Bold sentences are flashbacks.

Oscar crouched before his apartment door to unblock it. Someone had removed it and he could smell the faint scent and he nearly broke down into tears. His bare apartment was a mess everything pulled apart. She didn't care if some random spy knew his place was ransacked. He might be able to pull one over Roman, but Neo taught him everything he knew about being a criminal.

No no no.

She taught him how to hide things, Neo would be the one who could sniff his secrets out, and that shoebox was open. He flew to it his nails lifted the thin board he installed for the express purpose of hiding a few pieces of paper.

-love, no one installs a false bottom on a box meant to be thrown away-

He let out his breath in relief, she hasn't learned that lesson yet. She did not see what could not exist yet. He unfolded the picture of his life when it was damaged but still full of hope. He held it to his chest and committed it to a better hiding spot.

A bitterness filled him, in the process of keeping Roman alive he was erasing his own existence. Arthur Watts, when showing the design only Oscar could use, admitted he wasn't sure what would happen to the boy. He might become a fragment of a timeline erased. To save a world and then he would be alone to mourn their version Remanent that had lost everything.

He laid down in his lumpy cot. Mourning was the norm for him. It began easily with the loss of his parents. He spent years creating the illusion of happiness only for it to shatter again. Grief was his life.

He had watched Neo for years as she tried to shove aside her pain over losing her brother. The night they found out they would have a boy he told her,

"It's okay to grieve, it meant that there was love. It's painful that love has no place to go and so it wells in the hollow part of our chests." He gently rubbed her belly, "Let's name him Roman?" His wife nodded and buried herself in his arms.

Oscar curled up into a tight ball willing himself to sleep. Miraculously he did. The following morning Oscar glanced at himself in the mirror, he couldn't pass as a student anymore. He had to earn Roman's trust, yet he could not bring himself to betray a man he knew as well as himself. Feeling the nicotine patch on his arm and hoped that if he wasn't smoking he wouldn't draw too much attention. His hands kept twitching to the pocket now empty of cigarettes.

He strode past Glynda, Ozpin's door was locked with a keypad and he easily typed in the passcode. Oscar tilted his head back and smiled at the blonde instructor, "that will be all, Glynda." He couldn't stop a smirk as the confusion and fear marked her features.

She peered around him and sighed in relief, Ozpin was indeed alive. Sipping a mug of cocoa and James Ironwood was sitting across from him.

Fuck

Oscar had been shot too many times to hold a grudge against a gunman. He resented Ironwood for taking resources away from the world to rise above his tiny floating island. He didn't even protect his select population from illness. It eventually fell, Ruby had built something to communicate and organize a rebellion to bring him and his island down. By that time Arthur had designed a time machine but was too weak to build it. If the scientist had more skilled mechanics earlier, Oscar would have had a few chances to fix this rather than one jump… one chance.

Maybe someone would have been well enough to jump with him.

Maybe his last look into Neo's eyes he would have seen pink.

Maybe Oscar wouldn't have had to bury his blackened malformed son.

His hand shot his pocket and remembered he left the cigarettes behind, his eyes wandered to the minibar. Desperate to push these memories aside.

Ozpin graciously asked, "Would you like a drink?"

He needed several, to slip into oblivion. He shook his head and straightened, "No thank you, I'm on a mission."

Ironwood snorted, "if only all my coworkers had that sort of decorum. "

Oscar wistfully patted his own new cane, Qrow was alive right now.

Ozpin raised a brow, "then how may I help you?" Oscar, teeth clenched, glanced at Ironwood.

Ozpin, "James, here is a trusted friend."

Oscar snapped, "He does not have mine."

Ozpin's mouth pressed into a fine line and James stood waving a metallic hand, "It's fine, if you end up having something I need to act I know you will tell me."

After the general left Ozpin spoke again, "Let's start with your name."

"Oscar Pine." Oscar fidgeted "may I see my...our cane?"

Ozpin set his mug down hard at the boy's wording but tossed his folded-up weapon.

Oscar sighed, his shoulders relaxed pressing the lever and held it just so it adjusted the length perfectly. It was destroyed in the final fight with Salem. He had lost an extension of himself since then. Rolling it over his hands, feeling its solid nature, and whirling it to hear that whistle. He felt at ease with it in a way he never could with the superior technology Ruby made his new one with. Except for the scope, he recalled how she grinned with pride as she installed it,

"I would only give this to my family...Brother."

He dropped Long Memory and clutched his chest. He had to kill a woman that would become his sister...right? There wasn't enough air in the room. He felt a strong arm around him and soft murmurs as Oscar was gently being rocked.

The dark-haired youth came back to himself, his fingers dug into the front of the headmaster's shirt, he had sobbed and snotted into the fine scarf. The older man looked at him with affection and did not care about the mucus.

"My boy, whatever it is, you do not have to shoulder this alone." The old wizard continued to rock the boy. Oscar had countless memories of Ozpin offering comfort when he first started hosting the wizard. Oscar could not understand such patience for the repetition.

Oscar at 13 had asked, Ozpin, everyone has similar problems. How can you be so patient with the same situation over and over again?

Ozpin, Well Oscar, I've never seen the same situation. The core is the same, you are correct. In the end, it manifests uniquely. I may have witnessed suffering more times than I can recount. You must remember it is their first time, and so love is the only thing I am capable of offering….Or I wish I was only capable of offering.

Oscar, What do you mean? I've only seen you be patient.

Ozpin, We've only been together a short time. You will witness the full front of my shame eventually.

Oscar shook his head and pulled himself back into reality. He stood and looked out of the window. He never set foot into Beacon today, but he smiled remembering a time when Qrow smashed into the window.

"I'm your next incarnation, Ozpin."

"That is rather hard to be-"

Oscar held up his hand and the moisture in the air froze, turning into snow.

Ozpin quietly, "I don't even have that much magic left."

"We defeated Salem. Long Memory broke when she passed along her powers to me through it."

Ozpin choked out a laugh, "She couldn't bear the complete loss of magic in this world." his voice turned harsh

"And I was primed for it. She found meaning to life and death, we thought it was a good thing."

Ozpin furrowed his brows, "Explain."

"I don't know if Salem meant for it, or if it was a side effect of the Grimm not having their goddess anymore. The Grimm pools stopped producing and they burst into ash."

"All of them?"

Oscar nodded, "You know what happens to people if Grimm ash pollutes living areas."

"Grimmification." Ozpin nails dug into his own palms

"By the virtue of magic or hosting an immortal for as long as I did, I alone was immune."

Ozpin buried his face in his hands, "I left you alone, with this?"

"No, You thought you were leaving me alone with the woman I love and my best friend. Yes, we lost much and it would take a while to rebuild. But we could rebuild, you left us with so much hope. You deserved rest. You still deserve rest."

Ozpin smiled fragilely, "Like-minded souls indeed."

Oscar didn't know if he was happy or angry about it, "You taught me how to be a man, Ozpin. Of course, we're alike."

Nodding slowly, "I assume you have a plan?"

Oscar shrugged, "I was the only person alive immune, but as much as the few scientists remaining studied me, there wasn't anything modern medicine could do with me. There was another person, whose remains appeared immune."

"Roman Torchwick I assume?"

Oscar blinked, he expected he'd have to explain everything.

Ozpin smiled, "Did you not inherit my knowledge of genetics specifically with silver-eyed warriors?"

Oscar growled, "I remember your ledger."

Ozpin paled, "I prefer to think of it as a family tree."

Oscar scoffed, "I'm sure you do."

Ozpin looking away, "Silver eyes is an incredibly dominant gene. In fact, the only one I know is more dominant."

"Heterochromia."

"Yes, I'm unsure if you are aware-"

"Neopolitan Torchwick was my wife. Her Heterochromia made her more vulnerable than average, she was one of the first to die."

"Ah, I am sorry for your loss. Her eyes were to be expected when mating someone with heterochromia with... anyone"

Oscar had hoped to look into the pink and brown eyes of his son. He gritted his teeth, "Roman's wasn't, Penny tried to explain it to me but something about the blend of silver eyes and heterochromia, made Roman's remains immune. Silver-eye warriors are resistant to corruption, but in the face of countless Grimm, they are still susceptible. "

"I imagine Miss Rose was one of the last to fall." It wasn't a question

"Which was fortunate because she was able to follow the time travel blueprint."

Amusement twinkled in the old man's eyes, "Well then I am grateful I am accommodating her wish to take advanced weapons design classes."

Oscar smiled, Ruby must be happy. He could see her bounce around and build something truly terrifying and giggling like a psychopath at how beautiful it was.

Ozpin pulled him out of his happy warmth, "So it seems like we need to prioritize Roman Torchwick's life."

Shivering, "I need his trust, and he is paying me-" Oscar hated needing to work with a psychopath.

"To spy on me?" Mischief glittered in the old man's eyes, "Very well, I'm sure we can give him something. While I work on a plan to keep him alive." Ozpin paused, "have you already changed the timeline?"

Oscar wrung his hands, "Ruby was the reason why Torchwick died, and so she asked I kill her immediately. Before she got wrapped up in this."

Ozpin's jaw fell, "you're the gunman that attempted to murder a child."

Stammering to justify himself, "Torchwick is the best-" He cut himself off. He had felt it but he never saw Ozpin angry before.

"How exactly do you know that Ruby led Torchwick to his death?"

He knew how to give Oz a report, "She said so." Well, maybe not a good one.

"Who were the witnesses?"

"Her and only her."

"A traumatized 15-year-old girl's memories. Did you ever think she might not be seeing this clearly?

Oscar paused and dropped his head, he had, but he trusted himself even less.

Taking a large swig from his mug and then through gritted teeth, "I suspect you aren't in the right state of mind either." His tone was a snarl "promise me you won't kill anyone?"

Oscar nodded slowly

"Now for the situation at hand, what would a criminal mastermind wish to know about me?"

Oscar smiled, "well we aren't going to tell him about your vault. But I think you'd like to hear about Cinder."