16: Lionsong

Yawning, Ruby stretched and woke slowly. Rubbing the sleep out of her eyes, she sat up. "Huh…" she mumbled, surprised at how refreshed she felt. For the last few days, getting up in the morning had felt like hell; she'd had to do a few stretches and warm-ups just to work the soreness out of her joints and force her unwilling, aged body to cooperate.

Today was different, though. Today, she felt good. It took a moment for her to realize why. "It worked!" She shot out of the bed, her thoughts tumbling over one another, before getting her feet promptly tangled in the bedcovers and landing face-first on the floor.

"Relax, will you? The mirror's not going to run away."

Roman's amused voice made her shoot up, chasing away the remaining vestiges of sleepiness and slotting even more memories of the previous day into place. She turned beet red. "Oh my gosh! I messy-cried all over you and then fell asleep on your bed, didn't I? I'm so sorry!" Spinning around, she spotted him sitting in a chair observing her, impeccably groomed despite his new haircut. He was sipping what looked to be a cup of coffee.

Guess he's a morning person. She eyed his coffee enviously.

"As if that's the worst you've ever done to me." He raised the cup towards her and winked. "Go on, Red, take a look. But get your own cup, this one's mine."

She flashed him a brief smile, grateful that he wasn't raking her over the coals. Eagerness to see just what exactly Ozpin's aura had done to her trumped all other desires, though, and she flew towards the bathroom. Slamming the door open, she threw herself in front of the mirror and grabbed the sink, staring at her reflection.

A younger face framed by pitch-black hair stared back at her, hosting bright silver eyes. She couldn't help the smile that cracked open as she turned her head from side to side; she'd have to re-dye the ends of her hair to get back her unique red-tipped look, but she was recognizable again, at least, rather than looking like 50-year-old going through a leather and tulle life crisis. Roman had been right; she was still a little older than before, but nothing that wouldn't place her out of the range of being able to present herself as Yang's sister.

Well. Maybe Yang's older sister.

Running cold water from the faucet, Ruby splashed her face a few times to make sure she wasn't dreaming. She reached blindly for a towel, but her hands stopped before she could pat her face dry. Droplets of water ran down the sides of her cheeks, and her grin faded away with them.

I sold myself to Ozpin for this. Regarding her reflection, she turned her head from side to side, this time more slowly, inspecting every inch of her face. Roman's warning echoed through her head, and she felt a twinge in her chest as she thought of Jaune, Nora, and Ren. "It was worth it," she said aloud, trying hard to convince herself that she believed it.

There was some noise coming from the outer rooms of the apartment. Snapping out of her stupor, Ruby patted her face dry. She was sure she could hear Nora's loud voice through the door. She straightened her hair one last time and then smiled widely for practice before pulling open the door. Yep, it was definitely Nora, judging from the snippets of conversation she caught.

"- but Ozpin said this was Ruby's room. So do you know which one she's…" Nora trailed off as she caught sight of Ruby.

"Nora! Look!" She stepped out of the bathroom, smiling broadly and twirling around for effect.

"It worked!" Nora shrieked, shoving past Roman to trap her in a bear hug.

Ren, who was also at the door, managed to close his mouth. "But… what is he doing in your room?" He levied a dangerous squint towards Roman.

"Hey now, let's get one thing straight here kid. This is my room," Roman replied, sounding offended.

"Oh, right!" Nora released Ruby and grinned. "Sorry, still a little hung over here. So did you guys sleep together or what?"

Ruby watched in horror as things unfolded like a slow-moving train wreck. Roman smirked back at Ren, voice full of innuendo. "Technically, she's not wrong. I'm not sure how much sleeping I did, though."

Ren's expression, in response, cooled by several degrees. Surprisingly, he didn't go for Stormflower though. Instead, he called for Nora. "Think you can kill him?"

"You never know until you try," Nora said cheerfully, spinning away from Ruby with her fists raised. "Besides, there's nothing like a good one-two combo to wake you up in the morning. Now stand still, dead man walking!" She took a few wild swings at Roman, who skipped and weaved out of danger.

"Whoa! Watch where you put those things!" he jeered, ducking a fist that came flying his way.

"I'm so glad you're back to normal, Ruby!" Nora called over her shoulder, still fighting Roman. "Let me just kill Torchwick first before we celebrate, okay?"

"Are you all right?" Ren had snuck into the room as soon as Nora distracted Roman. He enveloped her in a brief hug, before drawing back and giving her a judgmental dose of side-eye.

"Roman's just trolling you, I'm fine," Ruby replied.

Behind her, Nora roared. "LUCKY PUNCH OF JOY!" It was accompanied by the sound of a pot breaking.

"I see Nora's been working on her anti-Grimm technique. Ozpin might be a little upset about what she's doing to his room, though."

"Not after what we did to his kitchen countertop," Ren countered, guiding her out of the wreckage. "C'mon, we need to tell Jaune the good news."

"Ruby? A little help here!" Roman shouted, scrambling after them while clutching his bowler.

"ELBOW OF GENEROSITY!" A cloud of rubble puffed out of the door where he'd been standing moments before.

Ruby ignored the ruckus spilling out into the hallway behind her. "Roman and I really didn't do anything last night, you know," she said half-heartedly to Ren. "But sometimes I don't mind seeing him suffer for his jokes."

"Bad taste," Ren muttered under his breath.

"Yep," Ruby agreed.

"I meant you," he countered, and she winced.

"Oh, come on!" Roman yelled as three of Ozpin's dog-bots trotted past her towards the fight.

Still feeling indignant because of Ren's running commentary, she ignored them. Roman could take care of himself, and she was pretty sure Ozpin wouldn't really try to kill him anymore. Relatively sure. Probably. She bit her lip and squashed the doubtful voice. "So where's Jaune? I thought he'd stick close to you guys down here."

"Oh! Right, he's with the new guy. Did you know Ozpin was keeping another guest down here? Some boy named Oscar, his nephew I think. The poor guy is probably traumatized from being left alone for so long with no one but robots and Ozpin for company."

"Huh?" She blinked, still processing Ren's words as Roman caught up to them, smoothing down his suit.

"Thanks so much, Red. Good to know I can rely on you in a pinch."

"Where's Nora?" Ren's face had returned to looking like granite.

Roman's greasy smile told them volumes. "She's coming. Eventually."

Ruby squinted at Roman, pinning him down.

"What?" He shrugged. "I didn't do anything to her that her aura couldn't heal. Point that stare at Ozpin's four-legged battlebots. But more importantly…" He slung and arm over Ren's shoulder, leaning in. "What was the name of that kid you mentioned again?"

"Oscar," Ren replied warily.

"And he just showed up this morning to meet you, huh? Imagine that." Roman looked over in Ruby's direction, looking smug. "He must be one hell of a social recluse." He skipped away as Ren violently shoved him off.

"Keep your hands to yourself."

"Have it your way." Roman shrugged carelessly, leaning in the opposite direction to sling his arm around her instead. Ruby winced and smiled nervously at Ren, subtly trying to signal him to back down with a quick wave of her hands. Roman only pulled her in tighter at that, smile widening.

"Are you insane?" she hissed at Roman, smacking at his arm repeatedly. "Why are you trying to make Ren misunderstand things? Stop teasing my friends!"

Roman's smile dropped into a theatrical sulk as his grip tightened. "See, that's the problem with Little Red here," he complained to Ren. "She still thinks I'm teasing you."

Ren, however, seemed to have relaxed marginally. "Right," he sighed after a moment. "Never mind. I keep forgetting it's Ruby you're dealing with," he replied. A tiny smirk tugged at his lips. "... I almost feel sorry for you, actually."

She glanced between Ren, who was now beginning to look smug, and Roman, whose fake scowl was morphing into his poker face, which was as good as a real scowl in her book. "What's that supposed to mean?"

This time Ren's look of amusement was directed at her. "It means you're even worse than Jaune."

"Forget that," Roman cut in, sounding bored. "Tell me more about this Oscar."

"Hey, are we talking about Oscar now?" Nora jogged up behind them. "By the way, good move Torchwick! I'll have to remember that one," she said as she stopped. Ruby staggered a little under the force of the friendly jab Nora landed on Roman, whose punch was hard enough to knock his arm away from her shoulder. Nora immediately turned towards her and began gushing excitedly. "Did Ren tell you the best part about Oscar? He's totally cute! For a fourteen-year-old, I mean. But I'm telling you, he's gonna be a real hottie when he gets older!"

"The cute ones are always the scariest," Roman muttered, rubbing his arm with a wince.

The four of them continued to walk through the long hallway, Ren leading the way while Ruby wondered just how he managed to navigate through the bunker - all of the corridors with the plush carpet and the carbon-copied doorways looked exactly the same to her. I can't believe I agreed to stay here. I wonder if Ozpin would be okay with letting me repaint? Or live closer to the surface, at least...

"A nephew, I think," she heard Ren saying, snapping her concentration back to the others.

"Reaaaallly," Roman drawled, putting his hands behind his head with a thoughtful expression. His eyes narrowed and flitted towards her. "Well? Whaddaya think, Ruby?" Should we tell them? He was clearly asking for permission. The unusual courtesy he was still showing her gave her pause.

She sighed silently; Roman was trying to give her a chance to wriggle out of her deal with Ozpin. She shook her head minutely at him, noting how his shoulders sagged ever so slightly. "Let's meet him first and see what he has to say. I'm sure Ozpin wanted to introduce him to us for a reason."

When they finally reached Jaune on the upper level, he was in the middle of an intense discussion with Ozpin - or Oscar, she guessed he was calling himself now.

Jaune brightened visibly when he saw her, surprise and delight flashing over his face in quick succession. "Ruby! Look at you!" He let out a huff when she threw herself into his arms, interrupting his conversation. "Hey," he murmured into her hair, his arms tightening around her. "I'm so glad it worked. Are you gonna be okay now?"

She didn't know how to answer him. Will any of us ever really be? "Better than before, at least," she managed, pulling back slightly to look up at him and smile. "At least I'm taller than before," she added with a wink.

"How sweet," Roman drawled. "And while I loathe breaking up your happy little reunion, maybe you and the Boy Wonder can put all those feelings aside long enough to tell us just who the hell the new guy is?"

Jaune let her go with a sigh, rolling his eyes at Roman, and gestured towards Ozpin, who smiled at her.

Ruby tried not to stare, she really did. Ozpin did a good job of cleaning himself up; he'd adapted a completely different style of dress and mannerisms for his new body. The result was that he seemed even younger than before; his entire personality practically screamed innocent country bumpkin, right down to his freckles.

"Hi," he said shyly, the wide smile wavering, and held out his hand. "My name's Oscar. And you must be… Ruby, right? Jaune told me you're the reason everyone came here." His face darkened with a hint of color. "Sorry about the weird reception. Uncle Ozpin can be a little eccentric sometimes… I wish he'd told me you guys were coming beforehand. Still, it's exciting to finally meet you!"

She shook his hand awkwardly. "Umm… nice to… uh, meet you for the first time, I guess?" Ozpin's grip tightened in warning, and she winced. "Heh heh… but why's it so exciting?" Acting never had been her strong suit.

"Because Uncle Ozpin told me I'd get to leave with you guys!" Ozpin changed his grip on her hand fluidly, forcing the stilted movements of her arm into something more natural before releasing her. "Finally! A chance to get away from this place and see the world! I can't tell you how long I've been waiting for this!"

"Wait, what?" Ruby's eyes widened. "Leave? As in not stay here?" Did I hear that right?

"Well, yeah! Wouldn't you want to get out of this place too, if you'd been forced to live here?" Ozpin gave her a knowing look.

"... Yeah, but…" she trailed off weakly, caught by surprise. So I don't have to be a prisoner here? I can go back with the others?

"There must be a catch," Roman said loudly, grounding her.

"Huh? No! Uncle Ozpin finally gave me permission to leave, so long as I stayed near you Huntsmen for protection. I don't know about you guys, but I want to take this chance, risk or not!" His eagerness sure didn't sound like he was lying. A chill ran down Ruby's back. With a clever mix of truth and falsehoods, Ozpin had managed to birth himself a brand new personality out of nothing. Just how good of an actor was he anyway? He was making Roman look like an amateur.

"Creepy," Roman muttered under his breath to her.

"What was that?" Jaune asked.

"Oh, nothing," Roman replied, before addressing Ozpin. "So you call yourself Oscar, huh? The name's Torchwick. If you're really stowing away with us, I hope you turn out to be less of a little shit than Ozpin was."

Ozpin flinched. "I guess you didn't get along well with my uncle either. That makes two of us?"

"Hardly," Roman said crisply, looking down his nose at the boy.

"Well," Ruby cut in with a nervous laugh. "Even if it is a… ah… surprise to meet you like this, Oz...scar... I hope we can be friends."

Ozpin's smile was almost blinding. "Oh, don't worry! You have nothing to fear from me!"

"Sure," Roman sneered.

Ozpin frowned at Roman, but ignored him in favor of addressing her again. "My uncle wanted me to apologize for not being able to see you off. It is a little rude of him, but you probably already know the procedure to heal you took a lot more out of him than he wanted to admit." His hazel eyes glinted. "But that's why he sent me here to help you out in his stead. And really, I'm grateful," he admitted. "I didn't think I'd ever manage to get out of this place otherwise. It's all thanks to you!"

"Y-you're welcome… I think?" she stammered, still off-kilter from 'Oscar's' foreign personality and her sudden freedom from their contract. Ozpin was still in there somewhere, right? Was he really being that generous for no reason? "So… you really want to come back to Vale with us?"

"If you'll have me," Ozpin answered, and something about the way he said it made her certain that yes, despite all that shyness and good humor, it really was the old Ozpin she was still dealing with. Maybe her newfound freedom might be more of an illusion than 'Oscar' was.

"Hey, Oscar! About that - can you give us some privacy here? My team needs to make a decision together before I can promise you anything," Jaune cut in, pulling Ruby away from Ozpin.

"Sure thing!" he called after them, waving. "I trust you guys will make the right decision."

Roman followed them, but Jaune didn't protest as they drew closer to the rest of Team RNJR. "So guys," he said, his expression serious. "What do you think of Oscar? I want your opinions."

"He seems like a nice enough boy," Nora offered helpfully. "And he's cute! How'd he survive down here by himself, though?"

"Something's off about him," Ren agreed. "How can a kid that young be so cheerful when his only other human contact in this fortress, his own uncle, is one faulty wire away from dying? And why would he just leave Ozpin here alone when he's sick?"

"Nice!" Roman cut in. "You're smarter than you look, Pink."

"But most of all, why is he in on this meeting?" Ren bit out, glaring at Roman. "He's not a RNJR."

"Because I want everyone's opinion, and Torchwick's proven himself to us," Jaune said firmly. "He's our pilot, so can have a say in this too."

"And my say is dump the freckled chump."

Ruby chewed her lips and forced herself not to look at Roman, feeling miserable about going along with Ozpin's ruse. Not telling the whole truth almost felt worse than lying, at least when she was doing it to her own teammates.

"Ruby?" Jaune asked, worried. "What's wrong? You haven't said anything yet. Well, you didn't get to talk to him much so far, but you're usually a pretty good judge of people. What do you think? Can we trust him?"

"I…" She could feel Roman watching her, waiting for her decision on whether to out Ozpin or not. It also felt like she could feel the weight of Ozpin's stare as well.

I gave him my word.

"... I don't think he means us any harm," she said truthfully. "But I wouldn't trust him completely just yet either. Whoever he says he is, we all know he's really here to represent Ozpin's interests." She clenched her hands into fists. "But no matter what those reasons are, Ozpin helped me get my body back. I think we owe him that much."

Roman snorted, but one solid glare kept whatever he'd been planning on saying sealed behind his disgusted grimace.

"Sounds good!" Nora cheered. "Now I can spend the trip back trying to count his freckles!"

"I'm fine with it too," Ren added.

"What? I thought you agreed the kid was suspicious!" Roman narrowed his eyes at Ren. "Are you changing your mind just to spite me?"

"Does it matter if I like him or not? We gave you a chance, after all."

Roman scoffed and leaned back, crossing his arms.

"Then it's decided," Jaune said. "I'm glad we're all on the same page. Still… sometimes he sounds so much like Ozpin it freaks me out a little. Anyway," he shrugged. "I just wanted to make sure the rest of you were okay with Oscar joining us before I agreed."

"I didn't agree!" Roman protested.

"You got outvoted. Tough luck, buddy!" Turning around, he smiled at Ozpin. "Looks like you're good to go," he called out.

"Thanks! Ozpin said I could learn a lot from you guys." Ozpin - or was it Oscar now - trotted over. "He also told me it was dangerous where we were going. Something about an unsealed dragon on a beacon tower? For what it's worth, I'll do my best to help."

"Say," Roman said, leaning in and staring down his nose as Oscar. "Just how long was Ozpin planning on letting you tag along with these idiots?"

"What was that?!" Nora yelled sharply, but Roman ignored her.

Oscar turned to face her. "For as long as it takes. That'll be okay, won't it Ruby? You won't mind me tagging along, will you?"

"Me?" Ruby tried to smile, but failed, feeling pressured. Was this Ozpin's apology to her? Allowing her to stay with Team RNJR despite their agreement? Relief was mixed with trepidation; with Oscar by their side, the favor she owed him could be demanded from her whenever he chose; she'd be living in limbo. Her teammates were none the wiser, and with Roman's decision to leave, even he wouldn't be there to act as a buffer any longer. "I guess anyone would want to get out of here if they had the chance," she agreed weakly.

"Good girl," Oscar murmured under his breath, before smiling widely. "Thank you, Ruby. I'd better speak with Jaune again and make the proper preparations for your airship to leave."

Ruby watched him move away, biting her lip.

"Look on the bright side." She glanced up at Roman, who regarded her with weary resignation. "At least you got out of being trapped. Probably more than you'll be able to say for me once we get back to Vale. I'm sure Ironwood's waiting for his prodigal cadet to return."

"Don't be such a pessimist! Even if Glynda allowed him drag you back to Atlas - which she wouldn't, by the way - I wouldn't let him. I stopped that dragon before on my own the first time, didn't I? They owe me that much."

Roman smiled wryly. "Debts in Atlas don't work that way, Ruby. But I appreciate the thought."

"Well… you'd think of something," she said confidently. "You're Roman Torchwick. You always have a plan to come out on top, don't you?" She wilted a little as she watched Oscar and Jaune walking away from them, holding back her sigh. "I'm not so sure if I'll be able to handle Ozpin in his new face, though. I just don't know how to deal with him! Ugh, it's times like these I wish I could be a little more like you."

"Careful, Red." He placed a hand on her shoulder and gave her a bolstering squeeze. "Sometimes those wishes come true." His hand dropped away as a bot trotted up to them; a screen rose from its back, and Oscar's face fizzled into view.

"You can all come to the hangar now! We're almost done with the preparations for takeoff."

"Guess that's our cue."

Ruby took a deep breath, steeling her nerves. I'm not just a Huntress now. I'm the Fall Maiden. Whether it's Ozpin, Ironwood, or a Grimm dragon, I've got this. I have to. I can't waste this power or hide it away from the world. I need to do better than that. I owe it to Roman… and Neo. Her eyes flew open. "I'm ready."

AN: My apologies for taking so long to update this. I put a short note in my author profile with the reasons why. This chapter is a little shorter than usual because I decided to update with what I had rather than including the next big fight scene in it. Thank you for reading, and please leave a review, I really appreciate them.