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How they had all made it out of Beacon, Pyrrha still wasn’t sure. To be fair, she didn’t remember much after Cinder’s arrow had pierced her ankle. Everything following was a blur of fire and pain and the floating feeling of being carried.
Despite Cinder’s best efforts, Pyrrha had survived. So had the rest of JNPR, and RWBY, and SSSN, and CFVY, and most of the entire academy had escaped the destruction in one piece. Or, at least, alive.
Alive, but not necessarily unharmed. It had been months since the chaos and bloodshed at Beacon, and Pyrrha could still barely walk. She had survived becoming the Fall Maiden, survived the Grimm’s teeth and Cinder’s arrows only to be left limping around Jaune’s house like a lame horse.
After the battle, the Arc family had taken all of Team JNPR in. Ren and Nora had no home to return to, and Pyrrha’s family was so far away in Mistral that she couldn’t have gotten home even if she had been in the medical condition to attempt such a journey. And so Jaune had made the executive decision as team leader (i.e.: had called his parents and spent a couple of hours alternately explaining and crying) to take his entire team home with him. The house was a bit crowded – what with seven sisters plus parents plus JNPR – but it was worth it, to be with her team, and to be somewhere safe.
All her life, Pyrrha had been the golden girl. She had started combat training when she was still just a child, and had only gotten better and more famous as she grew. Even before Beacon, practically just a preteen, her name had been known across the world. Everybody knew Pyrrha Nikos, but nobody knew Pyrrha. Her parents loved her, she knew, but she was also essentially their income, and they had no real relationship anymore, control having long been given up to her manager. They were family, and she loved them, but in truth they didn’t know much more about her than anyone off the street.
JNPR had been the first time that Pyrrha had been able to be herself. Jaune barely knew who she was, and it wasn’t like Ren and Nora had grown up in luxury to buy Pumpkin Pete’s and watch her battles on TV. And so, for the first time in her life, Pyrrha had been acknowledged as a person, just another teenager, instead of the famous Pyrrha Nikos of combat and marshmallow cereal fame.
It had been a little stressful, really – she wasn’t used to having a life of her own, to being able to make her own decisions, and she had been wobbly and a little standoffish at first, but then things had changed. She had grown stronger, more confident, and bonded with the rest of JNPR in ways that she hadn’t even known were possible. Being part of a team – ithad changed her life.
And then there had been the tournament, and she had killed Penny, and the grimm had come out of the sky and Beacon had burned.
But they were still alive. All four of them, and others too. Pyrrha had been really and truly ready to die there on the tower, and yet here she was. All because of her team.
Jaune’s team, she corrected, watching the boy in question blunder into the kitchen, still mostly asleep and fumbling for a bowl. That part was important. Pyrrha had never been more grateful in her life than the moment that Professor Ozpin had announced “Team Juniper, led by Jaune Arc.” She needed to be a part of something, not the leader. Jaune didn’t lead authoritatively, but it was still something, and she was glad to be a support, and not the figurehead.
Jaune mumbled something that could possibly have been considered a greeting, sticking his spoon into his coffee instead of his cereal. Pyrrha could do nothing but smile at her not-a-morning-person leader, settling herself into a chair across the table from him with more weight than she had meant to. Her friend woke up a little more at the rough movement, but another smile and a wave let him know that she wasn’t hurt, and he sank back into near-sleepwalking mode.
Months since the Battle of Beacon, and she still had a hard time sitting down without her leg twinging and giving up on her halfway through the movement, leaving the once-graceful Pyrrha Nikos to fall hopefully into the chair she had been trying for, or straight onto the floor if it was a bad day. Walking was mostly alright, as long as there was furniture or walls she could lean on as she went. Her right leg didn’t tolerate much more than a few steps unsupported, and even moving from one thing to the other was done in a heavy limp, slowly and for short times.
Pyrrha Nikos, golden girl and warrior extraordinaire, couldn’t take more than a few steps on her own. Training was near-impossible, and fighting was out of the question. Miló and Akoúo̱ had lain untouched at the foot of her bed since her arrival at the Arc house. She was strong and healthy and her body was good at recovering, but she knew that it was entirely possible she might never use them again.
She wasn’t sure what to make of that. Combat had been her whole life, both televised fights and in-the-field hunting, and without it, she wasn’t sure who she really was. Take the fight out of Pyrrha Nikos, and what was left?
If that became the case – if her heel truly never recovered from Cinder’s arrow – then she would handle it. She had discovered herself once, with JNPR. She could do it again. Rise from the ashes and recreate who she was. Take that, Cinder. Pyrrha won’t burn out.
There was an almighty crash in the hallway, startling both Pyrrha and Jaune into momentary alertness, although both relaxed when Nora came thundering into the kitchen. “We have a present for you!” the Valkyrie announced breathlessly, bouncing on her toes.
Ren followed a step behind, holding something wrapped in what looked like a bedsheet. “We only just finished it,” he added, adjusting his grip. Whatever it was, it was quite large, but didn’t seem to be terribly heavy, or Ren wouldn’t be carrying it at all – his bad shoulder was still weakened from the fight.
Jaune brightened. There was the coffee kicking in. “It’s done?” he asked, looking momentously excited for someone who had been essentially sleep-eating until seven seconds ago. Ren and Nora nodded simultaneously, and he brightened even more. Turning to Pyrrha, he explained a little more than the other two had, “We’ve been trying to make this for you, but it only just got finished. We hope you like it,” he added breathlessly.
“We can make changes,” Ren said, “or take it away if you don’t want it.” Jaune and Nora looked a little more hesitant at that, their excitement dimming.
Pyrrha smiled. “Whatever it is, I’m sure I’ll love it. But you really didn’t have to –”
“Yes we did!” Jaune burst out. Ren gave him a look, no words, just that calm pink stare, and he settled down a bit. “We wanted to.”
“Just give it to her already!” Nora said, fidgeting around like she was the one waiting to get a present instead of give one.
Ren sighed at Nora’s impatience, but held out his arms and the object in them.
It was metal, Pyrrha could tell the moment she took the bundle. Metal, but not heavy. Large, but not enormous, and rounded instead of flat. She unwrapped the sheet, clearly a last-minute covering.
Gold. Not bright, a more worn color, like polished brass or just-turned autumn leaves. Three pieces, clearly meant to go together. Upper, middle, lower. Stronger than what she had before, more solid, but there were enough similarities that she knew what it was.
“There’s another shoe, to match it, of course,” Nora said breathlessly, breaking the taut silence that had held as JNR watched Pyrrha unwrap her gift. “And we can fix anything you don’t like, or if the size is wrong or if it’s not strong enough or –” Ren’s hand on her arm made Nora’s mouth snap shut.
“You don’t have to want it,” he said softly, eyes meeting hers. The two quieter, more introverted members of the team, they understood each other in a way Pyrrha had never known before. “If you don’t, you can wrap it up again and we won’t talk about it.”
Pyrrha set firm. “I want to try it.”
No harm in trying, she reminded herself. She still felt just a little nervous, but pushed it down. She wanted to try this.
Jaune stepped forward to help. Ren handed pieces, and Nora watched them like a nevermore as the gift was assembled.
Just in case, Pyrrha took Jaune’s arm before standing. She knew how attempts at being upright went most of the time now – either it hurt, or she fell over, or both.
But not this time. This time, Pyrrha stood, and aside from a slight twinge echoing through her heel, there was no pain. No shakiness, no pull down the back of her leg, no looseness in her ankle. Pyrrha took a breath, and then let go of both Jaune and the table. Her team watched, silent, as Pyrrha Nikos strode across the kitchen, stopping in front of the sink. No wobbling, no stumbles, not a single piece of furniture to be grabbed and pushed against. Hardly a limp at all. Pyrrha turned around, and when she faced them, she was smiling.
Wrapped around her leg was a shining golden greave, similar to her old armor but not quite the same. The first set had been real armor, but this was stronger, thicker, holding her weight differently. The heel of the boot was lower and broader, solid leather bound sturdily around the ankle. The golden metal rose strong around her calf, providing the strength and balance that had been lost to Cinder’s arrow.
I’m back, was all she could think, standing tall and strong for the first time since the Battle of Beacon.
Nora gave a great whoop and threw her arms in the air, although she wisely chose to tackle Ren instead of Pyrrha, who despite being able to stay upright on her own, might not withstand a full Valkyrie tackle. Jaune, better able to restrain himself, approached her slowly, looking happier than he had since… she couldn’t even remember. Before the Battle, at least. JNPR had had it rough for a long time, but maybe the worst was behind them now.
Jaune wrapped his arms tightly around Pyrrha and she returned the motion, though not for support. She could stand on her own now. But she clung tightly to her team leader anyway, and murmured, “Thank you,” in his ear, feeling his breath beneath her hands.
Jaune, as Jaune as always, tried to deflect. “I just helped. Ren designed it mostly, and Nora did a lot of the construction. I didn’t really –”
Pyrrha put one hand over her brave leader’s mouth, laughing. “Shush, Jaune. Thank you.” She looked over to the other half of her team, meeting Ren’s eyes and matching Nora’s smile. “Thank you.”
“We’re glad you like it,” Nora said, quieter than Pyrrha had ever heard her.
This team. These three people, who had somehow gone from total strangers to the ones she loved most in all the world in such a short time that it made her head spin. They had made this armor to give Pyrrha her mobility back, but she knew that they would just as soon let her stay with the Arcs forever and never fight again. Even with the boot, even now that she could stand and run and fight, all she had to do was say the word and they would not question her.
But she wouldn’t say it. She had thought about it, thought long and hard while she was still bedridden, and even after she was up but still forced to lean on furniture or people to move. She had never had much of a life beyond combat, both as performance and as a Huntress. She could leave it now, if she wanted to.
It wasn’t a fear of the unknown. Not anymore, at least. She could do anything now, with Team JNPR at her back. It was because of JNPR that she didn’t want to stop. She finally had motivation, finally had a reason to fight. They would have let her quit Hunting without question, but it was precisely because of that that she wanted to stay.
And now she could. Pyrrha felt her weight shift, but her leg didn’t buckle, didn’t fold. It would still take some getting used to, learning how to move with the different weight of her new armor. She and Nora might have to tinker with it a little more to perfect it, and she would have to work with Ren to learn her new limitations and how her body’s abilities had changed, and she would have to train long and hard with Jaune to get back to her former strength, but she had her fire back now.
Fire destroys, or it hardens. Pyrrha felt her new armor, encircling her leg and giving strength where she had lost it, and she knew which one she had been tempered in. Cinder had failed to kill her when they had been alone. Now she would be stronger, but more importantly – she glanced around the room, taking in her golden leader, still uncertain of his own power but fast growing into it; her rose-colored lightning bolt, strong as thunder and twice as loud; and her green-and-pink shadow, supporting them all without ever needing to say a word – more importantly, she had her team.
Take that, Cinder. You thought you could break the Undefeatable Girl, but I’ve walked through your flames and come out stronger.
You won’t burn us again.