A Year of Rosegarden

here it is @ayearofrosegarden my last one for the year.

The Winter wind bit her face and blinded her, but still, Ruby held her phone to her ear while hoping it wouldn’t run out of power.

“Oscar? Oscar, are you there?”

Still no answer. Just the mocking ‘we’re sorry, the number you have reached is unavailable’ electronic voice.

Ruby cussed and resisted the urge to throw the phone away.

She had to find Oscar. He was somewhere, out here, in a wrecked car, probably half covered in snow.

They were supposed to all meet up at her house to celebrate the holiday season together. Her, Yang, her father, her team, Jaune and hist team, Oscar…

The usually punctual boy had run almost ten minutes late. It wasn’t until an alert came over the airwaves that over half the roads leading out of patch were snowed in, with a hazardous conditions warning issued to the whole area.

The whole thing came crashing into her like a thunderbolt; if Oscar wasn’t here by now and the roads were that dangerous, then he might be in trouble.

She might have heard her sister calling her name, but it might as well have been the cheery show tunes on the tv with the roar of the storm that came in through the door as she threw on her coat and grabbed the biggest flashlight she could find.

Ruby was pulled back to the present when her boot sunk into a snow drift.

No time to get lost in thought; she needed to keep her bearings or else she'd be lost too.

"Oscar!" she shouted out into the darkness, "Oscar!"

No reply. So she trudged on, hoping to find some sign of Oscar Pine out in the blizzard.

If anything happened to him...

No. She would find him. She would get them both home. She dialed his number again. 'No signal' flashed across the screen.

So Ruby trudged on, keeping the flashlight up and counting every step she took, all while the wind howled around her and her phone continued to fail her.

It was their courage that drew them to each other. For Oscar it was Ruby's courage to continue moving forward after the fall of Beacon, the loss of friends. How she continued forward even after learning the truth about Salem. For Ruby it was Oscar's courage to leave home in order to help, his courage in continuing onward not knowing how long he had until the merge was complete.

@ayearofrosegarden

“How old was this thing again?”

Ruby held the newly deposited slip of photographs up to the light and squinted. They’d been on an outing when they’d caught sight of an old-fashioned photo booth. The kind that couples used to take cute pictures together.

Couple.

The word still caused pangs of anxiety to bloom all across her body, even when Oscar held her hand in that steadying way he seemed to do.

"I mean, I can... sort of tell this one's you," Oscar said. He pointed to the second photo. If she recalled correctly, Ruby had thrown up a peace sign in it. Unfortunately, she simply looked like a red and black blob smooshed into a brown and green one.

"Well," Ruby said, pocketing the photographs, "at least we got our good sides."

Autumn Equinox + Harvest + "Could it be, suddenly, I'm falling for you" – My September submission for @ayearofrosegarden! Autumn Equinox and Harvest Season festival/ball, Ruby and Oscar, from different kingdoms meet and there's a spark. This is technically a Prince!Oscar and Knight!Ruby AU, and Ruby was supposed to be in a uniform, but the dress took over lol – Do not repost.

Soulmates – My May submission for @ayearofrosegarden! Got inspired by a Sailor Moon OP lol. – Do not repost.

@ayearofrosegarden

He first saw her in the hospital, coming out of someone's room. His aunt was in the room with his grandmother, talking about something personal he wasn't privvy to. Ever since they'd arrived, dread had hung heavy over his head.

Until it was replaced by the surprise of seeing her.

Sheathed in red with a scythe twice her size. She was petit, her skin pale enough that it could be mistaken for bone at a distance.

"Excuse me?"

The girl made a noise that could only be described as adorable as her weapon clattered to the ground, though no-one around seemed to take notice. The girl clapped a pair of eyes the color of mercury onto him, astonishment written on her face.

"You saw me?" she asked more than said.

Oscar nodded.

"Why... wouldn't I?"

He felt his cheeks darken from the scrutiny the girl was giving him, the heavy sound of her boots on the linoleum tile as she came into his personal space. She squinted, gaze flitting across his face as if she was counting every freckle and blemish on it.

"You're not dying or dead," she finally stated.

"My last doctor's appointment went really well," said Oscar.

The girl shook her head.

"I don't get it."

"Don't get what?"

The girl waved her hands at him.

"This! You shouldn't see me! The living shouldn't see me!"

Oscar's eyebrow rose.

"You're a ghost?"

The girl snorted

"No. I'm death.. well, death-in-training. I'm supposed to take souls of the departed to the land of the dead..."

Watching her babble (cutely) Oscar couldn't help the idea that wormed it's way into his head.

"Could I ask you a favor?"

The girl frowned.

"That's... not really my job..."

"Please... my grandmother... we're here to visit her. The doctor's say that she probably doesn't have a long time and she's in a lot of pain..."

The girl cocked her head to the side in curiosity.

"Who's your grandmother?"

"Esmeralda Pine."

"Right. Leukemia. I remember now."

Oscar nodded.

"Could you make sure that... that she goes peacefully?"

For a while, the girl said nothing, just standing across from him while doctors and nurses passed them, paying no heed to the boy talking to an invisible girl. Finally, the girl in red spoke.

"I'll see what I can do."

The pressure that had been in Oscar's heart since the announcement of his grandmother's illness drained and he smiled at the girl.

"Thank you so much, miss."

The girl smiled back.

Oscar looked at the memorial for the fallen heroes who gave their lives buying the citizens of Atlas and Mantle time to evacuate.

His eyes were drawn of course to the face of Ruby Rose, her silver eyes captured perfectly as the shining mirrors they were.

It was the first harvest since Salem's defeat and Oscar was finally able to return to his Aunt's farm to help with the work.

Ruby came with him and found herself amazed at how active the small farm had become since her last visit. Oscar took great pride in introducing her to various neighbors who helped in his absence, Ruby noticing the blush on his face when they asked exactly what his relation to her was.

@ayearofrosegarden

The Harvest.

The time when the denizens of other worlds would be taken, sedated, and used for fuel for the Meigui’s massive fleet of ships, using their bodies’ natural electrical signatures and body heat.

Ruby knew this. It was their way of life.

Ever since her sister had been her age, since her mother had been her age, and beyond that time.

But that didn’t explain why she was standing in front of Pod 1-4, staring down at it’s subject.

It had been a twist of fate that she’d seen this specific creature, so much like their own species. Her collection ship had been over an agrarian settlement, the beam levitating the creatures that lived on the farm up into the stasis chamber for holding. A particularly large, spotted creature had been caught in the beam when she saw him.

It appeared to be male, at least when it looked up into her outboard camera. Tousled dark hair, green eyes flecked with gold and brown, sunkissed skin covered in freckles…

He’d been easily captured and put into stasis.

And yet, after he had been sedated and placed into a fuel pod, Ruby found herself going to this particular individual, studying the peaceful set of his features, the even slow rise and fall of his chest…

She really didn’t know why.

“So this is where you’ve been running off to.”

After calming her thundering heart, Ruby turned to face her sister.

“It’s not like I kept it a secret, Yang,” she muttered.

Her older sister rolled her eyes and walked over to the other side of pod 1-4.

“I don’t see what’s so special about this subject,” Yang said, leaning in to inspect the subject through the glass.

“Well, maybe he doesn’t need to be special,” Ruby replied.

“I see,” Yang replied, not looking up.

“Is that all?”

Yang looked up at Ruby with a frown.

“You’re testy today,” she said, and promptly walked out.

Ruby huffed. She wasn’t testy, Yang was just being nosy. She spared one last look at the boy in pod 1-4 and turned to leave.

This wasn’t interfering with any of her other duties. It wasn’t.

@ayearofrosegarden

Menagerie was beautiful. In spite of some of its history as a sign of appeasement and a base for certain organizations, it really was lovely.

Having spent most of his life on a farm, the trip there had been Oscar’s first trip to an island, tropical or otherwise and by the time they’d stepped onto the sandy shores, the mixture of the sea breeze and warm air was already intoxicating him.

The group had put it to a vote due to the lull in Grimm activity and it had passed near unanimously. A weekend off at Menagerie, enjoying the surf and the sun and to generally just unwind from the rigors of being huntsmen and huntresses.

And so far, Oscar had been enjoying himself.

The two of them ran through the water as it lapped the shoreline, laughing in the all but disappeared summer sunlight.

For the life of him, Oscar couldn’t remember why they were laughing, only that he was having the time of his life and his hand was in her’s.

Ruby’s.

The two collapsed in a heap.

“So,” Ruby said after her laughter had died down, “you think they’re making s’mores now?”

The day had been highlighted by a beachside barbeque, at which Ruby had put away three cheeseburgers and some grilled asparagus. Her father had to shoo her away with the promise of toasting marshmallows in order to make sure the others were fed.

“I don’t know,” Oscar said.

Butterflies flitted in his stomach as he chanced a look over at Ruby. In the late hour, the light gave her an appearance that… he couldn’t describe. But it made his face hot and his toes curl and entertain the thought of maybe giving her a kiss on the cheek.

“It’s beautiful out here,” he continued, looking up at the stars as they came out to glitter in the sky as it turned from indigo to navy to black.

“Yeah,” Ruby replied, “you never get views like this in places like Vytal.”

“On the farm,” Oscar said, “you’ll sometimes see fireflies out over the fields at night during summer.”

He still remembered sitting on the porch with his aunt, a soda in hand, watching the glittering lights like descended stars hover over the fields of wheat.

“We should probably go back.”

Oscar turned to look at her, but as they got to their feet, Ruby wouldn’t meet his gaze.