Chapter 31

Team RWBY Room

Still holding onto Smoke, both teens are brought out of their thoughts as the room door suddenly opens.

"Hey there, firecracker." Qrow said sticking his head into the room as Yang quickly let's go of Smoke. "Hope I'm not interrupting?"

"Not at all." Yang said as her face turned red

"I'll leave you two alone." Smoke said about to leave before Qrow spoke

"No, no, you should stay." Qrow said entering the room

"Okay." Smoke said as he sat down close to Yang

"So, why'd you do it?." Qrow said standing by the window

"You know why." Yang sarcastically said

"All I know is that you attacked a helpless kid. So either you're lying or you're crazy." Qrow said uncrossing his arms as he leers at her, before smirking

"I'm not lying." Yang glared at her uncle

Qrow makes a disappointed noise. "Crazy, got it."

"Who knows? Maybe I am." Yang said

"And here I thought your dark-haired friend was the emo one." Qrow said shaking his head as he continues pacing

"I saw my mom." Yang said shocking Smoke. "I-I was in a lot of trouble. Took a pretty hard hit. But when I came to, the person attacking me was gone. And I thought I saw... her. Her sword, like the one in you and dad's old picture."

"When did this happen?" Smoke asked

"During our mission outing." Yang said

"You're not crazy, Yang." Qrow laughed. "That was your mom, all right. Let me guess, she didn't say a word, did she?"

"How did you know that?" Yang asked shocked

"I don't see my sister very often, but she does try to keep in touch... whenever it suits her." Qrow said

Shaking her head at the revelation, Yang faced her uncle. "Wait. You mean you talk to her? That was real?"

"Yeah, she found me. Had a tip from my most recent assignment and wanted me to give you a message." Qrow said

"Why didn't you tell me sooner!?" Yang said glaring at him

"I was tryin' to wait for the right time, and this sure ain't it. But I guess you deserve to know." Qrow said with a sign. "She wanted me to tell you that she saved you once, but you shouldn't expect that kindness again. Raven's got an interesting way of looking at the world that I don't particularly agree with. And she's dangerous. But you're a tough egg, kiddo. Shouldn't let this tournament thing get'cha down. You had a slip-up, sometimes bad things just happen. I say it's time you move on."

"Move on to what?" Yang asked

"Well... Raven let some info slip before she took off. If you ever wanna track her down, I think I might be able to help." Qrow said leaning towards his niece.

"Thanks Qrow." Yang said smiling slightly

"No probs. And you." Qrow said facing Smoke

"Yes Sir." The assassin gulped

"You hurt her, I'll put you in a body bag. Got it?"

"I wouldn't dream of it." Smoke said

"Stop scaring him grandpa." Yang said laughing

Dinning Hall

In the twilight, Pyrrha sits alone outside the dining hall, head bowed as the wind rises. She sees the air blow a single orange leaf onto the cobblestones at her feet, and she looks at the fall colors with a face of total fright, remembering the sight of Amber in her comatose state and the choice weighing her down.

"Hey." Pyrrha turns her head up to see a smiling Jaune with a large cone of cotton. "I-It's no green goop, but I think it still might do some good."

"Um, right. Thank you, Jaune." Pyrrha said after awhile

Jaune's smile fades as he sees her still-tormented face, and looks to the far end of the building as Nora and Ren come around, the latter carrying a cotton candy, a tub of popcorn, and a drink to sip on.

"Uh... come on, Ren. Let's go back to the fairgrounds. I'll win you another stuffed animal." Nora said as she drags him away from Jaune and Pyrrha's private time

Jaune looks back to Pyrrha and takes a seat next to her. "You were the first person to ever believe in me, you know that? Even when I told my parents I was going to Beacon, they told me not to worry if I ended up having to move back home. How depressing is that?"

"I'm sure they didn't mean-" Pyrrha started but stopped as Jaune placed his hand over her's causing her to drop her cotton candy

"I guess... I'm just trying to say that... you've always been there for me... even when I didn't deserve it. And I can tell there's something on your mind, so... I don't know. How can I help?" Jaune asked

As Pyrrha astonishment melts away into contentment, she leans over and places her head in a startled Jaune's shoulder, "You're already doing it."

Jaune quickly matches Pyrrha's smile with his own, and the two stay there for a long moment, but as an additional autumn leaf joins the first, Pyrrha's expression darkens once more.

"Jaune…" Pyrrha said standing up

"Hmm?"

"I don't know what to do." Pyrrha said looking away

"W-What do you mean?"

"Do you believe in destiny?" Pyrrha asked

"Um... I-I don't know. I guess that depends on how you view it." Jaune said slightly taken aback by the question

"When I think of destiny, I don't think of a predetermined fate you can't escape. But rather... some sort of final goal, something you work towards your entire life." Pyrrha said

"Okay. Uh, yeah. I can see that, sure." Jaune said still confused

"Well... what would you do if something came along that you... never expected? Something that had the potential to stand between you and your destiny?" Pyrrha asked

"Like what?" Jaune asked

"Or what if you could suddenly fulfill your destiny in an instant, but at the cost of who you were?" Pyrrha asked getting slightly agitated

"Pyrrha, you're not making any sense." Jaune said placing his hand on her shoulder

Moving away from his touch, Pyrrha is holding herself as if on the verge of tears. "None of it makes sense! This isn't how things were supposed to happen!"

"I'm sorry! Please, I-I'm just trying to understand what's wrong." Jaune said trying to comfort her

"I've always felt as though I was destined to become a Huntress, to protect the world...and it's become increasingly clear to me that my feelings were right. But…" She then turns to look at Jaune. "I don't know if I can do it."

"Of course you can. The Pyrrha Nikos I know would never back down from a challenge. And if you really believe it's your destiny to save the world...you can't let anything stand in your way." Jaune said with a smile

Despite Jaune's intentions, this doesn't bring relief. Instead, Pyrrha looks absolutely shattered, covering her mouth as she begins to sob.

"Pyrrha?"

"Stop…"

"Did I say something wrong?" Jaune asked

"STOP!" Pyrrha said holding her hand out, a black energy surrounding it as she unintentionally uses her Semblance to push Jaune's armor and its wearer into the dining hall column. He weakly watches her from his spot above until she opens her eyes and realizes what she's done.

She lowers her hand and lets him fall to the ground, finally letting the tears come as he looks up. "I'm... I'm sorry…"

"Pyrrha, wait!" Jaune called as she ran away. "What did I say?"

Docking Bay

At the cliffside docking bays down the main alleyway and under the floating Amity Colosseum, Scorpion walks up to the end of the line, his mind still on the incident of Yang. He turns his head to see Brawnz Ni and Nolan Porfirio talking outside the line, and beyond that, Sun Wukong walking away, Ruyi Bang and Jingu Bang over his shoulder, with a familiar rabbit Faunus snapping photos of him.

"Hanzo, how you going?" Velvet said noticing the Spectre before approaching him

"Velvet." Scorpion greeted. "What are you up to?"

Rolling her eyes happily Velvet spoke. "Oh, you know. Just working on my photography. Do you wanna see?" She offers her camera to Scorpion, looking extremely delighted. Scorpion immediately notices that Velvet didn't even get all of Sun in her picture, cutting out his head and feet

"That's... better." Scorpion said trying to be nice

"Thanks." Velvet said with a blush before noticing the Spectre seemed distant

"Thinking about what happened to Yang?" Velvet asked

"Yes. I still do not believe she intentionally attacked him." Scorpion said

"Most people don't know what it's like on the battlefield. I mean, even experienced fighters can get scared and start seeing things. If it happened to Coco, it can happen to anyone." Velvet said

"Coco?" Scorpion asked cocking his head to the side

"Yeah. She swore she saw Yatsu with her in the forest during the fight with Emerald and Mercury, but he never even made it out of the geyser fields. Stress-induced hallucinations, apparently." Velvet said causing Scorpion's eyes to narrow

"Indeed." Scorpion turns his head away in thought, only to look back at Velvet after a quick flash of her camera

Lowering the camera from her face, Velvet smiles apologetically "Oh! Sorry."

"It's fine." Scorpion said smiling slightly

"You know, people say you're cold hearted, but from how I see it, you probably have the biggest heart amongst your teammates." Velvet said causing Scorpion to chuckle

"You shouldn't be so certain about that." Scorpion said

Colosseum

Back in the Colosseum, people are back in the stands cheering and ready for entertainment as Ruby descends down the steps to an open seat. Despite everything that's happened, she's smiling widely, looking around at the assembled crowds... until her stupefied eyes see a familiar, glaring face on the other side of the arena.

"Emerald's... here?" Ruby asked shocked as she thought she left with Mercury. Unknown to Ruby, Scorpion had also noticed the green haired girl.

As if sensing she's being watched, Emerald leans forward to glare at Ruby, who suddenly gets up with a worried expression and runs towards the exit tunnel. Checking to see if no one's around, she enters a door labeled with a yellow maintenance sign and finds herself inside of the Colosseum. She walks forward with determination as the announcers' voices are heard, muffled behind the brick walls.

"All right, it's now time to begin the randomization process for our next fight!" Oobleck announced

The sound of the roulette is heard faintly, but what makes Ruby stop in her tracks is the sight of another unexpected "friend" stepping out from a nearby tunnel, completely unharmed and definitely not going home.

"Mercury?" Ruby asked more confused

"It looks like our first contender is... Penny Polendina from Atlas…" Ports announced

"What are you doing?" Ruby continued

"And her opponent will be... Pyrrha Nikos from Beacon!" Oobleck said causing Ruby's eyes to widen

"Ooh, polarity versus metal. That could be bad." Mercury said with a smirk

Ruby glares at her new opponent, reaching back to grab Crescent Rose, only to remember she doesn't have it on her. Mercury simply grins maliciously and sets himself up in a fighting pose.

Meanwhile

Outside, the arena's center is lifting back into the air, and an oblivious Penny is grinning wildly, with her fellow redhead Nora cheering excitedly from the stands, even getting Ren to let out a reluctant "Yaaay..." The screen fades to black as Pyrrha, face and body still filled with depression, looks to the ground while the stage finishes being set up.

Beacon Backyard Garden

Sitting in a Lotus Position, Sub Zero has his eyes closed as he is silently meditating.

"I know you're there." Sub Zero said not opening his eyes

"Long time no see, Blueberry Ice." Kabal said stepping behind Sub Zero

"The Black Dragon in Beacon. What are you planning?" Sub Zero said getting up to face his opponent

"That's not something you should be worrying about, especially with me here." Kabal said taking out his blades

"If you won't talk, then you shall feel Death's cold embrace." Sub Zero said adopting a fighting stance