𝐈𝐧 𝐘𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐖𝐢𝐥𝐝𝐞𝐬𝐭 𝐃𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐦𝐬 (English)

Chapter 69

There was no keeping a dream about Salem secret, not with how much danger everyone was in, so Jaune forced his way into "Oswald's" office bright and early, interrupting the man's breakfast to blurt out, "Salem is close to Beacon!"

Ozpin spat out his coffee. "What!? Explain!"

Jaune recounted the dream as best he could, trying not to spare any detail. "—but I don't think she realised it was a dream at all, though she might not she's woken up. I did my best to act like you might have around Ruby—"

"Ruby? Miss Rose?"

"Ah, no. Your firstborn."

Ozpin frowned. "Her name was Spring. Our daughters were Spring, Summer, Autumn and Winter. Not imaginative, I know, but naming conventions weren't what they are now and a lot of names you take as common didn't exist."

"I had to name her something and she had silver eyes!"

"Ah." Ozpin relented. It was less of an insult to his dead daughter to see it that way. "I'll let it go then. And I suppose it's good to know you can't rewrite history with your Semblance, though that would make it far too strong if you could."

"I feel like it's plenty strong already if I can genetically alter the people I dream of," Jaune deadpanned. The young man in front of him was proof of that. "But I have a bigger question right now."

"Go on."

"Should I have done something to Salem...?"

Ozpin leaned back in his seat, humming and wiping away the spilt coffee on his desk.

"It's tempting to say you should have tried to kill or disable her in some way but asking that of you is wrong – not to mention there's too much chance for it to blow up in our faces. The fact you can change my body is in no small part due to a technicality in my immortality. My soul is unchanging, but my body isn't. Salem's is the reverse."

"You said as much before. Something about there being a possibility any changes I make would reset."

"Yes. The Grimm corruption is something rooted in her soul, and I hesitate to believe you can fix that. Or what the consequences of you doing so might be."

"Consequences?"

"There is always someone bigger, Mr Arc. Someone stronger, or with a more powerful command over reality. It would not do to challenge those that placed this curse upon Salem and I in the first place."

Jaune gulped.

"Perhaps I'm being overly cautious; they haven't cared about us for millennia and might not care now. But, personally, I think it is wise to be cautious with the life – nay, the very existence – of one of my students. Until we know more, we cannot risk drawing their attention."

"Right." Jaune didn't want to test that either. "Then what do we do? We can't ignore Salem, can we?"

"We... might be able to..."

"Sir, that sounds like a really bad idea!"

Ozpin held up a hand. "You misunderstand me. Or perhaps I misspoke. I will not ignore her. Qrow will look for her, General Ironwood will be warned, and defences will be put in place. However, I believe you should put any plans of interacting with her out your head. Especially if it's worrying about someone in the first place that increases the chances of you dreaming of them."

"That's all well and good but what if she attacks Beacon?"

"I don't think she will."

"Can you be sure of that!?"