When the group finally started to get close to the area beacon used to be leon had them stop. "wait here for a bit while i go check on the situation of the wyvern." he said seriously before taking off into the air. "i hate when he does that! what are we supposed to do now , just sit here and wait!?" weiss asked angrily. qrow leaned against a nearby tree and drank from his flask "if you already knew then why did you even ask?" he asked rhetorically. weiss stomped her foot and growled at his words but could only snort and keep her anger to herself since he was right.
"I get it , leon's hard to stomach even on his most mellow days , but you have to understand that he is different from every one else. despite being a year younger than even you he is both the strongest and smartest man on the planet , a little bit of eccentricity is to be expected right?" qrow said after seeing weiss still smoldering in anger. "Then why is he even traveling with us then?" she asked in anger. "he isn't" ruby said quietly but everyone heard her.
"What?" weiss asked surprised at what ruby said. ruby shook her head "leon isn't traveling with us , we are traveling with him. it sounds the same but it's not since like uncle qrow said he is different than everyone else , then us. leon doesn't need us to travel with him but we need him to travel with us , that's the difference." she said with a serious expression. it grew quiet as these words pressed down on the group who knew they were true but collectively hated it. "it's lonely at the top." ozpin said through oscar's mouth surprising everyone.
"Leon is alone even with us around , before i died this last time i could barely be considered close to him in power but now he knows no one who is his equal anymore , he is isolated , alone. he travels with us not because we can help him in any physical way but because then he can have those he cherishes with him to hold off his reality , he is alone." ozpin pauses to let his words sink in before continuing. "he's immortal but most people fail to realize what that actually means , time will go on months , years , decades , centuries."
"through all that time leon will be forced to watch as all of you grow old and eventually die while he hasn't changed very much at all. he knows this and thinks he is prepared for it but he isn't , the fact he hasn't isolated himself proves it. he cares too much and in the end he will suffer for it just as i have and just as salem has. this is the future he has in store for him so even if he acts unusual the only thing normal people like the rest of you can do is try to support him , while you still can." ozpin goes quiet and recedes into the depths of oscars soul as he is overcome with self pity.
The mood was heavy as the weight of ozpin's words settled over the group and they simply had no way to argue with them. meanwhile leon himself was soaring high above towards the black lake that used to be beacon academy. the hell flame bomb had dug out a huge crater and blacked the top layers of soil while melting those below into a solid state making them hold water. the last time it rained had filled the crater with water leaving a massive eerie black lake behind.
At the edge of the lake lay the ancient wyvern in a massively different state than the last time leon had seen it. every inch of the grims skin was mottled and pockmarked with scars from the hell flames while half the tail and an entire wing was missing. one of the eyes was dull from only just being regenerated from the feasting the ancient wyvern had done on other grim to recover. since all grim shared a similar origin and essence consuming others allowed them to accelerate their healing but since they were usually killed before this could be seen it was unknown.
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