This is a tribute to the late Monty Oum the genius behind RWBY.
"It was supposed to be simple. He was going to exterminate a Grimm nest with a group of Vale's best hunters and huntresses. Then, why is he gone!?" Nora shouted as she felt her face turn red tears trying to escape her eyes. She was standing in Ozpins's office at the top of the schools tower angry that he was the main reason the Ren was gone. He was the one that said he was one of the best student in the whole academy because he was able to kill a king taiju alone with his bare hands at initiation. Ozpin said that the risk was minimal at worst because of the fact that he was in a group of ten of the best students that he handpicked from other academies that want this particular nest eradicated before it grew too large.
"Ms. Valkyrie you must understand that there were factors that were unforeseen including the fact there were new types of Grimm that have not been identified yet. Even if they were would have not changed the fact they were overwhelmingly out numbered. If I knew even one of those facts as I do now I would have sent in professionals instead of the group of top students from all combat schools." He stopped looking for the words to help comfort the grieving teen in front of him but he knew better. There was nothing he could say or do to make her feel better. She was going to hate and resent him for this until she either realized that this was the world we lived in. That there was always a risk that he might not come back from a mission and that we are walking on thin rope as we protect others from the Grimm and that we can fall at any time if we aren't careful.
"Nora…" Over the years Ozpin has had this conversation four times so far since he was headmaster and it has never once become easy to him. These were children dying because of his blunders and he is remind of that everyday seen teams of three roam the hall of Beacon reminding him that the fourth member was gone because of him.
"What!? Your sorry is that it!? Nora snapped at the man in front of her. Right now all she wanted to do was to smash him to an unrecognizable pulp, but she knew better. That she would mostly likely lose against an experienced huntsman and in the end that it accomplish nothing. Ren was gone and nothing that she or anyone else could do to bring him back and now she had live with a regret for the rest of her life. The regret that she never told him how she felt about him and now never will be able to now. After that thought it came crumbling down the castle that she ruled over was now crumbling apart at the seams and her knight in shining armor was now nowhere to be found to save her this time.
"I'm sorry. I just I just don't know what to do without him." Nora pleaded as she fell to her knees crying into her hands.
Ozpin placed his cane onto the floor so that he could place his arms around Nora and embrace her in a hug." Let go of me! It's all your fault! You're the reason that he's gone!" Nora struggled against him but break his embrace. "It's all your fault." Nora whispered as she stopped trying to get away from Ozpin, but instead started crying into his shoulder. This was a nightmare that she couldn't wake up from no matter how much she wanted to. They spent five minutes on the floor until Ozpin let go and decided to help her stand on her feet.
"Nora I have been a huntsman for years and have lost many a friend to the Grimm so that the city of Vale can sleep at night without fear. Every day I see students train to be what I have become and there are days that I wish that all the students would have chosen a different path in life that wouldn't lead them into the dangers of being a huntsman and huntresses. But, that a wish that can't be granted so all I can do is ask the staff as well as myself to teach them to the best of our ability and hope that it will be enough for them." Ozpin as hocked up his cane from the floor and stepped back as from Nora. She had calmed down considerably in the last five minutes. "So are you going to be ok?"
"Yeah I'm going to be ok." Nora as she wiped her eye on last time. She started to feel a bit better than how she felt at the beginning of this meeting. A part of her still felt that she should blame Ozpin, but she knew that anger was misplaced that it's wasn't entirely his fault. He didn't know the dangers that were hidden within the nest if he did Ren would be alive and making her pancakes. Nora began to go towards to her dorm so that she can talk to Jayne and Pyrrha about the future of their team.
"If you ever need to talk I will be here." Ozpin returned to his desk looking over reports and paperwork that was related to the extermination mission. He has millions of these reports but the one that had student or friends as casualties were the hardest ones to fill out. "I'm going to need another cup of coffee"
Nora walked down the halls of Beacon for some the reason the hall light seemed dimmer than before but, she saw some of them being changed when she went to Ozpin office. After walk a bit more she meet some classmates from her classes. They asked if she was ok. She answered "That she was ok and that she wanted to be alone for a while." trying to give a cheerful smile that she always had. They knew the smile was fake but they didn't say anything and nodded as they went to their next class. Finally, Nora had reached her dorm and opened the door.
The room was quiet as Jaune and Pyrrha just sat next to each other in silence. It was apparent that they had grieved after she had left for Ozpin's office. Ozpin wanted to see her first since he knew that she was going to take the news the hardest and wanted to make sure that she would be ok.
"So are guys ok?" Nora questioned as she went and sat on her bed on the facing the saddened teammates.
"Yeah Nora were ok." Jaune almost whispered as he just looked down at the floor not even attempting to lift his head to make eye contact. He has spent the last hour questioning himself why did this have to happen. Jaune always thought if anyone on his team was going to die it was going to be him, but hear that one of his best friends had died sent him a giant reality check. Even if you're a grant hunter or huntress that your time can be up at any moment.
The whole room stayed quiet for a moment. It was a only a minute before someone decided to break the silence.
"So when's the funeral?" Pyrrha asked her voice having a slight hint of sadness still attached to it.
"It's at three o'clock." Nora answered as she begun to lay into her bed trying to absorb everything that has happened too her in the last few hours. The day was quiet for the rest of the day almost no one talked just doing things in silence maybe trying to heal in their own ways while keeping their eyes on Nora to make sure she was ok. The next day all three of them, team RWBY and team CFVY attended as Ren's body was being laid to rest. The funeral was simple in that everyone got to say their goodbyes, people telling story of their adventure with Ren some of them showing sides of Ren that not expected her had. By the end everyone had shed a few tears and had a few laughs and went on to get ready for another day, another day without him but with every day it was going to get a little easier to go on and live.
A month had passed since Ren had died. Everyone had begun to go about their days normally worrying about classes, grades and what not. Even Nora had returned to her cheery self once again. They have recently begun to go on missions doing surveillance on Grimm nests and after every mission Nora always left for an hour to come back with her eyes a little red. Whenever she was confronted she always said "It was nothing and that she was fine".
Where does Nora go
Nora left for the gravesite that Ren was buried at. She always walked to the graveyard while thinking about her recent mission. That was until she gets to Ren tombstone. "So guess what we went another surveillance mission again. Jaune almost fell out the tree that he was using to watch the grimm so Pyrrha had to pin him to the tree until all the Grimm left." Nora smiled a bit but ultimately frowned as she looked at the engraved stone in front of her." Ren I love you and I am sorry that I was not brave enough to tell you how I felt until now. You were my best friend that I could share everything with but I still couldn't tell you in the end. If I knew that was going to happen I would told the second I knew the way I felt about you .I'm sorry Ren." A small amount of tears fell. Her eyes always started tearing up before she left for the day. Before, she left she touched the top of the tombstone. "Boop" Nora started to walk away heading to Beacon to ready for classes tomorrow. "See you later Ren." She whispered as she started to go back to her normal cheery self as she walked to back to school knowing that Ren would be with her every step of the way.
Please review good or bad. If there are any mistakes tell me and I'll fix them as soon as possible. This the first and hopefully last time I write something like this.