Ozpin had been separated from everyone for the longest time, at least so he thought.

He was trembling when it happened, for he was sure, and with some justification, that the god of light would be furious with him and this conversation would not be pleasant.

Surprisingly, he was left alone for what felt like a long time, though time might not have passed here at all.

https://youtu.be/jRtN0MMJYzw

["Set Me Free"--Casting Crowns. May be one of the darkest contemporary christian songs from this band.]

At first, he thought Oscar was not speaking to him out of fear, but as the time slipped past at a snail's pace, he thought it was very unlike Oscar not to speak now that the gods were doing nothing.

Then he tried to speak to him himself and find him inside his mind.

He got no answer at all.

Ozpin began to fear the worst... what... what if this last shock and move of magic had been too much? Suppose the gods' influence had snapped Oscar's last shred of control from his body and soul and he was now gone?

More reason to fear this came when Ozpin looked at his own hands and suddenly realized they were not Oscar's hands.

He didn't recognize them at all, though he thought he probably should have. They didn't seem like his previous form's either.

And this... seemed to seal it. Oscar was not there.

At this, Ozpin forgot about the gods for a moment and became despairing.

He'd done nothing but argue with Oscar for months, and had seen him often as more of an obstacle to his success than a helper, but yet in all that he always knew Oscar was only doing what he thought was right, and was a brave and honest lad at that and didn't deserve any of this.

He'd often felt guilty for what he had to go through because of Ozpin and had half only fought him because he didn't like to watch the struggle anymore. If it was inevitable that he win.

But of course he'd been so focused on his quest lately that he'd spent little time thinking of how it would end for Oscar if he won, but he should have realized that it was no good thing.

Suppose he really had been the death of the boy? Not just the reincarnation, but the death?

How dreadful.

Oh, why had he ever accepted this quest to begin with?

Falling to his knees, Ozpin began to weep, as he had no other recourse.

Of course, one reason that eluded him at this juncture was that Oscar would likely have preferred just dying as himself to being merged with him and changed from what he was. Whether you argued that Oscar or Ozpin was predominant, weren't they all Ozma in the end, with his poisonous curse...

But that didn't make it right.

The god of light found him still in this state after what seemed like ages, and seemed quite surprised.

"What is the matter with you, Ozma?" he said at once. "You needn't worry so much. I know that you didn't want to do this, those devils of Worldlings forced your hand, and those disrespectful children and that witch of a woman. It's all right, I understand it was unwarranted interference, of course it's not your fault."

"But it's all my fault," Ozpin said, surprisingly not at all reassured by this, though he'd been worried about it not an hour ago. "If I had never accepted your burden, I wouldn't have stolen the lives of so many men. I didn't know what it would be like when you told me I would 'never be alone.' I imagined it would just be a sort of prolonged existence into a new child, not into men and boys who knew nothing of me. I've not been able to end it for thousands of years and you never told me how long it would be."

"I didn't know how long it would take," the god said. "Mankind is a stubborn race."

"And did these people deserve to pay for it?" Ozpin demanded, upset with him now, to his great shock. "These people were good men once, before I corrupted them."

That might be a little strong in some cases as he had not always done this--but he had enough times for it to be a great weight on his mind.

"You made me take the best of mankind and use it for my unending quest when they had lives of their own and might have been happy," he suddenly looked up at the god angrily. "And the last of all was the most deserving. He had his whole life before him, a bright boy, honorable, brave. Far better of a host than I deserved, one might say. All he intended to do was spare everyone and to do the right thing by them. And your curse would destroy him!"

"Oscar Pine?" the gods said the name like he was a little miffed. "He is an arrogant fool. I know what he's been up to."

Ozpin had never gotten mad at the gods in his whole life, and Salem wouldn't have believed what happened next if she'd seen it herself.

But he stood up suddenly and actually shouted at his benefactor: "That he was not! Oscar was one of the most humble and unselfish people any of us have ever met. And still a child in so many ways. Your curse is despicable! I don't see how it's balance!"

Well, saying the speech that had lain in the bottom of his soul for so long, even if it was only two sentences, made Ozpin feel strange.

And to think it wasn't with Oscar pushing him this time.

The god of light reeled back a bit like this took him off guard.

"That is strong language," he said.

Ozpin frowned at him. "That was not the half of it," he said. "I had every intention of begging you for mercy when you arrived and pleading for more time, but now that you've insulted the boy, I see that it's of no use. Who could call him arrogant just for wanting freedom... Why, that's all Salem wanted from you after a time. But you couldn't give it to her either. You let her become a monster rather than admit your punishment was overly harsh. Many a person has wanted their loved ones back, many a person has doubted the gods. I have to wonder if you were only angry that she succeeded in exposing your lack of infallibility."

An idea he'd gotten from seeing the vision in the lamp back when Ruby had asked it, it hadn't been something he'd thought before when he saw it himself, but the second time around, and with all Shine's arguments about it, and Wally's comments too, he'd given it some more thought.

Of course, he hadn't realized he had till now, but the curse seemed strangely absent from him at this time... or possibly it could not top actually seeing the god in person.

"I never thought I would hear this from you," the god of light sounded very disappointed and a little angry. "You sound like her. She corrupted you." [Well, what did you expect?]

"It is not that. It is that I have had more regrets than any man, woman, or child in this world because of what I did. And if I had known, i would not have dreamed of accepting your offer. I will give Miss Likstar this much--at least her deity warns people what the consequences of this action will be. These curses come without any sort of warning and they are inescapable no matter how you regret them."

"We left you a way out," the god said. "How can you say that?"

"A way only out of some part of it," Ozpin said. "I must unite the world, but you never told me how to hold Salem off while I did it, if there was a way. She must accept life and death, but how is she to do it when she's also infested by grimm? There's more to these puzzles than we were told and we had nothing to help us with that."

"Are you saying you do not wish to have this burden anymore?" The god of light said.

These words made Ozpin go silent.

Here it was...

He could complain all he wanted about how it was unfair--and he'd thought so far more than Salem ever suspected in her resentment--but he'd never been willing to let it go.

Admit his utter failure to do everything he'd tried to accomplish in life? It wasn't just the curse, it was his own pride that fought the idea.

The curse didn't help, though.

The feeling that if he just had another chance, if Salem was just not there... he could have done it...

He'd spent centuries thinking of it, thinking how it always would have been different that way.

Alicia would have said it wouldn't have, though.

He could just hear her now: "Oz, don't be silly. No one man could do it. It's impossible. The gods could even do it themselves..."

It was as if the god knew what he was thinking of.

"That woman put many seeds of doubt into your mind," he said coolly. "Perhaps without her undermining you, this would have not happened."

Seeds of doubt? Alicia?

No, she certainly was not one for doubt. She still thought there was hope even when he'd slammed the door to this world in her face.

She'd forgiven him for it when he couldn't even have begged her to do so because he cut her off.

Ozpin almost laughed at the god of light's statement. He did crack a smile, to the god's bewilderment.

"No," he said faintly. "I do not think doubt would be the word I would attribute to Miss Vundar."

She'd have scolded him for calling her that anyway, she hated it.

"What if I told you the boy, Pine, is still there," the god seemed to think he needed to change tactics. "You do not sense him because this is not a physical place. It is just your soul and mind right now. But he is still tied to you. The line is faint now... but not gone."

If this was a lie, it seemed an unnecessary one, so Ozpin assumed it was true.

"It wouldn't change anything," he said  after a moment. "He would feel the same way and it will happen if it hasn't already, if things do not change. Even if you do not release me, you should release him."

"I'm afraid I cannot do this," the god of light said.

At this juncture the scenario suddenly changed.

Ozma was still there, but suddenly he saw Oscar standing not far away, staring at the god so he certainly must have seen him.

And... Salem...

Not Salem as she'd last been seen, but Salem as her human self, but one thing was off--her eyes were still red.

It was as if the implication was that her soul was human--somewhere under everything else, but it was still polluted by the grimm, she was still both. Even in this realm where they saw only the spirits of themselves.

That had to be it as Ozpin realized he must be in his original form instead of a new one.

Salem looked right at him and narrowed her eyes as if she saw him.

Oscar looked too and gasped.

"All of you," the god of light addressed them flatly and with neither pity nor anger. "The spells remain until they are fulfilled. That is the way of things. I can no more
undo it then can anyone else, it was your task to complete."

"You're lying!" Salem screamed and the worst of it was her voice was always the same whatever she looked like, but it seemed wrong. "You can undo it! It was your curse! Undo it!"

"I will take no demands from you," the god of light said. "We are not finished yet as it is, you are not helping yourself by this display."

Salem backed up as he turned to a dragon. She knew his combat form well.

Ozma winced.

"Stop!" Oscar shakily stepped in front of Salem, to their surprise. "I don't know why this is happening, or if what I'm seeing it is real or if it's an illusion, but leave Salem alone. I think you've done enough to her. And to Ozma... and to me, for that matter. You have to let us go."

"You think you can force me boy?" The god of light bared his teeth in what Ozma thought was a very out of character gesture.

"I... I don't know..." Oscar said shaky still. "But... this... is wrong."

Salem stirred a little. "Wait a moment," she said. "You can't undo the curse? The World Walker was right. She told me you couldn't... but they can."

"Of course they can," Oscar said. "They always could, that's why mine is fading."

The god of light probably hadn't wanted them to take this turn.

"That is not true," he said.

"If that's the case," Salem ignored him, as she was good at doing. "Just renounce it. Renounce your claim on me--and that boy," she pointed at Oscar, astonishingly. "And then they will do the rest. Where are they? Give them back!"

"You will demand nothing of us," the god of darkness appeared suddenly. "Have you learned nothing?"

Salem clenched her fists. "I've learned that you're not gods," she spat at them, relishing the declaration. "I don't have to obey you!"

"You never have obeyed us," the god of light said. "And all humans have suffered because of it."

"Then maybe you shouldn't have cursed me to begin with," Salem said.

"And you really take no responsibility for what happened?" The god of darkness said.

"I will when you do," Salem shot back.

Well... for her that was a good retort.

"Hey, yeah!" Oscar said. "You guys take some responsibility first. Everything she did, you gave her the power to do and you didn't stop her! So yeah, she did it, but isn't it still your fault? I'm sick of this, renounce your claim on me, I want my body back--and my life."

He glanced at Ozma. "Come on, tell them."

The gods looked at Ozma as if to say: "You're not really going to go along with this tomfoolery are you?"

Ozma swallowed.

Salem frowned at him, like she was thinking he was a coward.

And so he was... for a long time.



[This AMV fit too well not to use. Human, AMV by Kenzie Edits.]

Ozma thought silently that if he didn't do anything now, he would never get another chance ever again.

For Salem, he likely wouldn't have bothered, he'd have only thought he'd get dragged down with her in whatever doom she was about to call down upon herself.

But for Oscar, he supposed he owed him...

Maybe the world would be better in someone else's hands....

It was the hardest thing he'd ever had to do--though in one way it was the easiest also--but he finally looked up.

"I'm afraid I agree with them," he said. "This has not worked... perhaps it was time for a new start for this world without us... but I want Oscar to go free."

"Oz?" Oscar was quite touched. "Really?"

"I surrender, Oscar," Ozma sighed. "Somehow, it's all become quite clear to me now. All I can tell you is I'm sorry it took so long. I believe I would have fought to the end if I hadn't seen it, but, seeing them in person... somehow it's all different. They aren't what I thought. I wish I listened to you before."

Salem gaped at him--and you couldn't tell if it was anger or astonishment alone.

"You... you dare?" the god of darkness had felt sure of no one more than Ozma agreeing with them.

Ozma didn't have it in him to defy them much more than that now. He felt very tired suddenly.

But he at least didn't retract. he just sighed.

There was a great sound of clanging like a bell that might have been the gods' doing or it might have been something else entirely.

"This is the last insult!" The god of light said gravely. "You have chosen your fate."

They vanished.

Ozpin vanished too.

A moment later, he was on the field with everyone else, and they all looked at him.

Then some of them gasped, because Salem was there too.

But now she looked the same as before, white, black, red, and evil.

Barring that, she seemed very puzzled.

"What?" she looked at her hands. "No! I thought that was the end!"

Ozpin glanced at his hands... they were Oscar's again.

"I don't understand," he said. "We made the choice, why am I him again?"

"Oscar?" Ruby asked. "No Ozpin... Oscar, are you in there?"

Oscar made no answer.

"He is here, Miss Rose," Ozpin said. "I think... I can't hear him."

Salem ccast him a look of loathing, but then she said. "He's there. It's faint, but I can sense the bond is still there."

"And may I ask when you were able to sense that?" Ozpin said.

"I'm the only other person with natural magic in the entire world, you really think I can't sense a curse after so many years?" Salem snapped at him. "What did you do? They were being as imperious as always and then we were here. Did you change your mind?"

"I did nothing at all, why do you assume it's my fault? Perhaps it was yours," Ozpin argued. "After all its nothing new for you to defy them, you did not learn anything, that's probably why we're here."

"Why do I need to learn anyway? I was right!" Salem cried.

"All right, both of you stop it," Qrow burst out. Watching his teacher fight with his ex-wife had to be pretty traumatizing.

"No, I know what it is," Salem ignored him and turned away. "The World Walkers are not here. They can break the curse, not the gods... they are keeping them from us on purpose! Just as they always do."

"I can't believe I'm saying this, but Salem, you gotta calm down," Ruby said.

"What?" She gave her a red eyed glare.

"Everyone else was tested," Pyrrha spoke. "Wouldn't they be too? But they wouldn't fail."

"Why would they test them?" Winter said. "It's not their world. I hate to agree with Salem on anything, but I suspect they are keeping them from us so we cannot band together and finish this. But how long can they do that?"

"What did you say to them?" Raven asked Salem. "Out of us all, they would hate you the most."

"I said the same as I always said," Salem said.

"We're doomed then," Weiss rolled her eyes.

"You didn't maybe think apologizing would have been a good idea?" Jaune said.

Salem gave him a look of hatred.

"For what?" Cinder said. "It's not them who've suffered. They've hidden from this world for a long time. They should make ammends to us."

"I want no anmends from them," Pyrrha said. "They would be tainted, I have a feeling. We should just send them away, stick to the plan."

"We couldn't do it without the World Walkers," Salem crossed her arms. "This is what comes of relying on anyone other than yourself."

"Oh, it just bites, doesn't it?" Ozpin grumbled.

"Stop arguing like that," Raven made a face. "I liked you better as mortal enemies then... whatever this is."

"Still enemies," Ozpin said. "But I suppose the adage is 'the enemy of my enemy is my... ally' in this case. I want the gods to let Oscar and the rest of you go, and Salem wants them gone, so we have a common goal for the first time in... forever, I would say."

"At least since you died," Salem said spitefully. "Whatever they say, the curse changed you."

"And you think yours didn't change you?" Ozpin said.

"I know it changed me, but you persist in denying it," Salem said.

"When did I ever--" Ozpin began.

"Shut up!" everyone told them in exasperation.

"Okay, I'll take the gods over this," Emerald said.

"No," Mercury said.

"Eh, this isn't that bad," Meridian said. "It's kind of amusing, actually."

"Ugh, reminds me of my mom's divorce cases," Neptune winced.

"Say that again and I'll kill you," Salem said.

"No one is killing anyone in here," Qrow said. "And I'm not actually sure you can. Does anyone have their weapons?"

They all realized then that they no longer did.

Ozpin held up his hands, and no magic sparked in them.

"We seem to have been deprived of any power to fight back," he said. "At least... normally."

"I guess Ruby was right about that," Blake said.

"Ozpin, please tell us you did not agree to keep the curse going?" Winter's mind was on the more important things, as usual.

"No, Miss Schnee," Ozpin sighed. "Not this time."

"Wait... what?" Everyone was more astonished than when Salem had agreed to join them.

They'd heard him say nothing but contentions all this time with them.

He shook his head. "I thought I would never change my mind, but once I saw the gods, and I considered what all this had meant for everyone, especially you and poor Oscar, I saw it. I believe my dread of defying them was so great, magical or otherwise, that I never allowed myself to go there. I know it is too late, and I caused you all great trouble, but... I am sorry."

Ruby smiled faintly, and then she hugged him, to his surprise.

"Honestly, we're just glad to hear that at all," Sun said.

"Yeah, finally," Yang said.

"Oz, we've all been stupid fools," Qrow said. "What counts is that, in the end, you still wanted the best for the kid and the rest of us."

"Yeah," Blake agreed.

"Well, I hate to cut you any slack," Raven said, "but after the curse pulled at us all, I think I understand. If we get out of this, we'll call it even."

Hazel sighed. "I see only that the gods are hard to resist."

Salem made a disgusted expression. "This is nauseating."

"Oh, that's just the evil talking," Mercury told her cheerfully. "You'll get over it once they yoink that Grimm out of you. Just ask Cinder--she's been practically an altruist compared to her earlier self."

"Shut up," Cinder snapped at him, without her usual meanness, however. Even she wasn't up to it right now.

"I have wondered about that," Salem said in a more neutral tone. "What happened to your arm? And your eye?"

Cinder looked embarrassed. "Oscar... healed them," she said in a low voice.

"Of course he did," Salem said. "That boy would do that to his worst enemy."

"He's been taking lessons from Likstar, the person who would talk to anyone over fighting," Cinder muttered.

"But the Grimm part is gone," Salem said.

"I had to let them take it," Cinder said. "I was tired of being your puppet." She bit her lip and glared at Salem.

"An annoying precaution." Salem didn't even try to deny it. 

"What? Because you didn't want me to be able to overpower you?" Cinder said. "You know that was what I intended to do."

"I was well aware," Salem said.

"Wh-What?" Cinder said.

"My dear Cinder, you have the subtlety of a cannon," Salem said with her usual condescending tone. Which was kind of funny when talking to Cinder. "Of course I couldn't let you roam around loosely."

"So... you were just using me," Cinder said.

"Is this a surprise to you?" Salem said carelessly.

"Not... really," Cinder said. "Just seems... I don't know what the word is."

"Ironic," Mercury offered.

"Quiet, Black," Cinder said.

"I'm real scared of you," Mercury said. "Oh wait, I'm not. After those gods, you two are jokes."

"No one has ever removed my power before," Salem said. "I'd have liked to know this before."

"I would have flaunted it, but by the time it mattered, it was too late," Cinder said. "And now it seems useless to do so."

"If you learned better than that, you've learned more than I ever expected," Salem said. "I wonder what they will do to you. Anyone who worked for me must be on their list."

"You'd like to drag us down with you," Mercury said.

"I may have no choice in the matter," Salem said coldly. "I usually don't. But it was your choice also."

"I thought none of us would die," Emerald said.

"I fear Oscar may not survive even if the gods do not kill us," Ozpin said. "One more shock like this might be the end for him..."

"No, he can't! Not when we're this close," Ruby said. "We've got to keep him in there." She put a hand on Ozpin's chest. "Stay in there, Oscar!"

"Ruby, I don't think that's going to help," Jaune said.

"You never know..." Pyrrha mused.

* * *

Oscar was somewhere deep inside Ozpin's soul now.

Or maybe it was his own... hard to tell.

He had been present during the conversation with the gods, but then it had all faded.

He felt as if he was locked up within some box, maybe a coffin, small and hard and quiet.

And like he was falling asleep... and it was tightly shut.

He was almost slipping under.

Then it was like some knocking on it loudly--that was Ruby's voice.

"Stay in there, Oscar!" It sounded muffled.

Oscar's consciousness was nearly gone, but he thought dimly, They must be outside the box somewhere... I wonder why I can't see them.

Was he dead?

No, not dead. Not yet.

But he was so, so tired.

It would be easy to just sleep...

* * *

Wally, not privy to any of the meetings of the others, except that he saw flashes of them here and there as he ran and couldn't get out of the void, finally gave up trying.

He had no test, not the way the others did.

But the gods showed up and tried to bully him into leaving--and they could be pretty scary. They became dragons the size of houses, and the air darkened around them, and their voices thundered.

Wally, well used to imposing, monstrous enemies, was still pretty unnerved by them, but he knew better than to give in.

Once they realized he would not do so, they left him again.

He saw more of the others' tests... and the worst was not being able to say to do anything to help.

Then they would all disappear, and he didn't see the field, so for all he knew, they'd failed and the gods were killing them.

As more and more people disappeared, Wally began to feel a sinking feeling of despair.

"Come on, where are they going?" he asked.

Shine was shown the same things, but, aside from Theo, she interacted with no one. The gods must have realized it wouldn't help them.

But at long last, the flashes stopped.

Shine was trying not to cry after seeing some of them. She thought the team must be all right, but they had been such terrible scenes for some of them.

She was angry, too.

"They failed." The god of light appeared in front of her suddenly. "As I said they would."

Shine frowned at him. "I don't believe you," she declared. "They answered rightly."

The god recoiled. "There is one who won't answer differently, whatever you do."

"I've had enough of your lies," Shine said. "I learned long ago that arguing with your kind is useless. You will never concede anything to us willingly, and you will not use reason when there are lies you can tell."

Now, despite her bold words, Shine was not without fear. All humans have fear.

And she was not fully convinced the god might not harm her or Wally.

But she was well trained. She knew that you did not act on fear in front of false spirits, or they would seize upon you.

And any weakness she showed would be latched onto also.

She also knew that trying to be clever with them would only give them a chance to twist her words into some new lie.

"You will release me," she said, holding out her sword.

"I will not," the god said. "If you will not heed our warnings, you will stay here forever, and then you can do nothing. Neither can your partner."

Shine frowned.

Then she looked around.

No god could keep her caged, she was sure, not if her alignment was not with them.

"'It is for freedom that Christ has made us free,'" she whispered to herself. "'Where the Spirit of the Lord is there is freedom.'"

Suddenly, she looked up at the god of light and laughed.

"Of course," she said. "I've been as ignorant as my students. What do I mean you must release me? I've already been released. I should never have played along with this at all. I hope they didn't pay for it."

The god was not pleased to hear this.

"Why--" he began.

"Silence." Shine sliced her sword and actually cut one of his whiskers off--for eastern dragons have those. [They do... I think some western ones also are drawn that way.]

He drew back from her, hissing.

Shine closed her eyes.

"Father, I know that You have made us free and that where You are there is no bondage... Open our eyes and our hearts that we may see what is really there and not be fooled by the traps and lies of the enemy. I ask You to fill this place, because where You are there can be no darkness."

Her words seemed, even to her, to be infused with power not her own.

Hey eyes and body glowed as the Aura from within appeared without.



Wally, where he was, suddenly felt something quicken within him, like it was a force urging him to stop wasting time.

Suddenly, he had the same thought as Shine--though in a different way.

This was really just a mind trick, right?

Maybe the key wasn't escaping it. He looked around. It was like the times in his world where the real ways to get out were to just not be in at all.

"Maybe I'm not really in here," he said.

He touched the air, and it was as a solid wall, then it cracked and shattered into pieces.

Shine opened her eyes, and the entire void around her broke into pieces and fled every direction, like it was itself a shadow and it was running from the dawn.