Destiny - Part I

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This marks the beginning of the end of this story. Thank you all so much from the very bottom of my heart for reading to this point. I won't predict how many chapters are left in this, but… The curtains are beginning to unfurl.

This end, for all my experimentation, is the one I planned from the start. And will be starkly different from canon or the best laid plans of the characters within. Hell, the Breach hasn't even happened in this story. So just… Expect the differences. I hope you enjoy, terrified of endings as I am.

I will preamble with the agreement that yeah, I have definitely under-used the villains in this story. My bad.

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The Vault was cold, she noticed as the doors slid open, Ironwood leading her and those with her into the massive space. At the end of the long room, she could see the two tubes and the machine that would give her the power she'd been promised. And the woman who she would kill to get it, too, catatonic in one of the pods. For a moment, Blake wondered if maybe she'd died. Hoped for it, even, somewhere deep down where she still wanted an out. Some way to be selfish and get out of this scott free, without putting the burden on someone else or, worse, leaving the woman that had started them on this path to get the full power she sought after.

And with it, get whatever else she hoped to gain by it.

Of course, the machine's working sounds, sounds it wouldn't make if she'd died, carried well through the empty room. Well enough she could hear it at least, her ears more than sensitive enough to hear it over their breathing and footsteps. Hums from the working computer systems caring for her, hisses from oxygen tubes and the often overlooked due to how common it was electric buzz all told her the machine was functioning.

Which meant she still had to do this, a realization that had her breathing just that tiny bit faster as they crossed the room.

"Hey, Kitty Cat." Yang called, grabbing her hand and lacing her thinner fingers through the blonde's own calloused ones. Blake gave her a look and, hushed in a no doubt vain attempt not to be heard by the General, "If you don't wanna do this, just say the word. We'll bust outta this joint even if we have to head all the way to Menagerie."

"Yeah, Blake." Ruby on her other side added, less quiet for her typical Ruby brand of lacking social grace. "And I mean hey, I love swimming."

"If you're hesitating now, then running to Menagerie isn't needed, because you won't be in this position any longer." Ironwood grunted, stopping at the halfway point of the room to half turn to them, the pods visible to either side of home where Blake stood. Like a reminder of what he meant, if she thought he was doing it on purpose. Quietly, he drew her attention from the accidental symbolism and back to him, "If you doubt your purpose here, what you are about to do, Belladonna, then you should simply say so."

"Hey, back off, Irondick." Yang grunted, taking a step forward like she wanted to get between him and Blake herself. But with a gentle tug of her hand, Blake put a stop to that idea, the brawler growling instead, "You're already gettin' what you want. You don't have to be an ass about it."

"Yang, it's fine. I just…" She grimaced and glanced away guiltily, nearly murmuring the last, "I'm afraid of what will happen to me, when I get in there. Putting her soul in me, I… Do you and your scientists even know what that will do to me?"

"This technology has been tested, yes, if that is what you are asking." They all turned looks on him and he sighed, turning fully to them and crossing his arms. Quietly, as though he expected evesdroppers here, of all places, the man explained in his sterile, military way. "The man that helped design this technology took sections of his own Aura, his own soul, and placed them into a… Well, another person, I suppose, given how she has developed. This other person has suffered no odd side-effects of the procedure, though the donor himself has noted many of them. You, though, are not the donor and so we anticipate few, if any, complications."

"If you're sure…"

"This is the first time someone with an Aura and a soul has been put through the receiving portion of this, Miss Rose." Ironwood admitted, sighing sadly for the admission. Still, even as tense as she could tell he was from his ridged shoulders and crossed arms, he spoke calmly and clinically. "There is much we don't understand about what we are about to do. But in the test case, the receiver didn't face any negative consequences. As little as that tells us, it at least implies that it isn't a lethal procedure."

"Still, if she doesn't want to do it, then-"

"I do, Yang." Or at least, she understood why she needed to. Squeezing the blonde's hand affectionately she forced a small smile for her sake, "I have to do this. I'm just… Having cold feet, that's all."

"Well, I should hope they warm up rather swiftly." The man tried to joke, forcing a small, weak smile that fell when only Ruby laughed awkwardly. Sighing, he ran his fingers through his hair and shrugged, "Well, I'm not paid for comedy, so I suppose that it only makes sense comedy wouldn't be my forte."

"It's really not, Sir." She laughed, smiling a genuine smile."You're terrible at making jokes. Worse than Yang, in fact."

Still, the joke did its job, worming some small warmth into her and pushing away the cold fear. It was still there, of course, but… She couldn't run from destiny, or maybe karma, forever. And so, squeezing her friend's hands, she pulled herself free and stepped past the General. Part of her wanted to say something, perhaps to seem cool in front of Ruby and Yang and make them feel better about all of this, but she didn't.

Her mouth was too dry to even try to.

Up close, the machines were exactly the same as she'd seen before, the empty pod barren of anything but the simplest of mats to lay in. Now, though, the empty pod was open. Her pod, that was, was opened and waiting to do its rather macabre job. And it looked all the more foreboding for it, like a great beast's jaw ready to devour her very being should she dare challenge it. Part of her felt childish for that kind of imagination, like a kid seeing a monster in her closet. Then again, it almost literally was a monster bent on swallowing her whole and ripping her soul apart, so…

Maybe her imagination was a little less than childish, in that regard.

"Once you are inside, try to stay as still as you can." Ironwood explained as he worked, preparing the machine like a man who'd done it dozens of times. Focused enough on his task she didn't take an insult when he didn't even look at her, he instructed her, "Miss Belladonna, step into the chamber. I need to run a last diagnostic routine, to make absolutely sure all is ready. Then we can proceed."

"Alright, I understand." She paused, though, pulling her hands free and hugging Ruby suddenly. The younger girl 'eeped' in surprise but hugged the Faunus back with little in the way of hesitation. Letting her go and turning, Blake was yanked in a hug by her partner, the Faunus burying her nose in her neck and sighing. "Thank you for everything, Yang. No matter what happens, just... Thank you."

"Anytime, Kitten." The girl answered, seeming to hesitate for a moment before turning just enough for Blake to press a quick, chaste kiss to her cheek. Pulling away Yang grinned lopsidedly at Blake's surprise, "For luck, Blake. That's how it goes in the stories you like to read, isn't it?"

"N-Normally it's a knight doing it…"

"Yeah, well, we don't have any knights around here." Yang laughed, an awkward and fragile sound as she stepped back and crossed her arms, asking past her. "What about you, General Irondaddy? Got any knight in you to wish our fair maiden luck?"

"No, I'm afraid I do not. And I would appreciate you not call me that, either, Miss Xiao Long." He chuckled, though, standing and turning to the three of them with a small smile. "Qrow would castrate me if he heard it… I'm sure you understand."

"Me calling you Irondaddy, or a kiss on the cheek…?"

"Yes." The man answered simply, smiling when yang laughed. To Blake, he asked, "Do you need a moment to prepare, Miss Belladonna? There's no rush on this, after all. You can take your time."

"No." If she hesitated, she'd get scared and want to run. Better to get it over with. "I just… Wanted to say goodbye, that was all. Just… Just in case something happens to me in there. Something you don't expect."

"I understand." He nodded, face grim and knowing in an eerie way. Tapping a hand to the metal brace in his skull, he smiled, "Believe it or not, but I know something about knowingly risking your life for the greater good, Miss Belladonna. There's no rush, and you'll only get patience from me unless that changes. Though time spent mysteriously absent, in a meeting with the headmaster, won't do you any favors."

"Right..." And for all she knew, they'd already drawn attention from any of the hundred or so unfamiliar faces that had trickled in over the last month or so, ahead of the Vytal Festival. So many eyes, and so many ways they could have noticed them. Taking a breath, she nodded, "Let's get this over, then, General."

"James." He corrected as she stepped into the pod, pausing to turn to him with the question written all over her face. "I would have you call me James, Miss Belladonna. With as much as you're risking, I… Can't call you anyone I don't trust, and people I trust I offer the chance to use my given name."

"James, then." She murmured, feeling her confidence soar at the ability to speak to him so casually. How many faunus could claim to be able to do the same? Not many, she was sure. Turning, she laid back in the pod and took a long, deep breath before nodding finally, "I'm ready."

The man only nodded and she did her best to relax as he began punching in commands. After a moment of honestly awkward silence an odd hissing surrounded her. Like snakes had been stirred to life behind every panel of metal around her, the hydraulic system sliding the lid down over her and sealing her in with a metallic thunk. Yang and Ruby filled what she could see beyond the glass fairly quickly, each laying a hand on the glass in solidarity and she smiled, if only for them.

Then an odd, almost burning pressure bloomed across her body, like fingers made of molten metal, prodding every last inch of her without reservation. Like it, whatever the it was in this instance, was looking for something. Searching her entire body, hungry and seeking, like a fire reaching out for tinder nearby. It hurt, but not enough to draw more than pinched lips and a quiet hiss from her.

What came next, though, drew significantly more of a reaction from her.

For a heartbeat, the burning probing withdrew, leaving her sore and confused but doing little beyond that. She didn't even have enough time to question it, though, before the strange, fiery force slammed back against her with a vengeance. Like bands of molten steel coiling around her, searing away at her and driving her breath from her lungs in a ragged cry. Outside, she could see Yang and Ruby panicking, the former turning to shout something she couldn't hear at Ironwood.

She couldn't hear it through the roaring in her ears, though. And then, as it impossibly worsened again, feeling like she was being burned and torn apart at the same time, she let herself scream in earnest.

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"She's in agony!" Yang shouted, heart hammering in her ears nowhere nearly enough to keep Blake's shriek of pain from reaching her. Turning back to her she saw the woman spasm, hugging herself and baring her teeth in a shriek of pain. "Can't you hear her, Dust damn it? She's-"

"In pain, I know." Ironwood answered, leaning on the console and watching the keys as though looking for an answer. Blake collapsed suddenly, curled up in the bottom of the tube and screaming herself raw, and the man grimaced. "We can do nothing except wait and pray for her. Frankly, if we stop now, it might just kill her anyway. Or cripple her. We can't know how the process will react to being interrupted."

"So we just pray?" Yang sneered while her sister knelt to watch their friend. "Seriously? That's all you have?"

"Yes, Miss Xiao Long. I'm deadly serious." He nodded, turning to her with a flat, almost dead expression on his face. Blake shrieked anew as a strange glow overtook her and the man could only smile thinly. "At the least, she seems to be alive for now, and that is not the color of her Aura."

"How would you know?"

"I vetted her thoroughly before Ozpin contacted her." He answered simply, giving the woman's yellow glow a look and a sigh. "I believe hers is purple, not yellow."

"If this doesn't work-"

"Yang, look at her eyes..." Ruby shouted, drawing the blonde's attention away from the man and back to her partner.

Curled in a ball as she was, it was hard to see, but as she brought her head back to cry out Yang saw what Ruby had. Little fires, like the kind that burned on the end of matchsticks, burned around both of her eyes. After another heartbeat, sparks began to fly from her and she felt a powerful grip on her shoulder pulling her back and away. Ironwood, face grave and eyes hard, pulled her back so that he could see. Then he swore and shoved her further, reaching down to drag Ruby back by her hood and the back of her shirt.

"What are you-"

"Get back! She has the power but she's not stable, yet!" Ironwood barked, back to the tube and body between them and it. "She's going to lose it, and you don't want to be close if that happens.

Yang wanted to argue that Blake would never, that she was in control. But Ruby was already moving, pushing her back and away on instinct, and Yang let the argument die in her throat for it. Satisfied they were moving, the man looked over his shoulders and she could just barely make out his eyes widening across the several yards she and Ruby had crossed already.

"Ruby, use your Semblance!" He ordered, leaping away and turning in the same moment, bringing his right side around and curling his arm and leg between him and the pod.

Ruby didn't hesitate, hissing a complaint under her breath but slamming into her sister. Yang felt her stomach lurch dangerously and she was facing the elevator and on her knees, Ruby curled up and wheezed beside her while her cloak trailed petals around her. A weird, almost battery smell reached Yang, and she moved for reasons she didn't understand. Curling over her sister protectively and flaring her Aura along every inch of her body.

Then, finally, a roar filled the room and Yang saw lightning arc around her. And then down, into her back, drawing a ragged scream from her as her body spasmed.

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"Once the last wave of students arrive we will integrate more fully. All done ahead of our eventual attack." Cinder explained, stood over a table with Neo across from her and her own lieutenants on her right. "A week after, Roman and those at Mountain Glenn will put some fear into these fools ahead of our real endgame. Neo, you will make sure that Roman knows to play his part, I trust?"

The girl only shrugged, of course, the insufferable tart.

Neo's presence was an annoyance as ever, the woman sat on the table with her back to the ordeal inspecting her nails as though her gloves weren't covering them. Still, she was needed in order to relay orders to Roman with any degree of trust in him doing what she said. On her left stood another needed annoyance, if one with a bit more edge in a variety of ways both amusing and literal. Adam Taurus, scowl as permanently affixed to his face as the sword on his hip and the hand on top of it.

As though that would help him if she wished to deal with him more permanently…

"Adam," she smiled, forcing herself to move on at least for now, "will your people be ready when I give the word?"

"They already are ready." The men answered with a small, feral smile that was barely more than a bearing of his teeth. "They need fifteen minutes to deploy, but once you give the word, my warriors will bring the fires of retribution onto Vale."

"Good." And just as good was the wine glass on the table, which she swiftly picked up for a needed drink. A quick sip of the only thing keeping her from melting the insufferable edgelord and the diminutive murder hobo and she sighed. "Once the dust has settled somewhat from the Mountain Glenn attack we will have our pieces in play. Moved in the chaos. From there we will- Gah!"

For a moment, her world was nothing but fire, constricting around her parasite infested hand like a vice. Then it was gone and she sagged, breathing heavily and clutching the limb like one might if bitten by a snake.

"Cinder…?" She looked up to Emerald's anxious eyes and saw them blink. "C-Cinder, Ma'am, your eye-"

"The bastard did it…" She murmured, turning in the vague direction of Beacon, blocked, obviously, by the walls of the decrepit apartment they were in. Her good hand reached up to her face and, true enough, she felt the warmth of the Maiden's Eye. "And far sooner than we planned, too. I wonder why that is?"

"Ma'am…?" Mercury's words had her turning her head, peering at him over a shoulder. "Are you alright?"

"What is going on, Cinder?" Adam demanded, even Neo watching her closely over a shoulder.

"The timeline has been moved up, my friends." She answered, extinguishing the Eye and turning towards them with a wide smile that competed with Adam's own feral smile. "Neo, send word to Roman. I want the Breach to happen inside the hour. Adam, your attacks will follow across the city and at Beacon thirty minutes after you hear the sirens. The three of us," she smiled, turning to Emerald and Mercury, "will take my prize from Beacon in the chaos."

Ozpin had forced the Queen to move her pieces early, whether he knew it or not, but that wouldn't matter. The Queen was still the most powerful piece on the board, though. And she would make sure Ozpin knew as such.

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"Even when it's hot or cold, the water always seems to keep to the same temperature." Pyrrha murmured a while after they'd reached the little pool. As soon as they'd arrived, knowing the Grimm would stay at bay and he would sense them if they weren't, Pyrrha had slipped out of her boots and greaves so she could rest her legs in the water below him while he… Tried very hard not to be distracted. "Isn't that strange, Jaune?"

"Hm?" He cracked open an eye and, smiling, she splashed a little to explain her question. "Ah, right. Yeah, it's kind of strange. Even the plants right around the water don't seem the same as those in the forest."

"I had noticed that as well." Pyrrha nodded, leaning back against the rock and sighing contentedly, her legs up to her thighs in the strangely neutral water. "Maybe something to do with the Force? It doesn't seem natural."

"Y-Yeah, maybe." He murmured, watching her long legs kick idly in the shallow water until she turned to look at him and he straightened, closing his eyes against her raised brow and little smirk, "I mean, um, the Force can concentrate in places. And from what I've read, it tends to have various results. Some places end up like this, filled with life and comfortable to anything not outright Dark in nature."

"You sound flustered." He pursed his lips and heard her laugh, kicking her feet again. "I don't mind you looking at my legs, Jaune. I wear a skirt most days regardless."

"I wasn't looking." He lied, coughing into a fist when she laughed.

"Is that why the grimm do not come to this place, then?" She asked through a smile a moment later, the blonde turning to look down on her with a raised brow, "The Grimm. Is the reason they avoid coming here due to them being somehow Dark?"

"Maybe, yeah." He answered, considering the idea for a moment before adding. "And I mean, that would explain a bit about them, too."

"How do you mean?"

"I mean what I said." He shrugged, reaching out with a hand and calling his saber around to spin before him in the afternoon light. They'd need to leave, soon… "Think about it, Pyr. Some can possess objects, others spit fire, and all of them turn to ashes when we kill them. We think them natural, and they are, but they could be something special too. Something somehow made by the Force."

"It would make sense, given what we know now." Pyrrha nodded, turning and laying out on a flat rock just above water level. His eyes landed on her thighs and then moved to her eyes as she smiled, having caught him again.

Damn her…

"T-The Archive might have information, if we want to look." He offered in hops that she would stop teasing him and stop giving him that little smile. Honestly, when did Pyrrha Nikos start being such a flirt…? "Now that I'm out in the open with Ozpin and the General, we could maybe pitch the question to them, too."

"What would knowing the answer give us?"

"If the Grimm are somehow Force-created, then something on Remnant might be doing this." He answered, focusing on his rapidly spinning staff, working to make it circle in the air in patterns while it spun. One of many exercises in control that he kept up, sharpening himself steadily as time passed. "If it's a region or something, we could isolate and bombard it. Maybe fortify around it, contain the threat. If it's an artifact or something making them, then maybe we could destroy it."

"Maybe, yes." She answered, sighing and giving his saber a long look.

"What's wrong?"

"Who said anything was wrong…?"

"Pyrrha, I'm attuned to the Force right now, I can feel you feeling… Miffed." He didn't have another word for it, but Force was she sending it out in waves. Along with, now that he'd said something about it, embarrassment. "So what's wrong? If something is up, you just need to say so."

"Well, I mean, I just…" She sighed, folding her arms under the back of her head and pursing her lips. "It's stupid, really."

"Not if it bothers you." He countered readily, calling the staff back to his hand and sliding it into place on his back. Standing, he dropped onto the stone just above her head, the woman only shifting a bit to make space for him as he sat down. Smiling down at her, he prodded her again, "So, tell me what's wrong, Pyr."

"Anxiety about what's to come, mostly." She sighed, frowning when he gave her a look of doubt. "That and… Well, I don't know, really. A certain displeasure at you… At you not looking at me, I suppose."

"I don't understand…"

"Yeah, I figured you wouldn't..." She sighed, rolling her head to look at the forest instead of him. He thought to say something but instead kept his tongue, getting the impression that she needed the moment. "I just- Sometimes a girl likes being looked at, Jaune. And I get that you're trying to be a gentleman, and Gods but it feels dumb to even be bothered, but it feels like you don't like how I look."

"You know I do."

"I do! I really, really do." She nodded, throwing her hands up in the air with a defeated sigh and then letting them flop beside her, one into the water. "Like I said, it's dumb, and highly irrational, and I know it is, but I still feel how I feel."

"Yeah, I get that, I guess." And he was nowhere near dumb enough to dismiss it, either. His father, mother and sisters would tan his hide if he did something that dumb. Not to mention how it would make Pyrrha feel. Laying a hand on her shoulder to get her to look at him, leaning over her and smiling, he said it simply. "I think you're the most beautiful girl in all of Beacon, Pyr. I'm trying not to stare because if I start, I won't ever be able to stop, not because I don't want to look."

"O-Oh." She flushed, smiling and glancing away after a second. Laying her hand on his she sighed and laughed, "Thank you, Jaune. I know it was stupid, but-"

"How you feel is never stupid." He cut in, smiling at the woman and squeezing her shoulder affectionately. "I didn't mean to upset you, I'm just… Kind of awkward, with stuff like this."

"I can tell." She laughed, sitting up with a sigh and then laughing again as something else occurred to her. "To be quite right, I'm terrible at all of this, as well. Dating, relationships, Grimm take me, even friends are a new thing to me."

"Yeah?"

"As a famous fighter, few genuinely wished to get close to me." She nodded, face falling as she talked. "I was either the champion to be admired and adored, too far above it all to ever try and approach, or the rival. Or worse, a means to bolster their own prestige. Never a friend, or a companion, or a g-girlfriend. Don't laugh at me!"

"I'm not, Pyr! I'm really not, promise." He lied, fighting back his snort at her cute little stammer. She flushed and he scooted over to her, crossing his legs and leaning forward so his head was level to her shoulder. Watching the forest, he sighed, "I don't have any reasons like that. But down in the Temple, there weren't exactly a lot of people to talk to."

"I can imagine." She laughed, leaning over until her head was resting against his own gently. He tried to ignore her rather nice strawberry smell and listen to her speak, steadily sliding back along the stone until she could transition to laying on his shoulder, "I imagine you and I were both lonely for a long, long time."

"Yeah." He nodded, swallowing as her arms wrapped around his stomach to hug him. "Maybe that's why we get along so well…? We were both lonely growing up, and isolated, so-"

"Jaune?"

"Y-Yeah, Pyr?"

"This time next week, we could be at war. So please, for the love of the Force, just shut up and enjoy the moment." She sighed, sitting up and leaning around, head tilted to the side in a way even he couldn't misread.

Soft, warm lips tasting of cherries pressed against his and she sighed, hand on his back pressing against him while his own arms wrapped around her. Gently, she slid around him, legs curling into his lap while her other hand, the one not on his back, ran up to grip onto the back of his neck almost possessively. He did the same and heard another one of those pleased little sighs from her, stealing a moment to breathe before she pushed back in for more.

Finally, after what felt like nearly a lifetime for all that it had been scarcely five minutes, she pulled back. Flushed and hanging off him, she smiled, "Not bad for a first real attempt at a good kiss, no?"

"N-No, definitely not." He grunted, the woman smiling as he leaned in for another.

Before he could, though, he felt what he could only describe as a nail being driven into his skull and hissed, dropping her to clutch at his head. He heard a splash and when Pyrrha was back in his vision, she was wet and worried, kneeling in front of him and grabbing his shoulders.

Forcing him to meet her eyes she asked, quiet and full of fear, "Jaune, what's wrong?"

"I don't know." He hissed, forcefully closing himself off to the Force by will alone and turning to rest his splitting head against the cool of the rock. "It was like… I was so open to the Force, and all was still and calm. Normal. And then suddenly it felt like- Like thousands of voices suddenly crying out in pain and fear, some silencing one after another while others intensified and slammed into me."

"Are you alright?"

"Yeah." He grunted, standing and letting her rise with him. "Being here opened me up to it, and I was too focused on you to feel it coming."

"I'm sorry…"

"Don't be." To make his point he stepped in, pressing a bold and chaste kiss to her lips and earning a wide eyed look of surprise for the boldness. "You didn't know, and it was my fault for not paying attention to my surroundings. Lesson one, never stop watching your surroundings. Instructor would have locked me in the Black Room for that…"

"The what?"

"Nothing." It wasn't important now and Pyrrha wouldn't understand the point of the Black Room. He didn't want to upset her with the information besides. "Get your gear back on, we need to get to Beacon. I think something has happened out in Vale."

"I agree." She murmured, pointing up at the sky behind him. Turning, he spotted the pillar of smoke as easily as Pyrrha had and grimaced. "Vale is under attack. And by now, Blake will have the power inside of her, I'm sure. I find it unlikely that these two things aren't connected somehow."

"I agree." He nodded, "Let's get back and see what is going on."

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Diligent Dunce :

HIS concern is protecting Pyrrha, yes. He didn't choose to step in to protect Blake, though. He simply knew Pyrrha would, and since his goal is STILL to protect her, he wouldn't simply shrug and sod off now.

Scrublord :

I hope the STORY finishes as strongly as you feel the arc did.

Zenith Tempest :

So, why WAS THERE a conflict over Weiss? Ozpin refused the SDC's demands for more Lien, causing conflicts, which then ENDED when Ozpin was made to surrender to his demands for a more important win. With Ozpin's surrender to Jacques' demands, the conflict ends. The point of the narrative throughout was to give the kids something they could defend against.

Maybe I didn't do it well, I don't know, but I am going to very kindly ask you to keep the Blake/RWBY bashing out of my reviews, thanks.

Unlawful gentleman :

Resolution cometh, rest assured. Much of what you ask would need spoilers to explain, sadly, so sorry. The power dynamic, though, I can easily explain without spoilers. Ozpin is older than most dirt is, at this point. He's been at this for a long, long time. And while they make be exceptional, they are still children.

They made damn good moves, but Ozpin is… Just more versed at every piece of this.