CHAPTER VI:

The Badge and the Burden

Pyrrha was feeling strange now. It wasn't a dream, she was hearing something calling.

Was that... Glynda's voice? Her mother's voice? No, that was impossible. How could she be hearing this? She was in Tokyo right now, and...But the voice sounded so... so familiar.

She had no choice… Pyrrha got out of the bed, and walked to the door of her room, with the intention to find the source of that voice.

Pyrrha heard that voice again. She had to find where it came from… If she was in her old body, she wouldn't be that scared right now. But these feelings she felt... it was so strange now... she felt like she was Saori Saga... she was not Pyrrha.

Where was that voice coming from?

Pyrrha kept listening. She was confused, she was scared... but she needed to find that voice.

Pyrrha looked everywhere in her new room... to find the voice.

But was she really hearing it... or was it just in her head right now? With Saori's body... with these feelings... Everything was confusing now. What if she was just imagining things?

But there was only one place she didn't check... the bathroom... and that's because the voice sounded like it was coming from there.

Pyrrha turned towards the bathroom... and opened the door, and there was nothing.

But... there was... only a mirror. She looked at the mirror, and saw… Saori Saga. She was looking at her own face. And yet... it was not hers. Pyrrha was Saori, and yet… Her mind was so confused right now... so lost.

She looked everywhere. Was she going crazy...? Pyrrha felt lost. This was... too much right now. She didn't understand this...She was a girl from another world now. Her body and her mind were saying these things. Had Pyrrha really died...?

She opened her eyes. Her eyes filled with tears.

"My body... my real body... is dead... isn't it?… Cinder Fall destroyed my former body. Turned it to dust..."

—"It's gone..." Pyrrha realized that the woman in the mirror... was her new body now. She had died... and now she was Saori. Pyrrha cried while she was looking at the mirror. "No... that's not real..." But the body of Saori felt real to her. It was there... and yet... it wasn't hers.

The feelings... They were Saori's. She was Saori now... And yet... there was a part of Pyrrha still on her… She realized that the voice came from her soul directly. The soul of Pyrrha Nikos denying her own demise. Not letting herself die!

That was it... that voice was not coming from the mirror. It was coming from herself, from Pyrrha. But how was she hearing herself right now? Was her soul... stuck inside Saori's body...? Pyrrha was scared, so scared... and so confused...

—"Is that you?" said the voice. Pyrrha could hear nothing else. She could hear nothing besides the voice. "Help me!" the voice said with a desperate tone. "P... Pyr... Saori..."

Pyrrha wanted to deny this. She wanted to wake up from this nightmare. It was too much... Pyrrha was feeling so much suffering right now. She couldn't stand this... this confusion... this fear... this body... She fell to the floor, crying. But it wasn't just her. These cries were also coming from Pyrrha's soul, from her mind. She was confused... she wanted to wake up from this nightmare... to wake up in her body, in her room... in her life... She wanted her life back...

In Remnant. Saori wanted the same thing. She felt so sorry for herself. She never wanted this! She was stuck here in this world now, feeling all these weird feelings, in a body she was so unfamiliar with... it all felt so wrong!

—"I miss Argus, Vale, Beacon, so much… but they're all gone, they are all in my heart" Pyrrha's soul, inside her, felt all the same. She was feeling the same sadness, the same suffering... the same... longing for home... Her thoughts, her feelings, her memories... they were all mixed up inside Saori's body right now.

—"It's not possible. This is so... confusing..." said Saori.

—"I beg you. We can go through all of this together." Pyrrha said. "It's the only thing we can do for now"

—"Together?" said Saori, who was still in a very confusing state right now. She was hearing Pyrrha's thoughts in her mind. And yet, she wanted to help herself, or rather, Pyrrha, who was talking in her mind. They were both trapped, confused, and lost. "How can we do it together?" said Saori in a very scared tone. What would happen with her... and with Pyrrha? And with their bodies?

—"Let's just live. Day by day" she said as she fell asleep on the bathroom floor. "And not be conquered by our sorrows. The past can't hold us down. We must break free. Inside we're torn apart. But time will mend our hearts. Move onward, not there yet... So let's just live"

Pyrrha was on an emotional rollercoaster right now. She was so scared, and so confused... and yet... she felt something strange in her heart. She felt... that she was Saori now. But... could she really accept that? Could she accept this new life now? She couldn't answer herself these questions at this moment... So she just stopped trying. And in the middle of the bathroom, she fell asleep... along with the mind and the feelings of Pyrrha Nikos, as they were both trapped inside Saori's body.

She woke up with a big frown on her face. She was scared, she was sad, she was disappointed... But she had to act like everything was okay, after all, she was the girl of the house, and she was supposed to be fine.

So... she tried her best to look happy, as she looked at Miyuki. "Oh, I'm fine... just a bit tired..." She tried to fake a smile but... there was still that fear inside her, of the thoughts and the feelings trapped inside her. Those feelings weren't only her own.

They were... in part, Saori's. Pyrrha's soul was in her body right now… Pyrrha was looking at Aoi, at Yoriko, at Natsumi... She was looking at her friends, but they were not her friends. Because she was not… Saori Saga.

—"Oh... this is delicious." It had to be a very strange feeling for Pyrrha's soul, stuck in Saori's body. She was eating, but the taste... that was not HER taste. And yet... HER body liked the taste, and that was her feeling as well. Pyrrha's soul tried to enjoy it, but... the feelings were so mixed up that she couldn't really understand what she was feeling right now. It was so hard to be inside a body, and inside a life that was not yours…

Saori tried her best to clear her mind a little more before starting her watch on the streets of Tokyo. As Pyrrha wanted to clean up her mind, she could feel that Saori (her body) also wanted to do the same. They needed some time to think by themselves right now... and yet... they couldn't separate these thoughts and these feelings. They were one and the same at this moment... They were so mixed up, these thoughts, these feelings, for Pyrrha... for Saori. They were so confused right now.

Aoi Futaba noticed the confusion on her partner's face

—"Saori? Why do you look so confused?"

Pyrrha was trying her best to not show anything, but... now Aoi... noticed it. And she was her partner too. She couldn't show her any sign of weirdness, or she could tell Aoi something that she couldn't handle...

—"Ah... it's nothing... I'm just tired."

It was a terrible lie from her part. But... They were both so lost right now.

How could she tell her what was happening?

—"Have you ever felt like… your soul doesn't belong to your body?" Asked Pyrrha to Aoi.

—"I understand what you're saying" Said Aoi calmly "Because. I don't know if you remember after your accident and all that. But... I wasn't born a woman..."

—"What? What do you mean Aoi...?" Saori looked shocked... she didn't know what just happened here. "I... I didn't know that..." At this point, Saori was really confused... she didn't know what to think. And yet... she had that small thought inside her mind... If Aoi wasn't born a woman, then did that mean she was... born as a man?

—"So. I know what it feels like to feel like someone you actually are not. Don't worry, "said Aoi as they stopped in front of a store "I will have a cup of tea. Do you want some?"

—"I... I would like that." said Saori "Thank you Aoi."

She felt so confused, and yet... she felt a bit better. She felt relieved after Aoi's answer. But... could it be that easy? She just learned that Aoi was not born as a woman... Was this going to solve everything? Would they talk about Pyrrha's truth in the future? Could the truth reveal itself soon? Pyrrha was drinking her tea, and she was thinking about her friends... all of the people she loved in Remnant...She felt this sadness inside her... this feeling that she was missing... something. If only she could be with those people... if only she could be herself in her body... with her friends… She missed these people so much... she missed... her home... Vale... Beacon… "Jaune... I... I miss you. I miss all of you... so much. But..." She never wanted to leave those memories behind, but she felt that she had to. She still had memories of that beautiful life she had in Remnant... yet, her life was now on Earth... in this new life in Japan. She still felt like Pyrrha Nikos. So much that those feelings were mixed up inside her.

She couldn't finish her words. This was too hard. Because she wanted to see everyone again!

She wanted to go back to Remnant, she wanted to see her family again... her friends... everyone else who meant too much to her… In Remnant, she was Pyrrha. Yet she couldn't be Pyrrha anymore... in a new life... and she couldn't escape this.

—"Saori-chan... Miyuki, Natsumi and Yoriko are going out for Natsumi's farewell party tomorrow night, before she goes to Ranger training under the Japan Ground Self-Defense Force. Will you join us?" Asked Aoi Futaba with a smile.

—"Oh... yes... I will join you." said Saori who had decided to accept the invitation... yet, she didn't know what she would say to everyone tomorrow.

She knew that her friends were going to ask her questions... and she would have to lie.

She tried to ignore her fear of tomorrow, and instead looked into the future with a bit of hope. That... that was it. She was going to learn how to balance her soul and her new body.

Because she needed to keep living, needed to keep going with this new life.

She wanted to spend some good time with her friends... and yet, she knew that the truth would have to be revealed soon... if she wanted to have her normal life back.

She decided to stay in the department until it was late. Checking the profiles of more traffic criminals to distract herself a little. Pyrrha was reading the profile of the members of a band of thieves, when the picture of their leader, a female, popped on the screen, a woman who looked pretty much like...

—Cinder! Pyrrha gasped.