Chapter Text
They planned.
They both searched their minds for any way to get out of Salem.
No matter what reasons and counterpoints either of them came up with, the guy maintained his onslaught of using him as a literal punching bag, all for retribution, all because of what he thought Oz did to his sister.
Stalling also proved useless to them seeing as this was the third day of their capture and their friends still had not come to his rescue.
“They didn't abandon us.” Oz assured him, just when Oscar was beginning to feel that telltale sign of doubt creeping its way back into his thoughts. “They wouldn't do that to you.”
They even attempted lying to Salem about where the Relics were in order to buy more time. But that, too, ended with another round of magic to Oscar's chest, adding to his already long record of ailments.
Worser still, they were running out of alternatives. And they were quickly running out of time. If they didn't flee soon, it was only a matter of time until Salem got tired of Oscar being so stubborn and got rid of them both.
"But wouldn't keeping us alive benefit her more?" Oscar inquired, as he leaned against the wall, pressing his forehead into his knees, making sure his voice was as quiet as possible. "If she… if she kills us then she has to start all over again in finding you."
“We thought that as well at one point.” Ozpin answered, with a sigh and a twinge of frustration. “Unfortunately, we’ve learn rather quickly that she does not care. She'll kill us even if we give her the information she seeks.”
"So what are we supposed to do?" Oscar asked, pressing his forehead into his knees further, trying to ignore the pain his body was in, it was getting to the point where not even Oz's magic could dull the pain anymore. "We've thought of everything."
But whatever Oz was about to say was cut off by footsteps coming down the corridor.
Oscar readied himself as Salem entered the room, giving out another sigh as he realized who those belonged to.
Oh great, even better… Oscar moaned quietly to Oz. Another round of magic zapped in my chest.
He felt Oz by his side. “Stay calm, it'll be alright.”
Oscar would have scoffed at Ozpin if he had the energy, but he was much too fatigued at this point to even consider a rebuttal.
Salem's newest Grimm grabbed him up by the collar and dangled him in the air, he lay as lifeless as a doll. She leaned forward closer to him, giving him a sickeningly twisted grin that made his stomach churn.
Honestly, how had Ozma ever thought she was beautiful?
"Have you had enough time to think about giving me the information I want?" She asked, hands behind her back as she looked at him, never breaking contact.
"Oh yeah." He glared at her, eyes filled with anger, past the point of being scared of her anymore.
“Oscar!” Ozpin's shocked voice rang in his ears… But Oscar was and had been done with this entire situation for so long. Done with the magical zaps and Hazel's fists. All of it.
"Answers still no."
That didn't seem to be the answer Salem wanted, but truly? Ever since they started this, when has it ever? She gave him the most piercing gaze that sent shivers down his spine. "Are you certain of that?"
"As certain as the last couple times you've zapped me." He answered dryly, trying to keep his face blank of all emotions. "Honestly, last time felt like you were holding back. Either your losing your touch or I'm getting use to it."
He could hear Oz’ voice in his ear. Felt the fear there, the horror. “Oscar, what are you doing!?”
A dark spread throughout Salem's features as the Grimm behind her began to snarl, drool ooze down it's mouth and slide down the back of Oscar's shirt, soaking through his clothes. "I see." Salem stated, her voice dangerously calm, she turned around with her hands behind her back, stepping away from him. "Well then, since we appear to be getting nowhere, I don't see any further use in keeping you."
"Finally, she gets it." Oscar scoffed, rolling his eyes.
“Oscar!” Oz was practically screaming at him now. Oscar could feel the fear in that voice, exploding into a crescendo, and it had nothing to do with Oz’s well being. The voice in his head had made it plainly clear he did not care for himself. No the concern, the gut wrenching fear was for Oscar, he was scared for Oscar.
And if Oscar already wasn't so scared, he'd find that really touching, heartwarming even knowing that Oz really did care about him. “You said to me that you wanted to live, you said you would fight!”
"I hope in your next life, my dear Ozma. That you come back into someone more… competent." Oscar watched as Salem rose her hands, her magic swirling and forming in her hands.
Horror
A spine-chilling horror that wasn't his own filled his chest. Put ice into his veins. “What changed!? Oscar! Please… Please, don't do this!”
Oscar smiled to himself, sadly. Bye Oz, He told the voice, a tear sliding down his cheek. Thanks for caring. For understanding, when no one else did. Pick a better person next time.
Salem launched her magic forward, where it collided with his chest.
Agony
Heart stoppingGut piercing agony
The magic jolted throughout his entire body. Pouring over every muscle, every vein, from the tips of his hair, all the way down to his toes. It was like his body was being set ablaze, shocked and disintegrated all at once.
Salem wasn't holding back this time; she was going to kill him and she was going to enjoy it.
And despite how much he didn't want to, how much he didn't want to give this witch the satisfaction, Oscar couldn't help but let out the most raw, and bloodcurdling scream he's ever made in his life.
He was dying and that for some reason gave him some sort of peace
“OSCAR!”
Suddenly, his body was jarred by something else, a different type of power than Salem's. Salem's magic intended his death, it’s soul purpose was to watch the light leave his eyes. But sensation, this power appeared to want the exact opposite. It breathed against him, around him, enveloping him in a sphere of green light, it protected him.
Echoing, whispering around him to live.
Live
Fight
I will not let you die
Then all at once, Oscar felt like his mind and body being ripped apart. He had this sensation that his insides were being viciously ripped from him and then quickly reassembled.
Stop
Please, stop
It felt like he was dying all over again.
And Oscar couldn't take it anymore and he let out a piercing wail before everything exploded from him, as a burst of white static filled his vision, his ears, his very body and mind seemed to ascend into the air, as if he was floating.
The pain dulled and it was peaceful.
So peaceful
He wanted to stay here forever.
"OSCAR!"
His eyes snapped open.
He was disoriented for several minutes until his brain comprehended he was falling less than a second later. Somehow, he’d escaped out of Monstra, out of Salem's hands, and was now plummeting fast to the ground. His heart stopped in his throat because he knew he didn't have the aura's power or Oz's magic to land safely as he had when he'd dropped from Atlas.
“Oscar!”
That was Ozpin
"What do I do?!" He practically cried out to Oz, because now that he was free, now that he wasn't with her anymore, he didn't want to die. Tears sting his eyes, tears of panic and the wind pressure as he got closer to the ground below. "Oz!"
"Oscar!"
It was then that he realized Ozpin's voice wasn't coming from in his head like it's always been. But outside his head.
Up above.
Moving against the pressure of the wind. Oscar maneuvered his way to where he was now free falling on his back.
And there above him with his arm stretched out was an man. He looked to be in his late 40s, hair white as a sheet, fully clothed from head to toe in a dark green suit, even was topped with a scarf around his neck. Oscar heard stories, listened to descriptions of bystanders after the fall of Beacon happened and where even confirmed by the man himself.
This was the man that's been a spirit inside his head for the last year.
The Headmaster of Beacon Academy
Professor Ozpin
Oscar could only watch, dumbfounded as Oz fought against the wind to get closer to him, reaching his hand out farther. "Take my hand!"
But Oscar didn't, he couldn't. His mind just couldn't process who he was seeing at a time like this.
"Oscar! Please!" Oz's desperate, pleading voice. The panicked look that was plastered all over his face as tears slipped out past his eyes.
Heart aching, for a reason he couldn't comprehend. Oscar reached up.
Up
Reach up
And Ozpin's hand grasped his fingers and pulled him upwards towards him. Oscar clung to Oz, nails digging into the man's clothes as Ozpin held him just as tightly. "I got you." He said, voice shaky as he tried to remain calm. "It's going to be okay."
He sounded so sure of himself.
How?
How was he so confident when they were falling to their death?
"Just hold on."
They smashed into the snow as magic gathered around them just as they were about to hit the ground, hues of all shades of green erupted around them, throwing wind particles and snow everywhere. The shield had softened their landing, had protected them from certain death.
Unfortunately, despite their successful landing, they did not land gracefully. Their first initial impact with the cause had knocked them away several feet and they soon founded themselves tumbling down a steep hill
Even as they proceeded downhill, Oz clutched Oscar tightly to his chest, unwilling to let go as they spiraled down a hill, sending up snow and debris in their wake. They eventually slowed enough for Oz to get a grip of a boulder protruding out of the ground just enough to cling onto. They came to a halt, and Oscar coughed as a result of the impact.
And for a few minutes, they simply laid there. Unable to do anything else but gasp for air against the chilled winds.
Then Ozpin let out a low huff of air, "Are you alright?"
Oscar shuddered, not sure if from the cold outside or the adrenaline pouring through him. He exhaled a breath and attempted to speak, but couldn't find his voice.
"Oscar?"
But all he could muster was a feeble whimper in the back of his throat. He shuddered once again, curling into the only presence that could be found.
"Okay." Ozpin murmured, as he still continue to hold him close. "I understand. I do. But we cannot stay here. Okay?"
Finally, Oscar managed a small nod.
Ozpin, carefully, and rather reluctantly, let Oscar go so that he could sit them both up. "Can you stand?" Oscar attempted to stand on his own, but the weight of everything; Salem's torment and the fall from Monstra had physically and mentally depleted him of any energy he had, his body screaming in agony even at the smallest of movements.
Oz steadied him with soft but firm hands on his shoulders as his vision dimmed and he wavered slightly. "Alright, that appears to be my answer…" The older man said more to himself, in thought, then to Oscar.
After that, his mind hazed in and out of awareness, perceiving the smallest movement and twitching involuntarily when jostled. Only Oz's voice could settle whatever notions his muddled mind would create. "It's alright. You're okay. We're going to be okay, Oscar. I promise."
When he finally opened his eyes, the first thing he noticed was that he was being held by someone. His heart pounded because the last thing he wanted was to be discovered by Salem once more. "Oz?" He reached up and grasped the front of Ozpin's scarf, making sure that former Headmaster was still there. "Are you… holding me?"
"Ah." Oz let out a low sigh, it sounded so relieved and fearful all at the same time. "It appears that your mind has finally allowed you true consciousness. You been out for some time now and I was… beginning to worry." Oscar felt a hand cup his cheek, most likely to check his physical state, judging only by the look on his face, but that didn't stop Oscar from flinching away from the touch, immediately flashing back to when Salem had done exactly that.
"Sorry, I…" He gasped out, body shaking, "I didn't mean to…"
"It's quite alright, Oscar." Ozpin assured him softly, dropping his hand, and gently placing it back where it had been before, "I apologize, it slipped my mind completely that what she has done to you, the gestures, would leave their scars." Oz' voice sounded different, he sounded quieter? "To answer your question, yes, I am indeed, holding you. Ever since we fell from Monstra, your aura, or what's left of it has since dissipated. And I feared that you'd soon freeze out here in the cold. So, I've been doing what I can to prevent that."
There was a brief period of quiet, with nothing but them and the wind in the distance. Oscar recognized then that they were in a cave when the wind whistled as it rebounded off the subterranean walls.
Eventually, Ozpin broke the silence with a simple question that turned out to not be so simple at all, "Are you alright?"
Oscar blinked owlishly at him, suddenly feeling fatigued and weak, like a child needing to be coddled, and it frustrated him. "I'm fine."
"Oscar…" Oz sighed, looking more like a tired parent then he's ever been, he even rolled his eyes. Oscar would have laughed if he had the energy to do so. "You and I may not be sharing the same body anymore, but I can still tell when you're lying." Oz informed him rather matter of factly, "I know that you are likely in an immense amount of pain, seeing that I'm unable to mask it like I was before."
"How can you act so calm?" Oscar blurted out, ignoring the question entirely.
"Pardon?"
Using what little strength, he had, Oscar gestured to both their persons. "This? Us being separated, doesn't that bother you? Freak you out?"
A look passed over Oz that Oscar couldn't really identify. Curiosity? Worry? "Right now, all that I am focusing on is you." Which was true, Oscar could tell, but he knew there was something Ozpin wasn't telling him.
"I thought we agreed no more hiding things?" Oscar countered, body flaring up when he moved his head to get a better look into Oz's eyes to show that he was serious. "There's something you're not telling me."
Ozpin looked at him as though he was having a grand debate in his head, one that Oscar could no longer hear anymore. "When you— when Salem struck you, when you were about to… to die. I… wanted so badly to stop it. Wanted you to live, so I reached forward, fully expecting nothing to happen but was still shocked when something did."
Oscar tilted his head to one side “What happened?"
"The moment I reached for you, was the very same moment your aura exploded from your body. Resulting with me being caught between our magic and Salem's." Ozpin explained calmly, "What I believe, is that when that happened it somehow caused a reaction. Because I fought so hard for you to live, whatever remaining magic I possessed must have worked on me as well. Like a flowing chain."
Oscar could barely wrap his mind around what happened himself, let alone what Ozpin was trying to explain. "And that's what you think?"
"Well, that is the only solution I can think of." Ozpin admitted coolly as he adjusted himself into a better position, being extra careful not to jostle Oscar too much. “At least in this current time.”
Everything went silent once more. The silence dragged on so long in fact, that with the combine warmth that Oz was providing, Oscar felt his eyes beginning to droop shut when Ozpin's voice snapped him back out.
"Oscar?"
He let out a low hum.
"Were you really going to let Salem kill you?"
Even though he knew the question was coming, it still caught him off guard to hear it. Because he didn't really think he would actually be having this conversation with Ozpin, because he thought that...
"Oscar—"
"I..." Oscar swallowed the lump in his throat, eyes downcast we toward the crest on Ozpin's scarf, anything was better than the thought of looking at Oz directly in the eye. "I... maybe?"
Oz's voice sounded positively wrecked at that answer. And as though he were a child rushing to defend their actions toward a tired parent, began to babble. "I just..." He choked on the words and fought to get them out. Feeling a mixture of guilt over his actions and frustration over still feeling so weak. "I was just tired, Oz. I felt so useless and broken and I wanted it to stop."
"You said you would fight."
"I know." His voice was a whisper, he felt awful. Both physically, mentally and emotionally. "But it was also the only thing I could think of to make it stop, to give you another chance to incarnate into someone more competent."
There was another moment of silence. And Oscar was beginning to think that Oz was actually mad at him for what he tried to do.
Is he... giving me the silent treatment?
But no sooner did Oscar think that was the moment where Ozpin finally broke that silence once again. "Oscar." Oz's voice sounded strained, like he was doing everything in his power to sound steady and stable but was failing miserably in doing so. "You are braver than you believe, stronger than you seem and far smarter than you think. Salem is wrong. I told you before that you and I were bounded together for a reason." Oz went one step further then and out right embraced Oscar, this time around. Fully and without any hesitation, he hugged him, tightly. "I know your tired and believe me when I say that I know and can imagine the trauma she made you endure. But I won't let you die."
I will not let you die
It really had been Ozpin who stopped Salem from killing him. He really did care about him.
Oscar let out a laugh that turned into sob, he turned his head, pressing his face against the fabric of Ozpin's scarf, and was hit with a scent of hot cocoa and oakwood, his throat closed up, and he was suddenly hit with the realization that this was real. Oz was here, he was no longer just a voice in his head, a presence by his side.
Now they were two separate people once again.
Ever since Oz came into his life, greeting him kindly and informing him of the take with which they were given, Oscar dreamt, for things to go back to how they were, especially when things became too much for him to handle. It was why he’d been relieved when Ozpin locked himself away because then, Oscar had the chance to feel like himself, had a chance to prove himself, to show the others that he wasn’t just another one of Ozma’s vessels.
But this… this was different.
It was as though they’re connection, the thing that bounded them together was severed. As if apart of himself had been amputated, and he didn’t know how he felt about that.
Oscar dug his nails into his Ozpin’s clothes and just broke. Everything that happened crashing into him all at once and he could no longer handle it on his own anymore. And Oz just held him through it. “I know you feel disheartened. I know you have every reason to be angry with me… But please, let me help you.”
“I just… want this all to be over…”
Everything was just starting to become to much for him, he was just a farmhand from Mistral. He couldn’t do this, because what was he against Salem? What was he now that he and Ozpin were not bounded together anymore? “I know. I understand, Oscar. More then you will ever know. But you have never been alone. You don’t have to do this one your own merely for the fate you were forced upon by becoming a part of us.”
A choked noise erupted from the back of his throat, as he pressed himself further into Oz’s chest, desperately seeking a comfort he hasn’t had since the death of his parents, a comfort that he knew Oz was more the willing to give. “I’m here.” Oz pressed a hand against his hair, his own body beginning to shake from pent up emotions and fear, “We’re going to be okay, Oscar. I promise.”
And as blizzard continued on outside, Oscar wasn’t really sure if he believed him or not, but something inside him made him willing to try.