It's in those mundane tasks that you remember the moment clearest. You remember how oblivious you felt just a few moments before and how it only took a few seconds to change. For Oscar, it was as he was watering his plants. Tai called and next thing he knew he was sitting in a hospital waiting room.
"She's awake now," Tai announced as he came back from talking to the doctors, "but they're not sure what to do about her condition. They want to keep her here for a few days for tests and then they'll decide from there."
"Can we see her?" Oscar asked timidly. Tai ran a hand through his hair before shaking his head.
"They're not letting visitors in at the moment. But they said we could see her tomorrow," he quickly added upon seeing Oscar's saddened look. Oscar didn't really know what to say. Tai sighed and put a hand on his shoulder. "It's going to be alright, ok bud? Ruby's a fighter, she's not leaving us yet."
Oscar nodded. "Ok," his voice barely a whisper.
"I'll give you a ride home. Or do you want to come to my house? Yang and Weiss dropped everything and took the first flight to Patch. They'll be here in a few hours. I'm sure they'll be happy to see you again." Oscar looked at his hands. He didn't want to be around people, but he also didn't want to be alone.
"Ok."
He chose the path of less resistance. He followed Tai out of the waiting room like a lost puppy. The older gentleman didn't really know what to say except for little words of encouragement here and there. Oscar wasn't really listening. Nothing was really settling in.
When Tai arrived at the house, Oscar sat on the couch and said nothing. Tai kept offering him things, but Oscar was despondent. He stared at the photographs on the mantle. Ruby's smiling face stood among them surrounded by pictures of friends.
After what felt like an eternity of doing nothing, Oscar turned on the tv. He wasn't really watching though. Tai came to join him after a while.
"Raven said she's going to finish up her missions as soon as she can and come right over," Tai announced. Oscar just nodded. Tai sighed again. Then he put a hand on Oscar's head and ruffled his hair. Oscar looked at him in surprise. "Look, I know that I'm your girlfriend's father and all and that technically I should be threatening you or something."
"You have been."
"Right. But the point is, I know what it's like to lose someone you love. Ruby's going to be ok. What we can do for her right now is be strong."
"Thank you." Oscar took a deep breath. "Hey, I'm going to head home for a bit. I want to finish some errands and grab an overnight bag."
"Go ahead bud. I'll be here. Want me to drive you?"
"I'm good. I could use a walk right now." Oscar got up and left the house.
He walked through the quiet streets of Patch. The summer sun blazed above him. It choked him with its heat. The songs of birds fell upon an unimpressed audience. There was no cheers when they stopped singing.
Oscar reached his house. A large truck was outside of it with people moving in and out of the front door. A huntsman leaned against the truck, not helping the movers with the work. A woman came out of the house as Oscar reached the door. She looked a little surprised when she saw him.
"Um, hi. I'm guessing you're my new neighbor?" Oscar asked. He put on the friendliest smile he could muster at the moment. The woman's face light up.
"Oh! Yes! I'm sorry about the mess and noise right now," she apologized.
"It's alright. I won't be staying long anyways. I'm staying at a friend's house tonight."
"Ok! I'm Lucia Lux!" Lucia stuck her hand out for him to shake. "That's Dior, the huntsman we hired to escort us here from Vale."
"Nice to meet you Lucia. So you came from Vale?"
"Mistral actually. We cut through Vale on our way from Mistral."
"I'm from Mistral too."
"Really?! Khloe! Come meet our neighbor! He's from Mistral!"
"Actually, I should get going." Oscar tried dismissing himself.
"Oh, sorry for keeping you, uh…"
"Oscar. Oscar Pine. I'm a huntsman that works at Signal."
"That's so cool! We should have lunch or something sometime. Us Mistral folk gotta stick together!" Oscar smiled his first genuine smile of the day.
"Thank you." He bid her goodbye before entering his own section of the house.
He sighed when he closed the door. He grabbed the worn backpack he kept near the door in case of emergency missions. He went to his room and threw it on his bed. Oscar began stuffing it with some clothes from the closet. That's when he found a plant.
Oscar picked up the potted plant sitting neatly behind an old shirt. It was beginning to wilt from the lack of sunlight and water, but he was able to tell what it was.
"How did my Vacuo Violets get in here?" Oscar examined the pot. It was supposed to be by the door but had gone missing a week ago. He suddenly realized who the culprit was and began laughing. Ruby was still Ruby even if she wasn't here.
Oscar brought the plant back to the front door. He immediately grabbed his watering can in hopes of reviving the poor plant.
There was a sudden crash outside followed by some yelling. Oscar opened the door a bit to peer outside. Lucia looked very frustrated at Dior who wasn't helping. Another woman, the one he presumed to be Khloe, stood between them trying to diffuse the situation. Oscar sighed and closed the door. He looked back at his plant, lightly touching the wilting petals.
"If Ruby was here, she would have already gone out to help, wouldn't she?" he asked the plant. He wasn't expecting an answer from it, but he still received one. Oscar put his shoes on and went outside to help them.
###
"That plane could not have been any slower!" Yang complained. Oscar looked up from the tv. Zwei jumped off his lap to happily greet Yang.
"We were in state-of-the-art Atlas tech! That was one of the fastest planes in all of Atlas!" Weiss argued as she followed Yang in. Her voice changed to a high pitch when she saw Zwei. She immediately started cooing and scratching Zwei behind the ears.
"Hey guys!" Oscar called to them.
"Hey Oscar," Yang called back. She approached him and put a hand on his shoulder. "Are you ok? How are you holding up?"
"I… could be better," he admitted. "But I figured Ruby would be pretty mad if I got so torn up over a hospital visit."
"Yeah. She'll probably be upset that we dropped everything to visit. But we figured checking up on her was worth the scorn." Yang looked to Weiss who had picked up Zwei and was bringing him over.
"We called Blake too," Weiss added. "She's going to Mistral tonight and taking an airship first thing in the morning."
"Thanks for coming."
"Well Ruby is our friend and leader. And it's better we're all together than apart, right?" Weiss smiled encouragingly. Yang nodded and put her free hand on Weiss's shoulder.
"You two are getting really close," Oscar commented.
"And what's that supposed to mean?"
"Ah, sorry, I just wanted to know what it was like to tease someone about a relationship for once." He couldn't think of a better excuse.
"You're far too young to be teasing us, farm boy." Yang ruffled his hair. Oscar laughed as he tried pushing Yang's arm away. "Anyways, where's dad?"
"Tai went upstairs to take a nap. He's had a long day."
"I'm gonna wake him up to say that we're here. What do you want to do for dinner?"
"I made some pasta since I didn't know what time you'd get here."
"Thanks kid." Yang made one more attack on his hair before running upstairs.
"Yang! I'm an adult now!"
"You're still too short to be an adult!" Yang called from upstairs. Oscar pouted. He looked to Weiss for some support, but she was too busy playing with Zwei. Oscar sighed before sinking into the couch.
When Oscar was fourteen, he might have freaked out about having to sleep in the same room as one of the girls. He was used to rooming alone or with Jaune and Ren. After years of travel, he would say Blake was the safest to room with. After that was Weiss.
"Hey Oscar, if you want to use the shower go now," Weiss announced as she entered the bedroom. She wore a nightgown and a towel around her neck. "Yang takes forever. Trust me, you do not want to wait for her."
"Thanks Weiss. I'll be fine, I took one this morning." Oscar moved some things off of Ruby's bed. It was mainly comic books and some shirts haphazardly thrown to the side. Oscar stopped when he spotted something in the midst of the little mess.
"What's wrong?" Weiss asked. She looked over to him in concern from Yang's old bed. Oscar held up the red scarf for her to see.
"It's my scarf. I've been looking everywhere for it. Figures Ruby would have it," he chuckled. He set the scarf aside and continued clearing up the bed, neatly stacking the comic books. Weiss watched him work. She didn't say a word though her face said she wanted to.
"Oscar you're off," she finally stated as he finished up. Oscar looked up in surprise.
"What do you mean?"
"You're smiling and acting all cheery. You're taking this almost too easily."
"Well you didn't see me this morning."
"Oscar, please. I'm trying to help. Are you alright?" Oscar sighed and sat down on the bed. He took the scarf in his hands and began playing with it.
"Do you ever wonder what Ozpin would do?"
"Ozpin?"
"Yeah…" Oscar leaned backwards into the bed and stared up at the ceiling. "I know he made a lot of mistakes and there were times that we weren't on great terms, but… what would he have done? What would he do right now? I just can't help but think."
"That's a bit of a sore subject. I didn't think…"
"I know." He turned over, refusing to face her. "I'm just… I'm just scared… When we were traveling, I'd usually go to Ruby if I was feeling scared or worried, but now she's… not here…"
"I don't know what Ozpin would do," Weiss worded her answer carefully. "And to be frank, I don't care. He's gone. Now if you want some advice, mine is go to sleep. We're going to visit in the morning, and I know Ruby would be upset if her boyfriend wasn't there to see her."
"Wait! How did you know we're dating?!" Oscar sat up in alarm.
"Ruby is my best friend. Did you really think she wouldn't tell me about her new boyfriend? Honestly she spent weeks talking about how you proposed at Ren and Nora's wedding."
"Ruuuuubbbyyyy." Oscar groaned in embarrassment. He grabbed the pillow to muffle some of his cries. Weiss smiled in amusement.
"Well if it's any consolation, I'll let you in on a little secret Ruby doesn't know yet."
"Am I caught in gossip now? Is this now a sleepover?" Oscar lifted his head from the pillow. Weiss ignored him.
"Yang and I are pretty much a thing now."
"Sounds complicated. But I'm sure Ruby would be excited to hear it. You can tell her tomorrow, I think I'm going to sleep," he quickly said. Oscar nestled himself into the sheets as fast as he could.
"Well that was one way to get you to stop moping."
"I haven't been moping." Weiss rolled her eyes at him. She then got up to turn off the lights.
"And… if it's any consolation, regarding our conversation before it got off track, I don't care about Ozpin's opinion... because, it's your opinion I care about. You keep going even if you're scared, just like Ruby does. And whatever you decide on, we'll be there to support you."
"We?"
"Your friends," Weiss took a deep breath and turned off the lights. "Good night, Oscar."
"Good night Weiss… and thank you."