The Second Step: Chapter 4

Warrior's Path: Part 1

A/N: Well, now that we have Pyrrha's backstory all established, I guess you want me to get around to Team RWBY? Well, sorry folks, but we still got more for Miss Nikos to get through and hey, why not give some room for the rest of JNPR's daily life and some decent shenanigans?

Whose with me?

Grif! Why didn't you give the disclaimer last week!?

Meh, why bother Simmons, the readers now this?

But we need to tell the Internet that the Author doesn't own RWBY and that it belongs to Monty Oum and Rooster Teeth.

Meh. Rules.

Tuesday.

Jaune reached into the slick, wet miasma. Pyrrha groaned at the action. Jaune shifted his arm, seeking the release Pyrrha needed. His fingers scuttled around in the wetness, and Pyrrha's eyes nearly rolled out of their sockets. Finally, Jaune grunted in satisfaction as his fingers gripped the prize.

"Got it." Jaune's hand emerged from the slick, wet miasma that was the kitchen sink, clutching the stopper that had prevented the release of the soapy water. The sink drained out, officially ending the morning chore of cleaning the dishes. I mean, what else did you think they were doing? Laundry?

"Really Jaune? Did it really take you five minutes to find the drain?"

"Hey, it took you ten minutes yester..." Jaune clamped his mouth shut. Pyrrha just laughed.

"Reeennnnnnn. Wake up Ren. Remnant to Ren. Come in Ren." Nora leaned over Ren, bringing her mouth about and inch away from his ear. "Ren. Ren. Ren. REN!" Ren spasmed in his sleep and rolled out of bed.

"Good morning Ren!" Nora smiled at her lifelong friend and helped him to his feet. Ren ignored her, went to the guys closet, pulled the green tailcoat he slept in off, pulled a new, clean green tailcoat on, and went to the kitchen stove. "Pan."

Jaune handed him the pan.

"Grease."

Pyrrha handed him the grease.

"Batter. Cinnamon. Spatula. Plate." In quick succession, Pyrrha and Jaune handed all the materials needed for Ren to work his magic. In an almost zen like trance, Ren produced a masterpiece of culinary design.

"Here you are Pyrrha. Breakfast." Ren slotted a pancake onto the plate, almost absentmindedly adding a dash of syrup to the delicious food. Pyrrha thanked him and set it aside. In short order, three more large pancakes were fried into existence and allocated to their respective plates. Team JNPR, dressed for the day, gathered at the counter and using their improvised chairs, sat down and dug in.

"Vevonvuvaykvs 'gulp' every day Ren! They're amazing!" Pyrrha said. The rest of the team collectively froze and shot each other side long glances. Pyrrha smiled cheekily. "Oh, I get it. You made them for me."

Jaune swallowed his bite of pancake and turned to her. "No we didn't. Ren made them because it's that time of the month for Nora."

"Yup. I'm kinda PMSing, but not really all that bad. It's irritating, but in a good way, hey, does anyone wanna practice blowing stuff up. I would love to blow some stuff up right now, cause I'm irradiated. I mean irritated. Anyone, anyone? No one? Well okay, I'll just settled for blowing up stuff on my own. It's really fun, except when real stuff is being blown up. Then it's hilarious! Last call for blowing stuff up! Any takers?"

Most of JNPR stared at the hyperactive cutie. Ren cleared his throat. "Well, that's great Nora."

Pyrrha said, "If you're trying to make me feel better about yesterday, you don't need to." Pyrrha gave a very big, but ambiguously genuine smile. "I got over myself after fighting some Grimm yesterday."

Jaune tried to be casual. "So, you fought a Grimm yesterday. What kind, eh, a Beowulf? Boarbatusk? Any Quoths?"

"A King Taijitu, thirty Quoths, twelve Beowulves, seven Boarbatusks, eight Ursa's and an Ursa Major." Pyrrha smiled a little at Jaune and company's completely derailed shock. "Fighting is seriously cathartic. You should seriously try it some time. But thanks for helping." And Pyrrha gave Jaune a kiss on the cheek.

Jaune didn't reply. His brain was still trying to reboot from its blue screen.

Pyrrha turned back to Nora and Ren. "So, we have two hours until our classes. What do you want to do?"

Ren promptly stood up, went to his bed, and hit it like a ton of bricks. Nora looked at the sleepy green boy and the still stunned yellow boy and smiled evilly. Every little girls dream was about to come true. "Dress up."

That certainly woke up Ren and Jaune. Maybe into a nightmare, depending who you asked. "Yes! Exactly what she said! Yes!" Pyrrha said.

In an almost too enthusiastic manner, Pyrrha and Nora had both boys up and stripped to the bare essentials, and were already going through Nora's sizable collection of auxiliary clothing, selecting whatever caught their eyes. In seconds, they had wrapped their friends in a swath of fabric that was quickly resolved into some very sweet duds.

Ren had a selection of carefully metered blacks and whites, adored in a black jacket, white under shirt, black slacks, undone tie and black aviators. A wristwatch (silver, with inlaid gold) was on his right arm. But the real change was his hair, slicked back and given a twist, the magenta bang free and dangling just above his left eye, a single black hairband completing the ensemble with a ponytail.

Jaune was more mellow. Browns and whites with purple cuff links. A medallion dangled from his neck, and pumps gave him a sweet boost. His hair was combed over, but otherwise left untouched.

Pyrrha eyes the pair. Ren was pretty cut in the suit, but Jaune seemed to be missing something. Something for his face. Makeup, no. Necklace...no. Glasses? That's it!

Pyrrha and Nora took a step back to examine their work. Jaune and Ren looked great, but there was still something missing...

"Hey! How about this!" And Nora produced a large jar of white powder. Before anyone could stop her, Nora had powdered Jaune and Ren's neck and faces with the mysterious powder. Nora took a step back and chuckled, drooling slightly at the boys improved appearances.

Pyrrha nearly jumped Jaune when Nora had put the finishing touches on him. Honestly, there was sexy, and then there was what she was seeing right here in front of her. What had Nora done to him. Jaune, in the mean time, was wondering if letting Pyrrha use him as her personal doll was a good way to help her get over yesterday.

Honestly, who knew that she had such a personal problem with bullies.

(Four years ago)

Pyrrha walked into Carter's office. The same chairs were there. The same desk, pictures, everything was there. She'd just never noticed them before. The sheer oddness hit her that, in all of six months of therapy, she hadn't bothered with seeing what her therapist decided to dress her room with. For example; a Newtons cradle.

Carter set her omnipresent clipboard to the side. "I understand that you've had a breakthrough Pyrrha."

"Yes. Yeah, I did."

Carter gave a little nod. "Would you be able to recount the events surrounding your breakthrough?"

"I don't think so." Pyrrha tried to sink into the plush chair, tried to avoid the gaze of Carter, but with titanic effort, brought herself back to the open. "But I will try. I mean, I'll try."

Pyrrha went through the recount of the night Pelias tried and failed to take control of the government. Carter listened quietly, only interrupting to ask a question. Finally, when Pyrrha reached the part when she saw her sister, Carter finally raised a specific question: "Were you afraid when you saw your sister?"

Pyrrha thought hard, going through her emotions. Her sister had shocked her, certainly, but what else had she felt. She had felt...

... shame?

"I was not afraid, but I was ashamed." Pyrrha twitched at the formality of the statement. Carter took a note.

"Did you know why you were ashamed?"

Pyrrha tried to follow the thought. She hadn't wanted to be associated with them. She had been angry that they had made her... made her... what? Pyrrha tried to focus on what had happened in project Argonaut.

"I do not, don't know why I was ashamed. I can't remember." Pyrrha couldn't face Carter.

Carter nodded to herself and made another note. "That mental block is probably a defense mechanism. Prior to Friday night, you maintained a high degree of mental compartmentalization. When you realized that you could not ignore the moralistic implications of your military mindset, your subconscious most likely shunted the memories apart from your main consciousness, to avoid the mental stress of having conventional morals and also being aware of what you've done. Ergo, you unintentionally repressed the memories to feel better about yourself." Carter shifted her glasses up her nose.

Pyrrha deliberately turned from her therapist. "Not all of my memories."

"Pyrrha, you can trust me. Tell me what you did."

Pyrrha went through a slow breathing exercise, trying to push her tears to the wayside. "When I was in the hospital, I saw my sister, for the first time. When, when I saw her 'hic' I, I, 'gulp' knocked her out. And she knows I did it."

Pyrrha looked at her therapist. "Why did I forget everything except this?"

Carter looked at her patient, set her clipboard aside again, and adjusted her glasses. Behind them, her eyes shown with unshed tears. "Pyrrha, the situation with your sister is different. When your parents lost you, I won't sugar-coat this, they tried to replace you. Parry was born and raised almost identically to you, but when your parents came to realize that she would never be you, they came to a coworker of mine for marriage counseling. I certainly informed you of this, and, I believe that you may have developed feelings of sibling rivalry from this knowledge. You are jealous, and that has allowed your to divorce and justify your actions relative to your sister without repressing them."

Pyrrha turned away. "You are lying."

"I'm inferring. I know no more than you." Carter took up her clip board again, and made a note of Pyrrha's reaction. "Jealousy is a very healthy reaction Pyrrha. Common and normal. Now then, let's begin this session with the reconciliation of your feelings of your sister...

Pyrrha happily shoved Jaune out of the room and into the hallway for display. "Let's see what Ruby thinks of you."

Jaune tried to reverse against the stronger girl. "Um I don't think that's a good idea."

"Nonsense!" Pyrrha opened the door with a flourish. "Knock knock, does anyone think Jaune's hot?"

Ruby looked up from disassembling Crescent Rose. "Hi Jaune. Hi Pyrrha. Nice necklace."

"Medallion." Jaune corrected. Pyrrha raised an eyebrow. She was so sure that Jaune was to die for. Why wasn't Ruby...oh wait, looks like Weiss took the bait.

Weiss had been working on some homework and after looking up at the intruders, had promptly allowed her jaw to drop. Pyrrha smirked and got to the side of Weiss. "So Weiss, like what you see?"

"Uh huh."

"Don't you just want to touch him."

"Yup."

"And feel him."

Weiss was making grabby-grabby motions at Jaune, who was absorbed in a conversation with Ruby.

"And...lick him."

A line of blood traces its way down Weiss's face and into her pretty little mouth. Without pretense, she lunged for Jaune, moving like a zombie that had just smelled fresh brains. Jaune only just dodged her mindless attack, and ran for the door.

Weiss was hot, but he really had more important things to worry about, read, Pyrrha's mental health. He ran like the Loch himself was on his tail.

On and on Jaune ran, jogging down the hall, rather easily staying ahead from Weiss, a side effect of several months of training from Pyrrha, after he had gotten Cardin off his back. However, almost every woman that saw him either broke in to sprints after him, or into nose bleeds. Or both.

He actually had a rather small group of about five girls out to jump his bones. Of course, to Jaune, it was like the whole school was after him. Then the really weird people showed up. Example: "Come here you big love muffin."

"Is that a horse!?"

Finally, Jaune spotted some people he actually knew. "Yang, Blake, you got to help me. These girls, and a couple guys, they're after me, and I really...guys."

Twin nose bleeds trickled down their faces.

"Oh Lovers damn it."

Yang and Blake both jumped at the dressed up boy, and Jaune resumed fleeing.

Jaune looked back and saw Yang and Blake in leading an army of fangirls. He looked forward and saw Blake in front of a window. The resident ninja had taken the moment to flash step in front of him. Jaune gave a mental shrug, and let loose a battle cry of sheer manliness. He tackled Blake...

...through the window.

'Aww shit.'

The duo actually were okay. They sailed across the gap between buildings with supernatural grace, aided by Blake's accelerator semblance. The two descended maybe one floor level before slamming into the opposite window.

MEANWHILE:

"I'm telling you Pete, the White Fang is planning something." Bart poured his friend some coffee. "They've set an assassin on standby, and according to the network, they're gunning for a student."

Peter nodded and mixed a large cup of cream into Oobleck's special high caffeine yield blend of coffee. "We'll need to locate their target. They could already have members scouting the premise."

Jaune and Blake fell through the window and into the teachers lounge. Port gestured. "Speak of the devil, she shall appear."

Jaune untangled himself from the dazed girl and bolted from the room. Blake came to a moment later and only seemed to realize her surroundings after drooling and mumbling about how she couldn't handle the Jaune. But that's another story.

Jaune made it out of the room and down the hall maybe fifty feet before he ran into another girl. "I'm sorry, gotta go, I'm late for work, I mean class and... and." Jaune trailed off as her realized that the girl he had crashed into was actually the only person likely unaffected by his new found good looks, Professor Goodwitch, accompanied by the Headmaster. "Oh man, am I glad to see you two."

Glynda's stared at Jaune, trying to remember where she had seen his face. Ozpin was quick to take a long drink from his coffee to mask his own confusion. Glynda spun Jaune around and started pushing him. "Perfect, you arrived just in time Mister Brooks. The class is just over here, the lesson plan is already in the faculty email, and you jut need to teach straight from it. Thanks for arriving on such short notice again, we were rather worried that we wouldn't be able to have anyone fill in for Misses Peach." Glynda finished shoving Jaune and left him in a class room. "Thank you again Mister Brooks and sorry for rushing you so much. Have a nice day."

Jaune watched her leave, then looked at his class. Most of the girls were experiencing nosebleeds, as were some of the boys, and the rest were pulling out their notes and getting ready for the class. Jaune honestly didn't know which was worse, the flash fangirl mob, or actually teaching a class of his peers.

He chose the fangirls.

"Um, okay class." Jaune made some computery motions on the keyboard, making it look like he was doing something. "Today, we shall be going over, um, high class etiquette."

Jaune the teacher. Be afraid. Be very afraid.

(Three Years Ago)

Pyrrha wandered around the neighborhood without any particular direction or drive. The block between 158th, Walnut, 157th and Chestnut had been thoroughly explored by her feet and eyes, but walking was really helpful when she wanted to think.

Pyrrha had been with her family, really with them, for nine months, two weeks, and five days. Apparently, keeping track of how many days she stayed with her family helped keep her eye on the ball.

Pyrrha waved at Miss Cabins, who waved back at her from her stoop. Pyrrha turned up Chestnut street and saw her father working on his car. "Hello dad."

"Hey babe." Pelum yanked something from the engine and held it up for examination. "See this. This here is the cam shaft. When it rotates, it depresses the caps in the cylinder head, letting in fuel and evacuating the exhaust. I think it may be out of alignment, and letting in too much gas."

Pyrrha nodded in understanding. Mostly. "But wouldn't letting in more gas improve the engine?"

"Not really. The car has a rough idle, and if the cam shaft is letting in too much fuel, it'll overheat and lock up." Pelum winked. "Damn near scared the shit out of me the first time I vapor locked this old car."

Pyrrha smiled. "I'm sorry about that." Pelum looked at his daughter and winced.

"I guess you aren't all that interested in this stuff. It's guy stuff. You wouldn't get it." He turned back to the open hood.

Pyrrha moved around her father and reached into the engine. "Well, I'm not a conventional girl. Let me try to help. What is this here? It has a gas line going into it."

Pelum gestured at the part in question. "Carburetor. It regulates the fuel level. But I already disassembled it, it's in perfect condition." Pelum crossed his fingers. "However, there something in it that could have slip passed me. Inside the carburetor is a float that lets in more or less fuel depending on where it sits. If its off by even less then a millimeter, the whole system falls apart."

The Nikos stared at the offending piece of hardware. "You really think that's it dad?"

"Only one way to find out. Problem is, it's a right prick to disassemble."

Pyrrha reached in, and removed the fuel line, gas lever, and four bolts. "Okay, now what?"

Pelum didn't bother to keep the shock off his face. "Um, you need to unscrew the bolts, but I can never keep straight which side is up."

Pyrrha took up a screwdriver and quickly removed the eight screws on the carburetor and removed the top, revealing a copper box. "Is that the float?"

Pelum smiled warmly.

Ren tried to walk casually down the hallway, inhibiting most everyone that wtry staring at him. Not wasn't easy when five fangirls were tailing him. Or when Nora was talking to him.

"Wow. They really like my work! I should go into hairstyling. Or fashion! Maybe they'll be my customers. That or their boyfriends. That would be so nice to meet someone while finding clothes for them. Oh, it's so hard to meet that special someone when you're in the mob, don't you think Ren?"

"Whatever you say Nora." Ren didnt meet the gaze of a fanboy that had tried to catch his eye. "Can I please change out of this get up?"

"Nope!" Nora danced around and casually tripped a girl that was going for her friend. "Let's make for the forges. Maybe they won't follow us there."

Another fangirl tried to talk to Ren. "I doubt that."

Finally, a girl made a semblance charged lunge and grabbed Ren's... Er... How do is say this delicately. Let's let Nora try.

"YOU DID NOT JUST GRAB REN'S ASS!"

Okay, bad idea.

Ren kept walking as the furious girl turned and began laying into the fanclub of star struck girls and boys. Finally, he made it to the school foundry and found an unlocked door.

Ren locked the door, then broke the lock, trapping Nora and her fight outside outside and him within. Ren sighed with relief. Now that he was safe...what was that breathing down his neck? Ren turned, and saw a short girl in a black tank top and blues jeans with a heat mask on not three inches away from his face.

"Hey Ren." Ruby pulled her mask up and smiled at the boy from Atlas. Ren nearly let out another sigh of relief. Of all the women he had run into, Ruby tended to be the only one that didn't turn into a zombified fangirl or a gibbering mass of feminine shape. Granted though, only five had actually had the guts to come after him, so it wasn't that bad. Of course, if Jaune had been in his situation (which he probably was) he'd think the whole school was after him.

In actuality, Ren was right.

"Soooo, what are you doing here Ren?"

"Avoiding Nora's fight."

Ruby put comforting hand on his shoulder. "That sounds rough. You know what I do when I need to deal with stress. I forge."

Ren stared at the empathizing girl. "I don't follow."

Ruby went to a table and pulled a long metal rod from it. Close inspection revealed to be hollow and rifled with a big notch in the metal. "This is the barrel for Crescent Rose. It kinda got dinged up."

Ren looked from the barrel to the girl. "You got into a fight?"

Ruby winced. "No... Yes."

Ren groaned into a palm, and checked out the barrel. It was a deep gash, and obviously one that needed attention. "Alright. I'll help."

"Yay!" Ruby got to work, ordering Ren to collect a number of different metals and tools. As he did so, Ruby went on about what she was doing.

"Crescent Rose's barrel was originally Nickel Steel. But the weight was too much for locomotion, so I swapped out with a Nickel Aluminum alloy. It was lighter, but softer and more prone to breaking and damage. It's not really meant to take a lightning sword though."

Ren handed Ruby twenty grams of Titanium, ten grams aluminum and one gram nickel. Ruby accepted them graciously, and dumped them into a smelting pot. "I'm going with some Titanium to improve the weight to strength ratio. It may be prone to lower temperatures, but the hardness will compensate. Less damage from a Cross Clip."

Ren listened along as Ruby talked about metals and weapons and ammunition, easily putting out the darker thoughts that haunted him about tomorrow. Ruby may have been off putting at times, but she really was a good person at heart, who cared about her friends.

It was rather relaxing, hearing her talk.

But Ren had more pressing matters to attend to, as Ruby reminded him. "Is Pyrrha alright?"

Ren shrugged. "We don't know. Pyrrha didn't tell us what happened, not even Jaune. We still don't know where she went yesterday, or why. We're just trying to keep her happy until she decides to tell us." Ren looked down. "We've been her teammates for four months now. Why doesn't she trust us?"

Ruby turned to the now liquid metal, and stirred it around. "Everyone has their secrets. There are something's even I don't tell Yang."

A wash of shame came over Ren. "I guess I know exactly what you're talking about Ruby."

(Three Years Ago)

Parry laid down on the couch, putting on her head phones. Pyrrha slunk behind her, trying to look casual. "Hey kiddo."

Parry looked at her and shrunk away. Pyrrha winced and said, "I'm sorry."

Parry edge away from her sister. Pyrrha gulped. "So what are you listening to?" She looked at the table and picked a cassette case off of it, reading it. "The Spectrum Album, by Snow White. Is it good?"

"Go away!" Parry shouted. Pyrrha jumped back and away. Uncertain, she turned and acquiesced to her sisters demand, walking out of the room.

Every time she tried to get to know her sister, she always messed up somehow. She either got her sister in a bad mood, or when she didn't want to talk, or when she was just being herself.

Pyrrha went down the stairs and out the door. Walking helped her think, and she needed this at times. The blocks sidewalk passed below her feet, and the stress slowly melted away. Pyrrha turned the corner and walked the street.

Peace came to her, if only for a moment.

Jaune bolted into the room, slamming the door shut hard. The fangirls had finally decided that being a teacher was most certainly not a negative on the boyfriend resume. As such, he needed only to say one wrong thing to start another rampage. Frankly, he was shocked that he made it back at all. Pyrrha was laying on her stomach in her bed reading a romance novel. Jaune didn't even begin to fathom why Pyrrha was so enamored in Nora's books, or why now.

"Welcome back handsome." Pyrrha set the book down and got of the bed. "How was class?"

"Oh, you know. Bad. I ran for my life, or eh, you know. Just trying to stay ahead of crazy women. And men." Jaune tried to reconcile what he was seeing with what the Pyrrha he knew was like. What he was seeing was not anything like her.

"Oh that's so terrible." Pyrrha walked over to him, shaking her hips and looking for all the world like, well, a very, very sexy woman. "Momma will make it all better."

Jaune swallowed, and screwed up his courage. "Pyrrha. I think that we should get around to training again? Don't you?"

"Oh I know exactly what we can train in. Wanna see?"

'Somethings wrong with Pyrrha.' Thought Jaune.

A/N: As always, thanks to my Editors Ttran2323 and H'te Rarpee. I couldn't do it without you two!

And digit anyone that's interested, the Spectrum album mentioned by Pyrrha is the RWBY-verses equivalent of the soundtrack to REBY volume one. Mirror, Mirror, Red Like Roses, From Shadows, and I Burn are all on it. Not Red Like Roses part 2 through, for plot-relevant reasons.