Pyrrha spared a nervous eye around the entire dining hall, noticing the sheer amount of faces that were turned in their table's direction. She sat with the rest of team Lion, across from most of team Rainbow. Somehow, word had gotten out that Pyrrha and Olivia would be sparring in Goodwitch's class later in the day. Each class had been a sea of first years shooting the two quick glances, many whispering, wondering if the faunus would be capable of dethroning the Mistralian champion.
'I hate this…' When Pyrrha had originally won her first regionals, she'd garnered a large amount of attention from the media and other people for accomplishing it at such a young age. Now after four years of straight wins, the media had long since been whipped into a frenzy, and the viewers along with it.
The articles trying to figure out her semblance, the theory-crafting and videos drawing eyes to every minute detail of her fighting style to attempt and find a crack in her defenses, the forum and social media posts calling her a cheater, or saying that the fights themselves were all set up in advance like it was some sort of cheap wrestling drama…
Pyrrha slumped in her place on the bench and idly shifted the food around on her plate, not really having the stomach to eat any of it.
Yang noticed next to her and patted her on the back, flashing a cheery smile, "Don't worry about the fight! I've taken both of you on, and I gotta say, I think you've got the edge in this one!"
Pyrrha gave her a weak smile back before turning to face the windows, her head resting on her forearm, 'Of course I've got the edge. As long as someone has a metal weapon, I'll always have the edge.'
The whispers were all around them, directed towards her, about her, talking behind her back, 'I came to Beacon to get away from all this in the first place.' Sure there would have been some recognition. Pyrrha had been prepared for that. This was more than she'd ever thought, though. An entire continent away, and she was still being treated as an icon, even by her fellow hunters in training.
Olivia appeared as if she'd noticed the undo attention as well, and while Pyrrha was in the dining hall, dejectedly praying for it to all be over with quickly, the faunus had practically hidden away somewhere after Oobleck's class had ended. Pyrrha didn't know what she was doing, but it certainly wasn't eating either. Olivia was nowhere to be seen.
'Is she warming up for our fight?' Pyrrha had half a mind to leave early and go check for herself. Olivia had been so confident in her declaration on Saturday, flashing the champion a wide grin while proclaiming her intentions. From her showings in previous spars, she had reason for it. Olivia was an excellent fighter, almost definitely on par with Pyrrha herself.
A thought occurred to Pyrrha, staring out those tall glass windows and out into the open fresh air. Other students milled around, either alone or with their team. They were… peaceful. No one disturbed them, no one paid them any mind. They spoke to each other and laughed, on benches and beneath trees while sitting in the grass...
'Would it… would it be so bad to lose for once?' Would the eyes leave her, allowing her to become just a normal girl again? Surely, she would still be Pyrrha Nikos... but would she still be Pyrrha Nikos?
A soft smile crept across the corners of Pyrrha's mouth, becoming more and more pronounced as the idea took hold. With the idea firmly planted, she nodded to herself and sat up, finally managing to bring herself to eat. A secretive grin remained affixed to her face, the product of hope for once in a long time.
Pyrrha Nikos was going to lose.
'Oh this is bad, this is very bad,' Olivia repeated to herself over and over, tucked away into a broom closet near Miss Goodwitch's class. It was the perfect place to get inside once the bell rang, tell the teacher she was feeling sick, then ditch class altogether.
'Sorry Pyrrha, can't fight today! What? Yeah, I've got a stomach ache. Must have eaten too much at lunch. Huh? Oh, right. I didn't go to lunch! I uh… brought my own food from Vale! Yup! That's what I did!'
Olivia planned out her excuses, hoping that by some miracle, the rest of the student body would forget about the entire spar altogether by the time Tuesday came around. Olivia didn't know how many times she could get herself excused from combat class, but she needed to at all costs.
In preparation for their spar, Olivia had decided to do a little research into exactly what it was she was going up against. A simple search on the CCT Network had brought up hundreds of thousands of pages worth of search results, all directed towards the champion herself.
If Olivia actually did beat Pyrrha, then how many would turn those eyes to the little known spider faunus? How long would it take for a news organization to pick up on her true identity?
'Black Lotus defeats Invincible Girl,' Olivia could already imagine the headline now, on every magazine, posted to every message board, with videos diving into theories about who she really was, and more importantly, where she was.
'I would never have a moment of peace for the rest of my life…' Olivia shivered, dismay wrenching a pit in her chest that descended into ever darker depths. She would be hunted like a wild animal, every eye a threat, every hesitant glance becoming recognition in her mind. 'If I thought I had it bad in Mistral…'
What would she do if that became the whole world?
The bell rang loudly, announcing the beginning of the final period for first years. Olivia ducked out of the closet quickly, feeling out with her sixth sense to make sure that no other students were close enough nearby to notice her odd behavior. In only a dozen steps, she was at the door for the combat class and swinging it open wide.
Miss Goodwitch stood down on the stage, idly going through files on her overly large scroll. Her eyes glanced up when the door opened so soon after the bell, a frown tugging at her lips, "That eager to fight Miss Nikos, are you?" at Olivia's shocked expression, she continued, "I overheard quite a few other students talking about it. For the record, I don't appreciate spars that are fought for fame, Miss Mandevilla."
Olivia put a hand to her stomach and feigned a queasy expression, "They'll have to wait. I've been feeling pretty awful for the last couple hours. Can I be excused for today, Miss Goodwitch?"
The tall blond teacher raised an eyebrow, scoffing lightly, "It is nothing to be ashamed of if you are apprehensive, Miss Mandevilla. Request denied. I'll be expecting you to try and get over your nerves and challenge Miss Nikos as you planned."
Olivia opened her mouth to argue, but was cut off at a sharp glance from the teacher, "No excuses. Please take your seat and try to relax. The rest of the class should be here soon."
Olivia stood in place, feeling numb to the bone as the door opened behind her and other students filed in. She racked her brain, looking for an excuse, any that would appease the older woman and allow her to get away from the situation altogether. None came to mind.
Both her team and team Lion filed in closely after each other. Yang noticed Olivia standing there on the stairs and clapped a hand on her shoulder, steering her over to sit down with the rest of them. Olivia allowed it, mind stuck in an overwhelming haze.
She forced herself to take a breath, the world around her returning to focus. Yang nudged her on the shoulder with a fist and laughed, clear and melodical, "No way are you beating Pyrrha, Short Stack."
'That's right. No one expects me to win. All I have to do is put on a good show, and the rest will fall into place. There aren't any forum posts or videos about Yang's fight with Pyrrha last week. I… I should be fine.'
'I just have to lose.'
Feeling her nerves ease, Olivia returned Yang's smile with a cocky grin of her own, "Just you wait and see. I'll be sure to give it my all."
Pyrrha heard Olivia's confident words and smirked, already preparing her losing speech before pausing in thought, 'Wait, do losers even get speeches?' she shrugged. All the better to avoid the limelight. If Olivia was that sure of herself, then perhaps she'd have a better time dealing with the media than Pyrrha had.
'Best of luck, Olivia. I hope you enjoy fame.'
Yang turned around with an excited smile, "You hear that, Pyrrha? Oh~ This is going to be the fight of the century~"
The bell rang once more, but more students continued to filter into the large arena. With only a single class inside, there was plenty of extra space left over. Team Coffee, along with some other upper year teams that Olivia didn't recognize, joined the first years to watch the fight that everyone knew was coming.
Cinder, Mercury, Emerald, and the mute girl Neo were the last to enter, each sitting down next to each other near the back row. Olivia was careful not to acknowledge them, but could still feel the worried frown on Cinder's face. Like her, the older woman had realized what it would mean if Olivia managed to defeat the Mistral champion.
A wispy version of Cinder appeared in front of Olivia as she sat there waiting for Miss Goodwitch to begin class. An illusion, conjured by Emerald to pass on a secret message with no one else being any the wiser. The illusionary Cinder held up a sign, 'Don't win' clearly printed in bold lettering across the front.
Olivia nodded, trying to appear absentminded about it but knowing that those that were supposed to catch the message, would. 'At least Cinder knew better than I did when I made this stupid challenge. I knew Pyrrha was popular, but…' she shook her head, focusing back on the situation at hand.
The tide of students finally stemmed, leaving Goodwitch to narrow her eyes at the gathered crowd before directing that stare at Olivia herself, "Now that class has begun, is there anything you wish to say, Miss Mandevilla?"
Olivia stood awkwardly in front of all those eyes and patted down her skirt, feeling extremely self-conscious. With a hesitant smile, she turned to look at Pyrrha, "Pyrrha Nikos, I would like to challenge you to a spar."
Pyrrha grinned widely, "I accept. I hope you're going to bring your A game, Olivia~"
'More like my tissue box for how badly I'm going to lose,' Olivia thought, hiding the smirk that threatened its way to her lips. She gave Pyrrha a tight nod and turned to walk down the stairs into the womens' locker room. Pyrrha followed, only a few steps behind and having to pace herself to match the smaller stride of the much shorter faunus.
Olivia was glad to get away from all those eyes. Once out of sight, she breathed a quiet sigh of relief, back still turned to Pyrrha so that she hopefully wouldn't pick up how on edge she really was. The two headed to their respective lockers, Olivia more than happy to change out of that damn skirt and into her combat attire. As an added precaution, she rolled her sleeves back down and buttoned them in place, hiding her black veins completely. With her gloves added on, you'd be hard pressed to notice them peeking out from beneath her clothes.
Olivia allowed Pyrrha to retain her modesty and didn't turn to look while she was changing, not that she could ignore it quite so easily with her sixth sense. She planted the tip of Oath into the ground and leaned forward against it, preparing herself for the fight to come.
"You know, I think you just might manage to beat me," Pyrrha spoke up, sliding her skirt up onto her hips, "I've watched your other fights in class like everyone else, and it's pretty obvious you haven't been taking them seriously."
"Nah, you've definitely got this. How could I stand up to Pyrrha Nikos?"
"No one's unbeatable."
"Says the 'Invincible Girl'. You've got this in the bag."
"You shouldn't doubt yourself so much."
"Eh, I'm all talk. You're the real deal."
"Never know until you try."
"I've got a pretty good idea. I mean, who else could win four regional championships in a row?"
The two turned to stare at each other as Pyrrha finished getting ready, uncertain frowns mirroring between them as both wondered what the other's game was. Olivia obviously hadn't fought Pyrrha yet up until this point. 'Is this her way of getting into people's heads? Complimenting them and giving them hope?' It was certainly an odd strategy, if that was the case.
With a heartfelt sigh, Olivia stood, grinding the point of Oath into the floor for a moment more before slinging it over her shoulder. She eyed Pyrrha, "Ready to win?"
Pyrrha's frown deepened, her mouth opening to speak before the door was forcefully opened. Goodwitch peeked through with a stern gaze, seeing the two fully dressed and ready, "Trying to delay, Miss Mandevilla? Let's go. On stage. I will only allow these excess students to remain as long as your fight lasts."
"Sure thing, ma'am," Olivia replied easily, sparing Pyrrha a wink over her shoulder before stepping past their teacher and back into the arena. The floodlights had already been lit, illuminating the stage itself while leaving the stands darkened. Olivia could still feel them all out there, though. The gathering of students had grown to twice the first year class's regular size.
Goodwitch returned to the stage, and Pyrrha walked out after her, taking her place on the opposite end of the arena from where Olivia currently stood. The fiery redhead double checked her sword and shield, transforming the sword into both its other modes.
Olivia shifted Oath into its sickle form and prepared to open the fight by throwing it. As much as she wanted to lose, she could hardly make it look like she was doing so on purpose. That could possibly stir up even more questions, questions that she very much did not want to answer.
Pyrrha bent into her usual stance as the timer began to tick down on the screen behind them. Olivia transferred her appendages to her arms and legs, feeling the overwhelming strength surge down into her limbs. She bent her legs and prepared as well, arm drawing taut.
With the sound of a buzzer, the counter wound down to zero.
The floor cracked beneath Olivia's feet as she pushed off hard, hurling Oath with all her might towards the other Mistralian. It flew true, aimed directly at center mass. With a casual flick, Pyrrha parried the thrown blade up and to the side. Olivia immediately activated her gloves, closing the last few feet to begin a flurry of blows before catching Oath in the middle of it and dropping low to slash at Pyrrha's legs.
Pyrrha blocked each of her punches, deflecting their power to the sides or stopping them dead with her shield. When Oath flickered back into sight and Olivia dropped, she jumped forward to roll across her. Pyrrha's sword flashed out in retaliation, but was knocked to the side the instant before it could make contact, the faunus reading the attack with practiced ease.
Olivia pressed the attack once more, mixing in kicks, punches, and her blade in a series of strikes that sought a crack in Pyrrha's defenses. She remained resilient, though, an impenetrable wall that stoically denied all of Olivia's advances and attacked in kind, seeking to get at least a glancing blow against the faunus's aura.
With a flash of inspiration, the Olivia transformed Oath during the middle of an overhead swing. As she had before, Pyrrha raised her shield to block it, but was caught off guard when the point wrapped around the back side of her shield, tugging it to the side to allow Olivia a clean blow to her chest.
There was a collective gasp as Olivia landed the first solid hit. She paused in shock, refusing to follow up while Pyrrha pulled herself back to her feet. 'Damn it! I started fighting on instinct! Lose, Olivia, lose!'
Pyrrha brushed a hand across her chest and gave Olivia a nod of approval before resetting back into her combat stance. Olivia did the same, determined to make sure she was the one that lost the next engagement.
Pyrrha was the one to go on the offensive this time, darting across the floor with a burst of speed that put her exactly within her weapon's own range. Olivia ducked, dipped, and parried the sword with each strike that came her way, intent on at least not looking like a pushover.
The shield raised, streaking forward in a golden flash meant to catch Olivia in the chest. She brought Oath up to stop it, positioning the blade within the hollow recess aimed at her chest. Pyrrha swung her sword in a horizontal arc towards Olivia's head, which she ducked easily.
However, Pyrrha's true goal was soon revealed, as the back edge of her sword collided against Oath as well, trapping the blade between both. Pyrrha used them in tandem to force Oath down to the side, out of the way for her next strike when she slashed in a line upwards across Olivia's chest.
The audience gasped again, many turning to whisper to those nearest.
Olivia disengaged, pulling herself free and leveling Oath between them in one hand, dropping into a low stance. She had to force herself to calm down, battle instincts once more threatening to kick in. With a deep exhale, she launched back into the fray with a more measured response, feeling for any gaps or deficiencies as she had before.
Steel struck steel, each strike coming in rapid succession and being followed up just as quickly with a fist or a kick. Olivia had to give it to Pyrrha. Not only was she good, but she was far exceeding her expectations.
That was, until Pyrrha made the foolish mistake of dropping her guard, shield dipping too low to her side. Olivia reacted instantly, reflexes fine tuned to strike at such a blatant opportunity. Oath streaked across Pyrrha's aura, drawing a long line that rippled outwards in brilliant red waves.
Olivia didn't have to bother to look up at the screens. She could tell how much damage that single blow had caused, and cursed herself for not resisting temptation. Pyrrha raised her shield high, blocking her own sight and once more creating openings for herself. Olivia stopped herself from striking with a white knuckle grip.
The shield lowered back down a moment later, Pyrrha eyeing Olivia overtop it. She rolled her shoulders and resumed a proper stance, gaze narrowing as she attacked.
Olivia decided to set herself up for failure. She blocked as she would normally, sixth sense helping her to respond immediately to each blow sent her way. After the first dozen, she let one of Pyrrha's strikes knock Oath further to the side than it would have gone normally. Pyrrha struck instantly, capitalizing on Olivia's exposed chest once more.
Pink and black rippled outward from the point of Pyrrha's blade, dropping her aura by ten percent and sending Olivia flying backwards in a roll across the floor. She moved into a crouch, hand resting against the floor to support herself and Oath held in a reverse grip behind herself.
Pyrrha stopped, waiting for Olivia to return to her feet fully, an annoyed scowl on her face.
'What…?' Olivia watched as Pyrrha rolled her wrists, seeming to chastise herself silently and dropping into a much looser stance than she'd used previously.
Olivia narrowed her eyes in return, suspicions beginning to take hold, 'I'll make sure with the next engagement…'
The faunus drew her arm back and threw Oath once again, repeating her attack from the start of the spar. Unlike before though, Pyrrha sidestepped the blade, allowing it to streak past. Yellow lightning dust coursed along its blade, leaving a visible trail of lightning in its wake.
Olivia activated her gloves after another moment, closing the distance to feign her next attacks. Pyrrha remained in place, supposedly oblivious to the weapon quickly returning. With her suspicions all but confirmed, Olivia surprised Pyrrha by leaping over her to spin and catch Oath in midair before it could connect, denying her own blow. Olivia followed it up with a lazy strike, making it seem as if that had been her intention all along.
Pyrrha blocked it contemptuously, glaring at Olivia in confusion. Neither attacking.
With only a couple feet between them, Olivia kept her voice low, frowning right back at the tall redhead, "What are you doing!?"
"Losing. What are you doing!?"
Olivia glared, "I don't want to win! Hurry up and beat me!"
"But you're such a capable fighter! If you don't beat me, then who will!?"
"I don't know! Find someone else!" Olivia hissed out the last few words, throwing herself forward to attack weakly as she felt the mounting impatience from the gathered crowd and Miss Goodwitch herself.
The two began what amounted to a mockery of their true skills, each feigning moments of incompetence in the hopes that the other would capitalize on the mistake. Olivia was finding it hard not to give into her trained urges, but with the threat of discovery on the horizon, managed to maintain her composure.
Olivia was in the middle of swinging directly at Pyrrha's shield when the edge of the blade itself became muted, yellow lightning mixing with an odd black aura. Oath twisted in her grasp, changing it's trajectory to arc downwards and slash Pyrrha's exposed calf.
With a startled yelp, Olivia drew Oath back to herself and frowned at the blade, seeing that it had lost its black aura the moment after striking. 'What the hell was that!?' Her eyes darted up to Pyrrha's face, seeing the slightly smug look that twinged her lips, even as she pretended to back up defensively.
'I see how it is. Two can play at that game, and the Black Lotus always wins, even if that means losing!' Pyrrha was utilizing her semblance somehow, causing Olivia's weapon to act on its own accord and strike where she didn't want it to.
Olivia launched into another flurry of blows, this time putting in far more effort in order to put her plan into action. Pyrrha frowned in surprise, clearing wondering what Olivia was up to. With a quick succession of strikes meant to knock Pyrrha's shield to the side and force her to block with her sword instead, the champion soon found out.
Olivia circled the blade of Oath against Pyrrha's sword, acting as if she was attempting to disarm her. However, at the end of the rotation, she used all her strength to hurl Oath off the stage, it's sickled point digging a foot into the arena wall at an angle. Olivia activated her gloves, testing them out for all to see, and smirked as the sword remained in place, thoroughly dug in.
"Uh oh, looks like I don't have a weapon," Olivia stated loud enough for the closer spectators to hear, feigning a hint of worry in her voice. She lowered it, whispering to Pyrrha, "What ever shall I do now~?"
Pyrrha flung herself back into combat, while Olivia dropped her semblance completely. Suddenly, attacks that had been knocked to the side without affecting her aura were instead causing it to dip sharply. In only a few strikes, she was down another twenty percent, leaving her in the high forties while Pyrrha remained in the low seventies.
Olivia spoke as they fought, both going at nearly half speed, but neither capitalizing on that fact, "I guess I really just never stood a chance!" she unfurled her appendages, each fifteen feet in length and towering over the two girls, unseen by the naked eye.
Olivia used that fact to her advantage. On Pyrrha's next strike, she used one appendage to divert it onto a correct path, directly into her chest. With the other three, she struck herself as well. The combined force devastated her aura and sent her flying off the stage, nearly shattering it completely when she collided with the wall and fell to slump against the floor.
Pyrrha stared in wide-eyed dismay, eyes glancing down between her sword and Olivia in shock. There hadn't been nearly enough force behind her attack to send the faunus girl flying away as she did, but whether possible or not, she couldn't argue with the results.
"And that's the match!" Goodwitch called loudly to the sound of wild cheering from the stands.
Ruby bolted down the stairs to Olivia's side, placing an arm beneath hers and helping to lift her up from the floor. Olivia pretended to be tired, in reality still feeling as fresh as she did at the start of the 'fight'. Olivia wrenched Oath free from the wall before letting Ruby help her up the steps to the rest of their team.
"Well, at least now I know you can be hit," Weiss smirked momentarily, then inhaled sharply, "I'm sorry, I shouldn't be teasing you after a fight like that. You tried your best."
'And got exactly what I wanted,' Olivia smiled, "It's fine, Princess. I would have teased you, too. Maybe I am rubbing off on you~"
"What was that she did at the end?" Blake spoke up, sharp eyes dilated from staring so intently during the fight.
Olivia shrugged, "Dunno. Her semblance, maybe? There was a lot more force behind it than it looked like, that's for sure."
"Hmmm," Blake watched Pyrrha curiously as she walked off stage and back into the dressing rooms.
Seeing the distress on her face, a small part of Olivia felt sorry for her. With a few muttered excuses to the other three about needing to put Oath away, she followed back down the steps and into the dressing room a handful of seconds after Pyrrha. Goodwitch loudly began calling out for the next challengers, otherwise she would be moving to planned fights.
Olivia found the Mistral champion sitting on one of the benches, still in her combat outfit and slumped forward with her elbows on her knees. Her weapon and shield rested on either side of her, long forgotten as her hands were busy holding her face.
"Oh, um…" Olivia froze, seeing the slight shake to Pyrrha's shoulders.
Pyrrha tensed, hands briefly rubbing across her eyes before dropping to her sides, a smile struggling to reach her lips, "Oh, hey Olivia. That was a good fight…!"
Olivia forced herself to walk up to the other girl and sit down next to her, only inches apart. Whatever else she might be, heartless was not one of them. She placed a hand on Pyrrha's back, rubbing in what she hoped were small soothing motions.
The tension in Pyrrha's muscles faded, her figure slumping once more under Olivia's attempts at helping her to calm down, "I'm sorry for trying to force the win on you, Olivia. It was wrong of me."
"Why did you want to in the first place?" Olivia asked quietly, "You've always struck me as the competitive type. What changed?"
Pyrrha sighed, giving a weak shrug of her shoulders, "I was hoping to escape the limelight. My fame has grown out of control… Do you know what it's like to hate being looked at? Every time someone sees me, I'm afraid that they'll come up to me, asking for an autograph, asking for tips on how to improve, asking me personal questions that they have no business knowing…"
Olivia let out a small laugh and held her arm out, rolling her sleeves back to show off her black veins, "Trust me, I know what it's like to be afraid of other people's gaze. Always wondering if they somehow know. If this time, I'm going to have to defend myself only because of what I am, not who I am," she shrugged, "It may not be for the same reasons, but I can relate."
Pyrrha shivered, the tension returning to her shoulders, "I'm sorry. I didn't even consider that. I almost put you directly into the eyes of millions, only thinking of myself…"
Olivia laughed weakly, patting Pyrrha once more on the back before standing up, "Well, you'll just have to try harder next time. Even if it was a race to lose, I still beat you, Pyrrha. Guess you aren't quite as invincible as they make you out to be, eh~?"
Pyrrha laughed, eyes turning up to regard Olivia warmly, "I suppose I'm not, after all. How did you do that at the end anyway?"
Olivia stared at Pyrrha for a few moments, considering her options before smirking lightheartedly, "You'd have to go first. What was that whole thing with the black aura on Oath? Someone's been holding back~"
Pyrrha seemed to consider the offer, but eventually shook her head with a smile, "Perhaps our secrets are best kept to ourselves."
"Perhaps they are," Olivia giggled as she stored Oath back in her locker. With a relaxed sigh, she crossed her arms and raised an eyebrow at the state Pyrrha was still in, "Are you going to put your weapons away any time soon? I'm sure your team is ready to shower you with praise."
Pyrrha smiled weakly in return and put her sword and shield back in her locker. With a moment spent collecting herself, an easy smile slipped back into place, practiced after years spent in the media's presence. She stepped past Olivia and held the door open, gesturing for her to head out with her.
As Olivia passed, Pyrrha whispered quietly, "You know we're going to have to fight for real one of these times, right? Preferably when there's no one around to watch."
Olivia winked, "You've got yourself a date, Nikos~"
Pyrrha blushed and Olivia laughed as they returned to the stands, and their waiting teams.
Cinder and the others had vanished. Olivia wasn't sure when exactly they'd left.
Got a pretty good laugh out of it when I realized what I both needed, and wanted to do with this chapter. Excited to finally get to write it.
Thanks for reading,
- Sybaen