There were five-hundred and sixteen bumps on the wall opposite the glass, and, counting the ones she had made, thirty-two cracks. She was just beginning to change walls to the one on her left, opposite the door, when she heard the interrogation room door close through the glass behind her.

She rose from her cross-legged sitting position and pulled out her scroll, opening it to the notes section. It was the usual group of three, Doctor Oobleck, the scary blond, and the portly man whose key characteristic was "bushy." She was surprised when the door continued to spew people into the continuingly ill sized interrogation room behind the glass.

First came a tall brunette girl, her eyes hidden behind sunglasses and her head adorned with a black beret, then a boy who appeared to be blind, his arms and face coated in scars with two giant blades running from his wrist up to his elbow. Following him was a giant of a boy, easily dwarfing even the teachers, on his back was a massive greatsword and running from his shoulder to his elbow were massive green plates, dented and scarred from many battles. The girl behind him was short, though she seemed even shorter behind the giant in green, even despite the tall rabbit ears that added at least a foot to her height. She entered with her head locked on the back of the giant, eyes refusing to even glance at the Grimm in the cell.

Pyrrha knew she knew them all from somewhere, especially the girl with the rabbit ears, but just like always no names came with the faces. She bore none of them ill will, in fact most of the emotions that came up were positive, they must have been friends, or acquaintances more likely.

The interrogation room opposite her was now absolutely packed, at most it was maybe meant for four people, and they had nearly doubled that, though she bet the giant counted for two. He was busy trying to make himself as small as possible, having to hunch significantly so his head didn't scrape along the ceiling. She couldn't help herself, she laughed.

At first a small giggle that rose to a chuckle, that developed into a hearty laugh, that devolved into tear-streaming, side-clenching hysterics. What was she doing? This wasn't that funny, sure it was comical, but not worthy of hysterics. But she couldn't stop, it wasn't about the hunched over boy, or the cramped interior of the room, it was about the first funny thing she'd seen, that she could even remember clearly.

It was the sound of her own laughing that eventually rescued her from the ever growing cycle of hysterics, the one thing that tore her mind away from its ecstatic release and slapped some sense into it. It, like every other sound she made, was rasping, a gurgling shaken sound that evoked a reaction similar to if someone dragged a knife along a plate. It unsettled them. It unsettled her, and that forced her to stop. Slowly, still having small giggles burst through, she managed to steady her fingers enough to type out a simple apology and explanation. I'm sorry, it just seems quite cramped in there.

She held the screen up to the glass, looking at the hunched over giant as she did. She had a wide smile that refused to die, and small snorts escaped as she observed the the way he ducked his head and hunched his shoulders. Their faces were a mixed blessing, some, like the muted horror that the girl with bunny ears wore, killed what amusement she found in the situation. Meanwhile, the giant's blush and further in vain attempts to minimize his body only served to revive her recently beheaded humor.

"Can't say I've ever heard a Grimm laugh before." The girl with the beret muttered, though in the utter silence in the room it might has well have been shouting. "Scratch that off the list of things I didn't need," she sighed. Her face somehow managed to convey immense disgust as well immense neutrality at the same time, it was rather impressive actually.

Pyrrha's smile still refused to die, despite how much she knew it unnerved them. Hastily she pulled her scroll away from glass again to add to the message. I'm sorry, I can't stop smiling, I know it must look ghastly.

"You're not wrong," the man in the Crimson coat sighed. The terrifying blond woman simply raised her eyebrow higher at Pyrrha's message before she spoke. "Anyway, the reason we are here today is because we'd like to ask you some more questions," she gestured to the four newcomers behind her, "Team CFVY was the closest team to Miss Nikos' that we have with us in Vale. We thought they might help corroborate your story." Clearly the blond was leading the questioning today. The doubt they placed on her hurt, but she understood their position, she wouldn't trust her either were she in their shoes.

"First off, where have you been?" The blond woman asked as she peered over her glasses. Pyrrha cocked her head questioningly then gestured down towards the floor with a finger. She had been here, all night, unless she meant- "No, I mean where have you been since the fall of Beacon?"

That...was a good question, where had she been? She couldn't really say "floating in darkness while in constant, indescribable pain," that wasn't a place. She stared at her scroll, fingers unmoving as she tried to figure out an answer to the woman's question. I do not know, all I remember is the fall of Beacon, my fight atop the tower, then… Darkness, but a physical darkness. It enveloped me and tortured me. I'm sorry, I know that isn't a place, nor a good answer.

She held the scroll up to the glass, eyes locked with the woman as if willing her to understand her apology was sincere.

"Sounds ominous." The girl with the beret said, her voice dripping with sarcasm, but her face still impassive.

"Do you know how long it's been since Beacon fell?" The woman inquired again, glancing at a clipboard she held in front of her. Pyrrha pulled the screen away and cocked her head thoughtfully. How long has it been? The darkness didn't help her sense of time, but she she thought it must've been, well, a while. At least a few weeks as the city had been evacuated and the fighting around Beacon seemed to have ceased, but Grimm still roamed. There was some overgrowth but she wasn't sure how long that took to establish itself after such devastation, did that mean months had passed?

It couldn't have been an absurd amount of time, the faces before her matched those in her memory extremely well, save for one or two new scars among the younger ones, and a few new grey hairs in the older they looked almost exactly the same. She thought about it a little longer before gathering her thoughts and typing. No, I don't. If I guessed I would say at the most a few months?

Doctor Oobleck sighed sadly as he read her answer, the crimson man beside him had much the same reaction, the girl with the rabbit ears looked away in pain. Clearly her guess had been off.

"I'm afraid not, it's been a year and two days since Beacon fell."

Very off. She could do nothing but blink, her mouth may have fallen open, but she didn't notice. A whole year?! How did…what did...what?! She didn't know what to say, what did you say when you've been dead and tortured for a year before coming back as a monster? Her shoulders slumped, how much had changed? Not much apparently based off the state Beacon was in. She just hoped Jaune and her friends-wait! Jaune and her friends, were they still alive?! They had to be, right? She ripped the scroll off the glass and tapped out her message as fast as she could. Jaune and my friends, are they still alive? Are they alright?

She slammed the screen against the glass, her arm trembling with fear. They had to be alive, if they weren't...could she mourn those whose names she couldn't remember? How cruel would it be that all this time they thought her dead, and when she finally comes back, they've all died instead.

She was so caught up running through dreadful scenarios in her mind that she didn't notice the group before her reactions to her sudden concern. Frankly they hadn't been expecting it; though it made perfect sense, it was still hard to think of the Grimm before them as being Pyrrha Nikos in even the slightest of ways mentally.

The three teachers all shared a glance, while the girl with the rabbit ears gripped the giant's hand tightly, and the one with the sunglasses leaned over to whisper in the blind boy's ear.

"As far as we know the members of teams RWBY and JNPR are still alive," the blond woman spoke. Pyrrha let out an immense breath that she'd been holding, the trembling in her arm beginning to cease. "However," Pyrrha's body tensed. "Team RWBY was split after the accident, Weiss Schnee remains in Atlas, Yang Xiao-Long on her home island of Patch, Blake Belladona's current whereabouts are unknown, though she has been sighted and confirmed alive. Ruby Rose has led the remaining members of your old team, Jaune Arc, Lie Ren, and Nora Valkyrie, to Minstral, there they hope to find the one they believe to have murdered you."

Pyrrha stiffened. This was good news wasn't it? All her friends were alive, scarred and shaken from the fall of Beacon to be sure, but alive. Not only that, but she was also told that the only two clear objectives she had in mind were now both conveniently located in her home city of Minstral. This was excellent! Then why did she feel so on edge? What was eating away at her mind?

That woman incapacitated Ozpin himself after stealing the Fall Maiden's powers, then she killed me. They're no match for her.

That was it, she was worried about them, they'd ran off after one of the most powerful people in the world, four ex-first-year students at Beacon Academy. But how? Surely someone would've tried to stop them, and no sane person would've assigned them such a mission, right? And if they hadn't been assigned it then why hasn't anyone tried to bring them back? They'd let them pursue her for a whole year?!

She pulled the scroll down from the glass again, her fingers flitting across the screen. Why has no one brought them back? You know what that woman did to Ozpin and me, you know what she gained from Amber.

She pressed the screen directly in front of the blond woman's face, the best she could do when it comes to talking one on one. The woman's face hardened somewhat as she read the message.

"I assure you, had we the resources or the manpower to bring them back we would have, but we do not. Part of me even thinks they'll do more good there, after all what would we be bringing them back to?" She spat the last words out with particular venom, though Pyrrha wasn't sure if the blond woman was mad at her or herself. Her words made sense though, the force here clearly didn't have enough manpower to do anything but try to prevent the Grimm from completely claiming Vale. Anything else and they would risk losing the city entirely. But that didn't change the fact that should her friends encounter the raven haired woman they would certainly engage her. And they'd certainly die.

Her friends, she still didn't know their names; sure, the woman had given her names, but whose were they? The names bounced themselves around her mind, trying and failing to stay on a face. But, should she ask? They already rightly doubted it was really her, what happened if she told them she couldn't remember her best friend's names? I can remember Jaune though. Six to go in that case.

She had to ask, it would be wrong not to. But who to ask? The blond woman had told her that out of everyone in the room she had been closest to the girl with bunny ears. Maybe her then? She would know them best, but surely anyone in the room could tell her, right?

The giant held an arm out in front of the small faunus, and something clanged against the glass in front of her, derailing her train of thought. She watched as a bullet casing clattered to the floor before the glass. With a jump she realized she'd been unintentionally staring down the faunus. The poor girl looked particularly unnerved, and the one with the shades looked particularly pissed. "Done staring?" She growled, eyes menacingly peeking from above her sunglasses. She nodded dumbly, pulling the scroll back as she typed an apology. I'm sorry, I was lost in thought.

"You're lost in more ways than that, monster." The sunglassed girl spat, Pyrrha flinched. She didn't need reminding about what she'd become, her reflection did that for her.

"You claim to be Miss Nikos," the blond woman spoke, "how do you plan to prove it?"

Pyrrha opened her mouth to speak before remembering that she couldn't, at least, comprehensibly. She yanked the scroll away and was all poised to type before she realized she had no idea. She had no idea how she was going to prove it to these people that she really was Pyrrha Nikos.

Most of her memories were blurred and indistinct, the only clear ones were the night of her death and all the events that unfolded. She could remember the faces of her friends and how she felt, but not their names. The only thing that she could think of was her semblance, but even that was so pathetically weak at the moment that it may not even be worth it. Her fingers began to move. I don't know, my aura and semblance are both almost nonexistent, though I'm not sure why. Probably because of my appearance. I can hardly remember anything clearly except the night I died. I remember the faces of my friends and the emotions that go with them, but no names. And when you mentioned them I knew they were the names of my friends, but I still don't know who is who. She thought for a second. Well, except for one: Jaune Arc. I remembered his name last night after a dream. After I begged him for my life, she thought.

Their reactions were...mixed. An eye roll from Sunglasses, a look of extreme pity from Ears, a hardening of the jaw to contain emotions from Oobleck, and calm observation from the blond woman in front of her.

"Do you remember any of our names?" The man with the bushy mustache spoke for the first time. She shook her head sadly and he grunted. "And you said almost nonexistent. What do you mean?"

I was injured from a fifteen foot drop off the remains of Beacon Tower's elevator cable, that's how I sprained my ankle, that's why I was limping when Doctor Oobleck encountered me. However I didn't feel exhausted like I used to whenever my aura was low, I felt fine, at a peak. Since then it has been healing faster than if I had no aura, so I must have some. And on the way over I tried to use my semblance on a car door, I should've been able to rip it off easily, but I only made it wiggle.

Doctor Oobleck's eyebrows came together in a bridge of concentration, one of his hands rising to his chin as he thought.

"Can you show us?" Mustache asked. She nodded in return, not seeing any reason not to. She focused on the spent bullet casing that had fallen before the glass, willing it to rise. Remarkably, it did, though the thing was tiny, she had controlled a whole swarm of cans both bigger and heavier than this before, this was child's play. She could hear it clang back to the floor as she changed her focus to the door leading out of her cell. It glowed a soft black and wiggled slightly in its frame, but didn't budge. She poured every ounce of willpower into it, and it surrendered a tiny groan in return, but nothing more. Shaking her head and sighing she looked back at the group before her. They were shocked, Ears was even trembling a bit, though whether from fear or the glistening and unshed tears in her eyes she wasn't sure. The teacher's eyes were slightly widened, clearly none of them had actually been expecting her to be able to do that. Yanking the scroll away, she hurried to correct their thinking. It's not impressive at all compared to what I used to be able to do, pathetic actually.

She raised the scroll to the glass to clarify everything.

"I see," the blond woman replied. "Well at least you have some proof, no matter how 'pathetic.' Still-"

"Glynda I was wondering if we could adjourn for a while, I have some things I'd like to talk about with you," Oobleck said. The blond woman apparently named Glynda shrugged and gestured for them to leave, it was only when the four adolescents and the portly man began to make for the door as well that she realized all of them were leaving. She rapt her fingers against the glass, the bone plates on them making it much louder than she intended. Silently they all turned to her as she typed out her message on the scroll. I was wondering if I could speak to the Faunus privately, you said I was closest with her.

Ears' ears began to shake softly at that idea, but before she could muster her voice to protest Oobleck leaped in. "A capital idea, there's no telling what all she could help you recall!"

Sunglasses turned towards the Doctor, mouth locked in a determined line. "I'm not leaving her alone with that thing." Pyrrha couldn't help but notice the emphasis.

"Well then we could leave Professor Port in here with her, if anything should start to go awry he can bring things back under control." Oobleck looked confidently towards the bushy man she now knew was called Professor Port.

"Why of course I can! The very idea that an injured humanoid Grimm locked in a cell has a chance at all wounds me, Barty!" Port scoffed, his large belly jiggling from the laughter that followed his statement. All heads turned towards the blond woman and Pyrrha realized that Blon-Glynda had been studying her this whole time, her eyes locked on her face and expressions as she listened to the conversation before her. A second passed, followed by two more, before she finally nodded.

"Very well, Professor Port and Miss Scarletina if you would stay here and listen to what it has to say while we talk outside." As Glynda turned to leave she gave Pyrrha one last studious glance before heading out, heels clacking evenly on the concrete floor. As the room emptied out Ears seemed to get more and more uncomfortable, scooting ever closer to Port. When it was finally empty, and Ears was only a scant foot away from the Professor, she removed the scroll and began to type. Had to be something simple and small to start with, based off the girl's reactions she certainly couldn't just leap into the pool of "what the Dust has happened" in the last year. I remember your face, but not your name. Could you tell me it, please?

She pressed the screen up against the glass before the Faunus, flinching internally as Ears' eyes widened when she realized she was now in a direct conversation with a monster claiming to be her dead friend. "Velvet Scarletina," she muttered, so soft Pyrrha could barely hear it. Velvet, the name and face instantly clicked and she wondered how she hadn't been able to associate them before. Would this get easier the more she remembered? Could she remember anymore or would the memories always be fuzzy? Velvet, she thought, not being able to prevent a smile sprouting across her face. The name and face fit together perfectly. Two down.

She pulled the phone back again from glass, hardly noticing Velvet's unease at her ghastly smile. Thank you, Velvet. Would you feel comfortable talking to me about our friends? I need help remembering who is who. A stupid question, really. Of course the girl wouldn't feel comfortable talking to her, but she hoped she'd talk nonetheless. Velvet glanced at the professor next to her before nodding hesitantly as she met her eyes. Hands shaking in excitement Pyrrha pulled the phone away again. Thank you so much, Velvet. I was wondering first about two faces, they always seem to be together, side by side, one was a short redheaded girl, with short hair and a hammer. The other was a tall boy clad in green with black hair and a single pink streak. Do you remember their names?

She pressed the phone against the glass, finally she would remember! She knew she was especially close with these two, part of a team lead by Jaune if what Glynda had said was true. One quiet and the other boisterous, she knew so much vague information about what they were like, but still no names had come.

"Lie Ren is the boy, Nora Valkyrie is the girl." Velvet said, nerves somewhat eased, maybe she'd gotten use to the smile? Or she didn't expect her to be so easy to please. Lie Ren and Nora Valkyrie. The names were perfect, and her grin grew ever wider, short specific clips of memory shot through her mind, an adoration of pancakes for Nora, a comical apron for Ren. This was going well so far.

She yanked the phone back again, internally jumping for joy as she did. Thank you! What about the team RWBY Glynda mentioned? I remember a tiny girl with silver eyes and a large scythe, a black haired cat-Faunus with Amber eyes and a bow, a pure white girl with a scar across one of her blue eyes, and a blond with a cowlick and waist length hair, with eyes that shift between lilac and crimson.

Again she pressed the screen against the glass, and again she couldn't prevent the buildup of excitement as Velvet opened her mouth to respond. "The silver-eyed girl is Ruby Rose, the black haired one is Blake Belladona, the all white one is Weiss Schnee, and the blond is Yang Xiao-Long." She hesitated, debating whether she should say more before deciding for it anyway. "The blond woman here with the glasses is Glynda Goodwitch, the girl with the sunglasses on my team is Coco Adel, the large boy is Yatsuhashi, and the red one is Fox Alistair."

Pyrrha's grin widened tremendously, eyes gleaming with excitement as so many pieces fell into place. Five more than she had even asked for, maybe Velvet was becoming more comfortable after all. More important than that though were all the faces that had names now in her memory, and the tiny snippets of memory that returned for each one: an obsession with cookies here, an incredible amount of bad puns there, so little, but compared to what she had before it was a boggling amount. And all she could do was smile and bounce softly on the heels of her feet. This seemed to give Velvet the encouragement she needed, she had just opened her mouth to tell Pyrrha everything she could remember about everyone when something happened.

A splitting pain erupted at the forefront of Pyrrha's mind and a voice scraped against every thought she had. But not just any voice, the voice, the one that had mocked her during her torture and plagued her dreams. Her knees buckled and she collapsed on the floor of her cell in kneeling position, eyes wide and only showing pain she stared at the glass before her but saw nothing. Her mind could only register the pain. Faintly she registered that her mouth opened and she began to wail, but she didn't mean to do so. Her hands shot to the sides of her head, clutching and scraping desperately in an attempt to alleviate the mental torture, but nothing helped. Everyone around you will die, the voice spoke matter-of-factly, my children are coming. Entertain me. The voice stopped and for a second and the pain subsided, only to be renewed with a fury as the laugh tore through her mind. Wave after wave of pain wracked her body, though with every wave the pain diminished.

Eventually her mind was able to force through it, focus on her surroundings. At first all she could hear was the sound of blood pumping through her body, head aching with every beat. Then she could register the sound of her ragged gasps for air. Her brain began to accept the signals coming from her wide, tremendously dilated eyes. However it took her another few seconds to actually realize anything about her surroundings. She was still in her cell, the harsh, artificial light seemed to burn her eyes, but it was nothing compared to the recent pain. She registered the glass before her, and the crowd that shouldn't be there. It used to just be Port and Velvet, where had everyone else come from? Her eyes trailed faintly to the door to the observation room that had been thrown open. The door, that made sense.

She began to register the eyes and faces of everyone in the room, all staring at her in absolute shock save for the two looks of concern coming from Velvet, who was in the middle of the group, and Oobleck who was closest to the door. Everyone around you will die, the thought echoed in her mind as she met Oobleck's gaze, and her mind snapped back to reality, her head shot around the room looking for the scroll, somehow it had ended up in the middle of her cell. She scrambled on her hands and knees for it desperately, as if everyone's lives depended on her getting it as soon as possible. Which they very well might.

Her fingers finally grasped the cold steel of the edges and she hastily ripped them apart, almost breaking the device. She typed as fast as she could before rounding back towards the glass, she moved as quick as she could towards it, legs almost giving out as she rose in a split second. Her eyes met the blond woman's, Glynda's, if what she remembered was true, and she slammed the scroll against the glass, causing the whole frame to flex and groan. Glynda's eyes focused on the single sentence that was written on the scroll before her: Grimm are coming.


A/N: Hello all! Just moved into my dorm this week so things have been kinda hectic, as such I haven't had time to write any more for TIC or my untitled Ruby fic which kinda sucks. But it's been a good busy which is nice.

Debating whether I should switch to updating on Sundays from now on versus the typical Monday, really it's down to what you guys prefer.

On another note if anyone wants to volunteer for me to bounce off ideas from for this story and my Ruby one I would very much appreciate it. No proofreading or anything, just mutual brainstorming.

Have good one, guys!