Disclaimer: I do not own RWBY and never will.
Black. Red. Those were the two colors that filled Yang's dreams. The colors of Grimm, and of him. Every night, Beacon falling. Every night, losing her arm anew.
Adam drew closer, emotionless, and no matter how she tried, how she struggled, he drew his sword and-
"Yang, wake up!"
Yang's eyes shot open. For a moment, she was disorientated, remembering death, destruction and fire, but then she shook her head and her mind started to clear. The room she'd shared with the unconscious Ruby since the Fall of Beacon, came into view. Still dark, but no red, no fire. The clock on the nightstand read 12:37. She was covered in sweat, and her panting breaths echoed like thunder.
"Great, another nightmare." She was in Patch now, safe in her childhood home, her father just two rooms over. Still, Adam wasn't so easily forgotten, and even when she sat up, her body reminded her with the simple fact she had only one arm to push herself up with.
From behind her came a all-too familiar voice. "Well, it's a good thing I woke you up then."
"P-Money?" Yang yawned sleepily. "That you?"
"In the flesh..." She chuckled. "Well, so to speak."
Yang turned to see white, Pyrrha's form but all translucent and shiny, like it was made of milk. She floated about three feet off the floor, her legs trailing off into nothingness. Her now-pale eyes rested upon Yang, taking in the too-tired girl.
Yang blinked, before doing what came naturally when coming face to face with the ghost of a murdered friend.
"Yo, thanks for waking me up, P-Money."
Pyrrha's face broke into a smile. "What are friends for?"
Yang smiled.
The battle of Beacon had been a long series of emotional beatdowns. First being humiliated in front of the world, then losing Penny, her arm, Pyrrha, and Weiss and Blake scattering for the four winds... She'd just about hit rock-bottom when a certain friendly ghost popped up to say 'hi'.
She hadn't taken it well at first. In fact, she'd originally woken up by screaming bloody murder at the sight of her dead (or was that undead?) friend. It had taken about an hour, and a failed exorcism or two to calm her down. Luckily, her dad knew what was up, and apparently seeing ghosts ran in the Branwen bloodline. Even though he couldn't see Pyrrha himself, he was cool with it.
After all, she might have been dead, but at least she wasn't a boy.
"I'm glad you're here, P-money," Yang whispered, having managed to calm herself down. Without Pyrrha, she wasn't sure what she would have done. Probably gone half-mad from terror-it had been her arm, for Oum's sake! A piece of her was gone, and wouldn't ever come back, even if she got one of those mechanical arms.
However, a different part of her body called to her now, her stomach letting her know with a rumble that it was both awake and empty.
"Now that's a foghorn," Yang chortled.
A hand to her lips to cover her own bubbling laughter, Pyrrha's eyes danced with mirth. "Perhaps you should take care of that first."
"Well, I do need some extra strength if I'm going to be ready for that new arm."
They'd made it halfway down the stairs when Yang stepped just a little off of where she should have. In the past, it would have been an easy catch of the railing, but she still hadn't gotten quite used to her missing arm, so she flailed her arm in panic, trying desperately not to tip over.
Only to be saved when her body suddenly gained the agility of a professional dancer and threw itself back onto the staircase, slamming her back against the steps. There was a brief crash, then silence.
Pyrrha was nowhere to be seen, so, feeling rather foolish, Yang said aloud,"Thanks, P-Money."
'You're welcome," Came the warm reply...which, considering it was both non-verbal and sounded like it was coming from inside her skull, was rather less comforting than it should have been.
"But you know...I've still got Aura. You didn't need to possess me or anything."
"I'm sorry!" And with a sound like a drain being unclogged, Pyrrha's ghostly body leaped out of her body, a bright white blush on her face.
"It's cool." A thought struck her. "What's it like being in my body anyway?"
"W-well...it's not all that different." Her blush deepened. "I-I can feel everything you do. Just...a few things are out of proportion."
Yang raised an eyebrow. It was her body being possessed, so why was Pyrrha acting all embarrassed? But then, she supposed it would be pretty weird. Imagine if she got swapped with Ruby, all small and skinny...and small. Still, the thoughts on Pyrrha's ghostly abilities brought a new thought to Yang. "I don't think I've seen you anything since you showed up. Is that one of those ghostly things, or am I being a bad hostess?"
"Oh no, I don't have to eat anything at all." Pyrrha chuckled, clearly grateful for the change of subject. "Not even sure if I could, really."
They continued walking.
"So what's it like being dead? You know, apart from the-" She drew her finger past her throat. "-obvious."
Pyrrha scratched the top of her head. "It's...rather nice, actually."
"Really? That's..." Nice, impossible to believe, odd. "...something".
Pyrrha's face softened, a warm smile forming on her face. "For years, I've been Pyrrha Nikos, 'The Invincible Girl'. My every action was scrutinized on the tournament circuit, and even in Beacon, I could hear the whispers of our classmates. You guys helped, but outside of my friends...I was crushed beneath the weight of my name, my reputation." She leaned in, almost whispering. "I don't think I ever told you guys, but the week before I came to Beacon, I'd worn some less than flattering clothes. Well, two days later the tabloids were talking about the 'Invincible Mother-to-be', with speculations as to when my secret love-child had been conceived, and all the fan mail..."
Yang leaned back, trying to imagine it. Sure, she'd been popular in Signal, but that...that was unreal. "Wow..."
"Beacon told me once that I was still receiving as much mail as the rest of the school combined. It's only because I requested they burn it that we didn't have to have separate quarters for my mail. But now..." Her smile widened. "...Now I'm free. It feels like the world's weight has gone away. The 'Invincible Girl' is gone, and only I remain. "
"I guess that is kind of nice," Yang allowed as she made herself a bacon sandwich. "But surely you miss it sometimes, being alive I mean."
Pyrrha tapped her fingers together. "W-well, there are some things I miss...or someone."
"Someone, or some-Jaune?" At Pyrrha's flushing white, Yang laughed. "Don't worry, lady-killer's cute enough. And anybody willing to publicly wear a dress for you is a keeper."
"And who's your type, Miss Xiao Long?" In spite of her mild words, there was a glint in Pyrrha's eyes.
"My taste in guys?" Yang nibbled at her snack, then shrugged. It wasn't like Pyrrha would be telling anyone or anything. "Eh, I like them confident and cool. And a great bod doesn't hurt either. Don't tell anyone, but I thought Sun was kinda hot."
Pyrrha nodded slowly, then her gaze went past Yang and her eyes went wide. "Look out!"
Before Yang could reat, something heavy slammed into the back of her head, driving her to her knees.
"Y-yang?" Through the spinning birdies, she thought she saw Jaune crouched down in front of her. "Oh god, I'm so sorry! Are you okay?"
"Ow." Yang said helpfully, rubbing her head. As her thoughts cleared, she turned to see the culprit: the refrigerator door swinging wide. "Don't worry, I'll be fine."
"Want me to get you an ice bag?"
"It's cool. Don't worry about it." Waving him off, Yang struggled back to her feet.
"Are you sure?"
"Again, aura. You'd need a truck to really cause some damage." Not quite true, as Aura only helped when you were aware of the blow first. Still, she'd had worse. Yang grinned at him to take the edge off though. "But it's good to see what a little sweetie you still are, Lady-killer." 'after what happened' was left unsaid. She hadn't told him about Pyrrha's reappearance yet, at the girl in question's insistence. Something about it not being good for the healing process. Bullshit in her opinion, but she'd kept it secret, for now.
Jaune didn't seem to notice the implications, as he just gave a somewhat nervous grin. "And how are you doing, Yang? Overall, I mean."
A week ago, she wouldn't have said anything. Hell, a week ago, she wouldn't have left her bed at all. Now though, with Pyrrha helping her... "Eh, I'm doing alright, but thanks for asking. After I get that arm, We're going to have quite the journey ahead of us. No Weiss though, I'm afraid."
"Think you'll be able to handle it without the nightclubs on the way?"
Yang narrowed her eyes. "You've been talking to Ruby, haven't you?"
"Well..." Jaune laughed nervously. "She may have mentioned something about a certain Junior..."
"Just for that, you're going to the next nightclub we find, if I have to make you." Yang said teasingly.
But Jaune grinned at that one. "You'd have better luck threatening Ruby with that. I have seven sisters, and they ALL love to dance. So you'd best be prepared."
Since her new arm was going to be arriving soon, the plan was to wait for Ruby to awaken, then all go to Haven together. With Taiyang joining them, only a few opponents could hope to match them. Well...that was the plan anyway. As the Battle of Beacon showed, things could change oh so easily.
She turned to one of the ones who hadn't made it...only to find Pyrrha with a very odd look on her face. The way her head was tilted, glazed over eyes firmly fixed upon-she followed her gaze-god, she was staring at the boy's ass. And was that a hint of drool upon her face?
Yang massaged her forehead. Drawing close to her ghostly gal pal, she hissed, "P-Money, his eyes are up there."
"Yeah...sure..." Pyrrha licked her lips. "Come on, Jaune. Bend a little more..."
Yang's face flushed. Even for her this was a bit much. "Pyrrha, is this new, or were you this bad when you were alive too? Because I'm feeling embarrassed for the guy."
Pyrrha shook her head, seeming to return to her senses. "Eheh, sorry, but with how you're the only one who can see me, sometimes I get a bit...distracted."
"Wait, so when you're not around me...is this how you spend your time?"
Pyrrha laughed awkwardly, but didn't actually respond.
"You at least leave him alone when he's naked, right?"
"I've had a lot of free time...being dead...and there were certain things I was curious about."
"Like?"
Pyrrha muttered something about inches, and Yang buried her head in the comforting security of her palm.
"Ugh..."
"Something wrong, Yang?" Jaune asked.
Yang glanced at him, trying to bleach from her mind the silly thoughts that Pyrrha's recent discussion had put in it. Damn it, she shouldn't want to know how many inches! "Don't worry about me. I'm downright Yangtastic." She ignored the combined groans of Jaune and Pyrrha. "And I should be asking you that. How are you doing since..."
"Don't worry about me, I'm fine."
Yang squeezed his shoulder. "You sure? It's okay to miss her, you know."
But her continued worry was met by a shrug of the shoulders, as he busied himself with raiding the fridge. "Would it be okay if I took some of the cookies, or are those for Ruby?"
Yang clenched her hand into a fist. Pyrrha would never get to grow old with him, he'd never see her again, and he was concerned if he could get some damn cookies! "Sure, go ahead. Have them."
Jaune hummed at that, swiping a few along with a sandwich. "Well, I'll go train for a bit, then turn in. See you in the morning."
"Yeah, the morning." Yang said, her voice just short of a growl. As soon as he left, she turned to Pyrrha, eyes red like roses. "That bastard. After everything you've done, all you've endured, all you've suffered, it's like he doesn't even care!
Pyrrha narrowed her eyes. "I'm sure he does. Maybe he just doesn't want to talk about it. Everyone grieves differently, after all."
"Everyone else, EVERYONE ELSE wasn't half as close , bu we can't stop thinking about what happened. And his response to me bringing it up is 'Oh, I want to go train, hurr, durr.' Screw that! You're his partner! And you loved him. He...he should be devastated, not...whatever he is!"
"Yang. He has his reasons..." Pyrrha's voice was soft though...weak.
And seeing her newfound friend like this, Yang made a decision. "No, I'm going to go give him a picece of my mind...no, the whole damn thing!" And before Pyrrha could respond, Yang stormed outside, barely noticing her hair ablaze.
It was a bit of a walk, but in spite of Yang's speed, Purrha must have caught up, because she started hearing the sound of her voice.
Refusing to listen, Yang increased her speed. Jaune shouldn't care so little. Pyrrha liked him...and to be honest, she'd liked him a bit herself, before today anyway. So she was going to make him care if she had to best the caring into him.
As she closed in on the jerk, she noticed something odd. Pyrrha didn't seem to be talking to her...And there was a bit of feedback like...like it was a recording.
"Jaune...I...I... I want you to know that I'm just happy to be part of your life. I'll always be here for you, Jaune."
Her footsteps slowed.
He looked back, eyes wide. "Y-Yang?"
The dam of emotions broke.
As Yang and Jaune encountered each other, in a conversation that soon went from harsh words to open sobbing, each clutching the other like a lifeline, Pyrrha watched from afar with a smile. Everything was going according to plan.
What she'd told Yang earlier was true: in a lot of ways, being dead was an advantage. There was no struggle with her reputation, she didn't need to eat or drink, or even sleep. She was free...but there was one problem.
'Damn it, I didn't want to die a virgin!'
That led to annoyance, minor angsting, and lately, a plan.
Yang's body being possessable offered interesting new possibilities...
'Yes...operation Matchmaker has entered its third phase.'
So as the two blondes hugged, Pyrrha smiled.
Soon she would get the nookie she had been so cruelly denied.
Author's Note: Just a fun little story I came up with via a writer's prompt. Let me know if you like.
(Original Prompt: A Ghost wakes Yang up to have a chat)