No, thank you, Ozpin," Glynda replied, and Oscar shook his head as well. He'd started to become accustomed to the sweet, hot drink while they'd been in Mistral and Atlas, but he didn't have quite the same obsessive love of it that Ozpin seemed to.
Ozpin placed the teapot on his desk after pouring some into his mug before he picked something else up. "Oscar, I did pick this up for you earlier this week, after we decided you would be coming here." He moved over to where Oscar was sitting and handed him a closed Scroll. "I've already programmed a few important contacts into it – mine, Glynda's, and Qrow's to start. You can decide if you want to add anyone else later, but for the moment I just wanted you to have a few people whom you could contact in the event of an emergency."
"Oh, um… thank you," Oscar replied, taking the device, surprised at the sense of relief he felt. Growing up, he'd never had a Scroll. Reception to the CCTS was spotty even in the village where he'd lived with his parents, let alone on the farm with his aunt, since they were so far out from one of the larger cities. Qrow had been the first one to give him a Scroll, when they'd all been in Mistral. He'd gotten so used to having one that it had felt strange to realize that he'd either lost it or Salem had taken it away from him when he'd been captured by the Hound.
"I also created a Beacon ID for you. It will give you all the same access the students have, as well as access to our apartment and my office," Ozpin added. "Once you're a little more healed, we'll work out a training schedule and devise a weapon for you."
Oscar nodded, running his finger over the Scroll before he tucked it in his pocket. "Okay, that sounds like a good plan." It was, assuming that they accepted everything that he had to say once they heard it, of course.
Ozpin's terminal beeped again, and he moved behind the desk to clear the notification, settling into his chair. "Come in."
The elevator door slid open again, revealing the tall, lanky figure of Qrow, who was tucking his flask back inside his shirt. He looked exactly the way Oscar remembered he did the first time they'd met – grey button up with the long tail, black pants, tattered red cape, Harbinger sheathed at his back. "Sorry I wasn't here earlier," he grumbled. "Should have just slipped away from Tai and the girls last night and flown over across the water." He spotted Oscar as he meandered into the office and gave him a once over with his red eyes. "This pipsqueak is the seer, or fortune teller, Oz?"
Oscar rolled his eyes. "Nice to know some things never change."
"Say what, kid?"
"The first time we met, you called me pipsqueak," Oscar said. "Nice to know that hasn't changed."
Qrow's eyes narrowed. "Kid, we've never met before."
"You've never met me in this timeline," Oscar corrected. "I met you almost half a year ago, by my reckoning. You were drinking in a bar in Mistral."
"That sounds about right," Glynda murmured.
It was Qrow's turn to roll his eyes as he dropped into the vacant seat. "Yeah, yeah. You know me too well." He glanced at Ozpin, kicking back, and balancing the chair on its two back legs. "So, Oz… want to kick this wonderful party off?"
Ozpin sighed. "Qrow, sarcasm won't be useful right now." He looked at Oscar. "Oscar is the one who knows what we'll be facing, so he's the one we need to listen to." He settled back into his chair and picked up his mug. "Oscar?"
Oscar took a deep breath. "Okay. I – I'm not really sure where to begin. There's… a lot to explain and a lot of it is… bad. It's a lot to take in. I just want to make sure that the events I lived through don't happen again, since I seem to have been given a chance to change everything, but I don't know why."
"Begin wherever you need to," Ozpin said softly. He took a sip from his mug, brown eyes fixed on Oscar's face from behind his tinted lenses.
Oscar rubbed his forehead, thinking fast. "Okay – um…" He blew out a frustrated breath, before he nodded. Better to start small, perhaps, with how he got involved? Yeah, that would make sense. "I guess… my involvement started when I moved to my aunt's farm a few years ago. I went to live with her after my parents were killed during a Grimm attack on our village. For a couple of years, I helped out around the farm, but it was just the two of us, and some occasional help from a neighbor during harvest, to make sure we got everything in before the cold weather set in. Our farm was small – only large enough for what we could tend to on our own, and we struggled to get by sometimes, even with the money my parents left."
He paused to gather his thoughts again. "My mother was the teacher for the children in our village, and my dad owned the general store. I know they had been saving money for me to go to Mistral, to study more than my mother could teach me. Combat school wasn't really in their plans, but university was, and that was something that I really wanted too. After I moved in with my aunt though, I thought that goal was out of reach, and I would end up being a farmhand for the rest of my life."
"How old were you when you lost them?" Glynda asked, her voice soft but filled with sympathy. Oscar got it – his story wasn't unique, not with the Grimm marauding around Remnant and attacking villages.
"Eleven. I was about two months out from my twelfth birthday." Oscar sighed. "Our farm was remote enough that we rarely had to worry about the Grimm. Even though the work was hard, my aunt and I were happy for the most part, and that was enough to keep them away. I did kill a few small Grimm during the years I stayed with her – nothing larger than what I could take down with a pitchfork or the old Dust rifle she kept in the house for that purpose. But I still wanted to do something more with my life." He looked down. "I just… didn't expect that wish to manifest the way it has." He glanced up in time to see a look of remorse on Ozpin's face.
"Oscar, I…"
"Don't apologize," Oscar cut him off. "It's not your fault. I wasn't happy about it the first time you spoke to me – or even for a couple of months after that – but you don't get to choose your next incarnation. It took me a while to figure that out and really believe it, but I'm not mad about it anymore. I've gotten to meet a lot of wonderful people that I wouldn't have, even if the events haven't been all that great." He didn't want to dwell on the subject of reincarnation today. That was a loaded issue on its own, and he wanted to get past it. If it had to be discussed – and knowing what he did about Oz, Oscar was sure they would be discussing it – he wanted it to be just the two of them, without Qrow and Glynda around.
He forged ahead. "Since we were so isolated, the CCTS signals were spotty at best. We didn't have a holo-screen to be able to view things, but we got intermittent radio signals. When the 40th Vytal Festival came around, the towers boosted the signals as much as they could so that all of Remnant could at least hear the broadcasts. Again, the signal wasn't great, but I got a general idea of what happened." He looked at Ozpin seriously. "Salem and her agents wanted to sow chaos and discredit you and the other Headmasters as much as possible. During the first night of the finals round, there was an incident where one of your students injured one of Salem's agents that was planted in the Tournament for the purpose of stirring up negative feelings. The second night… a student was killed during the fight, and Salem's agents launched their attack. It ended with the Tower destroyed, a lot of students and citizens being killed, and…" he paused and looked at the floor again for a moment before he looked back up and met Ozpin's gaze, "…and your death."
Ozpin sighed as Glynda inhaled sharply and Qrow reached for his flask. "I see."
"It wasn't long after that when I started to realize that something was wrong… no, not wrong… different," Oscar continued. "I was having really vivid dreams about people and places I didn't recognize. Some of them were more like nightmares than dreams, but there didn't seem to be anything in common between the dreams – they all featured different people, different places, maybe different periods in history, although I'm not entirely sure about that part."
Qrow took a swig from his flask before looking at Ozpin. "Is that normal, Oz?"
"Yes, actually," the Headmaster said, taking a sip from his own mug. "The whole process of reincarnation is… lengthy and often strenuous. My new partner often will experience memories of my past lives in the form of dreams while the bond is forming between us, and a great deal depends on whether my death was violent or peaceful. It takes some time before I am aware of my new partner's consciousness, and we're close enough that I can speak to them and begin to use their senses to figure out where – and who – I am."
"It was… early spring, when you first spoke to me and introduced yourself," Oscar offered. "We were right in the middle of planting season."
"And the Tournament happens in the early fall, right before the start of term," Ozpin mused. "Yes, that would be about right."
"Huh." Qrow put his flask back inside his shirt.
"I thought I was going crazy at first," Oscar admitted. "It took you a couple of months to convince me that all of this was real and to persuade me to leave the farm and go to Mistral. I – I slipped out of the house one morning after leaving a note for my aunt and got on the train for Mistral. Once we made it there, you had me start looking for Qrow. I'm not sure how you knew he'd be there, but he was. I think I checked every bar and restaurant on the upper levels of Mistral for two days before I found him and asked him for Long Memory."
Glynda snorted softly, amused, and that drew a small smile from Ozpin and an eyeroll from Qrow. "Yeah, so I can be predictable at times. What of it?" the Huntsman asked.
Oscar took another breath – they were going to be getting into the… dangerous part of the story shortly. "Qrow took me to the house where everyone was staying and introduced me," Oscar continued. "By that time it was about a month before the start of the school year for Haven – pretty much a year since the Tournament – and we spent that month training and making preparations. There was a plan to find the Spring Maiden, and you said I needed to learn how to fight, so we were working hard to get ready, since we were sure there would be an attack on Haven right before the school year started, in the hopes that Salem's agents could secure the Relic of Knowledge."
Three questions came simultaneously when he paused for breath.
"Who's 'everyone'?" from Qrow.
"The Spring Maiden?" from Ozpin.
"An attempt to get the Haven Relic?" from Glynda.
"Um… yeah," Oscar said. Now they were really into uncomfortable territory, regarding loyalties and alliances, and he knew he'd need to be careful about what he said. Not because he didn't trust them, but because he still didn't know what their reactions to the news would be. He steeled himself. "I don't know all the details because of how bad the signal was on the night Beacon fell, but I guess when they launched their attack, Salem's agents seized control of the CCTS, trying to discredit the Academies and the Headmasters. During the broadcast they said some things that led Qrow and some other members of this group to believe that Haven would be the next target, and for that, they needed the Spring Maiden."
"Oscar – when Beacon fell… did they get the Relic of Choice?" Ozpin asked, his voice and posture tense.
"No," Oscar said quickly, knowing how closely Oz guarded that secret, even though he didn't fully understand why. "No, they didn't. Salem still had Grimm here trying to find the door to the Maiden Chamber when I was sent back."
Ozpin relaxed a little bit and let out a slow breath. "Good. From what you are saying, it also sounds like they don't have the Spring Maiden yet either. There's still time to find her." He closed his eyes for a moment, clearly thinking, before he looked back at Oscar. "Do you know where Cerelia is?"
"Cerelia?" Oscar asked. "Um, no. I don't know anyone by that name. The Spring Maiden was a woman working with… um…" he dropped his gaze to his hands for a moment before looking up at Qrow. "Working with your sister's tribe. Her name is – Vernal."
"Raven?" Qrow's voice was both surprised and pained as his chair fell forward to land on all fours again. "But why would she have the Spring Maiden and not tell us? Raven knows how long we've been looking for Cerelia."
Oscar bit his lip. "I don't know exactly, but I know that somehow Salem's agents learned where the Maiden was, and they managed to persuade or threaten Raven and Vernal into coming with them to Haven for the purpose of unsealing the Relic of Knowledge. Both of them fought against us and they went down to the Vault, but…"
"Wait, wait. Just wait," Qrow said, interrupting Oscar as he jumped to his feet. "That – no, that doesn't make any sense." He ran his hand through his greying hair. "Raven wouldn't –"
"Qrow, calm down and let Oscar finish," Ozpin began, but Qrow turned to face him sharply.
"No, Oz! I know my sister, and while she may be at odds with you over… everything, she would never side with Salem, threat or no threat. She just wouldn't!"
"I saw her there," Oscar said, voice barely above a whisper. "She let Salem's agents into Haven with her portal. She…" he trailed off.
"Oscar?" Glynda asked gently. "What's wrong?"
It was the moment of truth. Did he have enough credibility with them that they would believe what he was about to say? If they dismissed this part, then they would be dismissing everything that he had already said, and any possibility that he could tell them about Ironwood too. Oscar threaded his fingers together nervously in his lap, alternatively tightening and releasing his grip as the fought with himself. He didn't want to get hit again. He didn't think Ozpin would allow any harm to come to him, but… Oz hadn't stopped Qrow from hitting him the first time, and he had run rather than stand up for himself, leaving Oscar to shoulder the burden of the events in Argus and Atlas.
"Oscar?" Ozpin asked.
"She – Raven – and… and Lionheart were both working with Salem's agents."
Everything stopped and they stared at Oscar. He could feel the weight of their gazes and tightened his hands in his lap again.
"What?" Ozpin asked, softly, his voice pained.
"Professor Lionheart and Raven were both working with Salem's agents," Oscar repeated. He allowed his gaze to meet Ozpin's even though part of him felt like hiding from the weight of the gazes on him. "He pretended like he was going to send a group of Huntsmen and Huntresses with us to go after Raven's tribe to try to get to Vernal before Salem's agents could, but when we got to the Academy that night Raven was already there, and she and Lionheart let Salem's followers into the Academy. There was a big battle, and during the fight, Lionheart opened the path to the Vault for Raven, Vernal, and Cinder. They tried to get the Relic but failed – we ended up with it when the battle was over."
There was dead silence in the office – to the point where it passed beyond awkward or uncomfortable and into painful. Ozpin and Oscar's gazes were locked on each other, with Glynda and Qrow just staring at the two of them.
Finally, Ozpin broke his staring contest with Oscar. He turned his chair to face the window behind him and just sat, the silence still lingering. No one seemed to know what to say or do, until Ozpin spoke, his voice soft and full of pain. "Again… yet again, she tries to turn my allies against me."
"Ozpin…" Glynda started, only to trail off when Ozpin held up his hand to stop her, his back still to the rest of them as he dealt with whatever feelings of pain or betrayal he was going through.
"I just can't… it can't be true," Qrow muttered, more to himself than to the others in the room. "Raven wouldn't… she couldn't…" He seemed more fixed on that fact than the possibility of one of the Headmasters turning on them. His flask was out again, and he was starting to pace the area between the extra chairs and the elevator.
Oscar's gaze dropped to the floor, watching the gears moving beneath it and wishing he was anywhere else. "I'm sorry," he whispered, not knowing what else to say.
"None of this is your fault, Oscar," Glynda said immediately. "You were right when you said that it would be a lot to take in, but you didn't cause this – and this information may give us a chance to stop it before it happens."
Silence again, other than the sound of the ticking from the clockwork and the sound of Qrow's footsteps as he paced.
Finally, Ozpin sighed again, although he still didn't turn back to face them. Oscar didn't blame him, knowing what he did about the millennia-long battle between Oz and Salem – this had to be cutting him deeply. "Oscar, I think we need some more details. Let's start simply if you don't mind. You said that Salem had agents – plural – working to bring down Beacon Tower. Do you know their names?"
"A few of them," Oscar said. "There may be others that I don't know about, and I don't know all the roles they may have played, but of her agents that I do know…" he paused in thought before continuing, "… there was Hazel Reinhart, Tyrian Callows, Cinder, and two teenagers I think. I'm fairly sure that Beacon's systems were hacked by someone named Arthur Watts – he's Atlesian, I think."
"I know Hazel," Ozpin said slowly, "although I'm not sure about the others. The name Arthur Watts sounds familiar somehow," he added, finally turning his chair back around to face the rest of the room's occupants. Whatever he was feeling, it wasn't visible in his expression – he'd apparently been able to lock down his emotions in favor of being the leader-in-charge for the moment.
"It should, Oz," Qrow offered. "Jimmy was really upset about it a couple of years ago." The other Huntsman looked thoughtful. "I think it all happened two or three years ago – Watts was a scientist working on projects for the military, and he was caught mis-using resources and funding. Jimmy ended up stripping him of his authority and access, and assigned him to low-level testing on the next model of the standard security drones, remember? It was a huge scandal, and then Jimmy got really upset when there was an incident during the testing phase and Watts was killed."
"Ah, yes. I remember now," Ozpin nodded. "I didn't follow it that closely, since it was strictly internal within the Atlesian military, which is James' purview, but I remember him talking about it to me as the investigation was on-going."
"Could that already be a difference between what Oscar knows and what we've already experienced?" Glynda asked. "Maybe things are already changing or different from what he knows."
"No," Oscar said. "I don't know all the details, but I'm sure General Ironwood or one of the Atlas Councilmen mentioned something about Watts dying in the incident you mentioned, but he really just faked his death. Salem must have found him sometime after that, unless whatever he was doing to misuse his resources was at her behest as well. General Ironwood knew who he was when we finally learned he was the one behind the hacking, but it was almost half a year after the battle at Haven that we learned Watts was involved. Whatever it was that he did, it definitely contributed to the collapse of Beacon Tower and the chaos that was happening in Atlas before I was sent back here."
"We can have James reopen that incident and look into it again to try to confirm whether Watts really died or not," Ozpin said. "But to hack the CCTS, he'd need access to the Tower and the coding itself through the central terminal in the communication room or the secured network room, and that's not possible during operational hours. Once access to the public ends each day, only a few people have access to the Tower – myself, Glynda, and a few technicians and guard units."
Oscar tried to remember what Ruby and the others had told him about the Fall – not much, since they hadn't liked to talk about that night, and Oz hadn't mentioned much about it either, since Oscar was already so overwhelmed with everything happening with the soul merger and his training. "From what little I remember hearing about from the others," he ventured slowly, "it was a virus that got implanted in the Tower's systems some time before the actual night of the Fall. It just activated that night, and it cut off Beacon's ability to call for help from the other Kingdoms."
"By design, no doubt," Glynda said sourly. "If Salem was openly attacking the Academies, she wouldn't want to take a chance on whether or not the Tower would actually be destroyed in the fighting, especially if there was a chance that the Huntsmen and Huntresses of Vale could successfully repel her forces."
"We can search for a virus though, and have it removed before it activates," Ozpin said, sounding more confident. "That's something else I can ask James to do, and to keep a constant check running until we're past the Vytal Festival." He started to open a file on his terminal before he paused. "Oscar, do you have any idea when the virus was implanted?"
Oscar shook his head. "I just know that it happened some time before the Tournament." He looked down again. "I – I wasn't coping well with everything that was going on. A lot of it was still overwhelming me, what with having you – Oz – in my head – and all of the training, and…" He shook his head again. "The others I was with seemed reluctant to talk about everything that happened that night, and they didn't like to talk about Beacon unless they were reliving a happy memory of being here."
Ozpin rubbed his forehead. "Alright – that's a setback, but not an insurmountable one." He looked thoughtful for a moment, then reached for some paper and a pen and began making a note. "When we're done here, I'll contact James and ask him to have someone look into the CCTS' systems for any possible intrusions, and to run random checks until we're sure that it's safe. We'll just have to be careful about what information we put out on the network," he added.
"We can develop some new security guidelines and release them to the students and faculty here," Glynda offered. "It might be hard to communicate it to the Kingdom at large, but maybe James' technicians can strengthen the security on the network somehow and send out general guidelines to the Kingdom. Not everyone will see them, but enough people might that it could help reduce any access that Watts or Salem's other agents could get to the system."
Ozpin nodded before putting his pen down. "Oscar, you mentioned that you were working with others besides Qrow when you got to Mistral. Can you tell us who they are? If they are possible allies for us, then reaching out to them now…" The Headmaster seemed to be avoiding talking about Lionheart and Raven for as long as possible.
That was fine with Oscar. He didn't like thinking about those betrayals either and he hadn't even fully merged with Oz at the time they happened, yet they had still cut him deeply because of the empathic bond he'd shared with the old wizard. "Sure. After Beacon fell, several of your students decided that they were going to track down the people responsible, so they made their way to Mistral, and that's where I met them, after I found Qrow in that bar," Oscar said, feeling a little more confident here.
"Which students?" Glynda asked. "Fourth years, who were close to graduating?"
"Uh… no. I think they said they had all just finished their first year and would have been starting their second year when the Fall happened. Since I didn't meet them until late summer, I guess by the time everything really started to happen they would have been close to being third years, but after Beacon fell it took months for them to recover, reunite, and then make their way to Mistral. It was Team RWBY and Team JNPR."
Glynda and Ozpin exchanged looks. "We definitely don't have teams by those names at Beacon right now," the deputy headmistress confirmed.
"Who were the students?" Ozpin asked.
"Um… Team JNPR had Jaune Arc – he was the team leader – Nora Valkyrie, and Lie Ren," Oscar said. "Team RWBY was…"
"That was only three students," Glynda interrupted. "Who was their fourth?"
Oscar thought back. "Uhhh… her name was Pyrrha, I think?" He thought again, feeling more confident, since the others hadn't talked about their missing member very much. "Yeah, that was it. Pyrrha Nikos. She – she died during the Fall of Beacon. That was one reason why the rest of her team was there – they were trying to avenge her death."
"Miss Nikos?" Glynda sounded shocked. "She's an amazing fighter – she's won every tournament she's ever entered since she enrolled at combat school and she's famous across Remnant for her skills. She's good enough to be accepted at any Academy she chooses without any hesitation on the part of the Headmaster."
"I don't know exactly how it happened," Oscar admitted. "The rest of her team didn't like to talk about it." He thought back to that conversation he'd had with Ruby in the dojo that one night when they'd both admitted to being scared about what they were facing. "From what I gathered, she died fighting a battle she knew she couldn't win, trying to keep the Tower from falling, just trying to buy time for help to come."
"Like a true Huntress," Ozpin murmured.
Oscar nodded. "The other team was Team RWBY…" he paused and glanced at Qrow before soldiering on. "It was led by Ruby Rose, and also had –"
"Wait, stop!" Qrow interrupted again. "Ruby? My niece?" When Oscar nodded, he shook his head. "That's not possible. You said all of this is supposed to happen during the next Vytal Tournament, right?" Oscar nodded again. "Ruby wouldn't be old enough to be a Beacon student. She's only going to be fourteen later this month, and by the time the next Tournament comes around, she'd still be fifteen, more than a month from her sixteenth birthday."
"She got admitted early," Oscar explained. "Again, I don't know a lot of the details of what happened before Oz bonded with me," he sounded like a broken audio track, and he was beginning to wonder how much he could hope to actually change when he had so little information prior to the events in Mistral. Was this just a losing battle? "but I gathered from Oz and the others that at least part of the reason he admitted her early was because she has silver eyes." Qrow just stared at him, and Oscar continued. "So – Team RWBY. Ruby was the team leader, and the other members were Weiss Schnee, Blake Belladonna, and Ruby's sister Yang."
"Weiss Schnee?" Ozpin asked. "The heiress to the Schnee Dust Company?"
Oscar nodded. "By the time I met her, she was no longer the heiress though." At the confused looks from the adults, he sighed. "I didn't meet all of them at once. Um, I met Ruby, Jaune, Nora, and Ren first. They were going by the name RNJR – or JNRR, if you listen to Nora," he corrected with a bit of a laugh, remembering her exuberant insistence on that name. "But about two weeks after I met the four of them, Weiss and Yang arrived, and then Blake turned up during the fight at Haven."
He thought back, trying to remember the order of events. "I think Ruby mentioned that her team got split up after Beacon fell – Yang got hurt, Blake ran away because she felt guilty about something – Yang's injury, maybe? – and Weiss got taken home to Atlas by her father. Ruby met up with what remained of JNPR, and they started their trip to Mistral. Yang was healing, but I'm not sure what Blake was doing, but I think it had something to do with visiting her parents in Menagerie. Something happened at a party or a fundraiser in Atlas, and it ended in Weiss being disinherited by her father. Since she wasn't the heiress, she didn't see a reason to stay in Atlas, so she ran away and met up with Yang somewhere along the way."
Ozpin sighed and began making more notes. "All right. I'll keep an eye out for their applications – if they were students originally, likely they'll apply here again. We can get a feel for what type of students they are, and perhaps bring them in on some of this before the Fall."
"They're… passionate?" Oscar offered. "I only knew them for about six months altogether, but… it felt like they all had a personal reason for getting involved, other than just the Fall, even if that was what started their involvement beyond that attack. Ruby told me…"
"What?" Qrow asked.
"She said… that she was scared, but not just for herself," Oscar admitted. "She was more scared of the fact that Salem would target anyone, regardless of if they stood against her or not. She missed Pyrrha and the others who were hurt or killed during the Fall, but she knew that if things had been different and she'd been the one who had died, the others would keep fighting on her behalf too, despite the danger." He smiled a little. "She had a way of inspiring the others."
"What about Leo?" Qrow growled. "And Raven?"
Oscar rubbed his forehead. "We weren't sure what was going on with him at first. The Fall of Beacon caused a lot of chaos in all the Kingdoms, since the entire CCTS network went down with it. Local comms were still working, but only in areas close to the relay towers."
"Something else to look into," Ozpin murmured. "While it's inconvenient when maintenance needs to be done on the Towers, if something like this is what is ahead of us, we may need to look into strengthening the network somehow or putting redundancies in place, and that way the other Kingdoms don't lose their access." He made some more notes.
"The first night I met Qrow, he and RNJR had just had a meeting with Professor Lionheart, and I guess Lionheart said some things that didn't really fit with the orders that Oz had left for him," Oscar said.
Ozpin tensed again at that, and Oscar braced himself as well. "Do you know what it was that he said?" Ozpin asked softly.
"It was… one of the first times I'd given Oz control of my body, so I didn't get the entire story," Oscar admitted. "I think there was something about most of the teachers not being at Haven, so there weren't a lot of people there to guard the Relic. I guess Lionheart claimed that all of the Huntsmen and Huntresses were needed to deal with the Grimm in the wake of the Fall, since the broadcast had scared people and then with the loss of the CCTS… it just drew Grimm to all the Kingdoms, not just Vale." He paused to think again. "Qrow had the location of Raven's encampment and wanted to go after the Spring Maiden immediately, with a group of Huntsmen and Huntresses to make sure there would be enough people to subdue all the bandits and apprehend Raven and Vernal, but Lionheart said the Council wouldn't allow it because of all the Grimm attacks and bandits being a lower priority for them."
"But Lionheart sits on the Council and he's in charge of the assignment of Huntsmen and Huntresses," Glynda said slowly. "That wouldn't be a matter for the full Council, even if something happened to Beacon. Lionheart could simply post the available assignment on the mission board with a request for a certain number of Huntsmen and Huntresses."
Ozpin closed his eyes, an expression of deep pain crossing his face. Oscar thought he understood why. That day in the snow, after the train derailment – the day when they had forced the truth out into the open… Oz had said it then.
Do you really think Leo was the first? That he didn't say those exact same words to me?
It was another betrayal – or… the same betrayal being repeated, anyway. Even worse, this time Ozpin knew that the betrayal was coming, thanks to Oscar. "How long has he been working for her?" the Headmaster asked softly.
Oscar squirmed a little in his seat, wishing he had better news. "I'm not sure. At least a few months, maybe longer by the time I met him."
"I see."
Glynda stood up and moved over to Ozpin's side. "Oz – it's not your fault if Leonardo is a traitor. You said it yourself when you brought us in – she works from the shadows. It would only make sense that she would try to turn your allies to her ends."
Ozpin was quiet, his brown eyes filled with that quiet pain that Oscar knew only too well, since he'd felt it from his co-inhabitant before he'd been sent back. "Oscar?"
"Since Lionheart's excuse was that the Council would never approve going after Raven and her tribe, Qrow was going to look for some other Huntsmen and Huntresses who weren't necessarily inclined to take orders from the Council, while Oz worked on training the rest of us in combat. At that point it was about a month before the start of the fall term, and both Oz and Qrow were convinced that if there was going to be an attack on Haven, it would be before the students returned, given how strong a defense the Beacon students and the ones visiting from the other Kingdoms put up during the Tournament," Oscar continued. "Qrow didn't seem to have any luck finding any help that could be trusted," he said carefully, trying not to look at the other Huntsman, feeling odd about referring to him in the past tense while said Huntsman was standing right next to him, "but one night he came back in time for dinner, and he had Yang and Weiss with him."
"That doesn't make sense," Qrow said. "The Councils don't own the Huntsmen and Huntresses. The whole point of the system is that Huntsmen and Huntresses are free to work for who they want to. A lot of them don't trust the Councils, so there should have been plenty of them available for the sort of mission you're talking about."
"Yeah," Oscar whispered. "When Qrow – you – came back without finding us any more help…" he trailed off, before swallowing nervously and taking a deep breath, "it turned out that…" He didn't want to say it. What Lionheart had done was indeed, reprehensible, as Oz had put it. Oscar still had trouble understanding why Oz had covered for the Faunus Headmaster in the wake of the Haven battle. It just didn't make sense – how many of those Huntsmen and Huntresses had families or friends who would never have any real closure?
It hasn't happened yet. There's still a chance to stop it before it does, he reminded himself. "Well… it looked like all of the Mistral Huntsmen and Huntresses were dead, or presumed missing," Oscar admitted. "Assignments that should have taken a day or two at most were weeks overdue." The more he spoke, the grimmer the expressions on the adults' faces became. "Qrow and Oz… well, it seemed to them like the Huntsmen and Huntresses had been ambushed."
"The mission boards are confidential – restricted to licensed Huntsmen, Huntresses, and the Headmasters or staff with the authority to post missions once they're approved by the Headmasters," Ozpin said. "Precisely to prevent someone from posting a fake mission and leading a Huntsman or Huntress into a trap. For that many Huntsmen or Huntresses to be missing or delayed…" The color drained from his face. "Leo?"
Oscar looked down at his hands again, and slowly nodded. "He – he gave the names and locations of the Huntsmen to two of Salem's agents – Hazel Reinhart and Tyrian Callows," he said softly. "They tracked the Huntsmen down and murdered them."
Qrow swore viciously and went for his flask again, storming over to the side of the room. Glynda looked torn between anger and being sick, and Ozpin…
Ozpin looked defeated, betrayed, and grief-stricken all at the same time. He placed his elbows on his desk and buried his face in his hands, his long fingers rubbing at his temples. Oscar hated being the bearer of bad news – and there was still more bad news to come. He hadn't even gotten into the events in Atlas before he'd been sent back here – and what would Ozpin do to know that it wasn't just Lionheart who had betrayed him, but General Ironwood as well? If Ozpin was reacting like this just to the news about Lionheart…
"We can't let that happen," Glynda said after the silence had lingered almost to the point of being painful again. "But we don't even know if Leo is already working with Salem. Judging him without evidence…"
"If we don't do something, he's going to betray us and a lot of people – Huntsmen and Huntresses – will die," Qrow snarled. "What the hell could drive him to betray us? He knows what will happen if Salem gets the Relics."
"Fear," Oscar said quietly. Glynda and Qrow returned their attention to him, while Ozpin remained hunched over, face hidden from view. Oscar wrung his hands a little, thinking back to that day in the snow, the impressions he'd gotten from Oz before the argument broke out with Team RWBY, and even what had happened to General Ironwood months after Lionheart's betrayal. "She got to him, made him fear more for himself than for the people he was bound to protect." He looked down again, remembering.
"This can't be. I knew you would be back, but… you made it here. You found Qrow. How?" The genuine shock on Lionheart's face warred with Oz's quiet despair in the back of Oscar's mind. "Wait – you can't have had this form for long. You're… not really Ozpin right now. A boy, a child. If I deliver you to Salem, she'll have to be pleased with me. And I can finally get out of all of this. I can finally be free."
"She… she made him feel like he had no other option – that he was trapped between staying true to Oz and fighting what he believed was a losing battle or allowing her to use him until she had no further use for him, and dying anyway," Oscar continued. "He hoped that he could please her enough that she would leave him alone once she no longer needed him."
"He wouldn't be the first to be swayed in such a way," Ozpin murmured quietly.
"If – if it helps, I do think he regretted his choice," Oscar offered. "Not enough to make him change his mind in the end, but he knew he'd made the wrong decision."
Qrow scoffed. "Then that wasn't regret, kid. Nor genuine remorse."
"What else, Oscar?" Ozpin asked, his voice dull and heavy sounding. "What else happened?"
"Lionheart called Qrow, set up a meeting for us to come to Haven to talk about the raid on the Branwen tribe," Oscar said, feeling miserable about having to say all of this. "When we got there, a fight broke out," Oscar said slowly. "It was chaos for a while, but in the middle of the fight, Lionheart opened the path down to the Vault, and Raven, Vernal, and Cinder all went down after the Relic, while the rest of us were fighting. Weiss was nearly killed, and Jaune unlocked his Semblance trying to help her. Eventually, we gained enough of the upper hand that Yang was able to chase after her mother and Cinder, and when everything was said and done, Yang reappeared with the Relic of Knowledge. According to her, Cinder was gone, possibly dead, Vernal was definitely dead, and Raven fled when Yang confronted her."
"Again," Qrow muttered. "She ran from Yang again, just like she did when she was born." Another swig from his flask. Oscar eyed him warily. The Huntsman was beginning to sway a little, and his anger over everything Oscar was telling him was apparent.
"Oz took control of my body to fight Hazel, but exhausted himself doing so," Oscar continued. "He pushed me – well, my body – past the limits of my training at the time, and before I passed out, he told me to tell everyone that we needed to take the Relic to Atlas."
"Who is Cinder?" Glynda asked. "You mentioned her a couple of times, but you only said she was one of Salem's agents."
Oscar nodded. "I think she was the mastermind behind the Fall of Beacon, given the way Team RWBY and Team JNPR reacted to her when they saw her at the fight. I think she was the one with the orders to make sure the Relics were recovered. I don't know what happened in the Vault, but there was apparently a fight between Cinder, Raven, and Vernal, or at least that's what Yang said after she came back with the Relic."
"But you said Vernal died, correct?" Glynda asked slowly. Oscar nodded, confused. "Wasn't she supposed to be the Spring Maiden?" Oscar nodded again, not sure he was following her line of questioning. "How was a Maiden defeated in combat? Especially if Raven was fighting alongside her? It would have been two to one, and Vernal would have had magic on her side."
Oscar shook his head. "I'm not sure. Maybe she ambushed Vernal somehow after the Vault was open? I don't think anyone except Raven knows the full story of what happened down there." He paused to think. "I know Lionheart ended up dead. He tried to run from the battle after we got the upper hand, but Qrow said he was found dead in his office the next morning. I didn't find out about that for several days because Oz exhausted me so thoroughly. I was unconscious for two days and stuck in bed for almost two weeks when I came down with a fever. Once I started to get better, Oz and Qrow came up with a cover story to hide everything about the Relics, and… we claimed that Lionheart died defending the school. I didn't get it at the time, but Oz said that Lionheart deserved to be remembered for all of the good service he did, not for his betrayal."
Qrow growled again. "That's just wrong. Betrayal like that – it shouldn't be swept under the rug." He paused and looked at Ozpin, who still hadn't moved. "Oz, I –"
"I understand your feelings, Qrow," the Headmaster said quietly. "But it's far more complicated than that, if I am understanding Oscar correctly."
"I didn't mean –"
"Qrow… it's fine. We can talk about it later," Ozpin said firmly, finally raising his head from his hands. He held Qrow's gaze for a long moment, before returning his attention to Oscar. "You mentioned that you were in Atlas before you came back, Oscar. How did that come about?"
"After the battle at Haven, Blake joined us too. We – all of us – took those two weeks while I was laid up to recover and then took the Argus Limited to Argus." He was not going to mention Jinn. Not yet and not until he had to. That debacle had been too personal and – at least for now, needed to stay between him and Ozpin.
"Why Argus?" Glynda asked. "Why not take an airship straight to Atlas?"
"General Ironwood had ordered the Atlas borders closed," Oscar said. "He was trying to ensure that Salem's agents couldn't get into the city to begin infiltrating and pulling the same tricks there that they had at Beacon. Since both Oz and Weiss were with us, the hope was that we could tell the Atlas forces stationed at Argus that we were escorting Weiss home." He gave a rueful smile. "It… didn't really work out. The commander at the Argus base was willing to take Weiss, but not the rest of us. Weiss was afraid to go back by herself – she knew if she went back to Atlas on her own, she'd be delivered right back to her father and wouldn't get a chance to deliver any message to General Ironwood." He flushed a little with embarrassment. "We – ended up stealing an Atlas airship and fighting a battle with the commander of the Argus base and some Grimm that tried to attack the city because of the fight before the commander saw reason and let us go."
The adults were staring at him again. Oscar felt his cheeks heat up even more. "It was the only thing we could think of to do!" he exclaimed. "We weren't getting anywhere with the commander, and we couldn't risk leaving the Relic out in the open for as long as it might have taken to try to negotiate with her or to get a message to Ironwood some other way."
"That was reckless," Glynda scolded.
"We knew it was," Oscar agreed. "It was the only way forward we could see, though. There were ten of us at that point though," he ticked them off on his fingers, "all four members of RWBY, the three members of JNPR, myself, Qrow, and an old lady named Maria who joined us while we were on the Argus Limited. We were staying with Jaune's sister, sister-in-law, and nephew while we were in Argus, and while they were happy to let us stay for a bit, it wasn't fair to ask them to let us stay indefinitely, and we didn't have a lot of funds available to find somewhere else to stay."
Glynda shook her head. Ozpin and Qrow didn't seem to have anything to add to her semi-scolding, so Oscar continued the story. "When we got to Atlas, we weren't sure what to do. We were on a stolen ship, and…well, things didn't look good. General Ironwood had recalled the entire military back to Atlas to defend it and Mantle and we were still worried about being separated. We landed in Mantle and went to see a doctor that Maria knew. He was explaining everything that had been going on in Atlas – the Dust embargo, the closing of the borders, the…"
"Dust embargo?" Ozpin asked, brow furrowed.
"Oh, yeah. As part of closing the borders, and because he was trying to keep the other Kingdoms from stockpiling Dust that they might be able to use against Atlas, General Ironwood ordered that the SDC and other Dust companies in Atlas were forbidden from exporting to other Kingdoms until he was certain the other Kingdoms weren't going to declare war on Atlas," Oscar replied. "It led to… a lot of tension, in Mantle especially. Security was everywhere, and people in Mantle were starting to get angry at the General and the way he was throwing his political and military weight around. He told us when we finally were able to see him that he didn't care if he was hated, as long as he was sure people would be safe."
Qrow snorted. "Yeah, that sounds like him. Always acting the martyr." He gulped down another swig from his flask.
"There was a Grimm attack on Mantle while we were talking to Maria's friend, which we managed to repel, but then some of Ironwood's men arrived and arrested us for arriving in a stolen ship and landing in Mantle instead of Atlas like we'd been ordered to. They took us up to the Academy to meet the General, and he filled us in on the plan he'd developed. He wanted to take Amity Colosseum and build a new CCTS tower on top of it, then launch it as high into the atmosphere as he could, beyond the reach of Salem and the Grimm. The Atlesian scientists behind the project thought that having it up that high would re-establish global communication, even if another Tower went down."
"Ambitious," Ozpin murmured, the lines in his forehead deepening as he thought. "It could work, I suppose, but it would be a complicated and risky plan. So many resources…"
"That was part of the problem," Oscar agreed. "Mantle was bearing all of the burden, between the embargo, people not able to work with the Dust companies having to close their doors, the constant Grimm attacks while resources that should have been used for repairs in the city were diverted to Amity." He sighed. "We got so close, and then it all fell apart."
Tension was back in all of the adults. "Fell apart?" Glynda asked carefully.
"It was an election year," Oscar explained. "Weiss' father was running for an open Council seat against a woman from Mantle. It looked, right up until the end, like she would win, but at the last moment, it seemed like a flood of new votes came in for Jacques Schnee. There was also a massacre at Robyn's election headquarters and a lot of people died. Watts and Tyrian Callows were behind that – and they made it look like Penny had done it."
"Who's Penny?" Ozpin asked.
"Penny Polendina," Oscar said. "She was the daughter of Maria's friend that we met when we first arrived in Atlas and she was a friend of Ruby's – they met before the Tournament, from what I gathered." Should he mention about her being a robot? He considered for a moment before deciding that it wasn't important. "She was extremely gifted, and General Ironwood had named her the official Protector of Mantle to try to soothe the people down there. But Watts and Callows made it look like she was responsible for the massacre."
"Poor girl," Qrow said, blearily.
"Yeah," Oscar agreed. "She took it hard. Jacques and the Council wanted Ironwood to defend his position, so we all went to Schnee Manor to support him and be witnesses if he needed us. During the meeting, Watts – who had conspired with Jacques to ensure he won the election – used Jacques' Council credentials to turn off the heating in Mantle. People panicked, then got angry, and that drew the Grimm in. I went back to the Academy, since I was safeguarding the Relic, and.."
"Why wasn't it put in the Vault with the Staff of Creation?" Ozpin interrupted.
"Because the Winter Maiden was ill," Oscar said. "She was close to dying and General Ironwood didn't believe that she had the strength to travel to the Vault and open it for us. We decided that I would hold onto it since I wasn't going on missions like the others, and as soon as Fria passed and we knew who the new Maiden would be, we would seal it away then. The hope was that Winter Schnee, Weiss' older sister and one of General Ironwood's most trusted officers would become the next Maiden."
"I see," Ozpin said heavily. "She's still alive right now, but that's something else we'll have to watch out for."
This was the part he didn't want to admit to. "I went back to the Academy to make sure the Relic would be safe, while General Ironwood went to deal with Watts, Qrow and Robyn went with one of Ironwood's men to deal with Tyrian, and everyone else went to fight the Grimm and evacuate Mantle and the crater up to Atlas. I was in my room at the Academy, monitoring the feeds on my Scroll, and…" he looked down again, his cheeks heating up with shame. "I was attacked by this strange woman with a shapeshifting Semblance. She stole the Relic from me, and I chased after her and ran into JNPR. They'd just come back from Mantle and then… everything just went crazy." His speech was getting faster, trying to get all the bad news out before anyone could interrupt him with questions. "The next thing I knew, we were being chased by Atlas guards, and Ruby sent out a group broadcast that General Ironwood was going to abandon Mantle, even though we hadn't finished evacuating yet. He wanted Winter to kill Fria and claim her power, then use the Staff to raise Atlas up into the atmosphere, and…"
"WHAT?!" chorused three voices together.
"I know," Oscar whispered. "I could tell that Oz – you – trusted him more than anyone else. It – I didn't know what else to do. I broke away from JNPR and went to try to talk to him, to convince him to trust us again, to let us help, but…"
General Ironwood's dead eyes stared at him. Cold, unfeeling. "You still think I'm afraid."
"We all are. It's what we do in our fear that reveals –"
"That's easy for you to say!" Ironwood started moving closer, circling around, forcing him to step back to try to keep some distance from the suddenly volatile man he'd thought was his friend. He thought Ironwood had understood earlier when he'd told him the truth. "You can label me whatever you'd like, but the fact of the matter is I was right! The minute I softened, let my guard down, that's when Salem had her opening."
Oscar had to get through to him. "If you abandon Mantle, you abandon our best chance at reuniting the world. You abandon Remnant leaving millions to fend for themselves so a few can survive! What kind of –"
"All excellent philosophical points that won't matter if Salem wins!"
"Listen to me," Oscar cried, his voice cracking with his earnest plea.
"No, you listen! I am done letting others' inability to see the big picture get in the way of doing what is right! Robyn, the Council, this Kingdom… even you."
There was only one thing left that he could try to make the General see reason. "Then you're as dangerous as she is, James," he said softly, hoping that Ironwood would understand.
Ironwood was silent for several moments. "James is what my friends call me. To you, it's General." Hand to his hip, his gun was out. There was a crack as the Dust round fired, and then the shock of the impact against his aura, before he felt his aura flare, and…
"Oscar?"
"Oscar, are you alright?"
"Kid, snap out of it."
Oscar shook his head hard, trying to banish the memory that had flared up. "I'm okay. Sorry." Those cold, dead, blue eyes would haunt him for a long time. 'To you, it's General'. "I went down to the Vault, where he was waiting for Winter. I wanted to talk to him, to try to make him understand, to rebuild trust… but…" He took a deep breath. "He was beyond reason at that point. He – he shot me."
Now Ozpin truly looked like was going to be sick, and Glynda and Qrow weren't much better.
"Oscar… I… James couldn't…" Ozpin managed after a moment.
"He did," Oscar said, touching the spot on his chest where the bullet had shattered against his aura and shattered his aura in turn. "I – fell from the Vault's walkway, but I was able to use some of your magic to save myself." Better not to mention Oz's return after the months of silence. Not until he'd had time to talk to Ozpin privately about Jinn and the day in the snow. "We regrouped, but Salem had arrived – leading an army of Grimm. The city's hard light Dust shields were keeping Atlas safe, but Fria died, and Penny somehow became the Winter Maiden."
Ozpin was staring at Oscar, seemingly unable to say more. Oscar was almost done with the story, and he wanted to just get it over with. He didn't want to know what would happen if Ozpin shattered the way Lionheart or Ironwood had. This time, he wasn't in Oscar's head – he couldn't just run and hide the way Oz had after Jinn told his and Salem's story.
"We met up with Robyn's people, and we came up with a plan – Ruby, Penny, Blake, Weiss, and Nora would go to the military base and try to steal the launch codes so we could launch Amity Tower into the atmosphere with the help of Penny's father and Maria, so we could warn the other Kingdoms about Salem. Yang, Jaune, Ren, and I would help with clearing out Grimm and finish trying to evacuate everyone in Mantle into the crater so we could keep them warm since the heat was still out. While we were helping, Salem sent a Grimm after me and captured me. She wanted me to tell her how to find the Beacon Relic, or at the very least to give her the password for the Lamp, but I refused. She – she's the one who burned me with her magic." He touched his chest gingerly, since he'd rebound the wound with clean bandages that morning. "Then she let Hazel beat me to try to break me. I lost track of how long he'd been abusing me, and finally I let Oz take over control, at his insistence. He did… something – and it made Salem mad. There was the bright flash of light and…"
Emerald green energy flared inside the dome beneath Oscar's body, and there was a strange ripping sensation deep inside his mind. Oscar couldn't even begin to articulate the pain that sensation caused, and between that and the very physical pain in his body, he could barely tell which way was up.
OZ!!!! he screamed in his mind, unable to make his voice work, his throat was so raw from screaming through the torture.
I'm so sorry, Oscar. Goodbye…
OZ!!!!
"And the next thing I knew, I was here, and you were bending over me," Oscar said. "I don't really remember much beyond that until I woke up in the hospital."
It was done – he'd told them everything pertinent that he could think of about the attacks on the Academies. Sure, there were some details he'd left out, like the train derailment and Jinn's story… he'd tell those eventually, but he wanted to keep that between he and Ozpin, at least for now. That was… intensely private, and he understood that a little better now than he had in the moments before and after Ruby had asked her damning question, but Qrow and Glynda would need to know eventually, he was sure of that.
"That's – that's it," he added, not looking up from the floor. He braced himself for a barrage of questions, but that uncomfortable, painful silence lingered. He dared to look up a little, barely moving his head enough that he could see Ozpin.
The Headmaster had buried his head in his hands again, and Oscar felt a surge of guilt at exposing everything as bluntly as he had. He'd tried to be gentle about it, but how could one be gentle when talking about betrayals that cost so many lives? Betrayals that would happen again if Ozpin didn't know what the outcomes had been the first time?
"I – I'm sorry," he whispered. "I wish I had better news to tell you – all of you – but… things were… bad and only seemed to be getting worse the more we tried to stop it. I don't know if… if we made the right… if we made good choices," he amended. "I don't know if knowing any of this – telling all of this will help, but… I want to stop that future from happening again."
More silence from the three adults, and Oscar wilted a little, bracing himself for their reactions. Would it be disbelief? Condemnation? Affirmation that he'd – they'd – taken the best actions? He wasn't sure what would be worse, actually - being praised for saving what lives they had, or being blamed for the lives they couldn't save, the betrayals they couldn't prevent. Despite their best efforts, it hadn't been enough, and that guilt hung heavy on his shoulders. If only he hadn't been captured by the Hound, maybe they could have turned things around, but…
But he was here now, by some miracle, magic, or happy chance. I have another chance, he reminded himself. They know what's coming if nothing changes, so maybe we can change things. Maybe we can stop Lionheart before the Mistral Hunters die, stop Beacon from falling, protect the Relics better…
"I knew he was an asshole."
Qrow's voice broke the silence, and everyone looked at him. The Huntsman was clearly tipsy, his face red with suppressed anger and the flush of the alcohol. He saw he had their attention and waved his flask wildly in the air. "This whole – inner circle thing – I knew it was a bad idea to bring Ironwood in. He's too militaristic, too proud of the 'glory of Atlas'. I swear, next time I see him I'll give him a piece of my mind."
"Qrow," Glynda hissed through clenched teeth.
"No," Qrow said. "You can't stop me this time, Glynda. To think that he'd be willing to take his precious elites and leave everyone else behind…"
"He was afraid," Oscar said. "I could see it when I confronted him. I – it was my fault." He felt their eyes back on him, and he could feel his throat tightening up. He swallowed hard and forced himself to continue. "I couldn't convince him that it was okay to be afraid, as long as we kept moving forward. That's what Ruby had told me was important, but he was beyond listening to anyone. Salem – she… she got inside his head the same way she did Lionheart and twisted him to the point that… Ironwood wasn't on her side, but he wasn't on Remnant's side either at that point."
"Oscar, you can't blame yourself for that," Glynda tried, but Oscar stood up abruptly.
"I, uh… I'll go back downstairs and let you talk about this," he said. He needed to get away for a bit – all the memories were cascading down, and he really hadn't had time to accept what Ironwood had done to him, what he'd been willing to do to Mantle and Remnant, and then there was whatever it was that Oz had done to send him back here… it was too much for Oscar to deal with and he just needed to be away. Tears were beginning to prick at the corners of his cheeks, but he was not going to cry in front of the adults. "If you – if you have any more questions, well…"
He turned and hurried towards the elevator, slipping inside before Glynda or Qrow could stop him. He pressed the button for Ozpin's floor and watched as the door slid closed, seeing the Headmaster slumped in defeat, knowing the sort of mental anguish that the man must be going through himself at the moment now that he knew that two of his closest allies were destined to betray him.
The descent of one floor seemed to take forever, but as soon as the doors slid open, Oscar hurried out, turned in the narrow hallway, and fled to his own room. He closed the door quickly and made sure the door to the bathroom was closed as well, not bothering to turn on a light before he curled up along the side of the room between the nightstand and the wall and hugged his legs to his chest.
What did I do? Did I do the right thing by telling it that way? Did I wreck everything? He squeezed his eyes shut, feeling the hot burn of tears, and rocked himself, lightly tapping the back of his head against the wall behind him. He'd done his best to explain everything. He just wasn't sure that his best was good enough. Given how Qrow had reacted to Jinn's story, how would he react to knowing that his sister – his twin – was going to betray him?
And Glynda – he didn't know her at all, but he had enough of Oz's memories of her to know that her competence had been one of the things the old wizard had relied on in his role as Beacon's headmaster, along with her friendship. How would she react to all of this?
And of course Oz… Oz, who had been betrayed so often, was facing it once again. How did the wizard keep going? How did he keep fighting, keep pressing Salem enough to hold her forces at a stalemate, knowing at any moment his allies might turn on him because of her machinations?
"If it had been me instead, I know they would have kept fighting too, no matter how dangerous it was. So that's what I choose to do."
Ruby's words from that night in the dojo came back to him. He'd been so scared then, and he'd both admired her for her apparent lack of fear, but he'd been angry at the same time because of it. He hadn't been able to understand her seeming calm over the whole situation, and he'd lashed out. Her words had calmed him, and Oz's reassurance once she'd left had helped too.
Was this any different? He'd done what he could for the moment. There would be more for him to do soon, he had no doubt about that. Was it any different for Oz? Each lifetime was a new opportunity, a new chance to try to change things, to try to do something different. Was that how he kept going, despite the betrayals?
"Hey Oscar? This isn't gonna be easy, but the fact that you're even trying says a lot about you. You're braver than you think."
He didn't feel brave. He hadn't felt brave at all – not since any of this began. He didn't know how Ruby or the others could ever have thought he was. He was just… Oscar. Just trying to come to terms with having this… this destiny he had never wanted thrust upon him, and just when he was beginning to accept it, all of this had happened.
And yeah, maybe he had a chance to go back and change things, but maybe nothing he did would change anything at all. But – at least he was trying. Hadn't Ruby said that was the important part?
"So that's what I choose to do. Keep moving forward."
He'd give Oz, Glynda and Qrow some time to digest everything he'd told them, and then he'd go and see how he could help. It wasn't a great plan, but it was a plan