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So it is done: Players
🕑 Added 2021-10-18 11:32:50 +0000 UTCOzpin had always believed that the disappearance of magic from this world was the Gods' punishment of humans for their disobedience. A petty revenge perhaps, not for the purpose of a lesson, but purely out of the Gods' desire to hurt humans for trying to hurt them. The fact that they decided to wipe out all humans to accomplish that was perhaps the more egregious aspect.
And yet, petty or not, the Gods were Gods and therefore their decision could not be resisted, Ozpin and Salem were the last two bearers of the true magic of the old world. And the relics, of course, how could he forget.
Maidens, the closest thing perhaps to the magic of old, were nothing more than bearers of shards of Ozpin's own power. Semblances, dust, technology, so many more wonders invented and mastered by humans and faunus alike, and yet… remembering the days of old where magic was commonplace… it doesn’t really compare.
Gone irretrievably was the time of the great heroes who defeated armies with their own power, replaced now by the fire of artillery and robots. Gone is the time of the great healers who brought the dead back to life, replaced by the age of antibiotics and sanitation. Though then again, this whole mess started because he had died of sickness, so perhaps that was for the better. But gone were the great artifacts of antiquity that can support a nation on its lonesome, buried beneath the mechanical wonders of industrial lasers and conveyor belts.
There indeed exists Semblances that perhaps can show a smidgen of the greatness of magic, but that is rare and few in between and nothing really comes close to Magic. While perhaps unfair to those people who wield their souls, their very expression of self, as a shield against the darkness, it just doesn’t really compare. Though perhaps pushing for the planet they’re living in to be named Remnant was a bit too on the nose.
Could Ozpin have ever guessed that something that he believed a certainty to be disproven?
Even when he has long learned that ‘highly improbable’ doesn’t mean ‘impossible’, he has to admit that the thought of Magic once again returning to Remnant was not a possibility he has considered. He’s humble enough to admit that he was indeed shocked when he saw Magic, true magic, being performed once again.
Still, the human mind, especially his own, one that has lived through the ages, tends to rely on the knowledge it has, the inertia of being thinking beings, perhaps.
Perhaps it tells something of his own self, that even when something as great as Magic returned, he instead started seeing shadows and plots all around him. That, when perhaps the greatest tool of mankind was now once again in human hands, he started thinking of it as a threat, of the one that possessed it as a potential enemy.
After all, there was only one way he knew off for someone to possess Magic once again, and Jonathan did claim to be of his blood. Even after all this time, the thought of his daughters, killed by their own mother no less, was still a painful memory.
Still, he did rule for a long time, in fact there was still a line of his descendants living when he was the King of Vale. Yet, even after generations, his descendants had never even shown a speck of talent for the magical arts… until Jonathan, that is.
Of course now he knows better, but teaching an old dog new tricks would be infinitely easier than teaching an old mastermind to trust. But, even with the ‘truth’ of the matter in hand, there’s still so many questions to be asked.
Teleportation, for example, was not the most common of the old magic tricks, but it’s still not the greatest. If Ozpin entertained the idea that Magic were to return, then such a Magic was not in the realms of the impossible, though, Ozpin would have never expected anyone to weaponize it to such a destructive extent.
Ozpin had lived in a time when possessing magic was the domain of the world. He had lived during the time when great schools of sorcerers existed, and in his old life, even studied their texts as no one else alive could. And so, perhaps other than Salem, he was the foremost expert alive in all things Magic.
And he can tell, with some certainty, that Jonathan’s Magic was different altogether than what had existed in Remnant. Perhaps that was one of the main reasons as to why Ozpin even entertained such a ridiculous notion.
That Jonathan, a young man in his twenties, was not of Remnant at all.
Of course, his suspicion in this matter doesn’t mean much in the grand scheme of things. Ozpin is not arrogant enough to believe that his knowledge is infallible, that he knows everything. Jonathan’s strange Magic could simply be a coincidence, it’s not like he would know what the re-emerging magical capability would look like now, does he? And there’s always the possibility of the Gods meddling once again.
And yet… even with all the points against it, he still couldn’t erase the small voice in the back of his mind, on how just ‘alien’ Jonathan’s Magic is.
The world has been so strange lately…
Well, it has always been strange. And as a person who has lived for a thousand years, ‘strange’ is perhaps becoming the norm.
Indeed, he had lived through decades where in the history books, describing the events happening during those decades would fit into a single line. And there have also been days where, describing what happened, fills books.
Ozpin had lived so long that even if he were to list only the most incredible and sweeping events in the history of the entire world in his memory, it would still make a book as thick as a dictionary.
Still there were more things that are fishy about Jonathan Goodman than his strange magic. His name, for example. It is almost definitely a fake name, even discounting that it doesn’t really follow the color naming convention, nobody would change their real name on a whim like Jonathan did. In fact, before the name was mentioned in some official documents in the eight of August 1732, the name Jonathan Goodman didn’t exist in Remnant.
Still, if it weren’t for his important position, such a thing wouldn’t raise an eyebrow.
People go missing and pop up all the time in Remnant. Especially with villages going dark and people migrating all the time. Still it is weird that no one in his acceptance speech existed at all in the records. Not Norman Bloomsberry, not Rosetta Vale, and definitely not Osmond Vale the Third.
Ozpin did have a descendant in the royal line named Rose, but she had died at the tender age of seven. Making it impossible for her to have a son, secret or not, for obvious reasons. Even so, he had launched an investigation, but still found nothing.
He knew well enough that there are many ways to hide one’s identities. Being a head of a worldwide conspiracy, he knew that very well. But to have nothing at all? That, is very unlikely. A person living for twenty years, even if they’re from the most remote settlement, or even one that was destroyed by the Grimm, would leave tracks everywhere. But not Jonathan, not even a list of fake names that he had lived under.
Until he had booked a room in Atlas, ‘Jonathan Goodman’ had never existed in Remnant. But then again, it’s not like he could ever confirm something like that. His influence and personal power have been on the decline.
Maybe it’s just what he deserved, he had been idle for so long. Years, decades maintaining the status quo, he had lost so much and given up so much.
Ozpin had once been known as Oswald the Great, he had once been ruler of the world, he could even have been the eternal emperor of Remnant. But, he had chosen a different path simply because he could not stomach being an absolute ruler. Choosing instead to give the people of Remnant not a 'ruler', something that would not lead him to victory, but freedom instead. The ability to choose, the ability to rule over themselves, the ability to act as they see fit.
Was this great experiment a failure? Did Ozpin regret it? No, of course not.
Bad rulers were eventually replaced by good ones, and the Council system transformed to suit the needs of the people. And for the first in a long time, the cry of 'liberty, equality, fraternity' was heard not from revolutionaries but from the television screen.
And yet, no good deed goes unpunished. Ozpin was aware that every action had two kinds of consequences, the ones that could be seen and the unforeseen ones. Something he was very familiar with.
His decision did lead to a more free and advanced world, but he had lost too much. Influence. People. Resources.
His 'brotherhood' still existed, its members powerful and influential, and he was still waging his war against Salem, but a great many of his capabilities had been lost.
When he had let go of his position as King, he had lost much. His own personal guard, network of spies, and his gold reserves and his political ‘power’ to name a few. He did not regret giving freedom to the people, he only regretted that the cost of that freedom was perhaps too much to bear. Especially since his opponent cared not one whit for such a thing, making him much less potent in their fight.
Was the revival of the monarchy the very step, the very event, that had caused him to reassess his view of the world, to reassess his powers and opportunities?
No, maybe it was one of them, but such change does not happen under the influence of just one event. Not for Ozpin at least, no matter how massive the event was. Ozpin knows that he’s quite averse to change, his life little subject to such sweeping and impulsive decisions. Such changes were always gradual, building up like an avalanche.
In this case, Jonathan Goodman’s revival of the monarchy was simply the first stone that started this avalanche. The reason perhaps not for a change, but a self-introspection.
What followed was so gradual that it was impossible to tell at what point Ozpin began to doubt his past decision to abdicate the throne.
Was it when he looked at the amount of resources the Councillors budgeted to maintain their estates? Or was it when he contemplated introducing a new hunter, still fresh from being a student, Glynda Goodwitch, to his list of followers? Maybe it was the moment he saw Jonathan Goodman’s Magic, his self-appointed heir? Or was it the struggle he had to go through to make the Council recognize the Kingdom of Glenn?
Ozpin doesn't really know when it had happened, and yet something had definitely changed.
No matter the moment, as he looked in the mirror this morning, Ozpin could say to himself that the ‘Ozpin’ that had heard the news about Jonathan Goodman’s ascend to the throne, three years ago, and the ‘Ozpin’ that is now reading the letter from Jonathan Goodman now, are two different people.
And yet, even so, it’s hard to stomach his failure.
The Council was an idea, a representation of everything he believed in. In freedom, in the good-naturedness of humanity, in democracy and the right of people to choose their own destiny. Perhaps he was too naive.
It was hard for him to see his idea, his ideal, being torn apart. Corrupt bureaucrats, greedy industrialists, and the unscrupulous military, all tramping over his dreams. Ozpin believed in 'power of the people', not 'power over the people'. To see the culmination of his dreams being abused in such a way… was an eye-opener.
Even so, Ozpin still believed that victory could only be achieved not by force, but in the simple, honest souls that existed in Remnant.
Besides, he no longer wished to be King, and even a ‘Kingdom’ does not always need a King. But sometimes a ‘Kingdom’ needs a teacher, and who was he, if not Beacon's chief teacher? It’s too early in the game to call it quits, he still has cards to play.
So, what hand should he play at this moment?
The political anarchy of Atlas was one way of dealing with the problem, where each councillor fought internally against each other every day? Or maybe, like Mistral, where the Council system was a bare fiction, where the actual power lies in the hands of ‘businessmen’ and their businesses? Ha! That was quite the joke. No, even with his faith in the Council system shaken, he’s not that desperate.
Still, Ozpin had something that no other man in this world had. Thousands of years of experience in political struggle.
Even without his power as a King and even back then, Ozpin was more used to dealing with his opponents in the background. He preferred to slowly ‘strangle’ his opponents, making them fall one by one. It does help that his ‘enemies’, most of the time, were simply the corrupt, insane or just plain incompetent. For thousands of years, Ozpin had been waging backroom intrigues, and none of his enemies saw their downfall until the very end.
Though recently, Ozpin has been more hands-off in the struggle for power, to better not interfere with the ideal he himself had created. He would not directly interfere in elections, the will of the people, just a few small adjustments here and there, a few corrections. Not as a ruler, but as a man who had been through similar things hundreds and thousands of times in the past. After all, if he had the experience and knowledge on his side that others did not, it would be criminal not to use it to help people.
Ozpin hadn't lost his skills, but he had lost so many resources.
If he was still King Oswald, the struggle against Salem would be quite different. He wouldn’t have to deal with the politics of Vale, the nightmare that is Atlas' power struggle, nor the rise of the Schnee. Nor is the suspicious actions of Mistral and the emergence of Jonathan Goodman something that would need most of his attention.
Well, there’s no use crying over spilled milk.
Those times are long gone, leaving only memories. Like everything in Ozpin's life, it was perhaps yet another mistake. And though his mind still held secrets beyond the reach of ordinary men, his reach was shorter now, and his gaze less attentive. But, he had to choose, either he would sacrifice his ideals, or sacrifice his personal power.
Had he chosen correctly? Should he have relinquished his powers the way he did?
Was the decision to limit himself to minimal support from Atlas, focusing his powers on controlling Vale, the right one? Was the decision to investigate Jonathan, his history and abilities, his personality and aspirations wasted? Was bringing him into Ozpin's inner circle the right one, or should his network of remaining agents have been aimed at Mistral, at Aifal, which should have long been dead? Was Jonathan's decision to abandon Ozpin's plan to put the power of the Spring Maiden into the hands of his daughter sensible, or did Ozpin step into the trap by going along with, effectively, a child and the nominal king of Glenn? Was his secret support for Glenn justified, should he have taken full control of Glenn instead? Or should he have smothered the flames of monarchy that had arisen once again? Was his decision to re-establish contact with Raven Branwen worth the time and effort spent, or would Qrow have brought more important news about Salem if he had not been distracted by his sister again?
Sometimes small decisions create consequences that stretch for generations. And perhaps he should have taken heed of how often people have been spared both the bitterness of realizing the cost of their mistakes compared to the happiness of realizing that their actions were right.
He had walked through the streets of Remnant a thousand years ago, and he would walk through it for another thousand years. Actions and their consequences is something that he was intimately aware of. Will he feel the shadow of the emotion called 'happiness', as he committed actions that were the most right thing to do at that moment? Or will he face regret after regrets for the mistakes he made and the opportunities he missed?
That's something Ozpin didn't know, he can’t predict the future, after all. But he knew that one day he would inevitably face the results of his decisions.
All Ozpin could hope for was that at least one of his decisions would turn into an opportunity rather than yet another mistake.
***
Salem had lived longer than any other human being on earth, except perhaps for Ozpin. Hmm, but Ozpin had changed his body, and perhaps even his personality, over and over again, every time he was reborn, Salem had not. So she is indeed the oldest living being on Remnant. She was a Queen a thousand years ago, and she will still be the Queen a thousand years from now.
The benefits of immortality.
The experience that she has accumulated eclipse all of Humanity combined, or what passes as one nowadays. She has outlived whole nations, eras, histories, and even mythologies, Salem has lived through them all. She has lived through the rise and fall of whole continents, and even the end of the world, more than once or twice. Wonders that obscured the soaring Atlas, and wars that made the Great War look like nothing more than a petty dispute, she had seen them all.
And yet, so rarely had Salem seen the likes of what she was seeing now.
The resurgence of the monarchy did not move Salem in any way. Revolutions and counter-revolutions, what about them? Salem had seen the birth and death of countless ideologies, formed in the most improbable forms and conditions.
This self-styled ‘King’ Osmond would need more than a revival of the monarchy to surprise her.
The destruction of the super-horde? Well, that was a much rarer event. Rare, but still not unique.
Still, it is a rare enough occurrence for this ‘king’ to become the new legend of Remnant. But so what? Salem had seen dozens of such ‘legends’, great mages and warriors, hunters and armies all, those who had accomplished the ‘impossible’ and destroyed her armadas. But, so what? Her armies are endless.
Could Salem replicate what this Jonathan had accomplished? Mayhaps, no, such large-scale magic is perhaps beyond Salem. But so what? This was not the first time she had met those who were stronger than she and Ozpin. None of them were a threat to her.
Ozpin's descendants, on the other hand, were an… unpleasant problem whenever they appeared on the world stage. The Maidens, the silver-eyed warriors, and now the King's grandson, Salem had many unpleasant memories and associations associated with Ozpin's offspring.
The Maidens could not be destroyed. But, in her long life, more than once or twice, Salem was able to turn their power against Ozpin in the past. The silver-eyed warriors were nothing more than a story, exterminated almost to the last, leaving only a few rare lines from their original lineage of great warriors. What can one or two of them do against the endless tide of Grimm?
They were nothing but annoyances, but all of them, in one way or another, managed to be a thorn in Salem’s side. A moment perhaps for the long-lived, but generations for the humans. And this Jonathan was probably yet another thorn.
Still, annoyances or not, a clear image of her enemy is nothing but good practice.
From what she had gathered, Jonathan was capable of teleportation or at least massive destruction, and also capable of miraculous healing. Still, these capabilities were nothing new to Salem, even a powerful force designed to counteract her influence were not new to Salem. She had faced them time after time, and she had won them all.
After all, there’s no need to defeat them in the field of battle, the passage of time was enough to wipe even the most powerful of the board. Then, decades or even centuries later, nothing would remain of her enemies but stories and myths.
But, to see one person embodying so many diverse talents… Yes, that was perhaps quite the novel event for Salem, but it only meant that the death of Osmond alone, or Jonathan, would be all the more devastating. The more hope a symbol represents, the deeper the despair as the hero perishes.
And they all perish, one way or another.
Salem possessed an arsenal, both abilities and personnel, equal to none in this world. Experience and numbers, magic and swords, gold and promises, all Salem has in abundance. Oh, what a luxury it is not to lack the means, but to be troubled in choosing what hand to play? Well, she does have all the time in the world to pick one that is most appropriate, or at least the most entertaining.
Now, to her newly revived ‘subordinate’.
Aifal, he was supposed to supply her with information. And he did accomplish it with aplomb, sending information that was detailed and important, always truthful but not always the complete information. He was useful, but his loyalty primarily belonged to himself. He did not follow her out of loyalty, out of hope or compulsion, no, it was a ‘mutually beneficial alliance’ as he says it. What a funny subordinate she has.
Aifal was one of those who was passionate about their cause, but Salem couldn’t help but laugh at it. He wasn't saving up money because he wanted a new and even more expensive yacht in his possession. He was not gaining leverage because he hoped to change the law to his advantage. And he wasn't training his body and mind to take down opponents in a fair fight. No. he did all those things because It was just his… vocation.
Wouldn’t you laugh at such a strange human?
He watched his profit charts creep up as his businesses did, spread networks of watchers and unsuspecting pawns, and learned to fence, simply because it was his hobby. And he followed Salem simply because she gave him more things to work on, almost out of boredom or interest, seduced not by the result but the process of planning, fighting on the world stage because it interested him.
Salem could not trust him completely, in anything, but neither could she deny his usefulness in any way. It was just that, given the facts he had brought to light, Salem had a lot of things to think about.
Ozpin's plan, what was it? Jonathan, or Osmond as he calls himself, is powerful, dangerous, but not omnipotent or as loyal to Ozpin as he might have hoped. Perhaps Jonathan could even destroy another super-horde, maybe he could even destroy them as quickly as Salem could create them, but he could not destroy all of Remnant's Grimm. Not that he would if he even could, if he doesn’t want to simply become the next ‘enemy’ of humanity.
Jonathan was a symbol, but not only that, he was part of Ozpin's plan… so what is it? Before she could figure it out, rash decisions would not do.
Salem could have sent another horde of Grimm towards the city, in fact she already has one ready and prepared on the periphery of the city, to see if Osmond had lost his powers after his stunt. In fact, to kill or destroy the city was not a difficult thing. If Jonathan’s power was spent? Then that was that, just another destroyed city.
But, what if he could repeat his feat?
All that Salem would accomplish by sending the horde was just to strengthen his position instead. And with his newfound increased popularity, and a sense of unity in his people. People united in one thought are capable of surprisingly frustrating achievements when they work together.
Salem understood as no other, that sometimes the best tactic was not attack or defense, but preparation instead.
Perhaps this was Ozpin's plan, to create his own hero, his new holy protector of the people, perhaps even to found a religion around him one day. Or was this just a ruse? Something to dissuade Salem from acting against Glenn or risk bolstering Jonathan’s reputation?
What was it? What part of this is the deception? Could it be both?
It was like a duel between two masters, each move disguised in deceptions and feints, all until they could create that one opportunity to win.
And though Salem and Ozpin had changed many ‘blades’ over the millennia, in the end they always came to the starting position, only to start another round.
Aifal was bringing her a lot of information, but even if all of it was true, it only meant that there wasn't much information about Jonathan.
Was he a mage? A unique mutant with multiple semblances? A successful experiment in transplanting Maiden's powers to a man? A simple front-man for a collective of Ozpin's secret figures?
All Salem knew was that Jonathan represented a large and unique problem, and as with any problem, it required a solution.
Salem had no direct solution to Jonathan and Glenn. However, Salem did have an idea.
It was always something that he had thought of from the very beginning, nothing short of a series of ridiculous accidents had prevented her from looking at the possibility before. That, and ruling over humans has always been so vexing. Why can’t these lowly beings follow her orders unblinkingly as a Queen like her deserves?
Ozpin had created so many loyal minions over the years to fight her, and Salem had always ruled the Grimm to run over them. The humans had an army, she had a horde. Ozpin had hunters, Salem had Leviathans. Ozpin had loyal followers, while Salem, on the other hand, had nothing but unreliable ‘allies’ of convenience.
Still, unreliable allies existed on both sides. One wouldn't have thought that a high-ranking coward were reliable friends and that stubborn generals make loyal followers, and they don’t. But Ozpin had other, loyal servants.
On her side, however… The Grimm were loyal to her, but without capability for planning or higher thoughts. Humans have both in spades, but have an impaired sense of loyalty to say the least.
So why couldn't Salem combine the two together? Create an intelligent Grimm?
Still, this was only an interesting thought for the future. Until now, the Grimm she had created, no matter how hard Salem had tried to change it, were incapable of either higher thinking or speech. And Salem could not find a solution to this problem yet…
At least, Aifal had finally demonstrated his usefulness by providing her with her first such servant. Not only capable of fighting Ozpin, but also, he assured her, suitable mentally.
Hmm, what was his name again… Was it Tyrian?
***
His father liked to joke to Aifal that he preferred to die with a noose around his neck, just like he likes doing to anyone that pisses him off.
Because, as he joked, that way it leaves them hanging forever.
In the end, he died in a drunken brawl, to a stab in the stomach. But, before he died, he had managed to teach Aifal something profound. No, not that you should hang your enemies, but that there was nothing in the world more appealing than uncertainty.
The answer, whether it was an unambiguous truth or a lie, always boxed a man in, forcing him to act as the answer dictated. Half-truths, on the other hand, always left room for maneuver.
Was Jonathan Goodman really a descendant of royalty?
The truthful answer to that question was ‘no, he was not’, but if he were to reveal this truth to Salem, his future actions would be stymied by this information. If he were to lie and say that he is indeed royalty, then he would have been forced to continue supporting this lie.
Instead, Aifal chose a half-truth that sounded more like ‘there is no information unequivocally stating that Jonathan Goodman is not the grandson of King Oswald the First’. And, technically speaking, that was the truth.
What unequivocal information could there be to that effect?
Lack of witnesses? Surely the King would have dared to visit his secret love without being seen.
Genealogical records of family trees? They could easily be faked, given the King's desire to hide his bastards.
A test of biological kinship? Even if such a thing could be produced, which Aifal doubted, with a distant enough relation and no guarantee of a hundred percent result, the conclusion would mean nothing.
And so Salem was left in limbo, searching for an answer to the question that does not exist, forced to come to her own conclusions, acting according to her understanding. And in that, it opens a space for Aifal to operate.
Aifal at any time could tell the truth or a lie to direct the actions of his ‘mistress’ in the most advantageous direction for him at that moment, uninhibited by his past actions.
Such is the method he has used all his life to be in his powerful position.
Did he help Jacques Schnee build up his industrial power? Did he provoke the meeting between Jonathan Goodman and Ghira Belladonna? Was he aware of the slow recovery of Ozpin's former power? Did he destroy several caravans carrying the most zealous devotees of the monarchy bound for Glenn? Was he loyal to Salem? Was he pursuing his goals?
Questions whose answers did not fall into the ‘yes’ and ‘no’ categories, but rather into his preferred grayness that is the ‘maybe’ category.
Take Jacques Schnee, for example.
Why did he help the Mistral Council come up with such an interesting decision as the purchase of additional dust? If not for that decision, Jacques would have faced an overproduction crisis after increasing the output quotas for his people. But, thanks to Mistral increasing their purchase, he was able to ramp up his production capacity to Vacuo levels, becoming officially one of the largest and strongest economies of this world.
Now Aifal needed only to reach out, pull a single string, and all the Schnee's wealth would be at Salem's disposal.
Or alternatively, pull another string and the Schnee’s empire would simply collapse, dragging the entire world economy to its grave, creating the greatest crisis the likes of which this world had never seen. And even more than that, the subsequent explosion of riots from Jacques’ workers that would destroy Atlas to its foundations and in itself change the world of Remnant for hundreds and thousands of years to come. Of course, he’s also funding Robyn’s group, was there ever any doubt?
Salem understood and accepted his explanation, even a sandcastle is better destroyed by throwing one big stone rather than a handful of sand. Sometimes it takes time to make the most accurate shot, you have to take time and aim more accurately.
But, alternatively, it was easy to simply organize another option to achieve the same result.
Jacques Schnee could accidentally ‘disappear’ during his trip. Something that is actually quite easy to do, as that idiot has no shortage of enemies. Aifal even has had to protect him from several such incidents before, because he doesn’t want the dominoes to fall before he wants to. If that were to happen, the company would be inherited by his wife, who is poorly versed in both business and politics, with Ozpin or Jonathan coming to his rescue.
With that the world would also be transformed overnight. Where their symbol of hope and a great hero has also become Remnant's most powerful man, or Remnant's wisest and most experienced politician has been given a power that whole nations do not possess.
What would Aifal choose? To aid humanity or plunge it into its destruction? Or perhaps maybe something else entirely?
The answer to that question could always be changed, because as yet, there was no answer.
Aifal had always lived this way, and he preferred his dealings to contain this uncertainty.
People didn't know they were working for him, some had guessed, while some who knew preferred to live in ignorance. No one was sure exactly what they were involved in, and no one could guess his plan. Because that ‘plan’, in its essence, did not exist, being born on the fly.
The whole point of Aifal's whole operation has always been this, creating conditions in which any outcome is possible, depending on his needs and whims at the moment.
He could support Salem or betray her at any moment. To defect to Ozpin or to plunge the world into the abyss of chaos.
This was Aifal's peculiar vocation, his fixation.
Few rich people save their money precisely because they wish to buy the latest model of personal car or because they want to afford to spend more on restaurants. The really rich have long outgrown the need for money itself, they simply do it because it was something they had been doing, something to which they have devoted their lives, unable to change.
Aifal could say that he was one such person.
He was not in the business of gathering power and opportunity because he wanted to achieve something, rather it was simply what he had been doing all his life.
And so, looking at Amber dozing in his lap, he smiled.
What was he planning to do with her?
Give her to Salem to unleash the full potential of her Maiden powers, making her an obedient puppet? Or give her to Ozpin as a sign of his commitment to the ideals of saving humanity?
Possibilities existed in each decision, and Aifal had only to await further developments, before choosing between them.
After all, his 'mistress' needed him, which meant he was provided with much leeway. Money, connections all, not that he needed or even wanted it. For the first time in his life, Aifal was provided with the greatest resource in all of Remnant.
Time.
And he was going to take full advantage of it.
Really, Salem should have just let him die.
