Chapter 14: Das Omen

"Our comrades fought well," Glynda recited sadly, merely repeating the speech that she had prepared. She didn't trust herself emotionally to speak without some sort of script. "They came here to learn how to protect the innocent from Grimm, and they died living by that desire. They've protected more innocent souls in this one battle then they would have ever known in life, and we can only hope to honor them in death as best we can."

Her speech had been a rather lengthy one. She felt it was necessary, due to the large number of casualties that they had sustained. Before the Battle for Beacon, the roster listed five hundred students and about forty instructors; they were now down to a total of three hundred ninety-two. Ruby had told her that this number was double what the 'original' timeline had after the battle, so she had to admit it could have been a lot worse.

The huntsmen and huntresses of Beacon who were left standing, bandaged up in varying ways based on their injuries, stood silently before a large funeral pyre. Glynda stepped away from the podium and nodded to Weiss, who held Myrtenaster in a salute to the fallen. Using her red dust, she lit the blade on fire ever so slightly as she approached the pyre.

She decided to stop at a specific place on the pyre; the place where she personally had lain Luna. Weiss smiled at her friend's body. "We'll meet again, someday," she whispered, kissing her fingers and placing them onto Luna's forehead just before touching the pyre with her sword. The flame spread, covering the bodies of their comrades in its burning embrace. A sad day had come and gone for Beacon, but many of the survivors still saw it as a shining lantern of hope. They had beaten back Cinder's army, and they defeated Cerberus. In spite of their heavy losses, it could still be seen as a victory.

Just one more month, Weiss thought. One more month, and the comet will pass through out of Remnant's sight. We can push the Grimm back and try to return to our previous lives. Glynda began speaking again, regaining Weiss's attention.

"Let this funeral pyre serve as our beacon to the world. Let the world know that the Grimm can be beaten. Beacon is our sanctuary. Beacon is our light in the void. Our strength is both life, and it is a curse; it is the omen of destruction for our enemies." Glynda met the eyes of her former students. Three months ago she would have looked at them with disdain and strict attendance. She would have berated them for failing, and complimented them for succeeding. She would have seen them for what she truly believed they should still be; children. Now, she didn't see students, or failures, or children. She saw warriors, and warriors neither fail nor succeed; warriors keep moving forward, regardless of what has happened in the past. What she saw now made her proud. "Remember those we've lost, my friends. Dismissed." She stepped away from her podium and retreated to the building where Ozpin's office lay waiting.

Weiss felt a hot tear run down her cheek. She wiped it away, determined to remain dignified. She heard a quiet, sobbing cry, followed by another, and then another that was louder, and another that was louder still. She looked around and saw several of her comrades drop to their knees and cry; they remained composed for the sake of ceremony, but now they let their emotions run free. Weiss's gaze panned across the courtyard, watching as her friends and allies broke down. Militia almost collapsed as she cried, but Sun caught her and held her tightly. Weiss caught sight of Natalie, the last remaining survivor of Luna's team, as she mourned the death of her three team mates. A loud, wailing cry broke out in the air, and Weiss instinctively followed it until she found the source; Nora. In Nora's hands were a pair of bladed pistols; one green, the other a flat gray and a shining metallic silver where it had never been painted.

Weiss pitied them all, but she couldn't ever tell them that. She was no better off, after all. With everyone else letting loose with their emotions, Weiss found it harder and harder to stay composed. Finally, the levy broke as Weiss began to sob uncontrollably. So many had died, both friend and foe. She had never thought about taking another person's life before, but yesterday she had killed dozens in the name of self preservation, and to protect her own friends. No matter how hard she tried, she couldn't forget the screams of those she obliterated with her ice or those she burned alive, and she could remember the faces of most of those she stabbed. It was horrific, and she hoped that she would never be forced to kill another person ever again.

Weiss felt a hand on her shoulder. Glancing over, she saw Pyrrha give her a sympathetic and caring look. Weiss looked down before instinctively hugging Pyrrha. While Weiss had never really cared for such close contact before, right now she just really needed to be near someone who cared.

Blake was having a similar experience to Weiss. She had decided to join her fellow faunus to mourn, not because she didn't care for the humans she fought alongside, but because some of her faunus friends had died in the fight, including Alegra. Blake wasn't proud of the human death's she was responsible for, but she had done it before. Many years ago, when she was in the White Fang, she'd killed a few humans. She made a rule to only kill when her life was in danger, and had she not taken those lives she would be dead today, but that didn't make her feel any better about it.

Now, she was responsible for countless faunus deaths. The White Fang had joined Cinder in the attack, and Blake had a responsibility to protect Beacon. Her biggest regret was killing the one man she hoped she would never see again. Not because she hated him, but because she pitied him, and she didn't want to be tempted to return to him; Adam. Once, she might have harbored a schoolgirl crush on the handsome bull faunus, but over the years he became increasingly violent in their protests for faunus rights. She hoped against hope that he would never hurt her, and until yesterday that hope had been maintained. When Adam arrived, several of her friends had died.

Alegra and Melanie had both lost their lives to the young man, and that sent a fit of rage through Blake. She didn't plan on stabbing Adam in the back, but that's what she did. She didn't want to remove his head from his shoulders, but she didn't have much of a choice. Openly, she mourned the loss of her friends and comrades, as she should. Silently, she mourned Adam; she mourned the man he once was, the man he became, and what she had done to him because of who he had turned into. She wished she could have turned him, maybe convince him that humanity was worth giving a chance. She felt silly for thinking that, and reminded herself that he didn't care about humans in any shape, form, or fashion. He cared only for himself, and his faunus kin. At least until yesterday, when he began to slay his own kind.

Velvet approached Blake and gave her a gentle hug. "I'm scared, Blake," she said in a hushed tone. "We're weak now, and the Grimm could return at any time."

Blake smiled reassuringly as she returned the hug. "They won't come back here, Velvet. With Cerberus dead at our hands, they'll be too afraid to ever attack us directly again." Blake split away from Velvet and looked into the rabbit faunus's eyes. "Okay? We're safe here now."

Velvet smiled, thankful to hear Blake's words, before her smile faded again. "But that means our missions will be more difficult. They may not attack us directly again, but that may make them stronger out in the field."

Blake nodded. "That's why we have to be extra careful." The pair turned to watch the pyre blaze higher and higher into the sky.

The sound of glass shattering reverberated through the empty offices. Glynda had made sure that the remaining faculty were still outside at the funeral pyre before releasing her outburst that had caused one of Ozpin's mugs to explode against the wall. Sobbing heavily, she leaned upon a nearby bookshelf as she tried her hardest to hold in her emotions. In only a matter of seconds, she had deteriorated from a composed leader to a crying mess of a woman whose sobs were so strong that she could barely breath enough air. Though the window behind Ozpin's desk was broken, she was certain that the sound of the fire below would drown out her outbursts.

Glancing to her left, she spied a framed photograph on Ozpin's desk. She knew what it was, but she felt the need to see it up close as she approached it, tears still streaming from her eyes. She placed a hand over her mouth in an attempt to quiet herself as she lifted the photo.

It was a simple little thing. Any faculty head for any establishment would have one, but to Glynda it seemed a treasure now. It was, in fact, a staff photograph from when Ozpin first became headmaster at beacon. Standing as a group were herself, Ozpin, Summer Rose, Bartholomew Oobleck, Peter Port, and Qrow. She wanted to throw the photo angrily, like she had the coffee mug, but she couldn't bring herself to destroy one of the few remaining images of Ozpin.

Glynda wasn't sure what she should do. Outside there weren't any students mourning, but soldiers; her soldiers. How was she to lead them when her own beacon of hope had gone out? She was a strong, competent woman, but she felt lost without Ozpin. She'd grown to rely on him for everything, and he had, in turn, come to rely on her. What was she supposed to do without the man she had spent almost every waking moment with for so many years?

You'll do well, Glynda echoed mentally the words that Ruby had said to her the previous evening. You've done it before, from my perspective. Glynda's eyes went wide for a moment as she realized what those words meant.

She was always going to survive the battle against Cinder. Cerberus was an unknown variable in the battle, but Cinder was always going to attack, Ozpin would have died in the conflict, and Glynda would have lived on to take command; just like she was now. She smiled bitterly. This must be how Ruby feels as well. She knew how Yang was going to die, and yet Yang still met with that exact same terrible fate. Some things, Glynda realized, must stay the same, but others can change. Cerberus wasn't supposed to be involved when Cinder attacked, but he still appeared. He was supposed to be defeated by Glynda and other hunters after the comet left, but Ruby ended that monster's life yesterday. Many of the survivors were meant to be dead by now, and some of the dead were meant to be alive. Things were changing.

You'll do well.

Glynda took a deep breath and wiped the tears from her eyes. "I certainly hope so, Miss Rose."

Weiss marched down the hallway with purpose. As much as she wished she could mourn the loss of her comrades like she was earlier, she knew that their time was limited. Cinder's assault, and the subsequent appearance of Cerberus, depleted their dust stores even more than before. Some of it was used in the fight, but much of the lost dust was due to the fires set by Cinder's troops. They saved as much as they could, but the fact of the matter was that they only had two months of dust left, and that would only be the case if they used it frugally. She had already spoken to Ozpin about the dust shortage, but she feared that he never had the time to discuss it with Glynda before Cinder attacked.

Ruby and Blake were following her, asking her questions. "Weiss," Ruby said. "What are you doing?"

"We have a problem, Ruby," was her only answer. They arrived at Ozpins...Glynda's office door, and Weiss pushed the door open; now was not the time to be courteous.

Within the room stood Glynda, who still stared longingly at the photograph. Upon hearing her door being forced open, she looked up and met Weiss's eyes. "What do you think you're doing?" she asked, putting on her stern mask.

"Did Ozpin tell you about the dust?" Weiss asked, jumping into the core of the matter.

"Dust? What about dust?"

Weiss sighed. She didn't want to explain it all over again, as time was of the essence, but this was something that needed to be addressed. "We're on the verge of a dust crisis. We were using too much of it before Cinder attacked. We had about four months in reserve then, but after yesterday's battle we only have about two months to go before we're completely out of dust."

"How did we use so much?" Glynda asked, clearly shocked.

Weiss shrugged. "We weren't used to not having access to dust shops. Yesterday, most of what we lost was burned. Thus why there were so many explosions; our dust was being destroyed."

Ruby began shaking. "Fuck!" she screamed. Blake and Weiss turned to her, confused, while Glynda rubbed her eyes; she was tired. "Fuck!" Ruby yelled again, growing angrier by the second.

"Ruby, what's wrong?" Blake asked.

"What isn't wrong?" Ruby retorted. She approached Weiss and grabbed her shoulders. "Why didn't you tell me?"

"I didn't want to start a panic!" Weiss snapped.

"Do you know what a dust shortage means? It means that we're going to contact your father, who will in turn tell us to go to Machtstaub Mine to salvage as much dust as possible, where we will fail and you'll sacrifice yourself to save us! This is the path that leads to your death, Weiss! I! Needed! To! Know!"

Weiss's mouth hung open for a moment before she closed it and pondered for a moment. "What did we do about the dust shortage?"

"We salvaged as much as we could from outlying areas, and even took Cinder's storage from her warehouse, but it was a meager amount. We barely had any dust by the time I died."

"We didn't save any from Machtstaub?" Ruby shook her head.

Glynda sighed as she sat down. "Want me to try and get in touch with your family, Weiss?"

"If father wants us to go to Machtstaub, and we won't succeed, then I don't see the point," she answered. Biting her lip, she began pacing. "But there just has to be a solution to this mess."

"What if we went to Mactstaub anyway?" Blake asked.

"But Weiss will die there, Blake," Ruby said. "It's full of Grimm, and we won't have time to salvage anything."

"But think about this; we killed Cerberus. Better still, we killed him here, at Beacon. The Grimm he brought with him escaped because we destroyed one of the most powerful Grimm in existence. In theory, they will never come here again, which means that we can pull hunters away from Beacon. If we send a large enough force to the mine, we can salvage the dust with minimal losses. While one group loads dust onto a Bullhead, the other will fight off the Grimm."

Ruby was about to argue, but was interupted by Weiss. "That might work! I won't have any reason to sacrifice myself, and we can solve the Dust issue in one fell swoop!"

"What about getting your father's permission to salvage the dust?" Glynda asked.

Weiss turned and looked to Glynda for a few seconds. "To hell with my father. If I know him, he's holding up in a secure bunker somewhere. While I'm sure we could get in touch with him, it would be meaningless. We need the dust more than he does."

Ruby glanced around the room, thinking to herself. "There's still a very good chance that the timeline has shifted too much, and Machtstaub could be an uncertain variable. Anything could be there. It could be a lot harder to salvage the dust than it was originally."

"By the same token, it may also be easier," Blake pointed out.

Glynda stood back up. "When can you arrange for this to happen?"

Weiss turned to Ruby. "Well?"

Ruby was the one pacing now. After a moment of thought, she paused and spoke up. "No one will be of any real use for a while. Let's give them a few days to mourn properly, and then we'll begin preparation for the mission. If we can get this organized right, I'd say we should be able to set out in about a week."

Glynda nodded. "Once you feel like you should start preparing, let me know. I'll assemble a meeting in the war room when the time comes. For now, I order you all to rest and remember the fallen." The three girls saluted Glynda and began to walk out. Glynda turned around and looked out of the window, watching the funeral pyre blaze.

Ruby stopped. "Glynda," she began.

"Hm?"

"I meant what I said. You will do well as a leader. And I also want you to know that I feel the same as you do right now. This is the second time that I've mourned Ozpin. I'm mourning many of the dead for the second time, actually."

Glynda nodded, not trusting herself to face Ruby. "I'm sorry you've been given the heavy burden that you carry Ruby. Please go rest. You need it more than any of us." Silence fell as Ruby agreed and left, closing the door. Two of their biggest enemies were dead, but Glynda knew better than to relax. They still had many trials ahead of them.

Song: Das Omen-E Nomine

AUTHOR'S NOTE

I have absolutely no excuse for how long this took. This wasn't even a particularly hard chapter to write, either. Every time I would write a paragraph or two, I would get sidetracked and would do something else. Hell, the other day I wrote three sentences, looked at my Magic: The Gathering cards, and set it upon myself to build a five color Commander deck. Also, Horde of Notions is a pretty badass Commander. Just saying. This chapter isn't terribly exciting or interesting, but I feel that it's necessarily. Next time we'll probably follow some people during the few days of resting and mourning. I look forward to getting through with the slow chapters like this one. I like writing the more exciting chapters alot more. Oh well, what are you gonna do? I can't just skip important information.

Fun Fact: Sailor Moon Crystal is amazing! I mean, its just an exact retelling of the original series, but that's really cool because the original series is so freaking hard to find! This reboot allows oldschool fans to enjoy it again, and to introduce it to new viewers!

Hype: This Thursday! Ladies and Mentlegen! RWBY, Volume 2! GET ABOARD THE HYPE TRAIN, BUT BE WARNED! THIS MOTHERFUCKER AINT GOT NO BRAKES!

Till next time!