𝐈𝐧 𝐘𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐖𝐢𝐥𝐝𝐞𝐬𝐭 𝐃𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐦𝐬 (English)

Chapter 76

Jaune wasn't sure if Ozpin still remembered he was in the room. The man was moving around as if he were possessed, muttering to himself in languages unrecognisable to man. When his hands moved, occasionally there would be brief flashes of light – magic, Jaune reminded himself, pushing past the instinctive scepticism. He'd seen enough to know it was real at this point.

He didn't dare speak up and reveal his presence. Ozpin was furious, his face stretched with rage ever since he'd woken screaming Salem's name. It was a miracle he hadn't lashed out, and Jaune suspected the muttering was to prevent himself from doing that. In the dream. Jaune might have had the power to hold Ozpin back. The same couldn't be said outside of it, and if Ozpin decided to lash out at him for how he'd acted in the dream, it would be incredibly dangerous.

So, Jaune stayed still. He remained seated on the bed, legs crossed, letting the man curse and cuss himself out. It was early, not even four in the morning, so no one was around to hear, and his team wouldn't expect him for some time. Jaune closed his eyes and focused on his breathing. It didn't really help, but it distracted him from Ozpin's pacing. Nothing lasted forever, though.

"There must be something we can do!" Ozpin snapped, drawing Jaune back to the present. It looked like it was time for the conversation to become two player. "Kill the Grimm essence within her, rid her of it. If Salem can be brought back to sanity, she could still be saved! We should go back in and try again."

"Or," Jaune said, unused to being the voice of reason to someone as wise as Ozpin. "Or it won't make a difference at all."

Ozpin rounded on him. "You can't know that."

"You said the Grimm presence in her mind might have driven her mad. You may even be right. But removing it won't un-mad her. If it's already twisted her thoughts to want to destroy all life, then those are her thoughts now. Its job is done."

"It's worth the attempt!"

"Is it?" Jaune flinched under the man's furious gaze. He quickly surrendered. "I'm not saying it isn't a noble endeavour and, if it works, that's great for everyone. But you're suggesting we throw ourselves at something which has just as much control over dreams as I do – more, in fact. It's been doing this for a lot longer than I have, and it has the home advantage. It's also immortal, whereas I am pointedly not."

"If this works, we could achieve so much good!"

"And if it doesn't, we die. That's more final for me than it is for you. Are you really willing to throw a student's life away like that?"

Ozpin's silence suggested he was, and possibly that he had. Ruby's mom had been one such student, and though Jaune doubted he'd "thrown her life away" if Qrow was still willing to work with him, it was still a sacrifice. One of many.

"Hah..." Jaune laughed weakly. "That's how it is, huh? Then let me ask this. Are you willing to throw my Semblance to the Grimm to control? Because if it doesn't kill me, it might drive me mad like it did Salem. Again, I'm not immortal, but I'll go mad while I'm asleep. There's no telling how many people I could kill before Miss Goodwitch realises something is wrong and comes to kill me." Jaune cocked his head. "If I don't get to her dream first and kill her. It could take days. Just people dropping dead throughout Beacon."

Ozpin didn't look daunted. Of course he didn't. There were some two hundred or so people in Beacon – maybe a little less. It was a big school but classes weren't large. They couldn't afford to be. Either way, two hundred dead for the chance to end the danger of Salem once and forever was, in brutal terms of efficiency, a small sacrifice. Pitiful in the grand scheme of things. If they could save Salem without killing her then she could use her control over the Grimm to drive the monsters away, making huntsmen obsolete anyway.