A Wandering Soul - Reaper 3.8 (Patreon)

I had to stop myself from immediately frowning at Pyrrha's question.

Most people saw destiny as something owed to them in the future. A position they were supposed to inherit or claim. An achievement they would accomplish given they worked hard enough or were given enough time. A goal they would reach.

Something that would inevitably happen to them because that person believed it or was told by someone else that it would happen.

In that context, my destiny was to die.

I was a flawed creation that was released into the wild simply because my creator had determined I’d failed and thought dumping me out into the multiverse was better than just killing me then and there.

Considering he had flat out told me my destination was based on resonance rather than him specifically sending me somewhere, I was never expected to land somewhere capable of helping myself. I was free to live as I wanted while he went on to his next experiment but that didn’t change the fact my soul had been actively unraveling back then. Slowly, but if I’d landed on the wrong world there was a very real probability I would have died before I’d been capable of doing anything about that.

So no, I did not believe in destiny – that I had some grand Fate just waiting for me in the future.

But this wasn’t about me.

So I stomped down my first reaction and calmly replied, “Not particularly. Why do you ask?”

“I’ve always believed that destiny was something you build and achieve through effort. Not a fixed path or anything like that, I know people can change...” Pyrrha said, looking out over the city. “I thought I knew mine – that I was born to be a Huntress, to protect as many people as I can – but…” She trailed off.

I waited for a moment but it seemed like the redhead had gotten stuck in her thoughts.

“Isn’t that a bit of a contradiction?” I gently prodded when it was clear she didn’t know how to continue. “That destiny isn’t fixed, but you know yours?”

That startled a laugh out of Pyrrha. “I-I mean, maybe a little? I could have been a police officer, or an entertainer – used my fame to inspire others. But I always wanted to be a Huntress. That goal became my destiny because I kept working towards it. But now that I was offered something to help make that reality… I don’t know if that’s the path I want to choose.”

Ah. Ozpin must have told her about the Maidens and offered her the remains of the mantle they still had access to.

It made sense. Amber, the previous Fall Maiden, was dead even if her body hadn’t stopped breathing just yet.

I knew better than anyone that you couldn’t just tear chunks out of someone’s soul or stitch them together and expect things to be fine. There would be scarring, broken edges, and a whole host of other issues that even returning the Fall Maiden power wouldn’t fix. Because that wasn’t how the transfer worked.

From my metaknowledge I knew Maiden powers transferred either to the last person the previous host had in mind or to someone random if that person wasn’t compatible. From the brief opportunities I had to study Cinder, I could tell she wasn’t suffering the issues I’d expect from having an additional half a soul glued onto her own.

Granted, that could have been because of something Salem had done beyond just providing the parasite that allowed Cinder to steal part of the Fall Maiden power to begin with, but my gut was telling me it was more the nature of the power. It had to integrate with a completely new soul every time it was passed on. It made sense for it to do that safely. But integration wouldn’t fix injuries that were already there. It wasn’t designed to.

At best if the Maiden power was passed back to Amber in full, it would rejoin before the existing damage to her soul killed her and the power passed on again.

At worst, the remaining power would attempt to join its missing piece – tearing the second half out of her soul before rejoining the stolen part – and then attempting to merge with the ‘new’ host.

In other words, her soul would shred itself completely and kill her anyway.

Ozpin making the decision to pass the remaining power to a combat prodigy that was genuine in her desire to help people while they could instead of allowing it to go to Amber’s killer made sense.

It simply had no guarantee Pyrrha would be the same coming out the other side.

“Okay, only slightly vague and not concerning phrasing at all.” I hummed and leaned on the nearby railing. “I guess the bigger question is what are you looking for? Someone to tell you you should follow your dreams when given the chance, or someone to talk you out of something you don’t want to do but feel you have to?”

Pyrrha let out something between a huff and a laugh. “Can I say both?”

“If you want.” I gave her a hopefully reassuring smile.

“What would you do?”

“If I was given a shortcut to my dreams, but taking it might change me?” I asked for clarity. At Pyrrha’s nod I shrugged. “I’d turn it down. Though admittedly that’s mostly because I don’t expect anyone to be able to hand me what I want. I also have enough going on without risking my life on a mostly experimental machine.”

Pyrrha looked at me. “You know about it? Then did you…?”

“Turn it down?” I finished her question. “No, Ozpin never offered. I wouldn’t take it either. I don’t need more power.”

I also didn’t need the potential complications from additional soul grafts.

“So you’re saying I should say no?”

“I’m saying you're at a crossroad. You have to choose what’s more important – having the strength to protect the people you care about, even if that means possibly losing yourself. Or not letting anything change who you are at the risk of not being able to protect them. I can’t answer that for you.” I said before giving her a serious look. “But if you want my opinion on it, I’ve never known someone I’d call a friend who felt grateful when someone they knew deliberately hurt themselves and they claimed it was to protect them.”

The two of us continued talking for a little bit after that, but it wasn’t long before Pyrrha made her excuses and left. There were still the one on one finals she needed to prepare for.

I couldn’t say what her decision was going to be for sure but I could say for certain that she felt more confident making it after our talk.

-o-

I watched with cold eyes as Yang Xiao Long apparently decided to attack Mercury Black completely unprovoked after their match to the horror of pretty much everyone watching.

It didn’t help that the stadium screens started replaying the final moment on a loop.

Mercury walking over to congratulate Yang on her win. The blonde firing a shotgun blast into his unprotected knee. And the joint violently twisting the wrong way under the attack. And then Yang standing surrounded by Atlesian Knights looking like she couldn’t understand why she was the bad guy in the situation. All of it captured in high definition video and being streamed all over the city.

Cinder had committed.

Which meant there was no point in letting her plan continue unimpeded anymore.

“Ready, Leona?”

“Yes, Mistress Alexandria.”

“Good because here they come.”

Two emergency medical personnel suddenly rounded the corner carrying a stretcher with a still complaining Mercury Black and his teammate, Emerald Sustrai, following close beside them.

I watched as Emerald’s eyes widened in surprise at my and Leona’s presence before something started pressing against my mental defences.

Her Semblance, I quickly determined before stepping in front of the orderlies and physically grabbing them to force them to stop.

“The medical rooms are back the other way.” I stated. “Where are you going?”

The orderlies shared a quick look. “We know, but this kid needs a proper hospital or his leg–”

“Please, Miss Cross!” Emerald jumped in. “Mercury looks really hurt. I know Beacon’s medical staff are good, but if we could just get him to the hospital…”

“If it's really that bad then there’s no time to delay.” Leona cut in just as easily. “We’ll need to stabilize him before he can be moved much further. You two, follow me. Miss Sustrai you can return to your other teammates.”

I watched as Emerald’s eyes flicked further down the hall and she seemed to debate with herself how to respond through what looked like the onset of a massive headache. “I- no, I have to stay with Mercury. But–”

“Then follow along. You two – move.” Leona spoke over her and pushed the two orderlies along.

The three of them started moving again, though the two stretcher carriers seemed unaware that Mercury had suddenly stopped complaining about his leg all of a sudden.

Emerald continued to look conflicted until it became clear they weren’t going to be able to salvage the situation.

“Sorry, Mercury. I’m going to go find Cinder. Then we’ll get this fixed.”

I watched dispassionately as the green-haired girl ran off down the direction the orderlies had originally been going.

While it would have been nice to take both of Cinder’s teammates out of action, I’d settle for one at the moment.

-o-

“In here.” Leona instructed, letting the two stretcher carriers drop Mercury off on an examination table before dismissing them.

Once it was just the three of us, I placed my hand on the door and started activating several of the spells I had prepared ahead of time for an occasion just like this. Blue-green lines traced themselves across the walls of the room, forming detailed symbols that would reinforce the thin walls of the medical room until they were as tough as armor plating.

When that was done I turned and was unsurprised to see Mercury had dropped his little act, though the damage to his right leg was still real and it was doubtful he’d be able to move at one hundred percent.

“So is this where you two get revenge for showing the city what kind of psychopath your little blonde student really is?” Mercury said snidely. “Because the light show makes me think you don’t have my best interests at heart.”

“You can drop the act, Mercury. Both of us know Yang was tricked into attacking because of Emerald’s Semblance.” I said coldly. “Your teammates also won’t be coming to your rescue, so let's stop with the taunts before you make this worse on yourself.”

“Not sure what to tell ya, teach. Seems to me like blondie just snapped, and no amount of posturing is going to get me to say otherwise. Especially without proof. Though I’m sure the VNN would love to hear that Beacon Academy was denying aid to a victim of their student unless they caved.”

I blinked at his response before I realised his misunderstanding though Leona was the one to clear it up.

“Mister Black, we aren’t detaining you because of what you and your teammate pulled in the stadium.” My apprentice said, deploying her Device in weapon mode. “We’re dealing with you because you are an agent of Salem.”

“Oh.” Mercury’s eyes widened before settling into a colder, more calculating gaze. “Then I guess that changes things.”

“No,” I replied as Kanshou and Bakuya settled into my hands. “It really doesn’t.”