A New Lease on Life.
A quick note before we begin: This is the first story I've posted, and I was ready to get it released as soon as I was satisfied with it. I could have kept writing it for longer, but I figured that it was not making any marginal difference, and I should just release it as is and go along from here. I apologize in advance for any OOC behavior that might have occurred, as it was completely unintentional if it did happen, and I adore all the characters in this story and hope to portray them all well. Either way, please leave reviews on what you think and any suggestions to help make things better, as I'm really hoping to improve!
Chapter One: Reawakening.
Team RWBY was a group of Huntresses-in-training, that studied at Beacon Academy, a school designed to train the next generation of Huntsmen and Huntress, to slay the Creatures of Grimm. Creatures of pure darkness that were born from the world of Remnant. The group consisted of a young hero - Ruby Rose, an exalted heiress - Weiss Schnee, a troubled rogue - Blake Belladonna, and a party girl - Yang Xiao Long.
Being Huntresses, they knew they would have to battle evil incarnate and overcome many adversities, and already they had accomplished a great deal during their time at Beacon, especially for their age. They had fought a criminal organization lead by a megalomaniac, and succeeded in breaking down their regime one step at a time. They had even protected their home, the Kingdom of Vale, safe from a breach of Grimm in the heart of the city!
But nothing could've prepared them for the Phantom Field. Out of nowhere, what started out as a normal day quickly changed when they suddenly found themselves a part of some kind of a strange tournament. With little other choice, they fought against individuals from other worlds and collected the items the voice that had orchestrated this entire event called "The Keystones."
Turns out this was a terrible choice, as they were actually pieces of the heart of the device truly responsible for the Phantom Field - System XX. What the device truly desired, was to invade any given world and assimilate it. Since Ruby collected the Keystones and battled many individuals, it absorbed data based on Remnant, and prepared to invade
Now the final battle between Ruby, Weiss, and System XX was still ongoing! The girls had broken the crystalline body of the system's true form down so much it had gotten significantly weaker! The floating mass of red, purple, blue, and yellow crystals still hung in the air, trying in vain to stop the dual Huntresses! Now there was an opening, and one last blow was ready to be dealt!
"Finish it Ruby!" Weiss called. "It's… OVER!" Ruby yelled at the top of her lungs! She proceeded to do lunge at the system, her Semblance fueling her so much she was practically just a red spiral that charged straight at the multicolored form!
With one giant swing of her scythe, Crescent Rose, System XX broke apart at last, crumbling to the ground in a lifeless hull, screaming in its mechanical voice! Ruby's heart was pounding in her chest, sweat dripping down her face. That was one of the most nerve wracking experiences of her life!
"D-did you beat her?" Ragna asked. He was still exhausted after the System exploded into its true form in front of him, forcing him to shield Ruby with his own body. "Confirming status of target…" Es said in her usual robotic monotone. "Activity level decreased… Target silenced. Commencing Phantom Field convergence."
"Nice work!" Yang cheered, pulling Ruby and Weiss into a crushing hug! "Way to go girls!" "When we work as a team, it's a piece of cake," Weiss said, too tired to resist the physical contact.
"Yeah! Chalk up a win for Team RWBY!" Ruby cheered, pumping a fist in the air. "Now we can get back to our world," Blake said calmly, standing off to the side.
"But will it go off without a hitch?" Ruby looked over in the direction the familiar voice came from. "Hazama!" she said. "You're alright!?"
"Since we destroyed something that was meant to be sealed away," Hazama said, "do you really think we'll be able to return safely? Well, either way, it's all very exciting." That was something Ruby hadn't considered.
"What are you saying?" Ruby asked nervously. Did she screw up royal? By destroying System XX instead of sealing it did she not only jeopardize her and her teammates' chances of returning home, but everyone else stuck in the Phantom Field?
"Here, Ruby, take this," Hazama said, tossing something into Ruby's hand. It gave off a faint red glow, which Ruby found to be unmistakably familiar. "Huh? This is… the red Keystone!?"
"I pray that you'll make it home in one piece," Hazama said, giving his distinctive cheshire grin. "So long." Ruby barely had time to gasp, before she suddenly blacked out, and was left feeling nothing
The Fog. The Fog is lying. You're being lied to again. You cannot allow the lie to sink in.
You must awaken. You must awaken from this lie. Awaken - Now!
With a sharp intake of breath and a sharper rise from his seat, Yu Narukami sat bolt upright and began breathing hard! His heart was racing, he was coated in sweat, and his lungs hurt from his rapid breathing. He felt as if he had just been in the fight of his life. But the worst part was he could not remember a single thing about it.
He looked around, and saw that he was somewhere he did not recognize. It was a lecture hall of some kind, like you might find in a college or boarding school. Seats in elevated rows for students to sit, and a blackboard against the far wall behind a teacher's desk. Still, while it was familiar on a conceptual level Yu knew for a fact he'd never been in this room before. Not in his own school back home, and especially not somewhere like Yasogami High.
"You okay Yu?" a voice to his right asked. He looked beside him and saw a figure that he did not recognize. It was a boy about his age, maybe a few months or so younger, with wild blonde hair and bright blue eyes. He was wearing a school uniform, but same as the room they were in, it did not belong to Yu's school, or Yasogami High.
"Who... why are you dressed that way?" Yu asked, looking more to the obvious than the important. "Uh... it's the uniform?" the boy replied. "Not here it isn't," Yu said. "Yes it is!" the boy said indignantly. "You're wearing it too!"
Yu blinked a few times before looking down at himself. Sure enough, he was in fact wearing the same uniform. Now things had officially gone from confusing, to outright scary.
"Are you sure you're okay Yu?" the boy asked. "No... boy, I am not okay," Yu replied. "Boy?" the blonde replied. "That's rude man! You could at least remember my name!" "But I don't," Yu said, as if it was plain as day. The blonde was left slack jawed as he looked at Yu. "R-really? You forgot?"
"What's wrong Jaune?" a girl's voice asked. Yu looked over John - or whatever his name was - shoulder and saw a rather beautiful girl their age, wearing a girls' version of the same uniform that Yu had found himself in. Her hair was scarlet in color, decorated by a bronze colored tiara, and had a pair of piercing, jade green eyes. She was so gorgeous that just looking at her made Yu blush... and gave him déjà vu?
Wait a minute. Beautiful girl? Oh no, where is Yukiko!? he thought.
Yu looked around nervously, pushing himself up from his seat in order to find any trace of the girl in question, as the others to his right continued to look at him oddly. "Yu? What's going on?" the boy asked. Yu wasn't even listening. He couldn't see his team anywhere! He proceeded to run for the exit! He had to find them!
As Yu moved, he felt like his entire world had been flipped upside down. He couldn't remember a thing, but he knew for sure that something was wrong. In a school of some kind, surrounded by people he didn't know that apparently knew him, and his teammates nowhere to be found.
Everything about this spelt bad news. Something, or someone even, had tried to put him in a place not his own.
To his relief he found them all just outside in the hallway. All of them seemed to be totally fine, and were even conversing casually. All of them were also wearing the same uniforms, even down to Naoto wearing the boys' version of the uniform as opposed to the girls' version.
"Oh, there he is!" Chie said. "Hey Narukami, you fall asleep back there?" "Uh... I... yes..." Yu replied. Why were they acting so casual? Didn't they see what was wrong with all of this? But that did give Yu time for pause as he realized, did he even know what was wrong with all of this?
He just awoke in a panic with no clear memory of what had happened to him last, which was nerve-wracking. He saw himself surrounded by people he didn't know that claimed to be acquainted with him, also disconcerting. And he didn't quite know why, but his muscles were sore and he was short of breath, as if he had been in a fight for his life.
Not only that, but he soon noticed something amiss with the number of teammates that he found present before him. Like, some were missing that should be here. He raked his brain to try and figure it out, but it was almost like something was keeping him from doing so. Yet, he found himself not that concerned by it for some reason, as if a part of him was saying that while some people or other were gone, they weren't in trouble.
It was all infuriating to say the least, leaving Yu nearly tearing his hair from his head! He knew that something was wrong, he just knew, but couldn't remember what! Like when you study for a test but when you see the question the answer alludes you.
"You okay senpai?" Kanji asked. "You look steamed." Kanji looked no different than he ever did, down to wearing his skull shirt under the uniform jacket with no dress shirt present. But once more, something was wrong with this picture.
"Everyone..." Yu said, "what were we doing not too long ago. Like, the past hour or so?" Pretty much everyone began to look puzzled, scratching their heads or cupping their chins as they tried to think over their answers.
"That's what we've been trying to figure out," Naoto replied. "It would seem that none of us can remember exactly what we were doing." "I think..." Yukiko said, "we were in class listening to Professor Port's lecture. Is that right?" "Yeah, that sounds right," Yosuke added. "I don't blame you for falling asleep Yu, as that guy barely ever teaches anything. Plus, I know sleep deprivation is a regular for you."
Yu shook his head. "No. That's not it," Yu said. "There was something else. Something important we were doing." "Are you okay Narukami?" Yukiko asked. asked. Yu proceeded to ignore her as he paced back and forth, struggling in vain to recall what they were doing.
"We weren't in class," he said. "I'm certain of it. I can't put my finger on it now, but I just know we were doing something important. We were in the middle of fighting some people. But I can't recall who."
"Is everything alright?" Yu turned and saw the boy and girl from before leaving the classroom, accompanied by a girl with short red hair with freckles all over her face, and a boy with long black hair that was highlighted in... pink for some reason.
"We're trying to figure that out," Yosuke said. "We must've been in class, right? These guys were there the entire time." "Were they?" Yu asked. "Uh, duh! Of course we were!" the redhead said. "We all go to the same classes!"
"But do we?" Yu asked. "Narukami, what're you getting at?" Chie asked. "Do any of you really know them?" Yu asked. "Like, really know them. Because I don't." Everyone else were left with concerned or confused looks, but this had to be done. If something or someone was trying to twist Yu and his team's perceptions of reality, they wouldn't win. He's been there already.
"Yu, you have to remember us!" the blonde boy, Jaune apparently, said. "We've been classmates since initiation. We're Team JNPR. Jaune, Nora, Pyrrha, and Ren." Yu shook his head. "No... I-I'm sorry but I don't know you."
The redhead, Nora, jumped in surprise! "You don't think," she said, proceeding to grab Pyrrha by the collar of her shirt, "he's got Anastasia, do you!?" "She means amnesia," Ren said.
"I don't have amnesia!" Yu said. "I just know that something's wrong with this! We don't belong here! My team and I, we were doing something before we ended up here. We weren't in a class."
Pyrrha stepped forward and placed a gentle hand against his arm. "Yu," she said, "We've been classmates for months. I know we have." "But we haven't," he said. "I know what I'm talking about. I... I think something like this has happened to me before."
"What about the time after initiation where you offered to train with me?" Pyrrha asked. "Or the time we all decided to go to the mountains for winter break? Doesn't that ring any bells? Or the time that Ren practically had to drag yours, Yosuke's, and Kanji's bodies away from that girls' bathhouse after that 'mistake.'" "You had to bring that up," Kanji said, rubbing the back of his neck.
"The point is," Pyrrha said, "if there's something wrong let us help you. We can help you remember." "Sure thing," Yosuke said. "We're partners, right? You're our team leader, right? You help us all the time, so it's only right that we help you in return."
Narukami listened intently. There was a part of him that really wanted her help. A part of him that really tried to accept what he was being told.
Maybe... maybe there wasn't really anything that wrong with everything that was happening. Maybe he really was overreacting over nothing and he had just forgotten everything for some reason. Maybe he should just accept the new?
A splitting headache suddenly flared up in his mind, and he fell to his knees, gripping at his skull! The same words that had been echoing in his dream had suddenly begun to flood his mind again! You cannot allow the lie to sink in again!
Suddenly Yu remembered! He remembered who he was missing! Rise and Teddie! Where were they!? Where were his friends taken!?
No. No that wasn't it. They didn't go anywhere, he was certain. It was he that had been taken! He and his other teammates! They didn't belong here! He knew they didn't!
He lost consciousness the next second, collapsing against the floor.
"Guh! Oh, my head!" "Everything okay Kido?" "Sure, fine. Just... felt like somebody died or something." "That's morbid."
Hyde had just left the monotony that was Professor Port's lesson and began walking to his next class with his partner, Orie Ballardiae. They stopped by an open window on their way, taking in the fresh air. He noticed something odd had been going on with Team JNPR and that other big team as he was leaving. But then again something odd was normally happening with Team JNPR.
Hyde couldn't help but chuckle a bit as he recalled the ridiculousness of Team JNPR. If there was such as thing as a joint award for class clown, they would win the award for class circus, no contest. Probably the only team that could rival them for just how entertaining it was to watch them go day by day was Team RWBY. He didn't mean to laugh out of spite, far from it actually. He loved both teams, but they could be so ridiculous with everything they do it was hard to not laugh.
"What's so funny?" Orie asked. Hyde looked at his partner, seeing her adjust her hair that flowed in the breeze. "Just thinking of Team JNPR." "Oh. Them," Orie replied.
Hyde chuckled again. Orie had puffed out her cheeks in annoyance as she recalled. Knowing her well enough, Hyde could understand how she would find the behavior of Team JNPR as anything but satisfying. Orie was all about etiquette and maintaining a prideful image for her order, and anything less than at the very least 80% would be worthy of execution from his partner.
Hyde suddenly dropped his smile. Something came to mind that he hadn't considered, that for some reason was leaving him baffled. Hang on a minute, he thought. P-partner? Me and Harada? Partners? When was that - how is that - why is that-?
"Kido? You okay?" Orie asked, looking at him with a puzzled expression. "I... I don't know," Hyde replied. "I got confused for some reason. Something just didn't... feel right."
Hyde tried to understand what exactly was going on in his head. He tried to understand the fault in the idea of Orie being his partner, but could not account for it. They had fought together before, and had been classmates for a few months now. They first met in school and had been close friends since.
So where was the fault in all of that? Everything seemed to add up. They were classmates at Beacon Academy. Nothing had changed.
"Kido," Orie said insistently. "Forget it," Hyde replied. "I think I was just overthinking something." "Right," Orie said. "Well, why don't we keep going? I want to get to class before it starts to rain." "Rain?" Hyde asked. He looked up, and for the first time he noticed that it was a severely overcast day. So much to the point that a layer of fog coated the ground.
Hyde looked suspiciously as Orie kept going, and he hastily tried to keep up. "Okay..." he said quietly. "That's not promising. How did I not notice that before? Everything is so gray!"
Now he definitely felt like something was wrong. It was there in his gut, but he couldn't vouch for it. Just a deep suspicion growing by the minute. Like something sinister was wrapping a strangling grip around Hyde's neck.
"I had an aneurysm?" "That's correct Mister Narukami. Brought on by pure, unbridled stress. Honestly a lax student such as yourself is the last person I'd expect to suffer from something like this."
After collapsing on the ground in a fit of agony, Yu's team and this group called Team JNPR rushed him to the nurse's office where a teacher by the name of Professor Goodwitch was there to check up on him. She wasn't quite the school nurse, Beacon apparently didn't have one, but Goodwitch was the most qualified to check in the event that something like this did occur.
But that was besides the point. Narukami was not expecting his diagnosis. He wasn't exactly stressed out, at least he didn't feel it. He'd been much more stressed in the past with things like Nanako's kidnapping and the fight against Izanami, but suffering an aneurysm from just getting confused was not exactly something he would've seen coming.
But that's what got him thinking again. His concepts and understanding of the world around him had been turned upside down. He didn't know what to believe anymore, but there was a powerful force inside of him saying that things like Beacon Academy and Team JNPR did not coincide with his team and himself. It was everyone else who weren't thinking correctly, not him.
Now everything had come back like a flood. Everything that had happened in his life to provide a common understanding of everything that was wrong with this situation. Yasogami High, The Investigation Team, his Persona, Tohru Adachi, the fog of lies and Izanami, everything. So, perhaps that had to do with it.
He knew what had happened to him before this. He was dragged from his home into a new world - not the TV World but something else - by a voice that put him into a 'Tag Battle Tournament,' in order to protect a relic of some kind called a Keystone. He was reunited with his entire team save for Rise and Teddie, and were launched into fights against people from other worlds. Then they just... blacked out. Next thing he knew he was here, and nobody remembered what had happened to them.
People saying they've known each other for months when clearly he did not. His own team thinking the same, despite the clear errors with everything happening. He had never felt so utterly isolated. Well, that was a lie, but it was still not a comforting concept to be alone in this endeavor.
"So Mister Narukami," Goodwitch said, "what, pray tell, caused this? If you can recall." "He says he doesn't remember anything anymore," Jaune replied. "Says he has never been to Beacon Academy or met us before." Goodwitch raised an eyebrow.
"I can vouch for myself," Yu replied, getting to his feet. "But before I try, I'll have to talk to my team. Alone."
With little arguing, everyone save for Yu's team left the room. "Tell me everyone," Yu said, "do you honestly think we belong here? That we've been at this school for months?" "To tell you the truth," Naoto said, "not anymore."
"What?" Yu asked. "After you passed out," Yosuke said, "things just sort of began to click." "Yeah," Kanji said. "Like, everything you were saying was making sense while it was everyone else that was crazy."
"Ugh! It feels so weird!" Chie said. "Almost like something is pressing against my brain! Like it's being tenderized!" "Tenderize?" Yukiko asked. "You sure you aren't just hungry Chie?"
Everyone did a comical anime fall after that. Yup, that was Yukiko Amagi. So lovable but honestly kind of ditzy.
"N-nobody's hungry Yukiko!" Yosuke said. "We're trying to figure out what's wrong with our brains!" Yukiko tilted her head. "Yes," she said. "I know that there's something wrong, but honestly I can't tell what."
"I know I'm here, and something is telling me I should be here. But there's a stronger part of me that knows that I'm not supposed to be here. It's very confusing. Sorry I'm not much more help."
"Actually you paraphrased everything perfectly," Naoto said. "Senpai, did you remember anything while you were unconscious?" "Everything," Yu replied. "But what have you remembered?"
"Nothing," Yosuke replied. "All we have are feelings. It's like, we remember things with Team JNPR and Team RWBY, but they just don't feel right. It's like, they're dreams and not memories." "And how does it make sense that they know us?" Chie asked. "We've never even been here, but they're acting like we're best friends."
Narukami raked his brain as he tried to come up with some kind of answers. He was remembering everything and his friends knew that they should be too, but he wasn't sure how to jog their memory. He knew that he just had to find a way! They've been through too much to just forget all of that!
"Chie, Yosuke," Yu said, "don't you remember going to the TV World for the first time? How we met Teddie and began the investigation?" "TV World?" Yosuke and Chie collectively asked.
Yu's heart sank. If they didn't remember something as simple as the TV World it was all over for him! But they had to! It was too important!
"Come on!" Yu said, his aggravation present in his tone. "How did we get our Personas? You have to remember that? We used them to fight the Shadows! We solved the murder case in Inaba! You remember Inaba?"
The others began to look disgruntled. It was as if his words were drilling through the layer of confusion that was covering them. "Inaba?" Naoto asked. "R-right, yes. But- how-... where was that?"
"You have to remember!" Yu said. "What about Rise and Teddie? They're just as much members of our team as anybody here!" "Cool it Narukami," Chie said, holding her head in both hands. "You're giving me a splitting headache." "You have to remember!"
"We're trying," Yosuke said, holding his own head. "Yelling at us isn't going to solve anything!" "What about your Shadows?" Yu asked. "The creatures that took your repressed emotions and displayed them for everyone!"
"Hold on!" Kanji said. "There's no reason to bring that up!" "But there is," Yu said. "You have to remember that! The pain and embarrassment! The things you never wanted to acknowledge or accept!"
"We defeated your inner demons! Together, we were stronger! We harnessed the power of our hearts, our Personas! Remember!"
Everyone promptly collapsed on the ground! Yu stood in place, blinking several times. "Uh... guys?" he asked. He gently shook Yukiko to try and rouse her, but she was out. And so was everyone else.
It seemed that the struggle of remembering everything that had happened really was taxing on the brain. Too much for the person to bother remaining conscious. And that meant Yu had just made the remainders of the mission, a solo act until they could awaken. "Maybe I went a little overboard."
Yang's foot was tapping impatiently as she waited for the report from her teammates. Her little sister was unconscious. Had been for a what felt like hours. Not promising.
Not long after waking up, Weiss and Blake knew they would have to talk to Professor Ozpin and tell him everything that had happened. Yang opted to wait patiently for them to get back to keep an eye on Ruby in case she woke up. However, her impatience was getting the best of her. She wanted her sister back.
She decided to stop tapping her foot and instead practice some punches and kicks to get out her nervous energy. She recalled that the other girls had taken the red Keystone with them to show Ozpin, which they had found in Ruby's hand upon waking up and trying to rouse their young leader. Yang and Weiss were tempted to destroy it on the spot right then and there because of all the hell it put them through, but Blake thought it'd be wiser to keep it intact and show it to Professor Ozpin as proof of their journey. Ruby had it in a death grip, and they had to practically pry it from her fingers to get her to release.
The door to their dorm room finally opened Weiss and Blake stepped in. Yang didn't look at them, and kept up her brawling against an intangible adversary! "He believe us?" Yang asked. "Surprisingly, yes," Blake replied. "Turns out that he's been 'privy to such things for years.' Or something like that. Bottom line is that he trusts what we said, and honestly, after all we've been through, the last thing I wanted was to argue with him."
"So what should we do now?" Yang asked, delivering a powerful roundhouse kick! "We can't just got to class and leave Ruby here in case she wakes up sick or something." "Thankfully Professor Ozpin has excused us from any classes today," Weiss said. "That allows us to rest and keep an eye on our leader."
"Good," Yang said. "Say, why do you think she hasn't woken up yet?" "Can't say," Blake said. "That Keystone was attached to her the longest, so maybe that has something to do with it?" "And what does Ozpin want to do with it?" Yang asked. "He's just going to hold onto it," Weiss replied, "at least that's what we gathered."
Yang stopped her fighting and looked back at her younger sister, still fast asleep on her bed, her cape used as a makeshift blanket. "With all the beauty sleep she's getting," Yang said, "she'll be drop dead gorgeous by the time she wakes up!" "Really Yang? Now?" both Weiss and Blake collectively asked. "Sorry. Force of habit."
Weiss went to go and take a shower to recover from the stressful ordeal, as Yang merely sat back in her chair. Weiss had referred to Ruby as their leader. IT was rare she'd willingly admit that, outside of some sarcastic banter. Something so insignificant could really spell miles for just how concerned a person could be.
"Kido? Kido?" "Huh?" "Class is over." "Oh, right. Thanks Orie."
Hyde gathered his things and followed Orie out of the lecture hall. His head was clouded and was becoming more and more irritated. It was as if there was something happening just out of sight that was tugging on his attention, but he had no clue what.
"Okay," Orie said, "next we'll have our combat class with Professor Goodwitch. Do you think she'll object to me sparring Pyrrha again? I mean we do spar on a regular basis, but I think we continue to grow better from each of our matches. She's actually been curious about your abilities for some time now Kido, so you should consider-?"
Orie looked behind her and saw Hyde had spaced out as he followed her. "Kido, are you listening?" "Huh?" Hyde asked. "You did not hear a word I said did you?" Orie asked. Hyde blushed as the both of them stopped and he could not meet her gaze.
"S-sorry Harada," he said. "That was rude of me. But I just feel odd. I can't put my finger on it but I'm just having trouble concentrating."
"D-do you think that you can tell Professor Goodwitch I'll be showing up late? I... I need to get some air." Orie merely nodded as Hyde went on his way. She continued on her way towards Professor Goodwitch's class, but came to a sharp halt as she looked back at Hyde's hasty retreat. Wait a moment, she thought, why did he call me 'Harada'?
Hyde split off from Orie, walking through the gloomy atmosphere the day had wrought outside. He took deep breaths as he went on his way, and continued to breathe. For some reason the grim atmosphere of outside felt so natural.
He continued walking, hoping that the cool air would give him some release.
"Of course there would be fog. Because why wouldn't there be?"
Yu was not having a good time today. The outside of the school was entirely cloaked in fog. Knowing the things that he and his team have seen, that did not bode well for anybody.
He took a breath as he silently made his way out of the nurse's office. Thankfully Goodwitch and that team of students had left, and that allowed him to get out undetected. He did not know why they were convinced he and his team were students here, but either way that needed to be rectified soon. He just needed to figure out how.
He gathered up his teammates and got them all into beds to rest. Hopefully they would recover just as fast as he had from his own aneurysm, and have all their memories restored just the same. Until that time, he needed some release. Something that made sense.
The fog did not make him feel any less uneasy. Fog was something that Yu had grown to fear over the past few events that had befallen him in life. Fog was wear the monsters and murderers hid. Fog concealed the answers and hope. It was a place of sinister intent. At least it makes sense, Yu thought wryly.
Yu continued on his way as dauntlessly as he could manage. He just needed to find something that could explain why he was brought here, and why everyone's' memories were being altered, not just his team but everyone else here too. And most of all, what could cause something like that?
Theories began circling in his mind, and none of them were good. Fear and anxiety were getting him down to the core. He couldn't help but give a smile. "I guess all of this is making me uncharacteristically stressed," he thought.
"Hey," he heard. He stopped in his tracks and looked towards the source of the voice. He saw a boy, probably the same age if he had to guess, standing close by. Naturally he was wearing the same uniform, and he had wild, manic hair that was spiked backward, bleached blonde in the front and black at the tips, and had blood red eyes with cat-slit pupils. But more than that, he was quite familiar.
"Do I know you?" the boy asked. "I think I saw you in Port's class." Yu smiled more at the sight of his companion. "You do," Yu replied certainly. "Really?" the boy asked. Yu nodded. "We fought together before. In the Phantom Field? For the Keystones?"
"Keystones? Phantom... Field?" the boy asked. "Hyde," Yu said, speaking his name, "you know who I am. You know that you don't belong here, right?"
Hyde began gripping his head. His legs buckled and Yu quickly grabbed him by the arms! Oh please, I do not need anyone else passing out! Yu thought.
"Come on Hyde," Yu said. "Remember? We fought together. Against Jubei and Jin. You and I. You saved Yukiko from Mystery Food X! Remember?"
"Gah!" Hyde yelled. He shoved Yu roughly off of him and got to his feet! His nose was bleeding, but he had stabilized himself.
"Hyde?" Yu asked. "Are you alright?" Hyde took a moment to catch his breath, before he looked at Yu and nodded with a, "yes." He wiped his nose, noticing the blood. "But I think my brain melted," he added.
Yu tilted his head curiously. "You remember everything?" "Yeah," Hyde said. "I just... can't exactly place what that whole deal was about. It's like... I never really forgot but-?" He looked at Yu's puzzled expression, almost like he was thinking of something else entirely.
"W-what?" Hyde asked. "Why aren't you unconscious?" Yu asked. "Say what!?" Hyde said. "Were you trying to knock me out?" "No," Yu replied. "But when my friends and I remembered, we all had aneurysms that knocked us out." "Well," Hyde said, "I'm an In-Birth. That might have something to do with it."
"That sounds raunchy," Yu said. "N-not remotely what I meant!" Hyde said. "Jeez! An In-Birth is a type of creature 'without a birth.' Think of them basically being undead. To become an In-Birth, I was bitten by a Void, which usually causes its victims to suffer such extreme madness they lose their humanity and become Voids themselves. I was strong enough to fight it off, and become an In-Birth."
"Having that kind of will is probably why... whatever that was, didn't exactly affect me that strongly. It's like, I didn't forget who I was or what happened to me or anything like that. It's more like my memories were... repressed. I could've remembered if I tried, which is what happened just now, but I just decided... not to."
Yu thoughtfully as he cupped his chin in his hand. "My friends and I being Persona users might have a similar affect. So we just have to jog our memories and that's how we return to normal." "I don't exactly get what you're saying," Hyde said, "but, sure I guess that could be it."
He looked around himself, taking another breath. "Why couldn't I just pretend?" he said quietly. "Huh?" Yu asked. "You have no idea what kinds of things I've had to live with in the past few months," Hyde said. "The reason I didn't try to remember anything? It's because I didn't want to."
"A few months ago, I was just a normal school kid. Now? I'm the 'chosen one,' who's supposed to end the Hollow Night and defeat the Re-Births. Or something like that. I've nearly gotten myself killed a number of times. Honestly, with half of what I've had to go through, I wouldn't have minded just going day-in and day-out living a normal school life with Harada again."
Yu looked sympathetically at Hyde. He could vouch for how awful it could be never being able to live life normally again after some tragic incident turns you into something else. And according to Hyde, he's had to live through a similar series of events.
"I can't vouch for exactly what you've gone through," Yu said, "but I can sympathize. My life hasn't been the same in over a year. And I fear that it may never be the same again. But the one thing we can do? Keep fighting."
Hyde looked at Yu, and gave a gruff chuckle. "Maybe," he said. "So, any theories about where we are or what happened to us?" "Nothing so much," Yu said. "But if we investigate, hopefully we can figure it out."
"Sounds like a plan to me," Hyde said. "Just lead the way, partner." Yu was thrown off for a moment, something which Hyde noticed. "Did I do something wrong?" "No. It's nothing," Yu said. "It's just... I'm not used to having anybody aside from Yosuke call me that." "Oh. Sorry," Hyde said. "Didn't mean to overstep."
Yu merely waved it off, and the two continued to press forward into the fog, hoping to uncover the concealed answers that lay within.
Ruby Rose.
I want to be a Huntress. You want to slay monsters?
This isn't your ordinary combat school. It's not just sparring and practice, you know? We're here to fight monsters.
We have to put our teammates first, and ourselves second.
All in favor of becoming the youngest Huntresses to single-handedly take down a corrupt organization conspiring against the Kingdom of Vale - say aye!
We all had this romanticized version of being a Huntress in our heads! But at the end of the day, it's a job to protect the people. And whatever we want will have to come second.
Well, that's why we're here. To make it better.
You… have silver eyes.
"What!? Who!? Where!? Why!? When!?"
Ruby was so startled by all of the things that had just overcome her, she ended up falling right off her bed and landing headfirst against the floor! She lay flat on her stomach on the floor of her team's dorm, as she turned her head and released a groan. Zweii plopped over and began sniffing her, attempting to see if she was alright. "Well at least I made it back home," she said.
She stood and looked around her dorm room, hoping to see her teammates all where they should be, but for some reason, they were not present. "Yang? Blake? Weiss?" she asked. No response was given.
Raising a brow, she looked to the corgi that had sat itself at her feet. "You wouldn't happen to know where they went, did you?" Zweii merely gave a little, 'yip!' "Thought not," Ruby said.
She looked around, before finally coming across a note that one of them must've left on the desk. The yellow color of the note made it a near certainty it was written by Yang. She picked it up and brought it up to look over.
"Dear sis," it read. "Weiss said that it's dumb to leave a note, but I figured in case you did wake up while we were gone, you'd like to know where. We're going to get something to eat. We'll bring you back something just in case. Hope you slept well. ~ Yang."
"PS: You did amazing back there in that other world. Just thought you deserved to know first thing you got up. ~ Blake."
Ruby let out a breath. She loved her teammates, and they were positively crazy about her. "I suppose it's just my natural charm, huh Zweii?" she asked the corgi, who was proceeding to lick himself.
She picked up her poor cape, which had fallen off of her when she rolled off the bed. She loved her cape more than you could believe, and would never dream of ever being without it. It was practically a part of her.
She also grabbed her precious, lovely, awe-inspiring Crescent Rose off the wall and clipped it to her hip. "C'mon Zweii," Ruby said. "We can probably get some air before they get back." Zweii barked happily as Ruby exited the dorm and made her way out.
She left the dorms building as a whole, and saw quickly the thick layer of fog on the ground. "Jeez," she said. "Was it this foggy when we left?"
She continued walking, noticing that not many students were out at the moment. Even if they were in classes, typically a handful of teams were out and about, mainly the transfers for the Vytal Festival. It was a bit disconcerting that nobody was in sight.
As she walked, Zweii continued prancing happily at her feet. She made sure to keep her dog in check as she took in the mystifying atmosphere of Beacon Academy in the muggy, humid weather. "Hello?" she asked. "Is anybody here?"
Obviously there was no response, yet despite being so totally alone, she could not help but feel the disturbing sensation of being watched. But why did she feel so disturbed? She had won the day. She had gotten herself and her teammates home, so why was she so on edge?
Suddenly, not too far away, she heard voices. Relief filled her for a moment, thankful for somebody else being around. She walked in the direction of the voices, unprepared for the shock she would find.
"Are you looking for anything in particular?" "Typically in situations like these, the Shadows show up without even needing to do anything." "So... you have no clue." "That is fairly true."
Yu and Hyde had pretty much been wandering in circles for several minutes now. Neither had any real concept of the layout for this school, and didn't even have a clue as to what they were looking for at all. But whatever the case may be, the both of them could've sworn that the fog that coated the ground had gotten even thicker, thus blocking their visibility even more.
Hyde was not particularly happy by this case. He wasn't a fan of the fact that something or someone had been screwing around with his brain, making him think he'd returned to a fairly normal school life, something that he secretly wished for more than he cared to admit. He swore that once he found what had done this to him, he would shove a sword in their face and make them regret their decision.
"W-w-what!?"
Hyde stopped in his tracks. He heard a voice he did not expect at all. Uh-oh, he thought. He turned slowly, and saw Ruby not too far away, her jaw practically on the floor!
"Uh... hi," Hyde waved sheepishly. Yu looked back and forth between the two, a brow raised. "Oh. You know each other?" he asked casually.
Finally, Ruby took a deep breath, before releasing a long, heavy, "Huuuuuh!?"
(Opening: You're Just Making Us Stronger, By DAGames):
Prey for mercy cause I have ended
And I've defended, my immortal place
My eternal grace will lift through these
Bridges burned
(We overcome to life!)
I'll take the carnage that you bring me now
I seek nothing but the lessons learned.
Deny me courage, deny me apathy,
But I will always journey forward!
So you see me now, I'm up here and you're down there.
Disrupt if you dare,
For an alchemy has awoken.
I have awoken!
In this chosen battlefield you made!
Devour, empower,
But you're just making us stronger!
I have bespoken.
Of our golden age where we climb.
Engage, enrage,
But you're just making us stronger!
The wrecked husk of System XX, which laid at the heart of the Phantom Field as all those who were present had vanished from sight, thought as having been destroyed by the Huntresses-in-training, suddenly hummed back to life! Little had anyone present during the final battle against the corrupt machine realized, but someone else had been present just out of sight. They had been present during most confrontations or encounters within the Phantom Field, not as a combatant themselves, but rather an observer, not playing into the System's design.
Now that most of those drawn into this world appeared to be gone, it left them as the one of the only remaining inhabitant s within the Phantom Field to have not been jettisoned to another world. They had clutched to the System's form at the very end as the Field collapsed from its current state, to keep from vanishing with the rest. Now all that was left to do was to reactivate the machine.
By holding their hand out to the crystalline form, they pumped energy into the body of the System, causing it to revitalize! With a loud humming noise, the System rose back into the air! The intelligence of System XX was no longer active, leaving it only a husk of its former self. But so long as all of its capabilities were still active, that could still prove to be very beneficial.
Like a puppeteer pulling on strings, by forcing the energy within System XX to move, they controlled its interior design, allowing all of its programs and capabilities to appear on a hard light screen.
Power: 72% and rising.
Keystones Accounted: 2/4 - Battle Data Below Desired Functioning Range.
Warning: Pure Body Sustained Critical Damage. Form Integrity - 78%
Dimensional Viewing: Active.
Dimensional Breach: Inactive.
They smiled at the last row. "Dimensional Breach." Once the missing Keystones were accounted for, all of the reality altering functions of System XX would be at their fingertips. Truly every world could and would fall under their control. And just their luck that the third Keystone hadn't really left the Phantom Field at all.
"Now then," they said, "where are you hiding Hazama?"
Author's Note:
Hello readers! This has been something that I've been hoping to get going since practically forever! Ever since I discovered RWBY back just before Volume 3 started, I had hoped to write a story for them. Unfortunately, things did not go as well as I had hoped. Things got real weird real quick, nothing was melding, and it was overall a mess. I never gave up the hope of writing for RWBY, I just didn't know how.
Thankfully, when Blazblue: Cross Tag Battle came out, that renewed my efforts and I was finally able to create something I was satisfied with. Despite knowing nothing about either Persona 4 or Under Night In-Birth when I first saw gameplay and story footage, I grew to love both nearly just as much as RWBY, and that only made me want to create a story staring all of them just that much more. So there are going to be a few things that I want to comment on before we continue.
The biggest thing to note about this story, for those that haven't realized it already, is that the characters from Blazblue will not be present, at least not in a major capacity. The main reason for that, is I have tried for literal months to learn about the world of Blazblue, but I just could not find myself getting nearly as interested in the world of that game as I was the world of Persona 4 and Under Night upon researching the different franchises. And I do want to portray massive aspects of all worlds cohesively, but I just cannot get into Blazblue.
It is a well known fact that the story of Blazblue is the stuff of nightmares, so I am not that worried over it. Not to mention, I honestly feel that Persona 4 and Under Night mesh much more with RWBY than Blazblue does with any of them. I honestly do hope that I do not offend anybody by not including Blazblue in this despite being the title part of the game, but that is honestly my feelings.
Aside from that, the story will mainly follow the ending of the RWBY episode of BBTAG, but will simultaneously include elements and ideas that were included in the different episodes. For example, in this story Hyde met up with and protected Yukiko, as he did in the Under Night In-Birth episode of the game, instead of Yukiko meeting up with Yu and the others like she did in the P4A episode, and at the same time Ruby met and teamed up with Hyde against Yosuke and Chie as it happened in the Under Night episode as well, as opposed to fighting against Hyde at the start of the RWBY episode. But for the most part, the events of the P4A episode happened as they did to a degree, mostly coming to a halt after meeting back up with Naoto, and obviously the majority of the rest of the RWBY episode also happened as is.
As for things outside of BBTAG, aside from including DLC characters for the game like Yuzuriha, Mitsuru, or Akihiko, characters and plot devices from the three separate worlds that weren't included in the game altogether will be featured, including the overall plot or settings from Persona 4 or Under Night In-Birth. Each franchise has enough to offer to create a story that can span boundless possibilities.
And of course, once the fifth franchise is announced for BBTAG, whatever it may be, I will do everything in my power to incorporate it.
And a final note, there will be ship pairings in this. I hope to not have them completely overshadow the other important points in the story, but rather just include a sweet little spice to the narrative. The main pairings I will be focusing on are ones for the main four girls of RWBY. I already know who I want to have paired up with Ruby, Weiss, and Blake, but Yang's the only one that I am left grasping at straws over. She's a really tough character to write a love interest for.
I think it should honestly come as no surprise as people go ALL OUT for pairings in both RWBY and Persona 4, and I am no different. But I'll try to keep it as low key as possible for the sake of the plot, and have things progress in a natural manner. So if you have any suggestions for pairings in this story you might like to see or would make a lot of sense, please let me know and I'll see what I can do.
This story will mainly be a mix of adventure and slice of life, as is per usual for these three franchises, so I do hope that you enjoy. Once more if you have reviews or suggestions, please post them and let me know what you like and what I can improve on. As I said, I always want to improve.
I hope you enjoy reading A New Lease on Life, and until next time, I hope you have a fantastic evening, and I'll see you next time!