"And this is a very rare species of monkey Grimm," Maria said, pointing to a semi-blurry photo of a terrifying, monkey-like creature with all the characteristics of a Grimm.
It was the same size of a monkey, but it had sharp, pointy teeth and a white bony face. Its menacing eyes were glowing red and burning orange, and it had white spikes and numerous plates all over its black body. It looked like it was about to leap from a nearby tree, giving the implication that the image had been taken in a rush before a fight ensued.
"Woah," Ruby breathed, studying its scary face, "That's creepy. What's it called?"
"It was officially called a Simia Anguis shortly after I met this one," Maria answered, turning the page, "Probably for its venomous bite and monkey characteristics and base. I've only encountered three in my life as the Grimm Reaper, but I can tell you that they are fierce!"
"Wow," Ruby marveled, "You really were a legend. I wish I could be like you someday, especially since I even have silver eyes, like you. I've even got a scythe!"
Maria shrugged, scanning over the current page they had and flipping to the next one due to lack of interest. Her face lit up at the sight of the first photo glued on. It was a photo of a man, who looked to be middle aged, sitting in some kind of odd mechanical-looking chair of some sorts.
The chair had four large mechanical legs sticking out of it, showing that the man likely used his chair for some kind of method of transportation, and a light, gentle smile was on his kind face. He looked friendly and sweet and wore a white scientist coat.
"This is my good friend Pietro," Maria sighed, pointing to his face, "He's the one I told you about who repairs my eyes every ten years or so. We've gotten along quite a bit, you know, and I won't be surprised if you have a run in with him when you and Oscar meet with James. He's one of Atlas' finest minds and has managed to build the most impressive of creations."
"Wow!" Ruby exclaimed, fascinated, "Did he help build those Atlesian Knights and stuff that General Ironwood introduced a few years back?"
"Yes he did," Maria said, "As well as a large machine known as the Atlesian Paladin. I'm sure you're heard of that, too."
Ruby nodded, almost wearily. "Yeah...me and the team had to fight off a bunch of them on a few different occasions. Only when all the bad guys were using them, though."
"Well, then, I'm sure you're quite familiar with the way they operate," Maria said, "Maybe that gives you an idea of how brilliant the man is at inventing and designing. He's actually not too far away from here, just near the entrance to Atlas City Main."
"Cool," Ruby said. The two of them went through the entire album, laughing and praising some, frowning at others, and enjoying the whole experience. Maria told stories related to the photos, and soon, nearly 2 hours had passed.
"Ruby!" Yang called through the door, "Time to go! We're all ready!"
"Coming!" Ruby called back. She sighed and walked over to the door, feeling a little sad again. She turned and looked at Maria, offering her a soft, grateful smile. Maria returned it and put the album away.
"I guess this is goodbye for now," Ruby murmured. Maria gave Ruby a hug, then opened the door for her. Yang stood right behind it and gave Maria a wave for her farewell.
"Bye Maria," Yang said, "Thanks again for everything. Thanks for taking care of my baby sister." Ruby elbowed her and Yang just chuckled.
"Of course, children," Maria replied warmly, "The others already said their goodbyes, so I'll let you two go. Stay safe out there and be careful! The last thing I want is for you to come back tomorrow with a hundred excuses for having to."
Ruby and Yang laughed and then answered in unison, "Thank you!"
"Good luck," Maria said, waving slowly, "And come back sometime after the babies are born."
"I will," Ruby said, nodding, "Bye!"
And then Ruby and Yang left, waving the entire way, and met up with the others.
It was pretty sad, especially since they had been there for three whole months, and they likely wouldn't see Maria again for a very long time. It didn't help that she was also decently old, so who knew when some kind of health problem would seize her at some point?
No one talked much as they made their way to Atlas' borderline. Minimal chatting occurred as it would on any longer trip, but more between individuals rather than to the whole group. Oscar and Ruby in particular seemed extra quiet.
Ruby kept looking long and sadly at Oscar, and Oscar looked like he was about to disappear from existence very soon. He probably felt that way, too. He kept staring at the ground, then at the sky, and then carefully looked every person closely as if he had never seen them before and was analyzing them.
It was such an oddly gloomy atmosphere, both on the busses and as they walked. Nora hated it. Blake didn't mind it. Ruby dreaded it, even though it was currently happening. Oscar was just distant.
So in what could be recapped as either a very short amount of time or an eternity, they arrived at Atlas' Institution of Advanced Technology. Ruby felt her knees shaking as they approached the door, and her eyes couldn't leave Oscar's face.
"Ruby," Jaune said in a low voice, "We'll...um, we'll just wait out here. You and Oscar can go." It wasn't some kind of retained anger giving his voice that rare tone; it sounded more like eerie anticipation of whatever unknown thing that was about to happen.
Ruby hesitated, but nodded. She looked at Oscar, and sudden realized just how scared he looked. His eyes were wider than normal, his pupils quivering ever so slightly. His whole body generally looked rigid and tense and his hands were bunched up in nervous fists.
She didn't feel like herself, and no one else was really acting like themselves, either. Everyone was quiet and low-toned, and as mentioned many times earlier, hardly saying anything.
"We...um, we should go..," Ruby said to Oscar. He didn't even look at her as he gave her an affirmative nod. Then, after another moment or two of silence and standing still, Ruby gently took Oscar's arm and opened the large door to the building.
He followed, and they walked side by side through the long lobby hallway. It was a fairly spacious lobby, with a large synthetic fireplace-type thing in the center of it. Some sort of blue flame was dancing inside of the glass case, and a few buttons were placed on a metal panel below the "fire".
A neutral tan carpet graced the floor, keeping their footsteps nearly muted, and a few couches were scattered neatly around the place. The walls were a plain white, with a few certificates, direction signs, and an occasional painting posted on them.
Ruby looked around, breathing in the unfamiliar scent that reminded her of plastic mixed with air freshener. Oscar just kept walking, eyes fixed on the large white desk at the very back of the lobby. Behind it were a few doors with labels signifying where they lead. A secretary with oddly large glasses stood at the counter, writing something down.
"Excuse me," Ruby spoke up after Oscar said nothing, "Uh, we have an a-appointment with General Ironwood..?" Her voice was slightly trembling as she almost whispered her sentence.
The secretary looked them over and nodded.
"Oh, James told us you would be coming," he said, "This way, please."
He let them through a small door through the desk and brought them to the third door on the right. He opened it, closed it, and lead them through a longer, more narrow hallway. A door came up every five steps or so, and the walls were full of pictures of scientist, students, and teachers.
Ruby felt her heart slowly beginning to race. With every step she took, it was like another step closer to loosing Oscar. She could almost feel herself growing weaker and weaker as they approached the door at the very end of the hall.
Finally, they got to it and the secretary softly knocked on it.
"Come in," came Ironwood's muffled call. The secretary opened it, gestured for them to enter, and then left. Very slowly, Ruby and Oscar walked in, the same tan carpet muffling their footsteps.
Ironwood was sitting at a desk cluttered with papers, stamps, computers, and various other miscellaneous things. The rest of the room was decently tidy, with a couple large windows letting plenty of natural light from outside in. The light was cold and soft, like the snow currently falling.
He slowly looked up from his work, and his gaze softened slightly when he saw Ruby.
"Ms. Rose," he greeted formally, standing up and scooting his chair back, "It's a pleasure to see you again." He walked around his long desk and stood in front of them. His gaze dropped to Ruby's stomach, and she felt her face grow hot with embarrassment.
"Are you well?" he asked. Ruby fidgeted uncomfortably under his authoritative blue gaze, but managed to nod her head.
"Y-yeah," she stammered, "Thank you." She noticed that his once clean-shaved face and boxy chin was now accented with a thick black beard.
"You have a beard now," she said randomly, pointing to it. She mentally facepalmed with shame. What an immature thing to say, especially right now!
Ironwood did not look annoyed or embarrassed though, which made sense considering that he never looked that way. He was always so serious or formal looking, similarly to Ozpin.
"Yes, I do," he chuckled, "There hasn't been much time to shave, I'm afraid." Despite his chuckle and "light" mood, he almost seemed gloomy and tired. Just shy of depressed, almost.
Ironwood then looked at Oscar, a hint of curiosity in his eyes.
"So you're the next Ozpin?" he said. Oscar just nodded, which was getting to be such a common occurrence for his way of communicating in the last two hours.
"Do you...really know or rather, remember who I am?" Ironwood asked. He almost sounded hopeful for a positive answer. Oscar sighed.
"I do, just a little," he replied, "But as I explained over our call, he isn't currently present. I'm sorry."
Ironwood shook his head. "It's alright. It is to be expected, despite how near your soul is to merging with Ozpin's."
Ruby hated the formality and seriousness involved in discussing all the Ozpin stuff. She hoped, so dearly in her heart, that the procedure would be successful and she could have Ozpin erased from her life, basically. Recently, she wanted nothing to do with him anymore. Absolutely nothing at all.
"It is because of a very unusual circumstance to have you both here today," Ironwood began, clearing his throat and folding his arms behind his back, "It may sound somewhat abhorrent to say, but it could provide useful to our studies either way this procedure works out."
Ruby's fists slowly bunched up in anger. She felt some gentle movement in her womb, and subconsciously put her hand on her stomach. Oscar glanced at her for a moment as she did, and his eyes softened.
"We will be using our aura transfer device," he went on, leading them through a door in the back of the office and talked as they walked down a hallway, "But a different model to the one we used two years ago in Beacon. This one is improved, with less chances of fatality or failure. However, the decision to use it remains full of risks."
The hallway was a little chilly compared to the other rooms, and the non-carpeted stone floor echoed their footsteps. They came to another door, and he took them inside. It was a white room with a row of chairs, another door, and a small table with coffee and tea set up. The floor was made of clean white tiles. There was also a small door leading to a bathroom.
"Oscar," he said, turning to him, "If you would come with me, the procedure will be performed in that room." He gestured to the door. Ruby felt a huge ball of nervousness reside deep in her core. It almost made her nauseous, and she fought the urge to be sick.
"What are the possibilities in case something were to go wrong?" Oscar asked, finally asking a question about his possible doom.
"Because your soul and Ozpin's are already partially merged," Ironwood answered, "There is a chance of some kind of damage being sustained to your soul or his. We've been unable to determine all of the possibilities of this, as we have only encountered one person dealing with a condition caused by a damaged aura."
"What's that?" Oscar asked, voice filled with a mix of fear and hopeful curiosity.
"The status of health seems to generally decline," Ironwood replied, "Which is quite logical, seeing as aura protects one's health and wellbeing. A damaged aura would be unable to fully protect someone from dangers or threats that could ail them. This consequence would be a large inconvenience, but is highly preferable for your circumstances.
"Another possibility is that it will be unsuccessful and nothing will happen. With this improved model, we're sure nothing much injury related will occur by the functioning of the machine alone, but that is still technically in question."
A drop of sweat rolled down Oscar's face, and his body was very obviously shaking. Ironwood saw this and sighed.
"You don't have to do it," he said, "You don't have to risk 3 more months of being in control of yourself. This decision isn't unavoidable or forced. You can always leave if you change your mind."
Oscar shook his head.
"No," he said, "If this is the only chance I have of possibly staying with Ruby as myself, then I'm going to do this. I have to."
"Very well," Ironwood said, closing his eyes. He walked to the door, Oscar following. Oscar turned around and stared long and hard at Ruby. His eyes widened when he saw the glistening tears in Ruby's eyes, and he quickly hurried back to her.
"Hey, don't cry Ruby," he said, wiping at her tears. She sniffed, trying so hard not to burst into tears, and then clung to him, sobbing into his chest.
"Ruby..," Oscar murmured. He stroked her hair while she bawled her eyes out, clinging to his arms and sleeves. Ironwood stood patiently at the door with his arms behind his back.
Ruby drew away from him, still holding his arms, and then, without much hesitation, went on her tiptoes and shoved her face into his. Her lips pressed against his own and she squeezed her eyes shut. Oscar was shocked, but returned the kiss.
After what felt like only a few seconds to the two of them, but was in reality much longer, they stopped and stared into each others' eyes.
"I-I love you," Ruby squeaked. A stream of tears was on her face, breaking Oscar's heart even more.
"I love you t-to," Oscar answered back, his voice strained and painful. The grief in both of their eyes portrayed the immense amount of agony, conflict, and dread that they were experiencing much more than the tone of their quivering voices.
"P-please don't go!" Ruby pleaded. She held so tightly to his sleeves that her knuckles began to turn white. Oscar felt a large tear role down his cheek. He swallowed and slowly took her hands off of his arms.
"I have to do this," he choked, unable to control the raging emotions fighting inside of him, "I have to take a chance, okay? I-I want to be with you..."
His eyes dropped down to her stomach and he began to gently carouse her bump. More tears fell down his face as he spoke and stroked her stomach.
"I want to be a good d-dad to our babies...I want to be there for y-you when you have th-them...I want to be with you forever!"
Ruby's face scrunched up in total agony again and she burst into tears once more, wrapping her arms around him and squeezing him tightly in a hug. He returned it, and they both found themselves clinging desperately to each other and sobbing.
The rapid rise in emotions, tear shedding, and acknowledgements of affection was most likely due to the fact that this very moment in time was possibly their last together. Ironwood seemed to understand it, and gave them their time.
Ruby sniffed, wiped her nose, and then nodded at Oscar.
"I-if you really, really think this will work..," she whimpered. Oscar sniffed as well and hugged her one last time.
"I do, Ruby," he said. His voice was very quiet now. Finally, they were ready to move on with their original plan.
Ironwood lead them into the door, leaving it open behind them. Inside of it was a large metal room full of panels of buttons, wires, switches, and controls. Most of the panels all connected to the huge steel box-shaped machine at the far end of the room.
This machine had a big metal pipe, two of them actually, that went to two glass cubicles very similar to the aura transfer device cubicles used on Amber and Pyrrha. Ruby wasn't as familiar about the machine as Oscar, who felt a huge rush of familiarity upon seeing the device.
"The device works very similarly to the one used 2 years ago," Ironwood said as he approached the equipment, "But as I mentioned previously and will mention again, our technology has made it possible to reduce the amount of physical error that could ensue by using it."
Oscar nodded, and Ruby just stood beside him.
"The machine will extract an aura from you, which logically would compose of the whole of one of your souls-Ozpin's preferably-and deposit it into another person's body, a volunteer I acquired after you called. Because your soul was residing in you since before birth, its place in you is without a doubt primary, meaning that when Ozpin's soul was reincarnated into you, it moved 'over top of it'."
He paused and did something close to a chuckle.
"I know it may sound like a conclusion an uneducated young child would come to, but it does seem logical after much scientific analyzation. So because this may be the case, we can assume that the machine will directly extract Ozpin's soul since it is 'first in line' per se."
"That is helpful to know," Oscar said, "But since me and Ozpin's souls are already close to being fully merged, what kind of damage would that cause?"
"Damage isn't necessarily inevitable," Ironwood replied, "But it is highly likely to occur. This process requires tearing Ozpin's soul from yours. Our best guess it to predict that either part of you will go with his soul, vice versa, or some kind of unexplainable and unheard of consequence will happen because of this. I'm afraid I really can't say."
Ruby felt another nauseating ball of nervousness crash into her. She slowly worked it off by grabbing Oscar's hand and squeezing it tight. He squeezed it back.
"Are you still willing to do this even after knowing this?" the general asked after a moment of silence. Oscar gave a nod and the general pressed a small red button with a label classifying it as an "operator summoner".
"Very well then," he said, "An operator will be here shortly to instruct you through the process. Please follow her instructions as well as you can, and hopefully this will go over smoothly."
Oscar sighed.
"James-" he began, quickly stopping to correct himself, "I mean...General Ironwood-"
"James is fine, just this once," Ironwood said almost sadly, "While Ozpin is still inside of you wholly."
"Well, James," Oscar continued, "May I ask...who exactly is your volunteer to be Ozpin?"
"A young high school orphan," James answered, "He didn't seem to have a clear picture of his purpose, and with the circumstance he's in, it makes sense to me that he would so readily volunteer for something as reckless as this. He should be here soon."
As if on cue, the sound of footsteps through the door came from behind them and they turned around to see who was there. A boy who looked like he couldn't be much older than 15 or 16 was there. His hair was soft and blue, like cotton candy, and his skin was pale like the moon.
His eyes were a deep indigo, and that with his jeans and blue t-shirt, he looked like he was supposed to feel cold or something. Just his appearance was 'low in temperature'.
"Uh, hi," he said almost flatly. He looked almost emotionless, but despite this, he couldn't hide the very slight aura of nervousness in his demeanor.
"This is Jay Sininen, from Mantle," James introduced, "He is going to be Ozpin's new vessel if all goes according to plan."
New vessel... Oscar mentally muttered, Ugh.
Another person entered the room behind Jay, a woman with a white lab coat, red hair, and bright blue eyes. She looked quite professional, even though their was a small coffee stain on her sleeve.
"And this is Christina Mokiesay, the operator of this machine," he said, "Although it is a very large device, it only requires one operator. She has been well trained in how it functions and how to control it."
"Hello," she greeted. James put his hand on Oscar's shoulder.
"Whenever you're ready," he said. Oscar cleared his throat and stood in front of the first cubicle.
"Thank you, everyone," he said, "I really appreciate your hard efforts to do this for me. Well, for me and Ruby." He glanced at her reassuringly.
"Please hear it from me now. If it goes wrong, I trust it won't be because of you in any way, but because of the many faulty unknowns of these kinds of procedures. And if you still experience guilt of some sort because of failure, I forgive you here and now."
And with that, the Christina, Ironwood, and Jay all went to their spots.
"Ms. Rose," Ironwood called from across the room, "You are free to wait in the room prior to this one as we work. It could take a while, including the time it would take to determine its outcome."
"But I want-" Ruby began. She was cut off by Ironwood's insist, which was more of a command now.
"It would be best for you to wait in the other room," he said, "We don't know if the high amount of electricity and other components could negatively impact your condition. I'd say it would be very unfortunate if something were to happen."
Ruby sighed exasperatedly and obediently left. She sat down heavily into a chair, one that faced the door, and stared into the room to watch them. However, Ironwood took notice of this and came and closed the door. Ruby was angry at this, but did nothing.
It was better not to protest the general right now.
Oscar watched as the door shut Ruby out from view. His fists clenched into balls and he suddenly began to panic.
"Mr. Pine sir," Christina said as she began to boot up the machine, "Please step inside the first cubicle and station yourself directly in the center. Remain still."
Oscar woodenly approached the cubicle, which was now wide open. Suddenly, a torrent of chaotic, regretful emotions and thoughts began racing through his head, crashing around and making his movement feel very cumbersome.
I should've spent as much time as possible with her before today!
He forcefully stepped inside of the cubicle and stood in place.
I should've slept in her bed with her or something so she'd be a little happier before now!
He watched as Jay tentatively stepped into the second cubicle, his indigo eyes fixed almost curiously on Oscar the entire time.
I shouldn't do this! I should just take my last 3 months guaranteed to me and live them out to the fullest! How could I be so selfish?!
A few bright lights lit up around him and the machinery, and a deep mechanical growling could be heard as the machine began to work. It started vibrating, producing an almost hypnotic hum.
I should turn back, now, before it's too late!
He desperately reached out his hand, quickly deciding in that last moment that he didn't want to do this anymore, but the glass door slid shut instantly. The very tip of his finger got smashed between the door and the side of the cubicle, but he hardly felt the stinging pain it brought.
"Ruby!' he shouted, "Ruby, no!"
The hypnotic hum intensified into a deafening roar, and the vibrating turned into violent shaking. Oscar clenched his teeth and slammed his eyes shut, screaming for Ruby all the while.
"Ozpin!" he cried, "Why this?! Why?! Why!? And yet you won't even speak to me this once?!"
The insane sounds of the machine and its shaking drowned out almost every noise he made. He felt like he was being torn apart. Literally.
Just then, he felt a familiar presence come over him. He lost control of his body, completely involuntarily, and realized what had just happened. It felt much more forceful this time, though, like it wasn't suppose to happen.
O-Ozpin?
"I apologize, Oscar," Ozpin, through Oscar's mouth, said heavily, "I'm truly sorry you have to go through this...or that you decided to. You have my greatest hopes for success."
What's that even suppose to mean to me?! Oh gosh, I'm losing my mind!
Oscar could feel his own mental state slipping. The incredible sucking force being exerted on him and the crazy shaking of everything around him was so hard to bear...not to mention the high pitched squealing that suddenly began to happen.
Just then, he felt like something was removed from him, or that he was removed from it. Whatever it was, it happened just before everything stopped and it was quiet again. His brain gave up and everything went black.
Aaaand there that is. Did the procedure work? Is Oscar going to be able to live with Ruby now as his own person? Will this end in tragedy because I don't like to believe in the power of plot armor? Will the word 'possibly' be used any more than it already has?
You'll find out next chapter!
P.S. Props to the readers who recognize a certain character reference mentioned in this chapter from another anime. ;P (It's SUPER obvious)
Story Advertisements: Why Ren Hates Winter, by TheMastaaaaaOtaku (FlowerPower fans, read this. Not good quality and is a oneshot, but I enjoyed it)
Do What We Do Best, by RelightTheTorch (Torchwick and Trifa fans, read this. It's fun to read)
A Silent Connection, by ArthurSG (Neo X Jaune fans, read this. It's on hiatus, but is pretty great!)
This is also one of the last Story Advertisement things I'm gonna be leaving in my A/Ns. I've been repeating the same advertisements because I don't have anything else to advertise, so...yeah. If I ever find anything new, I'll advertise it.
A special thanks to ArthurSG for beta reading this chapter! I've been improving my grammar and word fluency, but he really helped to make this chapter form perfectly.
Note, I might disappear again after I pump out a few more chapters (estimated to be 6 or 7...maybe more?!). I really wanna finish this story, so weather I have to leave again or not, I intend to finish it somehow in the future.
Also, this A/N is increadibly long, so I'll stop it here. Right after I make this note about how fun it was to use all the "big words" that people like Ozpin and Ironwood use so much when they talk.
Thanks for reading and tune in for more chapters!