RWBY Rarepair Week: Pyrrha/Ruby

"Who are you?" "So this is gonna sound really weird right now, but I made a deal to save your life but at the cost of all of your memories of us together and I'm acting like I'm not bothered but I'm dying inside," AU.

"She's there again," Yang muttered out of the corner of her mouth. Ruby stiffened and nodded, miming a smile to Blake as she pulled up her phone. Yang darted in for the selfie, both of them seeing the red-haired woman with the ponytail trying (and failing) to not look Ruby's way.

The worst thing was, she was really attractive. Exactly the kind of woman Ruby would consider asking out, were it not for the poor attempt at stalking.

"Hell with it," Ruby growled, pushing her chair back with a scrape. "I'm gonna talk to her."

"Ruby, should you be doing this?" Blake frowned at her from behind her book. "It's only been two weeks since-"

"No, she's been eyeballing me for a week now. I've had it. If she's gonna stab me, she can do it here."

Ignoring the protests from her friends at the table, Ruby stomped indignantly over to the corner and the alarmingly pretty redhead. It was painful stomping, her leg flaring in pain whenever she put pressure on it, but she had a point to make, damnit.

The redhead looked surprised to see Ruby making her way over, a protest dying on her lips (her jaw-droppingly beautiful lips- focus!) before it even was vocalised. Despite how short Ruby was, she loomed over her would-be stalker.

"What's your deal?"

"I- I'm sorry?"

"Don't bullshit me, I've seen you watching me for the last week. You're really bad at people watching. Once is happenstance, twice is coincidence, but seven times? At the same place, during the same hours? You knew my routine, so you've been stalking me. So, I'm asking again, what's your deal? Because I swear to God, I will call the cops on you."

"That won't be necessary." Her green eyes flicked down, almost apologetic. "I'm sorry, I just… you wouldn't believe me, but I just needed to see if you were alright." Ruby's brow furrowed. "I heard about your accident," she added as a quick explanation.

"This really doesn't help your case you know. Nearly no one knows about that. And you still haven't answered my question."

A quick sighed. "It would be easier to explain if you sat down."

Ruby looked back behind her, saw the others obviously ready to leap into action if this person tried anything. "My friends are over there, one of them is an off-duty cop. Don't try anything stupid."

"I won't. I just need to talk."

Ruby took a seat, silver eyes meeting green. A slight tingle of pain ran along her scalp, around where she hit the ground after the accident, but it faded.

"My name is Pyrrha. You probably won't believe this, but you and I used to be close friends."

Ruby laughed mirthlessly. "Funny, because I'd remember you."

"That's the thing." Pyrrha didn't reply, instead reaching into her wallet and pulling out a faded picture. Of… herself with Ruby, from what looked like a month ago- she remembered those highlights. Ruby's shaking hand picked up the camera. She knew photography through Velvet, it didn't feel edited or manufactured.

"H-how…" she ran her hand along the picture of herself. "How the hell do I not remember this? How do I not remember you?"

The pain flared up again. Ruby ground her teeth, fingers digging into the back of her head. Pyrrha's hand darted out, fingers intertwining out of pure instinct. A cornucopia of expressions crossed the redhead's face, shame being the most prominent as she pulled her fingers back.

"I'm sorry, that was presumptuous of me," she muttered. Ruby looked over, saw Yang halfway out of her seat, and waved her back.

"How do they not know you then?" Her head jerked over to her table.

"We were keeping it relatively secret. Your choice. Also, one of the likely effects of the deal," was the mumbled reply Ruby just managed to pick up.

"Deal?"

Pyrrha slumped in her seat, eyes growing dull. "It was a few weeks ago. You were driving me back from a competition I'd been part of. It was raining, we were about a quarter hour from the motel you'd booked." Pyrrha shook her head. "There was a drunk driver, they had their lights off. You were flung right out of the car, smashed your skull on the road."

The tinkling of shattered glass slowly brought Pyrrha back to her senses. A low groan escaped her throat as she clawed instinctively at the seatbelt. "Ruby?" She mumbled hoarsely. Her head tracked slowly over to the driver's seat, which was vacant of Ruby. "Ruby?" Pyrrha snapped back into consciousness as she took in the large hole in the windshield.

She pried off the belt, nearly falling out of the car as she got to the front. She could hear another engine puttering dead beside her, but the headlights were still on. Pyrrha's limp became a full sprint as she dashed towards the body lying down the road.

"Ruby!" Pyrrha slid to a stop beside Ruby, turning her over. Oh God, there was so much blood. Ruby's vibrant silver eyes were dull, staring unblinking at the sky. Pyrrha sat there, alternating between just staring at the body before her and frantically yelling for an ambulance into her phone.

"Shame."

She turned to see someone sitting on the bonnet of her car. White coat, black hat, orange hair and a smirk like he'd won big at a casino. He was looking at a dead body, at the body of one of the best people Pyrrha had ever met.

"You know, she wasn't meant to die now? Everyone has a time and a place when I'm meant to come and collect them. Hers was a long way off."

"I…" Pyrrha stared at the… no, he wasn't a man. She wasn't sure he was even human. "Who are you?"

"Oh me?" He took off his hat, flourishing it dramatically. "I have many names. Azrael, the Fourth Horseman, Abaddon, Samael, harbinger of the end, the Grim Reaper. I am the angel of death." He smirked at her. "Call me Roman."

"Am I dreaming? Is this all a nightmare?"

"No, not a nightmare. Though if you ever get one about a woman in a red dress with a bow, try and remember that. Oh, spoilers!"

He was joking over a body. Pyrrha's eyes fell back to Ruby's face. "Please, you can't take her now. She has too much to live for! You said it yourself, she wasn't meant to die here!"

"She wasn't meant to, but she still did. I can't just perform a miracle, I need a life for a life."

"Then take me! Let her live, and I'll take her place."

Roman- because it was easier to call him that then wrap her head around there being an afterlife- shook his head. He seemed almost… sad. "Not how that works. Her soul has already departed that shell and gone on. To bring it back would have consequences. Ramifications." His lips curled. "Paperwork."

"There has to be something I can offer you. Anything. I'll do anything!"

Roman looked flatly at her. Like she wasn't listening, or like he'd heard this a thousand times just today. "You really love her, don't you?"

"With my life."

"Well I won't ask for that. Too cliché for one. But if…" Roman looked over his shoulder. "Neo!"

From the side of the car Pyrrha had stepped out of, a small girl with mismatched eyes and a wicked smirk came out carrying a clipboard. She tossed it to Roman. His eye raked over the list on it before he chuckled.

"Seems… we may have a deal." Roman looked Pyrrha right in the eyes, a timelessness emanating from them. "Pyrrha Nikos. You and miss Rose were going to have a child. Ruby would carry it. Your friend Ren would provide the sample. That was if you both survived tonight. But that life? I can trade that. Here's the deal. I'll return Ruby's soul to her form, give her enough life to last until the ambulance shows up. But that life? Will come from memory. All of her memories of you will be removed. You will have never existed as far as she knows."

Pyrrha looked at him. "I'll never be able to see her again?"

"I never said that." Roman held up a finger. "But that natural connection you had, the first love, all her firsts with you? Gone. Her mind will automatically fill the gaps, the brain's a lovely little thing like that. Can you live with that? A life without her?"

"A life without Ruby Rose on this planet isn't even worth considering. I accept."

Roman's face softened. "Look, you might be able to find her again. Just don't rush it and you may be able to see that kid's smile." The smirk was back. "In the meantime, you might wanna fall unconscious. You've got seven different lacerations and I think one of them clipped an artery. It's a miracle you haven't passed out yet. I'll handle everything here."

Pyrrha slumped over at that, the pain finally settling in.

"So," Ruby finally said, "I died?"

Pyrrha nodded mutely.

"And we were a couple."

"That picture was the one thing I had with you that wasn't erased. Maybe he left it as a way to convince you I wasn't lying."

It sounded far-fetched. Insane. But then, part of her wanted to believe. It would explain how her head wound was far less severe than expected given the distance she travelled, and how an "anonymous benefactor" covered the hospital bill. Maybe she just wanted a spark of something fantastical. A rather cheerful way to look at her horrible death, but fuck it.

Ruby looked at Pyrrha- really looked at Pyrrha. She was attractive, beautiful even, when not torn down by the stress she was trying to hide. Anyone who dated her would be a lucky person. And it had worked in the hypothetical last time…

Ruby's hand took Pyrrha's. Pyrrha tried to pull away on instinct, but Ruby's grip was strong. Her thumb brushed over the calloused knuckles.

"I won't lie and say I remember," she mumbled. "Maybe I will one day. But even if I never do, I wouldn't mind trying again." She smiled at Pyrrha. "Barring the stalking, you seem nice."

Pyrrha laughed, the sound like those tiny bells held by cherub angels. "I'm sorry. I wanted to give you time to recover before dropping that bombshell. If I may be brash, can I take you out for a coffee sometime?"

"Sure."

I just had to edit this to fix a few grammar errors, namely the lack of horizontal lines. Sorry for that.