Chapter Text
The first thing Ruby felt when she awoke was a bruised and hot feeling on the side of her face. It started just below and above her eye. It traveled backward, across her temple, and ending just past her ear. Meanwhile, her ear felt worse off, with a stinging sensation along the tip of it. It was then that she noticed that pain was covered, and bringing up a hand to it, she felt bandages.
She tasted iron in her mouth, and her tongue felt the absence of her front tooth, blocked instead with what felt like gauze. She smelled death all around her, alongside sulfur. A smell she'd not grown accustomed to. Alongside this, was the smell of smoke, wafting to the right of her. She heard the sound of crackling fire, as well as the chilly wind brushing against her skin.
Opening her eyes, Ruby saw the moon of remnant, shattered to forever appear crescent. Its blue light dimly lit the violet clouds that filled the red sky of Evernight. Dark brown cliffs poked from the sides of her vision far above her, purple dust crystals eclipsing the earth. Her eyes struggled to focus on much else, as an intense pressure formed beneath her eyes, the headache debilitating.
She slowly sat up, doing her best to ignore the exhaustion that almost absorbed her body, and looked around.
She laid upon an old and tattered red carpet, with gold lines adorned on the edges. Holes and tears were abundant among the cloth, it was clear that it was old. Next, she noticed the stone floor, dark grey bricks laid criss crossed with gashes and cracks marking them. She looked toward the left, and saw a destroyed wall with the same stone, revealing the desolate and lifeless earth of Evernight. Grimm pools laid occasionally upon the ground, holes of death and destruction.
Looking at the front (or was it technically down for her?), she realized where she was. This was in a room of Evernight Castle. The walls were broken and destroyed, rubble littering the floor. The ceiling had holes in it, still standing far above by the few walls that held it. The chandelier that once hung from the center now laid crumbled at the center of the table. Salem’s throne was gone, turned to ash. The intricate glass windows that were abundant and resembled an eye, broken like the walls or the ones still standing, shattered in their frames.
Toward her left, she saw a person. They wore a green jacket, with a dark red yoke stitched atop with a cut out of cog covered in vines. The neck of the jacket was a collar that went upward to touch the ends of their brown hair. Their skin was tanned, their ears peaking out of their hair, and she could see some part of the sides of their neck. They were sitting on the ground, in front of what was a fire.
She knew who it was, even if she could only see his back, and the back of his head. “Oscar?”
The person startled, and glanced back. His face was dirty, a bandage on his forehead, wrapped around, and a few small healing cuts littering his cheeks and sides of his face. His shirt underneath the green jacket was gone, and only white bandages wrapped around his lower torso replaced it.
“Ruby!” Oscar exclaimed in relief, rushing over to hug her. It was a gentle hug, so as to not worsen their already hurt bodies. After a moment, he pulled away and checked her face, before looking into her eyes. “How are you feeling?”
“Bad.” Ruby answered dryly, and tried to sit up further but was met with a hand pressed against her chest, easing her to lay down. “My head is pounding.”
“That’s typically what happens after a concussion.” Oscar pulled his hand back once she laid down, her head resting upon the makeshift pillow. He manufactured a flask from his jacket, and held it above Ruby’s mouth. “Here, drink some water.”
Ruby opened her mouth, as Oscar carefully poured the water into it, doing his best to avoid the gauze that covered the missing tooth gap. After a few gulps, he stopped, and Ruby laid back down feeling a little better. She looked at him, as he capped the flask and put it back in his pocket. “What happened? Did we win?”
Oscar fixed her a somber smile. “Not quite.”
“What…” A pit formed in her chest, a sensation she was all too familiar with. Like there was a hole in the very center of her ribcage, as if her sternum had been removed, and that no amount of air she inhaled through her lungs would fill the hole. “What does that mean?”
“Salem won’t be returning,” Oscar began, sitting down onto the ground with his legs bent and arm resting across his knees. “But she won. As far as I can tell, there isn’t anyone else that survived.”
Ruby didn’t know how to feel when she heard that. Defeating Salem was such a seemingly impossible task that Ruby just barely believed in being able to truly succeed. Yet among all, if they were the only ones that were left, what even was the point?
“So we lost.” Ruby mumbled in despair, her voice all but broken. The pit in her chest had traveled into her spine, spreading across her back and wrapping around her stomach, as if her skin itself was hollow. Her legs, feet, arms, neck, head, every part of her body felt like an empty husk that no amount of energy or matter could replace.
“Yeah,” Oscar said, and it seemed that was the catalyst to break him. His voice held a thick layer of anguish as he looked toward the sky. “We did.”
Nothing was said for what felt like ages. All that filled the destroyed room of Evernight Castle was the crackling sounds from the small fire, distant roars from Grimm, and the whistling of the wind. There were no cheers or a celebration. There were no hugs from her friends at the realization they defeated the most powerful person on Remnant. Instead, just a cold, suffocating emptiness.
Ruby felt exhaustion catch up, as a yawn escaped her mouth before it could be stopped. Her eyes grew heavy, eyes drying whenever she tried to keep them open.
“You should get some sleep.” Oscar told her, leaning over to give her a peck on the lips. Had the world not come crashing down around her, she would’ve felt some relief at the action. Oscar seemed no different, yet they both did their best. “I’ll keep watch, and try to find us food.”
“Okay.” Ruby responded, as she yawned once more, closed her eyes, and let sleep take a hold of her, falling to the darkness as her mind drifted to a place far from despair.
/-/
The steady rising and lowering of Ruby’s chest was the single thing Oscar watched. He stared, eyes locked upon, as if his sight alone would freeze some ethereal entity from stopping the movement. As if death was sentient, and that Oscar had the power to stop it.
And he did have that power, which was the worst part.
Time travel was a messy thing, and arguably the single greatest thing Oscar hated. It was so easy to abuse, and to use. You could try and try again to get the perfect outcome, but no matter what it never would come to fruit. It would always be one mistake after another. Until in the end, it causes so much havoc and destruction that the single desire to save 100s of lives turns to the death of millions.
He hated himself for what he did. For causing this.
Salem, Ozma, the death of the first human race. The White Fang, Adam Taurus, and the Faunus war. So many deaths that could have been avoided had he not been so childish and naive. Had he not been so arrogant, had he listened to Oz, he could have avoided it all.
And now, he was faced with a decision to try again. But he was done with loops. That was the entire point that led to this point, was the loops. And to do it again, and risk so much?
What if they lost again, and Salem summoned the gods? Would that kill Oscar? Would he be able to try again then? He doubted so.
But what other choice was there? Was there a better option? The assault on Evernight killed everyone he loved and cared about. Weiss, Blake, Yang, Jaune, Nora, Ren. Emerald, Qrow, Winter. And so many more. There were no sounds of anything human for at least a few miles. And if there were, he wouldn’t be able to save them. He could hardly stand up, much less search the chaos of Evernight to find someone who was on deaths doorstep.
The rest of Remnant was not much different. Atlas gone, Mistral not much better. Vacuo now just a desolation of sand and Grimm. Vale all but a ghost town with Grimm roaming the streets of what was once Vale. Mistral plagued with the Apathy.
Oscar felt like screaming. All his effort, all his mistakes, all thrown to the side as he was made to choose whether it was worth it to die like this, or risk it all for a better ending. This wasn’t a fairy tale, yet why couldn’t it be? Why wasn’t he allowed a happy ending? Or Ruby? Or anyone else who put their blood, sweat, and tears into this conflict?
Oscar realized he’d been talking out loud once his throat felt sore. He glanced behind him, thankfully Ruby was still steadily asleep. Ruby was the most important person in his life, and she going to die if he didn’t do something. He wasn’t ready to accept that, not like this.
Not like this. It would be selfish, he understood that. He was making the same mistake as Ozma at the start of this, as hundreds of voices tried to speak, all coming out as muffled whispers. But the only one he heard clearly was that of Ozpin.
‘I will follow you whichever path you take.’
The decision was the single easiest one he’d made.