Gamer4 in. Let's see, more worlds... well, believe it or not, one of the earliest contenders was Fire Emblem Awakening. Lucina as Bill, Morgan as Georgie, and the challenge of adapting the story to a more medieval setting- well, maybe that challenge was a bit much. Despite another few characters sliding right in- Owain as Richie and Laurent as Mike come to mind- the main problem came from the villains. It's difficult to find the right words to explain why, but there were no villains from Awakening that really fit the proper criteria for characters like Pennywise or Henry Bowers. Any options are either too sympathetic or- oddly enough- not sympathetic enough. I suppose it's still an interesting idea to think about, but in the end, RWBY still won out. If you're cool with that, then let's continue!
Disclaimer: Humanity's in jeopardy, the fight is far from over!
Chapter XXIV
Pyrrha Nikos Borrows a Book
In truth, Pyrrha had more than one reason for asking about Ren's reluctance to approach the Emerald Forest. One, of course, was her stated reason- most of Team Loser's memories were tied to that location.
In addition to that, however, she had already paid the forest a visit that very morning.
Like Yang, she'd awoken in a hotel on the outskirts of Vale, and like her, she had called a taxi for a ride into the main township. In point of fact, she had gotten a ride in the same cab and with the same driver that would later pick up Yang.
"Alright, where you headin', boss?" he asked as she took a seat in the back, doing her best not to be recognized.
"Central Vale- I'm going to A Simple Wok," she replied.
"Simple Wok, huh? Nice place- I went there with a friend of mine not that long ago, you know, and..."
Again, just like Yang would later, Pyrrha leaned back and tuned out the man's continuing banter as the taxi began to move, taking off through the town.
Compared to Yang, who had gone directly through the city's more urban areas, Pyrrha was treated to a ride around the edges, receiving a lovely view of the lush greenery that poked at her memories from so long ago. It incited a flood of nostalgia- she could almost imagine her younger, portlier self walking along under the sun, some books in her arms, her red hair bobbing along behind her...
She finally gave in as the vehicle traversed over a very familiar bridge- the bridge running over Team Loser's once favorite spot at the banks of Haven River. She abruptly spoke up. "Could you- could you pull over real quick?"
The driver quirked a brow, but gave a shrug, a nod, and steered to the side of the road, bringing the car to a halt. Pyrrha jumped out and approached the bridge's railing. It had definitely changed- it had once been a very simple wooden bridge, not fit for more than children on foot or on bikes. It was now built from solid concrete, simple boards replaced by steel beams. But down below, the course of the river was unchanged, carrying on, trickling and weaving through the trees.
She felt like something was calling out to her. Slowly, she turned and walked around to the cab driver's door. "Ready to get going again, boss?"
"No... actually, I think I'll get off here," she smiled.
The young man blinked. "Are... are you sure?" He glanced around. "I mean... there's nothing really out here."
"I'm quite sure, yes," Pyrrha nodded, reaching into her bag and foraging for her wallet. "I can find the rest of the way myself."
"If- if you say so..."
Finally, she produced her wallet. "How much do I owe you?"
The young man turned away for a second, then turned back. "For that short trip? Ten lien."
"How much would it have been if you'd taken me all the way?"
The man's ears turned red. "Oh, you don't have to-"
Pyrrha cut him off by waving her hand. "How much?"
The young man hesitated. "I guess... twenty?"
Pyrrha produced twenty-five and handed it over.
"Um... thanks?" The man looked extremely confused by now.
"Thank you," Pyrrha nodded one last time, before turning and climbing down the hillside. Behind her, she could hear the taxi starting up again and taking off.
She walked slowly along the river-side, the sense of nostalgia becoming overwhelming as she approached what she thought might well be the exact spot Weiss had collapsed during their first meeting. Yes... it was starting to come back to her. She'd approached Yang and Weiss, and proceeded to comfort the girl in white as the girl in yellow took off on her bike to the nearest drugstore.
She knelt down, and for a moment, she thought she could actually hear voices echoing through time- her conversation with Weiss, eventually joined by Yang...
And then, over it all came the voices of Team CRDL chasing her through the woods.
"You're dead, Piggah! You're fucking DEAD!"
"Get back here, FREAK!"
She leapt to her feet- that last had not been part of her memories- it had been very real. She spun around and saw several kids running along the riverbed. For the briefest moment, she saw a tall but incredibly rotund girl with long red hair puffing desperately as she struggled to outrun an even taller boy with red hair slicked into a pompadour.
Then she blinked, and the scene changed. The child running away was a young boy wearing thick glasses beneath messy black hair. He was short and rather lanky. The leader of the boys behind him was taller, more thickset, with a better-kept mop of blond.
Pyrrha kept her eyes on them all as they ran by- allowing the black-haired boy past before stepping in front of the others, her arms crossed.
"And what do you think you're doing?"
"What's it to you, lady?" the blond-haired boy sneered.
One of his friends turned white upon seeing her, however, and prodded him on the shoulder. "Careful, Hunter- don't you know who this is?"
"Pyrrha Nikos!" another of his lackeys gasped.
Pyrrha nodded, throwing them her best glare. "Go home to your parents," she ordered with all the authority she could muster. "I'm sure you have better things to be doing than chasing other people around like this."
The bullies took a couple staggering steps back, before finally turning and taking off in the opposite direction. Pyrrha ensured that they were gone before steadily lowering her arms.
"Ms... Ms. Nikos?" came a timid voice from behind her. She turned and smiled down at the boy she'd just saved, currently staring up at her in awe.
"You... you really are her!" he stammered out. "I... you're on the front of every Pumpkin Pete's Marshmallow Flakes box!"
Pyrrha laughed lightly. "Yeah, that was pretty cool- though the cereal isn't that good for you."
The boy looked down, tracing a path on the ground with his heel. "Thanks for... for baling me out..."
"It's nothing," Pyrrha smiled. "Believe it or not, I had some bully problems myself when I was your age."
"You?" the boy asked, aghast.
"Oh, yes," Pyrrha nodded. "The best thing you can do is learn from it- grow, and learn to fight back."
"That's what my Dad says," the boy shrugged, gazing at the ground. "But..."
"But nothing," Pyrrha cut him off. "Just keep picking yourself up, and maybe one day, you'll be the one on the front of cereal boxes."
The boy looked back up at her, still seeming like he could hardly believe his luck. "My friends will never believe me..."
Pyrrha smiled before reaching into a pocket and producing a small red handkerchief embroidered with her initials. "Take this," she whispered. "Wipe yourself off with it, then keep it."
The boy gazed down at the handkerchief as though it were made of solid gold. "Th-thank you!"
Pyrrha nodded one last time. "Stay safe," she whispered. "Don't talk to strangers, and if you have friends, don't go out without them."
"Whatever you say!" the boy nodded rapidly, before turning and continuing his run up the hill, fear replaced by excitement.
Pyrrha smiled as she watched him go, before turning deeper into the forest- there was still something calling out to her.
XXXX
It was a cold November day, but that did nothing to diminish the beauty of the forest as she continued along paths and through clearings dappled by the few trees that still retained their leaves, cycling through oranges and reds, some trees verging on a deep purple or indigo.
Even she wasn't certain what she was looking for, but deep in her heart, she felt like this was the right way to go. It felt as though something was guiding her, leading her in this direction- a quick detour before she headed to the restaurant.
Abruptly, the ground beneath her began to bend. She took a step backwards, fixing her gaze on the forest floor.
"What?..." she wondered aloud. She knelt down and pressed a hand against the ground where her foot had just been. Sure enough, there was a surprising amount of give for the frozen forest soil.
She began brushing aside dirt, fallen leaves, and twigs- there was something underneath it all. A series of wooden planks, seemingly falling apart from the ravages of time. She was lucky her foot hadn't gone straight through it.
Reaching out, she pressed her fingers into the cracks between the planks and lifted them up one by one, easily moving them out of the way, revealing a dark space beneath, roughly seven feet squar in area and six feet deep. Turning, she slowly lowered herself in.
Gazing around, she felt another strong wave of nostalgia- this place was important to her, though for the life of her, she couldn't remember why. The walls consisted of more boards, likely put up to keep the surrounding soil at bay, while the floor was littered with more leaves, twigs, and rocks.
Those rocks... Pyrrha knelt down again, examining the center of the pit, where a series of stones had been arranged into a ring. In the middle of the ring was a small pile of ash and old coal from a fire that had long since gone out, though if Pyrrha reached into her imagination, she could almost see a few wisps curling up into the air.
"Something happened here..." she found herself whispering. "Something... I can't remember..."
She continued scanning the ground, searching for clues. A slight glint in the corner of her eye caught her attention, drawing her over to the corner of the pit. Kneeling down, she rustled through some of the debris before finding the source- a small glass figurine of a tower.
"A... chess piece?" she wondered aloud, rasing it up to eye level. Sure enough, it was very clearly a rook from what seemed to be a glass chess set.
For some reason, her heart warmed when she looked at it, and she found herself now more than ever struggling to remember something that she simply couldn't. Nonetheless, she found herself pressing the piece to her chest.
Eventually, she remembered she had a lunch to get to. Turning, she placed the rook on the edge of the pit before hoisting herself out after it. Picking it up again, she turned and began making her way back through the forest, tilting her head as she examined her prize.
XXXX
As Team Loser separated after their lunch, Pyrrha found herself removing the chess piece from her pocket again. Nora, walking alongside her, caught sight of it out of the corner of her eye. "Ohhh, what's that?"
"Oh, this?" Pyrrha asked, turning slightly red. "This... well, it's my talisman."
"Oh, you already had one?" Nora tilted her head slightly. "Are you remembering something I'm not?"
"No, nothing like that," Pyrrha shook her head. "The truth is, I went out to the Emerald Forest before I came to the restaurant."
A nervous look crossed Nora's face. "Did you... you know... see anything?"
"No," Pyrrha shook her head. "If I did, I'd have told you."
"Of course," Nora nodded, seeming satisfied. "Go on."
"Well... I found a large pit out there, covered up by wood- and this was in it."
Nora tilted her head in confusion. "Who'd dig a pit out in the middle of the Emerald Forest?"
Pyrrha glanced back at the piece. "I think... I think maybe we did."
"Huh?"
"Never mind," Pyrrha shook her head again. "The point is, for some reason, when I hold this, I feel safer. Like... like all of you are standing with me."
Pyrrha met Nora's eyes, half-expecting ridicule, but seeing only slight confusion. "Well... whatever floats your boat!" Nora turned on her heel, making a sharp curve to the left. "I guess this is where we split up, then- my hotel is that way. See you at the library!"
"Of course," Pyrrha nodded with a smile. "See you then..."
Her voice trailed off as she examined the intersection, wondering where to go from here. The Emerald Forest was out, so besides that, where did she have the most memories?
The answer, she thought, was silly for a number of reasons- partly because of the location itself, and partly because it was already the place they'd agreed to meet up anyways.
XXXX
The warmth of the library quickly got to work dissipating the late autumn chill the moment Pyrrha entered. Looking around, she was glad to see that very little had changed here. The library seemed larger- a spiral staircase at the other end of the building climbed its way up to a balcony that ran around its upper portion, providing extra room for more shelves and a reading area- but aside from that, it was exactly the same building she'd frequented before meeting Team Loser.
She moved across the library to the central desk. The librarian standing behind looked up at her and, like clockwork, widened her eye. "Are... are you..."
"Yes, thank you, yes I am." Pyrrha spoke softly, but quickly, gesturing for the librarian to keep quiet. "If we could avoid raising attention, I'd appreciate it."
"Of... of course," the librarian- a tall man wearing a pair of glasses nodded. "How... how can I help you, Ms. Nikos?"
Pyrrha threw a glance around. "I... er, I'd like to apply for a library card."
"You'd like a library card... for this place?"
Pyrrha nodded earnestly. "You see... I spent a year here in my youth. I thought it might be nice to stop by and relive some old memories."
"I see..." The man glanced under the desk, then reached down and produced a box full of plastic cards. Next, he reached into a drawer and brought out a small sheet of paper. "Just fill this out and pick your card, and you're good to go!"
Pyrrha nodded, picked up the pen attached to the desk, and filled out the form in less than a minute before sliding it back to the librarian. Next, she reached into the box and chose the most basic card she could find.
"Thank you," the librarian smiled, inclining his head in a somewhat informal bow. "I'll take care of the paperwork- you should be registered into our system by the time you find anything to check out."
"Thank you very much," Pyrrha nodded, before turning to the shelves behind her and beginning to browse.
As she did, she cast her mind back, struggling to remember anything that might help. If Ren was right, the location should be helping her, but she still felt like she'd remembered more in that pit than she was remembering here.
Eventually, her finger crossed over one title in particular- Fire and Ice. The title triggered something in her- some distant memory. Fire... for such a common word, it was suddenly sending chills down her spine. Fire... that was important. Something to do with fire?
Had they fought It with fire? No, that wasn't right- they'd fought it with silver-
She paused again. She didn't know where that thought had come from, but as instinctively as she'd felt it was the right thing to make a detour through the Emerald Forest, she knew that it was true- somehow, in some way, silver had been key to Its defeat during their last battle.
Fire... silver... she was getting closer to something, she could feel it...
"There she is! The one who's killing the children! Quick, grab her!"
Pyrrha spun around, unwittingly dragging one of the books from the shelf with her.
Up on the balcony, leaning over it with a sadistic grin, was Neo. One arm was carrying her parasol, the other was pointing directly at her.
"You sick murderer, you," she continued in a teasing voice. She looked from side to side briefly, then back to Pyrrha. "Well, if no one else is going to grab you, I suppose I'll have to do it myself!" With that, she leapt onto the banister, crouching like some primitive beast.
Instinctively, Pyrrha produced the chess piece, holding it up in front of her. "Stop!" she practically ordered, in a voice carrying far more power than she felt. "Stay up there!"
"Ssshhhhh!" one of the other patrons hissed, glaring over at her. Pyrrha faltered, but kept her eyes on Neo.
Neo paused, her gaze fixed on the piece, before slowly lowering her legs back to the second floor. Nevertheless, she smiled. "Killing children and talking in libraries? You're just writing your way into my heart, aren't you?" She leaned over, twisting her body into a somewhat seductive pose. "Why don't you come up and kiss me, Piggah?"
Pyrrha didn't speak- she simply shook her head, taking a few steps backward.
"Oh, you won't?" Neo asked, putting on an incredibly hurt expression. "I bet you'd do it for Jauney!"
This was followed by a mad cackling. Pyrrha clenched tighter to her rook.
Finally, Neo met her eyes again. "I'm gonna lay it all out for you, Pyrrha- there's no way you can win this fight. This is your last chance- leave Vale by tonight, or you and all your friends are going to die. My little warning to you- get out or die. Your choice."
"We're not leaving," Pyrrha quietly muttered. "Not this time- not until you're dead."
"Until I'm-" Neo cut herself off with a storm of laughter- laughter that elicited from Pyrrha much the same reaction it had received from Yang. "You really think you can kill me?! You are adorable!"
Finally, she brought herself under control. She focused on Pyrrha. "I can understand not wanting to leave your friends, so do me a favor, would you? Go back to them and tell them what I've told you- you can't win. Tell them I'm the last member of a dying race, and that I'm here to enslave all your women, rape all your men, and consume all your ice cream!"
Pyrrha shook her head, struggling to meet Neo's gaze with a stern one of her own.
Neo gave another chuckle. "Maybe you need some more convincing. Maybe you'd like to see what James Ironwood saw before he died, hmm? You want to see? You really want to see?"
Neo was beginning to change, prompting Pyrrha to look away- whatever she had to show, Pyrrha had no interest in witnessing. However, even as she looked away, she felt an insatiable urge to turn back- until slowly, she found herself facing her aggressor.
Neo's face had been mutilated by horrible burns and scars- her face had become a twisted mass of flesh through which her heterochromic eyes peered. A similarly burned fedora had appeared on her head, while her coat and shirt had been traded for a red-and-black striped sweater. Her arms extended for several feet to either side as she grinned down.
Pyrrha's blood ran cold, but Neo wasn't done yet. Her arms began to shrink to a more normal size, and with the hand that had formerly held the parasol, she began to lift the sweater, revealing a horrifically scarred torso- including a particularly nasty wound just beneath her heart. On her other hand, a set of knives appeared- not through a glove, as with the character she was imitating, but directly on her fingers. Moving slowly and deliberately, she pressed one of the knives into her chest until it drew blood, then began to pull it across her chest.
Far more blood leaked out of her wound than should have been possible- vast globules that fell down and splattered all over the library, on tables, books, and people- people who did not react to the deluge in any way.
Finally, she paused, continuing to smirk down at her quarry. "Like I said, Pyrrha, you're a woman after my own heart... so take it!"
With this, she shoved the hand with the knives into the wound, screeching as if in pain, and a moment later, wrenched it back out, carrying a repulsive, pulsating organ, laughing at the look of horror on Pyrrha's face.
"Stop it..." she found herself whispering. "Stop it..."
"Is something wrong, Ms. Nikos?"
Pyrrha jumped, turning to see the librarian she'd spoken to earlier standing there, looking rather concerned. She looked quickly around- just as suddenly as she'd appeared, Neo had vanished, along with all the blood she'd spilled.
"You- you were over here muttering to yourself," the librarian explained, glancing around furtively. "Do you... need any help?"
"I'm... I'm fine," Pyrrha assured him- unconvincingly. "I just wanted to... er..."
"Oh, did you find a book you wanted to check out?" the man asked, glancing at the book she'd pulled from the shelf. "I can take care of that for you real quick, if you want."
Pyrrha found herself nodding mutely, allowing the man to drag her over to the desk, where he quickly scanned the book and handed it over to her. She thanked him, before making swift tracks out of the library- she could find something else to do until it was time to go back and meet up with her friends.
It was only when she was halfway back to her hotel that she thought to examine the book in her arms. A chill ran down her spine as she recognized the title, and once again, she sensed fate guiding her down some path that she had no way of seeing.
An Anthology of Romantic Poetry.
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A little bloodier than normal- hope that doesn't put anyone off. To let me know, please R&R, constructive criticism and flames embraced, albeit not in equal measure, Gamer4 out.