Silver Rose

Never Shall I Leave You. Never Shall I Forsake You.

By: Necron

Cast thy burdens upon me,

Those among thee who are heavily laden.

Come to me, all who are weary of carrying heavy loads.

For the yoke I shall give thee is easy,

And my burden light.

Come to me,

And I shall give thee rest.

PROLOGUE

Lilly ran out of breath as she finished off another set of Corrupted. This was much different from fighting the Grimm. At least the latter was mostly mindless and taking them down was a simple matter of endurance and strength with a little finesse on the side, but the Corrupted were a different beast altogether.

She looked around, spotting another group stalking her. They had been chasing her in this direction for a while now.

A trap, she thought before rushing at one of the Corrupted to get off of the path they were forcing her down.

She managed to break through the enemy's formation, but her left arm was sore. She put her other hand to the spot, feeling warm liquid.

Dang it. Gotta get out of this mess and patch myself up. If only my aura worked in this place, I wouldn't have to worry so much.

She came upon an abandoned village. The sun had yet to rise and she had no idea what this village would be hiding, but she had to take her chance with it; the Corrupted were gaining on her.

This is insane, she thought as she quietly opened a door to one of the huts.

She quickly bandaged her wound with the first-aid kit she had brought with her, careful not to make too much noise and attract their attention. Once her left arm was wrapped, she picked up Myrtenaster, gripping it tightly as she peeked out at the horde of Corrupted scouring the village.

They're not just running through. Crap, they know I'm here.

She looked around for a way out, but the front door was her only path into and out of this small house. The rear entryway had collapsed and clearing it out would take too much time and make too much noise.

Footsteps neared the door. She held her mother's sword to her chest, preparing her body and mind for the worst.

CHAPTER I

Hall of Heroes

Lilly disembarked the Atlas shuttle, looking straight down the path at Beacon Academy. The brochures didn't do this place any favors at all. She thought the campus would look beautiful from the way it was presented online and in the pamphlets, but in person it was so much nicer. She looked all around, wide-eyed, slurping up some drool she hoped no one else had noticed.

So, she thought as she proceeded down the thoroughfare toward what she figured was the main building, this is where mom went, huh? The school that created the heroes of the Labyrinth War.

Someone bumped into her.

"Oh, excuse me!" she said, turning to the amber-eyed girl she had bumped into. She looked up on top of the girl's head. Finishing off the look of her black hair was a set of what she figured to be cat ears in addition to her human ears. She gasped. "You're a Faunus!" she whispered loudly.

"Uh, yeah?" the girl said with an awkward smile.

"Oooh! My name's Lilly! What's yours?"

"Umm, Ingrid."

"Ingrid! Are you a first-year, too?"

"Yeah, I am, actually."

"Straight from Menagerie, or from one of the other kingdoms? Or are you from Vale? Or unaffiliated?"

"Straight from Menagerie. Yup. That's me."

"Cool!" She leaned in. "On the down-low, though, I'm 100% freaking out because I have no idea what the heck I'm even doing here cuz I wasn't supposed to come here at all I was supposed to be going to Atlas Academy although then again that probably wasn't such a good idea oh god I dunno what I'm gonna—"

"Lilly! Relax!"

"Huh?"

"Okay, I'm gonna call you Machinegun Lilly from now on."

"B-But, my weapon doesn't even turn into a gun, though."

"You can't be serious."

Lilly pulled out Myrtenaster. "Yeah. It has, like, Dust stuff, but it's not really a gun...at least I don't think it is. Mom never showed me how to use this thing."

"That's not what I was referring to at all," Ingrid said, putting a hand on her forehead. "Anyway, a Dust rapier, huh?"

"Yeah! Something like that. I think."

"Oh. Cool."

"Hey, so, your weapon. It's a stick."

"Mm-hmm."

"Is it also a gun?"

"Nope."

"So, it's just a stick?"

"Yup."

"What does it do?"

"You can bash people's skulls in with it."

"Oh. Right."

"Wanna know what else it can do?"

"What? What?"

Lilly watched as Ingrid stuck her staff out at someone passing by and he tripped on it, falling face-flat.

"You suck, Ingrid," the boy said as he got up and left.

Lilly covered her mouth, stifling a chuckle, but it got out. "Hang on, you two know each other?" she asked.

"Went to the same combat school together," Ingrid said. "You know Signal?"

"That's the one school on the island off the coast, right?"

"Yahtzee."

"What's a Yahtzee?"

"Never mind."

"Wait, you went to Signal? But I thought you came from Menagerie."

"Yeah. I came from Menagerie. That's literally where I came from, as in, I took an airship from my house in Menagerie to right where we're standing now."

"But you went to Signal."

"Yeah?"

"Why?"

"Because I can?"

"But, that's so far away."

"You're from Atlas and you're going to Beacon Academy."

"Yeah, cuz my mom said I should come here."

"Well, funny, cuz my parents thought the same thing."

"You know what, how 'bout we exchange numbers?"

"Sure, I guess," she said with a chuckle.

Lilly pulled out her scroll, exchanging contact information with Ingrid.

"There!" Lilly said. "Wait a sec." She snapped a photo of Ingrid.

"Hey!" the latter complained. "Would you warn me before you flashbang my eyes?"

"Oh, my bad! Okay, setting contact photo...nice! Check it out!"

Ingrid looked at Lilly's scroll. It was the most unflattering photograph ever captured of her.

"You are going to change that," Ingrid said.

"Nope! It captures your natural kitty beauty!"

"My natural what?" She took another glance at her scroll. "Wait, what did you put as my contact name?"

"Kitty Bae, of course!"

"Are you kidding me?"

"Nope!"

Ingrid let out a heavy sigh. "This is my life now. We're gonna be late for the orientation, by the way."

"Huh? Oh, crap! Race you there!"

While Lilly ran, Ingrid rolled her eyes, walking after her. Lilly arrived at the main hall, where the other first-year students were gathering for the introduction. She recognized the boy that Ingrid had tripped with her staff earlier and stood next to him. He was a whole head higher than her, with black hair that ended just past his ears. They were highlighted red at the tips.

"Hi!" she said.

"Oh, it's you," the boy said. "You making friends with monster cats already?"

"Monster cats?"

"Yeah. Ingrid."

"Oh, yeah!" she chuckled nervously. "I, uh, sorry for what she did to you back there?"

"Yeah, yeah, it's not like you had anything to do with it anyway." He held out a hand. "Name's Leon."

"Lilly!" she said as she accepted the handshake.

"Huh. We're two Ls. That's gonna get confusing. How 'bout I call you White Rose?"

She reddened. "Well, I mean, I think lilies are cuter."

"Yeah, but roses are prettier."

Her face warmed up even more. "I, uh, I guess it's better than Machinegun Lilly."

He chuckled. "Wait, that's your nickname?"

"It's the one Ingrid gave me."

"What? Why?"

"Probably cuz of word vomit."

"Oh, I see. You're that type, huh?"

She nodded quickly. "Guilty. Only when I get really nervous, though, cuz then I can't figure out a way to stop talking and then all of a sudden I just keep going and going and going and—"

He put his hand to her mouth and her eyes opened wide. "I can see now what you mean." He removed his hand. "Just so you know, people are staring at us cuz of your babbling just now."

"Oh. El-oh-el. My bad."

"You're, uh, you're a Schnee, aren't you?"

"How did you know?"

"I mean, there's not exactly that many people in the world with super pale complexion and snow-white hair. It's just...I've never met a Schnee in person before and I'm a little...surprised."

"Really?"

"Yeah. You're a lot more...energetic than what I expected."

"Oh. Yeah, my mom says I have that problem."

"I see. I like your eyes, by the way. Hazel suits you."

She reddened again. "Um, thanks? Yours are nice, too, b-t-dubs. I like that whole lavender thing. It's pretty."

"Gosh, you sure don't hold back, do you?"

"Nope!"

"Well, if it isn't the Pretty Red Rose," Ingrid said as she passed by them.

"Oh, hi, Ingrid!" Lilly said with a wave.

"Yeah, hi, Ingrid!" Leon said with similar mock excitement.

"Oh, jeez," Ingrid said. "I feel like my head's gonna explode."

"In that case, I'm definitely gonna have to keep buggin' you."

"Please don't."

"Never. This is my revenge for earlier. I almost scratched my beautiful nose when I fell. Good thing I have...cat-like reflexes."

Ingrid's face instantly went sour, her cat ears flattening.

"Eh? Ehh?"

"That was actually pretty terrible."

"I thought it was funny!" Lilly said.

Leon high-fived her.

"I'm gonna go over here now," Ingrid said, taking one large step to the side to put two bodies' worth of distance between her and them.

"Ladies and gentlemen," a staff member said as she stepped to the middle of the stage. "My name is Glynda Goodwitch, Assistant Headmaster of Beacon Academy. Please take your seats. Today's agenda can be found on the backrest of the seat in front of you. For the front row, it will be on your seats. Try not to sit on them. Orientation will take place throughout today and tomorrow will be your official initiation."

"Oooh, we're gonna have a tour!" Lilly said, sitting between Ingrid and Leon.

"You really are excited about all of this, aren't you?" Leon said.

"More nervous than anything. It's a terrible habit. When I get nervous I just can't—"

"Can't stop talking," Ingrid finished. "Yeah, we get it, Machinegun Lilly."

"Sorry," Lilly said, shrinking in her seat.

"Good morning," a staff member said as he headed to the podium. "I am Professor Oscar Pine, Headmaster of Beacon Academy. I would like to take this opportunity to welcome all of you to Beacon. Although I hold the other academies, Shade, Haven, and Atlas, in very high regard, I must admit that I do take particular pride in this academy, from which some of the greatest Huntsmen and Huntresses the world has ever known attended and graduated. You might even know some of these names as belonging to the ones who saved our world a little under twenty years ago."

"Oh, that's right!" Lilly whispered. "The heroes of the last war came from here!"

"I think some of them came from Mistral and Vacuo, too," Leon said.

"Yeah, but they all attended here! Okay, now I'm starting to get less nervous and a little more excited!"

"Is that a good thing?" Ingrid said dryly.

"It should go without saying," Oscar continued, "that I have very high expectations of you, all of you. Some of you may even have what it takes to qualify for our elite Knight Division."

Lilly flipped through the pamphlet. This was the first time she'd heard of the Knight Division. None of this information was included in the web searches she did over the past couple of weeks. Then again, she was probably the least prepared out of everyone in this room right now.

"Knight Division," she mumbled as she read the entry in the pamphlet. "The most elite of the elites. Post-graduate program which only accepts four students at the end of each school year. The most rigorous combat training available throughout all of Remnant. Crazy."

"Again, I would like to welcome all of you to Beacon Academy," Oscar finished. "You've all gotten in either through your own merits or through recommendations. This alone makes you among the top potential candidates."

Lilly looked around in excitement as a number of senior students and staff members broke them off into groups for the tour. She spotted a peculiar looking student among one of the other groups. Judging from his face, she figured he was from Mistral, but it was his eyes that captivated her. They were jade in color.

"You checkin' out Mr. Pink Highlights over there?" Ingrid said to her.

"Huh?" Lilly said before shaking herself out of her daze. "Oh. I thought they were magenta."

"Pink, magenta, what's the difference?"

"One's lighter than the other?"

"Psh. Okay, Lilly, you win."

"I...wasn't trying to win..."

"Oh, my goodness, you're not sad, are you?"

She shook her head without a word.

"Look what you did, Ingrid," Leon said, wrapping an arm around Lilly's shoulders, making her turn bright red. "You're always hurting other people's feelings. Don't worry, Lilly, I'll keep you safe from the grumpy cat over there."

"Thanks?" Lilly said timidly, the urge to break away from him overpowering every other emotion right now.

"Okay," Ingrid said, peeling her away from Leon and standing between them. "You are creeping the new girl out."

"You're talking as if you aren't a first-year yourself," Leon said, folding his arms across his chest.

"Thank you," Lilly whispered to Ingrid.

"I gotchu," Ingrid whispered back.

"Hello, everyone!" said a girl with auburn hair and emerald green eyes. Even with flat shoes, she stood much taller than the five-foot, three-inch-tall Lilly, probably a whole half-foot taller, just two inches shorter than Leon, who stood an inch shy of six feet. "My name's Penny and I'll be your tour guide today!"

"Whoa," Leon mumbled. "She's kinda hot."

"You think every girl is hot," Ingrid said, rolling her eyes and crossing her arms. "Lilly, I hope he doesn't creep you out."

"I can handle any Grimm!" Lilly said victoriously, to which Ingrid started laughing.

"Did you just call me a Grimm?" Leon said in disbelief.

"N-No, not you—"

"You're a Grimm now, Leon," Ingrid said.

"Psh," he said. "Well, that's fine. But I will have you know that I am the most beautiful Grimm you will ever come across."

Lilly giggled. "Well, yeah, I guess you are pretty," she said.

"See, Ingrid? Finally, a girl who sees my true beauty."

"Oh, jeez," Ingrid said.

"Now, if you would all follow me," Penny said to her tour group, leading them out of the main hall to the central courtyard. "This is the quad, where all of the quadrants meet. This is a pretty popular lunch spot if you're not into the whole cafeteria life, but it's also one of my personal favorite spots to hang out, mainly because of this."

The group stopped at an artificial pond, which surrounded a statue atop a pedestal in the very center. The statue and its foundation were made of pure marble, depicting a knight in polished armor, helmet covering the face, hands resting on the hilt of a sword thrust into the ground. The statue faced away from the CCTS Tower, toward the front entrance of the school.

"What's so special about this statue?" Leon said.

"It's a representation of all the heroes that fell during the Labyrinth War," Penny said. "The helmet's visor is down to symbolize the countless soldiers who fought for humanity."

Lilly watched as their tour guide's face took on a nostalgic look, as though the statue meant more to her than just a mere symbol of the faceless. She figured she'd ask her about it some other time. After all, she looked like a senior student. She'd probably run into her at least once during her stay here.

"You all know about the Cross Continental Transmit System right?" Penny continued the tour, stopping the group at the base of Beacon's tower.

"The series of towers throughout the world that permit global communication," said a boy of average height with dark brown hair and glasses. "Each capital has a main tower with smaller towers spread throughout."

"That's right, uh..."

"Xanthus."

"Thank you, Xanthus. He is absolutely correct. Beacon Academy is home to one of the primary CCTS towers. The other towers are located in Atlas Academy, Shade Academy, Haven Academy, and Menagerie. Back in the old days, when there were only four towers, each one had to be online in order for the entire network to be active, which meant that maintenance on any one tower would bring down global communication."

"They took down this tower in the last war, didn't they?" another student asked.

"Right. In the early stages of the Labyrinth War, Beacon Academy was actually overrun and nearly completely destroyed. The tower was rendered inoperable and global communication ceased, enabling the forces of darkness to run rampant everywhere. But it was thanks to a number of heroes, along with all of the men and women who volunteered for the Coalition, that this tower was restored and Beacon Academy rebuilt to its current splendor and glory."

"That was when Atlas joined the Coalition, right?" the same student asked.

"Correct. As soon as word got out across the kingdoms that Vale had been liberated, trust between the countries was reestablished and the Coalition came together like never before, eventually bringing the fight to Salem herself and taking her down for good."

"But the Grimm are still everywhere," Xanthus said, pushing up his glasses.

"That's been a part of human history since the dawn of time."

"So much for defeating the darkness," Leon mumbled.

"If you all turn to the north," Penny said, directing the group, "you'll see the lecture halls. In the east wing, closest to the CCTS tower, are the library and study halls. The central and west wings are classrooms. Each of the buildings is reinforced to withstand the rigors of combat, particularly the west wing, where your main combat classes will take place."

"Combat?" a female student asked.

"That's right. Some of your courses may have you do battle right within your own classroom."

A combination of excited and nervous murmurs arose from the group.

"You all went to combat school, didn't you?" Penny said. "I mean, most of you should have."

"Yeah," a student said, "but we never actually fought in the classrooms!"

"That's what separates primary combat school from the Huntsman Academy. Here, you will be applying everything you've learned to the real thing. You will be fighting real Grimm."

"R-Real monsters?"

She nodded with a smirk. "You will be on the path to being heroes."

"Wait," Lilly mumbled, "I don't remember reading anything about fighting actual Grimm."

"That's kinda the point of the Academies?" Ingrid said. "I mean, literally this is where you go to become a Huntsman."

Lilly scratched her head. "Mom never told me about this."

"Beyond the quad is the south quadrant," Penny continued the tour. "That's where you'll be doing most of your non-academic stuff. The west wing of this section is where you'll find all of your campus life needs, thrift stores, restaurants, all that stuff. The dorms themselves are in the east wing, closest to the tower, with the itty bitty school mess hall between the dorms and the commercial area."

"Is there a gym?" a muscular student asked.

Penny chuckled. "The main gym is in this same section, behind the school cafeteria. You can't see it from the quad, but yeah, there's a gym back there. Complete with everything you might need, including an outdoor track and field. The training halls are to the very north, behind the lecture buildings. As first-year students, you won't be using these halls."

"Why not?" Xanthus asked.

"It's a bit more rigorous than what you'll be doing for your first two semesters here. Oh, we also have an amphitheater. Did you all see it?"

"That was that section we passed by in the back of the administration building, right?" Leon said.

"Right," Penny said. "The main hall of the west quadrant, where we were all gathered just now, was adjacent to the outdoor amphitheater. Most concerts are held outdoors while most plays and other cool stuff are done in the main hall."

"Concerts?" Lilly said. "You mean, like, rock concerts and stuff?"

"Mm-hmm," Penny said with a smile. "You all know the name Hollie Lyon, right?"

"Oh, hell yeah," Leon said. "She's only, like, the biggest rock star in all of Remnant. And she's Headmaster of Haven Academy."

"That's her."

"Seriously, though, how does she fit all that into her schedule?"

"Well, the Headmaster doesn't really have all that many responsibilities other than scouting out promising talent for the Knight Program and ensuring adherence to the curriculum."

"So, we won't be seeing Headmaster Pine very much?" Xanthus asked.

"Our Headmaster is much different from the other Academies' Headmasters. Oscar Pine is very hands-on compared to the others. In fact, he will be overseeing your initiation tomorrow personally."

"Whoa," a few students said.

"Anyway, lunch should be ready for all of you in the mess hall. We'll continue the tour of the insides of the buildings when you're all finished. Enjoy!"

"You won't be joining us?" Lilly asked her as the rest of the tour group left for the cafeteria.

"Nope. I gotta take care of faculty business."

"F-Faculty?" Leon said, mouth hanging open.

"You sound surprised," Penny said with a smile. "Do I look that young to you?"

"W-Well, I mean—"

"He thinks you're hot," Ingrid said flatly.

He turned bright red. "Stop putting words in my mouth, Ingrid!"

"Your words literally were, 'Whoa, she's kinda hot'."

He wanted to fire back, but there was so much blood in his brain by now that he couldn't think straight.

Penny, on the other hand, couldn't help but giggle. "I'm flattered. You're pretty cute yourself."

Leon was reduced to an incoherent mess, random strings of vowels and consonants slipping out of his mouth.

"You broke him," Lilly said, poking Leon to try and elicit a response to no avail.

Penny laughed. "Okay, you guys don't wanna miss your lunch. I'll come pick up your group in an hour, okay?"

"Yes, ma'am!" the trio saluted.