Author's Note: Heads up, this chapter is gonna start a bit weird. You have been warned.
Don't forget to leave me a review at the end and tell me what you think. They help massively when trying to plan future chapters.
Enjoy.
"I have watched you," The voice echoed around her. "And I have seen your struggles."
Pyrrha looked up to find whoever it was that was speaking, only to be met with the empty classroom as the voice seemed to slip out of her view.
"You have been a source of entertainment for quite some time."
When it became clear she wouldn't be able to find the voice she turned her attention to another concern. Looking down to her ankle she noticed a scar where the arrow had pierced her skin, but a notable lack of blood.
Flexing her ankle slightly, she gritted her teeth in preparation for a pain that never came. After a moment she shifted her body so that she could stand.
Taking a deep breath and once again readying herself for the agony she had felt on the tower, Pyrrha stood, slowly putting weight on her wounded foot as she did. Despite the fact she had been wounded not but a moment ago, she felt nothing.
Finally standing, she looked around her, once again attempting to spot wherever the voices were coming from. Hesitantly, she spoke. "Where am I?"
"Beacon Academy," The voice boomed from behind her, causing Pyrrha to turn towards where it should have been. Only, there was still nothing there. "Just as you remember it." Again it felt as if the voice was coming from directly behind her.
She resisted the urge to turn back around in panic, but only just.
"Who… are you?" Her eyes fell on the dark corner of the arena.
Despite how dark it was she thought she saw something step closer, an outline slowly becoming distinguishable from the darkness, taking the shape of a man, and while it didn't step out from the shadows entirely, it seemed to center the voice.
"I have many names, few that you can pronounce and all of which have been forgotten by humans." The Man still spoke with a voice unlike anything Pyrrha could identify, where before it had been a chorus of voices echoing around her now, with all the voices focused on one point, it sounded like hundreds of voices speaking in unison. The result was a near deafening boom that caused her to wince with every word. "Who I am is a mystery for another time, another world."
Pyrrha felt her nerves fray as she examined the outline of the figure. In spite of its vaguely humanoid shape, it shifted, like it was made of some kind of storm cloud trying to spread throughout the air, but held in place by some unseen force. "What do you want? Why are you here?"
Whatever it was she spoke to seemed amused by the question. "I am here because you are here."
Pyrrha waited for more, the seconds dragging on as it became clear the shadow would not give more. Hesitantly, she asked the next most obvious question to come to mind. "And why am I here?"
"Because, Miss Nikos, you are dead."
Those words should have been shocking, would have been, were it not for the fact she had been painfully aware of that fact already. She had died, once again, fighting against Cinder.
"I know," She would die, and she would wake back up in her bed to do it again. Only she hadn't, Instead she'd woken up here. "That's not a new occurrence, I've died before and I-"
"Incorrect," The shadow spoke quietly, its voice not hurting her ears as it continued. "You have only ever truly died once."
"That…" Pyrrha grew confused. "You don't know what you're talking about, you're wrong… I remember dying fighting Cinder be-"
"You have only truly died once." The Man stated once more. "You have relieved that moment, and the moments leading up to it, many times however." Pyrrha shook her head as she listened to the Man speak. "You died fighting the Fall Maiden, and then you came here."
The Man, whoever he was, didn't make sense. Pyrrha shook her head and tried to understand what was happening.
"I expected as much." The Man replied. "Humans are often unable to bear such knowledge." Pyrrha struggled to block out his voice. "But you are different, Miss Nikos. You will come to understand."
Despite her immense confusion and distrust of the mysterious being, her curiosity won out, and Pyrrha hesitantly listened.
"You are not the first to realize something was wrong. Nor are you the first to try and alter their course and prevent their death, or the deaths of those around them." The Man sounded dismissive and unimpressed. "You aren't even the first to figure out that their fate can not be altered." He paused before continuing. "You are the first, in a very long time at least, to fight it still. Regardless of the fact your fate has been shown to you."
Pyrrha was unsure of what to say, simply waiting for the Man to speak once more as she slowly looked around the room in search of an exit or, at the very least, a weapon. Even still, she had a sneaking suspicion that if she were forced into a fight with whatever was speaking to her, it would be over very quickly.
"Even now you refuse to give up… You are a rare one, Miss Nikos."
"I didn't do anything," She protested. "I failed."
"Yes, you did." For a moment she thought the Man was mocking her, but she realized that there was no malice in his voice. She didn't feel like the Man looked down on her in amusement, but rather some kind of curiosity or skepticism. It was still an uncomfortable feeling. "You failed, and knew you would fail, and yet you tried again. Even when you were alone you refused to leave your destiny to chance, you refused to give up."
Pyrrha shook her head. "I was never alone." Her team had been there to help her, and her friends.
"In life, yes." He said. "But you have been alone since yours ended."
"I don't… So all of that was..."
"The After, memories and history on repeat for all of eternity. This is all that awaits you. Your actions never mattered."
Her head snapped back to the shadowy figure. "Thats a lie! I've seen my team, spoken with them! I saved Penny, I-"
"You spoke to ghosts and memories, nothing more."
He… He's lying! He has to be!
"You're wasting my time! You don't know anything!"
The Man only chuckled, a cruel sound that made Pyrrha nervous. "I know everything, Miss Nikos, at least, everything relevant to you."
Pyrrha screamed. "What do you want from me?!"
"I don't want anything from you, Miss Nikos." The Shadow was unfazed by her accusations. "Rather, I wish to make you an offer." Pyrrha waited for the Man to continue, not willing, or not able, to speak.
"I have no care for the happenings of your small, insignificant world. Whether Salem wins, or Ozma, it matters little to me." The Man fell silent, as if deep in thought. "But you are different, you are unique, and so I have decided to intervene and give you a second chance."
Pyrrha struggled for breath. "Y-you what?"
"Fate was cruel to you, Miss Nikos, so I shall grant you a second chance."
"You said what I did didn't matter," Pyrrha shook her head. "That isn't a second chance."
"You misunderstand, I intend to return you to the land of the living." The Man said. "Your actions will have consequences, Miss Nikos."
"Why?" Pyrrha couldn't help but question him, even in spite of what she was hearing. "What do you want from me?"
"I want you to fight." The Man simply replied. "I want you to rage against the destiny fate has given you, just as you did here. You knew your victory was impossible, but you fought all the same. Keep fighting, that is what I want from you."
Pyrrha shook her head once more. "I didn't know it was impossible though… not until the end. I didn't kno-"
"Yes, you did." The Man motioned to his side, another figure stepping out of the shadows. "Or a part of you did, at least."
"R-Ruby?" Pyrrha watched her friend smile sadly. "I don't understand…"
"A part of you knew what was wrong, what had happened to you, but it needed a way to communicate with you." The Man gestured to the vague outline of Ruby.
"I'm sorry Pyrrha, I… I just wanted to help. I-" Darkness descended on Ruby, when it receded the place where she had stood was empty.
"Ruby!" Pyrrha stepped forward towards the Man and the shadows, the darkness retreating away from her. "Bring her back!"
"She was never here." The Man replied. "She was nothing more than the embodiment of your subconscious resistance."
"She's my friend!" Pyrrha yelled at the Man. "Bring her back!"
"I'm afraid the real Ruby Rose is in far greater danger than your memory of her." The Man spoke calmly, clearly not feeling the slightest bit threatened by her. "If you wish to save your friends, to escape this place, you will accept my offer."
Pyrrha paused, thinking carefully on her next words. She would have thought all this impossible once, but she could no longer convince herself that anything was truly possible.
The Headmaster had told her of magic and fairy tales, and how they were real. She could remember living and dying numerous times, fighting a woman powered by that same magic. Now she spoke to something pretending to be a man, one that claimed something so impossible… something she desperately wanted to believe.
"What's your offer?"
The Man smiled, teeth becoming visible through the shadows for the briefest of moments. "I will send you back, and you will fight Fate. That is my offer."
Pyrrha eyed the Man warralily. "And what do you get from it?"
"I get to watch Fate's plans crumble to dust." The Man's smile faded away entirely. "There are… conditions, however."
Pyrrha had to fight back her sigh, having expected no less. She was reminded of bedtime stories from her childhood, where a demon makes a pact with an unsuspecting child.
There was always a catch.
"What kind of conditions?"
"I can not create anything new in the realm of the living, I must work off of what is already there." The Man explained. "And I can not replace a soul, only change it."
Pyrrha waited for him to explain what that meant, but no explanation came.
"What does that mean?"
"You will see." The Man's answer was cryptic, not helping to lessen Pyrrha's fears. "Do you accept my offer?"
Pyrrha thought carefully. She didn't trust the man, or whatever he was, she would be a fool to place that much faith in something or someone so mysterious.
But if what he said was true?
Her friends were in danger, that much she believed, and there wasn't anything she wouldn't do to save them. She would take the offer, the consequences be damned.
"Very well," Pyrrha looked at where the Man's eyes would have been. "I accept."
"Good." The Man stepped back into the shadows, dissipating much as Ruby had.
The shadows began to creep out, slowly edging in on her vision until she was unable to see anything but darkness.
And then, with no warning, what might, by some, be considered consciousness, left her.
Just once, Pyrrha wished to awaken normally. Given all that she had been through lately, she had become all too familiar with waking due to nightmares, death, or pain.
Sadly, this was no exception.
Her world was pain. There was no discernible moment between when she had become conscious once more, and when the pain had started. It had simply been there the entire time.
She screamed in agony as her face burned with an intensity unlike anything she had ever experienced. Pyrrha made to claw at whatever was on her face only to realise her arms were bound.
Her eye cracked open, the other one being covered by whatever was burning her face, to see the vicious smile of Cinder Fall, and she felt her heart shatter.
She was going to die… again. The Man had lied, if he had ever been real at all. Pyrrha felt something rapidly being dragged from inside her, leaving an empty hole in its place.
Pyrrha felt tears burn in her eyes as she struggled against it. The sensation slowed to a halt, before it began to reverse. The pain was even greater now, but she didn't wish for it to stop. Especially as Cinder's smile turned into a scowl.
It would be her last defiance, but it was worth it. Closing her eyes, she bore the pain.
Then, suddenly, the pain stopped, and Cinder cried out.
Pyrrha felt her restraints disappear, giving her the opportunity to move. She attempted to catch herself as she fell, only to find that her body was too weak. Just before she hit the ground, someone caught her.
Looking up, Pyrrha saw a middle-aged man with black hair looking down at her. His Pale red eyes staring into her own.
His voice was gruff, but his expression betrayed his sympathy. "Hang in there."
Despite how hard she fought it, her world faded black once more as she slipped into unconsciousness.
Qrow huffed as he set her down on the bed. She was far from heavy but carrying anyone for several miles was exhausting. It was just his luck that a storm had blown in an hour into their trek.
It was probably her luck that they had stumbled across the old cabin they were currently held up in.
He'd done everything he could to treat the wound on her back, and he was fairly confident it wouldn't leave any lasting injury, but there was nothing he could do for whatever had been done to her face.
She had passed out shortly after he arrived, and she hadn't stirred since.
Qrow checked his scroll, groaning at the fact that he still didn't have any signal, he was on his own. The Fall Maiden's three attackers had disappeared after he arrived, but he wasn't willing to risk betting on whether or not they had stayed in the area.
Setting his scroll on the table, Qrow turned his attention to the cabinets on the far wall of the small shack. Judging by the layer of dust over everything, the place had been abandoned for quite some time, but he still hoped to find food or medical supplies, or at the very least alcohol.
He found a little of all but the last one, his semblance doing what it did best, making everything around him terrible.
Pulling up a chair next to the bed, he plopped down and faced the door. Weapon within arms reach and back against the wall. It was going to be a long night, especially while he waited to see if Amber would wake up or not.
Hopefully she wo-
"Uaah!" Amber sat up in her bed, causing Qrow nearly had a heart attack. "W-where am I?!" She looked around the cabin frantically before reaching for a weapon that was no longer there. He'd been forced to leave her staff behind in order to carry her.
Sitting up straight, and trying his best to look like he hadn't just nearly crapped himself, Qrow did his best to calm the girls nerves.
"It's okay, you're safe now." Qrow would be the first to admit that his encouragement could use some work. "You need to calm down and try not to over exert yourself."
Amber watched him, eyes open wide as she clearly struggled with the panic she felt. To her it would probably have only been a few seconds since the attack, not an hour, and so Qrow didn't hold it against her.
"I know you've probably got a lot of questions." She made to speak but he drove on. "We can handle that in a minute, once it's clear you aren't about to pass out again."
She nodded her head in agreement, though the fact she did so frantically wasn't the best sign. She took a deep breath, and when that failed she took another. After a few minutes she seemed more calm, though the fear was still clear on her scared face.
"Now, why don't we start with some of those questions?" Qrow tired for his best roguish smile. "Like how I know how to find you? Or how I was able to fight those three off single handedly?" He left out how they had ran away immediately, she didn't need to kno-
"Who are you?"
Oh crap.
Author's Note: So in the original version of this story The Man was going to essentially be The G-Man, in that he was going to be perfectly ordinary, wear a suit, and carry a briefcase. In the end we decided to go with this because it fits a lot better into the RWBY universe I think.
This chapter took me longer to write than any other, hands down, and that is including time when I used to write 6-7k ch per update. Such a pain. Hope it turned out well.
In other news, I have updated the description of the story to be a little more... accurate to the plot now that the "big reveal" is over with. Should attract more readers.
As always remember to leave a review and let me know what you think.
Sincerely SardonicEffigy