Silver Rose

Chapter XIX - Destiny

"I got this back for you, too," Yuan said, holding out Myrtenaster for her.

Lilly reached out, but her arm wouldn't obey her commands. She looked over at her shoulder. Something was off about it.

"I think it's dislocated," Yuan said.

"That's not good," Ingrid said.

"Oh," Lilly said with sarcasm dripping. "I was wondering why it was sore."

"I can fix it for you," Yuan said.

Lilly knew that meant a serious amount of pain, but it had to be done. After all, her aura's healing was already getting to work and it would be terrible if her body healed itself fully with her shoulder still dislocated.

"Okay, are you ready?" Yuan said, positioning his hands on her shoulder.

"Of course not," Lilly said, immediately following with a scream as Yuan reset her shoulder joint.

"Shit," Ingrid said, her mouth agape.

"Okay," Lilly panted, "we have to get back out there."

"But you just—"

"Leon needs our help! We're a team! We stick together!"

Yuan and Ingrid looked at each other before turning to their team leader and nodding. Lilly was the first to emerge from their hiding spot, Myrtenaster in her left hand as her right side was still in pain, though functional. She hadn't had much practice using this weapon in this hand, but the way it was formed and fitted made it perfect, as if it belonged there. Her mom was the one who crafted it, after all, designing it to fit a lefty like a glove.

"Leon, get down!" Lilly said, switching to Fire Dust for an assault on their enemies. The dozen or so Grimm surrounding Leon were completely annihilated by the inferno.

"Thanks!" Leon said before engaging another set of Grimm.

Ingrid glanced down at Lilly's weapon. She was out of Dust in all of her cartridges. She was going to tell her to reload when she realized that even her pouches were empty. They had been at this battle for too long already.

"Okay, cover me!" Lilly said, dashing ahead.

"Wait!" Ingrid called out. "Lilly!"

"She doesn't realize she's out of ammunition, does she?" Yuan said, activating the lightning rod feature on Heaven Scorcher.

"Yeah, and it's not gonna be good." She pulled Shadow Blitz apart and reattached it end to end, forming it into a double-ended spear. "C'mon, let's cover her."

This battle had begun as a training exercise, but like any battle against the Grimm, it devolved into the chaos they were now embroiled in. That there was an Omega amongst the Grimm pack made it even more difficult than it should have been, but a single Omega against four of the best Huntsmen in training Beacon Academy had ever seen was better odds than their last encounter with these abominations.

Ingrid watched as her partner drove Myrtenaster up into the chin of an attacking Beowolf, killing it with a single thrust of her weapon. She had gone so much farther than everyone else in their circle of friends. Lilly began her career at Beacon as the weakest student to ever enroll in any of the Academies, but she was now in the top ten of the first year class, steadily moving up the ranks.

Gone was the timidity and hesitance from her first battles as well. Painted on Lilly's face now was the look of a seasoned warrior, a ruthless killer of Grimm. It was true that roses had their thorns, but Ingrid never imagined that a lily could be just as deadly.