I came across, whereas so many humans could only perform their one skill.
"Questioning why and how this was, was what led me to discover that mine was magic, and not merely a semblance." He said, "I was once told in regards to computers that they do what one tells them to, and not what they want them to. I would apply the same phrase to reality: It is something that does what it is told, and not what is wanted of it. But with my abilities... And yours..." He added, with a nod, "I found that I could will reality. If I wanted fire, I made it. If I wanted water, I drew it. If I wanted health, I made it." He listed off, "it with a small amount of shame that I claim that the first true human settlement was due to my tireless efforts in mastering my abilities, awakening and training others, and fighting off the Grimm."
"Shame?" Aldric parroted back.
"Because with power, inevitably comes something to challenge it." Ozpin responded. "Many would flock to my safe haven, and many looked to me as a leader. I did often try to learn where I was and, after I did, how to return home, but I found that what little Roman Dust had survived my transition from Earth to Remnant, simply wasn't enough to do what I required of it. After ten years, I had accepted this place to be my new home, it perhaps it was for that reason fate decided to give me a shove." He explained, nodding. "After that tenth year, new arrivals came, one of whom carried with them an object I had never seen before... Something desperately old, and yet still to this day, more advanced than anything I have ever seen, but what was most important to me at the time was that it felt like I did. It had magic, much like mine."
"The silver-eyed man who carried it was more than willing to part with it - after all, I was his leader, and I was the man whom organized the village that would allow his wife and daughter to live in peace." He continued, "and it was then I began studying it, alongside my Roman Dust. It was through that that I learned I could use small portions - colonies, if you will - of Roman Dust, to change Remnant Dust into something halfway between the two. Less powerful than what came from Earth, but able to be reproduced. I could build more of that, and, I thought, perhaps rescue these people - take them from this hell and bring them home, to Rome, where it would be safe.
"Unfortunately..." He sighed, "my experiments caught the attention of a woman whom the phrase 'pure evil' cannot properly describe the depths of." Aldric nodded, knowing who it was he referred to. "She looked different, back then... Human." He said, "but her ambitions were still the same: To collect those relics and use them for her own gains. When she found me, she had already gathered two of them, intending upon me being her third... But clearly not prepared for the power I wielded.
"You see, Mister Drake... Salem does have a spark of magic within her. Our battles and mere exposure to the relics will, after a very long time, do that to a person... But she focused her skills on the creation and domination of the creatures of Grimm." He said, "and she used that spark to try and form some sort of kinship between the two of us... But I could see the hunger in her eyes and smell the rot on her soul, just as easily as I could sense the presence of the two relics she had with her. When I refused to give her mine, she left our haven...
"And returned the next day with more Grimm than I had ever seen up until that point. Enough fliers to blot out the sky, enough ground-walkers to cause an earthquake... But not her dragon. She hadn't that, quite yet... And perhaps that more than anything is why I still yet live." He explained, somberly. "The battle lasted for days, all of our aura-users fought tirelessly to give our civilians time to flee with everything they could carry... And never up until that day had I ever used as much power as I had then... But what truly tipped the balance wasn't me, but rather that silver-eyed man who had brought me the relic in the first place.
"His wife died in his arms, during the attack, and..." He frowned, "since then I have only seldom felt as much pain and weakness as I did that night. It was then I learned of his kind..." He straightened up, "warriors like him... Like Miss Rose, they have an ability unique unto themselves... That I still find myself wondering whether or not the development of this ability had been specifically because of my arrival on Remnant." He said, as an aside. "They can nullify magic in its entirety." He said, "all of our power is rendered useless in the face of a silver-eyed warrior who has mastered their abilities, and they can render Grimm completely unable to feed off of fear and emotions and sapping them of their strength. They can even weaken aura itself, making even the most powerful Huntsman trivial in comparison, and when he unleashed it that day, it nearly killed her, and left me unconscious for weeks, but the effect remained the same: She had to flee, and even though the tide turned, so did we.
"Reiccan would turn to be one of my most loyal lieutenants during my war against Salem. Though our haven was destroyed, we took it back and rebuilt it, and took the fight to her." He explained, "we spent decades warring against her. During that time I recovered the missing relic, and Reiccan trained entire legions of warriors like him, giving birth to the legend, and indeed the earliest true Huntsman and Huntresses... But it did not last.
"Never had she been faced with an opponent so equal to her in strength, and so desperate was she to win this war, that she began to abuse the relics she had. She tore into them, forcing them to give her their secrets instead of earning them as I would... And it was from them that she learned to summon Grimm, as well as dominate them, and then make one of her own."
She found a few Pieces of Eden, and they made her go from Talion stealing soldiers to Sauron making them. "The dragon."
"The dragon." Ozpin confirmed. "It wasn't immune to Reiccan's warriors, but its ability to generate more, and attract the rest... It cost many of his warriors to freeze it that first time... But she had intended for that to begin with, as while his warriors were busy, she came with the rest of the force, to me." He explained, "now the creature your 'show' has shown you... That battle scarred the lands, and I do believe that never have more men and grimm died in one place, before or after..." He sighed, "and she claimed possession of a third relic, giving her more power than even I, as old and skilled as I was, commanded at the time... And in a move born out of desperation, I used the only things I had left: My relic, and my Dust."
"Boom." Aldric surmised.
"Quite." Ozpin nodded, "I wounded her... But what happened later... Terrans call it nuclear winter. The entire planet was bathed in ash for years, and while she was forced to retreat, without her gathered relics... The damage had been done. Millions of men and Grimm were dead, three of the four relics had been tainted by her evil." He paused, "and then... The brother gods themselves came to me."
Aldric frowned, "you spoke to God." He deadpanned.
"It sounds ridiculous when said aloud, but yes." Ozpin nodded, sticking to his guns. "They told me they were ashamed of me. A man of my power, and I had failed to stop Salem from abusing the relics as she had, from killing as many as she did, and indeed for killing as many as I had, in my desperation. I was, in turn, cursed." He said, "whenever I die, my soul seeks a new host to bond with. I bring with me all of my memories and powers, for better or worse, forever."
"Sounds familiar."
"It was indeed what I based the Maidens off of." Ozpin confirmed, "but I ensured not to have their souls pass, merely their powers... And you may surmise why."
"Who wants to be immortal?"
"Apt." Ozpin nodded, "especially after three centuries passed, and I never saw nor heard from Salem again... No doubt because she had yet to heal from my attack. Despair gripped me, and turned to depression, to isolation... I began to question why I continued to live. To continue to inevitably, invariably, steal lives. To continue to fight, if only for a species that wasn't truly my own, and would always move on, always forget those that fought for them." He sighed, "I will admit, for a time, I lost faith... Even becoming tempted to track down the relics I had hidden, to try to use them in an attempt to spurn the brother gods and end my eternity.
"But then." He grinned, his eyes lost in memory. "Something miraculous happened. Four women somehow did it... Simply by discovering some of my diluted Roman Dust, they traced everything back. Sought out storytellers and legends from generations past, trying to untangle the web that was my history with the human race, to figure out where it was I went, and they did." He said, with a nod. "They found me in my cottage... The place I always returned to, every time I died and came back. They found me, isolated from everything... And they asked for only one thing: The truth.
"Initially I thought they would leave if I ignored them. After all, what would a few weeks - a month at the most - be to a man who had already lived for hundreds of years?" He shook his head, "but they didn't leave at all. They foraged and hunted for food, and every day they would knock on my door and ask me to tell them my story." He laughed, "they broke me, instead of the other way around. Four very mortal women broke one very immortal man.
"I told them everything as I am telling it to you now. Of Rome, of Earth, of my first safe haven and my war with Salem... And they took that victory and ran with it. They vowed to spend as much time as they had to, to convince me that the war against her and the Grimm was still worth fighting. They were at my cottage for five years, and it felt like every day was spent on moral and philosophical debates. Truly, they taught me as much as I taught them... And I still remember it all as though it were mere moments ago." And as he spoke, Aldric swore he could hear the sound of women's laughter, far enough away to be faint, but close enough to be distinct. "And..." Ozpin shook his head, "I'll be cursed again if they didn't do it again. They convinced me that hope never died, and that the species was worth fighting for... Forever, if need be."
"So you made them Maidens." Aldric surmised, after Ozpin drifted off to silence.
The reincarnating headmaster nodded, "the power it took to perform such an act..." His grin turned mischevious, "scaring a young man on a rooftop, or pulling a few chairs out of thin air pale in comparison. I had only ever drawn on so much when I fought Salem." He let his grin fade away, "and as of late... I find myself wondering if I could ever do something so grandiose, ever again."
This prompted a frown from Aldric, "why?"
"I can feel it, Mister Drake. My power is fading. Perhaps even the gods can grow weak, perhaps they have grown tired of my existence. Perhaps a soul can only exist so long before its aura begins to fade, perhaps it is something nefarious..." He shook his head, "or it is all of those things or even none of them. I spend every day thinking on it... Even moreso now, that I see my abating power will most likely be the sole contributing factor to my next demise." He said, "though... I like to think, at least, that curses aside, the brother deities haven't lost their faith in me." He nodded to Aldric, "they did, after all, see fit to bring a second Master to Remnant."
Aldric shook his head, "please don't give me that 'he works in mysterious ways' stuff." Aldric said, "I believe in God - not yours, but one nonetheless - and even I get tired of hearing that after my puppy got hit by a car."
"Though this may not be what you want to hear, you remind me of me, when I was your age."
Aldric couldn't repress a grin at that, and he lolled his head in a circle on his shoulders, as though rolling his eyes. "I'll give you that." He said, "but what about the Maidens? Couldn't they serve the same purpose?"
"Not in the same capacity." Said Ozpin, "they are to you and I, what my mixed dust is to actual, genuine Roman Dust, straight from the well." He grinned, "and I believe your weapon is perfect proof of that."
Aldric blinked, "my weapon?"
"I was able to discern what it was, after viewing the recordings of your fights." Ozpin nodded, "you did well to hide it, but few things but nanites can make gauntlets look as viscous as yours." A pause, "and I remembered hearing from Qrow that one of the huntsman he had fought had used nanites to heal a wound he had taken to the arm."
Aldric rolled up his sleeve, briefly glancing at the black and red iron limb. "Yeah. One hell of a wound." He deadpanned.
"But do you know what I figured out?"
"Hm?"
"When I made the very same shield you did... It didn't work even remotely as well as yours does."
Huh? "What?" Aldric wasn't afraid to admit that had caught him off guard.
"Hard light is good, as far as weapons go... But the technology has not yet fully caught up with the concept." He said, "I created a near-perfect replica of your shield, and had Port shoot it. It shattered into dozens of pieces." He began, "I left it on overnight, the batteries in the nanites died within an hour, but most damning: I threw it, and it did not rebound."
Aldric would have argued that half of that was his using his semblance, but then he would have killed his own point: Half of the shield tosses were his semblance. He only used that to aim and retrieve them, the rest - the actual rebounds - were all the shield; but according to Ozpin, that wasn't the case at all.
"So what are you trying to say?"
"That you are willing the universe." Ozpin responded. "My first hint was in hearing you speak... And my second was in the message you sent me, showing me how you thought." He leaned forward, "would I be correct in thinking that a vast majority of your accomplishments were predicated on your being able to visualize what it was you were trying to do? And to expand upon that a bit, to understand the science, or even merely have something of a scientific backing, of what it was you were trying?"
Aldric knew where this was going. "You think that my shield, and pretty much everything else on top of that, works the way it does because I'm using my Master abilities to make it work that way." He said, "that I'm willing it to be."
"Leading me to my third, and most important hint: My own abilities work the same way." He said, "but whereas you have entire eras of science, mathematics, and even fiction to draw from..." He shook his head, "when I had to learn my abilities, I had only generalities." He held his hand in front of him, "fire." A flame came to life above his palm, "water." It turned to a liquid and coalesced into a half-sphere of water. "Ice." It froze solid, "stone." It crumbled to dirt, "I based all of my abilities off of what I knew... What I could see." It vanished, and he straightened back up. "As do you base your abilities off of what you know... What you see."
"You're implying that you don't have access to science like I do." Aldric countered. "You live in an information age."
"Mister Drake, the free dissemination of information across the planet was a very recent invention, and very few will share their secrets with those outside of their borders." Ozpin responded. "So where you have had access to the entire repository of your species' scientific knowledge, I have had only what I could learn and what few secrets I could glean over a very long life." He nodded, "give it time to... Well, master your abilities... I do believe that you could grow to be stronger than I was at my height." He said, "and I would point at your weapons... And indeed, your battle with Amber, as all the proof you would need. Even with merely microscopic portions of your power, and then brief instances of access to the rest of the well, you battled one who knew her powers far longer and far better than you."
"There's a 'but' coming." Aldric surmised.
To which, Ozpin nodded. "I have no doubts that Salem either used all of her Roman Dust, or a great deal of her power, or both at once, to bring you and your ship here... And that she had to spend her supply of it because I, clearly, wouldn't have helped her... But now she has you. A Master that, so far as she knows, is affiliated with her, and not me."
Aldric closed his eyes, pursing his lips. "You're saying that she knows how to get back to Earth, and that she'll want to use me to boost her power... Or maybe even the other way around - act as a backup battery to me - so she can get back to Earth and take more terrans."
"The damage she could do merely with a Maiden is unthinkable." Said Ozpin, "and with a Master, is terror-inducing. But both at the same time? And with an army of the latter?" He shook his head, "it wouldn't be a war, Mister Drake. It would be her saying 'I win' and her Masters making it so."
Aldric let out a long, exhausted sigh. "Are you trying to imply that you think I can kill her?" He asked, rubbing at the bridge of his nose.
"On your own?" Ozpin shook his head, "as you are now, I do not think so. But with time to learn and increase your power... With allies at your side... Perhaps your own Reiccan... Maybe you could." He said, "maybe you could end this war."
"Time, Professor." Said Aldric, "it's not our friend. Especially if you're on your way out." He said, "maybe I can get some kind of limited control over my powers. Maybe I can get myself strong enough to box with a Maiden who isn't new to the game. But it all comes down to time." He said, "I have a year at best to go from Clark Kent to Superman, before it becomes time for Beacon to get sacked. And whether or not we win, that will inevitably be the point when the Lady In Red grabs me back up and takes me to the White Witch... And if she really wants me to..." He shook his head, "fuck, make a hyperspace bypass and get back to Earth, we'll all be screwed either way. Either I say no, have to fight her, and whether I live or die we've lost our man on the inside... Or I say yes to maintain my cover, pull more terrans to our side, ruin their lives, and pray I can figure out how to either keep them from getting their powers, or ensure they'll fight with me and not her." He grunted, "we don't have many options, here. Even claiming I'm not strong enough will only buy us a little time." He was liking his 'nuke her' option more and more, but was also pretty sure Ozpin would come down hard on giving Atlas the secrets to the atom, and perhaps even harder on trying to co-opt his power to get back home and steal one of their nukes.
But the professor smiled, "I told you once, Mister Drake, to not worry about things outside your control." He said, "I would instead focus on the here and now, and let tomorrow come as it will." Aldric could have said something along the lines of that being why Ozpin hadn't won yet, but he bit his tongue. "And besides... Mister Etiolate." He said, clapping his knees. "You may find that merely one year at one of the world's best Huntsman academies can do wonders for far more than your aura control."
Aldric rolled his head, though he, like Ozpin, could tell that this conversation had since hit its apex and was gearing down, so he felt he might as well make one retaliatory strike for all the bombs Ozpin had dropped on him tonight. "As much as I would love a year of not thinking, Professor, minor mistakes aside, agonizing over this is how I'm still alive and crotch-deep with the enemy."
Ozpin blinked at that, and Aldric almost lost it when he realized he'd tripped up the immortal wizard. "You -"
"The tri-haired assassin lady." Aldric deadpanned. "I don't get it either, and it's just as scary as it sounds." He turned to look over his shoulder, in the direction of the rows of bottles of alcohol. "I might want to steal a few of those."
Aware that the conversation was winding down, Ozpin shook his head. "You may be in a war, Mister Drake, but you are still a student and not yet at drinking age."
"Fuck you, I'm magic. I'll turn water to wine." Aldric responded, as he pulled out his mask, "and technically, since those are from my planet... And I'm the only body and soul terran on Remnant, that makes all that stuff mine." He grinned and began reassembling the disguise. Once he was finished, he continued with, "would say goodbye... But will be back tomorrow."
Ozpin nodded, standing to his feet. "If you'll spare a moment longer, I can retrieve that data for you." He said, "we will make further plans after the initiation... I am certain that after tonight, the both of us need some time to think."
"Like you wouldn't believe."