When Jaune entered Ozpin’s office, the man was behind his desk, not seeming to be working on anything, just staring him down with a cup of steaming coffee hiding the lower half of his face.
The elevator isn’t silent so it’s no surprise he heard us coming, but shouldn’t there be some level of ignorance on who’s visiting? Not a hint of surprise on his face at the fact that a student in Goodwitch’s class and a professor who should be in his own office are showing up together. I wonder if there are hidden cameras in the elevator. Guess that wouldn’t be too surprising with a guy like this…
Jaune did his best to ignore the intruder in his head, hoping his nerves at being dragged to the headmaster’s office weren’t too obvious. Neither of them said a word, seemingly waiting for the other to make the first move.
“Pardon the interruption, but I am afraid we have a bit of a situation on our hands that requires your attention!” Luckily for Jaune, Oobleck didn’t seem to care for any sort of tension. Ozpin took one last sip of his coffee before responding.
“I see. It’s not often that my students make their way here so early into their education, Mr. Arc. What is it that I can help you two with?”
But when Jaune opened his mouth to explain, Oobleck stopped him, holding a hand up. “Before we begin, I must ask if you understand the meaning behind a rather peculiar phrase that was shared with us. It has us rather confused, and we were wondering if you might enlighten us.”
If Oobleck wanted to control the flow of the conversation, Jaune wasn’t about to stop him. The warning he had gotten earlier had him on his toes, worrying about what exactly Ozpin would do to him if he said the wrong thing. Sure, he was in one of the most prestigious positions in the world, and his reputation seemed pretty good from what Jaune had heard, but being told that a man might kill you made you question things like that.
Would you relax? You’re stressing me out. I’ll tell you what to say so you don’t screw anything up. Damn teenagers.
But with this complaint unheard outside of his mind, the conversation moved on. At the strange request, Ozpin raised an eyebrow before nodding in confirmation.
The doctor consulted his notes, reading off “That secretive little parasite has a lot of experience in being a disembodied voice inside of a younger man’s head.”
It might have been his imagination, but Jaune could have sworn he saw the headmaster stiffen ever so slightly at those words.
It’s not your imagination, he’s panicking. You two aren’t meant to know about that and now he’s stuck between wondering if he’s about to be attacked or if Oobleck is genuinely asking him about the meaning. Though I’m impressed with the doc. I thought for sure he would just rattle off everything you told him blindly, but it seems he’s taking some of it at face value and assessing Ozpin as a potential threat before giving him all the info.
A potential threat? Jaune hadn’t shared the voice’s concerns of murder with Oobleck.
I directly referred to Ozpin as a parasite invading the minds of younger men. How is that not a threat when the man runs a school? Although I suppose with the way I framed it, it might be a bit more concerning than the reality of the situation.
Ozpin set his coffee down. “That is certainly an interesting one. May I ask where you got it from? I’ve not heard that line before.”
With Jaune’s eyes focused on the headmaster, he’d not noticed how Oobleck had stiffed as well. “You’ve not heard that particular line before, but it would seem that you understand it none-the-less. Forgive me, but I’m afraid I’ll have to ask that you explain what it means before I reveal my source.”
With a heavy sigh, Ozpin stood from his chair. “You always were an observant one, Bart.”
“But of course. I am a huntsman, a scholar, and an educator. I find that observational skills are quite the boon to have in one’s arsenal. And with the lack of context, I’m sure you can see why I’m concerned.”
“Indeed, such a statement on its own could be construed in quite a concerning way. But you’re playing with fire at the moment, and I must know where this information came from.”
Was he always like this? At this rate they’re gonna get in a fight and everything will become a mess. Guess it’s my time to shine. Repeat after me, Jaune.
“W-we’re all on the same side, Ozma. Relax and talk this out before somebody does something they regret.”
The room froze. Oobleck, despite knowing the source of those lines, was only left with another piece of the puzzle when a new name was added into the mix. Ozpin, on the other hand, only had his worries increase.
“Ozma? You would do well to learn the names of your instructors properly, Mr. Arc. My name is Oz-pin.”
“Could you not be paranoid for 5 minutes, please? Walking into your office with one of your employees and a student with basically no combat experience isn’t exactly a threat. We need your help, and you could use ours. Now let’s calm down and stop acting like somebody is about to die.” Jaune was drenched in sweat by the time he finished, his nerves getting the better of him. He was not prepared to be talking down his headmaster from attacking him, especially so early into his time at Beacon.
Oobleck put a comforting hand on his shoulder. “I have to agree with the young man. I’m not entirely sure of what’s going on, but with that reaction? I think you need to start explaining. We’ve worked together for years, Ozpin. I like to think I can trust you, but now I have concerns.”
Ozpin sat back down, but his grip on his cane was white knuckled. “I would like to trust you as well, Bart. I have trusted you for years. But I can not continue this conversation without knowing where this information is coming from.”
And now we get to the fun part. Buckle up, kid. This is where things get dangerous.
Jaune’s face paled. That wasn’t the dangerous part?! But a reassuring look from Oobleck had him speak up once more. “I… there’s a voice in my head. It said we needed to talk to you. That you could help us.”
Ozpin’s grip loosened. “A voice in your head?”
“Yes, sir. He says…” Jaune paused for a moment, listening to the voice, “it seems that you’re not the only cursed one here. You scratch my back, I scratch yours. I’m only forcing your hand here because you’re going to need more allies in the near future.”
Ozpin’s displeasure was obvious, but he seemed a lot calmer now. Why would that calm him down?
Because with how crazy your explanation sounds, it would be a horrible cover story for his enemies. So you’re either incompetent henchmen he doesn’t have to worry quite so much about, or you’re being serious, either of which is an improvement.
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Oobleck took his hand off Jaune’s shoulder, taking a more relaxed stance. Or, as relaxed as the man could get with his boundless energy, anyway. The room was silent for a moment as Ozpin gathered his thoughts.
“I suppose… that this voice has a point. But I am left with many questions. I will answer yours if you answer mine. Does that sound acceptable?”
“It sounds more than fair,” Oobleck spoke up, “but I must ask that we must go back to the beginning. In what way are you a parasite?”
The man seemed to sag at that question. “I would prefer that you not use that term, but there seems to be no escaping it. When I was a young man, younger than Mr. Arc here, I too discovered a voice that was not my own one day. Telling me things that I could not know. Names of people I had not met. The origin of the voice was never discovered, but I adapted to the situation. Got used to it. And then… well, eventually it seemed that our minds… merged in a way. The man you see before you today is neither completely Ozpin, nor completely Ozma, as the voice came to be known. I am a blend of the two, but obviously I kept the name Ozpin to keep things simple both for myself and people who knew me.”
The air in the room was heavy as they digested that information, as Jaune found yet another thing to worry about.
Relax, kid. First of all, the parts of that which aren’t lies are only true in the broadest sense of the word. Secondly, your situation and his are different. I’m not gonna take over your mind or whatever, you’ll stay you. Not that we’re gonna clarify that for them at the moment, I just need to make sure that my issues get solved without laying all of the cards on the table for a manipulative bastard like him.
But the professor was not one to let things stay quiet for long. “That is… quite concerning. There was not much time between the appearance of the voice in Jaune’s head and our arrival here, but compounded with the other issues he is experiencing, my running theory was that it was his semblance. Could the two phenomena be unrelated?”
“Other issues? What else has happened?”
“Mr. Arc was sent to my office because his aura was draining for no discernable reason. I’ve gone over just about everything I can think of, and if this voice is similar to this… Ozma, you speak of, then it would not be his semblance, but simply another problem that has cropped up for him.”
Speak up kid, it’s time to play some word games.
“U-um!” The adults in the room turned to look at him. “Actually, he said that he is my semblance. His presence is the reason for my aura drain, so our situations are a bit different. He just wanted to get advice on how to separate our minds because he’s…” his face turned red before he managed to continue, “-sick of hearing the thoughts of a teenage boy. And obviously being a constant drain on my aura is going to cause problems.”
Oobleck lit up at the explanation, his pen blazing a trail through his notes. “That certainly makes things simpler! Having my hypothesis proven correct is always rewarding. But I do find it interesting that he is aware of the fact that he is a semblance. I’ve no recollection of such a thing ever occurring, at least not in any capacity that was documented.”
“I’m afraid that I’ve never seen such a thing either. It has been… quite some time since I had to worry about keeping thoughts separated, so I’m afraid I can’t give you any advice off the top of my head, Jaune. I will try to compile a list of exercises that may help you and send it to your scroll later today. Why don’t you get back to your classes for now, while Dr. Oobleck and I come up with some ideas. I think the two of us have much to discuss.” The headmaster and professor shared a meaningful look.
That’s his way of politely asking you to get out so he can induct the doc into his little secret society and start plotting against us. Would be too easy for him to just tell me the answer, the bastard. I guess we’ll just have to take him at his word and hope that he pulls through with some ideas.
“Y-yes, sir! Thank you both for your help, I’ll let you know if anything else comes up.” He quickly scrambled back to the elevator, spamming the button to close the door.
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With the student gone from the office, Ozpin took off his glasses with a sigh. “I do not like to involve my students in more complicated manners, and I am… slow to trust. But I will correct that mistake today, Bart. You deserve better than what I have given you.”
“I can understand wanting to be secretive about what you have said so far, but I have a feeling that there is a lot more to the situation than what you’ve told that young man.”
“Yes. You might want to sit down for once. A very long time ago, when the moon was still whole, and the Gods were still present, there was a woman named Salem…”
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“What the hell just happened?! You said Ozpin could help but it looked like there was gonna be a fight to the death or something!”
The elevator ride down from Ozpin’s tower was not a silent one.
Eh. Didn’t go as well as I hoped, but turned out better than I expected. I’m calling that a win. We lied to him, he lied to us, and now we’ll have to watch our backs, but honestly him being more paranoid than usual in the coming months is a good thing.
“Better than expected?! And what do you mean we lied to him, I didn’t lie… wait, did you make me lie?”
Yeah, I made sure that Oobleck came because I thought for sure there was gonna be a throw down and we’d have to pull out all sorts of secrets to get him to listen to us, if he did at all. No offense, but if Ozpin tried to fight and it was just you? Well, you might have lasted two seconds if you were lucky. As far as the lying goes, we kind of have to. If he gets all the information and starts trying to manipulate us it’s not gonna end well. Sorry if I don’t trust the guy responsible for Ruby and Yang’s messed up family.
“That’s what you expected and you still told me to walk in there?! Wait, what’s wrong with their family?”
Let’s just say that not everyone got as good of an upbringing as you, at least for the moment. And I get that this is new and scary, but you signed up at Beacon. Well, forged your way into Beacon, but still. The life of a Huntsman is not always a pleasant one. People die. Better to get you used to some stress now while we’re sorting out our teething problems than to let you get overwhelmed when it really matters.
“It’s the first week! I know that this is dangerous, but outside of the mess that was initiation, I thought I’d have some time to learn before getting thrown into situations like that.”
Fine. I’m sorry for almost getting your ass kicked or whatever. I’ll make it up to you.
“And how exactly are you going to make it up to me? You’re a voice in my head who has done nothing but cause me problems by existing.”
Jaune, I know you’re not the brightest, but come on.
“Rude!”
I just had Ozpin freaking out by revealing some of his most closely held secrets. I have knowledge.
“And I’m meant to just trust the things you say? I don’t know anything about you. I don’t even know your name! Do you even have a name?”
Damn. You’ve got me there. Call me… actually can we come back to that one? Referring to your semblance by a normal name would be weird, right? Like those freaks who give their dogs people names. We should come up with something cool.
“You’re dodging the question! The way you phrased that makes it sound like you just don’t want me to know your real name.”
Look kid, if you drop it right now, I’ll give you advice on how to deal with girls. You like Weiss or whatever, right?
“That sounds like a bribe.”
It is a bribe. But you’ve already used forged documents, you’re not exactly an upstanding citizen yourself.
“...do you really think you can help me get Weiss to go out with me?”
Ehhh, maybe not Weiss, but I can definitely help you get a girlfriend. Probably. We’ll see. But in exchange, you stop asking uncomfortable questions.
“I feel like I might come to regret this, but… you have yourself a deal, mysterious voice who refuses to identify himself.”
Being referred to as just a voice is getting old real quick. Maybe your little friends can help us workshop name ideas.
“...I’m going to have to convince them that hearing a voice in my head doesn’t make me crazy, aren’t I?”
You didn’t have any problem making the doc think you were crazy. If it weren’t for me sparking his curiosity, he’d probably be looking into having you checked for schizophrenia. And then you went and blindly parroted what I wanted to Ozpin… honestly, you might be crazy, even if I’m not the reason for it.
“Maybe this is all a nightmare. I got knocked out in Goodwitch’s class and I’ll wake up soon.”
If only we were so lucky.