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Act II

Scene 24:

To Some Delinquents

A/n:

Shoutout to Tehunoman and Red for helping me with this, and Niklog, for his Russian.

Oh, also, when a certain special person comes out to play, I recommend listening to one of a few songs, including Go to Sleep by Eminem, Lose Yourself by Eminem, Dirt off Your Shoulder/Lying From You by Jay-Z/Linkin Park, and Feeling Good by Muse. Listen to one or all of them. I liked them all for this, though Dirt off Your Shoulder is probably the most fitting lyrically. You could just listen to your own shit, or nothing.

But that's enough out of me.

Enjoy.


Pyrrha pov

Today's the day I thought to myself.

I had waited and waited, putting it off more and more. When I thought of the idea, I said I'd wait until the weekend. Now it was Sunday night.

I knew why I was putting it off. I was scared. I had never done something like this before. Never done anything like this before. I had no idea if there was a certain way to do this, if there was a right way to do it and I was doing it all wrong. I didn't want to ruin what I had with him already, but if this went well, things could go so much further.

Last Wednesday, during Grimm studies, I saw Jaune struggling to fight of the old Boarbatusk. Even though it would have been a difficult fight for most people, it was very clear to me that Jaune didn't have much training with his weapons, if any at all.

If I was being honest with myself, he looked like a complete mess who only really based his style off of seeing some stuff in TV, movies, and maybe actually watching someone do it a few times.

His stance was weak, his aura unfocused, his defense flimsy. It's really only thanks to Professor Port that Jaune wasn't seriously injured.

But I thought I could use this.

I could help him

I knew how to use a shield and sword to great effect, and even if there were some differences in our weapons, I could still teach him.

And I want him to get better

I don't want him to be in a position like that ever again, I don't want him to be weak and helpless. And Initiation probably won't be the most difficult and dangerous thing we're going to face on our path to becoming hunters. I want to make sure Jaune is ready to face those challenges, and that he doesn't falter, and die…

Plus, it would be a great chance for me to become better friends with him. That is…if I am his friend in the first place.

I mean, he never said he is. And he could be just being nice because he's being polite or something.

What if he doesn't actually like me? I thought, fear soaking in once more.

What if he's just faking it? I considered.

Then, I pushed those doubts far from my mind with a firm shake of my head.

No. I can't think about that. I thought with resolve I said I was going to do it, and I'm not going to go back on my own word to myself. I can't let myself fall to fear.

I'll never know if I don't try, after all

So, with that thought, I knocked on Jaune's door.

After a second of hearing the shuffling of papers, a chair scraping against the floor, and some footsteps with bated breath, the door opens.

"Pyrrha?" He asked with a puzzled face "What's up?"

"Um, Jaune, I was hoping to talk to you about something in private?" I say, ignoring the butterflies swarming in my stomach.

"Uh…sure." Jaune agrees, still unsure what this is all about.

"So Pyrrha, what'd you want to talk about?" He asked


I had taken us out back behind the dorm building to get some privacy and in the hopes that the nice cool night air would help me keep my calm.

It's kind of funny, isn't it? I internally commented to myself, I can face down Grimm with no problem, but dealing with one boy my own age terrifies me.

Turning to him, I shoved my doubts and fears down and pressed on.

"Jaune…I…" I stumbled, getting rocked by another flare of pain from my migraine.

I had been getting them on and off since Initiation, but recently it felt like they had just been getting worse and worse. Combined with my growing lapses in memory, and the occasional nightmares and flashbacks, I felt like I was under some massive pressure at all times, trying to overwhelm and consume me.

Even still, I had to push through. Just for a while I had managed to call Sahib, and he would be coming soon to help. He would know what to do.

Until then, I had to just endure. No, more than endure, I needed to thrive. And that meant trying to be the person Sahib always wanted me to be, the kind he knew I could be, that I wanted to be.

"I know you aren't the…best fighter," I said with renewed resolve delicately.

Judging by the way he flinched, he knew it too.

How could he not?

"I saw how you did during class on Wednesday, against the old Boarbatusk. And anyone would have had problems with it Jaune. It's just…I noticed some things you could do better." I carefully tried to say.

At my words, Jaune looked down to the ground, dipping his head in shame, balling his fists tightly by his sides.

"So…" I began.

And here it was, the moment I had been dreading.

"I was thinking…maybe I could help you." I suggested with a tentative smile

"What are you trying to say?" He questioned with a tight voice, still not looking at me, his messy blond hair shadowing his face.

"I-I'm just saying I could give you some help, some training to make you stronger," I answered, panicking slightly.

I was in unknown territory. Jaune sounded like he was getting emotional, and I had no idea how to handle that, how to calm him down, to make him understand.

"Are you saying I'm weak?" He questioned again.

"No!" I immediately replied

"No, I just…you're not as strong as you could be, and you have a lot of potential. And I wanted to try and give you a hand." I tried to explain.

"You think I need help? That I'm too weak to do it on my own?" He said, anger tingeing his voice.

"Jaune, everyone needs some help from time to time. It's fine." I said, trying to calm him down, then, switching gears, I tried to cheer him up.

"I mean, you got into Beacon!" I said, "Do you know how hard that is? How much that already says about your abilities?"

Jaune laughed, a hollow, empty, bitter laugh.

"You have no idea." He muttered, turning away from me.

"Jaune?" I said, confused and scared. I slowly approached him, trying to lay a comforting hand on his shoulder, something I thought might help.

"You don't know anything about me!" He yelled, spinning around on me suddenly.

"You think I got accepted into Beacon because of my potential?" He snarled, his eyes red and watery.

"I cheated my way into Beacon Pyrrha!" He shouted.

I recoiled from him, stunned speechless.

What?

"I don't belong here Pyrrha, I faked my transcripts and forced my way in!" He continued, yelling in my shocked face.

"All throughout my life, I kept hearing stories about how great my father was, my grandfather, and his father before him. Stories about them being great heroes and huntsmen." He said, tears streaming down his reddened face.

"And they expected the same out of me. But it never happened, but I never measured up, so eventually they just gave up and stopped expecting something out of me. Even my own parents saw me as a weak coward."

"And I was just sick of it!" He screamed

"I was sick of being the weak one, the one that needed saving, the damsel in distress. I was going to be strong! I was going to be able to save people! Help People! Be useful!" He ranted, his voice growing hoarse and tired.

"I was finally going to be the Hero!" he finally exclaimed, coming to a stop. He stopped ranting, instead silently sobbing and panting, lowering his head again so his hair shaded his eyes.

I stood there, stunned at his confession. I didn't know what to do. I had no idea what to do at all.

The fact he faked his way is, in a way, surprising, in that I'm surprised he was even able to do it. But, what isn't surprising is that he had to. It actually explains a lot.

Oh, Jaune… I thought sympathetically.

I myself didn't really have a problem with weakness, not anymore, but…I knew the sting of disappointing people. The fear of being a disappointment, a failure.

That I understood very well.

So, I think I can understand what he's saying. I think I can get through to him.

Right?

"Jaune…I-I get what you're saying, but you don't have to-" I tried to say

"Shut up." He said, interrupting me. It was quiet, but it was said with such…anger…such malice, and I could feel it all directed at me.

"Jaune?" I recoiled.

Oh no, what did I do?! I panicked.

"Shut up. You're just like them. You think I'm weak." He said, looking up just to glare at me with those deep, stormy, sapphire eyes.

"Jaune, it's ok to be we-" I began

"No it's not!" He interjected.

"You don't understand, you couldn't understand. You're so strong and capable. You couldn't possibly understand what it feels like to be me, to be the weak little disappointing coward to everyone." He said.

"I mean, it only took you a few days to realize how much of weak failure I am. And now you're taking pity on me." He seethed.

"No, Jaune, I just want to help you." I tried to defend, spiraling down in a panic.

No no no! It's all going wrong!

"Fuck you." He bit out, his glaring only getting stronger and more furious.

"I don't want your fucking pity. I'm going to get strong on my own, and I don't need pity from someone like you who has no idea what it's like being me to do it." He declared.

"So I don't need your help, and I don't want your help. I can't be a hero if I keep being the damsel in distress." He finished, huffing angrily from his tirade, his eyes still water and red, but filled with fury and hate.

All for me.

I did it again I thought, it all sinking it.

I made him hate me. My last-my only, friend.

Gone.

"So…you don't want my-?" I tried to say, choking back tears.

But his angry glare at said it all.

"I-I see…" I said, feeling my eyes water.

"Okay, I'll just-," I said as I turned to leave. I couldn't even finish, feeling my throat close up, a hole in my heart grow, and a pressure in my head increase.

Before I walked away from him, I said, "Sorry", hoping that it might, in some way, make up for what I did to him.

And it's all my fault.

Once again I'm all alone, with no friends to call my own, and it's all my fault.


Jaune pov

Dammit, I thought, sitting on the edge of the roof, my legs dangling over the edge.

I came up here after my…"talk" with Pyrrha, where I confessed everything to her, cried in front of her.

Made a complete mess of myself in front of her.

And now she knows I'm not supposed to be here. She's probably going to tell the teachers now and get me expelled.

I guess cursing her out didn't really help me there. I realized.

After sitting up here crying for a bit, I had calmed down. That's, of course, when the shame set in.

I had confessed it all to Pyrrha. My secret, my fears, my family. And I did it all bawling my eyes out like a fucking weak baby idiot.

That's probably because that's exactly what I am

I let out another breath, feeling in some ways like a weight had been lifted off my shoulder.

Well, I guess this is it. I don't have to hide anymore, to worry about being found out, because come tomorrow, it's out of my hands.

"Jaune?" a voice said from behind me.

"Lilith?" I responded, turning to look at her.

"What's-?" I began to say, but voice caught in my throat when I saw her.

She was clothed in her red cloak, the hood raised up over her head, throwing it in shade. In addition, under her cloak, she wore a dark-colored turtleneck sweater, in this light it looked black, but I couldn't be certain.

But what drew my attention was her left hand. It had burns on it and looked like it was missing a few fingers.

"Lilith!" I exclaimed in concerned surprise. "What happened to you ?!"

At my outburst she paused, raising her hand up to her face.

"It was just a training accident, nothing special." She replied while she inspected the limb.

"Are you ok?" I asked

"I'll be fine, my fingers will grow back." She explained

"Really?" I responded, surprised by that, "Can Aura do that?"

During this week, several classes had referred to Aura, but Lt. Nifelheim was the one who explained that is was an extension of your soul that could protect and heal you.

After hearing it explained, it sounded like something my eldest sister had tried to explain to me on a few occasions. It's just, she tended to be kind of bossy, and I didn't really care about the nitty-gritty details of being a hunter too much at the time.

I guess I should have paid more attention I thought

"Mine can," Lilith responded flatly, not entirely answering my question

"Ok…" I said, not entirely sure how else to respond to that.

"Are you sure you're alright?" I verified, still worried.

"I'm fine." She said, "You on the other hand…"

I let out a nervous chuckle, "What? I'm fine."

"Jaune, your eyes are still red. You've been crying." She pointed out blankly.

"So...What's wrong?" She asked again.

"I…" I began, wondering what to say, how much to trust her.

On the one hand, she was my friend, and I already told Pyrrha. If I can't trust her, who can I trust?

On the other, she was staying with Ms. Goodwitch, her aunt, and someone who would definitely expel me if she found out.

Then again, Pyrrha's probably going to tell the teachers, maybe even Ozpin himself. What harm could come from telling Lilith? I considered.

Despite the fear of being expelled somewhat lifted from my shoulders, the fear of being judged by her, of her seeing me as the weak little coward everyone else did. The pride I still had was all that was holding me back, but it was all I had left of myself.

Still…

Something else compelled me to tell her, to put my trust in this young girl with hollow silver eyes I've known for barely 2 weeks.

"I...I messed up." I began.

"You see Lilith, I'm not...supposed...to be here," I said.

At that, Lilith pause for a second, blinking in mute surprise.

"...Well, that seems like a pretty deep existential idea Jaune. It's no wonder it brought you to tears" She quipped with a straight face.

"What?" I said, confused.

"I mean, the thought that you aren't where you're supposed to be, that you aren't doing what you felt you are destined for in life. Like you aren't doing what God ordained you to do in his grand plan…" She explained, trailing off with a long pause of thought.

"...Why," She finally continued, "It'd keep me up all night if I were you."

"What? No!" I exclaimed

"No, no, no. That's not what I meant" I continued, shaking my head.

" I meant, I'm not supposed to be at Beacon. You see I...I faked my transcripts. I never actually went to combat school." I explained finally

"I know." She said simply

And those two words were all it took to stop my entire thought process.

"You-wha-how?" I finally managed to ask after my brain rebooted, bewildered by the revelation that Lilith already knew I had faked my transcripts.

"Aunt Glynda told me," Lilith explained.

"She knows?!" I exclaimed again, alarmed by the revelation.

"Yup," Lilith answered, popping the p

"Then why haven't I been expelled yet?" I questioned my thoughts a whirlwind of chaos, everything I thought I had known being turned on its head.

"Oh, Aunt Glynda would love nothing more than to expel you from Beacon. Unfortunately, Professor Ozpin really wants you to stay." Lilith explained.

Then, after a pause, she added, "Or, well, fortunately, I suppose in your case."

"He does?" I finally managed to say after picking my jaw up from off the ground.

"It seems like professor Ozpin knew all along, and even helped your illegitimate transcripts to make it through all the right channels so you would be admitted without issue." Lilith expounded, "Or, well, that's what Aunt Glynda thinks."

"So I'm safe?" I verified.

"Well, you're safe from getting expelled just because you used fake transcripts," Lilith answered

"Otherwise, you are probably in more danger than most, considering you never went to a combat school, and have little, if any, previous combat training," Lilith explained.

Those words brought back another pang of shame as I remembered the other details of my...fight...with Pyrrha. How she brought up my weakness, how she pitied me.

"That said…" Lilith began, pulling from my thoughts

"That doesn't explain why you told Pyrrha this, or why you were crying." She commented.

"Unless...she didn't approve?" She suggested with a tilt of her head "Maybe you tried to come clean to her, and she shunned you?"

What? No! That's not what happened! I thought, about to say something.

Before I could, however, she tilted her head the other way, and muttered, "Though, why you decided to go to her first, while I had to track you down-"

"No, no, no. That's not what happened" I interjected before she could continue.

Lilith stopped, patiently waiting for me to explain with a watchful stare under her hood, and so, with a breath to steady myself for what I was about to do, I did.

"Ok, so….here's what happened." I began.

And over the next several minutes I explained everything while Lilith silently and patiently listened to me tell my tale. At some moments the still fresh memories bubbled up again, filling with emotion, sorrow, shame, and regret. They threatened to make me shed tears again, but I managed to keep it together as best I could.

"So, that's what happened," I concluded, my throat closing on me, my eyes stinging and watery.

I waited carefully and tentatively for Lilith's response to my whole confession.

At first, she did nothing. She just stood there in silence, her hood shading her face, making her even more unreadable than she normally was.

Then, she brought a hand up to her face, pinched the bridge of her nose, and let out a long, annoyed, sigh.

"Jaune. " She began her voice tense and coiled like an angry viper ready to strike with its venom loaded fangs.

I could feel her furious, stern, and disapproving glare from under her hood. Then she spoke again, with such vitriol and disappointment, I couldn't help but be reminded of a strong scolding from my parents, or worse, my eldest sister.

"Nu Te Durak" she ground out.


Pyrrha pov

It's all ruined I thought, tears still streaming down my face as I sat there in the darkness, my back propped up against a wall and my arms propped up on my knees before me.

I had been so close, I had almost done it. I had a couple people I could consider friends, people who didn't treat me any different because of what I had done in tournaments. And that felt good, it felt good to not be so alone anymore.

And then I messed it all up.

I couldn't have just been happy with what I had, could I? I had to be greedy and try reach for more I chastised myself.

In my efforts to become closer with Jaune, I had made him hate me, burning that friendship into cinders.

As for Blake, I don't even know what I did. One day, Blake just started shunning me, giving me undisguised glares, and refusing to talk to me. It was so bad I didn't really feel comfortable sleeping in the room with her, and for the past couple days I had slept on the couch in the living room.

And then there's Lilith…

I'm not even sure if I ever was her friend. If I was, then knowing my luck, I've ruined that too.

Maybe knowing what I've done to Jaune and Blake, she'll hate me too. Just like everyone else.

I had failed.

Miserably, and totally.

But never before had it ever hurt so much like this. Sure, I'd been injured before, gotten broken bones, gotten a scar or two, even almost lost an eye one or twice.

I'd even felt the sting of disappointment when I knew I let someone down or when I failed to meet expectations.

There was that, that sting of disappointment and failure, but there was something else too, something that hurt just as much, if not more.

And with that pain in my heart came even more pressure in my head. My migraine had only grown stronger, and it was all I could do to keep from whimpering in pain. Each wave of pain blinding agony in my skull, disrupting my ability to think rationally, to think at all, really.

But I was shaken from wallowing my own pain and despair by the vibration of my scroll, telling me I got a message.

A spark of hope rose in m.e

Maybe it's Jaune? I thought, pulling it out, Maybe I didn't mess up as badly as I thought I did?

But all those hopes came crashing down when I saw what I had received. In their place, rose a powerful all-consuming dread. My stress level's skyrocketed as my mind went blank with fear.

I had been sent a picture, and a location.

The location was for a secluded part of the school, near the edge of the campus.

But it was what the picture held that grabbed my attention.

It was a picture of a book lying on the ground. It was a black, leather bound book, with many scratches, wears, and tears to show its age and use, as well as a bronze lock on it. It was nice and thick, and well crafted. But more importantly, it was more than just a book.

It was a journal

My journal.

The one I had used all my life. The one that held nearly all my darkest secrets.

The one that had been taken from my locker at the start of the semester.

No…


Jaune pov

I wanted to shrink down to the size of a mouse and hide myself in some tiny corner far from here.

All because of Lilith.

Well…

Probably all because of me, actually.

Lilith was…ranting…something. I have no idea what she was actually saying, but it sure as hell wasn't English or any other language I knew of.

Not that I was an expert on the matter.

Still, despite the language barrier, I could still understand that Lilith was very unhappy, and at least a little frustrated. And considered she was usually about as emotional as a cold rock, that was saying something. In fact, it only made it worse.

I mean, when you manage to rile someone up like Lilith up, to get someone like her to be disappointed in you, you know you've fucked up somewhere.

Finally, after what felt like hours of getting berated by her, she finally stopped. Huffing from the amount of ranting she did, she paused to give me a disapproving frown. Which, as soul crushing as it was, gave me enough time to get a word in edgewise.

"Uh…what?" I asked, honestly not knowing what else to say.

She groaned loudly, looking up to the starry night sky for a moment, before looking back down to me, and despite her hood shadowing her face, I swear I could see one of her silver eyes glowing through the darkness.

"Jaune…" She began, her voice tense with displeasure. "You are astoundingly stupid."

"Wha…" I managed to say, dumbfounded at her blunt honesty, my jaw agape, and my eyes wide.

"Like…I don't even know where to begin." She continued, and I got the feeling she was just going to be giving me her rant again, this time in English.

Which meant I could defend myself.

"Are you talking about what I told Pyrrha?" I asked, venturing a guess as to why she was so annoyed.

Or, at least, try to.

"No." she said, exasperated.

What I thought.

If that wasn't it…then I don't really know what else I did wrong.

"Coming clean to Pyrrha might have actually been the smartest thing you did." She added.

"Then…what did I do?" I asked slowly, bewildered.

"You're so incredibly dense you don't even know. Wow." She deadpanned

Then she stopped, letting out a loud angry breath through her nose, before turning back to me.

"Here's the problem Jaune, here's what you did that was so incredibly stupid and prideful." She began, looking me in the eye.

"You Jaune, are weak, incredibly so. Frankly, all you have going for you is your absurdly large and strong Aura, and you're finely crafted weapons and armor. If you didn't have that, you would be doomed to die before the end of the semester." She bluntly explained

"Fortunately, you do, so your death will likely have to wait until the end of the year."

That…hurt. A lot.

Part of it was because deep down, I knew she was right. In fact, I actually had many of those same fears. I just tried to tell myself I was being paranoid.

But…at the same time, unlike nearly everyone else I knew who had ever brought it up, there wasn't an ounce of pity in Lilith. She wasn't treating me like a weak coward that needed a helping hand, that was so sad and weak he needed you pity to get through life.

But it also meant she wasn't pulling her punches.

"I know." I murmured, looking down.

"No, you don't. Because if you did, you wouldn't have been a prideful idiot." She shot out.

"Huh?" I said, looking up at her confused.

"Jaune, as I said, you are weak. There is nothing wrong with that, in it of itself. Nobody is strong all the time, nobody is born strong. We become strong." She began

"Now, many people don't seek strength by learning to fight, they seek it elsewhere and in different ways. Many don't even seek strength, simply a means to survive, to live. And that's fine, it's their choice to remain weak. There's nothing wrong with a Painter wanting to paint, rather than learn how to fight."

"But you, on the other hand, are a different matter." She said venomously

"Pyrrha practically handed a chance for you to get stronger on a silver platter to you, and you spat in her face, told her to "fuck off", and probably made her feel like shit while you did it." She explained

"But what I find inexcusable about that, is the fact she gave you a chance to get stronger, a chance almost anyone else would kill for, and you threw it away for pride." She seethed

"I-" I began, trying to defend myself.

"No, shut up." She interjected, not having it.

"You don't get to have your cake and eat it too Jaune. You don't get to get strong like you want to, and do it all be yourself, all while holding onto your pride the whole time. You're weak, which means your going to need help from the strong."

"You can't just go into the forest hitting trees with your sword all day Jaune, you aren't learning how to be a woodcutter. You're learning how to kill Grimm."

"Which is another thing. You apparently had the intelligence required to know that going to Beacon would help make you strong, but somehow along the way you didn't actually think about what that meant."

"What, did you think you would just magically get stronger as the years went by? That it wouldn't take blood, sweat, and tears? That you wouldn't be taught by teachers, and need help from them?" She asked.

"Or is it that in your mind, getting taught by a teacher is better than getting taught by someone your own age? Do you find that embarrassing? Is it that she's a girl? And you don't want to admit that she's stronger than you?" She pressed.

"No!" I interjected

That wasn't it. Right?

"I-I just…" I began, trying to find my voice again,

"I just wanted to be a hero. I'm tired of getting saved." I admitted again, too ashamed to look her in the eye.

I had been so weak for so long. Looked down on by so many people. I had always been helped, pitied, coddled, and saved. And I was sick of it. I couldn't take it anymore. I wanted to show them all I could be strong too. I wanted to save people. I wanted to be useful. I finally wanted to be the hero.

"Well too bad Jaune, that's not how it works." She bluntly said, shattering my thoughts and dreams.

"You are a weak piece of garbage right now. Maybe eventually, you can be that hero you want to be, but until then, you're going to have to work for it, and that means sucking it up, throwing out your incredibly massive ego, and doing what you have to do." She explained.

"I…you wouldn't understand." I countered, grasping at straws in an attempt to preserve my own perception of the world.

"Oh? I wouldn't" She challenged. And with that, she pulled her hood down and revealed her face.

Her horribly burned face.

It was also now quite clear why I could only see one eye glowing in the darkness. That's because she only had one eye.

"Ruby, wha-?" I tried to say, but I just couldn't find the words.

I was both disgusted and horrified by what I saw. I wanted to turn away, to look at anything other than her disfigured face, but I found I couldn't.

"This, happened because I am weak Jaune. It was a training accident, a little explosion. Something someone with Aura like yours would have weathered like it was nothing. It would have exploded in your face, and you could have just walked away and laughed it off." She began to explain.

"I, on the other hand, cannot. My aura can't protect me Jaune, not really. If I ever get hit, I will get hurt, badly. I cannot afford to simply be good, I have to be at the top of my game because one mistake will cost me dearly."

"Fortunately, my Aura isn't completely useless, and almost always be able to heal me. It will usually give me a second chance most wouldn't get. So, by the end of the week, it should look like nothing ever happened. I'll probably have grown my right eye back by tomorrow." She explained, getting slightly off track as she looked up

"But that's not the point, Jaune. The point is, that I'm weak too. I know weakness very well, and am intimately familiar with being so weak you can't even save yourself." She said, turning back to me.

"And a part of me will never be strong. In addition, I'm sure you can tell I'm not the most physically fit and capable person. I'm not big and strong like Pyrrha is." She said, gesturing to her small body.

"So yes Jaune, I know what it's like to be weak, and in some ways, I will never be strong. But, instead of whining about it, or blaming someone else about, or just accepting defeat, I adapted. I did what I could, what I had to do, to get the strength I so desired."

"The fact is Jaune, beggars can't be choosers. And if you want power, you have to chase after it and work for it. It won't always just be handed to you." She finished.

"So…" I began, still a little dazed from Lilith's rant, and her making my delusional reality come crashing down around me.

"What are you saying?"

She sighed loudly, once more pinching the bridge of her nose, before saying, "I'm saying you need to accept Pyrrha's offer and let one of the strongest, most well trained, and experienced individuals in the school help you get stronger."

Then, she paused.

"You should probably apologize to her first, though." She added, almost as an afterthought.

Now it was my turn to sigh, though this time in resignation.

She was right. 100% right. I couldn't afford to be picky about how I got strong, especially when someone like Pyrrha is offering to help.

Not to mention, now that Lilith had cleared my head of all my emotional pride, I could see I was kind of an asshole to Pyrrha. And I was even more of an asshole for not even realizing it, and just thinking of myself.

"Ok...you're right," I said, looking down at the ground

"I need to go talk to Pyrrha," I admitted.

But I began to think, realizing a problem.

I have to find her first


Pyrrha pov

Where is it? I thought, searching frantically for my journal.

I had arrived at the location sent to me, but my journal was nowhere in sight. So, panicking, I went looking for it. As each second went by without its discovery, my headache only grew stronger, and more agonizing. It was like a loud drum was thundering inside my head, going-

Thuum…...Thuum…...Thuum…...

I could feel my heart racing from the stress I was under, my body and mind straining over it all. But I was pulled from my thoughts by two sounds.

Footsteps…

And laughing.

"Wow, never I thought I'd see something like this. At least, not yet. This thing must mean a lot to you, huh?" A confident male voice chuckled from behind me.

I got up and spun around to see who said that, and was met with a somewhat surprising sight.

There were four boys, standing there at the edge of the light in this darkness, all of them surrounding me. They all had various hairstyles, colors, and were wearing the school uniform for freshmen, but the only one that mattered to me was the tall one in the middle. He had short brown hair, an arrogant smirk on his face, and held in one of his massive hands was a thick, black, leather-bound book.

My Journal.

Then I recognized him. I recognized all of them. It was Cardin Winchester, and his team, CRDL.

"C-Cardin?" I asked, "W-what is this?"

Seeing that book in his hands just made my migraine explode in agony again, creating blinding detonations of pain inside my skull.

THUUM….THUUM…..THUUM

It was so bad I could barely talk, let alone think.

"What, this?" He chuckled, gesturing to his smirking comrades.

"I just found something of yours, and thought we should have a nice little meeting about it." He explained.

"Found?" I questioned, not believing him.

He and his team must have been the ones to raid my locker I realized.

"Yeah, and when I read what was inside, I knew it must have been yours."

"Y-you read it?" I questioned, stunned.

No no no. This is bad. This is incredibly bad, this was absolutely apocalyptic. I thought panic and fear flooding my mind, I'm addition to the stress already there.

"Oh yeah. And, man, does it have some juicy stuff. Real dark secrets in here Pyrrha. I mean, everyone would be shocked to learn about what was in here." He said as he patted the book in his hands, affirming my darkest fears.

"No! Please." I shouted, begging them not to. The things in that book could destroy everything I had spent the last several years trying to build.

At my words, they all gave each over smug, confident smiles.

"Okay," Cardin said with a smile.

"But I think we deserve something for being such good friends, after all, you owe us for this, you owe us big." He added, his smirking smirk turning predatory.

As he spoke, and the realization of where this was going sunk in, that stress, that pressure, that thundering in my mind grew once more. It was now more than agony, more than just pain, than fear and despair.

It felt like something was clawing through my mind, tearing through it and ripping it apart from the inside out.

Like something was growing inside my mind, a pressure building inside, trying to burst out and break me. Like my own psyche was crumbling to pieces under the strain. Like I was falling apart at the seams under all this tension trying to tear me apart inside.

It was more than I could take, and I couldn't help but clutch my head and groan my head in agony. I grit my teeth together so hard I could practically feel then crack under the pressure.

THUUM…...THUUM…...THUUM

As my ability to perceive and process the world slowly deteriorated from the painfully thumping pressure in my mind, I heard one last thing.

"Are you even listening to me, bitch?" a voice said, just barely able to cut through the static.

I wanted to respond, I wanted to act, to do something. But I couldn't all I could do was clutch my head in agony as my world fell apart.

Then, something rocked me, something real. A strong blow crashed into the side of my face, slamming into my jaw, and sending my head swinging to the side. Pain, both inside and outside, filled me, and the scent and taste of blood filled my mouth and my mind.

Then…

I broke.

No, I shattered.

My mind split open under the strain, the blow and the blood being the final straw. Everything fell to pieces and was cast adrift.

As everything fell into a black void of nothingness, I only had one final thought.

Make it stop


Cardin pov

Things had been going all according to plan.

We had raided the "Invincible Girl's" locker when we found out that she wasn't coming back. I thought it would be a great chance to get some merchandise from the apparently dead star.

Then we found her diary, and later it turned out that she was still alive.

While on the one hand, that might have been a bad thing, it also meant we had an incredible opportunity here.

We couldn't actually get the diary open, the lock was uncrackable, and it didn't even seem to have a keyhole. When we tried to bust it open, the pages started to glow orange and the book began to heat up.

Obviously, it was some kind of fancy security system, one that would probably blow the book up or something if we opened it wrong.

But, on further thought, that didn't matter. Judging by the lengths she went to keep it secret, there was some pretty juicy stuff in here. Stuff we could use to blackmail her.

Stuff so bad we probably didn't even need to even to actually open it to threaten her. We just needed her to think we had read it, and then blackmail her with that.

Then we'd make her do something illegal or embarrassing or something, some real blackmail. We'd use that to make her open her diary, and we'd know every dirty secret about her.

And from there, she'd be our little servant, our little slave for life. The champion of Mistral, under our thumb, under my thumb.

And we made the perfect plan to make it happen.

And it all went great. Turns out the "Invincible Girl" was actually pretty docile. She looked completely devastated, didn't really seem to be putting up a fight either. At this rate, we might actually very able to get to the fun stuff sooner than I thought.

But then, something happened. As I was talking she had some kind of freak out. She just clutched her head in agony, not even looking at me.

And that made me mad.

"Hey bitch, are you even listening?" I questioned, shouting at her to get her attention.

But still, she didn't do anything.

"Hey Cardin, you think something's wrong with her?" Russell asked me, looking at her a bit nervously.

I scoffed at his statement.

"It doesn't matter if she is or isn't. Just like dad says. Sometimes you need to be nice, but firm. And sometimes you need to show them who's boss. Either way, it's all about who's on top, and who's the bitch." I explained, walking up to the dumb bitch in question.

It looked like there was going to be a change of plans, considering how unresponsive she was being. It passed me off seeing her ignoring me like that, and I was going to teach her a lesson she would never forgot.

As I towered over her hunched form, I smirked at the thought of what I was about to do.

I reared back my right arm, before throwing a strong haymaker right at her face, twisting her face to the side and knocking her back a bit.

Feeling something wet on my hand, I looked down to see blood on my fist. Surprised, I looked back up at Pyrrha to see her staring at the ground, stunned from what I had done, and bleeding from her lips.

She's bleeding? I thought, confused.

Her aura should have blocked part of that blow. I mean, it would have hurt like hell probably, but wouldn't have been able to do enough damage to her to make her bleed.

Then, I smirked again.

I guess that just means she's weak right now. This is the perfect chance. I thought.

her, plain and simple. But now she was vulnerable. It'd be even easier to take her down.

And when she was beaten, broken, and probably unconscious, that's when we'd take advantage of her. We'd stripped her down, take pictures of her naked and bruised. We might even take it even farther, have some fun with her if we felt in the mood.

Then we'd have that blackmail, and she'd be right in the palm of my hands.

But first, we have to teach this dumb bitch a lesson.

Before I could think about it any further, I was pulled from my thoughts by the sound of Pyrrha spitting a thick global of blood onto the ground. One that included a…

...is that a tooth? I wondered

As she wiped the blood from her mouth with the back of her hand, her emerald eyes fluted around taking everything in around with a certain sharpness that wasn't there before. Then, those eyes locked onto my own, and the feeling I felt from looking straight at her now was...indescribable.

Her once bright emerald eyes filled with fear and uncertainty, had darkened to near blackness, and were filled with a razor sharp focus that was unsettling to look at.

Then, just as fast as she looked at me, she glanced away, looking at something else.

What is up with this girl? I wondered, bewildered by her strange behavior.

Then I shook my head.

I'm not going to let some crazy fucking bitch spook me. I thought with resolve taking hold within me.

So I turned to Russell and said with a smile, "Hey Russell. Why don't you take a swing at the dumb bitch?"

"Uh. I don't know Cardin." He said uncertainly, Pyrrha's strange behavior unsettling him.

I almost wanted to groan. Russell was weak willed and easy enough to cow, it just got annoying constantly having to deal with him second guessing me with his hesitation. That's one of the reasons I wanted to Russell to take a swing at her. It would help bring him under my authority more, to make him see things my way. The more he did it, the more he'd get used to it.

I didn't want to have to beat up my own teammates, but if I had to retain absolute control, I would.

"Come on Russell. It'll be fine. The bitch has it coming. Sides, we need to set an example." I said, walking over to him and slinging an arm around his shoulder.

"Just give her a nice strong hook, punch her straight in the face. Put your all into, though, don't hold back." I said as pushed him toward Pyrrha.

I could see one his face the way he was being swayed over to my side. His resolve growing as he committed to it.

"Ok Cardin." He said, nodding as he flashed me a confident smile, one I returned with a pleased one.

So, turning back to Pyrrha, he reared back a fist, and charged forward, aiming to throw a haymaker at her face.

But, as he approached her, her head snapped to him, her eyes narrowed into focused slits roiling fury, and suddenly everything changed. As time seemed to slow to a crawl, I couldn't help but feel like I was in the presence of an apex predator.

And that's where it all went wrong.


? Pov

Strange… I thought.

My first thought, really.

I was…awake…again.

I didn't really have a fantastic sense of time when I was…asleep, but it still felt like I had been out for an eternity. Like I had risen from the dead.

Wait…that's not…entirely…right. I thought, remembering a glimpse of time when I arose for a few minutes. It wasn't long, and I didn't really take too much in due to the circumstances, but I was awake. But that felt different, like I was kind of in a haze and like everything was in a chaotic buzz.

This was different.

The metallic taste of blood filled my mouth and nose, rousing old memories from their slumber. It wasn't just any blood, it was my blood. A taste I was intimately familiar with. Waking up with the taste of my own blood in my mouth or the scent of blood in the air was nothing new. If anything, it was comfortingly normal. As if it was the universe was saying that as different as things were, some things never change.

After I noticed the blood, however, I noticed the pain in my jaw. Again, nothing new there. I was rather intimately familiar pain. What was a little odd was the loose tooth in my mouth, my tooth, most likely.

It wasn't explicitly unprecedented, just…different.

Then again, I've woken up to being stabbed with a sword before, so having a loose tooth wasn't very concerning.

Without wasting much time I spat the tooth out, along with the blood that had collected in my mouth.

Now that that was taken care of, it was time to figure out what the hell was going on. So, I opened my eyes and looked around.

huh…I thought in mute surprise.

There were a lot of things I was expecting. This wasn't one of them.

It was night, and off to the right, I could see a forest and the edge of a cliff, with the shattered moon of Remnant hanging over it. To the left, however, was a series of buildings of the same general architectural theme, including a rather tall black clock tower. Not that I was the biggest expert of the country, but it certainly didn't seem like I was back in Mistral, which was odd.

Not sure what I was doing outside of Mistral, but that wasn't really my immediate concern.

What was a little more concerning was the four boys standing before me. They were all about 16-18, maybe 20 at the oldest, if I had to guess, and they were all wearing what looked like a school uniform.

Maybe I'm at some kind of school? I considered.

I guess that would make sense. He did want me in school. This might be some higher level foreign school. I thought.

As I looked around I noted that it was just the five of us here and that we seemed to be in a pretty secluded spot. The fact that the boys seemed to be surrounding me didn't escape me either.

I looked them all over, but only one really stood out to me. He had short brown hair, lightly tanned, but mostly pale, skin, and was taller and more muscular than the others. I caught his brown eyes for a moment, and saw the most momentary flinch in him, before it was replaced with brash confidence and a touch of irritation.

Then I moved on, looking over the others and taking in the rest of my surroundings in more detail, trying to discern more clues about where I was, and what was going on. In the background, I vaguely registered some voices saying something.

Then, I was torn from my thoughts when I saw out of the corner of my eye a flash of movement and felt an aggressive twist in the aura of one of the boys.

Snapping my head to the one approaching me, one of the more unimpressive ones, I saw him running at me with a fist pulled back.

In that instant, everything changed.

They were no longer considered potential threats, he was now an enemy, and that changed everything.

I could feel my heart begin to beat faster, furiously pumping blood through my body as adrenaline surged through my system. My mind kicked into overdrive and everything began to slow to a crawl. My muscles became tense in anticipation, and my eyes focused on every aspect of his person.

As he closed in on me, I mentally designated all four boys as E1, E2, E3, and E4, with E1 being the one coming at me, and E4 being the large boy staying back and looking at me with a smug smirk.

Then, once the boy came close enough, throwing his fist forward in an undisciplined form, I made my move.

I shot my left arm forward, grabbing onto the boys outstretched wrist, twisted it, and pulled it forward and away from me. In that same instant, I focused the aura around my arm, narrowing it and condensing it, before slinging it forward in a vicious lightning fast right hook.

My fist slammed into the side of his face, with the focusing of my aura enhancing the effect of the punch and allowing more force to punch through his own aura. His head snapped to the side, and I could feel the tiny cracks develop in his jaw from the impact.

Without giving him the chance to retaliate, I followed through with a reverse elbow in the face again, once again focusing the aura around my elbow to give it added impact. It snapped his head back the other way, just as fast, and cracked his jaw even more.

Stunned, he was helpless as I seamlessly snapped his wrist with my left hand, before letting go of it and grabbing hold of the back of his neck with both hands. Then, I brought it plunging down, as I sent my knee driving upwards into his chest.

Specifically, his liver.

The aura enhanced knee crashed into his aura, pushed it forward, plunging into his chest, caving it inwards as it slammed into his liver. Upon contact, I could feel his body spasm in agonizing pain from the blow, but even still, I didn't relent.

I hit again and again, kneeing him in the liver over and over, 4 times in a row, before changing it up. Releasing his neck, I grabbed onto his head, before slamming his face straight into my knee, breaking his nose.

When I released him, he stumbled back, stunned and dazed from the pain and having his head treated like a punching bag. His brain was no doubt sloshing around inside his skull. Aura or no, concussions could still happen, and they could still be debilitating.

Seeing he was on the ropes, and feeling that his aura was significantly drained, I decided to end it.

Snapping a roundhouse kick directly at his head, rocking his skull again, I followed through with a leg sweep. As he crashed to the ground, I switched positions again. With him laid out before me, helpless to do anything, and his aura almost gone, I raised my right leg and prepared my finishing blow. I focused my aura in the heel of my foot to a razor's edge, condensing and solidifying it enough to make my aura actually a little visible on it, I swung it down in a devastating axe-kick.

One aimed directly at his neck.

The blow would crush his neck, aura or no. There was even the distinct chance that the severity of the blow would cause it to explode in a small shower of gore, like slamming a sledgehammer into a watermelon.

And with this blow, I end your life I thought with absolute certainty, and not even a trace of regret or remorse.

I was going to kill him. That was what I did to my enemies, to my opponents. That's who I was, and how I was always taught. To end your opponent, forever.

But, as those thoughts ran through my mind, as my intent to kill him solidified within my soul, time slowed to a near stop, a pang of pain echoed in my head, and a shadowed memory was brought into the light.

"That was a request, this is an order, do not kill anyone at school. Understood?" His voice echoed in my mind.

I blinked.

Orders are orders. I sighed mentally

So, I shifted my attack ever so slightly, aiming just a little higher on his body.

And so, my foot crashed down on his face like a freight train. The force was so great that it cratered the ground below his head with a loud crack, throwing debris into the air. It pushed through, then shattered his aura. I could feel it as his skull cracked, fractured, and broke under the tremendous pressure of my foot. I could feel it as his left eye popped under my heel like an overripe grape, covering my foot in it's wet, bloody, remains.

But, he wasn't dead.

He was almost dead, on the edge of life really, but he would live. His Aura would help, even in its now dormant state. It would keep him alive. Even if he would never fully recover.

Retracting my foot from his dented face, I took a moment to reflect on the situation with a sigh.

Well, this complicates matters. I thought.

I was never terribly good at the whole "not kill" thing, that and "holding back". It's mainly because it completely went against the way I had lived before he took me. Rarely did I encounter days where I was supposed to let my opponent end the match still breathing, and even rarer was it that they were supposed to be able to actually fight me again.

It was really a kill or be killed life. That said, I grew to like it, in a way. It was simple, and it was what I was good at.

Still, "adapt or die", as they say. And I Refused to die.

I would adapt to his will. Even if it was the hardest thing I had ever done.

I was pulled from my thoughts when I noticed that E2 had attempted to sneak up behind me, and was now delivering a roundhouse kick of his own to my back, all while E3 charged me from the front.

With these movements, E2 and 3 sealed their fates, as they now became my opponents as well.

Still, E2 would hit me before E3 got to me, meaning I had time to counterattack him first, then E3.

So, spinning around, I caught E2's foot with my left arm, clutching with an iron grip. At the same time, I slammed an elbow into his knee. The aura enhanced blow hit the joint like a sledgehammer, the sheer force of it bypassing his aura. I could feel his knee shatter under the pressure of my elbow, as well as the numerous bursting blood veins.

Then, seamlessly following through, I pulled him forward with my left arm and reared it back. As he flew toward me in slow motion, I could see the look on his face, the combination of shock, agony, and terror all mixed into one. If I was a certain type of person, I might have found pleasure in it. As it was, seeing the fear in his eyes only gave me the satisfaction of knowing that he wasn't going to surprise me some hidden weapon or semblance.

So, continuing my counter attack, I threw a powerful haymaker into the side of his head, right into his ear. The impact crushed his ear, and cracked the side of his skull, before the change of momentum took place, and it slammed his head into the concrete below him. It crashed into the ground with another Crack, blood pouring from the mangled mess that was his right ear.

Instead of taking the time to admire that damage, I elected to deal with E3.

Ducking down under his punch, I gave him a strong right elbow straight to the gut, specifically the solar plexus. The powerful strike to the nerve cluster knocked the wind out of him and caused him to be paralyzed in pain. I transitioned from my reverse elbow into grabbing hold of his right arm outstretched above me, and flipping him over me.

I threw him onto the ground using his arm for leverage, and then, in one seamless motion, I broke his arm by bending it completely backward at the elbow, breaking the joint and shattering bone with a snap.

As he lay there spasming and shouting in agony, I moved back to E2, who was cradling his injured knee in an attempt to relieve his pain. I stomped on said joint hard, crushing what remained of his knee into little more than blood and dust. As he howled again in pain, I silenced him with a hard swift kick to the left side of his head, crushing his other ear and turning it into another bloody mess.

With each move I made, with each strike I launched, I could feel my heart race, my blood pumping through my body. I felt something inside me stirring, roiling with fury. As if it had been restrained for so long, and now it finally got to be free.

I turned back to E3, I saw that he had managed to get up, and had managed to fight through the pain enough to try and strike back at me. He charged me again, this time with his left arm leading.

It looks like he hasn't learned his lesson. I thought.

I ducked down and slammed my shoulder into his chest as I wrapped my arms around him. I picked him up and threw him onto the ground with me on top of him. I gave him a quick punch to the face to stun him, before grabbing hold of his right arm again, and getting up off him. I planted a foot on his chest, twisted his right arm, and pulled.

The bones, tendons, and muscles in his elbow had been ruined by both me snapping it back, and now by me twisting it far beyond what it should twist. There was little keeping it in place other than the remaining muscles, skin, and tendons. Combined with what remained of his aura, it was strong.

But I was stronger.

I formed a determined and grisly grimace as I bared my grit teeth at him, pulling his arm as hard as I could. I could feel the skin, muscle, and tendons stretch as they tried their hardest to resist. I could feel, and even hear all the joints in his arm and shoulder go pop as they dislocated under the strain. The boy under my foot screamed in agony, begging me to stop, going-

"No! No, please! Stop! STOP!" He yelled at the top of his lungs in agony.

Then, with a wet, gory, Snap!, his arm finally gave in.

I tore his right arm in half at the elbow, blood pouring out from the wound on both sides, splattering both of us with it. Pieces of gore flew out from the joint as it was finally ripped apart, and the side I was holding snapped back to me, no longer held back by the rest of his arm.

The boy himself was still screaming from the pain of having his arm ripped off. It was now unintelligible hollering, and more importantly, annoying.

Shut up. I thought, his screams giving me a headache.

SHUT UP! I thought again, silencing his screams with a powerful stomp on his face, strong enough to plant his head into the pavement beneath him.

I stood over him, looking down at his now unconscious and broken form. He was alive, and his aura was still there. Enough to keep him from bleeding out. But there were other concerns.

What was that? I questioned, calming down slightly.

I was stronger now. I lot stronger. When I was last awake I shouldn't have been strong enough to tear his arm off. Cut it off, sure, but to literally rip it off?

And actually, now that I thought about it, I felt taller than before too. But that wasn't my biggest concern.

I felt this…underlying fury, something I thought I had conquered long ago. Whenever I fought I always felt it, the fury of combat, the blood pumping through my veins, primal urge to go berserk. It was something that had been, quite literally, beaten out of my head at an early age. Losing myself to my primal instincts was a good way to get killed.

I needed to be calm and in control at all times, lest I leave myself vulnerable.

It worked, to a degree, and I managed to control and focus my rage, like a shaped charge explosive, or a laser.

But this? The way I tore his arm off? The things I felt as I did it?

This is disconcerting I thought with a frown.

The rage inside felt stronger than it ever did before. It felt like something was roaring inside, screaming in my ear for me to just tear everything limb from limb. It wanted to kill, murder, rampage, and lose itself in the joys of endless combat.

And it meant I was going to need to find a way to tame it again. I need my control over myself. It was a part of who I was. And I refused to lose myself to my basest desires.

I was pulled from my thoughts when I heard the sound of screeching metal to my left.

Turning, I saw the last one, E4, rip a pipe out of the ground and out of the rest of its mounting. As it tore free of the ground, a large clump of concrete remained imbedded in it, giving the boy a makeshift mace in his hands.

"I'm going to make you pay you fucking bitch!" He shouted at me, fury in his burning brown eyes.

This one was different. His aura was stronger and more aggressive. The others had an awakened aura, but while I was fighting them it wasn't active. In aura's passive mode, it could still protect and heal, but it was less effective and took no conscious thought to be in effect. While active, however, it was more effective and you could micro manage it, making it more effective defensively, offensively, or focus where its effects would be.

Judging by the way it was radiating off him, it was active, but unfocused.

It meant he was more of a threat, but probably not a true danger.

Still, it was best to take him seriously. As I learned very early on in life, even a child can kill a man if the cards fall in all the right spots.

So, roaring at me once more, he charged at me with his makeshift mace.

I rolled under his first swing, before springing up and delivering a strong kick to the back of his knee. It wasn't nearly as devastating as my elbow was to E2, but it didn't need to be. I wasn't planning on taking this giant down in just one or two blows. I would whittle him down until he crumbled.

So, pulling back, I ducked under another angry swing as he spun around again.

"Stop moving bitch, and let me just hit you!" He yelled in frustration.

I spun around a downward swing of the pipe, dodging it as it impacted the ground hard enough to make a small crater. As I did, I countered with spinning back kick to the same knee. Once again, his aura managed to cushion most of the blow, but I knew it was taking its toll on him.

Growling at me in rage, he lifted the pipe up off the ground and swung it up at me. I dodged it effortlessly by simply leaning out of the way, and backpedaled out of his range.

"Get back here Bitch! Stop running away!" He roared, swinging at me wildly.

But I dodged every swing, waiting for the right time to strike. Then, it came.

He over extended a swing, putting himself slightly off balance, giving me an opening.

Taking it, I delivered a punishing roundhouse kick to the same knee again. It wasn't enough to truly break his knee, but judging by how he screamed in pain and fell to one knee, it was enough to at least fracture it.

He looked toward me, glaring at me with enough hatred and murder in his eyes to make a lesser person flinch. He snarled, "fuck you!", at me, the only way he could actually strike back at me.

Not that it even meant anything to me really.

He managed to pull himself back up to his feet, before fully turning the rest of his body to me. He was limping on his injured knee heavily, the pain it was in obvious. He was also panting, exhausted from all the fruitless swinging he had done earlier. After all, it took more energy to swing and miss, than hit.

So he was tired and injured. His mobility was shot, and his technique destroyed.

He was vulnerable.

And so, I decided to finally go on the offensive.

Gripping the severed arm still in my hands, I threw it at his face. Surprised by the action, he tried to bat it away, leaving him a massive opening as he shielded his face. I charged forward and shoved my fist into his gut, punching him straight in the kidney. The powerful blow forced the air from his lungs.

Still, he managed to recover enough to take a wild, angry, swing at me. Instead of dodging it this time, I caught is wrist as he swung at me, blocking it. Then, I twisted his wrist, hard, painfully snapping it. As ra reflex, he let go of the pipe as he shouted in pain.

Instead of falling to the ground, I caught the pipe in the air with my semblance, polarity. Using my control over magnetism, I threw the pipe to my right hand, which was now free from E4's gut. Catching it high in the air over my head, I looked into the boy's eyes before I struck.

They were no longer filled with that confidence from when I first saw him, nor the same rage as he had from a few seconds ago. They still held anger, but now they also held pain, surprise, and fear. Lots of fear.

But I didn't care. I would finish this on my terms.

So, I swung down with the pipe, the rocky side of it slamming into the boy's neck. He aura managed to buff most of the blow, it still did its damage. On the backswing I hit him on the left side of the face, snapping his head to the side. With each blow, I hit him so hard some of the concrete stuck to the end of the makeshift mace fell away.

Then, I came down again, hitting him on the right side of his face and snapping his head the other direction. I followed through with a devastating uppercut to the chin using the pipe. On the return of the swing, I spun around, gaining energy through the centrifugal force of the swing, before smashing it into the front of his face.

It hit him so hard that the concrete on the end of the pipe completely shattered and broke on his face, crumbling away from the metal pipe. The blow held so much force, it was enough to break his nose through his aura, and send him flying backwards. He spun as he fell, landing on his chest. As he flew through the air for the briefest of moments, a silver rectangular object flew out of his pocket and clattered to the ground in front of him.

Groaning and cursing in pain, he looked toward the source of the sound. When he saw it, a glimmer of hope twinkled in his eyes, and he began crawling to it.

Seeing that he was still conscious, and mostly in one piece, I decided to put an end to this.

But how? I wondered.

I couldn't kill him, so I couldn't end him completely. But I also knew that he could be a threat to me later on. I saw the burning hate within him, how much he hated me, wanted to make me suffer. That hate probably wouldn't be going anywhere, and would instead fester inside him until he finally came at me again. He would endlessly try to bring me down and take me out.

Unfortunately, since he had to live, I couldn't do much about that.

Then, as I looked at him crawling away from me, staring at his back as I held the broken pipe in my hands, a thought struck me.

Yes… I thought That could work

So I walked up to him, stopped his crawling by planting one foot on his back, raised my right arm.

"What are you doing?!" E4 questioned fearfully, "Get off me!"

I ignored him as I focused my semblance on the metal rod in my hands. I enveloped it and held it in a magnetic field in my hands, before causing it to spin rapidly. Then, manipulating the magnetic fields again, I forced the metal pipe to heat up enough to glow red hot. Then, I finished by shooting the rod with my semblance at insane speeds at his back.

The metal rod flew at such great speed and with such incredible force that it shattered his aura, speared through his back, and imbedded itself in the concrete floor beneath him, pinning him there. But, I was careful in my aim. I didn't shoot that rod just anywhere. I hit him directly in the lower spine, destroying it at the base of his back. The damage done was irreparable, and it would leave him paralyzed from the waist down for the rest of his life unless he got expensive cybernetic prosthetics. But, even if he did, he would never be a serious threat to me again, not that he really was here.

E4 screamed in agony from the attack, launching a loud string of expletives from his pain. The unpleasant sound was matched by the unpleasant smell of burning flesh as the red hot rod cauterized all the bleeding wounds it had caused. The whole thing was exacerbating the massive headache I already had, and I was not in the mood for his crying.

So I crouched down next to his head and gripped him by the back of his skull. Instantly, he stopped thrashing around and froze in silent, whimpering, terror.

"You're too loud," I said to him quietly in his ear.

Then, without another word, I slammed his face into the concrete, again and again, until he stopped moving.

He was still alive, of that I made sure, but he was finally unconscious, which meant he would finally shut up.

I stood up and looked around and the aftermath of the little skirmish I had with the four boys. It wasn't particularly hard, but it was a little insightful. Wherever I was, it was a place with a lot of people who had their Aura awakened. A hunter academy of some kind, if I had to guess. It made sense, as he did send me to a combat school while I was last awake. A hunter academy was the next logical step.

And on that note I thought, walking up to darkened window, how much time has passed.

When I finally stood in front of it, I couldn't help but be a little surprised at my reflection.

huh… I thought in mute surprise.

Apparently a lot of time had passed. Years, if the reflection was any indication. If I had to guess, I would say I was about 18. Compared to 13 when I was last awake. I was also a lot taller, probably around 6'8" or so. I had also gotten more…feminine…growing curves and such.

These are new I thought, poking the inert mounds of flesh that had grown on my chest.

Can't say I really approve I added with a frown.

Then, I noticed something else in the reflection. Something…weird.

Green? I silently questioned.

My eyes were green. A dark emerald green. That was…strange.

Why are they green? I wondered, a little freaked out by that.

My hair was still blood red, my face still looked mostly the same, just older and more…beautiful…I suppose. But my eyes were green.

Maybe… I considered, before testing it.

Raising a finger up to my eye, I successfully pulled a contact lens from my left eye.

And once I did, it revealed that under the lens my eyes were a dark, bloody, crimson.

Ah, that's better I thought, comforted by the sight of my familiar scarlet eyes.

As I looked down at the green tinted lenses, I could only wonder why I was wearing them.

Maybe she was wearing them? Is she the one who's been awake all this time? I considered as I looked at the lens before shaking my head.

It wasn't my problem. I was probably going to go to bed and wake up again when she needed me. She could deal with her stuff when she got up.

I also noticed something else. I was wearing the same uniform as the boys were, just a female version with a skirt.

Frowning as I put the lens back in, I thought, Can't say I'm really a fan of skirts.

Turning around I looked back at the boys I had defeated and smiled slightly. I felt proud of what I had done. I had defeated all of them, eliminated them as threats, and all without killing them. I was sure he would have been proud of what I had done if he was here too. I might even tell him if I got the chance.

Then, two things got my attention.

First, was the silver object laying before E4. I walked up to and picked it up, seeing what it was. The screen lit up when I pressed a button on it and became filled with icons.

Confused, I searched my memories for what it could be.

Aaah, this a scroll isn't it I realized.

He gave me one once. I never really used it, though, not seeing too much purpose in it besides being good for contacting him. Honestly, I liked analog stuff more. It's what I was used to.

On a whim, I decided to collect see if any of the others had scrolls, which they did. I briefly entertained the idea of keeping one of theirs, before something vibrated in my jacket pocket. Surprised, I fished inside it, before I drew out a silver scroll of my own.

Huh. I already have one. I thought, pleasantly surprised.

Looking at the screen it said someone called "Jaune" was calling me. Whoever the hell "Jaune" was. In the end, I elected not to answer his call. I didn't know him, and I didn't really care about anyone I didn't know. It was, of course, after the call, that I realized that if my scroll recognized and named him, then that meant that she knew him.

Dammit I silently cursed as I smacked myself in the face for my shortsightedness.

I could have gotten information from him about what was going on I realized.

Sighing, I moved on. Now that I knew I had a scroll of my own, I didn't need the ones from the boys.

So I decided to throw them in the forest. Mostly because I just wanted to see how far I could throw them with my new strength, and because I couldn't really find a reason why I should keep them.

So with that out of the way, I moved back to the second thing that caught my attention.

The journal.

The black book lay on the ground near the unconscious bodies of the boys. Walking over to it, I picked it up and held it gently in my arms, as if it was some sacred relic. For me, it practically was. I carefully brushed the dirt off it and held my hand up against the golden locking mechanism on the cover.

Using my semblance, I reached inside the lock and magnetically unsealed the book, releasing the lock with a click. I opened the book and briefly browsed through the contents, mostly to see about catching up on what had happened. However, it seemed that she had stopped writing in the journal about 4 years ago.

Why? I wondered.

Shrugging, I closed and locked the journal once more. Looking around at everything around me, I sighed. I was about to leave when I realized something.

Wait…they…they're wearing pants. I thought.

And…some of them look just my size. I realized.

Looking toward E2 and 4, I thought,

And it's not like they'll need them anymore.


Later

"Pyrrha!" A voice sounded from behind me.

I ignored it. It was someone else's problem.

"Pyrrha!" It said again, this time much closer. I began to hear the sound of footsteps pounding on pavement as someone run my way.

Still ignoring, I continued to walk forward, not really having any particular place in mind, just kind of looking around the campus for the moment.

"Pyrrha! Wait up!" It said again, much closer.

"Pyrr-" It stopped.

It stopped because the source of the voice had attempted to grab my arm, something I disapproved of. So, I turned and grabbed him by the wrist before he could.

I say he, because apparently it was another boy. This one, however, wasn't oozing any hostile intent. Despite attempting to touch me, it could have been in a non-hostile action.

Hmm…not an enemy I decided, letting go of his hand.

He stared at me sheepishly with his sapphire blue eyes. He was shorter than me, came up to about my neck, and had golden blond hair to match those sapphire blue eyes. He was also wearing the same uniform, meaning he was also a student, meaning I couldn't kill him either.

"Er, hey Pyr-wait. Where did you get those pants?" He asked, gesturing towards the pair I was wearing, as well as the pairs I had slung over my shoulder.

I could have told them I took them off a bunch of boys his age who decided they wanted to fight and have now all been crippled for life. That it turned out that E1, 2, and 3's pants fit me well enough, and E4's would need a belt, but it would work.

But…

Instead, I shrugged.

He gave me a strange look, before shaking his head and beginning again.

"Nevermind, Pyrrha, it doesn't matter." He said

Wait, what? Who the fuck is Pyrrha? I wondered, giving him a puzzled look.

"I know you're probably a little mad at me, I was kind of a jerk to you." He began.

Wait, does he think I'm Pyrrha? I thought, bewildered.

Why would he think that? Unless… I began to consider.

Maybe he knows me as Pyrrha, or, well, her, as Pyrrha. Perhaps he decided to give her, us, a new name, and now we're known as Pyrrha?

Hmm…that's the only think I can think of I decided. It made sense.

While I had pondered about it, the boy in front of me kept rambling on and on about something. Honestly, I wasn't paying attention to it, too absorbed in my own thoughts.

Like the thought that he looked very familiar.

Wait a minute. Is that…him? I thought.

And it was. The boy before me was the same boy I had seen when I had woken briefly last time, when I had slain the large Deathstalker and saved him from a tornado.

I remember. It was him, the Faunus, and the smaller girl playing dead. I thought.

Considering that I was at what was likely a hunter academy, I was willing to guess that they were my team. He had told me that apparently at hunter academies they make teams of four students. It was the most likely explanation for why I was with the three of them. Which meant that the boy before me was my teammate.

I wonder if he knows where I sleep? I wondered.

"-So, what I'm trying to say is that I'm sorry for being an asshole to you." He apologized, me catching the tail end of his speech.

Wait, what? I wondered, confused.

Why is he apologizing? What did he do?

"So…are you still mad at me?" He asked, pleading for forgiveness. He looked into my eyes with those sapphire ones so filled with regret and hope, and…I didn't know what to do.

My experience with other people outside of fighting them and killing them, training how to fight and kill them, and being told by others who I could and could not fight and kill, wasn't very high. I had literally no idea how to respond to this.

So instead I just stared at him with a raised brow, wondering how the hell to respond.

"Uh…Pyrrha?" He asked uncertainly, looking nervous.

He's not going to start talking again if I don't answer him, is he? I thought, concerned about the prospects of another headache.

In the end, I decided to give the best answer I could think of.

I shrugged.

"You…don't know?" He asked.

I shrugged again.

"That's not really an answer." He pointed out.

Ok, shrugging isn't working. Time to switch tactics. So instead of shrugging, I glared at him.

It wasn't a normal glare, it was one in which I poured aura out through my eyes, giving them an eerie glow and a level of menace they didn't normally possess.

And apparently, my eyes normally held a lot of menace.

He averted his gaze from my eyes, looking away.

"Hehe, I guess there's my answer." He chuckled nervously

I responded with another shrug.

"So, Pyrrha, I was planning on heading to bed, want to join me?" He asked nervously

Then, he stopped, and his eyes practically bulged out of his head.

"Uh, I didn't mean it like that!" He panicked

"I just meant, I was heading back to the dorm, and I wanted to know if you wanted to come with me? I mean I wanted to know if you wanted to come inside with me! I mean, shit!" He tried to explain, and was failing miserably.

What the fuck is going on? I wondered, completely lost about what was happening right now.

"You know what, I'm just going to walk back to the dorm. You can join me if you want." He finally said.

"That didn't have any innuendo in it, right?" He asked, unsure.

I just gave him a blank, confused, look.

Apparently he got the message.

"Right, stupid question. Shutting up now." He said, turning around and walking back the way he came.

Finally, I sighed in relief. He shuts up. And I got to go to bed.

As I followed after him I couldn't help but think of all the changes that had happened while I was asleep.

Pretty much everything had changed, even my own name. Sure, I would do what I could to adapt, but change was hard.

But orders are orders I thought as I marched on. And he is my master.

Even still, I couldn't help but one thought that stuck in my mind.

I know I'm supposed to go by Pyrrha now I thought

But…I think I liked Kokkinos better.


A/n:

And I've updated in less than a week this time.

And with my longest chapter

ever

of all time

over 14K words of actual content

holy shit

also

Pyrrha is Kokkinos

kinda

Surprise

I legitimately don't know how much of a surprise that is, though

like, I kind of feel like I tipped my hand in Scene 16, but at the same time, I've seen some people that haven't figured it out

One of which, CoughRedCough, I had to literally fucking spell it out for them

On the flip side, I need to give a shout out to A Wraith and my beta TehUnoman who both figured it out on their own. Though, a special shout out to A Wraith, who figured it out all the way back in Scene 10, which is damn impressive.

If you're curious about hints I've given, Kokkinos is Greek for Scarlet, and who has Greek heritage and has been described as being "scarlet"? In addition, Kokkinos was also from Mistral, then there was the person Pyrrha saw in the mirror, and the way she had been acting all over initiation, and other little hints here and there, and so on and so forth.

Its actually the reason I had to change Vyssini to Kokkinos way back when, because Vyssini was supposed to mean "Crimson" in Greek, but you couldn't find that out easily, not nearly as easily as Kokkinos and Scarlet.

Now, back to the summary

Jaune did the thing in canon where he makes Pyrrha run away in tears.

Except, this time team CRDL goes after Pyrrha instead of Jaune, and Kokkinos makes them regret it

All without technically killing them

So now the get to suffer for the rest of their lives.

Anyway, Ruby told Jaune to essentially man up and stop being a whiney bitch and an asshole.

And Jaune takes that advice and tries to apologize to Pyrrha.

Only, Pyrrha's not home anymore.

And that's how we're wrapping up this arc.

Now, it might be a while before I update this story again with Scene 25. I'm probably going to take a break for a bit.

And last time doesn't count, that wasn't a break, that was me taking a long ass time to write. That said, while I'm on break, I'll probably work on Dreamstate or another project.

Anyway, in other news, Nik was a liar, and posted yesterday instead of Sunday. so Check out his fic, Tempered Iron by Niklog

And, Dan finally published his story I helped him with, Bloodied Roses, Black Gardens, by Danorac

If you don't know, BRBG is a three-way

a three-way crossover, that is.

It's a Harry Potter/RWBY/Skyrim crossover of epic proportions I helped him with. And it's awesome. That said, you'll find it under HP/RWBY because it made more sense and stuff.

Long story short, Ruby is both the girl-who-lived, and the daughter of Qrow and Lily Evans because Qrow can dimension hop like Raven cause it's a family thing. And Qrow pulled her out and raised her after Lily got killed by Voldy, and decided to go on a "family road trip" of sorts with Yang in Skyrim after weird bad shit happens in Remnant too. And Eventually Raven tags along because more weird bad shit happens. Then they go back to Remnant, then the GoF yanks her back "home", and more things occur. That said, it's just got one chapter, so don't expect all that to be happening in chapter one.

But yeah, it's pretty good, I recommend it.

Sidenote: Dan hasn't played Destiny, so he doesn't understand the reference. I was the one who came up with name, though.

And that's about it.

Back to the story, I'm a start a tiny rant, one you can skip if you want.

The Jaundice arc, in canon, annoyed the fuck ou of me for a shit ton of reasons. One, Jaune was an asshole and a dumb piece of shit and no one really called him out on it. Two, Ruby gave...weird...advice. It wasn't bad, but wasn't really good either. Just...weird. Three, the thing with Cardin and the others wasn't so much resolved as it was dropped. Not to mention how incompetent they were portrayed, running away from a single Grimm while they were fully armed and a bunch of other things, including Jaune having to "save" Pyrrha, and Pyrrha saving-but-not-saving Jaune.

Point is, it was weird.

And, often times people in FF tend to take their dislike out of team CRDL by making them weak, dumb, shitheads. Then they usually have them getting seriously fucked up by someone or something, etc etc.

So I'm just going to say it right now, I didn't do this to team CRDL because I don't like them, nor did Kokkinos. She did what they did because they attacked her. If Yang came at her instead, she would respond with the same level of force. The reason I did this to team CRDL is because I needed something to showcase Kokkinos, and they were expendable. It was all about Kokkinos, honestly, not so much about giving team CRDL their just desserts.

And on that note, I've seen so many times and OC come in and bust team CRDL up to show how badass they are or something, instead of using Pyrrha, who's supposed to be op in the show. I say supposed to be because they never actually portray that very well. She gets in, like, 6 fights, and is usually meh in all of them, except the very last two, and even then, special conditions. Honestly, Nora seemed more OP then Pyrrha, after all, she one shot an entire team, and killed the deathstalker. All in all, they didn't really do much with Pyrrha other than make her Jaune's love interest and trainer, and they didn't even work the trainer bit that much.

So yeah, I'm going to try and actually portray Pyrrha/Kokkinos being OP and shit, while also experiencing many psychological and social problems.

But that's about it. Done my rant.

You guys review and stuff, check out the things, and have a glorious day.

Oh, and this is far from the last time we see either Pyrrha or Kokkinos.