Chapter 5: Lilium

Why does it always rain on sad days? Ruby thought as she stood in one of the courtyards of Beacon with her team by her side. Team RWBY, as well as most of the other teams, were wearing black; today was the day after Cardin died, and Ozpin insisted on holding a funeral ceremony for him. Ruby had even discarded her red cloak for the day. Everyone was standing silently, waiting for the ceremony to begin.

The doors behind them opened, and out walked team CRDN and Jaune; they were carrying Cardin on Jaune's and Pyrrha's shields. Their faces were grim, their clothes dark, and Cardin's body had been cleaned up as much as possible to make him appear to be resting peacefully. The four men marched slowly through the center aisle that parted the people in attendance and approached a large pyre in the center of the courtyard. There was no way they could give Cardin a proper burial, so they decided to send him off in flames; a funeral fit for a king, some would say.

They stopped before the pyre and set down their shields before gently raising Cardin's body to the center of what would soon be aflame. Ozpin stood before the crowd, his face somber. "It is a dark day," he began. "But this is the life that we have chosen. Risk comes with being a hunter and a huntress. I wish I could tell you that you will always survive a mission. I wish I could protect you all as though you were my own children. I cannot." He paused, taking in a deep breath. "Cardin was not an ideal student. He was brash, and often disagreeable. He was far from being a role model. But, he was a good warrior, far more intelligent than he ever let on, and he was honorable. He died for his honor; a cause worth dying for. He made a promise, and he saw to it that he would keep that promise to the very end. We should all be proud of him, and remember him as a hero."

He looked into the eyes of his students...no, not students. They were huntsmen and huntresses now. All of them were full of tears, fear, and sadness. "Would anyone else like to say a few words?" he asked finally. None approached. "Very well." Glynda stepped forward and handed him a torch. The oils that would be burning would not be extinguished by the falling rain.

He was about to place the torch onto the pyre when Yang stepped forward. "Wait!" she shouted. "Let me do it." Ozpin met her gaze and nodded sullenly, stepping back. He offered the torch to her, but she refused. She knelt in front of the pyre. "I made you promise to save Velvet," she whispered. "You kept that promise. I...I'm sorry though. I'll send you off, Cardin, with my own power." She channeled her aura into her right palm, focusing her semblance. She wasn't used to having this level of control over her flames; they were usually much more chaotic, and only controlled when she used Ember Celica. Due to the amount of concentration, she was getting tired, but finally she had it controlled enough to hold a small ball of flame in her hand.

She threw it onto the pyre, and Cardin went up in flames. She closed her eyes and let the heat wash over her, warming her from the cold rains. Weiss's voice began to reach her ears; she was singing.

"Os iusti meditabitur sapientiam,
Et lingua eius loquetur indicium.

Beatus vir qui suffert tentationem,
Quoniqm cum probates fuerit accipient coronam vitae.

Kyrie, fons bonitatis.
Kyrie, ignis divine, eleison.

O quam sancta, quam serena,
Quam benigma, quam amoena esse Virgo creditur.
O quam sancta, quam serena,
Quam benigma, quam amoena,
O castitatis lilium."

Yang didn't know the song, but it was beautiful to her ears. She tried not to cry during the ceremony, but the song pushed her over the edge as she released the tears that she had been fighting. The fire was burning high, but the only thing she could hear was Weiss's voice. Not the rain, not the crying, not even Ozpin's consolations; just the music.

Roman was laying on a couch in his room. Wasn't much of a room, really. It was a small classroom that could hold roughly twenty students, but it hadn't been used in a while. As such, he had claimed it for his living space some time ago, moving a couch and a mini fridge into the room. Here he lay, sprawled out on his couch, smoking a cigar. His coat and hat were on a nearby rack; he didn't want to go do anything today. He went to the funeral, but being what it was had left him feeling depressed.

He heard a knock on the door. Part of him wanted to yell "Fuck off!", but on the off chance that it was important, he answered, "It's open." The door opened and revealed a certain petite figure that he'd come to know. However, she was still lacking her one feature that usually stuck in Roman's mind; her favorite color.

"You okay?" Ruby asked, concerned.

"Just peachy," was his sarcastic reply. "What do you want, Red?"

"My name's not Red."

"That's not an answer to my question."

Ruby sighed. "I just wanted to check in on you. I was kind of worried."

"You're worried about me?" He almost wanted to laugh.

"Well, yeah. It doesn't take a perceptive person to see that you're bothered by what happened yesterday."

He wanted to lie, or say something sarcastic. He decided against it; he wasn't in the mood for toying with Ruby. "Who wouldn't be?" He looked over at her. "Lemme guess; you thought that I'd be okay with it because of who I am, right?"

Ruby looked away, as if ashamed. "I honestly don't know what I expected from you. I guess I'm just shocked that you took it this hard."

Roman sighed as his head came crashing back down to the cushion of the couch. "Have a seat," he told her, making room for her by moving his legs. Ruby nodded and sat down, and she was surprised when Roman put his legs back where they had been, only now they were on top of Ruby's legs. Before she could protest, he began talking again. "How are you feeling about it, Red?"

"I'm...I guess I'm just as shocked as everyone else. No one expected him to die."

"Not even you?"

"No. Velvet was supposed to die yesterday. Yang told me what happened. She warned Cardin about Velvet and made him promise to keep her safe."

"Tell me, Red; what would his fate have been if events had played out like they were supposed to?" he asked.

"Cardin...he would have died in the same battle that Blake and I die in. Over a year from now."

"A year, huh?" Roman stared at the ceiling. "I don't want that day to happen."

"Nothing's changed," Ruby said sadly. "Velvet lived instead of Cardin, but she'll probably die in that battle like Cardin would have."

"Does your knowledge of the future not change as conditions are altered?"

"No. It was just the one dream...I guess I should start calling it a premonition, huh?" She offered a weak smile.

"You said," Roman started. "You said that I live, right? That I witness your death?" Ruby nodded. "I'll try my best to help until then, I suppose. God only knows what's going to happen in the next year now that conditions have been altered."

"What do you mean?"

"You knew this was coming. By telling everyone before hand, you gave them at least a week's head start. I probably would still be working for Cinder right now. In your premonition I probably didn't join you for several weeks, or even months, right?" She nodded again. "Then even you don't know what's going to happen from here on out. Too much has changed already." He raised himself up and offered Ruby the cigar he was smoking. "Isn't that a good thing?"

She stared at the cigar. "I'm not doing that again," she said bluntly.

He shrugged. "More for me." He inhaled deeply. "My point is, Red, that we have to focus on the now. Worry about later when later comes." Another knock came from the door. "What?" Roman called.

Sun entered and paused, seeing the position that Roman was seated with his legs draped over Ruby's. "Am I...interrupting something?"

"Not quite. Bit too young for me. What's up?" Ruby blushed, and a slight wave of anger and frustration washed over her.

Sun nodded. "I'm ready to learn how to fly."

Roman stood and donned his coat and hat. "I'll talk to you later, Red. We've got work to do." The two men left the room and closed the door, leaving Ruby alone.

She shook her head in frustration. "I swear, conversations with that man give me a headache!" she exclaimed.

Heavy grunts and gasps for air echoed throughout Beacon's gym. It was empty with the exception of Yang sparring with a punching bag. Her mind was clear, focusing on nothing but the bag of sand that hung before her as her fists collided into it at full force. She wasn't wearing sparring gloves, and had torn skin off of her knuckles in the process; the white punching bag was quickly getting stained with small blotches of blood with every impact.

This is why she came here; to forget about Cardin and his funeral. However, his face would come into her mind every time she took a break to catch her breath; as such, her breaks started becoming far and few in between. She never liked Cardin, and she could even argue that she hated him, but she wasn't a monster. No matter how much she disliked someone, she never liked the concept of wishing true ill upon someone, let alone death. Even Roman, who had once shot her little sister, was not the subject of such whims and wishes from Yang. Granted, she did want to pummel him and break his face, but she would never put his life at risk.

She tried to reason that Velvet was an innocent soul and that she of all people deserved life, but she couldn't justify trading one life for another in her mind. It seemed as though fate had intended that one should live and one should die; Yang only altered the roles that the two lives would play, thus changing who lived and who died. In her mind, no one should have that much influence.

Yang continued to punch away at the sandbag, her knuckles dripping more and more blood, when she heard a frightened gasp. "Yang!" cried the voice of Blake, who had just entered the gym. She was most likely searching for Yang. "Yang, stop!" she yelled as she ran over and forcibly grabbed Yang's arms.

"No!" Yang protested. "I need this!" Even though she verbally argued against Blake, she was far too exhausted to really fight back.

"Yang, you're hurting yourself," Blake voiced calmly, carefully pulling Yang to a nearby bench. She forced Yang to sit down, who found that upon finding rest her legs refused to let her stand up. Blake gave Yang a sad, sympathetic look. "Let me see these." She gently grabbed Yang's hands and looked over her partner's wounds. She sighed and walked over to a nearby first aid station that hung on the wall before returning with a box of disinfectant and bandages.

"Don't-"

"Shut up," Blake said sternly. "If you aren't going to act like the big sister you are, then I will. You need to clean these wounds up, or you're going to develop an infection in your knuckles." Without saying another word, Blake quickly cleaned Yang's hands and wrapped half of her hand and fingers in bandages. Fastening the last bandage, Blake finally smiled. "There, all better." She looked up to see Yang's sad face.

"It's all my fault," Yang whispered.

"Yang, don't do this."

"It's all my fault, Blake. If Ruby hadn't told me what was going to happen I'd have been oblivious to it. Velvet would have died and we'd all be sad, but we'd know that she died a noble death. Cardin died because I told him about it. He took my words, promised to protect Velvet at all costs, and died fulfilling the promise he made to me."

"Yang."

"I've never felt so awful in all my life. Not even when mom died. I felt horrible then, but I knew that it wasn't my fault. I'm guilty for Cardin's death."

"Yang," Blake repeated.

"There's nothing I can do to atone for what I've done." Yang was about to go on, but Blake slapped her face, causing her head to jerk to the right.

She turned to look at Blake, who was now in tears. "You be quiet right this instant, young lady!" she said, forcing an angry tone. "This is not your fault!"

"But I told him-"

"That Velvet would die. He was reckless, afraid that he would break his promise and wasn't willing to risk Velvet for an instant. He may have hated her, but he refuses to break a promise, Yang. He may have been too reckless about it, but he died fighting for his beliefs, and he died a hero. The only thing you are guilty of is regretting his death rather than honor him." Blake grabbed Yang's wrist. "What you're doing right now is self destructive. How do you think your sister would feel is she saw you right now?"

Yang looked away, feeling ashamed. "She's a team leader now. She's stronger than she looks."

"And she's weaker than you give her credit for. As team leader, she's supposed to be strong, Yang." The blonde brawler had to meet Blake's gaze again. "Deep down, I know she's still a scared little girl who's facing her worst nightmare."

"Blake...I..."

"Yang, I know how you feel. I'm a faunus! I've experienced pain and loss; some were family, others acquaintances I barely knew, but the loss was no less severe or less real. Right now, you need to accept what has been done, and put it away. Lock it down deep inside your heart."

Yang was appalled. "Are you telling me to forget about it?"

"No! Never forget, Yang!" Blake replied sternly. "Always remember those who we've lost, but don't let them distract you." Blake inhaled deeply to help herself calm down; it had the added effect of helping Yang calm down. "Ruby may be good at pretending to be strong, but she still needs her big sister's support. She may not say it, but she looks up to you like a mother at times."

"M-mother?"

Blake nodded. "She needs you to be strong, Yang. Or else her own strength will diminish and fade...and the rest of team RWBY will fade with her."

Yang stared at her bandaged fingers. Images of Ruby as a young, little girl flashed through her head, and she remembered how she supported her frantic and distraught sister after their mother died. She looked back at Blake, who was now smiling at her. Yang could only smile back and nod. She had a baby sister to support, and she felt silly for forgetting, even if only for a moment.

Ruby stood watch on the wall, deciding that she would be the only member of her team to do so on this day. She watched the woods worriedly as the sounds of Grimm continued to echo between the trees. Somewhere in there is the corpse of the Ursa that killed Cardin, and there were hundreds more to take its place, unlike Beacon, which had a finite number of huntsmen and huntresses. The rain continued to pour, but Ruby was wearing her cloak now to protect herself from the elements.

Ruby was so focused on her watch duty that she didn't notice Weiss approach her until she felt the heiress's finger tap her shoulder. "Hm?" Ruby asked.

Weiss was wearing her usual attire, with the addition of a white coat to protect against the cold that the rain brought, and she was carrying a plastic bag and an umbrella. "You've been out here for a few hours. I thought I'd bring you something to eat," Weiss explained softly.

Ruby nodded a thank you and accepted the plastic bag. Weiss stood with her, driving the rain away with her umbrella as Ruby rummaged through the bag, producing a can of coffee and a ham sandwich. It wasn't much, but Ruby was thankful that Weiss had thought to bring her this much.

She began to nibble at the sandwich when Weiss spoke up. "That sound...it's horrifying."

Ruby turned to face the forest. "It gets worse," she added. "Much worse."

"I don't like the sound of that." Weiss sighed. "But as long as we have hope, we can outlast it, I'm sure."

That comment made Ruby consider something; something she hadn't thought since her mother died. "Weiss, do you think that Cardin is somewhere else right now?"

Weiss turned to Ruby. "What do you mean?"

"Do you think...that there's a life after death in some form. Is there a heaven we can go to after we die?"

Weiss smiled weakly. "I like to think so. To believe otherwise, to me, is terrifying. I don't like the thought of not existing. If my spirit lingers in another realm, then I still exist somewhere. That's what I like to think."

"I've always questioned it," Ruby added. "My mother died when I was young, and I never knew if I would get to see her again or not. And now Cardin is dead, and everyone seems to think that yesterday was the last time anyone will ever see him." She looked down, a single tear rolling down her cheek. "I'm scared to die, Weiss. I know it's coming for me. It's coming for all of team RWBY. I don't want that."

Weiss hugged Ruby from behind. "Thanks to your knowledge, Ruby, we have a chance at life. And even if we do die, don't think of it as if it is entirely terrible. Should we all perish, we'll be able to meet each other on the other side. You'll get to see your mother again, too."

Ruby began to cry more. "You really believe that?"

Weiss nodded. "With all my heart, Ruby." The rains kept pouring down throughout the night, and each member of team RWBY felt that their resolve had strengthened. Cardin may have died, but his death didn't weaken them; it seemed to now make them all stronger. The huntsmen and huntresses of Beacon would see the Grimm start to openly move in the coming weeks, but they were ready to raise hell against the dark monsters.

Unfortunately, so were the Grimm, who seemed to bring Hell with them.

Song: Lilium

AUTHOR'S NOTES

My apologies on the wait time. I went dark on Thursday (April 17) and left for a convention. Got home yesterday and had to go straight to bed because I started working my job at the Street Dept. again today (April 21). So happy to be working again. I should be in bed right now, but I had to finish this chapter. I would like to point out that I didn't label the artist of Lilium because I don't know who wrote it. I'm certain (could be wrong) that it's a REALLY old song, but I first heard it in the anime Elfen Lied. Look into it.

So, a little but of necessary filler with a semi-cliffhanger ending...why do I love cliffhangers so fucking much? I write them all the time! I would like to point out that I love writing for Roman, and I picture him casually how I myself act casually; legs stretched over a couch, and even if someone sits down next to me I just put my legs on top of them.

Fun fact: I had a scare today! Most people who know me know that I have a phobia of snakes. Very strong and deep seated. I move my dad's car today, and when I opened the door to get out a fucking snake fell out of the door and onto the ground. I have no shame in admitting that I screamed like a bitch and slammed the door to keep the snake away from me. I don't know how the snake got wedged between the door and the rest of the car in the first place, but I swore to my father that until he can insure that there are no snakes in or around that vehicle that I will never, ever drive it again. I. Hate. Snakes.

Till next time! (Still don't want to be lynched.)