Destiny No More

Chapter 2

It was like being shaken awake, with no gentle transition between Pyrrha being asleep and being fully-awake, adrenaline flooding to her head, forming the familiar rush of combat. It was jarring, disorienting, and she couldn't even remember how she had gotten here.

The spinning in her skull was interrupted by a sudden force that collided with her face and snapped her head back, pain rippling throughout her head as her Aura absorbed the impact. Pyrrha grit her teeth and reached out, ignoring the way her body wanted to pull away and instead moving in the direction of the attack.

Even if she felt confused and disorientated, combat was a familiar element to her, something that she had mastered. Still, the dull headache rocking her head was hard to not focus on, had she taken a blow to the head before now? Her sword made contact with her opponent as they let out a cry of pain. She took the chance to flip back and disengage, looking over her shoulder to check on her team.

The fight was going well, her team having the advantage in close combat, so long as they could avoid the sniper shots being fired at them. So long as they could keep up the pressure, their opponents would lose, outnumbered and out-matched, their hopes of victory rested upon their sniper.

Pyrrha turned to the tree line, bringing her shield up to block a bullet while zeroing in on where she had seen the shooter run off to. Actually, as she thought about it, she couldn't remember seeing her go there, she simply... knew.

She struggled to remember how she got here. The festival was... it had started last week, hadn't it? It had to have, she was standing in the arena after all. She remembered it distantly but... it felt like it had happened months ago, not days. Why couldn't she-

Her head ached and distracted her just as Brawnz jumped back in to attack her. She got her sword up in time to divert his fist to the side, moving her shield up to block his next attack when a thought struck her.

How had she known his name? She was fairly sure she'd never actually met him before and she couldn't remember them saying his name over the loudspeakers before the fight had started... In fact, the more she thought about it, she couldn't even remember stepping out onto the arena.

Her head throbbed as her opponent pushed forward, forcing her back. Pyrrha made no attempt to hold her ground, instead pulling back and allowing herself time to think.

Focus, she had to focus. Jaune had a plan for them to follow, she just had to... she couldn't remember. What had he said for them to do?

"Ren!" Nora cried out as her partner was electrocuted by Nolan.

Pyrrha turned to see Ren lying on his back, attempting to collect himself, while Nora moved to engage his opponent. She paused for a moment, taking the time to assure her teammates weren't in any danger, before her opponent was back on her.

She maneuvered herself to place Brawnz between her and the sniper as the crowds began to cheer. A moment later Professor Port's voice boomed out over the stadium, explaining her teammate's semblance as Nolan made his mistake.

It wasn't anything that she hadn't heard before and so she tuned it out, focusing on her own fight. A moment later, she stumbled forward as her thoughts caught up to her.

Had the professors ever talked about Nora's semblance before? As they spoke, Pyrrha had that familiar feeling of a lesson, one that had already been taught and was being repeated, like she had heard those exact words before, but... she'd never heard them talk about it before. Had she?

Pyrrha wasn't sure if the pain that went through her head was an attack or her headache, but it forced her back all the same. It also served as the reminder that they were in a fight, and that she didn't have the time to focus on her deja vu.