RWBY belongs to Roosterteeth
AN At the end
A Good Teacher, Hunter, Friend, and Inspiration
"Man, I wish our school break was longer." Yang moaned as she slumped down in her desk
"At least be glad it's the last class of the day." Weiss replied sharply from her seat behind her
"Yeah, especially since its Professor Oum's class!" Ruby declared squirming excitedly in her spot next to Weiss "Professor Oum always has something fun for us to do in class."
"Yes, though he has a very unorthodox teaching strategy to say the least" Blake adds on looking up from her book
"You mean he has an AWESOME teaching strategy!" Yang yells with renewed energy standing up from her seat "He teaches us how to kick Grimm ass and look good doing so!" she finishes off with a punch into the air before turning to her sister. "Ain't that right Rubes? Ever since Dad introduced us to him in signal he's showed us some awesome things."
"Yeah!" the little red leader cheers along with her sister
"Quiet down you dolts and sit in your seats." Weiss sharply commands her excitable teammates "But I do agree that even with his 'different' methods we have learned much from him."
As soon as she finished her statement the door to the classroom opened, drawing everyone's attention. Taking their seats, they waited for their teacher to step in and continue with his previous lesson, only for everyone to be surprised to see Headmaster Ozpin walk into the room with a very tired expression, before positioning to stand at the front of the class.
"Why is Headmaster Ozpin here and not Professor Oum?" ruby whispers to her partner, only to be shushed as the heiress tells her to pay attention and find out as Ozpin started talking.
"I'm sure you all are wondering why I am here and not your workaholic of an instructor." Ozpin announces addressing the question on all of the present students' minds. "Well to answer your question, it is with a heavy heart that I tell you that your class on the practical application of your training will be on indefinite hold due to the passing of your instructor."
With those words the entire classroom managed to reach a deathly quiet as the weight of their headmaster's words sunk in. The silence was only broken as a student asked the new question on all their minds.
"Headmaster, what happened to Professor Oum?" Ruby's shaky voice questioned. Expecting such queries Ozpin began explaining what happened.
"Your Professor Monty Oum had returned from a mission during your school break and received a routine medical check. During this check he had suffered a severe allergic reaction to one of the medicines, putting him into a coma and despite the hospital staff's best effort he died in his sleep due to health complications yesterday afternoon." Ozpin quietly finished
After hearing this sad news many of the students in the room began to quietly cry to themselves. Blake was silently stunned, Ruby was crying into her partners shoulder as the girl tried to comfort her while holding back tears herself and Yang…
"What do you mean he died from health complications!?" Yang yelled as she abruptly stood up from her seat slamming her hands onto the desk. "Are you saying one of the best Hunters and teachers this school had died because of something like that!?" she continued yelling her eyes turning red as tears started to stream from them.
"I am afraid so Miss Xiao Long." The headmaster stoically answers
"I'm not going to believe that!" She declares as her team tries to calm her down "I'm not going to believe that a man like him died because of something as simple as that! That's just… that's just not right!" she continues yelling before falling into her seat defeated as Blake tried to comfort her.
"I know Miss Xiao Long; it is not fair that the life of a man such as Mr. Oum should end so abruptly, but that is life and we must learn to move on." Ozpin somberly states "There will be a memorial for the commemoration of Mr. Oum's service tomorrow, until then classes for the rest of today and tomorrow shall be put on hold, I will leave you to do as you wish and should you need to talk to me; my door is always open." He offers to the students before making his way out of the classroom, leaving the students to mourn.
"It's just not fair." Yang bitterly states as she lays on her bed in team RWBY's dorm room. "A guy like Monty doesn't die laying in a bed. Men like him go out and die doing something amazing to help everyone." She angrily fumes as she sits up in her bed to face the rest of her team who are quietly listening to the blonde brawler's tirade. "It's just not fair"
"Of course it's not fair; but as Ozpin said, we have to move on." Weiss says from her spot on her bed.
"All life ends eventually; some sooner than others, it's just a part of being alive." Blake adds on from her position in the bottom bunk of hers and Yang's bed.
"I know!" Yang declares as she jumps down from her bunk to stand in the center of the room. "But no matter how much people tell me that I'm still not gonna be satisfied with an answer like that!"
"Hey Yang" Ruby's soft voice calls out from under her blankets, her eyes red from crying. Crawling out of bed she stands before Yang before continuing."I think you should calm down, Monty wouldn't want you act like this."
On hearing her words Yang just deflated in a way as she took a seat on the floor of the room, Ruby giving her sister a hug.
"I know Ruby." Yang says softly as she returns the hug "I just wish that such great people would stop dying so suddenly."
"We can't always have what we want." Weiss states as she takes a seat on the floor next to Ruby.
"The world just doesn't work like that." Blake continues taking up another spot next to Yang.
Sitting there in silence they think to themselves for a bit about what's been said before Ruby breaks the silence.
"Hey guys, what are some good memories you have of Monty?"
"Why are you asking that Ruby?" Weiss asks, looking at her young leader
"Well, Monty wouldn't want us to be crying over him, so I thought we would try to think of some good memories we had with him so that we could smile." Ruby answers.
"I see, well then I guess I will guess I will go first." Weiss states surprising the rest of her team "One good memory I have of our buffoon of a professor was the time he gave me advice on my fencing form." At her teams looks saying they want to hear more she let out a sigh as continues.
"I was practicing my fencing one day on the training grounds, but I couldn't quite get a certain move down. After another failed attempt I hear a voice call out to me asking if I need a little help. When I turned around I saw Oum standing there, nonchalantly holding a practice foil. Deciding to humor our dunce of a professor I agreed to a practice match. I found out, that despite how laid back he acted, he was almost a master at fencing and he beat me without even seeming to try." She admits the last part with a huff. "After the match he explained to me what I was doing wrong, demonstrating the proper way to do it, better than any of my tutors ever did. After that I finally managed to do the move flawlessly, receiving praise from my care-free instructor." At that admission she gave a small smile "I will say that while he can be frustratingly blithe with his lessons he is definitely an effective teacher... and a good friend."
Listening to her the entire time, the team think for a moment before Blake starts.
"I learned from him how kind and open-minded he was." The cat faunus began. "While I was going to a bookshop in Vale, I saw some thugs harassing a group of faunus." Blake says in obvious distaste "Before I could move to help them, I saw Monty walking up to them." Looking down at her hands she continues "Watching from the sidelines, I saw him calmly get the thugs to leave them alone without resorting to violence. Once he got them to leave he immediately went to see if the group of faunus were alright. Once he finished seeing to them, he noticed me and came over to say hi. When I asked him why he did that; why he helped them, he told me, 'I did it because I saw some people trying to enjoy a good time with their friends being harassed and decided I didn't like it.' When I asked about them being faunus, he asked why it should matter in reaching that decision." smiling softly she continues "When I saw him do what he did, I saw what the White Fang was supposed to be and the kind of person that could change worlds."
After another moment of silence Yang picked up where Blake left off.
"One thing I learned about him is that despite how awesome he was, he earned that through hard work." Giving a smile she continued "I remember one time while I was still in Signal he came over to our house to 'relax' as he said, only later for us to find him buried under a mound of test papers and class plans, and later working his ass off training to the point that he once fell asleep while eating lunch. I still laugh a the memory of him sleeping at the table, a sandwich jammed in his mouth." She tells with a laugh. "When I asked him how he could work so hard he told me that 'I may make a career of being innately amazing, but it takes hard work to bring that awesomeness into creation and teach it to others.' He was one of my inspirations to make myself the strongest chick out there." Finishing her story with a smile Yang looks to Ruby, the only member yet to give a story. Looking down in contemplation, Ruby took a moment before starting.
"He showed me how I could believe in the work we do." Surprised and a little curious at this admission Ruby's teammates listened closely to her words. "When I first joined Signal to be a huntress, I thought about how… how mom put her all into being a huntress to protect everyone for it to not be enough." On hearing this Yang gave her sister a reassuring hug.
"When Monty visited one day, I ended up telling him how I feel that no matter what I do it may not matter." Ruby was quiet for a moment "He told me this in response 'I believe that the human spirit is indomitable. If you endeavor to achieve, it will happen given enough resolve. It may not be immediate, and often your greater dream is something you will not achieve in your own lifetime. The effort you put forth to anything transcends yourself, for there is no futility even in death.' Looking up at her team she continued with tears in her eyes and a genuine smile on her face. "It's because of those words and the words of everyone else that I saw that no matter what, we can always make this world better, even if we don't live to see it. So let's not sit and mope around, Monty wouldn't like that."
Touched by those words they did not know how to respond at first, but soon they all had a smile their face and were soon laughing and crying talking about all the good things they experienced in the time they knew Monty. Sometime later Ruby stood up and urged her teammates to do the same.
"Where we going Rubes?" The blonde brawler asked her sister as she lead them out the room into the halls.
"To the city." Was the young leaders short response
"Why, what's in the city that needs our attention now?" the Heiress asked
"Well, we'll need some flowers to give to Monty at his memorial right?"
"I think I know a good shop for that then." Came the voice of the quiet cat
"Good; plans set, Let's Go Team RWBY!" the little red leader announced making way for the transport docks followed by her team, laughing the whole way.
Those reading this probably already know by now what has happened, but this is my contribution to the memory of Monty Oum. I hope what little skill I have was enough to do him justice. He was a good man that deserved to live a long life so that he would have the chance to see the true extent of the joy his work would have brought.
Cheers, Rest in peace Monty, and try not to overwork yourself in the afterlife as well okay.