The Knights of Grimm - Act 4 - Whispers of Arkhonex

Chapter 13 - Moving On

Cinder

She stares at him, and the memories taste as fresh as they were when they happened, stood by the elevator that would head down to the vault. Ozpin stands at the other side of the room with both his hands resting atop the rounded crest of his cane, brown eyes staring straight at her as she stares right back. She does not trust him, none of them really trust him, but for good reason. He is not what would be considered the most trustworthy of individuals, especially when thinking about how much of a mystery he is. And the fact that he is a Knight of Grimm, the Knight of Vengeance and absolutely nobody knew.

Until Vir Nominis Umbra figured it out, and destroyed Beacon as a method to rid him, which failed nonetheless. She exhales as she stares at him with her one fully functional amber eye, one arm grasping onto her other arm. "Was it really seven years ago?" She asks him as they both stare at the elevator, no longer empty with smashed open doors when Pyrrha used the cubicle to shoot up there. However the memories of this elevator shaft, the vault that lies beneath them is still as strong as ever.

"It really was..." He sighs as he looks at the elevator, tapping his digits on the metal head of the cane. "Time flies, doesn't it?" He chuckles, Cinder scoffs as she looks over at him.

"Ironic, coming from you." She reminds, making the Professor chuckle.

"Hmm, funnily enough that was not intentional at all." He assures, realising the fact he accidentally made a pun considering how Oscar knew him at the time. As the mysterious entity known as Time.

"Why did you never tell Oscar? I understand never telling us...but why not even him? You did share a mind, how come he never caught on?" She asks him, Ozpin nods his head, pacing around the room slowly with his cane being used like a walking stick.

"Well, I have learned that I can block certain memories from the host I am forced to bind my aura to. I chose Oscar because we shared similar goals...and once we were both very similar people. When I was a younger...better man." Ozpin explains, thinking back to the time when he used to be Wymerus Ozymandius, the Captain of the Dauntless and later becoming the Knight of Vengeance because of Axzura Vex.

"But why? Did you not trust him?" Cinder inquires.

"No, it's that I could not trust myself. The things I know and the truth of what I am is something that no boy should ever learn. I know things that the world would never want to understand...I learned my fair share from Vir Nominis Umbra." He assures with the firm voice he speaks through.

Cinder leans against the wall and bends her knee and leg back, pressing the soul of her foot against the surface. She brushes her long black hair over her shoulder and she sighs with frustration. "By the gods, I really need to take a shower." She sighs, trying her best to keep her hair from covering her face, since it doesn't smell great and she has never really had the time to do so. Ozpin looks at her, and she is so much different compared to who she was when they fought down there. He smiles softly.

"I'm proud." He says to her, she pauses and her eye widens with shock, looking at him with confused disbelief.

"Huh? You're...proud? Of what?" Cinder asks him, nervous.

"How you have changed, you fell down a dark path yet you clawed yourself out and back into the light. Very few have that kind of strength – hell it took me decades to break free from Umbra, you managed to do it in a few months. That is no simple feat." He compliments with a smile as he stands there, looking over to her. She blushes slightly, even acts adorable...something nobody would expect from the once murderous and psychotic Cinder Fall.

"Well...I haven't earned their respect yet, I don't deserve it after everything I have done." She sighs as she turns and walks towards the door, looking through the creaking open door where she can hear the Witches speaking with Glynda outside. Where Penny also stands there as she speaks. She sighs, no matter what she does she never feels like she has done enough to earn their respect, the sense of family they all feel.