Heart to Heart

Chapter 24: Letting Go

When everyone had gathered together outside of Terra and Saphron's home they had found Qrow passed out on the steps. Ruby sighed, she had tolerated her uncle's drinking before, it hadn't been that bad before. Lately however it had gotten out of control and she wasn't sure how much more she could deal with this.

She honestly wasn't sure what to do with him by this point, sure he had a few drinks before but now was not the time to get plastered at every moment. As they helped him up Ruby couldn't help but feel a bit of shame about her uncle. She always looked up to him, he had inspired her weapon and fighting style, he taught her so much that he was almost like a second father than an uncle but now looking at him, the smell of booze coming off him she couldn't help but feel a sense of disappointment with him.

"Well this is great for the neighbors to see," Terra sighed as they picked up the drunk man off their steps.

"Uncle Qrow," Ruby said angrily at him. "Now is not the time for this."

"What are ya talkin' about?" Qrow said in a slightly slurred voice.

"Oscar's missing," She told him. "We have no idea where he is, he could be in trouble or he could have tried to leave the city for all we know and-" She was cut off as the front door opened and there stood Oscar in new clothing looking at them slightly surprised.

He had heard some kind of commotion outside but was surprised to see everyone there.

"Oh, so this is where everyone went." He said mainly to himself.

"Oscar!" Mostly everyone shouted.

The young boy soon found himself for the second time that day barreled over only this time by a group of people and not just Nora. When they pulled off him it was Ruby that spoke to him first.

"Where were you?" Ruby asked him worried. "You just disappeared and we had no idea where and we were out looking for you this entire time."

Oscar was surprised by this, "Oh man I'm so sorry. I, well I just needed some time to think and I needed some space to think was all. I'm sorry for worrying everyone like that."

"I'm the one that's sorry," Jaune came forward looking forlorn. "I shouldn't have taken out my anger on you, you didn't deserve any of that and I'm just sorry for what I did and for what I said to you."

Oscar felt a bit better that things between them were going better now. "Well to be fair you said a few things I've been thinking about myself for a while now anyway."

A beeping sound was heard from a fire alarm in the kitchen going off as Oscar's eyes widened in horror. "The caesural, I completely forgot about it!"

"Don't worry we got this," Terra smiled at the boy glad that things were going well as she handed off Adrian off to Maria to hold as she went into the kitchen.

"You cook?" Blake asked him.

"I learned from my aunt," Oscar shrugged.

"So now that we're all together now what?" Weiss asked. "We still don't have a way to Atlas."

"That's…not entirely true." Jaune said hesitantly he had been thinking on the problem since they were denied entry into the base. "It's kind of desperate though and it's, well, it's really risky."

"What is it?" Ruby asked eager to hear it as Jaune always did come up with good tactics and plans.

"Since they aren't going to lend us an airship, we just kind of…borrow one."

There was silence there as the full meaning of what Jaune was proposing sunk in.

"You, want to steal an Atlas airship?" Weiss asked dumbfounded.

"That's a bit, ambitious," Blake commented even in her White Fang days they might have raided facilities and transports but actually stealing Atlas airships they hadn't done until Beacon's fall and that was only because of Cinder's influence she bet.

"That's insane," Weiss countered.

Yang looked at her boyfriend like he grew a second head. "Jaune if we do that, then Atlas will be on our asses with a vengeance."

"To say the least," Weiss added. "They won't take it lying down, how would we even go about doing that?"

"I haven't thought that far ahead yet," Jaune admitted.

"Okay that's enough," Qrow had been going up to his room to lay down when he heard this nonsense. "You kids try something like that and there's no going back. You can't just laugh it off or walk away from something like this. Look we can just go with one of the original ideas of getting a boat from Vale."

"That would take months to get there," Ruby countered. "We're so close right here."

"Kid we're not-"

"No!" Ruby put her foot down with his. "Uncle Qrow we are going to Atlas and I'm not letting anyone get in the way. I don't know what happened to the Uncle I looked up to but lately you haven't been that person. I always wanted to be like you but now…now I don't think I even know you anymore Uncle Qrow."

Qrow was silenced by that looking at his niece as she looked at him with pity. He had seen that look once before, years ago when Summer and Tai had found him during a bad time. It was that look that he hated seeing in those that were so close to him and now Ruby was giving him that same look.

"We're going Uncle Qrow," Ruby said in a determined way. "We made it all the way here after everything that got thrown at us. We found each other and now we're stronger now then we ever were, I don't know what's going to happen when we get to Atlas but it's our best chance to get this safe."

She patted the relic as she continued to look at him. "We're going and you can either help or you can get out of the way."

Qrow stared dumbly at her for a moment not sure what to say to all of that, she had grown up some that was for sure.

"You guys are really that desperate to get to Atlas aren't you?" Saphron asked as the group had kind of forgotten that she was there. Terra came out of the kitchen looking like she had heard it all.

"Sis, we don't want to involve you guys it's-" Jaune started but his big sister stopped him.

"Jaune you're my brother, of course I'll help anyway I can." She looked them over. "This is really important isn't it?"

"More than you know or more than what we can tell you," Ruby told her.

Saphron looked to her wife who sighed and nodded. "Alright well lucky for you guys I'm in charge of the communication systems so I can tell you if you don't take care of that, you'll get spotted and chased down within a few minutes."

"So we got to take that out," Jaune muttered as his mind started thinking.

"We can plan this out tomorrow," Ren stated. "I believe a good meal will help and plus, I think we all could use a moment together."

A few smiles got everyone to agree on that as they started to set up dinner Yang moved over to Jaune to whisper to him.

"Jeez, who knew my boyfriend was such a bad boy under all that dorkiness," She grinned at him. "First the transcripts and now this? You got anymore darker secrets I should know about?"

"Nothing that I can think about," Jaune joked with her.

"So Oscar," Ruby said to him looking over his new clothing. "I like the new look."

"Thanks," Oscar looked down at himself. "I figured it was time for a chance, I needed to take a step forward and I thought it was time to face my future."

Ruby looked a little sad as she knew what he was talking about but wasn't sure what to say to him.

The dinner went well, everyone felt a bit more relaxed after the stress of the day as plates and food were passed around. Everyone was enjoying the food that Oscar prepared, they were a bit surprised the young man could cook.

"Oh this is pretty good," Nora took another mouthful of food.

"Yep," Terra looked over at Oscar. "You mind giving me the recipe for his later?"

"Of course, I don't mind at all," Oscar was glad that they liked it. He only ever cooked it for his aunt so he wasn't sure if the others would like it but looking around, he was glad that they were. It was nice to do something for everyone, even if it was a little thing like this because it was 'him' doing it, just him.

"So Saphron, you got any good stories about Jaune here," Yang nudged his shoulder with her own as they were sitting next to each other.

"Oh please don't." Jaune groaned.

"Well let's see," Saphron made a thinking face as she fed her son in his little chair. "Oh how about the time we played dress up as kids?"

Yang's eyes widened with a huge grin on her face. "please tell me there are pictures."

"Oh yeah."

"I hate you both," Jaune groaned into his hands.

"No you don't," Saphron told him. "Now there was the time we went on that camping trip with our cousins."

Jaune groaned remembering exactly which trip she was talking about. Yang could just hold in a laugh as Saphron continued on with the story. She was really starting to like this woman.

When the meal ended everyone was getting their plates when Blake started to pick up Yang's for her.

"I got it Blake," Yang told her. "I told you like on the train I can do things myself."

She got up and went to the kitchen before Blake could saw a word leaving the dark-haired girl a little down. Weiss noticed this and quietly slipped in behind Yang. When they were in the kitchen Weiss had to ask what was going on between her and Blake. She noticed little things lately and it was starting to add up.

"Hey are you okay?" Weiss asked. "You and Blake seem kind of…off."

Yang sighed as she was considering telling her it was nothing but that would only worry her and honestly, maybe getting a bit of it out would help. Although they wouldn't have much time with everyone coming and going to talk in private. So, she would make it short and sweet.

"Blake thinks I need to be protected all the time and I hate it," Yang told her in a low voice. "She keeps thinking I need it but I don't and it just, well it's pissing me off now. At first I thought it was just her trying to make up for leaving but now I think it's something else."

"Have you talked to her about it?" Weiss offered.

Yang sighed, she hadn't she knew that she should but honestly she just didn't want to deal with it at the moment.

"Look when you can talk to her just don't take too long because this could only get worse as times goes on."

Yang looked at her with a curious expression. "Well aren't you miss expert. It wasn't all that long ago that you couldn't stand to be partners with my sister."

Weiss looked a little uncomfortable with that. "Yes well, I've learned through experience and I admit things were rocky at the start."

Yang snorted as that had been an understatement.

"Regardless, we're friends now and we've both grown and changed." Weiss told her.

"Aww, so you are my little sister's BFF." Yang cooed.

Weiss got on a determined look on her face then. "No and if you keep this up I'll freeze your hair in your sleep so it shatters."

Yang gasped in actual horror. "You wouldn't."

She looked at the serious look on Weiss' face.

"You would." Yang stated seeing the look in the other girl's eyes. "Fine, I won't mention it and I will talk to Blake, just not together. It's been a rough time."

Weiss nodded in agreement as others came in to bring in more dishes, they both separated and went their own ways. Yang soon found yet another person walking towards her, boy she was popular tonight but since it was Jaune walking over to her she didn't mind. In fact, she was looking forward to some boyfriend/girlfriend time with him.

As Jaune walked over to Yang he leaned down a bit and whispered something. "Hey, can you follow me?"

She nodded as she followed him upstairs, he led her to his room as she smirked. "Oh, taking me to your bedroom, what exactly are you planning to do?"

Jaune paused for a moment when they got to the door. "Not what you think."

Yang's raised an eyebrow as he led them in. He saw down on the bed as he pulled out his scroll, he played with it as he looked at it. She sat down next to him wondering what was going on.

"I, when I was out looking for Oscar, I found this park. It's actually not far from here but the thing is what I found inside of it." Jaune paused for a moment. "There was a monument for Pyrrha there."

That got Yang's attention as she was surprised to hear but then she suddenly realized how that had to effect Jaune. He had been acting slightly differently since they met up but she hadn't been sure if something had happened or if she was just hoping for the best. She gently placed a hand on his shoulder.

"You okay?"

"Yeah…actually well better would be a good way of saying it." He told her as he opened the scroll. "You know I never really grieved for her, not properly anyway. I never got to say goodbye and while walking back here from seeing it and talking to someone I met there, well I started to really think on things."

"What kind of things?" Yang asked not sure what he might be talking about. She knew that a part of him would always hold Pyrrha in a special place in his heart. It didn't bother her, well it didn't bother her too much. A part of her sometimes did wonder if Pyrrha suddenly came back, would Jaune pick Pyrrha over herself?

"A lot," Jaune sighed. "I've been holding on to a lot of things since Pyrrha died, I never got over a lot of it. I think that she wouldn't want me to be like this and I don't want to let her down. I also think that, it's time for me to start letting go of her."

"Wait, what do you mean letting go?" Yang asked.

"She'll always be a part of me and of us but I've been holding on too much. She's gone and, well…I need to let her go." He looked up into her eyes. "Since we've been together, I've really liked it, honestly I never thought I could get such an incredible woman again in my life."

Yang smiled at him hearing that.

Jaune continued on. "But I know that it's not fair to you to continue on with us if I'm still stuck in the past. If we're going to be together then I should focus on us and so…"

His face fell as he opened his scroll and pulled up the video the last video he had of Pyrrha. The training video that Yang had seen him with that night of their talk, that night that looking back, started this whole thing with them.

"Jaune, what are you doing?" Yang asked him a little confused and a bit concerned.

"Letting go," He said after a moment of silence as he played with the commands.

[DELETE VIDEO?]

[Yes/No]

"Whoa there Jaune," Yang stopped him placing a hand over the screen. "Are you sure you want to do this? I know she meant a lot to you but this is the last thing you have of her isn't it?"

"She did mean the world to me," Jaune said sadly staring at the frozen image of her there on the screen feeling the sting of tears in his eyes. She looked so happy and…alive. A part of him ached to see her again, to hear her voice again but he had realized that he had been doing too much of that. He was stuck in the past, stuck in that moment when he learned she had died, stuck in that moment he had been pushed into that locker and sent away.

It was time to break free of it, no matter how much it hurt.

"You also mean the world to me Yang," Jaune looked up with red eyes. "She made me the man that I am but you make me a better man. When I'm with you now, I feel more like I'm alive instead of just living. I feel things for you that make me want to be better. I want to be with you fully Yang, I want to give you my all and not hold back."

Yang was speechless from what he was saying, never had anyone said anything like that to her. She felt her heart actually flutter from it, something she only thought was something in Blake's more silly romance novels.

Jaune pulled her hand away from the screen and gave one last look to the image in the screen.

She swallowed hard as a lump in his throat came as his finger pressed the button.

"Goodbye Pyrrha, I'll never forget you." He whispered out.

[Video Deleted]

It was done, she was gone now, she was fully gone and it hit Jaune like a truck. The tears came as he dropped his scroll and Yang was immediately there holding him as he broke down. It was final now, he took the first real step of putting her behind him but it hurt. It hurt almost as much as the day he lost her as it almost felt like he was losing her all over again.

Yang pulled him into a hug, she didn't know how much effort that had to take but it had to be a lot. If she had a personal video of someone like Summer, Yang wasn't sure she could delete it if it was her.

She just held him because he needed it, because she needed to hold him. She felt the tears hit her cheek as she rubbed his back as he held onto her. She heard the silent sobs there as she didn't say anything as she had no words only actions. After a moment he finally pulled away wiping his red eyes.

"Sorry," Jaune looked away slightly embarrassed at breaking down like that. He hadn't expected that to happen but as soon as he deleted the video it had hit him all at once. The months of anger, pain and loss just rushed over him like a tidal wave.

"Nothing to be sorry about," Yang said softly to him.

He took a few calming breaths, "Maybe but this is also something I think I needed to do."

Jaune looked at her again, "I needed to move forward and I want to move forward with you Yang. I want to give us and our relationship its own place. I want to be with you Yang and that means I can't do it half-heartedly. I wanted to give you everything I have because you deserve it."

"Jaune, that's…" She her words died in her throat as she couldn't believe that a guy would go so far for her. She felt her heart pick up as she stared into his eyes as she felt a swarm of emotions so she just acted as she pulled him in for a kiss. She wished she could tell him how she felt but instead she went with showing him how she felt.

After a minute she pulled away caressing his cheek and smiled. "Thank you Jaune, I promise you I want us to have the best shot at this too."

He smiled back as they sat there just being with each other for a moment.

An hour later into the night the girls were in one of the guest rooms they shared. A few sleeping bags and mattresses had been blown up but it was still a tight fit. They hadn't had the chance yet but they were going through their bags double checking what supplies and items they still had.

Ruby was looking into her bag looking for something until she found it.

"There you are!" She pulled out the little stuffed bear with the red cape and hood. "I was afraid I lost this."

"That's the bear Oscar won for you isn't it?" Blake asked seeing it.

"Yep," She smiled hugging it closer to her chest. "I was a little worried I lost it."

"Yeah you wouldn't have to have lost it from your date," Yang joked grinning at her.

Ruby's face blushed. "It was not a date Yang, we were just hanging out!"

Yang just smirked it was so easy to tease her little sister sometimes. "Still, you going to be keeping that the entire time?"

"Why not? It's a gift, I guess I could send it to dad for safekeeping when we get to Atlas," Ruby sighed looking at the thing.

"I thought you might be too old to be sleeping with teddy bears." Weiss rolled her eyes but in a gentle manner.

"Mr. Bearinton is more than just a teddy bear." Ruby defended.

"Mr. Bearinton?" Weiss asked making sure she heard that correctly.

"W-well what else would you call a bear?" Ruby asked her.

Yang shook her head as she got her stuff put away and headed for the door. "I'm heading out for a bit, I should be back soon."

"Going somewhere with Jaune?" Ruby asked her with her own smirk.

"Not this time, it's a bit more of a personal thing," Yang said cryptically as the other girls just looked at each other and shrugged.

In the backyard of the house a lone figure of Oscar was sitting on the porch just looking up at the stars in the night sky. Well he was trying to, the lights in the city kind of made it a little bit more difficult here then they did at the farm.

He heard the sliding door behind him open and was surprised to see Ruby walking out.

"Hey." He said.

"Hey, saw you back out here. What's ya doing?"

"Just looking at the stars," Oscar replied and looked up. He soon found her sitting nest to him as she looked up with him.

"They're easier to see back home," Ruby frowned.

Oscar chuckled. "You know I was thinking the same thing before you came out here."

"I guess the stars would be easier to see on a farm, right?"

"Yep," He nodded. "I take it it's the same from, where was it again, Patch?"

"Oh yeah," Ruby smiled thinking of home.

"What's it like there?"

Ruby thought about it, "Kind of quiet in a way. It's on an island so it's not as developed as the main land of course. It's only got the one city, a few small communities scattered around but not too far away. We live in this house by the woods not too far away from the town and it's got this large clearing we used to play in all the time."

"Sounds really nice," Oscar said picturing it in his mind.

"Oh we should totally take you to see it when we can," Ruby said excited in fact she could bring all her friends with her it could be like a huge party.

Oscar put on a sad smile still looking up at the sky. "Maybe, if I'm still 'me' by then."

Ruby's excitement fell as she remembered what Ospin's soul was still inside of him and that they were slowly merging. She still wasn't totally sure what that meat for Oscar. "Sorry."

"Don't be," he shook his head looking at her. "I've starting to come to terms with it. Still I always wished to be something more than a farmer, to do something with my life. Guess you should be careful what you wish for."

"Oscar, do you think you'll still be you by the end of it?" Ruby asked him.

He shrugged. "I'm not sure maybe if someone would come out and talk about it?"

Oscar paused hoping to hear Ozpin's voice in his head so that he could learn what the full effect would be. He saw several different hosts in what he saw of the past but there was no real context. Did the hosts memories and personality still exist or did this process make them merge into a new being with the memories and personalities of both combined?

"Anything?" Ruby asked him.

Oscar sighed. "Nothing. He's still quiet, I'm not even sure what he did he's even aware of what's going on."

"We'll figure this out," She told him.

"I hope so," He sighed again. "At any rate if I do become someone else I was thinking on all the things I wanted to do but I kept finding out that I did a lot of it already."

"Oh?" Ruby asked getting curious now. "What kind of things did you want to do?"

"See the world for one."

"Well you've seen a lot of this continent and we're going to Atlas so that's a good start," Ruby grinned at that.

Oscar nodded. "Yeah, I always wanted to go on an adventure."

"Same, and here we are."

"Wanted to make some new friends."

"You got us and we're your friends too so what's next?"

Oscar was pleased to hear her say that as he thought on. "Well ever since I started training, I think I want to be a Huntsman that helps people."

Ruby smiled at that as it was similar to her own dream. "Yep, I'm with you there and you're off to a good start too."

"Thanks," He scratched the back of his head. "I always wanted to…"

He paused as he blushed as he suddenly realized what he was going to say, he was just kind of caught up in the moment and nearly blurted out something he would rather not say at least in front of her.

"Go on," She nudged his shoulder. "What were you going to say?"

"It's stupid."

"Come on, please. Tell me what you were going to say."

"You'll laugh."

"I promise I won't."

"I…wanted to know…what it would be like to kiss a girl," his face flushed bright red at that.

Ruby had a small blush of her own as her eyes widened a bit before staring at her knees. "Oh."

"Told you it was stupid." He really regretted telling her that but if he did become someone else he at least would have liked to have known what that would be like.

"You…thought about that?" Ruby asked gently.

"Kind of," Oscar nervously said. "There kind of was this girl in my class, Juliet. She's the daughter of a merchant and everyone in the classroom seemed to like her. Well either wanted to be her friend or, you know."

"So, if you were back home you would like to…kiss her?" Ruby felt uneasy for some reason asking that question.

Oscar thought about it. "Not anymore. I mean she was obviously into another boy and most likely I wouldn't be surprised if they got together soon if not already. It was just a stupid crush anyway and I had no chance with her."

"Oh." Ruby wasn't sure but she felt glad to hear it. She also felt that she put Oscar into a bit of a hard position with asking that question. It felt a bit unfair so she decided to share something with him.

"I haven't either." She admitted.

"What, kissed a girl?"

"No! Well, yeah but I mean I haven't kissed a boy either." She blushed at his lame attempt of a joke at her expense.

"Oh," Oscar blinked. "I kind of thought…"

Ruby looked at him with a raised eyebrow. "Thought what?"

"I just thought you being a couple of years older than me you would have had at least dated or maybe even had a boyfriend at one point."

"Please," She rolled her eyes. "I'm just Ruby Rose, the socially awkward average looking girl. It took me a long time just to make friends in Patch and even in Beacon I didn't have many outside of my team and JNPR."

"Average?" Oscar said. "I always thought you were pretty."

Then he clapped his mouth shut as a slip of the tongue brought made him mortified, he admitted that to her face. Ruby's eyes widened looking at him before she quickly went back to her knees as she nervously started to play with the hem of her cape.

"I-I'm not pretty." Ruby stated. "Blake is pretty, Weiss is beautiful, Yang is, well Yang. I'm just kind of average compared to them."

Oscar could see that she had some confidence issues about this. He might be embarrassed to admit it but she looked like she could use a bit of a boost. "I always thought you were pretty from the moment I saw you."

Ruby blushed even more but smiled. No one had every called her pretty, cute yes, her dad often did as did Yang, usually to tease her. But never pretty, so she just thought that she wasn't. It wasn't like boys lined up to talk to her like they had with Yang so she just assumed she wasn't that attractive. Not that she really cared about it. She had her friends, her weapon and her dream of being a Huntress after all.

It wasn't until the dance at Beacon that she started to feel a bit of loneliness when she had seen all the couples together and she had been alone. It hadn't lasted long because of what happened that night but she had been wondering what if she had asked someone out? Problem was no one asked her and also the fact that she was two years younger than everybody most likely didn't help either.

So when Oscar said she was pretty she was glad someone finally said so.

"Thanks," she told him.

There was a moment of silence between them as Ruby cast sideways looks at Oscar as thoughts started to enter into her mind. He was really a nice guy and it just sucked what he was stuck with. She wanted to help him but what could she do? There was also another thought entering her mind and she wished it would stop.

Oscar had been great to hang out that day after they had slipped out of the club and even winning her a prize. He paid for a few things as well and she never got the chance to pay her back. A small voice in her head told her there was one thing she could do. She was also convinced it sounded a lot like Yang's voice in her head.

Maybe as a friend she could help him out with one thing after all?

"Do you really want to?" She nervously asked.

"Want to what?" Oscar looked at her confused seeing her face all flushed and looking very nervous at her knees.

"Want to kiss a girl?" She quietly said.

His face heated up, she couldn't be actually asking him what he was thinking right? There was no way that this amazing girl was really going to give him something he knew he would cherish forever.

"Uh…y-yeah." He felt his throat dry up as his hands started to sweat a little.

"Well then…maybe as a friends we could, help each other?" Ruby shut her eyes.

'Oh god why did I say that? What's wrong with me? He's going to think I'm strange, I am strange, this is strange. Oh, why couldn't I just go to bed early tonight?' She panicked in her mind.

"As friends?"

She nervously looked at him. "Y-yeah. I mean we both kind of want to know about it but what's the odds of us finding the time with everything going on?"

"We are kind of busy with saving the world." Oscar admitted.

"Exactly and if I want to do something like this, well, I want someone I can trust."

"Yeah, that makes sense."

"Of course it does," Ruby placed her hands on her hips trying to look like she knew exactly what she was talking about even if her face was still very red. There was yet another moment of silence between them as neither of them knew what to say next at first.

"So, how do we do this?" Oscar asked.

"I guess we just kind of tilt our heads and move in?" Ruby shrugged. Despite having seen Nora, Ren, Jaune and Yang do it she wasn't sure exactly what to do.

"O-okay then," He tilted his head and closed his eyes as she did the same but they both tilted the same way and bonked into each other.

"Ouch."

"Ow, sorry," Oscar quickly said.

"Okay how about I go left-my left- and you go your left?" she offered.

"Yeah that works," he really hoped this would work out.

As they got closer both of them could feel their hearts hammering away in their chests. Nervously anticipating what was going to happen next between them. Oscar felt his lips touch Ruby's and he was surprised by how soft they felt. He could smell her shampoo in her hair. For a moment they didn't do anything neither of them sure what to do next but Oscar suddenly had a feeling.

It was like a vague sensation that he knew what to do. He gently placed a hand on her cheek as he pulled her in slightly. Ruby was taken aback by it but she went with it as he seemed to deepen it. He started sucking a little on her lower lip as Ruby's mind was suddenly filled with a need, a near desire for more.

She tried her best to return it as the two lost themselves in it. Oscar's body seemed to know what to do as he reached around her waist with his free hand pulling her closer. Ruby's hand went to the deck they were sitting on for more balance as the other felt his chest.

Was kissing supposed to feel this good? She wondered as she took small breaths to keep on going. He wasn't being forceful in fact it was almost like he was guiding her through it. She wasn't sure what she was expecting but this wasn't it.

Both were surprised when a small moan escaped form Ruby's mouth.

They pulled back from each other as both were slightly breathing a bit heavily both blushing as they stared at each other in surprise at what had happened between them. Quickly they made some space between the two of them neither one sure what to do or say next. They couldn't look each other in the eye anymore as both were staring down.

"Wow." Ruby muttered. "That was, that was really nice."

"Y-yeah it was," Oscar admitted he had no idea what came over him. It just felt natural, almost like he had done this before. Many times before was this like how his body was remembering combat moves from all the previous lives?

Ruby felt her heat racing and she wasn't sure why, it was just as friends right? She just wanted to help him out because she couldn't do anything else to help him so it was okay right? Then why did she feel so warm inside and why could she feel her heart beating so fast in her chest?

Was kissing always this good or was it that, Oscar was just a good kisser?

That last thought wasn't helping any, she needed to leave, she needed to get some space.

"Well I got to go, got to get ready for bed, see you tomorrow!" She quickly said as she jumped up and quickly went to the door.

"Um, okay. Goodnight?" Oscar said nearly in a daze.

He could still taste her in his mouth, his first kiss and he felt like he was floating. Yeah, he knew that he wouldn't be so lucky to have a girl like Ruby in his life as more than just a friend but for that moment he didn't care. He had his first real kiss and it had been great and it had been with Ruby a girl that had could now admit he had been smitten by since the first time he saw her.

No matter what happened in the future, he was going to cherish this moment.

Ruby quickly entered the living room closing the door behind her. Her thoughts were all over the place. She hadn't even noticed Maria sitting in a chair watching the young girl walk in.

"Something interesting happen just now?" The old woman smirked seeing the flustered look on the young girl's face.

"W-what!?" Ruby was caught off guard by Maria. "Nothing, nothing happened!"

The old woman gave her a curious look. "My eyes might not be as good as my original but I can still notice a few things."

"It's nothing really." Ruby said nervously wishing she could just go to her bed and hid under the covers. If Yang ever found out about tonight, she would tease her about it for who knows how long.

"Alright I won't pry but you mind if I give you some advice?" Maria asked her as Ruby nodded. "From me to you, if you find something in life that makes it better don't be afraid of it. I've been running in fear all my life since I lost my eyes and look at me now."

"But you're still here alive," Ruby said confused.

"Yes, but I'm a lone old woman," Maria said sadly. "I spent so much time disappearing that I only existed instead of lived. I have no family of my own, no real home, no one who would miss me when I'm gone. I spent so much time being afraid and hiding that I never took the chance to get close to someone else in case someone came after me again and used them to get to me or they would get hurt because of me."

"You can't be afraid to live Ruby," Maria finally told her.

"I'd miss you." Ruby said suddenly.

"What?" Maria asked her.

"You said no one would miss you but I would." Ruby said with a kind smile. "I never had someone like you in my life. My parents didn't have any surviving relatives so I never got to have anything like grandparents growing up but to be honest, if I did I kind of hope they would have been like you."

Maria was touched by the young girl's honestly and it was a nice sentiment for an old woman like her. "Well thank you that's very nice of you to say. Although you should be thinking about that as well one day."

"Huh?" Ruby tilted her head.

Maria smirked. "Well as far as I know you're the last silver eyed warrior left. Best you find yourself a nice boy and start making some kids of your own to continue on with the legacy."

"AHHH!" Ruby covered her ears. "Maria! I'm still too young for that!"

Maria just sat there laughing at how easy it was to tease the young girl.

Yang had been walking for a bit trying to find the right location. She had to ask for directions a couple of times from a new night owls out. She didn't have much trouble finding it as she walked through the entrance. There she saw the statue that Jaune had told her about seeing her there with her calming presence she was surprised by how well they captured that part of her personality in the statue.

She walked over to it looking up at the stone face of her friend.

"Hey P-Money, wow look at this. I'm not sure if you would like that they did this for you or not. So…I'm sure what to say…god how does Ruby make this look so easy when she does it for, Summer."

She sighed as she looked on for a moment. "Look I don't know if you can hear me, I don't know if I'm just talking to a piece of rock or you can hear this but I'm going to try it out. Ruby does it all the time so I figured why not. Well I'm not sure if you get caught up on current events where you are but things have been, well they've been up and down."

"Lost an arm but I got a new robot one to replace it," Yang flexed her hand. "Still having trouble dealing with a lot of crap that happened that night. Team broke up but we eventually got back together again. Learned that the gods actually exist and yeah turns out there is an afterlife which is why I'm talking to you now."

That was a revelation for Yang, sure Aura was supposed to be the manifestation of the soul but did that mean that there was an afterlife? Well apparently, there was as Ozma was sent back from it to this world by the God of Light. She still wasn't sure how the hell that didn't upset that 'balance' they talked about but whatever.

"I also wanted to let you know that, I'm dating Jaune." Yang paused almost like if the statue would have a reaction. "Yeah surprise to me too. Never thought I would end up with a guy like him but well, we've both been through a lot and we kind of bonded over it and before you know it, wham, I've fallen for the dork."

Yang smiled slightly at the statue, "Bet that was how it was for you huh?"

"Still we've both got more healing to do but I think between the two of us we got a good thing going here. There's another reason I'm here Pyrrha, I know you might have had your reasons for going off and fighting. You may have had your reasons for pushing Jaune out of the line of fire because you knew he might die but that was a dick move."

Yang scowled at the statue now. "You really hurt him girl, I mean a lot. He's been so twisted and messed up from your death and the worst part was you pushing him away to protect him. Partners aren't supposed to do that, they aren't supposed to stand in front of you, they're supposed to stand next to you."

The blonde sighed taking a breath she was getting a little too heated. "Okay maybe I'm talking a little from experience with Blake. Still haven't talked to her about what she said to me recently and maybe it's a bit of why I'm angry at you. But you did hurt Jaune, I know you didn't mean to but you did."

Yang looked back up at the statue as a part of her wished she could actually talk with the girl again but knew this was the best she could get. "Still I get it but I don't want to do that to him. I nearly died recently and I can only imagine how that would have devastated him, I don't want to do that to him. I've seen that happen with my own dad and I never want Jaune to go through that."

"I can't promise I won't die because I know I can," She rubbed the part of her arm that was connected to her robot one. "I came close to dying twice now and it kind of opens your eyes to your own mortality. Still, the best I can do is fight to get back to him no matter what. To give it my all to always get back to him because I know he would do the same for me now."

"I…I care for him Pyrrha, more than I thought I would," Yang whispered to herself. "After everything we've been through, I think this relationship is one of the few good things to come out of it."

Looking up at the statue, "I also will be looking out for our boy Pyrrha, you may not be here to look out for him but I can take that load for you. It's the least I can do."

"Well…I think that's all I got, not sure if you hear any of this but I hope you did. I also hope you don't mind me being with Jaune too. Still, see you later Pyrrha and I hope wherever you are, you're happy for us."

TBC…

Normally I average around five thousand words per chapter but this ended up being over seven. So a little bit longer chapter than normal for everyone.