guilt
/ɡɪlt/
noun
1. the fact of having committed a specified or implied offence or crime.
"it is the duty of the prosecution to prove the prisoner's guilt"
Over the past year, Oscar had come to dread sleep… every night when he closed his eyes and attempted to rest, his mind would be plagued with nightmare scenes of pain and violence, some memories of the people he watched die, others… terrible visions of himself failing the people he was sworn to protect.
He woke up screaming for Ruby, Salem's cruel laugh echoing in his ears and phantom blood covering his hands as the dream faded and reality returned.
{Oscar… are you alright?} Ozpin asked, his voice soft and soothing.
Oscar shook his head, "not really… but then again, I haven't been okay for a long time."
Second hand guilt began to fill Oscar's stomach, {I'm sorry…}
"No, don't be. Your not to blame for my nightmares, or anything else that's bothering me right now. So don't apologize for things that aren't your fault."
The guilty feeling filling him began to subside, but only slightly. {I may not be directly at fault, but I can't help but still feel somewhat responsible, if not for me; you'd have never been dragged into this mess in the first place.}
Rolling his eyes, Oscar offered a sad smile. "Maybe not, but I'm here and there is nothing either of us can do about it. So you should stop worrying about things we can't change. Or you'll end up giving me gray hairs before I'm sixteen."
{And what a tragedy that would be.} And with that, a light hearted humor began to fill him, steadily replacing the misplaced guilt.
"Well, I won't be going back to sleep after that, should we start planning out what we're going to do when it comes to Qrow and the others?" Oscar asked as he pushed aside the sheet tangled around him and began to get out of bed.
{Yes, I suppose that would be a more productive way to spend the rest of the night if you can't sleep.}
Once up, Oscar collected his notes from the previous day and pulled the ones pertaining to the events that took place right after he arrived in Mistral the first time.
"So! First, we have to figure out how we're going to explain everything to Qrow, I can lie and mislead everyone else when it comes to my origins and our connection, but not Qrow. I owe him the truth… after everything he did for me and will continue to do for us… we owe him the truth."
{Your right. I just fear how he will react, Qrow isn't exactly known for dealing with bad or upsetting information very well…}
Oscar was very aware of how Qrow was prone to reacting to unsavory information, he had witnessed first hand the mans downward spiral into depression after Jinn's revelation about Salem. "I know the risk, but we owe it to him to try, and he'll be hearing everything from us this time. We can make him see reason. He'll understand" at least, Oscar hoped he would.
"We also have to figure out what our story for the others will be, how do we want to introduce me to everyone?"
{if you're certain that we should keep my existence a secret from everyone, I'd say perhaps we try to pass you off as my son, but that could open us up to all kinds of uncomfortable situations.}
"I am." Oscar said adamantly, tapping his chin and bouncing his pen in thought. "And, while your son might be a bit difficult. What about your nephew?"
A/N: sorry, I don't usually leave notes when posting here, but I just need to say that while I love and appreciate everyone who reviews/comments on this fic, after some very poor and hurtful interactions along with certain 'suggestions' made to me when I was writing for the Naruto fandom, I do not accept con-crit of any kind.
I don't mean to sound rude or unappreciative, but my history with criticisms of my writing style on this site have left me incapable of accepting it without getting upset and angry...
But thank you very much to everyone that has left a review on this fic, I love seeing the notifications pop up in my Emails and I enjoy reading them!
