The initial intent had been simple.
Trivial even.
Rio had wanted to speak with the Headmaster before returning to his room, nothing more. As for the reason, he had just wanted clarification on a few things. Chief among them, his placement in the singles bracket, and the tournament as a whole.
But also...
His enrollment.
Because as much as he appreciated how simple his 'acceptance' had been, that was just it.
It had been too simple.
Rio was curious what it meant for a prestigious academy like Beacon to have sped through what should have been a very complicated procedure.
It definitely had been back at Beltram.
Especially with his status as an orphan with no family or records to speak of.
Those were Rio's thoughts as the headmaster's tower-like office and elevator got closer and closer.
...Of course, all that was rendered moot when Rio saw Pyrrha Nikos head up the elevator instead. And it caused the white haired boy, who was in the pavilion directly across from it, to come to a stop.
Still; although plenty curious, Rio wasn't about to intrude. He was more than willing to wait until after whatever business the girl had with Ozpin was concluded.
So, with the elevator still within view, Rio quietly seated himself on a nearby bench.
And, whether he wanted to or not, he found himself once again looking up into the night sky, and the moon that resided there. Minutes passed.
But.
It was around that time that movement tugged at the corner of Rio's vision.
And.
That's when things started to turn strange.
From where Rio was, he saw Qrow Branwen meander towards the elevator.
And then shortly after, to Rio's only growing puzzlement, Glynda and Ironwood, as well. And it was only several minutes after that did the elevator start moving again, going back down to the ground floor.
Whatever Pyrrha had been needed for, and however those three were related to that business... it seemed to be concluded.
However, that turned out to be incorrect.
Because the doors didn't open.
With the light above signifying its use, the elevator had kept moving, and even though Rio couldn't suddenly see through walls...
He hadn't needed to.
Not when he could sense them.
Sense what was happening.
That being the five vibrant and unique magical energies that continued to go deeper and deeper, under the school.
There... wasn't a basement button on that elevator panel, Rio remembered. Nor, for that matter, had he ever heard anyone talk about the school having any underground areas.
An hidden area... that with Qrow, Glynda, Ironwood, and Ozpin's energy too... had taken a student to.
Rio lingered on the bench, and he did so for several very long moments.
Then, after a final beat of hesitation, along with a sigh that couldn't be helped, the white haired boy stood up and walked over.
Not to the elevator.
To the nearest restroom.
Meaning; as far as any cameras were concerned, a restroom he would not be seen leaving, and for a good while.
Stomach aches could be quite sudden, after all.
That said, now invisible, and cloaked from head to toe with the kind of garb he never thought he would have to wear again so soon, Rio returned to the elevator, and after a considering pause, opened it with his gloved hands, a feat that was trivially easy.
Naturally, the long dark vertical elevator shaft greeted him. After that, it had just been a matter of getting Aisha to scout ahead, so he could quietly travel downwards, and then into the considerably large corridor that existed at the very bottom.
And that was that.
Now, here Rio was, in this massive dimly lit hall, all by his lonesome, at first because he had been fueled by concern towards a classmate, an acquaintance, maybe even a friend... but now, it was to stew over the solemn request made to her.
Pyrrha Nikos.
Ozpin and the rest; they had chosen to trust her with a secret they had not wanted anyone else to know.
But... now someone else did.
Rio let out another breath, once again affixing his gaze to the unresponsive young woman in the glass pod.
With wheat-colored skin and brown hair, she looked like she could be in her twenties. Regardless, that made the difference all the clearer. That is, the look of silent agony that twisted what should have otherwise been a delicate beauty.
And it was agony.
The boy with the cloak, mask, and black hair could see that clear as day.
And if not through her face...
Then through her magical essence.
Or, the phenomenon of this world that closely resembled it. The phenomenon where people like Ruby, Yang, Glynda, and so many others... had so much that they were almost drowning in it.
Such was aura; a raging flame that always seemed like it was ready to start bursting at the seams. The colors differed; the size and potency did too, but it was always there. Even the unawakened civilians with their "locked" statuses.
In this world and his last, it made people incredibly easy to sense.
But.
That was exactly why the sight in front of Rio was so out of place, and why he didn't doubt Ozpin and the others in the slightest when he had said this girl... Amber... didn't have long.
Her aura, a color that should have been a bright yet pale yellow, instead phased in and out at irregular intervals, like a flickering streetlamp.
It was as if at any moment it could just decide to vanish entirely, and whatever remained of the girl's life along with it.
Rio continued to stare, his heart feeling as cold as the look probably on his face.
This continued for several long moments, and the silence that came about as a result was as vast as the room was large, and just as oppressive. Still, he didn't move, remaining as silent and still as a statue.
Then, the boy sighed.
It was a very deep and tired sigh. But, it also contained something else.
And with that, Rio moved.
One of his black gloved hands rose, and he lightly pressed it against the glass in front of him. Right above where the girl's chest was.
"Cura," he whispered.
The familiar green glow immediately made itself known, and it reflected off the translucent barrier, giving the brunette on the other side an ethereal glow.
This likely won't amount to anything.
Rio knew that.
This has nothing to do with me. This girl's fate, Pyrrha's, and Ozpin's too, it's all none of my business.
He knew that too.
Just like he also knew the arrogance behind it was astounding.
For him to think that he could accomplish what the collective might of two kingdoms could not? He wasn't sure there was a word for that level of hubris.
And then there was the feasibility itself.
Not many people seemed to know this in Rio's previous world, probably due how rare proficient healing magic users were, but... healing arts obviously couldn't fix everything.
They had clear limitations.
Even if he did use the full extent of his spirit arts, this wouldn't be like mending a broken bone, or closing a stab wound.
This girl, Amber...
It was her aura that was damaged. Her very soul, according to this world.
Any action from Rio would be like asking a mechanic to perform a surgeon's job, based solely on the premise that they were both professions that dealt in replacing faulty parts.
Looking at it like that, it made more sense for him to turn around and leave, forgetting this encounter ever happened, an encounter he had absolutely no business meddling in.
But.
Rio couldn't do that.
Because...
Rather than just writing off the person in front of him as dead, or as not his problem, he at the very least wanted to say he had tried to do something. Even if nothing comes of it. Even if he was just as likely to leave this underground tomb with more regrets.
And.
Well.
There was another reason.
Rio often had a certain thought; a cruel, fleeting, and delusional thought.
What if, somehow, someway, back when his mother was being strangled by that piece of trash, gasping for air, no doubt crying for help on the inside, even though she hadn't shown it...
What if someone had actually come to save her? What if someone had actually managed to arrive at that eleventh hour, like a hero, stopping that nightmare?
Wouldn't... that have been nice?
So.
I might not be that hero, and I could very well just be deluding myself... but that doesn't mean I can't try, right?
Cura's soft green light glowed amidst the dimly lit corridor, and it remained that way for some time.
That said... Rio wasn't very surprised when, going on five minutes, there was no visible effect, not from the girl, or even her ghastly aura.
Still, Rio brought another hand up to the glass. It was to cast a wordless strengthening on the girl, before continuing right where he left off with the healing arts, but now being cast with two hands, doubling the potency.
And he actually saw visual proof of the strengthening art taking effect and coating the girl's body, the first sign thus far that his arts were actually capable of reaching her, even through the life support container.
But Rio knew they would.
The reason lay in how his powers actually worked in the first place.
As Rio understood it, spirit arts brought about supernatural phenomena into the world... but this materialized via the imagination of the caster.
It was why there was no such thing as a set distance where someone needed to put their hands when healing a wound. Obviously, proximity helped, but what was even more crucial was the caster's degree of understanding of what they were healing.
By casting with a clear image of the structure of the body and its affliction, one would be able to effectively treat the most complex of injuries.
But...
Rio couldn't help but tilt his head. Even though he had strengthened her body, and was now effectively doubling up on his use of 'cura,' the even brighter glow in the room reflecting that... there was still not a single change from the sleeping girl.
Not even a flicker of one.
Rio frowned, not sure how to feel about the poignant disappointment he felt, despite already foreseeing this outcome.
Maybe... I should ask Aisha to help as well? Or, are healing arts just not enough in general? As expected, is the extent of the injury is too—
Rio suddenly paused.
...Wait.
Injury.
Injury?
Her... injury?
What... was this girl's injury?
Well, perhaps that was obvious...
It was her aura.
Masato, the avid gamer that the boy was, would have put it like this; the girl's aura looked like it had been hit with a curse debuff. A poisonous blight. That clearly wasn't normal, and had to be in some way connected to the state she was currently in.
But.
Was that truly the problem?
Or.
Was it actually...
Just an added symptom of it?
Stuck in tense contemplation, Rio thought back to what Ozpin had said.
Likely intentionally, the man's retelling for Pyrrha's benefit had been vague, and Rio wasn't there for all of it no doubt. But, what he had said was that this young woman had been ambushed, and by the time they managed to get someone over to her, the damage had already been done.
The damage.
...Damage.
Could it be...?
Rio's eyes slid to the girl's face.
And yet, this wasn't just to glance upon the mark imprinted there. His thoughts actually took on a more abstract route, but at the same time, was ridiculously more simple.
And it really was obvious, to the point where he wanted to kick himself for overcomplicating things in the first place.
Rio had been focusing on trying to heal some invisible injury, the entire body, or even something as ineffable as 'the soul'. But that was already backwards. It wasn't her being injured that made it so she couldn't wake up.
Her inability to wake up is the injury.
Rio had not practiced medicine in his previous life, so he wasn't an expert on the subject, but this girl was in a suspended state of unconsciousness. A coma. But... weren't comas caused by extreme stress to the brain?
Simply put...
Brain damage?
Now, whether this particular instance was due to an overload of pain, lack of oxygen and blood circulation, etc, Rio wasn't completely sure.
But as for comas in general, they were usually caused by the brain working at a sub-optimal output, and thus not able to keep up with all the body's necessary processes.
Processes... like aura.
Aura that can't do anything, because her brain, and thus her body, thinks she's dead.
Rio went deathly still for several long seconds, stopping his healing. Then, he started up again. No, he did so with just one hand this time. That was because with his other, he was casting a completely different art.
A spirit art that simulated consciousness.
Now, this was technically quite dangerous. After all, it wasn't that such a convenient spirit technique existed in his repertoire. No. Not when this skill's main use was for something else. Something far more destructive.
It interfered with the mind.
And yes, while that could be used to arouse someone's consciousness, it could also be used to further shatter both it and the brain to pieces, and with trivial ease.
Rio swallowed, and then in conjunction with his healing, cast this new art at the lowest possible output. But, rather than his hands hovering over the glass where the girl's chest was, he instead leveled them near her closed eyes and face...
In other words, her brain.
Rio worked, seconds ticking by. Then minutes. And then, several long minutes after that. But...
Nothing?
Unable to hide how discouraged he was this time, hands still flowing magical energy, the black haired boy's face fell and he sighed. Right. So I got ahead of myself after all—
The girl twitched.
Rio blinked, looking up.
And he didn't move for several seconds.
No... no.
He probably just imagined it, or blinked and got it wrong. Or maybe it was even a trick of the light. But... even though Rio told himself such things... he swallowed, his spirit arts tensely continuing.
And.
Not five seconds later.
A jerk.
A jerk and then a frighteningly low groan. A groan from someone that wasn't him.
"...You're kidding," Rio breathed out, eyes wide behind the mask.
Again, it was barely noticeable, but Rio wouldn't allow himself to say it didn't happen this time. She moved. She actually moved.
A slight inhale, then...
"Aisha. Please help me." He made that request in the empty room.
Even so, the response was immediate.
"Of course."
And just as instantaneously, someone appeared by his side, as if they had always been there.
"Please tell me what to do, Haruto," the pink haired girl said. Aisha's face was unexpressive, but he wouldn't dare mistake that calmness for indifference, not after this long.
Rio smiled appreciatively.
"You'll be the one healing from now on."
"Got it."
Just like that, Aisha instantly placed her hands where Rio's had been, a familiar green lighting up the enclosed girl's face. Rio repositioned to do the exact same, but on the other side.
But instead of healing, he would be directing all his attention to the art that interfered with her consciousness.
ButI have to do it gradually though. Otherwise...
Rio took another breath, before silently casting the art anew.
...
...
...
Teeth grit, Amber used her staff to withstand her attacker's knife strikes, the sharp edges blurring through the air as they tried to earn biting blows to her dwindling aura.
The green haired figure with the blurry face was fast.
But that was all.
She only had speed on her side.
If Amber could just land a solid hit...
Like now.
A knife carved a deadly path to her face, but Amber neatly pushed it aside with her staff, before immediately taking advantage. Stepping in her opponent's guard, she landed a solid blow to the girl's gut.
Gasping, the knife user stumbled backwards in both shock and pain.
But Amber didn't stop there.
The grip she had on the staff suddenly snaked downward in the time it took for her to flip into a spin, aiming right for the side of the girl's head, a blow that would definitely be enough to disturb one's consciousness.
If only it landed.
The boy with gray hair chose just then to help his teammate, launching himself at her with a deadly kick; his face was blurry as well. Regardless, the boot summarily slammed into the heft of her staff, knocking both her weapon and swinging arm out of the way.
Amber grimaced; but then several more kicks followed, and it was suddenly all she could do to frantically backpedal, dodging them all by the skin of her teeth. And even then, she leapt backwards, desperate for distance.
She expected the boy to pursue. The green haired girl as well, having now come up on the boy's side.
But they didn't.
And then that green haired girl's blurry and distorted face smiled, and that should have been her hint.
A biting pain suddenly tore into Amber's back, and she let out a strangled scream, almost toppling forward, confusion and agony blending into one.
With a wretched gasp, Amber whirled around, and even though she couldn't properly see it, she could feel the length of the arrow sticking out of her back turning with her.
But Amber couldn't focus on that. Because in the distance, she not only saw a bow poised to fire yet another arrow, but also the bleeding smirk of the black-haired woman responsible.
Still, while biting back the curse that wanted to leave her mouth, Amber closed her eyes. Only to open them again, except now with what she was sure was incandescent fire.
Then Amber swept her hand from right to left, and the effect was instantaneous. A sizable gust of wind slammed into the air, exploding dust and dirt in every direction. It brought down no one. But it hadn't needed to.
Amber dashed through the wall of dirt and dust to reposition, even as her eyes began to sting, and even as the rugged shaft and cold steel of the arrow continued to mesh uncomfortably inside one shoulder blade.
Also, hot warm liquid ran down her back, and she felt nauseous—
Suddenly.
"Kh?!"
With a sharp breath, Amber hastily had to veer out of the way of the boot that was sent careening for her head.
She only halfway succeeded. The appendage she knew was metal landed, slamming into her right shoulder instead, and she had no other choice but to be sent backwards.
Wait, metal? How do I...?
Shaking her thoughts away, Amber then performed a complicative maneuver.
Instead of allowing herself to fall, she used the strike's momentum to spin on the ball of her foot, right before sweeping her staff and sending a devastating blow towards the grey-haired boy.
Every part of his body language said he was surprised, and that he would surely be hit.
But then the boy smiled a mocking smile, before easily tilting out of her staff's range.
And then vanished.
No, not vanished.
Someone else took his place. It was now the black haired girl, wearing that smile as she stood in front of Amber.
And right as her two accomplices also seemed to appear like magic on either side of Amber, clamping down on her arms. ...I-Illusions, she reminded herself with a grimace.
An ability that could trick the mind. Oh, and how she hated it. No, she absolutely loathed it. Amber didn't know why she felt this strongly about something she was definitely experiencing for the first time, or how she even recognized it so quickly.
It didn't matter though.
She just knew she hated it.
Amber struggled to free herself, but before she could even try to lash out and flee, the blurry faced green and grey haired attackers were already pushing her down to her knees, right in front of that smiling black-haired girl.
And she, too...
She also possessed a blurry face Amber couldn't see for the life of her.
But then a glass sword soundlessly appeared in the black haired girl's hand, and there was an excited look on her face as she walked forward. But, was that excitement? Or, was it actually relief?
The relief of someone whose life's goal was a hair's breadth away from being realized...
But.
How... did Amber know that?
No, why was she so sure?
This was just a stranger who was attacking her for the first time. There should be nothing else. There shouldn't even be room for anything else.
It didn't matter.
No, what mattered was that Amber didn't want to die. She wouldn't allow herself to be killed, not like this.
White hot rage consumed her, and it was followed by something else. Yes; and her eyes might have even started to once again glow in preparation for when this burning feeling caught fire and exploded. So...
So why did it suddenly wither away to nothingness?
Oh.
Amber glanced downwards.
That was because a glass sword was now uncomfortably lodged in her side.
It... hurts.
Amber thought that numbly, even as blood shot from her mouth and onto the now staticky and formless world that stretched out as far as the eye could see.
No, hadn't it been filled with grass, rocks and trees earlier? And the ordinary but dreadfully familiar dirt-trodden road, where had it gone?
Then the black-haired girl pulled out a glove, and Amber felt a skin crawling fear press down on her.
As if... she somehow knew what that glove did.
Even though it should have been her first time seeing it.
Even though it was just a glove with strange markings covering it.
Yes.
There shouldn't have been a reason to be this afraid. "No," Amber whispered either way, then louder. "No, please don't, not again." Nonsensical words escaped her quivering jaw.
It didn't end up saving her.
Something black shot out from the glove, and suddenly rational thought was impossible. Heart-clenching, mind numbing, excruciating pain abruptly filled Amber's body, scorching every single one of her nerve-endings.
I—t hu—rts.
Her skin felt like it was being flayed off by the centimeter, over and over again.
It hur—ts.
Something wet dribbled down her mouth, and she tasted dirt, then blood, then drool, then something else again, and then she couldn't even tell anymore because of how much it—hurts, it hurts, it hurts, it hurts, it hurts, it hurts, it hurts, it hurts, it—
It hurt.
It hurt so bad Amber started to scream.
Ah, no.
She had been screaming this entire time.
But it was through the pain that Amber remembered.
She had no idea where she was, not really. But she knew this pain. She knew the people who gave it to her—only continued to give to her. She knew because she had experienced it before. Again and again.
As if on repeat.
As if her suffering was never allowed to end.
As if it was a dream she wasn't allowed to wake up from.
No.
This was a nightmare.
Anything else wouldn't hurt this bad.
Anything else wouldn't cause this much terror.
That fight from earlier... and these people... how many times have we...? Have I...? Is it... all going to... reset soon? Will I have to relive this again? And then once more after that? Over and over? Why? Why me? What did I do? I don't want to. I don't want to feel this pain again. I don't want to forget that I felt it, feel it, and then forget again. Not again. Please. It's scary. It hurts. I don't want to do this anymore. I don't want to. I'm scared. I'm scared. I'm scared. I'm scared. I'm scared. I'm scared. I'm scared. I'm scared. I'm—
"...Can you hear me, Miss?"
Amber stilled.
Her thoughts, too, did the same. But because not even the seconds passing made it easier to think, to comprehend, to process, it was why she didn't notice the changes that started occurring in quick succession.
Yes.
Amber didn't notice that the mind-numbing pain had stopped. She didn't notice that her phantasmal assailants had ceased to exist. She also didn't notice that the cold steel protruding from two parts of her body had vanished along with them.
"If you can hear me, just continue taking deep breaths, alright? ...Yes, just like that. Good. Just breathe. In... and out. In... and out."
Amber only focused on that sound.
No, that voice.
A voice different from her own, one that she had long, long grown tired of hearing. She latched onto it, even as a different kind of fear filled her, a fear where if she let go of it, it would go somewhere far, far away, and her hell would return.
But.
That was when Amber noticed.
"Oh," she uttered, voice soft.
There was no more pain.
Instead...
It's... warm.
With that fleeting thought, light poured in from everywhere at once, and then—
Amber woke up.