Author's Note: Look, not even late this time!
Pyrrha opened her eyes slowly, the dim morning light burning as she did so. It took her several long seconds to remember where she was, only managing to recall after noticing the familiar dorm room. She had made the mistake of trying to keep up with Qrow, again, and she was quickly regretting that fact.
Pulling the covers over her face, she tried to block out the light and go back to sleep, but it was a losing battle. She had always been an early riser, and trying to go back to sleep after waking up was a doomed effort. Not to mention the headache that she could feel pounding behind her eyes.
Sitting up with a groan, Pyrrha looked around the room. She had apparently made it all the way back to her own dorm, the room devoid of any decorations or furnishings aside from the single bed and a dresser to store her limited clothes in. She couldn't fully recall the last time she had stayed there, mostly having spent her time with team CFVY before leaving for her mission.
The mostly empty room felt cold, even if she knew that it was the same temperature as the rest of Beacon. Shivering, she climbed out of bed and stepped towards the bathroom. She hadn't bothered changing out of her clothes before crawling into bed, her inebriated brain clearly unable or uncaring. Walking up to the sink, she splashed some water in her face and looked at her reflection. She looked horrible, the bags under her eyes giving away her tiredness and the mess that was her hair would need time to be fixed properly.
Turning on the shower, she set it as warm as she could bear and slipped out of her dirty clothes. The steam helped to relax her muscles and, after a few deep breaths, cleared her mind. She could still feel the faint throbbing in her head, but she did her best to ignore it. Instead, she focused on the warm water running down her body and the memories of the day before.
She could remember her conversation with Qrow, about not giving up; an oddly hopeful message coming from someone who she had come to know as a pessimist, but she accepted it. She wanted to believe his words more than anything because she longed to see her friends again, and she knew that if she allowed herself to doubt she might lose the will to fight. That was something that couldn't be allowed.
Stepping out of the shower, she immediately missed the warmth, but set to the arduous task of getting dressed. Before long she was standing in front of her door, staring at the handle as she tried to compose herself. Hiding her emotions behind a mask had always been something she was good at, but her time in Beacon had steadily eroded that skill. Whether it was the difference in her body, or the fact she had become so relaxed while in the school, she couldn't say, but the result was all the same.
Those who knew her could read her, which meant she had to be careful. Her friends were already under enough stress as it was, and she didn't want to add to that, assuming that they even wished to speak with her in the first place. She'd yet to see them since revealing the truth, almost immediately leaving school grounds after talking with the Headmaster, so it was no surprise they hadn't spoken yet.
She still had to speak with the General. Pyrrha winced, remembering that he had asked her to see him after speaking with Ozpin. She hadn't done that, focusing on her own mental turmoil, and she hoped he wouldn't be disappointed. She planned to speak with him now, to find out whatever he needed, hopefully being able to last the night.
As her hand reached for the door handle she heard her stomach growl, and she finally noticed just how hungry she was. She couldn't recall eating since her meal with Team CFVY the day prior, and she very much doubted she had gotten any food while out with Qrow and Winter. The General would have to wait just a little bit longer; hopefully we would understand.
Stepping out of her dorm she made her way to the cafeteria. Pyrrha noticed a few other students moving in the same direction, drawing her attention to the fact that she had slept in far later than she normally would have. She had been drunk of course, and likely hadn't made it back to Beacon until late last night or even early in the morning, so she felt it acceptable, but it was still far later than she was used to.
When she stepped into the cafeteria it was still mostly empty, though whether that was because most of the school body was gone on vacation or still sleeping in, she couldn't guess. She caught a brief glimpse of Velvet's ears sticking up from behind a crowd, roughly where they usually sat for meals, and she took a step in that direction; pausing after the single step however.
Would they still want me to sit with them?
The thought plagued her mind and she racked her brain for an easy answer. There was no way they had fully dealt with everything yet, would they want her around as a reminder? Would they even trust her now that they learned she had been lying to them?
It was perhaps overly dramatic, and she knew they were all good people, but she couldn't help but consider it. They might not want to push her away, but it might have been for the best; just for a little while. She hoped it wouldn't take long, but she would let them make the first move, she owed them that much.
Walking over to the breakfast line, she set about grabbing her meal. Before long she had her tray filled and was ready to sit down, but when she turned around, she came face-to-face with an extremely annoyed Coco.
"I'm sorry, she would have known if I told you she was on the way." Fox sent. "Forgive me."
Pyrrha didn't have time to respond before Coco was speaking to her, though speaking may have been far too generous to describe it, it was more like hissing as she struggled to keep her volume low enough to not attract the attention of everyone in the cafeteria.
"Where the hell have you been!?" Pyrrha didn't respond, getting the impression it was rhetorical as Coco grabbed her by the elbow and pulled her in the direction of their table, forcing her to sit down with a soft shove.
"Hello." Pyrrha waved her hand softly, wincing under the group's collective flat expression. She decided to keep quiet after that and started eating. They couldn't expect her to speak if she was eating, that would be rude after all.
There was just one flaw with that perfect plan.
"We've been looking for you since yesterday!" Coco sent, causing Pyrrha to nearly choke with the realization that these were the only people on Remnant that she couldn't escape through her manners.
"We were worried." Velvet added, though thankfully Pyrrha was still choking on her food too much for the guilt to show.
"We were waiting in our room for you to return." Yatsuhashi was taking a long drink from his tea, the act helping to keep his face looking away from her own. "We had hoped to discuss… what we learned."
"But you never showed up!" Coco snapped back, finally sitting down in her spot next to Yatsuhashi. "We tried to find you at the gym this morning, but you never showed up."
Because she had been either drunk, getting drunk, or passing out from being drunk. She was very careful not to say that however, fearing the kind of response that might garner.
"We went to your dorm, but you weren't there either." Velvet was worried, that much was obvious. In fact, they all were, just showing it differently.
If they'd gone there this morning she had been there, but most likely still unconscious. As much as she had been dreading this talk she wasn't trying to avoid them, not with that intent any ways.
"I wanted to give you time to think." Pyrrha set her fork down, unable to enjoy her food while speaking, even if she technically wasn't; how the others managed it she had no idea. "I know how hard it can be to learn the truth… I thought me being around would make that harder."
No one spoke for a time and Pyrrha waited with bated breath. She wasn't so naive to think that they would actively hate her, but she would be lying if she wasn't anxious about their response. They had every right to be upset with her, if not because she lied then because she roped them into this without ever giving them a fair warning.
What she hadn't expected was for Coco to reach across the table and slap her. Pyrrha's face stung, the rudeness of the strike having prevented her from using her aura. Everyone at the table was uncertain what to do next, everyone except Coco.
"That's a load of shit and you know it!" Coco shouted, all attempts at subtlety having disappeared in an instant. "Do you really think that lowly of us!?"
The cafeteria had fallen silent, everyone looking towards their table and the drama that would no doubt be the source of discussion for the next couple days.
Pyrrha was speechless, her mouth moving but no word coming out. Did she think poorly of them? Of course not, they were her friends and she thought the world of them, but she knew it would take time to work past everything.
"You can't just tell us some crap like that and then run off and hide!" Coco slapped her hand down on the table.
"Coco." Yatsuhashi set a hand down on her shoulder in an attempt to calm her. "She thought she was being helpful-"
"Bullshit!" Coco shoved his hand off her with a snarl. "She was being selfish, and she knows it!"
"Please forgive her." Yatsuhasi seemed unfazed by Coco's outburst. "It's only because she cares."
Pyrrha looked back at them confused, her expression drawing an odd sound from Coco akin to a growl.
"I thought you'd want your space." Pyrrha said carefully. "I'm sorry."
The apology didn't seem to calm her down any, if anything it seemed to make things worse.
"How can you be the one apologizing!" Coco howled once more. "After everything that happened, how can you feel like you are to blame!?"
Pyrrha didn't know what to say, looking between the other members of Team CFVY she could see that Coco's words, while said far more aggressively than they might have said them, were true for them as well.
"You died." Velvet explained, apparently picking up on Pyrrha's confusion. "And we weren't there to help you."
That was when Pyrrha realized, they weren't mad at her, they felt like they had failed her.
"It's not your fault." The idea that why'd somehow blame themselves didn't make sense to her. "You didn't know me, not really, and you couldn't have known about what was going to happen." Pyrrha smiled softly. "You couldn't see the future."
That caused most of them to smile softly, even if it looked strained. Coco didn't smile however, she looked back at Pyrrha with barely concealed rage.
"How can you be ok with this?" Coco was different from the rest of her team, she was enraged by the idea of such a failure. "You died! This isn't ok!"
"No, it's not." Pyrrha felt her eyes water slightly, and she struggled to fight back against that. "I died fighting a bitch who was prepared to kill students for a power most didn't know existed." Coco's rage faltered, and she winced at her swear simply; most likely taken off guard due to how rarely she did so. "It's not ok. I lost my team, my friends, and my life." She took a deep breath to calm herself. "But I got a second chance, and I refuse to waste it."
Coco stared back at her. "I'm sorry."
"You don't have anything to apologize for." Pyrrha wiped a hand across her eyes, thankful that most of the student body had lost interest in their table the moment the yelling had stopped. "I'm sorry I lied to you all."
The flat looks returned and, though they were clearly worried about her they hid it well.
"Oh yeah, because we would have totally believed you if you told us." She could feel Fox rolling his eyes even without looking at him. "Still, The Invincible Girl. You're like a celebrity… or, were I guess."
Velvet elbowed him in the stomach, causing him to buckle over suddenly and slam his face into the table. He made no attempt to sit up, imply groaning and mumbling in pain at the 'discrimination against the blind'.
Despite Velvet's swift response, Pyrrha had still clearly shown some kind of sign of how uncomfortable his words made her, if Coco's inquisitive look was anything to go by.
"Please don't call me that." Pyrrha asked genuinely. "I always hated that title."
"Well, it wasn't true at any ra-" Fox was interrupted as Yatsuhashi shoved his head back down into the table. "Too soon?"
"Yeah." Coco said steely. "Make a joke like that again and I'll tell Goodwitch you have been wanting some personal one-on-one training." Fox froze at the threat, head nodding frantically as he realized she wasn't bluffing.
"I hope I'm not interrupting anything." Everyone sitting at the table jumped slightly, having become entirely unaware of the world around them. Looking up, Pyrrha saw Winter staring back at her and, despite the Specialists' best attempts at hiding it, she could see the effects of last night.
"Specialist Schnee." Pyrrha replied, gesturing towards the others sitting at her table. "This is Team CFVY-"
"Yes, you mentioned them last night." Winter cut her off, though Pyrrha didn't get the impression it was meant to be rude. Her concern was on what she said however.
"I did?" She couldn't remember, everything after the third round of shots having turned into an incomprehensible haze. Her words were ill chosen however, and she realized that as soon as she looked back at Coco. Gone was the look of anger and concern, in its place was a look she recognized all too well.
A determined curiosity that demanded an explanation, it was a look she'd seen on Yang multiple times and it had always shortly been followed by a stream of difficult to answer questions. Desperately, Pyrrha turned back to her only hope of survival.
"Was there something you needed, Winter?" Pyrrha tried to convey a message without speaking, knowing that she couldn't use Fox's semblance lest she make it clear she knew what Coco was after.
"General Ironwood wishes to speak with you." Winter was a saint, in that moment Pyrrha was certain of it.
Standing from the table, Pyrrha picked up her tray. "I had better not keep him waiting any longer." Before she could turn however a hand grabbed her wrist, stopping her in place. Looking back she had been afraid of what she might see, but the look of sheer doubt and concern on Coco's face had that being replaced by guilt almost instantly.
"See you in the dorm?" Coco didn't beg, but it was about as close as Pyrrha could ever see the girl getting. She was concerned that Pyrrha might still try to distance herself; she needn't be worried.
"Of course." Pyrrha answered easily, smiling back at her friend as she walked away. Depositing her try she joined Winter at the door.
"Your friends seem…" Winter attempted to create small talk, but Pyrrha could easily tell it was forced. Still, she appreciated the effort for what it was.
"They are just shaken up about what they learned." Pyrrha explained.
"They can't be blamed for that." Winter whispered softly and Pyrrha couldn't help but agree.
The first thing Pyrrha noticed when she was ushered into the General's personal office was how tired he looked. She could easily tell he hadn't slept the night before, but there was a deeper feeling to it. When he looked up to her, despite the fact he smiled, she could see it in his eyes. He had taken the news hard, that much she was sure of, but it remained to be seen how he would act. She hoped for the best, for all their sakes.
"Miss Nikos." He stood from his desk, gesturing for her to come forward. "I'm glad you were willing to speak with me."
Pyrrha hesitated at that, had he expected her not to? She sighed internally, she was likely developing paranoia. She'd grown used to expecting everything and everyone to be hiding something. "Of course Sir."
Ironwood hummed softly. "What did I say about calling me Sir?"
Pyrrha smiled back. "Can I ask why I'm here?"
His smile faltered somewhat and she almost regretted asking. "I wish it were under better circumstances." He gestured for her to sit as he did the same. "Ozpin has likely told you about Salem."
She nodded her head softly. "She can't be killed."
"That's what Oz believes." Ironwood shook his head. "I'm not so sure."
"I thought that the Relic of Knowledge was supposed to… well, know." Pyrrha hadn't been told much about the relics, just the basic premise and their names, but she was under the impression they weren't designed to trick people.
"The Relic can answer questions about anything that has ever happened but it can't see the future, so it's possible we have developed weapons capable of killing Salem since Ozpin asked her, or even since Leonardo did twenty years ago." He sounded unsure, but it wasn't something Pyrrha could refute. "Most importantly however, is that it couldn't have predicted you."
It made sense she supposed, if the Relic was limited to things that already happened then it wouldn't have known anything about her when they had asked; she failed to see how that mattered however.
"I don't see how I can help." Pyrrha shook her head. "I have a few months of fore knowledge left and it's not like I was told about any weapons you all may have been developing, and surely you would have started those by now if they had been helpful."
"It's not you specifically, but rather the circumstances of your return." Ironwood explained. "The Relics, Magic, even Salem's curse were all made by the Gods before they left. That's power that we can't understand." He chuckled softly. "I'm not so arrogant as to think Atlas can rival the power of Gods, but you coming back from the dead? That's on the same level, isn't it?"
Pyrrha supposed it was, though she found it difficult to assume what might qualify as such. A thousand years ago people would likely have thought Atlas to be the home of the Gods, a floating city with flying machines and weapons of unbelievable power. It was all science of course, but the only thing that made it appear as such was context. If she had been ignorant she would have called it magic as well.
"Whatever it is that brought you back might have the power to kill Salem, or at least give us the power to do so." Ironwood said confidently. "That's the closest thing to godlike power Remnant has seen since the Gods left."
"Maybe." Pyrrha wasn't so sure. "But… whatever it was, it wasn't interested in our world." She saw his smile fall somewhat. "It said it didn't care who won."
"Then why send you back?" Ironwood asked the question she had asked herself a million times.
"It said it wanted to see fate's plans crumble." Pyrrha quoted the thing that had given her a second chance, it was easy to recall it's words exactly. That wasn't something you forgot and for all that her memories of that palace were cloudy, she remembered everything about It perfectly.
Ironwood sighed, leaning forward in his chair and began rubbing small circles around his temple. "Perhaps it's taken an interest in you then, in which case, maybe we can still get it's help." Pyrrha remained silent, unsure of how she felt about the idea of something so… alien, taking an interest of any kind in her. "At any rate, it is our best course of action, and we may never get another chance to try this."
Pyrrha found herself hesitantly agreeing. What were the odds of another person coming back from the dead and being sent back in time? Let alone in a place where they might be able to make a difference. Whether she thought it would work or not, she knew it would likely never be a possibility again. So it was at least worth a try.
"How do we use the Relic of Knowledge then?" Pyrrha asked, she winced when she saw the General's expression turn sour.
"That is where things get… difficult." He sat back up, leaning back in his chair slightly and trying for all the world to look the part most people saw him as; the mighty General of Atlas, she could relate to the feeling of expectation somewhat. "The Relic is in Mistral, and even if they would agree to let Atlas step foot in their city, we don't know where the Spring Maiden is. Without her, we have no way to open the Vault holding the Relic."
"So we need to find the Spring Maiden?" That was the logical next step it seemed.
"That is something I wished to speak with you about." Ironwood suddenly looked uncomfortable. "Do you… remember anything from Amber?"
His uncomfortable posture made sense now. He wanted to know if she could access a dead girl's memories. Pyrrha shook her head. "No, there were a few moments when I first woke up where I could, but that was mostly limited to the time during the attack. Since then no."
Ironwood was disappointed. "Amber had been out on her own, and that was odd enough, the places she had visited however? Let's just say they were… unusual. Information brokers, criminal groups, local Huntsmen informants, she was clearly looking for something."
"Or someone." Pyrrha concluded. "And you think she had a lead on the Spring Maiden?"
"There's no way of knowing, but whatever it was, she felt it was urgent enough to put herself in danger." Ironwood looked remorseful at that fact but didn't dwell on it for long. "If there is anything, anything at all, please don't hesitate to contact me." Pyrrha's scroll dinged softly, and when she looked she saw a message containing a scroll number. "If you ever need anything, feel free to ask. If it's within my power to give, I shall."
"There might be one thing." Pyrrha bit her lip hesitantly, unsure if it was what he was looking for or not. "There's a building on campus that has a wall of pictures, I saw someone in one of them that looked… familiar, but I'm fairly certain I've never met them before."
"What did they look like?" Ironwood leaned forward, placing his elbow on his desk.
"She looked similar to me." Pyrrha shrugged softly. Ironwood opened his mouth partially and she clarified. "Amber, I mean." She coughed softly, trying to ignore her building embarrassment. "Her hair was different, a slightly fairer complexion, and red eyes."
Ironwood sat back in his chair. "The Fall Maiden before Amber, her Aunt. The two were close as I understand, it makes sense why you might feel familiar in that case."
Amber had cared for that woman, and that woman had clearly cared about Amber in return. The fact Amber had been the Fall Maiden was proof enough. She'd been the last thing on her mind when she died.
"I'm sorry it's not what we're looking for." Pyrrha knew it wasn't her fault, but she wished she could offer more. "Is there anything else I could help you with?"
Ironwood smiled. "I'm putting together a task force to deal With Salem's agents, I'd like you to be on it."
Pyrrha stared back in shock. "B-but I'm just a student!"
"You are far more than that." He said. "But you don't have to say yes, I would understand if yo-"
"I'll do it!" Pyrrha didn't let him continue. "It's just… are you sure I'm ready?"
"I don't think any of us are, not yet." Ironwood stood from his chair, Pyrrha quickly doing the same. "But I don't think we have a choice. I'll introduce you to the team. You already know Winter of course, but the rest haven't had the pleasure."
He reached the door before she did, holding it open for her. It took her a moment to start moving; however, the shock was still settling in. Despite that, she knew she wouldn't regret this. They had a chance to make a difference.
Ozpin had promised they would take action, and they had, but there was something different about General Ironwood saying the same thing. She knew his definition of taking action would be far more literal, and she couldn't help but agree. While Ozpin and the General may not have been getting along, she could still work with both of them, they were on the same side after all.
Right?
Author's Note: The first interaction with Team CFVY and Ironwood since they all learned the big secret. How do you all think that went?
Hope you enjoyed it and as always let me know what you think in the reviews. I've fallen behind in responding to them but I promise you I've been reading them.
Sincerely, SE