I do not own RWBY.

Heat, and then darkness. If Pyrrha had to describe death, that was what it felt like.

She wondered if all deaths were like this. But as she thought about it more and more, it was just that woman who used heat. So maybe it was something else, and then darkness.

She felt awfully sentient and thoughtful for a dead person. Was she just a ghost now? A floating brain of thoughts drifting in some strange void? She knew that she had a soul, as otherwise she wouldn't have had an aura, but she imagined that souls would somehow have a more… engaging afterlife.

Reincarnation, salvation or condemnation, penance, something like that. Books always seemed to make it more interesting.

"You can open your eyes now, you know."

It was like someone had dumped cold water on her. Her eyes flashed open, her body jolted upwards, and a hand went to her chest.

What was- Where was she? Her eyes flashed around, and all around her she saw white. An endless expanse of white. No shadows, no light, nothing except a pair of black jeans and shoes and a set of legs wearing them.

Her eyes trailed up.

"... Ren?"

The man burst out laughing.

"No, no, I'm not a friend of yours, though I suppose I'd be extra-honored if I were that too." Settling down, he straightened his dark leather jacket and readjusted his sunglasses, letting his dark straight hair assume its messy stance. He extended a hand to Pyrrha, who took it after a moment of confused contemplation.

Glancing around, she saw that it was white all around her, and there was no gaping hole in her chest. Standing to her full height, bronze greaves softly clicking against the floor, she spoke. "Um... sorry but, who are you?"

The man smiled. "Call me Monty." He looked around the white expanse. "At this point, it's easier to just go with that."

"... Alright then, Monty." Looking down, she examined where she felt the arrow pierced her chest. Her hand grazed against where that woman touched her head, the source of that encompassing heat that washed over her. Her green eyes squinted a little before she looked back up at him

"Am I… dead?"

"You're actually in transition between the two places." He started to walk a little distance away. In front of him, two small plumes of gray rose from the ground and eventually formed themselves into something similar to a park bench. "Well, actually three of the places. Or four, or five, or however many you want to believe there are. I don't actually know myself. I didn't make it, after all. But for simplicity's sake, yes. You're dead and you're somewhere in the middle."

Pyrrha's gaze fell to the white surface of a ground she stood on. Her chest rose and fell.

Jaune…

"Oh, don't look so glum." Glancing up at him, he was already sitting down and quickly patted the open spot on the bench. He passed her a simple smile. "Come on, take a seat."

Seeing as there was nothing else besides this man to talk to (and because she was dead, according to him), Pyrrha figured she would at least humor the man. With another breath she walked over and sat down, holding her legs together and resting her hands in her lap.

"So, about being dead," Monty spoke after taking a breath. "You know how I said that this is a bit of an in-between?" She looked up at him and silently nodded. "Well, the reason why you're here instead of elsewhere is because you're at a bit of a crossroads."

"Excuse me?" Her eyebrows rose in confusion. "But… I thought I had died. Isn't there like… a…" How did one describe the afterlife and its intricacies? "A procedure of sorts that I'm supposed to follow?"

"Well, normally you do. I'll spare you the details because, again, I don't quite get it myself." He leaned back and stared into the distant expanse. "You would go through the said process and then life… well, un-life continues, whatever that may look like for you. But like I said, you're seeing something different because you're at a crossroads."

Monty looked back at her. "You have a choice to make. Oh, and a few more after that one, depending on said choice." He waved his hand in front of his and shook his head, dismissing his thought. "But I'm digressing. Let me get on with it."

He took a deep breath and huffed. "You see, Pyrrha, you're here because you died. But not just because of-"

"Sorry to interrupt," She quickly cut in, "but how do you know my name?" She certainly didn't recall this person and she felt her shoulders stiffen. "Did… Did I perhaps know you at one point?"

"No, I don't expect you to know me. I'm just a man who has always had a lot of drive and ambition. But back to the matter at hand." Removing his sunglasses, he stared into her with black eyes, and Pyrrha felt for the briefest of moments that this man knew every little thing about her.

"You're here because while you died a hero, you have a particular regret to work out. I think you know who I'm talking about." A little smile spread across his lips. "And don't try to trick me and say Penny."

"... And what if I did?"

"I'd call you a liar and keep talking about Jaune."

Her shoulders rose and fell with a deep breath. "You know me like a book."

"Just a lucky guess," he said as he looked away into the distance, making himself seem even more suspect as he avoided her gaze. "But like I said, we're here to talk about Jaune. You've pined for him all throughout your time at Beacon, and at the very end you had him in your hands for the briefest of moments." This time he sighed. "But you pushed him away. At the very last moment, you pushed him away because you had to at least try to make a difference."

"They say hindsight is twenty-twenty," Pyrrha conceded. "I should have listened to the headmaster." And for all her hubris, she was rewarded with this strange period of unlife without a way to watch over Jaune. Just a plain white… plane.

"You know what they say, pride before the fall." Monty put his sunglasses back on. "But again, no more moping. We're done with moping and it's time to really get things started." He turned his gaze upon her.

"You're here because you've been given a second chance."

It took a moment for the words to register with her. "A… A second chance?"

"Exactly. You can go ahead and attempt to correct your mistakes, try and be different, try and prevent things, whatever you feel like. Clean slate in most regards, and definitely in terms of Beacon Academy."

A second chance at Jaune was the first thing she thought of. "That's a lot of things to think about."

"Who knows." Monty continued. "Maybe you'll be able to stop all the bad things. Maybe you'll decide to be a part of it and be the one that lights the fire. But at the end of the day, it's your call."

A quick smile flashed across his face. "So, how's that sound so far?" He raised a hand to the plane around them. "Better than this boring expanse, right?"

"I… I suppose it would give me something to look forward to."

"Had a feeling you'd be up for it. But there are a few things I have to go over with you. The nitty gritty, so to speak." He leaned in a little, eyes flickering down as he raised a single pointed finger.

"The first thing is that there are going to be some changes. Some parts of your life will be familiar, other parts unfamiliar. You'll still be a girl approaching her late teens, you'll think like you currently do, if that's what you're worried about, and you're still gonna have that red hair. In short, you'll still be you and you'll still recognize it as such."

"Other things, though, are going to change. Some of them are going to be more drastic than others. You'll still be able to recognize yourself in the proverbial mirror, but other parts of you might change. You'll remember it all and probably spot the differences, of course, but if you ever tell anyone they just won't believe you, so that won't be of much use."

"There's a silver lining, though." He locked eyes with her. "You get to keep one thing about yourself. Any one thing. But it's only about yourself. You are the control subject so to speak, the others are variables. For example, you can't wish for Jaune to already be madly in love with you. That will be up to you to win or keep or even decide to pursue."

That was a lot of fine print. Her eyes closed, contemplative, thoughtful. While being dead was one thing and it was probably wiser to not mess with the natural order of it all, it did not cease to tempt her with the thoughts of being with Jaune for more than just that one moment in her life.

"... Can you tell me more about where I'm going? My setting or otherwise?"

"Not really, no. That's a bit beyond me. Again, all I can say is that it will be both familiar and unfamiliar, but you'll definitely be at Beacon."

She thought about how she saved Jaune that day in the Forever Fall, when he was alone with a downed Cardin and that Ursa. If this was supposed to be an opportunity to be with Jaune, to have a second chance, then…

"My semblance," she firmly spoke. "I'd like to keep my semblance."

"Heh, okay then. Relatively safe choice." With a quick shove off the makeshift bench, he turned to Pyrrha and looked her in the eye.

"That's all the fine print. Think you're up for it?"

It was now or never. With another heavy breath, she nodded. "I'm ready."

"Alright. Close your eyes, Pyrrha. And try to keep them closed. It won't be too pretty otherwise and it'll make things harder. Keep them closed for as long as you can."

With a brief moment of hesitation, as if doubting that this would really work, she let her eyelids fall shut.

"So," he gave a heavy exhale, "here we go."

There was a soft hum that began to grow. It was mostly in the distance, and soon it seemed to emanate from below her. But much to her discomfort, however, it came with a light wave of nausea.

"JNPR will be whole again."

The humming grew stronger and stronger. She took a deep breath to try and quell the sick feeling that was beginning to rise within her.

"There's just one question you have to ask yourself now, Pyrrha."

It was a steady droning now, and… was she rocking?

"Do you believe in destiny?"

She heard nothing else from that fellow. She thought of her final moments in her old life, but let them fall away. This was a new chance - a new opportunity to seize what she missed. The humming grew louder and louder and she felt her body gently swaying and bobbing, driving her bile to her throat.

She tried to keep it down, but it only got worse. Finally she couldn't take it anymore. Her curiosity got the best of her and green eyes flew open.

"... and as future Huntsmen and Huntresses, it is your duty to uphold it. You have demonstrated the courage needed for such a task, and now it is our turn to provide you with the knowledge and the training to protect our world."

Pyrrha's heart stopped. She knew that voice. She knew that line and she knew on what day she heard it.

She was on a Bullhead. A Bullhead to Beacon Academy.

She let her mind and body take in the sights around her. To her left and right were vague faces that she recognized, just barely through her fog of nausea.

She let out a haggard laugh. She couldn't believe it! It really did happen! She tried to feel for the hole in her chest, the pain in her ankle. She rose to her feet, looking around to view more, to glance out the window and over the ocean, to see if there was anything different.

She knew that this wasn't her seat, though. These weren't the people who sat next to her and realized that she was on the side of a cereal box. These weren't the people who said they watched her win several tournaments.

Further spinning and glancing, however, turned out to be a mistake. Before Pyrrha could do much more, she doubled over and heaved.

"It's all over your shoes, Yang!"

"Gross gross gross!"

A/N: Inb4 "Thou shalt not use Monty's name in vain!"

Seriously, though, I couldn't resist poking fun at how everyone is all "Monty damnit" and whatnot. It's not what you say, but how you say it that matters, after all. Anyway, this silly idea came to me when I was thinking about how everyone seems to use Monty's name in such a way and because even though it's most likely not canon anymore, I still love Arkos. In short, Monty uses his patented Montypowers and gives Pyrrha a second chance at life because Pyrrha still has some regrets or unresolved I-wanna-bang-Jaune tension... with some potential consequences.

Basically, this plays off of the whole power-Jaune idea and literally reverses it. "Powerless Pyrrha", so to speak. A Pyrrha that gets airsick and other things. So I suppose I will at least claim my stake and say that I did this type of story first!... I think. I didn't actually check. But I know I haven't seen this at all in recent stories. Now Pyrrha won't entirely be powerless, but with the level of switch-y witchery that has occurred, she has to relearn a lot of things. And that's just Pyrrha. There is still Jaune to examine, after all. You'll learn more in future chapters.

Which brings me to an unfortunate point. I don't know if or when this will be continued. As much as I love this ship, my primary focus is still "A Harsh Lesson". I try not to upload things that I can't commit to regularly. At the same time, though, I hate holding onto chapters or pieces that I want to publish and have waiting on my database. So you'll have to forgive me if you're desperately waiting to see more of this and an update comes maybe once in a blue moon if at all.

Now I do have a general path that this will take. It might not be what you would expect in the end, but I would at least like to believe that it's going to be interesting. Just... gotta see if there is time to get this updated.

So I'm sorry if this leaves you demanding more. I love the idea I have, but this will probably be updated sparsely. So I guess a good question to ask is - how much would you like to see this updated? If this drums up enough interest, I can at least try to commit to it as well.

Anyway, leave a review! It helps things. And I'll see you all soon.

Edit: I realized that I forgot to thank ImSoAwesome and Water1556 for beta'ing this piece! This is probably why my betas never stay with me for long - I keep forgetting to credit them :|