Remnant's Revenant Chapter 2: Came Back Strong
Jaune Arc knew he was about to die.
His blue eyes scanned the battlefield, seeing his team falling against the Grimm. Qrow was bleeding out, and everyone else was fighting on fumes. The winter chill had worn down their auras and conviction, and the experienced huntsman among them being wounded only added to their despair. A Beowolf Alpha was charging at him, and he raised his shield in some vain hope that it would protect him from the ferocious beast. He waited for the inevitable death blow…
But it never came. A yelp rung in his ears, he looked up…
And his breath hitched in his throat.
The giant Beowolf lay prone on the snowy ground, head pressed into the snow by a gold-clad boot. His eyes traveled up, and saw the unmistakable sight of Pyrrha Nikos, standing tall, a look of pure fury in her emerald eyes.
"Leave. Him. Alone." She growled, ripping Milo out of the Grimm's neck.
"P-Pyrrha?" Jaune stuttered. She turned towards him, and the rage in her eyes faded into the stoic expression he had come to love.
"Jaune?" She asked. Her eyes suddenly widened "Get down!" She charged, and phased through him, driving the blade of Milo into another Beowolf's chest. A green glow enveloped the beast, and it seemed to collapse in on itself, winking out of existence in a flash of emerald.
"Pyrrha, you're…alive!?" Jaune exclaimed, catching her in a hug. Pyrrha reciprocated, and quietly spoke. "Not exactly." They broke the embrace and Jaune got a good look at the girl. She looked almost exactly like the Pyrrha he knew, only her skin was deathly pale, her armor was gold and the browns of her outfit had become black. Over her heart was faint, glowing scar.
"What happened to you, what are you?" He questioned, his emotions in turmoil at this possible imposter.
"I'm a ghost." She said, a degree of sorrow in her voice.
"Pyrrha?" Another voice asked. Both turned and saw Ruby, eyes wide, with her scythe blade embedded in a rapidly dissolving Beowolf's body. The remaining Grimm were now retreating into the woods, Pyrrha's arrival giving the huntsmen and huntresses a second wind, decimating the Grimm pack that was attacking them.
The entire team was gathered around Pyrrha, pure surprise in their eyes. Qrow's flask fell to the ground, and he was rubbing his eyes to make sure he wasn't seeing things.
"Pyrrha!? How? I thought Cinder killed you. I saw you turn to ash!" Ruby exclaimed.
"She did kill me, but now I'm stronger than anyone, even Ozpin, could have predicted." Pyrrha emphasized her point by letting her newfound ghostly energy gather around her hands, releasing it in a burst of emerald that shot into the sky and exploded into a dazzling firework display.
"But how do we know you're still…you?" Jaune demanded. Pyrrha strode up to him, and pulled him into a kiss. Jaune's eyes widened, before he closed his eyes. They broke off, and Jaune spend a few seconds regaining his composure. "It's you." He confirmed. Nora was barely containing squeals of joy when she realized how Jaune would know that.
"So, what now?" Ruby asked.
Beyond the range of the team, and even Pyrrha's enhanced ghost senses, a certain green-eyed ruler chuckled.
"Oh, now I buy you a bit more time. I may not be able to physically appear in this world, but that doesn't mean I can't pay a certain psychopath a visit.
Next time: Cinder learns there are forces beyond her power, and why stealing power is a bad idea.
