Transcending Time
With a grunt of exertion, Pyrrha slammed the metal gears around Cinder Fall, trapping her in a metallic dome, hoping to buy herself some time to catch her breath. But it was not to be, as the gears, heated from the inside out, began to glow white hot.
'Dammit…' was the only thought that managed to flit through Pyrrha's head before the gears exploded outward in all directions. Seeing a gear hurtling towards her, she quickly brought her shield up; the impact sent her flying backwards, slamming her back into the remains of a stone pillar. She cried out as the air was driven from her lungs, she felt the last dregs of her aura flicker out.
Pyrrha staggered to her feet, her breath coming out in ragged gasps. She looked up to see Cinder drawing back her bow, an arrow aimed straight at her chest. In a last ditch effort, Pyrrha hurled her shield along the arrow's trajectory. Suddenly, her right ankle felt like it was on fire and she dropped to her knees, crying out in pain as she spied the shaft of the arrow embedded in her heel.
'How?' she thought, 'that throw was perfect, she shouldn't have been able to hit me.' Exhaustion threatened to overwhelm her, and she contemplated just lying down and accepting her fate. 'No,' she resolved, her determination overpowering her pain and fatigue, 'No time to rest, the others are counting on you to take her down.'
Pyrrha tried to stand, to put weight on her leg, but she heard a sickening crunch from her ankle and blinding pain shot through her, sending her crashing right back to the ground
Cinder strode up, a smug, cruel look on her face, "It's unfortunate that you were promised power that was never truly yours…"
It took all Pyrrha had to not collapse completely to the ground. Cinder grabbed her chin and forced the redhead to look into her fiery gold eyes, regarding Pyrrha with a condescending smirk, "Take comfort in knowing that I will use it in ways you could never have imagined."
Pyrrha could only glare at her, knowing it was all over, and hating Cinder for winning and herself for not fighting harder. Cinder materialized her bow, drawing an arrow back, aiming right at Pyrrha's chest.
She heard a clatter off to her right, by the edge of the roof and someone's soft gasp. With a 'thwip' Cinder released the arrow and Pyrrha flinched, waiting for the impact. But nothing happened.
She slowly opened her eyes and inhaled sharply. The arrow hovered in mid-air, seemingly suspended, mere inches from her chest. She looked at Cinder, her sadistic smirk frozen on her face, equally unmoving, like a statue.
"What in Remnant is goi-" she looked to her left and let out a startled cry: a few feet away stood the ghostly, green image of Professor Ozpin.
He gave her a slight nod, his hands clasped behind his back, "Hello Miss Nikos." he said quietly.
"P-Professor?" she asked, not sure if she was hallucinating or not.
"Yes," he said, looking himself up and down, "Though I'm afraid I might not look like I used to."
"Did Cinder kill you?" she asked.
He came forward and helped her to her feet, her ankle instantly feeling better and holding her weight again.
"She did…" he replied
She tilted her head quizzically, "I don't understand."
He sighed, "We're short on time so I'll be brief: I am the wizard from the tale of the four maidens, I'm locked in an eternal battle with my ex-wife of centuries past, who creates and controls the Grimm in this world. I've been tasked by the gods to protect and unite humanity so every time I die, my soul possesses another like-minded person."
Pyrrha stood for a few moments, absorbing what she just heard, "That…..leaves me with a lot of questions, but honestly that explains SO much."
"Indeed," he said nodding, "Please, come walk with me."
Pyrrha walked to his side and with an almost unnoticeable jerk of motion, they were at the bottom of the tower in the Beacon courtyard; she was startled but just decided to roll with it. "So, why exactly is time frozen?" she asked as they walked, "and aren't you supposed to be on your way to a new, uh... host?"
"I did that, with a little help." he said, "I'm quite powerful, but even I couldn't do this all on my own." He gestured up at the top of the tower, "In a few real-time seconds, Miss Rose is about to do something very…..powerful." he paused, seemingly thinking of the right way to phrase what he wanted to say. "Her...outburst, will make time...soft, for lack of a better word. It enabled me to use some of my power so we may have this conversation. I can only remain here while time is stopped however."
"So you saved me?" she asked, a burst of hope surging through her, "I can still defeat Cinder and reclaim the maiden powers!"
He shook his head, "Surely you must feel it as well, I am being pulled far away from here."
She knew exactly what he meant, she could indeed feel it, a tug on her soul, pulling her back up to the top of the tower, back to the arrow. The hope drained from her, but was not replaced by despair, but by reluctant acceptance.
She sighed, her shoulders drooping, "So I'm already dead then…"
He nodded sadly, "I'm so very sorry Pyrrha, I never intended it for it to turn out like this, it was never part of the plan."
She crossed her arms over her chest, a slight frown on her face, "So if i'm dead, then why did you do this? Why do you want to talk to me?"
"I don't honestly know, to apologize, to give you a chance to say goodbye to your friends…" he peered around a moment "I believe two of them have been injured."
Her eyes widened, "Ren and No-" before her mouth could finish the sentence, she felt a sudden rush of movement and realized they were at the Beacon landing pads "Wha-What? How?"
"My power will let us visit who you like, but we are on the clock, so to speak, I can't hold time like this forever."
Pyrrha took in the scene: a mass evacuation frozen in time. Sun was directing the streams of students flowing into the bullheads. She spotted a small collection of huntsmen lying on the ground, she spotted the familiar green and pink of Ren and Nora and ran to them
She gasped softly, her hands covering her mouth. Ren and Nora lay weakly, the both of them bruised and bloody from the long fight. Instinctively she reached out to touch the both of them.
As her hands made contact, she gasped in surprise as a series of images crashed through her mind.
A team, entirely made up of her friends, the word RNJR flicked through her head, giving her a small smile. Fighting a man with a scorpion tail. The two of them killing a massive, horse riding Grimm
The images started coming faster: a long journey, a nest of Grimm in a basement, a blind woman, floating city, Amity Arena, a kiss.
Ozpin's hand on her shoulder snapped her away from the cascade of images. "What the hell was that?" she asked, extremely confused.
"Things that have yet to happen, possible futures I think. As I said, time is acting a bit funny right now."
She nodded, and gestured at her friends, "Can they hear me?"
Ozpin shook his head, "Time is completely stopped for them, they won't even realize that it was stopped when it resumes." He noticed the dejected look on Pyrrha's face, "But the usual rules of time don't really seem to apply right now it seems. I do not know what they will perceive but there's no harm in trying."
She turned and looked at the two of her friends, "The two of you are going to go through so much," she said quietly, "But you'll still have each other." She sighed, "I just wish I could be there when the two of you realize what the rest of us have known all along."
She looked up from them and finally took in the rest of her surroundings, she gasped again as she saw Blake clutching onto Yang's left arm, clearly sobbing. Yang was clearly unconscious, a medic tending to her, "Oh gods…" Pyrrha whispered as she realized that Yang's arm had been severed just above the elbow. She started to go to them.
"Mi-Miss Nikos." Ozpin's voice pulled her up short, she could hear a slight strain in his voice, "I'm afraid this is taking more out of me than I thought, we only have time for one or two more people and I am certain that there's someone else you want to visit." he said with a meaningful look at her.
She felt sorrow, she knew who Ozpin was referring to, and almost couldn't bear to see the pain that she knew she caused him. "Jaune-" and there she was, standing right in front of him. Jaune was frozen mid sprint, the crumpled locker about a hundred feet away, the corpses of three beowolves dissolving in his wake.
"Oh Jaune…" she whispered, she saw tears running down his cheeks, the look on his face betraying all the hurt, desperation, and sadness she'd cause him to feel
"I'm so sorry…" she said, putting a hand on his face. She was only mildly startled as images flooded into her brain again.
Jaune crying himself to sleep, meeting Ruby outside her house, RNJR fighting a giant nature monster.
She choked back a sob as she saw the shape of her tiara fused into his shield. The images came to her faster and faster: a long journey, fighting Cinder, pride washed through her body as she watched him discover his semblance while saving Weiss' life, a giant robot. She started to break down crying when she saw Jaune standing in front of a memorial statue of her in Argus.
"I think that's enough." Ozpin said, gently putting a hand on her shoulder, the visions cutting off abruptly.
She nodded reluctantly and looked at Jaune, wiping away her tears. "You're going to become an amazing huntsman…" she said, emotion tightening her throat, she gave him a sad smile, "I just wish I could be there with you to see it…"
She placed a gentle kiss on his lips, "Goodbye, Jaune." She tore herself away and turned back to Ozpin.
"I believe it's time." he said, his voice mildly strained.
"I know." she said sadly, willing herself not to look back at her best friend.
Another slight jerk of movement and they were back up at the tower. Pyrrha turned, taking one last look at the school she loved so much and for the first time, her eyes fell on the source of the soft gasp she heard just before Cinder released her arrow.
Ruby was crouched at the edge of the tower, a horrified look on her face. Pyrrha looked at Ozpin for permission and he nodded. She gently touched Ruby's cheek, and for a third time, visions poured into her mind.
Travelling with Jaune, reuniting with her team after being apart for a long time, early morning coffee with Weiss. Pyrrha actually gasped out loud as she saw a vision of Penny swim through her head, 'She's alive!' she thought joyfully, 'I didn't kill her!'
She felt her mind being pulled back towards the present. She heard her own name screamed in a voice filled with pain and grief, a blazing white light emanating from Ruby's small form, Cinder screaming in agony.
She was pulled away by a visibly straining Ozpin. After taking a moment to steady herself and collect her thoughts, she crouched in front of Ruby, "You'll be an amazing leader. You just have to trust your instincts." she paused, her mind racing. Eventually, she looked back at the small girl, "Take care of Jaune for me, he's stronger than he knows. He just needs a little help."
She glanced back, she could feel the pull on her soul slowly increasing. The arrow called to her, she could almost see the outline of herself kneeling in front of it.
"Again, Miss Nikos, I just want to say I'm sorry. It wasn't supposed to be like this."
"No." she said quietly, "I think it was."
Ozpin looked at her quizzically.
Pyrrha began to walk in a circle around where she knew her death would occur, "I think it was always meant to happen this way. This," she said gesturing at Cinder and the arrow, "This is the catalyst."
She smiled a little sadly to herself, "My death will inspire all of them, they'll band together, stand against the Grimm queen... and it all starts here."
She turned back to Ozpin, "They're going to save you all. I know it."
"Well," Ozpin said, shrugging slightly, "I'm not sure about-"
"No," she said with certainty in her voice, "the same fate that brought Jaune and myself together in the forest wants me right there. This has always been my fate professor."
She smiled sadly, "I don't want to go, but if it means millions of other people get to live…" She stood close to her 'spot', "then it's worth it." she looked up from the arrow, "I'll gladly accept my fate."
Ozpin smiled softly, "I'm not sure that I could face this with as much dignity as you Pyrrha."
"Professor?"
"Yes?"
"Thanks for this. I'm glad I got to say goodbye, even if they can't hear it. It does make this a little easier."
Pyrrha stopped resisting the pull on her soul and was instantly back on her knees, the arrow inches from her chest. She took a deep breath and let it out slowly, savoring the feeling. She gave Ozpin a nod.
"Again Miss Nikos, I'm so sorry…" he rotated his wrist and the arrow wound itself back to the bow, then the bow itself disintegrating, time continued to wind back until Cinder stood in front of her, a gloating look on her face.
"I will leave you with a gift," Ozpin said, gesturing towards her, "I have enough power left to take away some of your pain, but not all."
She nodded, grateful for whatever help he could give.
Ozpin sighed, "Thank you Pyrrha." he closed his eyes and began to fade out. Just before he completely disappeared, she saw his ghostly form yanked off to an unknown destination as he too surrendered to the arms of fate.
She felt time slowly start to resume, she looked Cinder right in the eyes, "Do you believe in destiny?" she asked on a whim.
Cinder looked at her for a moment, contemplating the question. "Yes." she answered simply after a long time.
Cinder strode away. Pyrrha closed her eyes as she heard Cinder's bow materialize.
She heard Ruby's feet hit the stone of the tower. 'At the Very minimum,' she thought, 'they'll all have each other to lean on...eventually.'
She heard a "thwip". Pain blossomed in her chest, and she gasped as the air was driven from her lungs. She silently thanked Ozpin, she knew the pain should be so much worse than it was.
She saw Cinder advancing towards her, and her consciousness began to fade. She felt a massive power, a tremendous surge of energy, building to her right.
'It's up to all of you, now' she thought, as her pain began to dull, her mind fading, 'you all have such a hard time ahead of you, this almost seems easy.'
She felt Cinder's hand touch her head, she thought back to her vision of future Jaune, gone was the awkward boy who didn't know what aura was; in his place stood a proud huntsman, his sword and shield held confidently, her sash and tiara proudly worn as a part of his own gear, his own memorial to her.
She realized two things: that, in a way, she'd always be with Jaune, and that she knew without a single doubt in her mind that all was as it should be; a sense of peace washed over her.
There was a blinding flash of heat, and she was gone.
Back at the landing pad, Ren and Nora looked at each other, wordlessly asking the other if they had felt the same thing. They looked at their shoulders, an odd, out of place warmth fading.
Ruby had little memory of what happened at the top of the tower, but, even years later, she would swear he heard Pyrrha's calming voice in her recurring nightmares of the event.
Jaune tripped and fell as he felt something brush his lips, his brain registered a feeling he couldn't explain. He somehow knew, even before the blinding white light erupted from the top of the tower, that Pyrrha was gone. It took Jaune a long time to come to terms with her death, but through it all, he knew that she was proud of him.
Author's note: Well after a three year hiatus, I'm back! I started writing this about three years ago and ended up abandoning it so I finally got around to finishing it! Shoutout to my wonderful Fiance Vanessa for doing a bit of editing on this story. As for the future, I have a Whiterose tragedy story in the planning phase, hopefully have a chapter of it up sometime in the next month! see you guys next time!