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Vale Central Hospital
September, 79 AGW
When Pyrrha regained consciousness, she was met with a strange feeling of emptiness inside of her. Her blurry vision cleared to reveal a series of flashing lights, and she felt the vaguest sensation of movement, as though she were sliding forwards on her back. Eventually, she came to realize she was being carted down a hallway on a gurney, her chest and legs restrained by a pair of straps attached to each side.
Everything hurt, badly, but she was just lucid enough to recognize the interior of a hospital, and the figures pushing the stretcher beside her.
On her left was Qrow, who, while not panicked, had looked like he had aged a decade since they'd last met. His face was contorted into a permanent scowl, his jaw permanently clenched in frustration. He was wearing the same outfit he usually wore as a Huntsman, but it was littered with nicks and tears all over, and especially on the flowing cape hanging from his shoulders. Thankfully, it didn't look like he was physically injured in that regard.
On her right, well, how could Pyrrha not recognize the signature red cloak of her partner? Ruby's hood was up, but it wasn't enough to obscure her face. Except that didn't matter, because on top of the cloak, she was also wearing what looked like a custom made White Fang mask. While Pyrrha was familiar with standard White Fang paraphernalia, this one sported red eyes that streaked down to the bottom of the mask. That, along with the stark white background and darkness that surrounded the mask's eye holes, gave it an appearance akin to the armor Grimm wore.
While the cloak covered the rest of her partner's body, Ruby was also pushing the gurney along as they made their way through the hospital, exposing her hands. They were wrapped tightly in bandages, which covered every inch of her skin, leaving nothing exposed.
Wait, when had she gotten injured again? And why was she wearing a White Fang mask in the hospital? The last thing Pyrrha could remember was Ruby taking down that gigantic Grimm and—
Oh.
She let out an involuntary scream, but her throat seized up and it came out more like a hacking cough than anything else. Her lungs were on fire, and she could feel her wounds tearing open as she thrashed about in her constraints.
"She's awake!" Qrow said, glancing down at her in surprise.
"I can see that, Qrow! How much farther?" Ruby replied.
Why did Ruby's voice sound so fake to her now? So dead? Like the clacking of a wooden marionette as the puppeteer 'talked' over it during a show. No, no, no. It felt wrong listening to her voice.
"Not much farther now. They've got an emergency wing prepped just for Huntsmen. Separate rooms, too."
The wound on her right leg opened again. Her Aura rapidly depleted again in an attempt to heal her, and the emptiness returned. Was she… was she going to die?
"Turn here!" Qrow shouted, and dim lighting gave way to a bright, sterilized room.
Pyrrha offered up no resistance as they carefully loaded her onto the hospital bed.
"The doctors are all busy, so it'll be a while before they can help her. There are Aura booster shots in the cabinet on your left. I need to get back out there, can you handle this?"
"I can. Just hurry up and go already!"
A feeling of panic washed over her once Qrow took his leave at Ruby's affirmation, and the door slid shut, leaving the two of them alone in the room.
Pyrrha watched as her partner threw open the cabinet doors before pulling out a needle. Self preservation overrode her trepidation as she spoke.
"Do… it." She rasped.
She felt the needle enter her arm in one smooth motion, and she felt her Aura return, albeit clearly weakened. Pyrrha gave a silent word of thanks to Beacon's first aid trainer, before focusing her Aura on propping up her vocal cords. She felt her voice return to her, but she felt absolutely paralyzed by the presence of her partner.
There was a brief pause as neither of them knew what to say, and Ruby made her way over to the window, which revealed the blackened night sky. An occasional spark or flash of gunfire lit up the landscape as the battle continued, before Ruby closed the blinds shut.
"So."
A shiver ran down Pyrrha's spine, and the fear on her face must have been evident, because Ruby quickly threw up both hands in surrender.
"Wait! Please, don't freak out. It's still me, even if I look a bit different." She clacked, yet her voice rang clearly in Pyrrha's ears. Why was that?
"Look, I—perhaps I should start from the beginning." Ruby began pacing in front of her.
"Remember what I've told you, about my people? The Eternals?"
Pyrrha nodded, not trusting her own voice. The tales Ruby told of her people back then were entirely fascinating and fantastical, in her opinion, though obviously the disappearance of such an advanced society without a single trace had convinced her Ruby was just a skilled storyteller. Thinking back on it now, though, and considering Ruby's constant referrals to them as 'mortals' left a sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach.
"Roughly twenty-three thousand years ago, my people reached such technological and magical heights,"
A pause. Ruby brought a hand up to her mask, and gently removed it, revealing a skeletal visage beneath.
"That they effectively rendered themselves immune to death itself."
Immune… to death? That couldn't be…
"So i-it's all true? Everything you've ever said, since the day we met?" Pyrrha stuttered, finally finding the will to speak.
"Well, I might have omitted a few things here and there—" Ruby glanced to the side in annoyance. "—which in hindsight was a really bad idea, but none of it was lies."
"I… I don't know what to say. But… why didn't you reveal yourself earlier?"
Ruby stopped for a moment, and an eerie silence fell over them once more. The faint echoes of explosions and gunfire began drifting across the room before her partner spoke up.
"Just look at me. Do you really think I'd be able to walk out of here without any trouble at all, looking like this?" The mask came back on. "Your scientists and government officials would be picking me apart nonstop, trying to unlock the secrets of my immortality. I'd be like an animal trapped in a zoo at best, and a dangerous threat to be sealed away for eternity at worst. But more than that…"
She wrung her hands together, tightening the bandages around them. "I was scared. The first two mortals I came across attacked me on sight, even as I tried to explain myself. One of them ended up dying. It was horrible. I made the assumption that most people would be afraid of my true appearance, so I disguised myself as one of you."
Ruby gestured towards her with one hand. "And it looks like my assumption was right."
It took Pyrrha a moment to realize she was shaking in the hospital bed, her breaths coming out in short gasps. She couldn't help it—staring at Ruby's true appearance: a real, walking and talking reminder of her own mortality—it was honestly terrifying. This would be what would remain of her, after her own death. Everyone—human or Faunus—would meet this end eventually, leaving nothing behind but an expressionless husk.
She could have ended up like that tonight. If Ruby hadn't shown up when she did…
The burns on her body suddenly felt all the more painful, and she began hyperventilating. Blurry spots swam over her vision as she struggled to process everything that had happened tonight.
Eternals were real. Ruby was immortal. A mighty civilization vanished without a trace, leaving behind one girl.
"…Pyrrha?"
Magic was real. An untested machine nearly merged her Aura with another, and who knows what else it could have done? And if Ruby hadn't arrived when she did atop the tower…
"Pyrrha?! Hey, can you hear me?!"
She could have died tonight.
…
Ruby's panicked shouts faded into nothing as her vision went black.
Vale Central Hospital
November, 79 AGW
"Miss Nikos, you've got a visitor!"
Pyrrha sat up in her hospital bed as a voice called from outside her room. Doing so made her bandages itch, but she fought the urge to scratch them. The nurse had warned her that, due to Aura exhaustion, she shouldn't try and aggravate any of the burns on her body until she'd fully recovered. Her right foot was suspended by a sling as she slowly healed from the wound Cinder gave her.
Who could be visiting her, anyways? It couldn't be a fan; Qrow and the rest of Ozpin's group had made sure to keep news of her involvement as ordinary as possible. As far as the rest of the world was concerned, Pyrrha Nikos had fought bravely alongside the rest of Vale's Huntsman and Huntresses against what was the worst terrorist attack in their history, and had sustained her injuries when a cache of Fire Dust had exploded as a part of the White Fang's operation.
An operation they were still feeling the effects of weeks later. While Pyrrha was already privy to the true nature of the attack on Vale and Beacon Academy, the full scale of things were only made known to her in the aftermath. Apparently, while the White Fang unleashed the Grimm on Beacon via airship, a simultaneous assault was launched against those in Central Vale through the use of an abandoned tunnel system hidden underground, which had apparently connected to an old settlement in Mountain Glenn. Their enemies had used copious amounts of Dust to literally blow holes in Vale's line of defense from below, allowing the Grimm easy access to the city.
Suffice to say, the entire Kingdom was in shambles. Even after Qrow pulled her out of Beacon in the wake of their climactic battle, there was still much work to be done, sealing up the holes caused by the Breach, and taking back the city street by street.
Of the Huntsman and Huntresses visiting from other Kingdoms, only around fifteen percent of them stayed to assist, while the rest were called back to defend their own. Atlas in particular had to pull out nearly all of their forces, once news spread that their own robotic army was hacked. This left Vale with a rather diminished reclamation force, and it meant that progress in removing the Grimm threat from the city was slow.
All of this, of course, wasn't even counting the other big problem they had to deal with: the destruction of the CCT, which had cut off all forms of wireless communication. With the foundation of the tower now reduced to rubble and liquefied Grimm Wyvern—which continued to spew out other types of Grimm even in spite of its death—there was no easy way to coordinate with the other Kingdoms following the initial attack. It wasn't like the others had hung Vale out to dry; they had their own interests to defend, after all, but it was extremely inconvenient moving forward, according to Professor Goodwitch.
…Deputy Headmistress Goodwitch, she had to remind herself, since Ozpin was… deceased, by all accounts.
̶I̶t̶ ̶w̶a̶s̶n̶'̶t̶ ̶y̶o̶u̶r̶ ̶f̶a̶u̶l̶t̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶r̶e̶ ̶w̶a̶s̶ ̶n̶o̶t̶h̶i̶n̶g̶ ̶y̶o̶u̶ ̶c̶o̶u̶l̶d̶ ̶h̶a̶v̶e̶ ̶d̶o̶n̶e̶
She turned her thoughts to her mystery visitor, not wanting to remember how it all went wrong at the vault.
A cloaked head poked through the doorway. It was Ruby!
"Hello again, Pyrrha!" She entered the room, silver eyes shining brightly.
"Hello to you too, Ruby." Pyrrha said with a smile on her face. It was always nice to see her partner, especially since the rest of SAPR had split up.
Apparently, Weiss was forced to move back to Atlas by her father, and given the CCT was down they had no means of communicating with her. As for Blake, after a bit of research, it turned out that she came to Beacon under a fake surname, and they had no idea of her whereabouts after the Fall.
"They said you'll be discharged in a few days." Ruby said. "Though I suppose I'll be gone by then…"
"Oh, that's right. You needed to do something in Atlas, right?"
"I need something from the Atlas military, to be specific." Ruby corrected. "But actually, I'll be headed to Mistral first."
"What? How come?" Pyrrha asked.
"Well, they never found the rest of Cinder's team." Her partner explained. "Come to think of it, they never found her remains, either, so there's a decent chance she might be alive. Regardless, Qrow tells me they came from Mistral, fully vetted by the Headmaster of Haven."
"That's… pretty suspicious."
Ruby nodded. "If there is a 'Queen' behind this attack, I'd have to guess their base of operations is somewhere in Mistral. I'd been meaning to have some… let's say, words, with her, so I'll be making a quick stop there before heading to Atlas. Plus, with Atlas closing borders to all non-Atlesian personnel, the only legal way to reach the Void-damned Kingdom would be through Argus."
That threw Pyrrha for a loop. "General Ironwood's not letting you return with him?"
"He can't." Ruby shook her head. "Not while I have this mask, anyways."
"What?" Her head hurt. "What mask?"
Ruby giggled, eyes glowing. "This one, silly!"
She reached up to her face and pulled. The skin on her hands began peeling back, becoming pale and desiccated before rapidly decaying into nothing. Her face fell off, revealing an intricately carved skull with a red gem embossed in her forehead. The walls of the hospital fell away, revealing the smoldering remains of the CCT as the campus crumbled to ash around them.
"Don't you remember? This is the real me!" Her voice grew more distorted as she stepped closer. Pyrrha found that she couldn't look away from those empty sockets as the darkness within them grew all-encompassing.
"Won't you join me?"
"No!"
Pyrrha practically leapt out of her bed, breathing heavily. Sweat dripped from her forehead as she glanced around, scanning the room.
"Another nightmare?"
She jumped at the sound of Qrow's voice from the doorway. Sure enough, an unkempt head of black hair peeked out at her, revealing bloodshot eyes and a five o'clock shadow.
"I'm sorry!" Pyrrha apologized reflexively. "Did I wake you?"
Qrow gave a weak smile. "Don't sweat it, kid. Alarm was about to go off, anyway."
He produced a thermos from his back pocket and set it on the table beside her, before slumping down in the chair stationed nearby.
"Here. Got you something."
She stared blankly at him.
"…It ain't booze." He said, scratching the back of his head. "It's tea. I'm not that irresponsible."
Pyrrha thanked him quickly and opened the thermos. The drink's refreshing aroma stood in stark contrast to the sanitized atmosphere of Vale's largest hospital, and it helped calm her down enough to start thinking clearly.
She'd been having similar nightmares for weeks now. It would always start out normal; everything in the dream world would mirror the state of the real world with pinpoint accuracy. And then Ruby would always show up, no matter how contrived, and Pyrrha would be forced to relive the day of the initial attack in some capacity. This one was relatively tame, by all means, with the horrors of the battle only appearing in the background.
She just couldn't wrap her head around why it bothered her so much. The rational part of her mind kept screaming that she had no reason to fear Ruby's appearance; her parents had always told her it was the content of a person's character that mattered more, and yet her nightmares always centered around… that.
A skull. A symbol of death. And apparently, when carved in that manner and adorned with some sort of gem, a symbol of immortality. Except the problem was never the physical aspect of the skull in the first place, was it?
It was the fact that there was a person behind it. One who, by all accounts, was seemingly unkillable. Some might call it a perversion of the natural order. A spit in the face of the very concept of life and death itself.
Briefly, Pyrrha recalled an ancient Mistralan concept of rebirth that was mentioned in history class, involving the karmic cycle and the passing of one's soul through the wheel of life. Was Ruby different from everyone else, then? Did she even have a soul?
Why did it have to be her?
"Um, Mister Branwen…" Pyrrha spoke after a long silence.
"Qrow." He corrected.
"Qrow. Did Ruby…?"
His expression soured, and she could already anticipate his response. "Yeah, she just left this morning. Couldn't stop her."
Her heart sank. If she'd been discharged even a day earlier…
No, perhaps that wouldn't have mattered. After all, what were the odds that her decision to leave the day before Pyrrha fully recovered were simply on a whim? She got the feeling that if she were able to move a month ago, her partner would have likewise been gone a month and a day ago.
"Actually, that reminds me." Qrow continued. "A few of your classmates stopped by earlier. Said they wanted to talk to you about something. I can let 'em know you're up now, if you're comfortable."
She nodded. "That sounds lovely."
"Then I'll go fetch them right now. Don't go anywhere." He joked, getting up from his seat.
It wasn't until he had left the room that Pyrrha noticed something odd.
'How on Remnant did Ruby's departure remind him of my classmates?'
Qrow took another sip as he watched his niece's team funnel into the hospital room, but all he was met with was the cool metal of his flask.
Damn. Empty. Guess he'd have to weather this conversation sober.
He leaned against the doorframe as the Hunters-in-training exchanged greetings with each other, the grim atmosphere lifting as they engaged in small talk. The blonde—Jaune, from what he gathered—was pretty adept at cracking jokes and keeping the mood of the room light-hearted, something which Pyrrha sorely needed. Nearly twenty years of Huntsman experience made that clear as day to him. It was almost heartwarming.
Of course, it was that same experience which taught him that all good things must eventually come to an end, and more often than not, it was Qrow himself that brought about that end. He was the bringer of bad news, of misfortune; an identity he so often leaned into as a part of his job, an one he was forced to embrace yet again. To a bunch of kids…
"You should have seen the look on his—"
"Clock's ticking, kid." He announced loudly, tapping his wrist.
Yang shot him a look as Jaune startled a bit before continuing. "Right, well…"
"What's going on?" Pyrrha asked, blinking in confusion.
"Look, uh, you know how things are going at Beacon, right?" Jaune said.
Pyrrha nodded. "They haven't reclaimed any part of campus, on the account of larger-than-average Grimm concentration."
"So obviously, we can't go back to Beacon right now. Maybe not even for a whole year, is what they're telling us."
"A-A whole year?"
"The staff have their hands full containing the situation." Yang said, cracking her knuckles. "Which means we're free to do whatever we want."
"Within reason." Ren added quietly.
"Yeah. Within reason. Totally." Yang grinned.
"Soooo, are ya in?" Nora said.
"Nora! We haven't even told her our plan yet!"
"Sorry! I just wanna get going already!"
Pyrrha blinked. "Get going? Where to?"
"Mistral." Jaune answered. "We're going to investigate Cinder and the White Fang."
The room was dead silent for a moment, and Qrow watched Pyrrha's expression carefully. He needed to know if she could do this.
"…Cinder I can understand, but how do you know the White Fang is based in Mistral?"
There was pause as Jaune hesitated, and he and Yang exchanged a look.
"We… ran into Blake when it all went down. She apparently knows the leader of the sect that attacked Beacon. He tracked her down in all the chaos and caught us by surprise." He said.
"Bastard nearly killed all of us." Yang growled. "If Jaune hadn't unlocked his Semblance when he did…"
Okay, that was a far more detailed account than what she had given him earlier. Did Yang not trust him anymore? Qrow decided to keep his mouth shut as they continued.
"A-And you're going after them? Even after they nearly killed you?" Pyrrha asked in an uncertain tone.
"If—When we head to Mistral, we'll just be investigating. We're not going to be picking fights with people stronger than us, unless we have a solid plan ahead of time." Jaune elaborated, his team rallying behind him. "And besides, it won't only be us in Mistral."
That was his cue to step forward.
"I have business with the Headmaster of Haven, Leonardo Lionhart. And if you happen to find this 'Adam Taurus' fella while I'm around…" Qrow grinned. Any time spent helping his niece take revenge on a psycho like Taurus was time well spent. And there was also a decent chance it might lead them to Cinder, too.
"So? How about it?"
Pyrrha still looked uncertain, and he couldn't blame her. No one survives their first near-death experience unchanged. And especially with the way Ruby had described the scene to him…
He shook himself out of his thoughts as the conversation continued.
"I-I don't know…"
"Hey, didn't Ruby head out for Mistral, too?" Nora interrupted. "She was acting kinda weird around us before she left, always wearing that White Fang mask and whatnot."
The ginger haired girl glanced around confusedly as everyone's eyes trained on her. "What?"
"Ruby's always weird, Nora." Jaune said.
She shook her head. "Nuh-uh! This time it was for real! Yang agrees with me, right Yang?"
Yang's eyes were narrowed slightly. "Yeah. You wouldn't happen to know anything about that, would you, Pyrrha?"
Qrow watched as a myriad of emotions flickered over the girl's face, from shock to anxiety to fear, before settling into one of cold determination. What was going on in her mind?
Ever since Ruby brought down the Wyvern at the CCT, she'd been rather flighty around the others, even him, and frequently disappeared on her own before popping back up again to visit Pyrrha or ask him questions about Vale's state of affairs. With Ozpin gone and Ironwood in deep shit over the hacking of his machines, no one could really control the girl, which eventually led to her departure yesterday. If she had leaked any information to Pyrrha…
"I don't know. She even kept her mask on when visiting me."
"Her mask?"
Pyrrha shrugged. "Well, it might as well be her's now, right?"
Qrow could tell the lone member of SAPR was hiding something, and by the look on his niece's face, she could tell too.
"Listen." Yang said. "I'll get straight to the point. We'll probably run into Ruby on the way to Mistral, or at Mistral. If Blake really is with the White Fang, we'll find her there, too. Argus is the only plausible way into Atlas at the moment, and we all know Weiss probably isn't too happy having her education interrupted. So do you wanna see the rest of your team or what?"
A thick silence blanketed the room. Qrow desperately wished he had something to drink. His niece matched Pyrrha's cold, hard stare as she awaited a response. Nora bounced on her heels eagerly, while Ren remained impassive. And Jaune shifted uncomfortably and kept opening his mouth as though to say something, kept deciding against it.
"…Cinder destroyed my weapons. I'll need to replace them as quickly as possible."
"Then does that mean—"
"Yes." Pyrrha nodded. "I'll join you."
The rest of the room breathed a collective sigh of relief at her declaration.
"Finally!" Nora whooped before tackling Ren with a hug. "Ren! We're going back to Mistral!"
"Nora—please, not in the hospital—gah!" The pair went tumbling down onto the floor.
Yang burst out laughing as Jaune held out his hand. "Good to have you, Pyrrha. I know we're nothing like your own team, but I'm glad you're with us, nonetheless."
"Thank you." She replied. "I promise I won't slow you down."
With everything settled, Qrow turned to leave. Honestly, he was surprised how smoothly things went, given how his Semblance usually worked. Regardless, the kids were now on their way to Mistral, with him watching their backs, of course.
'I sure hope you know what you're doing, Oz.'
A/N: A chapter involving some of our side characters. More to come in the future.
So for this story I have a very basic outline—a list really—of moments or scenes that I deem 'cool' or 'interesting', and notes on how to join them together while keeping everything cogent. And I came to realize, thanks to some feedback I received, that I was basically skipping past some decent character moments in order to reach those parts on the list, instead of taking my time to naturally arrive at the 'big moment' in the story. Not entirely unexpected since again, this is my first time writing, but I am going to try and temper the pace and focus on character reactions a little more moving forward. If you think I've missed the mark with this analysis, please let me know why.
Plus, slower pace = more writing = more practice = better writing. A win for everyone, really. (except for my schedule)
A side note regarding reviews and PMs. Obviously I read every single review and PM that comes my way (even spam!), but if you've been following these A/N's you'll notice I rarely address them directly. I think I mentioned a reviewer by name like once in one of the early chapters, and immediately regretted it afterwards due to the crippling social anxiety it caused. Just wanted to clear the air surrounding that in case anyone was confused. Gotta cover all my bases, after all!
I will admit I'm a little intimidated by what lies ahead, but I promised myself I'd stick with this fic until it's conclusion, for good and for bad. Won't you join me?
Thanks for reading!