Last Rook of JNPR

by Khor Evik Vlakhavlakh

Salem had won, and humanity had fallen. All his friends had died, and he had been powerless to stop the Witch. But... maybe there was a silver lining? If even the Gods allowed him a second chance, maybe he could do it? He longed to see his friends again, but he would need to go further back in time to save Remnant. Oh, well, he was ready. Time travel story with no time travel.

And here it is, finally the first chapter of Last Rook of JNPR! As you might've read on Demonic Redemption, I wrote this and that at the same time, so here it is! ;) Anyway, I'm also trying to make my chapters a little bit longer than 2-3k words, so here is 4.5 k words, eheh.

So, this story is currently in the poll. If it wins, I'll write more, okay? Now enjoy this~

Jaune Arc closed the door behind him and looked at the only other inhabitant of the room. Of the world, possibly. "We're screwed," was all he said.

Oscar Pine, or rather Ozpin, sighed as he looked back at him. Over three years of war, the child had matured into a man, his brown hair still kept short and messy, and his brown eyes almost constantly green, a sign Ozpin was in control. He had exchanged his farmyard clothes for something more similar to what Professor Ozpin used to wear, a black suit and a brown scarf around his neck. He slightly leaned on his cane, more out of habit than actually need, and he had begun to wear small grey glasses. The boy-turned-man gazed at his companion with a heavy expression before shaking his head. "There is nothing we can do," he said defeatedly. "Salem has… Salem has won, in the end."

Jaune stared at him for a few seconds before letting out a bitter laugh. "So that's it? After three years of continuous losses, you just say 'Salem has won'?" His voice was aggressive, and when he opened his eyes, their blue was tainted by rage. "You finally caught up with how much of a failure you are? You fought Salem for millennia and yet you couldn't even lead us properly. I knew we shouldn't have trusted you… from the start of this war, you've done nothing but failing."

"I won't stand by to hear such accusations," Oscar retorted, clasping his cane tightly. "I gave my best to stop Salem. My punishment for my failure will be far greater than what you can even imagine. Believe me, it was not in my wishes to lose."

"Humanity survived for millennia against the Grimm," Jaune shot back immediately, anger rising. "For millennia! Then you show up and try to bring the war on Salem's side, and everything goes to hell! How comes Salem hadn't destroyed humanity a long time ago? How comes that, despite controlling ninety percent of the planet, she didn't just order her Grimm to wipe us out?"

"I am not aware of what Salem's plans were in the past," admitted the ancient man. "She has always been the unpredictable one. But it doesn't matter now. All we can do now, is to wait for our demise." The man's eyes stopped on Jaune for a second. "And… for all you hate me… I'm sorry for how much you've lost."

Burning, white-hot rage seared through the blond man's mind and body at that last sentence. He was sorry… how dared he be sorry for everyone his failures had killed!? Everyone Jaune remembered as a friend, everyone of them… had died. Every weapon on his body was a name. Only a name, their wielders long gone.

On his lower back there was Crescent Rose, just like Ruby always kept it, in compact form. His eyes stung as he remembered the small redhead, so cheerful and optimistic… and her death. The madman, Tyrian Callows, hadn't given her any mercy. When they had found her, it was already too late, venom and injuries had slowly been killing her. He had poured every sliver of Aura he had into her, trying to keep her alive… but for nothing. She had died two hours later. He had held her hand all thorough, crying for yet another loss. Ruby had been his closest friend, and he had only been able to watch her die.

On his right hip sat Myrtenaster, and he was sure Weiss would've been outraged at seeing her weapon taken away from her. In a way, her weapon was her legacy. In a way, her weapon had been her honour and defiance. But now it only kept her name alive, echoing in his head like all the others'. He still remembered the day he had been told about her death. Weiss and Blake had gone on different missions from he and Oscar, and only three had returned. One of Watts's killing machines had put a blade through her chest, and he hadn't been there to save her that time. He remembered just staring emptily at her rapier, adding her name to the already too long list of the people he had lost.

Ember Celica was on his wrists, although he knew they belonged to one person alone, and she wasn't him. Yang had been one of the firsts to die. She had died against Cinder, the damn bitch, vainly trying to protect Ruby. The fire had still scorched the right side of Ruby's face, almost blinding her eye, but Yang hadn't survived, her Aura doing little to protect her after it was depleted. He still remembered Cinder's psychotic laughter as she reduced the fiery brawler to ashes. At least they had paid Cinder back when they had thrown her into a volcano in Vacuo's Grimmlands, making sure she was dead, but the pain was still in his heart.

On his shins sat Storm Flowers, Ren's trusted weapons. He had been Jaune's brother in all but blood, and the two of them had been on a mission together when it had happened. Too many Grimm, too powerful ones, all around them, and no safe escape route. There were him, Ren, Ruby, Blake and Oscar left alive, and they were trapped. Ren had given them a way to flee. He had allowed his negativity to take over and had dived straight into the Grimm, a suicidal charge that had made the Grimm focus on him. Jaune knew that after Nora's death, his brother had been wishing for death himself, but even while dying he had saved them.

On his upper back sat Maghnild in compact form, just like Nora always kept it, and for once he was sure his friend would've been happy of his choice of keeping her weapon. He had killed many a Grimm, and enemies, with the powerful hammer. His heart clenched slightly as he remembered Nora's carefree attitude. Like Ruby, she hadn't deserved her fate. Hazel Rainart had killed her in his rage, trying to get to Oscar. Ren had never been the same again after her death, and Jaune didn't blame him for searching death. They had gotten together just a few months prior…

And last there were Gambol Shroud, Blake's elegant katana/gun/kusarigama hybrid, on his right hip, and the modified Crocea Mors, that was perennially on his left forearm in scabbard mode. She had been killed by her former lover, Adam Taurus, a sociopathic murderer who had been later killed by Salem herself. Blake had been, in a way, the one whose death had hit him the hardest. They had gotten closer during the war, nothing romantic though, and she was a dear friend, but what had really hit him was that she was the last. After her death, he had truly been alone. He had survived all his friends, and it was a curse he wouldn't have wished to anyone.

And Ozpin thought he could be forgiven all of that just by saying sorry!?

His eyes were glowing with Aura when he raised his head again, and a slightly psychotic light shone in them. "You're sorry?!" he hissed furiously, his hands clenching tightly. "I don't give a damn about your sorriness, I want my friends back! I want my family back! I want my life back!" With each sentence, he took a step toward the Wizard, who seemed unsurprised by his outburst, as if he had been expecting that. "You and your incompetence killed everyone. You are to blame as much as Salem."

Oscar's, or rather Ozpin's, eyes flashed dangerously. "The curse placed on me is a thousand times worse than whatever hardship you went through," he retorted with steel in his voice. "Don't think I acted carelessly, without thinking about my choices, just out of neglect. I have much more than you to lose. I will be forever damned. At least you shall see your friends again in the Afterlife."

"And you think this gives you an excuse for what you've done!?" screamed Jaune, his Aura now fully flaring around him. "If the Gods aren't petty children but real gods, then they must've given humanity a way to win. You fought for millennia and never learned?!"

"There was a way to win, harmony!" Ozpin shouted back. "I tried, I tried for centuries, to make humanity live in harmony! Then we would've called the Gods back and they would've dealt with Salem! But humanity never learned! Even now, with just two people remaining in the whole world, we are arguing! Maybe the Gods were right, humanity deserves to be wiped off!"

Jaune clenched his fists and stalked forwards. Ozpin was tired, he wasn't. Being the medic down to the last second, he was usually forced out of the fight to take care of the wounded ones. That meant he hadn't fought much in the last battle, while Ozpin had. "Maybe humanity does," he growled as he unsheathed Crocea Mors and deployed Ember Celica. Ozpin looked confused before his expression fell back into stony, and he wearily raised his cane. "But my friends didn't. They deserved lives of happiness and instead now they are all dead. They've all died trying to make the world a better place, and even now they have to bear the knowledge of not having changed anything. You bastard, you are the one who did this! Hadn't your bitch tried to bring you back because she couldn't get over you, none of this would've happened!"

"Don't you dare blame me for the desperate actions of my former love!" Ozpin thundered, his voice still holding enough authority to halt Jaune for a second. "She was mourning and she did the wrong thing! How many others have committed mistakes while mourning?!"

"Many, but only she managed to get the Gods to destroy humanity and only she managed to destroy the world for her fucking plans!" Jaune shot back, continuing to advance, sword at the ready. "Since there is nothing else we can do, at least I'll get the satisfaction to put you down."

Ozpin's eyes narrowed. "You cannot kill me permanently," he retorted. "You will only kill Oscar, and become my next host as you are the only one left."

"Like hell I will," growled the broken knight. "I said put you down, not kill you. The day I start hearing your goddamned voice in my head is the day I bite a bullet. Since Salem is coming, with the powers of all the Four Maidens, and with her army of Grimm, at least I'll get the satisfaction of doing what I should've done a long time ago, when Oscar's body still was untrained and thus unable to sustain combat for long. But it doesn't matter, you are already tired, even the failure of Beacon can do this."

Ozpin almost let out a bitter smile at that. The failure of Beacon… how wrong that title was. Jaune had grown jaded, pessimistic even, but he had also grown stronger. As opposite to others, like Ruby, who had played and joked until the very end, he had trained for the past four years, ever since Beacon had fallen. Even if he hadn't been tired, Ozpin wasn't sure if he would've been able to defeat the knight without injuries. With his current level of fatigue… he'd been fighting a losing battle.

He didn't even raise his cane to stop the oncoming attack, just allowing it to strike his chest.

Jaune glared at him even as he was sent flying by the hit, knowing that he should've not allowed the knight to hit him so easily, but eventually he didn't care. He only cared about knocking out the bastard who had ruined his life together with his bitch. He stalked over to Ozpin's unmoving body, taking notice of the fact his Aura flickered and shattered, before lifting a foot and bringing it down onto the man's face, knocking him out cold.

Then his gaze wandered to the four Relics placed in the middle of the Beacon's Vault. The Relic of Choice had been the last Ozpin had decided to retrieve, due to it being well-hidden in the Vault, and so Jaune found himself back to where it all once began.

Beacon…

It looked so different now. Grimm crawling around, ruined buildings, skeletons and corpses laying around. Destroyed hallways and… their old dorms. Jaune had cried in his dorm for Oum only knew how long when they had first arrived there. His reaction to the destruction in RWBY's old dorm hadn't been any less emotive. He had broken down, remembering all of them and all their deaths. Oum, what he'd give to have them back…

He shook himself from such thoughts and glared with hatred at the four things that had damned humanity. So powerful, yet so fragile… A smirk found its way to his face as he finally reached them. Towering over the four Relics, he released a sigh he didn't know he had been holding. Apparently, that was it. The end, the Armageddon, the End of Times, whatever. To him, it meant rest. To him, it meant sleep. To him, it meant seeing his friends again.

With a smile, he raised Crocea Mors, the Indestructible Blade, and forcefully brought it down on the Relics. There was a flash of blinding light, and then darkness. He smiled as he felt himself slip away…

…only to be forcefully dragged back. He opened his eyes again, a snarl curling his lips down as he glared death at whoever or whatever had pulled him back to a world he did not want to be pulled back to. To a world he had been wishing to abandon for a long time.

Then he blinked.

Before him stood two orbs of light, one white and the other black. They were bright, almost too much, and he tried to take a step back, bringing up a hand to shield his eyes. His body didn't move, it didn't even twitch. Before he could ask himself what was going on, a voice rang out.

"So, eventually the time has come."

It was so filled with sadness and regret that Jaune almost thought it had been himself the one speaking. But those emotions ran even deeper than his own, to a level he couldn't even begin to understand. Another voice reverberated in the Vault soon after.

"Regretfully we are left with no choice…"

Jaune shook himself and looked at the two orbs, the only possible sources of sound. Nothing else in the room had changed, only they had appeared. "Hey, hey, hey! Whoever or whatever you are, what's going on? Why aren't the Relics broken?!"

There was a small silence after that, but Jaune was sure the orbs were watching him, somehow. "Apparently, it appears there is someone who will explain, after all…" said the second voice. "Do tell, human, what has befallen Remnant? Did the witch, Salem, succeeded in her objectives?"

"Wait, slow down!" exclaimed Jaune, a bit freaked out by how much those voices seemed to know. "Who are you, and how do you know of Salem?! I thought she was supposed to be a secret!"

"We are the Brother Gods of Remnant, human," the first voice replied evenly. "And I do believe that answers your second question as well. Now, we cannot allow you to be shocked, answer our question. What happened to our beloved creation?"

True to the god's words, shock ran through Jaune's system, but a powerful warmth seemed to chase it away. Was it magic? Were the gods forcefully keeping him calm? Was he going insane? The last one was probably true. "I… Salem has won," explained the knight, using the same words the bastard had used earlier. "She has killed everyone. Men, women, children… my friends… everyone. Ozpin and I managed to retrieve all the Relics at the price of many lives who didn't deserve to be ended, but eventually we could do nothing. I tried to destroy the Relics to at least scorn Salem, and maybe condemn her to live forever in a world she destroyed."

Another long silence ensured after his short speech, and the gods seemed to be mulling over his words. "Your explanation is… lacking," said one of the two. "We shall look into your memories to get a better one."

"Wait, wh-"

"It's done. Fear not, mortal, as we have not harmed you in any way, nor removed your memories," continued the same voice. Wait, they had already done it? "I am regretful to say that… we failed. We believed that Salem could still learn the error of her ways, and we believed that humanity could live in harmony. We were wrong."

Jaune felt anger rising. They were wrong. They were wrong!? How dared they just say that?! "Well, that much is clear," he hissed venomously, not even caring any more about being speaking with gods. "You might be gods but you really did a shitty job at being gods."

"Your words cannot hurt us any more than our failure already has," remarked the second voice. "Believe us, if there was a way to save Remnant, we would gladly take it."

"You are gods, why don't you just turn back time?!" shouted Jaune. "Just mess with the time stream or whatever and solve everything!"

"You overestimate our powers, mortal. We can command matter, but time is something not even we can touch," said the first voice. "There might be a solution to this but… it would mean burdening you with preventing all of this, and if Ozpin failed, how could you succeed?"

"Well, for one I don't have an extreme case of senile dementia," snorted Jaune. "Plus I already know how the war will go, so yay for me 'cause I already know what to do. And Salem won't be expecting this."

"It won't be easy, and you might die in the-"

"Are you fucking messing with me?!" exclaimed Jaune, back to angry. "Seriously?! I basically tried to kill myself by destroying the Relics, I have nothing left to lose, I have no one left by my side… and you think I am going to give a fucking damn about the chance of dying?!"

"Your words ring indeed true, but-"

"Fuck whatever but you might think of, I'm all for cleaning up your messes if it means my friends get to live," grumbled Jaune. "Just tell me what do I have to do."

"At the current moment, nothing, mortal. You do not have the power to aid us in this action. However, you will be important for what's to come," said one of the two voices.

"You are far from our optimal choice, but as you are the only one who survived this war, you are also the only one who knows how to end it," admitted the second one. "We shall let you choose a time to be 'sent back to', mortal. Choose wisely."

"But I thought you-"

"We won't turn back time. Rather, we will resurrect everyone who had been alive at that time, erased their memories, and rejuvenate the very matter of Remnant, but time itself will continue," explained the warm voice Jaune dubbed as 'Light'. The other was immediately dubbed 'Dark'. "It is in our powers to do so."

"Wait, what?"

"Mortal, you die of old age because your very cells are too old to go on living. We can give them new life force to continue living, modify your body to make it look like it was ten years ago, and rebuild the entire world to hide the destruction Salem caused," explained 'Dark'. "Do you understand now?"

"Then why the fuck haven't you used those god-ass powers to prevent this from happening in the first place?" By then, Jaune's fury had been replaced by confusion. The anger was still there, but now it was hidden under a thick layer of puzzlement. "Seriously, why do nothing?!"

"Humanity should solve its own problems. However, it appears we underestimated the power the Witch had gathered, and her underlings. As such, we too are to blame for what has happened to the world," said 'Dark'. "As such, we may be willing to give humanity a second chance."

"If the true only way to win is to reach harmony well, there is no chance of winning," replied Jaune. "Giving me a second chance means telling me how to kill Salem."

"She is not invulnerable, mortal."

"Well, that's not comforting as she appears to be!"

"Believe us, she has not reached godhood. We shall wipe her memories as well as everyone else in time."

"Not mine." There was a small pause after his words, and Jaune glared right at the two orbs. "I am not the best Hunter around… actually that's untrue, I am since there's no one else left… but if you wipe my memories everything will go to hell again."

"We were not going to erase your memories, mortal. Please, do not jump to conclusions," scolded 'Light'. "I do hope you are ready for this."

"I am."

"Do you have any request? We won't change the fate of humanity itself, but we will aid you to help you with your quest," added 'Dark', and Jaune could swear the God seemed eager to do something more than just talk. "You mourn the death of your friends very much. Do you wish them to come back with you?"

Jaune shook his head. No, that would cause a mess even greater. "No, it's already going to be hard to explain Mum that I have the memories of three years of war, better not to put them in similar situations, but I want to see them alive."

"Your request is a strange one, but we believe we have found a solution," said 'Light'. Jaune was not surprised that the gods could think so fast. They had, after all, seen all his memories in half a second. "Your hatred for the Wizard runs deep, but as opposite to him, you have no ally. We shall rebuild this world as it was twenty-two years ago. Team STRQ were the Wizard's loyalmost allies for a long time. We shall send you back to the day of their graduation, so for you to be able to befriend them and take them away from under the Wizard's control. Your body shall not change, however. Jaune Arc shall be born as someone different than you. There shall be no records of you, and you shall take the name of Jaune Umbra, a vassal of Light and Darkness."

"But what about my friends?" he asked.

"The souls of your friends shall accompany you. You will give them back to their bodies when you will go back. Find them and give them back their souls. They shall not remember the war, but they shall be the people you lost, in time," stated 'Dark'. "However, you shall not be able to speak with their souls."

Seven lights shone, and seven gems appeared in Crocea Mors's blade. A ruby, a diamond, a black opal, a topaz, a jasper, an aquamarine, and a jade. He grazed them with his fingers, and they were warm.

"But now, our time is ticking down. Are you ready, Jaune Umbra?"

"It's gonna take some time getting used to that," he snorted. "But hey, I get to see my friends again, right? I'll become Yang's godfather and when she'll be older, I'll remind her all the embarrassing stuff she did when she was a child. Of course I'm fucking ready… although I should learn to keep the swearing under control."

"Then, Remnant shall be reforged from its ruins like a royal phoenix rise from its ashes. We wish you luck on your quest, Knight of Shadow! Lux and Tenebris, the Gods of Remnant, shall grant you a second chance! Win this war, Herald of the Gods!"

There was another powerful light coming from the Relics, and Jaune covered his eyes before daring to peer between his fingers.

There was a crowd, he immediately noticed. Letting his hand fall from his eyes, he stared in disbelief at the people before him. Students. They were students and parents, and they were all looking at a stage in the middle. In the background, there was…

Beacon. It was exactly as he remembered, with the Wizard's Tower glowing green, the huge gardens full of plants and ponds, the stone paths. It was glorious and magnificent. Archways and colonnades littered the grounds, and the school was built like a castle, with mighty buildings ready to challenge the ages. Jaune inwardly snorted. They hadn't lasted twenty years from that moment. The windows were still intact, and there was no Grimm lurking around.

He elbowed the people aside as he made his way to the stage, where a tall man with silvering hair, dressed in a dark green suit and a green scarf loosely tied around his neck, was speaking. He didn't even care about the speech, his eyes only focused on the clearly younger Ozpin. His cane was already there, but not his mug of coffee. Well, who the fucking cared about that? The important thing was that the bastard was there. Not just that. Jaune and the bastard were both there, and as sure as hell Jaune's first instinct was not to say hello. He stomped on the stage, shoving aside the people who tried to stop him.

He passed by four shocked and outraged people as he stormed over to Ozpin. One was basically a copy of Ruby, but her clothing were red with white rims, and her cape was white. By her side there were two swords, one long and thin while the other much shorter. Jaune knew that fighting style, he used it too against Tyrian. He had lost, but at least he had carved out the psychopath's left eye. Beside her there was a tall blond with blue eyes who apparently didn't have any weapons on him, and his hair colour reminded him of Yang's. The last person, a woman with red eyes and black hair glaring at him, was basically Yang with a different colour theme. She even had the temper issues down. And the third was a young man with black hair and faded red eyes with a huge sword undeployed on his back. Heh, he knew that one, he even already had the flask attached to his hip. As he walked past him, the man reached for the alcohol. He was right, he would probably need it.

Jaune snatched the flask from his hands, and took a huge gulp. The burn was familiar, but he controlled himself. Tossing the flask back to the shocked man, he stalked over to Ozpin, who was regarding him with confusion. Jaune ignored the fourth person's attempt to stop him, just shoving her aside as he walked before Ozpin.

Then he drew back a hand, and punched him hard enough to send him shattering the Beacon statue.

That was good to write

Taiyang: "I want to learn how to punch like that." His team: "Me too..."

So, a time travel fic with no actual time travel! Wow, who would've guessed? Not me, definitely I didn't spend two hours trying to get an original idea for a time travel fic that did not involve paradoxes. Because, let's be clear, it's scientifically impossible to time-travel without causing paradoxes. Example: you go back in time to fix something, so then your 'future self' has no reason to go back and doesn't, so no one fixes it, so... BOOM! Universe imploded. Whooops... sorry?

This way, the Gods just rejuvenated everyone and erased their memories while rebuilding Remnant. Time goes on but it's as it they have sent him back in time. Weird, right?

Until next time,

Khor Evik Vlakhavlakh