Dreaming Remnant

After the debacle at Forever Fall Forest, Team CRDL had detention for the rest of the year. Three of the bullies, Russel, Dove, and Sky, got up for another morning of classes but found that their leader was still snoozing away. Dove went to wake up Cardin, but no matter how hard he shook his leader, he did not get up, and this caused some concern for the team. Dove then pulled back the covers to see Cardin's exposed torso covered in thorny vine-like markings. The bullies then got very scared, and Sky said in a hurry as he left

" I'll go get one of the professors!"

This was the start of a dark time for Team CRDL.

***

" Silva, have you heard what has happened to Cardin?"

Pyrrha asked me, and I replied in a dull tone while not paying attention to Port's stories of his youth.

" That he has been possessed by a Nightmare Grimm? Yeah, I've heard the rumors."

" And?"

The polite spartan asked me, which made me retort in confusion.

" And what?"

" Aren't you worried?"

At Pyrrha's question, I answered apathetically.

" For Cardin, no. His life or death is not my concern. Unless a Nightmare has possessed someone I know and cares about, I probably still would not care about any other person possessed by that type of Grimm."

" Silva, that's... awfully cold of you."

" I am being honest and realistic, Pyrrha, because, from the general understanding of Nightmares, there is not much to be done without Shion Zaiden, a dedicated Nightmare Hunter who is here; by the way, plus Cardin has not endeared himself to anyone, let alone me."

The polite spartan looked at me with mild apprehension as she said.

" But he is still our classmate and-."

" And what, Pyrrha? You are far too nice for your own good. While part of me likes that about you but in this instance, we can only agree to disagree as I truly do not care about Cardin's well-being, and nothing you can say can change that about me."

" Didn't you save him from the Ursa Major in Forever Fall?"

Pyrrha pointed out, and I gave my reasons why as to why I bothered saving the bully.

" I simply did not wish for any of my friends and family to see death happen in front of them, at least not yet, as death is a constant companion in the line of being a Huntsman or Huntress. You can't save everyone, and the only thing to do is save everyone you can reach."

The polite spartan looked lost in thought at what I said, and with the conversation practically over, I decided to take a nap to pass the time. The rest of the day went by at a slug's pace until, finally, classes were over. It was evening, and I decided to swing by my lab to work on my Smart Projectile project, as homework was easily finished. I opened a portal to Forever Fall Manor, and before entering my lab, I went to check on Terra. I found him mindlessly channel-surfing in one of the living rooms and called out to him.

" Hey, Terra, found anything worth watching?"

" Not really, no, but can I talk to you for a bit?"

" Sure, shoot."

The wolf faunus turned off the tv and faced me, saying.

" About that offer of yours to go to Menagerie, I accept. You are right. I need to get out, and honestly, I always wanted to go there to see what it's like."

" Glad to hear it, Terra; I will bring you over this weekend once I get everything set up for you to have a residence there."

Terra nodded, and I went to make a few calls to set my new chief of security up for MDRD.

***

A week went by after Cardin got possessed by the Nightmare, and much to a lot of people's regrets, he died. It shocked most of the student body to learn that a fellow student had died in the academy. A somber mood overtook the entire school, and the rest of the Team CRDL stayed locked up in their dorm room as they processed the loss of their leader. Silva was largely unaffected as he truly did not care but kept his peace out of respect for his friends and family that were processing what happened.

It finally hit a lot of students that they could still die before becoming licensed Huntsmen and Huntresses. A few were even considering finding another career path. Despite the overall mood of the academy, the professors did their best to continue their lessons and get the student's minds off of the recent tragedy. Lunch rolled around, and as Team RWBY, PERN, and NALA tried to eat, Ruby then declared.

" Okay, that's enough! Sure, it's sad and shocking that Cardin died, but we can't keep moping around like this forever! That is why I suggest we all head to Vale this weekend and do something to get our minds off of everything!"

" You know what, little sister, your right. Let's head to Vale and party our hearts out! Better than all this doom and gloom."

Yang agreed with her little sister, but Pyrrha interjected.

" Is that really alright? To just move on like this? I mean, I had nothing but contempt for Cardin, but he did not deserve to die."

Silva sighed as he advised the polite spartan.

" Pyrrha, you truly have a good heart, but Ruby and Yang have a point to continue feeling depressed for something beyond generally everyone's control is somewhat pointless. Dwelling on Cardin's death won't help us, nor being down in the dumps, so a change of pace sounds needed."

" Silva does have a point."

Ren agreed with the snow leopard man, and Nora added.

" How about a movie night!"

" That sounds alright."

Emerald agreed to the thunderous girl's suggestion, and Ruby asked.

" Hey, Silva, don't you have a home theater?"

" Yeah, we can do it at my place."

Silva agreed to host a movie night at his residence, and everyone started talking about what movies to watch.

***

[ Raven Interlude]

Raven Branwen had decided after observing Goku for a while that it would be prudent to make a connection with the young Saiyan. The former bandit chief reverted to her human form and appeared before the young preteen in the morning.

" Huh? Who are you?"

" My name is Raven Branwen, and I am new to the area."

" Oh! Hi, I'm Goku!"

Goku cheerfully greeted Raven and invited her as he had been a bit lonely since his grandpa died.

" Want to join me for breakfast?"

" I don't mind, but can I ask something of you?"

" Sure!"

The young Saiyan replied, and the former bandit asked.

" Would it be alright to live in your house? It's fine if it isn't, as I am familiar with camping out in the woods."

" I don't mind."

At Goku's reply, Raven better understood what Silva meant when he told her the monkey-tailed boy was overly nice and naive, which would undoubtedly cause him and his friends' trouble in the future. Well, she planned to fix that.