CHAPTER XXXVI

A Knight's Oath

The goodbyes were bittersweet. The month of the Vytal Festival had brought together families and friends, but the time for gathering had come and gone and everyone returned to their homes.

"I'm gonna miss you," Lilly said, holding her mother tightly.

"Me, too, darling," Weiss said, returning her daughter's embrace.

Lilly pulled away. "Hey, hey, wait, I never got to ask you."

"What is it?"

"That super big sword you fought in the exhibition match with, was that really yours?"

She chuckled. "Yes, that is a sword I had William Hillphire forge for me a number of years back."

"Aww! How come I never saw it?"

"Because it's been with him all this time. He delivered it to me personally after their demonstration during the parade."

"Ohh, I see. So, I guess you won't be needing this anymore?" She held up Myrtenaster.

"I handed that to you for a reason, Lilly. It's your turn to bear it."

Lilly smiled at her mother. "I'll take good care of it!"

"I know." She kissed her on the forehead before heading up the ramp. "You make sure to bring your friends to the house for winter break, okay?"

"Okay!" She waved to her mother and to her aunt and cousin. "Congrats on the win, Ivory!"

Ivory acknowledged her cousin, but she didn't reply. Not verbally, anyway. She was still irritated at how she had won the final match, but at the same time she realized that perhaps it wasn't that important at all. Her own cousin had lost in the first match of the tournament and yet she was probably the happiest person here.

Lilly waved to all three of her family members as the shuttle closed its doors and lifted off to join the rest of the fleet to Atlas.

—

"Don't forget to eat well!" Nora said, giving her son a hug.

"Mom, I know," he said.

"He's the one who cooks for us," Ingrid said.

"Ohh!" Nora squealed. "He cooks for you?"

Ingrid found herself reddening. "Yes, he does."

"He got that from his father! You know how the saying goes! The quickest way to a girl's heart is through her stomach!"

"Mom, please," Yuan groaned.

"Take care of yourself, son," Ren said, embracing him.

"I will, dad. And there's nothing to worry about. We all look after each other."

"That's what I was waiting to hear."

"Oh, my family's about to leave, too," Ingrid said, watching as her younger siblings ran around.

"Aww!" Leon said, joining them. "My favorite litter is going away."

"I'm gonna miss you!" Fiona yelled, leaping into his arms. "Nibble on my ears again, please?"

Leon chuckled before doing just that, making her giggle.

"Oh, thank god she enjoys that shit," Ingrid said. "Hey, Fi. You're attending Beacon Academy this year, right?"

"Psh," Fiona said. "I'm gonna be in the first batch ever at Instinct Academy."

"Dammit."

"Why?"

"So Leon will leave my ears alone!"

She giggled. "Why don't you let him play with them?"

"Because he never asks for permission!"

"It's the surprises that are the best! Oooh, the tingles!"

"Okay, okay," Leon chuckled. "Your whole family's gonna leave you behind."

"Hey! You better reply to my texts this time!"

"Yeah, yeah!"

"Don't you 'yeah-yeah' me!"

"I swear I'll write you!"

"You butter!"

"Take care of yourself, dear," Blake said, embracing her eldest daughter.

"It's like Yuan said," Ingrid began, "we look after each other."

"Damn right," Sun said as he shook hands with Yuan. "You look after my little girl, ya hear?"

"Yes, sir," Yuan said.

"Hey, haven't you heard?" Leon said. "This guy already took a bullet for her."

"No shit!" Sun said. "Wait, when the fuck did this happen?"

"It's a long story," Ingrid said. "Now hurry up or you guys are gonna miss your flight!"

"Bye, Yuan!" Francine and Justine said as they embraced him from either side before Ingrid pried them off of him. "Bye sis!"

"See ya later, sis," Han said, giving her a high five before poking her in the side with his tail and making her growl at him.

"Wait!" Hollie yelled as she and Astor caught up to the party. "Oh my god, I thought we were gonna get left behind!"

"Peace out, y'all," Astor said, bumping fists with Leon and giving Ingrid a hug. "Hey, where's that beautiful blonde sister of yours?"

"Probably hanging out with her girlfriend," Leon said.

"I'd go look for her, but I can't make us miss our flight. Eh, tell her I said—" He made a heart shape with his hands.

Leon chuckled. "Okay, dude."

"Where the heck is Hillphire and his people?" Hollie said.

"I think that's them," Yuan said, looking up at the sky.

Hillphire and his two companions landed softly nearby before retracting their suits and walking up to them.

"Sorry about that," Hillphire said. "I just had to say goodbye to Ruby and Jaune."

"They're staying for a bit longer, right?" Nora said.

"Yeah. Oh, I just realized I never introduced all of you. These two are my teammates, Sara Windfield and Jerry Brimstone. And that one running this way is my cousin, Ariel. Also a Hillphire."

"Where's the fourth pilot?" Yuan said.

"Project Persephone's up in the flagship already," Sara said.

"I think I see Penny," Ingrid said, looking to the distance. "Yup, that's Penny."

"Oh, thank goodness," Penny said, panting as she stooped over. "I thought I was gonna miss you guys!"

"You do know we miss you, right?" Jerry said, giving her a wink.

She giggled. "You haven't changed one bit."

"And you're as beautiful as ever."

"Don't let Ariel hear you say that!"

He reddened. "I don't know what you're talking about."

She laughed before giving Hillphire a hug. "I'll see you when I see you, Liam," she said.

He gave her a smile, noticing Sara keeping her distance. Penny surely picked up on his awkwardness as well. Unlike Sara, though, Penny couldn't block out other people's emotions. He did his best to keep those less pleasant feelings from surfacing as he returned her embrace.

"You take care of them, Penny," Hillphire said, referring to the youngsters.

"I know," she said quietly. "I won't let anything happen to those kids."

—

"So," Athena said, sitting with Echo on a fountain as they watched the airships leave one after the other. "Your family never got to make it?"

"I don't think they ever planned on coming," Echo said. "It's not like our village was all that big to begin with. I don't think the signal from the towers even reaches us."

"That won't do. We'll deliver them our fight by hand if we have to. They've gotta see their daughter kicking ass with the best team in all of Beacon."

"I guess."

"C'mon. Why are you so down right now?"

"It's nothing."

"Hey."

Echo looked up. Athena was standing in front of her.

"I won't accept that."

"Sorry," Echo sighed. "I just...I haven't heard from them since spring semester started. They used to send e-mails pretty regularly, but after February, they just dropped off. I always figured it was because electronic communication is pretty expensive and they just wanted to save money, but I'm getting kinda worried."

"Why don't we go see them?"

"My village?"

"Yeah. One of the projects we have for our first semester this year is to do some unsupervised patrols further out, right? We can go straight to Headmaster Pine and request that spot for our team."

"Yeah. I guess."

They both looked over to Xanthus, who was on his scroll.

"His family couldn't make it out this year, too," Echo said.

"Yeah, he told me," Athena said. "His dad's pretty busy with all that smithing work."

"Which doesn't make any sense. You'd think he'd be out here to peddle all of his new weapons and stuff."

"Well, apparently he doesn't work independently anymore. Hillphire Innovations drafted him."

"Oh, wow."

"Yeah."

Upon hanging up his scroll, Xanthus joined the two girls.

"Was that your special lady?" Athena said, winking.

"Yes, actually," Xanthus said. "Who's more special than mother, after all."

"Aww!" both Athena and Echo said at the same time.

"Hey, where is Perseus?"

"Probably saying his byes to his family," Athena said.

"Oh, right. He's the only one from Vacuo. I hope he isn't taking all this political stuff too hard."

"There's no doubt he is," Echo said. "I mean, don't you remember how broken up he was when he found out that it might have been his people who nearly killed Ingrid and Yuan?"

"Yes, I remember."

"Let's go meet up with everybody else," Athena said. "He'll probably head there as soon as the shuttles have left."

—

Oscar oversaw the cleanup of Beacon and Vale after the Vytal Festival had finished. All of the major delegates and representatives had already returned to their respective kingdoms and he was left with Glynda, Qrow, and Tai to take charge.

"It's a good thing nothing crazy happened this time around," Qrow said.

"I dunno about that," Tai said. "That tournament was pretty crazy all on its own. From the exhibition match between Teams RWBY and JNPR to the first match of the year between Teams LILY and IVRY, and then the final match between Athena and Ivory."

"You must be proud of your granddaughter," Glynda said.

"Hell yeah I am. She got into a ring with Ivory Schnee and didn't die. That's a plus in my book."

Qrow chuckled. "You swear as if that kid was actually out for blood," he said.

"Well, I'm sure she gets that from her mom. I still remember watching videos on that fight in the courtyard between you and Winter! That was great!"

They both looked over at Glynda, who wasn't amused.

"I don't think she agrees," Qrow said.

"Well, she was the one who had to fix your mess!" Tai said.

"How long do you plan on staying, Tai?" Oscar asked.

"Long as you need me for. Signal's on summer break and so am I. Yang said she's stickin' around for a bit, too. Maybe I'll get caught up with the girls."

"And your estranged wife?" Qrow chuckled.

"Yeah, sure, why not?"

"Why don't the three of us grab a drink later, huh?"

"I thought you swore off alcohol when you settled down with that little lady of yours."

"I did swear off alcohol. You won't see any rubbing alcohol on me ever."

Tai laughed. "Okay, Qrow. Your kid was pretty good, by the way."

He didn't answer. He certainly was proud. He couldn't ask for more. He had a loving wife who was high ranking in society and a child who could carry on his legacy. He looked up at Tai, who winked at him.

"C'mon, stop that," Qrow said.

"Stop what?" Tai said. "Since when did you turn into the bashful type, huh?"

"Okay, you can fuck off now."

"Seriously, brother. I hope you took the time to give that young lady of yours a kiss before she took that shuttle back home."

—

Perseus stared at his scroll for a long time. It wasn't until someone bumped into him that he was taken out of his reverie and remembered what it was he was supposed to be doing. He had gotten a text message from Athena inviting him out. He hadn't responded yet. He dialed Lilly's number instead.

"Hey, what's up?" she said.

"Lilly," he began.

"What is it?"

"Can I talk to you? Alone, I mean."

"Yeah, hang on—"

"Wait, don't tell anybody else."

"Oh. Okay. I mean, sure. Where do you wanna meet up?"

"The café. Usual hangout."

"Is everything all right?"

"I hope so."

—

"What's the matter?" Yuan asked Lilly.

"Nothing," she said. "I just need to take care of something real quick before I join you guys."

"Does it have to do with, well, you know what?"

"Yeah. It'll be quick. I'll catch up to you."

She hurried back to campus, walking briskly to the café. Perseus was seated at one of the tables, already drinking coffee. There was a cup for her, too.

"I came as quickly as I could," she said, sitting down.

"I got you your favorite," he said, pushing her cup over to her.

"Oh, thank you," she said as she took a sip. "What was it you wanted to talk about?"

"The trips you've been making into that other world."

Her heart skipped a beat. There was no way he didn't notice that flinch, but she feigned ignorance nonetheless.

"Um, what are you talking about?" she said.

"You don't have to hide it, Lilly," he said, turning over his scroll to her to show a video of her popping into existence as she emerged from that parallel world. "This isn't the only one. Apparently, a lot of people have been keeping tabs on you."

She didn't reply.

"I also did some digging of my own. Seems like certain people have gone through major changes after you did whatever it was you did in that other world. Like Mizuki. I mean, when you told us that story, it was pretty crazy. But then you've been gone a lot, supposedly training with Penny. Looks like you have been training. Just not with Penny. Because I did ask her about that and she said you guys never did any training."

"Perseus," she began.

"You don't have to explain anything, Lilly. Why you do what you do isn't any of my business. But there is something. This...thing, this other world, they call it the Labyrinth."

"What?"

"It's apparently been known to some of the higher ups in the government for a long time. Since the, heh, Labyrinth War. Apparently, it's what they named the war after in the first place. Supposedly, during the final hours of the war the entire planet was sucked into this Labyrinth, which no one remembers, strangely. Then again, the people in the real world don't seem to be aware of your interventions, so I guess that's not a surprise."

"I don't understand. Why are you telling me all this?"

"Lilly," he said, squaring off with her. "My father has been part of this program, something to counteract the Labyrinths."

"Huh?"

"It's not just him. All of the kingdoms view the Labyrinth as some kind of threat, though the severity varies between kingdoms. Vale, Mistral, and Menagerie don't really view it as too much of an issue, but both Atlas and Vacuo are very concerned with it. Remember all those missing persons cases?"

She nodded.

"All because of these Labyrinths."

"So...what do you want from me?"

He hesitated, trying to formulate an answer in his head. "I want you to bring me with you."

"B-Bring you with me?"

He nodded. "You are the only one in the entire world who has the power to go in and out at will and even free the hearts of those trapped within. I don't want you to shoulder that kind of burden on your own anymore."

"But—"

"And before you go on about my safety and all that, isn't this what we enrolled at Beacon Academy for? To become soldiers in the fight against darkness? Sure, we joined with the expectation that we were gonna fight against the Grimm, but this is much bigger than any of that. And I don't wanna be left out of it. I also don't want to be known as the guy who let Lilly Schnee go into the Labyrinths all on her own and not even lift a finger to help her."

"But, I don't even know if you can follow me."

"It wouldn't hurt to try, would it?"

She looked down at the table. Perseus had a point. They did become Huntsmen-in-training for the purpose of protecting humanity. But this, what Perseus was asking for, it was far more than any normal human being could handle. The things she saw in that place, most people would not be able to sleep normally ever again. Even she was beginning to feel the weight pressing down on her from her repeated incursions.

But perhaps having a partner would ease that burden. After all, if she was able to accomplish all of those things on her own, two of them might be able to get twice as much done and save twice as many people. Perhaps she could even save everyone.

"Okay," Lilly said with no doubt in her mind.

Perseus let out a sigh of relief and then took a sip of his coffee. They sat in silence for a while.

"Hey," Lilly said.

"Hmm?"

"What's your home like?"

"You mean Vacuo?"

She nodded.

"Well, there's lots and lots of sand. Except for the actual city, though. My family's turned the capital into an oasis."

"Oh, that's so cool!"

"Huh?"

"My home town is called Oasis!"

He chuckled. "So, then, how do we do this thing?"

"First, I need to find a target."

"How do you even do that?"

"It's kind of...I can't really explain it, but it's all in my gut."

"You kinda feel them out?"

"Yeah. I don't really get how it works either. It just comes to me and I jump in."

"How do you even jump in?"

She shrugged. "I don't know that either."

He began laughing. "Wait, so you've been doing this all this time without a single clue as to what the hell you're even doing?"

"Pretty much."

"Shit. Like leader, like team, I guess."

They shared a chuckle.

"Look," Lilly began, "I don't want the others suspecting anything. Why don't you go out with them for now while I scope out a new target?"

"What about you?" he said.

"I'm gonna go check the news or something, see if I can find someone who probably has a Labyrinth."

—

"Where the fuck are those two?" Athena said.

"Watch your language!" Ruby yelled at her.

"Sorry, mom. But seriously, where are they?"

Echo's scroll rang and she looked at it. She responded to the text message quickly. "Perseus is on his way," she said. "Just finished saying 'bye' to his family."

"Oh, right, they have their own private shuttles," Leon said. "Jeez. But where the heck is Lilly?"

"She said she had some stuff to take care of back on campus," Yuan said.

"What stuff? We're all done with school for another whole month."

He shrugged, refraining from mentioning anything about her trips into that other world. That was something she made him promise to keep between himself and her. Even now she was probably running around in one, being a hero, the kind of hero none of them could ever hope to be.

"Here he is!" Leon said, bumping fists with Perseus as the latter passed behind his chair to sit between Xanthus and Athena.

"Thanks for saving me a seat," he said to his team.

"We weren't gonna leave your ass out," Athena said.

"Athena!" Ruby yelled again.

"Sorry, mom!"

"You got in trouble!" Leon said before his elder sister flicked an olive at his head.

"I propose a toast," Xanthus said, standing up. "To our wonderful coach, Penny, without whom we could never have gotten this far, and to our instructors, Professors Branwen and Goodwitch."

Everyone raised their glasses.

"You forgot one thing, Xanthus," Penny said, standing up with her own glass. "To the best two teams Beacon Academy has ever seen."

"Um, excuse me?" Ruby said, standing up with Yang.

"Yeah," Yang said. "You wanna fight?"

"Guys, guys," Jaune said, standing up. "We all know Team JNPR was the best team at Beacon."

"I think we'll take you guys up on that challenge," Athena said, standing with her glass in hand as well. "Right, Team APEX?"

"Hooah!" her team replied in unison as they stood with her.

"Well," Leon said, rising with his team, "our leader ain't here, but I think she'd appreciate us accepting this challenge."

"When you kids graduate," Raven said, standing with her brother and her estranged husband, "Team STRQ would be interested in testing your strength."

"Umm," Penny said, looking over at Glynda, who sat beside Oscar. "She doesn't look too thrilled about what we're doing right now."

"If you all create a mess here today," Glynda began, "I will not be the one to clean it up for you."

Oscar chuckled before standing up with his glass in hand. "A toast," he said. "To all of you. Heroes from the previous war and the next generation, who are showing themselves to be worthy of inheriting the mantle."

"Cheers!"

—

Leon: ur missin out on some goooood foooood dude!

Lilly: looool ur so lame

Leon: wru anywy?

Lilly: im on a secret mission!

Leon: o.O

Lilly: nvm lol ill tty about it l8r

Lilly pocketed her scroll before continuing her research. The school library's computers contained a wealth of information, including the most current of news. She continued scrolling down until she finally ran into what she figured was a strong candidate. Not everyone necessarily had a Labyrinth that she could walk around in. Such a phenomenon was reserved only for the most severe of cases, those with extreme depression like Mizuki, or those tormented by personal demons like that family she had just saved not too long ago. Even people like Yuan, who appeared normal on the outside, might have some kind of budding guilt that allowed a Labyrinth to form around their hearts.

Her target today was a young man who had lost his young wife to a terminal illness. Such a tragedy would undoubtedly tear anyone to pieces, but from what she was reading on news sites and social media accounts, he hadn't been seen at work in months, only ever leaving his apartment to visit her grave every Saturday. Lilly vowed at this moment that she would save him. She would make the preliminary incursion into his Labyrinth, scouting out the place and locating the core, where his inner self would be bound to the world with those grotesque, vein-like restraints.

I swear it, Lilly thought as she walked out of the library into Beacon Academy's quad. She walked to the front of the knight statue, facing the marble figure with equal gallantry in her stance.

"I swear I will save them all."