Chapter 2:

To Monty's credit, when Pyrrha finally looked at herself in the mirror of the Bullhead's washroom, she did recognize herself. She had green eyes, she had red hair, and she was still relatively tall, even without her heeled boots. She also examined other parts and made sure that nothing else had changed. She was still a teenage girl through and through.

The first thing she realized was that her clothes were different. She wore no armor, and the colors of her telltale circlet was present in a simple hair clip with small green and gold beads that rocked back and forth on a simple thread. Instead, she was wearing a simple faded red hoodie on top of plain jeans. Rolling the sleeves and pant legs up, she was pleasantly pleased to know that at least some of her muscles had made the move with her. Her abs (a small factor of pride that she secretly enjoyed) weren't as toned as they were before, but they were certainly present to a degree.

And sneakers. Comfortable, wiggle-her-toes sneakers. While not a foreign article of clothing to her, she always relished the feel a tiny bit considering she often wore combat equipment. She looked and felt relatively normal.

However, it didn't make her return to life any less jarring. No more than two hours ago (at least it felt like two hours) she had been fighting her hardest and out of breath. And now she had just finished throwing up whatever remained from her lunch in the toilet of a Bullhead.

There was a knock on the door. "Hey, I know it was a rough flight for you, but you gotta go."

Ah, right. "S-Sorry," she recoiled from the mirror, giving herself one last check, "I'll be on my way." Opening the restroom, door, she spotted one of the staff walking away back towards the cockpit of the vessel. With another breath, she turned towards the exit and walked down the ramp into the light.

She was back at Beacon Academy again. Before the wreckage. Before the Vytal Tournament. Before she met Jaune. It really was as Monty said - a clean canvas.

"Oh, hey! You're that girl."

Pyrrha whipped around, a surprised smile on her lips. "Ruby?" What greeted her was indeed Ruby Rose, looking almost exactly the same as she remembered when all of the student hunters had gathered at the center of the Vytal Tournament platform, ready to fight the oncoming Grimm. There was what seemed to be a smoky smell emanating from her, however, and the tips of her dress looked just a little singed. Perhaps the crater story Yang had always told her was real.

But as she watched the girl's face morph from one of joviality to surprise, Pyrrha had realized her mistake. "Oh. How do you know my name?"

"Oh, I… um… " She was at a sudden loss for words as she became ramrod straight. This was not what she was prepared for. "I… uh…"

Why was this so hard?

Suddenly, the Bullhead began to take off, and the propelled air and dust caught their attention. Just before it fully lifted off, however, a side hatch opened and someone looked out at her.

"Hey you! You forgot this!"

A silhouetted bundle came out and Pyrrha, expecting it to be Miló and Akoúo̱, extended her hand to use her semblance to catch it. Strangely, however, they did not react to her power and instead she had to quickly shift her arms to catch it.

"Ooph!"

She nearly stumbled under its surprising weight. Since when was her weaponry so heavy? But as she scanned the package, she felt her face go white. This wasn't Miló and Akoúo̱, her shield and transforming weapon combo that had won her multiple tournament matches.

Instead, in her hands was Crocea Mors, Jaune's weapon. She had held it before, even given it a swing a few times when she was preparing to help train with Jaune to get a feel of what was possible for him at the time. But it seemed longer now, heavier even. She couldn't even recall if this was true, though, as she had never quite wielded the weapon herself.

But that still didn't change the fact that the shield didn't react to her semblance. She had used it before to help Jaune maneuver his shield during their field trip into Forever Fall. Why didn't it react to her now? Didn't she specifically ask to keep her semblance the same?

For the first time, and for what she imagined wouldn't be the last, Pyrrha began to question whether this was actually a good idea. With just as many new opportunities available at her fingertips, it became clear that there would be just as many questions. It did, however, save her from the awkward moment that had sprung up between Ruby and her.

"Oh, is that your weapon?" the young girl had run up in front of her, silver eyes clearly expressing a desire to touch and see it.

"Y-Yes, it's mine. It's very mine." She mentally slapped herself over how poorly she was phrasing things right now, but Ruby didn't seem to realize.

"Wow… can I see it?"

"S-Sure," Pyrrha nervously chuckled. Placing her hand on the grip of the sword, she gave a steady tug, feeling the weapon slide out of its sheath. It was hefty, but the grip was strong despite the age that Jaune had always mentioned. Then she slid it onto her arm and pressed a small button on the back, causing the sheath to expand into the shield with the yellow Arc symbol.

"Sword and shield," the little girl beamed. "Classical. I like it." Silver eyes fell upon her green ones. "Does it have a name?"

"Crocea Mors," she easily responded. Having heard the name so many times from Jaune, the words were easy to recall. With a little effort, she folded the shield away and sheathed the blade, letting the weapon hang from the side of her hip in the way her partner had done it.

But if Crocea Mors was here with her, did that mean that Jaune had her signature spear and shield? What would he look like? Would he be decorated in bronze and gold armors?

...Chiseled abs?

She bit her lip and blinked her eyes, forcing herself to stop.

"Oh, look at me," Ruby's voice brought her back to reality. "I'm so busy gushing over your weapon that I didn't even properly introduce myself." She swung her arm straight out and extended her hand to her. "I'm Ruby Rose, though I guess you already knew that. What's your name?"

She gave a smile at the little girl in return as she shook her hand. "Pyrrha Arc."

… What? She must not have said that right. Last time she checked her last name as Arc, not Nikos.

… Wait, did she just refer to herself with the last name of Arc instead of Nikos? In her own head?

... What? (Well, technically it was a possibility back in her old world she had pondered upon but she wasn't expecting a name change for several more years at least. But still, too early at this stage in life, and more importantly clearly not what she was expecting.)

"Oh, that's a pretty interesting name. Are you from Vale?"

No. Pyrrha was not from Vale. She was from Mistral, where she was the sole daughter of the Nikos family, whose training eventually led her to the arena life and she won four tournaments. She was now looking to enter a hunter academy and was accepted into her first choice of Beacon.

But that was not what left her lips.

"My father's from Vale, but my mother's Mistralian, so she gave me a Mistralian first name instead. I also have seven older brothers and none of them wanted the hunter lifestyle, so it fell onto me to carry on my father's legacy."

But what scared her was just how easy that false background fell from her lips. It was simply a modified version of Jaune's story. And yet as she thought back, trying to recall her own parents, she felt that she couldn't quite grasp their images, instead seeing another set of parents and multiple older brothers. Thankfully, her companion was none the wiser.

"Wow… that's a lot on your shoulders, huh?"

"Yeah…" Pyrrha quietly said to herself. "Yeah, it kinda is."

"So…" Ruby timidly swayed on her feet, "wanna be friends?"

Pyrrha felt a little taken back in spite of the strange surprise from her last name. Of course she would be friends with her, as she was friends with the spritely girl before. But she remembered that this wasn't the old Ruby, no matter how similar she seemed.

"I mean, my sister probably won't believe that I made friends with the girl that threw up all over her shoes but…" her face seem to fall a little, "she also kinda ditched me here." A lame sigh came from her lips. "And then I exploded."

Naturally, Pyrrha accepted. After vomiting on the ride over, being surprised with Jaune's weapons, and finding out that she had a different last name, any sense of normalcy was something she vehemently wanted to hang onto. Monty had warned her that things would be different but also promised that certain things would stay the same, and she was glad that Ruby was one of the constants.

The rest of the day had gone by plainly. Professor Goodwitch and Headmaster Ozpin had given their talks about what was expected of them as students as well was what they should expect tomorrow. Granted, Pyrrha already knew what tomorrow would carry - all students would be launched into the Emerald Forest, and from there they would need to obtain a relic with their teammate. And though it wasn't a guarantee, she had a feeling that there would be little reason to change the process.

No matter how much she assured herself, however, Pyrrha still dreaded the coming test. Yes, she still had some of her muscles as well as the basic knowledge of fighting Grimm. But in the short moment she had with Crocea Mors, she did not feel confident in her ability to use it. Both parts of the weapon were heavy in her arms, as if she had never lifted them before. And while of sturdy construction, the materials and shape were different from her own weapons. Even once she was able to control Crocea Mors with her semblance, it was going to maneuver differently from her old weapons.

And that was just the issue surrounding her weapon. She hadn't run into anyone else from JNPR or Weiss and Blake, meaning that they were all wildcards. And that wasn't even factoring in whether or not they would be on the same team. And she had already gotten onto Yang's bad side on the first day. Granted, Jaune had been able to deal with it in the end, but the blonde had certainly taken him through the wringer. Personally, she felt he had never quite fully left it and now Pyrrha was worried that it was her turn to experience all of the cheapshots that the girl would take.

As a result, her sleep was restless. She woke up more than once that night, but did her best to shrug it off. And when it was time to begin the actual day, Pyrrha found that she struggled to make it through changing and having a simple breakfast without yawning. Things improved a little as she made her way to the weapons locker, where Crocea Mors was stored.

As she fiddled around with it though, taking it in and out of the sheath and doing her best to come up with makeshift drills like her instructors had instilled in her, the weapon's weight was the most concerning factor for her. Miló and Akoúo̱ were light in comparison, and yet were just as sturdy as Crocea Mors. Perhaps the technological factor was too great, as Jaune had mentioned that the weapon had been passed down through his family.

If things got to the worst of it, she would have to adopt a new way to fight. The way she fought with Miló as a sword would not work with how she needed to wield this one. At the rate she was going, she may have to adopt a two-handed style of wielding. But then that would also mean that incorporating the shield was going to have to sit on the backburner.

And considering how she couldn't find any sort of armor in her baggage that came with her, Pyrrha was really starting to feel naked underneath her plain clothes. The only thing standing between her and the fangs of a Grimm was just her aura.

But all concerns she had left her mind when she heard a familiar voice - Jaune's voice.

She put the sword away. That could wait. She needed to see him. She didn't even fully register that he was in a conversation with someone else. Her only goal right now was to just eavesdrop and see if she could sneak a peek at him, to see how he had changed.

But instead of sneaking her way around the lockers, luck would have it that she would be placed right in front of Jaune and his conversation partner, Weiss as they turned the corner. In her shocked state, her mind acted on its own and her lips parted.

"Jaune?"

Her voice surprised him, and he slowly moved to look at her. But her eyes were already drifting over his body, drinking in everything about this Jaune and realizing that this one was very different than the one she had come to know. Whereas the old Jaune always seemed inseparable from his black sweater, this one wore a black leather longcoat that stopped just short of his knees. However, she felt herself beginning to sweat when she realized that the only things besides steel-toed boots were his blue jeans that seemed to hang just a little below his waist.

It wasn't a style that she was unfamiliar with, but she had a feeling that it was supposed to at least be accompanied by boxer shorts, which she had a feeling was something that was missing in his ensemble. But to his credit, he did have chiseled abs.

"Sorry," his voice was the same as before, but it carried a stronger tone, one that seemed to brim with more confidence than she was used to. It snapped her eyes back up to him. "Do I know you?"

"O-Oh, um…" Pyrrha nervously floundered. He must have realized that she was staring at everything about him and she could feel her cheeks beginning to flush a little red in embarrassment and okay she needed to just say something. But his question reminded her again that while she knew things about this world, about the characters, the events, and what would happen, the same was not for the others. She took a deep breath and her gaze fell to the floor. "Sorry. I… I guess..." she shook her head. "No. No, you don't."

He gave a small exhale, giving her a fast look over and Pyrrha felt almost naked. She wasn't used to Jaune simply staring at her. With a final nod, he moved past her, leaving her alone with a fuming Weiss.

"Good. Let's keep it that way."

A/N: Move over Cinder, it looks like our boy Jauney will be handling the sick burns from now on.

Anyway, I figured that since I had a bit of time to work on this story, it was a good opportunity to put in a chapter for this one. As I said earlier, we needed to see more things about and around Jaune to really get a direction of where this story is going, and to this I must confess something.

You know how I said I love Arkos? I still do, but this story isn't exactly going to be Arkos. It kind of is and it kind of isn't. What I have envisioned is more of an un-romance. Should this story continue, it would be a bit of a deconstruction of it. Why does Pyrrha feel drawn to Jaune in the first place? We know that part of what she found interesting about him was that he didn't approach her like she was untouchable, but rather as a person. And from there his good nature self kind of went and did its thing, winning her over relatively easily.

But what if the person who you fell in love with changes completely? It's something we see a lot, and in life you tend to realize that as time goes on the way a person loves another often changes slowly. Even romance changes. In our case, we have an entirely different Jaune that Pyrrha will be struggling to find a common ground that she shared with the other. It's kind of a 'death and mourning of Jaune' type of fic, so to speak, which is funny because it's Pyrrha who died.

So now with that out of the way, incorporating Jaune was actually kind of a struggle. I had his line planned out, but I needed a description of him that was both suave yet coming off as kind of an asshole. I was going to give him sunglasses too, but I think that might have been a little too much. And so I went with a familiar character that sort of screams lovable asshole - Dante from Devil May Cry 3. Except in here I expect Jaune to be a bit more of an asshole. I would have made him wear sunglasses indoors too, but I think that's too much, so we have this for now.

And then there's also the issue about not being as strong as she was before.

Anyway, reviews!

Solvdrage: I am sorry to disappoint in the Arkos department. I love it too, but I seem to have a habit of destroying the things I love. I think this is because the hurt makes me cherish it more.

Acerman: As you can see, a lot of things have changed, mostly focusing on Jaune and Pyrrha. It will mainly be just those two, though there are going to be other situations that Pyrrha will find herself in that are different than before.

Guest: I'm glad you like the dialogue! I've always felt it was one of my stronger points, though one of the things I did was actually read out the lines that the characters said. That probably helped a lot too.

sonalt: Yup, and as we can clearly see here Pyrrha has to deal with quite a few things before even having a chance to return to her former state of abilities. Hell, even the simple handling of Crocea Mors forces her to rethink how to fight. The idea is that she has clear weaknesses that she has to overcome. Not to mention that Pyrrha's semblance is MIA.

Anyway, hope you all enjoyed this chapter. Let me know how you feel about the general direction, and I'll see you all soon!

Beta'd by ImSoAwesome - his account's back, so hopefully things are gonna be okay.