Normally, I would post this under the extra story only. This is too important to not post on the main one too. Remember him, but do not ever, say goodbye.

"I believe 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 within your lifetime. The effort you put forth to anything transcends yourself. There is no futility, even in death." – Monty Oum

Bonus Chapter: Tribute

Normal POV

Team RWBY was walking down the hall towards their dorm room. Weiss looked a irritated at the pun Yang made and Ruby was laughing while Blake was reading as they walked. They had passed what they had thought was an empty classroom when they heard a lot of shouting.

"What was that?" Weiss asked, surprised by the sudden outburst from the room.

"Whoever it was, they sounded oddly familiar…" Ruby said.

Blake's ears perked up, though she didn't let on about it. "That sounded like SABR."

"What's got them so worked up?" Yang wondered.

"I don't know, but they aren't usually that loud. Let's go see what's going on," Ruby said, walking towards the closed door.

As quietly as they could, Team RWBY opened the door to see what was going on. They saw Team SABR huddled around what looked like it could be some sort of video call, but from where they were, they couldn't see who they were talking to.

"What do you mean, 'He's dead'?" Silver was shouting at whoever was on the other end of the call.

A woman's voice spoke, "It's exactly what I said Silver. He's gone." At those words, Silver went from anger to sadness in seconds.

"What happened?" Rowan asked, masking his emotions without a trace.

"He suffered from an allergic reaction and slipped into a coma. I'm sorry guys, he wasn't able to recover," the mystery woman said.

"Send us the video of the podcast later, would you? We'll grieve in our own way," Ash said.

"Will do Ash. I'll talk to you guys later, okay?"

"Yeah. See you later," Silver said, and he ended the call.

The tension within the room could have been cut with a knife, but RWBY still walked quietly into the room, albeit nervously, while SABR seemed completely oblivious to them.

"Hey… guys? What was that about?" Ruby asked nervously.

That was enough to snap the four boys out of their thoughts. Silver's head snapped up from where he was sitting at the desk, his eyes filled with anger and sorrow, a look Blake knew all too well. Before anyone could do anything, Silver disappeared in a flash of lightning. Blake ran out the door after him, having an idea of where he might go. Weiss tried to approach Ash, but when he noticed her approach, he just allowed himself to phase through the floor into the level below them, causing Weiss to leave to try to find him as well. Ruby was almost right next to Rowan when he flickered into his invisibility and fled through an open window. Ruby used her speed to race out the door to try and find him. Through all of the commotion, Bai had just sat there, looking at the ground, making no attempt to leave the room.

When he noticed that Yang had taken the seat next to him and was looking at him in worry, he said, "We'll be alright, Yang, we just need a little bit of time."

"What happened though?" she asked, "You guys were really worrying us, and its not like Rowan or Ash to push us away, heck, even Silver shouldn't have run like that."

"We just got a call from Silver's family," Bai said.

Yang stared. "What happened?"

"None of his family died, if that's what you're thinking. It's so much more than that, even if we didn't even know the guy personally."

"Okay, then what's the deal with the guy then? What made him special to you guys?"

"He's the one who inspired us to become Huntsmen. He wasn't one himself, but he taught us all about the Grimm and Beacon, and did many other things for all of his fans. Whatever he did, brought joy to all of his fans who saw his work, and he just died a couple of days ago."

Yang didn't really know what to say. She had lost her mother when she was young, so she knew loss, but this seemed, different somehow.

"You know what Yang?" Bai said.

"Yeah?"

"Would you like to hear a quote that he used to always say?"

"Sure, what is it?"

"I've decided to help carry on what he lived for, which reminded me of this quote: 'Keep moving forward'. Think about that for a little while." Bai then left the room, shortly followed by Yang, hoping to get more answers from him.

Ruby's POV

I was running top speed across the school, looking everywhere I thought Rowan could have gone to. Then I realized exactly where he had to be.

I slowed down once I reached the corner and walked silently into the weapon shop. At one of the back workbenches, I saw Rowan working on his rifle. As I approached him, I realized that he wasn't actually doing anything, just disassembling and then reassembling his rifle over and over again.

"Rowan? What's wrong? I know something's bothering you, and I really want to know what it is," I said.

He stopped working and slowly turned around, a look of sadness in his eyes. He sighed and said, "Sorry about that, we were just really wound up from the news that Silver's mom gave us. None of his family died, but the man who inspired us all died a couple days ago."

"Oh…" I said. I had my own sadness from when my mom died.

"Rowan, what was he like?"

Rowan looked at me for a little while before saying, "How to explain a man you never personally knew…"

That one caught me off guard. "You didn't even actually know the guy?"

He nodded. "We didn't actually know him, but that doesn't make us any less sad about his death. Ruby, this man, he inspired many, and he enjoyed what he did, and what he did, brought joy to people all over the world."

I nodded with a new understanding. "Well, at the very least, now he is in a better place!" I said, trying to cheer him up.

He smiled a little bit before saying, "Ruby, would you like to hear a quote from him?"

I nodded, wanting to hear whatever it was.

"He once said this: 'Guys… Life… it's pretty awesome. Just keep at it. And I'll keep going too'."

I just looked at him and said, "Why did he say that?"

He smiled a little more and said, "Because he loved his fans and never shot anyone down, he just told them how they could do what they did better."

Weiss' POV

It took me a while to find Ash, seeing as he had the advantage of not having to worry about trivial things, such as doors or walls, but I finally found him outside, sitting on a bench on some sort of balcony area.

"Ash Winters!" I said with concern instead of a yell, "Do you have any idea how worried I've been about you?"

"Hello to you too Weiss," he said nonchalantly.

I huffed, this was not going to be easy, but I had to find out what the problem was.

"What happened? Who was that you were talking to?" I asked.

"The man who inspired us to get where we are today died a couple of days ago. As for who we were talking to, that would be Silver's mother," he said.

"What exactly did he do to inspire you?" I asked curiously.

"He was an inspirational person. He didn't necessarily care what people thought of him, he kept working to make things better, and the things he did, always made people smile."

"He sounds like a good person. Did you know him?" I asked.

He laughed a little at this. "No. No, I didn't know him, none of us did, but I sure do wish I had."

"Then how are you so sad?"

"Because he's the one who always made people smile, Weiss. Even when he wasn't working on one of his projects, he found a way to make people smile."

"Now I wish I knew him."

I saw Ash struggle with himself when I said this until he finally said, "I do too, Weiss. Actually, would you like to hear a quote from one of his works?"

"Sure."

"He put this at the start of one of his videos once: 'Everyone is entitled to their own sorrow, for the heart has no metrics or form of measure. And all of it… irreplaceable'."

"That was amazing…" I said, feeling tears in my eyes.

"Yeah," Ash said, "And so was he."

Blake's POV

It took me an hour or so to find Silver, by that time the sun was setting, and he was venting some lightning into the sky, apparently relieving some stress. He was on the roof of one of the higher towers, now looking calm, watching the sunset.

"Silver?" I said, confused by the change of attitude, and taking a seat at the edge next to him.

"Hey Blake," he said, "Sorry for the outburst. I just have a lot on my mind. Hearing about the death of someone I respected and inspired me was something that I couldn't really deal with very well."

"I was just concerned by the look you had in your eyes when we walked in earlier. I wanted to make sure you were okay."

He sighed. "I'll be okay. It was just a shock for me. It really did feel like the guy was immortal, despite being only 33. I had hoped to show him my ideas and get his feedback. Well, they say the good die because they have already learned what they can from life, I wonder if that's true."

I stayed silent, I knew that there were many in the White Fang who had spoken out against the violence, but as far as I knew, they had either gone into hiding, or were simply never heard from again.

"You know, Blake," he said, "I don't think I'll ever be able to forget what he did for me and all of his other fans. He spread joy wherever he went. I guess that's why I respected him so much."

"He sounds like he was a really good person," I said.

"He was Blake," he said, "I just wish I had had the opportunity to meet him. Maybe in another life, next time."

"I wish I could have known him," I said, "He sounds like he would have been an interesting person to talk to."

"He was a person who wouldn't really hate on something, he would just tell you how it could be better, and I'm sure he would have loved to meet you too Blake." Silver said the second sentence as if he already did, but I let it slide, it was a question for later.

"Hey, Blake, would you like to hear a quote I learned from a project he worked on before he died?" Silver asked.

I nodded, wondering what Silver was about to say that could be so important to the man's memory.

"It went something like this: 'Never say goodbye. If you don't say goodbye then you aren't really gone, you just aren't here right now.'"

I sat for a moment, and thought about what he just said. "I've never thought about it that way."

"I hadn't either, until I heard it, but now you know why you will never, ever hear me say goodbye," he said, "Because I will never be gone, and neither will my friends with me, because I will never say the words that declare they're leaving."

"So, what was his name? I don't think you ever mentioned it," I said.

He paused for a moment and said, "His name was Monty Oum, he died February first, and he will be missed."

"Death is nothing, but to live defeated and inglorious is to die daily." – Napoleon Bonaparte

There you have it folks, I'm still shocked by the loss of the man who inspired us all. The rest of the stuff a the bottom is stuff I feel sums up the moment fairly well. Please check it out.

"A New Hope" by Broken Iris

From "Red Like Roses Part II"

Red like roses

Fills my head with dreams and finds me

Always closer

To the emptiness and sadness

That has come to take the place of you.

1981- 2015

Monty Oum,

you will be missed.