The events of that night replayed in my mind, Cinder standing in front of a defeated Pyrrha, gloating as she prepared to finish her. "It's unfortunate that you were promised power that was never truly yours. But take comfort in knowing that I will use it in ways that you could never imagine." She boasted.
Pyrrha, however, looked up at her in one final act of defiance. "Do you believe in destiny?" She asked.
"Yes." Cinder confirmed, beginning to create her bow.
"Good." Pyrrha said, getting back on one foot and grabbing Cinder.
"WHAT?!" The Fall maiden demanded in disbelief that the injured warrior still defied her.
Pyrrha then let out a roar of effort and strength as she leaned back and preformed a suplex on the false maiden, smashing her head down into the hard ground, rendering her unconscious. "Because it is not mine to die here today." She said, putting on a pair of shades as John Cena music blared around her.
I then reached the top of the tower, seeing my fiancee standing victoriously over our enemy. "Pyrrha..." I said in relief.
She hurried up to me and hugged me tightly, which I gladly returned. "It's alright, now, Sai. It's over. We can save Beacon now and be together. In fact..." She said, "Only You" starting to play in the background. "We could be together right now..." She said.
I smirked at this. "After all the crazy stuff that happened here, I'd say we deserve it." I said, turning and leaning down, holding her a few inches above the ground, before leaning in to kiss her...
Suddenly, I jolted awake and back to reality after Ruby, who tossed and turned all night in her sleep, eventually rolled next to me and smacked me in the face. "Ow, what the hell!?" I demanded, before looking around and realizing to my depression and disappointment, it had all only been a dream. "Noooo... It wasn't real." I groaned, activating bullet time to prevent waking the others as I slammed my fist into the ground repeatedly. "FUCK! FUCK! FUCK! Dammit, it was only a dream! Stupid, troll-ass dream... Troll-ass dream! That ain't cool, brain!" I grumbled, laying back down and trying to get to sleep.
We now check in on Weiss, who is walking down a long, carpeted hallway of blue, white and gray. Protruding columns from the walls are decorated with black sconces and lit candles. Nature paintings are hung in an alternating pattern between the columns. There is also the occasional cushioned chair or round coffee table placed along the walls.
Next she was seen walking along an upper level balcony above a large dining hall. A white and green floral centerpiece decorates the white-clothed table. Every column both above and below bears a sconce, but these candles are not lit. Beside Weiss on the balcony are large arch-shaped openings with white gauze curtains. Through one of the curtains, a crystal chandelier can be seen in another room. There was a shut, brown wooden door in the direction Weiss was heading.
Weiss walked down a wide stairway with curving balconies on either side above it. Large armor statues fill the space on either side of the bottom stairs. Behind Weiss, a paned triptych of arched windows lets in the sun, casting her shadow onto the blue carpeted steps in front of her. The floor at the bottom of the stairs has a blue and white oval design in its center. Both levels have open archways leading to other rooms.
Walking in another room with blue and white floor patterns, Weiss strode pass a life-size statue of a King Taijitu without looking up. Once again, both the lower level and the balcony level have open archways and unlit sconces. A chandelier hangs from the ceiling. An upward view shows that the chandelier is in the middle of a blue and white circular pattern that matches the floor pattern from the previous room. From the point of view of a music room, Weiss is seen walking down another hallway. In the music room is a large grand piano with open sheet music. A portrait on the wall shows Whitley Schnee, Weiss' younger brother. Weiss walked alone in the hallway, never having looked up the entire time, until she had a startled reaction to hearing her brother's voice coming from right in front of her. "Good afternoon, sister." Said a teenage boy, somewhat younger than Weiss, who stood before her. He had his hand on his chest and he affected a bow. "A pleasure to see you out of your room for a change." He added (I don't trust this kid...)
Weiss sidestepped him and turned to speak and since he moved to face her the effect was that of the two of them briefly circled each other. "Hello, Whitley. You're in a cheery mood today." She observed.
"Klein made crepes for breakfast." He explained, clasping his hands behind his back and smirking at her.
"What do you want?" She demanded.
"I heard Father shouting with someone in his study earlier." He warned.
"Mother?" She asked.
"No, she's already drinking in the garden. I think it was a man." He explained. (So, they're mother's a drunk? It's pretty bright and early there to start drinking. *a flask falls from my pocket* Shit!)
Weiss looks up at him on this. Whitley feigned a concerned look. "I just wanted to warn you. I heard he had asked to speak with you." He added.
"I'll be fine." She assured him.
"I know you will. You are strong, like Winter." He said.
Weiss raised an eyebrow at this. "You never liked Winter." She said suspiciously. Behind Weiss, the Schnee Dust Company Emblem can be seen above the archway she was walking toward.
"True, but you can't deny her resolve." He explained.
"You… seem different." She said, still suspicious.
"And you've been gone. I'll have you know I didn't stop growing while you were away at Beacon." He informed her. With that, Whitley turned and walked away. As he did so, the lower half of a family portrait can just be seen on the wall between where the two were standing. "Anyway, good luck with Father!" He offered, walking away.
After he is gone, Weiss responded. "Thank you." She said.
She continued walking, and there is a close-up view of the family portrait. Clockwise they are Jacques Schnee, Weiss, Whitley, Winter, and Mrs. Schnee. Jacques has black hair that is graying and a full mustache. Mrs. Schnee has a stern look on her face, Winter and Weiss are frowning, Whitley is smiling, and Jacques has a neutral expression.
Cut to black, and a blurred, echoing voice is heard. "Do you believe in destiny?" Pyrrha asked.
As Pyrrha spoke, small blurry white circles, moved slightly around a center screen that remained black.
"Yes." Cinder confirmed darkly.
"Sai..." Pyrrha said softly one final time.
I snapped awake, panting and breathing heavily, looking around. Ruby was lying in a red sleeping bag on a clearing in some woods. Nora and Ren were also in sleeping bags around a long burned-out campfire. Magnhild rested beside Nora. I sat up up and looked around. Birds could be heard tweeting and all seemed peaceful. "Another bad dream. Why do I have to keep reliving that? I can't take this much longer..." I said, holding my forehead, trying to clear it off the haunting memories...
The next morning, all five members of Team SYRNJ walked down a sunny road. Ruby was in front, looking at a map. I stood in the middle of the group, in a formation like the 5 dots on a die, still looking quite tired. "Someone didn't get a lot of sleep last night." Nora said, bumping into me.
I chuckled a bit at this. "No. I guess not." I answered simply, giving her a smile.
Ren walked up and placed a hand on my back. "Sai, you can't keep going like this. You're not sleeping well and you barely eat any food lately. Even my best cooking." He said.
"Yeah... Just a little hard to do all that lately when all I can think about is how I couldn't save my fiancee." I said.
Ruby looked back sadly at this. "We all miss her, Sai. But you won't get her back if you destroy yourself trying to avenge her." She said, before looking at the map, unable to make heads or tails of it. "So the next town is… uh-huh… uh-huh… We're lost." She said.
Jaune chuckled at this, ignoring my internal struggle. "We're not lost. The next town is Shion. My family used to visit it all the time." He explained.
"Oh yeah. Don't you have, like, four sisters?" Ruby asked.
"Uh, seven." He corrected.
"Big deal, I have 10: 4 older and 6 younger." I said, taking pride in the small victory, to which Ruby giggled.
"You know, that actually explains a lot. For both of you." Nora said teasingly, earning two simultaneous responses.
Jaune: "Wait, what do you mean?"
Sai: *half-joking, half-demanding* "What's that supposed to mean?!"
"So, what did you guys do there?" She asked.
"Oh, all sorts of stuff! Over here is a great hiking trail, and over here is where we went camping all the time." He explained, pointing at a couple different spots on the map. I got my own tent because I was special. Also, so my sisters would stop braiding my hair.
"That wouldn't stop MY sisters. I had to light myself on Hellfire so they didn't mess with me in my sleep." I explained.
"Didn't like the look?" She asked.
"Yeah, they just kept doing pigtails, but personally, I think I'm more of a 'warrior's wolftail' kind of guy." He explained, dramatically towards the end.
"That's just a ponytail." Ruby and I said together.
"I stand by what I said." He defended his words.
Nora and I stopped short as we saw what was up ahead, Nora raising her hands to her lips as her eyes widened. Soon after, Ren stopped as well, visibly tense. "Oh, my gods..." I said in horror.
"Uh, guys?" Nora called after Ruby and Jaune, who still went ahead, oblivious to what was in front of them.
"Huh?" Ruby asked, looking back, then forward.
"What?" Jaune asked, opening his eyes.
Jaune and Ruby looked up from the map. Their eyes widened and jaws dropped. In front of us was a desolated village. They sky was gray and two columns of smoke rose in the air. A gazebo had a broken tower and lampposts were askew from the ground. At least one dead body could be seen on the side of the road approaching the town.
The map was dropped and the five of us rushed forward. We briskly moved into the town, looking around. Ren tossed his backpack on the ground and moved ahead while the rest of us gathered in the middle of a road. "There could be survivors!" Ruby said.
"Over here!" Ren called.
We rushed to where Ren was leading us. On the ground, sitting propped against a broken building wall, was a young man in armor. He breathed heavily and held his hand against a bleeding wound in his abdomen. Ren dropped by his side and put his hand on his shoulder. "A Huntsman!" Ruby said in shock.
"What happened? Who killed all these people?" Jaune asked
The Hunstman coughed violently before answering. "Bandits. The whole tribe… Then, with all the panic…" He started explaining, but couldn't finish and coughed repeatedly.
"Grimm." Ren confirmed as he stood up and walked a few paces away, placing his hands atop his head. Ruby, Jaune, Nora and I stepped away to confer.
"Alright, we can get him to the next village and try to find a doctor there!" Ruby suggested.
"Yeah. Sai, Ren and I can take turns carrying him there." Jaune offered.
"I don't know if he'll make it." Nora said.
"He will. He has to." Jaune said, looking back.
I looked back as well. "No, he won't, because he can't. I have to take action now." I said, walking over to him.
However, Ruby grabbed my arm. "Umm, Sai? Are you sure that's a good idea?" She asked.
"There's no way I could kill him faster." I said, pulling away, checking his pulse. There wasn't one. "Okay..." I said, pulling out Ardat, carefully slicing off the armor from his chest and charging the electric claymore. "Clear." I said, tapping it to his chest, giving him a jolt. Nothing. "Clear." I repeated, priming it again and tapping his chest. Still nothing. "Clear!" I said, a little more determined this time, shocking him again and jolting him back to life.
"You saved me!" He said happily.
However, I prepared the next charge a little too quick. "Clear." I said, zapping him again, killing him all over.
"SAI!" Everyone shouted at once.
I raised my hands in surrender. "I'm sorry! I can still save him!" I said, shocking him once more and bringing him back to life.
"I'm alive! No more, please!" The Huntsman pleaded, holding his hands up in defense while the others held me back, to which I raised my hands in surrender again.
"I get it! I'm putting the sword down!" I said, placing it to the side, before pulling out a blood testing kit, checking his blood type and pulling out an IV to administer the proper blood type and the drugs to keep him alive as I checked for other detectable injuries, before dealing with the obvious wound on his chest. About 20 minutes later, I had managed to get the Huntsman into a stable condition. "Whew. He'll live, but he needs to get out of here. I called my family and they're sending a chopper to take him to the nearest hospital. We have to wait here until they can pick him up, so Grimm don't come back and get him." I told him.
"Wait, if your family's rich and you have like, every kind of vehicle ever that could get us to Mistral, why aren't we using that?" Jaune asked.
"Because plot, shut up." I told him.
Ren walks right past them without a backward glance while Nora turned and followed him. Jaune meanwhile, looked at me with a small smile and nodded. "You're holding up your promise so far, Sai..." He said with a nod.
"Yeah. As long as you're around, we won't lost anyone else." Ruby agreed.
I just let out a small sigh, looking back at Nora and Ren. "I hope you're right..." I said.
Ren stopped and looked at something on the ground, his eyes widening. A cloven hoofprint is impressed into the ground. Nora came up to his side, seeing the same mark and her eyes also widening in recognition. The two of them silently made eye contact.
The scene cut to Weiss standing outside her father's door and listening to the discussion inside. She hesitated to put her hand on the door knob.
"I'm not talking about the good of my company; I'm talking about the good of Atlas, our entire Kingdom!" Jacques argued.
"That is a load of garbage and you know it." Ironwood countered.
Weiss opened the door and peers in.
"I beg your pardon?!" Jacques demanded.
Ironwood was sitting in a chair in front of a bookcase. "Jacques, will you please, just hear me out?" He asked.
Jacques placed his glass down on the table roughly. "You are a trusted friend and ally to this family, James, but what you're suggesting is absurd!" Jacques snapped. (I get this is pretty much just to check up on Weiss and see more of her father an brother, but man, more could've happened. This is boring.)
"You are blowing it out of proportion." Ironwood reasoned.
"The council will never agree to it!" Jacques snapped.
"You forget, I hold two seats on the council." Ironwood explained.
"Your Dust embargo has already cost me millions! I can promise you, I have not forgotten!" The Schnee patriarch snapped.
"So this is about you." Ironwood caught him.
Weiss came into the room, and she watched to two men awkwardly while the door shut behind her. She was startled at the sound while James and Jacques turned and looked at her.
Ironwood bowed. "Miss Schnee! My apologies. I should have been gone by now." He apologized.
"It-it's okay." She said.
Ironwood looked back at Jacques one final time. "We'll continue this at another time." He said.
"Indeed. Klein can show you out." Jacques agreed.
"Don't worry, I know the way." Ironwood reassured.
Weiss stepped aside so that Ironwood could reach the door. He turned and looked at her father. "Until next time, Jacques." He said, before leaving.
Jacques solemnly nods back at Ironwood, who turned to Weiss. "Please know, you'll always have a home at Atlas Academy, Miss Schnee. We'll be back in session before you know it." He said, leaving.
A pan shot of Weiss and Jacques revealed a portrait of a younger black-haired Jacques hanging on the wall behind his desk. "Did you forget your manners while you were away?" He asked staunchly. He turned and walked to his desk, which was a a few steps up from the chairs and tables where he and Ironwood were just sitting. Weiss looked annoyed at the comment but calmed down with a sigh.
"No, Father. I'm sorry." She apologized.
"Can you believe there are still people in the world that blame Atlas for what happened to Beacon? To Vale?" He asked.
"Well, they weren't there." Weiss pointed out. Weiss began walking across the room and stood before his desk.
"It's a wonder Ironwood wasn't stripped of his rank." He said, finally sitting down, swinging the seat so that his back is to Weiss.
"I suppose the council trusts him, for better or worse." He said. (Because he's not just out for money, you monopolizing prick)
"I trust him." Weiss said.
Jacques sighed and turned toward his daughter. "Thanks to him, Atlas is forbidden from exporting Dust to other Kingdoms. 'A precautionary measure,' as he puts it, 'until we're certain no one is going to declare war'. How anyone could possibly find that to be sound logic is beyond me." He said. (Beeecause Atlas robots were SHOOTING PEOPLE, leading everyone to believe Atlas is now hostile?)
Weiss blinked at her father, clearly uncomfortable. There was one framed picture on the desk, and it's of Whitley. (Oh, this asswipe picks favorites. Douche.)
"Which is why the Schnee Dust Company will be holding a charity concert in the coming weeks." He explained. Weiss looked up at him in surprise. "We need to show the people of Remnant that we are on their side. That we are all victims of the fall of Beacon." He explained. (Says the fucker who wasn't there and the only person he cared about came out unscathed.)
"That's… wonderful news." Weiss agreed.
"I know. And I think it would make a lot of people happy if you performed at the event." He said.
"Excuse me?" She asked.
"Many forget that you were there. My own daughter, a Schnee, on the grounds, defending another Kingdom! We need to remind them! And we need to show them that the Schnee family is just as strong as ever!" He exclaimed.
"Are you asking me if I'd like to sing, or telling me?" She asked, uncomfortably.
Jacques leaned forward and made a tent with the fingers of his hand as he meaningfully gazed at Weiss. "I think it would make a lot of people happy." He said.
Weiss sighed in defeat "I'll start practicing." She said, turning to leave.
"That's… my girl." Jacques said.
Weiss shut the door to her father's office and turned to find the butler waiting for her with a tray. "Hot coffee, Miss Schnee? I always find he keeps his study dreadfully cold." He offered.
Weiss took the mug off of the tray with a smile. "Thank you, Klein." She said gratefully.
"You know what I think?" He asked. He lifted the tray to cover his face before dropping it dramatically as he leaned forward toward Weiss making a less-than-formal face, his brown eyes having turned red. "I think it's to balance out all his hot air." He said in an accent with a gruff voice. (OOOOOHHHH! He roasted him! Hit the air horns!)
Weiss' eyes widened in delight and she turned and looked over her shoulder at the closed office door. She turned back to Klein with a giggle. "Klein!" She said through her laughter.
The two giggled together before he faked a sneeze, and his eyes turned blue. "Uh, apologies, madam." He said in a high-pitched voice. Klein pretendsed to sneeze again. Weiss giggled merrily, hiding her smile behind her hand. Klein wiggled his mustache and looked up. His eyes turn yellow. "Ah, there's my happy little snowflake." He said happily. (This dude must be related to Neo)
Weiss breathed a sigh that released some weight off her shoulders, and she gave the butler a genuine grin. "Thank you, Klein." She said happily.
The scene changed to the same blackness bordered by moving yellow circles that we saw earlier before I woke up for the day.
"Jaune!" Pyrrha's voice echoed.
There was the sound of a sword being drawn.
"Jaune! Jaune!" Pyrrha kept calling with increasing urgency.
I snapped awake again, breathing heavily. "Why won't it stop?! I can't keep replaying this every night! I don't want to remember the ONE thing, more important to me than anything, I could protect! I couldn't save her and it's killing me inside. And these nightmares aren't helping... I just want this all to stop... I NEED it to stop." I said.
The world went black again and Damion's spirit appeared in front of me. "It will, Sai. You just have to hang in there. Once you kill that bitch Cinder, Lance can bring her back. You just have to hang on until then." He said.
"I don't know if I can, man... It's getting harder to wake up in the morning. I'm starting to not want to. Every time I think about her or hear her voice, it just reminds me she's not there anymore... All because of me... And I can't take it..." I said, pulling out my pistols, Last Regrets. "I'm maybe one more bad dream from taking these to my head..." I told him.
"You really gonna give up that easily, dude? No matter how life pushed you, you never quit. Even if it seems impossible, you'd make it possible. If you want to be able to see her again, then you will keep moving forward until you get to your goal. You give up now, what would have been the point of even trying to get your revenge? I'm not gonna sugarcoat this, Sai. If you dare to quit now, then I guess I misplaced my faith in someone who I wanted to look after my sister..." He said.
I looked down and sighed. "It's just..." I started, before the darkness vanished as we both heard a voice in the distance. "Wait, a minute..." I said.
"Yeah, there's definitely something there." He said, disappearing as I want to check it out.
"Jaune." Pyrrha's voice continued to call out.
I looked around as I followed her voice. There were little will-o-the-wisps floating around, looking very similar to the white circles in the dream. The campfire was still burning but had died down. Ren and Nora were asleep while their weapons were once again at their sides. Jaune's sleeping bag, however, was empty. Through the trees beyond Jaune's sleeping bag, Pyrrha's voice could still be heard, but it was muffled. "Alright, Jaune, just like we practiced. Follow these instructions." She advised. Two of the words were louder and echo like in my dreams, making it sound like Pyrrha was saying "Follow me".
I kept moving toward the voice, unsure of what to expect. Moving forward, I spotted something and narrowed my eyes in suspicion. I moved next to a tree in front of me and watched from a distance.
A slight distance in front of me, but facing away, Jaune drew his sword. He posed with it and the shield, before dropping his shoulders and turning to his right. His Scroll was set up on a stump, displaying the image of Pyrrha. The green lights of the once tall and unbroken Beacon Tower, the place where she would later die, glow behind her.
"Alright, Jaune, just like we practiced. Follow these instructions. Shield up." She instructed. Jaune lifted his shield so that only his eyes up are not protected. "Keep your grip tight." She added. Jaune tightened his hand on Crocea Mors. "Don't forget to keep your front foot forward." She threw in at the last minute, but Jaune hadn't forgotten and didn't need to move.
"Ready? Go." She instructed. Jaune stepped forward with the sword, cutting at the air and making a fighting cry. "Again!" She ordered. Jaune moved forward with his other foot, again slashing the air and releasing a cry. "And again." She instructed. Jaune spun in a circle, putting a lot of feeling and effort into his next cry and slash. It had cost him a bit, and he panted.
"Okay. Now assuming you aren't cheating, we can take a break." She said, giggling when she thought he might be cheating. Jaune stood upright and let his head fall forward a bit, closing his eyes. "I know this can be frustrating…" She said. Jaune turned toward Pyrrha's image on his Scroll. "...And it can feel like so much effort to progress such a small amount, but I want you to know that I'm proud of you. I've never met someone so determined to better themselves. You've grown so much since we started training." She said as we now see only Pyrrha's recorded image on the Scroll. "And I know this is just the beginning." She said, turning her head, struggling with her thoughts for a moment.
"Jaune, I-I…" She said, a wide shot showed Jaune taking a step closer to his Scroll.
Pyrrha finally found the words and confidence, placing her hands over her heart as she spoke. "I want you to know that I'm just happy to be a part of your life. I'll always be here for you, Jaune. Even if my heart belongs to Sai." She said.
The Scroll rewound the video of Pyrrha without being touched. Jaune stood before it, holding Crocea Mors, his head bowed. The scroll then replayed the video. "Alright, Jaune, just like we practiced. Follow these instructions. Shield up." She instructed again.
Jaune sighed in pain before belatedly re-following the instructions. It was then I realized. "I'm not the only one who misses her. Yet I'm still the only one who mopes and complains about it. If they don't, what right do I have to do that?" I asked myself.
The darkness returned once more and this time, an image of a deathly gray Pyrrha appeared behind me, her eyes almost completely black, except for unforgiving white pupils that, even with my back turned so I couldn't see them, pierced into my soul, black lines of tears running down from her eyes. "They wouldn't have to miss me if you had saved me!" She snapped at me, to which I shuddered and clenched my eyes shut, trying to shake the nightmare from my mind.
"Keep your grip tight. Don't forget to keep your front foot forward. Ready? Go." She repeated the instructions, Jaune resuming the exercise. I watched with pained eyes before turning away, starting to leave. "Again. And again." She instructed.
Jaune made one extra fighting cry and slash, before standing up. "Sai..." He said, looking over his shoulder.
I heard this and turned around. "Hey..." I said.
"Hey..." He said back.
I took a few steps closer, before nodding to him. "Those were... Those were some good moves there. Lot of power behind them. She would've been proud." I said.
"Yeah..." He agreed. There was a short pause between us before he looked up. "Ren told me that you had proposed to Pyrrha. I only figured it out after that what she meant when she said her answer was yes. I'm sorry... for punching you back then. I had lost my best friend, but you lost something much more than that. If I had been there when Cinder..." He said, shaking away tears. "I would've just dropped, completely lost. But you fought with everything you had to avenge her. And you even took out the dragon. And the first thing you did when we saw each other again was promise we'd see her again." He said.
I nodded at this, thinking back to those events, trying to forget the horrors in between. "Yeah... I should've saved her, so bringing her back should be the only thing I even think of doing." I said.
"And you also promised no one else would die. And with everything you're dealing with, you're still holding up that promise. So it's time I make one." He said, walking up and holding a hand up to his chest. "I promise, I'll do everything in my power to help you, so that one day, you WILL get Pyrrha back and you can put that ring on her when she says yes to your face." He said, holding his hand out.
I smiled at this, extending my own hand and shaking it. "And you'll be the best man at the wedding." I said, pulling him into a bro-hug. We separated and then I smirked a bit as we started to head back to camp. "Or, if you don't mind putting on a dress again, Pyrrha could make you maid of honor." I said with a chuckle.
He laughed back at this, giving me a small shove. "Now THAT'S something that won't happen." He said.