You Don't Choose Family
Harsh, cold, biting. A wind whipping along the ground, trying its best to tear her cloak from her shoulders as she stood. Before her lay the scene they'd set, a memorial for the one she'd lost. That they all had lost, but her most of all right now. Nora Valkyrie stood there, in a pale sun on a washed out field of green and white. She wanted to be alone, she wanted to let everything out in the solitude of the dead. But Ren was there with her regardless. A silent protector, just like when they were kids. Back when Nora only really had him as family.
"Hey... Sis. How's it been?" she asked at the marker, trying to bring her cheery self back. Sis never liked it when she was sad. "I'm sorry it took so long to do this, but you know, we've... been busy."
"Nora, it's ok." She looked back to see Ren looking peacefully at her, a soft smile on his lips. "Just say what you need to say."
He was always the stronger of the two of them, able to take anything in stride. She looked back at the marker, trying to smile a little. "So anyways, how's it been? We're doing well, the trip was long but we made it." The boat ride was particularly unpleasant, but that was the way things went. "You should have seen him, trying his best to not let the boat rocking get to him," Nora giggled, remembering the sight.
The wind was still cold, but the bitterness subsided a little as she talked to her lost friend. Her lost sister really, even if she'd only known her for a short time, it was enough. Having only Ren for so long, even as wonderful as he was, had slowly worn on Nora. Life was meant to have people in it, it was meant to have love and compassion. But her lot always felt like she was unwanted, unneeded, an oversight that would eventually disappear.
"So then we beat up these twelve Ursa on the road, and you should have seen how far they flew." The cold was abating now, a slight warmth from the weak sun giving her some energy. "It would have been great too, but Ren had to ruin it with the news we were running out of food."
"I just wanted to remind you three that eating is something we all need to do," Ren corrected, a slight hint of humor in his voice. "And it was only four Ursa, which didn't really fly far at all."
"Stop you, you're ruining my story." Ren was always so serious, but she loved him anyway. "Anyways, I'm sure you're getting kinda tired about hearing about this stuff." Nora really didn't want to stop talking to Sis, but they had to get going soon. Except... yeah, she really should tell her.
It'd been nearly a year since she'd met up with Sis, but it felt like so much longer in the end. Like Nora had known her for her entire life. She really didn't, and there was someone else who knew her even better in reality. But she was there for Sis as much as Sis had been there for her, their problems were much the same. Even if they weren't, Sis was always supportive of her anyways. She supported everyone, but Nora felt like she was special at least when they talked.
"Hey, you remember that time?" she spoke suddenly, remembering a place far away from here and a time much happier than now. "No, not the time I fell off the desk in class. That was embarrassing. The time when you asked to hang out for the first time?" It was so funny, watching her come to her after the boys left and ask about something to do. "So I thought to myself, 'what's a good place to go to help you out but also relax' and the answer came to me!"
The wind didn't feel so harsh, so biting, so cold anymore. It felt more like the soft summer breeze of a city more familiar, more welcoming to Nora and everyone. When the worries of the world were squarely in the future. She wanted to go back to that time, to live out her days with everyone beside her.
"Nora, I'm not sure I can... lift this."
She turned to look at her companion, taking in the relaxed clothing again. It was so odd seeing her out of her armor, but that circlet was still firmly in place on her head. You don't ever take that off, do you Pyrrha? Whatever. Nora walked over to look over the weight that was on the bar. It was nothing, she'd be able to lift that in her sleep, what was Pyrrha worrying about? Looking back at the girl, she smiled and gave her a big thumbs up.
"You've got this silly, this is nothing. Just remember, I'm here in case anything happens." Nora watched as the girl grimaced a little before sitting down on the bench. "Just think of it as a big person you've gotta keep from squishing you, that always works for me!"
Pyrrha leaned back, resting on the bench with her shoulders squared off. Slowly she raised arms to grasp at the bar above her head, pushing with effort to bring it upward and suspended over her face. Nora reached under and placed her hands on the bar, feeling Pyrrha's trembling through the metal. Why was she having so much trouble with this? It was only twice her weight. The girl lowered her bar toward her chest, Nora following it down. And it stayed there, the redhead squirming to get it up again.
"Nora... a little, um, help please?" she pleaded, straining to even budge the handful of weight on her chest. "I can't... do this..."
"Don't give up now, think about it, this is a really big bad guy. And you need to shove him off of you. So shove!" Nora watched her turn pink, then red, then a slight shade of blue.
"Please, Nora!"
Sighing, she lifted the bar upward with a smooth motion, trying to at least give most of the weight to Pyrrha to lift. They placed it back on the rack, her partner breathing heavily at the exertion. Nora shook her head, wondering whatever she was gonna do with her teammate at this rate. Oh well, everyone starts somewhere, and this was a good place to start. She really only knew a little about Pyrrha, having been placed on a team a month ago with her.
"So, you wanna try again? Here, I'll help a little," Nora offered, taking off a third of the weight. "There, we'll focus on getting you used to it before going back to the tough stuff."
Pyrrha looked dubiously at the bar again, stretching out a little before leaning backwards and grasping the metal once more. "This time, please help a little."
She smiled at the woman, trying to ease that tension with her own exuberance. Pyrrha pushed the bar up once more, this time far more smoothly. Nora slipped her hands underneath, taking a slight amount of weight as it was lowered. Her partner pushed it up again smoothly, almost easily. Well, I wanted her to get used to the weight, but I guess she's stronger than she thinks. Up and down, up and down. The calming rhythm of building yourself up, the thing Nora had taken solace in for a long time.
"Hey, Pyrrha," she asked as the girl finished another ten, resting the bar on her chest as she looked upward. "How do you do it? I mean, staying so on top of all of this, being as good as you are while staying ahead in class?"
The girl smiled a little, feeling along the roughness of the weight bar. "To tell you the truth, I kind of cheated on half of it when I was younger." Pyrrha grasped the bar, pushing upward before Nora could get underneath it. "I've almost always had my Semblance... so I was able to do things," she said as she let go of the bar, "like this."
Metal hung there, suspended on unseen forces as Pyrrha smiled up to Nora. She had her hands underneath the bar anyways, just in case something, anything dumb happened. "Um, I guess that's one way to get through gym class then. So you didn't really have to try?"
Pyrrha's smile softened as she reached up to take the iron, Nora feeling weight return to the bar. "Well, at first I didn't. But it's funny what happens when you take things for granted and you can't use them all of a sudden." She pushed outward, a slight shudder in her arms. "Mom always thought I'd be able to do anything, and she was right. Just not about when I'd be able to do it." Again it fell, and Nora caught a little more weight. "Oh well, you don't really want to hear about all this, right?"
"Of course I do... that's why you came out here with me, isn't it? So we could have some... girl time?" That was the reason Nora wanted to hang out with her, to connect with someone other than Ren. Not that he wasn't, well, fantastic. But there were things she needed to talk about that she just couldn't with him.
Pyrrha lay there for a while, just lifting and dropping her weight in silence. Her smile didn't leave as she worked out, but Nora was starting to worry a little at the quiet. "I've never really had... girl time before," she let out suddenly, placing the bar on the rack and sitting up. "I mean, I've talked with my mom about stuff. But never really about... stuff, you know?"
Nora let a giant grin overtake her face, she knew exactly what Pyrrha meant. "Oh, I'm sure we'll get to all that, in due time." She took note of the sweat on her brow, and felt like it might be good to call it early. "Let's go get changed, we can talk a little on the way back to the dorm. About stuff."
They walked back to the changing room together, Nora not really feeling that tired but happy enough to keep the day going. It was pretty empty, the last person walking out as they found their lockers. She swapped out of her tight top into a loose shirt, feeling better at having rid herself of such an uncomfortable thing. It was handy though, kept everything in check. Looking over her shoulder, Nora caught Pyrrha slowly pulling off her sweaty shirt.
Underneath was the divine body of a world class fighter, etched and marvelous. Was it fair that she really didn't have to try? Nora didn't hate the way she looked, not at all, but having to compete with women like... that, well, was it fair? She watched as Pyrrha rummaged for a loose shirt to replace the previous tight one, a quick glance to see if anyone else was around. The woman pulled the shirt on over her head, breathing out a sigh of relief as she fanned herself. It was kinda hot in here.
Pyrrha glanced over her shoulder, catching Nora staring at her. She tried to hide her face from the redhead, not wanting to admit she was a little jealous. "Nora, is there... something you wanted to ask?"
She jumped at the sound, looking back into Pyrrha's concerned eyes. "Oh um... I was just admiring... well, uh, you. You're very pretty Pyrrha, and again it looks like you do it without trying."
"Thank you, I think?" the girl offered, clearly conflicted about how Nora was acting.
"Oh no, no no, not in that way. I mean, you are probably one of the hottest girls at Beacon, and I'm not just saying that." She was doing it again. "It's just, you're so pretty all the time, and I'm... well, I don't dislike it. But it would be nice to, you know, not have to work so hard at it."
Pyrrha turned away, a small smile on her lips as she contemplated something. She looked back at Nora, her eyes gleaming as she smiled. "So this is what girl talk is like? I could definitely get used to this." The red head got up, walking over and settling down next to Nora. "I don't really think about the gifts I've been given, the blessings that I can't even count. But I think that, in some ways, it's better to work hard for something than to just have it."
It was the truth. Well, at least Pyrrha believed it to be true at any rate. The defeat in her voice spoke of something else though, something more personal. "We're gonna talk about that then? On the way home?" Nora asked, knowing the answer before her companion even looked over.
"... If you don't mind. I suppose you... know how I feel?"
Nora smiled as they stood up, walking towards the exit of the gym. "Yeah, but don't worry. There's all the time in the world to beat some sense in their heads." She giggled at the thought, actually beating the boys with her hammer would feel good, not only for her but for Pyrrha too. To her surprise, Pyrrha started to giggle as well.
It felt warmer now, partly from talking about all the good times with Sis, partly from the midday sun hanging overhead. Nora really didn't care how much time she took, it was worth every moment to her. Trying to bring back those memories, the times she bonded with her, the times she fought with her. It took some doing to bring Sis around to those pancakes. But it was all important to Nora's memory of her family. Ren stood passively nearby, watching and listening. She hoped that he felt the same way, that Sis meant just as much to him.
"We had a lot of fun there, you actually managed to come close to my record at one point you know? I was bluffing that I could go higher, but I still think you cheated a little." The babbling felt good, a constant stream of thought to block out the sadness waiting at the end. "Oh, and don't think someone didn't notice. I heard him whisper to Ren, he thought he was so sly, and they agreed that it was working."
"Nora, you know we... didn't really mean to..." It was rare for Ren to run out of words, especially about this. "I just want you to know, we had just as much idea as you at the end. I'm sorry."
She knew all of this already, but it still felt nice that her silly self wasn't being excluded at the end. Nora smiled back at the boy, trying to put his mind at ease. Just like Sis would, when she got depressed about how things were going, or when life was just being troublesome. It felt wonderful knowing someone was there to pick her up, to ease those burdens or share in them. For a little while, she had that.
"Say, do you remember... that stupid time in the library?" she mused, embarrassed to be speaking about this finally. "I know, it's not something I'm proud of, but... I wanted to reminisce a little. Since I probably won't have time to here soon."
"Pyrrha, what's the point of doing this? We aren't going to have time soon to train for the tournament!" They were sitting in a library, trying to study. Well, Nora was trying to study while Pyrrha casually succeeded at it in addition to helping her. It was nothing new, Pyrrha was a super woman in everything it seemed. "Please, this is so boring. I just... want..." A gentle push woke her up again, the smiling face looking down at her so familiar.
"We need to finish up our classes before then, and there are exams as well," Pyrrha reminded, going back to her book. "Now, who was the first person to step up and oppose Mantle during the Great War?"
History, of course, it had to be history. Nora was absolute trash at it, but of course Pyrrha would know that. They'd talked about all of this so many times before, at the gym, at the ice cream shop. Girl talk, trying to get to know each other. In the end, Nora really had only opened up about all the little things in her life, what she loved and hated most. Pyrrha seemed to soak it all up, digging deeper and deeper. It felt... like she was really someone Nora could trust.
"Um, I don't really know... that one Taurus person?" she guessed, trying to hide the fact she was on that page from Pyrrha. The frown Nora received hurt a little, but there wasn't any anger from her partner. "Er, can we take a break then? I don't... really feel like studying right now."
Pyrrha gave her a disapproving look before realizing the real reason. "What's wrong? You don't seem like you right now?" she asked, setting down her own book. The concern was thick on her voice, usual Pyrrha. "Is it about someone else? I know how much praise professor Port has been giving you, is it making you uncomfortable?"
"No, no, it's nothing like that," Nora offered, "I just... wanna stop for a little bit. Maybe talk some more, like we always do."
"We need to... oh, alright. So what do you want to talk about?" Pyrrha sat there as Nora tried to make herself go through with this. "Is it something... bad?"
Why was she having so much trouble with this? What was so wrong about wanting to tell someone how much they mean? But it still felt embarrassing to Nora, someone who couldn't tell the one person in the world how she really felt about him. And here she was again, being tongue tied about another person who meant the world to her. Nora looked around the room quickly, thankful that they were alone.
"It's nothing bad, I just... this is hard to say." She picked up her pencil, fiddling with it nervously.
Pyrrha sighed, resting her elbows on the table and smiling a little now. "Well, that's a relief. To be honest... I don't know what I would do if something really bad was happening." Nora set the pencil down, confused by what Pyrrha was trying to say. "I've... never really had anyone to talk to about some of the stuff happening in my life. Until I came here that is."
Where was this coming from? Pyrrha had mentioned she talked with her mom a lot, hung out with her when she was a kid. "But... what about your mom? You talk to her still, right?"
"Oh mom is great... for supporting me. But she doesn't really get what's going on each day, how I'm... alone." She was still smiling, even with the sad words she spoke. "It's a curse at times, never really having any trouble, never failing at pretty much anything. People... start to resent you, they start refusing to talk to you." Nora spied a little tear forming in Pyrrha's eye, staring at it now as she spoke. "Then I came here, and met you, and Ren, and Jaune. Everybody who didn't really have those feelings towards me."
"Well, yeah. We like you Pyrrha, what's not to like?" This was starting to hit closer to home than Nora expected. Was she really having such a hard time?
"Like me... but not really knowing who I am. Besides Jaune, I really only talk to you." The tear rolled down her cheek now, a thin line of moisture in its wake. "You helped me with so much, made me laugh when I couldn't stand how things were. Told me things I didn't want to hear... especially about our leader," she chortled, at odds with the new tears that were forming. "I guess, what I'm trying to say is that... you're really important to me."
"Like a sister..."
This time, Pyrrha did stop smiling as she looked over with concern in her eyes. It was Nora's turn to smile somberly, so she did. "Well, yes. I guess you could say that, although I've never had a sister. My mother never... really found another man."
Nora breathed out, letting her usual energy falter a little as she prepared to finally say what she wanted. "I... always imagined what it would be like to have a sister. When I was little." Pyrrha's eyes widened at the words, but she continued listening in silence. "You know how me and Ren are orphans? He's all I've ever known, we basically raised ourselves in the home. And... well, he's pretty much perfect but, I can't... really talk about stuff with him. Then, when you wanted to go out, I hoped that you would wanna talk with stupid old me."
"Please don't call yourself stupid, you aren't."
Oh, Pyrrha, you never really change, do you? "I'm just being mean to myself. But anyways, being here, at Beacon with you,with everyone... it's been nice. And talking with you, getting help, I guess what I'm trying to say is thank you. For being like the sister I never had."
The red head sat there, tears still sitting in her eyes as she stared at Nora. Reaching over, she laid a hand on top of hers, smiling brightly. "I'm... glad you feel that way," Pyrrha whispered, wiping away the moisture with her free hand. "My mom once told me... we don't get to choose our family, they choose us. If it were another time, another life, I would... be happy to have you as my sister."
Here it was, the one thing that Nora never thought she'd ever have. She... could call someone family, she found them once more in her life. Sitting back in her seat, she shared a long look with Pyrrha as the two breathed out the tension they held. We made it Ren, we made it to a new family. The silence the two of them were enjoying was broken by excited words and footsteps. Nora looked back to find the man she was thinking about and her leader walking over to them. They'd gotten along just fine as well; Ren spoke quite a bit about the hopeless boy they called leader.
"Hey, Pyrrha, Nora... uh, what are you up to? Were you crying or something?" Jaune asked, looked a little worried at the both of them.
Nora looked back at Pyrrha, smiling just as much as the girl was smiling back. They erupted in a fit of giggles, causing the two boys to ask even more questions. "We're fine," Nora answered, trying to assuage their worry, "we were just having a little..."
"Girl talk," Sis finished.
The sun was falling now, a short day the price winter demanded when it was around. Nora stood there, having finished her memories and breathing out puffs of air as the cold returned. It wasn't long after that the festival arrived, and with it, the tournament. Pyrrha was their ace, she went on after a raucous doubles round with Nora against an uncoordinated Mistral team. And then... well, she was used to being alone with Ren. But this time, she had memories.
"So Sis, how's it feel? To have the boy you always wanted? He told me what you did, I didn't think you had it in you." The words tasted bitter, but a sweetness lingered afterward. "I still haven't... done what we talked about. It's too scary, I don't really wanna mess it up." Ren didn't make a sound, even if Nora was trying her best to make it obvious. Well, it felt obvious at least.
"Nora, it's getting late. And everyone is waiting, they found an airship so we can get to Haven." They were kind words, trying to be considerate while also moving Nora past this place. It was going to be hard, saying goodbye.
"Well, Ren's being all responsible again. I guess it's why I didn't end up dead or broke and destitute somewhere though." He was always looking out for her, especially directly afterward. That time was something Nora didn't want to remember. But she still had everyone else, people who... cared a little. "So, I guess this is it? I'm not really good at goodbyes, and I don't know if I even want to say it."
Ren stepped up beside her now, placing a hand on her shoulder. "You don't have to say it alone. Because you aren't alone, not anymore. Not as long as she's in your heart, just like the rest of us."
He was right of course, that insufferable perfection still there no matter what. "Yeah, but I still don't want to say it. Jaune didn't say it either. So... I guess I'll just say, see you later Sis, maybe one day soon. And... I'm glad. That my family chose me."
They turned to walk away, the crunch of snow loud in the calm afternoon air. Nora felt better now, giving everything she had to Sis. Letting out that grief would come later, when it was time to really accept what had happened. But for now, she wanted her to know all the good times they had. Behind them a single bronze shield stood buried halfway in the ground, a simple marker for a phenomenal person. Nora didn't have as much time as she wanted with her, but neither did the rest of Nora's family.
AN: Props to u/Michael7123 for helping fine tune this piece.