Chapter 2: On the Road Again

"Roland? Roland, wake up!" Roland stirs, his eyes still closed. That voice... he thought. It sounds familiar...

"Roland! Wake up sleepyhead!" He discovers that it was a woman's voice. Roland then feels a hand caress his face. He opens his eyes and sees that he's home. "Good you're finally awake! Good morning honey," the voice said. Roland looks and sees a beautiful young woman with red eyes and long, flowing pink hair beside him in the bed. She looks at him smiling. "Good morning," he said still a little groggy. He gathers himself and realizes who he's with. "Lyla?!" he exclaims.

"What is it? Is something wrong?"

"No, it's just- I mean- Is this real?"

Lyla giggles. "You're so adorable when you get flustered. Well, does this feel real?" She then gives him a long kiss.

"I think I have my answer," Roland says. He gazes intently into Lyla's eyes and gives her a kiss back. "You'll have to remind me, what happened last night?"

She playfully hits him. "Oh you! You must've partied hard last night. We just got married. See?" She holds up her hand and shows him her wedding ring along with the engagement ring he gave to her. It had a unique gem that changed color based on the aura of the wearer. It was currently glowing pink, the same color as Lyla's hair. "Oh yeah, we did get married," Roland says. He looks at his hand and sees a wedding ring and exclaims, "We got married!" He embraces Lyla and gives her another kiss.

"Come on and get dressed," she said. "We have a lot of fun things planned for today!"

"Being with you is enough for me," Roland said, smiling at her.

Lyla giggles again. "You're too sweet. You know that?"

"I only say what I mean."

"Oh stop it! You're embarrassing me!" She begins to blush.

"Ha! Look at your face! It's as red as your eyes!"

"Ok, ok, that's enough. Wait here while I get dressed," Lyla says. Before Roland does anything else, he notices his clothes are on and that he and Lyla are out for a walk in town, holding hands. They run into two familiar faces: a man with green hair, equipped with a bow and arrows, and a woman with purple hair with a rifle at her side.

"Gregor! Ebony!" Lyla calls out, waving at them. Roland looks with surprise once again.

"Hey! It's the newlyweds!" they both call out. Lyla then runs to them. Roland sets out with her to greet the rest of his team. But then, the scenery changes to an open field and the path grows longer before Roland. No matter how far he walked or ran, he wasn't able to join his team. He then notices bandits wearing Grimm masks coming for his team. He calls out to them but it was too late, they were ambushed. He pulls out his sword and shield and prepares to join his team. However, he then sees a shadow behind him. He turns his head and sees a man, no, a faunus, with a Grimm mask and red hair holding a crimson katana standing behind him. It was Adam Taurus, the leader of the White Fang. Roland realizes the White Fang has ambushed his team, but before he can do anything, he is slashed across his back in a single stroke by Adam. Roland falls to the ground and is then pinned down by Adam. Roland looks at his team: they hold their own against the White Fang, but he then sees a woman in a red dress with long black hair appear. It was Cinder Fall. Roland desperately tries to break free, despite his pain, but then feels a kick on his back by Adam and then sees a crimson katana at his throat. "You hold still. If I had my way, you'd be dead by now, but she wants you to watch your team die one by one before I kill you," he says motioning to Cinder. One by one, Ebony and Gregor are cut down by Cinder, despite their best efforts. "EBONY! GREGOR!" Roland shouts. Cinder then turns to Lyla, brings her to her knees and shoots her through the heart with an arrow. Lyla looks at Roland, tears coming from her eyes as she falls to the ground. "LYLA! LYLA! NOOOOO!" Roland shouts as he sees her fall to the ground, dead.

"Roland!" Another voice calls. "Roland! Wake up, you're dreaming!" Roland jolts awake, covered in sweat. He feels a hand on him and looks around. It was Yang, and they were in their room at the inn. "Yang?" he says.

"Oh good you're awake. You were shouting in your sleep. Are you ok?" she asks.

"I'm fine. It was just a nightmare. What time is it?"

"It's six-thirty."

"Then we'd better get going. We have a lot of ground to cover today."

"Right." After a pause she asks, "So... Who's Lyla?"

"What?"

"Lyla. Last night, you told me she was on your team, and you never really told me about her. You kept calling out her name in your sleep. So who is she? Were you two close?"

"That's none of your business!" Roland snapped. "What, are you writing a book?!" Yang then looks at him shocked by what he said. "Look, I'm... sorry for snapping at you," he said. "I... I need a minute."

"Alright and don't worry about it," Yang replied. She grabs her clothes and heads to the bathroom to change. She heads in but before she closes the door completely, she hears Roland begin to cry. She looks at him through the crack of the door without him knowing and sees him hanging his head low and crying. She sees an engagement ring on a necklace around his neck and sees him grip it. Its gem was gray, as if the life in it was sapped away. "I'm sorry Gregor, Ebony, and Lyla... I failed you... I wasn't strong enough or smart enough... Lyla, I only wish I could hold you in my arms again and kiss you.. Just one more time..." Roland sobbed. Yang continues to watch. Roland gathers himself after a few minutes. He then begins to change by taking off his pajama shirt, and Yang sees a large scar on his back spanning from his left shoulder down to his right hip. What happened to him? Yang thought. He must have suffered through so much pain. I... I understand your pain Roland. I've had my share of it too. I'm sorry you had to go through whatever happened. She then sees closes the door before he undresses further and gets dressed herself.

After the two get dressed, they pack their things and head downstairs for breakfast. They eat in silence due to Roland still being shaken from his nightmare. After breakfast, they gather their things and return their keys to the innkeeper. "Thank you for your hospitality." Roland says to her.

"It's my pleasure sir. Come stay with us again if you're in the area." Yang and Roland then head to the vehicle port when Yang's bike is. Yang takes a moment to clean all the mud off of it from the previous night while Roland goes into town to restock supplies. After she finished cleaning her bike, she went into town for her own supplies. When the two return, she asks Roland, "So, where are we headed next?"

"Let me get my map." Roland says. He takes it out and looks it over with Yang. "Hmm. There are a few small towns where we can refuel along the way, but the next town with an inn is pretty far. There's a good chance we'll have to camp outside for the night tonight."

"Well then, we'd better not waste any more time. Let's ride!" She gets on her bike and puts her helmet and goggles on. "Hop on Roland!" she says while handing him spare goggles.

"O-ok. Just so you know, I've never ridden on a motorcycle before. Please take it easy on the road."

"Aw, come on, Bumblebee doesn't bite! And besides, riding a motorcycle is a lot of fun!"

"Bumblebee? That thing has a name?"

"Well yeah. He's black and yellow, just like a bumblebee!"

"Hmph. That sounds stu-"

"What are you saying?" Yang asks, clearly annoyed.

"Never mind. Let's, uh, go." He gets on behind her and holds onto the back of her bike.

"If you get scared, you can hold onto me if you want." Yang says with a wink.

"Just go." Roland said, annoyed. Yang starts the engine and takes off. Yang gets to the path and accelerates, causing Roland to scream. "Whoaaaa! Slow down please!" he shouts.

"Yeah! Woohoo! What's that Roland, go faster? Alright!" She accelerates even more. Roland, terrified, holds onto Yang for dear life. "Roland, stop! you're squeezing me!"

"Whoa! S-Sorry!" He then loosens his grip and the two continue down the path.