Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Oscar’s first memory was of the roses in his aunt’s garden. He had loved the pretty red color and without thinking, he had wanted to touch the velvety petals. He grabbed at it with full force, however, he hadn’t even thought about the thorns. They had dug into his finger-tips and the palms of his hands, making him recoil in pain. He had cried out and his aunt had come running to quickly fix him up. However, since that day; roses had still been his favorite flower.

               The memory had come rushing upon Oscar out of nowhere when he stood with Ozpin, his new mentor, and a vampire, in a den full of the undead. His eyes had been drawn to a girl in a red dress with dark hair and eyes like liquid mercury. Her eyes had been focused on Ozpin though. Oscar knew he should have been afraid. Anyone in that room, even Ozpin could have killed him at any moment if he stepped even a toe out of line. Yet he felt no fear.

               Oscar had known he was going to become a vampire eventually, but for some reason, it never bothered him. Maybe it was because he had no one else in the world. However, despite knowing all of this. Despite knowing his standing, he still could only focus on the girl in red.

               “Qrow, Tai, I need to speak with you; if the children wouldn’t mind waiting in the library,” Ozpin said and Oscar was already moving forward to the girl in red before anyone else could begin moving to the library.

               “You have silver eyes,” Oscar said to her when she approached him and she stood up straighter, her whole body going rigid. Strange, seeing an immortal being reacting like that but adorable none-the-less.

               “Uh, thanks,” the girl said and then he followed her to the library. Unfortunately, the long walk there only seemed to irritate him and he began to kick himself for the way their introduction had gone. Silver eyes? Really? Could he sound any creepier? Hopefully, the rest of their first meeting could go better.         

…

               Oscar, since sitting in the library, had learned the names of those around him. Though, the only name that really stuck with him was Ruby, the name of the silver eyed girl. Unfortunately, that seemed to be the only thing he was able to learn about her since they seemed keen on learning about him instead.

               He explained how he met Ozpin. How the man had found him two years ago after his aunt died. Oscar had explained how he was supposed to be the next in line as their clan leader. Though, how that worked was still a little foggy to Oscar himself so he couldn’t go into too much depth about that. What really had set everyone through the ringer was the fact Oscar was still human.

               “Ozpin doesn’t see much good in changing me before I’m eighteen and haven’t reached my full physical potential,” Oscar explained to the others with a shrug at the white-haired woman, Winter’s, sudden outburst. “At least that is what he explained to me.”

               “I thought you smelled different,” Ruby mentioned with wide-doe-eyes. “Like the forest after a rainstorm.”

               Ruby leaned forward then, taking another sniff before relaxing. Oscar could feel the blood rushing up to his cheeks and down his neck. Ruby leaned back then with a small smile. Of course, that was when they were interrupted by the door flying open and the adult opening.

               That was the end of their conversation. For then.

               …

“So, you have never left the castle before?” Oscar asked with a cocked eyebrow as he jumped the stones in the little stream that went around the garden.

               “Never,” Ruby admitted as she picked up a long stick, void of all twigs. “But I always wanted to.”

               “Then why don’t you come with Ozpin and me?” Oscar offered, responded before Ruby looked at him with a shocked expression. Oscar flushed again. He almost lost his footing to fall into the water he was so embarrassed. “I mean that is if you want to.”

               “I don’t know if my dad would ever let me,” Ruby admitted as she picked up another long stick and tossed it to Oscar. He grabbed it pretty easily. “He’s pretty protective of my sister and me.”

               “Well you can think about it,” Oscar said with a shrug before he held the stick up in guard. “But you won’t ever know if you don’t ask.”

               …

               “I wanna go with Ozpin and Oscar. I wanna see the world.” The sudden Outburst at the dinner table almost made Oscar choke on his food. The tension in the air was thought enough to be cut with a knife and Oscar only wanted to sink down in his chair in response.

               “Out of the question,” Tai had responded with a loud growl. Oscar couldn’t even really pay attention to the rest of the argument. The only thing he could see was Ruby next to him and the sad expression she had on her face. More than anything she had wanted to see the world.

               “I’ll talk to Qrow,” Winter said as she stood up and whipped her mouth. “He’ll talk some sense into Tai.”

               Oscar really hoped so.

               …

               It seemed like a miracle. Ozpin had met with Tai in the early morning hours. They talked about Ruby coming along with them, and finally, they agreed. Of course, Oscar imagined that was how it went. He was honestly asleep the whole time and didn’t have much of an idea of what had been going on. The whole week had been a blur of but it was enough that he was excited to be traveling again and picking up Ruby as a traveling companion. It would be nice having someone relatively his age physically, even if she was a hundred or so years older then him.

               “I’m going to miss you so much,” Ruby said as she hugged her family goodbye. They hugged her close and kissed her cheeks and head goodbye. Oscar could feel a faint sting of jealousy. He would never have something like that. Ozpin must have smelled or sensed or whatever sense he used to know Oscar was in dismay because Oscar suddenly felt a comforting hand on his shoulder.

               Whatever was going to happen now, it certainly wasn’t going to be boring.

Chapter Text

“How far are we away from this place anyway?” Ruby asked out of curiosity. Oscar could understand her curiosity. Especially if she really had never really left the ‘Castle of the Damned’ as Qrow had apparently been calling it to all the locals Oscar had talked to before they even reached the castle. Oscar had a very different set of questions though.

               “Why are there only two beds?” That was the question that he had vocalized before he even realized that the words were coming out of his mouth.

               Ozpin only chuckled at the two of them though, standing opposite of them and leaning most of his weight on the cane. In the short two years, Oscar had known Ozpin he really hadn’t learned anything about him other than the fact that he was apparently a very strong and important vampire. Not to mention the shock Oscar had originally felt when he learned the man was a vampire. Now that was traumatic, seeing someone who took you in with their mouth covered in blood. Oscar had fainted in response.

               “Don’t worry, the staff is supposed to bring a rollaway for you Oscar, and as for your question Ms. Rose,” Ozpin started turning from Oscar to Ruby. “We should be there in another week or so, provided there aren’t any complications.”

               “Why do I get the roll away?” Oscar whined to himself.

               “Oscar, you really don’t expect the lady and old man to sleep on a roll-away do you?” Ozpin snickered as he walked past Oscar.

“That long? I thought Uncle Qrow and Dad always said you were close? That isn’t close!” Ruby whined before flopping down on one of their beds. Oscar couldn’t help but let out a sigh of relief when he noticed Ruby wasn’t paying attention to anything he had said. “And where are you going?”

“I’m simply going out to acquire some dinner for us. A trip to the local butcher shop and take-out at a restaurant should suffice.”

“Oh,” the two younger members said as they watched Ozpin walk out of the hotel room. This left the two of them to sit in the room and strew in their own silence.

“So, is Ozpin really that big of a deal?” Oscar asked as he sat on the floor with his legs folded up and held close to his chest by his arms. Ruby had sat up so fast Oscar’s eyes almost couldn’t follow it.

“You mean you have no idea?” Ruby asked as her silver eyes grew to be the side of dinner plates. Oscar just shrugged.

“Ozpin hasn’t been exactly the most talkative person. Mostly he just shows me around various places and I see he’s well respected but no one really tells me why,” Oscar explained as he cocked his head to the side out of confusion.

“Ozpin is the high vampire of our coven, part of that position comes from the fact he created the faction leaders: Uncle Qrow, James Ironwood, Leonard Lionheart, and another one who I don’t really remember the name of.”

“But couldn’t your dad or even you make your own faction of a coven?”

Ruby shook her head in response. “Sure you could go off on your own, but the further away from a coven leader you are in a tree the less likely you are to have any extra powers that make going off on your own safer.”

“What extra powers?”

“Like mind control, transformations, telepathy, things like that,” Ruby explained as she counted them off on her fingers.

“Uncle Qrow can transform and I know he has a paralyzes type stare but dad can’t do anything like that,” Ruby added and Oscar felt like he only received more questions than answers.

“But how can I get those, I’m human and wouldn’t I be transformed by Ozpin anyway? Doesn’t that just make me another coven faction leader?” Once more Ruby shook her head.

“Certain humans have the potential to take over as coven leaders, however, it is rare. Ozpin probably had to look a long time before he found you.”

“Huh?” Oscar lamented as he thought about it. There were still quite a few questions he wanted to ask, but he felt that if he did he would just short circuit on information. Though he did notice that he never once actually saw Ozpin use any kind of powers, on him or anyone else.

Maybe he was reading his mind in secret? Oh god, what he was reading his mind when Ozpin had noticed how cute Ruby looked when she slept? What if Ozpin saw Oscar thinking he was hoping Ozpin would say Ruby and him would have to share a bed?

Oscar could already feel his face in flames. He hadn’t even noticed that Ruby had gotten up and placed her forehead on his until he felt the cool touch of her skin against his own. He peaked up and once more their eyes clashed of silver and hazel.

“Are you feeling alright Oscar? You look really flushed and your pulse picked up all of a sudden.” She looked so concerned Oscar almost felt bad for his previous concerns.

“I’m fine, I promise I mean it wasn’t like I was thinking about something I shouldn’t have,” Oscar quickly defended. Ruby felt close, way too close. He wanted to back away from her but he was already against the wall.

“Still, you feel a little warm,” Ruby worried and Oscar wanted to kick himself for being the reason she wasn’t smiling. “Mom used to always say if the other person’s forehead feels warmer then your own it probably means they have a fever.”

“How did—”

“I’m back, I hope you two behaved yourself while I was gone.” Never had Oscar slammed his head back so quickly and never had it hurt so bad to hit a wall with his head before. Ruby had jumped back as well, all the way to the bed even. “Oh my.”

“It isn’t like that you dirty old man,” Oscar grumbled to himself.

“Watch it, Oscar, I know far too much about your mind to take your sass.”

Ok, there went any doubt Oscar had about Ruby telling the truth when it came to having extra powers. Oscar found himself pouting as he reached up and grabbed the bag of food Ozpin had handed him and watched as he handed Ruby a foam cup similar to his own. Oscar didn’t have to guess to know what was in the cups.

It shouldn’t have unsettled him as much as it did, but he still couldn’t help but feel uncomfortable as Oscar was eating is solid food while they slurped down their liquid food with ease. Oscar knew this had been a pitstop, but it felt like the start to something else.

Something far more dangerous.