Work Text:
Oscar shivered as he stepped through the fresh snow on the ground, the build-ups crunching under his boots. Oscar felt exhausted, the long stressful night wearing on him as the pink-gray morning light reflected off of the snowy ground. Oscar tried not to hiss at the bruises and aching joints from the rough fight with Neo and his confrontation with Ironwood. He wasn"t hurt per se, but Oscar could feel that some of the hits were going to leave unfortunate bruises that were going to bother him until he was fully rested enough to regain his aura. Oscar sighed, watching his breath escape his mouth in a thick cloud.
"Oscar, I know you are concerned, but it might not be a good idea to try anything now-" Oz"s voice echoed in Oscar"s head. It was strange to hear him again after all this time, but it wasn"t unwelcome.
Oscar shook his head and held his arms close, "No, things are going badly- if Winter gets there soon, Atlas will be gone and we won"t be able to do anything about it. We need to get up there."
"Oscar-" Oz sighed.
Oscar huffed again, the cloud of breath obscuring his view for a moment. "We can"t wait!" Oscar insisted, "If anyone got captured by the Atlas operatives, they"re going to get stuck up there!"
"Oscar," Oz stressed and Oscar stumbled to a stop, clinging to himself more. Now that he wasn"t moving, he felt even colder. "It"s freezing out here, you"re exhausted, you don"t have your aura to protect you."
Oscar tensed, "Yeah, I know, but if we get to Mantle, and then to where evacuations aren"t done, we might be able to sneak onto an airship up to Atlas. If the feds still have it out for me, I"ll just have to be careful."
"But you"re exhausted, that treck could take hours," Oz implored, "We need to find somewhere safe and sheltered and rest. You need to stay warm until your Aura is back."
Oscar quickly started walking again, "No, we don"t have time for that, Salem is on her way."
"Oscar no, I don"t want you getting yourself sick-"
Oscar paused now, narrowing his eyes and then hesitantly stopping again. "Is... Is that what you"re worried about? Oz, everyone is in danger, we can"t just stop-"
"If you get frostbite and collapse the moment we find warmth, you won"t be able to help anyone," Oz retaliated, "You can"t... sometimes you have to help yourself before you help others."
Oscar was silent for a moment before lifting his foot and continuing to crunch through the snow. "Oz, I understand what you"re saying, I really do. But I- we need to take our chances. I can"t do nothing and just wait for Salem to destroy everything. We don"t have the time."
Oscar stumbled as he reached the paved roads of the edge of Mantle. He felt so cold his skin felt hot- burning hot. He could feel his body trembling and his heart racing, but Oscar couldn"t stop now.
"Oscar" Oz spoke again, he had been quiet for a while.
"We"re out of the worst of it," Oscar murmured, panting a bit, "Just... need to find where they"re still evacuating."
"Oscar, most of these buildings are abandoned, you should go inside and try to warm up-" Oz insisted.
Oscar shook his head stiffly, letting out another puff of clouded breath, "No, I"ll miss the ships, if he hasn"t already, James will stop evacuating soon, I need to... I need to make it."
"Oscar please, if you don"t I"m going to have to make you-"
Anger flared in Oscar"s chest, quickly and suddenly, "No! Don"t you dare even try!" Oscar panted, feeling out of breath, but straightened up again walking as quickly as he could. He could feel hesitant nudges at the edge of his consciousness, but Oscar shoved them away every time.
Time passed and Oscar strained to keep himself walking straight. He was so tired... so tired.
A hash nudge in his head snapped him out of it as he wrestled his body back into his control, leaning on the stone wall of one of the buildings as he stumbled into it.
"W-what- what are you doing?" Oscar yelled.
"You"re going to get yourself killed," Oz sounded like he was holding back from yelling, "You"re making yourself sick like this, you need to stop."
"No!" Oscar yelled back, moving so his back was leaning on the wall, "No! I"m not going to run away! I need to fix this!"
"We can"t "fix" anything if we destroy ourselves in the process!" Oz shot back, "Oscar, the fact that you care so much is admirable, you have the noblest of intentions, but you are killing yourself at this rate!"
Oscar stood there, staring down at his soaked pants, and the snow that was stuck on his shoes. He was so cold-
Oscar didn"t fight back when the nudge came again, his body pulsed with warmth before fading back into cold.
Oz stumbled to catch his feet and held the wall, panting, feeling the full extent of the state Oscar"s body was in. He pushed himself up, trying not to let the wave of dizziness overtake him. Oz walked from door to door, pulling on handles, turning doorknobs, testing windows. Most of them were locked and Oz was well aware of the trembling body he inhabited. Any energy that would have recovered was sapped away immediately, no chance for aura to replenish and shield them from the biting cold.
When a door"s knob gave a full twist and the hinges moved, Oz let out a sigh of relief. Oz pushed his way inside. The two-story house was empty, a light left on in the other room. It was cold here too, but it was out of the wind. Oz closed the door behind himself, locking the door as he went. Carefully, Oz went through the house, feeling a bit dirty passing a child"s bedroom and family pictures. No, this was for survival and neither Oz nor Oscar would take anything that wasn"t necessary. Oz went to the main bedroom and pulled thick down comforter and some blankets from a wardrobe and carefully walked downstairs, leaning on the railing as not to fall. He shiver and shook as he walked, and his arms full of blankets felt boiling hot, but Oz knew that it was just a trick of his body.
Oz found himself back on the first floor by an ashy fireplace, already burned out. Thankfully, there was some wood, and Oz quickly set to work with the firewood and matches to make a comfortable fire before bringing throw pillows and couch cushions to the floor before wrapping his small, shivering body in the blankets by the fire. It was still dreadfully cold, but this- this Oz could work with. He didn"t dare think what could have happened his Oscar had continued to be stubborn.
Oz did not consider himself to be a hypochondriac but many a companion would have said otherwise. Most recently was Glynda, who once teased Ozpin for being the most cleanly person she had ever met. He kept hand sanitizer on him religiously and tended to shy away from people who were visibly under the weather. Seeing Oscar stubbornly march through the snow, his body deteriorating as he went made Oz incredibly nervous. Frostbite, hypothermia, cardiac arrest- the cold was a killer, it could make your own body turn against you in a heartbeat, so much so that as your body froze further, it would trick itself into thinking it was hot, causing many trapped in freezing weather to try to abandon their clothes to try to cool down when they were, in fact, freezing to death.
"Oscar?" Oz whispered, the exhaustion hitting him like a ton of bricks now that he was warming up, trying to not itch over the grime stuck to him.
Oz almost heard a hum in his head, a sleepy voice barely there. "We can"t stay long..." Oscar whispered back, "Just until we"re warm..."
Oz let a small smile come to his face, "We"ll leave as soon as we can. I promise."
Oscar woke up back in his own body, huddled up in a cold room. The cushions of the couch and throw pillows making a sort of bed on the floor next to the burnt-out fireplace. The room smelled of smoke and sweat, the sound of cold air whistling outside. Oscar pushed himself to his knees and immediately regretted it. Oscar"s stomach flipped and his arm gave out as a wave of black rolled over his vision and Oscar face-planted onto the pillows, gasping for breath, the gasps rattled in his chest until Oscar coughed, pulling his hands up to his face as the fit took him, coughing loudly into his grimy gloves. He gasped for air as the fit ended, his breath rattling in his chest.
"Oscar?" A hesitant voice sounded in his ears as Oscar cleared his throat and started to try to stand up again, reaching for the discarded cane to the side of the nest of pillows.
Oscar clicked Long Memory open and tried to get up as he leaned on the staff, trying to ignore the wave of nausea and the biting cold of leaving his nest of pillows. He wavered on his feet, leaning on the cane.
"Oscar, lay back down," Oz ordered, "You"re sick."
"No," Oscar responded, his voice rasping, shakily walking forward, leaning on furniture and the walls as he stumbled into the entree way, the living room behind them, the stairs across from the door, and a small kitchen and dining room across from the living room. Oscar dragged himself over to the stairs, leaning on the railing as he slowly walked up.
"Oscar, where are you going?" Oz demanded, ready to try to wrestle the weakened body from the boy the moment he wasn"t worried about a tumble to the ground.
Oscar panted, leaning heavily on the stairway handle and steadying himself with Long Memory. "Getting- Getting another jacket... maybe a hat or scarf," He croaked, letting out a muffled cough, "They"ll understand."
"Oscar, you can"t go out like this," Oz stressed as Oscar finally reached the top step, out of breath and coughing.
"We don"t have time to be sick, Oz," Oscar huffed weakly, barely able to put emphasis in his voice, trying very hard to swallow the growing nausea in his stomach. He stumbled across the short hallway, almost falling as he stumbled into the master bedroom, pulling drawers open and the closet, looking for more warm clothes. Oscar ignored everything else- the Lien at the bottom of a pants drawer, a jewelry box on top of a chiffonier- he found a puffer much too big for him, a thick knit scarf, and a beanie in his search.
"You can"t go," Oz repeated as Oscar sat on the floor, carefully putting things away, feeling guilty for causing a mess on top of stealing. Oscar let out some rattling coughs and ignored him.
Oz stole himself and pushed against Oscar"s hold on the body. Oscar struggled back, but the boy was obviously exhausted, and Oz gripped control again. Immediately Oz felt terrible. It wasn"t just going against Oscar"s wishes this time. The heavy sore feeling that throbbed in the body, the headache, nausea, the smell of sickness and fever- Oscar almost immediately wrested control back in Oz"s panic, but he was able to hold on.
"Oz! No! Give it back! We need to go! We can"t wait! The others need us- James needs to be stopped we can"t just stay here!" Oscar yelled and screamed and made a fit. Oz held his head as even the mental thrumming of sound made his headache.
"No," Oz insisted, coughing, the shiver coming back to him, "We can"t we"ll just die."
Oz grabbed the collected cold-weather clothes and gripped Long Memory, carefully descending the stairs, breath labored, and shaking. Oz hated this, he felt so weak and cold and ready to throw up- Oz stumbled again, slamming against the railing and falling the last few steps down. He gasped for air, swallowing nausea back- knowing that if he was sick he would panic too much and then Oscar, who was practically slamming against the edges of their consciousness, would easily take over. Oz gripped the handrail and pulled himself up, steading himself will Long Memory before dragging himself back into the living room.
Oz skimmed the room and locked on exactly what he was looking for. A computer. He knew the contact code for the remaining members of Team JNPR, it would be risky, James could probably find a way to track him- but Oz knew that between Oscar trying his best to leave and the growing strain on Oscar"s body- they couldn"t hold on much longer.
Oz staggered to the desk, almost falling onto the chair, booting it up, blessedly- it wasn"t password protected. Oz got to work, between coughs and gags was able to get comms up, shakily entering the code, and listened carefully as the application rung. Oz coughed loudly, trying to catch his breath again as a ragged and hostile voice answered.
"Who"s there?"
Jaune, thank goodness- Oz thought as he tried to take a breath to answer only to cough again.
"Jaune-" Oz got out before breaking down in coughs again, his stomach flipping, and Oz fought not to panic. "Jaune please- I need help," Oz gasped.
"Oscar? Oscar? Oh thank the gods- where are you?" Jaune"s voice immediately flipped, worry dripping off of it but the pure relief sent warmth into Oz"s chest, even Oscar began to lower his demands for his body back, a wave of guilt and worry coming off of the boy.
"Mantle," Oz gasped, swallowing thickly, "N-near the south edge of town, I"m in a house-" Oz broke off in another cough, pulling into himself as he felt his pulse rise- oh gosh he wasn"t handling this well, "I"ll- I"ll try putting something on the window- but please- I can"t-"
"Oscar- what"s wrong?" Jaune yelled.
"He sounds really bad-" Nora"s voice answered, sounding stressed.
"Guys- we need to go down and find him-" Ren yelled.
Oz stumbled out of the chair, the chair loudly crashing as he dragged himself over to the fireplace, grabbing a handful of ash. Ash was clean. Fire cleansed. Oz reminded himself as his skin crawled. He could hear Jaune and his teammates yelling as Oz staggered to the window, smearing it with ash, crudely drawing on it a rose. Oz hoped it was just the right amount of obvious. His skin crawled again with repulsion as he felt his dry mouth begin to pool with spit.
"Oscar! Please!" Jaune was yelling.
"A rose-" Oz yelled back, spit falling into his ash-caked hands, "on the window!"
Oz crumpled to the floor as his stomach heaved, his body heavy and his skin crawling- he couldn"t breathe- no no, he couldn"t be sick- no not again- he couldn"t-
Oscar returned to his body on the cold floor, a sour taste in his mouth and his face and neck coated in bile- even though Oscar wanted so desperately to leave now- he could feel how heavy his body was. He was so cold and he shivered. Oscar could feel the heat in his cheeks his body was covered in a cold sweat. Oscar could feel the waves of anxiety and disgust from Oz. Oscar had never felt Oz so... so upset.
He did die to sickness, Oscar thought as he laid there. Oscar just stayed there, his body shivering but he couldn"t move. His fingers and toes twitched, even Long Memory had clattered and rolled just out of reach. Oscar fell into a daze, his vision growing cloudy as his breaths rasped. Even will a full night of sleep, Oscar couldn"t put the energy together to try to warm himself with his aura. He laid there, shivering, coughing, the smell of sickness covering him. Oscar hazily wondered if this is how Ozma had felt- his body growing weaker and weaker as he laid there, unable to move or do anything.
It felt like an eternity of drifting in a state between consciousness and unconsciousness when Oscar heard some yelling.
"... found it....!" a voice from the outside was muffled.
Oscar blinked, trying to get the haze out of his eyes but it was all so blurry-
Loud thumping on the door and then a loud crash. A wave of cold washed over Oscar again and he shivered, letting out a weak whine. Heavy footsteps and louder yelling.
"Oscar! Osca- Oh my goodness-"
Jaune was the first one to reach him, pulling Oscar close. Oscar vaguely wanted to tell Jaune to be careful, he was probably disgusting right now, but all he could manage was a mumble and a cough.
"Oscar," Nora"s face was blurry but in view, as a cold hand touched his face. "Oh Oscar," she whispered.
"How is he?" Another voice, Oscar blurrily realizing was Blake"s.
"He has a fever, he"s pretty obviously sick," Nora responded, "We can try to be quick, but we need to clean him up before we can do anything."
"Yeah," Weiss"s voice answered, "But you really need to be quick, we can"t stay on the ground long."
Oscar"s eyes dripped as he felt Jaune pull him up and gentle conversation as Oscar felt Jaune carry him upstairs.
"... heat some water?"
"I can... clothes..."
Oscar tried to speak up, but the only things that left his mouth were small mumbles, whines, and weak coughs. He could feel hands moving his body and clothes, a warm damp cloth wiping his face, soft whispers and hands gently stroking his face and back. Eventually, he felt himself be pulled into a warm blanket and picked up again. Oscar shivered as the cold hit his face, he let out a whimper but the arms holding him only pulled him closer.
Oscar felt himself be put down on some more pillows- they felt an awful lot like the couch cushions from before but the room felt and smelled differently. Oscar could hear gentle wurrs and the ground move. A cool hand rubbed his forehead gently and whispered to him, but Oscar couldn"t tell what they said as he drifted off- feeling warm again.
Jaune stared down at Oscar. The small boy laid on a hastily constructed bed on the floor of the airship, wrapped in clean blankets his face and body clean, but Jaune could still feel the grime he hadn"t been able to wipe away quickly still in his hair. Oscar"s face was flushed, his lips cracked a bit and his breathing rasped.
"What in the world happened?" Ren whispered he had put himself on one side of Oscar, ready to steady the sleeping boy if the ride got rocky.
"I... I don"t know," Jaune answered, at a loss. When Oscar had run off, he was obviously exhausted, falling behind the group as they tried to escape the Atlas military and Neo, but they had been up in Atlas. How in the world did he end up in Mantle, all alone? Jaune had panicked when he saw Oscar"s aura drop to 0. He prayed that Oscar had just gotten caught by Atlas, but Jaune fought back being hysterical, not liking how horribly familiar it all felt. The anonymous call was out of left field- but Jaune had answered it anyway- if Ironwood had tried to get in contact with any of them, Jaune assumed it would have been Ruby. When the call connected and all Jaune heard was raspy coughing and a weak call of his name, Jaune felt both relieved and terrified. Hearing something fall over, Jaune about started to panic again. Now, as Jaune looked down at Oscar, he was scared again. He had been bruised all over, Jaune had quickly used his semblance to heal them, but Jaune still wasn"t sure what to think had happened.
They flew for a while before landing further into Solitas, away from both cities to regroup. With Weiss"s help in melting some snow and heating water, they managed to clean Oscar off a bit more. The boy was practically baking in his fever, sometimes he would wail and toss around before settling back down.
"Probably a bad dream," Nora murmured, combing his hair with her fingers. "Jaune- how do you think he got down here?"
"I"ve been trying to figure that out myself," Jaune admitted sadly, holding Oscar"s hand and gently moving his thumb back and forth over the top of Oscar"s hand, a familiar thing his own mom used to do when he was sick.
When Oscar woke up again, his head didn"t feel as bad, he was chilly, but he wasn"t freezing.
Oscar moved to sit with a groan, looking around him to see everyone else, laying against the walls an airship or laying on the ground, huddled up together, and with various blankets. Oscar noted that Qrow was missing, Maria and Pietro were there, and so was Penny.
"Oscar?" Oscar moved his head a bit to see Ren sitting at his side, pink eyes wide with surprise, "you"re awake."
Oscar nodded, pulling his blankets up to his chest and around his shoulders.
"Oh thank goodness," Ren sighed, shifting closer, "You really worried us there."
Oscar smiled sheepishly, "sorry."
Ren shifted back and shook first Nora"s and then Jaune"s shoulders. The two of them quickly woke up crawling over to where Oscar was. Nora immediately wrapped her arms around him in a strong hug, Jaune followed suit, albeit, a lot more gently.
"Thank you," Oscar said softly, "I uh... I was kinda a mess there for a second."
"How in the world did you end up in Solitas?" Nora whisper-yelled, impassioned but not wanting to wake everyone up.
Oscar chuckled a bit, pulling the blankets closer, "Uh- funny story." Oscar looked around at their worried faces, and his shoulders dropped, "Uh- no it"s... it"s not funny at all."
"What happened?" Jaune pressed.
Oscar sighed, "So uh after I left, I tried to go talk to James."
"You what?" Nora held back a scream.
"I wanted to try to change his mind," Oscar explained, "But he... he got really mad. And he uh-" Oscar swallowed, "He shot me?"
"He WHAT?" This time Nora yelled. The airship"s occupants woke up at various states of duress. Blake and Yang shot up, Maria jolted awake, Weiss groaned as she sat up, Ruby opened her eyes bearily, Penny"s eyes flipped open, and Pietro grumbled as he shifted in his chair.
"What"s with the yelling?" Yang growled.
"Ironwood shot Oscar!" Nora yelled.
At that everyone was awake, scrambling over to where Oscar sat, pulling his blankets up to his face.
"What?"
"Why?"
"How could he-?"
"That fucking bastard-"
Oscar curled into his blankets and Ren immediately started shooing the hoard away from Oscar.
"W-Would General Ironwood really do that?" Penny whispered in shock.
Oscar curled ever more into himself, "Yeah, w-we were in the relic room and... I tried to convince him to change his mind. H-H-He got mad and shot me... it... it broke my Aura and I... I fell."
"You... fell?" Ruby whispered.
Oscar nodded, "The room... with the relic in it? it has really... really large pits around it, they go all the way down to the bottom of Atlas."
"And you fell down there?" Yang yelled.
"With no Aura?" Weiss blanched.
Oscar nodded slowly.
"W-What..." Pietro spoke up, his eyes wide, "What did he do then?"
Oscar looked away. "Nothing. He watched me fall."
Yang was seething, Ruby and Penny were clutching each other, Ren and Nora held hands and Jaune grabbed Oscar"s.
"Oscar," Jaune said slowly, "How... How did you survive?"
Oscar touched his free hand to his chest and then spotted Long Memory by the pillows. He slowly picked it up. "Oz," Oscar said softly, "Oz came back- and I used Magic."
Everyone"s eyes went wide.
"I..." Oscar took a breath, "I know you"re probably still mad at him but-"
"He saved you." Ruby spoke up, "I"d rather him than Ironwood right now."
Oscar let out a sigh of relief. Jaune squeezed his hand.
"You used magic? to do what?" Jaune asked, "Either way, it"s pretty cool there, kid."
Oscar smiled a bit, "I uh- broke the bottom of Atlas? I managed to break my fall down in Solitas."
"No fucking wonder," Weiss hissed, "You probably just about froze to death, no wonder you were so sick when we found you."
Oscar looked away sheepishly, "Oz uh- tried to convince me to hole down as soon as I could but- I didn"t really listen. By the time we got around to where you found me I was to weak to really fight with him so he took over and got us inside and set up trying to get us warm and stuff." Oscar twirled his fingers absently, feeling very guilty suddenly, "I woke up sick and tried to leave again but uh- Oz wouldn"t let me. He... he was the one who called you."
Jaune blinked in surprise but nodded, "Was it you when we found you?"
Oscar nodded, "After he got ash all over the window and I threw up, he freaked out. I think he uh- doesn"t like being sick."
"I wouldn"t if I had just about caused the end of the world by getting sick and dying," Maria scoffed.
Jaune wrapped his arms around Oscar. "You, you shouldn"t have had to do that."
"I know," Oscar whispered, sinking into the warm hug, "But I needed to. And I wanted to." Oscar squeezed Jaune harder, "We need to stop Salem- together."