Fairy Tales.
Myths.
Legends.
Many of Remnant's stories had their origin in truths. The story of the Four Maidens. The origin myth of the Two Gods.
Some, on the other hand, had no origin at all, beginning as just that: Stories.
For example, the story of the Seven Flames. Or perhaps the story of the Clam, Sea, and the Rainbow. Or even the story of The Sky and The Earth.
No one knew where, or how, these stories developed, but they did, stories of Not-Fire Semblances named after Weather and forces of Nature, each fighting to defend against the Grimm.
But perhaps, these stories originated from a world beyond their own…
Oscar stares at the orange flames coating his hands and sighs, slowly willing them away before they burned him. Being reborn in this new world, the world of Remnant, has been startling. He hasn't really had an easy time assimilating his old memories, and the fact they were triggered by a near death encounter with a lone Beowolf did not help.
Well… at least he has access to them at all. Perhaps he should train. At least it would make sure his aunt's farm was clear of Grimm.
… His orange tinted eyes is an odd side effect though.
Oscar really should have guessed that his life would become a little more exciting when he turned fourteen. It did when he was Tsuna, in the form of Reborn.
He has to franticly squirrel away his memories as Tsuna behind a Sky Flame barrier the moment he is sure that Ozpin was NOT JUST A VOICE. Also. Having three sets of memories is completely disorienting.
Bumping into Hazel at the train station has him mentally screeching in annoyance. What the hell is his life, why the heck did he keep being forced to inherit the sins of the past?!
He really hopes Ozpin isn't paying attention to his internal ranting.
Meeting Qrow is… interesting to say the least. Especially considering Oscar can feel the familiar chaotic Sun Flames in the man.
Finally getting Ozpin's cane is both a relief and an annoyance. The former because he finally has a weapon. The latter because it is a weapon he couldn't use, and the fact that it is a reminder of Timoteo Vongola's weapon.
He expresses this dissatisfaction by mock glaring at the still drinking man and asking, "I thought you were a coffee addict, not an alcoholic like Iemitsu. So, who drove you to drink?"
Oscar has to hide a snigger when Qrow goes wide eyed, looking between his drink and himself, perhaps asking if he was hallucinating.
Ah, it is good to finally be able to mess with his former tutor's mind.
(The added confusion he could feel from Ozpin made the situation even funnier.)
Oscar wonders if Qrow getting drunk and forcing him to drag him back to the inn was revenge.
Then he meets Ruby Rose for the first time and winces inwardly. He really shouldn't have made a jab at Qrow's drinking habits, considering he could feel the Sky Flame Ruby unknowingly emits. A slightly familiar Sky Flame too. If Ruby Rose is Uni reborn, that would have meant that Summer was Aria… And considering how precious both their previous lives were to Qrow…
Oscar hides this cold, sinking feeling by commenting about Ruby's Silver Eyes.
Oscar knows Ozpin is trying to poke at the barrier that hides Tsuna's memories. The man tries to ask directly, but Oscar remains tight lipped. Instead, he trains with RubyUniRuby. Trains with a weapon he really didn't like using, but still had to, just in case.
He's pretty happy the way Ruby turned out in this life. At least no stupid Marshmallow tried to mess with her.
She talks about Weiss, Yang and Blake, who weren't with her at all. The way her Flames flare a little at their names make him smile. Considering how Jaune was her Sun, Nora her Lightning, and Ren her Mist, Oscar can only infer that she already had a full set.
But then the way she speaks about the two friends who had died, and Oscar notices that Ruby had experienced the loss of bonds – one with a fellow Sky, and another with a Sun…
(He has to quietly commend her for unknowingly taking the rest of Team JNPR into her Sky so quickly… any longer without a Sky to anchor them after the loss of their own and…)
Qrow frequently comes back empty handed. That was fine. Oscar had a feeling something was horribly wrong anyways, so instead, he makes sure that at least Qrow will have something that he will be able to achieve when he went out again.
"I know this may sound strange but…" Oscar asks hesitantly one night, before handing Qrow a set of blueprints.
Qrow's eyebrow quirks a little, before questioning him if he's sure he can handle it.
The blazing resolution in Oscar's eyes is perhaps what convinces him.
And the next day, before the man leaves, he messes Oscars hair while muttering, "I'm proud of ya, kid."
Meeting Yang Xiao Long and hearing about the spell Ozpin placed on Qrow and Raven leaves Oscar exasperated at Ozpin, and perhaps finally understanding why Raven was so upset by being transformed into her namesake.
At least said spell wasn't as dangerous as being turned into an Arcobaleno.
(Hearing from Qrow that Raven was Lal reborn was confirmation enough. And Oscar quietly wonders if Ozpin was Kawahira reborn. Oscar has to deflect Ozpin's questions about it though.
Then he realizes that Colonnello was Taiyang and Oscar suddenly starts laughing uncontrollably, understanding of Ozpin's memory of Qrow inexplicably giving Tai the "Hurt her and I will kill you" talk for both Raven and Summer.)
His Intuition followed him over into his current life, and as they step into the school, Oscar feels it flare up in warning.
It prepares him for the stinging betrayal he feels. Say what you will, but despite Ozpin withholding information so frequently, when he gave someone his trust, he did it unconditionally. Oscar has to shake off said feeling and Lal Raven reveals who she has sided with (Willingly or not, Oscar isn't sure), watch as Ruby gets attacked by the rogue Maiden Cinder (ignoring his screaming instincts to kill the one who hurt his fellow Sky), and feel his heart sink even further when Hazel slams the door to their escape shut.
A fight was inevitable, it seems, and Oscar allows his Flame to slowly build. He's trained himself for this very situation.
He winces at how enraged Jaune is at Cinder. Say what you will, but angering a Sun who has lost a bonded Sky is a terrible idea.
Qrow and Raven fight against each other, and Oscar has to wonder what the two are talking about. Seeing the wince Raven gives as Qrow rages at her about Ruby getting attacked, Oscar understands that Raven did remember, and was perhaps regretting her actions a little. He also considers it lucky that no one was listening to their fight.
(He hears the word family thrown in and sighs. The Arcobaleno were never a close-knit family like Tsuna and his Elements were, and even if they became blood family, it seems like they still clashed on a lot of things.)
He makes his way to Leo, the way the cowardly lion (Old friend, Ozpin murmurs) tries to convince him to leave, was almost pitiful. Getting attacked was slightly laughable. And watching the man's face morph into horror at the sight of his cane has him smirking, before he begins going on the attack while the man was caught flat-footed.
Then Oscar frowns at the man mumbling about him not really being Ozpin, about delivering him to Salem. It was… really pitiful, how this man even fell in with Salem's group in the first place.
Ozpin alerting him to dodge snaps him out of his thoughts.
And then…
And then… Oscar freezes as he feels Ruby's Flames flare for just a second, a blazing silver light blinding the room, only for it to become muted. Oscar whirls in her direction see her unconscious on the ground, the green haired Mist girl having struck her down.
He feels his Flames flares in protective rage, smacking Leo aside and rushing to Ruby's side. Panic filled him, mental screams of denial and worry filled him.
(She can't die. Not again. Tsuna will not let her life be cut short again! She has too much to live for!)
To his relief, she wakes, but his relief is then drowned out by the sense of dread when he hears Hazel's roar of Ozpin's name. And the declaration that he'd kill him over and over again.
The 'Oh no.' he got from Ozpin was right in a way, but not his advice to run from the rage filled Hazel.
The choice gets taken away from him with Qrow barrelling into him, away from Hazel's attack. His whine of protest is cut off when he is handed a package.
Then they have to dodge another blow. And another. And another. And Oscar has to keep dodging as he tears it open.
'Oscar.'
"No."
'Oscar!'
"I told you, no!"
He gets slammed in the face for getting distracted, before hitting a pillar.
'Please, let me take over! I can handle him!'
Oscar instead focuses putting on his gloves, and retorted while he stood up, "You told me I needed to fight for myself! So I will."
'This is not your fight.'
Oscar knows it isn't. He knows very well. Hazel's grudge was with Ozpin. He's seen the memories. He's felt the regret over Gretchen Rainart's death. Hazel snarls at him, tells him to put the blame on Ozpin's shoulders if he dies.
Qrow gets tossed aside and Oscar lets himself channel Tsuna's righteous anger, and questions Hazel.
"Did she know? Did she know the risk of being a Huntress?"
Dust crackles off Hazel's arms as he snarls in reply, denial evident in his voice, "She was only a child! She wasn't ready!"
Like Oscar wasn't ready. He had not been ready to take the mantle of Decimo in his first life. But he made a choice, to look at those sins, destroy the source, and rebuild Giotto's legacy. And he understood Gretchen, what Gretchen had chosen. And he isn't ready now, ready to lead once again, this time taking on Ozpin's burdens and sins. But once more, he will make a choice.
"She made a choice. A choice to put other before herself," Oscar said, sheathing Ozpin's cane, and instead, stretching his gloves. 'Oscar, what are you?!'
"So do I," he says as he closes his eyes, letting his Flames slowly come free, and Ozpin's confusion becomes awe and surprise.
"Then you've chosen death," Hazel declares at the boy who had his eyes closed.
And Oscar opens his eyes, the orange of it now a blazing sunset, a Flame now flaring on his forehead. He shifts himself into a familiar stance, his gloved hands are clenched, as if in prayer, Sky Flames coating it as he replies, "Then I shall fight you with my Dying Will!"
He immediately strikes Hazel with a blast of Sky Flames, starts going on the attack. Ozpin's awe is evident in his mind.
'You… Oscar, you're a Sky? There were legends about your kind, the holders of the Seven Flames, but no one could find the origin or proof of your existence so how…'
~ do I exist? ~ Oscar chuckles, ~ Our legends were never from this world Oz. And honestly…~
Oscar dodges another Dust powered punch, ~ This isn't my first life. ~
A shot goes off and he turns to see an irate Qrow glaring at Leo, his gun barrel sparkling with Sun Flames before yelling at him, "Watch your back, Idiot Oscar! I'm not always there to cover for you!"
Oscar smiles as he dodges another blow, feeling Ozpin come to a realisation, 'Qrow too?'
Oscar's hands flare as he sends a Flame coated punch towards Hazel, before flipping away as he has to dodge yet another blow from Hazel.
"Stop smiling!" Hazel snarls at him, but Oscar ignores him, focusing on dodging and redirecting blows. Then, he flicks himself away with a kick, and triggering a mechanism in one of the gloves, feels it morph into a handgun. Channelling Hard Flames through it while the other kept him in the air with Soft Flames, he fired a concentrated beam of Sky Flames in Hazel's direction.
(Spending so much time with firearm users like Reborn, Colonello and Xanxus, and Qrow and Ruby, did in fact influence his decision to make one of his gloves 'also a gun' like most Hunters did. That and it gave him a bit more variety with his moves anyways. He couldn't always rely on X-Burners, which took way too much time to charge in a fight like this.)
When Ruby wakes up, it's to three sets of memories. Two of which are similar, yet different in the way events played out in the future, while the third was the most recent set of memories.
She wakes up to Nora hercheerfulLightning gasping in relief that she was awake. She sits up to see Weiss herRainhercoldicyRain crumpled on the ground, Ren herquietMist keeping watch as Jaune hergentlebrokenSunshewon'tlethimbreakagain placed his hands over Weiss' wounds, Aura and glints of Sun Flame facilitating the healing process.
She sees her sister herStormyDragon facing off against Mercury and Emerald, the illusions of the green haired Mist taking Yang by surprise, catching her off guard each time.
She feels a Sky, a familiar Sky. Tsunayoshi? And she turns to see Oscar's fists clenched in prayer as Sky Flames flared, resonating with her own as it finally begins breaking free.
A Chaos Shot prevents both attacks from Lionheart and Cinder's ally from hitting Oscar when he dodges. Ruby's eyes widen and hope surges as she sees her Uncle Qrow (Reborn, her mind whispers) channelling sparkling Sun Flames into the barrel of his Gunblade Scythe.
Ruby takes control of the situation, directing Ren to cover for OscarTsunaOscar while Nora covered for Jaune and Weiss as Jaune continued to heal her. Allowing her Sky Flames to surge, she uses her scythe to get between Emerald and her sister.
"Thanks sis. You okay?" Yang asks her as she stands back up.
She sifts through the most recent memories she has, and feels anger she never felt before, and the old, festering wound of betrayal that continues to sting. And she lets her Sky Flames blaze in cold anger as she hisses out, "No. I'm angry."
A Sky and her Storm then charges into a fight. A Sun heals a Rain while a Lightning stands by ready to defend. While a Mist draws away the enemy attention.
Exhausted as they all were, Ruby and Oscar know they have to hold out. For Oscar, it is the nagging feeling of his Intuition, telling him that help is on the way. (He feels a phantom pull of multiple Guardian bonds, but doesn't question it for the moment). For Ruby, it is the sense of her bonded Cloud, approaching fast, and a flash vision of an army headed their way.
Hayato has to swallow the bile that builds up as he watches his fellow White Fang members set up the bombs he had made. The silver haired leopard Faunus feels conflicted. In all honesty, he had stayed for Ilia's sake, hoping to convince her to leave the White Fang and join up with his cousin again.
The months with Adam in charge made things worse, the window of opportunity narrowing down to nothing, as Ilia became even more revenge driven. He has no clue what her final mission was, but considering how she never came back… he can only hope his friend got out unscathed.
(He had decided to make easily disarmed bombs. At least, to those who knew how to operate them. He really hoped the Belladonnas were on their way. His cousin and her parents were perhaps the only other people who knew how to disarm the bombs.)
The charges set, and now, they were simply waiting for their ally to finish up the job.
Then Hazel gets blasted out of the building, and Hayato has to blink as suddenly, the feeling of active Flames washing over him. Skies. Why did he feel Skies in that building? Had it been muted by the building itself? He barely acknowledges Blake's arrival as he tries to pin point the feeling of Skies, staring in the direction of the school. He barely hears Adam's declarations and Blake bringing in the cavalry.
Then, he feels even more familiar Flames, the crackling Lightning he knows is Lambo, the calm cheerful Rain that is Takeshi, and somehow, soaring above them all was the Cloud of Hibari.
Hayato removes his mask and pulls down his hood, scanning the now gathered crowd of Faunus. Blake and Ghira gasp in surprise, his cousin and uncle not expecting him among the White Fang at all. Adam's angry shouts at him revealing his identity is ignored, as Hayato pin points the familiar Lightning green eyes of a teen bull Faunus, bearing a large shield and sparking horns.
A bull Faunus who immediately glomps him, much to his exasperation and to the shock of his so-called comrades.
"Bakadera! Why are you in the White Fang damnit!" The teen Lambo scolds him, the strength of the tackle hug already telling Hayato how much the young Lightning missed him.
Of course, Adam, the stupid idiot, decides to try and detonate the bombs. And Hayato grins a terrifying grin when the bombs don't even go off.
"We sent someone over to confirm your explosives. One human, one Faunus," Blake explains, and Hayato feels a surge of hope as she continues, "and, once we did, the two of them disarmed them."
Coming up from where his bombs had been planted, Hayato has to laugh with relief as Ilia, and surprisingly, a grinning Takeshi, both appear, their hands holding the cut wires of the disarmed bombs.
"We met Takeshi-nii when we arrived here, something about a certain someone asking him to patrol tonight of all nights!" Lambo grinned as Hayato began shrugging off the White Fang uniform, revealing his belt of bombs and his rebuilt Flame Arrow strapped to a holster on his back.
"Trust that guy to be paranoid as hell," Hayato smirked, before he is once again tackled, this time by a laughing Takeshi. "GET OFF BASEBALL IDIOT!"
A flare of Sky Flames makes them freeze in place, and turn to look into the broken walls of the Academy. Hazel had been pulled back in, a fight continuing again. Blake was staring at a Silver Eyed girl radiating Sky Flames, but not the one that they had felt.
Instead, it comes from their Sky. Eyes blazing orange, calm and fearless, gloves lit with Sky Flames. Their Sky was here!
Nodding to each other, the trio dash inside, making their way past the fights, while a winged Faunus flew into the midst of it.
Landing in the crowd of White Fang members, Hibari Kyouya growls, tonfas ready, "For attempting to destroy Haven Academy, disturb the peace, and selling out your kind to your enemies, I will bite you to death!"
Perhaps it was a good thing the trio left the fight to the Cloud.
Oscar hisses as he has to dodge yet another Dust blast from Hazel, "As much as I would like to say that we're okay, my body isn't used to channelling so much Flames yet."
Qrow fires another Chaos Shot at their enemies, "Wearing them down will take too much time, and I think the kids won't be able to hold out for that long!"
They needed reinforcements, fast.
And perhaps, his prayers were answered. Just as Weiss's Grimm construct is destroyed, Blake charges in to tackle Hazel.
And before Lionheart manages to attack him, the man himself is attacked by slicing sword strikes coated by Rain Flames and a cacophony of exploding bombs.
"Shigure Soen Ryu - Shinotsuku Ame!" "Double Bomb!"
Oscar stares wide eyes as he feels the 'phantom bonds' he had been feeling snap into place. His Storm and Rain were here! Then a cry of 'Tsuna-nii' and he is tackled by his teen Lightning, and judging from the screams and cries of 'biting to death' coming from outside Oscar knows that his Cloud was nearby.
His Rain is angry, sword pointed towards Lionheart as they stand on the stairway. Lionheart recognises him. Is his Rain a Haven student?
"You know, Headmaster, I never took you for a coward," Takeshi says.
"Young Yamamoto?! Why… Why are you here?!" Lionheart stammers in shock.
Swinging his sword lazily, Takeshi replies, a hard edge in his voice, "Let's just say Kyoya never trusted your decisions. And you dared attack my Sky. That? Is unforgivable."
And the coward runs, knowing that it was over.
"You okay, Juudaime?" Hayato asks, Flame Arrow strapped on and ready to attack.
And Oscar can only smile, "Just fine, Hayato. Now, let's win this!"
'Juudaime? Tenth? Tenth of what?' Ozpin's confusion was so amusing at times.
~I'll let you into those memories when we win~ Oscar smiles.
But when Yang returns with the Relic, and Emerald snaps, the illusion she shows is terrifying to the core. Darkness, soulless, despairing. Salem.
They drove their enemies off. But now? They had a better understanding of what they were facing.
"So… Care to tell us who these are, Oscar?" Yang stares at the person in question.
Oscar himself, having exhausted himself from the fight, had woken up to find himself bundled with Hayato, Lambo, and Takeshi, with Kyoya sitting at the window sill of their room in the inn.
Blake herself is staring at Hayato, "Hayato. What… are you doing?"
"Wait, you know him?" Weiss asks in surprise.
"My cousin," She replies, and gives and accusing glare. "Though… I never expected you to have stayed in the White Fang after I left."
"Stayed for Ilia's sake," Hayato shrugs. "She took you leaving hard. I was going to leave if I could get her to join me but…"
"But seriously who are you people? And why are you curled up around Oscar like that?" Nora asks.
Then Ruby enters the room, and seeing Oscar awake, squeals and joins in on the cuddle pile, "Tsuna! You're awake!"
Oscar has to blink, feels the fully awakened Sky Flames and stares, "Uni?!"
Ruby grins, "Hi!"
"Okay someone explain what is going on before I get mad!" Yang growls.
Then a chuckle comes from Qrow, "Well then, why don't you kids sit down. We've got a story to tell you."
Jaune groans, "Not more stories."
Ren just laughs at his friend as the ones not in the know sit down around Oscar's bed.
Oscar smiles, and feels Ozpin stir in his mind, curious, "Now. How about I start. What do you know of the story of the Seven Flames?"
Somewhere in Atlas, Penny wakes up, and sees three fathers standing over her.
"She's bonded to a Sky." they say. 'Sky'? What was a Sky?
She doesn't really care though. Ruby saw her die. She feels a raw sensation in her chest, aching to find her.
"Shoichi. We should let her go."
"No! The last time we did that she died! We almost couldn't retrieve her!"
"Verde is right, Shoichi. She has a Sky. We created her, hoping she'd live life a human. And she found a Sky."
"… and we can't keep her from her Sky."
"Right."
"James is not allowed near her again, Spanner."
"The Moscas have been set to attack him if he dares come near."
"Good."
Penny smiles. It is nice that her parents care for her so much. And they were giving her freedom!
Now… how to find Ruby.
So. I apparently have a problem. I keep making Reincarnation fics.
(Please forgive me if Oscar is OOC this is my second KHR fic involving KHR characters and first RWBY fic and this fic idea has been NAGGING ME THE ENTIRETY OF LAST WEEK!)
List of everyone involved:
Oscar – Tsuna – Sky
Qrow – Reborn – Sun
Raven – Lal – ? (Rain again probably.) – Mentioned only
Taiyang – Colonnello – ? (Rain again probably.) – Mentioned only
Summer – Aria – Sky – Mentioned only
Ruby – Uni – Sky
Weiss – Rain (Minor Storm and Mist Affinity)
Yang – Storm
Blake – Cloud
Jaune – Sun (Or is he? May be a Sun that was formerly a broken Sky.)
Nora – Lightning
Ren – Mist
Pyrrha – Sky
Penny – Sun
Verde/Shoichi/Spanner – Reborn as themselves, work under alias Polendina
Hayato – Reborn as himself, leopard Faunus (Trait is ears) – Blake's Cousin
Lambo – Reborn as himself (14 years old), bull Faunus (Trait is horns) – lived on Menagerie
Takeshi – Reborn as himself, Haven Academy Student
Kyoya – Reborn as himself, skylark Faunus (Trait is wings), Haven Academy Student
As for the other KHR guardians… I have no clue where to put them.