Oscar rubbed his eyes. He rubbed them a second time. He was just a step away from slapping himself awake. Sitting at a table across the room was the Ruby Rose herself. Oscar walked over to make sure this was real. Ruby noticed him coming and waved to him.
"Good morning Oscar!" Ruby called.
"H-Hi Ruby. What are you doing here?" He approached the table. Tai was already sitting next to her at the table.
"Just visiting Signal for a bit," she smiled.
"Oh, I see."
Oscar sat down his stuff and sat across from her. Flann approached the table and started talking to Ruby. She seemed excited to finally meet one of Tai's daughters. Oscar fidgeted in his seat. It had been almost a week since he last saw her. Truthfully, he had thought she had left already. She never gave an explanation for why she wanted to quit being a huntress. It had been bothering him all week.
Ruby happily talked to Flann. She smiled and laughed as if there was nothing wrong. Ruby exchanged stories with Flann. Marigold soon arrived and started thanking Ruby for what she did during the field trip. The conversation was boring him a bit and he couldn't find a good time to interject and talk. Oscar knew that it was time to make his leave when Flann started inquiring about relationships. She was bound to ask about Ruby's relationship with Oscar. That was a conversation he did not want to get wrapped up in.
Without coming up with an excuse, Oscar left the table. He went to his classroom to work on some paperwork. Oscar didn't even do anything before he realized that he wasn't going to get anything done. Instead, he turned the television in his room and flipped to the news.
"We will be preparing for another expedition," a confident voice declared from the tv. Weiss Schnee stood at a podium, talking to an audience.
Weiss had changed considerably since he last saw her. Her hair was a bit shorter than it used to be. It was braided around her head like a headband and the rest stayed in a neat bun. She still wore nice clothes of whites and blues, but they weren't as extravagant nor expensive as she used to wear. She had been cut off from her father for many years and had started her own dust company called Mirror Mirror Dust Company.
"We are calling on any available huntsmen to volunteer for this journey."
"Weiss has come a long way, hasn't she?" Oscar jumped at the sudden question. He turned to the doorway to see Ruby. Ruby let herself in and sat herself at the nearest desk. She watched the tv as Weiss talked on about the details of the next expedition.
"Are you going?" Oscar asked. Ruby peeled her eyes from the tv.
"I told you, I'm quitting. Besides, I've helped Weiss on a lot of these expeditions in the past. I think Blake is going this time though." She turned back to the tv. Oscar observed her face. She wore an expression of sadness and nostalgia.
"Why do you want to quit?" Oscar asked. Ruby took a deep breath. She didn't look at him, just continued to stare at the screen.
"It's complicated. I don't think Remnant needs my help anymore."
"Ruby what happened to you?!" Oscar snapped. "The Ruby Rose I knew would always lend her help even if she thought they didn't need it! She always knew what was right and never strayed too far from the path! You're important Ruby! You are!"
Ruby stared at him. Oscar let out a long breath that released the tension in his body.
"I'm glad you think that, but it's much more complicated than that. Besides I'm not going to entirely give up on being a huntress. Maybe I'll become a teacher, like you. Wouldn't that be fun? We'd see each other every day again!"
"Sorry for shouting." Oscar sat back down. "I was just scared. You just seemed like a different person..."
"It's alright," Ruby smiled. "I have been sounding like that, haven't I? I'm sorry I didn't tell you everything."
"It's not your fault." Oscar turned back to the tv. The news had switched to a different story about the recent expansion of the kingdoms. They showed a recently discovered oasis on the continent, Immanis*.
"Maybe I should move to Immanis," Ruby said. "It's so far away from the other kingdoms."
"What would you do? Start a kingdom?" Oscar asked. Ruby's eyes light up.
"Yes! I'll start a kingdom!" Ruby jumped up. She started dancing around the classroom. "It'll be called Rubyland! And I shall be the queen!"
Oscar laughed at her childish notions. Creating a kingdom was not easy, but he wouldn't be surprised if the foundations for a new kingdom were being laid down without anybody realizing.
"Long live Queen Ruby!" Oscar laughed. Ruby started laughing too. She rearranged her cape so that it draped over her shoulders and arms. She held it in place with her hands and stuck her arm out in front of her chest. Then she started strutting around the room.
"You shall be my faithful knight," Ruby declared in a mock pompous tone.
"Of course, milady." Oscar kneeled on the floor.
"I dub thee, Sir Oscar." Oscar laughed as he stood up. He bowed to Ruby.
"I shall always be by your side, milady." Ruby was laughing. Oscar smiled at her cheerfulness.
Ruby readjusted her cape before sitting down at a desk. She gripped her sides from laughter. Oscar sat down at his desk. He decided that the news was a bit boring, so he started flipping through channels.
"Hey Oscar," Ruby called to him. Oscar stopped flipping through the channels. "It wouldn't be so bad to have you by my side forever."
"Don't let your boyfriend hear that," Oscar chuckled to himself.
"But I'm not dating."
"Oh." Oscar covered his face a bit from embarrassment. "Me neither."
"By the way, does your coworker, uh… Flann? Does she always ask about relationships?"
"Yeah…" Oscar sighed. "It's repetitive…"
"I think she may be rubbing off on you a bit," she joked.
"Please don't even joke about that," Oscar's face scrunched in disgust. "I'm always on the receiving end of her inquiries. It's embarrassing, and I think it's her entertainment."
Ruby laughed at his statement. He stopped flipping through the channels upon landing on a movie.
"Oooh! This is Guardians of the Constellations, right? I love this movie!" Ruby leaned forward in her chair.
"I'm not that surprised," Oscar laughed. "This is part of the Revengers universe, right?"
"Yup!" Ruby chirped.
"A bunch of my students like the movies. I've watched a few of them, but never really got into it." Ruby was by his side in a flash. She had an arm around his shoulder and was pointing to the screen.
"Well my friend, while I'm in Patch we are going to have a movie marathon," she stated confidently. "I know you'll love the WCU."
"WCU?"
"Wonder Cinema Universe. You know, Wonder Comics? Did you not grow up with comic books?!"
"Ruby, I grew up on a farm." Oscar made a face at her.
"Well you, my friend, have been deprived of a real childhood." In a burst of rose petals, Ruby was back in her seat. "I'll let you read my comics too if you want."
"You sound like a kid, you know," Oscar laughed.
"Hey! Enjoyment of comics has nothing to do with age!"
"No, I mean it's just nostalgic."
###
"Oscar!" The door to the Xiao-Long household flew open. Ruby stood in the doorway with a t-shirt and fuzzy pajama bottoms. Zwei trotted out to meet the guest.
"Hey. You look pretty comfortable."
"Well of course! It's a movie night!" Ruby bounced. "I haven't had one of these in a long time! Come on! Come on!"
Ruby was very obviously excited to start this movie night. Oscar entered the house to find a nest of pillows and blankets set up in front of the tv. Ruby barreled into the little nest. He made his way over and joined her in the comfy mess. There was an assortment of snacks from classic popcorn and chips to cookies. Ruby had even gotten a small cooler and filled it with plenty of drinks.
"Wow you've really outdone yourself," Oscar laughed.
"Yang and I used to have movie nights like this when we were younger. I haven't had one in a long time, so I guess I got pretty excited," Ruby sheepishly admitted. "Ok I think we should watch this in chronological order."
Ruby sat in a pile of movies. Each one had colorful covers that displayed heroes in tight suits. Oscar wondered if they would even be able to get through all of them. Ruby rummaged through the pile as if she was confident she knew what she was doing.
"So we should start with Captain Vale: The First Revenger. Steel Man and Steel Man 2 after that…" Ruby droned on about the order of the movies. Only about a handful of the superheroes sounded familiar. Ruby started the first movie.
"Both of you are such children," Raven shook her head in disappointment.
The couple in the nest of pillows and blankets were surrounded by crumbs, empty bottles, and bags of popcorn. Both Oscar and Ruby were completely sleep deprived. They had almost completed watching every movie in the WCU.
"Oscar, did you even go home?" Tai asked.
"Briefly. To get a change of clothes and take a shower," Oscar admitted. "And to bring more snacks..."
"I can't believe you two," Tai groaned. "We're gone for the weekend and you two pulled all-nighters to watch superhero movies."
"But we're almost done," Ruby complained. "I don't have Eternity War and that alone cuts over two hours out of the schedule!"
"Yeah! I'm almost caught up! If we watch one more, I can finish catching up next weekend."
"I can't believe you two are the ones that defeated Salem." Raven rolled her eyes and went upstairs.
"Ruby, Oscar, do you know what time it is?" Tai crossed his arms. Ruby and Oscar exchanged glances. It was apparent that neither had kept track of time. "It's 5am! On Monday! Oscar, we have to go to work in less than an hour!"
"Oops." That was all Oscar could think of. Tai sighed.
"Oscar, go home and get ready for work. I'll see you there. Ruby, sweetie, help me take this setup down."
"Can we at least finish the movie?" Ruby peeped up.
"No. Now go."
Oscar got up and grabbed his stuff. Ruby stood up and gave him a hug.
"This was fun," Ruby smiled.
"Yeah," Oscar hugged her back.
"Want to do this next week?"
"Aren't you going back to Vale soon?" Ruby let go of him and looked over at Tai. Her father only shrugged in response.
"I'm moving back to Patch for a bit."
"Really?!" Oscar got a bit excited.
"Yeah! I'm looking for a new place right now, so in the meantime I'll be moving back to Patch. Just until everything is straightened out."
"That sounds exciting," Oscar replied sarcastically.
"Yeah, it's been a bit of a… difficult process. But that means we'll have more time to hang out together!"
"I look forward to it." Oscar smiled. He bid his farewells and left the Xiao-Long household.
Ruby moved to help Tai undo her movie night nest. Tai didn't say a word, but Ruby seemed anxious over it.
"I know what you're going to say. So, can you just… not?"
"I wasn't going to say anything," Tai responded. Ruby sighed and gave him a look that she knew what was on his mind. "Why won't you tell him?"
Ruby gathered a load of blankets in her arms. She hugged them closer to her. Ruby buried her face in the blankets and let out a muffled scream of frustration. Tai dropped his armload of pillows on the couch. He walked over to her and gave her a big hug.
"I will eventually. Just… Just promise not to say anything. I don't want Oscar to worry."
"I won't. Just promise me that you'll tell him eventually. Oscar's a good kid, he'll understand."
"I know… that's not what I'm worried about…"
Ruby broke away from Tai's embrace. She continued working on deconstructing the mess. When she finished, she went upstairs to sleep.
Nightmares came to greet her.
*Immanis is supposed to be the dragon continent. There's no official name for it so I decided to give it one.