CHAPTER XIV

The Strength to Carry On

It was Friday afternoon when class was dismissed. Athena spent the entire previous night and all of today in the infirmary, recovering from her wound, and both Teams LILY and APEX were headed there now to see her. When they arrived at her room, they were all shocked to see her up and about, throwing on a t-shirt and jeans.

"Hey, what are you doing?" Leon said, rushing into the room.

"I'm getting dressed," she said, tying her golden hair up into a ponytail as always. "Do you mind?"

"Yes, I do mind! You're in no condition to be standing right now!"

"Aww, is my wittle bwuvva wuwwied about his big sista?"

His eyebrows furrowed. "How 'bout I poke my finger in your wound, huh?"

"Do that and I'll break your wrist."

He stuck his tongue out at her and she returned the gesture.

"I knew you were a fast healer," Ingrid said, joining them, "but you've gotten faster. That was a pretty serious injury."

"Still not as fast as if dad were here," Athena said. "Now that's healing power."

"Athena!" Lilly said, running to her to give her a big hug, causing her to wince. "Sorry! I thought you were all better!"

"It's still sore."

"I told you you shouldn't be standing!" Leon said.

"Your dad's a healer?" Perseus said as the rest of the group entered her room.

"Yup," Athena said. "It's one of the reasons Leon and I were able to train so hard with him and mom. If anybody got seriously injured, he'd just heal us up and we'd be right back at it."

"That's a pretty useful Semblance to have on the battlefield. Hell, in regular life."

Echo was keeping a noticeable distance from Athena.

"Hey, what are you doing back there?" Xanthus asked her.

"I'm always in the back," she said. "Haven't you noticed?"

He sensed something else beneath the surface. She hadn't so much as talked about Athena all day in spite of the incessant chatter about her even among the other students who knew of their predicament yesterday. Seeing their team leader nearly killed must have taken its toll on her. Or perhaps it went much deeper than that. Either way, he wasn't one to pry.

"So," Athena said, stretching. "Ice cream?"

"No smoothies this time?" Perseus said.

"We always get smoothies. I want some friggin' ice cream."

—

Echo sat at the edge of a pond in one of Vale's largest parks, enjoying her ice cream alone while the rest of the two teams congregated at a table. She glanced over every once in a while, her eyes always on Athena, noticing every small wince and quiet gasp she would make when she turned too far this way or that way or overreached with her left arm. If only she had gotten to her in time. If only she had just kept a better eye on her team leader, that would not have happened.

Lilly was the one to leave the group to join Echo, sitting right next to her with her ice cream.

"Oh, hey, look!" she said, pointing to a group of ducklings following their mother around.

Even in the midst of her personal crisis, Echo could not stop the smile. She turned her head to Lilly, whose face lit up everything around her no matter how gloomy it was. She was watching as the family of eight swam around the pond in a line. There were other ducks around, most of them solo birds while others were paired up.

Echo spotted a turtle surfacing at the edge of the water. It sat on the bank, looking at the two girls for a while before diving back down. Though they were in the middle of the city, this place afforded a modicum of tranquility, sweeping her out of the hustle and bustle of Academy life and allowing her to slow down for a bit. Her mind wandered back to her home, that lonely village in the woods to the south of Vale. They had subsisted solely on the land, fed by the nearby river and supplemented by the hunters who would regularly venture out into the woods for meat.

Echo was one such hunter, though the only one who hunted alone. It was easier for her not to have a partner. She had too often seen hunters leave the village and come home alone. She would never talk about it, but she knew it was because of the Grimm. When she came of age to start hunting as well, she, too, ran into the Grimm more than once. But because of her Semblance, she would hardly ever have to face them in battle. It was an easy task to lead them away from her people before circling back around to head home with her catch for the day.

She hadn't noticed that Lilly had left her side some time ago. She was in the middle of the pond, balancing precariously atop a rock that was far too pointy, unsuitable for using as a stepping stone. She was going to ask what she was doing when Lilly managed to find her equilibrium, reaching into the water to pull something out. She hopped from rock to rock back to the shoreline, almost missing her step twice along the way.

"There!" she said, sitting back down next to Echo. "Here you go!"

Echo looked down at her hands. She was holding a white and purple water lily, presenting it for her.

"I got this for you!"

"A...flower?" she managed.

"Mm-hmm! Back home, there was a place where tons of these grew and there were all sorts of colors and I think it's what my mom named me after although I guess she might've named me after the actual lily and not water lilies but still this is my favorite flower!"

Through all of her babbling, one thing stood out to Echo. This was her favorite flower. What a coincidence. Nerida was named after water lilies.

"You know," Echo began, "we have the same favorite flower."

"Oh! That's so awesome!"

She accepted the purple and white blossom, taking it in both hands and staring at it for a while, admiring the gradient of dark purples on the outside to the white inner sections of each petal. The center of the flower was golden in color, but the tips of each pollinating stamen was covered in a pale hue of purple as well.

"I think it goes well with your clothes!" Lilly said, tugging on Echo's purple sleeve.

"It does," Echo said, making eye contact with her. Those hazels seemed to smile as well, melting the ice she had surrounded her heart with. Was this really okay? Would it be all right for her to open up to people again? She came far too close to losing Athena just yesterday, and yet, Lilly's effect on her was to thaw the prison she placed herself in.

"Are you...crying?" Lilly's voice managed to reach her.

Echo hadn't realized it, but a tear had rolled down her cheek. She quickly wiped it away. "I'm all right," she lied through her teeth.

Lilly sat on the grass, resting her chin atop her knees as she looked out over the pond.

"I was scared, too, you know," she said, her voice soft. "I don't have the same kind of bond you guys have with her, but seeing Athena on the ground like that...I dunno. She's like, she's the best out of all of us. I look up to her as a fellow team leader, but even more than that, she's a friend. The thought of losing her broke me up."

It wasn't that, though. Athena was so much more to Echo than just a team leader, a teammate, a partner, or even a friend. She was something far more special than any of those things. Echo would have, without a moment of hesitation, traded places with her at the point of that monster's spear.

"I have a feeling she's more to you than that, though," Lilly said.

"It's like you're reading my mind or something," Echo said with a small sniffle.

"To be honest, I probably would've willingly taken that hit instead of her."

"Okay, yeah, you literally are reading my mind now."

She chuckled. "It's true, though. I'd take a hit for any of you. I just...I don't like seeing pain. And it's not because it makes me hurt. I mean, it does, but I really just don't like to see other people in pain. If I could make any wish come true, it would be to take away people's pain. Not just physical pain either, but all of it. Doubts, sadness, anger, hatred, I'd take it all away. Do you remember that girl, Mizuki?"

"The fourth-year student?"

Lilly nodded. "She's another one that really breaks my heart. I don't know what it is, but there's something about her that doesn't allow her to be happy. I wish I could take that pain away from her."

Echo watched as she buried the lower half of her face behind her hands and knees. Underneath the perpetually happy Lilly was a much more melancholic girl, one who genuinely wished for the happiness of everyone around her, yet realized that such a wish was impossible to grant.

"Don't ever lose that hope," Echo said.

Lilly turned to her.

"If you did, I don't think I'd be able to..."

As her companion trailed off, Lilly reached over to pull the two of them closer to each other. Echo leaned her head on her shoulder, closing her eyes, allowing Lilly's warmth to completely envelop and consume the shadow in her heart.

"Maybe it's you," Echo said.

"Huh?"

"Maybe the reason Oasis never sees any snow is because of you."

Lilly smiled. "My mom has said the same thing to me. She said that the moment I was born was the moment it stopped snowing in Oasis."

"I believe it."

"Hey."

Echo looked up at her.

"Don't you think it's been long enough? The group kinda misses you, you know."

She let out a small sigh.

"C'mon."

"Can we stay here a little bit longer?"

Lilly smiled before leaning her head against hers. "Yeah. We can."

—

Leon glanced around at the stalls and vendors as he and the group walked through the commercial district of downtown Vale. The streets and walkways were thick with people and it was easy to get lost in the hustle and bustle, but it would be a simple matter to call everybody on their scrolls and meet up somewhere. He looked behind. Ingrid was standing at a stall that sold flowers and a number of other trinkets, staring at something. He smirked before sneaking over. This was one of the few times that this cat Faunus failed to detect his presence.

He reached past her, startling her as he picked out an indigo colored rose and handed it to her. She gave him a curious glance. He wasn't looking at her, but toward the clerk, who accepted his Lien.

"What?" she said, accepting the rose.

"I think it suits you," he said, giving her a grin before continuing down the walkway.

She twirled the blue rose between her fingertips before looking for him and rushing to catch up.

"What's the big idea, huh?" she asked him.

"Muffin," he said, his hands in his pockets, a satisfied grin plastered across his face.

She growled before stepping in front to block his path. "Hey, I'm being serious!"

"Me, too. I just thought, pretty flower for a pretty girl." He sidestepped her and continued on.

She reddened, looking at the rose again before catching up to him once more.

"Leon!" she said, walking backwards in front of him.

"Ingrid," he said, his lavender eyes locking with her ambers.

"Ugh! Quit messing around!"

He reached up to play with her cat ears, but she dodged swiftly, glaring at him.

"I'm warning you!"

He chuckled. "Do you like the rose?"

She froze, her cheeks warming up even more. He walked right by her and she darted to his side, looking up at his face as she walked with him. His grin was still there, eyes forward.

"Hey!" she said, grabbing his arm.

"Yes?" he said, facing her.

"Why did you get this rose for me?"

"Because I saw you staring at it and I thought you wanted it. Hell, even if you didn't want it, I figure it'd look nice on you."

Her whole body was warm now.

"Do you not like it?"

"No! I mean, yes! I mean, I do like it! Ugh, look what you did!"

He chuckled before turning to the side. "Oh, there they are."

She watched as he rejoined their group, which had congregated at a defunct fountain. Echo was seated at the very top of the dry stone structure.

"We thought we lost you guys," Perseus said, bumping fists with Leon.

"Nah, you know me," Leon said. "No kitty left behind."

They shared a chuckle.

"Oh, that's pretty!" Lilly said, admiring the indigo rose in Ingrid's hand.

"Uh, y-yeah," she said, hiding the flower behind her back.

"That's no place for a rose! Here, gimme!"

Ingrid was helpless against Lilly's persistence and she ultimately gave up the rose, reddening as her partner tucked it behind her ear.

"That's better!" Lilly said. "It goes with your coat, too!"

"Who's that from?" Xanthus asked her.

Ingrid didn't answer. Not verbally, anyway. Her body language did all the talking, the red cheeks, the shrinking shoulders, the hand to the elbow, the lack of eye contact. Xanthus looked over at Leon, who was chatting away with Perseus, before looking back to Ingrid. He pushed up his glasses, smiling to himself before rejoining the group.

"Anybody hungry?" Athena yawned. "I could eat the ass-end off a dead rhino right now."

"Ramen!" Perseus suggested.

"Ramen!" Lilly seconded.

"Ramen!" Xanthus agreed.

"I guess we're having ramen," Athena said. "Echo?"

The group's archer was preoccupied with something in the sky. She tracked it for a while before drawing an arrow and letting it soar to hit her mark dead-center.

"You weren't kidding about taking all those down," Perseus said, his mouth open.

Echo shrugged before hopping off the dry fountain and joining them. Ingrid was at the back of the group as they headed to the nearest ramen shop. At least, she thought she was the rearmost. She couldn't find Yuan anywhere. She was going to stop the rest of them when someone tapped her on the shoulder and she looked back to see their missing member.

"Oh, there you are," she said.

"Here," he said, holding out a flower for her. "I thought you'd like this."

Her eyes opened wide as she looked at the deep blue iris in his hand. "Wh-Where did you? And w-why?"

He shrugged before pinning the flower to her lapel, giving her a smile before walking to the rest of the group. Ingrid was dumbfounded. How in the world did he know that her favorite flower was the iris? More than that, two guys had just given her flowers. Leon was probably just being a troll as usual, although she really couldn't be sure anymore. And Yuan did not strike her as the type to court.

Confusion could not even begin to describe what was in her pounding heart right now. Anxiety was more like it. No, perhaps terror was a better word. After all, just thinking about the meaning of the gesture made her want to drop off a shadow clone and run away.

"Ingrid!"

She looked up to spot Lilly across the street, waving to her as the rest of the group headed into the restaurant. She took a few steps forward, stopping for a bit to glance at the dark blue iris on her collar before continuing on to join Lilly.

"Oh, that flower is pretty!" Lilly said, looking closely at the iris.

"Y-Yeah, it is, isn't it?" she said.

"That's the one Yuan got you, right?"

She reddened. "How did you know?"

"Well, I was sorta watching. Nobody else noticed him leave the group to go get you a flower."

That was twice now that two of her own teammates evaded her superior Faunus detection capabilities.

All of the girls sat on one side of the table while the boys sat opposite them. Ingrid sat directly across from Leon, who sat beside Yuan. While some chatter was going on, Ingrid spent most of her time with her head down, scroll out.

Echo: soz, u got flowers from 2 guys

Ingrid: im still trying to figure out wats going on

Echo: its obvi dude

Echo: remember what i said b4?

Ingrid: hush! im not in love with them!

Echo: =D

Ingrid: stop it!

Echo: xD

In the meantime, there was scroll chatter on the other side of the table as well.

Perseus: bruh

Leon: wsup

Perseus: u know wassup

Leon: u mean the flowre?

Perseus: u damn right. fckin smoov bruh

Leon: stfu man its not like that

Perseus: whas it like then?

Leon: weve known each other since we were kids k?

Perseus: u suuuuuuuure das it?

Leon: yes dammit!

Perseus: why u red den?

"The fuck?" Leon said aloud.

"Huh?" Xanthus said.

"N-Nothing. Just hungry."

"I see."

"That's a pretty flower," Athena said to Echo, admiring the purple and white water lily in her hair.

"Oh," Echo said. "Th-Thanks. Lilly gave it to me."

Athena looked past her partner at Lilly, who was smiling at her.

"Oh, yeah!" Lilly said, standing up. "I meant to give this to everybody!"

She started handing out trinkets to everyone in the group.

"What's this?" Perseus said. "A flower?"

"Yup!" Lilly said. "I ran into this one shop on the way here. They were selling these little lily pins! Aren't they cute?"

"What I need to know, is how the heck you know my favorite color is bronze."

"That's a secret!"

He chuckled.

Every person at the table got matching pins, lilies made of sterling silver, each one with a small splash of their signature colors in the center, deep red for Leon, indigo for Ingrid, pale green for Yuan, bright red for Athena, purple for Echo, bronze for Perseus, and yellow for Xanthus.

"We all gotta wear this on our collars," Leon said, pinning his on the left side.

"You tryin'a hijack my team, huh?" Athena said to Lilly.

"Nah-uh!" Lilly said with a grin as she pinned her own white and silver lily to her coat collar. "I just wanted to put my flower on all my friends!"

"I think it's nice," Yuan said, pinning his to the collar along with everyone else. "It shows solidarity between our two teams."

"Yes," Xanthus said. "After all, we just might be the first eight-member team Beacon has ever seen."

"I'll drink to that," Perseus said, raising his soda glass. "To Team...uh, the hell would we even call an eight-man team?"

"To Teams APEX and LILY," Athena said, raising her own glass.

"Hey, why do you guys get to go first?" Leon whined.

"It's in alphabetical order," Echo said.

"To Teams APEX and LILY!" Lilly repeated as they shared a toast.

—

Penny leaned against the elevator as it took her to the top of Beacon tower. She sighed heavily, checking her scroll for any messages. Nothing. Not yet, anyway. She tucked a lock of her auburn hair behind her ear, but it fell right back into her face and she gave up on it. She straightened up her blouse as the elevator slowed to a halt, the doors opening up. She stepped out with confident strides, joining Qrow, Glynda, and Oscar, who were gathered around the headmaster's desk.

"Just in time, Penny," Oscar said.

"Headmaster Pine," she greeted. "Assistant Headmaster Goodwitch. Qrow."

"Hey, what's with that?" Qrow groaned.

"You know what's up with that."

"All right," Oscar said. "Let's talk about what happened yesterday."

"Aside from Professor Branwen's terrible idea," Penny began, "yesterday went well. Teams APEX and LILY proved that they have more than what it takes to be some of the best Huntsmen Beacon has ever trained. I guess it's not unexpected considering their lineage, but still."

"Qrow tells us Lilly herself showed some surprising abilities," Glynda said.

"Yes. I am of the belief that she utilized the same rune power that we saw back in the war. We don't yet know the extent of her power since she only used it once, at least, according to the other students. But her rune abilities aside, there is the problem of the Skinwalker among that group. I did not detect any others, but the fact that one made it within Vale's borders is alarming."

"We have scanners throughout the city to deal with such a thing," Oscar said, "but yes, it is alarming that one would get so close to the city. And there is also the issue of the four Omega Grimm that you faced out there."

"Yeah," Qrow said. "We haven't seen those assholes in ten years. Why the hell are they showing up now?"

"Perhaps our enemies are starting to make their move again."

"They haven't given up on freeing Salem from her prison," Glynda said. "Reports from the other kingdoms say something similar, that there's a sharp increase in Grimm activity, threatening even the newest settlements outside the capital cities."

"I hear, Miss Penny," Oscar began, "that you defeated four of those Omega Grimm single-handedly."

"Actually, I used both hands," she said with a smirk. "And my feet."

Oscar chuckled. "That is quite the impressive feat, you know."

"'Feat,' huh? Sounds like you're speaking the Yanguage."

He chuckled again.

"Well, I've learned a bit since the last time I fought one of those things. They're really strong and fast, too, but being intelligent, they also have an ego. They tend to underestimate their enemies. And they'll even gloat."

"Like they're sadistic by nature," Qrow said.

"Exactly. And I took advantage of those weaknesses."

"Well, it's a good thing you arrived when you did," Oscar said. "Athena might not have survived if it weren't for you. None of them might have survived."

"No thanks to Qrow's ridiculous plan." She expected Oscar and Glynda to agree with her and when they didn't, she couldn't hold her silence. "Don't tell me you guys condone what he did."

"It certainly is important to push them to their limits," Glynda said. "And while I do agree that discretion is necessary in such methods, Professor Branwen tends to deliver results."

"You guys can't be serious," Penny sighed. "Okay. Fine. Whatever. If that's all you need from me, I'll be returning to my duties."

"Penny," Oscar began as she started walking away. "Keep an eye on them, would you?"

"Isn't that what I'm already doing?" she said as the elevator door closed. She leaned her forehead against the cold steel. She had to get out of there quick. That callousness was more than she could bear.

Be strong, she told herself. Everybody's counting on you.