Chapter Thirty-Two: Losing Everything

He kept trying to retreat from her, but he had nowhere in the storage closet to retreat to. Neo was quite amused watching him wriggle about, though she did wish he was a bit more… confident, or at least enthused at her attention.

He wasn't afraid of her appearance; not put off by her heterochromia or the shades of her hair. But he was bothered by her touch.

He wasn't afraid of women; his track record had clearly proven that. And he wasn't so bothered by her touch when it was disguised.

Neo smiled at him and utilized her Semblance, turning her hair a bright orange and cutting it significantly shorter, turning both eyes bright blue, and exchanging her white and black garb for pink and teal. She knew how much he'd enjoyed seeing her in this form…

Still Oscar tried to slink away, averting his gaze and murmuring "Stop it…"

Neo nestled her head against his shoulder, finding his hazel eyes no matter how he tried to avert them. Was he really so desperate to avoid her attention?

They were alone, isolated, and while the location wasn't exactly ideal… it could've been fun.

Neo moved her hand from his back, slinking around to the front and down past his waist. Maybe another part of him would be more honest.

Oscar abruptly reached down to intercept her hand, taking hold of her wrist. She appreciated the firmness of his grip; he held her very tightly night after night…

"Why are you doing this?" Oscar whispered.

Neo didn't want him to be quiet. She needed someone else to make up the difference by providing the extra noise.

Besides, was her intent not obvious?

Neo leaned up towards him again, searching for his lips. Oscar released his grip on her wrist and reached over to find her shoulder, trying to keep some distance between them.

"No," Oscar told her firmly. "No."

Neo sighed and drew back, now wearing her disappointment clearly. She maintained her disguise, hoping that the sight of a disappointed Nora Valkyrie would do better loosening him from his shackles.

He clearly needed the help. Yet he was avoiding an obvious solution.

Neo's curiosity returned. She understood why he may not have been so keen -given their location, given she had strongly considered stabbing him a few moments beforehand- but she thought his body would react naturally, and he'd follow that lead. When she watched him, when she lay with him, she remembered thought giving way to instinct.

So why?

"Nora," Oscar mumbled. "I'm… I'm with her. It's just us. It's not- that's why I- because I thought…"

Neo understood that. She understood loyalty and devotion.

But the Valkyrie wasn't the first one Neo saw Oscar take to his bed. He hadn't always been so devoted specifically to her…

Neo crafted a new disguise, one that would be quite a bit taller and curvier… one with long, flowing blonde hair and lilac eyes, clad in browns with pops of orange and yellow. Neo would have some trouble orienting the head properly to look down -given she was so much shorter- but she knew the figure well enough. It was the only other one of the girls Neo had been privy to see all the details to.

Oscar paused. He'd already seen Neo use her Semblance -Neo disguised herself briefly as the Xiao Long when she ran through the halls of Atlas academy- but he hadn't had time to take it in then.

Did he miss it? Did he long to have her back? Was he really content with only the Valkyrie?

Was he really so loyal…?

Oscar's eyes glanced at his left, Neo's right. She followed him to look at-

Right. A detail she'd neglected.

Neo concentrated, shedding the arm in pieces, falling away like shards of glass. Replacing her facsimile of skin with the illusion of a prosthetic arm, painted in hues of yellow and black.

The Xiao Long had lost the arm since Neo fought her. She might've been interested in learning how…

"Why are you doing this?" Oscar asked again, a little more pointedly.

He was defensive now. Bothered by something.

Neo shed the disguise once again. She held up her hands, keeping her palms flat, signaling for calm. She couldn't seem to provoke him to act, so she'd have to settle for satisfying her curiosity instead.

Neo took a step towards him and reached a hand up to his shoulder. He tensed up once again, but seemed to relax as Neo closed her eyes to concentrate… to craft an image from her memory, then another, in succession.

First the night in Mistral, when Neo found him and the Xiao Long at the inn. Neo stood in Yang's place, and Oscar was cast as himself… a projection of his past, naked, driven, acting on impulse, all cast over the boy in the present confused and unnerved by Neo's power.

Then him and the Valkyrie. Or perhaps Neo herself disguised as the Valkyrie: some of the nights ran together and she preferred that sight anyway. But hopefully enough to draw Oscar's attention.

She shed the illusions again, letting the shards fall away and vanish, leaving just Oscar and herself. She'd shown him the past, now she would dwell on the present. She ran her left hand down from her collar to her bare waist. She drew the same hand back to her chest and pressed her palm over her heart.

Neo knew it wouldn't be easy for him to understand her. But he had at least tried to listen, tried to empathize… more than anyone else had bothered to do.

Oscar had been constantly averting his gaze. But when he realized Neo was trying to communicate with him, he attempted to decipher the motions of her hands. He paused to think on it for a moment before trying to explain.

"I was with her before," Oscar explained. "I'm with Nora now. Only Nora."

Neo hadn't seen many of his facial expressions before; he was usually obstructed by the dark. But he was a very poor liar. That may have been what he wanted to believe, but it wasn't everything…

Neo donned the appearance of the Xiao Long once again. She moved her hand away from her chest, splaying out both her arms. By casting the appearance of someone so much taller than herself, Neo knew Oscar's eyes would move away from her own, trying to instinctively match up with the gaze of the person who appeared to be right in front of him.

Nothing yet. Maybe he had finished playing with her…

One of the others?

Neo cast herself as the Schnee, taking the time to remember the details of her more recent appearance: the long, thick braid and the darker blues of her coat. She was much closer to Neo's height, but compensating for it with tall heels… again Oscar's eyes would be off balance.

Something there. The slightest flinch.

Desire? Regret?

Neo didn't indulge her curiosity. She had to keep him from becoming acclimated so she could see his reaction at its most raw. She once again cast herself as someone taller, the Faunus girl with the black hair… Neo quickly remember it was cut to a short bob, not the long strands it had been at Beacon. She remembered the ears too… they were visible now, not hidden by a black bow.

At this, Oscar finally balked. "Wait, how do you-"

There it was. The Belladonna girl too…?

Neo shed the disguise and grinned at him, smugly crossing her arms. Oscar stammered something unintelligible… if only she actually had the Faunus ears to hear him, though she'd probably still have to cut through gibberish.

Neo reached up to his chin, gently prodding him to keep his gaze focused on her. With her left hand she once again pressed over her heart.

Not for the first time, she wished for the simplicity of a voice. She considered digging out her Scroll again, but she would wait a while longer: it would prove insightful to see the lengths he was willing to go to comprehend her.

Oscar followed her left hand again. Why was she drawing attention to her heart?

"I…" Oscar tried to say something, but trailed off again. Neo reaffirmed her grip on his chin, insisting that he focus. When he finally managed to respond, he mumbled out: "I care for them. They're my friends."

Of course they were. But hadn't he also mentioned those same friends at one point turning on him; shunning him? Casting him out?

How had he convinced them to let him stay?

Neo finally relented and reached for her Scroll, typing another short message. She had to deal with her own curiosity now.

Neo showed him the screen and a simple request: tell me about you and them.

"It started back at Haven, when we were all staying at the house," Yang explained. "One day I was just teasing Oscar about something…"

She didn't go into the juicy details. They were still at a party surrounded by strangers. But Yang could vividly recall Oscar standing there, dumbfounded over the sink and splashing himself with cold water in a futile attempt to hide what was poking through his shorts. She stood in the doorway, smiling to herself at the absurdity of it all… never once thinking it'd lead anywhere.

Not realizing he'd end up giving as good as he got.

"He found some confidence then and started flirting with me, and I had fun, led him on," Yang continued. "I was just trying to enjoy myself; maybe pass the time a bit. I didn't think it'd lead anywhere."

She glanced past Ruby and Weiss to Blake. Waiting for a cue if there needed to be any more selective edits.

"But it did," Yang affirmed. "The night after that I just goaded him more and more and he took me up on it. We held hands, we kissed…"

They did more than that. Even on that very same night they did more, before leapfrogging several more steps.

"He wanted to tell you guys," Yang informed them. "I was the one who kept putting it off, kept insisting we had to make a ceremony of it. We were going to finally tell you about it on the Argus Limited, and… you remember how that went."

When she lashed out at him. When she shunned him. For the faults of someone else living in his head.

That was an important detail she had to add. "It was because of Oz, really. I couldn't… I couldn't see Oscar as just one person anymore. And it messed everything up."

Not everything. Just… enough.

Yang refocused her attention on Weiss. "So when Ruby told me you were interested in him I started thinking about that. I just… I wanted to give you some perspective, if you needed it."

Weiss scoffed. "And to warn me, perhaps...?"

To an extent, that was probably true. Maybe Yang had meant to scare Weiss off.

But if she really meant to do that, she'd tell Weiss about all the other things she and Oscar did together… the things Blake partook in too.

"No," Yang decided. "It was my problem: it wasn't him. Oscar's the nicest, sweetest guy I know."

She told herself she wanted him to be happy with someone else. Now that she and Blake had cut him out, he deserved the chance to find his own partner, his own contentment.

Even if she-

Weiss turned to Ruby. "And did you just feel the pressing need to tell her this now…?"

"They saw you talking to him this morning and wanted to know what was up!" Ruby protested. "I just- I knew something and I didn't think it should be a secret! Not between teammates, you know?"

Family, Weiss had called them.

Weiss sighed. "No, I suppose not. But then… we haven't been the best when it comes to telling each other the whole truth, have we?"

Yang bit her tongue. There was so much more she could've revealed -including things that might've changed how they thought about Oscar- but she tried to reaffirm her commitment to letting him go. If Weiss did pursue him, there was every chance they could be happy together.

"That's something we need to get better about," Ruby conceded. "And… I don't know what's going on in the meeting over there, but now that we don't have to worry about the lamp anymore, it's probably time we tell the general-"

"General Ironwood!" Weiss suddenly interjected, frantically searching for her Scroll. "Guys, I'll be right back!" She headed quickly for the dining hall -running quite quickly in her heels- before holding up her index finger and glancing back: "We're not done talking about this, by the way!"

Yang figured as much. Hopefully Weiss found some useful information while skulking about the mansion… maybe that mission at least had gone to plan.

Ruby turned her eye towards Yang again. "So… were you going to tell me any of this if you didn't think Weiss would go for him?"

It was a fair question. Normally, Yang wouldn't have kept anything like this from Ruby. But the secret had festered for so long, it'd hang over them forever now.

"I was worried about what you'd think," Yang admitted, keeping her voice low enough to avoid the ear of any curious partygoers. "Given… stuff."

It wasn't her most eloquent rationalizing. But if anyone in the world would be able to decipher it, it'd be her sister.

"Stuff?" Ruby repeated.

"A lot… of stuff," Yang mutedly replied.

Ruby nodded. "Yeah."

More for them to talk about. Yang only hoped they'd have time to.

Ruby glanced around the party, getting a quick headcount. "Hey, have you guys actually seen Oscar…?"

Ruby wandered away from her teammates, making her way towards Jaune and Ren. Yang moved to follow, before she felt Blake take hold of her wrist.

"Do you think you should tell them anything else?" Blake asked.

Yang glanced at Ruby's back, waiting for a bit more distance between her sister and the conversation. "Like what?"

"Us," Blake simply replied. "You could tell her that you're dating someone else now."

That too was a big step. And not something that needed to be secret. She mostly assumed Weiss and Ruby already knew, but they hadn't actually stopped to talk about it at any point…

"If you're ready to tell them, I'm all for it," Yang agreed. "Now's as good a time as any to get it all out in the open."

Blake wasn't quite finished, however, tightening her grip on Yang's wrist. "Now that she knows, Weiss -or even Ruby- might ask Oscar for details too. If there's more you think you should tell them, then now has to be the time."

Yang thought on it. She didn't know if Oscar would give out uncomfortable details -he'd been surprisingly discreet- but she did think of him as being honest. She did think that when he answered her questions -and Ozpin wasn't there to whisper in his ear- that he told her the truth. He'd probably do just the same for Weiss.

"Are you okay with them knowing?" Yang asked her.

Blake nodded. "They've heard much worse about me than this. I… I don't regret what we did together. We always knew it'd be temporary." She turned her attention to Ruby, now working with Jaune to scour the floor. "And I get it: it's hard to talk to her about this kind of stuff, but… she's not quite so young anymore, is she?"

None of them were. Ruby had the benefit of being shielded from this sort of thing: Yang had made a point to do just that. But she was old enough now where these sort of things would happen, if not to her then to her friends and family. It was something she'd have to deal with… and Yang would have to let her in sooner or later. She'd always meant to. Yang absolutely wanted her sister to know about the people she shared her life with.

But there was something else Blake mentioned… the way she firmly drew a line under their time with Oscar.

A reminder there was one other thing Yang hadn't revealed… not even to Blake.

"When we get back to the academy, we should all talk," Yang suggested. "And just… answer any questions they have. Just tell them all the truth if they ask."

Blake nodded, her grip loosening on Yang's wrist. "I'm ready."

She would be, to tell Weiss and Ruby her part in it all. But would she feel so prepared if Yang could just admit to her -or if Ruby or Weiss asked her- what she continued to think of Oscar?

So often she condemned others for keeping their secrets, for creating distance between friends when none needed to exist. Now she was doing just the same, with her sister, her girlfriend…

She hoped they wouldn't ask. She hoped Weiss would go ahead and tell Oscar what she felt, and the two of them would be happy together. She just wanted her secret to not affect anything, to just… fade away and never be thought of again.

But if they asked her…

If she promised she'd tell them the truth…

Yang slid her arm out from Blake's hand and headed over to join her sister and help track down their friend. Nora in particular seemed interested in figuring out where he'd wandered off.

The task at hand, Yang reminded herself. They only had to get through this shindig and get back to their dorm and hash everything out… they were hours away from all this just being the past, and everything being in the open… or almost everything, and it being on Yang to be able to move on.

Blake had been patient before. Blake had been accommodating. She had to be able to reciprocate that. She had to be strong enough to let something go and be happy with what she had.

There shouldn't have been anything easier than loving someone. And what she felt for Oscar was… complicated, frustrating, confusing. It'd be so much easier if she'd simply cut him out after they left Argus and just been able to move on.

But then, Yang had to move on much more often than she wanted to. Move on from Beacon, move on from her mother, move on from Adam and her maiming… so moving on from the first boy she ever kissed, the first boy she ever made love to, the first boy to listen to her talk about her problems and empathize with her…

If Ruby and Weiss didn't ask her the question, she'd be the only one who knew. It'd hurt for a while, but it'd only hurt her.

Yang hoped she'd only have to give away most of the truth. The rest of it would become true with time… and silence.

Weiss flung open the door to the dining hall, using her glyph to accelerate her pull. "Wait! You've got the wrong man on trial!"

The councilors and Robyn Hill looked up from their seats. Jacques, Camilla, and Sleet were poised over their Scrolls, while Ironwood was staring at the stark white of the table.

"I know who's been framing Ironwood; who rigged the election," Weiss explained. "And my father does too: he's been working with him."

"Rigged the election?" Robyn repeated.

"Really, young lady," Jacques dryly observed, "We are in the middle of a very important vote…"

Weiss glared at him, holding up the Scroll her mother gave her. "I have it all here-"

She turned her attention to the general, still staring at the sheen of the table, uncharacteristically meek. "General…"

"Oh, don't mind him," Jacques mused. "He's dealing with a slide into redundancy…"

Weiss snapped her attention back over to him. "What do you mean?"

"I mean he's finally been outvoted," Jacques smugly replied. "Two seats on the council… years of gridlock as he kept forcing his will upon duly elected officials…"

Camilla cleared her throat. "What Councilman Schnee means is… we've revoked the General's authority over the Amity project and have ordered it declassified. We're… waiting for him to acquiesce."

Ironwood finally looked up, Weiss turning her gaze back to him. He'd spent weeks looking exhausted, sleep-deprived… but at last he looked completely drained, sapped of his otherwise indomitable will. Whatever emergency powers he may have wielded before, however authoritarian he sometimes seemed… he would still be forced to yield when faced with the weight of law, the will of the voters.

"Don't!" Weiss protested, waving the Scroll again. "There's something you need to see…"

She set the Scroll on the table, moving her index finger over a paused video from her mother's surveillance cameras… a video of her father speaking with a thin, weedy man in a long brown coat.

"Is that… Arthur Watts?" Camilla asked, her eyes widening.

Sleet stood up from his chair. "That's impossible! Dr. Watts died in the Paladin Incident years ago!"

Weiss kept her gaze on her father. Jacques seemed surprised by the sight of her video, but bit his tongue, not revealing how much he knew…

Ironwood looked at the screen, his eyes baggy, almost vacant. Clover leaned over towards him from his position at the general's left shoulder. "Sir-?"

Winter moved from her place on the wall, firmly instructing Weiss: "Play it."

Weiss nodded. That was all the go ahead she needed…

"Oh, there's no need for that," Jacques interjected. "Given that the general has already forfeited his operational authority, I hardly think it appropriate for his subordinates to try and impel the Council now…"

Camilla and Sleet exchanged glances. They were caught up in the fight between Jacques and Ironwood, and had already conceded a point to their newest councilor. Weiss, however, didn't allow her father's objection to deter her, moving to press the Scroll's play function-

"Stop," Ironwood instructed her, finally rising from his seat. "If you have evidence to present, Miss Schnee, bring it back to Atlas Academy for review."

Weiss's eyes widened. "But, General-"

"The Council has rendered their vote and we must comply with their instructions," Ironwood wearily explained. "However strongly we might feel otherwise."

It tortured him to step aside. Weiss turned her gaze from the general back to her father, still smiling smugly in his seat… daring her to defy the order.

She had proof of his misdeeds. She had probable cause to arrest him for treason against the kingdom…

Winter shook her head. Ironwood merely waited, naturally assuming she would follow his orders. And defying him now might have convinced the other members of the Council that Jacques was guilty of a terrible crime… or further persuade them that the general had lost control of the situation and they were justified in further stripping him of his authority.

Weiss finally did as she was bid, closing the display and stepping aside. Robyn Hill glanced between the four councilors, eyeing each of them warily. "She says she has proof of election fraud and none of you want to hear it?"

"I'm sure given the precarious situation General Ironwood is in, his subordinates would say whatever they have to in order to preserve their status," Jacques replied. Robyn turned her glare specifically upon him, knowing he'd have all the incentive in the world to dismiss these claims out of hand…

"Whatever evidence Miss Schnee has will be reviewed by my experts before it's submitted to the council," Ironwood resignedly offered. "For now… I'm sure you understand the need for me to reevaluate the kingdom's defense needs, in light of your decision. We should proceed with remaining council business."

"Yes," Sleet agreed. "We really have been interrupted quite enough."

Ironwood turned his gaze to Weiss. "Please excuse us, Miss Schnee. Clover, Winter, Penny- leave us." He returned to his seat to address the others, while Robyn was politely offered escort by one of Jacques' waiters, leaving in a huff.

Winter grasped her sister's shoulders, trying to be subtle in pulling her along. Weiss fumed, but followed after her out into the hall, leaving the four to speak at the table.

"What happened?" Weiss hissed under her breath.

"Father convinced the others that the Amity project was a waste of limited resources," Winter sighed. "And now he's pushing them to reopen the borders and start up exports again."

"Exports…" Weiss repeated. "Meaning Dust."

"Naturally," Winter confirmed, glancing around for Robyn Hill or anyone else out of the loop. "The General refused to reveal the truth about the communications tower. They couldn't understand what purpose it served and ordered that construction be halted. The General insisted on a vote and was overruled."

Amity… all their hard work, come to naught. All the suffering of the people in Mantle for nothing.

"So what happens now?" Weiss asked.

"I don't know," Winter admitted. "The General is still in command of the kingdom's security. But he'll have to get the council's approval to act now. He'll have to get Father's approval."

Weiss looked down at the recording, the still image of her father with the man she now knew to be called Arthur Watts. A dead man who convinced her father to dance to his tune…

If Weiss hadn't stopped to send a message to Whitley… or, if she hadn't stopped to exchange gossip with her friends…

Weiss slammed her fist into the nearest wall. Because she stopped to waste time on something so childish…

It took her a moment to compose herself. Winter provided her cover, obscuring her sister from the view of the guests.

"I'll tell the others this has happened," Weiss informed them. "This… he can't just get away with this."

Clover intercepted her before she could leave. "Before you let your team know… we have another problem. The heat's gone out in Mantle. People are getting tense down there… maybe rioting again." Clover examined his Scroll, receiving even more bad news. "And a new group of Grimm are heading right for the hole in the border wall."

Oscar wasn't sure what to make of Neo's request. She wanted to know about the girls he'd dated before? Was this really the time…?

She was still obstructing the exit and had the decency -or maybe simply the pragmatism- to return the lamp to him. He hadn't heard any notifications on his Scroll from the others about Weiss…

The comms. He could turn on the comms in his ear and let them know where he was. If he could just find a way to reach his ear and make it look natural…

No, then the others would almost certainly try to attack Neo, and there'd be no chance of persuading her to stop her pursuit. She'd be driven away and probably be smart enough to realize Oscar had led them to her. And if all she wanted was a few details of his personal life, maybe that would help her to understand why she was hunting the wrong people.

When he thought on it, back to Nora and the haircut and the way his emotions leaked out against his will… how that first manifested at Brunswick Farms when he was alone with Blake and fighting against his own loneliness and despair, how he started with a few simple suggestions to Yang…

He could still do all that. He could… guide her towards understanding.

Oscar reminded himself he no longer needed the crutch. He would not make Neo think anything.

But she wanted to know how he felt. That he could share with her, in a way she may never have experienced before. Words could be matched with feelings brushing up against her own thoughts.

"I was alone," Oscar explained. "Even when I was surrounded by friends I was out of my depth. Everyone knew it, but they were too kind to tell me. Even Yang and Nora wouldn't be so blunt as to say it."

Neo understood feeling alone. She'd know that feeling when it emanated from Oscar's soul.

"Yang was suffering too, but she was trying to hide it," Oscar explained. "It was because of what happened between her and Blake and… I don't know that they needed my help to get to their relationship but I did help, and got to… got to be with them and not worry about the complicated relationship stuff. I could be valued, even if it wasn't the same as I'd had before. And being valued by them… it matters to me. It matters a lot."

Neo understood a relationship that would be hard for others to comprehend; that they couldn't be let into. She understood wanting someone to appreciate her and recognize her contribution.

Oscar remembered the cold. He tried not to project that too much, but his emotions would be unfiltered as they flowed to Neo. She'd recognize the stinging pain, the dread of hearing the wind's howl.

She knew it well. She felt it before Roman… and after.

It was dangerous to be so open with her. Because she'd feel not only his sincere appreciation for them, but the lower, baser feelings… the reminiscing about the act rather than the person.

And reminiscing not only for Yang, Blake, Nora… for… whomever else warmed his bed, and whom Ozpin remembered, and whom Oscar rejected but still haunted his thoughts…

Ozpin… that would be impossible to explain. Even harder than explaining the gods, the relics, and humanity's multiple chances at life on this world. Yet that was the reason Yang and Blake gave for it to end…

"They wanted to be together; just them," Oscar explained. That much was true, and he clung tightly to it. Hopefully Neo would only sense his anguish at having given them up rather than sense his duplicity… she was giving him the chance to be honest. "But I wasn't alone for long. Nora… Nora needed someone too, and I had just joined her team. She's been carrying a lot too, working through a lot more than anyone else ever picked up on. She lost a friend and barely had the time to deal with it before she had to pick up all the pieces and move on, always trying to be strong for everyone else's sake. I… can't say I know what it's like, but maybe she just needed the time for someone to listen."

Neo understood having to pick up and carry on much too quickly. She knew being overlooked, left to deal with her pain because no one else gave her the time to offer help.

Oscar knew those three weren't the only ones Neo was thinking of. She came to his bed night after night, when she dragged him into this closet -after she got the information she needed to know- she tried to kiss him…

Oscar wasn't blind. He hadn't forgotten what it was for her to share his bed.

He didn't want to say it. He couldn't help but think it.

Neo watched him carefully, still processing the sensations he'd projected to her. She reached up to press her palm to his cheek again.

He could try and push her away again. But now she'd know for sure that he didn't want to.

He wanted to be loyal to Nora. And he wanted not to be.

But Oscar forced himself to push her hand away. He forced himself to be strong and focus his thoughts elsewhere.

Neo would understand that too. She knew all about turning her eye from the thing she wanted most, no matter how hard it was to do so.

She slid her hand off his skin and drew back, leaning against the countertop. She sighed to herself, ruefully crossing her arms.

Oscar quickly tried to utilize the time, refocusing his attention on his pitch. "You know it all now. You know what happened to your… friend. And whatever happened between you and Yang and you and Ruby, or him and Blake or… or whatever else, I just want you to know that it doesn't have to be this way. It doesn't have to keep being this."

Neo didn't answer him. She was still deep in thought.

The door unlatched. Oscar's eyes whirled towards the wooden frame as the door swung open… and a familiar girl in pink stood in the hall, peering inside.

He shouldn't have been surprised. If there were anyone among his friends brazen enough to open a locked door in someone else's house… actually that was a pretty long list, but he'd put Nora at the very front.

Nora immediately reached to her back and unfolded Magnhild, glaring daggers at Neo. Neo emerged quickly from her torpor, reaching for her parasol…

Oscar quickly leapt in, interposing himself between the two. "Wait," Oscar pleaded. "Wait, Nora. She's not here to cause trouble. She just wanted answers."

"Answers," Nora growled. "Alone with you in a supply closet?"

Oscar had to admit that looked pretty damning. He took some solace in the fact he'd managed to keep Neo off him before Nora forced the door open. "Yes. About what Jinn showed us. And she got what she needed."

Oscar gestured to the lamp, once more clipped to his belt. He then gestured to Neo, who was still firmly holding her weapon but had yet to level it Nora's way.

"Please," Oscar requested. "Nothing happened."

Nora continued to glare at Neo. Even if Neo hadn't harmed -or seduced- Oscar, her mere presence was still provocative. She chased them across multiple continents, just as Adam Taurus had, just as Cinder Fall had…

"Please," Oscar asked again. "Nora, it's okay."

Nora continued to glare. Her grip tightened on her hammer.

Then Neo released her grip on her parasol and crossed her arms. She wouldn't be able to counterattack if Nora struck quickly enough now…

Nora finally turned her attention to Oscar, ever trying to deescalate. Her gaze shifted a few times between Oscar and Neo before she finally relaxed her grip, letting Magnhild slide through her grip and rest the mallet on the floor.

Neo stepped past Oscar, sliding out of the closet. As she passed Nora, her attire changed into a black server's uniform, her hair turning just as black, her eyes shifting to brilliant green. She headed off down the hall with her parasol resting on her shoulder.

Nora watched her until she turned a corner and vanished from sight. Oscar stepped out from the closet to join her in the hallway, fixing his gaze firmly upon her. "Nora… nothing happened. Nothing was going to happen."

"Maybe for you," Nora grumbled. "That one… I don't know why you gave her the time of day."

"Because she's not evil, Nora," Oscar replied. "She's lost. I used to be that way too."

Nora sighed. "Yeah." She collapsed her hammer and reattached it to her hip. "...yeah."

"What's going on?" Oscar asked her.

"We were worried about where you ended up," Nora explained. "More than that, we've got some bigger problems…"

Ironwood finally emerged from his meeting with the council, looking more haggard than ever. Oscar and Clover were waiting for him in the hall when he did finally emerge, the former occasionally flitting his glances back to the foyer, where all the others waited, organizing themselves to be deployed.

Once again it fell to him to stay out of combat and safeguard a now powerless relic… though that bothered him less by the way everyone seemed to be casting glances his way. Every time he looked over at his friends at least one of them would abruptly avert their gaze and pointedly look somewhere else. Almost as though he was being watched…

"General, the Grimm are all over Mantle," Clover reported. "The air fleet's doing everything they can but they can't easily target Grimm in the city without risking civilian casualties."

Ironwood frowned. "The Council's been locked out of our own security access. Whatever deal Jacques made with Watts… our credentials have been revoked. We have no support from our Atlesian Knights and we may soon lose communications entirely."

"Sir, we need ground support now," Clover pressed.

"I tried to keep the kingdom safe. Now we're losing everything," Ironwood sighed, reaching up with his left hand to massage his temples. All his control was slipping away only faster…

Oscar knew how that felt. He spent every day knowing that he'd eventually lose all that he was.

Clover wouldn't be the one to push Ironwood out from under the weight of that despair. He'd be too quick to defer to the general, too eager to let his commanding officer hold the weight of the world on his shoulders.

Oscar stepped past Clover. It seemed today was the day he'd convince as many people as possible that they weren't quite as alone as they thought themselves to be.

"General?" Oscar asked. "Earlier, you asked for my advice."

"I wanted Ozpin's advice," Ironwood clarified.

Another reminder that Ironwood was waiting for the day Oscar became someone else. That James too wanted someone above him to carry the weight… not that anyone could blame him from straining under that pressure.

"And his advice probably would've been to keep your secrets," Oscar conceded. "When we first got here, you already knew that wasn't the right course. You had a new plan."

"It's time to give up on that plan," Ironwood grimly replied, lowering his hand from his face. "It's all falling apart."

"The panic you're worried about?" Oscar reminded him. "It's already happening. The secrets you're keeping? They're about to be out in the open anyway. It's time."

Oscar glanced back at his friends. He waved to them, urging them to join him in the hall, to show Ironwood the support he'd been forced to go without when facing the council.

"Tell the truth," Oscar encouraged him.

"You're not alone," Ruby agreed. "We can do this together."

Ironwood glanced back at the door to Jacques' dining hall. It can't have been easy to step back into a battle after being so thoroughly routed…

Guarding the truth about Amity… but there were worse secrets he still had to offer.

"Thank you, Oscar," Ironwood affirmed. "We'll tell the Council what we can about Salem and what's coming." He turned to Clover. "Find Winter and get to a transport. You're needed down below."

Ruby turned to her assembled friends and allies. "Alright everybody, it's time to do our jobs. All of us."

"What she said," Clover concurred. "Let's make it happen, Huntsmen."

Oscar would not be joining them in rushing to the fight. But he did follow the others out to the foyer as they waited for Winter to call in their rides.

When he stood alongside them, he could feel it even more intensely… eyes shifting back and forth to him. Maybe Nora told them about him and Neo and the closet? Or-

"Oscar?" Ruby asked him.

Oscar turned to face Ruby, who very nearly bumped into him. Both of them started to say: "I-"

Then silence. Ruby laughed awkwardly. "Oh…"

"Oh, you first," Oscar insisted.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to interrupt…"

"You didn't, actually," Oscar assured her.

"Um…" Ruby timidly began, "I just wanted to say… uh…"

Oscar waited. Sure, she must've had something important to tell him… as long as they were waiting…

Oscar felt eyes on his back again. He glanced away from Ruby and saw Weiss abruptly turn her head. What had he missed out on…?

"We should tell Ironwood," Ruby quickly continued, catching Oscar's attention again.

Oscar quickly returned his gaze to her and nodded. "We're on the same page there. He's finally choosing truth over fear: we should do the same."

"I'll tell him," Ruby suggested. "I'm the one who chose to keep it from him in the first place."

Her teammates ran past them, towards ships landing in the Schnee mansion courtyard. Oscar shook his head. "I think you're needed elsewhere."

Ruby glanced back at the mansion. "You're sure?"

"Yeah, I've got it," Oscar nodded. He tentatively held up his thumb, trying to reassure her. Ruby seemed interested in telling him more but only nodded before dashing after the others, disappearing in a flurry of petals.

When he peered out to the courtyard Oscar saw Weiss, Blake, and Yang all watching him. Or maybe they were watching Ruby, he wasn't sure…

His gaze shifted to Nora, climbing into a ship alongside Jaune and Ren. He had the strangest sense she hadn't looked back at him… but then, after she brought him over to the general she hadn't said anything else to him. Though to be fair, he hadn't said anything to see her off either…

Oscar tabled that thought for now. What he had left to say to Ironwood… that was where his focus would need to be. He had to support the others as he was able and helping the general deal with the seemingly insurmountable odds he was facing sounded preferable to a meaningless guard duty.

The time had finally come for them to be honest. He felt himself worthy of that task, at least.

In an alley in Mantle, Watts observed the latest ruling by the council, ordering the declassification of something called 'Project Amity.' He thumbed over the screen, observing the design specs on Amity Colosseum… what need would James have for that eyesore of a battle arena? Why was he investing so many military resources into it?

Why was he ordering transmitters, cell towers, reserve power generators…

"A communications tower," Watts realized.

"What?" Tyrian asked, sharpening the blade of his gauntlet at Watts' left.

"We have to move, now," Watts informed his cohort. "I finally know what James has been up to… and I can't wait for him to watch his precious science project tumble out of the sky."

Neo tapped in the passcode: 1 2 1 0. The door to the apartment allowed her entrance and she stepped inside, looking out over the view of the Atlas cityscape.

"Huh," observed a voice in the dimly lit room. "You're back early."

Neo had never enjoyed hearing the voice. But she hated it more than ever now.

Now that she knew Cinder Fall had lied to her.

"Tell me you've found what we've been looking for," Cinder implored.

Neo shed the waitress disguise. She reached up to flick Roman's black derby hat, giving Cinder a rueful glare.

Neo found what she'd been looking for. As for Cinder…

She hadn't found what Cinder wanted. But she had brought exactly what she deserved.

When she flicked Roman's hat, she crafted a new illusion of her arm simply lowering to her side.

Not to the parasol on her hip, and the weapon in hand…