A/N: Welcome back, everyone, and welcome to November as well! We'll be wrapping the brief Patch visit shortly, and then returning to Vale. Upon the conclusion of the Vale Arc, I'm planning on releasing another interlude chapter as well, so be aware of that in thew works. If any of you are still looking for something dark from our Halloween season, I highly recommend Constable Paperbag's "The Mind's Eye": it is tremendous.
Anyway, thank you for reading, and please enjoy chapter twenty-one!
Early morning light filled the small field Pyrrha and Ruby stood in, the sounds of a world just beginning to wake rising around them. Pyrrha herself was still halfway in a fog, but her morning tea and the brisk walk the two friends had taken loosened most of the night from her mind. Today was JNPR's last full day in Patch, and while the last week had been an enjoyable decision, JNPR could not put off their true goal. Nor could she put off her last task in Patch.
She hesitated at the field's edge, but Ruby continued on undaunted. The younger girl paused a few steps ahead, noting Pyrrha had stayed behind, but didn't try and bring her forward. Pyrrha watched as Ruby stopped before the two stones, leaves and the breeze washing away any hint of her words. Pyrrha fiddled with her bag, considered what she wanted to say and how she was going to say it: just about anything to avoid actually crossing that field.
Ruby stepped back from her spot after some time, turning back to Pyrrha and waving her over. "It's now or never, Pyrrha. Get out there, and do it." Her will hardened, and Pyrrha strode through the grass to Ruby. The grey stones were well-kept, though they lacked the traditional spaces she was sued to in Mistral. One stone bore a Rose, to which Pyrrha bowed respectfully, while the other featured a strange wing and cog. The inscription, "Beneath my wing, shade not shadow", still shined bright and sharp in the newly carved stone. She kneeled before the grave.
"Hello, Mr. Branwen." Ruby snorted lightly then, and Pyrrha recalled the man's brusque nature. "He probably hated misters." Ruby stepped away though, giving Pyrrha the same privacy her fretting had given to Ruby.
She opened her mouth to start again, but she instead sat down her bag, drawing out the incense she brought to Patch for precisely this. Again, she distracted herself from her task, trying to get them to sit just right before the stone, but eventually she found herself without any more to do but… talk.
"My team and I are returning to Vale, soon. We're going to see Professor Goodwitch and help with the reclamation. It… it wasn't what you and the Headmaster had in mind when you offered me my powers, but I suppose nothing's quite gone to plan." She felt some guilt at the last, she didn't want to sound as if she was criticizing him.
"I've always believed it was my destiny to be a huntress, to protect people. What you asked me to do, I thought it was what I was meant to be, and maybe it still is.
"But, but I don't think I was meant to be that then. I thought I had to save the world that very moment, that I was meant to be the hero that day, but I was wrong. I think, I think that day was your moment. And Ruby's. And maybe Jaune's, if only just for me…
"Had I gone up that tower, I would have died. Cinder would have gained the Maiden's Powers, and all your struggles would have been for nothing. I didn't though, and one day I'll be strong enough to defeat her. Strong enough to take back the Maiden's Powers and turn them to helping others, to protecting the world.
"To what you wanted me to do with them.
"I don't know what will come next, Qrow Branwen, but I know what I will do: I'll strive to be a woman deserving of the trust you and Ozpin placed in me, and deserving of the chance your sacrifices secured. I will reach my destiny.
"Thank you." She bowed once more over her knees, and rose to join Ruby. Her friend's shoulders hitched, and Pyrrha saw the younger girl was crying. She stepped closer, wrapping Ruby in a hug instinctively.
"I miss him, Pyrrha. I miss him so much." The girl whimpered into her side.
She wasn't Jaune, she didn't know what to say to Ruby, but she would be there for her nonetheless.
RWBY and JNPR were gathered outside the cabin, going through their stretches and warm up exercises before their last group training session. JNPR had finished going through the calisthenics plan Pyr had assembled for them, while Team RWBY were closing their own prep routine. Yang's own options were limited, but she still joined her sister and partner for the exercises, even if she would only watch and critique the actual spars.
He felt cool in the crisp autumn air, the sun standing high above bare trees barely warming them, but Jaune was used to colder back home: it'd be nice once they really got going, anyway. He and Ren were setting up the long-range targets for Pyrrha and Ruby, while Nora was handling what weights they had available for strength training. Pyrrha chatted amicably with the sister team in their sparring circle, waiting for the others to join them.
As Ren and he returned to them, targets firmly secured to distant branches, an oddity stood out to Jaune. He had never been great at noticing details, his luck with girls pretty much epitomized that, but he still noticed some. And for reasons he didn't understand, he couldn't ignore how frizzy Yang's hair seemed.
His fellow blonde loved her hair like Ruby loved her weapon: she'd killed Grimm mercilessly, well more mercilessly, for damaging it, and their classmates had quickly learned it was off limits in spars. Yang had apparently called in sick the last time she'd had a bad hair day. She just didn't let it get like that.
"I don't get it, we didn't do anything!" Yang bemoaned, eyes scanning her wayward hair. If anything, the frazzled state had grown worse since Jaune had noticed on his approach, and nothing nearby should've caused this. Eyes sweeping between his friends in confusion and worry, Jaune noticed another oddity: Pyrrha's hair was starting to stand on end as well. It wasn't nearly as noticeable, Yang's hair was a massive thing even compared to Pyrrha's, but he could see it now.
The gears ground in his head, and lightning struck Jaune's brain. "Pyrrha!" All four girls jumped at his shout, but he stepped up to his partner, taking hold of her.
"Pyrrha! I think it's you!" They stared at him dumbly. "Your semblance, don't you remember from our spar?" It finally clicked in Pyrrha's head. Her face lit in surprise, then curiosity as she held her hands up before her face for inspection, eyeing them as if she'd never seen them before.
"How is Pyrrha messing with my hair?" Yang asked confusedly. There was a beat, before she added "Can you stop it, Cereal Girl? Not cool." Pyrrha suddenly became very aware of the fact she was tampering with a friend's dearest feature, and looked abashed.
"Sorry, let me just…" His partner trailed off, staring at nothing. Her face hardened, eyes screwing shut in concentration. Yang's ministrations were starting to show results, the static subsiding under her care: Pyrrha's focus did not let up, however. She withdrew a few steps away from everyone as Nora returned to the group, focus not breaking.
"Pyrrha?" He asked nervously. He's seen her like this a few times, working on her powers, but something about her stance left his hairs on end. He was expecting Pyrrha's black light to burst around her and every piece of metal for fifty yards, maybe to hear the crackling of static.
He wasn't ready for electricity to arc between her hands.
Pyrrha's eyes opened, they were glassy and dazed, and none of them spoke.
Months ago, it had been the faintest spark, no more than what would jump from your finger to a piece of laundry out of the dryer. Now, it was a bolt as thick as a finger, even if it only lasted a moment. Jaune's mind was still racing, considering what this meant, but Pyrrha broke the silence first.
"Oh my." She whispered, staring at her hands. She focused again, and Jaune felt the hairs across his entire body rise at the sight. Once again, a thick cord of electricity bounced between her palms.
"Pyrrha," he began again worriedly, "are you sure it's safe?" Pyrrha finally looked back to her staring friends, a small smile tugging at her lips.
"I believe I have a hand on this." She looked back to her hands, focused on the dark gloves.
"Hey Nora, come over." Jaune waved his teammate to him, moving toward Pyrrha. Nora followed easily enough, and her twinkling eyes made him think she figured it out, too. Pyrrha probably would have worked it out as well, but was too distracted by her newfound ability. "Pyr, I want you to hit Nora with one of those." He pointed down to Pyrrha's hand.
"What?" Ruby asked with an edge of panic.
"Nora's semblance, Ruby." Ren reminded her calmly.
"Oh, yeah. Forgot about that." Jaune didn't blame her, they'd only used it in one fight. It wasn't easy for them to employ the semblance either, aside from getting electricity dust. Pyrrha had some cash, but that much dust was expensive!
"Nora, Pyrrha, think you can do this?" The two redheads exchanged a look, then nodded in affirmation. "Alright, then let's", he scooted Nora forward while stepping back, "try this out."
Pyrrha positioned her hands on either side of Nora's, fingers closing just a tad as she closed her eyes and focused inward. The rest of them gathered in a ring, with some distance of course, to watch the experiment from a safe distance. Jaune watched the space between their palms, praying for something to happen. A quick flash came from the space, even if he missed the actual moment.
Pink-white light flickering up and down her body, Nora stepped back. "This. feels. AWESOME!" She shouted! Jaune hopped a bit in excitement, his mind still spinning out tactical and strategic applications of this. Pyrrha was giddy, one of her beautiful smiles breaking free, but none of them match Nora's excitement as she dashed back to Magnhild.
"It worked, it worked, it worked! Pyrrha, shields up!" Pyrrha deployed and raised her shield on instinct, not even thinking why she was asked. It didn't really click for any of them, until Nora shouted: "Fore!"
Jaune took a step, reaching out a hand, but Magnhild was already colliding into Akouo with a thunderous clang. Nora's underhand swing rocketed Pyrrha into the air, her hair and sash rippling trails of red as she rose into the air.
Many, many, many training sessions and spars with Nora had resulted in Jaune or Pyrrha on such a flight, and he felt a sympathetic twinge shoot down his arm and shoulders while the ring of the strike still hung in the air. The memories of pain didn't stop Jaune from noticing that Nora had launched their teammate with far more force than normal. She'd normally needed the fire a grenade for so much hitting power, but her semblance had successfully converted Pyrrha's bolt
But more importantly, none of them heard Pyrrha land from the clash of hammer and shield. The collection of friends turned their heads up, to see Pyrrha floating mid-air; a black glow surrounded her armor, armbands, her whole body.
Nora saluted Pyrrha, hovering a good twenty feet in the air: "Great save, Pyrrha!" Pyrrha hesitantly waved back. "Ya got any control up there?" Pyrrha would use her semblance in a similar way to slow or speed herself, but she'd never done something like this before!
"I think I do." Pyrrha called down to them, before she began to glide in widening circles, coming lower every turn. She eventually touched down, not very far from where she had been abruptly launched, and Nora erupted into applause, soon joined by Jaune and Ruby. Pyrrha beamed at all of them, pleased with her latest feat.
"Nice flying, Cereal Girl!" Yang cheered with a smile. "All that extra training you and your leader have been pulling really has paid off; I figured you and Jaune were just going off to suck face! Ack, it was a joke, Rubes!" Ruby was swatting at her sister while he and Pyrrha blushed at the tease. Their brief immunity to the jokes having faded under the barrage of good-natured but off-color humor that was Yang Xiao Long.
"No more of that, time for training!" Ruby said, ceasing her ineffectual pummeling of Yang. "And new rule: Pyrrha?" His partner looked up from her boots to Ruby.
"No super powers during training." Ruby said in her sternest voice, "It give you an unfair advantage."
"Says the sniper when the leaves are down." Jaune groused.
"That's not even remotely equivalent, Jaune." Blake countered.
"All I'm saying is that we should use the advantages our teams have!"
"Pyrrha has literally mythical powers!" Ruby whined, jabbing a finger at him.
Pyrrha stepped between him and his fellow leader, hands held up in appeal. "I won't use my powers, Ruby, but I can't reign in my semblance." Ruby fired one more pout Jaune's way, and Pyrrha sent him a look that he could best translate as 'do this my way, dear", and both nodded in sullen acceptance.
She was in the tank again.
Ozpin was outside of it, watching with fearful eyes, and Jaune stood watch at the foot of the platform. The machine reached a crescendo, and a pain beyond anything she had ever felt arced across her entire body. She screamed, but not because of that pain: she screamed as she remembered watching evil golden eyes as her very soul was sundered from her body. Screamed as she watched a beast from nightmare tear at her being. Screamed as men she trusted did the same, with the best of intentions. Someone else's voice bubbled to the surface.
"WHY?"
As Pyrrha's eyes fired open, evil golden orbs and resigned brown eyes disappeared, replaced with a dark wooden ceiling. Nora's snoring continued on, letting her know she hadn't been shouting in her sleep. She sat up on the air mattress, peeking over to Nora. The smaller girl was curled up in a ball, both Nora's pillow and her own clutched to her friend's chest. She slid off the mattress, running her hands through her hair, trying to ease out any snags.
Over on the bed, Ren continued to sleep peacefully, but Jaune was up, watching her. She nodded towards the door, quietly making her way out of it. Jaune joined her in a moment, closing the door behind him.
"You alright, Pyrrha?" He whispered.
"Just a bad dream. Why are you up?" She wanted to calm a bit before she discussed it.
"Eh, I haven't been able to sleep: too worried, I guess." He chuckled, and she recalled clearly his nerves before the first day of the Tournament. She took hold of Jaune's hand then, and lead him towards the stairs.
The two crept past RWBY's room and snuck down the stairs, settling onto the couch in the living room. She eyed down the hall, towards Taiyang's room, but figured so long as they left the television off there wouldn't be too much noise.
Jaune fetched a blanket for them, sitting beside her, wrapping his arm across her shoulders. She leaned into him, and the two simply relaxed in the quiet for a time.
"I'm worried about going back, you know." Jaune finally said, his voice barely carrying past her. She nodded against him, waiting for him to go on.
"It's not the same as at the Breach, or at the Attack, but I'm worried. It's turning my stomach just thinking about it, Pyr; I know that something's going to go wrong." Jaune's instincts had been a powerful ally of the team, she knew to take this seriously. She leaned her head on his shoulder, enjoying the feeling of both of their body's relaxing at the contact.
"We're going to be together in Vale, won't we? Team JNPR?" She felt him nod against her head. "Then we'll be alright, Jaune. You've every right to worry, I'm not telling you to stop, but we'll have each other's backs. That's what a team does, that what family does." She snuggled into him to emphasize her presence, and Pyrrha once again was reminded she enjoyed the physicality of the Arc family.
"Grimm, White Fang, secret plots, my mother," Jaune snickered at the last, "we'll be able to face them together, as a team, Jaune." He hugged her tighter before falling onto his side on the couch, pulling her along and drawing a quiet laugh from her. He hugged her even tighter even as she elbowed him lightly to make room for her. She was half on his chest, half in the crook of the couch, but she felt cozy despite the small quarters.
"Thanks, Pyrrha." He whispered, chin resting lightly on her head.
"Anytime, Jaune." She mumbled into his chest.
"Want to talk about your dream?" He voice was gentle, knowing it wasn't something she enjoyed discussing. She tightened her grip on his shirt for a moment, but then relaxed again, taking a steadying breath.
"It started in the machine in Beacon, with you and Ozpin outside. When the transfer started, Amber's last memories took over…"
She recounted the nightmare to him, his hand gently running through her hair as she recalled Amber's terrified last moments on that nameless road and again beneath Beacon. The fear and betrayal and helplessness. Jaune didn't complain when she stopped to dry her eyes on his shirt, didn't try and tell her that was someone else, and she should forget those feelings. He held her close, offering a shoulder to take up as much of her burden as she would give. He would be there for her.
She barely noticed as her eyes drifted shut. This time, her dream were simple, pleasant things, easily left behind.
She felt her bed, which was decidedly warmer than she recalled, shift unnaturally beneath her, and Pyrrha's eyes fluttered awake to spy Jaune's chest. She was curled up against his side on the couch, right where they had dropped.
"Do we have to get up?" She whined in her head.
"You probably should before Yang and Nora see you."
Blake's smug voice drew her attention from Jaune's stomach. Her friend was crouched in front of them, scroll held in front of her as she obviously made a recording or took pictures. Pyrrha looked up to Jaune, who had also been watching Blake, to see his face go sheet white.
"Did I say that aloud?" She asked in a hoarse whisper.
"Yup." Blake replied, popping the 'p' slightly.
"Would you delete those?" She hopelessly inquired.
"Nope." Pyrrha buried her head in Jaune's side, and hoped it would help restart the day.
Post: Ah, I love having Blake back. I'll miss her again. See y'all 'round.