Chapter 116. Last Day Under the Sun

Silva POV

As the sun rises on the last day of summer break, I start preparing to end things with a bang tonight before me, and everyone else heads back to school and work. I finished setting the surprise for tonight and headed to the kitchen to make everyone's favorite breakfast foods and such for Ruby, a boatload of cookies of various flavors.

Yang is getting some waffles topped with strawberries, Blake is, of course, having Mistral style grilled fish and miso soup, and Weiss is getting some apple danishes with her coffee. Pyrrha loves a classic egg and bacon breakfast; Ren is cooking for himself, Jeanne, and Nora. Coco is getting some croissants filled with dark chocolate with a fruit smoothie; Velvet enjoys a carrot-coffee cake hybrid with some light cream cheese.

Rory is getting a perfectly balanced breakfast of all the major food groups, and Winter enjoys apple danishes like Weiss. As for Yatsuhashi and Fox, they can make do with cereal this morning. As for me, I am making an eggs benedict with a bran muffin made with maple syrup with bits of bacon in it. Soon everyone shows up for breakfast and starts to dig in with gusto. After everyone had their fill, I asked them.

Silva: So, is there anything anyone wants to do today before heading back?

( An hour later)

Ruby sits on Weiss's shoulders while Blake is on Yang's shoulders. Ruby and Blake grabble one another in a chicken fight while everyone else has their partners and opponents; this is all Ruby's idea, and it never ceases to amaze me when Ruby convinces everyone to go along with her ideas, like how she convinced Weiss to ride a Nevermore with her at Beacon's Initiation to find the forest temple. As I enjoyed the show with Rory and Winter, as they did not want to participate, I wondered how today would end.

( Another hour later)

Weiss is getting her duet with me as everyone wanted to hear it. I let Weiss pick the song as I set up the stage, and Weiss showed me the song she wanted to sing with me. As I went through the song, I set up the illusionary bandmates, and we got started.

( A/N Jeff Williams feat. Casey Lee Williams, Like Morning Follows Night)

{[Weiss:]

You don't know what it's like to live in shadows

Always regretting what you've done

Spending time counting every little mistake

Knowing it's always easier to leave

[Silva:]

You don't have to spend your life looking backwards

We've been through this over and over again

You can't just wish it away

The past is the past it will never change

That was before, this is now

And when we have a chance to make it better if we try

[Weiss:]

Oh, but I will not endanger one more friend

[Silva:]

You're free to do the things you want

But listen, so am I

[Weiss:]

I made my choice

[Silva:]

And now I'm making mine

Go where you need to

Know I won't leave you

I'll follow you like morning follows night

You can run till your pain's through

One thing I won't do

Is to let you go alone to face the fight!

[Weiss:]

Hard to know where to turn when your life's a disaster

Trying to start all over again

So much shame, so much time that just feels wasted

Feeling like now could never make up for then

[Silva:]

Life's not a game you can play to get even

We all make mistakes, but we need to move on

I know that you hate when you're stray

Forgiving yourself is the only way

Just look at how yesterday is gone

I know you think you're being selfless, but you're not

[Weiss:]

I refuse to risk another's pain again

[Silva:]

The pain is when you shut me out

Take off on your own

No matter what

You'll never walk alone

Go where you need to

Know I won't leave you

I'll follow you like morning follows night

You can run till your pain's through

One thing I won't do

Is to let you go alone to face the fight

See you'll never understand what I feel, what I see

What's going through my mind, how it feels being me

All the struggles, all the fights, long days, longer nights

Trying to search for this happiness lost in the light

But it seems that it's all just out of my sight

Just out of my reach, can't seem to get right

Like I'm cursed with the turbulence placed in my life

Can't push or pull it, stuck up in this ball pit

Cycle of pain, all the stress in my brain

I'm just trying to maintain, cause I'm going insane

But no matter what I do, the cries go unheard

But I still believe in you, every breath, every word

Every smile, every glance could be another chance

That you find to see the love that is me

So until that time, I'll follow everyday

Every step of the way, and continue to say

Go where you need to

Know I won't leave you

I'll follow you like morning follows night

You can run till your pain's through

One thing I won't do

Is to let you go alone to face the fight}

At the end of the song, everyone gave a standing ovation at my and Weiss's duet. After that, various events were set up, and the eating contest between Ruby with her cookies and Nora with pancakes plus Blake with a ton of fish was left undecided because I ran out of ingredients to cook with for the contest. Yang started an arm-wrestling match; Coco set up a fashion show, Velvet and Ruby designed some rather insane weapons to compete with one another.

Overall the day turned out to be a fun last day of summer break, and I finished it off with a fireworks display that I set up in the morning. After dropping everyone off to where they needed to be, I swung by the Land of Darkness to see Salem. I found her going over some old tomes in her library within her fortress, and I walked up to her and asked.

Silva: How have you been, Salem?

Her eyes never left the tome as she replied.

Salem: Relatively fine, but what brings you here?

Silva: Just checking up on you and our child.

Salem hummed in a way that could be taken as a neutral reply as she turned a page on her tome. Looking over her shoulder, I asked.

Silva: What's the book about?

Salem: On modifying complex rituals and alike for your idea to transfer the time and damage the women you wish to stay by your side that they experience physically to you to make them unaging. So far, the idea seems feasible, but it will take time to perfect it and remove any undesirable effects before even considering using it. Transferring damage is a simple manner but the effects of aging and time make things far more complex, and it needs to be perfect to work as intended.

I got the gist of what she was working on, and I then asked her after seeing her library.

Silva: Any books you can recommend on studying the soul for beginners?

Salem looked at me with an appraising look and asked me.

Salem: Why?

Silva: I am curious about the exact differences between Aura and Magic and how to bridge them to strengthen my lovers. I already have a few ideas, but I lack the information to know if I am wrong in any capacity or even right in that manner.

With a wave of her hand, a few books levitated towards me and told me.

Salem: Here, but I expect these to be returned after you are done.

Silva: Understood.

I found a place to sit and started looking through the books because I would rather not explain their origins if they're found by anyone but me. Hmm... The first step is to find the outline of my soul before diving deeper, and it looks like I got a lot of work ahead of me.