Chapter Text

'Hello?'

Ruby shot up from her bed, a cold sweat washing over her. Why was she hearing Pyrrha’s voice in her head? Was this some kind of weird psychological thing from seeing her friend die?

'Is someone there?' Pyrrha’s voice echoed again, she felt a ghost of movement in her hand, like it was being held down by a sandbag, but in the opposite direction. 'Please help, I can’t move my body!'

'Pyrrha?' Ruby thought, desperately hoping that the ghost wasn’t going to answer back.

'Ruby? Is that you? What’s happening I can’t see you… or move my head, it’s like my body is moving on its own.' She sounded tired, and so far away, even as her voice began to quicken in panic. 'Did Cinder capture you? Is she in control of my body? What happened?

'Pyrrha! Calm down!' Ruby thought, kicking the covers off her bed and embracing the cold air of the cabin room that she was sharing with Nora. Thankfully Nora slept like a rock - a rock in the middle of an earthquake but a rock nonetheless.

'My body is moving on its own! Why’s Nora there? Is she safe? She looks safe? Ruby where are you?' Ruby sighed and walked towards the bathroom. She was really hoping this was just a dream and that when she looked in the mirror she would just see herself, sleep deprived and looking absolutely horrible.

But she didn’t see herself in the mirror. She didn’t have bright red hair, she didn’t have green eyes, she didn’t wear red and gold armor, and she wasn’t six feet tall. She wasn’t Pyrrha. Her hands still looked the same and so did her body, hair was still mostly black with a bit of red. She was still Ruby.

She was probably just tired, and depressed. Yes, that was it. She hadn’t slept because she was too sad about the recent attack and it was messing with her head about not being there in time to save a dear friend. That was it she was just feeling grief and seeing a figment of her imagination in the mirror.

Ruby pressed her palms into her eyes and blinked at the mirror one last time. Yep still there.

'Hello?' The formerly cheerful voice of Pyrrha echoed through her mind sending a shiver through her body that made her toes curl

“You’re hallucinating Ruby, that’s it yea.” Ruby blinked trying to make the image of Pyrrha go away. It didn’t work even with the lights on! That only made things worse!

'Ruby?' Pyrrha asked moving as though to pass through the mirror but was stopped by something. 'What’s happening? Why am I here? Why can I see myself in the mirror and see you looking at the mirror from the other side of the mirror.'

There was a pause that lasted ages. 'Why am I not dead?'

“You are,” Ruby reached out and touched the cold glass of the mirror. “I was too late, I couldn’t save you, cinder… she… she killed you.”

'So I’m a ghost?' Pyrrha gasped, one hand clutching at her heart while another braced against the mirror. Her green eyes were wide. 'Don’t panic Ruby, it’s okay I’m not haunting you I swear! It’s okay don’t panic, don’t panic!'

“I’m not panicking! You’re panicking!” Ruby whispered loudly, pointing a finger towards the mirror. This wasn’t making any sense whatsoever. “why are you panicking? You’re the ghost!”

'I can’t help it!' Pyrrha half squealed, she looked towards Ruby and let out of small whimper. 'I’m afraid of ghosts.'

Ruby whined and rested her head on the countertop. Either she was going insane, or Pyrrha’s ghost actually was haunting her and was now afraid of herself. This was going to make a lot of things really really awkward.

“So are you really Pyrrha or am I going crazy?” Ruby asked propping herself up to at least look the ghost of Pyrrha in the eye. Why was she the sane one right now? That was Pyrrha’s job! She was one of the levels headed ones, it was Ren to Nora, Blake to Yang, Weiss to her, Jaune to Pyrrha! She was not one of the level-headed ones!

Pyrrha took a few deep breaths and forced a pained smile. 'I am Pyrrha, at least I think I am,' She shook her head and stood taller, 'No, I am Pyrrha Ruby, you have to believe me. I… I just know that I am'

Well, she was certainly tall like Pyrrha was.

'Ruby? What happened… after I uh died.'

The was on the list of things she didn’t need right now. Right up there with a cup of extra caffeinated coffee without milk or sugar. How should she say this? Best to just blurt everything out. She took a deep breath and then. “Beacons gone Ozpin’s dead there’s a giant stone dragon on the clock tower because I have silver eyes Yang lost an arm Weiss went back to her parents Blake went somewhere so now me Ren Nora and Jaune are going to haven academy to try and find a lead on cinder and they left me in charge of the map and I have no idea what I’m doing!”

All of that came out as a massive jumble of words that even she had a hard time keeping track of.

Pyrrha blinked at her and then sighed a small smile on her face. ‘I see so everybody is still alive after I failed them.’

“You didn’t fail anybody Pyrrha, you did what you had to, we all did, I’m just sorry I couldn’t make it to you faster.” It had followed her everywhere she went the nagging notion that if she had spent less time worrying about Jaune and just went to help Pyrrha, then everything would have been so different. Cinder wouldn’t have escaped, Weiss wouldn’t have left, Pyrrha wouldn’t have died and who knows what else would have changed? “It’s all my fault Pyrrha, it’s my fault that you’re…”

‘Dead?’ Pyrrha asked hand braced against the glass waiting for Ruby to join her. ‘It’s not your fault Ruby, I was too weak, Ozpin told me to be careful fighting Cinder, that I still needed to learn how to use my new powers so no, it's not your fault. You did all you could, If anything I should be the one to apologize about Penny, she was your friend, and I should have known… I just felt like I had to win I’m so sorry.’

Ruby let out a small laugh and smiled sadly at the mirror, “Well I guess you really are Pyrrha, I don’t think any other ghost would be as nice as you.”

Pyrrha returned the smile, ‘Thank you Ruby, but for the record, I have no idea why I’m… inside of your head, this is so weird.’

“Well, maybe we need to resolve some stuff for you so that you can pass on peacefully, like in the stories.” Ruby shivered, recalling many sleepless nights after one of Yang’s horrible ghost stories. There were just something that shouldn’t be done to a hyperactive six-year-old while their father was away!

‘Well… there is the not being able to save everyone and stopping cinder.’

“That one might take a while, is there something else? Like you stole someone’s cookies but you felt super guilty about it and now you can’t live with yourself - sorry bad phrasing - because you can’t tell them because if you did they might hate you!” Ruby almost shouted she was out of breath by the time she finished and was staring an amused Pyrrha in the mirror.

‘Is that from personal experience?’

“No…. maybe… don’t tell Weiss!”

There was a knock on the door. “Ruby? You okay in there?”

It was Jaune, she heard Pyrrha gasp, and her own heart felt like it was using her semblance while her body remained perfectly still. “Oh umm, I’m fine, say you wouldn’t happen to be seeing any ghosts would you?”

‘Ruby!’ Pyrrha whispered through her ghostly teeth, though the sound was once again coming from inside her mind. ‘You can’t tell Jaune about me you can’t’

“Why?” Ruby asked, she took a look back at the mirror and saw it devoid of Pyrrha. Weird.

“Ghost? Why what? Did you fall in or something? I’m coming in okay?” Jaune sounded awake, more awake than he should be at this time of night. The door opened and in walked her stupidly tall blond friend that wasn’t dressed in his PJs, sweat was pouring down his brow and Crocea Mors rested on his arm. “What are you doing?”

‘Can he see me? Please don’t tell me he can see me! Ruby, you have to hide me!’ Great the ghost in her mind was panicking again.

“Oh, hey there Jaune, I just couldn’t go the sleep,” she laughed scratching the back of her head, she needed an excuse, something believable! “I guess I’m going a little crazy after everything that happened so I decided to talk to the voices… that are inside my head…. In the bathroom….”

‘Ruby!’ Pyrrha whined, ‘Don’t tell him the truth like that!

‘My bad sorry!’ Ruby wanted to say but kept her mouth shut.

‘It’s okay, just laugh like you’re joking’

Thankfully just thinking to herself would let Pyrrha hear her, that was going to make her look slightly less crazy after all crazy people talking to themselves, but most normal people actually thought to themselves. Well, maybe not Jaune.

“Oh,” Jaune slumped, and scratched the back of his head before he leaned against the door frame. “You couldn’t sleep either?”

“Not really no, I managed to get some sleep.” She looked at him closely, his clothes were dirty, and there was fresh mud on his boots. “Were you outside just now?”

“Yea,” Jaune lifted an arm weekly, “Since I couldn’t sleep I thought I should train, ya know, just hoping it was more productive than just laying there. That and it would make me more tired.”

“Don’t wear yourself out Jaune, we still need our fearless leader in the morning.” Ruby hopped up on her ankles and smiled before she fell back down swaying slightly.

Jaune rolled his eyes at her, probably it was hard to tell in the dim moonlight. “Thanks, Ruby, come on I’ll make us some hot chocolate, maybe that will help us sleep.”

XXXX

Jaune was a hot chocolate god. Sure it was just the little packets, mixed with water and a bit of milk, and it had tiny bits of marshmallows in it. But it was still the best hot chocolate she had ever had. “You sure know how to make a hot chocolate.”

“Heh, thanks,” Jaune smiled holding his cup tight close. He took his first sip, while ruby was nearing the halfway point. “So, do you want to talk about it?”

She heard Pyrrha gasp someone inside of her mind. “Do you think it will help?”

“Who knows? But it probably wouldn’t hurt.” Jaune gave a laugh that sounded heartbreaking.

‘Oh Jaune,’ Pyrrha sighed.

“Well,” Ruby took another sip of her hot chocolate. At least this was good. “It still feels like all this shouldn’t have happened, like it's just a horrible nightmare and that I’m just waiting to wake up to having my team whole again and we’re all at beacon getting ready for our next year. But I know it’s not. What about you?”

“I feel the same honestly. But,” He scratched the back of his head. “There’s just one moment that I keep playing over and over and my mind, it’s been driving me crazy, and I well I regret not noticing sooner. It’s so obvious now that I think about it.”

“What is it?”

“It’s Pyrrha.” He smiled softly taking a long drink from his cup, enough to catch up to her. Ruby could feel the spirit clench inside of her mind, and her own heart began to pound in response. “Before she went off to die before she pushed me into the locker. She kissed me.”

“It’s been on my mind ever since, that I’ll never be able to kiss her again, it’s selfish I know, but I... “ He ran a hand through his greasy blond hair. “I realized that I loved her too late and that I won’t ever be able to tell her. That I’m an idiot and I love her.”

Ruby swallowed and pretended to drink her hot Chocolate despite her cup being empty. “Well, I’m sure that she had a feeling that you at least liked her.”

‘Jaune loved me?’ Pyrrha’s voice resonated with her body, sending a shiver down her spine.

‘You kissed Jaune?’ Ruby thought loudly. ‘Wait! You loved Jaune? This has unresolved love issue written all over it!’