One late evening on the edge of a cliff before the sea where the sun's orange hue reflects on the crashing waves, a man in a black t-shirt stands before a wooden cross that marks the grave of a red haired girl.
After many moments of silence and reflection, he takes a deep breath.
"Hey...it's been a while." He begins, his hands fidgeting in his pockets. "I've come to talk...again." He chuckles briefly.
Passing winds whistle as they pass, filling in the silent gap.
"I uh...finally finalized my plans." He nudges his head slightly. "Got it all laid out...in my head..."
He sucks in a sharp breath, "And...I've done a lot of thinking on my so called destiny." He spits out.
Silence...then a slight chuckle.
"You know, the first time I had even thought about the concept of destiny was seeing you again after our very first meeting. I thought about what could have been if I just ignored you that day. And the first thing that came to mind was my life would be so much more peaceful." His smile fades. "I wouldn't have been hurt either, but I guess fate had different plans."
...
He takes a deep breath through his nose. "I always hated the concept of destiny, the thought that, all things are predetermined. Like getting picked up by those suits, being forced to fight in a war that had nothing to do with me, losing the first squadmates I had bonded with, failing to protect you..." The last few words are hoarse and almost sound forced out.
He quickly clears his throat.
"And I understand now, that no matter what I do, I'll never be able to stop the things that will be, no one including myself will ever be able to stop destiny. But that's alright, because that is the key to it all."
The look in his eyes becomes resolute and his voice steady.
"There's no avoiding destiny, whatever is going to happen is going to happen because that is destiny. So rather than fight to avoid it, I'll fight to create a destiny of my own so I can be happy with how things end for once in my life."
He stares down at the grave marker as if listening to their response. He chuckles briefly after a few moments of silence.
"I know, it's silly right? After all, Destiny is determined before the path to it even begins. So the concept should be impossible. But coming to this world in the first place should have been impossible too."
He thinks back to the past with a melancholic smile before the grave marker in front of him reminds him of the harsh reality.
"Those girls...none of their paths look simple and there're a lot of variables at play here. One wrong move and it could spell the end for them, and there's only so much I can do." He pauses again. "...Honestly? I'm kinda scared." He admits softly. "I'm scared of failing again, and breaking my promises to them like I did with you." He shudders momentarily. "I- I don't want to go through that pain again, the pain of losing someone I..."
He takes a deep breath to calm himself. "Unfortunately, it'll be inevitable, failure I mean. All part of the plan I suppose." He says with a sardonic half-smile that quickly turn genuine.
"In the end though, it'll all be worth it. It has to."
He clenches his fists and glances upwards. "This will, hopefully, be my final project before I can 'retire'" He says with air quotation marks. "But...I suppose you can call this my two week notice." He chuckles at his own joke.
A horizontal door appears above him and a white piece of garment falls into his hand. He stares at his trusty partner that's been with him for decades, prepared to let go once more.
"It can get quite cold out here, especially in the winter, so I'll leave this here to keep you warm alright?"
The man softly steps forward and wraps the lab coat around the wooden cross.
"Don't worry, I've already removed the nano bot capsules and reprogrammed them for my new jacket." He chuckles. "It won't ever be as versatile as my lab coat, but it's special in its own way. You would be happy to know a close friend gave it to me, and jealous now that I think about it." He chuckles again.
He retraces his steps and stands a few meters away from the grave marker.
"Speaking of which, she's probably still waiting for me. So I've got to go now."
He hesitates, staring the the wooden cross now wrapped up by his coat.
"This...might be the last time I visit for a while...so..." His voice trails off, as though stalling for nonexistent time.
He lets out a sigh, then smiles. "I'll see you later, Pyrrha. And please, give me strength while I'm away."
As he lingers for a few moments a part of him knows that she's smiling at him too, somewhere far, far away.
He lets out another brief chuckle. "If I'm thinking that the afterlife exists, then I really have changed." He mumbles. "I hope you're proud of me, Neir."
Though he's broken his promise to her one last time, he has already let go of both her, and the man he used to be.
He finally spins around and opens a door, walking into it a new man who now goes by L.C.
"Things will be different now." He thinks to himself, steeling his nerves before walking forward into the bright white light that emits from the door.
This was the beginning of my final project.
Project: desTiny
~End of prologue~
I had half the mind to just create a new book and call it, well, Project: desTiny, but then I thought it would just be better for me to compile it all in one book and name this part after my best girl, Pyrrha Nikos. She will continue to live on in my heart and L.C's forever. Now, when I first started this book I had never even heard of RWBY except for the occasional fanfic here and there, but I have to say the show has really grown on me. Especially the music, I really like the music and one song actually inspired me to write 'Dream Come True' which is actually the title of Pyrrha's sorta theme? I think. Anyways, I've grown very attached to all the characters, including my very own L.C/Neir/Nexus and will continue all of their story to the very end! I think I've said this before actually... Anyway, hope you've enjoyed so far, and I'll see you next chapter!
P.S: As of starting this whole new chapter I've watched up to the end of season 6 and more or less have got everything planned out. Also, I've done a lot of editing for season three's chapters (Ch 29-37) and want to point out a few special details. Originally the chapters were laid out like:
Ch 29: chaPter title
Ch 30: chapteR title #2
Etc, and the capitalized letters spelled out FORGET HER which didn't have as much of an impact as it does now.
Now, if you take the first letter of each title and lay them out in order...
Heavy Hitting Test Run
Evening Memories
Imperfect Calculations
Surreptitious Activities
Never Ending Entropy
Excuses Excuses
XOXO
Unusual Expressions
Sorry, Goodbye, and Nice To Meet You
It spells, HE IS NEXUS, the secret name of our protagonist. Coincidentally, the phrase had the exact same amount of letters as the original phrase, which was very lucky. The whole 'first letter' idea was inspired by the game Dead Space, goated game.
The other thing I hoped you read if you missed was the last part of ch 37 where I've changed a few key things that make it all that much better. Such as L.C's first true promise.
Finally, sorry about the obnoxiously long author's notes, I had to shove everything in here so I wouldn't have to do it to any later chapters.
Hope you enjoy the story going forward!
YOU ARE READING
Project: RWBY
ActionA door, the gateway to a realm of infinite possibilities, only if you're opening the correct one of course. Within those infinite possibilities lies a man in a certain unfamiliar world, an anomaly who on the run from something that's quickly closing...
