Lumi sat on the bed in the downstairs suite and sighed. She'd cleaned the place from top to bottom after The Dinner and packed all of Oscar's things away. She looked like a madwoman when she stormed into a shop to buy hair dye, covered in dust as she was, just to do something that she had control over, however little it was.

There was nothing here to remind her of him or of their time together, and yet... Yet she could almost smell the soap he favored and the doughy, sugary goodness of fry bread from the festival.

But that was ridiculous. She was a ridiculous girl who grew too attached because she had some sort of complex about caring for people and her usual targets were behind Atlas' closed borders.

Ugh.

Her stomach turned at the new round of trying to convince herself she didn't miss Oscar and their easy friendship at the start of summer. But how much of that had been him, and how much of that had been Ozpin? Were his reactions, the ones she was so fond of, his own? And if they weren't, what did that mean about Ozpin? Would they really have gotten along so well if she didn't hold her grudges for so long?

Of course she regretted the way she acted towards the Headmaster when he'd still been alive, but caring for Oscar hadn't been out of misplaced guilt. She really cared about him, cared about the wide-eyed fourteen year old who showed up with nothing but a backpack of clothes and no money to his name to chase a dream bigger than he was...

Lumi tugged on her bangs and stood. Clearing the air with Branwen and the group hadn't done much to settle her conflicted feelings. She was still hurt they kept something so big from her for so long, and especially hurt that Oscar hadn't trusted her in the months they had together, but the time for being petty and curling up to lick her wounds was over.

In the morning the group would be leaving on the train to Argus. She had made her peace as much as she could with two days notice, and even wrangled an apology out of Jaune when she gave him a last check-up. It was more than she got from the Fall of Beacon, and it would have to be enough.

Though Branwen hadn't told her their plans in so many words, he and Oscar had explained that an ancient enemy of Ozpin's was tracking them down and they had to check in with Atlas. It would be great if they stayed in Atlas long enough to finish school and get their licenses, but she was almost positive she would hear about them in a month for blowing up a mine or something ridiculous. Even the CCT being down wasn't enough to stop news on that scale and Qrow wasn't the only bad luck charm in the group. RWBY had a knack for attracting problems all by themselves.

To that end she packed a bag of food and a field worthy medkit for the train ride, which Rue raised a brow at but didn't say anything about.

Hopefully it was enough. It would have to be. Once the train pulled into Argus, she'd wave goodbye and go home for her last year of Haven. There was no telling the next time they'd meet, but she hoped it would be over a good meal when the borders opened and she had her Huntress license.

It was a simple plan, but that was enough for her.

A/N: and that's a wrap, lovely readers! I was having the hardest time trying to wrap this story up cleanly until I realized that I didn't have to lol Messy, almost but not quite resolved arguments and feelings are pretty common in real life, especially when you're on a schedule like the cast is. (For a canon example, look at Yang and Blake... they were definitely glad to see each other alive at Haven, but it isn't until they fight Adam a full season later that they get any sort of resolution to their issues from Beacon.)

All of that to say: Thank you for sticking with me and this fic! I hope you're all doing well and that you enjoyed :)

See you around,
NotWeird