AUTHOR'S NOTE: This is my first M-rated fic in my 11 years of writing, and as such, it has decapitation, throat-slitting, and major character death.
Pyrrha had a hard time sleeping that night.
Yang had just been disqualified for breaking a finalist's leg on international television. In the middle of a festival that was supposed to represent unity among the Four Kingdoms. She wanted to talk to her.
She really did.
But security wouldn't let her. And even if they did, Yang wouldn't have wanted to talk, either.
Nevermind that, she had been selected as the Fall Maiden. And the current Fall Maiden, Amber, had been attacked and left in a precarious condition with half her power gone not too long ago. What was once her favorite, cute fairy tale was now a depressing reality where she could be attacked at any time, anywhere, and have powers supposed to be a secret taken from her.
A scary one, she reckoned.
And now she was about to be drafted into a secret war that, if word ever got out of it, would send the world into a panic.
That was what kept her up tonight.
Pyrrha stared at the ceiling, barely blinking. The thoughts were running through her head like there was no tomorrow.
. . .
Pyrrha was still up.
A few hours of trying to sleep, twisting and turning in her bed, to no avail. It felt like forever. Even with her eyes closed. The thoughts were ever so present, but at the very least, they were starting to slow. A bit more, and then she could finally have her nights rest, whether or not she woke up groggy.
She just had to keep herself from reaching for that Scroll yet again, and just focus on happy thoughts. Happy, little thoughts from when she was just Pyrrha, first year student at Beacon.
She stayed still, eyes closed.
And then finally, her mind started to dissociate...
The ever-familiar leaves of Forever Fall.
Pyrrha remembered the times her professors took her and her classmates to the forest. She remembered the times when she collected red sap, saved Jaune from an Ursa Major, and collected other plants and flowers. At first, she assumed it was a group assignment to collect more plant life, but upon second inspection, she saw no other students than herself and her teammates. There was no professor, either.
This was not class time. It was just her and her teammates, Jaune, Nora, and Ren.
A leaf breezed by her. As it fluttered, Pyrrha calmly caught it from the wind's grasp. She inspected the leaf and saw a picture-perfect leaf shape, exactly like the kind of leaves she would see in drawings.
"Jaune."
Jaune's eyes perked as he looked at her, coming over. "Huh?"
"This is a picture-perfect maple leaf!" she exclaimed. "Should we hang this up on a wall?"
"Er.. you... sure it won't just—"
"Did somebody say maple?" came the familiar Nora's voice. Pyrrha blinked, seeing her with a fork and a spoon in her hands.
She chuckled. "Nora, you know that's hunger speaking."
"Well, where do you think pancake syrup comes from?"
But as she spoke, something caught her eye. A figure was standing by, a hint of red in its color. She could barely make it out, but when she blinked again, it was gone. She passed it off as her mere imagination...
Yet, she felt dread.
Why was she feeling dread? No way it wasn't out of nowhere; she had thought of the Fall Maiden, Amber, and what had happened to her in the past when she was awake. Moreover, she remembered the bandana that someone she knew from a news broadcast wore on her hair.
So why was she feeling dread?
Before she could answer for herself, a portal opened in front of her. She turned to see someone emerging—someone she knew from that news broadcast. It was a grainy photo, but she remembered her name:
Raven.
Leader of a bandit tribe that invaded her home Kingdom's villages for Gods know what, she had a distinct black and dark-red color scheme and ominous red eyes. In her hand, she recalled, was a red single-edged, straight sword that glowed.
And she was right here, hand already on the handle.
"Where is the Fall Maiden?" she asked.
Pyrrha reached for Milo and Akouo. Her teammates followed suit, pulling out their weapons from their sides and backs.
"I don't know what you're talking about," she began, "but if you're looking for her, then I'm sorry to suggest you look elsewhere."
"Please," Ren said, "leave us."
Raven stared Team JNPR down, squinting. She took a few steps forward, her eyes locking upon Pyrrha's.
That gaze made those eyes tremble.
"...Very well."
Raven unsheathed. The next couple of moments were a blur.
Weapons clashed, trees fell, battle cries were had, and above all, she was struggling. In fact, everyone in Team JNPR was struggling. All of them except Raven: she seemingly dashed out every breakneck move that she could throw.
One by one, her teammates fell.
Raven drove her sword through Ren's chest, then slit Nora's neck. As the redhead collapsed to the ground, gagging with her eyes open, only Jaune stood in front of Pyrrha. Between a slashed eye, his wrecked armor, and a few broken limbs, he was determined to keep her alive at all costs. But that ceased to matter the moment Raven decapitated him.
Now it was just her and Raven.
"Why are you doing this?!" Pyrrha shouted. "We already told you, the Fall Maiden is nowhere to be found here!"
Raven stayed silent. She prepared to leap towards her, and Pyrrha followed suit.
Off the two went at each other, trying their hardest to stay alive and bring the other down. Pyrrha, with her polarity Semblance, threw her shield, Akouo, to her side and transformed her spear, Milo, into a rifle that she shot with. Raven not only deflected each shot with her sword, but also sent the shield flying elsewhere in one fell swoop.
Pyrrha tried to hold her hand out to Akouo, but Raven grabbed it and slammed her to the ground, pinning her stomach to it with her foot afterwards.
She raised the sword, ready to stab through her chest. "I will only ask you once: are you the Fall Maiden?" she asked.
Pyrrha stammered. She tried to move, but Raven wouldn't let her. The only choice left now was to reach towards the sword in a hurry to affect it somehow with her Semblance...
But she casted fire.
Raven seemed surprised by this sudden, unintended move. And then, she laughed. That laugh rang in Pyrrha's ears as her mouth opened agape, barely able to process what was going on.
"I never thought I'd see the day: the Fall Maiden, out in the open like this." Raven chuckled for a bit more, then stared into her soul.
"Enough of that."
Raven thrust the sword downward.
She gasped, eyes snapped open.
Pyrrha heavily breathed, her hands suddenly loosening from the sheets she was gripping. Many questions ran through her head; people coming after her just for her power? Even as a multi-tournament champion, nobody was coming to kill her because of her power. But the Fall Maiden did, and she was next in line to become the new one.
Nothing about that nightmare felt real.
Yet, it was soon to be her reality.