Part 3 – Chapter 13
As soon as Ruby made it outdoors, she gathered herself and Oscar onto her back, and burst into petals to search for Ozpin and Qrow, having no real idea where the two adults would be.
On her search she couldn't even see where teams RWBY and JNPR were, so she guessed they could be together or separate, in doors. Somewhere.
She stilled long enough in the air to reform, so she could look over her shoulder to Oscar.
"Have any idea where they could be?" She asked.
Oscar took a second, before pointing to a building. "Try that one. Glynda was at that one when I first got here, it seems to be the best area with Wi-Fi." Oscar told her.
Ruby nodded, and took off towards the aforementioned building.
Ruby ended up bursting open a window, and freaking out several people, all of whom she was previously looking for.
Ruby kicked the window shut before racing to the ground to reform.
"Hi!" She greeted, as she let Oscar down.
They stared at her in retreating alarm.
Weiss was the first to groan. "I thought there was something wrong the way you came in like that." She said.
Ruby blinked. "Whoops. I was trying to get better at that." Ruby told her.
Oscar, aside her snorted in amusement. "You never did get better at it, though." He said, with a smile.
Ruby glared at him good naturedly. "At least I tried!" She insisted.
Oscar ended up chuckling fondly at her.
Ozpin regarded, knowing in high likelihood that Oscar went along with whatever Ruby was planning.
"Did you need something from us, Miss Rose?" Ozpin asked, coming forward.
Ruby bounded on her feet, as if standing still wasn't something she actively wanted to do. "I wanted to know if you had anything for me to do," Ruby asked, most already knowing that when she referred to herself, Oscar would also be a contributing factor. "Since there's nothing on my scroll." She added.
"That, Miss Rose, is completely up to you and your teammates, to do what you feel is right." Ozpin commented.
Ruby regarded him, before looking to Oscar, who sided his head at her encouragingly, but not bearing judgement on whatever decision she decided to act on, before she looked back to Ozpin thoughtfully. "Is another attack on Beacon likely?" She questioned, sitting down on a nearby bench top, her feet on the actual bench, near where her team was sitting, and across from JNPR in its entirety, and across the way from Qrow.
Ruby watched as Glynda, in turn handed Ozpin a tablet, with most likely a report that Ozpin read from.
"With the more information that I receive, it seems more likelihood Beacon will be left alone for the foreseeable future, since every known oppressor seems to have taken a liking to Haven." Ozpin told her. "We have kept as close of an eye as we can on Leo and Haven as we could without seeing to conspicuous in our plans, this week notwithstanding." Ozpin continued.
"Then we should go to Mistral?" Ruby voiced, not exactly a question, but asking permission.
She heard Oscar chuckling a little to her right, having come in closer when she left his side to sit.
Ruby watched as Ozpin regarded her, and her teammates stare at her. "Who are you asking permission for?" He asked her curiously.
Ruby shifted in her seat. "I know I can't speak for everyone else, but all I know is that I want to do the right thing, and prevent Haven from falling like Beacon." Ruby said, she even looked to Oscar to see his reaction. "…I can't speak for you, and I can't ask you to come…" She muttered, even if she was directing the words at Oscar, she was saying it to those in the room with her.
They watched as Oscar sided his head at her in fond regard, before he lifted her head.
"Do you wish me to go with you?" Oscar asked curiously.
Ruby stared at him, trying to will her eyes not to water. "I can't ask that of you." She told him. "I can't ask anyone to do that, knowing what we're going to walk into." Ruby told him.
She could remember the battle her elder spoke of.
"That didn't answer my question, Ruby." He told her, again taking her fringe away from her eyes gently.
The room was silent while they watched.
"…You said you wouldn't want to be anywhere else…" Ruby tried to piece together.
Oscar only chuckled at her. "Yes, and while that's always going to be my feelings on the matter, it's not what you think," Oscar told her, and seemed to hold himself back from saying something else. He ignored everyone else, and their reactions for the time being. "What I'm asking is what you want to do." He insisted.
Ruby pulled forward and laid her head against his chest. "I want you to come." She whispered.
She didn't see the smile her words made grace his face. "Then I will." He told her, patting her head.
It was then he mentally cringed as he looked up to gauge everyone's actions.
Ozpin was neutral, yet softly amused.
Most of JNPR were either staring at them, or staring at them nonplussed (thanks, Nora).
Most of RWBY seemed to have melted, even Yang, who'd most likely get back at Ruby later.
Qrow hadn't done anything but stare incomprehensively at them.
A plus, he guessed. He was still alive.
Ruby made no attempt to move herself, but she looked to her teammates.
"I can't ask you guys, but if you guys could…" Ruby started.
Yang was the first to stand up. "You don't need to ask! We'll come!" She said.
Weiss was shaking her head. "We agreed before that we'd go. We were just waiting on you to tell us when you were ready." She said.
Blake was the one who chucked her scroll at Ozpin, who caught it in surprise. "The latest my parents could give me was that there's White Fang activity in both Menagerie and Mistral, Mistral being where their base is, thanks to the Huntsmen you sent to help them." Blake told, in summary to the report her parents had managed to send to her scroll.
Qrow groaned as he stood up. "At least you asked this time, kiddo." He told her in a sigh.
Ruby just grinned and nuzzled into Oscar a little more, before removing herself from him.
Ruby noted his look, like he allowed her to leave, but hadn't wanted her to go at the same time.
He needed to stop looking like that, and being cute on top of it, elsewise she'd never get anything done.
Ozpin, once having read the report, gave Blake her scroll back.
He then looked to Oscar. "Can you recall when the attack on Haven took place?" He asked.
Oscar blinked, before his face darkened, so much that Ruby took hold of his hand in concern.
"When I first met Qrow and team RNJR," herein most of them flinched. "At Mistral, it was before school restarted," Oscar retold.
Which told them they had a little more time on their hands, if they hadn't deviated.
"Miss Yang appeared just a little before then…" Oscar paused, as if he was trying to count days. Yang looked to him, curious of her own involvement. "Miss Blake and Miss Weiss were at the battle by the time Ruby and I got there…" Oscar blinked then frowned. "I think they attacked before school restarted, it was night, and both Fall and Spring were fighting, so I can't tell you exactly which day both Raven's bandits and the White Fang stormed in and started shooting us all." Oscar told them, with an apologetic smile. "I was kinda busy trying to dodge bullets and fireballs." He said.
They all stored the information away with ease, knowing in most likelihood it would happen, technically again, but also for the first time.
"You've said previously that you were suspicious of Leo's involvement…" Ozpin started.
Oscar looked to him, and nodded. "Qrow told me that when he first spoke to Leonardo, he seemed off, and he was deviating from instructions left to him." Oscar voiced, seemingly far away, yet not. He was still aware on some level that Ruby had taken his hand, and hadn't released it. But he was caught up visually in memories. "We didn't know then, as I do now that, for his own reasons, has allowed Salem into his school," Oscar told them.
It made Ruby look to him. "Do you hate him for going to her?" Ruby asked.
She didn't understand the flinch he made, but the glassy faraway look left him as he turned to regard her with a blink. "No, I don't. Perhaps it was my own fault that caused it." Oscar told her, very much not just in his own mindset, but Ozpin's. "I don't blame him, nor have hate for his decision, people are capable of change — for better or for worse, Miss Rose." Oscar told her.
It was a testament to his mind state when he called her by her last name. All for it, it made her grip his hand consolingly. She felt him return it.
"How did you find out Raven has Spring?" Qrow asked curiously.
Oscar blinked and turned to him. "You told me you had a conversation with her on your way to Mistral, you pieced it together by what had happened, and what she had said. You told this to Leonardo, not knowing his allegiance had changed." Oscar told him.
Qrow gave out an acknowledging vocal noise, and left it at that.
"How do you plan to get to Haven, Miss Rose?" Ozpin questioned, making both RWBY and JNPR look to her.
"I figured the boat service, and the train service." Ruby came up with.
Oscar snickered. "Tired of walking?" He snarked.
Ruby glared. "I've done that once, never again! Training it makes it faster!" She insisted.
Oscar just laughed, but it was in fondness.
"You might as well make your preparations, all of you," Ozpin started, looking over teams RWBY and JNPR. "Take as many precautions as you can, and as much ammunitions as you can carry." He advised. They all nodded and went about getting up and out the hall. "Oscar, a word." He called the boy back.
Hearing, so, Oscar turned back to Ozpin expectantly. Ruby who also heard, and not hearing her name being mentioned, rushed over to her teammates to settle of bag loads and dust limits.
Oscar sided his head. "Yes?" He asked.
Ozpin regarded him. "Personally, do you want to do this? I will need to remain here." Ozpin warned. There was that warning tone Oscar remembered. He knew what Ozpin was warning him about. It's not as if he didn't have nightmares as he used to. He was just better at hiding them.
Oscar regarded him. "You haven't told her, huh?" He questioned, looking from Ozpin to Ruby's retreating shadow.
He ignored Qrow's confusion.
"No, I have not." Ozpin told him softly.
"I'll apologise to her." Oscar responded, and he bounded off.
"Apologise for what?" Qrow asked.
Ozpin looked to him, with an expression that suddenly wasn't neutral that it alarmed him into silence.
Whatever it was...
Whatever it was, it was something Qrow didn't want to know about. Not if it caused that expression. Or the sudden change in Oscar. Who, ever since Qrow met the child, had always said he had something to apologise for.
And he wasn't looking forward to it exploding in his face.
/
/
Both teams JNPR and RWBY were officially on Grimm Hunting. A mission that was upscale Vale.
Officially.
In real terms, they were heading to Mistral, Haven specifically, to stop a war breaking out on the academy's doorstep.
Which was nowhere near upscale Vale, if anyone looked at a map.
The children got used to Qrow vanishing on them every now and again, citing Bad Luck, whenever he did, they got used to the fact he could actually go between forms of that of his namesake.
"Please don't ask. I never got an actual proper reason from Ozpin." Oscar had pleaded at the time. He got the face-value reason, just like the rest, but that was about it.
They got used to being on constant alert halfway to Mistral. Most relying on either Ren, Pyrrha or Qrow to suddenly know when Grimm were near more quickly than Ruby was. Oscar was getting there, since he was now on par with Ruby in senses.
"Okay," Jaune started, sitting down on his bedroll, next to Pyrrha and across from Oscar. "How did this go down the first time?" He asked.
Oscar blinked. "Pardon?" He questioned, looking up from working on his staff, he had the feeling the question was directed at him.
"You know, stronger, we had a little teaching before they left, but it's just us now." Jaune elaborated.
"Ah," Oscar said, understanding. "Well, with different weapons and hand-to-hand makes you more flexible in battle, and not dependent on just one weapon. You'll be surprised how many times a weapon can be knocked out of your hands." Oscar advised.
Jaune nodded. "I can gather with how many times it's already happened. We've trained with each other's weapons since they told us to, but we kinda don't know how we stand with each other, or how to better ourselves." Jaune told him.
"Count." Oscar seemed to say before he knew it.
When this happened, they understand why by now.
"Sorry, happened before. If you're having troubles knowing where you all stand, make each time you encounter Grimm, or on a mission, count how many you take down, and try to better yourself the next time on that number." Oscar told him.
Suddenly why they had traded numbers while fighting made sense.
For some reason Oscar had looked over to Nora, as if expecting her to say something, but she was one the other side of camp, and up a tree.
./.
Oscar woke suddenly, and sat up while trying to beat down his horror at his nightmare. He quickly made note of his surroundings, nothing was wrong, Ruby was next to him, (having dragged her bedroll to his with a defiant glare to Qrow), she was still asleep.
Oscar mentally sighed, going over his list as he stared at his hand with a frown.
He wouldn't be able to sleep now. Oscar stared at his own hand, lines and colours fading with each different one he remembered. A sudden flash of light made him recoil and clench his fist, and a hiss escaped his gritted teeth.
He wasn't sure if he was grateful or not that Ruby didn't wake this time. She didn't need to deal with his nightmares.
/
/
It was only a matter of time before sparring became an all-out brawling mess this far out, and nowhere near Mistral.
Oscar was correct when Nora struck both Ruby and Weiss in rage.
Qrow had safely vanished once they started up.
Nora had quickly involved most of RWBY and JNPR.
Leaving out an exasperated Ren, Blake who had fled up a tree, seeing Nora's incoming run, and Pyrrha, who seemed to get out of dodge by rushing off in Oscar's direction.
Oscar was the only one who seemed used to it, they bet it had happened previously, and so much now the boy was simply unfazed, and simply moved out the way.
It took Oscar a little while to realise that Pyrrha was watching him, so he turned to her.
"You seem a little off." She mentioned.
Oscar blinked at her. "Indeed, Miss Nikos." He commented. "I have a lot on my mind." He told her, looking back out to the play-brawl happening in front of them. He could spot Ruby's megawatt smile from anywhere.
"Are they things that can be shared?" She questioned.
He turned to her with a smile. "If only," He told her, and she regarded him, making him sigh, and look away. "Perhaps not now. But eventually." Oscar told her softly.
He would need to tell her.
For as long as he had lived, he hadn't been able to. And he would fight until he did. He didn't want to take any more.
./.
Despite whatever was plaguing Oscar's mind, whatever caused the dark clouds in his mind to cloud his expression — it never seemed to interfere whenever he was fighting, or whenever Ruby had his full attention.
Ruby could breathe in his general direction, and his attention would already be on her.
Considering they were brought up as two separate teams, with two very separate team leaders. Both Jaune and Ruby seemed to be better at tag-teaming their teams alongside their extended team. Jaune seemed to automatically let Ruby take charge, unless she asked for help. No matter what happened in and out of battle, Oscar never strayed far from Ruby's side. It was something even Qrow got used to begrudgingly, despite all his earlier grumblings about the pair. As soon as a fight began, even if they were ambushed, whether they accidently walked into a Grimm territory, or the group of nine/ten were simply too loud — it only took a second for Oscar's back to be pressed up against Ruby's, no matter where the two were in formation. If Ruby flew off somewhere, so did Oscar.
Finding places to stay in local villages were always fun since how big their group was.
Most of the time they needed to share with each other, and depending on how big or small the rooms were, beds where shared, or the group were separated into duos.
Ruby always insisted Oscar stay with her, no matter how small or big the room. And her family next. No one begrudged the girl, they all knew how the journey could end. How it technically had already ended for so many of their friends who stood next to them.
They were reminded of this fact every time Oscar interacted with Pyrrha, and used her last name to refer to her, whereas he called everyone else by their first names.
Unless you were Ruby: who had many titles in use by the boy, depending on his mind-state and emotions.
Many of them had privately snickered at the inn's owner when she stared at the group wanting shelter, her expression a mixture of incredulousness and horror.
By now, they really didn't care for the room layout, as long as they all got a bed to lay in, whether by themselves or with a partner, they didn't care.
This inn seemed to only have doubles. Ruby had shrugged, and Qrow had forked over lien.
The inn had suddenly found itself sold out for the night.
Ruby found herself suddenly awake when the bed she shared with Oscar shake when the boy abruptly shot up.
She was halfway to waking when she realised that there was no danger.
Oscar was breathing harshly.
Ruby blinked her eyes shut, perhaps he had another nightmare? She knew he had them. But he hated her seeing them.
She watched through her eyelashes as Oscar sighed, and collapsed against his pillow in such a way that didn't move her once he had control over himself.
Ruby tried to shallow out her breath when he turned to gaze at her.
"Not real, huh?" He mumbled, staring at her.
Ruby tried really hard not to frown in confusion as he turned his head away and stared up at his outstretched hand.
"…Not real." He repeated, as if by saying so it would help him.
How desperately she wished that she could.
/
/
The closer they all got to Mistral, the more they noticed that something was wrong with Oscar. Something, that even when asked by Ruby or Qrow would he tell them.
He was fine, their butts.
They all saw that Ruby watched his every move as if she expected him to combust, and not in her Semblance kind of way.
If Ruby saw him stare at his hand one more time, she'd hurl him up a tree and hang him there until he told her what was wrong in that head of his.
It probably wouldn't make him tell her, if by now he hadn't whenever she asked.
The flinching she could very much do without.
He sometimes excused his favour by telling her that he spent most of the night working on his staff. Which was a half-truth at best. Oscar did work on his staff, but no longer needed to have the bow-string tied by proxy since he had worked a hole into the staff for the rope. But he never worked on it to the point of exhaustion.
There were other factors in play.
Ones that Ruby was determined to get to.
/
/
Mistral had long ago lost its appeal on Ruby, Oscar and Qrow, but the others stared at the city in awe.
"Better get you kiddie's acquainted with the school grounds, since you'll be staying near it." Qrow told them, then looked to an extremely disinterested Oscar. "Yo, pipsqueak, lead the way." He told him.
Oscar glared at him. "Which house? The actual place I stayed in, or the several places your dragged me to when you thought it was the right house?" Oscar asked.
Qrow stared, while the rest laughed.
"The right house will do." Qrow told him.
Oscar shrugged and led the way.
Oscar pushed the door open, holding the door open, he let everyone else in to explore. He had enough personal memories of the compound to know where everything was, and had a multitude of them for just the main area itself.
Oscar shut the door with his foot once everyone was inside, he could hear Nora shouting in excitement, as well as Ruby's responding squeal.
He did wonder if they would pick the same rooms.
"So, kiddo," Qrow started making Oscar look to him. "You weren't apart of the initial conversation with Leo, were you?" Qrow asked.
Oscar shook his head "I arrived after, you took the students' with you." Oscar told him.
Qrow nodded as he stuffed his hands in his pockets. "I'll round them up in a few." He said.
"Oscar! Oscar!" Ruby's voce shouted, and she reformed from being somewhere else.
Oscar blinked at her sudden appearance and her expression of pure happiness. "You're with me!" She yelled, before she burst into petals to gather him up, but not before he heard Qrow groan in dismay.
Oscar found himself realising that her insisting of sharing a room with him the newest memory he had of the compound. And one he enjoyed.
When Ruby showed him which room, (obviously the one she dumped Crescent Rose in, which he would scold her for later), he kept to himself she chose the exact same room as before, and only made his way back to Qrow when she sped out through the compound to find her friends.
Qrow was still is dismay.
Oscar grinned. "You made this happen, by the way!" He chose to say.
Qrow stared, before he realised that previously he had put Oscar under Ruby's care, and keened forward in an utter dismayed groan that had Oscar laughing at him.
./.
Even if Qrow wasn't expecting it, he would have been on immediate alert seeing Haven academy as empty as it was. And he was glad for the insight he was able to get from Oscar, and made the children go in armed. And leave Oscar behind.
Qrow had ended up yelling at Leonardo anyway about the lack of Huntsmen guarding the Haven relic, but he did refuse to give up Spring's location once he got confirmation that Leonardo didn't know where she was.
Leonardo was just confused as to how he was in Haven, and storming into his office, which he kicked the door into, scaring Leonardo to no ends.
Leonardo seemed to have doubts that both RWBY and JNPR could pose any strength, seeing as they were first years.
They were offended, because excuse you most of them were well over a hundred points per Grimm fight. Which was a feat when there were nine, sometimes ten, of them, and not as many Grimm.
The entire conversation made Qrow realise how much it would have made him dive to drink the first time, since the second time made him want to dive into the nearest bar.
./.
They found it easier to get back to the compound then it was getting to the school, even if it was on school grounds. They also found out they were the only ones on campus.
"Never a good sign." Qrow muttered as he got back into the house.
"Welcome back to you to, Qrow." Oscar told him, slightly amused.
"Yeah, yeah." Qrow grumbled on his way into the kitchen.
"The whole place is deserted!" Nora yelled grumpily, having found none of the nearby shop's open.
Oscar nodded. "It was like that too, if you want something you'll need to go into the lower levels for anything from ammo or food restocking." He told them.
"That sounds like a lot of work." Ruby said.
Oscar just sighed. "Believe me, it is." He said woefully, that made Ruby giggle.
./.
They soon found out what exactly Oscar meant.
Simple shopping trips, to sentry, to restocking became an absolute chore that everyone immediately hated. They started loving getting Haven for field trips, just so they didn't have to haul their essentials over from the lower levels.
"Is it a good time to mention that I remember Nora making a clause in the counting competition?" Oscar asked one night out in a field trip for a cluster of Grimm sightings.
"…Do I want to know what it was?" Pyrrha asked, nervousness in her tone.
Oscar grinned. "Yeah. Whoever had the most counts could give whoever had the least their chore the next day." Oscar told them.
Nora, who was stocking the fire, immediately dropped her wood stock into said fire accidently in her excitement. "YES! I ABSOLUTELY AGREE WITH ME!" She yelled, unhindered by the gigantic fire she unwillingly created.
They at least weren't going to freeze that night, but Jaune who had one point less than Ren glared, knowing he'd get Ruby's (and Oscar's by extension) chores.
Oscar found himself laughing at Qrow's ever confused face when, yet again Ruby celebrated her day off.
./.
It was on a collective day off when Qrow called a meeting for them all.
"I need to go over what you all know." Qrow started ambiguously, Oscar noted the little glance in his direction, so he noted this question wasn't entirely for him as it was for RWBY and JNPR.
"Well, there's Salem." Ruby started, trying her hardest to ignore Oscar's flinch.
"Right," Qrow started, leaning back against the couch he was sitting on, noting Oscar's flinch as well. "And what do you know about her?" He asked.
They watched as the student's looked to each other with varying degrees of thoughtful frowning.
"She's the leader of that Tyrian guy, and Cinder," Ruby started.
"She's also after Spring and the school relics." Pyrrha put forth, making the rest nod.
"Doesn't she also control the Grimm?" Jaune asked, not quite remembering how that conversation went done, outside of feeling horror.
Oscar nodded. "That is true." He remarked.
Ruby who hadn't been a part of that conversation, stared wide-eyed. "Wait, seriously?" She asked. Oscar regarded her, as if to judge her emotional state, but didn't speak up about it.
Oscar just gave out a sigh. "She's been around since the time of the Gods, as has Ozpin." He told. This made the students' look to him with varying degrees of surprise, and horror.
"Wait. What?" Yang asked, before the rest of her teammates.
Oscar brought up one leg to lean his chin against, while he turned his head completely away from Ruby's direction, which she noticed as soon he did it and felt her heart sink in rapid hurt and confusion. He took a minute, as if he wasn't willing to talk, but knew he needed to.
"His ability to reincarnate, though dwindling, was in direct consequence of the Gods for his failure to stop Salem previously." Oscar told them, hesitance in his tone.
He couldn't bring himself to look back to Ruby. He wasn't sure if he was going to like her expression after she made the connections she kept forgetting: about him and Ozpin. If she feared him, Oscar wasn't sure how he would react to her. It was hard enough to talk about this as it was without his own emotions running away with him.
The student's looked to each other. "Wait. So, Ozpin has been around as long as she has?" Weiss asked.
Oscar nodded. "Throughout all of history that you know: Ozpin has been there." He summed up.
"If they've been around for so long, why haven't they fought like this before?" Ren asked.
Oscar gave out a dry chuckle. "I asked that, once…" He said.
"And the response?" Qrow asked, just as curious.
Oscar looked to him. "Magic is dwindling, it has stopped recuperating long ago, Oz told me he was surprised to even reincarnate again into me. While they have had their battles, don't get me wrong, every war you can think of has its basis on protecting one school or the other from Salem's previous attempts, only this time she succeeded in destroying Beacon." Oscar said.
Oscar paused when he saw Ruby frown. "Okay, so we've been talking about Spring and Haven's relic a lot, but what about Fall?" She asked.
Pyrrha and Oscar flinched, making their partners look to them in concern. "Cinder?" Oscar questioned in a hiss.
"Does it mean that Salem has Beacon's relic?" Ruby asked.
Oscar cocked his head at her, Ruby recognised the expression on his face and knew she had asked that particular question before.
"No, Salem doesn't have Beacon's relic, you'll find Cinder had a lot more trouble at Beacon then she expected." Oscar said, there was a huge sigh of relief from them all.
"Okay, so if they've been around a long time, how do we stop Salem? If Oz hasn't been able to all this time?" Jaune asked, looking from Qrow to Oscar.
They frowned when Oscar flinched, and looked away again. Ruby placed a hand on his shoulder. "…Oscar?" She questioned, having too much of her emotions being battered about that he kept turning away from her.
"…There is a way, isn't there?" Pyrrha asked.
"I mean, there has to be, otherwise why are we even doing this?" Yang put forth.
"I mean if I knew how to properly use my Silver Eyes ability? That hurt Cinder, right?" Ruby asked.
More questions were silenced by a stern worried look from Qrow, who had seen that question had only made Oscar worse, since he cringed, and even clenched his eyes shut at what Ruby said.
"That's…That's a way." Oscar started barely in a pained whisper.
It looked like it hurt to say, his shoulders were ramrod against him up to his neck, and he clutched his hands together around his upturned leg; he had his eyes clenched shut, his head turned away as if he could block out the world.
Ruby gasped happily. "That's great!" She said.
Before anyone else could exclaim, Oscar seemed to explode, suddenly he wasn't sitting anymore — he was standing, suddenly he wasn't contempt — he looked utterly broken and distraught, suddenly he wasn't fine — he had tears strolling down his face that didn't seem to stop.
"No! No, it's not great! None of this is fine! If you use your abilities against Salem, you'll end her, but, but, you'll—!" His voiced cracked with emotion, and his head dropped, causing his tears to slam into the wood flooring at his feet. "…You'll die."