One

Origin's End

Under the words of men,

Something is tempting the Father

Where is your will my friend?

Insatiates never even bother

You and I, wrong or right, traded a lie for leverage

In between the lens in light, you're not what you seem

The first time I'd met Professor Ozpin he'd offered me a plate of chocolate chip cookies. God... the cookies. Did it have to be his calm manner? I wanted to strangle him, to pin him to the wall. Gambol Shroud seemed too tame for him. I'd smash his stupid face if it meant showing him what she meant to me.

"I can't imagine what Ms. Xiao Long is to you," Ozpin said casually, leaning more heavily on his cane like the old man he was. I'd literally just taken him by his stupid ascot, pinned him to the cold, grey wall, and that was his response? I loved her! I loved her, and that was the one thing on his mind. If he could cut out my heart he couldn't kill me so coldly. Jakub and Wilhelm...!

"Don't you tell me what she means to me!" I wasn't the emotional one in the pair. I was the one who always had circles around my eyes, who didn't express herself, who focused on neutrality but who fed from the light she provided. Was the opposite of "gold" always to be "black?" If that was the case, I was always going to be the one rescuing her. Or was it the other way around? I couldn't tell. "Ozpin!" I let him lean on his stupid cane. "Ozpin, you know what it is that she does to me!" I pled with him, letting him pity me with that stupid, neutral, concerned face of his. "Ozpin, you have to tell me what's going on!"

Shaking his head like he'd expected it, the young, ancient man in, he looked out the window of his office tower, almost like he expected it to be his own demise. I could hold Gambol's muzzle to his stupid throat and not make an impression on him. I hated how much he didn't recoil. And yes, there's a stupid pun in my stupid narrative, because of the target of my rage.

"I have to tell you nothing," Ozpin returned, his voice clearly mourning. He held his hourly coffee by the forefinger of his left hand. Like he could sense the way I thought, he turned to me and smiled like he'd guessed what was going on. I knew that he knew we'd done the deed, but that was the least concerning detail he'd ever broadcast to me. "Does Ms. Rose know?"

"Professor Ozpin?"

Did Ruby have to interrupt everything? I loved Ruby. I loved the way she was so innocent; I loved the way she went along with the way I loved Yang; I loved the way she was the innocence of everything I tried to hide from her. "Professor, I just want to make sure Yang's okay."

"Yang's fine!" I pinned Ruby to the wall. The corners of my eyes leaked. I'd always felt my emotions becoming the colour of some surrounding element, but yellow was something I'd never been able to dismiss.

"Ms. Belladonna." He didn't make it more than a statement, and in that moment I let go of Ruby and glared at him. I was going to show him that I was more than just some big-breasted little girl. "Perhaps you'd like to explain to us what's going on?"

"What?" I actually tried punching his face. He said five sugars was what he took in his black coffee, but the way he reacted he almost made it look like he was drinking water. I'd had freaking vodka and it had less of an effect than whatever Ozpin was fricking doing. "Freak!"

"Please." Ozpin looked at me like he was telling me to end his smug misery. I would've. I could've. I should've. "Make it stop."

I wanted to punch him in the face. I'd done it, at least in practise. Could he blame me? Probably. Even though Ruby would never see anything except me taking out my anger on Ozpin, we both knew I was really only expressing what had happened to Yang. I loved her. I was in love with her. It doesn't make any sense, but it does. It does because I'm only eighteen and I don't know exactly what's going on. Yang.

I know the answer before I can even formulate the questions. Pyrrha. Penny. Jakub and Wilhelm, I love the three of you. Two of you are my friends, but Yang...

I want to scream. I want to let it all go, and I know if I did, Beacon would crumble the way the Wyvern had caused it to.

"No." Like he'd detected what I was thinking, Ozpin held his cane out to make me stay away from the elevator. It was like he'd fallen in love with someone a long time ago. "More than you know, I know what's going on in Ms. Xiao Long's mind. Let her do what she wants."

"I'm in love with her!" I pushed Ozpin by the shoulders, but even then I was questioning what I said. "I'm in love with her, Ozpin! I..." I looked at my hands. Yang had sacrificed so much to make sure I lived. "Oz...!" I was whimpering. Ozpin knew what was going on, but I needed Yang to understand just why I loved her. Just how I loved her. Like the girl in that freaking stupid book. That one I first saw her reading. Jakub...! "Oz, let me go."

Sighing, Ozpin shook his head. "Let Ms. Xiao Long take her time," he said quietly, turning away and breathing in sharply.

"Why do you want me to stay here?"

"Because, Ms. Belladonna," Ozpin said quietly, not facing me. I could tell he was looking beyond the office, beyond the sky, beyond the shattered moon. "If it were Ms. Xiao Long I were talking to, I would know better than to stop her. I expect this impulsiveness from her. But to see you in this much pain, exhibiting the same traits I've come to expect from your friend, I know you would do both of yourselves more harm than anything else." He turned to me, his ironical eyes finding mine. I knew the circles around my own eyes were darker and more prominent than they'd ever been. "Do you understand?"

"Yes," I said finally, feeling my feline ears folding back in defeat. He was right. I'd entered this room, this conversation, more impulsively than I ultimately felt. Ozpin was someone I'd learnt to trust, and somehow I had rejected his teachings.

I could tell something was wrong with my sister. You know. Beyond her right arm being cut off. She had this faraway look that I just didn't get. She always had this sunny disposition, something that didn't get her down. It was impossible, but there was something else that I just couldn't see. I knew it had to do with Blake. I knew she was in love with her, and I just didn't know how to deal with the fact that something had broken inside of her. Something that couldn't be healed or replaced.

Yang looked at Pyrrha. The infirmary was pretty crowded. Beyond Pyrrha, I could see General Ironwood refusing treatment. He was such a great man, always leading his troops from the front. There was something about it that I just couldn't help but admire.

"General Ironwood? Sir?" I approached him, looking down at my hands and, when I didn't know what to do, I clasped them. "General?" He turned to me but didn't say anything. "General, I was wondering if I could talk to you?"

General Ironwood gave a little smile, the kind that told you he was tired, and he followed me. "General, I know there's not a lot you can do about Pyrrha..." I didn't know what else to say. He wasn't a doctor, and right now there were a lot more wounded people than her, but it felt wrong to just let her stay that way, like there was nothing anyone could do.

"That arrow was forged in a dark place, Ms. Rose," Ironwood said quietly, kneeling and putting a hand right above where it had pierced my friend's chest. He looked at the wound for a long time before he shook his head. "There's nothing I can do. I'm not a physician." When he turned to me again, there was something darker in his face. His eyes clouded over like there was something else going on. I knew there was, but I knew he'd seen a lot of things in his time as a military commander. "Ms. Rose, you all fought well." It wasn't something I'd expected, but it was par for the course with him. "We're all tired. Get some rest. There's a lot more to do, and you need to keep up your strength. As do we all."

AN

My friend, SC, and I are displeased with several of the elements from about season four of RWBY, and the other day I floated the idea of this fanfic to her. She agreed, and she'll be proofing while I'll be writing.

I know this is a short chapter, but with me about to copyright my first novel, I figured I'd kill some time and spend the days of Phase Four Reopening doing something semiproductive.

Anyhow, I hope you're all doing well! Feel free to leave your thoughts. Das vidaniya!

AG