Uploading this before I get drunk and catch a couple of no-so-bright ideas regarding this new piece.
The first thing she could feel was weightlessness.
Sheer weightlessness, like she was lying on a bunch of clouds. For a brief, blissful moment, that's all there was.
Then the memories started coming back. The Tournament, the Maiden, the Kiss…and her own demise. Her heart started burning, as if there was still a fiery arrow lodged deep inside her.
Pyrrha woke up screaming, startled by her own last memories. She expected to find herself still on top of CCT, still choking on her own blood. Instead, she all she could see was white, foggy void. Looking down on herself, Pyrrha discovered two things:
One: there was no arrow inside of her anymore. No indication that she'd suffered a fatal wound whatsoever. The pain was just another memory, and was almost gone as soon as Pyrrha's realized that.
Two: her entire body was covered in a subdued red sheen, as if she'd engaged her aura.
And finally, three: she was very naked.
With a frightened inhale, she immediately covered herself the best she could, then took a better look around. There was unending whiteness as far as the eye could see. The "ground" was also blindingly white, but Pyrrha could see the individual grass shapes moving about, as though touched by the wind.
"This doesn't look real." Pyrrha thought to herself. There were no sounds – it was peacefully, and yet eerily quiet. Shakily getting up, Pyrrha turned around, only to almost fall back down in surprise – but her training kept the girl on her feet.
Before her was an endless expanse of swirling blue, stretching out beyond her vision, shimmering and moving about, as if breathing. It was mesmerizing – too mesmerizing. Pyrrha took a step back, deciding to see if anything – or anyone – else was in this place with her.
"Hello? Can anyone hear me?"
Silence. Total and utter silence – even her shout hadn't made as much as a hint of an echo. The weird wall of blue, despite being so animated, wasn't making any sort of sound either. It was starting to feel really uncanny for the redhead.
Finally, after a few minutes of walking around and not finding anything, the only real option left for Pyrrha to figure out where exactly she was and what was happening was to approach the blue barrier, and try her luck there. Coming face to face with the strange phenomenon, the girl was omce again captivated by the pulsing, endless phenomenon. Just as she itched herself closer, getting resdy to touch it-
"I wouldn't do that, young lady."
The second that sentence, spoken by an accented voice, came into being, Pyrrha jumped back like an uncoiled spring, falling into a picture-perfect unarmed stance, her own nudity forgotten.
"Who's there?!" In just a split second, threatened by the unknown, the Invincible Girl had awakened.
"Ah, I apologize. It's been so long since I had to manifest myself, I find it somewhat… troublesome to do so, and I imagine you'd much prefer to see me as well."
"What's going on? Who are you?"
"Just a moment, please."
And just like that, Pyrrha watched as a semi-transparent light-blue figure slowly phased itself into being partially inside the blue vortex, appearing as a grey-haired old man. She was about to say something, but the ghost beat her to it first:
"Oh, oh my. I did not realize you were quite so…indecent,". His words suddenly reminding her of that fact, Pyrrha's face burned brighter than her hair, but she did not dare lower hear guard. "And it seems like I've chosen the wrong form to appear as. Perhaps it would be better if we both started over".
"What are you tal-" However, before Pyrrha could finish her sentence, the strange apparition had already disappeared. Left alone once again, she tried flexing her Aura, only to discover, much to her fright, that she couldn't. The only thing that happened was the faint red glow around her body became much more intense and bright, to the point of completely covering her – which was probably good enough, given that she atleast wasn't naked anymore.
About half a minute later the ghost reappeared once again, its back turned to Pyrrha this time. She tensed and engaged her Aura Glow, hearing it exclaim "Great!"; then the thing turned around, and in the place an old, wrinkled face was a much more youthful, smiling one.
"Hello there." That roguishly accented voice spoke again, and Pyrrha, still shining bright crimson, relaxed just a little.
"Hello…?" She answered cautiously.
"I understand your hesitation and mistrust, milady, but you need not be afraid of me," The floating figure spoke calmly and thoughtfully. "I have neither any wish, nor ability to cause harm to you."
"If you want to gain my trust," Pyrrha spoke slowly, tensely. "You can start by explaining who are you and what this place is."
"Very well. I am Obi-Wan Kenobi, Obi-Wan for short if you so desire. As for the place, while I cannot possibly know the origin and purpose of your part," He gestured to the endless white expanse. "I do so of mine. However," he focused on the girl once again. "Perhaps it would be better if I knew how to address you properly, Miss…"
"Pyrrha. Just Pyrrha for now."
" Very well. This, miss Pyrrha," Obi-Wan pointed back towards the blue vortex. "Is the flow of the Force. The endless thread that binds everything in the Galaxy togehter. The Current of Life, as some may call it. This oneness is combined life-force of all the living beings that have already lived, live, and are yet to live."
"Oh.." Pyrrha drawled, confused. "So that means if I had…"
As if having read her thoughts, her ghost companion replied. "Yes. Trying to touch pure life-force like that…even in the best of cases it would not be the most pleasant experience, and I dread to imagine the worst. That your conscience has appeared here like that, completely separated from this Great Flow? It must have happened for a reason – one that eludes me, unfortunately. Ever since leaving my mortal form behind, even I myself find it fairly challenging to separate the part that is my conscience from the Flow of the Cosmic Force."
Realization started to dawn on Pyrrha. "You're dead, aren't you?" She inquired; then, without even waiting for Obi-Wan's answer, continued. "That must mean…"
She looked her companion straight in the eyes. Her voice took on a note of desperation. "I am dead too, aren't I?"
Obi-Wan's smile became much more somber. "I'm afraid so, miss Pyrrha. The origin of the Cosmic Force exists beyond conventional time and space. I find it unlikely that someone still in direct ties to the living world would be able to appear this close to it." He could only watch as the redhead fell to her knees and started quietly weeping. "I'm sorry."
"I…I failed so badly…" Pyrrha stammered out between the sobs, choking on tears that never came. "I was supposed to protect them…protect him…the one to carry the burden…"
"Failure? I know the consequences of that all too well…" the girl looked back at Obi-Wan, his eyes, even through the ghostly sheen, incredibly soft. "But what burden do you speak of, milady? Perhaps I could be of assistance?"
After half a minute of awkward silence, Pyrrha breathed out. "Tell me something, Obi-Wan…do you believe in destiny?"
Master Kenobi wasn't caught off guard. "In a sense I do, yes. It is part of a Jedi's mindset to accept that the Force works in mysterious ways, often guiding certain individuals...or making sure certain events happen. Let me ask you in return: what brought such a question on?"
Pyrrha wiped her face, and, in light of recent revelations, was not surprised to feel no moisture there.
"In life," she answered "I was a good, even great fighter. My second name was the Invincible Girl - I'm sure you can guess why. I have been told I was a modern martial prodigy, destined for fame, for greatness. I don't know who this "Jedi" you mentioned is," That caught Obi-Wan off guard, if the look of surprise on his face was anything to go by. "But as a Huntress my wish was simple – to help whoever I can, defend the weak and the innocent. I never wished for this fame to consume my life so much. And…" She inhaled. "Since I am apparently dead there's no point in keeping this secret, I suppose. I was offered a "position", you could say, of a Fall Maiden – a keeper of magical powers; simply because the previous wielder was attacked and stripped of half her powers, and the ones who offered it were running out of time."
She looked back at Obi-Wan, whose face told her he was listening intently. He motioned for her to continue.
"So all my life I was told that. I was told I was destined," She put an especial emphasis on that word "To be the greatest warrior in recent history, ever s-since the War. Them I am pulled aside and practically gifted – almost forced into having – a shortcut to be just that. The Invincible Girl, now more invincible than ever. Is it not destiny? All at the c-cost of completely losing track of who I really am. And…" A pause. Pyrrha forced herself to inhale; she could feel herself breaking down, again. "And, d-despite all of that, despite everything, I failed! The ONE time my victory would truly mean something, would truly do good for everyone, and I LOST! I LOST TO THE BITCH WHO LAID WASTE TO AN ENTIRE KINGDOM, TO SIMPLY GET THESE POWERS IN THE FIRST PLACE!"
Oh how she wished to cry, but no tears would come forth. Her outburst sapping the last of her energy, she continued in a much more subdued, broken voice.
"All I wanted was to protect people…To protect the few people I have genuinely grown close to…The one person who saw me for who I was, beneath the invincibility…" She couldn't go on. Pyrrha realized something; the reason why she couldn't feel her Aura, despite being able to flex it, or couldn't cry, despite the familiar burning behind her eyes? Because she was her own Aura. She was the soul of Invincible Girl, ascended somewhere beyond, never to return back. The realization was crushing.
In that decadent moment, she turned to look at Obi-Wan, once again finding nothing but compassion in his ghostly visage.
"Before I go any further, miss Pyrrha…may I call you simply Pyrrha?" She nodded. "Can you tell me your full name, please? Last name especially."
"Pyrrha Nikos. Not that it'll matter much now." The girl added with a mirthless chuckle.
"Nikos, Nikos…I cannot seem to recall hearing about you anywhere…perhaps you're from the Unknown Regions..?"
"I'm sorry..?"
"It matters not right now, milady." He brushed her confusion off. "Perhaps there are other reasons at work on why this barrier – one which I cannot seem to penetrate, neither physically, nor mentally - exists between the core of the Cosmic Force and whichever place it might be that you reside in right now, and how the two have come to collide in such a way, but I will think on that later."
He paused for a second before continuing. "What matters right now is different. If I understand correctly, you were something of a Chosen One, weren't you, Pyrrha?" At those words, the redhead stiffened up, then replied with a meek "Yes". "Then it seems like your question about Destiny was not as random as I first thought. Perhaps the Force itself saw it fit to let the two of us interact. I…" He suddenly coughed, grabbing his chest. In a second, Pyrrha was up on her feet.
"Are you okay?"
"I…yes, I am well. However, it is very taxing for me to remain separated from the Oneness of the Force for such a long period of…time. I'm afraid I must return, for the time being."
Pyrrha could feel her heart drop. As much of an unknown factor as Obi-Wan was, their conversation had still lifted atleast a little bit of the burden of grief off her shoulders. He was…pleasant to listen and talk to, especially since the only other choice was loneliness.
"I…but…"
"Rest assured Pyrrha, I will return in time. I understand from our conversation that the Force is somewhat of a foreign concept for you – is that right?" A nod. "However, I urge you to trust in the fact that the Force would not go to such lengths to get us to meet, only to needlessly split us once more. Even through this strange barrier I can sense that your spiritual form is weary, burdened with grief and guilt. I shan't be gone long. I can help you. After all.." he turned away from her, embracing the vortex of life-power once again. "…I know what it's like, having a "Chosen One" by your side. And how awful that fate might be."
And just like that, the ghost of Obi-Wan was gone, and Pyrrha was on her own once more; but this time, hope blossomed in her chest.
Hope that the stranger would make good on his promise, and they would speak once more.
Another little "prompt" I'd had in my head for the longest time, now brought to life in light of my recently-found courage to write. I had planned to make this a oneshot and upload it way before New Years Eve, but guess who's procrastinated most of his time again? Either way, this is now a planned two-shot (maybe three-shot), will update it next year hahahaha.
Also my phone got screwed bad, just hours before midnight. FUCK you 2020.
(Also, while I think I've done a good job with Pyrrha's portrayal, I do apologize if Obi-Wan is OOC. Been so long since I watched the Prequels, or the OG Trilogy, I'd somewhat forgotten what he acted like.)
