Not Even For the World (Rewritten)
Not Even For the World
“You can’t do this!” Sunset snapped, in a voice that was taut and whiplike.
“I have no choice,” Pyrrha said, her own voice soft, barely rising above the level of a whisper.
The two of them were in the garage with the door shut; it was one of the few places they could speak — or yell, in Sunset’s case — without being overheard by anyone. It wouldn’t do to go on the rooftop and let Weiss and her team hear what they were discussing now. This was supposed to be secret after all, no matter how much Sunset might be shouting.
“Stop saying that you have no choice; you do have a choice!” Sunset yelled. “You can tell them to go take a flying leap off a cloud, and you should.”
“And then what?” Pyrrha asked. She wasn’t looking at Sunset. She was sat near the closed door, knees tucked up almost beneath her chin, while Sunset paced up and down behind her. Pyrrha turned her head slightly, but not enough to see Sunset. “Yes, I can say no, but what then? What right do I have to let this cup pass from my lips only so that it can be drunk by someone else? By … Blake, Rainbow Dash, Yang, Ruby perhaps? What right do I have to tell Ruby that she has to sacrifice herself because I have not the courage?”
Sunset was silent for a moment. “They could all say no too,” she said. Pyrrha wondered if that sounded as pathetic to Sunset as it did to her.
“But they won’t,” Pyrrha replied. A sad smile briefly crossed her face. “You know that they will not. Ruby, for one, certainly will not. She is too brave, too—”
“Foolish.”
“Selfless,” Pyrrha corrected. “It is not folly but selflessness that would drive her to this, and Blake besides, maybe, and…” She closed her eyes. “And that is why I must do this. I have no right to force this burden onto another. I can’t — I won’t — make a friend do something that I was not willing to do myself.” She hugged her legs, embracing them with both her arms. “This burden has been appointed to me. I must bear it to whatever end.”
“'To whatever end,'” Sunset spat, as though the words were offensive to her. “To the end of your death? We’re talking about your aura, your soul.”
“I’m aware of that.”
“Then how can you act like this?” Sunset demanded. “How can you just sit there and consider this? No, more than consider; you’ve already made up your mind! And don’t talk about Ruby, because if Ruby were here, then I’d tell her exactly what I’m about to tell you now: this is monstrous, and even considering it is … it’s unforgivable. Heinous. They say that they don’t know what’s going to happen, but I know. You can’t just rip the essence out of somebody and cram it into somebody else and expect there to be no change at all. Pyrrha, this…” Her voice shook and threatened to break completely. “This thing is going to kill you in every way that matters. If you get into that machine, then … then somebody else is going to walk away. Maybe Amber, maybe something new, but not you. You’re not going to become the Fall Maiden, you’re going to give up your body as a suit for the new Fall Maiden to wear; is that what you want?”
“Of course not!” Pyrrha shrieked, and her semblance exploded out of her to send Sunset’s bike flying across the garage to hit the far with a slamming thump.
“I’m sorry,” Pyrrha whispered.
“Don’t be,” Sunset said. “It’s just a stupid bike.”
Pyrrha let out a ragged breath. She felt something wet on her cheeks and realised that she was crying. “What I want,” she whispered, halfway to sobbing. “No, no, this isn’t what I want at all.”
I want Jaune. I want him to hold me and kiss me and love me. I want him to ask me for my hand. I want Ruby and Sunset to weave the flowers into my hair upon my wedding day. I want to have children, and to watch them grow and teach them to be brave and strong and kind like their parents.
I want to live. I want to laugh, I want to cry, I want to feel.
I want to live and love to be loved.
But why should fate, or the world, or even Professor Ozpin care for what I want when kingdoms are at stake?
“Sunset?” she asked in a small voice.
“Yes?”
“Do you think he’ll be able to tell?” Pyrrha asked.
On the one hand, it was a small thing, almost pathetically so, to focus on, but at the same time, it seemed at this moment, staring oblivion in the face, to be the most important thing that she could ask.
Sunset was quiet as she walked around from behind Pyrrha to stand in front of her. She crouched down so that they were face to face. “Do I think who will be able to tell what?”
“Jaune,” Pyrrha said. “If I … if you’re right about this, and I … if it’s not me anymore … do you think he’ll be able to tell? Will he notice that I’m gone and … and something else is standing in front of him?”
Whoever took Pyrrha’s place, if that was what happened — be it Amber or a new … someone entirely new, not either of them — they might find it convenient to pretend to be Pyrrha in the eyes of the world.
The thought of someone else wearing her body was bad enough, but to imagine them doing it while Jaune, none the wiser, held this impostor in his arms and left her breathless with his kisses and maybe even … it was too much for her. She could not bear it. She could give up her life for the sake of the world, but the world’s cause could not ask her to surrender her love to another who happened to look like her.
Sunset looked sick, but then she’d looked like that ever since they got out of the vault. “He’ll know,” she said, her voice hoarse.
“How?” Pyrrha asked.
“I don’t know, by looking into your eyes!” Sunset snapped. “By the lack of a spark when he touches your hand. Isn’t that how true love is supposed to work? Isn’t there supposed to be a thing so you can tell?”
Pyrrha bowed her head. “I think that’s just a romantic myth.”
“Oh,” Sunset said. “He’ll know.”
“You don’t know that, do you?” Pyrrha said. “You’re just saying it to make me feel better.”
“I’ve got no interest in making you feel better, only in making you realise what a stupid idea this is,” Sunset growled. “I’m telling you because it’s true. He’ll know.”
“How can you be so sure?”
“Because he loves you for you!” Sunset snapped. “Do you honestly think he’s so shallow that it’s your face and your body that are the only thing he notices about you? He’ll know because you won’t be the person that he fell in love with anymore. You won’t be the person that we all love anymore. Please, Pyrrha, don’t do this.”
“I have—”
“Don’t sit there and tell me that you have no choice when we both know that’s a load of crap!” Sunset yelled. “You don’t have to do this—”
“But someone does,” Pyrrha insisted.
“Do they?” Sunset said, getting up and stalking to the garage door.
“Yes,” Pyrrha said. “You know that. Cinder cannot be allowed to assume the whole and entire power of the Fall Maiden, Salem cannot be allowed to have unfettered access to one of the four Relics; Professor Ozpin won’t allow that to happen, someone will have to take up this great charge, and I … I have been chosen for it. Professor Ozpin chose me, asked me, first of all; why should he do that, if not because I am the most suited, the best to bear this burden? And, that being so, how can I pass this poisoned mantle on to another?
“The world is in danger, Sunset, and it needs me.”
“Screw the world, and screw the Relic, too!” Sunset shouted.
Pyrrha shook her head. “You don’t mean that,” she whispered. “I hope that you don’t mean that.”
Sunset turned to face her. “You mean more to me than they do. I make no apologies for that.”
Pyrrha got to her feet. “If I mean so much to you, then please, don’t make this harder for me than it already is.”
Sunset stared at her, her mouth twisting into a kind of snarl with the teeth bared. “Why do you have to be so stupidly noble all the time?”
“Because ten thousand fates of death surround us—”
“Don’t quote poetry at me; answer me in your own words!”
“Very well, my life is put at risk by my chosen vocation, so what makes this manner of passing so special that you should recoil from it and I should do likewise?” Pyrrha demanded. “I chose to become a huntress that I might serve the world and those who live in it, as a protector, as a guardian, as a shepherd of the people. This … this is not how I expected to fulfil my destiny, but it is my destiny nonetheless.”
“Death is not your destiny.”
“It appears that isn’t true,” Pyrrha said quietly. “As much as I might wish otherwise.”
“You told me that your destiny was in your gift,” Sunset said. “Your choice.”
“And I choose this,” Pyrrha insisted. “I choose not to pass this choice onto another! I choose to stand between the world and its enemies. I choose to answer the call. I choose to take up the burden. I choose … I choose to do something that is more important than anything else I could ever do, though I live for a hundred years from hence. We are huntsmen and huntresses, we are all called upon to risk our lives in battle; if I say no, if I turn away from the battle now, when it is at its gravest, how could I look any of my fellow students in the eye ever again?”
“Nobody would know,” Sunset said.
“I would know!” Pyrrha cried. “And I would be shamed before myself for shrinking from the fighting.” She turned away, embracing herself. “You say … you say that whatever comes out of that machine will not be me … but if I did not climb into it in the first place, I would not be myself either.”
“Is there nothing I can say?” Sunset asked, her voice hollow. “Nothing at all that will convince you?”
“You cannot tell me anything that I don’t already know,” Pyrrha whispered. “I know what I’m being asked to do, I know that it will cost me … everything. But I also know that … that I’m the only one who ought to do this.”
Sunset made a grunting, moaning sound as though she were in physical pain. “Why … why do you have to be like this? What are you going to tell Jaune?”
“I … I don’t know,” Pyrrha confessed. “I’m not sure if I can tell him.”
“You have to tell him something,” Sunset said.
“What?” Pyrrha asked, as she rounded on Sunset. “What am I supposed to tell him?”
“The truth?”
“He won’t understand any more than you do.”
“Perhaps that makes him smarter than you.”
“Sunset, will you please stop!” Pyrrha shrieked. “Do you think that this is easy for me? Do you think that this is anything like how I thought my life would … this isn’t how things were supposed to go. Not at all. I was supposed to achieve my destiny upon my own merits, with the support of my friends, but this … this is where my road has led, and I have to see it through, all the way to the end.”
Sunset stared at her. “Please … please tell me that this isn’t about your confidence, because I thought that you—”
“This is not about my confidence,” Pyrrha insisted. “It’s not about Cinder, or Salem, or magic or anything else, this isn’t some desperate attempt on my part to matter in a world that is grown too big for me, this … this is important. This is something that I choose to do because it is the right thing to do, because it is required of me, because I will not step back and let another take the blow in my stead.”
Sunset’s eyes were wide, large; she had large eyes, but now, they seemed particularly large. “Is there … nothing that I might say that will convince you otherwise?”
“No,” Pyrrha whispered. “Sunset … this time that we’ve spent together—”
“Don’t talk like that already; you don’t—”
“Has been the most wonderful time in my life,” Pyrrha finished. “I’m so, so glad to have met all of you. More than I think I could ever tell you.”
“Stop.”
“I need you to hear this.”
“Well, I don’t want to hear it! Why should I stand here and listen to you get your dying speech off your chest when all you have to do is choose to live?”
“Sunset—”
“No, don’t ‘Sunset’ me in that tone of reproach; you don’t seem to realise what you’re asking me to do!” Sunset shouted. “You’re asking me to watch you die! How do you expect me to feel about that? Do you have any idea how much I want to scream at you right now? Do you know how much I want to shake you and remind you of all the wonderful things that you’re about to give up for nothing? There are a million reasons not to go through with this, and not one good reason to do it so…” Sunset let out a wordless scream of anguish. “I … I can’t do this.”
“Do what?”
“I can’t stand here and talk about this anymore!” Sunset yelled. “I can’t even look at you right now, I’m just so … goodbye.”
Sunset was engulfed in a flash of green light, disappearing from the garage with a distinctive popping sound.
Pyrrha bowed her head. “I … I’m sorry, Sunset. I really am.”
Of course, in one thing, Sunset was quite correct: she ought to tell Jaune. In fact, Pyrrha would go so far as to say that she had an obligation to tell Jaune. To not tell him, to say nothing, to climb into that glass coffin, to embrace whatever fate awaited her, it … it would be too cruel. Worse than cruel, perhaps.
He could not change her mind. She … not hoped, perhaps — that was entirely the wrong word — rather, she … she did not know the right word; she feared that if he asked her not to do this, then she could not resist him. Her heart would not stand up to it, her resolve would not stand up to it; in the face of his entreaties, she might crumble.
She did not want that. She … she wished, yes, that was the right word, she wished to be strong enough to stand up to it, to do what was right regardless. She did not wish love to make her a coward.
Though to be brave would mean the death of love and all her dreams besides.
This is not what I want, but nevertheless, it is what I must do.
Perhaps … perhaps Jaune will understand that. Perhaps he will see what Sunset cannot.
Although I do not think it likely.
He had understood her desire to confront Cinder, despite the risk, but this … Sunset had also managed to respect her choice to confront Cinder, despite the risk, but this had broken Sunset’s resolve, so why should this be different for Jaune?
He would not like this.
And yet she owed him some explanation, not merely for the promises that she had made to him but also … also for mere common decency’s sake.
And for the sake of herself, it must be admitted; she did not want him, in ignorance, to carry on a relationship with whatever might be inhabiting her body when this was done.
Perhaps that was unworthy of her; perhaps she ought to trust him more, but … was she not entitled to her fear, without judgement of it or judgement of what it meant she judged of Jaune? She was giving up her soul for the greater good; she was allowed, she thought, to be a little concerned with what would be done with her body.
In any case, she owed Jaune an explanation.
She owed Jaune something.
She got out her scroll, fishing it out of a pouch on her belt, and texted Jaune, asking him to meet her … not here, not in this garage. She had spent too long here already, arguing with Sunset; the sight of it was becoming as hateful to her as the sight of Pyrrha had become for Sunset at the end. She wanted to get out of here, she wanted to leave this place, she wanted some fresh air, and so she texted Jaune to meet her at the cliffs, where there would be no one around to overhear them.
The message sent, she left the garage, escaping out of the dark and enclosed space and out into the sunlight.
The air was crisp, fall had fallen upon them now in truth, but there were few clouds in the sky, it was blue and clear, and it was only Atlesian warships that blocked the blue, and then only for mere moments ere they flew onwards.
The leaves had turned golden, falling from the trees, drifting lazily down in Pyrrha’s path as she walked down the paved ways, away from the Emerald Tower, away from the buildings, away from all of it; her boots occasionally stepping upon a leaf, and then upon the grass as she walked across the still-verdant green towards the cliff edge.
There was little air, no breeze to tug at her long ponytail, or at her crimson sash, which both hung limp behind her or at her side.
She stood upon the cliffs, taking what might be one of her last sights across this vast vista, at the Emerald Forest spread out beneath her and the mountains far off in the distance.
Would I were in Mistral, that my last sight could be the sight of home, the view from the walls, from the high slopes, the hills and vales spread out before me.
Or perhaps I should like to go out onto the hills, and visit Chiron in his cottage, and talk to Chariclo, and then look out one last time at Mistral rising up before me, and the White Tower rising above all the rest.
I want … I want so much more than this.
She blinked rapidly, her eyes stinging.
She found that she was crying.
Pyrrha wiped at her eyes with one gloved thumb, the tears fell regardless, though she wiped them away more took their place.
“Pyrrha?”
Pyrrha gasped, half turning around, twisting her waist to see Jaune standing behind her, a few feet away, watching her.
He smiled, but there was something uncertain about his smile, as though he could already tell that something was amiss.
“I got your text,” he said, holding up his scroll. “I thought that you and Sunset were still with Professor Ozpin, since neither of you came back. I left Penny with Ruby; she’s showing her one of those games that your Mistralian friend got her into.” He took another step closer, his brow furrowing, his eyes narrowing. “Pyrrha … are you crying?”
Pyrrha turned away from him, not answering.
She felt Jaune behind her, pressing himself against her, putting his arms around her waist, drawing her into his embrace. “Hey,” he said gently. “What’s wrong?”
“How—?”
“The tears kind of give it away,” Jaune told her. “How can I help?”
Pyrrha closed her eyes, resting her hands upon his arms as they enfolded her. “You are helping,” she whispered. “You’ve already helped me so much.” She smiled. “You have made me so happy. Thank you, Jaune.”
“Pyrrha,” Jaune said. “Did something happen with Professor Ozpin? Is that … what’s going on?”
Pyrrha was silent a moment, eyes closed, a smile upon her face. She opened her eyes, looking down at Jaune’s arms, at his hands upon her stomach, at her hands resting on his.
She turned her head towards him, but … but she could hardly bring herself to look at him; she kept her eyes instead upon his hands, even as their cheeks were practically touching. “I wish … I wish that we could stay like this forever.”
“Okay, now you’re really starting to freak me out,” Jaune declared. “Pyrrha, what happened up there? What is all this?”
Pyrrha hesitated just a moment longer. She might not be able to stay like this forever, but she could at least stay like this for just a couple of seconds more.
But then those seconds passed, and she gently peeled Jaune’s arms away from her, and he retreated a step so that she could turn around and face him, looking upwards slightly into his eyes.
“I … there’s something that I have to do,” she said. “I don’t want to, but I must.”
“What is it?” Jaune asked. “Why do you have to do it if you don’t want to?”
“Cinder … is not the Fall Maiden,” Pyrrha said. “At least, not completely. She attacked the Fall Maiden, stole some of her power, but she didn’t kill her. The Fall Maiden is … still alive, barely. But she’s dying. Professor Ozpin … he wants me to take the rest of the Fall Maiden’s power, to keep it safe.”
Jaune stared at her, incomprehension in his eyes. “I … take the power how?”
“There is a machine,” Pyrrha said softly, a little slowly, picking her words as though she were picking her way through a cavern that might collapse on her at any moment. “An Atlesian device. They mean to use it to extract Amber’s aura — Amber is the Fall Maiden — and … give it to me, and her magic along with it.”
“Give you her aura,” Jaune murmured. “You mean like my semblance?”
“No, your semblance stimulates my aura, or the aura of whoever you use it on, strengthening it, but it’s still my aura ultimately,” Pyrrha replied. “This will…” She sought for a word that sounded less sinister than ‘insert.’ “This will place Amber’s aura inside me.”
Jaune’s mouth opened, and hung that way a second before he said, “That doesn’t … what does that mean, what will that do?”
“No one knows,” Pyrrha admitted. “But I asked you to meet me here because … because there’s a chance that … that after it’s done, I … I won’t be myself anymore.”
“Not … then … who—?”
“They aren’t sure,” Pyrrha said. “Maybe I’ll be … maybe Amber, maybe someone new, a mix of both of us. Maybe I’ll still be me, and this is all overblown, but I had to tell you because—”
“Don’t,” Jaune said, cutting her off. “Don’t do this; it’s too dangerous.”
“Much that we do is dangerous.”
“I know, but this? You can’t fight back against this; this is … this is something you’ll be letting happen.”
“Yes,” Pyrrha whispered. “Yes, I will—”
“But why? You shouldn’t!”
“You sound like Sunset.”
“Sunset sounds right,” Jaune replied. “Why—?”
“Because if I refuse, then Professor Ozpin will turn to someone else,” Pyrrha said. “Why should I allow someone to take my place?”
“It’s not your place, it’s not anyone’s place, it’s…” Jaune trailed off for a moment. “Ozpin doesn’t have the right to ask anyone to do this, but just because he’ll ask someone doesn’t mean you have to say yes when he asks you! Pyrrha, I … I don’t want to lose you.”
Pyrrha closed her eyes once again, screwing them tight shut, so tight that no light came in through them. “I don’t want to lose you either,” she whispered. “I love you.”
“I love you too,” Jaune said, his voice hoarse with phlegm as he embraced her once more, holding her tight, pressing her against his chest as if by holding, he could physically keep her away from Amber and the machine down in the vault. “That’s why I’m asking you, please don’t do this.”
Pyrrha did not respond. She wanted to look away, but she could not tear her eyes away from him. This was what she had been afraid of, that he would ask her to turn away, and she … she would…
It was hard. Harder than it was to refuse Sunset, much harder. The way that he was looking at her, the way that he was holding her, she wanted to say that no, she would not do it, she wanted to say that, for him, she would refuse Professor Ozpin, she wanted, and yet, she did not want to yield to him.
She wanted to be with him, and yet, if she turned aside from this for his sake, then she would be unworthy of him, would she not? She would be a coward, contemptible, despicable.
She would be worthy of nothing but scorn and the hatred of all those who suffered because she had forced this burden on another.
“I … if I don’t, would I still be the girl you love?” she asked him softly, so softly.
“Yes,” Jaune replied emphatically. “Of course you would; who else would you be?”
“Weak?” Pyrrha suggested. “Afraid? How can I refuse this simply because I don’t like the consequences?”
Jaune stared at her, silently. With one hand, reached up and stroked her face. Pyrrha closed her eyes, leaning into the palm of his hand as he cupped her cheek.
“You’re so … so brave,” he whispered. “You’re too brave, much too brave.”
Pyrrha turned her head slightly and kissed the palm of his hand, or at least the glove that covered it.
“I’m sorry,” she whispered.
“I know,” Jaune replied. “When?”
“I don’t know,” Pyrrha said. “Professor Ozpin gave me until the end of the week to make my decision, but—”
“Good,” Jaune said, embracing her with both arms once again. “That’s good, because … because that gives me time. Time to hold you close, and hope to everything that’s good you change your mind. And do everything I can to make sure you do.”
“And … and if I don’t?”
Pyrrha felt Jaune’s hold upon her tighten a little.
“Then … then I’ll just have to hold on to you and not let you go,” Jaune said. “I won’t let you go, Pyrrha.
“I can’t let you go.”
Sunset teleported into the SAPR dorm room.
She hadn’t gone there straight away. No, after leaving the garage, she had teleported onto a secluded patch of the grounds and then proceeded to make her way down into the Emerald Forest and spent at least half an hour tearing up the place, blasting trees apart and ripping up the shrubbery with telekinesis. She was surprised that with all the negativity she was feeling — and she was feeling a lot of negativity; rage was roiling and broiling with her chest — she only attracted a few young beowolves towards her. Or perhaps more of them, and bigger and older and stronger ones at that, would have found her if she’d stuck around longer, yelling and screaming as she used up her magic.
She had used the last of it to teleport herself back to the dorm room before that actually happened, and now, she felt exhausted. Her limbs trembled, her body was stained with sweat, and she was breathing heavily.
What she didn’t feel was any better. None of the release of her magic had actually released her emotions, because the source of those emotions had not been affected one bit by her little tantrum in the forest.
“Sunset?”
Sunset looked down. Ruby and Penny were sitting on the floor, both of them looking up at her.
It was Penny who had spoken, and now, she leapt up to her feet. “You’re back!” she cried. “How did it go? Pyrrha asked Jaune to go and meet her alone, which sounds romantic, don’t you think? Are you allowed to say what—?”
Sunset raised one hand. She placed the other upon her forehead. She could feel her heart beating furiously in her chest, even as that same chest rose and fell with her breathing. Her ears were drooped down into her mane.
“Yes,” she murmured. “Yes, I am back, Penny, I … would you both do me a favour and clear the room? I need to be alone.”
“'Alone'?” Ruby asked. “Why?”
“Just get out!” Sunset snapped. She closed her eyes, pressing the back of her hand more firmly against her forehead. “I’m sorry,” she muttered. “I … I’m sorry. I just … I need some privacy.”
“Is there anything we can do to help?” asked Penny.
“Please just go,” Sunset begged. “Please, I’m sorry, but … please.”
They were both staring at her, eyes wide and mouths slightly open. Of course they were; they had no idea what was going on. They must think she was being rude and strange in equal measure, kicking Ruby out of her own dorm room, kicking Penny out. A fine welcome to Beacon.
But she couldn’t … she needed to be alone right now.
Alone with her thoughts, alone to hear herself think.
She hardly looked at either Penny or Ruby as they left, didn’t turn around as they scuttled off behind her, didn’t move as she heard the door close after them.
She just stood there, in the middle of the room, sweaty, gasping for breath, trembling, almost out of magic, her head pounding. Pounding with thoughts that she hated, with problems that she could not resolve.
She felt no better than when she had left Pyrrha’s company; in fact, she arguably felt a good deal worse.
Pyrrha was still going to go through with it. Pyrrha was going to go through with it, and Pyrrha was going to die, and Sunset knew that, even if she couldn’t exactly prove it. Nothing good could come from meddling in souls. Pyrrha would get into the machine, and somebody else would get out. Pyrrha Nikos, the soul of SAPR, would be gone.
Pyrrha gone. Pyrrha no more. The thought of it was enough to bring tears pricking the corner of Sunset’s eyes, not to mention sending a surge of rage spiking through her body. She was angry at Ozpin for asking Pyrrha to do this, angry at Pyrrha for being so noble as to actually go through with it, angry at Cinder for causing all of this to come to pass.
Angry at herself for a whole host of reasons: for having been stupid enough to trust Ozpin — and the fact that she could tell that he didn’t want to do this in no way diminished her rage at him for doing it anyway; if you don’t want to do something then don’t do it! — for having failed to see that Cinder was capable of such things as she had done to Amber, or seeing but choosing not to care; for having failed to convince Pyrrha not to go through with this; for not being able to do anything to stop the horror that she could see unfolding before her eyes.
She didn’t know what she was supposed to do now. She couldn’t do anything, in any sense. She couldn’t stand by and watch Pyrrha do this to herself, but she couldn’t do anything to stop it either. She considered enlisting Blake’s help to sneak down into the Vault and use the machine on herself before Pyrrha could do it, but … even if Blake could work out how to use the machine … and it would be pretty cruel of Sunset to ask Blake to be the instrument of her spiritual demise … they’d already established that Sunset or someone derived from her nature probably wasn’t the best person in Remnant to have Maiden powers.
Sunset had no idea what to do. She had little idea what she ought to be thinking — in the whirl of thoughts that swirling around her mind, she was even starting to consider that Pyrrha might be right and that it was wrong of her to prioritise Pyrrha’s life above all others or the survival of Vale — or whether she ought to be feeling this amorphous anger that was directed at everyone including herself and not helping her at all in the process.
She had no idea what to do … but she did know who she could talk to about it. Someone wise and kind and caring. Someone who had seen much and endured much.
Sunset’s hands trembled as she pulled the magical journal out from underneath her bed. If Celestia told her that what Professor Ozpin was doing was just and necessary, then Sunset wouldn’t say another word against it, no matter what she felt within, but if Celestia told her that she was right to feel as incensed as she did, well then … then Sunset would do whatever it took.
For her friend, she could do nothing else.
Subconsciously, she might have known that she needed this even before she realised it; that was why she had sent Ruby and Penny away out of the room.
She needed privacy now, privacy and her princess.
She put the book down on the desk and opened it up to the next free page. Picking up her pen, she began to write.
Twilight, are you there?
Please be there. Please answer. Please don’t be away on urgent business. Please don’t be in a position where you can’t answer. Please, I need this right away.
She let out a sigh of relief as she saw the words in Twilight’s cursive writing begin to spread across the page.
I’m right here, Sunset. Do you need something?
Yes, I need to talk to Princess Celestia right away. It’s urgent. Life and death urgent. Please, can you send for her?
Life and death? Sunset, are you in some kind of trouble?
I don’t have time to explain it to you first. I need to speak to Princess Celestia about this. She’s the only one who can help me right now. Please, Twilight, I need her, and I need her now.
There was a pause, and Sunset could picture Twilight on the other end of the journal, staring with bafflement at the words that Sunset had so hastily scrawled on the page. Perhaps they were a little exaggerated, but they matched her mood. Even if she had time to wait, it certainly didn’t feel that way, and she had no desire to linger in this state of distraught confusion, not knowing where to turn and staring down the loss of a friend in the process. She needed guidance. She needed the wisdom that only Princess Celestia could give her.
Okay. I’ll send her a message via Spike. She shouldn’t be long.
Sunset nodded, for all that she was invisible to Twilight. Thank you, Twilight. I really mean that.
Twilight didn’t answer. There was no answer for a little while, until a familiar elegant script began to unfurl itself like a standard across the page.
Sunset? Are you there?
Even in the midst of these dire circumstances, Sunset could not prevent herself from smiling at the sight of Celestia’s words, words which she could hear as in her old teacher’s voice. I’m right here, Princess. Thank you for coming.
How could I not? Twilight said that it was urgent, that you required my council desperately. She spoke of life and death. Little sunbeam, what is the matter?
Sunset sighed. She clenched her free hand. She shut her eyes for a moment as she wondered how she could explain everything that she had just found out and everything that she was thinking and feeling and wondering.
How could she make Celestia understand?
Princess Celestia, if the world was in dire peril and the only way to save it was to sacrifice Twilight, would you do it?
There was a pause on the other end of the book, and Sunset could only imagine the horror that Celestia was feeling to read those words.
Sunset, what sort of a question is that to ask of me?
An awful one, I know, but one that I need the answer to. Would you do it? Could you sacrifice Twilight to save the world?
No. The answer came swiftly, that single word of it at least, written sharply as though she were stabbing the page with her quill. The rest of the answer came after a short delay, unfolding at a slower pace.No, I would not do it. I could not. Not even for the world.
Because you love her too much.
I am not sure that it is possible to love too much, if one has chosen to love freely and without malicious interference.
Does it not make us too weak to do what must be done?
And what must be done, Sunset? And why do we do anything, except because we love? What do we protect but that which we hold dear? If we love nothing, then why should we do anything? Love is not our weakness, though it may not always be wise, yet it remains our greatest strength. Now, please tell me, Sunset, why would you ask me such a question as this?
Sunset shivered as she put pen to paper. Because my friend is in a lot of trouble, and it’s not just that I don’t know how to save her, it’s that she’s got me asking if I should even try to save her or if I shouldn’t just let her go like she seems to want because she’s got more nobility than sense, and that’s always been her problem, and that’s why we all love her so much.
I see. Or at least, I begin to see. Perhaps you had better explain a little more. Is your world in peril?
They think it is. Professor Ozpin and Pyrrha and the rest. There’s a procedure; they want to make an alicorn; not exactly, but that’s the best way that I can think to explain it to you without going into all the details; they want to make an alicorn to guard an important magical object and keep great power out of the hands of evil. But it’s going to kill Pyrrha to do it. They want to take the soul from a dying girl and give it to Pyrrha, and I’m absolutely certain that what comes out the other side won’t be Pyrrha anymore.
I fear that you are all too correct, Sunset. Meddling in the soul in such a way, it is impossible for me to conceive that Pyrrha’s soul will not be transformed, maybe even beyond all recognition.
That was what she had been afraid of. What am I supposed to do, Princess? Pyrrha wants to do this, even knowing what it will cost her, and I don’t know what to do. Am I supposed to just let this happen because it’s what she wants? Would you let Twilight go through with something like that if it was what she wanted?
I would do all I could to prevent it. I could not bring myself to do such a thing nor to countenance it as an observer, however passive my role might be.
Not even for the world?
Not even for the world.
Then what would you do, the world being in peril?
Celestia: I would trust in Twilight to find another way. A way for good to win out without her sacrifice, or any other.
Sunset leaned back in her chair. She could feel the fog lifting from her mind. Her path felt clearer now. Another way. Another way. There was one obvious other way, and that was to save Amber so that she could go on being the Fall Maiden; that still left the fact that somebody was going to have to kill Cinder, but for now, if Sunset could save Pyrrha without having to put anyone else in the Atlesian machine in her place, then she’d be well pleased with herself and consider it a good day's work. Save Amber. But how?
And then, like sunlight breaking through the clouds, it came to her. Yes, that particular combination of spells, plus Jaune’s semblance and her own, and with enough scientific knowhow to keep her stable while all of this was going on … yes, that might just work. In any case, it was surely worth the attempt. It would save Pyrrha, and Amber too; surely, that was worth trying?
If only she could persuade Professor Ozpin to see it that way.
If only someone could persuade Professor Ozpin to see it that way.
Sunset began to scribble on the page again. Princess Celestia, I think I have an idea. But I might need your help to persuade Professor Ozpin to let me do it.
I would do anything to help you, Sunset, but in this case, I don’t quite understand.
With your permission, I’d like to introduce the two of you.
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So... When is Sunset going to start selling tickets to Equestria for tours?
Yeeessssss, I’m looking forward to Celestia chewing out Ozpin for being a shortsighted child
9754168
It's not shortsightedness its desperation and even then he's not looking to force anyone into doing it. It's not like this would have been anyone's first option and frankly, Celestia is either a fool or a terrible leader for being unwilling to sacrifice Twilight if it meant saving everyone else.
Personally, I think the whole "third option where everyone is happy" is kind of a cop-out but considering the whole point of this story is to not let Pyrrha die I can let it slide.
9753825
The Old Man was just a story. The Four Maidens were just Ozma and Salem's four daughters who inherited their magic.
Interesting.
Putting my dollar on Oz being Starwirl.
--Spade
9754195
this is pure fanon
it was never confirmed
9754227
Looks like I was wrong about that, then. This is still a different situation, though. If transferring magic was the same as the method Oz used to give it in the first place, there wouldn't be a need for the Watts Engine.
9754227
It's not fanon they had a whole flashback in the show.
9754235
Yes, but in the flashback Oz's four daughters died when they were still toddlers, killed during the fight between Oz and Salem.
I never understood this. Penny is a machine that has a soul right? Why didn't they just make something like her and put Amber's soul in it?
Oh boy, i can't wait to see what might come about.
At this point everyone besides Ironwood, Glinda, and Qrow think he's just the head of this society against Salem. If he goes to Equestria then the truth of his soul could be revealed. I can't wait to see what's going to happen next.
9754235
My assumption that Ozma and Salem's four magical daughters were the first Maidens seems to have been fanon. I looked stuff up on the wiki, and Ozpin admitted to being the old man from the story in V5 E7.
"Introduce"? Via journal or via portal? And wasn't there a short story on a different site about Ozpin and Celestia talking through the journal? Guess that wasn't canon. Either way, I'm very curious to see how this goes. I quite liked Sunset's desperation here, her determination to save her friends. Sure, she doesn't have the best interests of Remnant at heart, but she never did. She's still selfish, but out of love.
9754168
Any parent or parental figure that would sacrifice their child before themselves is no parent of any note. Foolish perhaps, but to err is to human, well pony anyway. What Ozpin is doing is worse than murder, he’s altering souls, erasing souls. If souls exist in this universe, and theres an afterlife, he is DESTROYING Phyrras soul. That is a fate worse than death.
He’s also indirectly forcing her into this because he knows Ruby would agree without question and he knows that Phyrra won’t let that happen. Ozpin is a manipulator regardless of whether his intentions are good or not.
9754297
True enough. Look at the conversation in the canon even. Pyrrha's choices are talked about nicely by Opzin, but basically boil down to "do it, or someone sinister gets the power, making you indirectly responsible for what they do with the power."
9754297
You're giving Ozpin too much credit. He doesn't know Ruby on a personal level so I doubt he's aware of just how selfless she can be or how that might factor into Pyrrah's decision. I agree that no parent would sacrifice their child but no good leader would sacrifice the world to protect a single person. Yes, this is an awful thing to do but it's also made clear that if there was any other option they wouldn't be doing it. It's very much brought up as a "we've tried everything and this is the only option we have left" kind of idea.
The fact that they don't know if it will even work just shows how desperate the situation is so it should be admired that they aren't trying to push Pyrrah or anyone else into doing it.
While Celestia's answer makes me respect her as a person I have lost a great deal of respect for her as a ruler since it shows that when the chips are down she'd sacrifice everyone for her own selfish wishes which is not something you want in a leader.
9754306
I’m pretty sure that Celestia was pointing out that even in the most desperate of times, there’s usually always a better way, even if it might be harder. Oz kinda hit the nail on the head when he talked about how the Maidens’ powers are transferred. How they gain that power tends to set the stage of how the next cycle will go. If it begins in violence, it will end in violence.
In Equestria, struggles and hardships always rise up, but ultimately, no one has had to sacrifice anyone for the “greater good”. They always found that better way. Stuck to their convictions.
9754339
I would point out that time Celestia sacrificed her own sister for the greater good. I'll give Celestia credit that she doesn't have all the information but the fact that she doesn't admit that sometimes you have no choice shows alot of naivety on her part.
9754343
That is an excellent point, but at that time...there unfortunately was no other way. In that moment, the only two she knew were capable of harnessing the Elements of Harmony were her and her sister. With her sister corrupted, she alone was left to harness all the Elements alone, when before they were split between the two of them. But she had to have had some bit of foresight to know that one day six ponies would harness them to fully save her sister.
9754306
9754297
There's an old saying. "Don't hate the player, hate the game." And what a terrible game we must play for the survival of us all. Nobody appreciates peace and Harmony as much as the warrior. War is hell, and that is why our choices and the actions we make are what matter most out there. Both for the course of the battle and for who we are. The tragedy is that war rarely gives us the choices we want. As absolutely terrible as this path was, Ozpin and the others were at their wit's end and out of options. The finest technology in Atlas, and it could only do so much.
It's a shame that Equestrian magic wasn't available to them in canon, but it is now. And that's what Sunset is able to offer: Another way.
9754295
And oooooooh, how I've been looking forward to Celestia and Ozpin reaching out to each other! The offshoot that was inspired by this story was wonderful, but still! Two very old souls, sharing their burdens. Both with a similar origin and similar regrets. Like I've said before, Ozpin can finally have a friend that truly understands.
9754343
Yes, and she has had a thousand years to regret that decision. She speaks from personal experience. Is it worth it to save the world if we become the monsters we aim to fight?
I'm looking forward to this!
9754234
That's just the only method they know for transferring the magic. The power itself is another entity, no matter how many souls it anchors to. I think that it lets go and latches onto a new soul when a bearer dies. If it dragged along even a part of the old soul, the lore would be different.
Cinder ripped part of the power and Amber's soul out, but doesn't seem to be affected in the way being talked about. Salem wouldn't want Cinder to change her soul and risk becoming an enemy, so I think they had a way of either destroying or caging Amber's soul without loosing the Maiden magic.
9754280
Amber isn't just dying in body, but her spirit is dying too. Because of the rip, it's unraveling, and being in a new soulless body, like a robot's, won't stop that. Penny has a whole soul, and I think they need a whole soul for the remnant of Amber to bond to, so they'd have to make a new one just to force Amber into, which is even more morally wrong because they would deny choice, like I said about doing it to a coma patient last chapter.
9754343
9754347
Luna wasn't sacrificed, just put in an extended timeout. Still, if Celestia had more friends to rely on back then, maybe she could have found a better way. Now she does, and that's the core theme of the show, so of course her answer now is to trust a friend to find a better way.
Oz and crew aren't tapping all their options. Perhaps because they don't know they have them, but it remains a fault of theirs to not see. Oz especially is in too deep and has lost the light of hope and friendship that would push him to consider alternatives.
9754374
It would only make you a monster if you forced the choice on them, asking someone to make a sacrifice doesn't make you a monster it makes you someone who is capable of making the hard choices for the greater good. The fact that Celestia can't see this shows how much of a child she is compared to Ozpin. Now, in this case, that inexperience might lead them to an option they didn't know they had but that doesn't make Ozpin wrong for going down the path he did.
9754422
It’s a request that he has stacked so heavily that he knows Phyrra won’t refuse. He is well aware of Rubys disposition, just as he was Summer before her. He knows that Ruby would say yes even if RD, Ciel, and Phyrra declined. He knows how much Ruby means to the group, and he’s using that as his trump card to strong arm Phyrra into it. Ruby is essentially is hostage for lack of better words. Phrras choices are ‘accept my offer or live with the fact you damned your friends’. Thats not a choice, thats blackmail and its explicitly manipulative and wrong, even if hes doing it for the ‘right’ reasons.
9754435
All he did was lay out the facts for her. What was he supposed to do, lie? Tell her that there would be zero consequences should she refuse? How would that have been better?
It may seem cruel and manipulative but asking her to make a choice without giving her all the information would have been far worse.
9754440
Yes he did tell her the truth, and lay out the facts, it does change the fact that its manipulative, and he’s been planning/preparing for this for some time now. Ozpin is ultimately playing chess, and chess does require you to sacrifice pieces in order to win. But he’s been playing so long that he’s become entirely detached. He sees his allies as tools to be utilized, cherished tools perhaps, but ultimately ones that can and must be used in order to win. Yes he is doing it for the greater good, but that does not make his actions good.
9754454
Maybe not good but definitely not wrong. If you aren't willing to sacrifice the few to save the many you don't deserve to rule.
9754455
when you begin to barter with lives you become a merchant in death, how many are you willing to kill to save, 1 to a million, 10, 100, how about half the city.
At what point will you stop sacrificing. at what point will you turn back and decide that to many lives have been crushed under foot so that the whole, something, even a handful can make it out alive.
edit: 9754498
I will admit that to refuse to sacrifice any one... at the knowing cost of every one, is incredibly selfish. and the believe that if you just work hard enough then you can save every one is naïve.
but when you enter a situation justifying the sacrifice of lives for others, you can blind yourself to other options. you have already accepted that some will have to die, and so only look for the paths that require the least death, not the paths that could lead to no deaths.
after all, why didn't Ozpin ask Sunset, who he knows is from another world with magic, if she or any one she knew might know a way to save Amber. because he already wrote amber off as a loss and accepted that the only way forward was to sacrifice one of his students souls in a last ditch effort to stop Salem.
9754494
That's war, people die. It's not about saving everyone, that's impossible, it's about saving as many as you can and sometimes that means sacrificing others, which is where armies come in.
I thought Jaune might be part of a third solution! Though, more in a "he uses his semblance to wake up amber and pyrrha asks for her to give her power freely when she dies" sort of way, but this is very interesting too, especially as it gives us another character if it works. (Also because this is a crossover, of course Sunset needs to be involved in the solution.)
9754494
Let's be fair here, this is not Ozpin making a decision by himself it's clear they've all agreed to it and its made clear this is not their first choice. The fact that they have all agreed to it implies that they have exhausted all other options. So let's not pretend that they haven't tried everything they can think of before resorting to this.
Hard to say, we don't know what all he knows of Equestria and what interactions if any he's had with them in the past. I have to believe there is a reason neither side has attempted to breach the portal or make contact with the other side and instead only make use of what's come through it over the years.
At any rate, there has to be a reason why Ozpin didn't consider Equestria as a valid option and I refuse to believe its simply because he didn't think of it considering how much its come up recently.
The metaphorical shit just hit the fan. I know one of the main reasons for this fic to exist is keeping Pyrrha from dying by Cinder’s hand, but please don’t make it too cheesy. Yes, Equestria has the Deus Ex Machina aka the Elements of Harmony to save the day and hell of a plot armor, because children show, but the “friendship and love defeat all odds-card” can’t be applied par for par in Remnant, or at least it will be very difficult when the enemy has no problems with killing you. In opposite, he wouldn’t mind “taking care” of his foes.
For one, Equestria is a safe haven since many centuries under the guidance of an immortal and kind ruler, while mankind and the faunus are stuck in an eternal war with Salem and the Grimm since the beginning, or are occupied by fighting each other. And perhaps an outsider’s perspective is needed to create new opportunities nobody ever thought of.
There are so many possibilities this fic can take now. Will Ozpin even listen to Sunset and Celestia? Will Sunset bring Celestia to Ozpin when he refuses at first? And what about Pyrrha? She wants to stand on equal ground with Cinder in order to protect the people she loves and to fight at the front, no matter how much Sunset dislikes her decision. And then there is the rest of Ozpin’s secret council, who are probably not so thrilled from being lectured by an “unexperienced child” and her mentor or told how to defend their own world.
I am really curious to see her next step. How does Sunset want to solve this situation without losing her friend? Rainbow Dash could become a wild card, too, because it seems she developed quite the grudge against Sunset since the breach. I can’t imagine that she won’t do something about it the next time our pony girl once more choses SAPR above all of Remnant.
9754664
9754551
9754494
9754454
Perhaps a demonstration of what it means would help?
https://youtu.be/4K7QGia1aCc?t=123
Lol @ almost everyone in this comment section saying that Oz was wrong to ask Pyrrha of this.
Reminder that some Equestria deus ex is going to be what's needed to make sure that isn't the only option so it was absolutely the only option in canon.
The needs of the many come before the needs of the few.
9755261
It’s not exactly the same for a number of reasons. First we’re not talking about death here, we’re talking about tearing apart a persons (presumably) immortal soul. The presence of souls implies the existence of some form of afterlife. To die is to allow the soul to pass on. This is not death, this is ‘Your soul no longer exists, you don’t get an afterlife’. You know what else involves ripping a soul apart and shoi g it somewhere else?
Lichdom
Now that is an overexageration i know, but when your dealing with soul splicing and modifying you are dealing with crimes beyond mere nature, your dealing with crimes against everything that is meant to be good in this world. Ozpin isn’t asking Phyrra to die form him, or to save the world, he’s asking her to ceased to be, to deny herself a rightfully earned final rest to stave off the end of a battle he is already convinced he’s lost. And Phyrra knows that if she doesn’t, its innocent Ruby who will be forever denied the chance to reunite with her mother in whatever serves for RWBYverses afterlife.
Having the fall maiden end in Salems hands would be bad, but they are quite clearly not invincible, as he’s managed to recover all 4 in the past. And he has not explored all options because again he hasn’t even inquired what equestrian magic could potentially do despite knowing about it fir, oh i don’t know centuries?
A bad choice made for a good reason is still a bad choice. Necromancy is bad kids m’kay.
9755513
Exactly. Atlas is the most advanced nation on Remnant and yet their most bleeding-edge technology isn't enough.
When our finest minds and the greatest tools fail... What do we do then?
9755513
I'm thinking people are upset because its not like Pyrrha is just going to die and go to the afterlife. She is going to be completely and utterly destroyed. The only thing that awaits after her choice is oblivion.
Do it, Sunset. Give into the Darkside and murder Amber before Pyrah gets in the machine. Cinder won’t murder you. She can’t. You’re friends, right? Just share the maidens power. Convince her to take a rainbow laser to the face.
9756026
I find my self confused, because deep inside me I want to see this happen and more Shimmy x Cinder is always nice and I can see this ending with Sunset blasting rainbow beams of harmony to restore Pyrrha's soul
9755548
Clearly the answer is to destroy the very souls of good children thats what. Ozpin has long since given up trying to win the war. Right now he's only trying to keep the status quo. Its even worse be he knows there is an afterlife and he’s emotionally blackmailing a child who deserves to go to paradise her final rest in order to stay ahead in the game.
We can go back and forth all you want but at the end of the day it comes down to this. Ozpin is commiting a terrible act for a greater good. Just because he’s doing it to save as many as possible doesn’t make it evil. I am reminded of the tropes ‘Light is not always good, Darkness is not always bad’. In this instance Ozpin (light) is doing something awful to delay what he perceives as a worse fate. The road to ruin is paved with good intentions, and Ozpin has beennwalking that road a long long time.
9756217
so what your saying is "the lesser of two evils is still evil". Ozpin is trying to stop the destruction of vale (a greater evil) but will do so by destroying the soul of one of his students (a lesser evil).
with this I would like to make my own stance on the difference between the philosophy's of "necessary evil" and "for the greater good", the first requires that the person acknowledge that what they are doing is wrong, perhaps unforgivably evil, and such an action will be a weight they have to bear for the rest of their days regardless of the good that comes out of it. by its definition it is an evil act taken because their is no other way, and the individual makes no false hood about that. mean while the "greater good" rejects that mentality, in truth it is the path of cowards unable to accept what they have done and so justify their actions and exonerate any guilt they might feel by putting emphasis on the perceived good that will happened from their deeds.
And for all of Ozpins faults (and their are many) he clearly falls into the first camp not the second. he knows his actions are evil, he knows that there is an after life and he is defiantly not going any where good when he faces his final death (can't come back if the only person left is Salem after all). hell in Volume 3 we see the weight of what he is going to do to Pyrrha really get to him when they start the transfer. Ozpin isn't just some one making the tough choices, he is a broken man buried under the weight of his sins, who has seen so many friends die, often by his own orders that he has closed himself off from others. (look up the song "cost of the crown")
In the end what Ozpin needs isn't some one to tell him that he is a monster, cuz quite frankly I think he already believes that he is, the guy needs a friend who can both relate to him, and some one that can see him as a person, faults and all, and still act as a shoulder for him in moments of weakness. its why getting in touch with Celestial is really good for him. she is the only other person in existence that might understand him, and frankly vice versa (when she learns the truth, I wonder if celestial will see in him what she might have become had she been unable to use the elements that day, a broken mare in an eternal fight against some one they loved who has been taken by a darkness they (celestial and Ozpin) had ignored until it had consumed them (Luna and Salem)
9756217
it also sounds like your arguing that Ozpin has lost hope of ever winning the fight, and as such seeks only to stall and slow Salem... which would mean that Ozpin has already come to the conclusion that this is a losing fight and he and every one else will eventually be crushed under Salem's wait, he is just bent on holding off that inevitable fate for as long as he can. a commendable thought, to keep up the good fight in the face of certain defeat, but one that often ensures that defeat. after all you can never win if you have already accepted your loss (which in cannon he has, he thinks the only way to save the world is to kill Salem… and we saw how crushed he was when he learned he couldn't, honestly I am betting that the only way to end this is thru reformation.)
Nice, Ozzie.
>Killing Cinder is bad and will probably taint the maiden shenanigans you got
>So let's use soul sorcery and a mad scientist's magnum opus because that's so much better
9756366
You know what... that was a really good argument you made, and it actually makes a lot of sense. I’m going to concede this point in that Ozpin is not pursuing the greater good, but the necessary evil.
That being said just because that its necessary, and he’s doing everything he can to minimize the total suffering, doesn’t mean I or anyone else has to agree or support it. Sunset is of this mind, and has made the choice (more than once now) to sacrifice the world for her friends. And maybe in the grand scheme of things thats what remnant needs more than anything. Not a settlement to hold tge line, but a hail mary betting it all on the power of friendship to overcome the odds.
As for Ozpins mindset, yeah he has definately given up trying to win, and thats why he can’t. Sunset, Phyrra, Ruby, Juane, they haven’t. They won’t, and they likely never will. Its like celestia said ‘I would choose not to sacrifice Twilight, I would trust she vould find a solution where I could not’. Ozpin is so used to trying to carry the world and all its secrets himself, he no longer entertains the opinions of others. He’s so focused on the bug picture he can’t see whats in front of him. It reminds me of Dr Who. He’s so damn smart, but he can only see the grand scale, and it blinds him to the obvious things a mortal would see. Just as the dr needs a mortal companion to keep them grounded, Ozpin, Celestia, any immortal ruler will need to heed the council of those who are more attuned to the now.
Also quick aside note his question in the show was ‘How can I kill Salem’ and his response was ‘YOU cannot’ and he took that to mean that she could not be killed. He never considered that the answer was literal, that he specifically could not kill her but that another could.
9757329
and also he didn't consider that he couldn't beat her YET , after all Jiin can't tell you about future
9757329
9757461
Whatever the answer turns out to be I really hope it doesn't come down to Jinn just being a dick who only works in literals.
9756366
THANK YOU! That is what I've been trying to say for months!
"Uneasy lies the head that wears the crown." -William Shakespeare
Even so, while Ozpin may have given up on the hope of removing the threat forever, he still understands the fine difference that one does not need to destroy the enemy in order to win. How many times has Salem cried with rage at her plans being thrawted again and again and again? It is she who has to win, while Remnant only needs to not lose. This alone is why defense always has an advantage. Ozma has been defending Remnant long before Dust was fully weaponized and the kingdoms experienced an Industrial and Technological Revolution. I can only imagine how terrible the losses from the Grimm were before then. But now, as the Volume 1 intro stated, we can now fight back against the Grimm head on! Ozma needs only to protect the world long enough until it undergoes another revolutionary transformation. Until humanity's true potential is actualized and becomes strong enough that the Grimm can ignored.
If Salem cannot be destroyed, imprisoned or redeemed, then that is Ozma's goal.
Oh this will be good.
... well shit. The one thing I hadn’t conceived...
The more of this story I read, the more Sunset and SAPR reminds me of this quote from Babylon 5. Because often times the people you want to be fighting for the world aren't the ones fighting for the 'Greater good' or the Big Picture, but those with something personal to lose that they would do anything to save. They tend to fight harder and refuse to accept defeat.