So this was something I started a while ago, and it ended up being a lot darker than I had originally intended. I was kind of thinking of different ways the season finale could have played out, and this kind of popped into my head. Originally it would be a way for Pyrrha to survive, but as I wrote it played out differently. Anyways, enjoy.

Jaune was gone. Ren and Nora were back by the ships where they could escape. Her team was safe.

But Pyrrha was alone.

She had wanted it this way, with no collateral damage, no one else involved but her and Cinder. Jaune might hate her for what she had done, but Pyrrha hoped he could forgive her, and come to understand why this was what she had to do. This was her destiny.

She wished destiny wasn't so lonely.

Though she was thankful for the fact that Ren and Nora and Jaune were safe, she wished they were here, she missed the strength they gave her.

As she ran towards the tower, all of her instincts were screaming at her to turn around, to stop. She was powerful, but she was tired. She could still feel Amber's aura mixing with hers, and the sensation of having it ripped out of her as the Maiden died had left her head spinning. Pyrrha wanted to throw up and scream and cry but there was a woman atop that clocktower waiting to destroy the world and Pyrrha may have been the only thing standing in her way. She kept moving.

Suddenly, there was an intensely bright light. Pyrrha wondered for a moment if Cinder had decided to take the fight directly to her but as the glow faded she could see that it was not Cinder that stood in front of her, but someone else.

It was a Faunus girl with long, white rabbit ears and brown eyes. Her face was pale and she looked to be in a great deal of pain. "Pyrrha Nikos?"

"That is I. Who are you? What-"

The girl cut her off with a wave of her hand. "I...don't have time for that. There's someone here to see you."

She flickered and Ruby stood by her side. She looked different, older. She wore different clothes than she had been earlier. Pyrrha blinked in surprise. "Ruby?

"Pyrrha, if you go up into that clocktower you'll die!" No introductions, no explanations, this was all Ruby said.

Pyrrha's blood ran cold. "You...can't possibly know that."

"Yes I can! I watched it happen!" Ruby sounded panicked.

"It's my semblance. I can bend time." The faunus explained.

"You mean you can see the future." Pyrrha's eyes widened in disbelief.

"I'm from the future. And I'm telling you that in the one I come from, the one where you face Cinder alone, you die."

"No. No, you're wrong." Pyrrha shook her head vehemently. "This is a trick. A lie. You were sent by her to stop me." She started to walk towards the tower once more. Time was running out, she had already wasted enough of it on the strange faunus- probably an illusion like the one in the arena… Penny.

"You want to know how it happens?" Ruby called after her. Pyrrha shouldn't have paid her any mind, should have just kept walking, but she didn't. She stopped. She listened.

Ruby sensed that she had Pyrrha's attention, and continued. "You go up there, and Cinder's waiting. And you'll fight her. You're strong Pyrrha, the best, but she's stronger and she's got the power of a god on her side. And that thing…" Ruby shuddered, gesturing to the dragon Grimm circling the city. "Bit by bit she'll taunt you, break you, deplete your aura until there's nothing left." her voice was starting to shake now. It was almost disturbing how much older she sounded, like Ruby but also not, broken and hardened. "You'll keep fighting. Even when you know... you're not going to be the one to leave that tower. When Cinder finally wins she shoots you twice. Once in the heel, once in the chest. That's when I…" Ruby trailed off. "I got there too late. Just in time for Cinder to turn you to ash and toss you to the wind. I'm sorry."

"But she didn't kill you?"

Ruby's silver eyes flashed. "Turns out, I have power too. When I saw you die...It was enough to bring it to the surface. It wasn't enough though."

Ruby fell silent, letting Pyrrha absorb everything she had just been told.

Pyrrha swallowed hard, looking up at the clocktower. "If I don't go up there, what happens? Nobody will stop her. You could never discover your powers."

Ruby shrugged. "All I know is what happens when you do. A pointless sacrifice of the girl who was key to winning this war."

It was an impossible choice. Death, or a thousand possibilities rippling out into the unknown.

The faunus girl, who had remained mostly silent throughout the exchange, cried out suddenly. Pyrrha took a step towards her. "What's wrong?"

"My semblance...isn't meant to be used like this. Bending time like this...for so long could…Ruby, we have to go."

"Goodbye, Pyrrha."

"Wait! What do I do?" Pyrrha pleaded with her. She needed someone to tell her how to decide the unimaginable.

Ruby had nothing left to offer. She and the faunus began to fade from view "You have a choice to make."

And so Pyrrha was alone once more.

You have a choice to make. So she did.

To fight or to flee? To save herself, or to hope impossibly that Ruby was wrong? With each decision, how many more lives would be put at risk?

Time was almost up, and Pyrrha made up her mind. Even if she couldn't be the one to defeat Cinder, if all her efforts were in vain, she could slow her down, weaken her. Maybe that was her destiny.

Pyrrha took a deep breath and without any further hesitation, walked into the tower.