Unforgettable Silhouette

Volume 4 / Volume 5 AU. Ruby Rose along with her companion, Oscar Pine, returns to the Vytal Festival and unwillingly sparks an uproar, and helps prepare for the upcoming war on Salem, with all the confusion that surrounds time travel, they'll get through it and save them all.

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A/N: There is kinda no explicit shipping, but it kinda looks like Rose Garden - can be looked without it, totally not intentional when starting. Don't ask how that happened, it just did!. I can see Oscar being extremely lenient with Ruby, and he is oblivious to it. Oscar is 14 in canon confirmed (4'8'' / 142 cm estimate.), while Ruby is 16/17 (5'2'' / 157 cm), others are according. This was written before the start of Volume 5. Some aspects have not been changed because Volume 5 came out. But damn was I right about Oscar's first words to Ruby!

Okay, so here RWBY FNDM, have this and don't hurt me? Cross-posted to Ao3

I apparently have a niche - its time travel fix-its. Seems like its the only thing I write now. This is what I was working on between my other two time-travelling fics and this seems to have an end written after 21000 words, so yay. Volume 3 hurt me. If you couldn't tell.

Confusion is abound because no one knows who Oscar is, and he's a little shit about it XD

Edited 03/11/2017 -
attempt to fix formating issues for readability
(No Beta)

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What flower should I decorate myself with to stay alive in this world? I want to believe, but still can't manage it. My powerless and pointless self still embraces my heart. I can hear a voice calling to me, saying, "Come this way!" A limitless and reckless tomorrow will still be waiting for me somewhere. What song should I sing to fight my way through this world? If I wish to find it, I'll have to keep searching until I do. This freedom may be false and fruitless, but I still screamed my desire for it. There's surely a place that only you belong.

JUNNA

Chapter 1

Before the wires could completely wrap around Penny a rapid-fire force tore them apart; piercing the arena floor between the two girls forcibly, yet unfortunately missing one last wire to rip straight through Penny's arm, the girl cried out in pain, the trauma sending her offline causing her now lifeless body to crumple to the arena floor.
Pyrrha watched on in rising horror that froze her as the illusion dissipated around her, leaving a white and golden broadsword in-between the two girls went unnoticed by her.
Questions about where the sword came from, what it was doing there, how it came to be were quickly put aside when the audio feed alongside a red and black queen chess piece crackled into life onto all video feeds.
Cinder had started her attack on Beacon, or more specifically the people attending the Vytal Festival, no matter where they hailed from. One undisputed unspoken for sword was not going to deter her.

Cinder's words echoed around the stadium, bringing fear with them.
"This is not a tragedy. This is not an accident. This is what happens when you hand over your trust, your safety, your children, to men who claim to be our guardians but are, in reality, nothing more than men." She started, her voice angry but firm.
Not much of her meaning was reaching Jaune, who was more worried about the two girls in the arena.
"Our Academies' Headmasters wield more power than most armies, and one was audacious enough to control both." Cinder raged.
Ironwood, on the other hand, had stood up and was exiting his seat.
"They cling to this power in the name of peace, and yet, what do we have here? One nation's attempt at a synthetic army, mercilessly torn apart by another's star pupil. What need would Atlas have for a soldier disguised as an innocent little girl? I don't think the Grimm can tell the difference." Cinder advised the still stunned-fearful audience she had created. Neither Pyrrha or Penny had moved, Pyrrha because she was still horrified at her near actions, and Penny because she was still offline, seemingly dead to all eyes. "And what, I ask you, is Ozpin teaching his students? First a dismemberment, now this? Huntsmen and Huntresses should carry themselves with honour and mercy, yet I have witnessed neither. Perhaps Ozpin felt as though defeating Atlas in the Tournament would help people forget his colossal failure to protect Vale when the Grimm invaded its streets." Cinder voiced, pondering, yet not caring as she stirred up emotions. "Or perhaps this was his message to the tyrannical dictator that has occupied an unsuspecting kingdom with armed forces. Honestly, I haven't the slightest clue as to who is right and who is wrong. But I know the existence of peace is fragile, and the leaders of our kingdoms conduct their business with iron gloves. As someone who hails from Mistral, I can assure you the situation there is... equally undesirable. Our Kingdoms are on the brink of war, yet we, the citizens, are left in the dark." Cinder continued, forcefully to all who were listening and watching the feed.

./.

As Cinder stirred up stronger emotions in Beacon, in the arena, more and more Grimm became aware of those emotions and stormed the grounds, the soldiers left outnumbered.
"So, I ask you: When the first shots are fired... who do you think you can trust?" She questioned, then left them to stir up their emotions.
Then came the alarm.
And the threat level nine.
And the ensuing chaos that came with it.

./.

A giant Nevermore came crashing down into the protective barrier, alarming more students.
"A Nevermore?!" Sun asked.
"How'd it get past the Kingdom's defences?" Coco frantically questioned.
"It wasn't alone." Ren informed, sensing more than the one Grimm.

./.

The forgotten about broadsword in the arena started to hum, with air around it becoming more visibly tainted red. The Nevermore fought against the barrier, while the others Ren sensed attacked the airships, one being pirated by Neo and Roman, whereas the White Fang, led by Adam brought more Grimm into the school in a rage against all humans.

The split members of team RWBY fought to the best of their abilities, leaderless, powerless against the Grimm invasion, but not without the resolve to do what was right and not without their weapons.

./.

"Warning, safety barrier failing." The automated voice carried out.
Ruby stared at the floor beneath her with incomprehension to what had and what was still happening.
Pyrrha finally had the ability to stand, yet none of Jaune's worried words could reach her, nor when he even got close to try and help her.
The broadsword hummed violently.
The Nevermore crashed through the barrier, knocking both Penny and Pyrrha aside like dolls.
Before it could make its attack, Ruby flared in using Penny's sword.
"Ruby…?" Pyrrha voiced in confusion.
"Leave her alone!" Ruby cried, brandishing the sword.
The Nevermore fell back against the forgotten yet metallic humming broadsword, causing it to erupt into a red cloud of petals that soon separated and rushed up to encircle the Grimm, and in a flash, beheaded it, before the rest of the remaining students could summon their weapons to help take it down.
To stunned that the red petal cloud could perform such a beheading that quickly, quickly turning to Ruby for an explanation of why she hadn't done that sooner, but the girl looked just as astonished as they were.

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That red cloud swirled down slowly until it reformed into two people.
"This is not where I just was!" The redhead cried out in screechy-panic.
"At least we're not dead." Muttered the boy on piggy-back ride.
"Seriously. Not the point." The woman hissed.
"Then what is? Because I like not being dead!" He hissed back.

The crowd stared in confusion.
Two. There were two Ruby's.
One with one of Penny's blades. The other, looking already battle-worn and carrying an already heavily battered and bruised Crescent Rose.
"Where are we?" The Ruby with the passenger asked as she let said boy down off her back.
"We're where…?!" The boy hissed, seemingly to himself. "Miss Ruby Rose, we seem to be in the Vytal Festival Arena." He told her.
She quickly turned to her partner. "Say what!?" She screeched in alarm.
"There's two of you." He muttered.
She yelped when she turned to see herself. "This is awkward!" She said.
Ruby stared at herself, the more she stared the more she could see how warrior like the other was.
"This is awesome!" She cried out in awe.
The other gave her an amused glance, but took in her surroundings, as her partner wandered off to the side.
She saw Penny and went over to her curiously. Her shadow followed.
"Is she…?" She was questioned as she knelt down next to Penny.
The other students came close, while Pyrrha held onto her tears, next to her teammates.
"She'll be fine, luckily all she'll need is a reboot, and her arm will need fixing." Ruby said.
"How do you know it'll be that simple?!" Her counterpart near on yelling.
Elder-Ruby blinked at her, as if uncomprehending the need for the question, then looked as if she remembered the time where she was currently in and knew she wouldn't have had the know-how. "Because I've been around bio-synthetics a lot longer than you have." She told her.

./.

"Miss Ruby Rose," A voice called, both Ruby's looked over to see Elder-Ruby's partner by the broadsword.
Elder-Ruby got up as if remembering. "We should see that Mister Jaune gets his sword back." He said.
Jaune looked stumped over this.
Elder-Ruby nodded. "That's true. He'll be pissed if he doesn't get it back. We may have taken it without permission…" Elder-Ruby said, walking over to him.
Jaune stared at the two, excuse me?
"He did tell you how to fold it back, right?" He asked, nervously poking the sword with his hilted furled up weapon.
Elder-Ruby laughed. "I was there when he made the design, as well as when it was created, remember?" She asked.
He shook his head mutely. It hurt him to remind her that even though he had Ozpin in his head, there were many times when that either male hadn't always been in her life.
Elder-Ruby shrugged and picked up the sword, seamlessly and effortlessly folding it back into its regular scabbard-shield and sword, placing it on her back upside Crescent Rose.

Elder-Ruby looked around herself again.
"Vytal Festival… Vytal Festival…" She muttered, one hand up to her forehead.
"Grimm attack. Beacon go bye-bye." Her companion reminded in a mimic.
"Right!" She turned to the students. "All you guys need your weapons!" She ordered.
It was an order that wasn't disputed. This girl-lady-woman was definitely a huntress. One they were gonna follow.
How the hell do you mention the theoretical fall of Beacon and expect no manning up?!

"Okay, so, back up! You're me, right?" Ruby asked after having borrowed Sun's Scroll to summon her scythe.
Elder-Ruby nodded. "Yep!" She said, looking up to the destroyed barrier, having only one ear on herself.
"And you're from…?" She continued to ask.
"About a year and a bit from now, maybe two, give or take." The boy voiced for her.
She blinked at him. "And you are…?" She voiced in confusion.
"I'm Oscar!" He said brightly.

./.

Above them came a pack of Griffins.
"You better not die on me, 'else Oz is gonna kill me." Elder-Ruby told Oscar.
He gave her a sour look. "Oz is laughing at you." He told her in retort.
Elder-Ruby gave out a dry chuckle. "Of course he is…" She muttered.
"Are we gonna do something about them, or…?" Jaune quickly piped up.
They were all looking to the two Ruby's to give the orders. (Hell, if the older could do it, so could the younger…right?)
One Griffin reared down and was shot down by Port. "Students! I think it would be best if you leave!" He told them.
While Oobleck was more interested in the older Ruby. "I believe there is a story here to tell, miss Rose." He stated forlornly.
Elder-Ruby blinked. "Oz! Can I tell them?!" She screeched slightly alarmed when she couldn't find Oscar when she searched for him.
"WHY THE HELL ARE YOU ASKING ME?!" Oscar yelled back, repelling the one Griffin who decided to attack him, causing him to unfold his cane in response to being attacked, back-flipping while so.
"Because you're the only one who can say no!" Elder-Ruby yelled back, using his voice to find him finally.
The two professors stared at the boy, who was unmistakably not Ozpin, yet using Ozpin's weapon.
"A BIT BUSY HERE!" He continued to yell, fighting off another.
"Oh, right." She muttered, and before any more could stop her, she burst into multi streams of red petals and attacked several Griffins at once, bringing them all down in seconds.

./.

"…What…?" Many voiced, some in confusion, some in awe.
Not just Pyrrha was staring at Oscar and his familiar weapon as he folded it back up to its hilt, vanishing on his person and away from prying eyes.
"Miss Ruby Rose, it might be best for them to leave…" Oscar voiced after he finished muttering to himself.
Elder-Ruby just nodded and turned to the awed and confused students. "Alright! This area is going to soon be swarming with Grimm! I don't want to catch any of you here when you could be below fighting to save Beacon!" She ordered.
"Beacon is in trouble?!" Nora among many yelled the loudest.
Elder-Ruby nodded.
"Let's take a ship down!" Jaune suggested, and with it, they started to run out.
Ruby look to herself, seeing her nod, she rushed off with her friends.
"If Oz lets me," Oscar herein gave her a rude hand gesture, which she saw and brightly ignored. "I'll tell you all I know when this is all over." Elder-Ruby told both Port and Oobleck. "Can I ask you two to stay here and man the fort? Make sure Penny and any injured get out safely?" She asked.
They both nodded silently but readied themselves for the next lot of Grimm attack.

"You're too slow!" Elder-Ruby yelled and gathered Oscar back onto her back.
Oscar grumbled against her as she rushed to get back to the students.
"—I'm going to take it back!" Ironwood was telling them before he boarded his ship as Elder-Ruby and Oscar caught up.
"We need to go after James!" Oscar said, pointing out, over Ruby's shoulder. Ruby looked to him up behind her and blinked at him in silence over the use of another unfamiliar name.
Oscar blinked back. "James. Ironwood." Seeing the flash in her eyes, he knew he had the right name. "Ironwood! We need to go after Ironwood! He'll take us to Qrow!" He said hurriedly.
Elder-Ruby nodded, now understanding who he was talking about. "These ships here will take you down!" She yelled before bursting into petals and rushed after Ironwood's flight-craft, to hang off it by her scythe.

./.

She was unable to prevent the robots from going red or taking the ship down with their explosion, and she was unable to help her younger self's blight against Neo and Roman though she knew that she could handle herself. She was sure she wanted a rematch with Cinder and her dragon.
Ruby followed Ironwood out the wreck of the ship, as many petal streams helped him take care of the Knights in the area, not noticing the many confused looks when she came back to herself and let down Oscar.
"Glynda!" He immediately said, happily.
Glynda stared at the boy she did not know.
Seeing the look, he groaned. "Sorry. You don't actually know me." He said. Ruby chuckled. "You're not helping!" He hissed.
"It's funny." She told him.
He shook his head. "It's really not." He replied sourly.

"It is a little. You kept going "Silver Eyes! Silver Eyes!" when you first met me! I really had no idea what you were talking about." Ruby reminded him.
"That's not—Hold still." He trailed off into a serious hiss, and before anyone could do or say anything, he unfurled his cane and whacked a Griffon that reared up behind Ironwood. "YOU MISSED, HOW COULD YOU MISS?!" He yelled.
"I am not getting into Aura semantics with you!" Ruby shot back, sourly.
"How the hell?" Qrow started, stalling his blade transformation.
"Hey, Qrow!" Oscar said happily.
"You are way too happy." Ruby muttered.
"Oz is laughing at you." Oscar told her.
"Why do you feel the need to tell me this?" Ruby asked.
"Because it's the only time he's not laughing at me?" Oscar said. "Shut it, you do too." He muttered to himself.
"Okay, what?" Qrow demanded.

"I blame him." Ruby pointed to Oscar.
Oscar pointed to his forehead. "I, too, also blame him." He informed.
Ruby laughed. "You can't blame him for everything!" She said.
"I can, and I will, and you can't stop me." He growled as his cane folded up and he placed it on his back, ignoring the stares he was getting.
"Are you the one who is controlling my machines?!" Ironwood demanded.
Both children stared at him, incredulously. "Hell no. That'll be Torchwick!" Ruby said.
Ironwood sighed. "We need to establish a safe zone...I need to get to my ship…" Just then it decided to crash, disabling the Red mode.
"That'll be my fault. My bad." Ruby apologised.
"Maybe I should blame you for everything." Oscar muttered.
She glared at him.

./.

Nervous about the stares he was getting, he shifted from one leg to the other.
"…We probably should be getting to the tower…" Oscar started.
"What? Why?" Glynda asked.
"Um. Because Fall maiden gets shot. Cinder there. Get power. Miss Nikos—Shut it! I'm saying this properly!" Oscar railed off heatedly to himself.
Ruby blinked in alarm. "Why didn't you say so sooner!" She rushed.
"YOU DIDN'T ASK BEFORE! I THOUGHT YOU KNEW?!" He yelled in panic.
"ARGH!" She screamed, and burst into petal streams, taking Oscar, Qrow and Glynda along with her, leaving Ironwood to his ship. Along the way, she collided with her descending self and ended up taking her along too.

Once they hit ground level, inside the Tower, Elder-Ruby fell to her knees and panted.
"Miss Ruby Rose!" Oscar said, worriedly, once they all reformed. "Are you alright?" He asked.
"Too many people." She panted.
"Ruby!" Pyrrha's voice called frantic and questioning, coming upon them next to Jaune.
Oscar gave out a concerned-worried noise and got to his feet. Up ahead fired up Cinder, in full stolen maiden power, fully focused on Ozpin in front of her.
Elder-Ruby groaned and got back up as Oscar rushed off unfurling his cane as he went, only to slide down on his knees to knock her down by the back of her knees.
Cinder gave out a surprised gasp as she went down, having been fully focused on Ozpin, and not expecting an attack from behind.
"Now, Miss Rose!" Oscar yelled out, pinning Cinder's vital points as he went, stunning her momentarily, then got out of dodge quickly.
Elder-Ruby quickly put a hand to the bridge of her nose, then held out that hand outwards to Cinder and a flash of concentrated silver light erupted from her, and shot out towards Cinder.
"WHAT!?" The woman screamed out in pained panic, fleeing once she recognised she was getting injured.

Elder-Ruby just groaned and collapsed back to her knees.
"Miss Rose!" Oscar called, coming back to her in a hurry.
"Who the hell is this pipsqueak?" Qrow asked faintly.
"I'll be fine…" She muttered as Ozpin came up to them in confusion, with many unvoiced questions.
"Not to say you're not doing a very good job because you are, but, um. Grimm Dragon. Your teammates, didn't you say they were injured at the fall?" Oscar pressed on, ignoring the adults around him and focusing on the Ruby he came here with.
The mention of her former teammates made her flinch, and she attempted to stand, seeing such, Oscar unfurled his cane, and offered it to her to help, still ignoring the many looks he was getting.
Elder-Ruby looked from him to the cane in question several times.
Oscar snorted. "Oz says it's fine." He grumbled.

./.

Elder-Ruby was once again standing, quickly giving Oscar his weapon back, uneasy as she was with the weapon and used his shoulder instead.
"Did Miss Blake ever tell you where she and Miss Yang were injured?" Oscar asked as Elder-Ruby started out the Tower, the adults (and other children) following in silence, once he took his cane and furled it back up, most watched on that the boy hid the hilt on his belt buckle on his back point which was how it became completely hidden once his shirt covered it. What only some saw in recognition was that the position mirrored and complemented Ruby's.

Elder-Ruby nodded. "I'll hopefully get there in time." She muttered.
"To give a hand?" Oscar asked as they got back outside.
Elder-Ruby snorted. "That was in terrible taste." She told him.
Oscar shrugged. "Miss Yang does it all the time." He reminded.
Elder-Ruby snorted. "Yeah, and punches anyone else who says it, too." She said.
Oscar flinched. "Good point. Will you need my help?" He asked.
Elder-Ruby nodded. "Most likely, I'm not supposed to leave you alone anyway…" She trailed off.
"I'm not alone, though…?" Oscar asked. Technically, he never was anymore.
"True, but Uncle Qrow did say not to leave you by yourself before flying away to whack Raven around a little. I don't think time travel counts?" Elder-Ruby asked.
The adults looked beyond confused, alarmed and puzzled at the same time, while the other children had well past decided whatever came out of their mouths would just confuse them.

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Oscar shrugged, made sure his cane was put over his back and under both his shoulder blades before acquiescing to being pulled up onto Elder-Ruby's back, carefully placing his feet between the two stored weapons as one would use for a point for his feet, so he wouldn't fall off at her higher speeds. He had learnt from early on, that when Ruby gave him a ride (out of all the people they currently knew, he was deemed the one that was slower than the rest), was to hold onto her, and try and keep up with her constant momentum and movements in any way how, Oscar learnt from many piggyback rides where to place his feet (he, of course, asked to place his feet on Crescent Rose the first time he thought to put his feet there, and not hang off her like a limpet, as it slowed her down in battle, as well as his dismount time when he needed to fight alongside her). Oscar learnt along the way how to not hurt her in the process. Something that Oscar was always against in doing, was, naturally, hurting her.

./.

Ruby looked to herself and Jaune. "I demand a counting match," and was off into a petal stream.
"What the hell?!" Many yelled after them but seeing the many Grimm around, it was once again being put out of their minds to keep their school safe.

./.

Seeing Adam, she slowed, trying to find where Blake was (on the floor, in terror), and where Yang was, (by the window, in rising rage).
"Starting with her!" Adam started.
"Get away from her!" Yang yelled.
Before Adam could bring his blade down, Ruby dropped Oscar, whose cane clashed with Adam's katana sliding it away from personal danger as she picked up Blake to swarm around the building to pick up a confused Yang, a defending Oscar, leaving a perplexed anger-filled Adam behind to his own devices.

./.

She dropped them back with the group she left with.
"Ruby!" Yang yelled seeing her sister and hugged her life out of her.
"Yang!" Her sister replied happily.
Elder-Ruby reformed with Oscar, causing Blake and Yang to stare.
"There are two of you…" Blake breathed.
"Gods damn it! There are Grimm around!" Oscar yelled, pointing outwards, brandishing his cane, and whacking the nearest Grimm out.
Elder-Ruby dispersed into several petal streams taking out several Grimm at the same time, only reappearing several times when she changed her scythe's position.
"This is awesome!" Yang heard her sister yell before she too joined the fray.
"And you Miss Kitty Cat!" Yelled a reforming Elder-Ruby in mid-air. Blake flinched. "Don't you dare think of running off! I spent months by myself when you ran all the way back to Menagerie! I do not need to be chasing you!" Elder-Ruby yelled, before reforming and taking down another Grimm.
Severely told off, Blake joined the fray alongside Yang.

./.

"Ruby!" Weiss yelled out seeing her leader.
"Weiss!" Ruby yelled back, hugging the heiress.
"NOT THE TIME!" Oscar yelled, having to cover them.
"Sorry!" Ruby yelled back to the boy she wasn't – yet will be? – familiar with.
Oscar pinned the Grimm near them and went onto the next.
"Sixty-eight!" He yelled, apparently to the air.
"One hundred and five!" A reformed Elder-Ruby crowed back.
Oscar stalled, and glared up at her as she floated above him. "Screw you!" He yelled up to her, good-naturedly.
She laughed and streamed away again, taking out several Grimm as she did.
"I will understand this sooner or later." Yang muttered.
Weiss just stared.
"I know! It's awesome!" The Ruby next to her said happily, as she took out another Grimm.
"I think you mean tiresome, you dolt!" Weiss shouted.
They heard the wind laughing at them.

The ground shook.
"Miss Ruby Rose!" Oscar yelled frantically upwards.
The rose petals back-tracked and Ruby reformed next to him. "'Sup?" She asked.
"Dragon?" He muttered as the Grimm Dragon wounded up the tower.
"SHIT!" She cursed and erupted into petal streams that raced up to the dragon.
"Cursing!" Yang yelled, a little surprised to hear her curse.
She wasn't fast enough to stop the tower from falling.
"Damn." Oscar muttered, but was quickly side-tracked by nearby forming Grimm, pinned the nearest one, got out of dodge quickly, and went for the next.

./.

Elder-Ruby dropped down next to Oscar.
"I couldn't stop the tower from falling…" Elder-Ruby told him, emotionally caught up in her own memories.
"No, but we have been able to change several other things. What can you do about the dragon?" Oscar asked, seemingly older than his youth.
"Aside from freezing it like last time? Not much." Elder-Ruby told him, sniper shooting Grimm around her, helping out her previous teammates, trusting Oscar to whack any nearby Grimm she missed as they talked.
Oscar sighed. "Then that is all we can do." Oscar told her.
She looked to him. "And is that truly okay?" She asked.
"While it does make Beacon inaccessible for the unforeseeable future, even where we came from we were still trying to figure out how to battle it, as well as what could have been done differently. We could think of none other." He told her gravely.

Elder-Ruby nodded and hooked her scythe around herself to propel herself up on top of a banner sign. "Listen up!" She started yelling, people barely paused in their fighting but were aware she was yelling at them. "Big baddie Grimm Dragon is going down! You all need to get out of dodge!" She yelled. Immediately people fought, jumped, flipped evasively to get further away from the broken tower. "Head towards Beacon's evacuation point! OSCAR THAT MEANS YOU TOO!" She continued, then used her scythe to help propel herself up the shattered tower, and didn't hear Oscar cursing her.

./.

Oscar was used to the stares, so he easily ignored them as he winded through the many fighting huntsmen and huntresses', pinning the Grimm down at their vital points, making it easier for his fellows to dispatch them, then getting out of dodge and carrying onto the next nearest Grimm. While so, however, he kept an eye out for red rose petals, maybe it was because even though he hadn't been with Ruby long, he had grown attached to her, possibly because Ozpin knew her, and they were both worried for her well-being. He hadn't had friends before, so perhaps that was what Ruby was. Since no one else he knew with Ozpin's memories came close to the attachment he formed for her.
He'd need to ask.
And possibly apologise.

"Miss Yang!" He yelled, weaving around her, as he had done many times before, using his cane he pinned her foe, harming it and freezing it in place for her, then got out of dodge as she came thundering down on top of it.
"Thanks, whoever you are!" She yelled back, happily, before aiming for her next target, making sure to make her way to the evacuation point as she went.

/


/

Seeing an eruption burst of bright light, Oscar yelped. "Move it! Move it! Move it!" He yelled, and seeing a boulder, he bolted for it, ducked and covered, whacking anyone in his way to make sure they ducked and covered too.
Once the light dispersed, he sighed and rolled out of his crouch to stand up, looking back to the tower to see the frozen Dragon, like he had seen from Ozpin's memories.
A hand came down on his head, causing him to yelp, duck and automatically look up.
Only to see a confused Qrow.
"Oh, hey, Qrow!" He said happily, turning back to the tower, in hopes to see red petals gliding his way.

"And who are you, pipsqueak?" He asked, knowing that all the nearby Grimm had bolted seeing the white light, there was no immediate need to fight.
"I'm Oscar!" Oscar introduced, grinning when he could almost see the exasperated expression on Qrow's face, as his name did not help him at all. "So, we don't have long before the Grimm come back in hoards, it might be best to leave Beacon." Oscar steamrolled into saying.
He wasn't about to say he gained satisfaction from Qrow's puzzlement for the time being.
He just turned back to the tower, anxiously waiting for Ruby to come back.

./.

He found it weird to see Ozpin physically, as well as still hear him in his mind, so for the sake of not gaining a headache in the foreseeable future, he avoided him for the time being, and made sure to slip under Qrow's radar until Ruby came back. There were only teams RWBY, JNPR, few sole injured people and their teachers left awaiting their evacuation ship.
Because of this, he found himself grouped with Ruby's two teams she had worked with over the course of her career as a huntress, with only one he had never seen with his own eyes.
Pyrrha must have noticed his curiousness at her.
"Hello…?" She started, uncertain.
Oscar blinked, and fought down his embarrassment at being caught. "I apologise Miss Nikos, I haven't met you in person before." He told her, truthfully, sounding yet again, older than what he looked.
Everyone listening was confused.

"You know us?" Weiss asked.
Oscar turned to her and nodded. "I do, Miss Weiss!" He said. "Although some of you look a little different from when I first met you in person, you are the same people from my memories, though." Oscar told them.
Nora cocked her head. "Huh?" She voiced for them all.
Oscar blinked. "Well, like Miss Ruby Rose," herein Ruby blinked and pointed to herself as if she needed confirmation he was talking about her. "The Miss Ruby I came with is the one I met personally, but I have previous memories of her looking like how she is in front of me." Oscar tried to explain.
From the frowns, he gathered he didn't do a very good job at explaining. He sighed, he was used to this being explained to him, not the other way around! And without Ruby, he wasn't going to try. He would just confuse them.

"How do you know Ruby, anyway?" Blake asked Oscar, turned to her and immediately blanched. "What?" She said defensively, crossing her arms.
Oscar blinked and shook his head. "I apologise Miss Blake, I am not used to seeing you with the hair bow," they all blinked, and he shrugged. "But I remember it. Anyway! I know Miss Ruby Rose because, at current, she is protecting me on Qrow's orders because of a dispute with Raven over Spring." Oscar stalled with a mild blink, turning to Yang. "And that wasn't permission for you to leave." He growled, again older than what he looked. Yang just blinked at him in non-understanding.

./.

They all jumped when Oscar automatically yelped when Qrow's hand thumped down on his head.
"There you are, pipsqueak!" He said triumphantly, having spent the past ten minutes trying to find him.
"…I need to remember that too…" Oscar grumbled, but they all heard, he then looked up to Qrow, with a pleading expression. "Can you please wait until Miss Ruby Rose comes back, please?" He asked.
Qrow blinked at him, but for some reason, stood down. "Sure. But, I've got my eye on you, so you don't bolt on explaining again, pipsqueak." He told him.
Oscar glared. "Again. Again, with the pipsqueak! I thought we were over the pipsqueak thing!" He growled.

He snapped out of it, seeing rose petals. "Miss Ruby Rose!" He yelled.
Only a second later, Elder-Ruby reformed, and collapsed to her knees, panting. "Damn, that was just as hard as the first time." She muttered.
Oscar rushed and slid to his knees in front of her. "You okay?" He asked, in concern, taking hold of her shoulders, should she faint.
Elder-Ruby looked at him and smiled. "I'll be alright. I didn't collapse this time!" She celebrated.
Oscar got back up and pulled her up along with him. "Don't leave me alone, there are two of them." He whispered. "And it's starting to get weird." He told her.
She grinned. "Now you know how I feel!" She said, happily.

./.

The next ship came, big enough that no one was left behind.
Elder-Ruby leant back against her seat, looking around curiously.
Oscar nudged her with his elbow. "What's up?" He asked, noting everyone listening in, in annoyance.
"I was unconscious the first time, so I don't know what happens here." She told him.
Oscar shrugged. "Same boat. Cinder flamed Ozpin, so he has no memories after that." He told her.
Elder-Ruby snorted. "Yeah, that doesn't help." She said sarcastically.
Oscar chuckled, and took in the confused expression around the room.

In her covering the entire populace of the ship (ignoring the stares), she had noticed that either Port or Oobleck had brought Penny with them, (and her arm).
"Whelp," She started and got up.
"Miss Ruby Rose?" Oscar sounded out first, mentally panicking that she was moving away.
"I'll go fix Penny. She'll have to wake up on her own, though. I can't fix that. That part is beyond me." She told him.
Oscar nodded and got up to assist, familiar with his Ruby's know-how with her way around bio-synthetics.
Everyone else, on the other hand… Straightened up that little bit more to see.

./.

Elder-Ruby settled down heavily next to Penny's offline body cross-legged, while Oscar slid down the glass wall near her.
They watched as she unbuckled her previously unseen backpack from under her tattered and war-torn cloak. She laid out several items that even a curious Ironwood took note of.
They were all a curious colour of yellow and black, (and not the red and black many thought they would be since they came from her possession).
"Miss Yang won't mind?" Oscar asked, curiously.
Ruby shrugged, politely not saying anything for the time being seeing as she held one device between her teeth, while her hands worked to set the arm back in its rightful place and alignment.
Oscar sighed while rolling his eyes, only to take the device from her mouth.
She flashed him a smile of thanks as she peeled back Penny's torn sleeve to see the wound more closely, her hand flitting over her tools until she came across the one she wanted, which she fitted over one eye like one would a microscope lens and lent a little bit more forward.

Oscar noted that everyone else edged a little closer as well as he handed her the device she had held between her teeth. She took it from him, pointing it to the ripped point she held at an odd angle, when she pressed the device on, it emitted a hum and a beam outwards pointing to the fixture of Penny's broken arm.
They watched with odd familiarity as a concentrating Ruby poked her tongue out as a sign of her commitment and focus on her work.
She set down the device quickly, not minding that it rolled away, as she picked up another.
They all noted that the device had the script of property of Xiao Long, Yang on its handle uneasily.

"Hmm…" Elder-Ruby noted, cocking her head, as she notched Penny's joint tapping as she went, going between devices.
They watched as she leaned closer as she moved the arm back and forth, listening intently to the joints working, she brought her self away and worked her thumbs down the joint watching for kinks and autonomous actions in Penny's fingers, noting that her digits moved automatically when pressure points were pressed.
Satisfied, she brought up another device over the fixture, that opened up like a scroll some kind of inner vision to see the workings under the newly regenerated skin, Ruby moved the scroll around as if searching for any fault in her own work, or something she missed.

"Did you miss something?" Oscar asked.
Ruby clicked the device off, and lifted the one over her eye, with it she shook her head. "I must have done this enough times with Yang." She answered.
Oscar notched his head. "It does help that she doesn't let anyone else work on her arm." He told her.
Ruby chuckled. "That is true." She said, happily.

/


/

Yang, who finally had enough of not understanding, of her name being mentioned, having no idea why, had stood up from her seat, and picked up the device that had her name on it.
"Okay. What?" She started.
Everyone noted that Elder-Ruby flinched then hissed out at getting sneaked up on.
"I'm normally better than that!" She hissed.
Oscar looked to her. "Are you okay? You tired?" Oscar steamrolled into asking.
"Using my powers twice has always been the limit, but using it on the Grimm Dragon and Cinder was overkill." Elder-Ruby muttered.
Oscar nodded as if he understood. "You need rest." He told her.
"Yeah. When I'm allowed to." She muttered, noting that Yang was getting annoyed she quickly gathered up the other tools and snatched the one Yang had at the same time to stow them away from prying eyes.
Yang blinked at her, then crossed her arms in annoyance.

./.

Elder-Ruby only sighed tiredly.
"We have changed a few things by being here," Oscar started.
Elder-Ruby could have kissed the boy right there and then for starting to explain things for her.
The whole room looked to each other. "Really?" Most said, curiously.
They both nodded. "One of them being that because of the Fall of Beacon Miss Yang had lost her arm." Oscar informed sadly.
Yang blinked, one arm coming up to the other in protective horror. Ruby noted Blake's flinch.
"That guy that went after Blake?" Yang questioned, angrily.
Elder-Ruby nodded. "He is one of the White Fang, he has a violent past history with Blake, that even I'm not fully knowledgeable of the entire story. Blake was crying at the time when she apologised." Elder-Ruby told her.
Yang crouched down curiously to her sister that apparently now knew time travel as Ruby buckled her backpack back up under her cloak.

Weiss was frowning to her teammate who was hiding her face. "Why?" She questioned.
"Probably because she ran off to Menagerie." Elder-Ruby said, shrugging.
"More like because she feared Miss Yang would hate her because it was Adam who did it." Oscar put forth, looking at Elder-Ruby oddly.
Elder-Ruby stretched her arms upwards. "That too." She put forth truthfully.
Yang blinked from Ruby, then searched for her Faunus teammate, who had hidden her face. "Huh. What happened? Did we meet up again from where you're from?" Yang asked curiously, not taking her eyes off Blake.

Elder-Ruby nodded. "Yeah, you did. Blake apologised for leaving, she said she left because she believed she was protecting us from her bad luck." Elder-Ruby then gave out a long-suffered groan. "—Ugh. You're just like Uncle Qrow, Blake!" She called, a little irritated.
"Whoa, hey, why're you bring me into this?!" Qrow asked, stunned.
Elder-Ruby rolled her eyes. "Because part of your semblance is attracting bad luck? Duh." She said Oscar snorted in laughter.
Qrow actually looked stunned that his niece knew about his semblance. "How…?" He asked, blinking.

"How do I know…?" Elder-Ruby started, he nodded. "That would be when we were on our way to Haven. On our way through Oniyuri," Only Elder-Ruby saw Ren flinch making her start to ramble faster. "Tyrian had finally caught up to us, by orders of Salem to take me back with him, you ended up getting poisoned from his stinger—"
"Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa!" Oscar near on yelled, grasping her shoulders and making her look to him while Ozpin wasn't the only professor to stand up in the same alarm.
"You never told me this!" Oscar near yelled.
Elder-Ruby reared in surprise. "Uh. You never asked?" She questioned, alarmed at her companion being angry. She had never seen him angry before.

"Yes, I did!" Oscar smouldered. "Several times! I asked what happened between your time from when you woke up in Patch to you meeting at Mistral! You never mentioned Qrow got hurt! or that Tyrian had found you! or Salem knew about you!" Oscar ranted angrily.
Elder-Ruby blinked at him stunned. "…Your Ozpin is showing." She told him, uneasily.
He stood up. "Don't care!" he said angrily.
She quickly followed to stand in equal alarm as Yang backed away just as quickly and wisely.
"I thought Qrow had told you…" Elder-Ruby muttered.
Oscar shook his head. "No! And I'll whack him one for not telling me when I get back! This is serious, Ruby!" Oscar told her.

Ruby knew it was serious when he used her first name only. "I know this is serious. I know who Salem is, Oscar." Elder-Ruby told him gently, trying to get him to calm down.
It didn't work as the youth started pacing, subconsciously and automatically unfurling his cane, whacking air angrily as he went, hissing to himself.
Elder-Ruby stood aside her companion as she watched nervously, her arms up as if she wanted to placate him, but wasn't sure how, or if it would be welcomed presently. She had never seen Oscar angry, she had no idea the boy could get angry.

Oscar seemed to come to a conclusion with himself and turned back to her.
"What else do we not know about? Start from the Fall of Beacon, and leave nothing out!" Oscar ordered in a hiss.
How such a youth could order her around, most had no clue. When she hesitated, he brought his cane down in an arch beside himself , making the air sound out around him harshly, she quickly complied.

./.

Elder-Ruby slid back down the glass panelling on the ship, to sit down, looking as if she bore the weight of the world, Oscar, on the other hand, did not move, too keyed up to move, in two mind-frames: one to get information, the other trying to get himself to calm down, because he could see she was frightened.
"How far back do you want me to go? Penny being killed?" Elder-Ruby asked, not noticing everyone aside from Oscar flinched at the change.
Oscar just nodded.
"Because of Emerald's semblance, it caused Pyrrha to perceive more than just Penny's usual number of blades," Herein Pyrrha flinched. "Penny's death caused the more heightened emotions that Cinder used to attract all nearby Grimm into Beacon and nearby areas. The battle for Beacon started there." Elder-Ruby started.

./.

Oscar nodded following along. "That was where Oz asked Pyrrha to be Fall, and Cinder became Fall instead. Oz fell." Oscar mimicked.
"I heard that later, but that happened then." Elder-Ruby nodded. Oscar made a motion for her to continue. "It would have been around the same time that Adam felled Blake and Yang, the same time Grimm Dragon was let loose. I was with Weiss when I got the call from Jaune saying Pyrrha had gone up against Cinder alone—"
"She did WHAT?! I told her not to!" Oscar burst out angrily, sending a quick glare out to Pyrrha, who flinched, albeit in confusion, before returning his attention back to Elder-Ruby. It wasn't lost on the professor's his use of pronouns.
Elder-Ruby flinched away from him, not remotely used to seeing or hearing Oscar, or hearing Ozpin through him so angry as they had been in the past five minutes. Seeing her rear away, he breathed. "I apologise." He muttered. No matter how angry he was, he never wanted Ruby to be scared of him. It hurt too much to think she could be.

./.

She nodded wearily. "Weiss and I tried to make our way to the broken tower, Weiss used her glyphs, like the time she did in our initiation," Oscar nodded along as if he understood the reference she gave him for comparison.
Before she could continue, the pilot announced their descent into Vale, wherein they would have a safe place to sleep for the night before making their next moves.

Oscar noted that Elder-Ruby was pushing away tears. "Perhaps you can continue tomorrow…" He offered, trying to console her with how harsh he had been.
Elder-Ruby nodded and sniffed. She knew that Oscar needed to know, but it wasn't just him that needed to know, her two teams, as well as her teachers, needed to know so they could steel themselves for what was to come.