Cold.

It was all the being could feel. Mind numbing, chilling cold filled every fiber of its body… or did it? The being did not know if it was real or even had a body to begin with. All it knew was cold and darkness.

It could not remember the past nor understand the present. The being didn't know if it spent years or seconds in that state of cold and darkness.

Forever and ever.

Back!

The being paused.

Back!

The voice sounded again, stronger this time.

We need you back!

The being did not understand. Who were… we? Who was it that they needed it so much? The being did not want to go; the darkness was calling for it…

We need you back, Pyrrha Nikos!

Then she remembered everything with stunning clarity.

Her birth.

Her first step.

Her first word.

The first time she held a sword.

Her first victory.

The loneliness and alienation she felt.

Her trip to Beacon.

Her friends and comrades.

Her first and only love.

Her death.

Her destiny.

Your destiny is not over Pyrrha Nikos! The female quartet voice tore through the darkness filling it with blinding light and warmth.

Her name was Pyrrha Nikos!

A sensation came back to Pyrrha. For some reason she had a feeling that it was long time she felt it. She felt wet.

And smelly!

Pyrrha's eyes snapped open while she sat from her lying position. Looking around she saw that she was in some sort of back alley. It was filled with garbage cans, explaining why it smelt so bad. Not to mention a steady drizzle was falling from the grey sky, threatening to turn into a downpour.

"Where Am I?" Pyrrha wondered. The last thing she remembered was getting shoot in the chest by the fire arrow and then, nothing.

She slowly stood up, looking for some clue where she might be. But then she realized exactly what kind of last memory it was.

"Monty Almighty!" she exclaimed, realizing that her friends were in mortal danger! She ran out of the alley to what looked like a main street.

The people outside only spared her a fleeting glace before running to find some sort of shelter, but it was weird. Despite the rather large number of people, the street was way too silent, filled only with hush whispers and the sounds of feet splashing on the water.

"Excuse me?" she tried to ask, but was promptly ignored. Maybe she smelt of trash or something?

"What the hell happened to this city… for prostitute to walk on the streets? Where are the guards?"

Pyrrha overheard a voice.

Turning back, she saw an old woman looking straight at her, making her feel extremely self-conscious about her rather revealing battle outfit… that stood out like a sore thumb in a sea of grey and white the people wore.

Feeling her cheeks heat up, she moved down the street trying to find anything that could help her. But she could not recognize the city or the Kingdom she was in at all. She had seen all of them, yet this city was like a mix up of every single one.

High-tech towers of Atlas reached the skies, large open parks native to Vacuo, the grand columns and sculptures of her beloved Mistral, and the cameral and cozy buildings of Vale.

Everything in one.

Madness.

After a few minutes of strolling, she reached some sort of park, deserted due to the weather.

She felt cold.

Her clothes weren't exactly suited for this sort of weather and a shiver went down her spine. She saw a tree nearby and moved there to shield herself from the rain. She sat at the base of the trunk, wrapping her arms around her knees to keep as much warmth as possible to herself.

She hated being cold.

But to her dismay the rain seemed to get stronger as the temperature started to drop.

"Great," Pyrrha thought dryly. "Wonder what else will happen?"

As on cue, a single golden-red leaf fell from the tree, landing softly right next to her… but before Pyrrha could even manage to ponder on the irony of the situation, a harsh voice snapped her out of her musings.

"Hey you! Identify yourself!"

Pyrrha's head snapped up to see two… she wasn't really sure what they were. At first glance, they looked like Atlas soldiers but with way more high tech equipment with full white and yellow body armor. Not to mention rather vicious looking rifles. She slowly stood up, eyeing the soldiers. "Identify yourself!"

"My name is Pyrrha Nikos, a student of Beacon Academy," she replied.

The rain continued to fall as the silence stretched.

"Base, this is patrol 38-42, Belladonna Park; we got a…" the guard looked at Pyrrha's unkempt appearance. "Mentally retarded girl claiming that she's Pyrrha Nikos… no, she does not pose a threat… yes we'll bring her in for questioning."

That comment put Pyrrha's on full alert.

"You need to come with us girl." the guards begin to approach her.

"Where will you take me?" Pyrrha took a step back.

"To our department to ask you some questions… now will you come with us willingly or do we have to make you?"

She frowned. Pyrrha was cold, miserable, worried sick for her friends, and was called prostitute and retard in the span of an hour. Now some guy was threatening her… bad move on his part. Pyrrha took a defensive stance.

Even with the plate mask on, she could see his irritated expression.

"Not a single boring day…" he aimed his rifle at her. "Change it to stun mode."

"Yes sir!" the second guard replied.

"Last chance girl, stand down and you won't be harmed." Pyrrha remained adamant. "Your choice…"

But before they managed to take a shot, their rifles flew out of their hands and turned on them.

"What the hell is that!?" the second guard exclaimed.

"Base this is patrol 38-42 we have a rouge hunter here, I repeat, we have a… gyah!" he screamed as a dust powered shot hit his chest. The armor took the burst of the damage, but it gave him a good scare.

"Now you will answer MY questions!" Pyrrha said gravely.

"If you think you can scare us–" the guard couldn't finish as Pyrrha took control of his arm and lifted him into the air before slamming him harshly to the ground.

"I can crush this armor with you in it…." she left the sentence hanging. "So where am I?" she addressed the second guard who somehow managed to make his whole armor tremble.

"You're in the Capital City of Remnant Protectorate, Nikosia!"

"The what? Never heard of it?" Pyrrha replied puzzled. "Where is this Protectorate?"

"What?" the guard replied dumbly.

"I asked where this Protectorate is located, in which Kingdom?" she clarified.

"Err… there are no Kingdoms anymore, only the Protectorate… we united the whole world of Remnant."

Pyrrha mouth hung agape.

'How is this possible?!' she thought with a growing panic. "H-How long has this Protectorate exist?"

This time even the plate mask gave the impression… are you retarded?

"We're at the eve of the 10th anniversary…" he replied carefully.

Pyrrha gulped, feeling a cold sweat slide down her back.

"What year it is?"

"2036."

Pyrrha felt like someone just hit her with a hammer. She's been gone for twenty long years… she dropped her semblance, making the rifles hit the ground with a thud. And then she took a step back, shaking her head, then another and another until she hit the trunk.

"No, no, no, it's not possible! No, no…" she chanted in denial, ignoring the fact that the second guard stood up. Yet he made no moves to get his weapon as he looked at the mumbling girl seemingly in awe.

The other guard just tapped his temple a few times, then the air was pierced by a loud wail.

"Finally, backup…" the guard mumbled, waking Pyrrha from her stupor.

Her eyes widened at the sight of oncoming ships. She took off with speed she shouldn't have achieved in high heels.

"Suspect, cease your actions or we will use lethal force! I repeat, stop running or we will shoot you!"

Pyrrha turned back, seeing three ships on her tail.

"Damn… what will I… yes?!" She saw a part where threes trees grew more thickly and turned there.

"This is your last warning!"

The tree line was almost there.

"Fi–!"

BOOOOM!

Pyrrha's head snapped back as loud explosion ripped through the air. One of the ships was hit and was currently falling down in flames.

"YAHOOOOOOOO!" A shot somehow managed to out sound the explosion. "Take that you bastards!"

The owner of this extraordinary loud and brash voice had a really large shit-eating grin on his head. The boy looked to be about Pyrrha's age with bright orange hair and pink eyes. He was quite tall and was well built. He wore a green army vest with white T-shirt under it with army style Moro pants and heavy black military boots.

In his hands was a disturbingly familiar grenade launcher.

"BOOM TIME!" he shot again, taking down a second ship. Seeing the swift defeat of its comrades the crew of the third one decided to retreat. "HEY! COME BACK HERE!" He shouted after them.

He was about to give chase when suddenly a girl materialized behind him and whacked his head with well-placed chop.

"Who told you that you can go?" she spoke with calm, stoic voice. She had a shoulder length raven hair with streak of pink in them. Her posture was rather lithe but every move she made was filled with grate and fluidness. She wore a green traditional Chinese dress with images of twin dragons on the sides.

"Haven't you heard, there's a rouge hunter?!" the boy exclaimed. "I mean, how many of them are left besides of us!?"

"Hadn't the fact that it might be a trap cross your mind?" the calm façade was starting to strain.

"Yeah… but look, it wasn't!" he told her, pointing her finger at Pyrrha.

"Hello?" she gave a hesitant wave.

"What if it's a trap?" she pressed, giving Pyrrha a blank stare.

"I wouldn't mind being caught then," the boy replied, winking at her and making her blush.

"You're impossible… look, whoever you are–"

"Pyrrha Nikos."

"… right, we can't speak here… Pyrrha, we need to go to some safer place," she stated. "Now."

"Okay, I'll follow you." Pyrrha replied.

"Great! My name's Thor, this is my twin Xi, nice to meet you!" Thor said with a wide smile.

"Thor, we need to go now!" Xi urged as the sirens started to wail from multiple directions.

The trio took off with Xi on front, Pyrrha in the middle, while Thor took care of the rear… in more than one sense.

"Bow chika wow-wow," he uttered.

Pyrrha tried to not die from embarrassment this time. It was first time anyone made such comments about her.

After a few minutes of the chase with the guards on their tail, the trio ended up in some less than upstanding establishment filled with what Pyrrha could describe as scum of Remnant. The place didn't even seem that old but the stench of tobacco and alcohol and something Pyrrha didn't even want to think off really aged it.

But it didn't seem to faze the not-twins, even a bit. Pyrrha refused to call them twins! They had way too different personalizes that reminded her so much of her teammates.

"Come Pyrrha, we'll show you a special place." Thor said, moving into a bar. "Hey, Senior, give me two Grimm specials!"

"Coming!" A large, greying bearded man replied, inching his head to the right. Pyrrha followed the not-twins to the room on the right. Xi opened the doors and held it for her.

"Go in, she's waiting for you," she said curtly.

Pyrrha gave her thankful nod, wondering who that mysterious person was. She crossed the threshold to see… a magazine filled room with various kinds of bottles.

"Sorry."

Before Pyrrha managed to react, she felt a hit in the back of her head and then nothing but darkness.

For the second time today, Pyrrha opened her eyes, feeling miserable. Her head hurt, she could not move, and she was hungry and thirsty, all-in-all, a great wake up.

After a second, she realized that she couldn't see anything due to the bag over her eyes. She was sitting on some sort of chair and was bound to it.

'At least some things got explained.' she thought dryly.

"I see you woke up," Thor's voice startled her. "Whoa, easy there, we're not going to hurt you."

"You already did." Pyrrha shot back bitterly.

"Hehehe… sorry about that, but we can't take any risks nowadays," he replied sheepishly.

"What are you going to do with me?" Pyrrha finally asked.

"Like I said, nothing bad, my Dad just wants to speak with you," the boy told her.

"And if he doesn't like what I have to say?" she managed to ask without a tremble in her voice.

"We'll most likely drop you off somewhere in the city." he put his hand on her bare shoulder, making her flinch. "Look, we're not murderers; we're not going to kill you. We're not like those bastards, Protectors!"

Somehow Pyrrha believed him; he didn't seem like a bad person.

"Can I have some water? I'm parched."

"Sure, I thought you would like something to drink." Pyrrha heard the sound of running water. Then she felt the bag being moved up. "Here, drink slowly and stuff."

"Thank you," Pyrrha took a sip from the mug, quenching her thirst a bit. "Can I have another one?"

"Sure."

She downed it all too and asked for another and another.

"Damn girl, it looks like you haven't been drinking anything in days!" Thor commented with amusement.

"Make it years," Pyrrha replied after she was finally watered enough.

"… I'll pretend I get that… so what's your name?" he asked.

"I told you, it's Pyrrha Nikos."

"Awww, come on girl, I thought we were friends!" Thor pouted. Yes, she could hear him pout. "So maybe a first letter?"

Before Pyrrha managed to reply, she heard doors opening and two pairs of feet coming in.

"Son, I still need to speak with that girl, don't tire her out," a shockingly familiar voice reached Pyrrha's ears. True it was more manly and mature, but it held the same level of inner calmness and gentleness… and her chin started to tremble.

"I was just about to get her number dad! Give me five more minutes!"

"Thor, don't make me go through all the etiquette lessons with you aga–"

"Ren?" Pyrrha croaked, not able to hold in her emotions.

The room went deadly silent.

"Ren… is that really you?" she said again, desperate for any anchor of familiarity. "Please answer me!" She hated the pleading tone in her voice but she couldn't care less if it meant one of her old friends reuniting with her.

A sound of steps came close and the bag was slowly lifted from her head.

Pyrrha's green eyes met with the oh-so familiar pink ones.

Before her was standing her former teammate Lie Ren.

All twenty years older.

He was now much higher than she remembers with wide shoulders and a more manly face. Right now it was impossible to mistake him for a woman. But what grabbed Pyrrha's attention the most was a rugged scar going from his right temple thought the nose to the left cheek.

But it was really him no mistake on that part.

"Ren…" Pyrrha chocked, letting her tears fall freely. "It is you…" she sobbed quietly, feeling immense relief.

"Who are you?" the man asked coldly, making Pyrrha's head snap to look at him in disbelief.

"What do you mean Ren? It's me Pyrrha!" she said desperately.

"Pyrrha has been dead for twenty years now… I don't know what is going on here, but I advise you to stop playing now…" he said darkly. "You're tarnishing the memory of someone who was very close to me…"

"Dad…" Thor tried to intertwine, not remembering seeing his dad this pissed off in a really long time. Even Xi who was silent this whole time was looking at the scene with wide eyes.

"Silence!" he snapped harshly, making both of his children flinch.

"Ren... please believe me!" Pyrrha begged. "I don't know what is happening, but I woke up here today! I don't understand what is going on!" she felt like her heart was about to explode. She could see that her friend was trembling with anger, glaring at her with a fiery look in his eyes. "Please! You have to believe me! Don't you remember when we…" then the dam broke. Pyrrha started to babble every single little moment she could recall with team JNPR and Ren. Every minute they spent at Beacon, training, leaning, chilling out or listening to Yang's lame puns. Every small moment that Pyrrha treasured above all since she finally got the comrades and friends she craved so much for.

If her eyes weren't so full of tears, she would've seen the change that went on Ren's face.

The anger faded giving way to shock. Then came the disbelief and confusion and then…

"And… and …and... and…" Pyrrha tried to say something more, but nothing could come to her exhausted mind. She gritted her teeth, feeling all her hope go down in flames when suddenly a par of strong arms wrapped itself around her head.

"Hush… I believe you, I don't know how, but Monty almighty I believe you." Ren said, petting her head. He felt that tears were threatening to fall from his eyes too.

"Ren…Ren…" Pyrrha couldn't hug him so she did next best thing and pushed herself deeper in his embrace, sobbing freely.

Ren, seeing her bound hands, cut the ropes in a swift motion with his aura coated fingers, displaying his mastery over aura. With her hands free, Pyrrha fully embraced her old friend, burying her head in his chest.

While the two were embracing, they completely missed Thor running out of the room. About a minute later he was back but he wasn't alone.

With him was a short woman with bright orange hair, dressed in pink dress.

Nora Lie entered the scene looking almost exactly like twenty years ago with exception of having few more wrinkles but no one alive dared to point that out… not even Ren.

"Thor, honey, what's the ruku–?" she paused, seeing her husband hugging some other woman than her or her daughter. "I KNEW YOU WERE CHEATING ON ME!" she roared, charging at her traitorous husband, set to give him the divorce of his life.

But before Ren met his gruesome fate, Pyrrha moved her head up, locking eyes with the infuriated woman.

"N-Nora?" she uttered in a hoarse voice.

The orange haired woman stopped dead in her tracks with mouth agape and her fist mere centimeters from Ren's skull.

Her mind could not process what she was seeing now. The woman in Ren's eyes looked like a dirty, puffy-eyed version of Pyrrha Nikos… which was impossible.

Nora looked at Ren who cautiously moved her fist down for any sort of explanation. But she could see that he was as lost as her.

"Is she?" Nora dared to ask.

"I believe s–" he could not even finish as Nora crashed into both of them, wrapping her arms around in bone crushing hug.

"PYRRHA!" she exclaimed, lifting them with ease and spinning around. The amazon warrior could not hold out much longer and burst out laughing at the absurdity of the situation, returning the hug with all her strength. Nora started to laugh too, hugging her even tighter.

The only one who currently wasn't laughing was Ren who was fighting for every breath he took. After all, they were both ridiculously strong… too strong.

After a few minutes, they finally dropped the hug, saving him from certain death, and took in the sight, still not believing.

"But how?" Nora finally asked.

"I don't know…" Pyrrha said, wiping her eyes.

"The others need to hear of this." Ren said, "Thor, Xi, send a message that we're having an emergency meeting ASAP."

Both children bolted out of the room at once.

"C'mon, Pyr, we need to get you cleaned up." Nora said, taking her hand.

"But–"

"Apapa, no buts dear Missy, you have to listen to your elders, bath, food, bed, and tomorrow you will get all the answers." Nora said cheerfully.

"Just one question, please," Pyrrha said, making a face none of them could resist. "Is Jaune still alive?"

Ren and Nora shared a look.

"He is well," Ren said with a smile.

Pyrrha felt immense relief.

"Thank, Monty."

"Okay! Question time over!" Nora pushed her out of the room, leaving Ren alone.

'Tomorrow is going to be interesting.'

Next day at an undisclosed location

After a really long bath and good night rest, Pyrrha was taken for a flight out of the capitol of Protectorate. When she asked when they were going, she was given a very vague answer…

"You'll see!" Nora said, patting her arm.

The ship was small and maybe able to fit ten people at best, without any weapons whatsoever.

"Why is this ship not armed? What if the Grimms attack?" she asked.

"There are no Grimms within the borders of Protectorate." Ren replied, shocking her. "The Protector made sure of it, driving them to the point of extinction. Then the state passed a bill that banned the armed civilian vessels and now only the army can have such ships."

"Oh… but that's good, right? I mean no Grimm and all." Pyrrha said.

"There are some things worse than Grimm Pyr," Nora smiled sadly. "That's why we oppose it with all of our strength to protect the ones we love." She gave both of her children loving look, "Look out of the window, we're almost there…"

Pyrrha followed the instruction and gasped at the sight before her eyes. She saw a sea of ruins that used to be a city… the city of Vale.

She would never mistake the characteristic hilltop where the Beacon academy was placed… that along with the city lied in ruins, with one sole clock tower intact.

"No…" she moaned, feeling her stomach tie in knots. "The Academy…"

"Shortly after you…" Nora paused. "Went missing, it was taken over by the Grimm… but sometime later we managed to re-take it. And after we won the final battle between those responsible for all that happened in Vale… this was the cost of victory…"

Pyrrha looked at the sight in stunned silence, aside from the ruined building; the place was covered in crates of various kinds and sizes.

'Just what is the world?' she thought numbly as they landed near the base of the tower. They left the ship stepping onto cracked pavement.

The amazon looked around, trying to remember how the building used to look. But she quickly stopped that. It was too depressing to think about.

"Where are we going?" she finally asked.

"To our super-secret base located in the–" Nora began.

"The Vault…" Pyrrha finished for her. "Clever, not many people knew about it."

"Indeed, it survived the battle without sustaining much damage." Ren added as they reached the bottom to the tower. He pressed a random brick, revealing a hidden lift. They moved inside and rode down.

"Are you alright Pyrrha, you look pale?" Ren asked with concern.

"I'm fine… just some bad memories." she rubbed her neck uncomfortably. After a few minutes, the lift opened, revealing the familiar hall that was currently filled with people.

Men, women, and children were walking between the grand columns be it with food or some other stuff.

"Welcome to the Beacon!" Nora announced happily. "The last place on Remnant where freedom is… well… free!"

"Let's not keep the others waiting." Ren said, motioning them to come. "Thor, Xi, do your duties as usual."

The kids nodded and moved to do whatever they did around this place while Ren, Nora, and Pyrrha moved deeper into the hall. At some point they turned left and walked in a room with a round table and large screens above it.

Around that table were people that Pyrrha dearly hoped to see… but not all of them.

She instantly recognized Ruby with her signature red cape, she grew a bit and was now almost as tall as Pyrrha but aside from that, she hadn't changed much.

Next to her was her sister Yang. Pyrrha had to stifle a gasp at her appearance. She was missing her left hand and right leg replaced by artificial ones. She also wore an eye-patch on her left eye with a vertical scar going through her face. Not to mention that her hair was cut short, barely reaching her ears. She wore a combat vest with black fur around her neck, with simple shorts similar to what she used to wear during her time as a student of Beacon.

On the other side of the table with his feet on it was Sun. The monkey Faunus managed to put even more muscles and eared more than few ragged scars. His hair was now reaching way beyond the shoulders and was tied in a messy ponytail. He wore the same tattered jeans and as usual ditched the T-shirt in favor of white-sleeveless coat.

On his left was a man Pyrrha wasn't expecting to see.

Professor Ozpin… was sitting in a wheelchair. The man looked old, really old and tired with a net of wrinkles all over his face. His eyes were still sharp as ever, but she could clearly see the exhaustion in them. Not to mention that he seemed to have some sort of collar around his neck that made breathing sounds… his attire hadn't changed at all.

The same could be said about his companion namely one and only Glynda Goodwitch. Like Ozpin, her face was wrinkled and here hair greying matched his. But she looked relatively fine.

But Jaune wasn't among them…

"Well, I'll be damned…" Yang spoke first. "Here I thought you were pulling a quick one on me." she stood up and walked to embrace Pyrrha. "Long time no see P-money."

"Yang," Pyrrha said, sizing her up. "You've changed…"

"Ha! I wish I could say the same about you, but, well, you are kind of stale."

"Never mind, you haven't changed at all," Pyrrha replied but couldn't stop herself from smiling. She was about to say more but was almost tackled to the ground by a blur of red.

"PYRRHA!" Ruby exclaimed happily. "I can't believe it's really you!"

"You believe that I am me, just like that?" she asked slightly surprised.

"Ren said you're ok and people can't lie to him, so yeah." she smiled, taking in the sight. "You look exactly like those twenty years ago."

"Yes… I'm still confused about that too," she replied, retuning the hug.

"Well now I have seen everything, people coming back from the dead." Sun stated, patting her arm. "Good to see you back, champion."

"Likewise, Sun."

She turned to the last pair.

"Professors," she nodded politely.

"Just Ozpin and Glynda Ms. Nikos," Glynda said, returning the nod. She leaned to the Ozpin to listen to what he was saying. "Ozpin welcomes you back in the world of living; he has many questions about that."

"I'm afraid I don't have many answers." Pyrrha told them. "But I too have many questions… just what happened to Vale? What is this Protectorate? What happened after my death? And…." she paused, biting her lip. "Where is Jaune?"

For few moments no one spoke as they exchanged looks.

"Turn on the TV and you will know…" Sun said gravely.

The screens exploded with white light, slightly blinding her.

"Sorry about that, we're still trying to work on brightness on this junk." Yang said.

"Citizens of Protectorate!" a familiar voice sounded from the TV. Pyrrha looked up at the screed actually gasping this time.

Weiss Schnee dressed in a slightly altered Atlas military uniform stood at the podium at full attention. Behind her were lines of armored soldiers holding banners with two bent golden lines on them

"Fifteen years ago the world was at the brink of destruction as the Grimm Witch Salem almost brought the calamity upon us. But at our darkest hour, legions of heroes rose up to fight and defeat the Great Evil… and many paid the ultimate price for it." She paused for the drama effect, "Yet their sacrifice wasn't in vain! We rose from the ashes stronger and more unified than ever! With each year the number of Grimm is decreasing until one day they will be gone forever!"

The crowds cheered, filling the room with their shouts.

"But that wouldn't be possible without the leadership and courage of one man. The man that led our forces into the final battle and slain the Witch himself… Ladies and gentleman! Let us welcome the savior of the world! The Protector!" Weiss announced.

A moment later, the figure walked into the camera lens.

The man was tall with broad shoulders, wearing a high tech white armor with a white cape on it. His blonde hair was neatly combed and his blue eyes seemed to pierce even from behind the screen. The man projected authority and power as the crowd roared as he reached the podium.

Pyrrha's mind turned off at that moment. Her brain couldn't simply process what she was seeing.

" Jaune Arc, the Great Protector of Remnant Protectorate…" Ruby said with a very uncharacteristic glare. "…our enemy."

A/N

Well let's see how it goes...