Chapter Text
POV Pyrrha
Ouch
I don’t really know how, but there’s an arrow in my ankle.
I threw Akoúo̱ in that arrow’s path, but still, it hit me.
Kinda unfair if you ask me, but I guess I can’t really complain about a fight to the death.
A fight that I’m pretty sure I just lost.
I’m sorry…. I couldn’t beat her.
Jaune… I’m sorry.
When I attempt to bring myself back to my feet, I’m met with nothing but a searing pain shooting up my leg.
I can’t stand and fight anymore.
I manage to pull myself back onto my hands and knees.
From behind me, I hear the clinking of glass against the ground. It gets closer and closer, until eventually-
Cinder is right in front of me.
“It's unfortunate you were promised a power that was never truly yours.”
She kneels down, and places her hand on my chin, making sure I can see her smile as she taunts me.
“But take comfort in knowing that I will use it in ways you could never have imagined.”
I take a lot of things from that declaration, but comfort is absolutely not one of them.
With what little strength I have left, I manage to pull myself away from her, onto my knees, and stare back at her.
If I’m going to die here, I’m going to die staring my death in the face.
There’s just something I need to know first.
“Do you believe in destiny?”
She seems mildly annoyed by my question, but she provides me with an answer nonetheless.
“Yes.”
She steps back slightly, and forms a bow with her powers.
And then suddenly, I hear a light thud to my left.
“Well, look who came to bear witness.”
After Cinder says that, I whip my head to the left, towards the origin of the noise.
And find Ruby Rose staring at me with a look of pure fear in her eyes.
“Don’t worry child, you won’t be apart from your friend for long”
Cinder’s words just increase the fear in Ruby’s expression.
She needs to escape, if she stays here, then she will die.
“Ruby, run!”
“How noble. Unfortunately, Little Red seems to be a bit paralyzed at the moment. Not that it would make a difference, even if she ran, she could never escape me.”
Oh no.
Please, Ruby, get out of here.
I can hear very faint words coming from her.
“Pyrrha…. No.”
“Ruby, pl-“
Before I can convince her to run, Cinder cuts me off.
“I believe that’s enough out of you.”
She then forms an arrow with her free hand.
“No.”
Ruby once again weakly calls out to me.
“Poor Miss Nikos, you had so much potential, yet you decided to throw your life away. So skilled, but so foolish.”
Ruby’s cries grow louder.
“No no no no no.”
Cinder lifts the arrow to her bow’s string, and pulls it back.
“Goodbye Miss Nikos, you were far less worthy than I expect-“
“NO NO NO, PYRRHA!”
Ruby’s cries reach a peak, growing into screams.
And then suddenly, a bright light emitting from her direction catches both me, and Cinder’s eyes.
“WHAT?!?”
Cinder is taken aback by the sudden burst of blinding light that explodes next to us.
The light is absolutely blinding.
Below us, I can hear deafening shrieks coming from the Wyvern.
And more directly, I can hear Cinder howling in pain.
I’m not sure why, but that light seems to be hurting her.
And then suddenly, her screams lose volume, as if she’s being pushed away.
Until eventually, they begin plummeting downwards.
After a few more seconds, the light dissipates.
Looking towards where it came from, I can’t see anything that may have caused it.
The only thing there, is Ruby’s now unconscious body.
What happened?!
Is she ok?!
Did…. Did she have something to do with that light?
The shrieks from the Wyvern have died down as well…. Is it…. Dead? Did that flash kill it?
Suddenly, I hear something landing behind me.
“Shit, no.”
Turning around, I see a tall, lanky man in a light gray shirt, a dark red cape dangling across his back, hair messy and slicked.
Oh, it’s Ruby and Yang’s uncle, Qrow.
Almost immediately, he rushes past me to get to Ruby.
A bit rude, but understandable. He doesn’t really know me that well.
“Shit, Ruby?!”
“Mr… Mr Branwen…. Is she… ok?”
He doesn’t immediately answer my question, instead checking up on Ruby for a few more seconds.
“She’s…. She’s alive, just… out…. How about you kid, you doing alright.”
“N-no, not really. I kind of have an arrow in my leg.”
“Alright…. Let’s get you and Ruby back to the evac point, the rest of you kids should be there waiting. You think you can manage standing?”
“Uh…. No, I don’t believe I can right now.”
“….alright, fine, I’ll go bring Ruby down, and then I’ll-“
Suddenly, another sound comes from just past where Ruby is.
“RUBY!”
Oh, it’s Weiss.
She immediately rushes to Ruby’s side, kneeling down next to her.
“Is she-“
“She’s gonna be fine, I suggest giving the Invincible Girl a hand, she’s not really in any condition to move.”
“Huh? OH, PYRRHA!”
She gets back up and makes her way over to me next.
“Are you ok?!”
“Not really… but… I’ll live.”
“After what’s happened today, I think that’s more than good enough…. What the hell happened to the Wyvern…. And Cinder… and what was that light?”
“I don’t really know the answer to any of those questions.”
Qrow pipes up.
“Look, kids, I’ll fill you in later, but we’ve gotta get everyone to the evac point, now.”
He’s currently cradling Ruby in his arms.
“R-right…. Ok, I’ll help you up, cmon Pyrrha.”
Weiss pulls my arm up over her shoulders and helps me back to my feet.
“Weiss, you think you can get us all down?”
“Of course I can.”
Suddenly, a blank tinted glyph appears beneath the four of us.
“Though you may all want to prepare yourselves, it’ll be a bit of a bumpy ride down.”
And then, we all go flying forward.
We are all launched from the roof of the tower, with more and more Glyphs appearing below us as we descend further and further.
Eventually, another Gravity Glyph appears on the ground below us.
Right as we’re about to hit the ground, the Glyph stops our descent, leaving us suspended just a few feet off the ground.
The Glyph dissipates, and we all drop to our feet.
Well, I drop down to my knees, as landing like that with my messed up ankle was not at all pleasant.
I hope my aura comes back quickly so I can get on healing that injury.
“Crap, sorry Pyrrha… here, let me take care of that.”
She points Myrtenaster towards the arrow, it still being lodged in my leg.
A quick burst of fire dust burns the back end of the arrow off.
“This may hurt a…. Well, it’s gonna hurt a lot.”
She grabs onto the opposite end of the arrow, the part sticking out of the front of my leg.
And then she yanks it out.
She was right, that was probably the worst pain I’ve ever felt.
How I manage to keep my scream subdued to a mild yelp is beyond me.
“Alright, let’s get you out of here.”
She once again slings my arm over hers.
“You’re lucky that arrow had similar properties to fire dust, otherwise I’d probably end up having to cauterize that wound, and that’d hurt even more.”
“Lucky isn’t how I’d describe any of us right now.”
Qrow responds to that instead of Weiss.
“Yeah, luck isn’t exactly plentiful today, alright kids, let’s get you back home.”
“Yeah, cmon Pyrrha, Jaune’s waiting.”
Jaune…. He’s ok…. Good.
I’m glad she told me that, because right now, I’m beginning to feel a bit drowsy.
I guess the injuries from the fight finally caught up to me.
“Weiss…. I think I’m about to black out…..”
“I’m honestly surprised you haven’t already.”
Shes currently helping me walk across Beacon’s courtyard, Qrow slightly ahead of us.
“Just… tell Jaune that…. just tell him that I’m glad he’s ok…..”
“Don’t worry Pyrrha, I’m sure he knows already.”
“Also… tell him… when I wake up… that I need to talk to him… it’s… important.”
“Of course. Alright, I think you’ve earned a nap.”
She’s right, and it’s coming up on me fast.
“And… let Ruby know…. That I’m f-“
Before I can finish that sentence, I slip into unconsciousness.
Hopefully when I wake up again, I’ll be in a bed, and Jaune will be there waiting for me.