4The Ghosts Of The Past
Chapter 5
As she struggled into a sitting position, her broken bones grated against each other, cause pain to make itself aware to her in the most brutal manner.
Leaning back she could barely open her right eye and tears swam in her vision to block out the appearance of her attacker.
*click* *click*
The resounding heel clicks echoed against the floor as the mysterious person drew closer. Fear building in her mind as soft and smooth fingers curled and bunched her shirt into the fist. Lifting her up she cried out at the unimaginable pain from her broken extremities.
"So you claim to be the best, but here you are. The invincible girl. Broken, beaten, and all alone. How sad that you don't even have one single friend to save you from your death."
The smell of burnt wood permeated the air as the building around them was crumbling. Feeling her attacker shift she fell to the ground and fresh tears burst into her eyes.
"I would deal the final blow, but that would send your 'friends' after me wouldn't it? If I leave you here to die in a fire though? I'll remain in the shadows free to kill the rest of your friends at my leisure. Goodbye Miss Pyrrha Nikos."
The wall burst open and a lone figure stood in the improvised doorway. A gleam came from a long tempered blade being held by a knight with blonde hair and a death look in his eyes. In a feat of agility that was physically impossible, he jumped into the air and twisted while spinning incredibly fast to finish with a downward thrust straight into the head of her opponent. He was balanced perfectly on his sword and slowly let himself down and walked over to her.
"It's time Pyrrha."
Those simple words brought a wave of relief over her as she tried, and failed, to raise her arms. When she did try, her broken bones grated against each other and caused pain to blossom across her body and she fell over from the chain of areas that were in pain. Jaune rushed over to her and supported her as he sat her up and looked into her swollen eyes with a tender, almost caring, look in his eyes. She slacked into his grip as he placed a hand on her shoulder and suddenly cold steel bit into her stomach as she went wide-eyed at the man she had loved her whole life.
Looking down she saw Crocea Mors making a new home from her insides, pain was nonexistent but Jaunes cheerful smile was still plastered on his face.
Pyrrha's eyes slammed open . She looked around the darkness and tried to calm her ragged breathing. After ten seconds of observation she closed her eyes and placed her arm over her eyes and cried. The tears stung and her heart could barely handle the nightmare anymore. It had be persistent for the last five or so years. Ozpin was trying his best to help her through these circumstances but it wasn't helping as much as she let on, rolling onto her side she tried to recapture that elusive enemy known by many as the sandman.
Other side of the base
Ruby walked through he eerily quiet halls of the base while fighting off the man Pyrrha was spending her time trying to find. Checking either side of the hall nothing gave any clues that there was anything out of the ordinary going on that night.
"...ow are you feeling tonight Miss Xiao-long?"
Ruby's ears perked up at the mention of Yang's name. She was naturally curious but wary of eavesdropping thanks to the extensive surgery she went through. Just like Yang's arm or Jaune's legs, Ruby had many metallic ribs in place of real ones. A constant reminder of that fateful night over ten years ago, she didn't regret it until a stealth mission became available. If her heart rate got too high then the enemy could literally hear her as the rush of blood through her heart could ping against the metal in her ribcage.
"It's late, I should probably try to get some shut-eye Prof….Ozpin. Thank you for hearing me out at such a late hour."
Ruby hung her head in defeat, because of her daydreaming she missed out on what was said. Another reason she never did stealth missions.
"Ruby?! What are you doing down there?" Yang's eyes were wide as half dollars and sweat started to form on her brow.
"Uh...well you know. Just….inspecting the baseboards. Gotta make sure they're installed properly." Of course in Ruby's mind this was a genius comeback in the two seconds she thought of it. To everyone else….well they knew better.
"Miss Rose, they are no baseboards in the building," Ozpin stated blandly as he sipped his….coffee? Where did he always get his coffee? Ruby hid every packet of coffee in the building!
"Your first mistake was thinking that I am drinking coffee so late. Honestly, that would just keep me up for hours." Ozpin smirked at the duo as he shut the door to his office.
Yang's jaw had dropped at the implication of what was in the coffee mug while Ruby, as innocent as ever, was clueless and scratching her head.
"Yang, what else is Ozpin drinking in a coffee mug?" She asked her older sister in the hopes that she liked the answer. Yang's head turned so quickly bones sounded like whips as they cracked at the strain of the movement.
"You're serious?" The blonde brawler gave her younger sister the sternest look she could muster without betraying how amused she felt at all this.
"W-wait? N-noooooo of course I know. Jeez Yang, I'm not dumb!" Ruby quickly picked herself up off the ground and nervously laughed while walking back down the hallway.
"Fuck, what am I going to do with that girl, doesn't even know wh.."
"Doesn't know what miss Xiao-Long?" A light voice with a strong authority behind it shocked Yang into a standstill. It was a voice that hadn't been heard in over ten years. A familiar sense of dread slowly crept its way up Yang's spine and made a shelter at the base of her neck followed quickly by a burning sensation as she felt two dull green eyes burrow into her skull.
Yang spun around fast enough to make Weiss using her speed glyph seem slow. Scanning the area, she saw no one.
'I knew someone was here, I'm not losing my mind that much.' If she remembered correctly Ruby said his room was always opposite Ozpin's ever since an argument about two weeks ago. According to her sister that had been a nightmare to set up as well as handle her little jaunt through the local town.
With Ruby
The redhead was nearly skipping down the halls with her eyes closed and humming to herself a merry tune. Unfortunately, nothing good happens in the dead of night as Ruby ended up slamming right into her fellow redhead Pyrrha Nikos. Looking up while rubbing her head she saw the condition her friend was in and rushed over to her.
"Pyrrha, are you ok?! I didn't see you there!"
The amazon didn't respond as her eyes were unfocused and glazed over. She picked herself up off the ground and continued down the hall.
"Pyrrha where are you going?" Ruby whispered to herself as she stalked after the sleepwalking woman.
Smooth walls ran as far as it could see. Rhythmic clicks sounded every few moments, but the gaze was firmly held forward. This pattern was set, every night at the same time, down the same path towards the mysterious closed portal. The other creatures that blocked the way in were absent. A pale hand moved forward and contacted the portal. A strange sensation overtook the sense for a brief moment before a joint was forcefully slammed into the obstruction repeatedly before a red haired creature filled the entire view as everything went black.
A/N: Shorter than I normally write and late as I wanted this for yesterday but I hope you all enjoy! Merry Christmas, happy holidays and all the other stuff and I hope everyone had an amazing day in general. Shout out to Blaiseingfire for being a bro and betaing this short little shit and being there as a good person. Please read and review as it help me determine what you all like!