notinthestars | I saw you in a dream

Entry tags:

jaune arc : pyrrhic_paladin

I saw you in a dream

The dreams had been plaguing her for months. Every time Pyrrha closed her eyes, she was back there on that tower - and it's no surprise, really. It was expected, in their line of work, the trauma that comes along with staring evil in the face - but it doesn't make it hurt any less. She's already berated herself, over and over, for going to the top of that tower. For Jaune, charging in after her, and for...

Well. They already knew how that ended.

It's far past midnight, edging towards two or three AM, she's not sure. Pyrrha sighs quietly, setting down Akoúo from where she was sharpening it. She should sleep - they had a fair amount of ground to cover in the morning. As much as she dreaded what she knew would be waiting for her the moment she managed to sink in to sleep, her body needed the rest. She wouldn't be able to serve anybody if she was tired. ~~She hadn't been able to help the one person that mattered, she'd be damned if she was ever so useless, ever again.~~

Pyrrha lays down, her sleeping bag snug tight between Ren and Nora. It calmed her, being close to their breathing, the warmth on either side of her. Proof that they were alive, that they were still there - that they hadn't slipped just out of reach the way...

She falls asleep slowly, restlessly - but tonight feels different, somehow...

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It's the first time she's felt peaceful since the attack on Beacon. Maybe even before that, when she had to make the decision about whether or not to accept Ozpin's offer. Whether her duty really lie in that, or not. But whatever the case, here and now, her heart feels lighter than it has in months.

"I like your blush," Pyrrha chuckles, thumb brushing over the red. Alive, alive, alive, her mind wants to sing it, but her heart stutters with how impossible it is. Yet it feels so real. How can it feel so real, yet be so far out of reach? Pyrrha just smiles as Jaune says exactly what she wished he would say - she had absolutely no idea whether Jaune would have really returned her feelings or not. She thought, perhaps, he might, and this was just a reflection of that. So she says nothing, politely accepting his confession and not dwelling too much on how realistic it was. It was nice to hear, all the same.

"That fits you perfectly," She smiles, eyes searching his face, drinking in every moment. Her expression darkens just a little at the reminder of Haven - her mind was pulling things out of her conscious world, now, stark for details. Putting Jaune in the mix, what could have happened if he'd been there. No, instead Weiss had escaped grievously injured, and Pyrrha had pumped as much of her own aura into Weiss as she could spare just to keep her alive, until they could get help. The girl still had a brutal scar; it had taken weeks to fully heal. "...you always brought out the best in people. You lifted people up. You're a natural leader, Jaune."

"I like your armor," Pyrrha compliments, admiring the white-gold with the gold inlay. It's pretty, stylish yet dignified. Modern and not, at the same time. They were two of the only students to really wear proper armor; guess they had something of the same taste. "It suits you."

Jaune's own mind was definitely battling with the contradiction too. He knew Pyrrha was dead, yet this felt way too real to be a dram. Pyrrha was talking and acting like herself. This wasn't a rehearsed memory or some twisting of it. This was a new conversation.

After all Pyrrha certainly didn't make him blush like this before. She was never so honest with that particular feeling, enough so that he was blind to it. Others could see it and he did hate himself for missing it. However he didn't speak that out loud, dream or not he didn't want to weight the situation down more than he had to.

Her praise was nice, he soaked it up. Not out of some vanity, but because he had missed this. Pyrrha's words of encouragement that guided him. Jaune had started to feel like a capable enough Huntsman and Pyrrha was the reason he felt like he could achieve that. Without her he was certain he would have given up.

Then she brought up the armor. The compliment itself was nice, but he couldn't help but be reminded of what went into it. "You like it? I think it looks nice too. Ruby, Ren, Nora and I did a mission for a small village and the payment was for the local blacksmith to do these modifications. I..." he trailed off not sure if he should say this. He had been beating around this topic, but he decided to go for it.

"The metal here is what was left of your armor. It really helped boost the durability and... I wanted to feel close to you. I miss you so much." His hug tightened even more as if admitting her death would make her go away. That this happy dream would end and he'd have to wake to the reality she was dead again.

The nagging feeling that this is different is still there, subtle, tugging at her. Perhaps she'll ponder it in her waking hours - or maybe it will fade, just as this dream will fade, in time. She doesn't want it to, doesn't want it to end (but all good things, it seems, must).

No, Pyrrha was never forthright like this when Jaune was alive. It's perhaps one of the biggest regrets she'll ever have - or maybe not. Maybe it was better, to have had the moments that she did with him than to ruin it by being too candid. But here, like this, she has nothing to lose (there is nothing this dream can take away from her that isn't already gone).

Again, her dream conjures up details from her own travels, takes them and twists them into something better, something where Jaune is with them. She doesn't mention it, but - Jaune hesitates, and that's definitely weird. The weirdness comes into stark contrast when he explains about where the metal came from, and Pyrrha freezes a little as she tries to work it out.

"What was...left? What do you mean?" She has a sinking feeling about this, something that tastes like iron at the back of her throat and she doesn't like that at all, doesn't like where this implication is leading. His hug tightens and Pyrrha all but wills Jaune to stay - to stay here, with her, and to stay him, and not transform into some other vision, of someone she'd rather not meet, even in her dreams. She swallows, voice tight. "I miss you too, Jaune. More than...more than I could ever say."

Hearing her question him about what he meant was definitely strange. He decided to voice it "Even if this is all just my dream you should know that. Is this some way to help me cope or something?" It's all he can come up with in the moment. Something told him that wasn't quite right.

"Okay I'll say it just don't leave because I did, okay?" Even talking about it struck a fear in Jaune. His heart rate went up immediately. There was an intense worry that the moment he admitted to it all that this pleasant dream would go away. Still he reasoned Pyrrha would want him to push forward. Face his fears.

He spoke softly, still holding her in that tight embrace, "That night... our last night at Beacon. You went up that tower alone and you died. I couldn't do anything to even try to save you. I had to call on Weiss and Ruby. They came, but it was too late. I didn't ask Ruby to describe the details. That would be way too cruel to her. All I know is that only your armor was left."

Jaune refused to mention the name of Pyrrha's killer. That was too much even for him trying to be brave for Pyrrha. He would face her down in reality, but he didn't want this moment to be destroyed by her arrival.

"To help you cope? I don't - understand. This isn't..." Pyrrha wants to promise that she won't leave, but it dies in her throat. She can't promise that, has no control over when she'll wake up and this beautiful illusion will shatter. She can hear the confusion in his voice that echoes her own, and the fearful edge to his words - she really had been able to keep him pristine in her memory, hadn't she? It sounds too real, painfully real, and Pyrrha sucks in a breath staring at him as he says he'll explain.

And then he does, and god, she wishes he hadn't.

"Don't. Don't tell me that." Abruptly, Pyrrha doesn't want to hear any more. At least her brain is sparing her the details, because she can see it playing in ultra HD any time she wants - any time she closes her eyes, it's right there. She knows it must be for Ruby too but they...don't talk about it. They don't need to. It was a private kind of horror.

Pyrrha shakes her head, but really, her whole body is shaking, just slightly. She would pull away if it wouldn't hurt too much to move even an inch away from him. "Don't, Jaune. Please. Please." Her fingers ball into fists, pressing against Jaune's shoulders, and Pyrrha bows her head for a second to compose herself. "I can't bear it." She can't bear to hear his death replayed for her over again, like the strange version of events from her reality he'd been recounting so far, but with him in her place. Alive.

She wishes she had been the one to perish at the top of that tower. Pyrrha would gladly take it in a heartbeat. Take it and be grateful.

"Don't." Pyrrha whispers, shakily breathing out the receding panic. Only she would be able to have a panic attack in her dreams, honestly. Says enough about the state of her life nowadays. "...Okay?"

At first he was going to accept that his mind was helping him cope by making him admit Pyrrha was dead in the nicest way possible. Then suddenly nothing made sense. Pyrrha was hurting, he could hear it in her voice. He doesn't question it just yet, instead he sweeps her off her feet in an instant. He holds her like a princess and keeps her close.

"I'm sorry, we won't talk any more about that. Okay? Unless you want to I won't bring it up again. I don't like thinking about it either." He had only spoken about it because Pyrrha had asked.

Just to help ease her a along he presses warm kisses to her cheeks. It had felt nice when she had done it to him after all. He hoped it would help bring her back down. Nora cuddling with him had at least a marginal effect like that though it was only platonic in that case.

As he held her the gears in Jaune's head were turning. This Pyrrha was way too life-like to be a dream. The way she had just gone into a panic. It wasn't like he would have imagined Pyrrha at all, yet it was a very realistic reaction. Especially if...

"Pyrrha this is going to sound like a stupid question, but if I asked you whose dream this was what would your answer be?" What he was thinking was impossible, yet he had to hope. Something about this was way to uncommon to simply be nothing.

It’s a nice thought, isn’t it, that the grieving has the potential to become healthy, after a while. Pyrrha can’t help but wonder if this will hurt worse than the other dreams when she finally wakes up - as if the hole in her heart could get any bigger. Jaune’s reaction surprises her - he had never been so bold before, and it just proved that this version of his was the imaginary, grown up one. The one who’d had a chance to grow into himself. She’s tired of crying, but her throat still tightens reflexively.

“I don’t want to remember you that way,” Pyrrha says, so quiet it’s possible Jaune might not even hear her. The cuddling is nice, and as Jaune said, not unfamiliar. Team piles were more of a thing than ever - before, at Beacon, Nora had strongarmed them all into it with only mild complaining. As they grew more comfortable around each other, it was even nice. Nowadays, it was practically a necessity. A reminder that they were all still together - and a glaring reminder of the missing piece, but what could you do except hold each other tighter?

It is calming, and Pyrrha lets her fingers comb gently through Jaune’s hair, equally as soothing. It feels a little bit longer, though it’s hard for her to tell. She tilts her head to press her ear against Jaune’s chest, listening to his heartbeat and syncing her breathing with his. Far easier to calm that way. She’d had enough practice by now to know.

Of course Jaune would figure it out faster than she would - he had always been that way, inquisitive, an out-of-the-box thinker. Pyrrha was too trusting, and time and again the world came back at her to show her that. Team JNPR was without a leader, now, and between her, Nora, and Ren, they weren’t quite sure who could step up to the plate. If any of them could ever be half the leader Jaune was - the leader he was going to be.

“Mine. It’s my dream.” Her voice sounds faraway even to her, and Pyrrha lets her eyes refocus on Jaune’s expression, fingers still working down the nape of his neck. “I’m sorry, Jaune. I never meant for that to happen I - I’m sorry.”

It was just an instinct. The last thing he wanted was for Pyrrha to be upset. Having the same kind of panic attacks that he was. The same sleepless nights. Maybe those sleepless nights are what was making him entertain this.

So far though he was getting the responses he was expecting. He places a hand on Pyrrha's cheek to comfort her as she apologizes. He has some things in a similar vein to say, but he promised. Instead he focuses on the present situation.

"I would have said the same thing if you asked me that. I'm pretty sure this is my dream." It wasn't accusatory. Jaune's tone was the familiar one he had when he felt he was on to something.

"I've got a crazy theory, but I need you to answer some questions so we can test it. Where are you in Remnant right now and do you know the names of any of my relatives?" What he intended to get at was if she was in Argus as well, after all she didn't ask him about the train, but didn't know about his sister in the city. After all if he wasn't in the picture why would they stay at his sister's or even know she was in the city?

If these two things were true then he could tell her enough details that their next conversation would be one where Pyrrha knew for a fact this was real. Of course that meant he would be left wondering unless Pyrrha came up with something similar to tell him.

Pyrrha's just chalking it all up to her own mind, showing her what she wants to see, what she wants to feel. After all, anything else would be...well, Pyrrha is a lot of things, but she's not crazy. She knows she's not crazy. Right? It'd be her luck, at this point, to come this far and find out she's finally snapped.

"...what?" Coming down from her moment of panic, Jaune's words strike her as even more odd, and her eyebrows furrow together at his request. Answer questions - but what could he want to know that he already didn't, being in her head? This dream was so strange.

"We're in Argus." Pyrrha says slowly, gauging Jaune's reaction to the word. The question about his sister makes Pyrrha break eye contact, but she nods regardless. "I met one of your sisters. At - the memorial." They'd talked, and Pyrrha had taken her for tea. But no, they weren't staying with her. Pyrrha had friends from Sanctum they'd taken up with.

"I don't understand - how could you be dreaming? You're - " She sighs, steadying herself again, but it needs saying. "You're gone, Jaune. You're not real. This is all just a dream."

"It's a nice dream." Pyrrha leans her cheek into his hand, smiling sadly up at him. "But it is just a dream."

Jaune nodded. It'd be harder to come up with something Pyrrha didn't know, but he'd try. "Her full name is Saphron Cotta-Arc now. She's married to her wife Terra Cotta. They have a son named Adrian."

He tries thinking harder. Something Pyrrha wouldn't know. "Oh! She has a family picture up on her shelf at her home. We're all together my sisters all around me. I'm in pigtails." Embarrassing, but that's not the point right now.

Then came the obvious reality from Pyrrha, but Jaune shook his head. "Pyrrha think about it a second. I don't know about you, but I've never had a dream have a conversation like this with me before. We're both convinced we're real, that the other one is gone. So either one of our imaginations got really vivid suddenly or somehow we're both right."

"You don't have to do anything crazy. You just have to visit Saph. Talk with her and play with Adrian. If somehow I'm wrong and I'm fake then you can just chalk it up to your mind telling you that you should hang out with my sister more before going to Atlas with the lamp."

He holds her tight. "So just promise you'll do that for me and we don't have to have any more serious talk tonight. We can do whatever you want for as long as this lasts."

Again, details she either knew or could see herself imagining. Still, the nagging sensation persisted, and Pyrrha watched Jaune curiously. He didn't seem surprised, but then, he also seemed like he was trying to work something out - work out what this was? How this had happened? She's reluctant to believe that it could really be him...reluctant to get her hopes up, really.

"Pigtails?" Even if it's a detail her brain imagined, it makes Pyrrha smile. That's just so Jaune, honestly. Her fingers tighten against his shoulders, and she's not sure if she's testing whether or not he's real (he can't be...right? He can't be.)

"No, I haven't," She admits, biting her lower lip. She can't deny that this new, outside of the usual nightmares. "...but you understand how completely off the rails this sounds. I mean...Jaune, I. I saw it. I saw you..." She knows they literally just promised not to talk about it, but she wants him to understand. She knows there's nothing left, beyond a shadow of a doubt. So how can this be? "I can't say I'd be surprised if my imagination finally conjured this up."

"If what you're saying is real," Doubt colors her tone. "...then you've probably been having the same nightmares. Surely we're warranted a break, by now?"

Jaune's ask is not unreasonable, but Pyrrha frowns, discomforted by it. She had wanted to see Saphron again. Their talk had been brief, colored by grief, but Pyrrha had wanted to know more. All she had left of Jaune was his past, could you blame her?

He asks for a promise like it's fair - like she was ever able to deny him anything. Not in life, and certainly not in death. Pyrrha nods against his shoulder, letting out a quiet sigh. "I will. I promise. I'll visit her."

"Yeah my sisters forced me into them. They really liked playing with my hair for whatever reason." It was also embarrassing enough he's certain that he would have never told Pyrrha about it. So the only way he would know is if she had been in Saphron's home.

Hearing the sadness in Pyrrha's voice as she describes what she saw, it hurts. He would trade places with Pyrrha in a moment to save her life, but he's understanding more and more that leaves her with the same pain he feels. Still he wished Pyrrha could be there for her team.

He diverts from that sadness however. Wanting to uplift Pyrrha at least a little "I mean is it any crazier than a giant blue woman in a lamp that can stop time and can answer any question that's not about the future?" Jinn certainly leaves an impression.

The mention of nightmares has him hug Pyrrha just a bit tighter. "Yeah I get them too." he admitted this simply. It was part of the reason he was feeling like this had to be real. If this was one of his dreams then the rug would have been pulled out from under him by now.

Once she makes her promise he smiles bright. It was a good start. Hopefully this wouldn't be a one-off if his hunch was correct. Now it was his turn to fulfill his side of the promise "Thanks Pyrrha. Alright! No more serious talk, we're going to enjoy this break. So uh what you do want to do?" Honestly as far as getting Pyrrha back by some miracle he has only thought as far as holding her tight.

"I can't imagine why," Pyrrha jokes lightly, reaching up to run her fingers through his hair again, a soothing motion from his scalp down the back of his neck. She liked his hair - she'd always wanted to play with it, but never quite had the courage, before. She was too worried about respecting boundaries, of not letting Jaune know how she felt, in case it would harm their friendship.

And she would trade places with him, without question. It was her fault, the whole thing was her fault. These past few months without Jaune had felt like an eternity (and that's all they had - an eternity without each other).

That did get a laugh out of her, and she can't help her smile, raising an eyebrow at him. "Yes, it does sound rather ridiculous when you put it like that, doesn't it? And this whole business of this being humanity's second time around...it sounds like a conspiracy theory!"

Pyrrha rests a hand against Jaune's lower back, still just marveling at how real he felt in her arms. She knew she'd have to let go eventually, but all she could think about was not yet, not yet.

"I don't know how much of a break we'll get," Pyrrha admits, feeling for all the world like the time is passing too quickly. Who knew when they'd wake up? She knew they had to get up early tomorrow, to continue working on how to get to Atlas. On Pyrrha's foolhardy plan - it was so insane, she wasn't quite sure why she'd entertained it. Maybe being at the memorial had made her feel closer to Jaune - Jaune, ever the problem solver, who would consider something a bit reckless (well, this was a lot reckless) to see if it stuck. "Tell me about your sisters. You...didn't talk of them much." Here and there, and it never seemed to be from embarrassment - well, not embarrassment of them, but of how adorable he was as a kid.

((ooc: Going to kind of gloss over the family details since we don't know as much and I'm not sure if I can come up with something good enough on the fly.))

"Right? If the others hadn't told me about it I would have never believed it." Of course he had become angry when he first heard about it. It had felt like Pyrrha had died for nothing since they had no plan now. The task seemed insurmountable, but he realized after visiting her statue that he needed to fight like Pyrrha was still with them. To make this world better and make sure Beacon was never repeated.

Jaune nods about not knowing how long they would have. After all real or not this was still a dream which meant time would act funny. They may only have moments or it might last for a long stretch of time.

"Of course!" Jaune responds to her question. After all he never did talk about them. It was a simple request and would even lend credence when she realized everything he was say was true. "Well you already know Saphron..." and he goes and talks as much as she wants to hear. He described his sisters one after another. Most of his sisters are older than him. Only Saphron and himself left home. He talks about his studious sister who wore glasses. She was a bit rigid, but a good person overall. He talks about the mischievous twins and his tom-boy sister who loves camping. He really would go on for as long as Pyrrha would want to hear.

[ooc: All good! Kind of figured we could have them wake up in a minute so Pyrrha can get her proof that it's real, and then they can start figuring it out in earnest?]

Where Jaune's first reaction was anger, Pyrrha only saw grief, and exhaustion. They were all so tired, and they'd come so far, and yet it still seemed to amount to nothing, over and over again. If Salem couldn't be killed...what hope had they of stopping her? Reasoning with her? She was too powerful to be contained, to evil to be allowed to walk free - what was there to do?

Pyrrha had, unsurprisingly, found the same strength from the memorial, from meeting Jaune's sister. She knew her leader would never have given up, no matter the odds. That he'd fight to the last (in her world, he had), impossible or not.

And maybe he was still with her, and her with him. Maybe that's what this was. Stranger things had definitely happened.

Jaune paints a bright picture for her, of him and his family. It's wonderful, really, and she laughs at the antics, asks all the questions she never got the chance to before. Real or not, this is most certainly a gift. He has the same light in his eyes that she saw in Saphron's - perhaps it was an Arc thing, or perhaps Jaune just took after his sisters. "You love them very much."

((ooc: Sounds about right. Feel free to do that in your next tag ^^))

Jaune answered everything freely. Even things that embarrassed him. Pyrrha deserved to hear it all. To know everything there was to know. If he was gone in her world he wanted her to have as much as possible. Especially because he couldn't be absolutely certain this would happen again. He hoped, prayed, that this wasn't a one-off. If it was though he wanted her to have one last good conversation with him and vice-versa. It'd make things sting less.

He blushes a bit in embarrassment as she points out the obvious fact that he did love his family. "Yeah I do. We might not always get along, but they're still my sisters." He gives a comedic pointed look "Don't go telling them I said anything mushy like that though, they can smell weakness." Of course he just meant it as a joke.

"So anything else you want to know? I'm an open book," he had no reason to hide anything from her anymore and really he wanted to indulge Pyrrha as much as he could given the temporary nature of this reunion.

Pyrrha encourages the steady stream of answers, and this might be the most in depth they've talked about something. Their friendship was deep and meaningful, don't get her wrong, but they were never truly candid with each other. There were walls they had yet to break down (walls that would have come down in time, perhaps), walls Pyrrha herself had erected because if she didn't, her feelings would be too apparent. But none of that matters now, to either of them, shame a distant memory in the rearview mirror.

If it was a one-off, it was going to be a damn good one, that was for sure. Pyrrha hadn't felt this relaxed, this happy in months, and it's a welcome reprieve, no matter what she was going back to.

"I won't tell a soul," Pyrrha promises with another soft laugh, eyes glittering. Yes, she can only imagine the spitfire family he's painting, and she can easily tell that Jaune would be able to handle all of it. The patient (and occasionally not-so-patient) little brother, who just wanted to make his sisters happy. Even if that meant getting his hair braided, or learning to dance.

So many things, Pyrrha doesn't say, brushing her hair back over her shoulder. She opens her mouth to respond, but then she feels it - she feels the dream beginning to dissipate. She can feel the fabric of her sleeping back, and she struggles to keep Jaune's face in focus. She's sure the panic shows in her eyes, but she doesn't care - she doesn't want to leave, doesn't want to wake up. "Jaune, I think - "

And then it's over, just as suddenly, as Pyrrha can't seem to grasp the vestiges of the dream. It slips right out of her fingers, out of her head, as the morning light filtering in through the window hits her just so, across her eyelids. She can feel the tears watering behind her eyes, trying to hold on to the hazy memory of Jaune's face, the sound of his voice, but she can't.

Waking up crying is nothing new.

The dream begins to fade and while Jaune was convinced this was real it still sent a fear through him that she's fading. He tries to find anything to say, but the dream fades and all he can muster is a reassuring smile as he disappears from view.

Jaune wakes with a start, like he does most nights. However he's full of adrenaline for a different reason. He's convinced what he saw was more than a simple dream. However he knew he couldn't just rely on his memory of it to get all the details correct. So immediately he pulls out his scroll and starts to write notes. He wrote down everything that happened as he remembered it.

There was something to this, but he couldn't tell the others. Not without some physical proof and right now he didn't want to open old wounds. So he would have to make plans on his own. The one thing he could do was invest in some sleeping pills. He has a theory, that Pyrrha and himself needed to be asleep at the same time. If he wanted to spare Pyrrha her nightmares he would have to go through his own to make sure he was asleep the whole night.

The rest of the morning passes in a haze. Ren and Nora can tell something's up with her, but Pyrrha doesn't want to talk about it (she hasn't for months, why start now?) and they don't push her. What would she even say? She could already envision the deep, aching sadness that would be reflected in their eyes if she told anyone, and that's the last thing she wants. She has enough of it, on her own.

Pyrrha visits the memorial again, this time on her own. It's not an individual statue, but four of equal height - one for each of the kingdoms, a fallen student to represent the losses suffered in Vale. Jaune's outline is unmistakeable, representing his home, Crocea Mors held up high. She can hear the promise she made echoing in her head, and Pyrrha sighs quietly to herself. Of course she would fulfill it. When had she not kept her promises?

The visit to Saphron is pleasant, and Adrian is utterly adorable. Pyrrha very much hopes Jaune got the chance to meet his nephew, but she doesn't ask for risk of bringing even more sorrow to the already typified meeting. Saphron tells her stories from Jaune's childhood, and Pyrrha returns the gesture in kind with tales of his antics at Beacon - the serenading of Weiss and the prank at the dance two incredible highlights that set Saphron laughing until she has tears in her eyes.

It's as Pyrrha is standing to leave, however, that she spots the picture on the bookshelf. It's just as Jaune described, all of his sisters and him, in the middle in pigtails. She can't quite wrap her brain around it - she knew that she couldn't have known that, so if that wasn't in her subconscious, how could she have guessed...?

Pyrrha ponders this all through dinner, and the planning that happens that night, with Ruby and the others. It's as she's sitting to go to bed that she truly has to wonder...was Jaune right? Was it...real?

Well, Pyrrha thought, staring down nervously at her sleeping bag. There's really only one way to find out.

Jaune would either appear again, or the nightmares would start over, but either way, she'd have to put her head on that pillow to know for sure.

Jaune's day was one of him subtly looking into any information he could on the topic of dreams. Which sadly wasn't much, as far as he could find from just local resources this was a one-off. He could only go by books however since he had no intentions of explaining this situation to anyone. Not for some time. He told himself this was real though, that there was no way it would be so real otherwise.

Then it came time to sleep. Jaune had already decided that even though he was sure Pyrrha had the same sleepless nights he had that he needed to go to bed early and stay asleep. He only took the necessary dose of sleeping pills, no more than that. He didn't want to harm himself, but it did mean he was going to go to sleep and stay asleep. This was something he was actually petrified of given that up until last night it had been this endless cycle of his mind tormenting itself over Pyrrha's death.

This was no different. Because he went to sleep far too early he was placed into one of his nightmares. Cinder, that demon of a woman, killing Pyrrha. Burning her to ash. There was nothing he could do, his limbs felt like they were held down by lead weights.

Thankfully that dream would fade out from his view and suddenly he's in front of Pyrrha. Despite this being a dream she would be able to see him sweating and his labored breathing. He does his best to cover for it by smiling at her.

"So? How'd it go? Was I right?" He was eager to move on from that nightmare to something far more positive. However he couldn't really shake entirely the signs of his panic over the nightmare.

Pyrrha was nervous to fall into another nightmare, but when she finally manages to toss and turn enough, to get comfortable enough to drift off to sleep (Nora's hand held firmly in her own, her leg tangled with Ren's; they knew she was having a rough day today, and god does she love them with everything she has left), it's not so. There's no nightmare, or if it is there, it fades distantly into the background without bothering her.

No, Pyrrha falls asleep and the swirling colors realign as Jaune comes into view again. Her relief is short-lived when she sees how ragged he looks - she has one guess as to what happened, and she's about 98% sure it's what she was just spared.

"Jaune," She's not fooled by the shaky smile he plasters on for her, and Pyrrha reaches out to him again, smoothing a hand against his cheek, one moving to card through damp hair. "Are you okay?" Neither of them are okay, especially if Jaune is real and experiencing exactly what she experienced, but all the same, she's asking. Offering what comfort she can.

"You were right," Pyrrha reassures him, hands dropping lightly to his, interlocking their fingers and squeezing, a grounding presence. "I don't know how, or why but...you were right."

"And your sister is wonderful," Pyrrha smiles, eyes still searching Jaune for signs of distress.

He immediately leans into the hand on his cheek. The physical touch helps bring him down just a bit. "Y-yeah I am now." Jaune tried to keep a brave face and leave it at that, but his expression falters in moments. He just couldn't keep anything from Pyrrha anymore.

"I wanted to test one more thing. I went to bed early, earlier than I thought you would." After all she likely had the same amount of insomnia as he did. "Turns out we both have to be asleep for this connection to work. Otherwise we have the same kinds of dreams we normally would." He'd let Pyrrha fill in the blanks on what his dreams these past months had entailed.

When she says he was right he smiles a little more genuinely though it maintained the edge of someone who had just exited a nightmare. "See? I told you. This is way too real to just be a dream."

Hearing what she had to say about his sister Jaune smiled "I'm glad she had somebody to talk to. It can't be easy for her." his tone was a little sullen on that last part. Of course, Saph was grieving in this Pyrrha's world. Her little brother was dead after all.

Not wanting to dwell on the negative he changed the topic "So now that you're convinced what do you want to do now that we've got a while before either of us wakes up?"

Pyrrha just strokes her thumb across Jaune's cheek for a moment, smiling sadly. She knows there's probably nothing she can say to make it better - nothing she can do to take it away. If there was, she'd do it in a heartbeat, but she's glad he's not going to great lengths to hide it - as if she wouldn't be able to recognize the same pain in other people.

"Jaune," Pyrrha's tone has a light note of reproach in it, the kind of tone you'd take with a child who knew they weren't really about to be punished. "You didn't need to do that to yourself. I...know what that's like." Her imagination doesn't have to stretch very far, but it hardly matters when Jaune looks so tormented by it. "...maybe we should decide on a time."

"It's too real to be a dream, but too bizarre to be real life." Pyrrha corrects with a soft snort, pulling him in to another hug. She smoothes her hands down his back, gentle and solid and warm, letting him feel that she was real. That she wasn't about to disintegrate into a million pieces.

Pyrrha doesn't tell him what he already knows - that his sister is suffering, likely his whole family is suffering a heartbreak she can barely fathom. If she felt this way, imagine what people who have had the pleasure of knowing him his entire life are feeling...

"I don't know I...how can this be? And...why? Why now? And how?" The last repetition is said with wonder, gratitude Pyrrha can't aim anywhere in particular except, perhaps, the gods, infused into it.

Being scolded by Pyrrha while not ideal oddly felt nice, but he let out a sigh. "I had a feeling you knew what it was like, which is why I had to test it. I didn't want you to have to go through a nightmare without reason." He was very willing to subject himself to it to keep her protected. "Yeah that's a good idea. Let's try to be asleep by 11 PM." It was a little on the late side, but it would mean they'd be sufficiently tired and wouldn't keep the other waiting for too long.

He lets out a laugh along with her "I mean everything's felt way too unreal. I mean all that stuff Jinn showed the others." Jaune practically melted into the touch just enjoying the moment.

"I don't know how it happened. I tried to figure it out, but I couldn't even find a fairy-tale that matched. There's only one thing I'm certain of. There is more than one Remnant. At least two we know for certain, but there might be more. The only obvious difference is you and me, so maybe that's why?" He shook his head "We don't know enough, but I've got a feeling this isn't going away."

As he held Pyrrha tight the gears in his mind started to turn. Something he had said started to settle. Finally forming an idea which was punctuated by him exclaiming "Right, Jinn!" the bright Jaune was totally back now, broken away from the anxiety of his nightmare.

"I remember team RWBY told me how Jinn showed them visions of the past like they were real. What if we could change how this dream looked like that too?" He considers this carefully. "I know, why don't you try imagining the room you're staying in right now?" he was going with the safest option he could possibly think of separated from any of their trauma.

"Of course I do." Pyrrha murmurs, tucking her face in between Jaune's shoulder and neck, just holding him. It's a miracle just to be able to do that, to let him know that he is loved and cared about so deeply. And if it helps banish the nightmare, but all means. "Neither should you." Pyrrha nods at his suggestion; it's a decent hour, tired enough to fall asleep but early enough to have a decent amount of time together.

"That's fair," Pyrrha smiles, amusement alight in her eyes despite all of the grave truth that Jinn had told them. It was kind of funny, if only in it's utter absurdity.

"I've never heard of such a thing." Pyrrha admitted, pulling back enough to look at Jaune quizzically when he mentioned more than one Remnant. "...I don't understand, how can that be? Are we the only difference? And if that's so...have we made other things different, by virtue of each of us surviving?"

She's glad to see he's banished the nightmare entirely, but for one wild, wheeling moment, she thinks he's going to suggest they ask Jinn. Pleasantly, that doesn't seem to be the case - Pyrrha has no idea how they'd go about that anyway, besides one of them stealing the lamp, which was bound to be trouble.

"Okay," Pyrrha says slowly, following Jaune's logic. This wasn't a vision of the past, however, but a vision of the present. Still, it was a dream, above all else - Pyrrha knew she was asleep. So at the very least, it was a lucid dream.

She closes her eyes to focus - imagine that, closing her eyes in a dream - and conjures up the room she's staying in. It's her friend Linnie's place, and Team JNPR was staying in the office, sardines on the floor. It's cramped, but it's better than staying outside - and it wasn't like they needed a lot of space anyway. The room materializes around them as Pyrrha wills it to - small, with a desk and bookshelves, and a pile of sleeping bags at their feet. There's one window that looks out to the sound, the Atlas base twinkling in the distance.

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