Chapter 5 – Athena

Pyrrha

Rain poured endlessly, glowing in the headlights of Pyrrha's red car, driving through the beautiful countryside, obscured by the darkness of night. Usually the stars would be a beautiful view on this drive, but with the sky shrouded with thick clouds, it just made everything feel even darker.

Inside the car, it was eerily quiet, with Misty sat in the passenger seat, her head pressed against the window, and Pyrrha driving with one hand on the steering wheel. Pyrrha glanced at Misty as she drove, then she sighed. "I'm sorry you had to see that, Misty." Pyrrha said to her.

"It's okay… we shouldn't have gone. I'm sorry." Misty softly said, which made Pyrrha lightly chuckle.

"No wonder you are Ori are so close, you're so similar. Constantly apologising." Then she realised the irony. "Oh, boy… looks like that's another thing I passed down to her. I was just like that as a girl." Pyrrha admitted. "Still am, I guess."

But Misty was quiet. Pyrrha looked at her again, then she sighed. "Misty…"

"Yeah?" she answered timidly.

"… do your parents… hurt you?" She asked her, in a very serious tone, looking at her.

"W-What do you mean?" She asked.

"I saw your face… the fear in your eyes when I was about to call your parents. I know you don't see them often but that wasn't a look of a girl who's worried of upsetting her parents because they'd just be mad at her." Pyrrha said as she looked at Misty, who gently held her arm, her lip trembling. "And I heard what you said… you were gonna say they would hurt you if they learned about this, weren't you?" She asked her.

Misty was still silent. "Yeah…" she answered. It was so soft that Pyrrha nearly didn't hear her.

"Honey, you can talk to me. And please… don't let tonight confuse anything… you are family to me." Pyrrha revealed, and Misty's eyes widened with tears in them. It meant the world hearing that from Pyrrha as well as Oriana. She then started fiddling with her fingers.

"It wasn't always like this. When I was little… they were good to me. But… in the years since they've… changed. Became angrier. They fight often, and sometimes when they're mad… they take it out on me. They're always away on business trips… or just away. I used to always want to talk to them whenever they came home, but they never wanted any time with me. Sometimes my mom would… hit me… if I was up later than I should. Or if my grades weren't as good as they usually are." Misty explained, tears streaming from her eyes.

"Misty…" Pyrrha whispered, sighing, and then tightening her grip on the steering wheel. Hearing this? After all this time, she's known Misty? It made her want to do to her parents what she did to Team C.R.D.L that one time. "I'm so sorry… I should have seen it. I never was a huge fan of your parents, but… I never imagined…"

She sighed, then looked at her. "I'm so sorry I threatened to call them."

"It's okay, Mrs Nikos…" she assured, Pyrrha glanced at her then shot her a smile.

"Mrs Nikos?" She asked.

"H-Huh?" Misty trembled, then Pyrrha giggled.

"Even after all these years, you still call me that? I think you've earned a first name basis with us, honey." Pyrrha assured.

"I guess… I dunno… it feels weird." Misty shrugged.

"Well, whatever happens… you let us know, okay? You're never alone, you have us. And I will always have your back, I know Jaune will.. and I definitely know Oriana will. I think that little argument earlier is proof of that." Pyrrha said, reaching over and gently stroking the side of Misty's purple hair. Misty smiled delicately, trying not to cry from such kindness.

"Thank you… Pyrrha…" Misty said with a small smile, and Pyrrha smiled as well.

"Atta Girl." Pyrrha chuckled, and Misty nervously laughed as well. As they continued to drive, Pyrrha looked at Misty once again.

"Speaking of which…"

Misty turned with a curious look in her big eyes, then Pyrrha looked at her with a smirk. "Why haven't you told her yet?" Pyrrha asked.

"Told who what?" Misty quickly answered, her heart hammering. That made Pyrrha laugh once again.

"You're as bad as lying as she is, I swear." She laughed. "Ori. I've seen the way you look at her."

Her scales turned pink, and she gasped. "I-I-I dunno what you're t-talking about." Misty stumbled, poking her fingers nervously.

"Misty, do you really think I would have an issue with it? Especially considering the fact that I know you know she feels the same way about you?" Pyrrha asked her, and Misty froze, not sure what to say. Then she sighed.

"I thought… today at my house… that we'd kiss." She admitted, sounding disappointed?

"Oh?" Pyrrha asked.

"Yeah… we both just kinda froze and stared at each other, but… Ori didn't, and I didn't. I pulled out of it too." Misty sighed.

"Gods…" Pyrrha groaned. "Our daughter is even worse at it than we were."

"Huh?" Misty asked.

"Jaune was soooo oblivious of me, and I was too nervous to really tell him outright how I felt. It was agonizing… I think that's the worst trait of ours she's carried down. Our hopelessly romantic skills." Pyrrha chuckled.

"H-How long have you known?" Misty asked, still blushing.

"About a year." She answered.

"A YEAR?" She yelped in disbelief.

"Like I said, you're not exactly subtle." Pyrrha stated. Misty buried her face in her hands, groaning. "But don't worry, you have my blessing. And Jaune's too… just…" Pyrrha paused, and Misty peaked through her fingers. "Don't waste time… okay?"

"What do you mean?" She asked.

Pyrrha paused as she drove, seeming to stare into oblivion for a few moments. "I lost a lot of friends in Beacon… friends I wished could have seen this beautiful world we live in now. But they didn't get to… they died young… and in pain. And I never got to say goodbye to them. It still haunts me, every single day." Pyrrha explained, then she looked at Misty. "Never waste the time with people you care about… because anything can happen. Cherish every second… and if you love someone… tell them."

The words really struck a chord with Misty. "That's why…"

"Yeah… that's why I never wanted Oriana to go there, or you. That place… holds a lot of bad memories. For a lot of us." Pyrrha said with sadness in her eyes.

"I'm sorry. When we were there, we constantly imagined how cool it must have been to go there… but then we'd always remember how it ended." Misty explained.

Pyrrha nodded. "It was cool… for a few months, they were the best days of my life. Then the attack happened… and even though there were four years of life there… it never really went away." Pyrrha explained.

"We won't go back there, I promise." Misty assured.

Pyrrha smiled, gently holding Misty's hand. "Thank you."

Jaune

An hour later…

Jaune was sitting on the stairs, and he could faintly hear the quiet crying of Oriana in her bedroom. She still hadn't been able to fall asleep, and it filled him with regret.

I shouldn't have shouted at her… did my eyes turn purple?

He couldn't tell, but he could feel like it was tugging at him. He closed his eyes and sighed. When he opened them, he saw Salem stood before him. He looked around, but he was not afraid anymore. For this was not the first time he experienced this kind of waking nightmare, being back here… like this.

But every single time, it made him feel sick to his stomach. He could not even bear to look at the Dead Queen, who just stared down at him. "You still think you can run from the truth, my Knight?" She asked him.

"Get out of my head." He whispered, getting up from the steps and walking past her, walking down the steps that looked exactly like Evernight. But he shook his head, returning to reality, finding his way to the kitchen. He turned and looked at the knives sheathed in the block, and one of them looked identical to the sword he used when enthralled by Thaddeus Rex. It was identical, and he drew the weapon from the block, impossibly being able to fit in there.

He stared at the blade, and in the reflection, he saw Thaddeus staring back at him. As he stared at the blade, Salem stood over his shoulder, her hand gently laying upon him. "You are nothing more than a monster that I created. Look at your hair, the scars around your eyes… your very body? I remade you, better than you were before. And yet you continue to hide… continue to try to go back to the weak fool you once were." Salem's voice echoed, but he shook his head and saw it was just a simple kitchen knife. He pushed the knife back into the block, panting.

"Shut up… I am not yours to torment anymore. And I am not a monster." He growled, turning to the living room, to see her stood there, her hands held behind her back. The television was screeching, remembering when he attacked Ruby and when he tried to kill Pyrrha.

None of it was truly him… yet he remembered all of it… he remembered how it felt, and the joy.

"It was not all Thaddeus, you know that. He fed off the worst parts in you, your desire for strength, to be better. He gave you that, and part of you enjoyed that power." Salem stated. Jaune clenched his hand into a fist as he stared at her.

Even after twenty-five years… she still haunted him… appeared in his mind like she was still alive.

"You even stopped dying your hair blonde five years ago. You know in your soul what you are… what you will always be." Salem stated, but Jaune walked past her and sat down on the sofa, burying his head in her hands.

"You will always be… my Knight." She stated, and then… she faded away. He opened his eyes, and he was alone. The television was off, and he exhaled shakily, rubbing his eyes with his hands. He shook off the feeling, then got up, walking over to his scroll he left on the table, picking it up and seeing that an hour had passed since Pyrrha had left. He picked it up and called her.

Her voice was always enough to help him shake off these feelings.

"Hey honey…" Pyrrha answered, but Jaune noticed immediately that he could not hear the sound of the car.

"Hey… where are you? It's been a while." Jaune asked.

On the other end, Pyrrha was sitting on a bench in a park in Vale, now that the rain had finally stopped. "Yeah… sorry. I just needed some time… Misty's home safe. Everything's okay… it's just… thinking about Beacon it…"

"Yeah… me too." He replied. "I saw her again."

Pyrrha paused. "Salem?"

"Yeah… clear as day. Managed to push it away… every time I think I'm in the clear… she always comes back." Jaune sighed, his hand still shaking. "What about you? Did you… see anything?"

Pyrrha was quiet for a moment. "I saw you…" she said, her voice cracked. "When you… set off the bombs that night." She answered. It was now Jaune's turn to pause, then he glanced at the stares, praying to the gods that Ori wasn't listening to this conversation. "We've been to so many sessions, but it never seems to go away, huh?" She sighed.

"Well… we have each other. And if it gets worse… we can talk to Dutch, can't we?" He asked her.

"Yeah…" Pyrrha agreed.

Jaune looked back up at the stares, thinking about Oriana, haunted by the sound of her crying. Especially from the fact that he was the one who made her cry. "Jaune? Honey?"

"I was gonna check on Ori… she still hasn't fallen asleep. I can hear her crying in there." Jaune said, and Pyrrha closed her eyes tearfully. "I shouldn't have snapped at her."

"Nobody was in the right there, honey. We were both heated and… well… when I shouldn't have threatened to call Misty's parents, especially after what she just told me." Pyrrha explained.

"What did she tell you?" Jaune asked.

"I'll tell you more when I get back…" she promised, and Jaune nodded. He walked with his scroll, then approached the plaque, staring at Athena's name.

"I need to talk to her, apologise… and I think I should tell her." Jaune explained. Pyrrha knew what he was going to say. "If you don't want me to do that, I won't. If you want to be the one to tell it, it's okay. But I think… she deserves to know now… she's fifteen. And… I want her to know that we love her, because I'm scared that she's questioning that right now." Jaune admitted.

Pyrrha was silent on the other end, with tears streaming from her eyes. She exhaled shakily as she stared at the double swings in the park ahead of her. "Pyrrha?" Jaune asked her.

"Okay… tell her." Pyrrha agreed.

"Are you sure? I know it's personal for you… I can wait for you to come back." Jaune said.

"No… I need some time first. I'm sorry, I just…" Pyrrha stammered.

"It's okay… take as long as you need. I love you." Jaune said.

"I love you too." Pyrrha replied, then they both closed their scrolls. Jaune set his down on the table and looked at the plaque once again. He sighed, then walked up the stairs to Oriana's bedroom door. He leant against it, gently knocking on it.

"Sweetie?" Jaune softly said, hearing her soft sniffles. Then she went silent. "Can I come in?"

She was silent, but he also knew that she would tell him outright to stay out if she didn't want him to come in. She was most likely on the verge of crying again, and speaking would probably set her off. He quietly opened the door, seeing her wrapped up in her duvet, her back facing him. She clutched her plushy whale tight, and Jaune carefully sat down on the end of her bed.

"I'm sorry… for shouting at you. I know I shouldn't have… things were heated in there, and seeing you yell at your mother I…" He stammered, but Oriana still didn't turn to him. She didn't say a word. "You're not… afraid of me, are you?" He asked with fear in his voice.

She still wouldn't turn.

He closed his eyes with regret, lowering his head. "Stupid question, I guess… you've never seen me like that." He sighed. "I just want you to know that… we love you. And we were scared, afraid you'd get hurt if you ever went there, and that we'd lose you too." Jaune explained.

Still nothing, but there was a sniffle from her.

He looked at her and knew this was the time to tell her. He held his hands together and hung his head. "You've never asked…"

That seemed to get a response. She turned her head slightly, and her delicate voice emerged. "About what?" She trembled.

"Athena… you've seen her name on the plaque… but you've never asked either of us about her. Fifteen years and not a peep." Jaune said, and she sighed, closing her teary eyes.

"I know… she's not here." Oriana answered.

"Yeah." He answered, looking at his hands. "But it's important that you know exactly what happened to her. Your mom… she doesn't like to talk about it, and I can't blame her. It's personal to her, in a way that I'll never be able to understand." Jaune explained.

He shuffled as he sat there. "Before we had you… roughly four years after Salem died? Your mom and I wanted to start a family together. And we wanted to name this daughter Athena. We were planning on building her a bedroom in the room just next door to yours, the one that's just a storage room now." Jaune explained, and Oriana listened to every word.

Jaune's breath became shakier. "But there was a complication." Jaune revealed. "Your mom… she just started screaming in the morning, and I took her to the hospital. She had a miscarriage… and that was it. That precious little thing we wanted to bring into the world, your big sister? She never had a chance…" Jaune explained as a tear fell from his eye.

"After that, your mom was in a really bad place. It took us a while to fix things… but we did. And six years later, we wanted to try again. You have no idea how scared we were that we'd lose you too." Jaune explained, and Oriana closed her teary eyes. "And then when I heard your mom screaming? I was terrified that it happened again… because it was earlier than we planned. But… turned out you were just a really impatient baby and wanted to come out prematurely." Jaune chuckled, and Oriana laughed softly.

He reached over and gently caressed her shoulder. "You're our little miracle. And no matter what happens, I want you to know that. To know that we will always love you, Ori… and I'm so sorry if I've made you doubt that." He cried as he said those words.

Only for Ori to suddenly burst from her bed and wrap her arms around her dad. His eyes widened as she buried her head into his shoulder, and he melted into her hug, embracing her tight.

"I love you Dad… I'm sorry…" she cried, and he cried with her.

"I'm so sorry."

The two spent a touching moment hugging each other, and Oriana just thought one thing to herself.

Hopefully now, Oriana could get some sleep.

I'll keep an eye on them, Big Sis…

… I promise.

Oriana

Her hopes were not heard.

As she slept, she awoke in her bedroom, alone. She looked outside and saw the sun shining brightly. She yawned and got out of bed. "Mom? Dad? What time is it?" She asked, since it looked a bit later than usual. But there was no answer. She walked across the landing, seeing their bedroom was empty. She furrowed her brow as she walked, just avoiding his hand as he reached out for her.

She walked down the stairs, confused as to where they were. "Mom? Daaad?" She called out in confusion. As she walked into the kitchen, she screamed in horror, finding Jaune and Pyrrha lying in a pool of blood, stabbed to death. "NO! MOOOOM! DAAAAD!" She wailed, collapsing, shaking their corpses to try to wake them up. She felt sick to her stomach, staring at their lifeless eyes, like they were screaming in pain when they were killed.

She looked around, smacking herself in the face. "Wake up… WAKE UP!" she cried out, then she heard a gut wrenching growl coming from behind her. She slowly turned around, and suddenly the light outside flickered into darkness as blood poured down the windows. And a creature shrouded in shadows peered around the wall at her, glaring directly at her with piercing purple eyes. It snarled, reaching its clawed hands out as it crawled down the stairs, the sound of snapping bones coming for her.

Oriana screamed in terror, crawling backwards through her parents' blood, ruining her pyjamas. The creature bolted down the stairs, tossing the bodies of her parents out of the way, shattering the counter as it pursued her. She ran to the door, only for the handle to disappear. She looked through the window and saw Vale on fire. The entire world was burning.

Then hands, dark shadowy hands, crept through the walls towards her. She fled from the wall, screaming as they tried to grapple onto her. The creature leapt towards her, and she only narrowly dodged it, and ran towards the back door, only for that door to completely vanish. Darkness was creeping in all around her, backing her into a corner. The creature approached, more arms growing from its body, all reaching out for her.

Whispers directly in her ear, making her hairs stand on end. The beast forced her to the ground, those eyes glaring directly into hers, and a devilish grin of red teeth appeared on its face.

"Make… Us… Whole." The Nightmare whispered.

Suddenly hands reached out from underneath Oriana, grabbing onto her arms and her body. "GET OFF ME! GET OFF ME! MOM! DAD! HELP MEEEEEEEE!" She shrieked as the hands covered her mouth, muffling her screams and forcing her to stare at the creature as it got closer and closer. Her screams were unheard, and then the beast lunged towards her.

She bolted upright in her bed at the dead of night, shrieking in terror, shaking as she grabbed at her body, looking around for those horrific shadowy hands that kept touching her. "GET OFF ME! GET OFF ME!" she cried out, and suddenly Jaune and Pyrrha burst into her room with fear in their eyes.

"ORI?" Pyrrha gasped, seeing Oriana panicking and sweating, but the second that Oriana saw her parents, she started crying immediately, and fell into her parents' arms as they held her tight. Both of them looked at each other with confusion and fear, woken up by Oriana's shrieks.

"It's okay, baby… we're here…" Jaune promised, and Pyrrha kissed the top of her head.

"We're here…" Pyrrha promised, holding their crying baby tight, stroking her hair.

Jaune

A while later, Pyrrha eased Oriana back to sleep, even falling asleep with her in their bed, her arms wrapped around her precious daughter. But Jaune was in the living room downstairs, his scroll to his ear, pacing back and forth.

He called Dutch, for Dutch was the person they could trust when it came to Oriana's night terrors. Thanks to his history with psychology, he had the tips on how to help. And thankfully, he was very effective with P.T.S.D or Night Terrors.

"Hey Dutch? I'm so sorry for calling you this late, but it's urgent." Jaune said, walking around the room.

"No worries buddy, I'm still at work." He assured, which gave Jaune pause.

"Wait, why? Is something wrong? I heard about that terrorist attack, but I thought the Deacon took care of that?" He asked.

"Yeah, that's all sorted, but… no… this is something else. Honestly, I'll probably let you two know later, once I figure out what's happened here." Dutch assured.

"That's concerning." Jaune stated.

"Don't worry about that. I'm more concerned about you. What's going on?" He asked him.

"It's Ori." Jaune said, and Dutch nodded his head as he walked around the crime scene he was at.

"Another Night Terror?" He asked him.

"Yeah, but… Dutch the scream she made? This one was different… I've never heard her scream like that. She was… terrified. And she actually seems to remember the nightmare this time. In the past, she's never remembered it. But… well, she didn't wanna talk about it, not yet anyway. But she looked relieved when she saw us." Jaune explained, and Dutch nodded his head.

"A Losing Your Parents nightmare… I've had a few cases like that. I know a few tips. I can give you three to work through it. I'll be in my office at Heimdall's Lab tomorrow. Come by. I'll be happy to help. I'll get some of those sweets you said she likes." Dutch assured, and Jaune nodded.

"Any idea why she always gets sick after these?" Jaune asked. "I'm guessing that's gonna happen again, right?" He assumed.

"Probably, yeah. My guess is the body is in shock from it. But honestly? Yeah… it's weird seeing someone get what's like a fever from what's essentially a nightmare. Like I said, I'll check her over tomorrow." Dutch assured.

"Okay, what time should we book it?" Jaune asked.

"Lunch time would be good, gives her time to get ready and also get some extra rest." Dutch suggested.

"Okay, that sounds good. Thanks man, sorry to bother you." Jaune said.

"No problem, buddy." Dutch replied, then they both ended the call. Jaune set his scroll down, and he held his shaking wrist.

It rattled them both.

He walked upstairs and joined Pyrrha in bed with Ori, looping his arm around them both, holding his precious family close.

The Deacon

In the dead of night…

The Deacon walked through a dark cemetery on his own, approaching a collection of graves. He stared down at them all, finally set on the decision he's made. He exhaled softly as he stared at their names.

Sun Wukong

Scarlet David

Sage Ayana

Neptune Vasillias

Russel Thrush

Dove Bronzewing

Sky Lark

He crouched down and set a bundle of flowers down on their graves, graves that he personally made in memory of them. They were never forgotten, since there were some older flowers here. One from Weiss Schnee, another from Eryka Vasillias, another from Pyrrha Nikos.

There were more, but the names had been smudged from the rain.

He stared at their names, clenching his hands into fists. "You'll rest easily soon everyone… I'm going to make sure he's brought to justice for what he did. I can't get Tyrian… but I can get him. I promise." The Deacon said, turning and walking away.

Into the darkness.

Author Note - Quite the tearjerker this one, Athena's story is such a sad one.

Shows that even with Salem gone and the world saved that hardships still were possible, just not the world ending kind, even thought they definitely feel world ending to the poor people who suffer from such a tragedy.

And then it got fucking scary. As you all should know I LOVE DOING SCARY NIGHTMARE SCENES

And now... the Deacon is committed to going after Jaune. Glad I took my time showing the slow build up to this choice instead of him already being set at the start, felt that was important for his character arc in this story. As always, curious to see what all your theories are on which of those names he truly is.

I hope you all enjoyed this chapter! Please review, follow and favourite!

Stay tuned for the next chapter - The Night Terror

- Matt