Memories Broken/Truth Unspoken Chapter 2(RWBY Fanfic with Slight SI Elements)

Chapter 2

“So we’re testing into this… Beacon Academy? And we’re supposed to get a Relic?”

Walking through the Emerald Forest whose name I still found hilariously redundant, I was passing the time by trying to shore up the gaps of memory with Pyrrha as my guide. I had asked a variety of questions pertinent to the situation at hand, a bit like 20 Questions.

Apparently, this was an Initiation. Made sense. Testing your aptitude to be a Hunter by dropping you into a forest filled with Grimm. I even found out why I was in the tree earlier. Apparently, we had gotten catapulted into the forest. How I survived without Aura, no idea, but Pyrrha is the best for saving my stupid ass.

Besides the Beowolf pack that I had solo-ed, Pyrrha and I had been cutting a swathe through any and all Grimm as we wandered about trying to find the pass condition for this test.

“Yes to both of those questions,” Pyrrha nodded with a smile. She was so nice, putting up with all my questions with so much patience.

…Kind of creepy. LIke it was a persona or something. I much preferred her panic and frustration when she was nagging at me to let her activate my aura earlier. I felt bad for doing that, but it also felt more… genuine? I don’t know. I’m not saying her crying is something I prefer, but her smile seems a bit too perfect.

“But we don’t know what the Relic looks like,” I commented, deciding to put my focus on dissecting a different issue. At this point, the Grimm had decided enough was enough and stopped bothering us. I kept a small bit of focus dedicated to keeping an eye out, but so was Pyrrha. Hence, me trying to pass the time by catching up on what I had forgotten.

Still smiling, she wobbled her head in a so-so manner, “We don’t know what the Relic looks like.”

Having gathered all this information, I came to one conclusion. “...I don’t think the teachers aren’t very good at their job.”

Pyrrha gasped, “How can you say that?”

Oof. Probably did a faux pas somewhere if I’m getting Pyrrha to grasp. Note to self, Beacon Academy is a premiere and respected institution. Apparently.

“For one,” I started explaining myself, “they failed to make the most important objective clear.”

“Well, I’m sure they have their reasons.”

“Not very good ones,” I scoffed, “If this was a retrieval mission to retrieve an important artifact, I’d have expected a description of some sort. A location to head to, types of materials to gather. Something like that. A pizza delivery guy gets more information on where to go than ‘you’ll know it when you see it’.”

Pyrrha raised a hand to object before pausing. Her face twisted in confusion when she found that she couldn’t fault my logic.

Nodding in satisfaction, I returned to trekking, holding a wayward branch out of the way for Pyrrha to pass under. Following after her, I continued explaining, “For two, they let me in.”

“Huh?” Pyrrha paused, turning around to face me, accidentally hitting my face with her tail. “Oh! Sorry!”

“It’s fine,” I said, completely honest and planning on how to get her to do it again. Being hit in the face by a fluffy tail was something I had always imagined (Presumably. Amnesia made things weirdly uncertain) and having it actually happened was amazing. Blinking the fur out of my eyes, I explained my logic, “If Aura is such a basic requirement for being a Hunter, then why did I have mine unactivated? That implies I’m a civilian or something”

“...Oh,” Pyrrha’s eyes widened, “ so you’re saying…”

“I may have cheated my way in?” I stroked my chin, “Most likely. Damn. Wish I could punt younger me now.”

“You have training though?” Pyrrha tried, “So you may have gotten in on recommendation?”

“Shouldn’t they have activated my Aura beforehand then?” I countered. If I was supposed to be here, which I firmly believe I was not, they should’ve activated my aura before tossing me into Initiation.

Pyrrha opened and closed her mouth, her usual smile only turning into a concerned frown as she fully comprehended how fucked up this was. Kind of shocking, but it made sense. This was a dangerous job, to hunt that which hunted us. If you didn’t have the bare minimum, you died.

The bit where you died in the testing process to be trained was… a bit of a contradiction, but eh. Incompetence had to be introduced somewhere here.

“This only adds credence to my thesis statement that the teachers are shit at their jobs,” I nodded. Having explained myself to my satisfaction, I set my focus back to passing Initiation. Since I was already here, I might as well finish.

Now the question is where could the relics be? We’ve been hiking through this forest for an hour now. No trails, no hints, just green, emerald green, and I am getting pretty tempted to start cutting things down just to kill the monotony.

“Do you want to stop?” Pyrrha suddenly asked.

“Luv, you’d be left alone and fail this Initiation. Don’t we have to have partners for this?”

“But you have a concussion,” she replied, concerned. Always feels nice to have someone watching out for you, but I’m fine.

“But I’m still good enough to fight,” I matched her pace and patted her shoulder, “Live or die, I’ve dug my grave and damned if I’m not gonna claw my way out of it.”

“Don’t you mean lie in it?” she giggled.

“I’m not giving up just yet,” I shot back, miming finger-guns at her, “Least I can do is get you to pass this stupid examination with the least clear pass condition I’ve ever seen. Or remember.”

“Well, you do know how to fight…” Pyrrha said, more as if trying to convince herself of the wisdom of continuing to work with an amnesiac idiot such as myself.

Patting her shoulder again and heroically resisting the urge to pet her ears, I helped her convince herself, “Yup. Yup. Dad tossed me around enough that I can take a few hits. Hell, with my Aura finally activated, I can do a bit more than just take the hits.”

“...If you’re sure,” she sighed as we passed into a clearing sealed with a cliffside.

“I’m sure. We’re partners, aren’t we? Only right we help one another, innit?” I nodded. I then noticed that there were markings right outside a cave entrance. I pointed at them and asked, “Hey, think this is it? It’s got runes and etchings.”

“Huh, maybe?” Pyrrha leaned in to look them over and stroked her chin, an ear flicking in focus, “They did say we would know it when we see it,”

“Let’s check then.”

Together, we descended into the dark cave.

Spoilers. The giant scorpion in it was NOT the relic we were looking for..

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AN: This won't be expanded on any further, but this is what came out of the second version of this nebulous RWBY fanfic idea I had. Going to try this again, but with LARPing. Poke me on Discord to figure out my thought process.