I don't own RWBY. Rooster Teeth, or whoever will buy them, does.
In the land where the Moon shone perpetually. A land where the Sun never shined and darkness ruled for seemingly all eternity. Amidst the dreary landscape, dotted with massive spires of dust and myriads of floating islands with bubbling pools of tar was a lonely castle. The castle was ancient. It resembled that of an old gothic church with the intention that it was to house someone important. Inside this massive structure, past the glass-stained windows and grimm that ran amok was a woman.
She was an odd woman. Her skin was not like that of any Human or Faunus. Her skin was a deathly white as if all the blood had been drained from her skin. Black veins ran across her arms and face as her eerie red eyes peered across the empty room. Her eyes, which were usually full of self-assurance and calculated cunning, were now filled with doubt, turmoil, and a small amount of fear.
Her red eyes glowed as she felt another burst of power. It wasn't like hers nor her enemy's. It was different. Pure and crackling like lightning. And most of all, it had a tinge of divine power much as his did.
"Another one…" she muttered. The dark witch snapped her fingers. The door opened and a jellyfish-like grimm floated into the room. Its nebulous form levitated before her as she folded her hands. "Get Tyrian for me. I have a job I need him to do…" the woman said.
The grimm obeyed her command and left the room.
She got up and walked over to one of the many large windows. "It seems we need to adjust our plans…" The woman clenched her fist, causing black miasma to roll off her fingers.
To say things were now awkward between Jaune and Pyrrha was an understatement. Ever since their talk in the courtyard and Pyrrha's unexpected "attack" on Jaune, Alice had become an ever-present barrier between the two.
Jaune walked down the hallway, on his way to the cafeteria to grab a snack. The dorm commons was currently occupied by Team RWBY, who decided to celebrate a string of recent victories with some cake. Pyrrha was back in their dorm. It had been two days since their talk and she had been doing everything she could to avoid his gaze. He sighed. This was his first time ever encountering anything like this.
Arriving inside the empty cantina, Jaune looked up at Beacon's menu to see what slop the school was serving today.
"Are you hungry?"
Jaune turned around at the sound of the voice. His eyes narrowed. Venus stood behind him, dressed in her combat uniform. He turned back around and Venus smiled.
I love it when they play hard to get, she thought as she walked up to his side. "Gonna ignore me? I just asked what you're going to order. I'm not really familiar with the food here."
"You can read, right? I'm pretty sure curry in Vale is the same as curry in Mistral," Jaune said.
"You're no fun," she said.
Jaune remained silent, knowing what she was trying to do. Deciding it was better to go hungry than to stay here with Pyrrha's maneater of a half-sister, he began walking out of the cafeteria. Venus followed after, keeping pace with him.
"Why are you following me?" Jaune asked.
"I have something to ask," she said.
"..." Jaune remained silent. Venus took this as a sign to continue.
"You know, ever since I got to this campus, I haven't gotten a proper tour. I was wondering if you would show me around the school since your team isn't participating in the Vytal Tournament," Venus asked.
"Can't you ask someone else?" he said.
"There is nobody else. Besides, I'm not into the whole explore the campus alone," she said, fluttering her eyelashes. "Come on, it won't be that bad. After all, it's just a tour. What's the harm in that?"
"I… I guess it's okay. I'll go ask one of the members of Team RWB-"
"Great! Then I guess we can go now!" Venus grabbed his hand.
"H- Hey wait!" Jaune found himself being dragged down the hall.
Pyrrha sat against the head of their shared bed. Alice sat on the other end while Nora and Ren sat on theirs. The Mistralian Champion had Nyx in her arms as she snuggled her face against her soft black fur.
"It's been two days. Are you going to talk about it?" Alice asked, staring at her. The atmosphere between her brother and his girlfriend was currently extremely tense. Of course, she had heard what happened from Jaune and felt it as well. Pyrrha knew that this incident was not something she could ever even hope to hide.
"..." Pyrrha just buried her face in Nyx's fur. The beowulf puppy whined and snuggled against her back against Pyrrha's chest. The pup had no idea what happened but she felt more comfortable around Pyrrha now.
"Pyrrha, you can't just hide from it forever." Nora swallowed her cookie.
"I… It was an accident," she said, "I lost control."
"Of your semblance?" Alice asked.
Pyrrha didn't answer. The three looked at each other and sighed.
"Come on, Pyrrha. Be open with us. We're not going to shun you or anything. If it was an accident, then it's an accident. If it isn't, we'll assume you and Jaune had a fight," Ren said.
"We didn't fight…" Pyrrha sighed. "We had a disagreement."
"About?" Nora asked.
Pyrrha remained quiet, trying to figure out how to say what she and Jaune were arguing about without spilling the beans and sounding completely insane in the process. She looked up towards Alice for a few seconds. Her eyes widened slightly when she saw flecks of golden light flicker across Alice's irises.
"We talked about secrets," she said.
"Is Jaune-Jaune hiding something from us again?" Nora asked.
"No, no, it's not that. It's complicated. I don't know how to even start talking about it," she said.
"Why don't you start after you and Jaune left?" Alice asked.
Pyrrha sighed and leaned back. She placed Nyx on her lap and looked at the ceiling. "Jaune and I had an argument. Well, argument is a simple way to put it. I don't exactly know if it was one but for that one moment, Jaune and I didn't see eye to eye."
"Didn't see eye to eye about what?" Ren asked. His eyes focused on her. She was hiding something from them. Something big. He could feel it. Not through any empathetic abilities but through her body language. It didn't need someone with a semblance to see that she was going through something.
"..." Pyrrha remained silent at that. She still had no idea how to say it without sounding completely insane.
"You know. Jaune was right. If we give them a chance, they might be able to-"
"During the argument, I lost control of my semblance," Pyrrha said, completely brushing aside Ren and her alter-ego's concerns. Pyrrha heard an exasperated sigh inside her head before everything went quiet. She subtly noted how Ren's eyes slightly narrowed at her words.
I promise that I'll tell them. I just need to figure out how without sounding like a crazy person. It's not like people tell their significant other and their sister that they're Gods you know, Pyrrha thought, making sure that her other self heard her thoughts. When she heard no response inside her head, she continued with her story.
"It's the first time I've lost control of my semblance since I was a kid," Pyrrha said, clenching her fist. She breathed deeply, trying to make sure sparks of electricity wouldn't randomly jump off her skin. It had taken several hours in the training room alone just to get her to stop becoming a walking lightning rod.
"What were you arguing about exactly?" Alice asked.
"I… I don't want to talk about it. It's very personal," Pyrrha said.
"Should I ask Jaune then?" Alice said, her eyes flickering into a golden hue in the briefest of moments with each syllable she spoke.
Pyrrha flinched. If she asked Jaune, Jaune would most likely tell her what they were arguing about and would lead to the entire team investigating the matter. She didn't want them to find out that way. Pyrrha wanted to be the one to tell them but she needed more time. More time to figure out a way to ease them into it.
"You don't need time to ease them into it," her other self said, manifesting in front of her. The shade had taken on a more pronounced form now, resembling a red transparent version of herself.
"What do you want me to do? Just outright say it! How do you think they'll react!?" Pyrrha said to her other-self.
"They're your friends. They'll trust you no matter what. You haven't done anything to break that trust. But the way you're acting, the secret you're hiding from Jaune and Alice, as well as Ren and Nora, I'd say you're well on your way to breaking it," her other self said.
"I…" she couldn't come up with a retort to her own self.
"You're being a coward. Your biggest problem isn't your past. It isn't the fact that you're a champion and that your status makes it hard for you to interact and socialize with people. It's because you're a coward. You're scared to put yourself out there again because you think that now, even with a team that trusts and adores you, a man that loves and is loyal to you, will all be taken away if you allow yourself to fully let them in. You're still living in our past. Back in Sanct-"
"Shut up!" Pyrrha screamed at her other-self.
The others jumped back when red lightning leaped off Pyrrha's body and struck everything in the room. Alice raised her hand and created a golden barrier around herself while Nora got in front of Ren and absorbed Pyrrha's lightning.
"What… the fuck?" Alice stared wide-eyed at Pyrrha.
Pyrrha's eyes grew wide when she saw them all looking at her. There were several scorch marks across the entire dorm room and the light had shattered due to an electrical overload. Nyx whined as she hid behind Alice, staring at Pyrrha in fear.
"Pyrrha… what was that?" Ren asked.
"Was that part of her semblance?" Nora asked. She closed her fist. Absorbing Pyrrha's lightning didn't feel like the other times she did it. It felt… painful.
"No, Nora. Semblances… semblances don't evolve. At least, not like that," Alice said, watching her friend warily. Small sparks of electricity arced off her body. "Pyrrha, what is that?"
"..." her anger at her other self had triggered her magic again. Like it did when she was with Jaune. "It's…" she sighed. There was no use hiding it now. She could try but any excuse she could come up with would be immediately shot down by Alice and Ren. No, Pyrrha needed to tell them what this was. "Do you remember back at the bandit base during our search and destroy mission when I got hurt? You guys said that I died and somehow Jaune brought me back to life?"
"Yeah, I remember," Alice said.
"We all do. What's this gotta do with the fact that you've suddenly turned into a walking taser?" Nora asked.
"I think Jaune did something to me," Pyrrha said, not fully admitting it. Her other self sighed and gave her a mental prod. She waved her other self away as she gulped.
"What did Jaune do?" Ren asked.
Pyrrha raised her hand and a small black and red ball of lightning manifested above her palm. The orb was comparable in size to a golf ball, but to Pyrrha, this was impressive in and of itself. She had learned to do this on her own without any guidance.
"Is that your semblance?" Alice asked.
"No, it's not. It's… it's." she started.
"It's what?"
"Magic," she finally said, exhaling a long sigh. There was no turning back now. If she was going to tell them the rest of this, Jaune would need to be there. He was owed an explanation as to why she was so defensive. Her boyfriend deserved that much at the very least. Pyrrha closed her fist and dispelled the lightning orb.
"Magic? As in-"
"Do it again!" Nora ran up to her and beamed.
"Ummm…"
Ren slapped his forehead. Alice lowered the barrier and sighed. She walked over and grabbed Nora by the back of her shirt and forced her to sit down. "Not now Nora. This is serious."
"Right. Sorry, it's just that… you know magic!" Nora said.
"Yeah about that, sorry if I'm a bit skeptical but uh, summoning a ball of lightning to your hand isn't really proof of magic. For all we know, you could have some dust on you," she said.
"She's right you know…," her other self said.
"How am I supposed to prove it then? I can't do much other than summon balls of electricity and fire them off my body!" Pyrrha hissed. "I'm sorry," she said, "But for now, that's all I can do. I don't know how else to prove it." Pyrrha summoned another ball of lightning to her hand.
"Why don't we have Pyrrha empty her pockets and take off her gloves?" Ren said.
"Yeah… Pyrrha, take off your combat gloves and take everything out of your pockets," Alice said.
Pyrrha nodded and took her gloves off, revealing her bare skin. She reached into the small pouch hidden underneath her sash and removed everything. Pyrrha then showed the pouch to Alice, who nodded.
She closed her eyes and summoned the same golf ball-sized sphere of electricity to her hand. This time, she let it fly between her left and right hands in an effort to show that it wasn't dust.
"Huh…" Alice looked at her a little shocked.
"Yeah… so do you believe me now?" Pyrrha asked.
"Yeah, um, hold on, I need a minute to process this," Alice said, taking a seat.
"Wait, you said Jaune brought you back and then this happened? Is that what you're implying?" Ren said.
"Yes. I've never had these abilities in my life. But after the mission, after I woke up in the infirmary in the ICU, I could suddenly do this," she said.
"W- Wait! Backtrack! Backtrack! I need you to explain from the very beginning how this all started," Alice said, shaking her head.
"Alright but… let's go get Jaune. I don't want to go into full detail without him here. He deserves to know," Pyrrha said.
Jaune remained silent as his girlfriend's half-sister walked in front of him. His vigilance was at an all-time high. He couldn't let his guard down around this woman.
"So, I think I got it now," Venus said, turning around. Her pink eyes glinted as she saw the blonde stop.
"Got what exactly?"
"The locations of where things are here in the school. The dorms are… over there." Venus pointed towards the set of buildings on the east wing of the school. "We're obviously on the main campus. The docks are down there to the south. I think that's the one I knew from the beginning, and in the west are the launch pads?"
"Yeah. I think we got everything down," Jaune said, beginning to back away.
"Wait! There are still things I want to see," Venus said, appearing in his personal space.
"L- Like?" Jaune's eye twitched in annoyance.
Venus smiled slyly. "How about we go to the library?"
"The library?" Jaune raised an eyebrow.
"Yeah, Pyrrha might not have told you this but I'm a fan of books," she said, backing away.
"Yeah," Jaune said.
Venus smiled and grabbed his arm again, dragging him into the main campus building. "Does she talk about us?"
"Well, not really. I don't think she has a reason to talk about you or the others," Jaune said in a bitter voice.
"Really? I'm kind of hurt. Pyrrha and I have some history," Venus said. A small smirk manifested on her face as she and Jaune walked through the hallway. "I'm sure she's said some things. It's impossible for her not to talk about us when we're here. Especially when you all reacted in such a hostile manner during both of the times we met."
"She told us enough," Jaune said.
"I see. Well, let me fill in the gaps of what she might have left out," Venus said, turning around. Her smile made Jaune extremely uncomfortable.
"..." he walked past her and opened the doors to the library. The Beacon Library was mostly empty, save for the few book enthusiasts that liked the solitude of the place. Venus followed behind him.
"Did she tell you that our dad is the head of the Olympia Family?" Venus asked.
"She said your dad was a major dickwad who made his daughter constantly injure herself so she can win the Mistraili tournament on her first try," Jaune said.
"Ah yeah. That sounds like dad," Venus chuckled. She had heard of the incident after her mom and the others moved into the Olympia's main estate. Pyrrha Nikos. The Black Sheep of the Family. "What else did she tell you?"
"She got disowned." Jaune stopped and turned around.
"Disowned you say?"
"What does it matter? Why can't you just leave her alone? She clearly wants nothing to do with your family," he said.
"And that's where you're wrong. You see, I care about my sister. I care about her a lot," Venus said, walking back into his personal bubble. "But Pyrrha doesn't seem to see that. And she makes me look like an evil bitch when all I'm trying to do is help."
"So spreading rumors about her and making her lose all of the friends she made in Sanctum is what you call helping?" Jaune's rage was beginning to simmer into a boil. This accursed woman. What was she trying to gain by lying to his face?
"Rumors? Making her lose her friends? How dreadful!" Venus placed her hand on her cheek, expressing hurt all over her face. A few tears slid down her eyes. "I would never do such a thing to my sweet big sister. Do you know why Pyrrha's friends left her?"
"..." Jaune chose not to say anything. Instead, he focused his glare on the woman. His eyes were now gleaming a bright shade of violet.
"Pyrrha's friends left because of her. Not us. At least not me. I did nothing wrong of the sort. All I did was want to be with my sweet sweet sister. To bring her back to the family. But it seems that the clan head position had gotten to her," Venus said, wiping her eyes.
"Clan head? Wait, she-"
"Abdicated?"
Jaune nodded.
"Poor you. It seems that my dear old sister is lying and manipulating everyone again. She never abdicated her right to the seat. At least, not at the time. You see back then. Back when we were in Sanctum," Venus's eyes gleamed, "My dear sister never forgot what happened to her at the hands of our father. When I met her, I wanted to get along with her. To be the sister she could rely on and I saw her as the sister who would guide me in the ways of the family. But do you know what she did?"
Jaune remained silent. This was getting dangerous. Everything she's saying is a lie… Jaune repeated inside his head.
"My sister humiliated me in front of the entire school," Venus said. "She said so many things to me. All because I tried to become her friend."
Venus's mind flashed back to her time in Sanctum. Of course, none of what she said was the truth. In short, it was Pyrrha who tried to reach out to them. It was Pyrrha who ended up being humiliated. It was her poor, naive, trusting sister that ended up being stabbed in the back once more.
"Cut to the chase," Jaune barked.
Venus went quiet. It looks like I'll need to put in more work… she silently contemplated what to say next. "I'm just trying to warn you, Jaune." Venus sighed and closed her eyes. Maybe I can use that against him? The students here aren't exactly quiet when it comes to the rumor mill. A small smile made its way to her lips. "What if my sister gets bored of you and tosses you aside like she did him?"
Jaune was about to retort when she heard the last part of Venus's statement. "Him?"
Venus smiled. "Yes, him. His name was Theseus. Come to think of it, he was blonde too. And he was just like you, starting from the bottom and working his way up."
Jaune remained silent and kept his glare trained on her. Pyrrha would never abandon you.
"You don't believe me do you?" Venus said, tilting her head.
"How can I when the bitch who's lying to my face at the very moment thinks she's actually convincing me?"
Venus reached into her pocket and pulled her scroll out. She swiped through a few pictures before showing one to Jaune. His eyes grew wide when he saw a young boy with spiky blonde hair and grey eyes staring back at him. Next to him was a younger Pyrrha, who had a bright smile on her face. Jealousy welled up inside Jaune. Venus could see it in his eyes. But she needed to maintain whatever solemn attitude she had built in the past few minutes.
"Think I'm lying now?" she asked, putting her scroll away.
Jaune remained quiet.
"So, you still think Pyrrha is the pure soul you think she is?" Venus asked.
Jaune clenched his fist. He shook his mind free of the thoughts that plagued his consciousness. Pyrrha, this woman… Jaune looked at Venus with a blank expression on his face.
"What exactly are you trying to accomplish by showing me that?" Jaune asked, a blank expression finally settling on his face.
Venus's eyes narrowed. Not even that?
"If you think showing me a picture of my girlfriend when she was in Sanctum with another guy is going to set me off, then I'm sorry to say that you've failed horribly," Jaune said, stepping forward.
Venus took a step back. What? How is he…?
"I'm not falling for your stupid tricks. I'm not going to turn on Pyrrha like her friends did when you four entered the picture," Jaune said.
Pyrrha walked down the halls of Beacon, looking for her wayward boyfriend. The four decided to split up to cover more ground. Since Jaune wasn't on the roof like usual, Pyrrha decided to check the next place Jaune liked to go to. The library. Her boyfriend was not the literary type. Not in the slightest. He went to the library because it was the one place in Beacon free of Nora. That and the library had an impressive collection of XRay and Vav comics.
As she approached the library door, a feeling in her gut started to form. Jaune was here. She could feel him. Pulling out her scroll and sending her friends a text to go back and wait for them at the dorm, Pyrrha opened the doors to the library and her breath hitched when she saw her sister and Jaune together.
"Theseus…" Pyrrha's ears made out the name that came out of her sister's lips. Theseus. The name made her blood boil in betrayal and anger. As she moved to slap Venus through a wall, Jaune's voice made her stop in her tracks.
"If you think showing me a picture of my girlfriend when she was in Sanctum with another guy is going to set me off, then I'm sorry to say that you've failed horribly."
Her heart skipped a beat.
"Oya? Did our heart just skip a beat?" her other self said, manifesting next to her.
"Sh- Shut up." Pyrrha felt a heat spreading across her cheeks as she heard Jaune continue to talk.
"You think that by coming up with a sob story that I'm suddenly going to say… 'Oh! Pyrrha did all that? What a horrible person she is!' or something like that?" Jaune said, crossing his arms.
At this point, Venus's face was threatening to erupt red in anger. Why? Why is he resisting so much!? Her eyes looked past his shoulder. P- Pyrrha!? Her eyes widened in surprise when she saw her older half-sister. Pyrrha's face was flushed, obviously having heard and is hearing her boyfriend defending her.
"I don't know what you hope to accomplish here trying to manipulate me into turning against Pyrrha but I think you've failed at this point. I'm not some horny schmuck from Sanctum," Jaune said, walking towards her.
Venus stepped back and hit a bookcase. Her heart was beating faster now as she looked into his violet eyes.
"So you can take your attempt at seducing me and shove it up your ass," Jaune said. He sighed, having finished his piece, and turned around. His eyes grew wide when he suddenly found himself wrapped up in his girlfriend's arms. Jaune smiled and hugged Pyrrha back, missing the warmth he had been deprived of from the past few days.
"You heard all of that didn't you?" Jaune asked.
"Was I not supposed to?" she asked, pulling away from his jacket.
Jaune smiled, happy to hear her voice once more.
"Come on, let's head back to the dorm," Pyrrha said, grabbing his hand. Her gaze drifted to her younger sister. Pyrrha's eyes flickered to a bright shade of red for the briefest of seconds. Venus became slightly unnerved by the color change before the girl turned around and dragged Jaune out the door.
However, her sister was not what was on Venus's mind. Venus slid down to the floor, her back still against the shelf as her breathing intensified. What was that…? She covered her mouth as she felt her cheeks heat up even more. Venus's giggles escaped her lips. "You make me want you more and more Jaune…" she licked her lips.
Her current predicament made it hard for her to gain Jaune's favor. But there's still that. Venus's face adopted a more serious expression. "This isn't about breaking Pyrrha anymore… I need him." She got up, her legs quivering as she remembered the domineering aura Jaune emitted while standing up for her sister. "Yes, that will work." With one last sinister giggle, Venus walked out of the library.
Jaune and Pyrrha walked hand in hand back to their dormitory. Two days had been too long for them. They had been apart for longer but any amount of time where they had no contact was too long for them.
Pyrrha smiled, taking in her boyfriend's warmth once more. The guilt slowly ate away at her. "Jaune, I'm sorry," she said, looking down at the ground. "I… I overreacted and I thought about it and you're right-"
"It's okay. I think I might have pushed you too much." Jaune rubbed the back of his head.
Pyrrha shook her head. "I have no right keeping this secret from you. It has something to do with you too," she said. Jaune looked at her worried and gave her hand a comforting squeeze. She gave him a grateful look.
"It's okay Pyrrha. Whatever you have to tell me, you can tell me. I won't look at you differently because of it. Even if you say you're pregnant, I won't freak out," Jaune said.
Pyrrha's face turned red at the suggestion. She gripped his hand and shocked him.
"Ow!" Jaune pulled his hand away. "You shocked me!" His words clicked in his head when he realized what he just said. "Wait… are you wearing lightning dust on your gloves?"
"I'm not wearing gloves, Jaune," Pyrrha said. "Come on, the others are waiting for us." She walked ahead of him.
Jaune nodded mutely, following after her. As they entered, Jaune was assaulted by a small black ball of fur. He chuckled as Nyx gave him wet puppy kisses all over his face. Jaune pulled her off and allowed her to sit on his shoulder.
He saw the others looking at him and Pyrrha intently. "We made up. We're fine."
"Good because this next part is gonna throw you for a loop," Nora said. "Pyrrha! Show him!"
"Show me what?" Jaune asked, tilting his head. He had a sinking feeling in his gut that he knew what Nora meant.
"This… I think you're already familiar with it," Pyrrha said, holding up her hand.
Jaune's face went blank when he saw her summon a black and red ball of lightning above the palm of her hand. "Is that your…?"
"No, this isn't a semblance. This. This is magic," Pyrrha said, dispersing the ball.
"W- Wait! Hold on, how did this even happen?" Jaune asked.
Pyrrha's eyes gazed over her boyfriend. He's asking how and not what? She thought. "It happened after the incident back at the Branwen Bandit Tribe. After I… After I died," Pyrrha said.
"Wait. Start from the beginning," Jaune said, sitting down.
And so, Pyrrha did. She recounted whatever she could remember. Pyrrha told them about the moments before she woke up about a dream-like state. She talked about how she began showing other abilities aside from her semblance. Said abilities always took the form of a sort of red lighting that manifested whenever her emotions were out of control. Pyrrha talked of how she tried to control her powers to the point where she could create small balls.
Pyrrha then went into detail about when this all started.
"Wait wait, so this all started after I brought you back?" Jaune asked. I need to talk with Isla. What is going on?
"Yeah, I started being able to use magic after that. I think that… no, I know that you're involved in this," Pyrrha said, looking up at him.
"What do you mean by that? There's no possible way I could've given you magic," Jaune said.
"But there is one way you could have," Pyrrha said. She sighed and looked at Jaune, then Alice. "You two need to sit down for this…"
"Um… okay?" Alice said, taking a seat next to her brother. Jaune nodded for her to continue.
Pyrrha gulped, trying to find a way to lead them into it. As she fumbled for whatever coherent thought she could create, Pyrrha spotted a butterfly with iridescent polychromatic wings sitting on the lampshade behind Alice and Jaune. She closed her eyes and sighed.
"What's your favorite fairy tale?
I don't really have an author's note for you guys today. I'll just leave it here. Remember to leave a review and follow if you want more.