Wraith

Chapter Twenty Eight

Beta: Smithrooks

Reversion

Beacon, present day…

"Pyrrha?!"

RWBY plus Ren and Nora stared at her collectively.

"H-hello…"

Pyrrha felt Ozpin's hand settle on her shoulder in a vaguely comforting manner, gently spurring her forwards.

"As you can all see," the headmaster informed them pleasantly, "Miss Nikos is safe and unharmed."

Pyrrha suppressed a wince. Nothing was really safe from Nihilus. Once that man found an object of desire, he would never let go. Not ever.

"It's good to see you well, Pyrrha," Ren said kindly, "but what of Jaune? What of… the criminal?"

This time Pyrrha couldn't hold back the wince, and it came out in full force. There really wasn't a tactful way to say this… "He's still-"

"As of yet, we have been unable to recover Mr. Arc," Ozpin cut her off, "but rest assured, we are doing everything in our power."

The young hunters bar Weiss and Blake visibly deflated at that, but they were quick to hide it. "Well it's great to have you back Pyrrha!" Nora practically shouted, though the lack of JNPR's leader was obviously still weighing on them.

"Yeah…" Pyrrha muttered, the massive guilt at leaving Jaune with his elder counterpart still tearing at her heart.

"If you'll all excuse me," Ozpin announced mildly, "I must see to other matters." His eyes flickered to Pyrrha, "It's good to have you back, Miss Nikos."

It seemed kind enough, but Pyrrha could read the subtext in that. Don't tell them about who Nihilus is. Don't tell them where he came from. If that information spreads there would be panic, and we can't allow that.

So she had to lie. Maybe give an abridged and edited version of events. And definitely don't mention who Nihilus really is, or the fact that he was able to resurrect Jaune.

"Come, Pyrrha," Ren held his hand out to her, "be with friends."

It would be a long story…


Beacon, many years ago…

She didn't know what to do.

Pyrrha… just didn't know what to do.

She was just outside Beacon, sitting in the shade of an old tree. Pyrrha had run here as soon as the bomb had been dropped.

She'd spent all morning in Ozpin's office; all morning being told crazy things. Things about fairy tales, about Maidens for all the seasons that held magical powers. About how these Maidens were guardians, but how the latest Fall Maiden was dying.

About how Ozpin wanted Pyrrha to replace her.

Pyrrha just… she didn't know what to do.

It was her destiny to be a protector, a hero, a guardian… but the way Ozpin made the procedure of becoming a Maiden sound… it almost sounded like if she chose to accept this, then Pyrrha wouldn't be Pyrrha anymore.

Was that really worth it?

That thought alone immediately made Pyrrha feel like the most selfish person in the world. Of course it was worth it! She could save so many lives with the power of the Maiden at her side, she could be the guardian that her destiny wanted her to be.

Then why was she hesitating?

Pyrrha was… afraid.

She wanted to save the world, but she didn't want to die achieving that. She wanted to live in said world afterwards. Pyrrha wanted to love, to marry, have children, grow old… she didn't want to die young.

Pyrrha didn't want to be just another martyr. Remnant had hundreds of those already.

She… she needed to speak to someone, anyone about this.

She couldn't ask her own team; Russel was a fan, so he would just nod along and praise whatever left her mouth. Ren and Nora were out too since Pyrrha didn't feel particularly close to either of them. Really, her team was only held together based on mutual interest in becoming hunters - they didn't socialise outside of training and classes.

She wouldn't ask RWBY - the girls were great and all, but their collective wisdom was around that of a brick. Smart yes, wise no.

That left her best friend to ask, wherever he was right now. Jaune was elusive and tricky at times, but he was deceptively wise and cunning.

The tournament was only a couple of hours away from starting, but Jaune wouldn't mind breaking off from his team to speak with her - he was nice like that.

She dialed his number into her scroll.

It rang silently for a few moments, no doubt with the blind boy on the other side fumbling around as he tried to find the answer button.

Finally, the call connected.

"Hello?"

Jaune was… upside down. The image of his cloth-covered eyes bored into the screen from an inverted angle - which wasn't actually that uncommon whenever she called Jaune, though she didn't blame him. The guy was blind, so how was he meant to know which way up to hold his scroll?

"H-hey Jaune…" Pyrrha liked to think she controlled her emotions pretty well, but right now that control just wasn't there.

"Pyrrha?" he asked, "What's wrong?"

"Can…" Pyrrha didn't bother to hide the slight prickling of tears in her eyes - he wouldn't be able to see them anyway. "Can we talk? I need your help."

Jaune's expression, normally so carefully controlled, shifted into open concern. "Sure thing, just give me a second and I'll be right over to you."

"Thank you…"

The call ended just as quickly as it started, the image of Jaune's upside-down head vanishing quickly. She didn't need to tell Jaune where she was - he was able to find anyone if he'd met them before. While Jaune had taught her the basics of aura sight, she wasn't even remotely close to being anywhere near his level of skill with it.

Where Pyrrha could see aura for a couple of metres if she concentrated, Jaune had once mentioned that if he really put his mind to it he could see all of Vale.

An entire city…

An entire city full of innocent people that needed a guardian, that needed a Maiden.

Pyrrha felt like crying.

She didn't know how long she sat there, but the miserable thoughts were rather abruptly broken when someone thumped down next to her - their back against the tree and right shoulder just brushing her left.

"What's up?"

Jaune.

He was just wearing his usual jeans and hoodie, the plain clothes so utterly at odds with what most young hunters liked to wear. Jaune looked… plain. Not in a bad way, but in a Jaune way.

"Hi Jaune…" she whispered, not really trusting herself to speak. If she did she wasn't sure she could stop the tears.

He didn't speak for a moment, as was the norm with Jaune. He was very introspective like that… but when he did speak, it was always insightful.

"Why decide?"

Sometimes too insightful.

He'd explained it to her once, the things looking at someone's soul could tell you. Pyrrha hadn't quite been able to understand, but Jaune had just smiled when she told him that.

"It's important," Pyrrha said quietly, not turning to look at her friend. "I could save lives…"

Jaune 'hmm'ed in a way that was very him. "You can save lives anyway. Unless this is different? Unless you could save more lives…"

Pyrrha just nodded.

"But there's a catch?" Jaune paused for a moment, "You're afraid of losing something very important…"

"Myself," Pyrrha whispered.

Jaune was silent.

Pyrrha glanced at him, quickly noting in mild surprise that he had removed the bandanna over his eyes. Scarred, maimed, and pale blue eyes that saw nothing peered into the cloth in his hands, the dark green bandanna sitting limply in his palms.

"Change can be painful," he said eventually, though Pyrrha wasn't entirely sure he was speaking to just her anymore. "But change can also grant happiness."

A tear escaped the corner of Pyrrha's eye, "You think I should do it?"

She was afraid…

Jaune smiled lightly, the scars on his face twisting grotesquely in a way most people would call ugly. To Pyrrha it was just… comforting. "No."

"No?" Pyrrha echoed, hoping desperately that Jaune had the answer to her problems.

"When you choose to save someone," the blind boy's smile turned just a touch melancholy, "you choose not to save someone else."

She… she didn't understand.

Jaune must have felt her confusion though, "You could save a hundred lives today and die in the process, a hero for others to aspire to. Or you could spend your days as a huntress, saving just a few lives every time you kill a Grimm - not many, just one or two. But do that for a couple years? A lifetime? Thousands of lives saved, yours included."

Jaune fully turned to face her, his fearsome appearance offset by his kind demeanor. "When you choose to save someone else, you choose not to save yourself."

"But…" what he was saying made sense… "but isn't it the right thing to do? To save as many as I can now?"

"Who says it's right?" Jaune retorted, "Some stuffy old philosopher who died hundreds of years ago? Pyrrha, right and wrong are just words. It's what you do that matters. So what do you want?"

Jaune didn't say anything else; his blind eyes just looked at her blankly while she turned over his words in her head. It was what she did that matters… what did she want…

Pyrrha… didn't want to die. Even if her body lived, Pyrrha didn't want to not be Pyrrha.

"I don't want to go," she finally said.

"Then don't," Jaune replied, "it's your life, you can choose how you live it."

You can choose how you end it.

Pyrrha smiled, not a fake one, but an actual smile. She had her answer.

Ozpin and his little shadow group could find someone else.

Pyrrha was going to live the way she wanted to, not how anyone else told her to.

She wasn't going to be a Maiden.


Amity Colosseum, many years ago…

It was loud.

The thunderous sounds of thousands of people within the floating stadium was hard not to notice, so loud was it that it neared painful levels. Jaune's teammates didn't seem to outwardly care that much, but with the merest glances at their souls Jaune could see that they were nervous.

And for good reason too.

It was the first day of the tournament, and much to Jaune's displeasure, his team, as well as team BRNZ of Shade had been chosen as the first teams to fight. They would be the opening battle for the entire competition, and if Jaune remembered his basic psychology correctly, their battle would also be one of the most memorable.

HUNGRY.

Ack, and he had this terrible headache. His skull was pounding. It felt like someone was playing the drums using his skull.

Jaune liked to think he was pretty apathetic as to what people thought of him, but to have several thousand people watch you all at once? That was stressful. No amount of apathy could completely wash away the nervous tingle Jaune was feeling.

"And from Beacon, we have team WASB!" Professor Port shouted through the stadium's massive speakers; Cardin, Jaune, Sky and Dove marched onto the stage in uniform order just as Cardin had drilled into them so many times. "Among these strapping young lads you might recognise the face of Jaune Arc! Hero of Vale and the man who single-handedly held back the Grimm during the Breach!"

Jaune hid his wince and waved as the crowd cheered wildly for him. Cardin had warned him this was likely to happen, and the larger boy had told Jaune in no uncertain terms to play the crowd - make WASB the favourite.

So Jaune waved, carefully giving only a small smile that wouldn't twist the scars on his face too much. As usual, his disgustingly damaged eyes were covered by a plain bandanna, but the lower half of his face was still visible.

"And hailing from Shade Academy in Vacuo, we have team BRNZ!" Doctor Oobleck announced, the opposing team met with noticeably less cheers than the Beacon team.

The other team stood across from WASB. Oobleck was saying something else, but Jaune didn't listen - he was too busy peering at the souls of his opponents. It probably constituted as cheating since Jaune now had pretty much full access to what made them, them. But hey, who was going to stop him? The only other person who knew about the ability was Ozpin, and he didn't seem to care.

HUNGRY.

The throbbing in Jaune's head was growing worse, the constant and painful rhythm beating away at his thoughts.

"So you're the so-called Hero of Vale?"

Tall, male and with a copper-coloured soul. Probably the leader Brawnz Ni.

"You shouldn't be worrying about him," Cardin bit back, his voice just a touch defensive.

"If I were you, I'd be more concerned about us," Sky added, his aura flickering in mild contempt.

The others still weren't pleased that Jaune was stronger than them. Oh sure, they were happy to use Jaune's new might whenever it suited them - they just weren't happy to admit their relative weakness when compared to him. Really though, what could they expect? Jaune had never hidden that he was training with Ozpin, they just didn't want to admit he was improving faster than they were.

HUNGRY.

Jaune's head was pounding, and he felt a sick feeling of rabid hunger in his gut.

The girl on the other team snorted, "You guys don't have a reputation for wiping out hundreds of Grimm in one attack," she pointed her rifle towards Jaune, "he does."

She had a purple aura. Jaune liked the colour. It made him feel… feel…

HUNGRY.

Dove muttered something rude.

Jaune shook his head, weakly attempting to clear away the haze his thoughts were resting in. He had to focus, the roulettes were about to decide the arena.

The roulettes spun to a stop, the irritating clicking noise ceasing with it. Jaune had no idea what they stopped on though, but they had planned for this. The other team didn't necessarily know that Jaune was blind - though the cloth around his eyes hinted at it - and Cardin was unwilling to allow any advantage to slip through his fingers.

So they lied.

"City and forest, eh?" Cardin said aloud - to anyone else it would just seem he was strategising, but Jaune knew it was directed towards him.

The broken ruins of the fake city rose up behind the Beacon team, and the forest rose behind the Shade students. Both teams were poised and ready, their weapons primed and their auras waiting in anticipation.

Jaune's fingers twitched, ready at a moment's notice to cause a violent explosion should he wish it.

"BEGIN!"

As per the plan Cardin had set forth, Jaune acted first.

Jaune felt the warmth of his fire Dust, and then he clicked his fingers.

BRNZ could be the fastest team in the world when it comes to readying their weapons, they could have been the fastest shots and quickest draws in the entire land.

But it still wouldn't have been faster than Jaune snapping his fingers.

The ground underneath BRNZ exploded outwards in a burst of violent flames, each member of the opposing team being thrown bodily away by Jaune's fast attack.

Fortunately for them though, they all possessed the near-unnatural reflexes of hunters; so while their auras were visibly - to Jaune anyway - lower than they had been, the teens were able to catch their footing and land without much fuss.

And so began stage two of Cardin's master plan.

Cardin, Sky and Dove each sprinted in and attacked the three male members of the team while they were preoccupied with their landings.

That left the girl with the nice purple aura for Jaune.

HUNGRY.

Jaune felt sick.

"So," Jaune said conversationally to the girl, his teammates decimating the opposing team while he spoke, "what's your name?"

Her aura flickered in agitation as she raised her rifle, prepared to shoot-

Jaune clicked his fingers again.

She was thrown to the side, this time unable to stick the landing. The girl, whatever her name was, hit the ground roughly and bounced a few times before she finally rolled to her feet, aura lowered once again.

Honestly, compared to Ozpin these guys - and girl - might as well be snails. Just three attacks in and Jaune had taken nearly half of this girl's aura. Compare that to the closest he'd ever come to beating Ozpin; the one time he'd gotten the headmaster to 99% of his aura - which was still totally a victory, even if it had only resulted from the elder man slipping on some spilt coffee.

"May Zedong," the girl gasped as she steadied herself.

"Nice to meet you," Jaune said pleasantly as he clicked his fingers once more.

May, to her credit, wasn't completely unprepared this time; instead of being absolutely rag-dolled like before, she managed to half-dodge the small explosion by jumping backwards into the forested area of the arena, the force of the blast actually helping her get away.

However, Jaune just sighed. The girl was nice enough, but this latest move on her part showed a depressing level of tactical ineptitude.

Really, Jaune expected better.

HUNGRY. HUNGRY. HUNGRY. HUNGRY. HUNGRY. HUNGRY. HUNGRY. HUNGRY. HUNGRY. HUNGRY. HUNGRY. HUNGRY-

Jaune shook his head, a brief wave of nausea washing over him.

The mistake May made was a fairly obvious one - why try and hide in a forest when your opponent has already shown his ability to create and manipulate fire? Did she think him incapable of burning a few trees?

Silly girl.

The pleasant purple aura that Jaune knew to be May worked her way up a tree. Had Jaune actually been using his eyes, he might have actually found it difficult to locate her. But as it was now? Her aura stuck out like a sore thumb, the purple contrasting with the dull green of the trees.

The crack of a rifle shot rang out, but Jaune had already 'seen' the attack coming, so all he had to do was lean slightly to the side to avoid the bullet.

Her aura flickered in agitation.

Jaune didn't much care though, he felt deeply sick and his head was pounding - he wanted to get this over with. Now.

Jaune felt the warmth of his fire Dust, and then he clicked his fingers again.

The trees around the Vacuoan girl combusted into violent flames, a painful scream ringing out a mere moment later as she too was caught in the fire. She wouldn't die - Jaune would either extinguish the fire or get out before that happened, but while she was still eligible to compete she would find little mercy from Jaune.

"MAY!" One of her battered teammates screamed in horror as he jumped away from Cardin, "We need to save her!"

Jaune only stood and watched as the guy who had called out broke off from combat with Cardin and ran towards the trees. He ran past Jaune with hardly any hesitation. Cardin moved to follow, but Jaune shook his head - why bother chasing him? The idiot was running into a forest fire.

Jaune wasn't sure whether to be pleased or utterly disappointed when the other two remaining members of BRNZ followed after him.

SO HUNGRY.

Jaune nearly vomited.

Dove and Sky didn't bother chasing after the morons as they ran to the burning girl of the team. They knew Jaune well enough to know that he had absolutely no problem exploiting any mistakes his opponents made.

Jaune gathered his power, his aura flexing like a well-used muscle. Then he clicked his fingers.

The forest burst into flames.

Not just a little section of it like he'd done with May. This time the entire forested half of the arena combusted.

Jaune and the other three members of NRVR simply stood and listened to the pained screams of BRNZ.

The crowd was going wild, equal parts cheers and shouts of dismay to the sight of the blazing forest fire Jaune had created. Professors Port and Oobleck were shooting off commentary rapidly.

But Jaune didn't hear it.

His head was pounding, the light of the thousands of souls within the stadium intoxicating.

HUNGRY.

It felt like someone was bashing Jaune over the head.

The screams within the burning trees were getting just a touch too agonised for Jaune's taste, the noise blurring just a smidge too close to actual physical pain, rather than the pain of having your aura roasted away while it tried to keep them cool.

Cardin nudged him, "Put out the flame, if you don't they'll be hurt."

Jaune didn't bother answering with transient words. The blind boy forced his will outwards, his aura reaching over the flames and demanding that they cease. They fought back, as was their nature, but Jaune didn't allow for the dissent to last - his will created the fire, and his will killed the fire.

As the flames died Jaune breathed deeply, the ashes of the charred half of the arena hanging in the air like a poison.

"Flawless victory for Beacon and team WASB!" Professor Port shouted from his position in the commentator's box. "And what an explosive start to this year's Vytal tournament!"

"A round of applause for our winning team!" Oobleck seamlessly finished for the other man.

The crowd roared their approval.

HUNGRY. HUNGRY. HUNGRY-

Jaune had never felt more disgusted than he did right now.


Vale, many years ago…

Cinder stared at the massacre before her - not the literal type of massacre that is, but a pathetic excuse for a fight. Cinder herself was watching via the television, not daring to show herself in the arena itself since her expulsion and discovery at Beacon. She couldn't allow Ozpin to find her, not this late in the game - not when she was so close to enacting the final stages of her plan.

Emerald and Mercury were in the arena in disguise, carefully watching how things played out, and immediately informing her if anything were to deviate from the projected plan. Their active participation wasn't actually necessary until the final rounds of the tournament, but it was best to be prepared.

In the meantime however, all Cinder could do was wait. Wait and watch.

Team BRNZ - the losing team - weren't terrible fighters, but they were overwhelmingly average as far as hunters in training of their year level went. The same could be said of the opposing team from Beacon - with a single exception. WASB had three normal members, but their fourth was… something else.

Jaune Arc dominated the fight in the arena below, his use of fire Dust highly advanced for someone of his age and level of training. A single snap of his fingers had sent his opponents into disarray, and a few more clicks had decimated the team.

All the while he looked distracted. Distracted and uninterested.

But Cinder knew something was wrong. She'd fought the boy herself, however briefly, during her assault on the CCT, and afterwards when he was able to recognise her. He hadn't been this skilled then, he had barely been able to contend with her laziest of attacks – now, though? Now he looked like he was hardly paying attention to his enemies. Should anyone weaker have attempted this it would have backfired, but Arc… Arc was something else.

His rate of progress since their last 'battle' was astounding too - before he had been underwhelming and below average. Now Cinder would probably peg him as being able to contend with second or third year students! All that in what, a few weeks? If he stayed at this rate of progression then he'd be an absolute monster by the time he graduated - perhaps even stronger than she herself was currently. And that was an impressive feat on its own, given her access to the powers of the Fall Maiden.

Power like that had to be dealt with. The fools Tyrian and Watts would probably advocate for Arc's death, but they lacked Cinder's insight.

Cinder liked power, she craved it.

Jaune could come into her service; that way he could be allowed to live, and Cinder herself would gain a powerful ally.

She knew the boy had it in him too. She could tell.

Funny thing about fighting; when one becomes skilled and develops their own style, said style tends to mirror their personality and thought patterns.

Jaune was… direct, but also extremely subtle. The poor fools from BRNZ probably didn't even realise how Arc was generating the explosions, how all he needed was a tiny sleight of hand to cause devastation. He never once seemed rushed or particularly phased when the sniper-wielding girl attempted to shoot him - this indicated a level head and a calm demeanor.

But best of all was the callousness.

Jaune's enemy fled into the forest, so what did he do? Set the forest on fire. His opponents rushed to help their teammate? Jaune burned down the battlefield around them.

Those students could have been badly hurt, they might have even been killed if Jaune had not been careful. But Jaune's solution showed his apathy, his uncaring nature towards those that were his enemy.

All Cinder would need to do was twist that apathy into anger. Anger led to hate, hate led to suffering… suffering led to power. And Cinder could use his suffering, use his suffering and direct it towards her enemies.

Cinder smiled.


1


A/N

Sorry for the delay, I've just had one of those days…

Reviews:

ZHsteven:

Thanks for reviewing.

Indeed, Ozpin is largely responsible for what Nihilus became later - far more so than the influence of Cardin and his team.

The Powder Keg:

Thanks for reviewing.

Thank you, I try. And yes, Nihilus has a very flexible sense of morality - but even he has his limits, there is still some empathy buried in him... somewhere...

That's okay if you don't have questions (that won't spoil anything), I appreciate your review anyway!

As for your statement - you are correct. Nihilus absolutely loathes his own existence - every moment of it is basically a waking nightmare, but he won't let that stop him. Nihilus believes that he fights for a cause greater than himself, anger, hatred, and pain are what drives him forward.

Tobi14:

Thanks for reviewing.

Nihilus has done some pretty messed up things, this was perhaps one of the crueler ones.

Jaune saved thousands of lives by delaying Nihilus, but it was just that - delaying. The Lord of Hunger will get his due, one way or another.

The relationship between Ozpin and Nihilus is an odd one, it has gone through many changes and shifts, but it will end in a way that may surprise you.

What inspires me to write isn't a 'dark' Jaune, quite the opposite actually. What is good? What is evil? Both are concepts relative to the individual - people don't do 'evil' things because they want to further the cause of 'evil'. If you considered 'evil' to be positive, would that not make it 'good'? Thus meaning that you can only further 'good'. The point I'm trying to make is that everyone is the hero of their own story, Nihilus feels his actions are perfectly justified retribution for the crap he went through - in his situation I would have done the same.

Good and evil are just words, life is about the individual. Preconceptions of what is right and wrong are only relevant so long as you wish to conform to what is expected of you.

Shaded Azure:

Thanks for reviewing.

In a nutshell? Yes. There's more to it, but you captured the basics. of what Nihilus did to Ironwood. Except now he has to watch…

ZombieFrog:

Thanks for reviewing. Ah, how I wished I could have responded to this one as it came rather than having to wait…

Thank you! You are too kind.

While the current body Nihilus possess isn't his original as seen in the many years ago segments, it isn't Ozpin's. Someone important with blue eyes…

Nihilus is essentially a ghost, a wraith if you feel punny. He is possessing the body and forcing the actual owner to watch… Nihilus' finest cruelty, right there. As for how Nihilus died the second time (without spoiling anything), it wasn't at the same time as Pyrrha and Violet. Violet was an accidental murder, and Pyrrha was intentional - chapter 27 actually gives the biggest hint about it so far, combine that with the aura rounds Ruby had...

I loved KoTOR 2, and there are many similarities there. But Nihilus' name is relevant to the character - he believes in nothing. Absolutely nothing. His entire life crumbled to ash around him, he has nothing to lose, nothing matters to him except his justice.

Thank you! I tend to dislike stories that give everything away, mysteries are fun. Especially when there are small hints scattered and dropped all over the place.


Thank you all for reading, and don't forget to leave a review!