Silver Mirror

So long as there is Light, there shall always be Shadow.

By: Necron

And though I walk

Through the valley of the shadow of death,

I will fear no evil,

For you are with me.

CHAPTER I

Gray Skies

Rain.

It had been more than a week since the sun last shone through the clouds over Beacon Academy. It reflected the state of the world perfectly. At least, that's how Leon saw it. He'd left his umbrella back at the dorms again. One would think he'd have gotten used to the downpour by now. It's not as if it ever let up even for a second.

Beats having a drought, I guess, he thought as he threw on his red hood before stepping out into the deluge.

Thunder sounded nearby, but it didn't bother him. There were so many other things on his mind that even a Grimm attack right in the middle of campus probably wouldn't worry him. He took off his red cloak, shaking off the rain before throwing it back on and walking into the second-year dorm building. It was a good thing he'd custom ordered this cloak to be water impermeable. Mostly it was so blood would slide right off, but it worked perfectly for the rain as well. He climbed the stairs up to the fourth floor, where he and his team were staying this year.

Team, he thought as he passed by Team APEX's open door. No one was inside, but the TV was on.

He opened the door to his team's room. It was empty. Yuan and Ingrid were probably out shopping to refill their fridge. They were running low on water and sports drinks, though they'd probably save money by catching all this rain instead.

He stopped by Ingrid's bunk and looked at the upper level. They had moved all of her things here along with everyone else's belongings, but her bed had been undisturbed since that last text message he had exchanged with her at the end of the Vytal Festival.

"Hey," Athena said from the doorway.

Leon gave her a quick glance before turning back to that perpetually empty bunk.

"We'll find her, okay? Just keep your chin up."

That was easy for his sister to say. She didn't look up to her the way he did.

"Look. You're not the only one who lost her, okay?"

"The fuck would you know?" he said, turning to her.

She was taken aback not by his words, but by the pitiful look on his face. His lavender eyes were clouded with tears that he wouldn't let fall. She didn't want them to fall either, but they looked as heavy as the clouds outside.

"Leon—"

"Sorry," he interrupted her. "I didn't mean to do that."

Without another word, Athena walked briskly to her brother before wrapping her arms around him, holding him tightly. Before long, he, too, returned her embrace. And that was when the tears began to fall. He made no sounds as he cried, but this was her little brother. Athena could feel the ache in his heart just from the way he gripped her tightly.

"C'mon," Athena said. "Training's about to start."

"Yeah," Leon said. "Let's have another three-on-four match."

—

"Good work today," Penny said to the group as they panted. "Ingrid, your identical shadow clones are getting smarter, which is good. Thirty seconds is still your tops, but we'll get it up to a whole minute eventually. Right now we need to keep working on their intelligence. Your Dust clones are already effective as they are, so they're not gonna need too much work."

Ingrid nodded.

"And Xanthus, your control over your Semblance is growing. Nevertheless, it's still too power-intensive. We need to work on greater efficiency."

"Yes, ma'am," he replied.

"Echo, your close range needs a lot of work. You're good, but in a direct one-on-one confrontation, you tend to rely too much on flight instead of fight, which isn't wrong, but if you have no other choice than to fight, you need to be able to do that."

Echo nodded.

"I will say, though. Your aim with your bow is amazing."

She brought up Sentinel, eyeing the upgrades she had gotten for it. Its draw weight had been increased, which made it slightly more difficult to use, but the additional power behind each arrow was worth it.

"Perseus," Penny said, turning to him. "You've gotten slower. Is there any reason why?"

He shrugged.

"I think you enjoyed your summer break back home a little too much."

He chuckled. "My mom cooks good food. What can I say?"

"Athena, keep up the excellent work. Yuan, let's try some more offensive uses for your Semblance next time we train."

Both nodded.

"Leon."

His attention was turned to the window, the sound of the rain on the glass hypnotizing him.

"Leon?"

"Hmm?" he said, turning to Penny.

"I was gonna say you're getting better with managing your aura levels. Your Semblance also doesn't seem to use up as much aura as before."

He gave her a small smile before turning back to the window.

"Okay, that concludes your training for today," Penny said. "Your request for this month's assignment was approved, by the way."

Echo's eyes brightened.

"I will accompany you as your supervisor on this task. If you guys don't have any questions, you're free to go."

"Before we dismiss," Xanthus said, pushing up his glasses, "what about that issue we were discussing earlier?"

"Oh, right. Let's meet with the student council on that. I'll come with you."

The group went their separate ways. Penny and Xanthus headed to the study halls to meet with the student council while Echo followed after Athena and Ingrid to grab some coffee and a light snack. Yuan went to the library with Perseus to get ahead on their homework. Only Leon flew solo, hanging out at the knight statue. He had left his umbrella at the dorm again, but the rain didn't bother him. His red cloak was more than enough to keep him mostly dry.

He stood at the edge of the manmade pool, staring at the statue for a time, allowing the pitter patter to hypnotize him. This was always her favorite spot to hang out. She admired everything this statue represented: courage, honor, duty. He drew his sword, holding it out for a moment before thrusting it downward with both hands resting on the hilt, mimicking the exact pose of the knight statue.

He sighed heavily. There was no way he could ever live up to that kind of person. He couldn't even keep his own team leader safe. What good would he be to everyone else? He stowed his sword before heading to the café, another one of her favorite spots. His sister was already there with Echo and Ingrid, chatting over some coffee at the tables outside, just out of reach of the spatter.

"I've always loved the sound of the rain," he heard Echo say as he walked by.

"Ugh, I hate the rain," Ingrid said.

"It's okay, kitty," Athena said. "We'll keep you dry."

Leon let himself smile for once before heading in to order some coffee. He got it without any condiments this time to try and see why she liked it so much. This blend was her favorite, beans grown in Menagerie and Patch. It was incredibly bitter, but if one could fight through, a hint of sweetness surfaced. He let another smile form on his face as he realized why she loved this coffee so much. That extra essence was worth sitting through the bitterness.

He took a seat next to a window, staring idly at his cup, the aroma of this blend overpowering the rest of the scent of coffee in the entire building. If he concentrated hard enough, he could almost hear her laugh and see her smile, but when his mind returned to reality, all of that vanished.

His scroll vibrated, but he ignored it. It vibrated three more times before he pulled it out and took a look at a notification for four unread messages. A fifth one came up as he went for the unlock icon.

Athena: yo

Athena: the hell u doing inside

Athena: come out

Athena: leon?

Athena: i can c u looking at ur scroll dude

He pocketed his scroll before picking up his cup and heading out to the girls' table. A crash of thunder sounded and he watched as Echo and Ingrid both jumped at the same time.

"I really hate the rain," Ingrid said, clutching herself to stave off the cold.

He took a seat between his sister and Ingrid.

"Finally," Athena said. "You tryin'a avoid us or something?"

He didn't answer, taking a sip and staring at the table blankly. Ingrid pulled down his hood so she could see his face.

"Hey, you okay?" she asked him.

He glanced at her before taking another sip of his coffee. Echo and Ingrid exchanged looks and shrugs.

"Like I said," Athena began, "we'll find her. Either that, or she'll just turn up out of nowhere like she usually does."

"Did," Leon corrected.

"Huh?"

"Usually did. Not does."

The three girls looked at one another. Echo pulled out her scroll.

Echo: ey

Echo: do something

Ingrid: wut do u want me 2 do?

Echo: ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Echo: giv him a huf or something

Echo: hug*

Ingrid: wtf?

Echo: srsly

Echo: i mean u grew up with him soooooo

Echo: and its ok ur bfs not here so cmon

It wasn't as though that wasn't what was on her mind, but Ingrid really didn't know what to do during times like this. Even growing up, Leon, Athena, and Astor never found themselves depressed. It was usually her that was down in the dumps and they'd be the ones to cheer her up, not the other way around. She had absolutely zero practice with this.

But it wasn't as though she could just sit here and do nothing. After steeling herself, she scooted closer to him until they were touching. He slowly turned his head to her, his lavender eyes meeting with her ambers. No words were exchanged between them. All that was needed was a light touch from her hand to his and he found himself resting his head on top of hers as she leaned into him.

Echo was surprised at how close the two were, but then she remembered what Athena had said about them. She, Ingrid, Leon, and Astor were like family growing up. And while Astor and Leon were huge flirts, the two boys had always seen the two girls as sisters and best friends. Leon and Ingrid could never become a couple and Astor thought of both Athena and Ingrid as his best buddies and wingmen.

"I'm sorry," Leon said quietly.

"For what?" Ingrid said, looking up at him.

"For being such a burden on you guys."

She wrapped an arm around him and pulled him close. "You're never a burden. And even if you were, what are friends for if not for holding each other up when somebody's down?"

He gave her a tiny smile. It seemed no one was capable of truly smiling anymore in the absence of their leader.

"Seriously, though," Echo said. "It's not like you to be all down and shit. That's me and Ingrid. Stop stealing our jobs."

"Yeah," Ingrid said, frowning at him.

Athena reached out beyond the awning. "This rain ain't gonna let up, is it?" she said, catching some water to wash her hands.

"Doesn't look like it," Ingrid sighed.

—

"You guys have my full support on this," Penny said.

"Thank you," Gina said, bowing to her. "It was all Xanthus's idea, though."

"I-I didn't work on it alone," he chuckled, putting a hand to the back of his head.

"Well, when I graduate this year, you're sure to take my spot anyway. I believe in you, Xan-chan!"

He hated that nickname. Everyone pronounced the "chan" improperly, but it wasn't like him to rebuff a term of endearment.

"Thank you, Gina," he said with a bow.

"Unfortunately," Penny continued, "we won't be able to get any of this work started. Vale certainly can use some cleaning up, but I'm not gonna send you guys out there in raincoats to pick up trash and help out at homeless shelters."

"The weather doesn't look like it's gonna change any time soon, though," Gina said, walking to a window and placing a hand on the cold glass as she stared outside. "It's only October. Why the heck is it coming down so hard?"

"I mean, Vale does get rain, you know," said Octavia Winchester, who was overall vice president of the student council, having taken over when one of the fourth-year students graduated.

"Yeah, but this ain't rain. This is a friggin' monsoon. Without all the wind and crazy stuff."

"I think we can squeeze in some shelter volunteering," Xanthus said, pushing up his glasses. "As long as it's indoor work. Feeding, cleaning up, things of the sort."

"See, this is why you're next in line," Gina said. "Heck, you should've already taken my spot. Sure as heck would take a load off my shoulders."

"I mean, he's already doing most of your work," Octavia said.

"Nobody asked you!"

The others chuckled.

"Well, it's just us," Xanthus said. "The rest of the council's already left. Are we breaking off?"

"Sure, I guess," Octavia said. "I have homework to do."

"Same," Gina said. "Ugh, these senior projects are tough. If we end up having to fight Grimm out in this rain, I'm gonna shoot myself."

Penny and Xanthus watched as they left the study room.

"So," Xanthus said, turning to his companion. "Are you busy?"

"Why do you ask?" Penny said.

He shrugged. "Was wondering if you were hungry. Or, well, if you get hungry."

She chuckled. "Of course I get hungry, silly."

"Oh, w-well, I just wanted to make sure."

"Glynda got sandwiches for the faculty for lunch and there's a ton left over. I hope you're really hungry."

He chuckled. "Sure."

"C'mon, then," she said, leading the way out of the study hall.

He followed only a few steps behind her, admiring her auburn hair, which she didn't have tied up today, instead allowing it to fall down to her lower back freely. He was amazed at the technology of her new body. Even hair and fingernails grew. But in spite of all the organic features, she was still chiefly machine. Her arms and legs might pass for real limbs, but only because of the fact that they employed state-of-the-art artificial muscle and bone rather than steel and plastic.

It was strange, though. Cyborgs were typically born as organic creatures and then eventually augmented with mechanical components. Penny was the complete reverse of this, starting off as a machine and edging her way toward becoming more and more organic. It didn't matter to him, though. As far as he was concerned, she was a human being, no different from anyone else other than the fact that she possessed a different kind of body.

He felt himself warm up as he continued to admire the contours of her womanly body, all the curves in all the right places. He turned away, swallowing a massive lump in his throat, fixing to get his mind out of the gutter and toward something more gentlemanly.

What he failed to realize was that her empathy Semblance enabled her to feel all of these emotions, particularly the physical attraction and the shyness. She giggled softly at the thought. It was adorable. But at the same time, she also felt herself reddening, which was why she never once turned around to remind him of her Semblance, though it wasn't necessary at all given that she could now feel a new emotion from him, which bordered on panic.

"I-I swear I did not intend on checking you out!" he said abruptly.

She struggled to contain her laughter.

"I-I mean, it's not as if you're not beautiful, I mean, you are a lovely young woman, b-but it's not as though that's the only thing about you I mean you're also smart and strong and you care about people and—"

"Xanthus!" she said, turning around quickly and making him stop dead in his tracks. "Relax!"

He figured his face was bright red given the throbbing in his skull.

"I can read your emotions, not your mind!"

He sighed, letting his head hang. "Wait, but emotions are still, like, you can feel what I'm feeling and attraction is a feeling and—"

"Hey! My goodness, relax! It's perfectly normal to find people attractive! Gosh!"

The redness definitely wasn't going to leave his face any time soon. Her face twisted before she burst into teary-eyed laughter.

"I fail to see the humor in this situation!" he said.

"No! No!" she continued laughing. "I'm not laughing at you, okay? I just, ohmygod, you are too cute, Xan-chan!"

Finally, someone who said it right, someone who pronounced the "chan" correctly.

"Okay, I just felt you relax a lot," she said, still smiling. "What did it? Cuz, like I said, I can only feel your emotions. I can't read your thoughts."

"You said it correctly," he said.

She knew exactly what he was talking about even without confirming.

"Well," she began, "let's walk side by side, then, so you don't feel tempted to check me out again."

He frowned.

"I'm just teasing you!"

"It's not funny."

"Look, you're an attractive guy yourself."

He wondered if he could get any redder than he was now.

"And I realize I'm not helping at all," she giggled. "Anyway, let's go eat. I'm hungry."

"I think my appetite has left me."

She laughed. "Don't be like that! C'mon!"

He looked into her face. That smile of hers was beautiful, the perfect complement to her emerald green eyes.

"You checking me out again?" she said with a smirk.

He shook his head violently.

"Okay, okay! I'll stop teasing you! Let's go before they take all the food away."

—

Perseus yawned as he and Yuan got through the last bit of tonight's homework. He leaned back in his chair, staring up at the ceiling for a time. He noticed out of the corner of his eye Yuan standing up to go to one of the windows and stare at the rain.

"I should have told everyone," he mumbled.

Perseus looked over at him.

"I should never have kept it a secret."

"What do you mean, man?" Perseus said.

"I promised her I'd keep it a secret because I trusted in her. But what if she's in over her head this time? It's been months since we last saw her. When she didn't show up on the first day of school, that should've been a red flag. No, the red flag was when she didn't return after the first week."

"Yuan, what are you talking about?"

He turned around to face Perseus. "You know all those times when she went missing? I know what she was doing. She's been going into that parallel world, the one she was in when she saved Mizuki."

Perseus was dumbfounded. All this time, he had been under the assumption that he was the only one who knew her secret. He should've realized that at least one of her teammates would know as well. And from the sounds of it, Yuan had been privy to that information for quite some time.

"You know she saved me, too?" Yuan said.

"Saved you?" Perseus said.

He nodded. "When I was in that coma, after I'd gotten shot protecting Ingrid. The reason I didn't awaken right away was because I was trapped in my own mind. But she entered my dream world and brought me out of it, showing me that I hadn't failed, that Ingrid was alive and well and waiting for me. And that was when I regained consciousness. Aside from my nurse, Ingrid was the first person I saw. At first, I had thought it was nothing more than a dream. But then, I thought about the details of her story about Mizuki and it was all too similar, so I asked her about it and she said it was true. But she asked me to keep it from everyone else, so I did."

"I mean," Perseus began, "I'm not gonna say you're stupid for keeping it a secret. She was your team leader and you clearly trusted her enough to let her trust you back. But, I mean, I dunno. Do you think it was smart to keep it a secret?"

"I can't stop thinking about that. Which is why I'm going to tell everyone."

"Wait, what?"

"My team and our circle of friends deserve to know what might be happening to her. Especially Penny. She was ultra protective of her, more so than the rest of us, I think."

Perseus looked at the ground before turning back to his companion. "You do what you gotta do, man. But I don't think Leon's gonna be very happy about this."

"I already expect him to lose it. After all, he's been more affected by this than any of us."

"That's the understatement of the year."

—

The group was silent as Yuan relayed his story. As expected, Leon's face showed mild irritation, which gradually devolved into outright anger.

"So, you've known about this," Leon said to Yuan, who didn't answer. "You knew about the danger she was putting herself in, and you never told anyone about it."

"She trusted me with her secret," Yuan said.

"Yeah, and look where that's gotten us!"

"Leon!" Ingrid said.

"No! He kept this from us and we just sat on our asses when we could've done something about it!"

"Hey!" Athena yelled, squaring off with him. "What the fuck is your problem?"

He looked his sister in the eye, lavenders locking with midnight blues brimming with severity.

"You heard what Yuan said! She trusted him to keep it from the rest of us! The hell did you expect him to do, huh? Betray her trust? My question is do you trust her?"

"What the hell do you mean by that?"

"She clearly thought she could handle it and for a hell of a long time she did! And even if we all wanted to help—which we all do—what the fuck do you think any of us could have done? What do you think you could have done? None of us even know how to cross over into that other world let alone what's even over there!"

"But we could have done something!"

"Yeah, right, with what? Our regular weapons? Guns? Swords? You saw the power she used against Ivory. I mean, we're all good, damn good, but she literally has magic. You would've just gotten in her way!"

"Shut up!"

He moved in to shove her, but she quickly redirected him and slammed him against the wall, holding him back with her forearm.

"Get off of me!"

"No!"

"Let me go, goddammit!"

"I'm not letting you go! You're my brother!"

He began crying and she wrapped her arms around him tightly, holding him closer than she ever had in their lives. His whole body went limp and she supported his full weight with her own strength, slowly lowering herself to the floor with him as he continued to cry, incoherent gibberish accompanying each sob and wail. She, too, found it impossible to hold back the tears and she let them fall freely onto his shoulder.

Unlike Leon, Athena did not look up to her rival as much. She always saw her as an equal, just one who needed to discover for herself where she belonged. Leon, on the other hand, all but idolized her. She was the light in his world, the brightness to drive away the gloom. And now that she was gone, it was as though half of him was now missing.

But it wasn't as though Leon was the only one feeling the pain of her absence. She was everyone's light. There was no one she didn't have a smile for. And with her gone, it was as though the world suddenly went empty. Each and every one of them felt the void in their hearts.

Penny stood up and left, her own emotions even heavier than the ones forcing their way into her from the others. She needed to get out. Leon's heartache was starting to take its toll on her. It was more than just the pain of losing his team leader. She was more to him than that. She was his strength, his hope, his everything. Compounding that with the fact that she was Weiss's daughter and his made it so much worse.

She was halfway across the quad on the way to the tower when she went into autopilot, walking over to the pool to face the knight statue, but never allowing herself to look directly at it. She fell on all fours, her tears and sobs masked by the rain and thunder.

"I'm sorry," she murmured, her voice weak and penitent. "I'm so sorry, I'm so sorry, I'm so sorry."

She managed to look up at the statue. It seemed to hunch over more, its posture smaller than usual. She couldn't stand to look at it any longer and turned back down to the ground, squeezing her eyes shut as she touched her forehead to the cold concrete.

"I swore I would protect her," she whispered between sobs, "and I couldn't even do that. I'm so sorry, Bedivere, I'm so, so sorry."

A hand placed itself on her shoulder as something blocked the rain from hitting her. She slowly looked up to see Qrow holding an umbrella over her.

"Hey," he said. "What're you doing out here?"

"Qrow," she managed. "I've failed. I've failed."

He squatted beside her. "What're you talking about? Wait, c'mon, let's talk about this somewhere dry. I was just headed to Oscar's office. You wanna talk up there?"

She nodded before sitting upright, her eyes catching a glimpse of the knight statue. It appeared to be looking downward, as though it avoided her gaze. She couldn't help the wailing now and Qrow found it impossible to console her.

"Penny, what's the matter?" he said.

"I'm sorry!" was all she could say. "I'm sorry!"

"C'mon, let's get you out of the rain."