Author's Note: And I'm back with another chapter, just as promised. Hopefully you all had a good holiday season and enjoy the chapter.
"Your goal will be to retrieve one of these relics and bring them back here." Ozpin explained the rules of initiation to the line of initiates the same as he had in her lifetime, word for word. She wasn't sure if that was due to an existing script he used for such things or if it was coincidence, but it had the added side-effect of boring her somewhat.
She occupied her time looking over all of the students instead, Nora and Ren had set up farther down the line than she or Jaune had. Along with Ruby and Yang, though the former had picked plates that would launch them into a similar sector of the forest, Ruby would have no such luck.
Pyrrha let her eyes shift over to Weiss, trying her best not to glare at the heiress. Things had gone exactly as they had the last time in that regard, though she figured that was no surprise, and Ruby had messaged her about the embarrassing scene at the landing area. She'd done her best to calm the younger girl down, something she had no idea if had been attempted in her last life. While she doubted her success, she took comfort in knowing that it would work out in the end.
Weiss, for all her bad habits, was not a bad person. She would need time to grow, but she would more than be up to the task. Pyrrha had judged her for being a Schnee far too quickly, something she still felt some shame in.
"Any questions?" Ozpin finished his block of instruction, and judging by Ruby's panicked expression, did not fail to mention how partners would be assigned. She saw Jaune's hand raise, as well as how it went ignored by the Headmaster.
The platforms began to launch the students, even as Jaune tried to ask his question. Through it all, Pyrrha struggled to hide her smile. The moment he launched she couldn't stop herself from laughing softly, though were she not aware of the future, it would have been a far more concerning event. She hadn't failed to notice the subtle glances towards Jaune from the other students, or at least one specific student.
It seemed he had managed to catch her past self's interest, through no intentional effort of his own, of course. Pyrrha sighed as she saw her old javelin fly through the air once more, taking comfort in his safety and finally allowing herself to relax. Turning back, she saw Ozpin and Glynda watching her closely.
"What?"
"Oh, nothing of importance." Ozpin smiled softly, though there was an unusual amount of humor hidden behind his eyes. Pyrrha narrowed her eyes, glancing towards Glynda who had turned her attention towards the scroll in her hand. A scroll she was looking at with surprising intensity.
"What?" Pyrrha asked again.
"He's not what I expected." Glynda finally said. "That's all."
"What does that mean?" Pyrrha looked back towards Ozpin for an explanation, only to see that his smile had grown. "Jaune is a good man, just… in need of more training."
"His forged transcripts would say otherwise." Ozpin said, pulling his mug up to his lips as Pyrrha froze.
"I-I have no idea what you mean."
"Come now, they weren't even very good." Ozpin smiled back at her, though this time it was more like what she was used to; without the added humor at her expense. "You may not have said anything, but I caught them nonetheless. Still… I had hoped for more, judging by his name."
"His name?" Pyrrha looked down at her scroll, which was tapped into the camera feed so that she could monitor the students, and watched Jaune and past Pyrrha talk.
"He is an Arc afterall." Ozpin said. "His family has produced a long line of some of the best warriors Remnant has had to offer."
"He has the potential." Pyrrha whispered, looking at her watching her former partner closely. "He might not have much in the way of skill or training yet, but he is a quick learner, and he has a good heart."
"As the Arcs so often do." Ozpin added, nodding softly. "This is a school, what he does not know, we shall teach him."
Jaune had mentioned his family were warriors, but she didn't know it was something more than just a family career choice. Many Huntsman and Huntress' children chose a similar career path, so she had never thought too much of it, but the way Ozpin spoke about them seemed more familiar though. "Do you know his family?"
Ozpin hummed softly. "I have known many in my time." The Headmaster smiled softly after a moment. "I have worked with them through many lifetimes, a few have even known the truth of our war, though not for many generations now."
Pyrrha had never known, though thinking about it she wasn't surprised. Jaune wasn't the type to brag, but he had mentioned it once or twice. He felt like he had a legacy to live up to and that he was failing to do so. He would live up to that in time, and she would make sure of it. "Was that why you let him into the school? Even if his transcripts were fake?"
"I couldn't say why I might have allowed it then, but now it was only a small factor." Ozpin replied. "As much as I respect his family, we do not inherent traits based on last names alone. You spoke very highly of him, that was enough to mitigate my concern."
He respected her word that much? Or trusted her, she supposed. Letting someone into Beacon when they weren't strong enough was dangerous, not only for the citizens of Vale, but for themselves. If they couldn't keep up, death or serious injury was very likely.
Knowing that he would be able to grow his skills and meet that challenge removed such risk however, a benefit to her knowledge of the future being that they didn't have to wonder. Still, that raises the question of why Jaune had been allowed into the school in the first place. Unfortunately, it was a question she would likely never get the answer to.
Looking down at her scroll she saw that Jaune and her past self were gone from the camera that she was viewing, but she caught movement on the corner of the screen. Flicking through the cameras she eventually managed to find the direction it should have been standing in. The clearing was empty however, and Pyrrha continued to flick through the cameras. After a few more minutes she still couldn't find anything, and switched back to just looking through them and watching the students.
Glynda hummed softly, drawing Pyrrha attention away from the screen. "Is something wrong?"
"No, I just thought I saw something on the cameras." The Professor shook her head softly. "It seems to be nothing."
"I saw something as well." Pyrrha quickly added. "When I switched in-between the cameras it wasn't where I thought it would be though."
Glynda looked up from her scroll towards Ozpin, they shared a look for a moment before he turned towards her and nodded.
"I'll guide you through the cameras if I can find it again, just keep your scroll open." Glynda activated a call on her device, Pyrrha accepting it before it even had a chance to ring as she drew out Allos from its sheath for a moment, before sliding it back. "It was last seen in sector three."
Not too far then. Pyrrha nodded and turned towards the cliff. Running and leaping off before her survival instinct had a chance to tell her not to. There was a single moment where her forward momentum was stronger than her downward pull, before she began to feel gravity take its course. Her eyes burned with familiar fire and she was sent rocketing farther into the woods.
It wasn't a constant thing, rather she used the Maiden powers several times over to launch herself, much like how she had seen Yang land during initiation. It wasn't flight so much as a protracted fall, but it was effective enough at taking her to her destination without excessively draining her powers.
She landed with a roll, drawing Allos and transforming it into its rifle form before the last of her momentum bled out and she finally stopped in a crouched position. Her eyes scanned the tree line, but she didn't see anything.
"Students have already been through that area, it should be mostly free of Grimm." Glynda's voice rang out through the clearing thanks to her scroll. Despite the woman's assurances, Pyrrha kept her guard up. When nothing attacked, she finally stood and began to move. "Ozpin said to check the border of sectors four and five, that should be about three hundred feet to your northeast."
Pyrrha nodded softly, knowing that even though she wasn't there, Glynda could see her over the cameras, and set off in the direction she was told. The Emerald forest was as it always was, crawling with Grimm, and yet, paradoxically quiet. Whilst a part of that quiet could probably be attributed to the students killing some of the Grimm, they alone couldn't be responsible for the eerie solitude that Pyrrha found herself in. The only thing that she could hear was the occasional gunshot or shout in the distance, but seeing as Glynda wasn't saying anything, those were likely not a cause for serious concern.
That silence continued to bother her before she realized what it was that had her so on-edge. There were no animals. While the sound of combat would have scared most off, even during her initiation, she remembered hearing the occasional bird, the scamper of rodents, even the buzzing of insects. Most wildlife that lived near Beacon were accustomed to the noise, and so the sounds of combat wouldn't have driven them off.
Except now something was different, and the animals had fled. Pyrrha tried to not freak out at that, knowing that life wasn't like a horror movie and that there were any number of reasons for why they might be silent. The fact that she was hunting something that they couldn't find on the cameras only made her paranoia worse.
As she pushed her way through another bush, she caught sight of something strange. It wasn't like any Grimm that she had ever seen before, a red and black orb covered in Grimm scales hovered a few feet off the ground; attached to the orb were five thin appendages that hung limply at its sides, each ending in a white spike. Staring at it, she was certain she hadn't seen or heard of anything like that before. Taking a second to line up Allos' sights, she decided to take advantage of her stealth and get at least one attack in before it could fight back.
Lining the shot up, she took one last glance at her surroundings in order to make sure that the Grimm was alone, before pulling the trigger. To her surprise, the one shot was more than enough to blow the creature apart. The silence following her shot was deafening, and it took a moment for Pyrrha's brain to kick back in. Killing Grimm wasn't always difficult, Beowolves for instance were something any Huntsman worth their Dust could deal with in the dozens, but even then they were still dangerous to those untrained. A Grimm that died in a single shot though? She hadn't ever heard of that, not unless you were facing something truly tiny and weak. She had expected more of a fight from the strange orb Grimm.
Whether Grimm evolved or not was a subject for debate, but one thing that was known is that each Grimm was capable of killing humans in their own way. Or so she'd thought… She very much doubted this one could do anything more than strangle someone in their sleep.
As she stepped out of the bushes and into the clearing, the body was already gone, one of the fastest that she had ever seen. That raised another concern, though Pyrrha was willing to admit she wasn't the most familiar with the different types of Grimm, there being so many, and she was usually fighting against people. sighing, she made a mental note to talk to Ozpin about it and see if he knew anything about such a Grimm.
Pyrrha unhooked her scroll from her hip. "I found what we were looking for, it was a Grimm, but it was… weird. I'm on my way back."
"Call if there are any more issues." Glynda hung up first, though Pyrrha knew that wasn't for any reason other than how busy the Professor was.
Sheathing Allos, Pyrrha took a moment to breathe. The walk back wouldn't be too long, though if she had to come back out, she was going to use one of the platforms to launch herself for sure. Using the Maiden powers to get out there, while not nearly as daunting a task as it might once have been, was still somewhat tiring.
The bushes rustled softly, Pyrrha instantly drawing Allos once more as she lowered herself into a fighting stance.
"I just don't get why you get to decide where we go?" She relaxed however when she heard a familiar voice, no doubt Ruby and Weiss bickering. It was something that Ruby had mentioned they did during their initiation after the fact, though it would fade in time.
The two girls stepped into the clearing, only to be followed by two more that Pyrrha hadn't expected. Jaune and her past self both seemed surprised to see her, though only for a second, as they no doubt thought she was just another student.
Neither Weiss nor Ruby noticed however, too caught up in their own argument. "Because I am your elder, and as such you should respect my words of wisdom!"
"You're two years older than me, and so is Jaune!" Ruby gestured towards the only male of their group. "Are you saying I should respect his words of wisdom too?" Pyrrha winced at that, as did her past self; though it was clear Ruby didn't mean it, that was surprisingly rude of her. She choked it up to the argument she was having, as Weiss did have that effect on people.
Weiss looked to him for a moment. "You are right, age is not the only factor, but that doesn't cha-"
"Amber!" The second Weiss had changed her argument the younger girl had rolled her eyes, allowing Ruby to see that they were no longer alone. She shot forward at semblance enhanced speed, going from being fifteen feet away to right in front of her in an instant. "Hi." She waved softly.
"Hello Ruby." Pyrrha smiled back at her. "I trust everything is going well?" It was a trick question, she knew it wasn't. If she could help diffuse the situation however, maybe things would get better quicker than they had before. She owed Ruby that much.
Ruby groaned and mumbled her reply. "Not exactly."
"Which one is your partner?" Pyrrha over them, though only for show. Her eyes lingered on Jaune for a moment before she looked back to Ruby.
"The loud one." Ruby crossed her arms over her chest, adopting a pout.
"Hey!"
Pyrrha chuckled softly, especially as Jaune and her past self didn't seem to refute the statement. "These are Grimm infested woods, calling too much attention to yourself might be dangerous."
"That's what I said!" Ruby threw her arms out wide.
"And who are you?" Weiss asked, crossing her own arms over her chest as she turned up her nose at who she thought was a fellow initiate. "I'll have you know I am Weiss Schnee, heiress to the-"
"Amber works for Ozpin." Ruby answered before Pyrrha could even think to, cutting off Weiss and causing her mouth to click shut, eyes wide.
Pyrrha rubbed the back of her head. "Well, technically I'm a second year student."
"Technically?" Weiss asked, clearly desperate for clarification.
"It allows me to stay at the school and pick up some lessons in between missions." Pyrrha clarified, it wasn't even really a lie, just not quite the full truth. She hadn't intended to say that, of course, but she didn't want to put Ruby in any more trouble with Weiss than she was.
"Please accept my apologies for the way I acted." Weiss curtsied slightly, and judging by the red in her cheeks, was more than simply embarrassed by having spoken back to someone she thought was a teacher.
Pyrrha chuckled awkwardly. "There's no need for that, it's ok. I know I don't look like the rest of the faculty-"
"But you're just as cool!" Ruby quickly added. "Uncle Qrow even said so!"
Pyrrha blushed at the praise which, if true, was quite that from the likes of Qrow.
"I take it you two know one another?" Her past self finally spoke, and Pyrrha couldn't help but wince slightly at the sound of her own voice. Was that really what she sounded like? She knew people heard their own voices differently inside their head but there was something incredibly odd about hearing her own voice from someone else's lips, even if they were technically her own.
Pyrrha's silence must have lasted longer than she realized, Ruby jumping to answer the question before she could. "Pfft, yeah, we're totally friends." Ruby looked back at her for the briefest of moments, giving Pyrrha the time she would have needed to disagree with her. When she didn't, the younger girl's eyes seemed to shine all the brighter. "It's because of her that I'm here in the first place."
"Ruby is more than skilled enough to have earned her place here, even if she is two years younger." Pyrrha was quick to say, it was the truth after all. Pyrrha might have been part of the reason Ruby made it in this time, but the time before had been all Ruby. Turning her attention towards Weiss, she added, "If you give her a chance, I'm sure she can show you that."
Weiss didn't seem fully convinced, but she was also unwilling to challenge who she saw as an authority figure of some kind. "I shall strive not to judge her unfairly."
"Oh, and that's Jaune and Pyrrha." Ruby gestured towards them. "They're pretty cool too."
"I know." Pyrrha's eyes fell on Jaune for a moment, before she quickly looked away. "I was watching them on the cameras before I came into the forest."
"Why were you doing that?" Ruby asked curiously, though judging by the look on Weiss' face she might as well have threatened Pyrrha for an answer.
"I'm helping Glynda and Ozpin with initiation." She said simply. "Anything that's too much for the students to handle or if anybody needs to be pulled out of initiation." Ruby took a step back from her, as did the other three actually. It took her a moment to realize why, and she chuckled softly after she finally did. "I'm not here for any of you, don't worry."
They each seemed to sigh in relief, only causing Pyrrha to chuckle again. Her scroll beeped, a message from Glynda asking if she had run into trouble on her way back. "I suppose I should let you all get back to it." She paused for a moment, looking over her shoulder in the direction they had been walking. "The relics aren't that way though, they're north of here."
"Should you be telling us that?" Weiss asked, looking appalled at the idea she may have been tricked into cheating.
"There aren't any rules that say I can't." Again, not a lie, though she was sure Glynda would have words if she found out. Pyrrha started walking back towards the cliffs.
"Wait, which way is north?" Weiss asked her back.
"Ask…" Pyrrha hesitated, not entirely sure what to call her past self. Using her first name, while perhaps proper, felt odd, and too familiar. "Ask Nikos."
What was even stranger was how Ruby and Weiss ended up with Jaune and herself. Pyrrha was pretty sure she hadn't seen them until the ruins. She shrugged, it wouldn't matter too much. Nora and Ren had made it to the ruins about the same time as Blake and Yang had, so this would be the same.
What was more concerning was that odd Grimm she had never seen before, although she couldn't rule out that being something that was there during her last life. Again, she made a mental note to ask Ozpin about it.
Ruby watched Amber go, her back disappearing into the trees without ever looking back at them. So cool!
"Well, I suppose we should be off." Weiss tried to regain control of the situation. "Pyrrha, do you know which way we're supposed to go?"
Ruby looked towards the girl in question when she didn't answer, seeing that she was looking in the direction Amber had gone as well. "Pyrrha?"
The older girl snapped out of it with a hum, prompting Weiss to reask her question. Pyrrha gestured in a direction she seemed pretty confident was north.
"Well then, I suppose we should go. If we take too long, there may not be any relics to grab." Ruby was quick to agree with the heiress, earning what might generously be called an appreciative nod but little else.
As they began walking she slowly allowed herself to fall back somewhat until she was standing next to Pyrrha. "She was pretty cool, huh?"
"Hm?" Pyrrha seemed confused by her question.
"Amber." Ruby said. "I've known her for a little while now. She's really cool, her weapon is awesome!"
Pyrrha chuckled softly, whatever had been bothering her fading away for a brief moment at Ruby's sheer enthusiasm for weapons. She was aware of the effect she had on people.
"She's certainly something." Pyrrha answered vaguely. "I feel like I've met her before. There's just something so familiar about her."
"I think she mentioned she fought in a couple tournaments before, maybe it was there?" Ruby couldn't quite remember, but Amber had seemed to know a lot about them in a way only someone involved could.
"Hmm, maybe that's why." Pyrrha didn't seem thrilled at the idea, though Ruby couldn't imagine why. Amber was awesome, she'd have to introduce the two girls and help them become friends.
She felt like they'd get along well once they knew each other.
Author's Note: I'm back from leave and as promised, here is a chapter. Honestly, I'm amazed I got this done. I've been in isolation for the past week due to covid and wasn't sure I'd make the deadline. Glad I was though.
As for this chapter, I am a bit concerned there may be some confusion between "Amber" and Pyrrha, sadly I'm not entirely sure how to deal with this without stepping into just bad writing style. Let me know if it was too hard to follow and I'll try to do better in the future.
Hopefully you all enjoyed it and if not let me know why in the reviews. I always have fun reading them and it's very helpful for making the story better moving forward.
Sincerely SE