Oscar stomped through the heavy snow, turning his head to avoid getting the sharp snowflakes blurring past in his eyes. In his arms he tightly held the injured and bleeding Ruby, whose life was slowly slipping away every second.
Her coat kept trying to slip off of her due to the large hole now in it, so it no longer offered as much warmth as it previously had. Oscar paused for a moment to wrap her red hood more snugly around her. Its gorgeous scarlet colored stained a darker hue around where the wound was.
It took a good amount of oomph to continue going again after the pause. His body was on the verge of numbing over and becoming stiff, his aura the only thing preventing it.
In fact, one of the only things keeping him going was his desperation to get Ruby to safety. For all he knew, losing her would be losing two of his children. Two children?! That was definitely a big deal. Losing two children and a future wife? That was practically losing his whole family!
He gritted his teeth and moved onward, shoving all his discomforts aside. Now wasn't the time to be selfish.
Ruby looked like a ghost now. Her skin was growing pale from blood loss, her lips had a blue tint to them, and a little blood was spotted on her cheek. To top it off, her hair was even black, so it deeply contrasted the colors of her face.
He feared many times during his austere trek that she'd stopped breathing and had died. Whenever he thought this, he stopped and desperately pressed his ear against her chest, relieved beyond fathomable when he still heard her faint heartbeat.
The hour that it took to blaze through the blizzard and finally step underneath the welcoming gate of the next city seemed to take days to him. He couldn't keep track of time. He was hungry; he was tired; he was weary.
But he didn't let any of that stop him from continuing forward as hard as he could.
"The city..!" he gasped as his eyes managed to find the barely visible shapes of buildings through the white blur of the storm. He staggered blindly around the city, sometimes knocking into walls or parked vehicles, and searched for a door.
He didn't care where it lead; he just needed to get out of the storm.
After what felt like another eternity of blindly feeling around, his hand brushed against what felt like a door handle. His eyes were squinted shut to keep snow out of them, so he couldn't really know for sure.
His finger closed around it and he pulled down, then forwards. It was a door! It opened for him and he collapsed inside, getting snow all over the warm wooden floor.
The howling of the outside wind was still loud, but he could feel the warmth of whatever room he was in. Slowly opening his frozen eyes, he saw a fireplace several feet away. He forced himself to scoot forwards, Ruby in his other arm, and dragged the two of them across the floor.
A wet trail of ice and melted snow followed their bodies as they slid to the fireplace.
He let go of her the moment they were in front of the fire and let himself relax. His breaths came in laborious gasps as he tried so hard to catch his breath. The heat of the fire crackling in the fireplace slowly soaked into his numb body, giving way to a sore aching. It was better than the painful numbness he had been getting used to, though.
He shouldn't have closed his eyes and given into the warmth of the fire. He should've gathered his strength and sought help for Ruby. But instead, he fell fast asleep with his arm around her.
"W-who are you?!" a frightened woman asked, poking him with the edge of a broom handle.
Oscar painfully opened his eyes and saw a woman standing over him, eyes wide in fear and confusion. She didn't look like a hostile person, just someone who was experiencing the appropriate reaction to finding a random person in her living room.
"Who are you?" she repeated when he said nothing. He quickly composed himself and forced himself into a sitting position with the help of the brick fireplace behind him.
"I'm a huntsmen," he answered, "I'm sorry I, uh...came in without asking you first...It's just-well...me and some of my teammates...we just fought a ton of Grimm and there's this huge blizzard...uh-"
The woman's eyes softened a little and she took on a less cautious stance, waiting for him to continue explaining himself.
He found himself fumbling with his words. Without Ozpin, he was a little less socially convenient. Not just that, but he also felt awkward trying to describe who the others were to him. It was honestly kind of weird and unfamiliar to actually be himself.
Even if he was still somewhat like himself before, it hadn't been the same with Ozpin still there. Man, learning how to fully be himself was going to be difficult.
He decided to be a little more concise and just get to the point. That's one thing he did back at the farm with his aunt.
"Look," he said, "She's pregnant and she hurt really bad." His panic suddenly began settling in and he quickly gathered her into his arms. He winced as several parts of his body ached.
The fact that the wound was still warm and wet indicated that he hadn't been sleeping for too long. It likely hadn't taken a very long time for that woman to discover him snoozing on her floor.
"We have to get her to a hospital!" he exclaimed, "We have to before it's too late! Aw man, why did I fall asleep?!"
He stood up, managing to pick her up with him, and hurried past the woman.
"H-hey!" she called after him, "We don't have a-"
But he completely ignored whatever it was she was yelling and barreled through the door. A huge burst of cold wind harshly greeted him in the face and forced him to close his eyes again.
But he didn't let that stop him at all. He began sprinting forwards, the door slamming heavily behind him. All the while, a single mission repeated in his mind.
I have to get her to safety. I have to get her to safety. I have to get her to safety-
Suddenly, his foot caught in between a large crack in the road. He lurched forwards, his leg twisting violently with something between and popping and a cracking sound, and fell heavily onto the concrete. It was unfortunately the same leg that the Grimm had hurt him with, therefore amplifying the level of pain he experienced.
"Augh!" he cried. He scrambled to his feet, ignoring the awful pain settling into his leg, and began run-limping forwards. It was still a fierce blizzard out, with hardly any improvement since his short nap.
That was when he smacked face first into the side of a building and was unable to support himself with his new injury. He fell onto his back with a thud and all the wind was knocked out of him.
What am I doing?
He wondered this as he fought to breathe through his now throbbing chest. He still held Ruby in the crook of his elbow with her body pressed up against his in protection.
He laid there a little while as the wind battered him and shot ice crystals scraping across his face. He wished he hadn't so stupidly run so blindly out into the blizzard like this. Now he could barely get up and the weather was frightening.
Once he had finally caught his breath, he forced himself up. His frozen lungs began to make him cough, but he paid no mind to it. After he stood up with Ruby still held tightly to him, he sagged heavily against the side of the building.
He wished he had all his old semblances right now. If only he could just somehow see through the wild winds that swirled all that snow around. If only he knew his actual semblance and it could help him right now.
Taking a deep breath, he began stumbling forwards again. At some point, he wasn't aware of where he was, how far he'd gone, what position he was in, or what direction he was going. He even feared he'd gone completely numb and dropped Ruby somewhere along the way.
"Oh, I'm so sorry!" he moaned, "I couldn't help you!"
He was fairly certain he was losing his sanity now. He was totally lost in his mind and overtaken by exhaustion and coldness.
Just then, he felt another door handle type object. He tried to open it, but found that it was probably locked. In desperation, he began pounding on the door.
It hurt to do that, but he didn't care about how much more pain he was going to feel. He just had to get out of this storm or he would freeze to death. All four of them would.
After an unknown amount of time and continuous pounding, he saw a light appear in front of him.
His hand went to pound, but nothing was there. He fell forwards from his gathered momentum and fell onto another warm wooden flood in a very similar fashion to the first place he'd entered.
Spilled out on the threshold, half of him was in the snow and the other was in the warm shelter that the building offered. He heard someone give a surprised gasp, this time a male voice, and felt a pair of large hands seize his shoulders.
He was pulled fully into the room and then let go of. He tried to open his eyes and through his fuzzy, blurred vision, he saw a few pairs of legs and feet. He moved his arms in front of himself in an attempt to pull himself forwards, then made a realization.
Ruby wasn't held in his arm anymore.
He bolted upwards, falling roughly onto his back as dizziness surrounded him. His eyes squeezed shut again in agony.
"...Ruby..!" he groaned in pain, "Mmm...Ruby..!"
He heard a confusing mix of voices fill his head and swirl around as pain and coldness circulated it. He was slipping away, going unconscious. He fought against it but failed.
His eyes closed and he completely disappeared from consciousness.
He woke up several hours later in a position similar to a dead rat. His head was pounding mercilessly all while his body ached something fierce.
Every bit of him hurt so badly that he wondered if he was just in hell or something.
But when he opened his eyes, he saw that he was lying on a wooden board floor, surrounded in tables and chairs. A huge television was mounted on the wall next to him.
From what he could see, along with the faint smell of liquor lingering in the air, he concluded he was in some kind of saloon or hotel.
He tried to sit up but immediately regretted it as pain flared through him like a harsh fire. His ankle and leg began throbbing and he silently cursed himself for getting it hurt like that.
"Mhrrhg..," he grunted, stirring, "Hello..?"
He heard nothing in response and felt his body begging for more sleep. He felt a scary calmness about himself, almost as if helping Ruby wasn't the most important thing at the moment. This terrified him, but as he stewed on it, he did fall asleep again.
This time, he woke up to a splash of room temperature liquid on his face. This startled him awake with a gasp, which naturally resulted in some of the substance getting in his mouth.
It burned his throat as it slid down and he immediately recognized the bitter taste.
Old-fashioned brandy. He knew from the one time he'd tasted some after one of his uncles had visited him and his aunt several years back. He'd only been a little kid at the time, so the memory had been decently unpleasant.
"Blech!" he spat, one eye open. A rowdy round of laughter burst out from around him.
He fully opened his eyes and managed to roll over slightly less painfully. The sleep had seemed to soak into his body and aided his aura in helping him out.
Around him sat a good among of men and a few women, holding bottles and mugs of what could correctly be assumed as alcohol. They seemed highly entertained by his response to the drink as they were widely grinning.
"What?" he asked.
"Good morning, lad!" one of them shouted, "You sure were out for a spell, there!"
"How long?" Oscar groaned, forcing himself once more to sit up. One of the women thought for a moment, her finger placed on her third chin as she did.
"Prolly about a day an' a half, I'd reckon," she estimated, "But that's a pre'y rough estimation, so I could be wrong." The lady was absolutely gigantic. Her body looked like it was overloaded beyond its capacity, with her skin struggling to contain the build up of unhealthy habits and food consumption.
Oscar's eyes widened and he scrambled onto his feet.
"R-Ruby!" he cried, "Where is she?! Is she here?! Did you bring her in with me?!"
He was met with a couple blank stares and a couple chuckles.
"The pregnant wench?" asked one of the most sober looking ones there. The drunken looking ones burst out into laughter. Oscar wanted to punch them, but didn't possess the strength to. He was also a bit focused at the moment.
"Yes," Oscar nodded, "Is she okay? What happened to her?"
"We took her in with you," the sober one answered, "She fell out from your arm when we dragged you in, and that was when she started smearing blood on the floor. It was a bit of a fright, to be honest."
"Where is she?!" Oscar repeated desperately. He winced at the pain in his leg and shifted his weight onto his good one.
"I think the keeper took her up to one of the rooms," someone else replied, "I sure hope she aint dead by now. 'Tis was a nasty wound." They grimaced as they recalled it.
"What're we talking about?" a different person asked, "I wasn't here overnight like the rest of you drunkies. Who is this guy? He looks messed up...I thought he got drunk or something and y'all were waiting for him to wake up."
"Nope," the lady from before said, "He was poundin' on the door 'bout an hour after we locked it up for the night. We opened it and he collapsed in with the pregnant lady."
"Who is the pregnant lady?" the first guy asked, "Your wife?"
"Y-yeah..," Oscar lied. He wasn't ready for a bunch of insults and ridicule to be hurled at him right now. He was just about done with everything and was on the edge of freaking out and going insane.
"I do hope she gets better!" a very drunk man yelled emotionally, "I remember when my precious wifey died because I couldn't save her!" He exploded into tears and chugged down his bottle of beer.
Oscar felt stirred and worried by this and limped towards the stairs.
"I have to get her!" he pleaded, "We need to get her to a hospital before it's too late! I've already wasted too much time, so we have to hurry!"
"We don't have one," the sober one said.
Oscar froze and slowly turned back to him with wide, scared eyes. "What?"
"This city doesn't have one," he repeated, "The next city over does, though, but it's a while out. They're a big city, with ships and giant hotels. The city lights up with all kinds of different colors at night...It's a very beautiful sight. It's also one of the only other cities in Solitas that shows up on most maps."
"We have to get her there, then!" Oscar said, "How do we get over there?!"
"I guess I could drive you," he answered, standing up, "There's a road leading there, but it'll take at least three hours to get there."
"Won't the road be covered in snow?" Oscar asked.
"Nah," the man replied, "When the road was built, the builders obviously knew what they were doing when building a road in Solitas of all places. They used paraffin wax, which makes the snow melt on its own, so we should be good."
"Thank you!" Oscar cried, "Thank you so, so much!"
"Eh, it's no problem," he muttered, "I've got nothing better to do this week anyway."
"Uh, okay."
Oscar looked at the stairs that lead to the second floor, tirelessness and anxiousness coursing through him. He had to get Ruby before it was too late! He couldn't let her life slip away because he was too slow to save her!
"Let's get her," Oscar said quickly. The man shrugged and ascended the stairs, returning with Ruby curled up in his arms. The wound had some kind of sheet tightly wrapped around it and it wasn't stained, so hopefully that meant she had stopped bleeding.
Oscar wanted to take over with holding her but then realized that he was far too weak and unstable to safely do that. He just limped after the guy and they left the hotel-saloon.
It wasn't snowing anymore and everything was covered in a heavy blanket of white snow. People were already shoveling the streets and their walkways while some sat on their porches recording the outcome of the heavy snowfall with their scrolls.
A few people looked up with wide, concerned eyes at the sight of Ruby. Some of them began whispering but none did anything besides that. They seemed to assume that they were already helping her.
The man lead Oscar to a house nestled in the corner of the small town. In the driveway was a decent sized pickup truck with lots of dried mud spattered on its sides. The vehicle as a whole look kind of old. Oscar was too anxious to question its age.
They piled into the truck, carefully and securely buckling Ruby in a laying down position in the back, and started it up. Then, pulling into the road that lead through the city, they drove off. The road harbored a thin layer of snow that looked very close to slush.
"That's amazing!" Oscar marveled, "There's only about an inch or two of slushy snow after almost a foot and a half of snow! Those roads really are great!"
"It is," the man agreed flatly.
As they drove, Oscar noticed that his leg was bouncing in place. He stopped himself, but noticed only a little while later that he was doing it again. He frowned and then gave up on stopping himself. He was just too anxious and worried to sit still.
"I'm Saumy, but you can just call me Sammy," the man said. Oscar looked over at him and nodded.
"I'm Oscar," he replied, "And that's Ruby, back there."
"How'd she get that hellish injury?" Sammy asked with a hint of curiosity showing through his somewhat bland behavior.
"It was a Grimm," Oscar said with a mental cringe of recollection, "You see, she and I are huntsmen-okay, well, she's a huntress, obviously, but we both do the same thing."
He wanted to smash his hand into his forehead hard enough to concuss himself. He really needed to work on his social skills and keep himself from slipping up and saying super dumb things. It made sense, though, since his maturity hadn't surpassed his 15 year old mind by too much.
"Well anyway," he continued awkwardly, "She, uh...well, we were fighting all these Grimm a while away and then one of them got her really bad just when Jaune and I killed it. We...we were too late..."
"Who's Jaune?" Sammy asked. His eyes never left the windshield the whole time he talked.
"Oh, he's one of my teammates," Oscar answered. Man, if sure felt weird to call Jaune his teammate. To some bizarre extent, he had a hard time really knowing who Jaune was as a person without Ozpin's insight. Teammate was the closest word he could find.
"Cool," Sammy said less interestingly. They drove on for a while longer before Oscar felt his body starting to nag him about sleep again.
Why do I have to sleep again?! I literally just slept for almost a day or something just before! What, does unconsciousness not count?
He let his body, which was still tensed in worry, relax the best he could. Then he laid his head back and closed his eyes. His heart racing with fear didn't help his sleep transition much, so it took him quite a while to actually fall asleep.
Once he did, however, a raging nightmare about Ruby dying and himself losing everything quickly jerked him back awake sweating and panting. Instead of sleeping then, he just sat back and constantly glanced back at Ruby.
She's gotta be getting close to the end, he bitterly thought, How long does she even have..?
"How much longer until we get there?" Oscar asked restlessly.
"Almost an hour and a half," Sammy replied.
Oscar mentally began moaning in worry. Every second that passed was like another ounce of weight on his chest, and after these past few hours, it seemed to have amounted to a ton. His breathing had been steadily paced at a fast speed as well.
In short, he couldn't rest and he couldn't stop thinking about Ruby. The only mission or mindset that his head allowed to even enter his brain was to save Ruby, save Ruby, save Ruby...
He opened his eyes to find that the truck had stopped in a large asphalt parking lot. Snapping awake, he quickly unbuckled himself, rushed out the side door, and opened the back.
Ruby wasn't lying in the back seat. A small stain of blood was absorbed into the seat's fabric where she'd been before.
Panicked, he frantically limped around the side of the vehicle. He just about tripped over the imbalance in his weight distribution when he saw Sammy with Ruby in his arms. He caught the side of the trunk just in time to keep himself from falling.
"Calm down, kid," Sammy said, practically frowning the words. Oscar apologized and gathered himself.
"Are we here?" he asked. He ignored the practical logic of assuming they were since there were no other reasons to park into any other parking lot.
"Yep," Sammy answered with a nod.
Oscar took in his surroundings, partially blinded by the bright light of day.
Indeed they were there, tall buildings with layers of glass windows towering over every corner; highways crisscrossed and intersected in various places, loaded with never ending rows of cars and lined with multi-colored street lights.
A huge river-like pond started near the center of the city and flowed underneath a massive gate bridge, also rigged full of lights, and then it ended in another giant pond that was circled by houses.
Another thing he noticed was how warm it felt. It wasn't very warm, but the air had a comforting humidity to it. He estimated it to be close to a cooler 45ish degrees. This city must've had a similar heating system to Atlas and Mantle.
In front of them was a hospital that looked nearly as grand as the city itself. It had all the windows, hanging flowerpots, and curtains that any hospital could have, and the entrance looked large and welcoming.
The best part about its appearance was that it looked wonderfully professional. In Oscar's mind, he imagined it harbored some of those professional specialist doctors that could perform lifesaving operations and procedures.
Just then, a pump of adrenaline and franticness spiked through him. Ruby's time was likely running out! He had to save her! Jaune of all people had trusted him!
He stagger-limped desperately forwards, urging Sammy with all of his heart to get her into the emergency center as soon as possible.
"Hurry!" he basically wept, "We have to get her in there! We can't waste any time..!"
He felt his body suddenly drain into a state of weakness and dizziness. But he shoved that aside once more. Now wasn't the time to be selfish!
Sammy grunted almost annoyed, but seemed to understand the time crunch and severity of the situation. They hurried to the doors and then burst through into the emergency lobby.
A secretary at the desk looked up from some papers with wide eyes from the sudden happenings. Even if she was used to things like this happening once and a while, it was still startling.
"Help!" Oscar shouted, "Help! She's super hurt and she's pregnant and she lost a lot of blood and I don't know how much time she has left and we have to save her before it's too late and-a-and..."
He found himself struggling to breathe right and felt his heart beginning to pound much harder than he was used to. He looked down at the ground with slightly blurry vision and saw another puddle of blood below his leg.
He watched with half-open, slowly fading vision as a number of nurses and assistance rushed Ruby onto a gurney and hurried away, a head nurse yelling commands at all her helpers as they did.
He felt himself swaying on his legs, which felt like weak, brittle fish bones, and then watched as his vision flipped to the ceiling and then to the floor.
Dang it...
Welp, look where they are now. Oscar just passed out cuz he aint doin' so well either. Can the hospital save Ruby before she dies? What about her baby(ies)? Will she sustain any permanent damage? Oooh time to find out later!
Sorry for the insanely late update! The laptop I use to upload stopped working and this chapter is the last one I could squeeze out on another device. Gotta wait for the device to get fixed! Saawwyyyy!
Please don't ask why there's a giant megacity kinda like Tokyo or some big anime city randomly in Solitas. I had something like this made up a long time ago and decided not to change it, so...I guess ya gotta deal with it. XD
Thanks for reading and tune in for more chapters!