Dedicated to Monty. We'll miss you.
It was a standard afternoon, and Nora and Ren were working on a long assignment that Professor Port had given them. To be more exact, Nora was given the assignment due to an incident in class involving a cow and a hole, and Ren had volunteered to help her out with it.
As he pointed out the different weak spots on certain Grim species, and she dutifully nodded, he noticed that she was unusually more subdued than normal.
"Is something wrong?" He inquired. The ginger shrugged at the question.
"Nah, I've just been thinking."
"About what?" The raven-haired teen closed the book before them. It wasn't often a thought pressed against the mind of Nora Valkyrie so hard that she wasn't a hyper bundle of energy. This should be interesting.
"About everything." She laid back on the bed. "Life and death, and the cycle and all that."
"I see." Ren smirked. Lying back as well, he glanced over for her to keep talking. She took a breath.
"So, say you work hard for something. Like, reeeeeally hard. One day, you're at the top of the world, beating bad guys and saving the world!" She punched the air to emphasize her point before relaxing again.
"And then something happens. An injury, complications, someone dies, etcetera. Then what?"
"I don't follow." He said after a moment of thought. "Do you mean that as in 'What happens to you as a person, or…"
"I mean what happens to your work?"
"I see." The composed boy nodded. "And may I ask why this thought in particular is crossing your mind?"
"Well, duh!" She threw the papers that they had been working with into the air - earning a small sigh from Ren. She blushed apologetically before continuing. "Look at this! I keep messing up in classes, and they give me assignments like these! What if one day they decide not to give me another chance, and just say 'Sorry, no huntressing for you!' I work so hard, I don't want to screw up somehow and throw it all away."
"I wouldn't worry about that."
"Easy for you to say. You know all this stuff." She muttered. Something inside Ren clicked, and he rolled over, his eyes glittering with some sort of fire as they stared into Nora's. After a moment of collection, he asked a question.
"Can you match my resolve?"
"Excuse me?"
"Your reason for fighting. Your level-head when making a life-and-death decision. Can you match it?" He asked again. She stared back for a moment before nodding slowly, and he relaxed a bit.
"If so, then you will succeed." The boy stated simply. "I believe that the human spirit is indomitable. If you endeavor to achieve, it will happen given enough resolve. It may not be immediate," he paused to make sure she was listening before continuing, "and often your greater dreams are something you won't achieve in your own lifetime. But the effort you put forth to anything transcends yourself, for there is no futility… even in death."
He closed his eyes with a gentle sigh when he had finished, only to be met with… silence. He cracked an eye open, only to see his childhood friend staring at him in awe.
"Where'd you hear that?"
"An old friend." He smirked. She stared a moment longer before grinning.
"Thanks, Ren!"
As she picked up the scattered papers so that they could continue with their work, he looked up at the ceiling, and a tiny thought formed itself in his mind.
Thank you, Monty.