Ch. 64 Oscar
Qrow was tired of walking through the streets. His body ached and by all accounts he should be in bed recovering.
But that was not what was necessary right now. Raven's tip for the new Oz was most likely true and that meant that Qrow had to drag his sorry ass through the streets in search of the farmhand.
"...um, excuse me?"
When someone called out to him from behind, Qrow was honestly just happy that he could soon go back to bed. As he turned around he saw a young boy, probably around Signal student age, wearing what could pass as farm-work clothes, solidifying Qrows belief that this was the guy he was looking for.
"Oscar I assume?"
"I uh, yes. How did you know my name?"
Qrow wasn't about to go into details of his dealings with his sister, so he brushed the question off for now.
"I'm guessing an old man in your head told you to find me?"
"Ah, yes sir. I'm… I'm supposed to ask for my cane back…?"
"Yeah about that Oz, I don't have it right now… I'll tell you the story later, but something's fishy around Haven. I've been poisoned on the way here, and I have a bunch of students from Beacon with me so honestly not in any state to deal right now. Just… just come along Oscar, I'm sure you will get along with them in no time."
When Qrow turned around he saw a raven sitting on top of a trash can a little further down the they met eyes, he knew that she was laughing at his predicament, her beak open and síilent croaks and caws, that sounded very much like laughter, were coming out.
"Yeah, yeah, laugh it up Rai, unless you found something already I'd appreciate if you just got lost."
Raven just continued laughing before taking off in the rough direction of Haven.
"Can't believe she came here just to make fun of me… actually I do believe it."
Much to Oscar's confusion neither Qrow or the supposed headmaster of Beacon in his head explained anything about the bird… then again, he had a supposedly dead man in his head, who was he to judge.
=O=O=O=
"So… I'm not crazy…" Oscar said after hearing Qrow's explanation. Qrow nodded, which prompted Oscar to continue. "And the two of you…" he pointed to Yang and Pyrrha "only knew because Qrow told you after you got involved with Ozpin's plans."
"That's right!" Yang agreed enthusiastically
"And the two of you didn't know much before Qrow and Ozpin told us just now…"
"We had some suspicions, but…"
"We really had no idea!" Nora interrupted Ren.
"And Qrow, are you serious about the magic bird thing?" Oscar asked in thoughtful disbelief "I have no reason to doubt Ozpin's explanation but are you sure it's not an extension of your semblance or something?"
"Actually, what is your semblance?" asked Yang with a curious stare.
Qrow was hesitant. It wasn't exactly something he liked to talk about. "Yang… it's a sore spot…" he started but then, tired as he was, he relented to Yang's stare.
"...fine, I'm a bad luck charm personified. Bad luck is my semblance, it happens to me, it happens to people I'm fighting against and allies alike. I don't control it either, it just happens. Can't really show that off like some others and it sure as hell didn't help the people around me."
It was then that something connected in Yang's memory. Team CFVY, a swamp and the horrid smell of mud. Her stare turned from curious to a blank stare with a hint of anger.
"He's telling the truth, it's the main reason Qrow takes so many solo missions."
Oscar let Ozpin take control to convey the sentiment, but internally he recognised there was more to it than both men let on. From the way Qrow was looking at Yang, there was something more sorrowful about the seemingly offhand comment. Just the fact that Ozpin asked to be heard was significant enough to raise Oscars interest though the details were hidden from him despite the significant overlap between their memories.
=O=O=O=
Oscar spent the rest of the night acclimating to the group. Qrow tried to leave a few times but Yang didn't let him get out of sight that easily, citing Qrows drinking habits as the reason, despite this not being a problem when Qrow went out in the morning.
The teens got along well enough. Pyrrha was her usual shy and overly polite self, but she was warming up to Oscar slowly. Ren was mostly quiet but the silence from him felt almost comforting in contrast to Yang and Nora who eagerly retold the stories of their exploits at Beacon from their point of view. Oscar felt a bit strange whenever Ozpin's memories of dealing with the events seeped through as Ozpin's feelings were often contradictory to the tone Yang and Nora spoke of the things in.
When Yang brought up the mission concerning what she called the "CFVY swamp" the topic of just how bad Qrow's semblance was came into focus. Eventually they decided to try some games of chance like coin toss and card guessing between two cards.
Qrow was loosing more than he should in a game of 50/50 that much was obvious but to his own surprise it wasn't as bad as he expected. At first Qrow thought it might have been because the fact that he was trying to prove his semblance was working against him, but as the night went on he came up with another explanation.
It could have been the poison. Tyrian's semblance somehow bypassed Qrow's Aura and the poison itself had similar Aura disrupting capabilities. So maybe Qrow's semblance was still dampened just like his Aura was.
At this point in the night Oscar was talking with the kids about their journey here and Qrow decided to dip out of the conversation, this time being successful in retiring to his bedroom.
Much to his surprise and some irritation, Raven was sitting in the window.
Unlike Qrow, Raven was in a great mood and well rested, having been waiting for him to leave the kids behind. Qrow was pretty sure she was sitting in the open window of his room instead of joining them in the living room just to torment him at this point.
"Couldn't just join us in the living room?"
"And face Ozpin? No thanks." Raven replied to Qrows snark.
Qrow silently thought it was Yang his sister was afraid to face, but didn't comment on it.
"...so?"
"Broke into his office, if he's not doing this shit on purpose then he's incredibly incompetent to say the least. He was always weak but he wasn't an incompetent leader." Raven answered with a shrug.
"Anything concrete? Any evidence?"
"...no. He's covering his tracks well."
Raven was more serious in her reply this time but unfortunately it didn't make the issue any better.
"Shit…"
"Does it change anything?" she questioned.
"Yes, if we had evidence we could have let the families deal with him in their own interest. Don't want to owe them any favours and I'm not in a state to do it myself."
Raven shrugged.
"Well sucks to be you, our agreement was I help you figure this out, not that I'd help you get rid of the man."
"Raven…"
"No. If Salem is involved I don't want to personally cross her. Take the kids along, maybe let Ozpin deal with his own mess personally for once. I'm not doing it. Plus I need to return to the tribe before they tear the camp apart."
Without another word Raven slashed open a portal and walked through closing it behind her.
Qrow sighed and turned to go to bed only to see Yang standing in the doorway, having just opened it.
For a moment Qrow almost thought she didn't see anything since she didn't immediately flip out and charge in, but then Yang opened her mouth to speak.
"That was… my mother wasn't it? Your sister?"
"Yang…"
"...That was the same woman who saved me and Pyr from under Beacon. She is my mother right?"
"...yes…"
When Yang said nothing more and walked away it hurt Qrow more than if she just yelled at him.
=O=O=O=
To say that Pyrrha wasn't ready for Yang to pull her away from the others with minimal explanation was an understatement in itself, but what happened after that shocked Pyrrha.
Yang broke down. She didn't really explain why, but when Pyrrha heard the words "my mum" and "she was here" things fell into place.
Pyrrha was not sure why she decided to wrap her partner in a hug but when Yang buried her crying face in her bosom she knew it was the right thing to do. As minutes rushed by, Yang's crying eventually stopped as she tired herself out.
Yang felt safe in Pyrrha's embrace and a warm feeling rushed through her heart. The two of them were now sitting on one of the beds and Yang soon began to doze in and out of sleep.
Along with Pyrrha's warmth however there was another embrace that helped calm Yang down. Like a dim candle light burning in her chest, another whisper of care and affection that took the edge of dark thoughts away.
Whenever her own mind conjured a feeling of worthlessness it was squashed by the knowledge that someone cared, that Pyrrha cared.
=O=O=O=
Oscar was more than a little confused when Yang pulled Pyrrha away from their conversation, and more confused still when Qrow walked into the living room moments later.
When Ren asked Qrow what had happened he just shook his head in silence. Nora was the first to suggest Qrow go to sleep and let Pyrrha take care of Yang.
Nora then suggested Oscar should take the couch while Ren and her would sleep on the floor for today, in order to give Yang and Pyrrha some privacy. Ren quickly clarified that it was better not having to deal with too many people when facing emotional distress, clearing up at least one potential misunderstanding.
Ozpin was no help when Oscar asked what was going on, ignoring Oscar's query entirely.
=O=O=O=
Author's note:
I rewrote this chapter multiple times and it still feels kinda wrong. Maybe I just boxed myself in with wanting to focus on Oscar this chapter. Now then, Yang and Pyrrha are working through stuff though Yang has it worse than Pyrrha. I didn't forget about Ruby's messages, those will come in the next chapter since I felt they fit better thematically.
I am still swamped with studying and motivation is a problem. Hopefully if I do procrastinate I will at least do so with writing and not doom-scrolling.
But hey if you want to support me you can do so on P a treon . com (slash) OlympianScribe
Anyway I hope you enjoyed and are looking forward to the next chapter: Ch. 65 Burn until you can no more