Chapter Text
Friday afternoon. Chilly autumn weather. Another week of vigorous training gone by, and yet...Oscar still felt about as threatening as a lamb and no stronger than before. Not even Taiyang’s cheerful encouragement helped.
“C’mon, kid. I know you’re holding back.” Qrow spread his arms wide, tauntingly. “Kick my ass. Show me what you’ve got.”
Almost immediately, Oscar could hear a familiar chuckle in his head. Go on. He just wants to have some fun.
“Right…” Oscar muttered, once again tightening his grip on Ozpin’s cane. A few moments of awkward hesitation were followed by a sharp lunge. Oscar was aiming to knock Qrow’s feet out from underneath him, but was instead met with air. Qrow landed gracefully behind him and beckoned, again.
Swipe, jab, miss. Hand-to-cane combat ended up hand-to-hand, the cane clattering away into the woods. The seasoned huntsman versus the farmhand - surely the easiest victory yet for Qrow. Everything Oscar did was useless; even so, Ozpin would chime in time after time, encouraging him.
A too slow dodge found Oscar on his back, Qrow grinning above him. “Done yet, pipsqueak?”
“Yeah, yeah.”
Ozpin began to argue with him, a rather odd occurrence for the calm and collected (former) headmaster. Really now, Oscar. You must train if you are to be of any help. Qrow’s cocky nature makes things hard, but he has his weak spots. ‘How would you know?’ Oscar thought, smirking slightly. Funny. In all seriousness, keep his semblance in mind. In addition, try to attack him from behind - he’s a very forward person in more ways than one. ‘Fine. But if that doesn’t work, I hope you can feel the bruises I know I’ll end up getting.’
And with that, Oscar sat up and rolled between Qrow’s legs, whipping his own around to land a kick square in the huntsman’s back.
Qrow staggered forward a step before spinning around with a vicious left hook, meeting Oscar’s (tender) cheek.
This time, Oscar paid closer attention to how Qrow moved. Watched how he shifted his weight, how he dodged and blocked. He noticed that Qrow hit in flurries rather than one at a time - rapid succession of kicks instead of just one. His movements were twitchy almost, but if you never took your eyes off of him, he’d become approximately predictable.
Ozpin’s advice appeared to be true; Qrow was more offensive than defensive, leaving his back a tad more exposed.
Move into the trees. I can guarantee that he’ll get hit by a branch - it wouldn’t be the first time it happened in a battle.
“Scared?” Qrow snickered, advancing on the retreating trainee.
Rolling his eyes, Oscar scoffed. “No. Well, maybe a little...you are a veteran huntsman after all…”
He either hadn’t noticed or didn’t care, but Qrow had allowed himself to be baited into the thick forest behind Taiyang’s home.
Of course, his semblance was as annoying as ever. Oscar tripped over a massive tree root that surely wasn’t there before, and was met with a rather harsh kick.
“You’ve got a strong aura, even without Oz possessing you. Hit me back twice as hard.”
Inhabiting, not possessing.
“Inhabiting,” spat Oscar. He charged at a rapidly approaching Qrow and faked him out at the last possible second.
Pale skin met dark wood as Qrow crashed into a tree behind Oscar.
Nearby was Ozpin’s cane - Oscar took his one chance to hit the momentarily stunned man as many times as he could.
“Good Grimm, you got me! Knock it off already!” Qrow hopped away, whimpering as her rubbed his back. “That’s enough for today; my poor bones are aching.”
Ozpin’s laughter took Oscar for a loop. Ah. He never fails to use his age to his advantage…
“Good fight!” A voice called, friendly and bubbling with laughter. “You losin’ your touch, old man?”
“You’re one to talk, blondie,” Qrow growled, “I could still beat you in a fight, anyday.” The two continued to bicker as they headed back inside. Taiyang had been kind enough to lend them a place to stay and train; the bustling metropolis that was Mistral drove both Oscar and Qrow up the walls.
The three managed to get to the kitchen table whole, where Taiyang had laid out copious amounts of barbecued meat.
“Well well well...my thanks to the little chef!”
Taiyang gawked at Qrow, who had already slapped a fat steak onto his plate. “ Little ?! Says the guy who turns into a bird and flies away from his problems!”
Very badly did Oscar want them to shut up and eat. Instead, all of the attention was directed towards him.
“Nice work you did out there. You did better today than ever before!” He then leaned in closer, whispering out of the corner of his mouth, “Say, is good ol’ Ozpin sharing some sick fighting techniques?”
“Thank you, Mr. -”
He was abruptly cut off. “Oh, mister schmister. Just call me Tai, I don’t care.”
“If you say so.”
“Jeez, Tai. Already on a first name basis? I’m gonna have to ask you to take a step back. Whispering to him when you think I’m not paying attention…” Qrow shook his head in disdain, clearly enjoying himself.
Without warning he leaned across the small table, face inches from Oscar’s.
“C-can I...help you?” Oscar stuttered, leaning away.
“What’s the big man upstairs got to say?”
Oscar sighed, relieved that Qrow didn’t ask him anything weird. He paused for a few moments before speaking.
“Qrow, he says that you continue to be one of the most childish men he knows.”
Taiyang let out a hearty chuckle before being interrupted by a rough shove, nearly falling out of his chair.
“And that you, Tai, should go see your daughters in Mistral. There’s no need for you to sit around here while uh, I train with Qrow.”
“That’s not the first time he’s told you something like that,” Qrow mocked. “Hey Oz, remember that one time team STRQ almost got our butts kicked by a bunch of Grimm while Tai sat, waiting for the history class that wasn’t even scheduled?”
Ozpin chortled, reminiscing the old days, before replying with Oscar relaying his words. “Of course I do. If I recall, it ended in you and your sister arguing over who fought better. I still think Summer did the best.”
The rest of the evening was filled with memories from the days of team STRQ, of which Oscar found wildly interesting. It lasted much longer than he expected, however. Clearly, the team had gotten into numerous absurd situations. Ozpin protested lightly when Oscar cut off the flashback session, saying how he had more to share. ‘Tomorrow, okay? I’m tired.’ He laid down without further argument, and the chatter continued downstairs.
Being a light sleeper, it was very difficult to get decent sleep with all the ruckus from the kitchen. It had to have been in the early A.M. when the noise finally died down.
Yet, as soon as Oscar started drifting off again, a loud, clumsy being stumbled into his room.
“Heey, kiddo. Make room for me. I gotta talk t’ Ozpin.” Qrow sat on Oscar’s legs before he could even move, the strong scent of liquor trailing him.
“Wh-Qrow? What’re you doing?”
“Relax. I just had a few things on my mind that I wanted to tell Oz.”
Oscar pushed Qrow off exasperatedly. “Look, I’m...not trying to be rude here, but can’t you wait until morning?”
The look Qrow gave him was rather unsettling.
“That’s not very Ozpin-like of you.”
“No, that was very Oscar-like of me. Please, Qrow, just -”
“What does it matter?” Qrow snapped. “You two will become one soon enough. You’re just a host. Now listen to me; once you’re trained up enough, Oz will assume full control over you. You’ll be the voice in the back of his head. Now let. Me. Talk. To. Him.”
Each word was flourished with a jab to Oscar’s chest.
For the love of the Gods, Oscar, that’s not at all what -
“No. You know what? This is too much for me right now. I don’t know if that’s true but I just, I just want to be left alone.” Oscar shoved Qrow’s hand away and slumped back into bed with his head buried in his hands. He waited until Qrow wordlessly stumbled away before letting out a deep sigh. “Please tell me that’s not true, Ozpin.”
He could practically picture Ozpin banging his head on a wall.
It is true that you are a host. Our souls are intertwined now. But the rest of it is false; Qrow can get carried away in his drunken ramblings. It... is true that I’ve assumed control over another person before.
“Permanently?”
...Only once. My body was unable to...how should I say it...regenerate, and I had no other choice.
That struck a sour note with Oscar. “No other choice? I mean...you could have just, I dunno. Stayed...dead?”
Ozpin laughed, albeit morbidly. My boy, I am far too important, far too ancient for that to ever be allowed to happen. I must admit that I cannot explain to you the truth about me.
“But why?”
Many reasons. Don’t feel bad - no one else knows, not even Qrow. Now please, try to sleep.
“...Alright.”
Ozpin bid the boy goodnight and went back to being a silent presence. Still, despite his reassurances, Oscar couldn’t shake the suffocating feeling unease that he was being lied to.