Kaze: So. Monty has passed away. You know, when I found out that he was in critical care, I did not fucking bat an eye, thinking "Dude. That's the guy who created Haloid and Dead Fantasy even before he got Rooster Teeth's backing. He's the guy who works day and night, never bothering to sleep because REST IS FOR THE DEAD! Critical care? Psh! If that was edible, he probably eats it for breakfast."

And then he passed away the very next day. Just so you guys know, I found out just when I woke up and checked my FanFic feeds. (A LOT of people are updating their fics, even though most of them are considered to be dead and/or complete, just saying that Monty Oum has passed away. Like... I had 7 or 8 stories that I follow saying the same thing.) So I spent today looking and acting like a zombie. Seriously.

And then I came back to FanFic and saw a bunch of Tributes and Dedication fics for Monty. And then I thought "Wow. All these people, just because of one person." And then I remembered about the fund raiser for Monty's operation, and though "Wow... I've lost my faith in humanity since I was 16. And now that I'm seeing this... maybe not everybody is that bad after all."

Now I know what you guys are thinking: This is the same thing as those Tributes and Dedication fics. No, it is not. I am not dedicating this fic/chapter to Monty Oum. This is not a tribute to him. I did not create this as a memorial to that man.

I merely wrote this because this is the only thing I can do.

But don't misunderstand me. My entire heart goes out to Monty's family, Rooster Teeth, and the entire RT Community. ... Now let me just find where the damn thing is, last time I checked, it was in the drawer... Or was it in my back pocket..?

So without further ado, please enjoy. Review if you have something to say. Favorite if you liked it.

Prompt: Monty Oum has passed away. This is my answer to his infamous question.

Disclaimer: I don't own RWBY, any of its characters, nor anything that has anything to do with it. It belongs to the late Monty Oum, Rooster Teeth, and all of its creators. I merely own my OC and anything that does not have any relevance to the original story/show so far.

Warning: This will both be posted as a chapter for my ongoing fic, Professor Bloody Raven, and as a one-shot, because I'm an asshole like that. If you wanna know more about my OC in this universe, please do check out the fic. And now that my shameless self-advertising is done, read on!

Intermission: Mourning someone we don't know/Can you match my resolve?

"Uncle K.?"

I opened my eyes, turned around and saw all of my students standing behind me, shooting me questioning looks. I don't doubt I look pretty weird right now, seeing as what I'm doing is pretty weird.

I was once again on the clearing behind the house, where the conveniently-placed altar-looking rock in the middle was. I was kneeling in front of it, sitting on my feet and legs with my back straight, hands open and fingers connected, and my palms against each other in front of my chest, in a prayer position. On the altar was a small, palm-sized circular container filled with ashes I made by burning scattered leaves and twigs in the clearing, with a few small pebbles. Sticking out of the container was a single incense, lit and smoking.

I smiled at them and beckoned them to come closer. When I did, I turned back to the altar and closed my eyes once more. "I'm mourning." I told them with a small, sad smile on my face.

Feeling their alarm, I opened one eye to peek at them and let out a quiet snort after seeing their awkward, deer-caught-in-headlights looks.

Confirming my feeling, Weiss stuttered, "W-We're really sorry for disturbing you then, professor! We-We'll leave now to give you some priva– "

"No, no, it's quite fine for you all to stay." I cut her off, small smile still on my face; eyes still closed, and form never faulting. "In fact, why don't you mourn with me?" I asked.

With some hesitation, and some motivation from the leader of team RWBY ("Come on, guys! We can't just leave Uncle K. to grieve the loss of someone by himself! That'll just be wrong!"), both teams decided to stay.

Donning similar poises as me, silence fell over us as we lament the man who has passed away.

"… Uh… Uncle Kaiser?"

And of course, Yang takes that silence's head and knees it in the face.

"Yes, Yang?"

"This is a pretty late question, but… who are we mourning?"

Silence, once again.

"Oh, yeah, now that you mention it Yang, we didn't actually ask yet."

"This is quite peculiar… For Yang to have been the first to realize such a thing… I must be getting losing my edge…"

"It does seem pretty demeaning that Yang beat us in regards to that…"

"Oi, oi…"

I chuckled, shoulders bouncing up and down in delight. Ah, my lovely, wonderful students…

I answered them with the same small sad smile, "We're mourning a hero."

What I've said raked mixed reactions from the teens, but the surprise was there, nonetheless.

"W-What?! What happened?!"

"Is it one of the Founding Four, professor?"

"Please tell me The Wizard isn't gone! I still want to meet him! I want to learn from him!"

"No, no , no! It can't be!"

"Tell me it's not The Grimm Reaper, Uncle K.! Please tell me it's not!"

"He's not one of the Founding Fathers, kids. No need to worry about that." I confirmed, getting back to my previous poise, and closing my eyes once more. "… But it's someone much more important."

At that, the teens quieted down once more, and though my eyes were not open, I can feel their gazes lingering on my form.

"Someone more important than the Founding Fathers, Uncle Kai?" Jaune asked, thoroughly confused and curious as to who might actually be more important than the first huntsmen of Remnant.

"That's right. Someone much more important than us. More important than anyone in Remnant, really." I nodded, practically feeling the surprise and interest of my students.

"A hero that's more important than the Founding Four… Is there such a man?" Blake murmured to herself, bow visibly twitching. I silently chuckled at her cuteness.

"Definitely, yes. Such a man exists."

"Then what has he done, professor? Did he slay an enormous Grimm? Perhaps, saved countless of lives, more than the Founding Four had ever have?" Weiss inquired further.

"Well… no, not that I'm aware of." I chuckled nervously.

"Then what has he done to deserve such praise from The Hero of Remnant himself, professor? It must be quite a feat." the Goddess of Victory herself asked as well, a grin on her face.

"Well…" I began, "As far as I know, he doesn't really swing a sword. Neither does he thrust a spear, nor does he shoot a gun…" I trailed of, opening my eyes and loosening up. I tilted my head up and looked at the sky, watching the clouds come and go up above our heads. Through the corner of my eyes, I saw my students follow my lead, most likely trying to search for whatever I was looking at. I gave a soft snort in amusement, before continuing once more.

"From what I'm aware of, he's never fought any beasts, nor saved countless of lives. He probably doesn't have his aura activated, and he's definitely not even a huntsman. He's a civilian, as far as I know…" moving my arms from my lap to my sides, I placed my palms on the ground behind me before leaning back, unfolding my legs from beneath me to stretch them out, before crossing my right over my left. My gaze still not leaving the sky, I took a deep, long breath, closed my eyes… and sighed.

"But, nevertheless, he's definitely a hero even greater than my brothers and I combined." I kept going once more, "There are some things that you just can't accomplish by swinging a sword, or shooting a gun alone. Some things that you just can't achieve by killing several monsters, or saving a few villages…"

"Sometimes, you don't need to be a hero to be a hero."

Silence reigned once more, and I took comfort in that minute of quietness, absorbing the peace.

"What…" Ruby quietly spoke, causing me to open one eye once more to look at her, and saw her staring at me with mellow eyes, "What did he do, exactly?"

I opened both of my eyes this time once more, and took a look at everyone.

Aura is the manifestation of the Soul. The Soul is the manifestation of one's existence – one's very being.

And the eyes are a window to the soul.

What I saw in their eyes made my heart ache.

They were silently mourning.

They themselves don't know that they're mourning, but their souls do. Their existences do.

I gave them a small smile before answering my youngest charge, "He created, Ruby."

Closing my eyes again, I tilted my head towards the sky once more, savoring the light breeze, the warm rays of the sun, the sweet scent of nature, and everything else in the world; still with the soft, small smile on my lips.

"He created. And with those creations, he inspired. Tens… Hundreds… Thousands… He's inspired millions of people. He's created… and created… and created some more. And he's inspired… and inspired… and inspired some more.

"Through his creations, he's inspired others to create as well. And through others' creations, they've inspired more to create even more… And it goes on and on and on…

"Taking down several hundreds of monsters in a minute takes skill, talent, and luck. But creating something only takes motivation." I opened my eyes slowly to look at my red-hooded student, "I can only offer skills to anyone who deserves it, and I rarely take in anyone who doesn't have talent. I can't make everyone into huntsmen, even if I have another one thousand years to do so. But him? He doesn't take anyone in, doesn't need to. He just creates, and he motivates others to create as well. He prompts other to make. He encourages others to build. He causes others to construct, to craft, to make something."

"Anyone can kill a swarm of Deathstalkers, or a horde of Goliaths – heck, with enough training, maybe even a King Nevermore," once more turning away to look at the clouds, I breathed in and closed my eyes. "But it takes something else, something only a handful of people have, to inspire others the way that guy did."

"And that makes him a hero in my book." I ended.

Silence once again permeated the clearing. Only the soft howl of the wind, the scatter of leaves, the ripples from the nearby lake, and the soft breathing of my students can be heard.

"What's his name, Uncle K.?" Jaune inquired softly.

I laughed at the stupidity of things. Really, that is the question, isn't it? By the looks the two teams were giving me, they had no idea what I was laughing about. Calming myself and toning down my laughter into a grin, I answered.

"Honestly? Even I don't know!" I roared humorously, raising the teens' eyebrows. Wiping the tear that dangerously tried to fall from my right eye, I continued, "Probably no one on Remnant knows who the guy is. I won't even be surprised if you asked everyone on the planet and they say that they don't know the guy! He's not existed in the past, nor will he probably exist in the future."

"Then… If he doesn't exist, why are we mourning him?" Blake once again asked, furrowing her eyebrows. She probably thinks I've been joking and making up this whole thing.

"Who said anything about him not existing?" I smirked at my students' eyebrows still not budging from their lifted state, "I only said that no one knows his name, and that he didn't exist in the past, nor will he probably exist in the future. I never said anything about him never existing in general."

"But how can you be so sure that he's real if no one even knows him?" asked Pyrrha, her brows also furrowing like Blake's.

"Because my soul is aching." I smiled sadly, before turning to Ren who has been quiet the entire time. I've also noted that Nora has never let go of his arm the entire time, even going so far as to hook her own arm with his whilst they copied my prayer position. "Ren?"

"Sir?"

"I know you feel it even stronger than I do."

"…"

"And I know that Nora has noticed that you've been hurting the entire day."

"…" the orange-haired girl continued to stare at her lap quietly.

"Nora?"

"… Yes, prof?" the hammer-wielder asked back.

"Why do you refuse to let go of Ren's arm?"

"… Because… Because I feel that if I did… he'll disappear…"

I smiled softly, "I see." Turning to Ren once more, I continued. "I know you feel it even more than I do, Ren. That you've lost something very important to you."

The others continued to watch silently as the green-clad, magenta-eyed boy formulated an answer. When he did, he looked me in the eye and said, "Yes I do, sir."

My smile slightly widened. "Believe me when I say that everyone feels the same, Ren, even though it is not as great as what you're feeling." Turning to the others this time, I continued once again. "I know that you guys feel it as well. That something is missing. That a part of your soul, your existence, suddenly just… disappeared."

I noted everyone's eyes widening slightly, confirming my statement. I carried on. "And I have no doubt that everyone on Remnant feels the same." Shifting my limbs to once again take my prayer position, I closed my eyes and took a deep breath through my nose. "Good or bad… Young or old… Human or Faunus… I have no doubt in my mind that everyone on Remnant is mourning for him, in their own way, whether they know it or not…"

Feeling the kids shifting around me, I knew immediately that they've taken position once more around me, closing their eyes as well to grieve. I smiled.

"The reason why I know this is the very same reason why I know for a fact that he's a hero…" I trailed of, bowing my head slowly and sitting straight once more, and separating my hands and placing them on my lap. "It's because he's done something that I would never be able to do. That probably no one will ever be able to do…" I slowly opened my eyes to look at my students, noting that the girls, every one of them, were shedding tears, with their eyes closed, and that the boys were frowning tightly.

"He's touched the soul of every individual here on this planet."

I slowly stood up and began walking away, leaving my students to mourn in their own pace. A small smile graced my lips as I once again looked up at the sky.

"Can you match my resolve?"

I chuckled softly.

"I probably can't." I said quietly as I left the clearing, "But I sure as hell will do my damn best."

A/N: And that's that. Hopefully, that will be a thing.

Remember to leave a review to tell me whatever you think of this. I know it would've been so much better without the OC, but hey, I'm trying to be creative here. Also, don't be shy to ask anything. I'm(not) a nice guy(seriously, don't believe anything I say. I'm very mean) and I don't bite(because I straight up murder)!

To those of you who know me as the author of Whole, that JaunexWeiss fic thingy-ma-whats-its, then just giving you a heads up, there will be a sequel one-shot for it. Maybe. I'm not sure. It'll come when it does. But it is currently in the works so... let's hope it becomes a Valentine's thing.

That's enough of my blabbering. Hope you all have a nice day. Because I'm going the fuck to sleep. Peace!

Words: 2,148

Kuro kaze no aka kira