CHAPTER LIII
Fireflies
Penny continued to watch over the group as Lilly finished her report to Ariadne and the others in charge of the Coalition. There hadn't been any time for Teams LILY and APEX to catch up with their companion; there were more pressing matters at hand.
"We'll find your sister," she said to Astor, who had joined her in the gallery.
"I'm not super worried about her, to be honest," he said. "She's too tough to go down so easily. Besides, she's in home territory. Kinda gives her the advantage, know what I'm sayin'?"
She glanced over at the son of her old friends. He may have worn an attitude of reassurance, but she could pick up on all of the subconscious cues, not to mention her empathy Semblance. He was most certainly concerned for the well-being of his younger half-sister.
"Nevertheless, we're not giving up on her," Penny asserted.
"Thanks," he said, his shoulders rising up a little, as if some of the stress had just slid off.
"Okay," Athena said as the briefings concluded. "Now, the moment I think we've all been anticipating." She turned to Ariadne. "You, mom, and dad have all met Lilith, but the rest of us have only heard stories."
Lilly looked over at the only three in the room who had ever met her other self. Ariadne was adjusting her glasses.
"I don't see a problem," she said. "That's if she wants to meet everyone."
Many among the older generation became restless, a fact that both Lilly and Lilith didn't miss.
"Are you okay with it?" Lilly said quietly.
As long as they don't all attack us at the same time like Ruby and Jaune did.
"...I don't think they're gonna attack us."
Yang was the first to approach. "Hey, kiddo," she said. "I know you can hear me in there. From what my sister told me, you ain't half bad."
Lilly stood in thought for a moment before her light brown hazels were replaced by golden halos for an instant before returning to normal.
"Hi," Lilith said.
The rest of the room noticed the sudden change in their companion's demeanor. There was silence among them for a while, each one watching closely, waiting for something to happen. Echo walked forward, stopping a few feet from the first friend she had made at Beacon. Everything about her was familiar and foreign all at once.
"I remember you," Lilith said with a smirk. "My first kiss."
Echo gasped and reddened. "Oh, god, I totally forgot about that."
"Wait," Ingrid said. "Echo was your first kiss?"
"Yup," Lilith said. "And of course, Lilly is screaming in my head now to stop spilling all our secrets."
Leon began chuckling. "Is it really high pitched and super fast with no periods or commas?"
"Mm-hmm." She turned to him. "Oh, the one I've been dying to meet."
"Huh?"
"Here it comes," Perseus said.
"Here what comes?" Xanthus said.
"He's talking about Lilly and my brother," Athena said. "It's obvious the bond they share with each other. I mean, the other half of Team LILY is already a couple. It's time for the second half to do the same."
"C'mon!" said a bright red Leon.
"Well, half of our team is a couple, too," Xanthus said before turning to Perseus, who was grinning. "Uh, sorry, but I see you as a brother, not as a romantic partner."
"I see you as a brother, too, Xan-chan," he said.
Meanwhile, Ingrid, Echo, and Lilith looked on with their eyes wide open.
"Wait a minute," Lilith said, walking up to Ariadne. "Is your brother suggesting what I think he's suggesting?"
"I-I don't know what you're trying to insinuate," she said, cleaning her glasses rapidly.
Yuan was next to approach Lilith, sizing her up and down.
"Don't you already have a girlfriend?" Lilith said, putting a hand on her hip. "Not that I mind you checking me out. Hell, our whole group is pretty good-looking, don't you think? We all got that main character design."
Perseus chuckled. "Main characters, huh?"
"Hell yeah."
"I think I understand now," a familiar voice said from the door.
Team RWBY turned to face their old teammate.
"Weiss?" Ruby said, walking to her. "What are you doing here? I thought you were gonna stay home."
"I was," she said, "but I got curious about something. That whole day we spent with my daughter was full of weirdness, like the fact that she totally forgot how to garden, how she transformed into a piano virtuoso overnight, and acted like it was her first time ever meeting me. Well, it makes total sense now. That girl we spent that day with wasn't my daughter."
The word "shock" couldn't begin to describe the sentiment floating around the room right now.
"Weiss," Yang started, "what are you—"
"Don't give me that, Yang," she snapped. "You, Ruby, and Blake all knew that a Wraith was in my house that whole day, and yet none of you bothered to let me know."
Blake looked to her old teammate. Her bangs covered her eyes, but she could sense a mixture of pain, longing, and ire nonetheless.
"Mom," Lilly said as her eyes flashed gold. "I can explain—"
"Explain?" Weiss retorted. "Explain what? That you brought a Wraith into my house?"
"Mom! She's not just a Wraith! She's my Wraith!"
Weiss stared at her in confusion.
"You don't...you don't know what we've been going through these past two years. Lilith and I—"
"Lilith?"
She nodded. "We met earlier this year. Long story short, we struggled with each other for a bit and then ended up reconciling and walking the same path together. It's why we're both aware of what happens while the other one is in control of our body. It's also the reason why we both go through the Labyrinth together—"
"The Labyrinth?"
"Yes, mom. We've been going into that world. We all have. And we've been making a difference. At least, I think we have. I have to believe that we've been making a difference in people's lives, that the nightmares every night are worth living through because we're making the world a better place one Labyrinth at a time."
Weiss looked around at the entire room in total disbelief. "It sounds like I'm the only one here who has no idea what the hell has been going on all these years."
Ruby walked up to her. "We didn't wanna involve you anymore," she said. "You've been through so much already."
"And all for what?" she screamed. "So that my daughter—my only child—could go around that nightmare that is the World of Shadow?"
"You've known about that world?" Blake said.
"Of course I have! This, this—thing—I've been carrying around for twenty years, it knows things I can't possibly know. Runes, Primal Runes, gods, Nexuses, ley lines, Kameloth, the Knights of the Round Table, Albion—I don't even know what the hell these are!"
"Mom," Lilly sobbed. "Why? Why haven't you shared this with anyone?"
Weiss didn't answer, instead turning away.
Lilly's eyes flashed gold as Lilith came to the surface. She walked over to her mother, stopping only feet away from her.
"Mom," she said.
Weiss immediately noticed the difference in her tone and faced her.
"I know why you hate me so much."
"Don't you dare," Weiss growled.
"All right. I'll shut up about it. But I mean, you're not being fair right now. You don't know a thing about me other than that day we spent together. And let me explain that day real quick before you start swinging your sword at me. Like Lilly said, we reconciled a long time ago. The reason it was me that whole day instead of Lilly was because..."
She quickly suppressed the burgeoning emotions, but Weiss picked up on the effort. She let out a heavy sigh before continuing. "It was her being herself. I think you know what I mean by that. All our lives, I was only ever just watching from the other side. I knew what you looked like, what your voice sounded like, but..."
Her eyes flashed gold as Lilly took control. "She never knew what it felt to be held by our mom. I refuse to be like all of the other mages from Ecumene, subduing their other selves. I'll walk with her side by side. I promised her she would walk in the light with me, and that's what we're doing now. Mom, Lilith is me, just as I am Lilith."
Weiss continued to watch her daughter. She always knew her child to be quite strong-willed, something she definitely inherited from the Schnee side, but today the resolve overflowed from her heart. Though the very thought of her daughter bearing a Wraith made her blood boil, she knew better than to take out her frustration on her only child.
"Lilith," she said aloud.
Lilly's eyes flashed gold as the other one surfaced, but Lilith said nothing, watching and waiting for her mother to act. Weiss stepped forward, stopping at arm's length. She reached out tentatively, resting her hand on her daughter's cheek. Lilith was warm, the opposite of what she had expected. Her eyes weren't filled with malevolence, but yearning, and a profound ache that Weiss couldn't quite understand.
But perhaps, in due time, she could come to understand.
She let out a heavy sigh, giving her daughter a small nod. Lilith nodded in return before Weiss pulled her close, embracing her with mild hesitation.
"Sorry we didn't tell you," Lilith said.
Weiss didn't respond, not verbally anyway. She had a long way to go before she could trust something called a Wraith, but everything she knew about her kind was being proven wrong with each moment she spent holding her.
"Weiss," Yang said, approaching the two. "We should probably talk. You've been missing out on a lotta shit."
"That's obvious," Weiss said, facing her old teammates.
"Wait," Ruby began, "before we do, are you ready?"
"Yeah," Blake said. "This means you'll be back in the fold, you know."
"My daughter has been gallivanting around the Labyrinth all this time," Weiss said. "So have the other kids. What kind of failure would I be if I didn't step up to the plate?"
Ruby smiled at her before giving her a big hug. "I've missed my old combat partner," she said.
"Me, too," Weiss said, returning the smile.
—
Leon sighed as he walked to the balcony that overlooked the town just outside Castle Vytal. Ingrid, Astor, and Athena were already hanging out at one of the tables, sharing snacks and some ice cream.
"Ice cream in this weather?" Leon said.
"Lilly's back, so yeah," Athena said.
Ingrid chuckled. "The hell is that supposed to mean?"
"Man," Astor began, leaning back against the stone banister. "That shit was super tense."
"The whole thing with Lilly's mom?" Athena said. "Yeah, it was. I honestly expected Weiss to start swinging, but I guess she figured that beating up her daughter wouldn't really accomplish anything."
Leon sighed. "I know mom and dad and the others have already explained that whole Wraith business twenty years ago, but still. They can see that our Wraith-Knights haven't done anything other than help us. And Lilith is totally different from what I expected from their stories about her dad's Wraith."
"That's exactly it," Ingrid said. "It was her dad's Wraith that threatened the whole world twenty years ago."
"Yeah," Athena said. "Kinda prejudiced if you ask me, but still. I get it."
"I dunno," Astor said. "Haven't you guys kinda proven yourselves already? Lilith, too, from all those reports and stuff."
"Never change, man. I love how simple you take everything."
"I'm being serious. I honestly think Lilly's mom was overreacting a bit."
Athena looked at the ground for a moment. There was more to the story. She was sure of that. Her conversation with her Aunt Yang a while back hinted at something deeper than just a threat to the world. Something happened with Bedivere's Wraith all those years ago that wounded everyone so deeply that they can't even talk about it.
"You look like you're thinking about something," Leon said.
"It's nothing," she lied. "Anyway, we should probably head back in. Sun's startin' to set and it's already getting stupid cold."
"Yo, Christmas is in two days," Astor said. "Fuck! Christmas is in two days!"
"Somebody hasn't bought gifts yet," Ingrid laughed.
"Like you've had the time to buy anything," Leon chuckled.
"We've been busy saving whole countries, all right?"
"I miss this," Athena said.
"Same," Astor said. "Shit was a lot simpler when we were at Signal. Also, you three are still together anyway, so I dunno what you're complaining about. I'm the one that got frickin' exported."
Ingrid chuckled. She was going to add to the conversation when her cat ears perked up.
"What's up?" Leon said.
"You guys hear that?" she said, looking to the castle.
"Unlike you, the rest of us don't hear in surround sound," Athena said.
Ingrid turned to her and snarled.
—
Lilly walked into Castle Vytal's grand hall. Someone was playing at the piano. There was only one possibility. After all, she had been listening to this playing her whole life. She recognized the musicality any day, the gentle way in which her fingers touched the keys, but without losing strength in each stroke, the phrasing of her melody, how some notes were held just an eighth of a beat longer than the composition called for. These were the colors of her mother's music, pure white and serene blue.
Weiss made eye contact with her daughter from over the open piano lid, but she continued her playing. Lilly recognized the piece, the opening to Glassworks by Philip Glass. This particular piece always had the tendency to stop her in her tracks. The way in which the music was so repetitive and lacked tonal resolution gave Lilly a sense of timelessness. It seemed to her to be silly at first with how simple the composition was, but the more her mother played it over the years, the more profound it became. It didn't take long for this particular piece to take its place in her top ten favorite compositions of all time.
Her mother ended the piece at that same note Lilly had memorized so long ago. They watched each other for a few minutes, with no words exchanged. Only eye contact and body language communicated each one's intentions. Weiss never faltered in her stance, sitting on the piano bench perfectly upright, while Lilly was much more uncertain, shifting her weight between each foot repeatedly, her shoulders low, hands clasped together.
"You still remember how to play, don't you?" Weiss asked.
Lilly nodded quickly.
"Play something for me."
The younger one paused for a moment.
"Is Lilith talking in your head?"
She nodded.
"Let's hear it, then."
Lilly's eyes flashed gold and her posture instantly became much more resolute, but like Lilly, she said nothing.
"Ingrid's got both your tongues, it seems," Weiss said.
Lilith looked to the side in confusion for a moment before she turned back to her mother with a dry look on her face.
"It's amazing how much you can communicate without even opening your mouth."
"Really?" Lilith said. "Ingrid?"
"Mm-hmm. You know, cuz she's—"
"Yeah, a cat Faunus, and she's got my tongue—mom, that was really bad."
Weiss smiled to herself, pleased at the damage she had just inflicted. Lilith rolled her eyes before spotting a violin off to the side. She picked it up, plucking all four strings and then fine-tuning them before grabbing the accompanying bow.
"Why the hell would they just leave it on display like this?" Lilith mumbled as she tensioned the bow and then applied rosin to the hairs. "Ugh, it's dusty. At least the strings aren't all rusted."
"Did you learn the violin while I wasn't looking?" Weiss said, watching her daughter's Wraith with amusement.
"Not much to do in the World of Shadow back in Oasis. It was never anywhere near as crazy as the one in Vale and everywhere else."
"So, what, you just went around and shopped for a violin?"
She shook her head. "You did that, remember? When I was six. The first instrument you wanted me to learn was the violin, since you played piano and could be my accompanist, but Lilly has really short attention span and gets excited way too easily and wanted to play the same instrument as you."
Weiss turned away from her daughter, suppressing laughter. "Why do I hear her voice echoing in your head right now?"
"Because that's exactly what's happening."
I don't have a short attention span!
"You so have a short attention span."
No, I don't!
"Then, how do you explain the fact that you've completely forgotten about the Tonarelli Guarneri sitting in a dusty case underneath your bed? Or that you remember absolutely zero music theory even though mom started teaching you when you turned seven? Or that you hop from Chopin to Liszt to Rachmaninoff and then back to Chopin again because you can't learn anything that lasts longer than five minutes?"
Weiss continued to restrain her laughter, but she fixated on something Lilith had mentioned. "Oh, goodness," she gasped. "I'd completely forgotten that I even bought you that Guarneri."
"So did other me," Lilith sighed.
You're being so mean!
"How much did you pay for that thing, anyway?"
"It wasn't as expensive as other Guarneri violins, since Tonarelli was just getting started making a name for himself, but he's pretty well-established as being one of the best luthiers worldwide by now. Maybe it's worth even more today since it was one of his first violins."
"Well, how 'bout it, then?"
"Hmm? Oh. How much did you actually learn on the violin?"
Lilith shrugged. "We could play Chopin's First Ballade as usual. Do you know Ysaÿe's arrangement?"
"It shouldn't be that difficult to simplify the piano parts to be the accompaniment."
Weiss started the music on the piano and Lilith joined with her violin shortly after. It was the first time Lilly had ever heard this arrangement in her life. The piece was familiar to her since it was one of her mother's favorite pieces to play on Sundays, but there was an extra layer of depth to the music with the violin playing the melody instead of the piano.
Unbeknownst to the mother-daughter duo, they had an audience. Teams LILY and APEX were situated up in the balcony along with Ariadne and Astor.
"The Schnee family certainly is quite musically talented," Ariadne said.
"Yeah," Leon said. "Ivory plays the piano, too. And their three younger cousins are all learning violin and cello so they can all eventually play in a quartet together."
"Mom says Weiss also sings," Athena said.
"You know," Astor began, "I don't really listen to classical music, but this song is really...hmm. I don't know how to describe it. It's super complex, to be honest."
"I feel a lot of longing," Echo said.
"Same," Ingrid said. "There's a lot of pain in the music, but I also feel hope in some parts."
"Not at the end, though," Athena said, to which Leon nodded. "This part feels almost like a dirge."
"Yup," Leon said. "At around the four-minute point, there was this point of desperation and then uplift, like, I'm at my wit's end, but you swooped in to rescue me."
"And then that last section hits," Astor said. "That's beyond desperation. It's like everything's falling apart again."
"Leave it to the three musicians here to be able to describe what we're listening to," Ingrid chuckled.
Mother and daughter held their postures for a few moments as their final notes landed. They let the silence linger for a while longer before Lilith let out a heavy breath.
"I think I may have a new favorite arrangement of my favorite piece," Weiss said.
"Me, too," Lilith said. "And Lilly agrees."
"So, we haven't had a chance to talk at all about you. I mean, you are supposed to be another side of Lilly, right? And yet here you are, a virtuoso at both violin and piano, while Lilly is, well, like you said, a bit scatterbrained."
Mom!
Lilith chuckled.
Weiss tilted her head. "Huh. I could swear she just called out to me."
"It was more like whining than anything. Anyway, she probably really is that good, it's just that she holds herself back. I'm the part of her that doesn't give a shit about anything. If I wanna do it, I'll do it. I don't need that extra push from the outside that Lilly does."
"That sounds accurate. So, then, you learned all this music while in the other world, did you?"
"You guys did leave sheet music lying around a lot. I kinda just picked up whatever was there and started playing. Like I said, there's not really much to do in Oasis's World of Shadow. Something about that place is really peaceful, like, unnaturally so."
I think it's the same reason why it never snows there.
"Yeah, I think so, too."
"Hmm?" Weiss said.
"Lilly thinks whatever keeps the snow away also keeps all the bad juju away."
"Oh."
Lilith watched her mother as she took on a faraway look. There was something she was keeping from them, something she wasn't ready to share just yet. Both girls wanted to ask about it, but after their confrontation not too long ago, they decided together that it was better to keep the peace.
"Mom, I'm sorry."
Weiss turned to her daughter.
"We both are, I mean. For keeping my existence from you."
Weiss stood up from the piano, walking briskly to her daughter, stopping at arm's length. She looked into her little girl's light brown hazel eyes for a few moments, eyes she inherited from him. And then, she stepped forward and embraced her daughter tightly. Lilith's eyes widened.
"No," Weiss began, barely keeping her voice from quavering. "I should be the one to apologize. You're her Wraith. You've spent your entire existence in that other world, a world full of darkness and loneliness, and yet I was a heartbeat away from outright denying you, just because of what you represent."
"Mom..."
"Lilith. You are my daughter, just as much as Lilly is. My only regret...is that I did not come to the knowledge of your existence sooner. You...you shouldn't have had to spend nearly your whole life in that world."
Lilith returned her mother's embrace. The latter was trembling as she held her child. Neither of the girls could even begin to imagine what might be going through their mother's heart, but the ache was tangible, even though Weiss wasn't one to so openly show it.
Weiss held her daughter at arm's length. She didn't bother to wipe away the tears that had been forming.
"Mom," Lilith began, "your eyes."
"It's fine," she said.
It was the first time the girls had ever witnessed their mother cry without any attempt at hiding it.
"It's good for you girls to know your mom is only human. I can get overwhelmed, too, you know."
Lilith's face twisted into a grimace before her eyes flashed gold. Lilly was in an identical emotional state and she lunged at her mother, crying aloud.
"No!" she wailed. "You're supermom!"
Weiss couldn't help but chuckle quietly. "You've always come up with the weirdest ideas."
The two spent some time in each other's arms, Lilly outright bawling while Weiss let tears fall soundlessly. Twenty years ago, that other Wraith may have caused her indescribable heartache, but this Wraith in her arms was not the same one from back then. This was her daughter, someone she would give her life for, the last thing she had left of the man she loved with all her heart.
The stillness proved to be evanescent. Teams APEX and LILY were running at them full speed.
"Whoa," Weiss said to the youngsters. "What's gotten into all of you?"
"Wait," Lilly said, wiping away tears. "Were you guys watching all of that?"
"Yeah," Athena panted. "You guys are really good musicians. Anyway, forget about that for now. We just got word from the command room. Something's headed our way."
"Something?" Weiss said. "Could you be more vague?"
Lilly's eyes flashed gold as Lilith turned in one direction. She looked over at Echo.
"Is your Semblance going crazy?" she asked.
Echo returned her gaze. "How did you know?"
"Because something's coming this way. Something big."
"Echo?" Xanthus said.
"She's right," Echo said. "I just can't figure out what it is. It's all been really weird ever since we got exposed to all this magic business. Our Wraith-Knights give me a weird, white noise sorta feeling, same as the ambient buzzing in the Labyrinth. And then there's this Nexus underneath the castle. I've been getting strange vibes from it, too, similar to the Labyrinth, but not quite."
"And it's getting worse," Ingrid said.
"Yes," Yuan said, holding up his hands as runes appeared on them.
"What the hell?" Astor said, looking at everyone's hands. "Guys, runes are showing up on all your hands."
"We're not in the Labyrinth," Xanthus said, "and yet our magic is activating."
"Damn it," Lilith said, rushing out of the hall. "This isn't good! C'mon! Everyone, we have to get ready for a war!"
