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The days came and went quickly in the cold northern latitudes of the kingdom of Atlas. The sun often set as early as 5 o’clock in the afternoon, and naturally the freezing tundra winds swept into the lower city. Atlas had low-level shield technology to keep the worst of the considerable cold out, but down in Mantle it was either dress warm or freezing to death. This risk didn’t seem to faze Oscar Pine, who strolled through the streets, indifferent to the urban decay and restlessness around him. He was looking for a familiar shop, and knew that his departure from Atlas Academy via airship would raise alarm bells and eventual reprimand, but he didn’t care. He spotted his destination and quickened his pace, now realising just how cold he was getting, and discretely slid inside beside a tall departing customer before the door shut.
Inside, the warm orange glow of Pietro Polendina’s shop made Oscar sigh in relief. He stared about for a moment before a warm, hearty voice caught his attention.
“Good evening, Mr Pine! I’m about to close shop for the day but any time is a good time for a friend of my daughter’s,” greeted Pietro as he ‘walked’ towards Oscar and shook his hand firmly but kindly.
“Hello, Pietro, nice to see you too. Honestly, just wanted to see a friendly face,” said Oscar with a faint smile.
“Well, I’m very much obliged,” chuckled the kindly old tech genius, “it’s not so often that I get friendly callers these days, maybe my luck has changed wouldn’t you say, Maria?”
Oscar felt a hard pat on his back, and the boy gave a high yelp of shock before turning to see Maria Calavera. She threw her head back and laughed loud and long, joined by Pietro’s hearty chuckles. Oscar too finally gave a small, if hollow, laugh when the inner tension defused.
“Oh honestly, Oscar,” said Maria as she finally stopped laughing and pulled him in for a hug with one arm, “You scare far too easily. But it’s lovely to see you too.”
“Thanks, Maria,” said Oscar, his brief smile couldn’t mask his morose and lost-looking eyes. Maria immediately picked up on that, but Pietro noticed something else.
“Now hold the phone, where are your friends?”
“It’s only me. My uh… companions are coming back from a Grimm-hunting mission at one of the mines, I heard they were victorious.”
“Huh, and here I thought you and the others were thick as thieves. Both literally and figuratively,” said Maria dryly.
“Oh my!” exclaimed Pietro, now looking more serious than before “Then it begs the question: what are you doing out here all by yourself? This part of town ain’t exactly the safest of neighbourhoods, especially not at this time of day, you could get robbed or worse!”
“I won’t be missed,” said Oscar in a muted voice. Both Pietro and Maria stared at him with stunned shock and confusion. “To be honest most if not all of them don’t think I should be with them.”
“Who said that? Was it that greasy-haired birdbrained Qrow again?” demanded Maria angrily.
“No! It’s not that, it’s…” Oscar paused; his eyes went back and forth between the floor and the two adults.
“Oscar, we in this household have a strict rule about telling the truth,” said Pietro sternly, as Maria also gave him a warning frown.
“Lately I’ve been getting this feeling that I’m not actually a part of the group. I found out today that Teams RWBY and JNR were awarded their official licences after a successful mission, Qrow and Penny were there, and the General left me at the Academy like… like it was nothing.”
His voice had fallen into a low, broken whisper.
“Now that you mention it, Penny did mention some official business of some kind and seemed very excited about it,” mused Pietro.
“As soon as I found out, I wanted to be there to show my support for Ruby and her friends, us bonding with them and celebrating an achievement they rightly earned, and I’m… just left out? Am I part of this team or not?! Just-just… what the HELL?!”
His voice rose with each passing word to an angry yell, and he started to shake from short ragged breaths. He felt a small hand tightly holding his, and another arm around his shoulder, as he went on his voice cracked further and tears fell down his cheeks.
“I’m not a Huntsman, I get that. I’m just an out of depth farm-hand with a staff; I don’t know what I was thinking. I should never have left my home.”
“Come on, let’s go into the lounge in the back,” said Maria gently, taking him by the hand and following Pietro through. Maria sat Oscar down on an old worn green couch with light brown cushions, and sat with him while he calmed down. When Pietro returned, he was carrying a wide platter with a bright orange cake with a white topping. Oscar’s eyes widened with amazement and a wide smile started to take shape.
“Now, I was saving this for a special occasion, but I think we can break into it a little early. It’s a carrot cake topped with buttercream frosting; two layers,” said Pietro proudly.
“No kidding! That’s my favourite!” said Oscar excitedly as he clapped his hands together.
“Is it now? Then by all means, have a slice or two on me,” said Pietro beaming.
“Thank you… I-I really can’t thank you enough!” said Oscar with overflowing gratitude and newfound joy, and a new surge of joyful tears threatened to break loose. He got up and grabbed Pietro in an embrace, which Pietro gladly returned with his one available arm.
After cutting a generous slice each, the three settled around the coffee table, large mugs of tea and hot milk on either side of each plate. For a while, the adults exchanged anecdotes of cake recipes, and Oscar eagerly listened as it was finally something unrelated to their mission, until Pietro’s curiosity returned.
“So pray tell, how did you, both of you, get roped into all this?”
Over the next several minutes, Oscar recounted how he first heard the voice of Professor Ozpin in his head, how this ancient soul told him to abandon his life on the farm and on a road to ‘greatness’ in protecting the world. He talked of his time at Haven and joining with Qrow Branwen and the young huntresses and huntsmen. He talked about how he trained with them, felt a connection to Ruby, Nora, Ren, and even Jaune despite their later difficulties. He mentioned the altercation at Haven Academy, and the Grimm attacks on their journey to Atlas. Recounting these events made him more animated and even happy at points, and Pietro listened with rapt attention. Maria added her own perspectives on the events leading up to Argus with quite a lot more flair than Oscar could muster.
“My, my… That was quite the tale,” said Pietro, very much impressed.
“Bah! If it weren’t for me then you, your girlfriend’s team and her nincompoop uncle would be dried-up frozen corpses,” barked Maria indignantly,
“W-What?! Maria, Ruby is not my girlfriend!” yelped Oscar worriedly.
“Well sure, with an attitude like that she never will be,” she muttered to herself before clearing her throat, “Look, the point is that Iron-trousers didn’t bother to extend the invitation to me either, kid.”
“That’s… actually a fair point. I’m sorry.”
“It’s alright, I made my peace with it.”
“Look, I get it. I’m not with them right now because I’m not a Huntsman. Without Ozpin in my head I’m nothing, I’m not a hero or somebody important.”
“Who says you’re not important?” said Pietro earnestly.
Oscar paused, unable to come up with an answer.
“I’ve traveled to all sorts of places, shook hands with all sorts of folks, from high-and-mighty statesmen to humble miners. And you know what? In all my life, I’ve never met anyone who wasn’t important. And that means you too! You risked everything to follow a group of strangers and jumped into the jaws of peril and emerged in one piece several times, and you keep sticking it out. You might not be a Huntsman right now but damn if you don’t have the spirit of one, boy.”
These words washed over Oscar, he looked back and forth and tried to process them, musing on carrot cake crumbs on his plate.
“So everyone matters to someone, that’s your belief?” said Oscar at length, Pietro nodded, “then Ironwood would have left without me for some reason?”
“Well, those mines are no picnic, and James takes a full escort wherever he goes. Maybe the General had his reasons and he trusted you enough to keep out of trouble. He’s probably wondering where you are right now.”
Oscar flinched, remembering the Lamp of Knowledge. He had made sure to lock it up somewhere safe before leaving the Academy, but he still felt guilty about leaving it in some random cupboard. If Ironwood or any of the team were to find out he’d basically left his one job…
“Here’s my two lien:” said Maria without her usual air of dry wit, “you got left behind, and that sucks, but being miserable about it isn’t going to make your situation better. You have to find another way: your own choices, actions and consequences. Do you really want to follow Ruby and her friends around like a puppy, or do you want to make the choices that feel right for you?”
“You’re both right,” said Oscar with a calmer and clearer voice than earlier, “I have an idea about…”
“SAL-U-TATIONS!”
Oscar rapidly turned about and stared; Penny was standing in the doorway to the lounge, all beaming smiles and waves. How that girl managed to be so loud and yet so discrete was both a mystery and triumph of Atlesian robotics.
“Greetings, father! Greetings, Ms Calavera! I am happy to report that the graduation ceremony was a success, and my friends are officially licenced Huntsmen!”
“Why that’s plum-terrific, darling!” said Pietro with his usual level of cordial enthusiasm as he pulled his daughter in for a hug, “Tell them I said hello would you?”
“Of course! I’ve been sent to retrieve young Oscar,” she said a little more seriously as she turned and motioned Oscar to come with her, “Our transport is waiting outside. I believe Ruby and General Ironwood are worried for your safety, and Miss Valkyrie mentioned something about ‘he’s gonna get the grounding of a life if that boy isn’t back in five minutes!’ More or less,” she added the last part sheepishly, after emulating Nora’s voice to perfection.
“Uh oh…” said Oscar, now quivering at the thought of a telling off from Nora and quickly rose, “I better go, but thank you so, so much for the cake, Pietro. This talk really helped.”
“My pleasure, come by any time you like, as long as you tell your compatriots,” said Pietro as Oscar and Penny made their way from the lounge to the shop entrance, waving as they went.
“Remember what we talked about, and good luck!” called out Maria.