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Beacon Academy, Vale
Remnant
October 31st, 79 AV
This is it, Pyrrha thought as she struggled to get up only for her ankle to fail. All that time spent training and studying only to die here. Not even a full Huntress yet…
She glared at Cinder as the woman closed the distance between them to stand in front of her.
“It’s unfortunate you were promised a power that was never truly yours,” she said, making Pyrrha look her in the eye. “But take comfort in knowing that I will use it in ways you never could have imagined.”
Pyrrha pulled away from Cinder, angry at her own failure and weakness.
“Do you believe in destiny?” she asked, accepting the certainty that she was going to die here.
Cinder smirked, satisfied with her victory, “Yes.”
She conjured another bow and drew back an arrow…
Pyrrha waited for the inevitable blow to her heart, but none came. She looked up at Cinder, a satisfied look on the woman’s face. Her strangely still, unblinking face. The arrow was frozen in the air as well. She gasped as she felt warmth flow through her body and the pain in her ankle became a dull ache.
Cautiously, she rose to her feet to look around, seeing Ruby frozen as well. It looked as though she’d only just arrived at the tower.
“What?”
“I’ve stopped time,” said a Mistrali accented voice. “It will resume momentarily and no one will know any different.”
She turned and saw a man standing next to Cinder. She didn’t know if he was here for a fight, but she knew she couldn’t fight him; she was unarmed and out of Aura. The man was tall and slender, but his facial features were unclear, shifting between those of people familiar to her.
Where did he come from? she thought.
“An excellent question, miss Nikos, with a confusing answer,” the man said. “I come from elsewhere, beyond this universe. My name is Morgan, it’s a pleasure to meet you.”
“What do you want with me?” Pyrrha asked, still on guard. “If you want the Fall Maiden, she’s there-” she pointed at Cinder “-she took the power before I could receive them.”
Morgan shook his head, chuckling.
“I’m not here for any magical Maiden power,” he said. “I’m here for Pyrrha Nikos, the Champion of Argus.”
Pyrrha looked away, ashamed, “What would you want with me? I’m no one special. I couldn’t even beat her.”
“I want to offer you a second chance,” Morgan said, wearing a proud smile. “I’m what you might call an observer. I can view the goings on of this world and others beyond it. I’ve seen your career as a tournament fighter and as a Huntress-in-training. I’m impressed, you have a good heart and such a capacity for good.
“No matter the world or reality, there are certain truths which remain constant, for good or ill. One such constant is that, given the opportunity, most with talent such as yours choose to enrich themselves; the specific form may vary by place and time, but at its core their choice remains the same: to serve themselves, their own desires and comfort and glory.
"You, however, are different," Morgan said. "You were given such opportunities on numerous occasions, yet each time you chose not the path of personal enrichment but that of sacrifice for the greater good. You did not take for yourself all that the world had to offer, you gave of yourself all that there was to be taken. It is for this reason, I feel you deserve a second chance."
"So, you're letting me live so I can make up for this failure?" she asked, a tiny spark of hope lighting up. "I have another chance to take the Maiden power back?"
Morgan's smile faded slightly and, with it, Pyrrha's hope, "I'm sorry, Pyrrha," he said. "I can save you, but there's nothing I can do to change this moment."
"Then why?" she asked. "Why do any of this?"
He gestured toward Cinder, and Pyrrha saw herself, glaring defiantly at her, "As far as this world knows, you will die here and now. But I can send you elsewhere; give you an opportunity to use your skill and abilities to do good in another reality."
With another gesture, what could only be described as a swirling gateway appeared. He motioned towards it.
"Through that door, is another universe," he explained. "If you take that path, you will wake in another world. Otherwise, you will die tonight. I’m sorry, I can pause time and move people across realities, but once time resumes, nothing will change. If you’re still here when I leave, you’ll be back in the line of that arrow.”
Pyrrha’s heart sank. She didn’t want to die, but she didn’t want to leave her friends, her world, behind.
I suppose this is a now or never offer, she thought.
She glanced at the frozen form of Ruby, her mind made up. She walked over to the girl and embraced her.
“Goodbye Ruby… I wish I could be there to watch you grow into the Huntress you were born to be,” she said tearfully. “Look after Jaune and the others and look after yourself.”
Without another word, she made her way through the gateway, to her next life and her next adventure. The last thing she heard before being enveloped by the vortex was Morgan’s voice.
“Good luck, Pyrrha Nikos…”