Ruby sat in her tent, tensed and alone. Her heart was thumping in her chest and she could almost hear it as she sat there, panting. She had run the entire way back to her tent after having noticed that her baby bump might have started to appear and now sat panting in her tent. If Qrow had noticed, she didn't know what she was going to do. And not just that, but she was only a little past 3 months through. Didn't most baby bumps come in around 4 months? Maybe she didn't know anything. She was, after all, the youngest in her family.

With shaking hands, she slowly pulled out the small mirror that Weiss had allowed her to borrow. It was about the size of a large book and just light enough to be carried around with ease, and could also be hung on walls and such. She placed it on the little foldable nightstand she set up by her sleeping bag and then stood back, making sure her belly was clear in the reflection.

"And now the moment of truth," she sighed, her heart threatening to pound out of her chest. With trembling fingers, she reached the bottom of her shirt and slowly, very slowly, lifted it up, revealing her bare stomach. And indeed, there was a small bump where her normally flat belly was. Ruby felt a horrible prickling sensation go down her back and through her arms and legs as soon as she laid eyes on the little swollen spot.

There is a child in there! A real live baby curled up in my stomach!

The next thing Ruby unconsciously did was carefully extend her hands from her shirt and slowly rub her hands all over the spot. It was firm and warm, unlike how her skin normally felt. Usually it could be easily squished in a tiny bit, (she was really quite trim). It was a real baby bump, unlike the fake ones her and Yang had constantly tried to make from clothes and blankets to attempt to fool Tai. They had done it so many times, first using play balls that were way to large, and then wising up and bundling clothes with blankets. Her and Yang had so much fun doing that, even though it never worked on Tai. He had seen pregnant women before, and they did not look like that. He would simply laugh and tell them to stop doing it, which never happened until they started combat training and left him with a nearly empty house for hours a day.

Ruby smiled faintly as she remembered those fun times she had with Yang in their childhood. But then a sudden thought ran through her head, fading her smile away. Yang was her half sister and loved her dearly, but what would she do once she found out the truth? And after Ruby hadn't told her once she had gotten the chance when they were in private? Surely she would be angry. And an angry Yang with suspicion towards Ozpin would get her and Oscar separated forever. Or maybe even separated from the whole group...

"No, Yang wouldn't do that," Ruby argued to herself, turned away from the mirror and pulling her shirt down again, "She said she would forgive me no matter what I did." She pulled at her hair and began pacing her tent in circles, becoming a little more frantic with each word. "She said that she and the others would understand! You know, because true friends understand, right? And Yang and the others are my best friends, so they'll understand." Tears began to form in her eyes and her voice began to shake with emotion.

"And Jaune won't get super mad and take it all out on Oscar like he did in Argus. He'll forgive me-us!" But as she imagined Jaune's kind, handsome face with a betrayed look, all she could do was burst into tears and bury her face in her hands. "Even though he loves you and had your trust since Beacon!" She fell to her knees and sat there, sobbing into her hands and thinking over and over again how foolish she was and how horrible of a person she was now. Why had she done that? Why hadn't she just decided to go to normal sleep, cuddled up with Oscar, or whatever. That would've been nice and warm, right? But whatever the thought, what was done was done, and there was no turning back. She couldn't fix this and it was going to be this way. She lay down on her stomach and continued to cry, drowning in an ocean she felt she couldn't cross.

Meanwhile, Oscar stood in the woods, walking back from his late night training. It was far earlier than when he normally finished his training, and the sun had set only half an hour or so ago. It was still night and he had still been training since 2:00 in the afternoon, but it was still a treat to him that he could go to bed this early. It was probably only around 9:00 right now, rather than midnight. The moon looked beautiful tonight, at he wondered for a moment why it was shattered. But he immediately remembered what Jinn had told all of them about the god of darkness and such.

"I wasn't even alive at the time," he mumbled as he continued on his way back to camp.

"It would appear so," Ozpin said from deep inside Oscar's mind, "But you and I both remember that event as if we were present there ourselves."

Oscar nodded his head slowly and ducked under a large branch in his way. "Gee, I wonder why." He could barely hear a chuckle from Ozpin as he continued walking. He smirked a little and looked upward as if trying to see inside his head. Even though Ozpin was inside of him, he felt as if he were above him, even though he clearly knew that he wasn't. Oscar had grown to become friends with Ozpin as they talked often in the night. Even if it was about all the crazy saving-Remnant type of stuff. He walked on without saying anything, just focusing on the path he was following. But Ozpin spoke up again, as if he had been thinking before.

"Oscar, I do hope that you don't think of me as some distant spirit, or a harsh teacher forced to control you without your consent."

Oscar raised a brow, thought for a moment, and then sighed.

"Well...I did at first," he confessed, "But...well, after time when on and I met all of these amazing people that you know-er...knew, and after you and I talked for a while, I started to see you more as a...a friend, you know?" He smiled as he said those last words. He could just imagine Ozpin smiling, even though he didn't have a super clear picture of what he looked like. After inheriting most of Ozpin's memories and such, he had memories of looking in mirrors and seeing pictures and such, giving him a decent picture of what Ozpin looked like. But not as clearly as one could see another in plain sight. It was good enough, though.

"That relieves me, Oscar," Ozpin said, his voice portraying his sentence, "Are you aware of that?"

Oscar nodded his head slowly, thinking about it for a moment. Yes, of course it relieved Ozpin. It would relieve anyone, really. "Yeah."

"Good. Of course, I do not desire for my reincarnation partner to be annoyed with me or find me difficult to bond with. I myself wouldn't want someone with that likeness in my mind, constantly talking to me."

Oscar nodded. "Did the reincarnation before you act like that?"

"Not in the slightest. He was actually a very pleasant, kind man with a heart for family and people. He had to lecture me in a way very similar that I did you, but he was careful and wise to keep my trust in the ways that he taught me. Although, in a way, I am Ozma. When a reincarnation is fully finished, the personality and nearly the entire being of the original entity, Ozma, will merge with the body he is in. And that is what happened to me."

Oscar's eyes widened. "Wait, what?! I'm not going to be myself for very long? You-er, Ozma, is going to be me now?"

"Oscar, we discussed this for the duration of the time you had ran away after Mr. Arc had accused you of being me. You know that some trace amounts of your own personality will remain with you, or rather us, as we finish merging to the fullest."

"I know, I know, but now it just sounds even worse! And I don't even get to agree or anything. Can't I decide wheather or not I become you?"

"I'm afraid not. It is all part of the process. And you should remember how we didn't decide to reincarnate."

"I know...but it still doesn't feel fair. I feel so much like I should have the choice to stay "Me" for at least the longest time of my life, not just have it swiped away from history while I'm only 17 years old! And technically, it's still like I'm 15. My physical body aged, but I didn't age mentally. It's just...so unfair!"

"Oscar, I don't want to argue with you. But please know that I wish it to be different as well. But it isn't and what is done is done, and we must do the absolute foremost preeminent job we can do."

Oscar nodded his head and sighed. He felt exasperated, at at the same time like he could deal with this just fine. It would be alright. Ruby loved him, and him her. She had told him that and he hand made that abundantly clear to her only a few days ago.

"Do you think it'll be okay?" Oscar asked the voice in his head. He was a little nervous about what Ozpin would say. Even though he had been in his head for more than a year, it was still a little hard to predict what this old professor would say.

"I think it is doable. But I can't assure you that it will be simple to perform. It will take more than blenching and isolating the truth to have things remain uncomplicated."

Oscar sighed, but nodded. The faint glow of the campfire nearby, hidden by the many bushes, vines, and trees, announced his arrival. He breathed a sigh of relief and brushed away a branch that hovered in front of his face. He looked upward again, as if Ozpin were in the sky rather than his head, and smiled softly. "Funny thing, even though these talks always keep me up thinking at night and leave me confused about all of..." He though for a moment and waved his arms around to try to convey his point, even though nobody could actually see it. "This.., it made me realize that you-this soul combined with mine-are the ears who listen to all the crazy thing I have to spout off. All of the confusion and craziness of myself is always listened to by you. I don't think anyone else would really care to listen to any of my garbage. But you...you do."

There was a moment of silence as Oscar slowly made his way through the thick foliage, as if Ozpin was poring over the words Oscar had just said. Then he spoke up, a gentle, touched tone to his voice.

"Thank you, Oscar. I never told my former reincarnate anything near to what you, a recently 15 year old, have just said to me. It took me far too long to realize what he had provided for me and done. I spent too much time thinking about how 'unfair' it was that I had been placed in my position. And once I did, I had finally merged with him."

Oscar felt moved by this, even though it was Ozpin thanking him. That was new. But whatever the case, he still felt touched, and wanted all the more to stand face to face with the man in his head. He opened his mouth to say something more, another thank you, another...thing to make it clear how much he was trying to understand and cooperate, but just before the words left his mouth, he realized that he was standing in front of the glowing, crackling fire, about to step right into the hot embers. He stopped just in time, glad that the nice warmth, loud crackling, and bright light had caught his attention. He sighed and nodded to nobody.

"I'm going to leave you for a while."

"Wait, what?" Oscar said out loud, confused and surprised.

"It is best for you that I go for now. Not permanently, but only temporarily. You have so much more to go through, and a break in your training would be almost necessary, nearly mandatory. Your current physical status is not the healthiest, and you should get some rest. Regain some strength and make things right."

"Wait, but I-" Oscar began franticly, but he froze as the familiar feeling of the looming presence in his head seemed to simply seep into the center of his head and remain there, invisible. He sighed and hung his head, feeling suddenly alone. He looked up slowly and glanced around at the tents circling the general area he was in. They were all dark on the inside, indicating that they were all sleeping. It was a little late, anyway. But one tent caught his attention. One tent had its light still on, and their body was silhouetted against the light, showing that they were still awake and doing something.

Ruby!

Oscar slowly approaced her tent, curious and slightly concerned as to why she was still up. Usually, she would be plum tuckered out by the end of the day and she would fall asleep a minute after she lay down. Their baby was taking its toll on her young body, and she would get tired out easily. Fortunately, there hadn't been much Grimm activity in their area lately, and there hadn't been much need for combat. But she would still get tired from the whole day's events, and retired to her tent as soon as unsuspiciously as possible, usually when someone else decided to go to bed.

The first thing Oscar saw when he slowly pealed back the tent was Ruby, sitting on her knees and wearing some rather appealing pajamas. Well, if you could call them pajamas. She wore a tight black tank top, tight black leggings, and her hood. Her hood wasn't on her though, but wrapped around her, like a blanket. She was snuggling with it as if it were a stuffed animal or something. Oscar's eyes went directly to her shapely, sculpted form, but he quickly jerked his gaze back up to her face only a moment after. Her beautiful, innocent face that he loved so much. He smiled softly as he stared into those perfect, silver eyes, reminding him so much of Summer. Of course, he hadn't known her, but Ozpin had, and his memories flooded to his mind the moment he recognized them.

Ruby didn't seem to notice as the tent folds pealed back and Oscar appeared. She was far too busy inwardly talking to her mother, imagining she were right there with her. The soft red hood wrapped around her only reminded her of her mother more and more as she ventured farther from home with her team and her friends. Like Summer, Ruby loved adventures, and this was definitely an adventure. She also had her mother's sweet tooth, of course, as she deeply indulged in cookies. Most cookies she ate also reminded her of her mother's cookies, which were the richest, sweetest, best cookies in all of Remnant.

"Ruby?" Oscar asked gently, taking a step closer as he held the tent fold up. A small glowing firefly entered through the opening and then flew back out. Ruby also wasn't startled by his sudden talking, either, which was strange. She always got freaked out during sudden things or jump scares. She instead simply rolled over and yawned, pausing her silent conversation with her mother and turned to face Oscar. She looked at his large, hazel eyes and yawned again. She was tired and pretty careless right now, not really careing about most things at the moment. After finding out about her small baby bump, she had lingered in her tent, doing whatever until sleep overtook her and forced her to her sleeping bag. She had decided to talk to Summer by then, and that led up to now. In a sleepy haze she tried to keep eye contact with him, but found her vision wondering. She shook her head and cleared her throat, kicking a little awareness into her head. Not enough, though, to make most of the things she said sound serious.

"I'm showing," she said somewhat casually, rolling over again and stretching. Her hood undraped around her, now laying on the floor like a blanket. Oscar's eyes widened and he froze. A wave of confusion flooded his brain and mingled with all sense of logic and common sense, leaving him dazed. She wasn't suppose to show yet, was she?

"What?!" Oscar almost shouted after coming back to himself. Ruby pressed her finger to her lips and hissed for him to be quiet.

"Shhhh! You'll wake the whole camp!" she spat, more angry than leisurely now. Her mood swings woke her quite well. Oscar nodded slowly and held his hands up for peace, not wanting to anger her.

"Sorry," he apologize, "But what do you mean 'you're showing'?!" He looked as exasperated as he had back in Mistral, when he and Ruby had been talking about courage and moving forward, only, not so poor and innocent. Ruby sighed and closed her eyes.

"There's a bump there," she answered, sitting up straight. Her short, black and red hair fell messily around her face and she did nothing to brush it from her vision. "A swollen spot and some sort of...roundness or something. Like, a total reminder that I'm pregnant." She sighed and nodded her head slowly. Oscar took a little while to digest that, and then he looked like he was about to explode. His whole body tensed, his fist clenched, and his eyes squeezed shut, his teeth bared. But then he relaxed and his fact softened.

"Can I see?" he asked quietly, kneeling beside her, closing the tent behind him. Ruby nodded and slowly lifted her tank top up, revealing the bump. Although it wasn't too noticeable, it was still visible with the tank top on, and it was most defiantly not fat. It was for sure the baby. There was some sort of rounded shape about her midsection, and its surface was somewhat swollen. Oscar felt a dull feeling of prickly shock, but mostly he only felt some sort of exasperation. He knew this was going to happen, just not so soon.

He gently touched her stomach, a little surprised that it was firm. He knew it wasn't suppose to be squishy or anything, but somehow he had imagined it like that. He glanced up at Ruby, wondering what she was thinking about him right now. She was staring thoughtful down at her bump, at Oscar's hand, with a soft look on her face. Oscar looked back down at the spot and slowly extended his fingers out until his full hand was spread out on her belly, feeling his baby. And suddenly, amidst the awkwardness of the situation and the panic that was slowly coming and going at the moment, he felt something else. A warm, gentle feeling of love, not just towards Ruby, but towards his child. Their child. And then he felt some sort of sympithy for the poor little life, wishing he hadn't complained so much about it before. He wanted it now, for some reason, just from touching the spot where it was growing.

"Ruby," Oscar said softly, rubbing her belly a little, "Do you feel that?"

Ruby looked up at him, confused. "I don't think it's big enough to move around and stuff yet."

"No, I meant...something warm and fuzzy..."

"Um...could you be a little more specific?"

"Like, a feeling of...I dunno, love? Like you just want to-to hold the baby or do whatever it takes to protect it or something?"

Ruby gave him a blank stare, then a soft look of understandment.

"Yeah. I mean, that was a little too specific, and not really what I was thinking, but yeah. Sort of."

"I do."

"Do you?"

"Yes. And now, more than ever, I wish...I mean, hope, that you do too."

"I guess I do."

Oscar looked slowly down at Ruby, concern in his eyes. He looked almost hurt, or rather, like she had hurt someone else. Ruby drew slightly back, confused, and raised a brow. What was the matter?

"What?" she asked tentatively. Oscar sighed and looked away. He suddenly realized what was happening. Ruby was the one carrying the baby. She was living proof that she was to blame for this baby. And nearly everyone outside right now were her closets friends, unlike him. He was still a little new to the group, and nobody really like Ozpin right now, which, for some reason, counted as Oscar himself. Ruby was still afraid of the others, and Oscar...well, Oscar wasn't too afraid of being rejected because he was already pretty rejected. You can't hurt someone with something they're callused to.

"Nothing," he sighed, closing his eyes and taking his hand off of her belly, "I-I'm just tired. I should probably get back to my tent before someone else sees us." He yawned and shook his head. Ruby sighed and nodded. Grabbing her bright red cloak, she wrapped it back around herself snugly and yawned too. Oscar slowly stood up and stretched a little before taking a step towards her tent's exit. But before he could open it, Ruby stood up as well, the hood falling from her shoulders and onto the floor. She grabbed his hand and pulled at him to stop. He turned around, surprised, and gave her a questioning look.

"Wait," she said, tears brimming her eyes, "I-I love you."

Oscar's eyes widened a little and he nodded. "I love you too."

Suddenly, the sound of footsteps outside made both of them freeze in cold fear. They were near, and from the dim light of the fire, they could barely see two shadows of people walking towards her tent. None of them could move, but stood there, paralyzed as the people came closer. They could just hear a girl's voice mumble, "Do you think they're alright?"

Nora. And someone else? Ren's deeper voice answered her higher one, adding to Ruby's fear. They came closer and closer until they were literally standing right in front of the tent. Nora knocked hard on the metal tent pole.

"Knock, knock!" she said cheerfully, a little too loud.

"Nora," Ren chided, "Please don't talk too loud. The others are trying to sleep."

"I know, silly, but Ruby and Oscar aren't, so there!" Ruby could see Nora cross her arms across her chest. Ren shook his head and sighed.

"Ruby," Ren said in a slightly hushed tone, "Are you in there?"

Of course I am. Isn't it obvious?

"Yeah?" Ruby answered innocently, "What's up?"

"Are you okay in there?" Nora asked, "Cuz you seem pretty depressed. I could hear you and you sound blue!"

Ruby glanced at Oscar with a look of panic. "What should I do?!" she hissed. Oscar waved his arms at her and gave her a helpless look.

"And is that Oscar with you?" Ren asked, his hands folded behind his back. Oscar facepalmed.

"Yeah," he answered, "Just helping Ruby with her...um ..." He looked at her with a hopeful expression. Ruby looked around franticly for a reason, an excuse, but could find none. Her folded up scythe in the corner caught her attention. She pointed wildly at it, Oscar nodded while trying to answer.

"With her scythe! Yeah! She said it had some sort of...you know, Ozpin-related thing that only I could provide, or...something." He shook his head and silently groaned. Ruby tried not to giggle. It was kind of funny to see him like this, but this was serious. She couldn't let Nora of all people find out. She would tell everybody, and then she and Oscar would be so doomed. Doomed to destruction.

"Like what?" Nora pipped, eager to know.

"Something with silver eyes!" Oscar blurted, smacking his face with his elbow immediately after. What kind of excuse was that?!

"Wow, Ruby!" Nora praised, "Crescent Rose really is pretty complicated!"

"Yeah, she really is!" Ruby called back, feeling more and more afraid. This was totally not cutting it. Nora and Ren exchanged glances.

"Ruby," Ren said, nervously reaching out to open her tent, "I'm going to need to come in. This isn't exactly...reasonable."

Ruby and Oscar whipped around and looked at each other, both eyes wide and frantic. Oscar took imeediate action and reached out his hands, almost stopping the tent folds from opening. But he was too late. He crashed into Ren, knocking them both over and leaving the tent wide open, Nora staring in at Ruby.

"No!" Ruby shrieked, snatching her hood from the floor and wrapping it around herself. She could not let Nora see her like this. The tank top was tight, and Nora would see her little baby bump and tell everyone. Everyone! Nora looked at her, confused, then her blue eyes widened and she gasped. Ruby squeezed her eyes shut, knowing what was going to happen next. Nora had seen it, hadn't she? It was all over. Her and Oscar would be doomed to destruction. Literally.

"Ruby!" Nora scolded, "If you aren't dress appropriately, then Oscar shouldn't be in there! Were you two being naughty?!" Nora closed one her eyes and left one open, staring accusingly at her friend. Ruby literally sighed aloud with relief, feeling almost like she was going to pass out just from relief. Nora hadn't seen it! Ruby opened her eyes and looked hard at Nora.

"No! No!" she quickly defended, "Nothing like that! I'm wearing a tank top, is all." She slowly lowered a hood a little and rested it on her thighs, still covering her belly. Nora raised a brow.

"Then how come you covered yourself up all suddenly like that?" she asked suspiciously. Ruby giggled.

"Cuz I'm not used to showing so much of my...shape to people," she said, "And that's my immediate reflex. I just cover myself up with something. And Oscar was in here helping me with my scythe, and I needed to help him, so I unwrapped myself from my hood so I could move around better."

Nora kept a brow raised, but slowly nodded her head, her face suspicious. Ruby swallowed and held her breath, a smile frozen on her face. A hissing argument between Oscar and Ren could be heard behind them, and Nora and Ruby giggled. Bu then Nora's face became a little more serious.

"Why did Oscar jump out like that?" she asked. Ruby laughed nervously.

"He didn't want you to suspect what you just did," she answered, trying to sound light hearted. Her heart was heavy and beating hard right now. Nora shrugged.

"Sounds reasonable," she murmured, "Me and Ren just came back from late night crab fishing!" She smiled and gestured towards a wet bag dripping with water by her feet. "We have a bunch of crabs in there. It took us all day!" She smiled proudly at her work and nodded. "We should get to bed now. It's kinda late, so...yeah!" She skipped out and grabbed Ren by his collar, dragging him behind her as she skipped away.

"Hey!" Ren said, trying to get to his feet as his white pants started to get soiled from the dirt he was being dragged on, "Let go of me please!"

Oscar and Ruby watched with wary eyes as the two of them split up and went into their tents, waiting for it to be quiet again. Then they looked at each other, slipped back into the tent, and then began laughing. Both heads in her thick sleeping bag, they tried not to laugh too loud, but knew that someone probably heard them.

"Why are we laughing?!" Ruby squeaked, rubbing her tired eyes, wet with tears.

"I don't know!" Oscar answered, also rubbing his eyes.

"This is serious!" Ruby squeaked again, stretching and rubbing her eyes more. Oscar just nodded with a chuckled and ran his fingers though his fuzzy brown hair. But his cheery look suddenly faded and some sort of dimness seemed to glaze his eyes. Ruby looked up at him, suddenly concerned.

"Are you all right?" she asked him, brushing some hair from his face. He nodded slowly and yawned.

"I'm just...really tired," he answered, his voice thick. Ruby's eyes widened.

"Not the Apathies!" she said with mock seriousness. Oscar just smiled faintly and looked down again.

"I should probably go. I need some sleep."

"But...okay."

"Ozpin said it was kind of necessary or something. I think it's all gaining up on me now."

"Okay...sleep well. And don't be suspicious tomorrow!"

Oscar nodded sleepily and stood slowly up. As he started walking away, his feet dragged on the floor as he left, and he looked ready to collapse at any moment. He was so exhausted and tired that he barely realized the familiar feeling of that presence in his head returning. Ruby smiled lightly at him, hoping he was alright. He did not look very well right now, and it worried her. Was he suddenly sick or something? What if he was super sick? Suddenly, Oscar turned around, his face even more ill-looking then before. Ruby scooted back a bit, surprised, but then peeped as Oscar's eyes suddenly flashed green and gold, and the knowing look of the professor returned.

"This is only the first part of your oncoming troubles," he said, dead serious, "Do not take any of this lightly, or it will collapse down hard on you before you have the chance to flee."

Ruby swallowed nervously. Ozpin continued.

"Because of the route you have decided to take, you will experience hardships like none other you have recently just gone through. Knowing that you will likely never turn back until it is too late, I can only wish you the best of luck, and hope that you will learn something valuable though this foolish mistake and decision. And remember that I did absolutely nothing to bring this upon you in any manner whatsoever. And I have tried to support you in the ways I could in my position, but you are now alone in this. Just the two of you, Ms. Rose; Oscar. I will never show myself again for the duration of your adventures and quests. I am dead to this world, and to you, and now I can only say that I wish you well. Tell the others I bid them farewell."

He gave her one hard, solemn look, like the ones he gave in serious times, when he was still alive. And then his eyes flashed green and golden, and he was gone. Oscar down on his hands and knees, confused and dizzy. Ozpin's control on him had depleted even more strength from his exhausted body, and now he was feeling even worse. He looked slowly up and saw Ruby, scooted far up to the back of her tent, her back somewhat pressed up against it, her eyes wide and frightened, her body shaking, her face ashen and afraid. Ozpin's presence faded again, deep inside the center of his mind. "He's gone," he mumbled.

"Ruby, I-" he began, his voice trembling. Ruby cut him off by suddenly burying her face into her hands and weeping. Long, emotional sobs wracked her body, hurting Oscar's heart and making him sad. He sat back down and scooted over to her, putting his arm around her shoulders and holding her as tight as he could.

"Oh, Ruby, I tried to tell him we had no choice!" he explained, tears starting to run down his face as well, "He just didn't listen, and now he's leaving us alone in the dark!" He began to sob too, and the two of them sobbed together, Ruby in his arms, and both of them covered a little by her red hood. For a moment, all Ruby could think about was how horrible things were. And then she saw her hood covering both of them a little, and then she thought about Summer. And then she burst out crying even harder.

Ozpin wasn't helping them anymore, if he had even helped them anyway. Nobody else in the group was going to help them in anything. After lying to both Yang and Qrow, in the most delicate of times, they probably weren't going to support them either. And why would they? They should't support them, because what they did was absolutely unacceptable. And then there was Summer...Ruby could imagine her giving her poor daughter a hug and a glass of cold whole milk with a plate of cookies, ready to discuss important life lessons with her. And then they would hug and everything would be alright. If Summer was okaying it, then Tai would too. But Summer was dead. Everything wasn't alright, nor would it ever be. Not even after the baby was born.

"We should go to sleep," Oscar whispered, his voice shaking with emotion. Ruby just nodded her reply and continued crying into her hood. Oscar stood slowly up, feeling the slightest bit better in a physical way, but emotionally, he was crushed. Watching Ruby cry and knowing how hard it was going to be for her, and then knowing how terrible it would be for himself, everything was just horrible. He slowly left her tent, glancing back at her for a moment. She was curled up even tighter now, and she seemed to be sobbing something quietly into her hood. Oscar sighed, left the tent, and then slowly dragged himself to his own, no longer caring about how he felt.

As he flopped down onto his sleeping bag, not even bothering to pull over the covers, the memories of what had just happened seemed to dull in his mind. They were still there, but they were faded and almost unreal to him. He felt himself feeling heavy and thick as the comfort of his sleeping bag began to seep into him and sleep pulled weighed down at his eyes. He closed them and yawned, then rolled over on his side and stared at the wall. One more tear trickled down his face as he reevaluated the recent event that had occurred. And then, with one more whispered question, he fell asleep.

"Why?"

Welp, I was listening to the very last song in the Volume 3 score. The saddest ending volume of RWBY ever. It really helped me with this chapter. Sorry for the late update! I was in Florida all week when I would have had another chapter or two up, so sorry about that. I should have more time now, so that's great.

Ruby's bump is already starting to show! What will they do? And now Ozpin has just left (Kinda like in Volume 6) and they are on they're on their own now. At least maybe they might have less strain if they had just told Qrow or Yang in their soft moments...But you know how foolish teens can be. And Nora and Ren are probably going to be much more suspicious now. Big oof.

Thanks for reading and stay tuned for more chapters!