There was a burning inside him, pounding in his ears. He wanted to scream, scream out into the night sky until his voice turned hoarse, and his throat grew as cracked and bloody as the girl he had cut open.
Tyrian was angry. Livid. He had reached Haven, yes. And long before the Rose girl and her little protector did, too. But he never should have had to come here. He should have been able to grab her while her cursed Uncle had been occupied clearing the Grimm from their path.
But he wasn't able to. For all his efforts, he had still been too slow. The Branwen had arrived right before he was able to secure the girl, and forced him into a confrontation he had wanted to avoid. They had fought briefly, and Tyrian had hoped he could end the Huntsman quickly, but neither he nor Qrow had managed to gain any advantage, and Tyrian was forced to accept that he wouldn't be able to win quickly. Perhaps he wouldn't win at all.
And as much as he hated to delay his mission, his return to his Goddess, he feared failure far more. And there was too much chance for failure if he carried on his brawl with the Huntsman. So he fled, hoping to reach Haven before them, and wait for a chance to pick the girl off alone.
He scowled, glancing down at his leg. Of course, it hadn't been as simple as that. He had managed to create a distraction easily enough, collapsing a bit of ruined wall on top of the Rose girl, giving him a chance to break away. There was no danger for her, of course, he knew her Uncle would assist her without hesitation.
What he hadn't expected, was Qrow's little parting gift. Tyrian had just passed the borders of the abandoned town, when he felt a round pierce the last of his aura, firing through his leg. It must have been Branwen, with his niece's sniper. None of the other children's weapons had the range.
Oh, how he had howled in pain then, screaming and cursing the bastard Huntsman who had thwarted him, squashing any ideas he had of hanging back, and looking for an opening before they reached the safety of Haven. Tyrian was forced to slink through the woods, going as fast as he could to beat them to their destination. His leg had largely healed since then, though it remained a little sore.
It wasn't a complete disaster, he mused. All was not yet lost. Even in a place like Haven, nowhere was truly safe from Tyrian. There was a reason his mistress had placed so much faith in him before his failure. Even disregarding himself, The little Rose would not find quite so many allies as she had hoped. The old lion belonged to the Goddess, and the rest of the Huntsman usually found within the city were either sent far away on missions, or dead, slain by his own hand with the help of Mister Reinhart.
Tyrian grinned at the thought. Oh yes, Miss Rose. You will find no quarter here, not in Haven. He giggled, imagining her horror when she finally realized the depth of her plight. Weary, injured, beset on all sides by enemies and betrayed by the very man you sought aid from. How he very much wished to be there for when she had that particular revelation. Her and her bastard Uncle both.
Perhaps I could? It was something to be considered, at least. With Haven, laid the next phase of the mistress' plan. Haven shall fall, the Goddess had decreed it so. In all likelihood, Miss Fall would have made her way to the city, laying the foundations for her revenge. And she would wait for her revenge before bringing the city down.
She would have to wait until she found the spring maiden in order to retrieve the Relic anyways. And she would certainly not sit idly by, not when she knew the very same girl responsible for her unfortunate little wreck of a body was on her merry way to Haven.
Tyrian frowned. Cinder would kill her, almost certainly. And that could not be permitted. The Goddess had been quite explicit. But Cinder, oh, she would let her anger get the better of herself, he had no doubt. She had done so before, and would do so again, the foolish woman.
He had fled from Qrow and the children so that he might regroup, and strike at his leisure. He had taken a risk, and it backfired, so he would wait until the opportunity arose for him to attack once more. It was not ideal, but it was better than returning to his queen with yet another failure.
And Cinder, she would render all his efforts, all of his sacrifice meaningless, just for the chance at some meaningless sense of revenge. Idiot, he cursed her in his thoughts. What you desire is NOTHING, not when it goes against the will of your queen!
Tyrian sighed, trying to let his rage run its course. He supposed he understood her anger, in a sense. He was angry at himself, for failing their mistress, and letting Mercury and Emerald escape for his own amusement. She was likely angry at herself, for failing to instill enough fear to keep them from leaving her side.
Of course, she would never stop to consider that it was her own poor leadership, and instability that drove them away in the first place, but that wasn't really his concern. He was hardly the shining example of stability, after all.
So, no, he couldn't go directly to Lionheart. Not yet. He would have to try and see if he couldn't persuade Cinder to vent her anger elsewhere, and leave the Rose girl be. It could be useful, having an ally to assist in handling Qrow. But only if he was certain she could be trusted to carry out their mistress' will.
Tyrian howled in frustration, his tail whipping around behind him. Your Goddess entrusted you with this one task, and commanded you to return successful. And Cinder is far too volatile.Yes. Yes, that was right. He could trust no one else in the capture of Miss Rose. No one.
He grasped his head with both hands, crying out in agonized pain. Too much, too much, it was TOO MUCH!
His repeated failures had been festering inside him for far too long. For months, now, he had been forced to eschew his own relief for the sake of his mistress, that he might reach Miss Rose as soon as he could. He had stopped for nothing, passed up hundreds of opportunities to slake his thirst for chaos, and had nothing to show for it. He needed a way to work out his frustration.
He leapt down from the rooftop he had been resting on, racing through alleyways, grinning wildly. Finally, he had no reason not to indulge himself.
Haven would bleed tonight.
"For the last time, Pyrrha, we are doing this!" Jaune's voice wasn't quite annoyed with his partner, although he was definitely getting exasperated. "Seriously, I don't see what's wrong."
"Nothing, not really," Pyrrha bit her lip. Come ON girl, just spit it out! Nora wanted to reach out and slap her friend right there. It was one thing to be a little hesitant to admit her feelings, but seriously, how could she expect to get anywhere with Jaune when she got jitters just talking to him normally?
"It's just…are you sure this is a good idea?" Finally! She speaks! Imagine that.
Jaune laid his hands on her shoulders. "Pyrrha. I'm sure. Relax. This'll go great."
She smiled weakly, blushing at the unexpected touch. "I just don't see why all this is necessary, that's all." Nora honestly agreed, but Jauney wasn't an idiot, even if he acted like a goof sometimes. If he thought this would help them, it probably would. He was usually pretty good with leader stuff.
"Look," Jaune began, addressing all of them now. Team JNPR had gathered in its entirety in one of the many training rooms Beacon boasted, this one thankfully empty. Nora had a feeling things would get messy by the time they were done. "Ideally, in a perfect situation, we wouldn't have to worry about this. Partners exist for a reason, they're there to complement each other. Preferably, if we're in trouble, Pyrrha and I would work best together, while Ren and Nora would with each other. I mean, you guys have known each other for years!"
"Mmhmm," Nora nodded in agreement, smiling proudly with her hands on her hips. "No one works as well with Renny as I do!" Not a lot of people spent years surviving on their own, with no one but each other. Theirs was a friendship that could survive anything!
"And that's the problem," Wait, what? "See, Ideally we would work with our partners. But we're training to be Huntsman. The real world isn't like school, or one of your tournament fights, Pyrrha. The Grimm don't follow any rules, and they don't stop when your Aura dips into the red. And sometimes, things don't always go according to plan. Right?"
He was looking at her and Ren now. Her partner nodded. "He has a point," Ren said evenly. "There were many times out in the wilderness that Nora and I were separated for one reason or another. We were forced to improvise."
Okay, now she was starting to see Jaunes side. "See? That's exactly why this is so important," He continued. "There's probably going to be a lot of times we're found separated from each other, and possibly not with the person we intended. Practicing exercises with different partners is crucial. I don't want something happening to you guys because we didn't prepare for things to go wrong. It's important we know all of our teammate's strengths and weaknesses by heart, not just our partners."
"WOO!" Nora shot her hands in the air, cheering her leader. "Go Jaune!"
Ren smiled softly, shaking his head, while Pyrrha giggled. "What?" Nora asked, confused. "He was on a roll!"
"Riiight," Jaune said slowly, picking back up from where he had been interrupted. "Like I was saying, this is important."
Pyrrha sighed. "I know, Jaune. You're right. It's a good idea. But…are you sure these are the teams you want to go with?"
Jaune nodded. "Me and Nora, up against you and Ren. At least, to start with."
"Don't you think it's a little…" Pyrrha trailed off, nervously toying with her hands.
"Unfair?" Jaune finished for her. "Pyrrha, whatever team I'm on is obviously going to lose," He said bluntly, causing his partner to wince. "The only situation where that isn't the case is when I'm on your side, which would kinda defeat the purpose of the whole "Switching partners" thing."
Jaune stretched his arms out, smiling. "Besides, winning or losing isn't really the point of the exercise. It's about building team cohesion."
Nora frowned. "What does that mean?"
Her leader just shrugged. "Beats me. I think it's just a fancy way of saying teamwork? Pretty much every article I've read on things effective leaders does mention it at least once, so I figured I'd throw it in. But yeah, the point is, we need to get more familiar with how each of us fights, even the people we're not as comfortable fighting with."
"Don't worry, Jaune," Nora threw an arm around his shoulders, grinning. "We're gonna work great together! Those suckers won't know what hit 'em!"
Jaune pinched the bridge of his nose as the two of them walked to their side of the training room. "Nora, I appreciate the enthusiasm, but I'd uh, temper your expectations."
"Why?" She asked. "You don't think we're gonna kick their butts?"
"Oh, trust me, I'm sure you'll give them bruises they'll still have by lunchtime," Jaune said laughing. "But Pyrrha's a beast, and you've got me on your team. Like I said, don't focus on winning. Just try and pay attention to how I fight, and how Pyrrha and Ren fight together. Knowing stuff like that could save our lives someday."
Nora rolled her eyes. "Jaune!" She groaned. "Quit being so doom and gloom!" Nora knew her friend obviously wasn't exactly a heavy hitter, combat wise, but he put himself down way too often. He was here, at Beacon, wasn't he? He was managing to keep up. Plus, he was the best leader ever! He was always thinking up stuff like this exercise, to try and give them an edge. She was willing to bet not a whole lot of other teams did the same.
"Have a little faith in yourself," She joked, punching him lightly in his arm.
At least, she thought it was a light punch. Jaune hissed, rubbing his arm. "Yep. I'll do that. Totally. Way more faith in myself, going forward. Just, please don't hit me again?"
Nora snorted, covering her mouth. "Sorry!"
Jaune unsheathed his sword, and extended his shield to full size. Nora swung out Magnhild, holding it behind her, waiting for the signal to begin. Across the room, Pyrrha and Ren were similarly prepared, patiently waiting.
"Waiting on you, pretty boy!" Nora shouted, grinning. It was the leader's job to kick things off, after all.
"Huh?" Jaune frowned, before blushing. "Oh, right! Uhm, Go! Start! Begin!" He yelled, awkwardly trying to cup his hands to make sure he was heard, only for his sword and shield to get in his way.
Nora didn't waste a second, instantly digging her hammer into the floor, catapulting herself towards the opposition. "WOO-HOO!" She cheered, flying through the air. Being a Huntress is the coolest. Or, being a Huntress in training, I guess.
Pyrrha stopped in her tracks, calmly raising her shield in defense. Nora took it as a challenge, using her momentum to swing Magnhild with all her might slamming down. The impact ran up her arms, making her shiver, and pushed Pyrrha back a good ten feet, although she was still standing.
"Nice one!" Nora complimented. "People usually go flying, when I do that. And Grimm. And cars. And the hot dog stand that one time, but that was only like, half my fault!" Pyrrha smiled shyly, and gave a nervous shrug. Nora resisted a groan. How does she do that? I've NEVER seen someone manage to apologize without saying a word. What is she even apologizing for? She and Pyrrha were going to have to have a serious girl talk one of these days. She was tired of her friend constantly feeling like she had to walk around eggshells, especially around her friends. They were at Beacon! They all deserved to feel at home.
But that would come later. First, she had to kick her ass. Nicely, of course. As a friend.
Pyrrha smoothly changed her javelin into its rifle form, firing off a few shots to keep Nora back. Naturally, it didn't work. What, did Pyrrha think she couldn't take that? For shame! And she thought they were friends!
Nora simply tanked the shots, charging forwards. She brought Magnhild down, again slamming into Pyrrha's shield. Pyrrha dropped to one knee under the force, before dropping her rifle, using both of her arms to push the hammer off, throwing Nora off balance.
Pyrrha took advantage of the opportunity, not bothering to pick up her weapon and instead delivering a meaty right hook. Nora stumbled back, still gripping Magnhild. Oof, that was a good one.
She massaged her jaw, cracking her neck. "So that's how we're gonna do it then?" Nora let her hammer fall to the ground, bringing her closed fists up in front of her. "Me likey!"
Pyrrha frowned, before shrugging, undoing the clasps on her shield, and bringing her own fists up. The two began circling each other slowly, not taking their eyes off of one another. Nora briefly wondered how Jaune was holding up, but put it out of her mind. Eh, He's probably doing fine!
"Got'cha blood pumpin' yet?" Nora asked.
Her opponent smiled softly. "I admit, this is…very engaging. It's nice to just…spar with my friends sometimes, without having to worry about putting on a show for the audience. And it's nice to go up against someone who can put up an actual fight," She added.
"Aw, you flatterer, you!" Nora smiled. "I'm still going to kick your ass, by the way."
"I wouldn't have it any other way." Pyrrha rushed forwards, and Nora prepared herself for the oncoming brawl. Good old fashioned, hand to hand ass kicking. That is, until she felt something at the back of her head.
"What-" The back of her head erupted into heat, as she felt her Aura flare, and her eardrums nearly popped from the sound of a gun discharging. Her vision blurred, and when she could see clearly again, she was on the floor, looking up at her partner, the barrel of Stormflower still smoking.
"Ren!" She gasped. "You traitor!" How could he? Her own best friend in the whole wide world! Could you have waited like, five more minutes? Pyrrha and I were totally gonna beat the crap out of each other! It was gonna be awesome!
Ren shrugged, the dastardly villain, and gestured behind him. Jaune was groaning on the floor, clearly spent. "He's out of the fight," He informed them. "So, I came to help my partner."
Nora gasped once again. "How dare you? I thought I was your partner!"
"You are," Ren assured her. "But not for the duration of this exercise. That's why we're training."
"Hmph!" Nora crossed her arms. "I bet you say that to all your partners!"
Ren rolled his eyes, but before he could speak, she hopped back to her feet, and stuck a finger out. "Besides, you're wrong!" She exclaimed.
Pyrrha and Ren shared a look of confusion. "Wrong about what?" He asked.
"Jaune isn't out of the fight yet! JAUNE! HIT ME!" Huh. That was weird. He was just…laying there, on the ground. That was the super secret code word. She had told him the code word, right?
"JAUNE!" She yelled again.
"She's wrong," Jaune groaned, still laying face first on the floor. "I am most definitely out of the fight." He struggled to hold up a thumbs up. "But you got this! Go Nora!" He cheered weakly.
"Ugh, it's like you guys don't even want to have fun!" Nora shoved her hand down her boot. The plan had been for Jaune to hit her with some lightning dust rounds, and proceed to wipe the floor with the other half of their team. Although, thinking back on it, she didn't think she actually told him the plan, after all. She also didn't think Jaune had lightning dust rounds, on account of not using a gun.
Oh well. Beggars can't be choosers, and she had come prepared regardless. "AHA!" She cried out, holding her prize in her hand. "Emergency fork, don't fail me now!" Ren's eyes widened, realization and horror dawning on his face in equal parts.
"Pyrrha, stop it now!" Ren shouted in desperation.
Pyrrha frowned. "Stop what?"
But it was too late. Nora had spotted her target, embedded into the wall of the training room, not too far behind her. She leapt, diving straight for the empty power socket, and jammed her metal fork in as hard as she could.
The outlet sparked, and immediately Nora felt the familiar rush of electricity run through her body, shuddering at the shock coursing through her. The lights in the training room dimmed, nearly going out, before stabilizing.
Nora rose to her feet, slowly turning. She grinned wickedly, cracking her knuckles as jolts of electricity ran up and down her body. "Two on one. Now it's a fair fight."
Ren sighed, before raising Stormflower, bracing himself. Pyrrha furrowed her brow, having already retrieved her own weapons. Nora held out her hands, her intent obvious
"Bring it," She told them.
"Okay," Jaune started, resting his hands on the cafeteria table. He was still sporting a few bruises from their practice session, but, having gone down first, and having the most Aura, led to him being fairly recovered. Lucky bastard, Nora thought bitterly.
Jaune continued. "That could have gone better. That could have gone a lot better. There were quite a few mistakes to go over, on pretty much everyone's part, so…who wants to start?"
"I totally could have won!" Nora shouted before anyone else had a chance. "I almost did, too!" She crossed her arms, pouting. "Stupid, flying hammer," She muttered. "Dumb magnet powers using my own baby against me!"
Pyrrha winced. "I'm sorry!" She apologized.
Jaune groaned, running a hand down his face. "No no no, you guys! Come on! Nora, you winning was never the point! The whole purpose of the exercise was learning how each of us fought, especially with our weapons, and with different partners!"
Nora shrunk, suddenly her face turning red. "Instead, you immediately charged Pyrrha, turning the fight into basically two separate fights, you against Pyrrha, and me against Ren, instead of attacking as a team! And then you threw out the other point of the exercise, literally throwing your weapons away just to brawl with Pyrrha." Nora shifted uncomfortably.
"And Pyrrha!" His partner's eyes went wide. "You went along with it! I mean, Nora, I kinda get. Don't get me wrong, you're awesome Nora, but you're also sort of a wild card." Fair. Can't really argue there. "But Pyrrha? I expected you and Ren to at least understand why this was important."
"I'm sorry!" She squeaked, and Nora felt a pang in her heart for the poor girl. Getting told off by your crush, that's gotta suck. I mean, good on Jaune for stepping up as the leader, but I would not wanna be her right now. At least she was sure Ren wasn't upset with her.
Jaune sighed. "Don't apologize, Pyrrha. It's not really serious, it's just training. I just…I thought I got through to you guys this was at least a little important."
Ren nodded. "You did, I think we can all agree that we see the benefit in continuing these kinds of exercises. However…I think we all also…got a little carried away."
"Hey, It's not a complete disaster!" Nora piped up. "I learned that if Pyrrha loses her weapon, she'll just deck you!"
"And Nora is much more aggressive than I anticipated," Pyrrha chimed in. "And I was already expecting you to be very aggressive."
Jaune nodded, sighing once more. "I suppose even a small silver lining is better than nothing."
Nora clapped him on the back. "That's the spirit!" Jaune hissed in pain, and Nora winced. "Oooh, yeah, sorry!" He's fine, right?
'It's alright," Jaune said, clearly in pain. "Look, let's just move past this, okay? Today might have been a bust, but we're still barely in our first year at Beacon. We have plenty of time to continue those exercises, and we have plenty of time before we'll have to put them to actual use."
Nora laughed, grabbing a glass of water. "Yeah, what he said! We got nothing to worry about, we have plenty of time!"
Nora felt something change around her, as she spoke, and an involuntary shudder ran up her spine. The heads of her friends snapped to her as one, and stared.
Jaune cocked his head to the side, frowning. "What do you mean by that, Nora?" She swore it was Jaune who spoke, but she heard the voices of her other teammates echoing his words, and her own voice as well.
She was breathing hard now, What was going on? Why were they acting so weird? She looked down the table, where team RWBY usually sat, but the seats their sister team usually occupied were empty.
Nora looked further, her head scanning the entirety of the cafeteria. All of the seats were empty. The entire cafeteria was devoid of any other life, the only ones there were her own team. And something awful inside of her told her it had been that way since they arrived. And when DID we arrive? She thought. She couldn't remember ever leaving the gym.
She stood up from her seat, backing away. "What-what's happening?" She was sweating now.
Jaune shrugged. "I just asked a question, Nora." It was the same voice as before. Or, the same voices, as before.
"It was about time, I believe." Pyrrha chimed in. Only, she also spoke with that awful echoed voice. "That was awfully insensitive, Nora."
"But-but I was just repeating Jaune!" She was pleading, almost begging. She wanted to run as far as she could, but felt locked in place. "He was the one who said it first!"
Pyrrha giggled. "Well, yes, but it doesn't matter what he says. He isn't even real, after all. You are, so you should at least have some tact."
"I don't know what you're talking about," Nora refused to put up with this any longer. This was some stupid joke that she was the butt of. And it was awfully mean. "Come on, Pyrrha, everyone, let's just go back to the dorm. And I don't know what I did for you guys to pull this on me, but just tell me, and I'll apologize! Just stop whatever the hell it is you're doing, you're scaring me! This isn't funny!" She was crying, now, tears streaming openly down her face.
Pyrrha giggled. "Nora! Don't be silly! I can't go with you back to the dorm." The smile dropped slowly from her face, but didn't quite leave it completely. "I'm dead. I died months ago. None of you were anywhere near, and there was no body to find. Just ashes, scattered over the ruins of the city."
"N-no, you're right in front of me!" This wasn't funny. It stopped being funny a while ago. "That didn't happen, it never happened!" She rushed over to Ren, grabbing his coat, looking him desperately in the eyes.
"Please, just tell me what I did!" She begged. "Tell me what to apologize for?"
"Nora," He said softly. "How are you supposed to apologize?" He smiled, as if he was part of some hidden joke. "You can't even speak. Not for days, now." Ren stepped back, escaping her grasp. "You'll never speak again."
Nora opened her mouth to scream, but no sound came out. Something wet poured down her chest, and she raised a hand to her throat. She pulled it back, and her hand was red, coated slick with blood. She fell to her knees, choking as both hands rushed to her throat.
Jaune, Pyrrha, and Ren were standing above her, looking down. "Poor Nora," They said as one, only, her voice was no longer among them. "You really did deserve better. All of you did. You deserved to go through your years at Beacon, forging fond memories and fonder friends as you slowly grew into the Huntress you always dreamed of being."
"It's what you wanted, right?" Nearly the entire floor was red, now, covered in her blood. "Ever since you were a little girl, all you ever wanted was an adventure, and friends to share it with." There was something almost sad in their voices as they spoke.
"But you didn't have any time, not really. You wanted so much from Beacon. You had so much hope, so much time to do it all, to see everything!" They bent down, as Nora fell one last time to the ground, her eyes dimming from the loss of blood. "And now, you have none at all."
Nothing came from her throat, but she heard herself scream all the same.
Well that was a happy little note to end it on. Fun fact, this chapter and the next was actually a single combined chapter, but it got way too long and I decided to cut it in two. I had a blast writing Beacon era Nora. In this fic, she goes through so much that she isn't exactly the same as canon. I don't think ANYONE would be exactly the same after getting their throat slit and losing their voice. I think I've done a good job showing her get back on her feet in the chapters to come, though.
By the way, I actually posted a new fic. It's about Warhammer, so if you're a fan of 40k, check it out! It's just a quick little one shot I wrote as a palate cleanser so I had something different to write. I actually ended up posting it last week, the same day as the last update.
P.S. I was reading through some of the older chapters for Doing our own Thing, and I came across a fucking amazing typo. In one of the Mercury pov's, I wrote 'His focus visioned,' and there's no way I'm NOT leaving that in there. It's too funny.
Please, feel free to leave a comment, I'd love to hear your thoughts!
As always, I crosspost on Ao3!
Next Chapter: Tuesday, April 30th