Chapter 1: New Life…
She can only feel the pain of her body being burnt as memories of her life flashes through her mind…her friends in Beacon Academy, family…and then Jaune…oh how she misses and worries about her friends and the people in her life…especially as the one responsible for her impending doom is looming over her…
…
A Stalker in navy blue fatigues, black webbings, and a black-colored gas mask enters the underground bunker near the Rookie Village of Cordon with an artifact in hand. He then opens a big metal door and closes it behind him as he is met by a fat, elderly, wispy white-haired man who was feasting on a chicken's leg while looking at his laptop.
Noticing the stalker, the fat man then says: "Ah, Sergei…" He then looks at the artifact in Sergei's hand who steps up and places the artifact on the counter "I see you have retrieved the artifact." He chuckles while looking at the artifact with a greedy look on his face as he sets the chicken leg on a bowl before taking it.
"Just get to it Sidorovich, you know I still have to buy more ammo…then some medkits and bandages." Sergei sighs as he takes his gas mask off revealing tousled dirty blonde hair and dirty, yet pale and chiseled features, his striking amber eyes have bags on them as if he hasn't slept for a week.
"Pipe down, you know Uncle Sidorovich will give you your money" Sidorovich snickers as he takes the artifact and takes out a wad of rubles, before running his grease-covered thumb over them "But of course…how much are you buying?".
"At least 20 rounds of 12 gauge, 20 for my Makarov, and 3 medkits." Sergei sighs as he watches Sidorovich take half of his hard-earned money with an exasperated sigh "cyka!" he curses under his breath.
Sidorovich then gives Sergei a carefree smile and asks:" Anything else?" To which Sergei responds by shaking his head "That's my boy, you've made my day!" The trader then heartily laughs before handing the money and the set of items that Sergei has bought from him.
Sergei then turns back to leave, and he hears Sidorovich say: "Well then, good hunting stalker." Before closing the metal door behind him. Going up the stairs and stepping out of the bunker, he goes past a bunch of rookie stalkers chatting away or guarding the ruined yet mostly intact remains of a village.
He then walks out of the village, hiking up the cracked road pavement. Sergei then takes his double-barrel hunting shotgun - a TOS 34. He swerves his head to keep track of his surroundings as he walks past long-abandoned places where nature has taken over the concrete and some mutated blind dogs eating a carcass of one of their own. It was a gruesome sight, but a rather normal occurrence.
Sergei then turns to a dirt path before stopping in front of what seems to be a vibrating patch of air, to which he then pulls out a small metal bolt and tosses it towards the anomaly, the anomaly activates, and the stalker can feel the sudden burst of air blasting from it.
He then takes a route around the anomaly, tossing some bolts here and there to be safe. Eventually arriving at a rundown set of buildings, which can be assumed to be the remains of a farming establishment, Sergei walks in with his hunting shotgun in hand. Though he knows that they've driven out the bandits in the area, he can only be so sure.
Sergei then continues up the dirt path, avoiding anomalies along the way. And not long after he sees a tunnel up ahead with a pack of dogs running around in front of the tunnel as if guarding it. He tries to sneak closer; but he steps on a twig that alerts the blind mutant dogs which then swarm the stalker; Sergei knows he's up for a fight and he aims towards the dogs then fires…
The fight is going surprisingly well, as Sergei dodges and weaves through the flurry of fangs and claws while he fires and slashes at the pack with his shotgun and knife, with one being unfortunate enough to take a full blast of 12 gauge to the head, blasting its skull to bits.
As the last blind dog collapses onto the dirt with blood seeping out of its freshly slit neck, Sergei pants to catch his breath before composing himself and reloads his shotgun as he warily moves towards the tunnel, not noticing the eyes watching him from the side.
As Sergei reaches the tunnel's entrance, he hears footsteps and heavy animalistic breathing closing in on him. He instinctively turns around and sees a dog-like creature with a short blunt snout, black-greyish fur, and glowing yellow eyes which is beelining towards him. Sergei, fires, only for the dog to jump and make him miss his shots before the mutant lands on him, knocking him down.
He wrestles with the dog, using his shotgun to keep the mutant dog's sharp teeth from turning his face into its next meal. With some effort, he manages to push the dog off and again tries to fire only to realize that he is out of ammo and needs to reload, but there was no time as the dog was already coming.
Sergei quickly takes his knife out and slashes at the dog's face, making it whimper as it recoils in pain before snarling at Sergei before lunging forwards knocking the stalker back down onto his back again as he desperately pushes the mutant's head back with its teeth snapping mere inches away from his face. Then, with a cry of desperation, he manages to push the mutant's head to the side and stabs its neck repeatedly, making it bleed over his mask and clothes as he pushes the now dead mutant off.
"Leaving this area fast will be nice" He pants before grunting to get up and pick his shotgun up and reloads it. He then looks down at the mutant that nearly killed him, and then spit at it, and before cutting its tail off, "Fucking pseudo dogs." He curses out under his breath as he steps into the tunnel to find a small, abandoned camp with the fire still on.
And in standard stalker fashion, he looks around every nook and cranny for useful items he might find. He then peers into a small, rusted shipping container to find some improvised body armor, which he takes with him. Not wanting to stay and risk for more mutants or the owners of the camp to find and catch him in the act, he then leaves the tunnel, and not long his PDA buzzes and alerts him from an incoming emission which he quickly jogs back to the ruined farmhouse to take shelter in.
Upon arriving, he looks up at the sky; it being now heavily tinted red-orange as towards north he can see clouds swirling over somewhere. But before Sergei can enter a building, a sudden bright flash of light briefly blinds him and makes him stagger and fall onto the ground. When the light disappears, he sees a young woman in revealing clothing with long red hair tied to a ponytail and pale skin left on the ground.
With the emission getting stronger, Sergei shakes off his initial shock and he was about to rush inside, but he stops and looks back at the woman. He sighs and picks her up also including a scorched shield before he quickly taking refuge inside one of the buildings.
Pyrrha wakes up with her whole body aching in pain as if her body were on fire, she scans her surroundings and finds herself in an unfamiliar room before her eyes snap wide open - as she can remember Cinder Fall about to kill her and she remembers Beacon being invaded by Grimm.
She then starts to panic "Jaune, Rub-"But as she turns around, she sees a man in blue colored fatigues, combat boots, black body armor, and webbings staring at her through his gas mask with the room only lit by the fire in a drum cut in half.
He speaks in a language she doesn't recognize and is seemingly asking her about something, "S-sorry I can't understand you." Pyrrha stammers as she tries to stand only for her to feel a sharp pain going through her body that causes her to collapse onto the ground once more.
The man then goes over to assist by her propping her up against the wall. Afterwards, he walks back to his spot and asks: "Who are you, and where the hell did you come from?" as Pyrrha can see his hand sliding up to his hip.
Pyrrha sighs as she has no other choices left as she knows she can barely fight in her state and knows that her aura is almost non-existent "I am Pyrrha Nikos, I am from Mistral…and a student at Beacon Academy." She replies to the man while taking note of his odd accent that she can barely hear over his gas mask.
"Mistral? I may have been slacking off classes, but I can bet on my grenades and vodka that there's no country called Mistral." The man responds as she can see his fingers drum on a handgun's handle.
"Eh? what do you mean?" Pyrrha responds as she eyes the pistol on his hip, fearing she might get shot.
"You're either lying or crazy. Now tell me the truth because my fingers are yearning for a trigger." He chuckles before pulling the silenced handgun and racks the slide.
The man then looks down for a moment and sighs before putting his handgun into its holster and sat back to his spot "Well you might be a person with amnesia or something, better not to get hasty." He sighs.
Pyrrha then perks up "H-how about you tell me about this world then." She stammers out.
Sergei then looks at the self-declared otherworlder for a moment before deciding to humor her: "You serious? Do you know about the communist revolution, World War two…the cold war, America, Russia, Putin?" He asks, to which Pyrrha shakes her head "Hell, do you know what this planet is called?" The question garnered the same reply making him sigh.
"I come from a world called Remnant..." Pyrrha replies as memories of her family and friends flood back into her mind, making her heartache.
The man then removes his gas mask and stifles a laugh "I thought the place could not get weirder." He scoffs "well I was wrong!"
Pyrrha watches the man laugh for a few minutes before he looks at her "So Pyrrha, I am Sergei Antonov." Before he takes out a bottle of vodka "Well, how about let's trade information, you tell me about your world, and I tell mine, deal?"
Pyrrha nods as Sergei then drags a crate over for Pyrrha and himself to sit on.
"So where to start?" Pyrrha asks while she watches Sergei take out a bottle of vodka.
"From the beginning." He replies with a small smile as he pulls out a sausage wrapped in plastic "Hungry?" He asks as he offers it to her.
Pyrrha nods as she is famished as Sergei gives her half of the sausage, she quickly takes a bite and lets out a sigh of relief before her stomach grumbled for more, making Sergei chuckle in response.
"Well with your stomach speaking bear, you must have come a long way from here." Sergei remarks before taking a bite out of his sausage.
Pyrrha nods, "I guess…" she replies solemnly as she stares at the floor with eyes filled with sorrow and pain.
Sergei then sighs as he finishes his sausage and pops off his bottle's cap and takes a swig "So, how about let's start with the introduction of our 'worlds'." At that, Pyrrha immediately perks up as she seemingly snaps out of her thoughts.
"Okay, I'll try summarizing it much as I can." Pyrrha replies before taking a deep breath as she ponders for a moment.
"My world is divided into five continents and four main kingdoms, one being Sanus which where the Kingdom of Vale is located and also my school Beacon is located." As Pyrrha sighs while the memory of Beacon Academy being invaded by Grimm flash in her mind, making her even sadder.
"And then there's the cold and frigid lands of Solitas…where the technologically advanced Kingdom of Atlas is located" Pyrrha continues as she adjusts her seating position as she drones on trying to explain her world, Remnant, to Sergei.
Sergei then chuckles "Sounds like Mother Russia to me." He comments before he takes another swig of the vodka.
"Mother Russia?" Pyrrha asks as she cocks her head to the side.
"Ah it's nothing, continue." He chuckles again before taking a swig from his bottle, clearly not taking this seriously as he thought this was some elaborate made-up world-building. But he listened while simply humoring her.
Pyrrha then clears her throat before continuing "M-moving on, Anima is next…with the Kingdom of Mistral on it…and is also my home." She stammers as the reminder of her home, made her want to cry.
Sergei raises an eyebrow at this "You must miss the place then?" He says as he finishes his bottle and sets it gently onto the floor.
Pyrrha nods, "I do…" before trailing off.
Sergei then sighs as he notices the long look on her face "Is there more to talk about this 'world' of yours?" he asks before taking another swig of vodka.
Pyrrha nods in response "Then there's the continent of Menagerie, it's mainly inhabited by Faunus." As she wipes her eyes as tears started to sting the corners of her eyes.
"Faunus?" Sergei asks with a small smirk on his face.
"Oh…right…they are people with animalistic features, such as people with cat ears and such." Pyrrha replies with a small smile as she is reminded by Blake back in Beacon.
"Oh…so cat girls exist too, eh?" Sergei lightly laughs "Sounds like a paradise." Before finishing his bottle and takes out another one as he coughs "continue please." He said awkwardly.
"And there are the grimm…" Pyrrha says with a hint of anger in her voice "They are creatures of darkness and are attracted to negative energy and emotions. And has threatened humanity ever since…ever since the beginning of humanity." she coughs as she tries to cover her tone.
Sergei raises an eyebrow "So, like mutants then…except there's a shit ton of them and are more…I don't know, evil?" he shrugs before taking a swig of his bottle.
"W-wait, you have grimm here?" Pyrrha looks up in alarm, as she suddenly feels unsafe and uneasy with all the negativity she is emitting.
Sergei shakes his head "Nyet, mutants may cause some problems here and there, but they're more animals than beasts of darkness just as you described."
"O-oh…well, if you put it in your own way…I guess so," Pyrrha replies as she is reminded again of Beacon, making her sigh in the memory, making her stare down on the floor again as she wanders back into memory lane.
"Hey, are you okay?" Sergei said as he sits up, noticing the distant sad look on Pyrrha's face before sighing "Well, how about I tell what my world is then."
"A-ah, I'm fine." Pyrrha replies as she shakes her head slightly "But please do."
"Alright, so from what I can tell from your world…This world doesn't have catgirls and definitely grimm." Sergei chuckles as he scratches the back of his neck before lightly saying": "The only thing that's gonna kill humanity here is humanity itself."
Pyrrha gives him a slightly horrified look, and Sergei only responds by shrugging.
"We had a few wars over it the past few decades, that caused deaths of millions and huge advances in technology because of it." Sergei shrugs "Anyway as for the Zone, well why it's here…I don't really know." He sighs as he scratches the side of his head before continuing "apparently another 'mysterious' explosion a few years back caused how the Zone is today….and it is kind of illegal to enter here anyways." Before cracking his knuckles.
The rumbling of thunder then interrupts their conversation. After the sound of thunder fading away, Pyrrha then asks: "Is it just me or is the storm making my ears ring a bit?" while she looks at the ceiling with a curious expression on her face.
"Ah, a psy-emission. It's a psychic storm that turns someone into a mindless husk if that someone was unfortunate enough to be walking outside while an Emission is raging...like right now." Sergei casually said as if it were common knowledge.
"So, you are telling me that I'll turn into a zombie?" Pyrrha asks as she hugs her knees.
"Da, if you stay outside that is, and if not a zombie and then you'll definitely be fried by the emission." Sergei responds with a yawn "if you do not know what radiation is then imagine a poison that you can't see nor hear or smell that kills you slowly…and faster the more you are exposed".
"Oh…" Pyrrha says, thinking about how scary such poison must be, especially if someone doesn't have aura.
Pyrrha then ponders for a moment for her next question and perks up as she thought of something. "Speaking of which…it's illegal to be here…in this 'Zone' right?" Pyrrha asks while blankly staring at the fire making her gorgeous green eyes glint in the firelight.
Sergei nods "Yeah, considering how dangerous and heavily irradiated the place is." Before taking a swig of his vodka.
"Then why are you here? It's not like you can make money out in a dangerous wasteland like this." Pyrrha replies as she looks up to Sergei and cocks her head.
"And that's where you're wrong!" Sergei chuckles as he gives Pyrrha a smirk before taking out some bread "want some bread?" he asks as he offers bread to Pyrrha.
Pyrrha nods as Sergei rips the bread in two and gives the other half to Pyrrha which she gratefully accepts as her stomach was screaming for more food.
"Mhm…so back on the topic…so money…how do you earn money in this place?" Pyrrha asks, looking at Sergei with a skeptical look.
"It's Simple - artifacts," Sergei replies while chewing some bread.
"Artifacts?" Pyrrha asks before taking another bite.
Sergei swallows the piece of bread he's been chewing before replying: "Basically weird 'magic' things that give you small powers and these artifacts can feed you for a month…if you find the rare ones and a lot of them that is." He sighs.
"I see…" Pyrrha then notices that the strong howls of wind, and the distant sounds of thunder, and the sounds of lightning are finally gone "Is it safe to go out now?" she asks as she nibbles on the bread.
Sergei replies "Da, but it is night…who knows what kinds of mutants are out there roaming around at this time. So, we rest for the night…" He then eyes her clothing and sighs with a mischievous grin "Also I suggest putting these on, your clothes are too 'eye catching'." He chuckles as he hands her the set of improvised body armor and clothes he found earlier in the abandoned camp.
Pyrrha blushes at this "Perv!" she said as she shoots the stalker a glare which makes him chuckle.
"I will be downstairs if you need the space." Sergei grins as he stands up and dusts his clothes before heading downstairs.
…
They wake up early the next day. Sergei waking up first while using his backpack as a pillow. He checks his watch that his father gave him a long time ago, the watch reads 5:00 am and looking out between the cracks he can see the first rays of the sun as it drives off the darkness of the night.
He then gets up and yawns and looks at Pyrrha, the woman who came from another world. He can tell she looks human as he examines her while sleeping, the body armor and clothes he found for her being oversized around her slim yet muscular frame, she suddenly curls into a ball whimpering about something as he can see tears appearing on the edges of her eyes.
Sergei then ponders for a moment before remembering that mutants or bandits may surround them at any moment, so he shakes her awake "Pyrrha, oi it's time to wake up blin!" he whispers to Pyrrha which she immediately wakes blinking the tears out as her big green eyes met his weary amber ones "Nightmares?" He asks.
"I…Y-yes…" Pyrrha replies with a somber tone with her eyes downcast making Sergei raise an eyebrow.
"…Well, it is up to you if you want to talk about it or not." Sergei yawns as he steps back, "But we need to get going, I'll have to make you meet someone." He said as he walks over to his backpack and tosses her a gas mask. "Here, you'll need this." Before zipping his bag up again.
Pyrrha nods and accepts the gas mask as she sat up on the hard lumpy bed and walks over to her shield, Akouo, and then straps the shield before turning towards Sergei.
"I'm ready," Pyrrha says as she looks down at Sergei sifting through the contents of his bag and pouches; containing essentials such as ammo, food, pills, vodka, and necessities that you need to survive the Zone.
"Oh, hold on," Sergei replies as he quickly zips his bag, and he quickly fumbles with the pouches, checks each gun's ammo count, and then reloads fresh rounds to keep them fully loaded. "Alright, all set. So, davai - let's go!" He yawns with his hunting shotgun in hand.
They climb down the stairs of the abandoned farmhouse to see a lone stalker sleeping by a campfire with bottles of vodka littered around him. As they left the abandoned farm, they are immediately greeted by a pocket of vibrating air which of course stops Sergei in his tracks and which Pyrrha follows suit, looking at the anomaly with a bewildered look.
"What is that?" Pyrrha asks looking at the vibrating pocket of air.
Sergei then hands her a metal bolt and motions towards the anomaly "Why don't you toss it into the anomaly?" Pyrrha complies and tosses the bolt, causing two pulses of strong gusts to blast towards the two.
"The springboard anomaly, the most common anomaly in the Zone and are mostly out on open areas like these. If you want to avoid them, watch out for vibrating pockets of air or the small pulses of light in the center. But if you want to be sure then just toss a bolt - There's a lot of them laying around." Sergei chuckles "Come on, let's just walk around it."
They walk past the anomaly without getting harmed and as they reach the road, the first thing that Pyrrha saw are abandoned cars, roads, and a bus stop. As they close in on a bridge she sees furless dog creatures running around in an open field before one of them runs into an anomaly, whimpering in pain as it quickly limps away.
"Blind dogs. But are generally harmless but are a pain in the ass in packs or with a pseudodog alpha." Sergei comments as he watched the mutated dog run away as they pass by an abandoned trailer.
They then enter the rundown village, with rookie stalkers eyeing them and mainly Pyrrha as they walk by heading towards Sidorovich's bunker and before they enter the thick metal door Sergei then looks back and says; "If they ask you where you are from, tell them you come from America, Texas, okay?" which Pyrrha nods as Sergei opens the door.
Arriving at the merchant's bunker, Sidorovich greets them with a casual smile as he lays back on his chair "Good to see you Sergei." He chuckles and looks at Pyrrha who has her mask off "Who is this? Your girlfriend?"
Sergei shook his head "N-nyet, just showing her around how shit works around here." he stammers out in response as he closes the door behind them.
"Ah, I see, a rookie then!" Sidorovich smiles "Welcome, I am Sidorovich - your local merchant in The Zone. Guns and supplies? You get the best deals right here, as long you have the rubles." He chuckles.
Pyrrha bows slightly, "H-hello." She nervously stammers out as she shoots a glance towards Sergei who gives her a reassuring smile.
"Loosen up I am not going to bite you." Sidorovich chuckles as he takes out a makarov, a bayonet, a flashlight, and a box of pistol ammo "So where are you from young lady? I can very much tell that you are…foreign." He says as he pushes said items towards Pyrrha.
"I-I Uhm…I'm from America." She replies nervously as she twiddles her thumbs together.
"Ah! The sweet land of democracy and the motherland's rival." Sidorovich chuckles "come on, take it." He urges Pyrrha to take the items on the counter before turning to Sergei and grins "The tab's on you, Sergei." And Sergei's was about to open his mouth to argue but then he glances towards Pyrrha, at which Sidorovich chuckles out: "Come on now Sergei, you wouldn't want your 'date' here to be defenseless."
Sergei sighs in defeat "Can I at least have a bargain on the prices?" as he makes another glance towards Pyrrha who seems keen on examining the items given to her, the idea of her getting killed or defiled made him shudder before shaking his head before he makes another glance towards Pyrrha who seems to be still engrossed in examining her things making an adorable worried expression making him blush and look to the side before sheepishly scratching the back of his head. The stalker was still young after all.
Sidorovich then notices this and chuckles "Alright, ten percent off. And that's final." Making Sergei sigh as almost all of his money is now gone as he pays for Pyrrha's things, most of it now consisting of coins.
Sidorovich then leans back on his chair and grins, "Well, anything else that I can get for you two?" The merchant asks as Pyrrha slides a magazine into the pistol and cocks it.
"Well…any more missions?" Sergei asks the old merchant.
Sidorovich ponders for a moment before replying: "Ah, yes I do…you see I want to take this research files somewhere in an underground lab up north, and in classic fashion; they are, of course, classified."
"Where are these files then?" Sergei asks while Pyrrha examines her bayonet.
"There's this stalker named Miller. I heard he recently came back from an expedition up north. Try looking for him past the railway in a former pigpen - He should be there according to my sources, and he should have leads on the whereabouts of the files." Sidorovich replies before taking a sip of kvass.
"And how much will you give us for this?" Sergei asks as he slings his shotgun over his shoulder.
"I am willing to give 10,000 rubles for the trouble." Sergei freezes for a moment "25,000." The stalker counters making Sidorovich chuckle.
"Deal. I will be wiring barkeep about this; present him the files and he should give you two the money - he is in the Duty camp by the way." Sergei nods and thanks Sidorovich before leaving with Pyrrha in tow.
As the duo exits the bunker Pyrrha asks; "So what are we going to do?" while looking up towards Sergei with a worried look.
"Well, looks like we'll have to sneak past the military this time…" Sergei sighs "Well, let's get you something other than a pistol, eh?" He grins but in the back of his mind, he wonders why Sidorovich is paying such so much rubles for this mission…
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A/N: Thank you NlaEid for helping me edit this chapter too…XD