Chapter Text
“Hello, Ozma.” There was a pause. “Or… it’s Ozpin these days, right?”
Brown eyes sought the source of the voice, though he knew who the speaker was even before his gaze found her. Salem stood in all her glory across the room from him. Her hands were tucked into the long sleeves of the dress she wore.
She was beautiful, some part of his mind could acknowledge, even in her darkness.
His glasses were gone, but he could see well enough without them for this. “Salem.” It was not a greeting, exactly. Mostly nothing more than an acknowledgment.
What was he supposed to say, all these years later? What was he supposed to do? For generations, he had led resistances against Salem and her minions, and her Grimm. For generations he'd fought with her, had fought a losing war. And here he was, trapped within what could only be her base of operations these days. The last thing he remembered before waking up here was his fight with Cinder, the new Fall Maiden. What had become of Beacon? Of his students?
"That's all you have to say?" Salem sounded almost amused as she watched him, something glittering in her gaze.
"What do you want me to say?" Ozpin questioned, sounding drained. What could he say? He was alive, but he couldn't help anymore. He had to hope that his allies could bear the torch alone for however long it took for him to finally die in this darkness.
"Your precious school is gone. And the tower with it." Salem gloated, her eyes still glittering. "Headmaster Lionheart has been... most helpful in these developments."
The knowledge of the traitor could only hurt him, Salem knew. That must have been why she told him. Yet another betrayal in a long, long chain of them. And yet, he couldn't warn the others not to trust Lionheart. Not unless she killed him quickly and he found himself in his new form immediately. It was always hard to say what would happen when he first reincarnated. He never knew who the next one would be, where they would be or how old they might be - how well trained their body might be. Starting from zero was always a harrowing prospect, there were so many unknown factors.
And Salem was always on his heels. Perhaps it was inevitable that one day he would end up here in her dungeon.
"It didn't have to be this way, Ozma."
There was an almost-gentleness to her tone that he wished he could believe. But he couldn't, he knew what her idea of a compromise had been all those years ago. "Yes, it did, Salem." His voice was grim. "When you chose to turn away from the gods, there was no other way it could be."
For a moment, he thought she might strike him, but instead, despite the rage in her gaze she merely turned on her heel and left him alone, closing the door behind her. Ozpin's gaze slowly moved around the cell then, curious about his surroundings and mindful of anything he might be able to use.
One side of it was barred, the other three walls were solid stone with occasional pieces of purple dust embedded in them. There was no way out that he could see, except for the door that Salem had opened and closed without ever actually placing a hand on it. There was likely some magic to it, but combating her magic with the small amount left within him was... unwise.
No, Ozpin realized, he was completely at her mercy. And he had learned long ago that Salem didn't really have any mercy to give. What she would do with him wasn't clear yet. Perhaps she would just leave him to rot in this cell.
How long had he been here already? There was no way to know for certain, and no way to get the answer without asking someone directly. It didn't matter that much.
It didn't matter enough for him to ask.
There was someone in one of the cells on the other side of him. Ozpin didn't know who that person was, exactly. Salem called them 'Ivory' and the inhabitant never spoke. But Salem spoke to them often. He wondered more than once if these words to Ivory were an attempt to incite him. At one point, Ozpin had thought she was talking to herself, but eventually, he had noticed movement and noise from that cell, even when Salem was not around.
There was someone there, but they wouldn't respond to him, if he tried to speak, either. Who else could Salem be keeping as a prisoner here, and why? The puzzle made him curious.
Tyrian had been sent to find the silver-eyed girl, Ozpin's heart sank as he realized this was probably Ruby. He'd never come into direct conflict with this Tyrian, but none of Salem's closest pawns were to be trifled with. He could only hope that she turned out to be okay. The order had been to bring Ruby back alive and in many ways that worried him more than an execution order. Ozpin couldn't say why, exactly, except there, was nothing Salem could want with Ruby that would be good for the girl.
Though it did make him wonder even more what had happened at Beacon following his downfall. Had Ruby awakened her power? She must have if Salem knew about her. The fact didn't sit well with him.
Watts was in Haven with Lionheart. Watts. The name was familiar, but he couldn't quite pull out why. Atlas came to mind, but there were no specific details that he could recall. Something Ironwood had said, perhaps? Ironwood had withdrawn into Atlas and was imposing an embargo on dust export. Salem was delighted - Ozpin was concerned. Ironwood was certainly still working under his own power, and not yielding to her, but his actions...
This could be bad.
Ozpin just didn't know how bad yet. Then again, wasn't that always the question? How bad was it, and what was Salem planning this time. Ozpin rarely had the right answers it would seem. But Salem... she'd gotten what she wanted. Communication was broken between the four nations, Atlas was returning to its isolationist practices. Lionheart had turned on him.
He didn't know how much time had passed. He did know Salem was very angry about something. Some time ago, he had felt the very foundations of this place trembling with her rage, had heard a furious snarl from one of the inner halls. Ozpin didn't know what had happened, but he knew Salem well enough to know something had not gone the way she wanted it to. An attack at Haven academy had been planned, so logic indicated it was likely related to her rage.
He wondered if she'd been thwarted in some way. He'd heard nothing more of Ruby's capture, and he hoped that meant Tyrian too had failed his mission.
Ozpin heard Salem coming before he saw her. She paused before his cell, and for a moment he felt her gaze cut through him and wondered if she had changed her mind and decided to take her rage out on him. Despite her glares, Salem eventually continued down the path and paused before the cell on the other side.
"Come, Ivory." She said in a tightly controlled voice. "You won't disappoint me, will you?"
It was a vain question, as whoever this 'Ivory' was never spoke.
"Of course you won't. I have some new pets to show you."
Ozpin dared to look out of his cell to try and spot the other prisoner. Beside Salem stood a small figure wearing a floor-length white dress with a hooded cowl. The figure was turned away from him, and so all he could see was the feminine shape within the clothing. He had no idea who it might be.
Salem led the figure further down the path, so they never crossed in front of his cell.
Were they were willingly or had they merely been converted to her purposes after who knew how long of confinement and torture? Were they even human, or some kind of new Grimm he'd never seen before? That happened from time to time, where she created new Grimm to release upon the world and left him to struggle with keeping up and teaching huntsman about these new creatures. Still, the thought of a new Grimm that was that humanoid... it didn't bear thinking about.
The mute fellow prisoner would remain a point of confusion for him, he supposed.
"Salem." She was smiling at him, however fractionally. There was malice in that expression more than joy, he knew. How do I destroy Salem? You can't. The words haunted him.
"Watts and Tyrian have successfully made it into Atlas despite the closed borders." She was practically glowing, but of course, she was. "It seems your dear fellow headmaster hasn't learned anything after all." There was a pause. "Tell me, how do you think he will fare without you to point out he's making a mistake, hm?"
Ozpin said nothing. There was nothing to say, as usual. James had never really listened to him at the best of times, and after the disaster of Beacon, that was likely to have only intensified. Even if the Atlesian troops present had made things worse. That wasn't really James' fault, and probably had something to do with this 'Watts' character that Ozpin still couldn't recall anything about. That was going to frustrate him since it felt quite important even though he couldn't remember. Well, it was a little too late to worry about it now.
He shrugged. "I trust them." Was all he said as if it were that simple.
"Is that right? Is that why they don't know the truth, Ozma?"
He flinched just slightly. She knew this incarnation's name but insisted on using his first name. But it did drive home the point, didn't it? He said nothing, looking down and away from Salem's form. There wasn't much to say to that. It was true, he hadn't told anyone of his past. It was personal, and it didn't have any bearing on their fight. They didn't need to know that he'd been in love with her once.
How do I destroy Salem? You can't.
Salem knew that as well as he did. That was probably what she meant, more than their past together. By not telling them, he was lying to them. By not telling them, he was having them engage in a war they couldn't win. But something didn't have to be destroyed to be neutralized. He just... hadn't managed to do that, yet. There had to be a way. He knew that. He just didn't know how yet. And Salem couldn't be left unchecked. She couldn't be allowed to win.
That was why he still fought all this time later. That was why he was still fighting.
Salem couldn't win. Nothing would survive if she did. At least while he fought back, life could continue, could flourish. He'd made many mistakes, but continuing to fight against Salem, he refused to believe that that was one of them. Refused, because if fighting against Salem was a mistake, then there was nothing he could do, nothing humanity could do, in order to meet that which was set upon his shoulders by the Two Brothers.
Most of the time he hated them for doing this to him. This was truly the way they had decided to punish him for loving Salem. He'd raged against the unfairness of it for a long time. He hadn't made her like this. He had only loved her, he had only rescued her from her confinement. They had done good things while he was alive. And then he'd died, and it had a negative effect on her. He'd died, and she'd essentially lost her mind.
The gods insisted he fix this. But her crimes were not his crimes, and it was... well. It was too late to rage against it. He'd agreed to try and help when the god of light had sent him back. He'd been complacent, he'd thought he could change her. Salem was unmutable. Salem was... darkness embodied, and some part of him didn't understand what had gone wrong.
In the end, it didn't matter.
Salem was still gazing at him as if expecting him to defend himself, but Ozpin said nothing, keeping his gaze on one of the crystals embedded in the wall.
Eventually, she laughed, softly, as if to herself. "That's what I thought. You don't trust them. You can't because you know the truth. You knew humanity can't be trusted, you know they turn on each other too readily." There was a pause, and then, "And you know, if they knew the truth, they'd turn on you, too. Isn't that right?"
He still said nothing, but perhaps his silence was answer enough.
It was true. If they knew the truth, most likely, they would turn on him. If they knew the truth, who knew what they would decide to do.
Ozpin had been betrayed many, many times by people he'd wanted to trust.
Salem and Lionheart were only two of many betrayals, in the end.