Chapter 22

Harry arrived at the apartment later that night. The young woman, Cinder, had kept to herself after giving Harry her name, and made no fuss when he finished his drink and left. Mac had given him an extra bottle, specifically for Murphy. How the bartender knew she was waiting for him at home, Harry decided was better off not knowing.

The complex was drowned in silence, the only sound the tap of Harry's staff on the floor. When he reached his door, he made a great effort to open it as quiet as he could. He was immediately greeted with a body check from Mister, who immediately began to demand attention from Harry.

"I know, I know. Gone all day," Harry whispered, and reached down to scratch behind his ears.

Mister let him for a moment, before deciding his time was best spent elsewhere, and padded off into the apartment.

"Yeah, good to see you to," Harry straightened up and shut the door behind him with a soft click.

"Enjoy yourself at Mac's?"

Harry looked up from Mister and saw Murphy seated in front of the fireplace. She'd swapped her jeans and shirt for one of Harry's plain shirts. On her diminutive stature, it might as well have been a full sized nightgown. She had a cup of warm tea in her hands and had lit a small fire up in the fireplace. On the table in front of her, Bonnie's skull was placed in front of an open comic book, her green eyelights scanning the pages with childish glee.

After setting his staff against the wall, Harry smiled at her and walked over, "A few minutes to myself is always nice. Also, courtesy of Mac."

He handed her the bottle, and Murphy smiled, "I'll save that for later."

She set it on the table and Harry flopped onto the couch next to her, and wrapped one arm around her shoulders. Murphy didn't say anything, she just leaned against him. Harry smiled and said, "So, what're my two favorite girls doing up so late?"

"Shhh!" Bonnie said. "Wonder Woman's trying to be sneaky, don't give away her position."

Bonnie and Bob were both spirits of intellect, beings formed from the minds of humans. Harry had long suspected that Bob had difficulty telling reality from fiction as a result. But if he had a hard time making out the fourth wall, Bonnie was completely unaware of it. And it was utterly adorable every time she broke it.

"Oh, sorry, I'll be quiet," Harry said in a much quieter tone.

The page turned seemingly of its own accord, and Bonnie's eyes widened, "No! No! Diana, look behind you!"

Harry hid his smile and looked down at Murphy, "You didn't answer my question though."

Murphy shrugged, "Pyrrha and I got home about forty-five minutes ago. I had to convince her to go to bed, but she listened eventually. Last I checked, she was out like a light."

"She's a stubborn one. Seems awfully familiar."

"Watch it Dresden," Murphy growled playfully.

"Yes ma'am." Harry chuckled and sighed. Silence washed over the three of them, with only Bonnie making little noises of worry as she continued to read.

It was moments like these, a moment alone with the people he loved where they could just be, that he fought for. All the insanity, the buildings knocked over, the monsters slayed, and everything in between, it was an incredibly important job and Harry could never turn his back on it. But it had been having a home and friends to come back to that kept him who he was. Through machinations of fallen angels, to the cold temptations of the Winter Knights Mantle, Harry had only survived as long as he had because the friends and allies he had made were there to drag him back, kicking and screaming sometime.

And for a moment like this, with Murphy at his side in front of a flickering fireplace, he wouldn't trade for the world.

Alas though, business would always come before pleasure. Harry let out a breath and said, "So, while I was at Mac's, I met a girl."

Murphy tensed and her eyes flicked up at him. He shook his head, "Not like that. She was pretty beaten, and was looking for me. Said she might have a lead related to the attacks.

He watched as Murphy's faced instantly morphed into an expression of exhausted exasperation, "God damn it Dresden. How many times are you going to fall for the helpless damsel routine?"

"Hopefully? None."

With his free hand, Harry reached into one of his duster's pockets and revealed several ebony hairs. "She didn't notice when I plucked a few of these. If she doesn't call the number I gave her by tomorrow morning, then I'll whip up a tracking spell and we can find her and get some answers."

A devious grin split Murphy's face, "Harry Dresden, you sneaky bastard."

"You know you love it." Harry replied, carefully replacing the hairs in his pocket, "We'll explain everything to Pyrrha in the morning. But for now, let's just enjoy the peace, and get some rest."

"Now that, is the best idea you've had all day."

In hindsight, Pyrrha would wish she had been more stubborn in resisting Murphy's orders to head to bed. A good night's sleep was nice, but the last thing Pyrrha wanted was to be left alone with her thoughts. Keeping busy had been good for her, kept her mind off of her home and her friends, and anything revolving around the Maidens. Going to sleep would leave her alone to confront those worries yet again, and so she had resisted until Murphy had put her foot down so hard that Pyrrha had caved.

It turned out that her worries about being left alone with her thoughts were unfounded though, as she drifted into a listless sleep the moment her head hit the pillow. A dream came to her almost immediately.

A fever dream to be specific, noisy, bright, and indecipherable. A lot of the details were hard to keep up with; as soon as Pyrrha felt herself starting to focus on something, everything changed, and as soon as she found the direction again, it would pull a U-turn and leave her in the dust, struggling to keep up while the ground itself seemed to grab and hold her in place. The entire trip though, she was aware of voices in the background, all speaking in different tones and words, asking and answering questions before she could even register them.

It was after a subjective eternity of this, that Pyrrha found herself waking up in the dorm from Beacon Academy. She sat straight up in her bed and looked around to see that the room was empty. Their beds were still neatly arranged, but there was no sign of her team. This was only one of the strange things she noticed though. Everything around her had a fuzzy look to it, like an impressionist painting. The overall shape was there and clear from a distance, but when Pyrrha looked closer at any item laying around her, it lost its edge.

"I'm still in a dream." she murmured, and stood up from her bed. A look at herself showed that she had a more defined outline, when compared to the rest of the dream world around her. How odd.

She snapped her fingers, "I must be having a lucid dream."

She'd read about those once, it was a condition where someone became aware of their dream and consciously interacted with it. Pyrrha had never experienced one before, but the odd texture and her lack of exhaustion suggested that this was indeed a lucid dream.

Before she could explore that idea further though, there was a loud clang of metal, followed by an irritated curse. Pyrrha's head whipped towards the door, and she suddenly felt the handle of her sword and shield fill her grip. The familiar weight was a comfort, and further proved her suspicions right.

Another clang, another curse.

Pyrrha approached the door carefully, watching her step as she approached the door. By the time she was standing before it, the edge of its outline had faded into a mushy splotch, and its handle was a dab of golden pate smudged in place. Pyrrha sighed and transferred Milo to her left hand, then reached out for the doorknob. It still felt as solid as she expected it to, and clicked as she slowly turned it to the right.

The door swung open and Pyrrha's heart stopped.

It had opened onto a rooftop, one of the maintenance roofs on the dorms. There was a low concrete wall around it and several small vents. The CCT tower rose high in the distance, towering over the rest of the academy. The stars were out tonight, and the full, shattered moon of Remnant hung in the sky, casting a glow on the only other occupant of the roof.

Jaune Arc was dressed in the new armor that Pyrrha had seen through the Blackstone portal what felt like a lifetime ago. New gauntlets adorned his hands, his right shoulder pad had been removed, and a brass highlight had been applied to his armor and weapon, Crocea Mors. And he still wore his too small hoodie and jeans under it all.

His face was covered in a thin sheen of sweat from going through the basic lessons Pyrrha had taught him. They weren't meant to turn him into an unstoppable warrior, but to form a strong foundation for the lessons to come. Lessons that she feared she might not be able to continue, for obvious reasons.

But here he was, alive and well, practicing without even noticing her. Of course, this being a dream, Pyrrha realized that it was probably just something her mind came up with. She missed her friends, she missed Jaune, and she missed their moments together. Yeah, that had to be it. That didn't soothe the rapid drumbeat of her heart though, or give her the will to actually move her legs.

She stood there instead, frozen in the threshold, waiting for Jaune to notice her. Unsurprisingly, he was completely oblivious to Pyrrha as he stood back up and ready his sword arm for a practice thrust.

Her voice found itself right then, and she blurted out, "Jaune!"

The young man yelped and made a premature thrust. Sparks flew from his blade, and it bounced out of his hands and lazily arced off the roof into the indistinct void below. If Jaune noticed though, he didn't show any sign.

His deep blue eyes were stuck on Pyrrha, dumbstruck. "P-Pyrrha?! You're here?!"

The look faded from his eyes, growing colder and more cynical. He grumbled to himself "Of course she's here, it's a dream you idiot."

A smile tugged at her lips, "There are worse things to dream about though."

"Thats easy for you to say," Jaune said in a bitter tone. "You're just part of my dream. When I wake up, you'll be gone. Again."

Pyrrha blinked several times, "Wait… Jaune?"

"Yeah, you said my name already, Dream Pyrrha. What am I dreaming about tonight?"

"This doesn't make sense," Pyrrha pressed the palm of her hand against her forehead, "This is my dream. But if you're saying it's yours…"

Something warm bubbled up in her chest, filling and overflowing into a hearty, relieved laugh, "I can't believe it! Jaune it's you, it's really you!"

"Wait, what?" Jaune blinked.

Pyrrha didn't answer, instead leaping across the roof in a single bound and hugging that goofy blonde noodle as hard as she could. The warmth, the sense of touch as she held him as tight as she could went beyond the normal senses of a dream, a sense of another's presence too absolute to actually question. "I can't believe it, you're actually here!"

She laughed again and pulled away, looking up into his eyes. Jaune had gained another inch or two, but it was still him. Same hair, same face, same kind blue eyes. Only this time they were brimming with tears.

He put his hands on Pyrrha's shoulders, and slowly pushed her away, "I don't know what I did, but I want to wake up now."

Pyrrha blinked, "Jaune, what're you…?"

"It's just a dream." he told her, though it sounded like he was telling himself as well. He shook his head, "It's all too good to be true. I just… want to wake up. Please."

The last words came out barely above a whisper, and shaky. Jaune was like glass, he'd break if Pyrrha wasn't careful. She pulled off the glove on her right hand carefully reached up to touch his cheek. He didn't make any move to stop her, but didn't react either.

She felt tears in her own eyes as she caressed his cheek. He felt solid, real. He had to be here, had to be standing in front of her. She refused to believe any other explanation.

"Jaune…" She reached up and brushed her lips against his cheek in a faint kiss. His eyes shot back up to her, slowly widening. Pyrrha pulled back from him and smiled softly, "It's me. I'm okay. I'm far away from home right now, but I'm not dead. Not yet."

The dam burst and Jaune embraced Pyrrha as tight as he could, and he cried. Not heart wrenching sobs, but the tears came, flowing down his face in rivers. Pyrrha returned his hug, and felt the dampness of his tears against her cheek. Maybe they were his tears, maybe they were hers. Pyrrha couldn't tell.

They spent what felt like an eternity like that, though realistically it was probably two or three minutes. They eventually broke their embrace, but Jaune did not let go of Pyrrha, and she did not let go of him. Never again, if she could help it.

Jaune wiped at his tear stained eyes with one hand and sniffled, "I… If this is really you… How? How are you still alive? Ruby saw what happened, she saw Cinder… beat you."

Pyrrha winced as if slapped, and grabbed at her head. That name brought up memories, so many memories that strained against the Black Magic tied into the fabric of her mind. She immediately began to mentally recite each individual piece of Milo and its purpose until the memory subsided and the pain eased. Memories had been roused enough that day that Pyrrha had developed the exercise as a quick way to end her panic attacks before they began.

They worked, but she still felt shaky. Pyrrha clenched her teeth and said, "I don't know Jaune. A lot of my memories of what happened at home are… Well I can't remember what happened. And I don't know why."

"You can't remember? I could fill you in if-"

"No!" the word came out a bit harsher than she meant it too, and Jaune stepped back in surprise.

Pyrrha swallowed nervously, "I'm sorry, but… no. I want to remember Jaune, but whoever took away my memories, it makes trying to remember painful. I can't remember without losing control of… everything. Please, don't tell me what happened."

Jaune certainly meant well, but Pyrrha's memories, while not fully restored, extended far enough. She remembered what happened last time Jaune tried to help without any context. In her personal opinion, Pyrrha would rather not have a repeat of that incident, ever.

"I don't understand," Jaune admitted, "If someone… saved you, why take away your memories?"

Pyrrha smiled bitterly, "If I knew that, I probably would have all my memories. It's not relevant though. How long have I… been gone?"

Jaune's expression fell, "Six months."

That was about what Torchwick had ranted about when they captured him the first time. She hadn't put a lot of stock in his words, but it seemed he was telling the truth. What had been an instant to her, was months for her friends and family. At this rate, Pyrrha wasn't so sure if she wanted to thank her savior anymore.

"I see. I just woke up a few days ago." she admitted, "But, Jaune, I'm not in Vale anymore. Or Remnant for that matter."

He raised a brow, "Um…?"

Pyrrha took a deep breath, "I'm in another world Jaune. They call it Earth, and I'm stuck here. I know it sounds crazy, and it is, but it's the truth."

"I believe you," Jaune said, his voice firm.

She blinked, "You… you do?"

"Pyrrha, five minutes ago I thought you were gone forever." Jaune said, and frowned, "And I'm still not sure if this is real or not. I mean, I know it's a dream, but you being here… I want to believe it's you, that you're here. So if you are, if you are somehow still around and kicking, then I believe your story. I believe you Pyrrha."

The dream world around them suddenly flickered, and the CCT tower in the distance was replaced with a dilapidated ruin. Smoke began to rise from Beacon Academy, as a fire broke out and spread across the campus.

Pyrrha looked around, confused, "What's going on?"

"...Yrrha I can't…"

She looked back and her eyes widened in horror. Jaune was burning before her eyes, fire consuming him inch by inch. He didn't burn where the flames touched him, he simply ceased to be. The young man looked down at himself with surprise and yelped.

"What's...I don't…" his voice kept cutting in and out, growing steadily fainter. The fires raged through Beacon, consuming the dreamworld faster and faster. No smoke, no burns. It simply was no more, an empty whiteness left behind by the flames.

Pyrrha reached out for him, "Jaune, no! Don't go, not now!"

He reached for her as the fires consumed his hand, and it vanished. The roof around them lurched to one side. They both stumbled to the floor, and the fire on Jaune grew wild and intense. He made an effort to reach for Pyrrha one more time, an effort she returned. Their hands met and Pyrrha fought back tears.

"Jaune, please…" He disappeared in fire and ash. Beacon burned around her, the grand institue slowly reduced to cinders and ashes. Pyrrha let her hand dropped to her side and fell to her knees, the tears flowing free once more. "Don't leave me…"

Her dreamworld was purged of any and all signs of Beacon, leaving only an ashen white void in its place, endless in scope. What had been a wonderful dream had very quickly turned into a nightmare. One that was only growing worse by the second.

She heard heels clicking against the void behind her, and her sorrow kindled into anger. Pyrrha grabbed Akoúo̱ and twisted, flinging the shield at whoever was approaching her. They caught it with casual ease, and Pyrrha blinked in surprise as she saw…

Herself, standing ten feet away, holding the shield in her hand. Other Pyrrha looked at Akoúo̱, shrugged, and slung it onto her back. This woman, this Other Pyrrha was identical in every way, except for two. Her ponytail was undone, letting her long hair flow freely. And she was… not taller, but more mature, slightly. She had more curve in her body, more muscle in her arms, and more confidence in her posture. Other than that, she was identical to Pyrrha in every way.

Other Pyrrha crossed her arms and smirked at Pyrrha. She pushed herself up and wiped the tears from her eyes, "Who… what are you?"

"To the first question, I think that's obvious," the doppelganger said, "as for the other, second verse, same as the first. I'm you, more specifically, I'm your subconscious."

Pyrrha stared, "You're… my what? My subconscious?"

"You catch on quick, doncha?" Other Pyrrha replied sarcastically. Her smirk remained and she continued, "Yeah, I'm your subconscious. Your instincts, wants, needs, impulses, all wrapped up in one big beautiful package. We don't get to talk a lot, you and I. But given the absolute wreck of a day you've had, and the fact that the rules of this world are just different enough to matter, I figured we could have an actual face to face chat. I've got some info for you anyway, important stuff you absolutely must know."

"How important?" Pyrrha growled. She was more than ready to employ more… violent means to deal with her supposed subconscious.

Other Pyrrha raised a hand, "Whoa now, leave the impulsive anger to me. I had nothing to do with sending handsome home. That was just the dream fading. The thematically appropriate fire was thanks to the memories that black magic is suppressing. Good news is, it left an opening for me to pop in."

That made some sense, as much as anything else Pyrrha had dealt with the past few days. Her anger cooled for the moment, and she sighed, "Fine, I can understand that. What is so important you had to meet me face to face?"

Other Pyrrha shrugged, "Two big things. We'll start with the important one first."

Her subconscious self walked up to Pyrrha and jabbed a finger at her, "You have to be the most frustrating and sexually repressed woman in the whole of Remnant, you know that right?"

That…

Wait, what?

"What?"

"You heard me," Other Pyrrha practically snarled, humor gone. "You know how long I've spent in the backseat watching you blunder your way through every possible romance we could've had! If I was in charge, we'd have a conga line of guys stretching out of our room all around Beacon, but no, you have to be miss 'prim and proper'!"

Pyrrha's cheeks started to burn, "I-I don't really see how that's re-relevant-"

"It's completely relevant!" Her subconscious yelled, "If you just opened up the valley to someone, maybe we'd have had more emotional support when Beacon went to shit. But no, even after we found that beautiful blonde stallion, did you hop on and ride him from sunrise to sunset!? No, you danced around the subject with all the subtlety and grace of a one legged Beowolf!"

There really wasn't anyway Pyrrha could respond to that. Her face matched her hair in color, and she found herself rooted to the floor as her subconscious ranted. Other Pyrrha wasn't entirely...wrong, but even a broken clock was right twice.

"I… think I get your point," Pyrrha finally stammered.

Other Pyrrha glared at her, "Do you though? Or are you just going to play footsy next time you and Jaune run into each other? Come on, actually do something next time, not any of that peck on the cheek crap. Lock lips damn it, we need the practice!"

"Okay, that's enough," Pyrrha interrupted, "Is the only reason you came here to yell at me about my sex life?"

Her subconscious continued to glare for a moment, then let out a sigh, "No, I have a message for you too. When the Gatekeeper was rooting around in our noggin, he dropped it off with me to hold onto until you finally got some sleep. By the way, that's a chat for another time."

Ignoring the twitch in her eye, Pyrrha took a deep breath, "Don't you think that you should've lead with that?"

"I have my own priorities, honey," Other Pyrrha replied, "Anyway, you want to know what the message was or not?"

Pyrrha sighed, "Fine, what did the Gatekeeper leave for us?"

Other Pyrrha produced a sheet of paper from nowhere and cleared her throat. She spoke in perfect imitation of Rashid's voice, down to the accent, "Pyrrha Nikos. I have left with you an address that you may wish to investigate. It may answer some of the questions you have asked, but only if you go alone. Involve others at your own risk. Yours truly, the Gatekeeper."

A frown crossed Pyrrha's face, "That's it? That was… very vague."

"I didn't write the damn thing, I just received it." Other Pyrrha replied, and the paper vanished. She put her hands on her hip and raised a brow, "But that said, I assume we're going to charge in and find our damn answers?"

"What? No! When I wake up I'm going to get Harry and Murphy and tell them about this."

Other Pyrrha sighed, "Girl, did you not just hear the message. Go alone, it's risky to get others involved."

"It would be just as risky to go alone." Pyrrha replied.

Her subconscious folded her arms and frowned, "Would it though? Really?"

Pyrrha looked at the doppelganger uneasily, "What are you getting at?"

Other Pyrrha shook her head, "We all saw Harry, Pyrrha. Torchwick left some nasty marks on him, and that was just from an ambush. The people here aren't anywhere near the level of a huntsman. Harry might have some power, but he's as durable as a paper bag."

"He handled himself fine when we fought the Grimm." Pyrrha pointed out.

"He had several other people to cover him, including us, and that still ended in a mess." Other Pyrrha's face grew more somber, "And besides, if we tell Harry, you know that Murphy will get involved too."

Pyrrha didn't have a response for that. She looked at the ground and clenched her hands. Other Pyrrha clapped a hand on her shoulder, "We were the top of our class. Best of the best. Pyrrha Nikos, the invincible girl. Harry and his friends have done more than enough for us, it's time we started pulling our own weight."

"So you think I should just head off to wherever the Gatekeeper said I should go?" Pyrrha demanded, venom in her voice.

Other Pyrrha smiled and slowly began to fade, "I don't need to think it Pyrrha. You've already made up your mind."

Her subconscious faded into the void, leaving Pyrrha alone once more.

She woke up a minute later, silent and wide awake. Pyrrha sat up and looked at the clock on the wall. It was 3 AM, Harry and Murphy were bound to be asleep by now. She looked over at her gear, neatly arranged on the nightstand.

Pyrrha sighed and got out bed, grabbing her equipment.

A/N: Hehehe, if you guys thought the last chapter was bad, wooo boy, I can't wait to see how you all feel about this one. Lotta stuff just went down. RWBYverse is finally starting to bleed into the Dresdenverse, Jaune knows Pyrrha is alive (Possibly. Dreams are weird) and Pyrrha is off to do something that may or may not be incredibly stupid.

Not sure when the next update will be, but I hope you guys enjoyed the chapter.

Until next time!