As Cardin swung his mace across her side Pyrrha stretched out her arm to use her semblance; what was supposed to happen next was Cardin losing control over his mace for a moment while Pyrrha dodged and landed a counterattack. But the pain that radiated from her sides proved otherwise. For the first time ever since her first day in Glynda's class, Pyrrha's opponent sent her flying across the combat arena.
The rest of the class stared in silence at the unexpected twist. Pyrrha Nikos had never left such a wide opening for her opponents. On top of that, just the week before she had managed to knock out all four members of team CRDL by herself, flawlessly.
She checked her scroll: her aura level had dropped from 99% to 50%, and Cardin's attack was not even that strong. Pyrrha quickly stood up, planning to finish the fight off before another surprising glitch could happen.
With quick steps, Pyrrha charged toward Cardin, Milo readied beneath her fingers. Cardin, enjoying a little moment of celebration, did not expect such a quick comeback from her and was two seconds too late to dodge Milo's blow to his abdomen. The move knocked him out in less than a second, and the crowd cheered as Glynda announced yet another victory for Pyrrha Nikos.
Silently, she checked her aura level. It was still at 50%.
"A tip for your next combat, Miss Nikos: keep your focus." Glynda commented, before adding more notes to her scroll. Pyrrha nodded with a thank you, even though she wasn't really sure that losing concentration was the cause of her sudden lack of control over her semblance. She knew what she was doing, and did not miss a single hint of Cardin's next move. It would make sense to blame her scroll for an error in displaying her aura level, but the amount of exhaustion Pyrrha felt was real enough to prove that idea wrong.
Once she returned to her seat, Pyrrha's team gave her a look. She didn't need to hear them to speak, guessing at all the words inside their heads, all those predictable concerns and questions. It was the same as everything she had asked herself when Cardin's blow nearly kicked her breakfast out of her.
"Pyrrha, what happened? Are you okay?" Jaune was the first to voice his concern, to which Pyrrha quickly gave an assuring nod.
"It's okay. Just lost my concentration back there." She figured Glynda's reason was the only logical explanation available for the time being.
"You sure? Maybe we don't have to practice tonight. I don't want you to get exhausted or anything, you don't look so good." Jaune said, touching her forehead with the back of his hand.
Pyrrha moved his hand aside, offering him another smile, "It's okay. I'm okay, Jaune. We're not going to skip any practice. And, getting hit during battles is a common thing after all, right?"
"Not for you, though." Jaune couldn't help but frown. He was clearly unconvinced, and was about to say another word when Glynda called his name: "Mr. Arc, Miss Long is waiting for you." Yang Xiao Long stood next to Glynda, cracking her knuckles. Jaune sighed.
Pyrrha knew Yang was not his favorite opponent. "Remember your stance, Jaune. Good luck." She gave him a pat in the back, before he jumped into the arena.
The rooftop that night was chillier than usual, and it was probably didn't help that their practice hadn't started yet. Jaune had been swinging his sword aimlessly, merely trying to maintain his body heat. If Pyrrha had seen those reckless moves, she would have given him an extra torturous training. Luckily she was a bit late, so Jaune could play around a bit and be terrible, at least until she showed up.
Sadly for him, it seemed that Pyrrha wouldn't let him be anything but better, even for just a second. At the opening of the door, Jaune quickly sheathed his sword. The familiar footsteps greeted him, followed by a murmur of apology Jaune couldn't quite catch. Pyrrha, still in her uniform even at this hour, called her rocket-locker using her scroll.
"You forgot your weapon?" asked Jaune, as the rocket landed a few meters away from them. "How is that even possible?"
"I told you, I had an extra class with Professor Goodwitch." she said, going after her locker before arming herself with Milo and Akuo. She looked a bit exhausted, probably from running all the way from the tower back to the dorm.
"A class with Goodwitch without weapons? That must be boring. Though, I wouldn't mind spending some quiet time there without getting killed by Yang." he prepared his stance, waiting for Pyrrha's first attack.
Seeing her cue, Pyrrha began to charge. "Oh please, she didn't go all out on you. And you were pretty impressive at blocking her attacks back there, too." She sent Milo straight to Jaune's face, which he successfully blocked using his shield. "But don't just keep blocking, Jaune. Dodge."
"Ok." Jaune gritted his teeth, reading Pyrrha's next move as he resumed his stance. The next second she charged, and spinned, trying to play around with his vision before swinging her blade against his side. This time he took her advice and dodged, while at the same time slashing his sword against her. But when she didn't move, he soon regretted the attack. His blade had swiftly grazed her arm, tearing the sleeve off her uniform.
She froze at her spot, realizing what just happened. She wanted to praise Jaune for his improvement, but that wasn't why she took the hit. Her polarity failed her again. The problem wasn't her timing-she was fast enough-yet nothing happened when she tried to tilt the tip of his blade. Nothing. Her fingers felt like ordinary fingers, when they should have felt like magnets. It took another second for her to realize that she couldn't sense the warmth of her semblance, the aura that coursed throughout her veins, the familiar strength that had always enveloped her during combat. Even though she wanted to believe the cool night air was to blame, Pyrrha couldn't deceive herself: she knew the coldness she felt radiated from somewhere else, somewhere within herself.
"…Pyrrha, you okay? Y-you're bleeding! Oh my gosh, I'm so sorry!" Pyrrha didn't know how long Jaune had been holding her arm like that. "Hurry, we should get you fixed!"
She let Jaune lead her back inside and they made their way to the infirmary. The idea of getting "fixed" scared her, but not so much as the idea of being "broken". Something was wrong with her, and she couldn't deny it anymore. Because it had happened again earlier, when she was having a private afternoon training session (no, she didn't have any extra class with Glynda at all). Even then it had embarrassed her, like a magician who couldn't perform his tricks in front of his audiences, left with nothing but an empty hat without a rabbit.
Pyrrha let Jaune sit next to her on the infirmary bed as they waited for the doctor. "Maybe practicing with me every night is just exhausting you. I mean, my attacks have never hit you before. You didn't even move, Pyrrha."
"I toId you it's not that, Jaune." Your training is basic, Pyrrha thought to herself, it doesn't take much of my energy at all. "It's.. I'm not even sure. I don't know." She laid on her back, letting her exhaustion take over. Even without checking her scroll, Pyrrha knew her aura was depleted, and much more than it typically was from her normal use. The stinging pain from Jaune's cut made the situation even worse.
"...where is this doctor… what's taking him so long?" Pyrrha heard Jaune say. She felt the bed spring-up as he rose. For a while, Pyrrha closed her eyes, listening as Jaune's sneakers tapped against the floor, and to the hum of the silence surrounding them. At this hour everyone was probably back inside their rooms, or spending the night in the library to race against the deadline of some paper or assignment. The infirmary corridor had always been busy, and would be buzzing with patients again once the mission week started. For now though there wasn't anyone inside the white infirmary hall, though there should have been an emergency doctor that stayed there.
"Pyrrha, can I try.. something?" Jaune asked; his voice was closer than ever. When she opened her eyes, Pyrrha saw that Jaune had sat down right next to her. She was surprised at how close he sat with his legs crossed, the tip of his shoe nearly touching her shoulder. Pyrrha could see his shadowed face towering above her, nervous, yet focused. It reminded Pyrrha of the time Jaune fought Cardin in Forever Fall: the same look, the same feeling he gave as he defended himself. Jaune looked like he believed in himself, much more than he did a few minutes ago on the rooftop, more than earlier in the day when he had to spar with Yang.
This was the Jaune that Pyrrha wished to see everyday.
"...what are you doing..?" Pyrrha's voice only came out as a whisper. Whatever Jaune was going to do, it seemed to compel Pyrrha to remain calm and quiet.
Jaune tore the remaining sleeve off Pyrrha's left arm and he closed his eyes. Pyrrha waited for him to start saying something, and it took a while before she finally understood what he was trying to do. Jaune glowed; a faint, warm, white light engulfed him as he activated his aura.
"I knew you can do it..." Pyrrha let a smile escape when her left arm began to absorb Jaune's warmth. The pain was still throbbing, with no sign of subsiding, but everything else felt comfortable around her. Jaune's aura was different from hers: it was soothing and calmer than her own fiery aura. The glow was brighter than she had imagined, and it didn't stop growing. Jaune looked almost heavenly as he sat there, and Pyrrha could see every single strand of his hair gleaming. He never looked more beautiful, and she had never felt so at peace.
And then it was over. The glow died down, and Jaune didn't look happy.
"Why can't I fix you?"
Pyrrha pushed herself up, checking on her arm. The cut was still there, bloody and throbbing. She thought all the magic that was happening was healing her, but nothing changed. She was even more exhausted than before, and the cut sting, and Jaune looked upset enough to jump out the window.
"It's alright, Jaune. It takes time and practice. Plus, there's always alcohol and some gauze in the first aid kit."
Jaune shut his eyes. "If you could unlock my aura, why can't mine do anything for you? It healed me once, but now you're hurt and my stupid aura did nothing but glowed!" He tried to activate his aura again, but Pyrrha stopped him, knowing he wouldn't succeed a second time.
"That's totally normal, I promise. What you did just now was already a huge improvement. If you want, we can start training your aura tomorrow night. We can find out what your semblance really is."
Jaune gave Pyrrha a silent 'Really?' through his glare.
Pyrrha took the chance to grab the first aid kit from the cabinet, but noticed her friend's look. "What? What's wrong, Jaune?" Jaune could have killed her with his glare, and he wasn't even the glaring-type.
"What's wrong with you?" he asked, as Pyrrha sat on the bed across him. She busied herself with wrapping her arm so she didn't have to look at him.
"...is this something related to Cardin?"
Pyrrha shook her head. "No, no, it's...got nothing to do with him. It's different," she said, pressing her wound. "I don't know what it is, but, my semblance had been failing me."
Jaune kept staring at her, trying to process, trying to understand.
"My polarity is fading, Jaune.. and I don't know why."
This chapter has been edited by ShaunyRedComet :D (Thank you!)
My first Arkos fic ever~
I actually wanted it to be a long one-shot, but didn't have the energy to finish it XD
But it's been lying around my laptop for a month now, so before it's abandoned, I thought I should just post it and wing it somehow.
Hope you enjoy it!
Please leave a comment/review, I'd love to know what you guys think :D