Author's Note: New chapter, yay!
Just a heads up that I will be moving sometime around mid-to-late April, and as such will probably miss my usual upload for a bit as I get situated at my new job. Depending on how long it stretches, I might end up taking an early summer break, but hopefully not. We shall see.
Other than that, I hope you all enjoy the new chapter.
Pyrrha was familiar with the sound of metal clashing against metal, years of fighting and training made the sound easily identifiable and it was something that had become a sort of catharsis for her. She had heard of people who would listen to white noise or maybe the sound of a Mistralian jungle while trying to sleep, but for Pyrrha it had always been combat that helped her relax. Obviously she didn't try to sleep to those sounds, but they did calm her, if for no other reason than their familiarity. The sound of metal hitting ice wasn't nearly as pleasing, gone was the cathartic clang, replaced with a sickly cracking.
Pyrrha watched Jaune bring the icy version of Crocea Mors up with a speed that would have been difficult with the weight of a real sword, yet he moved it as if the ice weighed nothing at all. Despite what people often saw in movies, swords were not all that heavy, even mechashift weaponry was typically shockingly light as a weapon that was too heavy would be cumbersome and difficult to use. Not to mention how annoying it would be to carry. Milo had only weighed seven pounds in her past life, Allos only weighed eight, and yet the frosty blade that Jaune was currently cutting down with, was barely a single pound.
Allos caught the sword, a strange crackling sound ringing out as the metal met frozen water, and yet the blade did not give. Despite its light weight, the blade was stronger than almost any Pyrrha had ever seen. Jaune pulled it back quickly, nearly losing his balance as he failed to account for the fact the blade was less than half the weight of its twin. The familial blade sat off to the side, watching their duel with almost a sort of jealousy. The rest of Jaune's team, plus Coco, watched on curiously, just as confused and puzzled by the sword as Pyrrha was, and each one just a little upset that she couldn't explain how she had done it. Only Coco knew the actual nature of it, the fact that it was Magic, but even she was still curious about how it worked.
That was another thing, Pyrrha thought as she ducked under Jaune's swing. She couldn't exactly tell Team RWAN about the Maidens, let alone genuine Magic, and yet she had to come up with an excuse for the miracle that they all saw before them. For not the first time, Pyrrha wished she'd let Winter take the blade away, if for no other reason than to prevent people asking questions. She hadn't though, because Pyrrha wanted Jaune to have something to remember her by. She had her shield-sheath hybrid on her hip, even if she rarely used it, and so she wanted him to have something like that; whether he knew about the familiarity or not. It reminded her that they had once been partners and teammates. Something she feared she was slowly drifting away from with each passing day.
Pyrrha swept her legs out, knocking Jaune's feet out from under him, before planting a hand down on the floor and launching herself back up. Allos stayed in its sword form, despite how she would usually have preferred her spear in the event of pinning her enemy, so as to create extra distance. With the people watching however, she thought it best to not show off her weapon just yet. No one had really brought up the similarities between Allos and Milo just yet, though only Ruby truly knew what it was capable of. She had mentioned it off handedly a few times, but only ever as the weapons enthusiast kind of way that she did with most everyone's weapons. Still, it was best to not show that her weapon was a near exact copy of her past selves. The two had only just started to befriend one another, and Pyrrha didn't think showing off that she was 'copying' her style would be a good idea.
"It doesn't make sense." Weiss stepped over as Pyrrha pulled Jaune to his feet. "I have seen Winter use our family Semblance to summon things before, but she said previously that weapons are not usually worth summoning." In an odd sense of parallels, both Ruby and Weiss were eyeing up Jaune's temporary sword with curious and inspecting gazes. "They are almost always incredibly weak, and they take time to summon."
The differences between the two girls made themselves known however, as Ruby slowly started to vibrate with barely concealed excitement. "And totally awesome! The ice isn't even chipped, look!" Ruby didn't wait for permission to take the sword from Jaune, but neither did he try to complain; smiling softly as she looked at it closer. "It's still cold too~" Ruby continued to gush, even as Weiss turned to regard the woman who had made it.
"How could you have made something like this?" Weiss asked. "I am not so arrogant as to think the Schnee family are the only people who could summon something. Semblances are a poorly understood aspect of our world, and it is very possible others exist with similar qualities, but… I thought your Semblance had something to do with fire?"
And there had gone Pyrrha's easiest excuse, saying it was her Semblance was a lot easier when people didn't know what your Semblance was, and it was a lie she was actually used to telling. There had been a number of people who had tried to figure out her Semblance during her days in the tournaments, and the theories had ranged from her simply not having one, to it being something ridiculous like the inability to lose. She had heard of people having passive Semblances, people like Qrow and Clover springs to mind, but the idea of something frankly so absurd had always amused her and it had been her own private little joke to never actually deny that one. The forums online had picked up and ran with it, just as she had hoped, and it had brought her no end of entertainment.
Her 'Semblance' was known now however, or at least being used as a cover for her Maiden powers. Her activities in the city against the White Fang, her training in the gardens, and various other incidents had been leaked one way or another. She had been careful to try and keep it similar when she was being observed, usually sticking to fire or something that she could attribute to heat, but she hadn't exactly made it a priority when fighting for her life. Word had made it out and there were a number of conflicting reports that, if anyone was in the know, they could have pierced together. Thankfully, the idea of Magic was absurd, and as such no one jumped to the correct and frankly obvious conclusion. If it was impossible, then that simply couldn't be the case, nevermind that a Semblance was just watered down Magic of a different name.
"My Semblance is… poorly understood." Pyrrha tried to explain, sticking to half truths as best she could if only so she didn't have to outright lie to her friends. "I've been working with the Headmaster to figure it out."
"Does he have any working theories?" Weiss asked and, though she didn't outwardly show it, to those who knew how to read her it was clear she was just as excited about it as Ruby was. Perhaps because it was something so similar to her own Semblance, which if Pyrrha recalled correctly she was having trouble with.
Pyrrha shook her head awkwardly. "We're still trying to figure it out."
That was certainly closer to a lie, though only about what it was. They knew it wasn't a Semblance, it was Magic, the question was simply how she had it and just what she could do with it. The fact her own Semblance hadn't seemed to come back with her, or that she had inherited Amber's, was also odd. They did have a theory, but it wasn't really possible for them to prove nor could Pyrrha explain it to anyone who didn't know everything about who she was. It was possible her Magic was actually a Semblance, or her access to it had taken up the place of her Semblance at least. Sadly, the only way to know for certain would be to ask the being that sent her back, but as they had learned from Jinn, that wasn't possible.
Weiss didn't look happy with the answer, but that fact was quickly overshadowed by her curiosity once more as she turned to look at the sword currently held in Ruby's hands.
"How did it feel?" Jaune's partner asked, her past self having remained quiet until then. Though the two of them had managed to get over the hurdle of awkwardness that was talking to one another, things hadn't become perfect. Her past self was worried about saying something that would offend her, while Pyrrha was worried about saying something that would be too familiar or that might make her other self uncomfortable. As such, the two of them usually stuck to simple questions and answers, things that were painfully polite and cautious in a way that only people walking on eggshells could understand.
"Light." Jaune said instantly. "It's weird actually, I was always surprised by how light Crocea Mors was, but this is something else."
"Metal is lighter than people think, especially if it's weapons grade, and especially if it's custom made, like ours." Coco answered simply, lifting her handbag minigun as if it weren't at least thirty pounds. She was still right though, given the nature of her weapon, it was a miracle the thing wasn't fifty or more. Metal treated with Dust was harder and more flexible than any other, meaning Huntsmen could do more with less. "Whatever this is… it's not actually ice."
"It would be far heavier if it were." Nikos agreed. "I've fought a few opponents who used disposable dust weapons in tournaments before, but those were always small, and their intention was the effect they caused, rarely to use them as actual weapons. To see one so large would be rare and incredibly expensive to maintain. Amber, you said you don't know how you made it?"
"No." That much was the truth at least, and Pyrrha found it incredibly frustrating. "I just… did." She had intended to make Jaune a weapon, and she had, but since then she had tried to replicate it to little success and that fact distressed her.
Pyrrha wasn't exactly unfamiliar with failure, dying being an experience she couldn't exactly call a win, but she still hated it. She had spent the majority of her life trying and succeeding at things, and although she knew she wasn't invincible, she was used to things naturally going her way. It took effort of course, nothing had ever been handed to her, and she had fought hard to get to the level she was at now, but she was used to being able to see those results. Her Maiden Powers had come to her rather quickly, although that was likely thanks to Amber's own training, and while she knew Magic wasn't coming as easily, she was making progress, and yet with this she had managed a weapon exactly once, and that had been it. She was grateful for the fact that she had, allowing Jaune to defend himself was certainly a good accomplishment, but that didn't give her any further insight into the matter.
"You'll figure it out." Coco nudged her shoulder against Pyrrha's own, sensing the tension she felt.
"I know, and thanks." Pyrrha offered her friend a smile to reassure her. It was easy to get worked up over, her competitive spirit got the better of her sometimes, but her friends often helped remind her that wasn't necessary. She looked over to Jaune. "I had actually hoped to borrow it and take it to the Headmaster."
"Sure." Jaune shrugged. "You did make it, good luck getting it away from those two though." He nodded over towards Ruby and Weiss, both of whom were arguing over how best to examine it. Ruby wanted to shoot it with Crescent Rose and see if it chipped at all, while Weiss wanted to take a more scientific approach. The result of their argument was the two girls trying to pry the sword from the other's hands, and in Pyrrha's experience, it was best to let the two girls argue it out and deal with it afterwards.
The two partners had become friends much the same as they had in Pyrrha's first life, although the road to getting there had clearly been a little longer. They were close, and despite how often Weiss would say something snappy, she would never go far enough to push Ruby away. In fact, she often back peddled whenever the younger girl seemed genuinely upset by her comments.
Ruby had in turn helped Weiss come out of her shell and, while she may have seemed as frosty as ever to most, she was far more expressive and genuine in comparison to who she had been at the start of the school year. She felt more like Weiss, and less like the Schnee Heiress. The two had been good for one another, for the most part. With all of the being said, Pyrrha wasn't about to put herself in between the two while they argued.
"Wanna get something to eat from the vending machines while they argue?" Coco offered Pyrrha an out.
"That would be grand." Pyrrha nodded, Jaune and his partner doing the same as they followed Coco outside the small training arena they had met in. Directly outside was a machine that served beverages, and next to it one that served snacks. They weren't anything fancy, but it was a good distraction and offered them the chance to speak.
"So, how's Team RWAN doing?" Coco asked as she carefully opened a bag of almonds.
"Good." Jaune said with a soft smile. "Things have gotten a lot better." His partner blushed and made a comment, only to be cut off by him before she could. "Whatever issues there were are in the past. We all agreed on that, and I'm happy to say we've stuck to it."
"I doubt Ruby would let us get away with anything less than holding up our promise." Nikos answered happily, though that didn't make it any less of a truth. Ruby wouldn't yell at them or punish them in any way if they did, she would simply be heart broken, which was about a million times worse.
All it would have taken was a single tear and it would have taken the combined might of Atlas to stop Pyrrha from storming Team RWAN's dorm and putting an end to it if she knew how. Thankfully, that wasn't necessary, and it seemed that both Jaune and her past self had come to the same conclusion, and it seemed Weiss had as well. It wasn't like they wanted to argue or be at each other's throats, but it was difficult to put aside first impressions.
"You all looking forward to the dance?" Coco asked easily, though the side glance Pyrrha felt said it was more targeted than it might have at first seemed.
The other two seemed to pick up on it as well, though only Jaune seemed embarrassed by the topic. Though they hadn't discussed it yet, the dance still being a few weeks away, it was certainly implied that they would be going together; even if she wasn't actually a student.
"I think it will be quite fun." Nikos offered her partner a distraction, drawing the attention away from him as he hid his face behind a can of soda. "Team CFVY is organizing it, correct?"
"Yep." Coco replied. "We've already completed our mid-year exam missions, so we won't run the risk of missing it."
"Team CFVY is organizing it?" This was the first Pyrrha had heard about it. She vaguely recalled that they were supposed to organize the dance during her first lifetime, but that they had been unable to due to a mission. Their team had been on a number of missions with Pyrrha, so it made sense that those would count instead, but she hadn't actually heard anything about it. "When was that decided?"
Coco shrugged. "We were in charge last year, so it was kind of implied that we would do it again. We've been working on it for the past couple of weeks."
They'd already started working on it? Pyrrha hadn't even noticed. "Is there anything I can-"
"We've pretty much got everything scheduled." Coco cut her off with a smile. "But when the night comes, if you wouldn't mind, you could help us with setting up."
"Of course." Pyrrha nodded eagerly. "You should have said something, I could have helped."
"You've been busy enough as it is." Coco replied with a shake of her head. "I told the others to keep you out of it, you've got enough on your plate as is."
Pyrrha frowned slightly, but couldn't exactly argue with the girl. She had been busy, so busy in fact that she hadn't even noticed the people she lived with were planning a large event like the Beacon dance. Her life was chaotic, and not in the fun Nora kind of way. She couldn't help but wonder what else she had failed to notice.
"I'm sure Ruby and Weiss would be willing to help as well." Nikos said, drawing Pyrrha out of her thoughts. "Should you need it."
"That'd be great, actually." Coco said, continuing to eat her almonds. "Last year we were doing set up all the way up to the start time, basically had no time to get changed. Didn't matter last year because none of us had dates, but this year, well…" Though she didn't look at anyone specifically, it was obvious who Coco was talking about.
Pyrrha sighed, although she had intended to ask Jaune to the Dance, she hadn't exactly wanted to do it like this, and although Coco no doubt meant well, her overbearing nature was a bit frustrating at times like this. "If you want to go, that is."
Jaune's eyes couldn't meet hers, he was uncertain and nervous, that much she could tell, and he probably had been for the last few days. He opened his mouth to respond, but she cut him off. "If you would rather go with your friends, as a Team, that would be fine. We aren't committed to each other." Pyrrha could see Coco from the corner of her eye, she could also see the way her mouth hung open slightly in disbelief. "If you would rather not, I understand."
She wanted to go with Jaune, as she had in her life before, but more than anything, she wanted that to be his decision. Not some kind of expectation lumped onto him because some girl he only just met had taken an interest in him.
Coco, good friend that she was, tried to salvage it for her. "What she means is-"
"Think about it." Pyrrha cut her off. "We have… the rest of your time at Beacon to figure things out. Not going to the dance together won't insult me." She smiled as honestly as she could, and thankfully, Jaune seemed to return it.
"I'll think about it." Jaune said simply. "But if I do go with someone, it'll be you. Promise. My mom would kill me if I took someone else as a date."
Pyrrha chuckled softly. "I'm sure you'll make the right decision."
Their conversation came to an abrupt end as both Weiss and Ruby practically threw open the doors to the training room they had been in.
"You left us there?!" Weiss snapped, and though Ruby didn't yell at them, it was clear she shared the same sentiment. "How long have we been arguing alone?"
Coco pulled up her scroll to check the time, actually pressing a button to stop a timer she had apparently set. "Seven minutes, thirty-six seconds."
Weiss tossed the frozen form of the weapon they had been arguing over at Jaune before continuing down the hall, as she complained about unfaithful teammates. Ruby followed behind with a pout on her face that made it clear that she had lost the argument without any of them there to intervene, something she was clearly planning to blame Jaune and Nikos for if her attempted glares were any indication.
"I… better go take care of that." Jaune sighed, handing the sword over to Pyrrha. "Will I be getting it back?"
"Of course." Pyrrha smiled. "It was a gift."
Jaune chuckled softly, his face growing red as he looked away from her. "Y-yeah, thanks for that."
Jaune and his partner were gone after that, though Nikos did offer both of them a small smile and nod before she left, following after the other half of Team RWAN that had seemed to make a straight line for the dorms.
"What the hell was that?" Coco asked the instant they were out of ear shot.
"What was wh-"
"Don't 'what was what' me, you know what you did!" Coco glared at her. "We worked our asses off building you up to the task of asking him out on a date, what gives?"
Pyrrha sighed, though she had known the comment wouldn't go unnoticed she had hoped Coco might at least trust her judgment on the matter. It seemed she had been wrong, though the other girl was likely questioning her out of concern.
"Do you remember what I told you about the attack? How we were ambushed from behind?" Pyrrha waited for Coco to nod before continuing. "They might have been targeting Jaune."
Coco opened her mouth to respond, but it clicked closed as she seemed to think better of it, instead taking a moment to think about it, and to truly consider the best way to respond. It was an oddly tense moment as she did, with the usually very straight-forward girl thinking through her actions far more than usual.
"You aren't blaming yourself, are you?" She finally asked.
Pyrrha shook her head. "They only went after him because he's close to me, but I'm not going to be dramatic about it. I just…" She stopped to sigh. "I want him to have the chance to back out."
"Pyrrha, he's not going-"
"I wanted to give him the choice, even if I can guess what he's going to decide." Pyrrha replied. "I hate when people take the ability to choose away from me, so I wanted to give him that courtesy. Even if I hope he doesn't take it."
Coco seemed unconvinced, and Pyrrha could feel her pointed look even through the girl's sunglasses. Clearly, it would take a bit more than that to make her point.
"Tell me honestly, if you knew everything you do now, about my past life, the Maidens, and Salem, would you still have approached me in the gym to be my friend?"
"Of course." Her answer was quick, and while that did bring a smile to Pyrrha's face, she didn't fail to notice that it was too quick. Despite how she insisted she would, it was difficult to say you would go so far for a stranger, even if you knew you would one day be best friends.
"You would have hesitated at least, and that's fine." Pyrrha insisted; she wouldn't judge anyone for thinking through the consequences of something like that, let alone once life and death was brought into the equation. "I'm not going to force anyone into something they aren't ready or willing to do. I've dealt with that enough in my life."
Coco sighed, but after a long moment she nodded. "I get it."
"Thank you." Pyrrha said.
"I'm gonna keep that in mind the next time you bring up some immortal witch queen of the Grimm crap though." Coco smirked, helping transition the mood for the serious topic back to something more comfortable.
"That was me giving you the choice." Pyrrha replied.
"I know." Coco rolled her eyes. "Lighten up, and let me know what the Headmaster says about that sword of yours." She gestured to the freezing weapon in Pyrrha's hands. "If it's possible, I might have you make me a new version of Gianduja that doesn't leave my shoulder sore from the weight."
Pyrrha chuckled softly. "And how would you make that work with your current outfit?"
"I'd simply find a way." Coco replied, and Pyrrha couldn't help but believe it. They both laughed warmly as they stepped down the halls towards the intersection where they would go their separate ways. "Text the group chat when you're on your way back, and we can meet up for dinner."
"I shall." Pyrrha smiled and waved as she turned the corner towards the Headmasters office.
Author's Note: Little bit of a narrower focus than what I initially had planned, but the length panned out way longer than I thought it would, so I figured best to not bloat this chapter. Some lore, some theories, and some conspiracy theories in the realm of what the internet might have assumed The Invincible Girl's Semblance might have been. Nothing overly serious, although obviously some set up and such for the future.
And most importantly, the question of who is taking who to the dance. I will be honest, when it comes to romantic things of the heart, I am woefully inept. The idea that things have to be centered around the couple, that you can't do things separate from one another as often seen in media and even some real life relationships has always puzzled me. Hence the more "if we don't, that doesn't mean it's over" type dialogue from Pyrrha. This isn't me trying to ship tease, but rather it feels like something Pyrrha would do given recent events. I don't know, we'll see what the readers decide.
Let me know what you think in the reviews.
Sincerely SE