Disclaimer: Maybe I should buy the Oprah Winfrey Network, At least then I would OWN something...
What do you call déjà vu when it happens four times?
That was the first thought on Pyrrha's mind as she again woke up in a strange place after passing out in a fight.
The second thought on her mind was where are the people who want to kill me?
Getting up from the bed she way sat on, she found herself in a small cabin. She was alone and her armor was laid out beside her. She gave herself a once over and discovered that she was unharmed, but the clothes she was wearing were not hers. The mark was still on her hand. She couldn't see it anymore, but she could feel its power in her skin.
At least I won't have to wear gloves for the rest of my life.
It still bothered her that it hadn't disappeared completely. If the mark was still there, did that mean the Breach was still there too? What was destiny trying to tell her? She tried to remember the last person she talked to about destiny.
With a start she realized that person had put an arrow in her chest.
She stood up, rapidly trying to open her shirt, and stared at herself, expecting some kind of horrible scarring. To her surprise there was nothing. She wondered if someone had healed her, perhaps with one of the potions like the one Cassandra had given her. She hadn't needed it, but she had seen several soldiers use them on her way to the breach. They could heal grievous injuries if taken early enough.
But someone still would have had to remove the arrow. Someone would have had to have given her a potion. There had certainly been a long passage of time between when she first arrived and before she would have met anyone who cared enough to treat her wounds. She also felt no adverse effects. She assumed that a flaming arrow to the chest would at least give her heartburn.
Of course, all these considerations required her to ignore that she hadn't been killed instantly.
The woman who walked into her room was expecting her to be in bed. When Pyrrha whipped around at the sound of the door opening, the startled woman dropped the box she was carrying. The crash that accompanied the thump of the box hitting the floor told them that the contents had been ruined. The woman immediately dropped to her knees and bowed.
"I beg your forgiveness and your blessing. I am but a humble servant."
Pyrrha was perturbed by the woman. It brought back flashbacks of her childhood, when people would treat her like a celebrity just because she was a good fighter. She was not eager to go back to that. Even then, they never bowed to her like a god.
"Are you the one who's been taking care of me?"
"Yes ma'am."
"For how long?"
"Two days, ma'am. They say you saved us. You passed out after you caused the Breach to stop growing, like the mark on your hand."
"Then there are two things I need from you now."
"Anything ma'am."
"First, thank you for treating me. You need not ever bow to me. What is your name?"
"I am Rithala, my lady."
Pyrrha considered telling her not to call her that either, but she realized the woman may have just been being polite. She did not want to make the woman any more nervous than she already was. Rithala stood up, and began cleaning up the spilled contents of the box.
"Where are we, Rithala?"
"We are in Haven, ma'am. Lady Cassandra said she wanted to know when you awoke, my lady. She wanted to speak with you in the chantry. 'At once' she said."
Rithala was about to hurry out of the room, but Pyrrha still needed to know one more thing.
"And Rithala," the woman turned around. "Did I have a, um, gaping chest wound?"
"No, my lady? You had some heavy bruising, but even that healed rather quickly. There was nothing to suggest that anything penetrated your skin. My full report is on the table, if you wish to know more. Please come to the chantry, when you are ready."
She left, and once again, Pyrrha was on her own. She decided to look at the report, to see if she could gain any more insight.
Day 1: The patient is calm, and the mark does not seem to be causing her any more pain. The apostate, Solas, came to check on her this morning. He seemed unsurprised as this; however, I don't think I've ever seen him change his expression. Still, I wish we could keep a Templar here, just in case.
Note: I removed her armor, but I could not easily remove her clothes because of her bruises, so I decided to cut her out of them. As I was doing so, Adan came in with some elfroot. He startled me, and I was worried that I had cut her, instead, the scissors I was using bounced off of her like it was nothing.
Day 2: When I came in this morning, her bruises were already mostly healed. I've seen the work elfroot does, but this is ridiculous. Otherwise, the only change is that she began talking in her sleep. I heard several names, but the only one I recognized was of someone named "John".
She blushed slightly at the mention of Jaune, despite it being spelled incorrectly. She took a moment to reminisce on the last time she saw him, and then refocused. The only thing she picked up on from the notes is that the mark wasn't killing her anymore. Other than that, she was left with more questions than answers. What does the note mean by "apostate"? The closest word she could think of was traitor. That wasn't a pleasant thought. Second, what was a "Templar"? And third, why did both Solas and Rithala have such pointy ears? She wasn't going to get answers to any of these questions standing here. Cassandra was still waiting for her, and they had a lot to talk about.
The sight outside her door nearly caused her to black out for a fifth time. A crowd of people stood outside, and she wasn't sure if they were going to mob her or cheer her. She wasn't sure what would be worse. When the two soldiers at the forefront pounded their chest in salute, she assumed the latter. She recognized this as the town she walked through in chains with Cassandra. She didn't remember the way to the chantry, but the crowd formed a path straight to it.
"That's her, the one who stopped the Breach from getting any bigger."
"I heard that she was supposed to seal it completely."
"Yeah, and I bet you would have done a much better job."
The whispers from the people around her made her uneasy. She remembered Rithala saying that the Breach had only stopped growing, but it never occurred to her that the Breach would remain a threat even at its current size. She finally reached the building, and pushed the doors open. She was greeted by a mostly empty room, and the sound of voices coming from behind a door in the back. If they went there for privacy, they were doing a poor job of it. They were yelling loud enough to be heard from farther outside than she was sure they intended.
"The prisoner failed to close the breach Seeker. For all we know she intended it that way!"
"I do not believe that."
"It doesn't matter what you believe. You have a duty to serve the Chantry."
"My duty is to serve the duty the principles the Chantry is founded upon, as is yours."
Pyrrha was so distracted by the conversation that she did not notice Leliana walking up behind her.
"Eavesdropping?"
Startled, Pyrrha nearly threw a punch until she realized who it was.
"You're jumpy today, aren't you?"
"Sorry" Pyrrha replied.
"Don't worry; I would be too if I was constantly waking up surrounded by strangers. Besides, I don't think it counts as being nosy when people are yelling. Especially when you're one they're yelling about."
Opening the door, Leliana greeted the two inhabitants, Cassandra and Chancellor Rodrick. Stepping inside herself, Pyrrha also noticed two guards at the door.
"Chain her. I want her prepared to be taken to the capital for trial." The chancellor exclaimed.
"Disregard that, and leave us." Cassandra countered.
The soldiers took that opportunity to escape what had obviously been a very tense situation. Pyrrha was starting to wish she had that option.
"You walk a very dangerous line, Seeker." Rodrick delivered these words without even looking at Cassandra. His eyes bore it to Pyrrha, and it was clear that he had already judged her as the one responsible.
"The Breach is still a threat, and I refuse to ignore it."
"I did everything I could. The rift in the temple almost sucked me in" Pyrrha interjected.
"Yet it didn't, and you still live. Very convenient for you isn't it?" The chancellor was not budging.
"Speaking of convenient, Chancellor, you seem to be the only male member of the Chantry who attended the Conclave and survived. All the rest were either caught by the explosion or killed by demons shortly thereafter." Leliana was looking at him with a twinkle of mischief that Pyrrha would not soon forget.
"As I have said before, the Divine herself had sent me back to the chantry to collect some books she had forgotten. I was on my way back when the explosion occurred."
"The only reason I believe that is because as I have said before, you're a glorified clerk." Cassandra had clearly run out of patience and respect for the man, but Pyrrha still had no clue which of them held the actual command authority.
"So you're telling me that the prisoner isn't a suspect?"
"I heard the voices in the Temple of Sacred Ashes. The Divine called to her for help. The mark on her hand and her unlikely survival were not the result of some mere coincidence. The Maker sent her to us in our darkest hour."
"That's ludicrous!"
Cassandra nearly cracked a smile. This scared Pyrrha more than her scowl.
"If you cannot see that she was exactly what we needed when we needed it, than you are even more deluded than I thought. You can doubt the Maker if you wish, Chancellor, but if you still believe that this is not our decision, than I suggest you take a look at this."
She slammed a book on the table. "This is a writ from the Divine, granting us the authority to act. As of this moment, I declare the Inquisition reborn. We will end this war between the mages and templars, we will seal the breach, and we will bring to justice those responsible for the Divine's death. So I suggest that you get on board, or get out of the way."
He looked like he wanted to say something, but instead left in a huff. Leliana looked at Pyrrha, concerned. "You are the only one who can seal the Breach. None of this means anything without you. We have no numbers, no leader, and now, no Chantry support."
It was Pyrrha's turn to speak up. "None of us have any choice, either. I'm going to be honest with you both. I highly doubt that I'm from around here. I've never heard of a Chantry, of a Mage-Templar War, or demons of the kind we faced before we reached the breach. I believe that both I, and the scorpion demon we fought at the temple are from another world, brought here by the same magic that created the breach."
"Until I figure out how to get back, however, I'm not going anywhere. I don't know anything about this world, but I will never turn my back on people who need my help."
"Alright," Cassandra said. "I know where we can find someone who can help marshal our forces."
"And I know someone who can serve us on the more… diplomatic side of things." Cassandra gave Leliana a strange look. "What? We are going to need an ambassador to curry favors with the nobility, and I have the perfect candidate in mind."
Pyrrha shook hands with both Cassandra and Leliana, and the deal was sealed.
She hadn't expected it, but the Inquisition was here to stay, and so was she.
A/N: This chapter's shout out goes to the Isle of Man. I think the flag is really cool.
A/N2: This is an important one. Every fanfiction writer has the challenge of keeping their character as close to in-character as they can. Otherwise, it's just an OC who happens to share a name. While this much easier with the characters of Dragon Age: Inquisition, which had over a hundred hours worth of gameplay. This is much harder with Pyrrha (I don't think the RWBY series is even 20 hours long yet). In this world, she's going to be put in some situations that are very much uncharted for her. For example, while most of the characters in the show are her age, she'll be interacting with adults for the majority of this story.
Now that she's dead (spoiler?), I doubt she'll be getting anymore character development in the show, so if I don't know how she would act in a certain situation, all I can do is watch the show, read the wiki, and guess. And I would love to hear how I can improve on that.