Chapter 4
Oscar would never outright say aloud that he didn't enjoy the overall horror that settled over all the adults that were pitched around him.
But he did.
Qrow was the most expressive of them all.
Ozpin looked like he could've dropped his cane as far as his jaw, had the man been holding it.
Glynda looked more confused than horrified.
And Ironwood looked like he was about the explode, his face going redder as the accusation sunk in.
He brightly ignored his Ozpin scolding him at the back of his mind.
He was having way too much fun watching their expression morph every second.
Then they erupted.
"What." Ironwood called out; his tone seeped in dangerous accusation.
And Oscar's good feeling was immediately gone when he interpreted his voice going just as hostile as much, or even more, as the step forward he took at Ruby dangerously ringing out alarm bells in his head.
Elder-Ruby reared back, not quite understanding yet that she delivered that particular piece of news poorly.
But she did recognise Ironwood's sudden malicious expression was directed at her.
Oscar moved before he could think about it.
He was suddenly moving out his arm to cover her protectively, stepping in front of her, growling and glaring at Ironwood as soon as he heard Elder-Ruby high-strung confused whine.
"She is telling the truth." Oscar told him, sparing a second to realise he was baring his teeth.
Ironwood looked to him, stunned, and Oscar only backed down when Ironwood retreated.
Ozpin seemed to be the first to recover, hearing the tone in Oscar, and wisely helped Ironwood retreat and placed his hand on Ironwood's shoulder.
"People have the capacity to change, James." Ozpin reminded him.
Once Oscar saw that Ironwood toned himself down, he just crossed his arms as Elder-Ruby sat on the tabletop behind her.
"At least you guys will go into this knowing." He huffed in annoyance, then turned his head. "Shush you. It's different." He added to himself.
Ozpin looked to him, and Oscar flinched away.
Elder-Ruby saw the exchange and giggled.
"How did you find out?" Ozpin asked curiously.
Oscar's head immediately turned a little.
"Um. Badly?" Elder-Ruby interjected.
Oscar wasn't the only one to snort.
"Yeah! That's one way to put it!" Oscar huffed humorously. "Qrow flipped it!" He laughed.
Elder-Ruby looked to him; her head notched a little to one side. "…And you didn't?" She questioned.
Oscar playfully glared at her. "Shush you." He told her as he booped her nose.
In response, she scrunched her nose up and Oscar laughed.
Oscar couldn't help but flinch, now seeing the expected Ozpin expression to go along with the Expected Silence.
He moved to climb up to sit next to Elder-Ruby, who in a second realised what he was doing, grasped his under braces and hauled him up next to her.
"He's in talks with Salem," Elder-Ruby paused when she felt Oscar flinch. "Sorry, I know he was your friend." She apologised gently.
Oscar just shook his head sadly.
"How did you find this out?" Ironwood asked.
He kept his tone civil, less the kid version of Ozpin glare at him like he drowned his goldfish again.
Elder-Ruby shrugged. "Kinda started with how anyone knew where Spring was in the first place. Since we only knew, and we only told Lionheart. We were sus from then on." She told them as she noted more and more of her two teams sat either on the tabletops or on benches around her.
The adults around looked at her.
"Wait, you know where Spring is?" Qrow was the first to burst out and ask.
Elder-Ruby immediately snorted. "Yeah. And you're not gonna like it, either." She told him.
With everything she didn't say, Qrow understood and straight out groaned, then took his flask out, and wept when he realised it was empty.
Elder-Jaune looked as if he was finally clued enough in.
"That pretty much brings them up to where we are right now." He noted.
Elder-Ruby looked at him and nodded. "Grimm fights with Raven's bandits? Including the White Fang and the Faunus Riots? In the city of Mistral? Was never gonna be a short fight. Too many hidey holes. Too many levels." Elder-Ruby remarked in a snort.
Elder-Ruby suddenly turned to Elder-Blake.
"How did you find us, anyway? There's a lot of ground to cover in Mistral." She asked.
Elder-Blake shrugged with one shoulder. "You're not that hard to track. All I needed to do was find the biggest explosions. Weiss' summons took care of the rest." She remarked.
Elder-Weiss then snickered happily. "And they thought they were going to get help from you." She added.
Elder-Blake crossed her arms. "I took care of that when I landed next to Ruby and shot at them." She gritted out.
Elder-Ruby laughed. "Yeah! Didn't get much time to even say hello!" She giggled.
Elder-Yang just happily shrugged. "Eh. It happens when you're surrounded by people who want to kill you." She admitted.
Oscar gained heavy amounts of satisfaction from the amount of backwards and forwards the adults did from person to person who talked while they tried to keep up.
"…So, there is going to be an attack on Mistral. Haven Academy, specifically?" Ironwood was able to manage from everything they said.
Oscar nodded.
"They are acting on Salem's orders. Or in the very least, for their own self-interest." Oscar said.
"Salem is after the Maidens, as well as the relics, after all." Ozpin reminded.
Oscar shrugged. "And, since I assume, she couldn't get Spring from Raven, she went after the relic instead. Raven's lot, I'm guessing, are acting in retaliation against Salem. Not sure about the White Fang. We were caught in the middle. But all involved parties weren't averse to fighting each other, and us at the same time." Oscar replied.
"Which is how we left Mistral. Since we're all here." Elder-Jaune reminded.
Elder-Ruby stalled. "…Uncle Qrow is gonna be packing it…" She muttered.
Oscar looked to her, then he was suddenly bent over and laughing.
Elder-Ruby stared at him as he crossed his arms over his stomach. "It's not that funny, Oscar!" She implored.
Oscar giggled. "It really is!" He answered.
"Why! He's left alone! He might be able to fight Raven by himself. But not everyone else at the same time! He's Semblance isn't that kind!" Elder-Ruby insisted as she forgot her uncle was in hearing range.
Qrow looked on in rising horror at this fact.
"After he dragged me through the entirety of Mistral 'cause he forgot where you guys were. He made me open doors, Ruby! Doors! Hell, this is hilarious!" Oscar cackled.
Then he saw her understanding yet disapproving expression, and he tried to curb his mirth.
/
/
Everyone jerked and looked a little confused when there was suddenly a bell chiming out for dinner.
They all blinked and looked around having not realised how long they had been talking for.
"Food!" Elder-Ruby was suddenly yelling and then was off like a shot in an explosion of flower petals that took Oscar in its wake and rushed off towards where the food would be.
Elder-Yang just sighed.
"Give her an order, and she really sticks to it, huh?" She asked, then cupped her mouth with one hand. "What about us, Sis!" She yelled happily to the fast-dissipating petal wind.
She then noticed the younger teams looking at her in confusion. "Oh. Uncle Qrow kinda told her at the start of all this that she needed to stay with him. …And because of that basically, they haven't left each other's side since. She takes him everywhere." Elder-Yang informed brightly as she launched herself off the bench she was sitting on.
She then looked to her version of Weiss and Yang. "Come on. We better get there before she starts helping Oscar hoard things again." She said to them.
Her teammates nodded, and all of them went about getting up.
"Why is that?" Elder-Jaune asked curiously as Elder-Ren helped a still sulking Elder-Nora up by dragging her to her feet.
Elder-Yang shrugged. "No clue with Ruby. She never did it. Unless you guys ran out of food on your way to Mistral?" She asked as they headed off in the same direction her sister hurled herself off too, noticing the adults followed in silence.
Elder-Nora looked annoyed.
"I am offended you would think so!" She yelled.
"We kept track of our food." Elder-Ren said.
"Even if we did lose our map several times…" Elder-Jaune muttered.
Elder-Nora turned her glare to him.
He very much noticed.
"That was your fault, and you know it!" He retaliated a little in anger.
Elder-Nora huffed but waved him off like it was of no concern.
Elder-Blade regarded them all.
"…It might be because of Oscar." She muttered.
But they all looked to her in any case.
"How do you figure?" Elder-Yang asked, ignoring all the adults around her and Nora's pout just as easily.
"Well…He grew up on a farm, right? That's what you guys told me." Elder-Blake added.
Elder-Jaune nodded.
"That's what he told us." He said as they continued to follow the fading trail of petals.
He could assume Ruby would lead them to wherever the food was being served at.
"Wouldn't he be used to stock-piling? We'd see it as hoarding. It's also coming into winter." Elder-Blake elaborated.
The rest now looked thoughtful.
"That's possible. Ruby would see him doing something like that and understand why, I guess. He probably doesn't even realise he's doing it anymore." Elder-Yang voiced, then looked to the younger version of her sister. "What do you think?" She asked curiously.
Ruby immediately reared back in alarm, even squeaked in alarm when everyone turned to look at her.
"Um. What?" She whined in surprise.
Elder-Yang eyed Ozpin, who, again, looked just as neutral to everything that happened to him, just as she remembered him being.
She placated Ruby by patting her head. "Never mind, Sis. I guess we'll figure it out later." She added softly.
Ruby just looked at her in confusion.
She didn't understand her sudden involvement in the conversation, or why she was called out in the first place.
./.
They noticed that this time, the target subject to being hoarded seemed to be apples.
Which was a little confusing to everyone: since they weren't offered in any capacity in any of the dishes on hand.
Most of team RNJR were alarmed to see Oscar by himself.
Because ever since the boy met Ruby, he was barely a hairsbreadth away from the redhead, to begin with.
The adults scattered around the children to give the space but still well within hearing distance while they all ate.
Oscar seemed to be making pyramids out of the pilfered apples, and he only looked up when he sensed Ruby coming near.
Seeing her, he shot her a smile and tossed her an apple from the top of a pyramid.
"Here!" He said as he tossed it to her brightly.
Ruby barely caught it. She wasn't expecting the boy to throw her anything.
She was only glad she wasn't holding anything breakable since she would have dropped it – and likely would have broken it – to catch the apple.
"Um…Thanks?" She questioned meekly.
Oscar just smiled at her with a fond smile that seemed to light up his entire face, only to chuckle at her response and got back to making apple pyramids.
./.
They noticed that while they left Oscar to his own devices, he was on the second pyramid, that they hadn't quite left him alone. And that dedication was more from team RNJR, then RWBY. And they didn't exactly seem to voice their concern about where their version of Ruby had gone off to.
It hadn't taken them long to sort through everyone to get food, and for them to get a seat that was pitched around Oscar.
Nearly all of them jumped when a closed window suddenly burst open in a violent, red-hazed wind that caused the shutter to bang against the wall several times.
Oscar only had taken an apple and threw it up into the air, the most nonchalant of everyone seated around him.
The apple was suddenly caught in the red haze and the boy was surrounded by rose petals as she reformed next to him in a split second.
As if she hadn't been missing for the past five minutes and she settled down to munch on her apple without discourse.
/
/
While they were all quietly eating, they noted that neither Oscar nor Elder-Ruby had retreated to get any of the meals on offer but stuck with the apple pyramid's Oscar had made.
"Okay. Where'd the apples come from?" Ruby was the bravest to ask.
Both looked to her with a blink of mutual surprise that was somehow simultaneous from them both.
"Oscar noticed the trees around here, so I went and gathered some." Elder-Ruby explained to the curious room full of people.
"They would've been the last of their season." Oscar added as he grasped another to munch on.
Right.
Farm.
"So, you…just picked them?" Blake was faster asking then her elder, who nearly choked on her food, making her version of Yang whack her on the back.
Oscar nodded. "They would have spoiled or attracted unsavoury characters before they could." Oscar said as he placed a core with the others in a neat pile off to his side.
Oscar then looked to his companion.
"Do you think they have a compost bin?" He asked.
Elder-Ruby blinked. "I'll go ask." She told them, then was racing off into her Semblance down the hall and into the kitchen.
In the next second, they heard the many subsequent yells of surprise from the kitchen staff when Elder-Ruby appeared next to them so suddenly out of thin air.
It only served to make Oscar chuckle happily when he heard Elder-Ruby apologising.
"…I need to get better at that…" Ruby mumbled in embarrassment.
Oscar looked to his companion's two teams and held out an apple.
"Want some?" He asked.
Elder-Nora jumped up in her usual enthusiastic way. "Yes!" She yelled, then turned to her Ren. "Ren! You have one too!" She insisted.
Elder-Ren just sighed as he shrugged, but he let his girlfriend do as she pleased.
Nothing would stop her anyway.
Elder-Nora saw his compliance and hugged him only to skip off towards Oscar to get an armful of offered apples.
"She crawls all over you." Elder-Blake noted happily.
Elder-Ren just shrugged tiredly.
Elder-Yang snorted. "Yeah. When has she never?" She asked.
Elder-Jaune just chuckled softly and fondly at their antics.
Elder-Ruby suddenly appeared back next to Oscar just as the apples began circulating down the table and even across to the table that the adults were using.
"They have a bin we can use." Elder-Ruby confirmed as she took the last apple.
Oscar nodded then made sure the cores went into a pile.
Seeing him gather them up, Elder-Ruby took out what looked like a tattered red piece of cloth and handed it over to Oscar, so he had somewhere to place the cores.
Once they were all gathered up onto the cloth, he tied it up and stood up.
"Which way?" He asked as he looked to Elder-Ruby.
Elder-Ruby pointed towards the cook's station. "In the back. They're expecting you." Elder-Ruby remarked.
Oscar gave her a fond glance then left in the direction she pointed to.
./.
RNJRWBY seemed used to how their leader interacted with their youngest.
But JNPR, RWBY, their teachers? Not so much.
They were all staring at Elder-Ruby in silence, not quite sure what to say or do.
As the bell chimed another hour closer to sunset, another problem proved itself more worth.
With so many people in need of shelter, more than expected, the camp was overflowing to sharing capacity.
There wasn't much room left.
As Oscar returned, he folded the scrap piece of cloth, stepping over his seat and he handed it back to Elder-Ruby as he sat down.
"Thanks!" Elder-Ruby said gratefully as she tucked it away.
Elder-Yang looked over to her sister. "So, where're we sleeping tonight?" She questioned curiously.
Elder-Ruby looked a little startled at the question as if she hadn't thought about it yet.
"Hmm. That's a good question." She pondered thoughtfully.
"This is as good a time as ever…" Qrow sounded out.
They all looked to him as he stood up and over his seat to stand in the laneway between the two tables, next to Ozpin who was leaning on his cane outwardly, looking genuinely curiously neutral, as always.
"Yo!" Elder-Yang greeted giving them both a two-fingered hand to forehead salute.
"I'm not sure how much you students know, but there is limited and cramped space available here." Ozpin told them.
Oscar nodded along. "That would be true…" He answered, his head bowing to the side, listening, then flinched when he realised that he heard the wrong Ozpin. "My bad." He muttered in an apology over his mistake.
Ozpin didn't seem to mind the mix-up and handed the enlisting map of tents over to Oscar.
"These are the last spare available tents, there are only three left, so you will need to share." Ozpin told him.
Oscar nodded, only to curiously hand the map over to Elder-Ruby to look over silently.
Ozpin seemed fine to let them sort it out themselves.
./.
Oscar got up onto his knees to look over Elder-Ruby's shoulder as the girl frowned thoughtfully.
"What are you thinking?" He asked curiously as he saw her expression change.
Oscar noted not just her teammates crowded around in interest.
She pointed to the tent already allocated to JNPR. "I'll leave them." She muttered.
Oscar shuffled around through his pockets to hand over a pen he found.
Elder-Ruby looked to both versions of team RWBY. "You mind if you guys share?" She asked.
They all shook their heads, they were way too tired to care where they were put, where she put them. Just as long as they had a bed to lie in.
Seeing their compliance, she marked their names on the largest available tent, curiously to everyone else that she left her own name out.
It was noticed by Ruby.
"Where're'm I going to go?" Ruby asked curiously.
Elder-Ruby started to flip Oscar's pen around her fingers absentmindedly as she looked at Ruby thoughtfully.
"Don't mind staying with us?" She questioned.
Ruby blinked in confusion. "Uh, sure, but who're…?" She asked, confused over who her elder was referring she stays with.
Elder-Ruby lost her concentration over her pen and it dropped onto the floor and rolled under the table.
"Shoot." She muttered as she watched it roll.
"I've got it!" Oscar noted.
He moved away from leaning against her shoulder and ducked down under the tables, minding people's legs as he searched.
"Thanks, Oscar!" Elder-Ruby called to him brightly as he disappeared from her view, seeing him go, she looked back to Ruby. "I can't leave Oscar by himself. So, when I said us, I mean him and me." Elder-Ruby explained.
Qrow looked about ready to break that up in a heartbeat but stalled seeing Ozpin's curious sidestep over him.
Oscar popped up back from under the table.
"Here!" He called, holding the pen up in triumph.
"Thanks!" Elder-Ruby said as she ruffled his hair, ignoring his murmured protests as she took the pen back.
She marked her name, alongside Oscar's on the smallest, the two-bedder as Oscar returned to leaning against her shoulder to oversee what she did.
They noticed that Elder-Ruby hadn't dislodged him, and even stooped a little for her shoulder to be aligned with his height.
There was only a medium-sized tent left.
"Jaune! That means you're bunking with Nora and Ren!" She called happily.
Surprising everyone else, Elder-Jaune playfully glared at his teammates. "Keep it down!" He said jokingly
Elder-Ren just shrugged while Elder-Nora looked offended.
Seeing them comply, she noted their names down.
Elder-Ruby handed the map back to Ozpin, who took it to look it over.
"With that settled, you can go." He told them, giving the map back to her.
With the map back, they were finally able to file out and find where they were sleeping for the coming night.
/
/
Seeing Ruby walk into the cafeteria hall without her companion fused at her hip was just as surprising as it was confusing.
And they were as good as hiding it as Ruby was at hiding her yawn.
She even had her eyes closed as she bumped into Ozpin's back.
Qrow hid his snort by trying to muffle it behind his arm while Ozpin turned around in surprise to see who had bumped into him to make sure they hadn't hurt themselves in any way.
"Miss Rose…?" He started.
He automatically caught her arm when he saw her take a clumsy step back.
Ruby yawned and rubbed one eye sleepily.
"Hey, Professor Ozpin." She muttered tiredly, trying to hide a yawn behind her other hand.
She just looked confused as to why she couldn't move it since Ozpin had hold of her still.
"Are you quite alright?" He asked in concern as Qrow got up to give the future travelling version of his niece a once over.
Ruby nodded and shook her head a little as if trying to wake up.
They were quite astounded that she had managed to make her way into the cafeteria in the first place without bumping into anyone, or anything, else.
She would probably be embarrassed about walking into Ozpin once she was awake enough to care about it.
"Where's your little sidekick?" Qrow asked looking towards the door, half expecting the little runt to come running.
Ruby blinked tiredly from one man to the other. "Lost 'im…" She remarked with a tired sniff.
Both men looked to each other in concern.
She must have been way out of it to say something like that, and not be worried about it.
"Are you not worried?" Glynda asked.
Ruby yawned. "He has Ozpin with him." She said as she switched rubbing eyes.
Unbeknown to Ozpin himself, this type of commentary didn't help either Qrow or Glynda feel calm about where the boy had wandered off to.
While Ozpin didn't exactly feel comfortable in letting the still-teen go. He could feel her trembling with the effort to stay up, even with him holding her up.
He looked to Qrow in rising concern.
"Is she prone to clumsiness in her current stasis?" He asked.
Qrow immediately looked incredulous. "I've never seen her this whacked!" He insisted.
That didn't make Ozpin feel better. In fact; it made him feel even more anxious about letting her go anywhere in case she wandered into the forest, or if she fell over something.
With how close she was to his successor, Oscar was bound to be trying to find her, that was, if he even knew, or was aware she had wandered off.
In all likelihood, he already knew his Rose had wandered off.
"Let's find Oscar, shall we?" Ozpin asked as he ignored Qrow and Glynda's mirrored astonished looks.
Ruby nodded tiredly. "'Kay…" She muttered lowly and tiredly.
Ozpin rearranged her gently, moving her about so she turned to face outwards, making sure his grip hadn't lessened.
He then looked to Glynda and Qrow sternly.
"See if you can find him." He ordered while he kept both eyes on worrying about Ruby.
./.
Returning to the tent she had assigned herself the previous night bore it unnervingly empty of the boy they were trying to return her to.
Ozpin was becoming more and more alarmed at how Ruby wasn't able to wake herself up in the ten minutes it took to get to the tent.
"Where were you last, Miss Rose?" Ozpin asked gently. "Were you in your bed?" He added.
Ruby quietly shook her head. He tensed further when he felt her sway.
Seeing her, he leant his cane against his leg and put his now free palm up against her forehead to check worryingly for illness.
It didn't help when her temperature was neither elevated nor depressed.
"Can you show me where you were before you found us in the hall?" He asked of her.
She nodded and she surprised him mutely by taking hold of his sleeve and tugging gently.
Qrow and Glynda rushed to keep up as soon as Ruby started walking.
/
/
Ruby ended up leading them towards the training ground, where teams RWBY, RNJR and JNPR were, alongside Oscar, who seemed to be holding out his cane, as if he were directing them into pairs.
They didn't seem to be using their own weapons.
It only took a second for Oscar to notice them, pair off the remaining children and then make his way over to them.
"I was wondering where she had wandered off to." Oscar said.
They all blinked at the sudden tone shift in his voice.
It didn't quite seem like Oscar was speaking normally.
His tone was now a mixture of Ozpin's and Oscar, with a slightly distorted echo.
Oscar looked to Ozpin, who hadn't seemed fit to let Ruby go.
"I was about to go look for her." He told them.
Ozpin blinked, a little unsettled to hear his own voice come out of someone so young.
"She was looking for you." Ozpin answered the loud silent question he heard in the boy's voice.
"…Lost 'im…" Ruby noted tiredly.
Oscar looked to her, then blinked in realisation as to what she actually meant.
"Ah," He sounded in realisation. "Oscar will be back momentarily. Will you be alright until then, Miss Rose?" Oscar questioned.
It suddenly made more sense to those listening as to who was actually speaking, and what Ruby had actually meant when she had said she lost Oscar.
Since she technically had.
Oscar cocked his head slightly, but not as much as usual, before looking back to Ruby.
"Oscar is worried about you. How about you stay here, and he will talk to you when we're finished?" Oscar asked, his tone merging in echo, giving voice to how much both souls were worried.
Ruby just nodded, while going to rub her eye again, but Oscar caught her hand gently midway.
Oscar looked back up to Ozpin.
"Will you be alright to hold her for a little longer? I'm not entirely sure she'll stay put." He asked hauntingly with two voices overlapping and echoing each other through their mutual trepidation bleeding through.
Ozpin nodded mutely; he was fine with watching curiously.
"Make sure she doesn't rub her eyes. She often forgets it makes things worse." Oscar warned, not that Ozpin needed it before the boy was grinning at her and was running back to both versions of Jaune.
./.
Ozpin spared a second to look from his charge to her uncle.
He could see echoes of too many children, too many thorns to be sure of her response.
"Would she be better off sitting down?" He questioned.
Qrow was still highly incredulous that Ozpin was still fine with everything that had happened in not even the past week(!), that now he looked scared.
"Why are you asking me!?" Qrow nearly demanded.
Ozpin thought it better to leave the man alone, just in case he accidentally broke something.
/
/
Ozpin was never so mentally happy when Ruby was able to stop swaying, so he was more comfortable in letting her arm go safely.
And since she hadn't exactly let go of his sleeve, she wasn't stepping away from him until she did.
He went back to overseeing the field to watch the students training when suddenly Oscar seemed to do a whole-body flinch and his green Aura crackled and fizzled out from him completely.
"Ozpin!" Elder-Ruby suddenly came alive at the same time with a yell and was off into an explosion of rose petals that raced away from the person she yelled for and towards Oscar instead.
Everyone seemed to halt in whatever they were doing.
By the time Elder-Ruby reappeared, she had time to brace Oscar on her back as he fell forward.
"…Miss Ruby?" Oscar voiced, tiredly, but still singularly just in his tone.
He panted, as if he had run a marathon, and sounded pained at the same time.
Elder-Ruby shifted under him, making sure he wasn't going to slip off.
"Are you alright?" She asked in worry.
"…It's…It's getting hard to do that…" Oscar panted.
RNJR came in with the rest of Elder-Ruby's team.
"Are you gonna be okay?" Elder-Jane asked.
"We are running out of time." Oscar noted painfully, then shook his head into his Ruby, as if he needed to shake off negative emotions.
Oscar didn't see that RNJR flinched at his words and their looks at each other in worry.
They knew what the boy was referring to.
It was getting harder and harder for him to reach Ozpin as the man they knew as their headmaster faded into the back of the boy's mind permanently.
And there was nothing they could do about it.
Elder-Ruby didn't seem to trust Oscar with his own two feet, so she hefted him up onto her back, her arms wrapped around his legs to make sure he didn't go anywhere once she started moving.
Oscar, himself, looked already half asleep from exhaustion.
With the impromptu sparring session over, they were back to looking to Elder-Ruby for leadership.
They followed her as she moved back towards Ozpin, who hadn't seen fit to move.
Elder-Ruby walked up to Ozpin, hefted Oscar up when she felt his dead weight slipping a little.
"Thanks for putting up with me from before." She told him gratefully while looking slightly embarrassed.
She could be such a zombie sometimes.
Ozpin literally blinked at her, looking almost stunned, before quickly looking to the boy limp on her crooked back.
He knew by how much trust he could see Oscar had with this Rose, that he owed her a lot more than just helping her find her way back.
Elder-Weiss turned to her leader.
"What happened?" She asked her.
"It's a little hazy, but I think I wandered the camp trying to find Oscar, having left the grounds where Oscar was." Elder-Ruby told them.
Even those who time travelled with her looked confused.
"But you just said…?" Elder-Blake stuttered in confusion.
Elder-Ruby shrugged, making Oscar move with her. "Sleep is weird…" She muttered.
And with her derisive expression, they thought it best not to push her.
They all noticed that Elder-Blake's ear twitched a second before the girl herself looked up.
"Blake?" Elder-Ruby questioned as she hefted Oscar's dead weight again.
Elder-Blake looked back at them. "It's going to rain soon. I can hear thunder." Elder-Blake advised.
Elder-Yang grinned and threw her arm around her friend.
"Cat senses tingly? You didn't do well in the last storm." She crowed.
Elder-Blake actually hissed at her. "That storm had it in for us!" She retorted angrily.
But Elder-Yang just laughed merrily.
"We better get indoors." Elder-Weiss noted, seeing the storm Elder-Blake could hear from gathering just off beyond the ruins.
While they were all looking to study the storm, they didn't notice everyone else staring at them in absolute awe and surprise.
/
/
By the time the sky decided to open up and drench everything in surrounding Vale, they had all bolted into the nearest spare hall. One that had only recently been thrown up due to the influx of refugees coming from both Beacon and Vale.
Inside the hall, there were only a few hastily made benches, thankfully enough for the trailing adults.
Glynda and Qrow were silently looking at each other in confused wonder as to why Ozpin seemed to want to keep the children within his night.
Not that they voiced the question. They knew better by now.
The children didn't go anywhere near the benches that were leaning against the far wall, knowing they would be claimed by the adults, whenever they decided to sit down. They were just grateful they were undercover when they all heard thunderclap and the deluge of rain pounding over their heads.
Elder-Blake just flinched at the loud noise, trying to cover up she nearly ducked when the thunder rang out.
Elder-Yang just started to pat her on the shoulder, seeing the aborted movement a mile away.
In all jokes aside, they knew Blake could hear the storm louder than they ever could.
Elder-Ruby hefted the dead weight on her back, and they watched as she walked over to the nearest wall and lean down to gently take the boy off her back.
She moved gently around him that once he was fully off her back, with her arm around his shoulders, she slid him gently down the wall keeping pace with him.
As soon as he touched the floor, she made sure she was fast enough to sit next to him, and his head leaning against her shoulder, and his body either leaning against the wall or into her side, to take his weight.
She took her eyes off him to monitor her surroundings when she noticed her other version walking over to her, her entire posture screaming concern.
"Is he okay?" She asked, her fingers toying with others nervously.
Huh. She had that nervous tick. She never knew that.
Elder-Ruby nodded.
"He's tired from training. He'll be fine when he wakes up." Elder-Ruby told her quietly with a soft smile.
Ruby nodded, happy with her answer and watched as Weiss tapped her elder curiously.
"You did say last night that you would teach me to summon." Weiss asked
Elder-Weiss looked to her thoughtfully, then nodded. "Alright. We'll try small summons since anything bigger won't fit. And I'd rather keep the roof over our heads for the time being." Elder-Weiss said and walked to the farther side of the hall, Weiss following eagerly.
./.
In the time they all spent watching as the storm set in around them hard, causing the adults to up-end the benches and sit on the sporadically around the edges of the hall, giving more space in the middle.
Out of all the tasks their elders set for them, Weiss seemed to be having the most troubles with hers.
Ruby, by comparison, was the odd one out and stood, leaning her weight from one foot to the other nervously.
"So…" She started awkwardly, looking down to her elder, who was still sitting quite happily on the floor, with a passed-out Oscar leaning on her.
"…What do you want me to do?" She asked nervously.
Elder-Ruby, who was watching as her sister just tripped up her younger while having the same pep talk her father had given her post Fall of Beacon, knew by her grin that she was finished with her self-training.
So, seeing this, she smirked. "Hey, Sis!" She crowed.
Both versions of Yang turned to her, and she pointed to her other version.
"Your next sparring partner." Elder-Ruby remarked.
Both Yang's lit up in glee and Ruby almost looking as if she regretted asking for help.
/
/
There was only so many times Ruby was willing to get her ass kicked, and the seventh time was one too many.
So, she just laid out on the floor, spread eagle in defeat as she groaned in pain and woe.
Ruby looked up, seeing her Elder in her upside-down vision, hearing her own giggle being giggled at her.
"Now I can see why I got my ass kicked so many times! Yang, you're a terrible teacher!" She laughed.
As she did so, she unwillingly jostled Oscar awake in the process.
"Miss Ruby?" He called tiredly as he lifted himself off her shoulder.
She turned her head and greeted him with a blinding smile. "Hey, Oscar! How was your nap?" She asked happily.
Oscar groaned tiredly as he stretched, then automatically vocally freaked out when he couldn't feel his cane at his back.
"Where's—?!" He neatly shouted in panic, only to yelp when his Ruby tossed the cane from her weapons store. "Uh…Thanks? When did…?" He questioned, sounding dumbfounded.
He made a nose of surprised acknowledgment, then yawned.
Ruby stood up, and put her arm out to help Oscar up, then she wandered over to her younger self, who was still splayed out on the floor in defeat.
She playfully kicked her boot. "Come on. I'll give you a spar that won't land you on your butt." She told her, give another hand out to help her off the floor.
"As long as you don't throw me into the wall!" She insisted as she was hauled up by her elder.
Oscar blinked thoughtfully, but then strolled over to the younger Ruby and handed her his cane.
Something his Ruby noticed. "Foul play!" She cried.
Oscar just laughed at her and got out the way.
"…Totally unfair…" She uttered.
Oscar only laughed louder.
./.
For what the cane was worth, it became an exceptionally good whacking stick when the person wielding it was inept at actually using it properly. Something Ruby, and ironically, Oscar excelled at doing.
Elder-Ruby burst into red rose petals to dodge a pin from her younger and landed next to a still-curious Ozpin.
She looked at him with a slight frown. "Mind if I borrow yours?" She asked.
With everything else, Ozpin was curious as to why his successor gave his cane to the younger version but conceded in handing his to hers.
She lit up happily. "Thanks!" She yelled.
She then charged at her younger, who gave out a sound of fright and backed up several times in panic.
./.
As the girls sparred, Ozpin watched.
If Ozpin had learnt anything from all the lives he could remember living, it was how to watch from the sidelines.
If he could watch, then he could very well learn.
It surprised him that after everything, he could still learn new things.
But seeing Oscar see the old proforma, and chuck it out the window and make a new one?
That was definitely something Ozpin had never considered doing before.
Ozpin had always thought that being too close to any Rose would end drastically bad.
Oscar knew this.
But he did it anyway.
And it hadn't gone wrong so far, and by the way Ruby cared about Oscar's wellbeing, he couldn't doubt that if the Rose ever found out how dangerous it was, she would be horrified.
But Ozpin himself, was not immortal in any sense.
If nothing were done to rest Salem, when he passed on, he would still wind up paired with Oscar.
But while he could see why Oscar was chosen as his successor.
The boy was so young.
So young to have the burden heaped onto his shoulders unwillingly.
But if for nothing else could be done in his lifetime, then Ozpin could watch and listen.
So, when this all passed onto Oscar, he could see.
He could see how he could change what they knew to be safe and make it better.
That he was chosen for a reason.
Ozpin could only hope that seeing all this would help.
For Oscar to know he wasn't alone. That he had friends waiting for him.
./.
Qrow made his way across the room towards Oscar, keeping a wide berth around the twin red whirlpools in the centre of the hall.
Qrow watched the boy as he watched the two redheads with such an expression that he couldn't pin down to one easily read emotion.
It wasn't something he was expecting to see on someone so young.
"She's going to be sad." Oscar suddenly said.
Qrow wasn't about to say he nearly physically blanched at the boy suddenly speaking.
"About what?" He asked looking down at him.
Qrow saw the deep frown settling in on the boy's face.
"Miss Ruby," Oscar started as he looked up at Qrow. "She will be sad that she won't be able to become friends with me once we leave." He added, then turned to Qrow fully. "Can I ask a favour?" He asked.
Qrow blinked at how suddenly he asked questions.
"Can you make sure Miss Ruby meets me when all this is said and done? …She'll… She'll hopefully still remember me by the time I'll remember her." Oscar said.
Qrow could hear the fragile hope bleeding into the boy's voice.
It was a sad hope, but it was still there, lingering pesteringly.
So, Qrow just sighed. "Sure thing, Kiddo." He remarked.
Neither of them quite remembering thanks to Qrow's bad luck, was that neither would know how to reintegrate the boy, who might not be a boy by then, into Ruby's life since there were many variables in place.
Such as the still unvoiced location of where Oscar actually lived prior to his life being upheaved by a then-dead wizard, and whether or not any of them would still be alive to meet the boy once they had the chance to, with an uncountable number of years that would undoubtedly pass between now and until Ozpin eventually passed away.
But, hopefully, they would still meet up in Mistral all the same.
They could at least rely on that.
/
/
Everyone looked up at the sound both canes made when they were knocked out of their borrowed handlers' hands and went hurling across the hall, back to their actual owners.
Not that neither Oscar nor Ozpin knew if there was a switch-up, nor seemed to mind.
Ruby just celebrated the fact that she was able to knock out her opponent at the same time.
By then, most of them had realised that the storm had gotten even worse and had settled around them for the long haul.
"The storm isn't moving." Elder-Blake remarked.
Ever since a woman wielding the weather had come at her, she was fastidious about weather patterns. Not that anyone blamed her.
Elder-Weiss looked at her.
"That's odd…" She muttered, then went over to a window to peer out.
Not that it helped; it was way too dark and gusty to make out even known landmarks.
"It seems it hates us." Elder-Weiss added in afterthought.
Elder-Blake just groaned, her ears deflating. "Why do storms hate us right now?" She asked, physically pouting.
Suddenly, the rage of the storm sounded like it ripped off the hall's roof structuring, snapping beams and wood panelling like twigs in child's play.
The gusty winds rushed around them, picking up several of the children off their feet.
Sucking them up towards the central vortex above them without hesitation.
"Miss Ruby!" Oscar yelled fearfully and in panic when he felt his feet get knocked off the floor and his body hurtled upwards.
"Oscar!" Elder-Ruby yelled back frantically, seeing him yelp out fearfully.
For once, her Semblance wasn't the fasting thing in the room.
Elder-Ruby caught his expression as he hurtled passed her.
She wasn't able to outrun the storm and she couldn't grasp him.
He was afraid, and she couldn't get to him!
Several others, seeing the children hurtle upwards, knowing they wouldn't be of help, stabbed the floor with their weapons, or held onto something still stable in case they were sucked up as well.
Throughout the chaos, no one noticed who was being targeted and who wasn't. It was only when half of those who had time travelled were blinked out of existence did those left behind on the ground realise.
Ruby gave out a cry of panicked desperation as she attempted to reach Oscar again, swapped outstretched hands frantically.
She never did well when Oscar looked to her as fearful as he did when he was helpless to reach her.
She could feel her teammates blinking out around her, returning to where they came from. But that thought hadn't crossed her mind. She cried more with each that left.
She couldn't leave him! Not alone!
What if they landed differently?! What if he woke up alone?! What if he was scared!
She couldn't leave him alone! Never again!
Ruby cried out again when the storm's current blew him passed her and she just barely snatched his fingers.
"Gotcha!" She cried in relief.
They were suddenly keening upwards together.
She didn't care much for the fact she was now upside down, getting a glimpse of those the storm hadn't touched.
She saw another version of herself looking up in terror.
She felt she deserved that emotion a little bit more.
Oscar looked to her in helpless stark fear of losing her.
"Ru—!" Oscar started before he vanished in front of her.
It hadn't mattered, hadn't helped that she had hold of him.
Those below saw the absolute terror and devastation it wrought on her, seeing him vanish before her eyes.
"Oscar!" She cried out fearfully as tears sprung around her face as gravity affected her differently.
"No…!" She mourned in a completely devastated tone.
Most watching would come to say her plea would haunt their nightmares for the longest time.
They watched on helplessly from the ground as Ruby was the last of those who travelled through time.
She had an ever-growing pool of tears surrounding her.
She hadn't even registered in the back corners of her mind that they would be taken back to whence they were snatched from, that she would close her eyes and be back at Mistral with Oscar next to her.
Too panicked and much too overwhelmed in seeing him blink out of existence in front of her.
They heard her helpless sob that she was left alone before she was swallowed up by the storm, and she blinked out of existence.