Silver Rose

Chapter XXIX - Old and New

Although Teams LILY and APEX had technically agreed to go out and relax prior to the tournament, which was starting in less than forty-eight hours, Lilly spent most of her time catching up with her mother, talking to her about nearly everything, including information she had already shared during her long distance calls back to home. The only things she left out were her rune powers and her excursions into that parallel world. She wanted to master her runic abilities before she showed Weiss. After all, she was the only Schnee who did not possess the Schnee Semblance. She had to have something to show off to her mother as an alternative, but not until she was ready.

As for that parallel world, there was no way she was going to tell her mother that she had been making incursions into some alternate reality that was clearly dangerous and with no real clue what in the world she was doing. Maybe some day she would, when she had her runic power mastered and when she was fully capable of emerging victorious no matter what. But she still had that one family to save. She made a promise to herself to take care of it before the end of the Vytal Festival.

"Lilly," Weiss said.

"Yeah, mom?" Lilly replied.

"I know you really want to catch up with me, but don't forget about your team."

"Oh, um—"

"We will have plenty of time to continue these conversations throughout the month."

"You're staying through to the end of the festival?"

Weiss smiled. "Of course I am."

"Oh! That's great!"

Weiss kissed her on the forehead. "I told you I'd be here, didn't I?"

Lilly gave her mother the biggest, brightest smile she could muster. There was a knock on the doorframe and both turned to the sound.

"So," Leon said. "We, uh, goin' out?"

"I don't think I'm in your age bracket," Weiss said.

Leon instantly went rigid. "Uh, I-I mean—" He was not about to say that he wasn't talking to her, even though he wasn't, but then—

"I'm joking," Weiss said. Lilly turned to her and they shared a giggle. "Go on, Lilly. Don't leave your team waiting."

"We'll talk again later!" Lilly said, giving her mother a hug before standing up from the bed.

"Honestly, though, how did you four manage to erect such well-built bunk beds?"

"Leon's great with tools!"

"Ah, I see."

"Th-They were pre-built that way!" Leon said quickly. "I-I mean, yeah, Yuan and I and Ingrid and Lilly, we all worked together to assemble the beds, b-but it's not like I built them from scratch or anything!"

"What in the world are you getting so nervous about?" his mother's voice startled him from behind, making him jolt around.

"N-Nothing!"

Ruby sighed. "You know, that shy act doesn't work with girls. Ask your father."

"Man," Yuan said from down the hall. "Perseus was right. Roses have thorns." The instant the words left his mouth, he sensed both Ruby and Leon glaring at him. She wasn't present, but he could swear Athena was also sending negative vibes in his direction.

"What's wrong?" Ingrid said to him. "You look like something just crawled up your back."

"I-It's nothing," he said. "C'mon, let's go. Athena and the others are waiting for us downstairs."