#and honestly this idea is inspired by LMK season 4 lol

[nightmare-foundation]

Okay okay okay consider

Ozpin getting dragged out of Beacon for once bc glynda got sick and tired of him being cooped up in his tower

Ozpin and qrow going on a few short Huntsman missions together, one of them involving an unknown Grimm terrorizing a village

Ozpin n qrow going off to fight the Grimm- however the Grimm is... weirdly intelligent and separates them

Ozpin finding out the Grimm is more or less telepathic and reflects all of your worst fears, insecurities, memories, etc and is thus naturally pretty intelligent- but this one is very old, and is practically sentient at this point

Ozpin being tormented by this Grimm, having everyone he knows or knew used against him, including past lives, having himself taunt him, calling him a liar, a coward, someone who uses others for his own benefit, etc

Ozpin being tormented because this Grimm KNOWS his worst thoughts, whether fleeting or part of trauma. The Grimm knowing how many times he's killed himself, how much he has bottled up (rage, self hate, etc), what Oz has done and has wanted to do even if it was just a brief thought. The Grimm ripping into him, using every word of Ozpins against him

The Grimm literally using Ozpins own signature fighting style to fight Ozpin, beating him down with the fake version of Long Memory (like v9 ch8 but with Oz)

Ozpin being unable to fight back, not because the Grimm is too powerful (though it is strong), but because Ozpin agrees with the Grimm, that he's an awful person and deserves pain

Qrow coming in at the last second before the Grimm kills Ozpin, killing the Grimm and saving Oz

Ozpin repressing everything until after he gets medical treatment, after he gets home, when he's alone, and finally breaking down, completely alone, isolating himself