The office was eerily empty, monitors still open, programs running on a few, video playlists running on others. It was a surreal sight, that office had never been empty, always someone looking for him, always music playing or typing to be heard. The keyboard, in its massacred state and for all it's inanimateness, almost looked uncomfortable, it had never gone that long without being abused. The chair that had been used as often as a bed as much as its intended use looked like it had lost its purpose.
Inside the computer though... many things were happening.
...
Vale, or what was left of it, was fading fast. A few of the main buildings of Beacon Academy were all that was left. The forest of Forever Fall was no more, the shopping district, the slums, the harbour… all had gone dark. Even in Beacon, few buildings remained, flickering between existence and the dark void the seemed to be swallowing the world. Eight students stood, huddled together on the roof of their dormitory as they watched their world disappear.
Ruby looked to her friends, the rest of RWBY and Team JNPR, and wondered why this was happening. She looked to Ren, who was holding Nora fiercely in his arms. It had started with him losing his voice… so much more had been lost in those few days since. One odd thing that most had brought up was how no one seemed to fight against it. They were all aware of what was happening and what it meant for them, yet no one seemed to rage against the ending. They all felt in their hearts like it was somehow a fitting end, no matter how odd.
The soft thump of a cane hitting the floor behind them made a few heads turn, others were too busy using their last few moments together. Ozpin stepped through the door, taking a moment to look at his remaining students. Behind him Glynda, Port and Oobleck stepped out as well. "Well, it seems this is the end…" Ozpin's calm voice struck a chord of melancholia as he looked at the fading world. He walked to the edge of the building and sat by Ruby, legs dangling off the edge. "It makes for quite a sight doesn't it Miss Rose?"
Ruby sat down besides him. "Yeah… It's kind of beautiful. What's happening?"
The teacher raised his eyebrows for a moment, seemingly pondering the question "Who knows? Maybe this was all just a dream… maybe the dream is ending".
"But why?"
Ozpin smiled at the vanishing statues in front of his school "Why? Miss Rose… It is a dream's nature to end someday. Why now? Why not yesterday? Why not in 5 years? I'm afraid even I don't have the answer to that question."
The young huntress looked down at her hands. She could see through them now. "What will happen to us?"
Ozpin smiled as he produced one last cookie from his pocket. "Maybe someone else will dream of us … who knows why we were here…"
The cookie fell from his hands, by the time it landed on the roof everyone had disappeared. A stray rose petal landed on it and everything went dark.
...
In that eerily quiet room, the clock on the wall struck 4:37 pm.
...
The room was bustling with sound, the keyboard strokes were loud and made with an assurance the youth had rarely felt. Tears still wet his cheeks as he furiously continued his work.
...
Ruby stepped out on to the roof of the dorm that day, she had been feeling glum over the weekend and needed a bit of fresh air. She walked over to the edge of the building and sat down, legs dangling of the edge. To her surprise, a cookie with a single rose petal was laying there, seemingly waiting for her. She heard steps and the sound of a cane hitting the gravel on the rooftop. Ozpin sat down besides her "Are you quite alright Miss Rose?" The teen looked at him with a smile, cookie in hand.
"Yeah… I don't know why but I feel like everything is going to be just fine now."
Ozpin looked over his student with a small smile "And why is that?"
The red haired girl shrugged. "I dunno…"
"Do you ever feel like all of this is a dream, sir?"
The headmaster frowned and couldn't help but wonder what had driven such a bubbly student to ask such profound questions. "It would make a pretty nice dream wouldn't it, Miss Rose?"
The student smiled and bit down on the cookie. "Yeah… I just hopes it never ends."
Ozpin chuckled in a low tone. "You know… your uncle Qrow once told me something about dreams. He said: 'The great thing about sharing dreams is that they never die… so long as one person remembers the dream it will always be there.' I like to think he's right."
Ruby looked up at her headmaster, big silver eyes like mirrors of her world "Yeah! I like that. If we are a dream, I hope we have many dreamers."
...
With a final few strokes of the keyboard, the youth smiled as he read over his work again. "I won't stop dreaming your dream… so you just go on ahead and we'll keep moving forward."
...
Rest In Peace Monty,
We'll dream for you.
/u/The_Jacxter, RWBY fan, RVB fan, Monty fan… Dreamer.
