THE GUARDIAN

CHAPTER II

Pyrrha laid on her pillow. Her mind was broken

–"Mistral...my home...Vale...They don't exist here" Pyrrha thought. She remembered Vale and Mistral. Two kingdoms of Remnant, the places where she had spent the best days of her life.

How could she forget them? But right now, they are gone. Yoriko could see the disappointment and confusion on her face. Pyrrha wanted to go back to Remnant, to see her friends and family. However, she also knew that it was a difficult task to accomplish from this world, in this body. It was like she was trapped, alone in an unknown world with no way to go back.

Another woman in the same uniform that Yoriko wore entered the room and greeted calmly but enthusiastically

–"I'm glad you are awake. Saori. You scared us all!" said the woman, a cute young lady with blue eyes, her black hair fastened on a braid decorated with a pink bow, whose name was officer Miyuki Kobayakawa.

Pyrrha was surprised by Miyuki's sudden entrance. She hadn't expected anyone else to enter the room. She was looking at the woman while having many questions she wanted to ask, but she didn't know what to say. She was trying to process everything that had happened.

Her mind was filled with so many thoughts that she didn't say anything and just looked at the woman awkwardly. She wanted to try and figure out a solution to her situation, while at the same time, she wanted to show the woman that she wasn't Saga Saori. She was Pyrrha Nikos.

–"Hello again!" Said Pyrrha Nikos shyly, in her trademark Remnant greeting with a small smile on her face. She wanted to have a normal conversation, like nothing had happened. Even if she knew that that was not the reality of the situation. She was trapped inside the body of a different person, and there wasn't anything she could do about it. She knew that Miyuki thought she was just Saori.. Miyuki raised an eyebrow in confusion. She never had heard Saori greeting like that.

–"She doesn't remember anything..." Yoriko murmured to her fellow officer Kobayakawa.

Pyrrha was still trying to figure out how to show Miyuki that she was Pyrrha herself. However, she was too disoriented to think of anything to say. Her mind was filled with the thoughts of Remnant and the strange situation she found herself in. She wanted to get out of this mess.

Pyrrha looked at Miyuki for a few seconds.

–"So... where exactly am I?" Pyrrha asked, curious to know. She didn't have much information about this world, but she desperately wanted to know more. "Bokuto district...Sumida Ward...Tokyo...Kantō Region...Honshū Island..." Replied Miyuki as confused as Pyrrha.

–"Tokyo... Kantō Region... Honshū Island" Pyrrha repeated what Miyuki had said. She was trying to process all the information.

Pyrrha's mind was filled with knowledge from a new world that she had just learned about. But she still wanted to know where Remnant was. How could she explain to Miyuki that she was Pyrrha and not Saori? She was still trying to figure that out.

–"Can you... Turn on the TV?" Asked Pyrrha Nikos. She had seen a TV before in Remnant, but not like that one. The television in her Earth room looked like something that in Remnant would be found only in an antique store, maybe even a museum, it was black, looked heavy, and had a huge box behind the screen, nothing like the flat screens where she used to watch Lisa Lavender news show back in Vale. Pyrrha was surprised by that old looking TV. She was intrigued and curious about it. "Can you turn it on?" Pyrrha asked Miyuki, who was confused about her request.

–"Why?" asked Miyuki in return.

Pyrrha was confused by Miyuki's response. Why was she asking why she wanted to turn the TV on? Pyrrha thought it was something obvious. Everyone watched television, even in Remnant.

–"I just want to see how it works.." Pyrrha said with a confused look on her face.

The TV began to turn on. The light of the screen illuminated the room as it started to show an image. Pyrrha was curious to see what she would see on the TV. She was hoping that it would show her something that she recognized from Remnant.

Yoriko was watching Pyrrha, she was apparently waiting for some kind of amazing discovery. Pyrrha's mind was filled with so many thoughts that she didn't say anything and just kept watching the TV, hoping that she would recognize something.

Miyuki surfed through the channels. A news show. A nature documentary. An old Samurai movie...

–"What exactly do you want to watch? Saori?" Miyuki asked the person who she thought was her apprentice, Saga Saori.

–"Um..." Pyrrha didn't know what to answer. She was completely lost. She was hoping to see something familiar on the TV, but nothing looked like anything she recognized from Remnant. She didn't remember anything about this world, so she was just watching the TV in silence, confused. The news show was strange to Pyrrha compared to the one she had seen in Remnant. The nature documentary showed images of animals and landscapes that she hadn't seen before.

–"Leave that cartoon on. It looks interesting" Pyrrha said when a very old Tom & Jerry episode was starting

–"Alright" Miyuki replied calmly. She didn't feel like arguing with Pyrrha. She was curious to see what this "interesting" cartoon was. So, she left it on for Pyrrha to watch.

Pyrrha watched the old cartoon and had to admit that it was interesting. She had never seen this kind of animation before, and she found it quite entertaining. She even found herself laughing at some of the gags.

After a few minutes, Pyrrha looked up at Miyuki. "Do you know what this is?" Pyrrha asked with a confused look on her face.

–"It's an American cartoon. It's very old. It was already on when my grandmother had my age" Said officer Miyuki

–"America?" Pyrrha asked with a surprised expression on her face. "That's a real place?" her tone shifted from surprised to skeptical. She turned to look at Miyuki.

–"Saori-chan forgot all about geography. Miyuki" Said Yoriko "She keeps talking about some place called Remnant"

Miyuki's suspicions about Pyrrha were growing. She was talking about a place that didn't exist in this world? "Remnant?" asked Miyuki with a confused expression on her face.

–"Where is Remnant exactly?" asked Miyuki, wanting to see what Pyrrha would answer. She thought that it would be interesting to see how this "Saori" would react to her question. Maybe it would help her understand who Saori really was.

–"Remnant is my home planet. We have four kingdoms. Vale, Vacuo, Atlas and Mistral. I'm from Mistral…" Replied Pyrrha. Miyuki's face spoke more than any expression of disbelief and concern "What the...?" Miyuki thought.

–"Remnant, is your… home planet?" Miyuki repeated Pyrrha's words carefully. She wanted to make sure she understood them correctly. "You live on a completely different planet?" she asked, still looking confused.

Pyrrha nodded her head.

–"Yes" she said, confirming the officer's suspicions. "It's not that different from this world" Pyrrha explained. "Our technology is slightly more advanced, and we have some animals and other beings that are not part of this world."

–"What happened to this girl?" Thought Miyuki "Sounds interesting. Saori" she answered, still puzzled and worried about Saga's condition.

She thought that the accident just messed up her fellow officer's head. She didn't suspect the soul of Pyrrha Nikos. An habitant from the distant planet of Remnant. Occupied the young body she saw everyday at her workplace in the Bokuto police department.

Pyrrha couldn't believe how confusing the situation was. She was trapped in this body and in this world. However, she still needed to act like Saori for everyone else's sake. She needed to pretend that Saori was the normal girl that everyone knew. Pyrrha even looked at Miyuki and attempted to smile at her. She needed to pretend that she didn't see anything strange about the situation, even if it was completely bizarre for her.

–"Wait until Aoi hears about that Remnant world, she loves sci-fi" Said Miyuki with a smile. Referring to Aoi Futaba, another Bokuto police department officer and their friend.

–"Aoi? She's... a friend of yours?" Pyrrha asked. She was starting to wonder if she knew Aoi from her time as Saori.

Miyuki looked at Pyrrha and nodded her head.

–"Yes" Miyuki said calmly. She was understanding of Pyrrha's confusion, as she was trying to figure out this world. "Do you remember any other friends?" Miyuki asked.

Pyrrha was trying to process the question. She was pretending to be Saori. Or, was she? Maybe it was a disguise? Or... was she really Saori? What would she say? Saori's life and Pyrrha's life would be so different. It was confusing for her.

–"I can't remember"

Miyuki was surprised by the answer. Saori could not remember any of her friendships? She couldn't remember the names of the people that she knew?

Kobayakawa looked concerned.

–"Saori. Can you not remember your friends? Your family?" she asked the girl. She was worried because Saori was beginning to appear even more distant from her usual self. Pyrrha was trying to keep the act. Her mind was filled with thoughts about Remnant and how different it was from this world. She tried to ignore them for now. She couldn't act strangely.

–"I'm trying to remember both of you girls. But I can't for now"

That made Miyuki and Yoriko more worried. Saori couldn't remember them. Saori was normally an outgoing and friendly girl. Miyuki decided to keep questioning.

–"What else can't you remember?" she said, sounding a bit curious and concerned.

–"My address, my job..."

Miyuki was surprised by the answer. Saori couldn't remember even details about her life? She was even more concerned now. She tried to keep her questions going.

–"Do you remember any of your personal information?" Miyuki asked with a more serious tone in her voice. She wanted to see if Saori could remember something else.

Pyrrha was still trying to act like Saori herself without revealing that she wasn't. She was confused. Her mind was filled with thoughts about Remnant, but she was trying to keep pretending.

–"My name is Saga Saori and I'm... A soldier or something like that" Pyrrha answered using the only spoonful of information she had about her new identity in that strange place.

–"A traffic police officer actually" Answered Miyuki with a kind smile "You wanted to be one since I met you. You drank like an ocean of Jersey Cow milk, just to grow in height and join us in the force" She continued. Trying to see if "Saori" remembered something.

Miyuki's words made Pyrrha remember some details. She took some deep breaths, trying to keep calm and in Saori's character. She was trying to ignore most of her memories of Remnant to act like Saori. But deep inside, she was confused as ever. Miyuki's comment about the milk thing made her remember something. "I drank a lot of milk because I wanted to be a police officer?" Pyrrha asked with a confused expression on her face.

–"Yes" Giggled Yoriko "And you succeeded. You joined Bokuto police department on last year's Hanami"

–"Hanami?" Pyrrha asked. She didn't know what this Hanami was, but she was going to act like Saori did. "What happened?" Pyrrha was trying to learn more about Saori's life now. She was still feeling very confused about everything.

–"You helped us to stop a car robber" Said Miyuki "On your first day of work"

–"First day of work?" Pyrrha was confused again. She didn't remember her "first day of work". This was because Pyrrha's memories from before were the memories of someone else. But she wanted to keep acting like Saori.

–"Do you remember anything else that happened on Hanami?" Pyrrha continued the conversation with the hope that she could learn more about Saori, even though all of this made no sense to her.

–"Well. We all reunited to see the cherry trees bloom like we always do" Said Miyuki

–"The cherry trees? Oh, of course. I remember now!" said Pyrrha. In Remnant, the cherry blossoms were a beautiful sight to appreciate. She remembered well how she often went to see the cherry blossoms with her friends.

Pyrrha was still confused by everything that had happened. But she wanted to pretend that she was Saori, even if it made no sense. She was trapped in Saori's body. There was no way of explaining any of this to Miyuki or Yoriko.

–"Can you go back to that documentary?" Pyrrha asked Miyuki to change the channel "I want to know more..."

–"Sure" Miyuki replied calmly, and then she turned the channel back to the nature documentary. Now that Pyrrha had asked, they could watch it again.

Pyrrha looked at the TV and watched the documentary. She was looking for more answers and ways to compare the Earth and Remnant. She wanted to know how different they were, or if they were really similar like she thought at first, watching the documentary carefully. She was looking for differences and similarities between the world of Remnant and the world of Earth. However, she found that they seemed quite similar. The ocean was blue, the birds and the fish weren't that different. Even the trees looked quite similar. She was looking at the TV screen with fascination. She was still learning things about the world of Earth. She was finding out new things and she was getting more curious and excited.

Suddenly, Pyrrha realized she had heard the mention of the word "Kingdom". It reminded her of something she remembered in Remnant. But did the word meant the same thing in Earth as it did in Remnant? Pyrrha wanted to know more.

Miyuki and Yoriko looked at Saori with confusion. Why did Saori not know anything about this world?

Pyrrha wanted to know more things about the Earth. She wanted to know everything that Saori didn't know. It was as if she was Saori herself now. She wasn't thinking about Remnant or about anything else. She was thinking about a new world where she was trapped. Pyrrha paid attention to the TV again, continuing the documentary and waiting to learn more. There was a lot of information and she was looking forward to learning it all.

–"Bring me a book. A book with everything about this place" Pyrrha asked Yoriko "I want to know it all"

Yoriko thought it was a good idea, and that who she thought to be her amnesiac friend could remember more things, not knowing that she was going to teach the foreign Pyrrha Nikos everything about her new home world "Sure. I'll bring an encyclopedia I have in my apartment tomorrow when I come to visit you" said Yoriko.

–"You always want to know everything. Saori-chan " Miyuki said. Pyrrha was surprised when Yoriko agreed with her. She wanted to learn more about the Earth, but she didn't expect someone to actually bring her a book. A whole compendium of information. She imagined how thick that book would be. It would have a ton of pages.

However, she was looking forward to reading it and learning more. She wanted to know more about the world where she was stuck. She wanted to know everything there was to learn about it. She wanted to be able to call this place home, even if it wasn't Remnant.

Pyrrha was starting to feel a little bit more comfortable now as Saori Saga. Even though she was still confused, she was learning more about Saori and about the world she was in. She was also making Saori's friends happy.

She still had her memories of Remnant, but no one in this world could know about it. She wanted to know what happened to her friends. Especially Jaune. She just wished that Jaune knew she was still fine in this world. She wanted to be able to tell him that...

Pyrrha Nikos finally fell asleep. She dreamed of Beacon Academy, long before the Vytal Festival tragedy that just had happened. She dreamed of the Cafeteria. She could even smell the delicious food she used to eat there

She saw the smiling faces of Jaune, Nora and Ren. And Ruby, Weiss, Blake, Yang. Everyone

Pyrrha could see the faces of all of her friends in her dream. They all were laughing, eating. Pyrrha could smell the delicious food in her dream as well. She could even hear them talking and laughing.

–"Pyrrha!" called a voice from behind her. Pyrrha turned to see who it was. It was Ruby. Ruby was here. She was right here.

–"Hello again" Said Pyrrha. She could remember that on the real Remnant. The poor Ruby Rose had to watch her death

–"Pyrrha!" Ruby said again in a shocked tone. "How can you be here? You... you know what happened to you, right? You saw Cinder there, and... and..." Ruby was unable to say the words. She didn't want to think about what happened to Pyrrha, but she couldn't deny that it was true. Ruby's face was filled with confusion. They had all seen her fall at the CCT in Vale. They had all seen her die.

Pyrrha was starting to feel sad and guilty again. How could she pretend everything was okay? How could she act normal and live a new life when she saw her friends here? She wanted to tell Ruby everything, but she didn't think she could...

–"I'm okay Ruby. I'm okay, everyone. Please don't be sad!"
–"Pyrrha, but don't you remember? Don't you remember dying at the Tower?"

Ruby looked more concerned now. She wanted to find out how Pyrrha knew her even though she had supposedly died. Was something strange going on here?

Pyrrha was starting to feel guilty again. Was she really okay? How could she pretend something like this was okay when her friends were here? She had to pretend. She had to. And it was making her feel bad. She wanted to tell them everything, but she couldn't...

–"I remember everything Ruby. But I'm in another place now" Pyrrha Nikos answered as calmly as she could sound

–"Another place? What do you mean? Where are you, Pyrrha?" Ruby asked her friend in the dream. She wanted to know where Pyrrha actually was. This didn't make sense to her. Pyrrha was dead. But she was here.

Pyrrha looked at Ruby and the others. Her friends looked shocked and concerned. She wanted to tell them everything, but... she couldn't.

Pyrrha decided to focus on acting like nothing strange was happening. She had to pretend. She had to.
–"I think I'm in the Otherworld now" Pyrrha giggled. Not telling Ruby anything about Earth or Japan. Avoiding to confuse her even more.

–"What do you mean? I know it's something that people believe in, but there's no way you're there..." Pyrrha felt even more guilty now. She was making Ruby so confused…

–"There's a place where we go when we die. Our souls at least. I just found out that it's true Ruby" Said Pyrrha. The rest of her friends were listening too. Ruby's face filled with sorrow when she realised what Pyrrha was saying. She knew that Pyrrha was dead. She had seen Pyrrha die. But Pyrrha was here now. Her friends looked at her. They didn't want to accept it. They wanted to believe that Pyrrha was alright. She couldn't be dead. Not her.

But Ruby knew the harsh truth. She knew that Pyrrha had died. She had witnessed it. But right now... right now she was talking to Pyrrha. But how? She had to be dead... right?

Ruby Rose woke up at her bed in Patch. She saw her uncle Qrow Branwen besides her bed

"Uncle Qrow" She said "I dreamed about Pyrrha again. She told me she was okay"

"And she is. Kiddo. I'm sure she is" Answered Branwen on his signature husky voice

Qrow sighed. He knew how much this had affected Ruby. She couldn't believe Pyrrha had died, and now she said she was in heaven.

"Ruby, you have to accept that Pyrrha is gone now" he said to her. "We all have to move on... we have to keep living." Ruby's eyes filled with tears. She knew that her uncle was right, but she just couldn't accept it. Pyrrha was still with them in her heart... right?

Pyrrha was finally released from the hospital. Saori's apartment was very different from anything she had ever seen in Remnant. There were many more things there than what she was used to.

Yoriko had the book with her, just like she promised. Pyrrha was ready for that moment. She needed to know more about this world. She wanted to learn more. The officer opened the book, and started to show it to Pyrrha. It was an encyclopedia about Japan. It contained many pages of information, and there were many categories. There was a lot of information there. The more Pyrrha studied and saw about the Earth and Japan, the more she realized that this world was similar to Remnant.

The Earth was a planet with a single moon. Remnant was also a planet with a single moon. Now that Pyrrha looked at the book, these things were becoming clearer and clearer to her.

The planet had nations with different names and histories. Remnant too. Remnant map is divided into the Kingdoms, but they could be related to some extent.

Pyrrha Nikos started learning more and more about how the Earth functioned. She realized that she had to do a lot of things differently from what she was used to in Remnant.

One of the most strange things for her was the concept of driving a car. She didn't know how this worked, and she had to learn how to do it on Earth. Driving a car wasn't a thing in Remnant. They had other solutions in Remnant for transportation. Cars weren't one of them.

Eating with chopsticks was completely new to her. She had never heard of it in Remnant. People there didn't use this type of eating utensil. But on Earth, she discovered that they used them a lot to eat food.

Pyrrha had to learn to use chopsticks now. She had to learn how to pick up food with them and how to bring it to her mouth. She had to learn how to eat everything using chopsticks. It was going to be hard, but she was sure she would learn it in time. She was happy to find out that chocolate and coffee were available on the Earth as well. She loved those foods, so knowing that they were easy to find here was very good news.

She started to wonder if more food existed here. Were oranges and apples here too? And also, what about strawberries? She was happy to find strawberries in Remnant, but she had never known the world outside. Did this world also have strawberries? Pyrrha was excited to hear that there were strawberries. That made her think of Ruby. They used to eat strawberries together all the time in Remnant. But in this world there was no Ruby. Not even her team. Not even Jaune. She was alone. She was alone with a body that wasn't hers.

Pyrrha knew she had to live this life now. She couldn't run away. She had to pretend to be Saori and she had to do all the things Saori would do. But she felt so lonely. She missed her world. She missed all of her friends...