Destiny No More

Chapter 20

Again.

Pyrrha lowered her borrowed blade, arm shaking from exhaustion as she fought to keep it leveled against her 'opponent'. The tree didn't look very intimidated but she didn't acknowledge it, the only thing she saw was the monster who planned to attack Beacon. Cinder was a monster, a real monster. Unlike the Grimm, she had a choice to do good or evil. The fact she chose to attack Amber, to attack her, because she desired the Maiden Powers only showed that. The Grimm were humanities enemies, but it was people like CInder who opened the gates to let them in.

Taking a deep, ragged breath she pointed the tip roughly at where she remembered the woman's throat to be. She had spent years training for tournaments, practicing and rehearsing multiple routines more times than she could possibly remember. That muscle memory had saved her life multiple times against Cinder in their short fight, but it had also hindered her in a way.

Pyrrha had always trained for arena fighting, friendly spars, and competitions where no real blood would be spilled. She had never trained for the express reason of killing someone before, and at another time in her life, such an act would have seemed horrifying to her. But now she understood why it had to be done, why she needed to be ready to kill. If she didn't have the strength to kill Cinder Fall, then thousands of people would die, including her, Beacon would fall and Cinder would win again. But even though Pyrrha knew that it had to be done, she could feel her stomach roll and her throat dry up each time she thought about killing anyone, even somebody as vile as Cinder.

Cinder was a monster, not just because of her motives, but also her sheer power and capability in a fight. Pyrrha had spent a lifetime honing her craft and body for fighting, and she had been so hopelessly outclassed that her defeat had been inevitable since the moment that she had set foot into the tower. As much as it hurt to realize it, her reluctance to kill had probably contributed substantially to that defeat, while Pyrrha had been fighting to defeat her opponent, Cinder had been fighting to kill hers.

It was one advantage that Pyrrha refused to give her again. When Cinder came for her, she would be prepared to end her life, she just had to be.

Pyrrha slashed out at neck level, closing her eyes and imagining her blade striking down her opponent. Killing her opponent. She could almost imagine the resistance, and the sound. It was sickening and she quickly opened her eyes, dispelling the illusion.

She felt her legs begin to buckle as she shifted her weight to compensate for the strike. Allowing her arm to fall to her side, Pyrrha allowed her body to collapse as it had been trying to do for the last hour. Sprawled out on the ground, breathing heavily and feeling her body ache, she was reminded of a simpler time. A time when her biggest worry had been getting Jaune to notice her. When she and him would spend hours on the roof of their dormitory training.

Pyrrha had hopped, and often fantasized, that he would notice her efforts for what they were. That he would finally ask her out, or kiss her, or just do something. Closing her eyes she could almost imagine it. Laying on the rooftop, Jaune doing the same only a few inches away from her. Both of them exhausted and hurting as they sat in each other's presence.

She had always wanted to say something in those moments, to use the silence to confess her feelings and be done with it. Sadly, she had been a coward and despite how much she enjoyed spending time with him, those moments of silence between them had always left her feeling vulnerable.

It was strange the things you missed when they were gone. That awkwardness had been painful at the time, her failure to be honest about her feelings, and yet now she wished she could experience it again because of what it entailed.