The Way Home, Male reader x Yang Xiao Long volume 5

Known by Its Song

Back in Mistral, Oscar Pine is in a training room while wielding The Long Memory. As he pants from exhaustion, he hears a voice enter the room.

Ruby: You're really getting better, huh? (Ruby is seen walking down the stairs into the room) Are you hungry? It's almost dinnertime.

Oscar: Uh, yeah. That sounds good. I was about to call it a night anyway.

Ruby: So, you've never fought before?

Oscar: Just the occasional small Grimm. Nothing like this, though.

Ruby: Wow. (giggles) You look like a natural.

Oscar: It's strange, I have only had this cane for a few weeks, but... I feel like I've had it for a lifetime. Longer, even. (pause) I sound like a crazy person.

Ruby: I mean, uh, yeah just a little. But at this pace, you'll be combat ready in no time!

Suddenly, Ruby frowns upon mentioning her last phrase. Oscar notices this and tries to ask a question before Ruby interrupts him.

Oscar: Uh...

Ruby: Well, see you upstairs.

Oscar: How do you handle all of this?

Ruby: What do you mean?

Oscar: I'm... scared. (his voice starts to crack) I'm more scared than I've ever been in my life, than I ever thought was possible. (he walks over to a weapon rack) I always knew that I wanted to be more than a farmhand, but this? (he places the cane in the rack) Who would ask for this?

He glances down at the floor as a tear drips from his eye. He sniffles before kneeling to the floor to reach his backpack. He grabs the cane off the rack and pulls the lever on the handle to compact it before putting it in his backpack.

Ruby: We all went to Beacon because we wanted to help people. But, you're right. None of us asked for this either. We just have to press on and--

Oscar: How can you be so confident?! People have tried to kill you! The world's about to go to war all over again! How are you okay with any of this?!!

Ruby is taken aback by Oscar's question. She frowns as she says her response.

Ruby: When Beacon fell, I lost two of my friends: Penny Polendina and Pyrrha Nikos. I didn't know them for very long, but that doesn't change the fact that they were two of the most kind-hearted people I have ever met. But that didn't save them. Pyrrha thought that if there was even the smallest chance of helping someone, then it was a chance worth taking. And because of that, she died fighting a battle she knew she couldn't win. And Penny... was killed... just to make a statement.

Oscar: I'm... sorry.

Ruby: I am scared, but not just for me. What happened at Beacon shows that Salem doesn't care if you're standing against her or not. She'll kill anybody, and that scares me most of all. Pyrrha... Penny... I'd be lying if I said that it didn't hurt, that I didn't think about them every day since I lost them, that I didn't wish I had spent more time with them. If it had been me instead, I know they would have kept fighting too, no matter how dangerous it was. So that's what I choose to do - to keep moving forward.

Oscar walks up next to Ruby, and they both share a smile. Ruby wipes tears coming from her eyes with her arm.

Ruby: (putting a hand on Oscar's shoulder) C'mon, if we don't hurry, Nora's gonna eat everything. It wouldn't be the first time.

Ruby begins to leave the room as Oscar lingers for a bit.

Ruby: Hey, Oscar? This isn't gonna be easy, but the fact that you're even trying says a lot about you. You're braver than you think.