Pyrrha Nikos first looked around her neighborhood and asked her neighbors what happened. Nobody knew and they contacted the police. When the police arrived, the gladiator girl asked that they search for him, in hopes that they could find him. After being questioned on what she knew, she then went to all the hospitals to see if he was injured by the people who killed her parents. None of the hospitals had anyone named Ash Nikos in their wards. She thought that maybe he wasn't at the house when the killers broke in, so she searched the downtown city of Mistral. As she roamed the streets, she tried to think of all the usual places that her brother Ash would be if he was in the city.
Let's see, there's the arcade, the park I was at earlier, the outdoor theatre, the training grounds, and that pizza/ice cream parlor he and his friends like so much.
She went to each of those places and asked numerous people on his whereabouts. Eventually, she slumped her back against a lamppost. She had searched everywhere. The sun was beginning to set and she still hadn't found where her little brother had gone.
This isn't working. she thought. I've searched everywhere! There's no way he could be at Sanctum, they already ended their year with the annual Mistral tournament three weeks ago! Where in the world could he possibly be?!
"Hey you! Yeah, you!" an angry voice called out from behind.
She turned around and saw about five people, four male and one female, with various different kinds of weapons. Upon seeing them, she had a very bad feeling stir up inside her. A small cold chill crept down her spine, her muscles barely moved and she felt a fiery, hot-blooded feeling churn through her stomach. She looked at them, her eyes wide in terror.
"You know what you are? A liar, a murderer!" the second one insulted.
"You murdered Penny Polendina in an act of malice!" the woman claimed.
"Stop it! It's not true!" she proclaimed.
"Liar!" the third one cried out.
She put her fists to her heart. "I never meant to hurt her, or anyone else!"
"You're lying! You possess her swords! Only a truly evil warrior would ever commit such a crime- to murder and steal from the dead!"
She tried to back away in hopes of escaping without a confrontation. "I never stole anything! I found them!" she retaliated.
"Enough! Headmaster Ozpin thinks he can train liars, rogue huntresses and murderesses, right? WRONG!" the fourth one shouted.
The last one shot fire dust loaded arrows at her, and she briefly saw the image of Cinder briefly, screaming in horror as she tried to get a grip on reality. She backflipped as the arrows hit the ground, causing fiery explosions not far from her feet. The rest of them unsheathed their weapons; swords, spears, a gun, and even a rolling pin by the woman. The woman held it by her right hand and pounded it against her left hand before grasping it and glaring at the gladiator girl. Normally, Pyrrha would fight if people confronted her like this, but not this time.
"Oh no..."
"Get her!" the woman commanded.
The band of enraged civilians charged towards Pyrrha. Swiftly turning away from her accusers, she ran like the devil was on her heels.
"Your punishment as butler however, starts now!"
"And since I cast the deciding vote, I believe I have the right to the first command." The truth teller snapped her fingers. "Fetch me a tall glass of water, lots of ice."
The former Beacon student sighed as he carried out her command. Upon handing the glass to his little sister, he asked, "Alright, now that you've interrogated me to no end, I'd say I have the right to ask what was happened in my absence. So what's changed while I was away?"
"Some things have changed, yet others remain the same. We still have the massive dead man's debt to pay off, but it did decrease from 7.5 million to 6 million. But considering we started at 125 million Lien, we still have a long way to go. Rouge is still a model and huntress, although she hasn't been called for huntress duty in over a year, much to our surprise. She also dumped her boyfriend a week after you left."
"That makes... 10 boyfriends she's had?"
"14 actually. But who's counting aside from Emerald?" Tangerine asked.
Jaune looked at the tough tomboy, concerned for her. "And what in the world happened to you?"
"Do you want me to explain?" Roux asked.
She sighed. "No. I'll tell him. He has the right to know. Three days ago, while looking for fugitives to hunt, I saw a White Fang lieutenant enter an abandoned warehouse on the south side of the city. I followed him and soon four other guys joined him. I recognized the lieutenant as a wanted criminal and I challenged the quintet to a duel. I felt good, confident, on top of the world and even lucky. Due to my overconfidence, I used up too much of my aura to power my semblance. And once the temporary invincibility was gone, I was more vulnerable than ever. I thought I could defeat all five of them in one go, but I only got one of them before my aura ran out. I tried to fight the remaining thugs without my aura and I got horribly beaten as a result. They ganged up on me with a series of relentless attacks. Less than three minutes later, my eyes were blackened, I had suffered a lot of damage, and while my vision blurred, one of them attempted to stab me in the chest, but I managed to evade, getting the scar on my arm as a result. I had no idea whether or not I would even survive that duel, but I had to press on. Bracing myself for the worst, I retrieved my weapons, ready to fight again, even if it killed me.
"However, when they heard the sounds of sirens, the four thugs ran away. I tried to go after them, but I fell to my knees, weak and disoriented. The two cops recognized me. The first one took the criminal to jail while the second one accompanied me to the hospital. I don't remember much of the ride in the ambulance, but somehow I managed to not fall unconscious. The officer told me that I was lucky that my skull wasn't fractured and that I didn't suffer worse injury. As I was being treated for my injures, he asked me why I continued doing this. Somewhat reluctantly, I told him about my dreams of being a huntress and how I was using the cash to help my family pay off the big debt. Out of sympathy or pity, he gave me all the money he had in his wallet; 25 Lien. It was the second lowest haul ever, followed only by zero. He was also nice enough to give me a ride back home once his comrade returned from the jail where he took the lone criminal. The doctors told me to stay in bed for at least a week, while mom and dad insisted on two weeks. We reached a compromise of 10 days, which means I still have another week to go, even though the deep cut on my arm closed up surprisingly quick." She groaned. "This totally sucks..."
"Hey watch the language." Rouge stated. "Nothing's changed much for Acacia, but Emerald has discovered her semblance; emotion suppression."
"What? She doesn't even try to unlock it and yet I try for over a year and I still haven't found it? No fair!" Jaune pouted, before scratching his head. "Also, how does that even work?"
"The mechanism that I use to describe this phenomenon is the lock and key metaphor." Emerald began, still in her emotionless voice. "In the words of Acacia, I can lock up my heart and not feel it. I create this 'lock' by using 25 percent of my aura and imagining my feeling disappearing, effectively locking my emotions that they can not be felt. To remove this lock, I envision a key of memories with emotions tied to them and open up the lock, letting me feel emotion again. Note that unlocking my emotions costs me no amount of aura at all."
"Azura and Indigo haven't changed much, but Amethyst has taken up two new hobbies; baking and sewing. She actually plans on doing a bake sale pretty soon." Azure added.
"Is there anything else you would like to tell me, or can I go put my stuff away now?"
"Well, there's been a new rule applied to the members of this household. You remember how everyone 18 or older must have some sort of job to help pay off the debt? That rule has been modified to the age of 16. You however, are exempt from this rule due to the laborious nature of your punishment. I believe that is all. The meeting is over. You may resume your usual activities."
The Arc siblings, save for Rouge, left the room. Jaune took his bags to his quarters. Since there was a bit of light left shining through his window, he didn't bother turning on the lights. As he set his backpack down, he sighed to himself. He got out his clothes, separating clean from dirty into drawers and the hamper respectively. Once that was done, he put his personal possessions in his memory chest. Then he got out Pyrrha's parting gifts; her circlet and the sword of Penny, and set them upon his desk, along with a photo of Pyrrha Nikos. He looked at the photo forlornly; she was standing before the statue of the hunter and huntress in Beacon. Before the school fell, before she left him...
"Where did the good times go?" A knock on the door was heard. "Come in."
He turned away as the door opened, revealing Acacia on the other side.
"Hey Jaune... Are you alright?"
The young warrior sighed. "I would like to say I'm fine, but then I'd be lying."
"You could lie." She chuckled. "I'm not a living lie detector."
He smiled dryly. "Yeah, but then I'd feel bad..."
Jaune sat down on the bed, which wasn't even made and kicked off his shoes. After doing this, Acacia sat down next to him. She noticed the display of items on his desk and pointed to the picture. "Who is that?"
"The woman in the picture? That is Pyrrha Nikos. And those mementos before her image are all that I have left of her."
She blinked in realization. "Oh... Your... your love..."
"You've never fallen in love, have you?"
"Can't say that I have." She crossed her legs. "Besides, I've got a singing career to fulfill before I even try to find Mr. Right."
"Then why haven't you done anything? You've been working as a chef for one and a half years."
The singer sighed. "Come on Jaune, you know me, I'm not brave like you. Besides, if I try to switch careers, I fear that my whole family, aside from you, won't support me and just try to tear me down."
He put his hand on her left shoulder in attempt to reassure her. "I can understand your fear, but I highly doubt that everyone would ridicule you."
"I don't even have any credentials. And there's no way I could fake it like you did."
He took his hand away. "Hmm... I honestly don't believe that being a singing sensation requires much experience, unlike applying to a huntsmen academy. If you want to build up a rep, start by singing at small private events like a wedding or reception of sorts. You'll not only get some experience, you'll get some extra dough. Who knows? Maybe if you're lucky, a record company might take interest in you."
She smiled to herself briefly. "That doesn't sound like a bad idea." She widened her eyes. "But what do I tell the family? Should I even tell them?"
"That decision is up to you."
"Well... It's worth a shot." She shrugged and smiled. "What do I have to lose?"
"It's not like you're doing anything wrong to achieve your dreams." He chuckled. "I'm surprised you forgave me so easily when my actions were revealed to everyone."
"You're following your dreams. Who am I to judge?" She leaned back and had her hands to her shoulders, palms facing upward. "If it was up to me, I'd be rewarding you for how far you've come in such little time."
"You're the best older sister I could ask for."
"Hey, I'm on your side no matter what. Thanks again for your advice."
"No problem!" A knock was heard on the door. "Come in."
Rouge opened the door and saw her younger siblings sitting on the bed. "Oh, didn't realize you'd be here. Jaune Arc, I require your assistance."
Begrudgingly, Jaune stood up and asked her with an unamused look, "What do you want?
"Oh, don't fret. This is an easy task."
Why did he believe that she was lying? He had no time to think about that. He briefly screamed as Rouge grabbed his wrist and ran through the hall with him.
I hope Pyrrha Nikos is doing alright with her family... he thought to himself.
Pyrrha had managed to get out alive and uninjured, but just barely. After escaping her pursuers, she eventually found her way to the nearest hunters supply store. These small in size stores were similar to convenience stores, except they stocked supplies hunters and huntresses would use. They had a variety of different items, including but not limited to; weapons, ammunition, dust, cloaks, MREs, survival guides and various travel bags. As she looked around at all the aisles, she noticed it was fairly deserted, much to her relief. Another attack on her, whether it be verbal or physical, was the last thing she needed. She looked around and as she went towards the cloaks, she heard the familiar tune of swords clashing against her waist. She sighed.
I'm going to need something to carry these swords in. If people hear the clinking of the swords around my waist, they'll hear me coming from a mile away! I need a way to carry them without them making a ton of noise.
She searched around for a duffel bag. She took a red shoulder strap duffel bag from a hook and attempted to put all of her swords in there, just to be sure that they would fit. Much to her amusement, all of them fit in nicely. After closing the bag, she walked around, hearing little noise, and ran across the aisle again to test it out. No loud clanging and clashing. Perfect. She grabbed a large red cloak, a pair of white dress gloves (who knew they had those?), a two week food supply container, a tent, sleeping bag, collapsible pillow and a refillable water bottle. Who knows where she was going to go, and how long she would be gone?
She was also fortunate that some of the items were on sale. After grabbing everything she needed for her journey, she went up to the counter. The shopkeeper, a young man in his 30's with blond hair and green eyes soon went back to his station.
"Hello there. Did you find everything you need?" the shopkeeper asked.
"I sure did." she answered.
He looked at her inventory. "What's all this for?"
"Long journey, I guess."
"That'll be 70 Lien." She handed the money to him and then put on the gloves and cloak, but she kept her hood down. "Thank you for your patronage. So if you don't mind me asking, what's a young woman like you doing trying to conceal yourself?"
"Well..." She hesitated. "I just escaped from a band of lunatics with various weapons who believe I murdered Penny in an act of malice."
"Wait a second." He squinted at her. "You're Pyrrha Nikos, aren't you?"
The young huntress rubbed her arm nervously. "Yeah... I am... You don't... think I'm a murderer, do you?"
He dismissed that thought. "I never jump to conclusions, and I try not to make them until I have the full story. If you don't mind me asking, what happened?"
She sighed. "I'd tell you the full story, but I'm worried you won't believe me."
"Tell away. I'm all ears and I'm pretty open minded."
"Well, during the fight, I thought I saw Penny multiply her swords into several hundred blades that she was about to be aim right at me. But in reality, it was a woman named Emerald Sustrai using her semblance to create a hallucination in order to trick me into using my semblance, polarity, to a devastating level, unintentionally tearing her into pieces."
He sulked in silence for a moment before answering a moment later with, "Hmm... Most unusual. Some persuadable people would probably believe that it was an accident, but under a hallucination spell... Eh... Something tells me they probably wouldn't believe that."
Her shoulders slumped. "I wouldn't expect them to. Heck, I'm surprised you believe me."
"I've heard crazier stories. Many tales taller than this. Tell ya what, I'll put up a picture of you that says, "Pyrrha Nikos is not a murderer. She was tricked and never meant to hurt anyone. She had no idea that Penny Polendina was a robot." What do you think?"
"That'll do. But you don't have to do that."
"I'm doing it because I want to. No hero should have to conceal themselves from the world."
She looked at him all bug-eyed. "You believe I'm a hero?"
"I know you are, just by looking at you." Her face turned as red as her hair in response. "Good luck out there, Pyrrha Nikos."
"Thanks. I'll need it."
After filling up her bottle at the convenient water bottle filling station, stowing it away along with her other supplies, and putting her hood up, she left the store. Never did Pyrrha imagine that she would be forced to conceal herself. Never could she have imagined people hunting her because they wrongly believed she was a murderess. Never could she have imagined her surviving her duel with Cinder, feeling so much agony from leaving Jaune and her team behind, the death of her parents, her brother going missing and nearly being killed by nutcase combatants. But who would? She still couldn't believe that that this is how it all ended. She tried so hard and got so far. But in the end, did it really even matter? She didn't believe so.
As she walked away from the store and into the city, a new and horrifying thought was conceived in her mind.
Could somebody who hates me and believes I'm a murderer gone after my family? Did someone with those false beliefs kill my parents?
Probably. a voice in her head responded.
Don't jump to conclusions. the rational part of her brain thought. Are they after my brother as well?
She didn't know what to think. She couldn't think. She just felt. And all she felt was pain. Sorrow. Loneliness. Emptiness. With the discovery of her parents death and the absence of her brother, she felt dead inside. Now she knew that there was a different way to die; her body breathed, her heart would still beat, but she was not alive. As she traveled through the streets of Mistral, she came to a bridge and looked at the city from down below. Her eyes then looked upwards to the top of the hill, where Haven Academy stood in all its glory. As she looked at the huntsmen academy, a memory and a thought slowly came to her.
Cinder and her associates were from Haven. Or so they claimed. She mused to herself for a moment. I could confront them at the school, defeat them, and...
And what? the logical voice in her head asked her. Try to face her again and end up killed this time?
Pyrrha sighed. There was no guarantee that Cinder and her allies would even be there. Best case scenario for her, they wouldn't be there and she wouldn't have to fight them. But it seemed unlikely to her. She remembered that when encountering Emerald and Mercury at Beacon Academy in the aftermath, Cinder was absent. She might have been put out of commission, as Emerald said Ruby did 'something' to Cinder. But what was it? Unfortunately, she had no real way of knowing, because she had no clue what happened after she took the arrow for Ruby. All she knew was that she was taken the hospital. But even if Cinder was decommissioned, there would still be Mercury and Emerald to deal with. She would be able to take down the former easily, but the latter scared her with her deceptive semblance. She also remembered them mentioning someone called Watts. She sighed; there could be even more friends and allies of Cinder that she didn't know about.
She looked at her hands and imagining Penny's sword in it for a moment.
I'm sorry Penny.
She ran off the bridge and into the city again, leaving the sight of Haven Academy behind her. She walked through the city, searching one last time for her brother. By the time she reached the bottom of the mountain, she was emotionally exhausted, numb and dead inside. There was nothing left. No reason for her to stay here. She had to assume she would never be able to find her brother and most likely never see him again. Underneath the cloak, a few tears fell down her face. Just as the last rays of the sun were fading away, so was the hope and light in the world.
"Goodbye Mistral."
And so, with a heavy heart, she left the only place she had ever known as her home, unsure where to go, what to do, or if she would ever come back. She felt like had reached the end, but it wasn't over. She was still among the living, but in the end, her efforts didn't matter. She was already dead anyway.