Welcome to the hell chapter, aka the one I struggled the most with. It didn't go anywhere I was expecting, but it finally went somewhere and I'm happy with the results regardless. Between the current world state and my desire to finish this before volume 8 (since I'm debating a sequel for volume 7)...hopefully the last two chapters will be much easier and quicker than this one was.

TW: Some depictions of a panic attack

Thud.

Oscar flinched at the sound of flesh and bone hitting the wall. Briefly, he spared a glance over at Jaune, whose fist remained connected with the wall, little cracks in the drywall extending from where his knuckles rested. He watched as Jaune's arm slowly fell to his side and he hung his head. Oscar swallowed and looked back to the floor before the other boy turned around and could see his gaze. He didn't think Jaune would take very well to pity at the moment.

It wasn't as if he didn't know they would need to fill Jaune, Ren, and Nora in about what happened after the train crash, but he had hoped they would have at least a couple of days before it would inevitably be brought up. And it wasn't as if Oscar didn't want to tell them, they needed to know but…but he had hoped the rest of them would be able to at least fully come to grips with what they were told before they had to relay the bad news. None of them had done that yet as far as he was aware, he certainly hadn't at least. Hell, Qrow was out drinking—again—after another setback at the military base. They hadn't really talked about it, or the Apathy and Brunswick Farms for that matter, since Jinn's vision revealed the truth to them all. It had just been sitting there, a heavy weight resting on all of them. A weight each one of them knew the other carried but wouldn't dare speak about.

He had tried to bring it up briefly during their ride to Argus, but the majority agreed with Yang when she said she wanted JNR's opinion before they formulated any new plans for how to proceed. Oscar could respect that, their opinions were important, but didn't having some sort of plan soften the blow of bad news? Shouldn't they at least try to process it for themselves first?

Now, with how the three others looked, he was pretty confident they should have at least tried.

"Everything we did was for nothing!" Jaune shouted, and Oscar flinched again. The anger wasn't unexpected but…he had seen far too much of it in the past few days. This was exactly how it started after Jinn's revelation too, and he felt dread fall into the pit of his stomach as he prepared for the worst.

"That's not true!" Blake was quick to try and comfort them, but was immediately shot down.

"Really? 'Cuz it sure does sound like it," Nora shot back, and the dread in Oscar's stomach only grew. He had never seen Jaune angry before outside of a fight, but he had expected it given what they were talking about. There was something deeply wrong about hearing Nora sound so resigned though. She was always so feisty, always ready to dive headfirst into anything that came her way and this…this managed to snuff that fire.

"If Salem can't die, how are we supposed to win this?" Ren asked. He sounded the least affected and the most logical of the three, which was a relief in some regards and a concern in others. Ren was the logical one, but here he was asking for a plan they didn't have. Oscar also heard the edge in his tone and could see the rigidness in his stance. Ren was trying to keep himself controlled, but it was clear even he was shaken.

The silence that settled over the room was suffocating. Oscar tore his eyes from the floor to watch Blake and Yang exchange a glance before both frowning and looking away. Weiss stood next to him, staring at her hands folded in front of her. His gaze finally turned to Ruby, hoping maybe she had some words. Of courage or of hope, it didn't matter, he just wanted her to say something. She was good at these kinds of things, she had pep talked him up more than enough by now and he saw how her leadership had brought them back countless times before. But Ruby couldn't even look at him, let alone JNR.

"So…it really is that desperate then?"

His throat went dry at the thought and he closed his eyes. No, no it couldn't be like this. They couldn't fall to despair like this. He and Team RWBY had already come back from it once, after first finding everything out. What they were doing was still important! Protecting humanity, standing up against Salem…all of it was still the right thing to do. It didn't matter if they could actually kill Salem or not, what they had all done was still great, their heroism and protection of others was still worth it. It still meant something!

"Do you regret your decision now?"

The question still sat at the back of his mind, he had accepted at Brunswick Farms it was one that was going to haunt him for a while to come. Every time the truth brought another round of pain, at the very least. But no, no Oscar still didn't regret learning the truth. They all deserved to know what they were fighting against and…and he still believed in them all. He did. Jaune and Ren and Nora would be angry, just as the rest of them were in that snowy mountain range, but they would come to their senses. They were good people who felt compelled to do the impossible because it was the right thing to do. Because they knew the pain of what happened if Salem won the battles in this war.

He trusted them, they all would keep moving forward from this. It would just take some time to get there.

"Wow, great plan everyone." Jaune's caustic sarcasm stung in the face of everyone's silence, but he understood it. They were all frustrated, they were all scared of what this meant, but no one could let it get the better of them.

The silence hung for another moment, compelling Oscar to finally look up and take a step forward. If no one else was going to say anything, the least he could do was try. The least he could do was remind them that this wasn't all for naught. "Look, none of this is great, we know. We're not the bad guys here—"

"Are you sure about that?"

Oscar trailed off at the question that was thrown at him, not sure if he heard it correctly. Or rather, not wanting to believe that he did. He felt his blood run cold as stared at Jaune's back and stumbled out a quiet, "What?"

"He's in your head, isn't he?" Jaune continued and turned around. His irate gaze froze Oscar to his spot, even as the older boy started advancing. He had seen a very similar look in Qrow's eyes, right before he was punched. "Did you already know about this?" Jaune demanded, and he was on Oscar before the younger boy even processed the question.

Briefly, Oscar saw Weiss trying to defend him, but the next thing he knew, he felt a dull pain shoot up his spine as he was shoved into the wall. "How much longer can we trust him?" Any thought he had about being able to talk his way out of this and calm everyone down disappeared as he stared up into Jaune's face. Something burned in his chest at the question, but Jaune hadn't done anything after pinning him to the wall. It wasn't anything stemming from physical pain.

Someone called out in protest, but he could barely hear who it was or what was said over the sound of blood rushing in his ears.

"How do we even know it's really him?! What if we've been talking to that liar the whole time!?"

The fury was plain as day in Jaune's face. And the fear. And the pain. In that moment, Oscar knew Jaune believed the words he was spewing. He believed the kid he had pinned to the wall was really Ozpin, he believed that Oscar wasn't there. Maybe even that Oscar had never been there at all. The burning in his chest turned sharp and started digging its way deeper and deeper inside of him.

He wanted to argue, to say something, anything that showed he was Oscar. He was still Oscar and he was there and he had always been there, but the words only turned into a strangled gasp in his throat. All he could do was close his eyes and turn away from the irate scorn in Jaune's eyes, unable to stomach the look anymore. He held up his hands weakly, both as a sign that he wouldn't put up a fight and because he was fully expecting to get hit. Again. This was just like last time, and yet having to deal with it a second time made it so much worse.

"Jaune!"

He barely identified Ruby's shrill reprimand in his mind, still anticipating a blow against his jaw. When it never came, he tentatively peeked up at Jaune. Just as quickly as he was pushed to the wall, he was dropped. He shoved himself against the wall as Jaune pushed past him up the stairs and let out a sigh. The others started talking around him, but all he could focus on was his own racing heart and the way his legs were trembling. He was vaguely aware of Nora and Ren walking past him too, but only because it took all that he had to keep the stinging in his eyes from spilling over in front of them. He could only see the rage in Jaune's eyes, hear the accusations in his shouts.

"I…I'm not him."

"Maybe we could all use some space."

The thumping in his ears hadn't stopped, but somehow Blake's statement managed to pierce through it. It put a temporary hold on the words Jaune yelled at him from replaying in his mind again and again, a momentary reprieve from the bile that was rising in his throat. He finally looked up from the floor, unsure if the echo of JNR's stomps up the stairs were real or only his imagination, and saw the girls looking at each other in some silent conversation about what to do next. In a way, he was grateful they were quiet and their attention seemed to be focused on each other. Everything was way too loud.

Everything felt way too close, almost like something was constricting around his throat, making it harder to breathe with each passing moment.

"Is this really what they think of me?"

He wanted to whisk the thought away as soon as he had it, to decide this was just anger and fear talking and Jaune didn't mean anything he said. But he couldn't. He couldn't because maybe Jaune was right. Ruby had reassured him after Jinn's vision, but what was it Qrow had said? "Don't lie to him"? Something churned in his stomach, and it took all of his willpower to keep from vomiting.

He turned away from RWBY and instead looked at the door, too afraid one of them would look up and see him in this state. He didn't want them to see the emotions he was sure were written all over his face, he didn't want to have to explain what he was thinking or try to give a voice to the feelings he was having. He didn't even know if he could. No, no all he wanted was a moment to breathe and recollect his thoughts. All he needed was to be alone for a little bit, that was the only way he could gather himself.

"We should probably get some food for dinner tonight," Blake continued, and Oscar could feel something in him unwind a little. If they left, then he could have the room to himself. He wouldn't have to leave and have people questioning where he was going or what he was doing. "Saffron and Terra are gracious, but we shouldn't take that for granted."

"You're right," Yang agreed, "We could probably use some fresh air after…that…too." She stumbled on her words, which was rare for her.

"I think…I want to stay here," Ruby said. He spared a glance towards her, noticing that she looked towards the stairs and then her scroll. Right, Qrow. She had been trying to get into contact with him ever since he took off after the military base.

An uncomfortable silence settled over the room for a moment as they probably reached some kind of agreement, and then there were the shifting sounds of movement. He wouldn't say what he felt was relief, but knowing that he was going to be alone soon did give a small bit of a reprieve. The need for solitude was beginning to consume him. His heart was still racing, even after everything had started to calm down and it was clear he wasn't in any present danger. The tension in the air was still thick, and he felt as if he were about to keel over from its weight at any moment. If they could just leave…if he could just be alone…it would be better.

"Oscar—" he started at the sound of his name and looked up to see Weiss looking back at him. He took a shallow breath and forced his hands to unclench. "—Do you want to come with us?" Her offer was genuine, but her smile was wary. Sad. She had been the one to jump to his defense when Jaune charged at him, hadn't she?

Oscar found himself shaking his head, not trusting his ability to speak at the moment. If a word even came out, he knew it would be cracked, and everything else was bound to come tumbling out after it. No, he didn't want to go with them. The need to be alone dug its claws deeper into his mind. Besides, if everyone was looking for a way to calm down, his emotions would just get in the way of that. He would just get in the way, like he always did.

"This is what they think of you."

The smile slipped from Weiss's face, and she looked like she was about to say something before she thought better of it. She nodded once and looked back at Blake and Yang, and the three of them were up and out the door. "If you need anything, just send us a message," Weiss threw over her shoulder before the three of them left.

He had thought…hoped really that as people started to filter out to their respective spaces, the air would slowly start to lose its tension. But it didn't. If anything, it was ever lingering, and its thickness only grew. The desperation in his own lungs grew with it. As the door clicked shut next to him, he looked up to catch another glance at Ruby. She was looking back at him, and when they locked gazes, she offered him a small half-smile, only one corner of her mouth tilting up. And like Weiss, it didn't reach her eyes. Instead, they only reflected her own exhaustion.

For a brief second, he wondered if she was going to say anything to him. Part of him dreaded the thought of having to speak after what just happened, but a small part of him wanted her to say something, anything about what just happened. Even the smallest words of comfort would be appreciated. Instead, she looked down to her scroll and fiddled with it. Ruby spared him one last glance before holding it to her ear and turning away, muttering something to it he couldn't quite make out. He did hear her mention Qrow though, and Oscar figured it was for the best to leave her be. This was, after all, what he wanted.

Yet, as the seconds ticked by in silent seclusion, he realized it wasn't. Left alone as Ruby went out back, he found the quiet deafening as the fight reclaimed the forefront of his mind, the scathing words reverberating against his skull. The unease in the house was humming in his ears, and the tears he refused to shed burned in the back of his throat every time he took a breath. Maybe it wasn't the tension in the house that was causing him to feel this way, but the storm of his own emotions swelling up inside of him. They crashed against him, wave after wave, almost knocking him to his knees. Very suddenly he realized he wanted—no, needed—to release them…but for the first time in his life he wasn't sure how and, even worse, wasn't sure what that would bring.

That scared him even more.

The longer he stood there, back still pressed up against the wall by the stairs, the more his legs became rooted to the spot. It was growing increasingly harder for him to breathe. He had thought being alone would bring the calm he needed but no, he needed to get away from the house…the people…the tension. He needed to escape the storm of his own emotions and spiraling thoughts.

Oscar forced a breath out of him he was sure he didn't have and slowly shifted his focus to making his legs move to the door, one after the other, in the calmest pace he could muster. He opened it quietly and did one check around him, assuring no one would see him leave, and then quickly walked out and closed it behind him.

The moment he was off the porch, he broke into a run.

It didn't matter where his feet were carrying him, Oscar couldn't even consider a destination with the crushing need to get away from that house looming over him. He didn't even see where he was going until he was almost in the middle of Argus's shopping district. As he slowed to a walk among the semi-crowded he streets, he took a couple of the deep breaths he was desperate for and finally glanced behind him. His senses were coming back to him enough that he realized he must have sent at least two dozen people scattering as he barreled past them, and he let out a small groan at himself. If he didn't want to cause a full-scale scene, and he absolutely did not want to do that, he needed to slow down.

A few onlookers gave him strange looks as he passed by, and he supposed he couldn't blame them. He probably looked about as disheveled as he felt after running from the Cotta-Arc residence all the way to the shopping district. He was just lucky enough that none of them stopped to ask him if he was alright. As he ambled further into the district, it became easier to fade into the crowd of late day shoppers. He even looked at a few things in the windows until he found an unoccupied bench in a relatively quiet section. He sat down and let his eyes wander over the various faces walking by as he reminded his lungs how to breath and his heart how to slow down.

Oscar did feel a little lighter now, being out in the open surrounded by a variety of strangers who didn't give him a passing glance. The calm didn't last though, as the events of the past hour seized his thoughts again, and he finally relented. He didn't feel like he was suffocating anymore, at least. With a disgruntled sigh, he tipped his head back against the bench and stared at the sky. It was late afternoon, and though the sun hadn't officially started to set yet, it hung low in the sky. If he wasn't so preoccupied already, he would have appreciated the colors.

"They think I'm you."

There was no reason to think that other than to acknowledge the thought's existence. He knew the hole where Ozpin's presence once occupied wouldn't respond to him. Oz was still gone, locked away in an unreachable part of his mind, and there were still no signs of him coming back anytime soon. Still, acknowledging the thought made him feel…something. Maybe he had just fallen into the habit of speaking to Oz too quickly and now he couldn't escape it, but the act still garnered some flash of comfort. Maybe he still had hope that the older soul would care enough about him to return. Or maybe…maybe a darker part of him thought he could guilt Ozpin back to take the responsibility himself?

Whatever it was that drove him to try again, and that was something Oscar didn't want to dwell on at the moment, it didn't work. That wasn't surprising, really.

"They think I'm you," he muttered to himself and sunk down on the bench. He threw one arm over his eyes, in part from exhaustion and in part to hide the fact he couldn't keep some of the tears from falling anymore. "Why do they think I'm you?!"

The fury on Jaune's face flashed through his mind again, and all the words and accusations he practically spat at him while Oscar cowered against the wall. The memory was like another slap to the face. Jaune's anger was forgivable given the situation, understandable even. He had experienced similar when they learned the truth. The accusation though…every time Oscar remembered those words he felt something deep in the center of his chest stab a little harder. He could still taste the words he wanted to scream then mixed with the bile, the words that had come out as nothing but a gasp in the face of disbelief and fear.

"My name is Oscar Pine," he mumbled into the air, as if saying them now could transport them back in time. As if saying them now could make everyone else understand then. "I am not Ozpin!"

That much was true. He wasn't Ozpin, he wasn't! Just because the man lived in his head didn't meant that Oscar Pine no longer existed. Just because they were apparently of similar souls didn't mean they were the same. He was still the farm boy from a small town outside of Mistral, forced into a situation way over his head. But for how long? How long until those souls weren't separate? How long until he was indistinguishable from Oz? How long until he understood the decisions Oz made?

"Do you regret your decision?"

Oscar didn't know now. If the truth could cause this much pain, to others and to himself then maybe…were they ready for it? He wanted so badly to believe that they could handle this, that no matter what they would keep doing good because at the end of the day that was the kind of people they were. But the way RWBY and Qrow reacted after finding out, and now the way JNR reacted too…

No! No. He did not regret his decision. He would not regret it. If Oz was going to place the fate of the world on their shoulders, as it seemed like he was, then they deserved to know the truth of the situation they were getting themselves into. He still believed that, no matter how hard the truth was. And it was unfair to judge them based on an immediate reaction. He had been mad and scared when he first found out too. It was what they did after they calmed down and looked at things objectively that mattered the most.

But…Oscar could understand Oz a little better. He had said he had seen great men do many things in the face of fear. He had endured countless breaks of trusts and surely countless heartbreaks from them. If just these two hit him so badly…how awful was it to slowly remember all of them? How awful was it to see this one…after team RWBY and Qrow? Because even if he was locked away, Oz was still aware…wasn't he?

"I am okay," Oscar muttered finally, blowing out a long breath. He meant it, sitting outside and feeling the breeze, listening to other people chatter and go about their day, it had helped him calm down and get his emotions under control. "I meant what I said back at the farms," he continued. Speaking aloud, even in a quiet mumble, helped make it feel more real. "I do still trust them. They'll do what's right, just like how RWBY came around. No one can blame them for being angry and scared."

He meant that, too. It was more extreme than he had anticipated, but Jaune, Nora, and Ren gave the reaction he had expected. He wasn't necessarily mad at them for it, he never really had been, though it was hard to decipher in the slew of sudden emotions he had felt in the moment. Being able to catch a breath had given him what he needed to untangle some of the thoughts buzzing in his mind; he could acknowledge it was never who said it, but what was said that cut him deep.

Just recently, his greatest fear was that he was going to fade away. He had begged for Ozpin to give him an answer about his fate after Jinn's revelation. He had asked if his only future was to become another one of Oz's lives, if everything he was and his individuality would disappear into relative obscurity as time went on. People would know his name of course, and whatever actions he took in this war, but those wouldn't be his if he disappeared. They would be under Oscar Pine's name, but ultimately would be Oz's actions. He would be just another name, just another body for the great Oz that would hold no meaning of the boy he originally was. That was never the proper question to ask.

Instead, the real question at the end of it all was if he, Oscar Pine, ever even appear at all?

Aside from his family, how many people knew who he was outside of Ozpin? Tasks on the farm had kept him too busy for friends when he lived at home. And now that he was around people he thought he was growing close enough to in order to start calling friends…they could only see him as another man. They knew Ozpin, their old headmaster, and what he had done and what he was supposed to do. And they knew Ozpin came back sharing the body of a boy named Oscar Pine. But they couldn't see Oscar, they barely even knew Oscar.

He felt something catch in his throat. To them, Oscar Pine was just another mask.

"They only see me as Ozpin."

Suddenly feeling restless again, Oscar stood up and ran a hand over the back of his neck. He glanced around to gauge how many people were up and about before deciding to go back to walking around the streets of the shopping district. He couldn't run again, not here, not without causing some type of problem he inevitably didn't want to deal with, but there was no reason not to move and look while he thought.

"They think I'm you."

He was back to that phrase again. They only saw him as a conduit for Ozpin…yet, that in and of itself didn't feel entirely right either. Ruby had been so adamant back in the mountains that he wasn't just going to be another one of Ozpin's lives. That meant she had to see him as Oscar, right? And Weiss and Yang and Blake, they had stood up for him today. They had invited him to go shopping for food with them. Surely that meant they saw him as Oscar…right? Even Jaune and Nora and Ren, they had spent time with him before today. They had trained with him and ate with him and lived with him for the past several weeks. That meant something…that meant he was Oscar to them too…right?

He crossed his arms as something funny settled into his stomach and stopped in front of a window. He stared inside at the item presented at the front of the store, a green jacket, without much consideration. He just needed a few minutes to sort this out.

Because surely they couldn't all see him as Oz, right? Yet…in the heat of the moment almost all of them looked to him. Not for himself, but for Ozpin, to seek guidance. To ask questions. To blame. It wasn't that Oscar wasn't there, it was just that he…he didn't matter in those moments. Not like Oz. And if he were being honest, why would he? It wasn't like he had any experience with any of the problems they were facing. He was young, he didn't have much fighting experience aside from the occasional Grimm on his farm, and he had never been to a Huntsman academy. He had never even intended on leaving Mistral, though he might have dreamed about it from time to time. With Oz gone, what was he?

A kid the rest of them had only met a couple of weeks ago. A roadblock in the way of the man they actually needed.

They saw him, just not all the time, and definitely not how he wanted them to. Perhaps he had gotten a little too complacent with Oz, allowing him to take over for the fighting and the planning. Perhaps he hadn't been loud enough with his own presence to really earn a separation from the man in his head, but that was fixable. Especially now that Oz was gone, all that was left was Oscar.

There would be no question that when he fought, it was Oscar fighting. He wasn't the best at it yet, but he could train and get better with time if he really put his mind to it. He needed to put his mind to it now that Oz was no longer there. His opinions would be his own too, there would be no doubt, and Oscar would make sure to voice them louder and clearer for everyone to hear. He could be a little more open around everyone too; not that he was necessarily ever not friendly, but even he could acknowledge that Ozpin's presence always loomed when he was with the teams.

He could reintroduce himself, and this time he would make sure everyone saw Oscar Pine.

With his decision made, he caught a glimpse of his reflection in the window in front of him, the sun hitting just right. The boy staring back at him was just Oscar…no, still Oscar despite everything. He would make the most of this awful situation one way or another and keeping going on no matter what. Because that's what he did, and that's what he was supposed to do, of that he was sure. He would not be another tragedy or another name that held no meaning of who he was. He would be Oscar Pine until the end, and he would make sure everyone knew it.

His eyes slid away from his reflection and to the jacket in the window, actually giving it consideration for the first time since he started staring at it. It was a simple, long green jacket designed for versatility and comfort. He did rather like the color and design, and it appeared to be a very practical piece of clothing both on and off the battlefield. His smile widened and he nodded to himself as he fished for his scroll in his pocket. Maybe he could use a changeup…and after all, the first step in reintroducing yourself was switching up your appearance. It would definitely make a statement, and that was all he wanted.

This was the first step in showing the world who Oscar Pine really was.