Chapter Thirteen: Of All People
"Close the window!" Oscar heard someone mutter. He thought it sounded like Weiss, but it was hard to tell… he'd really have preferred to remain in bed… or curled up under a blanket on the floor, as the case may have been. It wasn't particularly comfortable, but he was tired and didn't want to move…
But Ruby came over to collect them, apparently better rested than they were. When Oscar turned his head up from the floor and saw sunlight streaming into the front room, he realized they must've overslept… and just not rejuvenated at all. It really shouldn't have been surprising: the prior day had been… draining, for all of them.
Oscar managed to sit upright, glancing over at Yang, still curled up under her blanket in the middle of the room… and just past her, Blake, lying on the floor beside the couch. Their… conversation from the prior night immediately returned to him, reminding Oscar why the night had been so restless.
He was apprehensive, but he didn't think she'd pick a fight with so many of her friends around to overhear them. If she did, however, Oscar took solace in the knowledge he had a means to counteract her; a way to persuade others to see his perspective instead of hers'.
He looked over at Yang again, thinking… if he wanted to… if he wanted her to believe in him again…
Oscar had been sincere. He'd been honest. And she'd just… run from him. She'd decided what he was and decided he wasn't what she wanted. Trusting his girlfriend to have faith in him had only reminded him how much distance continued to exist between them.
That cold morning -however- he wasn't so bothered by what Yang might've thought of him. It was hard for him to care that she had spurned him when he knew he could… help her change that opinion.
He could make all of them think better of him, if he wanted. Depending on how powerful the magic was without Ozpin to temper him, maybe Oscar could persuade them to forget the previous day altogether.
He shelved that thought for later. He was still so tired.
Oscar barely made it outside. While Ruby and Qrow went to the shed to get the flatbed and Weiss set to work crafting a ball to hitch it to Bumblebee, Oscar all but collapsed on the front steps, passively watching the others attend to their tasks. He had no idea where they found the energy…
He heard someone move to sit beside him on the steps. When he glanced to his left and saw a familiar mane of dark hair and a furry black ear… he quickly looked away. It was about as much energy as he could summon at that moment.
Oscar didn't know if she wanted to talk to him again… or maybe she'd simply run out of energy right out of the gate, just as he had. Maybe their disagreement had drained her too. Blake revealed nothing, looking at the white snow and curling herself tightly… she must've been cold with so much of her stomach exposed.
Oscar had noticed it, the day they met. He'd reminded her the night before he wasn't blind to it…
Oscar gently shook his head. These idle thoughts had distracted him before, and he did not want to have them for Blake. He was surrounded by pretty girls all the time anyway; he didn't need to dwell on the appearance of the girl who had never seemed to like him, even from the outset. What he'd intimated the night before… that was just a product of his loneliness and his quiet, overarching despair. He reminded himself of that again before he glanced back at her.
Those ears of hers could hear his heart beating… he didn't want Blake to think her presence alone was enough to bother him. Or that -however they'd clashed before- that he would welcome her presence in a very different context.
It was a very weird feeling, to be attracted and repelled by someone at the same time. He'd been fortunate to have met pretty girls who were also very kind and accommodating. The trend would've been bucked eventually, and Blake-
That hadn't stopped him from wondering how much better his sleep might've been if he'd pushed harder… if he hadn't been quite so bothered by the thought of what happened after…
"There," Weiss chimed in from the hitch. Apparently she'd finished her work…
Oscar noted how Blake shivered, still seated on the porch steps. He himself wouldn't mind another hour's rest where it was warm… "Can we just go back to bed?"
"If we're all so tired… maybe we should make breakfast?" Blake suggested.
Was she talking to him? Or… just asking everyone in the vicinity in general?
Oscar could be cordial, at least. Blake had been so good at pretending to be before, when her friends were in the vicinity. "You wanna make it?"
"... not really," Blake admitted.
Not that he blamed her. He could eat, but the thought of putting in the effort right then…
He'd enjoyed making food for them when they stayed at the house in Mistral. He'd loved feeling like he was able to contribute, and that the praise he received from them was born of earnest efforts…
Oscar watched Ruby and Qrow roll the flatbed over to hitch it to Yang's motorcycle. "You guys got the bike ready?" Ruby asked. Yang half-heartedly gestured to it, but didn't offer any further confirmation.
"Well, it's done now," Qrow interjected, placing one foot on the wheel well of the flatbed. "So let's hook this thing up and-"
The flatbed sunk a few inches. A sharp hissing sound caught all their ears… though Oscar noted Blake's didn't rise up atop her head. She didn't seem particularly bothered… or surprised.
"You people are just beacons for bad luck, aren't you?" Maria asked, finally emerging from inside.
Qrow groaned in frustration and walked away from the flatbed, sitting down in the snow. Yang took a seat beside the well, sighing to herself: "I'm starting to think the universe just doesn't want us to get to Atlas…"
Weiss seemed to share the sentiment. Ruby wasn't yet swayed. "It's just a flat tire. I'm sure there's a spare."
"It's not that," Yang insisted, "It's everything. Storms, crashes, monsters… I'm so tired."
"Me too," Blake agreed. "It feels like we're always having to fight to get by…"
"Yeah," Ruby agreed, before firmly appending: "But that's what we signed up for."
"We signed up to try and save the world," Oscar gently corrected her. "Not just… delay the inevitable."
He hadn't meant to sound so depressing. He hadn't intended to dash Ruby's optimism when it had previously been so uplifting. But he didn't try to correct himself. He couldn't summon the effort to.
He had even less reason to bother when it seemed his observation went ignored by the others. No one seemed particularly inclined to argue the point with him… or acknowledge he'd said anything at all.
Blake finally left the steps to talk to the other members of her team. Watching them from afar, Oscar noted how quickly they welcomed -and replied to- her opinions. They probably didn't even have an inkling of what she'd talked to him about… or what efforts she was making to push Oscar aside from their inner circle. She had their trust, even when she'd been out of their lives for… weeks? Months? They still hadn't told Oscar everything. They certainly weren't going to tell him anything new now.
That was fine. Oscar was tired of talk anyway. He'd let the team decide their course while he waited for someone to give him a reason to care where they were going and what they were doing. He'd just… wait.
There was some sort of disagreement. The talk between the four was getting very tense. If Oscar could've summoned the energy, he might've been worried about his friends starting a fight.
Suddenly… "No! No, no, I didn't mean to!"
Ruby. Hearing her cry out in fright made Oscar turn his head to look at them. Hadn't she been holding onto the lamp…?
"Ruby, it's okay…" Weiss tried to assure her.
"No! No, there's something down there!" Ruby insisted. "I saw it; it was looking at me!"
Yang reached over to put a hand on her sister's shoulder. "Hey, it's okay. You just said you were tired. It's probably nothing… now let's go."
Ruby swatted Yang's hand off her shoulder in a huff. "What's wrong with you?! We can't just leave; we have to go down there! We have to get the lamp back… oh, what was I thinking?"
Had she dropped the lamp in the well?
That… that wasn't so bad. Underground, maybe the Grimm wouldn't sense it. Maybe Salem would still think they had it and chase after them instead. Maybe Salem still believed Raven successfully stole the relic after the fight at Haven…
"All we have to do is fix the trailer," Qrow argued, before calling over to Oscar. "Hey, farm boy: check the shed for a spare."
Qrow was asking him to do something…?
He supposed 'farm boy' was better than calling him 'Oz' all the time, reminding him that Qrow didn't see Oscar Pine… maybe didn't want to see the fourteen year old boy who'd found him in a bar…
"I'm not leaving without the lamp!" Ruby insisted.
A long pause. Her friends clearly didn't want to bother with it, didn't share Ruby's insistence… but nor were they willing to abandon her.
Blake -of all people- was the first to volunteer her aid. "I'll go down with you."
She'd barely had the energy to go outside. Oscar couldn't deny he'd been impressed against his will, to see her step up.
"We'll go down together," Weiss assured her leader. Yang merely nodded along.
Qrow was the one to voice his protestations, dragging his bottom up from the snow. "Fine! Get the stupid lamp. Oscar- fix the stupid tire."
There was some reassurance, at least. Qrow remembered his name.
Oscar felt a familiar tingle in his cheek. Did Qrow also remember punching him in the jaw before he ordered Oscar to get work done?
He tried not to dwell on it. He wasn't thrilled to have to work when he already felt exhausted, but at least he was contributing something meaningful. At least he was doing something to earn his keep.
He hoped they'd remember that, when they got out of the woods. He hoped they'd remember that before they cast him out…
Oscar ambled towards the shed, briefly catching Yang's eye. She didn't even bother to look away from him this time, just observing with a shallow, lifeless expression.
She didn't care to hide her disdain now. She didn't even conceal her disgust…
Oscar kept walking. Hopefully he'd find a spare and he could just install it, reverting to muscle memory… and not have to think. Thinking never seemed to lead him anywhere good.
Yang kept glancing over at Blake as they wandered through the stone tunnels to the bottom of the well. She wasn't sure what prompted this sudden change in her to be so steadfastly supportive of Ruby and her efforts, but Yang couldn't help but be appreciative.
The day before had… drained them all immensely. Yang hadn't been quite so exhausted as to miss Blake's attempts to assuage her… the intentions had been good, but the execution fell flat; same as it had been aboard the Argus Limited. Yang may have simply been having too much difficulty working through the revelations about Ozpin -and her own anger at having been lied to again- to be patient with Blake a second time.
It wasn't quite the same as an apology. It didn't really fix anything between them, but… she was trying. Yang could acknowledge an effort was being made, and Blake had been entirely inadvertent in her patronizing. At least, that was what Yang wanted to believe.
Seeing her and Oscar get along had been a surprise too, and she was happy that there wasn't any lingering drama between the two of them. All that remained to be sorted was for Blake and herself to reach some understanding… something better than just always going back to their respective corners. Then she and Oscar-
Yang fell behind in their march, even as Weiss and Blake braved the shallow layer of water in their heels. She tried to keep walking, to keep some measure of pace with the others so they wouldn't notice she'd fallen behind.
She and Oscar were going to tell everyone the day before. Before the train, before the lamp, before Jinn…
When Qrow punched her boyfriend and left him laid out in the snow, Yang's first action had been to scold and threaten the boy who'd been knocked to the ground. When Oscar had looked to her -looked to anyone- for any sign of support, she'd turned her head and bit her tongue.
Yang scolded herself for running from him before; for doing what Blake had done to her at Beacon and not taking the time to explain why she had to go. Oscar… she could guess what he was thinking, and each one made her progressively sicker to dwell on.
It was much, much easier to point her wrath at Ozpin; to blame him for his deception, to make herself believe that the wizard had orchestrated everything, and that the boy she'd started dating had been nothing more than a puppet for…
She didn't even know what to call herself. A… fill-in? A replacement?
Another blonde woman for the wizard to play house with, and pretend he still had his wife? Or maybe something even simpler than that; just someone to warm his bed he could pretend to value and discard when he inevitably hopped to another body.
She tried to tell herself that Oscar was just caught in the conflict between herself and Ozpin. That until Ozpin reemerged and owned up to his responsibility -and told her why he wanted these things to happen- all Oscar could do was wait, because she couldn't look at him and not see an ancient wizard. And it wasn't fair to him, but Yang didn't know how she was supposed to change it.
Right then, she couldn't change it. So she'd shifted her focus to all the other people who mattered to her… and maybe she could still find ways to fix what had been broken between them.
Yesterday she'd closed back up on Blake when there'd been some chance to mend. More than ever, she had to preserve that bond and ensure there were more people in the world in whom she could place her trust.
It wasn't ideal. It would take time to feel like that trust had been earned. But she needed it back. She needed to feel like there was someone outside her family -and Weiss- she could trust again.
If not her boyfriend, then…
She hoped she was right. She wanted to believe that the glimmers of a better person had been real.
"Go, go!" Ruby cried somewhere in the darkness. "This way!"
Blake tried running. The longer she tried it, the less certain she was her legs would hold her.
They made it out from the stone, waterlogged tunnel into the cellar. Blake could see stairs leading out -leading them back to the farm, back to the light…
Another sudden burst of torpor. Blake fell to her knees. She saw a flash of blonde hair in front of her stagger onto all fours. "I can't… I can't do this…" Yang breathed. "I can't…"
"An exit!" Blake heard Maria tell them. "An exit!"
The stairs up… out of the darkness…
So far away.
Too far.
"Come on!" she heard Ruby encourage, determinedly crawling along the stone floor.
Why go? What was the point?
It was so much easier to just… stop. Running was hard. Running ate away the soul bit by bit, until you forgot where you started… or why.
The Grimm were at their backs. The Grimm would kill them if they were caught.
It didn't matter. None of it mattered.
At least she wasn't alone.
Blake heard her weapon clatter to the ground. She felt herself land on her side, but the pleated stone didn't hurt when she landed. It felt… comfortable to collapse, to forget so much as the permanence of her own body and let the darkness envelop her like a quiet embrace.
"Blake, get up!" Ruby pleaded.
Blake couldn't even see her, staring straight ahead from the ground. She couldn't see anyone reaching out to her, or anyone finding strength to fight. She understood. She didn't blame them for accepting what awaited them.
"...it's fine," Blake mused, still lying on the stone.
It wasn't the end she wished for, but… it wasn't… it wasn't so terrible a thing…
It was quiet. It was painless.
"Blake!" Ruby cried.
A flash of light.
Blake heard a litany of sounds as she lay on the ground… and felt the cold stone beneath her palm. She tried to move her arm and felt an ache in her shoulder, where she'd struck the ground.
"What just happened?"
"It's locked!"
"Out of my way!"
Footsteps up the stairs. Another burst of torpor.
Painless again. Free to… free to feel nothing at all, not even concern, not even fight or flight...
The thin, skeletal Grimm had been hit by something, but they were undeterred. They had already surrounded and overwhelmed their prey once, and had only to push their advantage.
Why resist them? The Grimm would never go away. They'd keep spawning new ones so long as there was misery, sadness, despair… so long as there were people to have them. The Grimm had only to be patient- they'd inevitably swallow the light with time and patience.
There was no reason to fight death. The darkness came for them all on their appointed day…
"No… no!"
Yang… why was she still fighting? Why did she bother to resist the inevitable?
Blake had called her the embodiment of strength. She watched Yang suffer one blow after another in the name of defending her team… and using that pain to empower herself, to strike back with all that had been unleashed upon her. Blake could only admire it from afar, but it reminded her of the girl's willpower every single time: Semblance or not, she had to be strong enough to absorb every hit and carry on.
Maybe that was why she kept fighting. Maybe she didn't know how to give up.
Maybe that was why Blake had faltered, when Yang was maimed and brought low by Adam. Maybe she hadn't been brave enough to be strong without someone else to do it for her...
She heard Maria ask: "Ruby… what color are your eyes?"
Blake heard something else… some whispers in the dark. Musings like her own, on the inevitability of it all.
The people you loved… how life was precious, and beautiful… and fleeting…
It was fine.
It was-
Another burst of silver light, with energy like a stream of white flame. And moments later, pain in her arm and side, and the feeling of cold rock under her skin.
Ruby reached down to hoist her up from the floor. Blake did her best to move her feet as Ruby pulled her along.
Yang forced open the lock on the cellar door. Blake heard the rattling of wooden footsteps as they raced up, emerging from the darkness at last…
Blake breathed again. She glanced around at the drab wooden room. "We're… back in the house?"
Ruby rushed past her, violently shaking someone in the corner by the countertop. "Uncle Qrow, get up!"
"Hey, get off me!" Qrow slurred back, before hazily wondering: "...what are you doing here?"
"We're leaving, you idiot!" Maria snapped. "Come on!"
Blake felt someone take hold of her hand and pull her along. When she glanced down and saw a familiar fingerless glove latched on, she couldn't quite believe it.
Yang… pulling her forward, prioritizing her safety ahead of Yang's own sister…
Blake did not shun her fortune. She merely held on tightly as Yang drew her from the room.
"Oscar!" Yang shouted. "Oscar!"
He looked up, bewildered, as Yang, Blake, and Maria stormed out the front door. He'd barely managed to finish fastening the bolt… hadn't they gone down to the waterway entrance? How had they come up through the front door of the house?
"Oscar!" Yang said again. "We have to go! Now!"
Oscar didn't question why. He only moved away from the tire and tried to hitch the flatbed to Yang's motorcycle as quickly as he could.
The others emerged from the front door, Ruby and Weiss all but dragging Qrow out. Oscar saw licks of orange in the hall behind them, and smoke rising from the back window.
He didn't let himself be exhausted. He hopped up onto the back of the flatbed and helped Ruby and Weiss drag Qrow onboard. Yang fired up the engine and glanced back as Ruby and Blake pulled Maria onto the rear. Their eyes briefly met.
Oscar didn't begrudge her looking away once she had a headcount and knew the others were all riding behind her. He knew it wasn't the time.
Though he did note that was the most she'd said to him in the past day…
Oscar looked over Maria's head at the burning house, the fire spreading out to the rest of the farmstead…
Oscar looked over diary VIII, and the drawing Bartleby had made of the Grimm -a terrifying, thin skeletal creature that Ruby and the others had all seen in the bottom of the well- and the text he'd written about them. Apparently the way these 'Apathy' drained energy had a calming effect, and he'd intended to use that to put the minds of his people at ease, only for their presence to exhaust him so much their entire pack ended up turning his well into their den… and draining the farmers of their will to live.
As had very nearly happened to all of them too.
"Bartleby's plan worked," Maria grimly explained, taking the book back from Oscar. "No one was angry, or sad, or scared… no one was anything. And then… no one was left."
Maria closed up the diary and tossed it from the side of the flatbed, leaving it on the side of the road, to be buried in the snow.
Yang continued to pull them along for about a quarter mile before anyone spoke. "I'm sorry for what I said," Weiss turned to Ruby. "About… giving up."
Yang put on the brake, pulling them all to a gentle stop. "Me too," she chimed in. "We can't quit until the lamp is safe."
Oscar went to open his mouth.
"It's not your fault," Blake assured her. "It was those… things."
Oscar quickly glanced away. Right, that had been their fight, their shared experience. He couldn't be the one to offer Yang any comfort: he hadn't been there. He'd been fixing the tire.
He tried not to be petty. He was glad they'd made it out safely…
He was glad he was still riding with them, however long that lasted…
"I should have known," Maria lamented. "The signs were all there, but I've never seen an entire settlement withered away like that. I suppose my mind just isn't what it used to be…"
"Miss Calavera…?" Ruby tentatively began. "How do you know so much about the Grimm? And in the tunnels, you knew exactly what to say to make me… to make my eyes do that. How?"
"Well, isn't it obvious, girl?" Maria asked, amused. "I had silver eyes."
Maria went to great lengths in explaining herself. Oscar had never heard the stories before then, but Qrow was clearly a fan of the Huntress she used to be. The others -particularly Ruby- greatly enjoyed hearing from her, and Oscar just… tried to be polite and pay attention. Maria's tale wasn't boring by any means, but he once again felt like this wasn't really something he was meant to share in. He wasn't necessary. He was just… there.
He knew it wasn't healthy to keep assuming the worst. He knew they weren't trying to exclude him; it'd just worked out as such.
The reassurances didn't help. Mostly because Oscar was the only one offering them to himself.
A Scroll ringtone drew his attention, dredging him up from his self-imposed quiet. Ruby fumbled around at her skirt, digging out the device. "It's Jaune!"
Yang hit the brakes again. Everyone turned their gaze to Ruby's incoming call, perplexed. "How?" Weiss wondered.
Ruby answered the Scroll before she addressed Weiss. "Uh… hello?"
"Ruby!" Jaune's voice came in over the device. "Oh, thank you! I've been checking my Scroll for your signal since we made it to the city!"
"The city?" Ruby repeated. "What-"
Ruby waved her Scroll, watching the signal bars increase as she pointed it down the road. Yang followed Ruby's point, pushing the motorcycle a little further, bringing them slowly uphill, past the frost to pale grass… stopping to overlook the sea in the distance, and a small stone city sloped down to meet it.
"Ladies and gentlemen, we have arrived in Argus," Yang observed, finally showing some… zeal, some enjoyment after two days without a smile for Oscar to see.
He reminded himself the smile was not for him. He just happened to see it.
He told himself to get used to that feeling. That, or… to never see it again. Now that the danger had passed, all that remained was what they did with him after they regrouped with Jaune, Ren, and Nora.
When Yang looked back to the road and began their descent, Oscar kept his gaze away from the others and down to the dirt path they rode along. What awaited him now… either more of this quiet isolation, or a cordial -and cold- farewell.
He knew he didn't want to leave them. But what awaited him if he stayed?
Oscar tried again not to think.
"Cute… boy… Oz!"
Oscar didn't see her coming. When he turned his head, he saw only a glimpse of pink and orange before he was tackled to the ground. "Oh- come here!"
Right, it wasn't only Team RWBY whose opinions mattered. Nora still liked him.
And while he was always wary of the… enthusiasm of her hugs, he couldn't deny how much he needed for someone to show him some affection right then. In his daze, he still remembered to squeeze her back and gratefully accept this feeling.
"Are you all okay?" he heard Ren ask. He saw him reach over to Yang… from the ground he saw the two embrace, with Yang eagerly sinking her head down into his shoulder, wrapping her arms behind his waist.
"We were so worried!" Jaune chimed in from somewhere in the distance, Weiss and Blake moving over to him.
Yang… Oscar had barely even seen her and Ren speak to each other, let alone-
Well, then again, Ren had never been much for conversation and the girls all liked him just the same, even though they never really vocalized why.
He didn't have reason to dwell on it. Yang wasn't- Ren already belonged to-
Oscar looked at Nora's head still pressed against his own shoulder, her thighs pinning his chest to the ground. He hadn't become so defensive when Ren's supposed girlfriend threw herself at him.
But then, Oscar had never had any reason to believe Ren and Nora had any problems. Nora hadn't suddenly learned Ren was keeping some deep, dark secret from her.
"It's been… kind of a crazy trip," Yang explained as she drew away from Ren, still latched onto his waistt with her left hand.
"That's an understatement," Weiss dryly added.
Oscar turned his head not to look. He pretended he'd never glanced at Yang and Ren at all.
No one would notice. No one would think anything of it if they did.
It was no comfort to think it. So again Oscar tried not to think, giving Nora one more firm squeeze before letting his arms fall away.
She'd liked him first, after all. Maybe if he didn't spend so much time thinking about what he used to have and thought about what he could have had…
Oscar shook his head, trying to push the thought away. Yang embraced him because of the strength of her friendship, not because she ever… even considered…
Not until he put the thought in her head, anyway. Then he knew she had. He was the only other person who knew.
Clearly it didn't make her uncomfortable to hold him after thinking such things. Clearly she was still fond of him and not bothered by awkward memories… or maybe Nora was just different to all the others and had never been bothered at all. Oscar was fine with thinking that too.
Though he did have to adjust a bit, because Nora pressed up against him and a few recollections of what he knew lay under that bomber jacket and short skirt… he was very glad she was sitting on his chest and not any lower.
That thought wasn't so easy to dispel. But it just reminded him again what he didn't have.
Nora pulled up from Oscar, still pinning his chest beneath her thighs. "Wait- who's the old lady?"
"I can't believe I'm meeting your sister!" Ruby exclaimed. "I have so many questions!"
"Oh, I can give you the rundown later," Nora promised her, much to Jaune's chagrin.
Jaune's sister, Saphron… Oscar was sure this would make for a fascinating story. Though Saphron spared Jaune the details in her explanation, merely mentioning that she too lived away from home -she and Jaune were the only two to have moved far away- though she did promise to tell more stories about her 'baby' brother.
"I am not a baby," Jaune fiercely declared, pointing at a toddler on the floor who'd been capturing Weiss and Yang's attention. "That is a baby!"
The infant looked up at him and crossed his arms with a gruff sulk, imitating his uncle quite well. Yang and Weiss seemed especially happy to observe this. "Aw, you're so cute! Yes you are! Look at your little face!"
The sound of a door wasn't enough to really dredge Oscar out from his torpor. Saphron introduced them to her wife -Oscar missed the name, she said it so fast- and ran off to help her in the kitchen with what seemed like a full bag of groceries. Jaune, Ren, and Nora followed suit to prepare a meal.
Oscar might've gone after them, but he couldn't quite remove himself from his post on the floor. He glanced around at the others, trying to read the room… Yang and Weiss were still doting over the baby, Ruby was sitting with Qrow on the couch… Blake was also scanning the room, and their eyes briefly met.
Unlike Yang, she did not immediately avert her gaze. But then, also unlike Yang, she and Oscar had never actually… done anything. They started something, perhaps, but that was all. It hadn't made her any more apprehensive of him than she'd been before… if anything, she seemed more accepting of his presence…
She turned her gaze from him to add her thoughts to Ruby's conversation with Qrow. Oscar's gaze shifted away from her to Yang and Weiss: more specifically the back of Yang's head. He didn't know if the infant boy knew what it felt like to be the center of someone's attention, or just how much affection Yang was capable of-
He subtly shook his head. This wasn't the house in Mistral. This wasn't some pay-by-the-hour inn. Maybe he'd be better off just putting those days squarely behind him. Yang may have done that already.
He was still uncertain whether they meant to cast him out. He supposed he'd know after they had a chance to speak to Jaune and the others without his sister and her family in earshot… after all the necessary formalities of thanking them for their hospitality.
Saphron and her wife rejoined them. Oscar could hear clattering in the kitchen as Jaune and Ren set up platters… food sounded nice. They hadn't eaten since they'd been on the train.
Since before-
Oscar tried not to dwell on it. He sat quietly, the gracious and polite guest…
"And you're sure it's alright if we stay with you?" Weiss asked.
"Of course," Saphron assured her. "We're happy to house Huntsmen and Huntresses."
"You all risk so much to keep people like us safe. It's the least we can do." her wife added, before turning her attention to Qrow. "Especially for such an elite Huntsman like yourself. Although… I will say I was surprised to learn you had students helping you. Is that even… legal?"
Qrow hadn't been paying attention. Ruby bumped his arm with her elbow to drag him back to the conversation. "Uh, of course… think of this as an extended training mission… trust me- I was a professor; even went to the same academy as them. Let me tell ya, these kids are way better than we were at their age."
Jaune, Ren, and Nora rejoined them, each carrying a platter of sandwiches. The mood in the room quickly uplifted, though none could quite match Ruby's gasping enthusiasm.
"Well, not me specifically," Qrow clarified. "But a lot of students-"
"Shut up, there's food," Ruby interjected. Qrow decided not to argue the point.
Oscar waited for the others to dive in first. Even a simple piece of meat and cheese between two slices of bread seemed like a tremendous bounty after a day and a half with no food at all.
Though as he chewed, he did look about the room, thinking on Qrow and Saphron's explanations… and how things fit together.
Qrow was Ruby and Yang's uncle, and Weiss and Blake their teammates. Saphron -and her wife, whom she referred to as 'Terra' when she stepped out to take a call on her Scroll- were Jaune's family, and Ren and Nora all but adopted into it. They all had their clear, long-established connections, and gelled together quite naturally.
Leaving him on the outside looking in… wondering what tie he had to any of them.
He wasn't Ozpin -or his vessel- any longer. He didn't want to be thought of as such.
He wasn't Yang's boyfriend. Or at least, Yang probably would never acknowledge he'd ever been such, and Blake continued to bite her tongue.
Leaving… well, Nora still liked him. But how long would that be true once she knew what the others did?
Oscar turned to Maria, also sitting quietly on the couch across from him. No doubt she felt much the same as him right then… though without the concern that she'd have any reason to fear Jaune, Ren, and Nora learning about her backstory. Ruby and her team -and especially Qrow- all admired her and welcomed her presence. And he couldn't imagine any revelation about her would make the others turn on Maria the way they had upon learning what Ozpin had allowed to happen...
Ruby explained to Saphron her plan to visit the Atlesian military base. Jaune cautioned her that he and his team had already tried and it hadn't quite gone to plan…
"Come on, it couldn't be that bad," Yang flippantly suggested.
Ruby intended to wait until the following morning, both to give everyone time to rest and to meet the Atlesian military commander at the beginning of the day and go over all the necessary coordination… it didn't sound like she had decided on any specific travel arrangements and just intended to wing it.
Saphron started rummaging around for blankets and pillows for everyone -and Jaune provided a pleasant surprise by presenting his friends with the luggage they'd parted ways with when they separated the train cars on the Argus Limited- and everyone started winding down. Oscar again scanned the room, watching everyone carefully.
What were they waiting for? How long did he have to live in dread of Ruby telling Jaune and the others what they knew?
He tried to count his blessings until then. A much warmer place to sleep, a meal in his belly… he didn't expect he'd be able to enjoy those comforts much longer. The waiting only dulled that small reprieve.
Oscar busied himself cleaning up the dishware. He tried to remind everyone he could still contribute, and tried to repay some of the kindness Jaune's sister had offered him.
Maybe they wouldn't kick him out. Maybe they'd let General Ironwood at Atlas decide what to do with him instead.
Oscar did what he could to see the positive. But he wasn't expecting there to be much for him to look forward to… another grim, quiet march to be judged by a stranger… at best.
"I've already heard what your other little friends had to say, Miss Rose," the Atlesian officer -Cordovin- curtly explained, before glancing behind Ruby to Nora and the others. "What are you doing back here? I thought I told you to leave!"
Nora attempted to storm over to the gate of the tiny Atlesian outpost, only for Ren and Jaune to reach over and hold her back. "And I told you we wouldn't rest until you let us through!" Nora snapped right back.
"Nice to see you again as well," Ren diplomatically added.
Cordovin launched into a long-winded rant about Atlesian military supremacy, along with her supposed wit and tenacity -something her two subordinates at hand quickly echoed- and seemed much more interested in talking about herself than in hearing… any of their requests. She did, however, take note of Weiss and try to make accommodations specifically for her: "If Miss Schnee has truly come to her senses and wishes to return to her family, then -of course- the Atlas military will escort her home. But the kingdom will not be responsible for her… "friends" of… questionable character."
Blake's ears drooped. "What's that supposed to mean?" Weiss demanded.
"It means… we're done here," Cordovin frankly replied, closing up the gate to her base, putting a set of steel bars between the commander and them.
"Oh, yeah?" Nora growled. "Well your face looks like… a big dumb boot!"
"Way to show her, Nora," Jaune dryly observed. Oscar had to admit it hadn't been her best.
Qrow started to head off. Ruby addressed his back: "So… where are we going now?"
"Yeah, what's the plan?" Nora inquired, quickly recovering from her underheated insult.
"The plan?" Qrow bitterly repeated. "The plan just got shut in our face three times over. I'm going for a drink…"
Ruby dashed after him. "Uncle Qrow, I really think we should come up with something-" She didn't get her chance to finish, as Qrow didn't even bother to glance back at her. "-together…"
"What's his problem?" Jaune wondered. "It's not your fault we can't go on."
"If he's gonna be a jerk we'll just come up with something without him," Nora suggested. "I mean- we've got Ozpin with us! He usually knows what to do."
Oscar flinched upon hearing the name. The others exchanged glances… though none moved to Oscar himself. Weiss, Yang, Blake… they never said a word. Oscar looked at the ground before any eyes found him.
"What is it?" Ren wondered, sensing the trepidation, the discomfort… trying to offer his help. If only he knew…
Oscar heard Qrow kick the paved ground far ahead of them, upsetting a few birds perched on the bridge above him. He had a long walk to go back to the city…
Oscar envied him. At least he was alone.
Not every detail was correct. Ruby had to stop and clarify several times. She did most of the talking, and her team only occasionally interjected, painting a clearer picture by adding their perspective. Oscar never said a word, never offering a contradiction… never offering so much as his opinion.
A world before. Gods and monsters. The machinations of mortals to trick their gods, and gods cursing them with immortality as punishment… only to circumvent their own rules of life and death again by sending an immortal witch her counterweight.
Ever reincarnating, functionally immortal… but still a man, still as weak and flawed as any other.
Oscar never added to the list of his transgressions. He imagined they'd only hate him more if they knew what Ozpin had done in those other lives… more than the glimpses Jinn had given them, anyway. At least they didn't know that in his weaker moments he'd missed Salem… and was still trying to fill the void she had left with one proxy after another. He had never expected to take any comfort in keeping a secret from them.
He couldn't bear to look at them; not for very long, anyway. He only knew they were growing increasingly distressed. First, Nora's eyes were wide with surprise - now they were narrow and sullen. Jaune's hand had increasingly balled into a fist as anger continued to percolate. Ren… Oscar had never been able to read Ren. He didn't try.
When Ruby reached some sort of conclusion, Jaune stood up and paced around. His footsteps were the only sounds Oscar could catch in the room… followed by a sickening crack as he drove that balled fist into his sister's wall, leaving a deep indentation in the wallpaper, and possibly even the foundation.
"Jaune!" Ruby exclaimed.
"Everything we did was for nothing!" Jaune snarled.
"That's not true," Blake quietly attempted to his back.
"Really?" Nora angrily inquired. "'Cause it sure does sound like it…"
Even Nora was angry. And the source of her anger -or at least, the vessel holding it- was sitting a few feet from her.
She'd never been mad at him. It was such a strange feeling it didn't even make him upset… more confused than anything, to think Nora could shed her fondness of someone.
Blake didn't really have a counterargument prepared. "I...um…"
"If Salem can't be killed, then how are we supposed to win this?" Ren asked.
No emotion. Just a logical query.
One no one knew how to answer.
"Wow," Jaune mused. "Great plan, everyone…"
Oscar hadn't been able to speak before. But Blake and Ruby didn't deserve to bear the brunt of their friends' anger. They hadn't done anything more than be present to hear it all first.
"None of this is great," Oscar finally chimed in, trying to stand up straighter, to draw Jaune's attention to him… hardly an easy task for someone still shorter than Nora. "We know- but we're not the bad guys here."
"...are we sure about that?" Jaune asked him, turning his cold blue eyes down.
"...what?" Oscar inquired, confused once again.
"He's in your head, isn't he?" Jaune asked, walking over to Oscar. "Did you already know about this?"
Oscar knew more of Ozpin's secrets than any of them. But even that hadn't prepared him for what Jinn revealed. Even he couldn't have predicted -or believed- Ozpin was older than everything else in the world… or why he was so desperate to bury his own memory of it.
"He didn't know any of it!" Weiss protested on his behalf.
Maybe she still had some faith in hin. Maybe she simply pitied him to be surrounded by accusations.
Jaune took hold of Oscar's suspenders and hoisted him in the air. Before Oscar had a chance to talk, Jaune drove him into the wall. "How much longer can we even trust him?"
Oscar was in pain from the impact, but he still had the ability to answer. The problem was… it was a fair question.
How much longer? Oscar wanted to know that himself. Even if he suspected he wouldn't like the answer…
"Jaune!" Yang shouted, trying to calm him.
"How do we even know it's really him?" Jaune demanded, driving Oscar into the wall again. "What if we've been talking to that liar this whole time?!"
"Jaune!" Ruby interjected again, about as firmly as she could.
Jaune turned to glare at her. Oscar was relieved he was no longer on the receiving end of Jaune's ire.
But Jaune relented and relaxed his grip, releasing Oscar and letting him slide down the wall. He offered no resistance -he only tried not to cower. Jaune stepped away from him, storming up the stairs and leaving him to his bruises.
"Is he… gonna be okay?" Yang wondered.
Oscar glanced up to see Yang looking upstairs. She was more worried about the man who assaulted their supposed friend than she was about the boy lying in a heap.
Just like two days ago. She hadn't cared when Qrow left him lying either…
It still hurt to see. It still hurt to know her loyalty was gone.
"I don't know!" Nora admitted, frantically running up the stairs after him.
Ren -ever the diplomat- tried to direct everyone back to their corners. "I think it would be best if we had some time to ourselves." He followed his teammates up the stairs, leaving Oscar alone with Team RWBY.
...who just as quickly put some distance between themselves and him. Ruby suggested: "Maybe we could all use some space."
Oscar already knew what it meant. He knew where it was heading.
Some among them may have been willing to acknowledge he wasn't all bad; that he was distinguishable from the wizard who'd misled them. But they weren't going to rush to his aid either when they didn't have a defense to offer. There wasn't any reason to fight.
He wondered if they'd ask him or just wait for him to take the hint on his own. No doubt they were waiting to see if he'd just leave and they wouldn't have to pay him further thought.
Oscar lifted himself up and headed to the kitchen to see if he could find something to mend the crack in their host's wall. Saphron and Terra had at least been kind enough to give him food and shelter, and he didn't want them thinking he was ungrateful.
He wanted someone to remember him fondly.
The others filtered out to get food. Oscar knew he should've done the same, but he really couldn't find his appetite. He was also keeping track of what Lien he had rather than what had been pooled with the group: it would be a long trip back to his aunt's farm and he wasn't sure how much he'd need to travel back across almost a quarter of the continent.
He wasn't sure what she'd say when she saw him again. Would she be so welcoming when he'd left her to manage the farm on her own and chase after… something that really hadn't mattered much at all?
Ozpin retreated back into his mind, and Oscar was alone again. His brief foray as a hero… if he could even call it that…
That wasn't the life for him. They already had their bonds, and he'd just visited with them for a while. Ozpin… if he did ever come back, it wasn't as though any of them would welcome him back into the fold just because he could be useful at times. He wasn't even sure they'd carry on their fight now that they knew how pointless it all was.
Oscar hoped they'd find some happiness in their vocation. It wasn't going to be the life for him.
Oscar heard a tapping at the front door. He wasn't sure of the etiquette to answering on someone else's behalf, but the others were out and Ruby and Maria were in the backyard, so he was the only one capable of it.
He glanced outside. Whatever surprise he had faded almost as quickly as it came.
Of all people...
He'd just been thinking about her.
"Ruby!" Yang called.
Ruby finally emerged from the yard after a long talk with Maria, heading back to the front door to greet Yang and Blake. "Oh, hey guys."
Jaune finally joined them, Ren and Nora in tow. "What's going on?"
A long silence. Yang glanced back at Blake: she was best poised to know.
"It's Oscar," Blake explained. "He's missing."
Oscar looked at the city from the defensive wall she'd brought him to. The sun setting over the water was a nice sight, at least.
She hadn't said anything. She'd waited for him to be alone and offered him her hand to lead him away from their ears. He assumed she had a piece she wanted to say, but she'd been patient in leading him here. He waited for her leave.
She patted a patch of stone for him to sit upon at her immediate right. Oscar knew he should be wary of her -even now- but took her invitation and joined her there. For a long moment they just looked out at the sunset.
At last, she spoke. "I wanted to talk."
Oscar tried not to stare. But he couldn't quite help it. She looked so much like her daughter… even more so in the past few days, when Yang's eyes burned just as red.
"About Ozpin," Raven clarified. "And… about us."