Opening my eyes, I find myself in an unfamiliar location. Wooden walls and furniture surround me as I lie upon a straw bed. My weapons are leaning on the wall and my wallet and scroll on a table.
"This is clearly a bedroom."
I grab my things and try to contact my Team, however…
"No signal."
My Team leader is never away from her scroll. She loves to post pictures of herself.
"Wait…"
The city has a CCT relay tower, my friends investigated it, so either something happened to the tower…
"Or I'm not in Kuchinashi anymore."
Wherever I am, I must be very far away from civilization to not get any signal.
Weapon in hands, I open the door slightly, leaning my head out just enough to peek at the hallway.
"Empty."
Walking quietly through what seems like a rather small house, I hear the sound of metal on metal and follow it. It's a sound with regular intervals. Not a fight, but more likely it's...
"A forge."
A lone man is working the forge. Wearing an apron and thick gloves, hammering a hot piece of metal, his back towards me. Classic metalwork like this is going out of style in Remnant, though Argus still has some, being in love with its traditions.
The man stops what he's doing and turns around, revealing a pair of horns. Looks like I wasn't stealthy enough, maybe the bronze boots had something to do with it.
"So you woke up. How are you feeling?" He asked in a friendly way.
I made sure not to drop my guard.
"I'm fine. Where am I?"
"A small village in the middle of nowhere, about a couple weeks away from Mistral. The official name is Dahlia, though we just call it home. By the way my name is Astus."
Dahlia? Never heard of it.
"Pyrrha Nikos. Why am I here?"
The man scratches his beard a bit.
"Good question. Rufus found you outside, fell from the sky during a bad storm."
What?
"That's... strange."
He chuckles.
"Sure doesn't happen every day. How did you get here?"
"I'm… not sure."
The Atlesian tech and strange crystal most likely have something to do with it. There was a bright flash and then... nothing.
"Well, feel free to stay until you get your bearings."
Suddenly appearing in the middle of nowhere. If these people had been ill intentioned…
"Thank you. I've been trying to contact my Team but I get no signal."
"Ah, the CCT's been down for a few months. No one is quite sure what happened. If I had to guess, something destroyed our relay tower."
That would explain it.
"That's a problem. You said we're close to Mistral. Could you show me the way?"
If I can't get in contact with everyone, then I should be heading back to Haven as quickly as possible.
"Sure. Follow the North path and you should reach the kingdom's borders soon. The capital shouldn't be too far."
That's a relief. Once I get closer to the capital I should get some service. And then I can call my friends.
"Thank you. I'm sorry for imposing on you like this. If there's any way I can help..."
"Don't worry about it. Although... you're a huntress aren't you? I mean, I saw your weapons. Great quality by the way. Whoever made them did a great job and you clearly have done good maintenance on… sorry, I'm rambling."
So he needs huntsman work?
"Well, I'm still in training, why? Is there something I can do for you?"
He furrows his brow.
"In training, huh? You see, the truth is that there's a big grimm harassing us. Every week or two it shows up and attacks us. Destroys a house, kills some people; frankly, we're tired of it. But there isn't much we can do about it."
"Then I-"
He raises his hand.
"You're still in training. If you were a full huntress or had a Team, that would be something. But you shouldn't feel pressured to help us. You might not make it, no offense."
The answer is so obvious I don't have to think at all about it. I don't call myself a huntress just for show; I went to Haven for a reason.
"I can't just leave you like this, especially after you helped me out. I can't just wait until other huntsmen show up."
The man furrows his brow, showing clear concern.
"Are you sure? You don't owe us anything."
I shake my head.
"I will be fine. Please tell me everything you know about this grimm."
I wait in the woods just outside the village. Once Astus spoke of me to the other villagers, they were more than happy to help me with food and other things. I have to repay their hospitality.
About one hour after I began to wait, I hear something. It doesn't take long to see the grimm's massive form as it approaches. The stone giant has an approximately human shape, with rocky limbs floating around not quite attached to its torso and a small masked face.
They have been harassed by this thing for weeks already. This ends today.
Starting on the offensive, I immediately shift Milo into rifle form. The grimm's stone flesh takes the shots like they're nothing but I keep at it. However I have to change tactics fast, as the giant doesn't wait around and charges towards me with its heavy, stony body; each step causing the ground to shake momentarily.
I run in between its legs as I shift Milo back to sword form and swing at its leg, then switch it back to rifle form and take aim at its back, managing to get a few holes in; but nothing to truly cause any real damage.
The giant turns around and decides punching me is a very good idea. I, however, don't much fancy getting hit by what's effectively a collapsing ceiling; as I roll backwards to dodge the large pillar of rock coming my way. It creates a large dent in the ground and almost turns me into a pancake.
I take some potshots while trying to position myself better to avoid the next hit but give up on that approach and shift Milo to javelin form for a throw at the creature's elbow… not that it has much effect. Well, it did damage the creature, but it still moves around just fine. Maybe because the rocks are floating? I thought having a mimicry of human shape would give it some weaknesses; seems like I was wrong.
"Now I know why Mr Astus said I shouldn't fight you alone."
Clearly, this thing is a major challenge for an entire Team; or a boss monster as Nep would say it. My only answer is to smirk.
"Unfortunately for you, I quite like a challenge."
I wait with bated breath as the next punch comes in, already forming a plan in my head. Sadly, it decides to step on me instead, so I have to dodge.
"…"
I bite my lip in anticipation as the stony fist finally comes; examining the red cracks in the giant's body and finalizing my plan. I jump as it arrives but not backwards; instead I jump high in the air and use my shield as a platform briefly to jump higher, then stab at the largest crack with Milo.
As expected, it isn't enough. The creature doesn't even look in pain… but the crack is bigger, and that's what matters. Grinning like a maniac I rush forward once again but I need to immediately change my course and roll away at the last second to not get stepped on… My sash almost gets stuck underneath its heavy foot as I do so; maybe I need to improve my technique.
Jumping backwards out of the creature's range for safety, I shift Milo into sword form and find a nearby, decently sturdy tree then give it a good kick. There's a nice branch here that has the perfect angle. I jump atop it and turn towards the grimm; who is approaching quickly by taking very large steps. Pouring a bit of aura under my feet, I jump forward at the perfect angle, directly at the monster, who decides that the best defense is a good offense and tries to hit me with its massive stone arm. Thankfully, that's exactly what I wanted it to do. The arm it chose is the cracked one, seeing that I came from its right side, that was a guarantee. With expert technique and a decent amount of strength, I hit the large crack in that spot I had penetrated before, shattering the giant's arm and causing many rocks to fall down… but not on me of course. Still with adrenaline coursing through my veins, I toss the spear at the creature's face, but it easily blocks it with its other arm.
This isn't going how I expected. The creature had lost an arm but it didn't seem to have slowed down too much. Meanwhile, without looking at my scroll, I guessed I was at about half Aura. Looks like all that training against human opponents wasn't as helpful as I thought.
I will Milo back to my hand.
"Haa… ha… haa… This is fun… but…"
The giant then grabs a tree and adds it to itself. The tree simply floats around where the rock arm used to be and the grimm is using it as a new arm.
I sigh. I may like a good fight, but this is getting tiring.
Just then the grimm explodes, a small piece of its body flying away and a new hole making itself known on the creature.
The cause of the hole is a girl wearing a red cloak in the distance.
"Take this you big meany!"
Her voice is quite high.
There's also a boy in green attacking the grimm from behind, his bullets failing to make an impact against its stone flesh.
When did he appear?
The grimm is annoyed and turns to attack him but the red girl is on top of the monster, having crossed the distance in the blink of an eye. High in the air, her weapon shifts into a scythe, she points it behind her and shoots, the recoil of the gun propelling her forward as she spins and adding extra power to her slice. The grimm tries to raise its arm to block but it's too slow, causing a piece of its stone body to fall to the ground.
The red girl pulls her hood down as she talks.
"Are you oka...Pyrrha!?"
Only to stop mid sentence, her silver eyes wide with shock.
Great, another fan. It wasn't the first time one had recognized me on a mission, though thankfully it's not that common an occurrence.
The boy in green looked back towards me, his eyes widening in much the same way as his friend. The scene repeats as two others reach us, a blonde boy and a ginger girl. I'm starting to get annoyed by their wide eyes and open mouths, and so is the Grimm as it attempts to swat at us with its new tree arm.
"We can talk later; now we need to deal with this." says the boy in green. Right now, he's my favorite.
The giant comes at me with its stony fist; instead of dodging, I jump on its arm and run up the creature's body, slicing it as I go. It's an unorthodox strategy, but it works.
Maybe I'm spending too much time with Neptune.
I strike at its face and it leans back and tries to dodge for the first time. Could it be that I found a weak spot? Falling, I extend Milo into spear form so I can still hit it with an increased range. However the ginger girl hits the grimm's leg with her hammer, making it lose balance and my attack just barely miss.
No way!
I let Akuo fall, then use it as a platform to jump at the grimm's face, my shield going back to me as I shift Milo into rifle form and manage to shoot its face. The grimm visibly recoils in pain or some approximation of it.
"The face is the weak spot!" I yell.
Green boy wastes no time shooting the grimm; the creature using its stone fist to protect its face while the tree arm does a spinning sweep.
A red blur goes past me as the fast girl is about to slice the grimm with her scythe.
"I got this!"
However the grimm was already in the perfect position to counter her as her own speed will only make the punch she'll receive harder.
"I don't got this!"
She shoots the monster; not to damage it, just to use her weapon's recoil to push her back.
"What should we do? Maybe a Team attack?"
"That's it!" blonde boy, who has been completely useless so far, suddenly yells.
"We need to hit its face. It's time, Pomegrenade!"
Ginger girl crouches and holds her hammer more firmly… then turns around with a confused face.
"Wait, is it you or Pyrrah doing the shield thing?"
"Obviously it's Pyrrha."
"Me?"
My face no doubt shows how incredulous I am. Are these people insane?
"Uh… guys." a shrill voice cuts through the air. "You can help anytime. Just saying."
Red girl and green boy keep the giant's attention, having little luck doing any damage even knowing its weak spot.
"Okay, we'll try this again. Are you ready now?"
Leaving the crazy duo on their own, I charge the enemy. All I need is just one good hit.
"Distract it!" I yell to the useful duo.
Green boy looks a bit annoyed.
"This is the exact opposite of what I-"
"Got it! Jaune!"
Blonde boy, Jaune, finally does something useful.
"HEY! YOU UGLY THING! LOOK AT ME!"
…by waving his arms around and yelling like an idiot.
So long as it works…
The grimm seems to think he's really annoying, so it rushes Jaune with its giant stone body. Maybe this wasn't such a good plan after all. Far too reckless.
"Nora, smash!"
"You got it."
Ginger girl spits on both her palms then holds her hammer like a baseball bat. As soon as the grimm approaches Jaune, she hits the grimm's leg, shattering it and causing it to fall. She then hits the ground hard, breaking a good portion of it, leaving a hole that the heavy grimm gets stuck in.
This is my chance.
I throw Akuo at the enemy as I run towards it, it bounces on the stone and comes back to me. I then jump on it and keep it in place with my Semblance for a single second. More than enough time for me to kick the shield with a large amount of Aura, giving me the boost in height and speed to reach its face before it can block.
With Milo in sword form, holding it in both hands, I strike the grimm with everything I have; every pip of aura in my body going into this strike.
"Hyaaah!"
The attack cuts the rock clean in half, a shockwave resulting from my efforts knocks a few branches of nearby trees to the ground and breaks some of the rocks. Maybe Sage was right. Hitting things with a sword might solve more things than I thought.
The ghost-like Geist leaves the rock and tries running away, but a single bullet from scythe girl is all it takes to finish it off once and for all.
"Alright! We did it! High five!"
I strike Nora's hand before I realize what I'm doing. After a couple seconds for my brain to realize that Nora doesn't have blue hair nor a monkey tail, I feel embarrassed.
"You cut that thing to ribbons. Nice going girl." Nora punches my shoulder with a surprising amount of power. Given her hair color and short stature, I briefly wonder if she's related to Penny.
"Pyrrha…is it really you?" asks Jaune. He raises his hand as if to touch me but I take a step back.
"Pyrrha."
I turn towards the red girl's shrill voice.
"How can this be? I-I saw you…I saw you…"
Her silver eyes are tearing up.
Nora and green dude don't say anything, but it's clear by their faces that whatever the other two are thinking, so are they.
Now that the fight is over, it looks like I'll have to deal with this.
"What is going on?"
"Pyrrha… it's really you, right?"
"Of course. Who else would I be?"
Red girl hugs me tightly as she cries. If she's not a fan then she must be mistaking me for someone else; there's no other explanation.
I gently push her away.
"I'm sorry but do I know you?"
The four of them look at each other.
"You're Pyrrha… our friend from Beacon. We… I saw you die in the Vytal Festival. Do you really not remember anything?"
Wait, what?
"I'm sorry, hold on a minute. I died in the Vytal Festival?"
Red girl wipes her tears.
"Uhum."
"That doesn't make any sense. First off, I'm clearly alive. And second, the Vytal Festival is a few months away."
Once again they exchange looks with faces full of confusion. This is getting old.
"The Vytal Festival was six months ago."
"Huh?"
What is she talking about?
"Could it be… that she's from the past? Did you time travel or something?" asks Nora.
"I don't think so, Nora." explains green dude.
"Why not Renny? It makes perfect sense."
No it doesn't.
"If she was from a few months before the festival, she would know who we are." He says.
"Well, maybe she has a bad memory or something. Maybe she hit her head? Dying probably messes you up a bit."
Are they really saying that?
"I'm not dead."
I have to make it clear, these people are crazy.
"Right, of course. We're just trying to understand why." says red girl.
"Maybe she's from further in the past?" wonders Nora.
"Then she would look younger. She looks just like she did the last time we saw her." explains 'Renny'. "Let me ask you something, the Vytal Festival you're talking about will happen where exactly?"
"Beacon."
It happens every two years in a different kingdom, following a specific order.
"Yes, like I thought. She would certainly know us. That means that she did not come from the past." He explains calmly. Nora, however, doesn't seem to accept that.
"Then maybe her memories got scrambled when she died and came back. I don't know! The important thing is that she's here."
Nora hugs my arm, I try to push her back but she's a lot stronger than she appears.
"Nora, give her some space please." Says the man in green.
"Why?"
"Because as far as she's concerned, we're a bunch of strangers."
"Oh."
Nora politely lets go. I'm starting to like this green guy; he has a good head on his shoulders.
"Wait… maybe she's from another world." says red girl.
"Another world?"
"Yeah…Yeah! I read it in a book once, a girl fell into a different world that was kinda like her own but not really. That's totally you, right?"
The Girl Who Fell Through the World.
"Isn't that a fairy tale?"
Mom used to read it to me when I was young. I've always had a soft spot for fairy tales, but to think I might be in one is… silly, to say the least.
"...Fairy tales are still books." she says, pouting.
I sigh.
"Look, I don't know what you guys are into. I appreciate the help fighting that grimm but I really should be going. I need to find my friends."
"Wait!"
The blonde boy, Jaune, holds out his scroll.
"Please watch this."
I really shouldn't, but… if it'll make them leave me alone…
On his scroll is a video… of me.
[Alright Jaune, just like we practiced. Follow these instructions.]
It's me. Talking to Jaune. Or rather, me specifically recording a training video for Jaune. At first I think it's edited somehow, but… it's too well done.
[Assuming you didn't cheat… we can take a break.]
If it wasn't edited then maybe a lookalike? I've received strange things from fans before, such as edited photos of myself in a romantic context. This wouldn't be too different from that, and yet… the way she looks is too perfect, the way she talks, even her body language, something so natural… even the best actress wouldn't be this perfect. I know body language well, especially my own. This can only mean one thing…
[I want you to know that I am proud of you. I've never met someone so determined to better themselves.]
There's more to this. The way she turns her face around, the way her body is closed off… shy…
[Jaune, I…]
I don't miss the implication here. This is me. This is Pyrrha Nikos. And this Pyrrha Nikos…
[I want you to know that I'm just happy to be a part of your life. I'll always be here for you, Jaune.]
He stops the video.
I take a deep breath.
"That… is definitely me. No doubt about that."
A flash in their eyes. Hope. For some reason it hurts to see but I keep going.
"But I don't remember recording this. I never even met you."
"Then…"
Red girl comes forward.
"Can you tell us what you remember?"
"So… let me get this straight…"
Nora stretches out every syllable, probably giving herself a few more seconds to process everything. Not that I blame her.
"You're saying you're from Haven Academy, that you're on a Team with Sun, Sage and Neptune, that you met a Team from Atlas in a mission and that after a big explosion you showed up here?"
I nod.
"That's the short of it, yes."
"I knew it! She's from another world!"
Ruby stands up and exclaims, finger pointed at me.
"...sorry."
She sits back down. We're all sitting down in the woods. I thought about taking them back to the nearby village but first I needed to hear their story, to share mine. This is too important to delay. Besides, everything seems safe now that that grimm was defeated.
"Sun is a friend of ours. He's got a monkey tail." says Ruby.
"And Sage was his Teammate." says Ren.
"Was he? I don't remember him." says Ruby.
"Neptune I know. He and I talked a bit during the festival." says Jaune.
I can't help but raise an eyebrow.
"He?" I ask, just to make sure.
"Yes."
"Neptune is a woman."
The four of them are silent again.
"Are you sure?" asks Jaune.
How could I not be sure?
"Of course; she's my partner. Just to be clear but we're talking about Neptune Varsilias, right?"
"Yeah."
"Blue hair with an undercut, expensive red jacket."
"Yeah."
"Afraid of water."
"Yeah."
"And a trident weapon called-"
""Tri-hard.""
Jaune and I say together.
"So she's a man in this world?"
"Looks like it."
That's so strange.
"I… don't know what she would think about that."
They'd probably get along well.
"I wonder if there's opposite sex versions of us over there? I kinda want to see me as a guy. No, scratch that. I really want to see Renny as a girl."
Nora begins to vibrate in excitement.
"I really don't." says 'Renny'.
"What about those Atlas students? Maybe we know some of them?" asks Ruby, eyes still a bit red from crying earlier.
Ren furrows his brow.
"That seems unlikely. There are a lot of students in Atlas, and not everyone from this world would be a student in the other. The chances of her meeting people we know are-"
"So far, 100%." Ruby says with a smile.
Ren lets it go.
"Well, the Team we worked with was Team SPNC (Spinach). That's Weiss Schnee-"
An immediate look of recognition. Though it doesn't mean much. The Schnee family is rather famous. Or… infamous.
"Penny Polendina-"
This time a look of pain, especially on Ruby. Taking a guess, it doesn't seem as if 'I' was the only casualty.
"Neon Katt and Flynt Coal."
"I know these two. Yang and Weiss beat them up in the tournament." Ruby explains.
"So you people know Weiss."
"Yep."
"Personally or by reputation?"
Ruby smiles.
"She's my partner. We're the best of friends."
Nora, Ren and Jaune look at Ruby.
"...sometimes. Look, here's a photo of us together, we get along, I swear."
The photo really is of the two of them. The hair is different but she could have cut it after the photo. Or maybe it's a difference between the worlds.
"Yes, that's her. Even the scar is exactly the same."
"Weiss as a Team leader? Not to be judgmental but I don't think she would do very well." says Ren.
"Right? Weiss is great but she's way too bossy. I'd rather be on a Team led by… Penny."
Ruby's mood instantly changes.
"I'm guessing you were close."
"Yeah… I think I was her only friend."
That's a bit strange.
"She seemed friendly enough when I saw her."
Ruby smiles, albeit faintly.
"That's good. She's a good girl, she deserves that. Penny… Penny was-"
I put a hand on her shoulder.
"It's okay, you don't have to say anything if it makes you uncomfortable."
Ruby rubs her eyes, tears already coming back.
"...Thank you. Maybe we can talk about Penny later."
And just like that, the conversation stopped.
"Well, I told you guys about me. Can you tell me one thing? And I'm sorry if it's painful but I need to know."
"Sure."
"About me dying…"
"Oh…"
It's obvious, but they clearly don't look forward to talking about that.
"I'm sorry. I should be more sensitive about-"
"No, it's okay. You have the right to know this. You-"
Ruby slaps her cheeks.
"You died during the Fall of Beacon."
"Fall of Beacon?"
A rather dramatic name.
"It's what we're calling it. A lot of grimm invaded the city during the tournament… A lot of grimm, even this giant one that flew around. And also the White Fang attacking and Atlas robots… it was a mess." Says Ruby while avoiding eye contact.
"Nora and I and some other students from all the schools fought together to protect the people while others helped evacuate them." adds 'Renny'.
"What about me? How did I…die?"
Ruby's breathing gets faster, uneven.
"I was worried about you. You weren't with the rest of us, so I went after you and what I saw…"
Tears once again start to fall from her silver eyes.
"I saw you being killed by a woman, an enemy you couldn't defeat. If only I had gotten there faster…I could have helped, I could have done something. Maybe slowed her down, maybe-"
"Ruby."
I call out to her.
"Huh?"
"There's no point in worrying about that now. What is done, is done. We can't change the past."
Ruby's tears changed into full on crying.
"But I could have saved you. I could have… I don't know, I cou-"
I grab her shoulders and make sure I have her full attention.
"Ruby, I may not be familiar with you or your friends, but I know that I would not want you to blame yourself for my death. Would this Pyrrha want that?"
She shook her head.
"Then let's worry about the future instead. What's the plan right now?"
She rubs her eyes.
"We're heading to Haven Academy. There's a lot we don't know about what happened at Beacon. We're hoping to get some answers."
I smile.
"That's good. It's what I was going to do as well. I tried to contact my friends but there's no signal, so I was heading to Mistral."
"Oh, the big grimm destroyed Beacon's CCT Tower."
Of course it did that.
"That explains it."
Maybe. It would mess with worldwide communication, but kingdomwide would still be fine, probably.
"Curse you Kevin!" Says Nora.
Wait…
"The big grimm that destroyed Beacon is named Kevin?"
Nora closes one eye and puts her tongue out.
"Ah, that's a name I came up with. Hehe…"
These four… they're not bad people.
"So, shall we go on? To Haven?"
Everything else aside, I'm very interested in this woman who was strong enough to kill me.
"Yeah, let's go everyone!"
"You… you guys go on ahead." Says Jaune, looking very miserable.
"What's wrong?"
"I just need a few minutes."
Ruby looks like she might say something but then doesn't.
"Right. We'll walk slowly."
She looks young but isn't a bad leader. Not unlike Neptune.
Speaking of; I wonder how my friend is doing.
Author's Note:
Let's see when was the last time I uploaded something here.
Oh... oh.
Yeah, so... I've been pretty busy with commissions. Which is no excuse since I had this chapter fully written since November... last year. Just needed some minor editing. Oops. The good news is that I have three other chapters fully written and it should take much less time to do the minor edits, so I won't take months to update this, at least for now.