These Grim Days (RWBY)

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Bleak Comings 1.4 Part 1


Far east of Argus, Present Day

Spoiler

[X] There was no way you were going to just leave the old man's body rotting in this crumbling ruin. You needed to take care of it; you wouldn't be able forgive yourself otherwise.

Taking a moment to inhale a calming breath, you exhaled sharply. Trying to set your storm of emotions to the side, you collected yourself as best as you could.

The first thing that should, no, needed to be done for the Old Man was to bury his body. It felt wrong, in a way, to be rushed like this. You thought that for someone who had done so much for you, some kind of ceremony needed to be done. You owed him everything; he didn't need take responsibility for you like he did. Without him, you'd just be another orphan living on the pity and charity of the adults who felt sorry for you.

A little voice whispered in your head that you were already failing him again. You were forced to watch him, and the two men that accosted him, fight to the death. All that, while he used his chains to bludgeon the fodder that whittled away at him enough to break his aura. The impalement that sent him to the afterlife played over, and over in your head.

You mentally kicked that whisper with a surge of anger, a frustrated hand brushing your wild, blue hair back. You weren't failing him, you'd never. By staying alive, you were doing exactly what he wanted you to do.

Your hands needed to be free.

Flicking a lever switch on your spear, you slid the lower haft half up the length of the weapon and lock it in place. You stowed it at an angle on your back with a casual motion; it wasn't anything like a real holdout modification could really do to make it easier to carry it around but it did the job fine.

You walked back to your fallen mentor. Kneeling down, you carefully lifted his broken body into a carry with both arms. Plated feet kicking loose stones, your metallic footsteps echoed in the large empty space of the crumbling hall as you moved. The swept snow at the entrance crunched audibly when you passed through the archway outside.

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A mound of dirt was steadily building with every heave of your arms. A bigger pile of snow was under it. An angry heat filled your muscles with the drive you needed to push through this. Using the weathered entrenching tool that he kept on the side of his travel ruck, you dug. Aura made doing this much quicker than you initially thought. You broke into the soil through the packed snow in just mere minutes. With every swing of the shovel, every upward arc you used to shift more of the frozen ground from below, the shock from earlier cleared. Now, when you jabbed the earth, it felt more like you were stabbing yourself with your own spear instead. The realization that you were digging a shallow grave had begun to sink in the back of your mind.

You didn't realize, at first, that you were digging to bury more than just The Old Man; it was your innocence too. Unbidden, silent tears bud at the edges of your eyes that you blinked away, shutting off a faint glow of soft silver that swirled on your irises.

It was not too long until you were finished, the urge to just keep digging almost overpowering your good sense before you reminded yourself once more you were on a clock. You wanted to go through the ruins before the Grimm's prison was too unsound to restrain it any longer. Then you'll deal with it. You weren't going to let that thing survive past today. You wiped the rapidly chilling sweat from your brow. Stepping away from the fully dug grave, you turn you look one last time at your mentor. (Father)

His pale face was relaxed, the stress was gone from his expression. The silvering full head of hair on top of his head had mostly taken over his natural black now. You used one hand to close his eyes, a shudder ran through your body as you choke. You were trying to be stoic, you really were, but this was all so fast.

You didn't want him to go... Because if he was gone, then this chapter of your life was over. The chapter where you had a family, even if only it was as big as one person. There wouldn't be another time where you irritated him with your stubbornness and he cuffed you upside the head like a pup. There wouldn't be another spar where you were excited to show another aspect to your semblance you discovered to him. No more quiet nights where you leaned into the protective warmth of his presence.

It was all gone. And, you were alone again.

There was some part of you that wanted to hug the dead man below you and shout and scream your rage. To cling on and close your eyes and pretend that none of this happened, and it was all just a bad dream. Except, it wasn't a dream. You could never be so lucky.

You took something to remember him by. He'll never really be here with you again on Remnant, but at least you could keep some part of him. So, he will be always with you.

In your sorrow, you took something to remember the Old Man by, what was it?
-[] His Chain Gauntlets, he never taught you how to use them. But, maybe you could do something with them.
-[] The medallion on his neck that you never saw him without for as long as you knew him. An engraved image of some kind of flower being clasped by fingers. A faint glimmer of green and red shimmered on its pearl white surface when you touched it, but you're sure that was just the trick of the eye.
-[] The black cloak that he wore that somehow was not even stained by his blood. He never went on a mission without it. It was part of his fighting technique, using it to cover himself from elemental attacks.

Getting a hold of yourself, you lifted him up and lowered him tenderly into the hole you dug. Your heart ached while you packed the soil back on top of him, but it was settling in onto a dull throb. Finally finished. You step back and stared at the freshly unearthed patch of dirt that rested innocently under you

You felt like you had to say something, anything. This was your goodbye, and you didn't know what words to use.
-[] Write-in
-[] You stayed quiet.

You turned back to the ruined temple and started walking back. The sun was still high in the sky, and there was still work to do.