Oscar held a box of his things, staring at the door that led to Team O.P.C.F's room.
He glanced at Team RWBY — once "ROWBY," now officially separated on paper — one last time before opening the door.
He knew they weren't really split; it was all just for the academy records. Still, he had to act like it was real.
The door creaked open, and he stepped inside.
The smell of fresh paint and the rustling sounds of unpacked boxes greeted him immediately. Judging by the lack of noise, his new teammates hadn't arrived yet.
He shut the door behind him and surveyed the room.
Unlike RWBY's chaos — where Yang and Blake's beds had been held up by stacks of books and Weiss's by tied ropes — this place looked almost too organized. Each bed was neatly spaced, lined up perfectly with his in the center.
He sighed, setting the box on his mattress.
A year of bonding with the four girls, fighting side by side, laughing, arguing, growing together... and now this.
It wasn't a goodbye, but it sure felt like one.
The door opened.
The first to walk in was Ciel.
She paused when she saw Oscar.
For a few seconds, neither of them spoke.
Their eyes met, then drifted away again.
Without a word, Ciel walked to her bed and began unpacking, each movement deliberate and precise. It was clear neither of them was ready to talk — not yet.
A few minutes later, the door opened again.
Fiona stepped inside, her cheerful tone instantly breaking the silence.
"Hey, leader!"
Oscar looked up, blinking.
That word — leader — still didn't feel real.
He sighed softly. "Yeah, uh… hi."
The Faunus girl smiled, her tail flicking lightly behind her as she started setting her stuff down.
It wasn't awkward, not exactly.
Just… new.
Fiona looked at Oscar, scratching the back of her head with a sheepish grin.
"Yeah, I know this is new for you… well, for us too," she said, her voice carrying that easygoing honesty that made it hard not to relax around her. "So, um… can we make it a little less awkward for both of us?"
Oscar blinked, then chuckled softly. "You're already doing better than I am at that."
She smiled at that, tail giving a light wag. "Guess that's a start, huh?"
Oscar shrugged, setting his box of things down beside his bed. "Yeah. A start's good enough for me."
For the first time since walking into the new room, it didn't feel as tense. Just… uncertain in a manageable way.
Then came Penny.
The door slid open, and in came the ever-bubbling android with her trademark cheer. "Salutations, new teammates!" she greeted, her voice bright enough to make the air itself feel lighter.
She moved into the room with that springy, almost musical stride of hers, eyes flicking between familiar faces. Penny already knew everyone here—Oscar from last year's events, Ciel from Atlas, and Fiona from their shared airship ride to Beacon.
If there was one thing consistent about Penny, it was that she didn't let awkward silence live long. Within seconds, her energy filled the space that had felt so tense moments ago.
Still, it was different for all of them. This wasn't a team formed by choice—it was one forged by circumstance. Yet, somehow, Penny's smile made that reality a little easier to accept.
Oscar glanced around at the others—Ciel quietly unpacking, Fiona watching with mild amusement, and Penny beaming like the sun itself—and couldn't help but sigh softly.
It was a strange new world for the four of them. A mismatched start, maybe… but a start all the same.
Ciel stopped mid-motion, a neatly folded uniform still in her hands.
Her voice broke the quiet like a cold blade. "Is it true?"
Oscar froze. His heart skipped a beat, and a dozen alarms went off in his mind.
Shit. Shit. Shit.
Did she figure it out?
No—no, if she did, Atlas would've already come knocking. Stay calm, Oscar.
He turned, meeting her sharp blue eyes with his hazel ones. "What's true?"
Without a word, Ciel pulled out her scroll and tapped a few times. A series of clips flickered to life in holographic projection — each one showing Oscar from his first year. Training duels. Combat drills. His match against Team JNPR.
Each clip showed him dominating his opponents, moving with a confidence and power that didn't look like a first-year student.
Ciel tilted her head slightly. "That you were the strongest newcomer in Beacon. Next to the Invincible Girl."
Oscar stared at the footage for a long second. Yeah, it was him.
Sure, a lot of that came from his system, from training, from raw luck—but he wasn't about to say that out loud. He remembered that match against Team JNPR. Pyrrha Nikos had been different. If his team hadn't been down, he doubted he would've stood a chance in a fair one-on-one.
He exhaled slowly and looked away. "How'd you even get those clips?"
Ciel closed her scroll with a soft click. "Atlas has its ways. The General wanted me to know who I was being paired with."
Oscar raised a brow, his expression shifting from cautious to wry. "So Atlas likes to spy on other schools now?"
Ciel didn't flinch. "We prefer the term 'surveillance for security purposes.'"
Oscar chuckled, though there wasn't much humor in it. "Yeah, right. Guess I've got one more reason to avoid cameras around here."
Penny, ever the beam of sunshine in a room full of storm clouds, clapped her hands together. "Oh! I've seen those clips too!"
Oscar's shoulders stiffened, and Ciel turned to glance at her.
Penny continued, practically bouncing where she stood. "You were amazing, Oscar! The way you parried that uppercut from Miss Nikos and countered with that energy slash—so efficient! You even smiled at the end! I made a chart about it!"
Oscar blinked. "…You made a chart?"
Penny proudly pulled out her scroll and opened a holographic display full of data graphs and diagrams. "See! Combat efficiency, aura expenditure, counter timing—look! You maintained a seventy-three percent stamina output despite three major aura clashes!"
Ciel sighed, rubbing her temple. "Penny, not everyone appreciates being analyzed like a military experiment."
Penny tilted her head, confused. "But it's praise! I only collect data on people I respect!"
That, at least, got a small laugh out of Fiona. "Guess you got a fan, boss."
Oscar groaned, rubbing the back of his neck. "Fantastic. So between the Atlas spy and my personal stat analyst, I'm never living down my student footage."
Penny looked at him, tilting her head innocently. "Would you prefer if I stopped?"
Oscar blinked, realizing she was genuinely asking. "No, Penny. It's… fine. Just maybe, uh, no more charts, alright?"
She smiled brightly. "Understood!"
Ciel folded her arms. "Well, at least we know you're competent. I don't intend to carry dead weight."
Oscar looked at her, half amused, half annoyed. "You won't have to. I do just fine on my own."
Fiona smirked, tail flicking playfully. "Oh, this'll be fun. The serious soldier girl, the excitable girl, and the guy pretending not to be stressed. What could go wrong?"
Oscar sighed, looking around at his new team—one overzealous, one ice-cold, one chaotic in her own fluffy way.
He muttered under his breath, "Yeah… what could possibly go wrong…"
They heard a nock on door on the wall, it Opened with Ruby picking in.
Oscar looked at her as he spoke. "The Flower is on he right self of the kitchen, also yes Weiss your Hair Brush is in the bathroom, No Blake I didn't take your Book, Yang your keys to your bike is in the same places you left them".
Ruby hearing that just closed her mouth and the door.
Fiona blinked, ears twitching as the door shut again. "...Okay, that was weirdly specific."
Ciel stared at the now-closed door with a raised brow. "Does this happen often?"
Oscar sighed, setting down the box he'd been unpacking. "Every day. Sometimes twice. I was there vice Leader after all".
Penny gasped softly, clasping her hands together. "Aww! That's so sweet! You still take care of them even when you're on another team!"
Oscar looked at her flatly. "It's less 'sweet' and more 'damage control.' If I don't preemptively answer their questions, Ruby will somehow explode the door trying to check if I'm okay, Weiss will interrogate me like I'm in court, Blake will vanish into the ceiling, and Yang—"
A muffled voice shouted from the other side of the wall, "HEY! I HEARD THAT!"
Oscar didn't even blink. "—Yang will do that."
Fiona burst out laughing, tail flicking as she leaned against her bed. "You're kidding me, right? That's your old team?"
Ciel pinched the bridge of her nose. "No wonder Headmaster Ozpin wanted the dorms connected. It's practically a containment measure."
Penny tilted her head, looking genuinely curious. "Containment for who though?"
Oscar sighed deeply. "Yes."
That earned a few laughs—even Ciel smirked faintly before hiding it behind a cough.
After a moment of quiet, Fiona plopped down on her bed. "Well, at least it sounds like you've got loyal friends, Leader. If we're half as close as that bunch, I'd call it a win."
Oscar smiled softly, a hint of warmth breaking through his sarcasm. "Yeah… they're a handful, but they're family."
Then, from the other room—Ruby's muffled voice again: "HE SAID WE'RE FAMILY!" followed by a faint thud and Weiss yelling, "RUBY, PUT DOWN THE DOOR HANDLE!"
Oscar just facepalmed. "And that's my cue to reinforce the hinges."
Ciel exhaled, muttering under her breath, "This is going to be a long semester…"
Meanwhile on the other side
Yang looked at the 3 girls as she spoke. "Ok, we all can handle our self without Oscar right, like who made Breakfast for us every morning".
Blake looked at her as she spoke. "Oscar"
"Who reminded us of Tests"
"Oscar or Blake" said Weiss.
"Ok, who cleaned out Clothes and new how to use the watching Machine"
"Also Oscar".
Yang paused, finger still raised mid-sentence as the room went quiet. The silence hung long enough for Ruby to nervously twirl Crescent Rose's handle in her lap.
Weiss exhaled through her nose, pinching the bridge of it. "I told you all this arrangement was illogical. We've effectively lost our domestic infrastructure."
Ruby blinked. "Our what now?"
"She means Oscar did everything," Blake deadpanned, flipping a page in her book.
Yang slumped back on her bed, groaning. "Great. We're strong Huntresses-in-training, but apparently we can't even launder socks without him."
Ruby pouted, fidgeting. "I can cook! …kinda."
Weiss' eye twitched. "You set instant noodles on fire, Ruby."
"That was one time!" Ruby protested.
Blake looked over the rim of her book. "It was three times."
Yang sat up, eyes narrowing with determination. "Alright, no way are we falling apart just because our 'mom friend' got reassigned. We can handle this!"
Weiss gave her a dry look. "And what's your plan, oh fearless leader of domestic affairs?"
Yang grinned, cracking her knuckles. "Step one: I'll handle breakfast!"
Cut to—
Five minutes later
Smoke alarm blaring. A frying pan engulfed in flames. Ruby waving her cape at the smoke detector while yelling, "IT'S TOO POWERFUL—THE FIRE IS TOO POWERFUL!"
Blake, coughing through the haze, muttered, "I miss Oscar."
Weiss was already dialing her scroll. "I'm calling maintenance."
Yang stood in front of the stove, spatula in hand, and mumbled, "Okay… maybe step one needs work."
Meanwhile on Oscar side, they were eating the Pancakes made by Oscar's.
Fiona was basically inhaling her's, that how good they were. "By the name of Emerald God, these are heavenly".
Penny, with her usual enthusiasm, nodded rapidly as she took another bite, her eyes practically sparkling. "Affirmative! These pancakes possess an optimal balance of fluffiness and sweetness! Oscar, you are officially the culinary champion of Team OPAL!"
Oscar chuckled lightly, rubbing the back of his neck. "It's just pancakes, Penny. Nothing special."
Ciel, sitting with her arms crossed, gave him a skeptical look as she delicately cut her own portion. "If this is what you call 'nothing special,' then Atlas chefs should be ashamed of themselves. These are far above standard academy rations."
Fiona, already reaching for seconds, mumbled with her mouth half-full, "Forget Atlas chefs—this man's a breakfast god."
Oscar sighed, amused. "I take that as a compliment… I think."
Then—BEEP! BEEP! BEEP!
The loud, muffled screech of a fire alarm echoed faintly through the wall that connected their dorm to Team RWBY's.
Everyone froze.
Fiona blinked, fork halfway to her mouth. "...Did something just explode?"
Oscar didn't even look up from his plate, his expression utterly deadpan. "Yang tried to cook again."
Penny tilted her head. "How can you tell?"
Oscar leaned back in his chair, calmly sipping his coffee. "That's the 'we burned breakfast again' alarm. Trust me, I've heard it enough times to recognize the pattern."
Ciel blinked at him, incredulous. "There's a pattern to their fire alarms?"
Oscar just sighed, setting his mug down. "Let's just say… it's not the first time Beacon's breakfast menu has involved 'smoke damage.'"
The girls looked at him with a mix of confusion and concern—until, a few seconds later, Ruby's muffled voice could be heard through the wall:
"Weiss! The fire extinguisher's jammed again!"
Fiona nearly fell out of her chair laughing, while Penny stood up immediately, saluting. "Team OPAL to the rescue?"
Oscar groaned, already getting up. "More like damage control duty… again."
Few minutes later
Oscar used Flours too kill the Fire on the pan, as he looked at Blake. "I am confused, you can cook as well, so why did you set the Eggs on fire?".
Blake pointed at Yang. "Blame her, she said "Don't worry I got this" she did not have this".
Oscar sighed a he spoke. "Thats it I am cooking for both teams".
Yang looked a little guilty—but only a little—as she rubbed the back of her neck, a sheepish grin on her face. "Okay, in my defense, I thought turning the heat up would make the eggs cook faster!"
Weiss pinched the bridge of her nose, muttering something that sounded suspiciously like "barbaric methods of culinary destruction…" under her breath.
Oscar, covered in a thin layer of flour from his improvised firefighting effort, turned toward her with the most deadpan look imaginable. "Weiss, you enabled her. You literally said, 'Fine, you cook then,' and walked away."
Weiss froze. "...I was being sarcastic."
"Yeah," Blake said dryly, "and she took it as a challenge."
Ruby, holding a singed spatula like a weapon of shame, looked between everyone. "Soooo... no more cooking experiments?"
Oscar didn't even hesitate. "No more cooking experiments."
Penny, who had appeared from the other side with Fiona and Ciel, raised her hand like a student in class. "Does this mean you will be in charge of culinary operations for both teams, Oscar?"
Oscar sighed, brushing flour off his jacket. "Yes, Penny. I am officially Beacon's full-time chef-slash-firefighter."
Yang snorted. "Chef White—protector of breakfast, slayer of burnt toast!"
Oscar just gave her a flat look. "Keep talking, and you're getting salad for a week."
That shut her up immediately, to the visible amusement of both teams.
Ciel crossed her arms, watching the scene unfold with the faintest hint of a smirk. "You certainly keep busy, leader. If you ever decide to run a restaurant, Atlas will invest."
Oscar rolled his eyes. "I'll keep that in mind… right after I figure out how to stop you lot from burning down the dorm."
Blake handed him the frying pan—still slightly scorched—as she spoke. "Good luck with that."
To be continued
Hope people like this ch and giveme power stones