In the city of Argus, Team JNR, which consisted of Jaune Arc, Nora Valkyrie and Lie Ren, were searching for their friend Oscar Pine, who had recently gone missing.
"Hey, there's a cafe over there. Why don't we get something to warm up?" Nora suggested.
"I'm okay. You two go on ahead." Jaune refused as he walked away solemnly.
Ren and Nora watched Jaune walk away with sad looks on their faces. Jaune then took a seat on a nearby bench.
"You don't want anything?" Nora asked as she and Ren then exchanged a brief glance.
"We'll be right back." Ren added as he and Nora walked away, leaving Jaune alone.
Jaune kept his head down while the wind blew, and a dried maple leaf flew in front of him. He noticed this and followed the maple leaf as it flew in the wind. Jaune follows the leaf into a nearby park. Suddenly, Jaune stopped in his tracks and noticed something.
A statue of the late Pyrrha Nikos was seen standing solemnly on a stone pedestal, with her head down, eyes closed, and shield in her hands below her waist. Jaune slowly approached the statue and looked up at his fallen friend and teammate. He then knelt down and notices a plaque with Pyrrha's respective symbol and words inscribed on it written:
IN HONOR OF PYRRHA NIKOS, ONE OF MANY STUDENTS WHO FOUGHT VALIANTLY AT THE FALL OF BEACON
Jaune sadly closed his eyes and stood back up to look at Pyrrha's statue again. He started to walk away as footsteps were soon heard approaching, causing him to stop and turn back. These footsteps were revealed to belong to a boy who seemed to be aged either 15 or 16, standing at around 5'4 in height. He looked strangely very similar to Pyrrha as well, having short red hair, green eyes, and clothes coloured similarly to Pyrrha's, including a red and bronze jacket, brown trousers and bronze shoes, along with a pair of glasses. This mysterious boy walked over to Jaune and stood beside him, looking solemnly at Pyrrha's statue.
"Hey, man. You came here to pay your respects too, huh?" He asked.
"Yeah…" Jaune answered.
"Same… It's really beautiful, isn't it?" The boy added regarding the statue, engaging in small talk.
"Yeah... uh, why here?" Jaune wondered.
"She trained here, obviously. Pyrrha was one of the best students that ever came out of Sanctum Academy." The boy explained. "Everyone was crushed when she chose Beacon over Haven. No one wanted to see her go, but... it was where she wanted to be. I supported her decision myself, but you can probably understand why everyone else was bummed out about it."
There was a silence before the boy spoke again.
"I'm just glad she was surrounded by such cool and amazing people myself."
Jaune turned around to look at the boy with a surprised look on his face, noticing the resemblance to Pyrrha. The boy turned around to face him as well, with a smile on his face.
"Hello, Jaune." He said.
"Do I know you?" Jaune asked, sounding genuinely confused.
"Being honest, no, you most likely have no idea who I am. But I sure do know you. I know all about Team JNPR." The boy answered.
"...You kinda look a bit like Pyrrha, actually." Jaune pointed out. "Are you…related to her?"
"Well…yeah. I'm her brother." The boy admitted sheepishly. "Oh yeah, I should probably introduce myself. My name is Pluto. Pluto Nikos. "
"I didn't know Pyrrha had a brother." Jaune said in a surprised tone.
"To be honest, Pyrrha wasn't really one for talking about her private life all that much." Pluto added. "Like when she used to be the mascot for Pumpkin Pete's. She did like it and all, but it's not really something she liked to bring up."
Jaune still looked confused.
"But she still spoke fondly of you, all of you." Pluto explained. "She loved Ren and Nora like siblings. But you, Jaune? You were her favourite. You honestly meant just as much to her than I did."
Tears start to well up in Jaune's eyes over the kind words.
"She should be standing here…" He said.
"Yeah, she should. But you know, that's exactly the thing. She is standing here." Pluto replied.
Jaune looked back at Pluto in confusion, who looked back at Jaune in response.
"Well, not literally, but figuratively speaking." Pluto continued. "She understood that she had a responsibility... to try, I guess. I don't think she would regret her choice, because a Huntress would understand that there really wasn't a choice to make. And a Huntress is what she always wanted to be. Her death was actually what motivated me. I wanted to be a Huntsman just like her, but she said I wasn't ready. But then after she died, I wanted to find the person who did this to her and kill her myself. I want to avenge my sister's death. But I don't have any experience as a huntsman. I know I'm not ready. No one will be able to reach the level Pyrrha reached."
"Pyrrha never got the chance to graduate... But she was a Huntress." Jaune said as he turned to face Pluto, now smiling.
Pluto also smiles as tears start to well up in his eyes.
"Thanks, man. I needed this today." He said before he realised he was tearing up and quickly wiped his eyes. "Oh, sorry… A lot of people say that I tend to be a bit over-emotional."
"Hey, don't be sorry. It's fine." Jaune said reassuringly. "It's perfectly fine to cry at times like this."
"Jaune?" A familiar voice called out to Jaune, causing him to look away from Pluto upon hearing his name be called. He saw Ren and Nora looking for him while holding hot drinks in their hands.
The two noticed Jaune in the park and walked over to him and Pluto.
"Is this a bad time?" Pluto asked Jaune.
"No, it's okay, you can stay and meet them." Jaune assured him as Nora and Ren approached the two.
"Who's this?" Ren asked, addressing Pluto.
"This is Pluto Nikos. He's Pyrrha's brother. Pluto, these are my teammates, Nora Valkyrie and Lie Ren." Jaune answered, formally introducing Pluto to Nora and Ren.
"It's good to finally meet you two, Pyrrha told me a lot about you guys." Pluto added as he shook Ren's hand.
"Her brother?! Pyrrha never told us she had a brother!" Nora exclaimed in surprise. "You look a lot like her too, except very nerdy looking! And for someone related to Pyrrha, you're a lot shorter than I expected. I mean, Pyrrha was tall, but you're all cute and tiny."
"Oh, that's just our genes." Pluto admitted. "All the Nikos women are tall."
"Oh…" Nora realised, before she turned her attention to Jaune, with a more serious look on her face.
"Jaune, why did you–" She was about to say, until she gasped as she and Ren looked up and noticed the statue of their old friend.
Team JNPR stood together once more, only with Pyrrha immortalized by her statue. Pluto also stood by them.
"We were just mourning my sister together." He told the two. "I told him about Pyrrha, and how she felt about you guys. She loved all of you."
"He's right. I'm sorry." Jaune said remorsefully. "I've been a terrible leader, and a terrible friend, and I–"
"Jaune, this has to stop." Ren said, interrupting him.
"We... heard what you said to Cinder, at Haven." Nora added. "You're not being fair to yourself. We love you, just like we loved Pyrrha. We're teammates, family."
"We don't want to lose you too." Ren continued.
Jaune pondered his friends' words before looking back up to Pyrrha's statue.
"I think... I think she knew she wasn't going to win." He said. "That she might not come out alive. But... she also knew she was the only one that could try."
"So she did." Ren agreed.
"Maybe we should too." Nora suggested.
"Yeah, we should." Jaune agreed.
The three smiled as they looked up at the statue together, along with Pluto.
"Pyrrha may not be by our side anymore, but we can fight like she is." Nora stated.
"And in a way... she will be." Jaune replied as he looked right at Pluto.
"Uh, why are you looking at me like that? Something on my face?" Pluto asked.
"You said you wanted to be a huntsman, right?" Jaune replied as Nora handed him a hot drink. "Well, if you wanna follow in your sisters' footsteps, then you need someone to train you."
"You mean…you?" Pluto asked.
"Exactly. Pyrrha's the one who really trained me back in Beacon. She taught me everything she knew, and I'd be more than happy to pass her teachings onto you, if you're interested." Jaune offered. "Besides…it's probably best you come to me for training instead of Nora. She's a bit too…intense when it comes to training."
"Hey! I'm standing right here! I'm not gonna break this cute nerd's legs, honest!" Nora whined as Ren smiled at her.
"So what do you say, Pluto? You want me to train you?" Jaune offered.
Pluto looked at Jaune, a bit shocked that he would offer to train a stranger he had just met, even if said stranger was related to his late teammate. Tears began welling up in Pluto's eyes again as he happily gave Jaune a big hug, much to the surprise of Team JNR.
"Ooh, guess we got a hugger." Nora noted.
"I take it that's a yes?" Jaune asked as Pluto broke the hug.
"Yes, I would be honored to learn from you." Pluto said, smiling. "Pyrrha taught you, so it would be like she's teaching me as well."
The two then shook hands to agree on it, until Ren spoke up.
"By the way, since you're here, we need to ask you something." He said.
"Have you seen a cute little farmer boy around here?" Nora added. "Dresses like a farm boy? Is little and cute like you? Has multiple voices in his head?"
"I haven't seen any cute little farmer boys around here–Wait, what?" Pluto reacted in confusion, taken aback by the last part.
"Don't worry about it. We're looking for our friend, Oscar. Have you seen anyone matching this description?" Jaune added as he showed Pluto a picture of Oscar on his scroll.
"Nope, can't say I have." Pluto answered. "But I can help you look for him if you want?"
"Sure. It'd be much easier to find him with more people" Jaune agreed.
"We should check back in at the house. Come on." Ren said as he and Nora started to walk away. Jaune and Pluto lingered for a bit to take one last look at Pyrrha.
"Thank you." Jaune said to the statue.
"I love you, sis." Pluto added as the two walked away and joined Jaune's teammates as they headed off to find Oscar. A maple leaf was then seen blowing in the wind, passing by Pyrrha's statue after they departed.
OH HULLO! This is my first RWBY fanfic attempt. I'm hoping to make this a reoccurring thing too. Any feedback and suggestions is appreciated.
But for now, I'm going to spoil a future event right now. I AM NOT KILLING PENNY OFF! I refuse! She's too precious, and didn't deserve to die a second time. In fact, part of me's thinking of her being a surrogate big sister to Pluto. Let me know what you think. That being said, as much as I hate Cinder, someone WILL still be getting stabbed by her in the vault. It just won't be Penny. Feel free to guess who the victim will be in the reviews/comments/wherever you're reading this. Said victim isn't going to die this time around though, they'll just be injured like Weiss in Volume 5.
Also, just in case anyone's curious why I chose that name for him, I wanted to give him a name that started with the letter P so that I had a new P for JNPR, and I was struggling with ideas for what to call him. I thought of a few name ideas like Pat, Peter, Parker, Patrick and Packie, but I decided to go with Pluto, named after the Greek philosopher Plutarch, who from what I read, had some sort of affiliation with Achilles.