Chapter 3: The Burning Death and the Invincible Fate.
After what seemed like forever, the two young women ran as far away as they could from the dining hall. Fortunately, they didn't encounter any Grimm or White Fang grunts. All the while, the two spirits hitched a ride with them.
It wasn't long before they finally reached the docks of Beacon, where civilians and students were being picked up by air buses, and two Huntsman Amethyst recognises, Peter Port and Bartholomew Oobleck.
He even noticed countless Huntsmen-in-training, all resting on the ground and being tended to. Even Roy and his teammates can be seen among the crowd, and the Ghost Detective is glad they survived.
Yang and Blake finally stopped running as they caught their breath. The latter, still holding the Faunus's hand almost like a lifeline, but their heads turned to a young woman's voice calling out for them.
"Yang! Blake! Over here!" The two girls and the ghosts turned to see Weiss waving at them and a black corgi near her. She wasn't as far away as she was with other students resting on the ground, especially two students close to her: a young girl with orange hair wearing pink and a young man with black hair with a magenta streak on the left side wearing green.
"Weiss!" Yang and Blake said in relief as they quickly walked towards her before Weiss gave them a quick hug, which they returned, and the corgi was barking happily towards them, making Yang smile down at the dog.
"Good to see you too, Zwei." Yang says in relief.
"You're both okay…" Weiss whispered as she let go of them with a smile of relief, and Yang finally let go of her partner's hand.
"Yeah… I guess we are, right?" Yang gave a nervous smirk as she turned to Blake, but her smile turned to a sad frown when the Cat Faunus turned away with a guilty expression.
Weiss noticed this, but a thought came before she could ask. "Wait… have you both seen Ruby?"
Hearing that name made Amethyst perk up, feeling a sense of recognition towards that name. "Ruby…?"
This made the two look back towards her in concern before looking at each other and then again at Weiss with worry and dread.
"N-No, we didn't." Blake stuttered, feeling more concerned now but not as concerned as Yang.
"She's not here?" Yang questions, looking like she is about to have a panic attack. Weiss bit her lip as she grew even more worried and scared, but before she could say anything, Zwei suddenly barked, alerting them, making them turn to see, much to their relief, a young girl with black hair with red tips wearing red ran towards them.
The moment Amethyst saw the girl, he gasped lightly, and another memory resurfaced.
…
Amethyst was somewhere late at night on the port of Vale. The area was surrounded by VPD officers working around the clock. They were making crime scenes around the area, and he saw a group of White Fang grunts handcuffed and loaded on vehicles, no doubt being sent straight to prison.
As for him, he was standing in front of a group of teenagers, all sitting on boxes, some of them looking nervous and as calm as they could be.
The teenagers are Weiss, Blake, Yang, a blond Faunus boy with a monkey tail, and the young girl in red.
"Well… I certainly didn't think I'd see you four girls again. I hope you children have a good explanation for yourselves." Amethyst says as he gives them a stern look at them.
"We kicked White Fang butt, that's what!" The monkey Faunus chirps but shrank down a bit by an unimpressed look of the detective.
"That you did. And do you know what else you did?" Amethyst asked, getting a confused look from the teenagers before he sighed. "You kids caused property damage and vigilantism."
"What!? Whoa, dude, sir, we didn't cause any of that!" The monkey Faunus tried to protest. "I mean, there was the Bullheads exploding and all…"
"Sun! Shut. Up." Blake hissed, making the now-named Faunus shut it.
If this were anything else, the Faunus Detective would be laughing, but this was not the case. "Be it as it may, it doesn't change the fact you kids shouldn't be here and did what you did. You should have contacted the authorities."
"But we caught the White Fang! And almost caught Roman Torchwood!" The young girl in red tried to protest somewhat nervously.
"Yes… we did get that information from the captured grunts, which we will look into." Amethyst narrowed his eyes at that vital information but was confused. He knows very well that Torchwood isn't the kind of person to work with big criminal groups, especially not the human-hating group such as the White Fang, which he finds even more bizarre. "But that doesn't change the fact that you're still in trouble."
"But we are students at Beacon Academy!" Yang protested, not looking like she had seen any problem.
"In training." The detective corrected. "And don't try using that excuse on me. You don't have any form of authority to protect you."
"Detective Midnight, I'm sure we can talk this out." Weiss started trying to help her friends.
"You can try, Miss Schnee. I certainly hope you have a good lawyer for yourselves." This made the heiress silently gulp, knowing that this might become a big deal in public if news spread about this.
"But what about the other girl that just left?" Sun innocently asked.
"SUN!" The girls shouted, making the monkey Faunus jump in fright.
"She… at least had an excuse, thanks to her guardian." Penny Polendina, he remembered she was off the hook due to her connections with General Ironwood, so she was free to go. "An excuse none of you currently have."
This made the girls and boy look at each other, nervous about what would happen to them.
"Detective Amethyst, please, I know that… we shouldn't be here." Blake started looking a bit guilty after what she said. "But not all of us were involved in fighting in the dock. The least you can do is let them go."
The detective sees her pointing at the ones who weren't involved, mainly towards Yang and Weiss. Thinking carefully of the situation, he concludes.
"Okay… here's the deal." The detective started getting the students to perk up. "Seeing that you are students of Huntsmen Academies, and this is a first offence, you kids can try contacting your Headmasters to give yourselves an excuse."
"You mean it!?" The girl in red asked in hope, and she smiled when she saw the detective nod. "Thank you so much, Detective Amethyst!"
"Just stay out of trouble next time, Ruby Rose."
"Ruby!" Weiss called out, making the said girl come to them.
"Ruby Rose…" The Ghost Detective finally remembers.
"Another girl you remember?" Sissel asked. The two ghosts watched the said girl hug Wiess and then hug the other two, and she looked very relieved to see them.
"Yeah… a girl who is a trouble magnet." Amethyst lightly chuckled at the memories that were coming back. "But she has a good heart. I'm just glad she's okay…"
As the two ghosts watch, they see another person approach them. Amethyst recognised the monkey Faunus. Sun Wukong.
"Hey! You guys made it!" The girls turned to see Sun, who gave them an exhausted smile. "Just letting you know the soldiers have a ship ready to take you guys to Vale."
"But Jaune and Pyrrha are still missing." A girl with orange hair said as she tried to get up but quickly sat back down, groaning and holding her side.
"Pyrrha? Pyrrha Nikos?" Amethyst said as he recognised the name.
"Another person you know?" Sissel asked.
The Ghost Detective shook his head. "Never met her in person, just that she's well known."
"What!?" Ruby said in horror as Yang and Blake felt the same as her, while Weiss looked worried as she knew she had not seen Jaune and Pyrrha.
"Look, guys, that giant Grimm is circling the school! Even the White Fang are pulling out! We have to go, now!" Sun says as he pleads with his friends to leave for their safety.
"I giant Grimm? That doesn't sound good." The ghost kitten says, getting worried that this night is getting worse, one thing after another.
"It certainly isn't…" Amethyst agrees with growing concern. 'But what Grimm are they talking about?'
"We're not… leaving!" The boy in green said as he tried to stand up but fell to his knees in pain. "Ugh!"
Sun and the others looked at the boy worriedly, but then Ruby looked up with a determined expression.
"I'll find them… I'll find them, and I'll bring them back." Ruby declared as she was ready to find them but was stopped by Weiss.
"No! We will find them." The Schnee says with a smile, earning a smile from Ruby.
"Then–" Yang was about to say but was immediately cut off by Weiss.
"Yang, no. I don't know what happened to you and Blake, but you're clearly exhausted." Wiess says, making the blond want to protest, but is cut off again. "You, Blake and Sun can watch over Nora, Ren and the others when we return with Jaune and Pyrrha."
Yang hesitated but then turned to Blake, who was also conflicted, but she could see in her eyes that she was still shaken after what happened back at the dining hall. Heck, she was still shocked, so she gave in with a reluctant sigh.
"Okay… but just be safe out there!" Yang pleaded, making Weiss and Ruby nod before the latter quickly hugged the blond.
"We will." Ruby whispered before nodding to Blake, who slowly nodded back with a small smile. Then, the two began to run off to find her missing friends.
"After them!" Amethyst shouted as he and Sissel quickly jumped off Yang's weapons and switched to Ruby and Weiss's. Amethyst possesses the rectangular backpack (he recalls it being able to transform into a scythe) on Ruby's back, and Sissel is on Weiss's sword.
"We'll be back!" Weiss shouted as they ran off.
"You better be!" Sun shouts back, then mutters to himself. "Idiots."
The two girls run back to the campus, unaware of their spiritual passengers.
"I certainly hope we find their friends of theirs." Sissel says, worried as he looks around, hoping to find them, even though he doesn't know what they look like.
"I hope so too…" Amethyst agrees as he looks at the young girl he is currently with. He could tell that Ruby was dead serious about finding her missing friends, but he could quickly tell that he could see a profound amount of worry and fear in her eyes.
Then suddenly, the sound of a Scroll rings, making the two girls stop running.
Weiss immediately pulled out her Scroll and gasped at who was calling her. "It's Jaune! Where are you?"
"Amethyst! This is a good chance to use another Ghost Trick power: Telephone Lines!" Sissel says, getting the detective's attention as he recalls that all Ghosts had the power to travel via phone connections, except for Ray (older Missile) as long both sides, but also recalled that when altering someone's Fate, they can use the phones to travel somewhere else; however, they can't return to that location but seeing that this was not the case, the Ghost Detective wouldn't need to worry about that.
"Right! I'll go check if this Jaune kid is doing fine." Amethyst immediately possessed Weiss's Scroll when she answered the call, and then he activated his Tricks.
As he activated it, Amethyst's surroundings suddenly went black, and numerous purple lines surrounded him. A similar line was connected to Weiss's Scroll. Suddenly, he was dragged into the line he was on and travelled at his speed. Before he knew it, he reached the end of the lien, and his entire surroundings were back to normal, except that he was now in a different location alone with a young blonde man in armour holding a Scroll.
"Whoa! What a rush." Amethyst comments before noticing the boy with a scared and worried expression. "This must be Jaune… but where's Pyrrha?"
The Ghost Detective looked around but found no trace of anyone else. Before he could say anything, he nearly jumped when he began shouting.
"Weiss! Please, you have to stop her!" Jaune shouted or begged on his Scroll, making the Ghost Detective even more worried about what was happening.
"What?!" Amethyst could hear Weiss other than the Scroll but stayed silent to listen to what was happening.
"Pyrrha! She's going after that woman at the top of the tower! She doesn't stand a chance!" Jaune continued as the ghost silently listened, growing more worried but concerned about one piece of information he had gained.
'A woman…? Is she perhaps responsible for all this?'
"Jaune. What are you talking about!? Where are you?" Weiss shouted in worry and confusion, but Jaune shouted in anger.
"Don't worry about me!" The blond gasped before he leaned against a wall. His expression turned into pure sadness. "Please, you have to save Pyrrha."
"We will. Are you okay?" Weiss asked, hoping for an answer, but instead of answering, Jaune screamed and threw his Scroll onto the ground, damaging it. He then collapses onto his hands and knees, crying.
Still possessing the damaged Scroll, Amethyst watches silently before finally saying something. "Don't worry, Jaune. I'll ensure that Pyrrha Nikos is back safe and sound. You have my word as a Detective."
And with that, he immediately activated his Tricks and returned to where Ruby, Weiss and Sissel were.
"Jaune? Jaune!" Weiss shouted, trying to get her friend to answer, but received no reply.
"What happened?" Sissel asked in worry. He heard everything thanks to how high the Scroll's volume was, but he wanted to know if things were right on the other side.
"Jaune's fine, shaken, but fine, but I'm more worried about Pyrrha not being with him." Amethyst answered, and before he could continue, the ground shook, alerting Ruby and Weiss to the danger approaching them. The Wyvern flies into view, circling Beacon Tower with black ooze dripping from it. It perches on one arch stemming from the tower and utters a screech. Ruby draws Crescent Rose, shifting it into its scythe form in preparation for the Grimm spawning from the ooze.
"Yikes! Like out from a horror movie!" Sissel yelped, seeing the Grimm being formed right before him.
"Won't lie… this the first time I'm seeing this kind of thing with or without memories." Amethyst grimaced at the sight of the Grimm and the giant Grimm above them.
"I have a plan." Ruby says as she readies to fight the hoard of Grimm before them.
Weiss follows her example as she draws her weapon. "You always do."
After a long while of fighting off the Grimm, the two girls finally reached the tower.
"We're here! I hope we're not too late!" Amethyst says, hoping he doesn't need to use his Ghost Trick Powers for anything.
"Pyrrha should be up there, right? How are we going to get up there?" Sissel asked, recalling that this was called a CCT Tower, which everyone used to contact everyone worldwide. It was known to be where the Headmaster's office was. He noticed there weren't many things to possess to travel to the top of the tower.
"We've gotta hurry!" Ruby says as she was looking at the top of the tower.
Weiss looks around momentarily before casting a series of glyphs up the side of the tower. "You can do this."
Without a second thought, Ruby runs forward, unaware that both Amethyst and Sissel have hitched a ride with her. Then, she uses her Semblance to propel herself to the first glyph. She then sprints up the wall, the glyphs propelling her forward and keeping her from falling off.
It seemed like forever for them, but finally, Ruby reached the top of the tower, landing in a kneeling position. She and the two ghosts prepared themselves for anything happening on the very top.
But not what they were about to see.
The moment Ruby looked up, she and the ghosts saw a long red-headed girl wearing armour sitting with her eyes closed, as another woman with long black hair and wearing a red dress was holding a bow and arrow aiming down at the girl.
Time felt frozen when the girl in the red dress released the arrow, which planted itself directly in the centre of the redhead's chest. Ruby, along with Sissel and Amethyst, watches in horror as they watch the girl gasp in pain, the wound in her chest emitting a red glow. But that wasn't the end as she approached her fallen foe and placed a hand on the dying girl's head.
The girl instantly ceases all movement and sound. Her body began to glow orange and then scattering as embers. Her headdress remains in Cinder's hand, and the villain drops it on the floor. This scene is reflected in Ruby's silver eyes, which widen in despair and become filled with tears.
"NOOOOO!" Before anything else could happen, Amethyst immediately froze time in the Ghost World. Everything stopped just like that. Ruby, who was about to cry, the murderer who was standing there with a sick smirk on her face, and the poor victim who was turned into ashes was no doubt Pyrrha Nikos.
"Sweet mother of all that is good! What just happened!?" Sissel shouted in a panic, never before seeing someone dying via incineration. "Amethyst! We gotta–Amethyst?"
Sissel looked at his friend but noticed that he had a frozen expression of surprise. It wasn't that he was looking at the ashes of Pyrrha Nikos, but it was towards the woman in the red dress.
"That… woman…" Amethyst slowly said before another memory resurfaced.
It was late at night, and Amethyst Midnight was found lying on his back on the ground with… blood dripping out his body, slowly forming a pool of blood along with a glowing red arrow pierced into the body where his heart is and oddly, his chest was glowing with some kind of reddish-orange powder before it faded away.
The detective gasped in pain as he could barely keep his eyes open, but before he blacked out, he saw a woman in a red dress walking into his view as she looked down at him with a sneer.
"Die… just like how he did." Amethyst could only look up with a hated glare towards the very woman who gave him the fatal injury, but he didn't care about the injury. The only thing he cared about was that he couldn't bring in the woman he was hunting down in his whole life… the same woman who ruined his childhood… the woman known as…
"Cinder…!" Amethyst hissed in anger as he glared at the now-named woman with an enraged glare, making Sissel flinched at the sudden action.
"W-What?" Sissel stuttered a bit startled at the sudden hissing his friend was making.
"She's the one who killed me." The cat gasped as he turned to the woman as he now pieced together why the Ghost Detective was so angry.
"So… she's the one who did the deed, huh?" The ghost cat said as he narrowed his eyes towards the murderer. "I guess I understand why you'd be angry at her."
"It's not just that…" Amethyst said, earning a confused look from the cat. "I've been hunting down this woman my entire life ever before I became a full-fledged Detective."
Sissel blinked a couple of times at that statement, then realised something. "You remember everything now."
Amethyst nodded. "From childhood to the present."
The two stood awkwardly silent in that revelation before Sissle broke the silence, "So… you gonna try and arrest her?"
That made the Ghost Detective pause momentarily as he slowly calmed down. "No… not yet, at least, since I'm a ghost, I can't do that yet, but I will find a way for this murderer to pay for her crimes. Right now, we need to save Pyrrha."
"Um… hate to be this guy, Amethyst, but… the poor girl's body isn't here anymore." The ghost cat said, reminding him of that fact.
"Then how do you explain that?" The Ghost Detective pointed towards the ash remains of Pyrrha, making Sissel look, then gasped in shock at what he was seeing.
There was a 'core' right in the middle of where Pyrrha's body was, albeit fading, but it's still right there!
"A core! I don't believe it!" Sissel says in shock and joy. "This never happened before."
"I can only theories that despite the body may have been turned to ash, it's still there." Amethyst theorised, seeing that was the only conclusion he could think of. "But thanks to that, we can still change Pyrrha Nikos's Fate!"
"Yeah! Go for it, Ghost Detective!" Sissel cheered in happiness, knowing there was still hope to save the poor girl.
Amethyst nodded with a smirk, liking that new title, then turned to glare at Cinder one more time. "Never again, Cinder… you took away someone precious in my life, then you took my life. I won't let you take another as long as I live!"
"But you're a ghost." Sissel commented.
"Oh… then… as long as I'm a ghost!" Amethyst corrected, making the cat giggle. And with that, the Ghost Detective immediately transferred himself to Pyrrha's core, and like that, he and the cat are sent to the same world again.
They see Pyrrha's soul as quiet as the others before them.
"Okay! Let's–!"
"W-What…?" Amethyst froze in midsentence as he heard an unfamiliar voice. He quickly turns to the source coming from Pyrrha's soul. "What's going on?"
"Oh! Looks like she's awake." Sissel comments, a bit surprised, but sounded like he was expecting it to happen.
"Where am I? I'm so confused…" Pyrrha's soul questioned, sounding confused.
"Right… you did say something about this." Amethyst comments as he recalls the ghost cat's story about how those who were conscious are similar to his case when he first woke up as a ghost. When a victim's fate is averted, they remember all the experiences and said people can communicate with the ghosts, even joining them when averting Fate, sense them (Detective Jowd's case), and have an active core to speak to them physically when possessed. 'Looks like she's hitching a ride with us.'
"What's happening…? I… I can't remember anything…" Pyrrha whispers in confusion.
"Might as well rip the bandaid for this one." Sissel comments, and Amethyst nods in agreement as he approaches the confused spirit.
"Hello there!" The detective greets her, getting Pyrrha's attention.
"Who are you? Do you know me?" The formless Pyrrha asked.
"My name is Detective Amethyst Midnight. And your, Pyrrha Nikos." The Ghost Detective answered, getting a reaction from Pyrrha.
"Pyrrha… Nikos…? Wait! I… I think I know that name…!" The Pyrrha spirit began to glow brightly as if something was being triggered. "I… was fighting… I got hurt… m-my friends… Jaune…! JAUNE!"
The moment she said Jaune's name, there was a flash of light, and when it died down, there stood Pyrrha Nikos in her complete form and no longer a ball of smoke.
"And there she is! Good as new!" Sissel chimed, seeing another fully formed spirit aside from Amethyst in this world.
"What is this? Where am I?" Pyrrha looks around her surroundings, both confused and alert.
"Miss Nikos, please calm down. I assure you you're safe." Amethyst says, trying to calm down the recently deceased girl.
The said girl finally turns to look at the detective and tries and fails to calm herself. "Who are you? What is going on?!"
"Pyrrha, please try to calm down and take deep breaths. I can't help you if you keep panicking like that." The detective calmly says as he tries to prevent her from getting a panic attack.
"You should listen to him missy." Sissel added but received a wide-eyed shock from the girl.
"Is that cat talking?!" Pyrrha points out, which seems to make her panic even more.
"Not helping here…" Amethyst deadpans, earning a sheepish chuckle from the cat.
"Sorry." After calming Pyrrha down, they finally told her who they were, where this place was, and that she was now a ghost. They said nothing about their origins since it would take a long time.
"So… I died…?" Pyrrha said with a shaking voice at that revelation.
"I'm afraid so." Amethyst said with a sad smile.
Pyrrha looked down, her eyes looking like they were about to burst out with tears, before giving an empty chuckle. "I figured as much… Fighting against that woman, I knew I didn't stand a chance…"
Amethyst frowned at the mention of Cinder but was still curious about that fact. "If you knew you didn't stand a chance against her, why did you still fight her?"
"Yeah. Is it because she's the one responsible for all this?" Sissels asked.
Pyrrha looked a bit reluctant to say anything at first. It looked like she was trying to hide something but then decided to answer. "She is responsible for all this… and as for the fact that I still fight her because I feel that it's my destiny to do so."
'Destiny?' Amethyst said in his head, almost forgetting that Pyrrha could also hear his thoughts in the Ghsot World but didn't mind since this seemed more important. "Why did you word it like that? Do you know her?"
"Well… no… let's just say that I had to, no, need to stop her." Pyrrha said, but then she said something in her head that she unknowingly made both Amethyst and Sissel hear. 'I'm unsure if I should tell them what Ozpin told me…'
This made the two ghosts slightly widen their eyes, which means they didn't say anything physically or mentally as they simply looked at each other before looking back at Pyrrha.
Amethyst was the most suspicious after that. Why was the Headmaster of Beacon involved in this? Does he know about Cinder? And why was Pyrrha engaged in this? So many questions began to build up for the Ghost Detective.
But right now, none of those matters. What matters is saving this girl's life!
"Whatever the reason you have, that will have to wait. Right now, we need to focus on saving your life." The Ghost Detective declared, earning a shocked expression from Pyrrha.
"W-What? But… but how? Didn't I you say I died?" The girl asked, completely bewildered by this sudden turn of events.
"Allow me to explain!" Sissel cheerfully said, then began the long explanations about the Ghost World and Ghost Trick and how they can use those powers to change Pyrrha's Fate.
The girl was stunned and amazed at what she heard and felt that there was still hope for her. "You can go back to the past and save my life?"
The two ghosts nodded. "But only as far as when the said person has died after twenty-four hours, and we can only be present four minutes before the said person is dead."
"That's… amazing!" Pyrrha says in awe.
"That's what I thought too." Amethyst chuckled, then continued. "But for it to work, we need to witness the four minutes of how you died. That way, we can use my Ghost Tricks to change your fate."
Pyrrha looked at the detective in a confused and pleading look. "You can… save me?"
Amethyst smiled and gave her a reassuring look as he placed his hands on her shoulders. "Yes. You have my word as a detective. I will save you so that you can return to your friends, family and loved ones."
Pyrrha looked into his eyes as if looking for something before smiling and nodding before wiping some tears. "Thank you…"
The detective smiled and then turned to the kitten companion. "Let's get started!"
Sissel nodded back, and without a second thought, time began to rewind.
Four minutes before Pyrrha Nikos's death
The scene shows Pyrrha stepping inside an elevator, closes her eyes, and begins mustering her strength. The elevator starts shaking. She focuses even harder, straining herself until the elevator begins a quick ascent toward the top.
As the elevator was about to reach the top, Pyrrha brought out her spear and took a throwing javelin stance. As soon as the elevator reached its destination, the doors were forced open, and Pyrrha threw her, followed by a gunshot sound that accelerated its speed. The spear flies towards its target, Cinder, who casually leans to her right to dodge with a smirk.
The spear is soon followed by Pyrrha's shield, backed by Pyrrha herself, and Cinder puts her arms up, blocking it and pushing it away. While Cinder uses fire to hover in the air, Pyrrha calls her spear and shield back to her with polarity, staring down her opponent. Cinder gains a fiery glow around her eyes and swipes her hand through the air, attacking Pyrrha with an arc of fire. She then shoots a stream of fire, which Pyrrha dives over.
Six small fireballs form in a circle behind Cinder, and she sends another streak of fire toward Pyrrha, who barely avoids it. Once again, the evil woman sends a stream of fire the young redhead's way, but Pyrrha blocks it with her shield this time. She leaps toward Cinder, powering through the flame, and as soon as the fire stops, she spins around and slashes Cinder's arm with her spear. However, Cinder catches the blade and pulls it, turning Pyrrha around. Cinder slams her palm into Pyrrha's stomach, and fire bursts forth, blasting Pyrrha away.
Pyrrha slams into a wall and falls to her hands and knees. She then stands back up and faces Cinder with determination still in her eyes. Cinder propels herself forward with flames jetting from her hands, smirking again. She attempts to slam into Pyrrha's abdomen, but Pyrrha leaps into the air above her and wraps her arm around Cinder's. As Cinder slows to a stop, Pyrrha places her feet on the wall behind her and pushes off, flipping herself over Cinder. She uses the momentum to flip and toss Cinder across the floor.
Cinder lands on her front, and as she slides, she pushes off the floor to get back on her feet and perform a backhandspring. Her smirk turns into a look of slight concern upon the sight of Pyrrha charging forward to slam her shield into Cinder's abdomen and push her over. As Cinder stumbles backwards, Pyrrha hits Cinder's right hand with the blunt end of her spear, then slashes Cinder's left hand with the spear's blade. She then spins around and slashes across Cinder's abdomen and legs.
Pyrrha spins around to attack again, but Cinder performs a backflip whilst kicking Pyrrha, with flames trailing behind her foot. The kick knocks Pyrrha into the air, and Pyrrha quickly rights herself. She flips her spear in her grip, holds it back, and then tosses it toward Cinder while firing the gun mechanism. Six fireballs appear around Cinder again, but they dissipate when Cinder backhands the spear away. Pyrrha's shield then flies toward her, and she also hits it away. After being momentarily distracted by the shield, Cinder returns her attention to Pyrrha and gains a look of slight surprise, then annoyance.
Pyrrha launches herself toward Cinder and puts her arms around her, tackling her. The two turn each other in mid-air, fighting to be the one on top. Upon their landing, the room fills with a white cloud. When the dust settles, Pyrrha has Cinder in a choke hold, and Cinder barely manages to hold Pyrrha's spear away from her neck. The Wyvern flies away, and Cinder's eyes glow as she applies heat to the spear in her hands. Her grip tightens as she heats the spear more and more, staring over her shoulder at Pyrrha.
Upon hearing a loud screech, Cinder turns her gaze ahead and smirks while Pyrrha gains a look of fear. While Pyrrha focuses on the Wyvern flying toward the tower, Cinder finally snaps the spear's melted blade into pieces. Just before the Wyvern slams its wing into the roof of Ozpin's office, Cinder elbows Pyrrha in the abdomen. The room fills with a green glow as the windows shatter, and Pyrrha flies across the room. Giant cogs and debris come crashing down in the office, and the structure containing the CCT's transmitter falls outside.
Pyrrha crawls toward her shield while Cinder watches from her position, levitating off the floor with flame jetting from her feet. While looking for a way to distract Cinder, Pyrrha notices Ozpin's collapsed metal desk and throws her polarity at the evil woman, knocking her to the floor. She then quickly grabs her shield and rolls across the floor, sitting on her knees and holding the shield up. With a burst of flame, Cinder throws the desk off of herself and levitates in the air.
Pyrrha rolls out of the way of two streams of fire that Cinder sends her way and attempts to block a third. However, the force of the third sends Pyrrha tumbling backward, and the floor momentarily catches fire while Pyrrha rolls to her feet. Pyrrha throws her shield from behind the wall of flame at Cinder, who confidently backhands it away. She then looks up in surprise to see a multitude of giant cogs floating in the air around her. Using her polarity, Pyrrha directs her shield to knock Cinder's feet from beneath her and then slams a cog down Cinder's abdomen to pin her to the floor. She calls her shield back to her arm, then brings the cogs together into a pile on top of Cinder. However, Cinder blasts them away with a powerful burst of fire, sending them in all directions. One of the cogs flies toward Pyrrha, who raises her shield to block, but in vain. The force of the impact slams her into the remains of a wall, taking away the last of her Aura.
Cinder forms an obsidian bow in her hand. As she raises it and draws back an obsidian arrow, Pyrrha charges forward, spins, and throws her shield at her. Cinder loses the arrow, which shatters upon impact with the side of the shield. However, as the fragments part ways above and below the shield, they glow orange and rejoin each other on the other side. The fragments melt into each other and cool into the shape of an arrow, which continues on its path directly into Pyrrha's ankle. Pyrrha collapses in pain. She attempts to pull herself to her feet, but the pain is too much. Both ends of the arrow break off, making removal impossible. She turns over onto her hands and knees as Cinder moves to stand in front of her.
"Unfortunately, you were promised a power that was never truly yours." Cinder says as she kneels and lifts Pyrrha's chin, staring into her eyes and smiling. "But take comfort in knowing that I will use it in ways you could never have imagined."
Pyrrha pulls away, sitting up and matching Cinder's stare with defiance. "Do you believe in destiny?"
Cinder frowns, narrowing her eyes. "Yes."
Cinder stands back up and forms an obsidian bow and arrow again. She pulls back the arrow, lowering the bow to aim at her weakened opponent. Cinder loses the arrow, which plants itself directly in the centre of Pyrrha's chest. Pyrrha gasps in pain, the wound in her chest emitting a red glow. Cinder approaches her fallen foe and places a hand on Pyrrha's head. But then, everything turned white.
Back in the Ghost World, inside Pyrrha Nikos's mind
"Wow, wow! That was amazing!" Sissel shouted in shock and amazement. He had already been informed about Aura, Semblance and the fighting styles of Huntsmen and Huntresses, but he was not expecting all that. He then turned to Pyrrha. "I mean, I know you died and all, which was tragic, but you gotta admit that whole thing was like watching an action movie tenfold!"
"Um… thanks?" Pyrrha unsurely said but felt slightly embarrassed by the ghost cat's praises.
"I can see why you're so famous! Right, Ame- you okay?" Sissel cuts his sentence in confusion, making Pyrrha turn to the Ghost Detective, noticing that he was crossing his arms while lifting his chin with his right hand. He was looking like he was thinking of something.
'This whole fight… Cinder…' The Ghost Detective heard Pyrrha's gasp but ignored it. 'That was not a Semblance she was using…'
"How… how do you know that?" Pyrrha slowly questioned as her eyes widened at what the detective said. She heard his voice, but he didn't open his mouth.
"That's one of the perks of the Ghost World." Pyrrha turned to look at the ghost cat. "In the Ghost World, there are no secrets. So, talking inside your head is like talking out loud for everyone to hear."
Pyrrha widens her eyes at that revelation. That means the things she said in her head have been heard! Her train of thought was cut off before she could find an excuse.
"Pyrrha." Said girl, flinching before reluctantly looking at the detective, who only gave her a calm smile. "I may not know the full picture of what's going on… but that can all wait. As I said before, your life comes first."
Seeing that there was no lie in his tone made Pyrrha look relieved, only to be nervous when the detective continued. "But as you can see, I want to know the whole story after this. Don't take it personally, as a Detective, that's my job, whether alive or not."
"O-Of course…" Pyrrha said with a nervous smile.
"So, how do you want to do this?" Sissel asked the detective. "Won't lie. This is, by far, the most difficult attempt to change someone's Fate I have ever seen."
"I manage to memorise the entire battle and the surroundings." Amethyst explained. "I think I can work something out."
"Look at you! You're becoming a real pro now." The cat chimed, getting a chuckle from the other two.
"Well, I am a Detective." Amethyst says with pride. Then he turned to Pyrrha. "But an additional opinion would be great. You were technically fighting the entire time here."
Pyrrha nodded. "Of course! I'd be more than happy to help!"
Having a good look at the two, the detective nodded. "Okay! Let's get to work!"
A violet hourglass appeared, and the sands from the bottom rewound themselves as the purple sands inside rose back to the top. Then everything turned white
Four minutes before Pyrrha Nikos died in the Land of the Living
As they returned to the living, Amethyst was where the Invincible Girl had died, in the middle of office before it was destroyed in battle. He froze the world the moment they returned.
Amethyst was where Pyrrha died, while the said girl was hitching a ride on his soul, which Sissel explained that those who are conscious are when changing Fate, and as for the ghost cat, he wasn't around.
"Amazing… we are back in the past!" Pyrrha said in awe as she looked around but then glared at a certain someone in the Headmaster's office. "And so is her…"
"Yeah… but where's Sissel?" Amethyst glared at Cinder before noticing that the ghost cat wasn't around.
"Don't worry! I'm still here!" Sissel's voice shouted out, catching the two ghosts by surprise.
"Sissel? Where are you?" The detective asked as he looked around for the cat along with Pyrrha.
"I'm with Ruby and Wiess!" The answer shocked the two, who did not expect that their feline friend was with them.
"You're with Ruby and Weiss? How are you speaking with us? And why are you with them?" Pyrrha asked in both curiosity and confusion.
"I suppose this is just another quirk for ghosts like us." Sissel explained as he answered Pyrrha's questions in order. "It doesn't matter the distance. We can easily communicate as long as we travel back in time together. Since I possessed Ruby's Scroll after Pyrrha's death, it would stand to reason that I would stay in the same possession or at least, depending on the situation, I would end up in a different possessable item."
"Right… another thing you said about." Amethyst recalled when Sissles went back ten years ago to change Fate.
"Either way, it's gonna take time for me to get there, so I won't be there to help. Sorry, Amethyst, but you are on your own for this one." Sissel apologised but was confident that his friend could do this by himself.
"Don't worry about Sissel. At least I can hear you from here, and I'm not alone here anyway." The Ghost Detective reassured him as he turned to Pyrrha.
Pyrrha nodded with a determined look. "I'll do what I can!"
"Alright… let's go!" The Ghost Detective declared before resuming time again.
As time resumed, they watched Cinder confidently stride to the window across the room, a smirk on her face making the two scowl at the sight of it.
But to their startlement, the Wyvern Grimm appears and peers at her through the window and screeches, but what startled them even more was when Cinder interreacted with the Grimm.
"Shhhh... This is your home now." Cinder says gently, comfortingly, making the Wyvern stare at her and utter a shorter, quitter screech.
"What?! We didn't see this from the past four minutes ago!" Amethyst points out as his eyes widen at the sight.
"What's wrong? What's happening!?" Sissel's voice asked in a panic.
"We're watching Cinder calming down the Wyvern!" Pyrrha breathed out in shock. "How come we never seen this in my past events."
"Oh. That's normal." Sissels says with a slight relief. "Granted, we did witness Pyrrha's death four minutes ago, but that was more focused on her and no other people around her."
"I see… so basically, it's solely centred on the said victim." Amethyst deduced, adding that additional knowledge to his head. "But this way, we can use these scenarios to make changes when going back in four minutes."
As they talked, the two ghosts noticed Cinder back away from the window and held her hand to the side, creating a fireball in her palm.
"It's starting." Pyrrha says as she narrows her eyes, knowing what comes next as they watch the fight begin.
The sound of sparks distracts her, and she looks over her shoulder at the elevator, her fireball dissipating. After a few moments, the sparks come to a stop, and immediately upon the elevator doors opening, Pyrrha's spear flies toward Cinder, who casually leans to her right to dodge with a smirk on her face. The spear is soon followed by Pyrrha's shield, backed by Pyrrha herself, and Cinder puts her arms up, blocking it and pushing it away. While Cinder uses fire to hover in the air, Pyrrha calls her spear and shield back to her with polarity, staring down her opponent. Cinder gains a fiery glow around her eyes and swipes her hand through the air, attacking Pyrrha with an arc of fire. She then shoots a stream of fire, which Pyrrha dives over.
Before anything else, Amethyst froze the world.
"I know it's a bit late, but what exactly is your Semblance?" Amethyst asked the Invincible girl.
Given the situation, Pyrrha knows there's no reason not to tell. "My Semblance is Polarity. I can control metal all around me."
"I see… so that's how you did it." Amethyst chuckled before cupping his chin as he thought of the fight so far. "This is gonna be tricky… no matter what I think so far, there isn't much to possess or change with at this high pace fight."
"What should we do then?" Pyrrha asks in concern.
Amethyst didn't say anything before he replayed the entire fight in his head from the previous four minutes. So far, he couldn't think of anything. The only thing that hurt Cinder so far was a cog–wait! A cog…?
The Ghost Detective widened his eyes at that moment and recalled that particular scene. What if…?
Amethyst turned to the Invincible Girl. "Pyrrha, I have a plan, but it's gonna take a while to reach that certain point to alter your Fate."
Pyrrha raised a brow, confused, while Sissel chimed in. "What do you have in mind?"
"Just hunch. Please bear with me then." Amethyst said before resuming time again.
Time resumes, and just like then, the fight continued as it was before it finally reached the point where Pyrrha's Aura broke.
"Guys! Ruby and Weiss now have reached the tower." Sissel's voice shouted. "Please tell me you thought of something."
Pyrrha can't help but agree with the ghost cat so far. Amethyst was silently watching the whole fight without looking away and hadn't stopped for a while, but the Ghost detective narrowed his eyes at this scene. "Almost there…"
At this point, Cinder forms an obsidian bow in her hand. The ghost Pyrrha watches in anxiety at the scene where Cinder stabs her ankle with her arrow. She doesn't know why Amethyst isn't doing anything yet but trusts his words to help her, so she must trust him.
It felt like slow motion watching this scene… Cinder then raises her bow and draws back an obsidian arrow. Pyrrha charges forward, spins, and throws her shield at her. Cinder loses the arrow, which shatters upon impact with the side of the shield. But like last time, as the fragments part ways above and below the shield, they glow orange just before rejoining each other. It happened.
"NOW!" Amethyst yelled, and at that particular moment, the world froze. Pyrrha was frozen with her back facing Cinder, and Cinder was frozen while she held her bow and Pyrrha's shield was frozen in mid-air, allowing with the orange particles around it.
"What?" Ghost Pyrrha blinked a couple of times before turning the detective in confusion but was surprised to see a smirk on his face.
"Yes! Just I hoped where it be!" Amethyst cheered before he finally looked around the area for something particular.
"What is it!? Ruby's just about to climb the tower!" Sissel shouted, and Pyrrha wanted to ask what the detective was doing but couldn't since the Ghost Detective found what he was looking for.
"Okay… please let this work!" Amethyst said out loud before he willed himself, along with Pyrrha, to possess one of the cogs on the ground. And then, he willed himself to Pyrrha's shield, which has the same shape if you look at it from a different angle!
And lo and behold, a static-like line appeared when connecting the two!
"Yes! It worked just as I hoped!" Amethyst cheered.
"This is…!" Pyrrha whispered as she recalled this phenomenon after being explained Amethyst's powers.
"What is it?" Sissels asked in hopeful anticipation.
"I just found a way to give Cinder a painful gift." The Ghost Detective cheekily says, making the Sissel pause before chuckling in anticipation. The detective then turns to Pyrrha. "Ready to alter your Fate?"
The Invincible Girl nods with an excited smile. "Yes!"
And with that. He resumed time.
Pyrrha may not seen what happened, but Cinder saw the whole thing. One minute, the foolish girl's shield was there, and in a split second, it was now a cog! And what's worst is that her particle arrow was scattered about due to a sudden size change.
"WHA–!" Before she could finish her sentence, she was slammed by the cog's unexpected speed. It was enough to push her back and disrupt the particles to vanish.
Pyrrha quickly looked up to see Cinder on the ground but with a cog on top of her. Confused but unable to think, she sees her shield on the ground and runs towards it before quickly picking it in a defensive stance. Cinder pushed the cog away with her powers before standing up with a sneer.
"Yes! It worked!" The detective cheered while Pyrrha was in awe.
"I don't believe it… you changed the future!" The Invincible Girl says in awe.
"More like altered your Fate." Sissel's voice pointed out. "The future hasn't truly changed until your life is saved. Oh! And Ruby is halfway up the tower."
Amethyst took note of that information but was more focused on this altered event. Now that Pyrrha isn't incapacitated in this timeline, there is no telling what will happen. But at least they can always return to this point if they fail. So, for now, they have to watch and improvise.
Cinder frowned as she glared at the cog on the ground that she pushed away, then back at Pyrrha's shield. At the same time, the huntress did not look away from her enemy; instead, she carefully looked around her surroundings. Knowing that the Invincibles Girl's Aura is now broken, she does not see her as much of a threat. Still, that intervention had brought her guard back up, meaning someone else helped her.
"I don't know how that happened… but that doesn't change anything." Cinder calmly says as she smirks at her enemy. "You should know by now… you will die here."
Pyrrha didn't say anything. She was confused about what Cinder was talking about but just narrowed her eyes at Cinder and focused all her attention on her.
"It's unfortunate you were promised a power that was never truly yours." Cinder says as she forms an obsidian bow and arrow again and aims at Pyrrha. "But take comfort in knowing that I will use it in ways you could never have imagined."
Pyrrha was silent for a while before finally breaking it. "Do you believe in destiny?"
Cinder frowns, narrowing her eyes. "Yes."
The two stood against each other in a stalemate, and even the two ghosts watched in anticipation. Amethyst carefully watched the whole thing. She could be ready for an event to change or alter, and ghost Pyrrha narrowed her eyes and watched the entire thing as if she were there fighting Cinder.
Until that silence was broken.
"I'm here with Ruby!" Sissles shouts, making the two ghosts flinch before turning their attention to the voice, which is now very close. They see Ruby finally reaching the top and landing in a kneeling position.
"Ruby!" Ghost Pyrrha shouts in surprise.
"Sissel! Ruby!" Amethyst shouts in surprise but berates himself for almost forgetting this part before Pyrrha's death.
"Ruby?!" Pyrrha shouts as she turns to her in shock, not expecting her friend to appear like that, but that action had cost her and unknowingly distracted the ghosts from the enemy.
Cinder was momentarily distracted by Ruby's appearance but immediately saw that Pyrrha was distracted and that her shield was slightly dropped, leaving her open.
The evil woman smirked and looses her arrow, which planted itself in Pyrrha's left shoulder, making her scream in pain as she was pushed back.
"NO!" Amethyst, Sissle and ghost Pyrrah screamed in horror as they saw the girl just about to crash down to the ground.
However, they didn't expect a certain little girl to do something none of them would expect.
From Ruby's point of view, her silver eyes widened in horror as she watched her friend being impaled by the arrow but mistook it for aiming directly at her heart. She clenches her fists, curls her arms to her body, and then suddenly flings her arms out to the sides, beginning to levitate slightly off the ground. Brilliant white light flows from her eyes as she screams out the name of her dear friend.
"PYRRHAAAAAA!"
The light envelopes her, spreading out to the Wyvern, which screeched in pain, and Cinder watches in complete shock. "WHAT?!"
"WHAT THE–!" Sissel shouts before the light envelops him and Ruby.
"What's happening?!" Pyrrha shouts before she, too, is enveloped by the light, and Amethyst only watches in shock and awed silence before he is enveloped next.
'At this point… I have no idea what to say…'
'At the beginning, I died and turned into a ghost by unexplained events, met Sissel, discovered my Ghost Trick powers and saved lives today, recalled who I am, found the very woman that ruined my childhood and finally witnessed a little girl no younger than me shoot out white light from her eyes.'
'Things at that point became even more complicated after that… what I didn't realise was that the events of last night will take me and my newfound friend to an adventure that I never thought possible for me.'
'But there was one thing I knew that I can proudly say after what happened at that tower…'
"Pyrrha Nikos's Fate… has been averted!"
Pyrrha Nikos's Fate: Averted!
To be continued…