You know what's rude?
Having a group of men dressed in suits rolling up to your house and practically dragging you out, telling you that 'you have aptitude to be a master and you are needed immediately.'. That's rude. Not even telling you a damn thing, only handing you a contract while they shove you into the back of a car like some police officers did a criminal, even sarcastically remarking to 'watch your head' as they pushed you in. And it was fucking 4AM in the morning! I didn't even have time to change out of my pyjamas!
Rude, and that's coming from someone who's taken lives before!
Adding insult to injury they didn't even speak to me! The wankers, the both of 'em! When I tried to ask them questions about what was going on they just told me to 'read the contract'. It was a twenty page word salad! It resembled a workers contract, explaining that they were not liable if I was injured or killed on the job, that I would be under a strict NDA and wouldn't be aloud to speak to anyone about my job and what occurred during them.
It honestly felt like I was being drafted into the Atlas specialist program again, ugh…a nightmare I'd prefer to forget.
''Oi, you better tell me where we're going or I'm going to get out next time you stop.'' I say, looking at the driver with an inquisitive gaze, my eyes boring into the back of his head.
''I'm afraid you can't do that sir, now that you've seen us and read part of the agreement the NDA's in effect.'' My gaze moved to the passenger causing him to shiver, something I took much delight in. He balled his hand into a fist a 'coughed' into it before continuing. ''You've of critical importance, if you leave we'll be forced to restrain you.''
Restrain me? Good luck with that. Even if it was locked my Aura still had an effect on my body making me stronger than most people, there were some physically stronger than me but that's because they trained everyday. I didn't, I only trained moderately to maintain a body physic that matched my strength, it would look weird for a twig to lift something twice as heavy as him after all. And my guess is they'd probably been trained to subdue people rather than all out fight them guessing by the lack of muscle mass on there bodies. Probably relied on using there attackers own power against them.
Even if I could escape I didn't want to cause a ruckus, if I did manage to get away there might be more ready to attack at a moments notice, and if they had guns? Well I couldn't tank bullets with just skin and bone. I wasn't the wall that was called Hazel. I was Jaune Arc, once a huntsman who's now been stuck on a world not called Remnant for the past twenty years of his new life.
Odd right? Me, someone from Remnant who became a huntsman through illegitimate means was stuck on a mirror world called Earth, (who named their world after dirt?), with my aura locked. At least there was no grimm to worry about, but the constant 'accidents' that happened seemed to replace them.
I use the word 'accident' loosely because there's no way a jetliner just falls out of the sky without a reason, no way a building 'accidental' blows up out of the blue despite the fact it was just safety checked the day before, no way a town just vanishes over night when it was filled with people the night before.
Weird anomalies happened rather frequently, especially in London. And I for one bet that my new employers was probably related to what was happening.
''Uh...Can you stop that? it's sort of freaking me out...'' I blinked, realizing I'd been glaring intensely at the passenger now for the past five minutes. I rolled my eyes before looking away, more spastically out the cars tinted windows to continue thinking. Sadly not even that lasted long when I realized I was looking at an airport.
''Why are we at the airport?'' I ask, sure I knew I was being airlifted somewhere, that was obvious enough, I was at an airport after all. but it's safer to be informed than not informed, even if it's only a small bit of information.
''You're being airlifted, it shouldn't take to long to get there.'' The passenger side man explains, he glanced back at me before he continued. ''Word of warning though, it's going to get cold when we land again.''
Lovely, I was being transported from one cold place to another probably colder place filled with secret agent like people. In the end I could groan. Life was truly out to get me, the fraudster huntsman who helped the true hero's along to complete there mission, maybe being reborn was a form of punishment like Ozpin's? Just to make me suffer by having bazaar things happen to me while simultaneously blessing me with piss port bad luck.
I shuck my head and shoved my hand into my pocket, I still suffered from motion sickness, even after being reborn. Grasping nothing I paused before banging my head against the car window in defeat. I forgot my tablets, well I didn't forget the, I didn't habe enough time to grab them while being dragged out of my home.
Still...
''Why me…''
-=/\/\/\/\=-
''Ugh…''
''He isn't looking so good...''
''No kidding, the dude turned green the moment we started moving...''
''Fuck you guys...'' I Groaned out through the pain, slouched over myself with my arms wrapped around my sensitive gut in an attempt to stop it from doing flips when the plane suddenly jerked. Plane wasn't really the word for it...Ah right it's a VTOL! I think…
Ugh...why was I having these thoughts, they just made my sickness worse…
Feeling the aircraft suddenly jerk my stomach followed suit, doing somersaults in my body, another groan escaped my as I swallowed down the bile, I could hear the sad music bringing my attention to one of the men who'd brought him here holding a phone playing sad music, he let out a muffled laugh not having noticed me looking. I glared at the man when he realized I was looking causing him to apologize sheepishly and put the phone away.
''Well you'll be happy to know we're going to be landing...now actually...'' The same man says, followed by him flinching when we suddenly jerk as the aircraft lands a little roughly. He slid away when I groaned louder, planning on making a swift escape in the case I vomited.
''Holy shit finally!'' I shout, leaping to my feet with a vigour so out of place it would cause a Beowulf to blink in confusion. The two men shared a look before shrugging, not bothering to figure out my odd motion sickness. I'd given up as well so I didn't blame them.
''Here, it's cold there.'' The closest man says, handing me a thick winter coat as well as dropping a bagged white uniform by my side. ''Change into those and make your way out when you're done, we'll be waiting for you.
With that the two men walk out leaving me alone to change into my uniform. It was a welcome change seeing as I was still dressed in my pyjamas, being taken away from your home at four AM in the morning sort of did that...
After a quick change I was ready, feeling a little insecure since the uniform fit perfectly, how they managed to get my sizes I'd probably never know. Even so the uniform didn't look to bad, a white button up shirt with two separate long sleeve arm attachments held on by black straps, a simple black belt on my waist. A pair of normal black trousers and heeled shoes to finish it off. It felt Atlas-esk but I could live with that. Finally throwing the white winter coat on I make my way out of the VTOL.
And into the snowstorm…
''Where are we?'' I ask, looking to the driver who paused and sent a glance at his partner who nodded. He looked back at me before speaking.
''Antarctica.'' The man says, taking a step back when my eyes widened.
Ant-fucking-arctica?! They take me to the one place on the planet that's even more of a frozen wasteland than Solitas was!? What sort of organization set up base in Antarctica of all places? I'll tell you what kind, the kind that wanted to stay hidden is what!
''This just makes you guys seem shady...'' I say flatly, glancing at one of the men in a manner that matched my voice, he looked away and scratched his cheek sheepishly.
''Follow us.'' The second man says, gesturing with his hand for me to follow before he started to walk. I glanced back at the VTOL before shaking my head and followed the man, as much as I didn't want to be here I doubted I could last five more minutes in that thing even if I knew how to fly it. Which I also doubted meaning I was stuck here.
Oh how I hate my bad luck…
''Be warned that you might pass out when you go inside, it happens to everyone but there has been cases where nothing happens.'' The one leading me explains, glancing back at me apologetically.
''I might pass out? Why?'' I ask, rubbing some heat into my hands to stave off the cold of the Antarctic snowstorm.
''A test of a sort, happens to all master candidates. You'll be put into a situation mimicking what happens on missions, you won't be harmed even if you lose.'' The man explains as the base comes into view causing my eyes to widen. A large round base embedded into the side of the mountain, smooth white metal to help it blend in. It was familiar, looking similar to an Atlas research facility.
God this was way to familiar to be a coincidence…
''Here we are, we'll catch you if you fall over so don't worry about that.'' The lead man says, not even looking back at me as he walked through the large door way. I chuckled, me pass out? I'm pretty sure I was tougher than that.
Stepping into the base I blinked and paused, no longer in the large base, instead I was stood in an open grassy field.
And not alone either.
''Orders master?'' A blond haired and green eyed female asks, she was dressed what I could only describe as a blue and white battle dress that reached her ankles, golden accents on the dress give her a sort of royal look, though that was ruined by the large decorative sword in her hand that hummed with power.
''Pardon?'' I manage, looking at the woman with a raised brow, her gaze hardened as if annoyed.
''Orders! we're under attack, master!'' The woman shouts, looking by me bringing attention to what exactly was 'attacking' us.
''That's a large rock...'' I mummer, looking at the large rock monstrosity slowly approach, oddly quite in doing so, it's fiery gaze was locked onto me. I smirked, not because I was confidant or wanted to fight but because this proved a theory of mine I'd been brewing with for over ten years.
Magic existed in this world.
''Why do you need my orders? Shouldn't it be obvious to kill the threat?'' I ask, looking to the woman causing her frown to deepen.
''Orders master!'' The woman says again brining to slight that this was indeed a test and this 'woman' was most defiantly fake, programmed in a way to only follow orders.
''Alright, run up to it, let it attack and move out of the way, use the things own slowness against it and take out it's leg's and follow up by sticking at it's head.'' I explain getting the woman to nod before sprinting into action, following my orders by getting close and allowing the monster to attack and then dodging at the last second, with it distracted the woman leaps at it's legs and cuts them clean off causing the monster to fall down, forcing it to use it's arms to stay up leaving it exposed to the woman's follow up strike taking it's head off. Killing the monster.
''Well done.'' I say with a clap, even if it was fake it was still cool to watch, she followed orders perfectly, something that most huntsman would have trouble with, especially armed with a stone to cut through stone. Then again that could just be part of the programme…
I blinked and Just as fast as I was there I was gone, the time in my blink giving enough time for me to return to my senses...on the floor...with something licking my cheek.
''Hrn?'' I manage, feeling oddly tired and with a pounding headache. My eyes locked into the small animal that was licking my cheek, the first thing that came to mind was squirl but that was dismissed when my vision cleared up a little letting me see that it looked more like a hybrid between a squirl and a snow fox, it's amethyst eyes looked into mine.
And then it jumped on my face.
''Fou!''
''Agh! What the hell are you doing you rat!'' I shout, trying to grab onto the animal only for it to climb onto my head before jumping on my arm and spring boarding off it and into the arms of a pink haired girl. She wore a white jacket over a black dress that ended at her thighs, she wore stockings on her legs and a pair of heeled brown boots with black highlights.
She blinked, tilting her head in confusion as she looked at me.
''Um...who're you?'' I ask slowly, getting a weird felling from the girl, like she was sort of...disconnected? Was that the right word to use?
''Let's see...'' The girl mummers to herself, putting a hand on her chin in thought, she remained as such for a few moments causing me to raise a brow at how slow she was introducing herself. Finally she continued introducing herself. ''Not someone whose name is worth mentioning...Or something...''
Or not.
''Hah?'' I blink, not expecting that as her introduction. She seemed to pick up on my confusion if the surprised sound coming from her said anything.
''I mean...I do have a name...'' Okay that was good… ''But I don't often have a chance to use it.'' That not so much…
''That usually means I don't get to make great introductions.'' The girl continues prompting me to bring my hand to my head, feeling my headache somehow getting worse as she rambled and self contradicted.
Okay Jaune, time to salvage the situation before she makes it worse.
''Where am I?'' I ask, faking the confusion in my voice as I looked around seeing I was in a hallway with glass panels running through it, giving a lovely view of the blizzard outside.
''That's easy.'' The girl interrupts herself, looking back at me. ''This is an observatory, build to help humanity last as long and be as strong as possible. This is the Chaldea Security Organization.''
Okaaayyyy...not exactly what I was aiming for but helpful and informative none the less, if only a bit blunt.
''Right...can you take me somewhere I can get water...my heads pounding...'' I grumble, feeling my headache coming on full force again.
''Follow me.'' The girl says, walking away prompting me to get up and follow her around a corner to a straight hallway with a sofa and vending machine placed beside one another, there was some decoration to spice the place up a little like plants and an electronic poster on the wall. Walking up to the vending machine I look through it before my eyes stop on a row of bottled water, typing in the label, B2, I watch he water slowly move forwards before dropping down.
And getting stuck between the shelf below it and the perspex shield.
''Motherfucker...'' I mumble, looking at the water with a glare.
''Mind if I punch this?'' I ask, looking at the girl who only tilted her head in confusion at the question. In response I swiftly punch the perspex causing it to crack while the sudden impact allowed the water bottle to fall down into the retrieval basket.
''Better.'' I comment, taking the bottle of water before dropping onto the sofa and taking a swig.
''Umm...'' The girl says, brining my attention to her, she closed her mouth when she saw me looking.
''Don't worry about it, I sort of have really bad luck...'' I says sheepish, leaving it more open ended to make myself seem awkward. Internally I sighed when the girl nods, the awkward feeling between us fading away from my use of violence to get my water.
''Are you feeling better now?'' The girl asks cautiously, I nodded.
''Hm, headache's still there but not as much, though I do feel a little tired...'' I admit, taking another mouthful of water before sealing the bottle. ''I guess it's because of that weird simulation?''
She nodded confirming my 'suspicion'. ''That was the Spiritron drive.'' The girl says, noticing my confusion she went into further detail of it's effects. ''If you're not used to it, the Spiritron drive can cause a lot of stress on the brain. Side effects include tiredness and headaches.''
''Yeah, my heads still pounding.'' I grumble, feeling the headache coming back with the ferocity of a lion.
''Fou was the one to find you on the floor, when you were unconscious.'' The girl adds.
''Wait how did I end up on the corridor? Last I checked I was walking in the door to the base…'' I say, a wave of confusion passing over me at my memory blanking.
''The Spiritron drive can cause people to sleep walk, it's not surprising you ended up in another place after waking up.'' The girl explains.
''Huh...thanks for the information.'' I say, feeling thankful someone was willing to fill me in, in what was going on.
''Wait what's a Fou?'' I ask, remembering the girl say something about 'Fou' finding me. As if some higher being heard me said answer came flying out of nowhere, leaping onto the girls face and crawling onto her head and then finally jumping down to her shoulder, settling there.
''You okay?'' I ask, watching the girl rub her nose where the small animal had landed on her.
''Y-Yes.'' The girl says, giving me a reassuring smile. After a second of rubbing her nose the girl suddenly pointed to the small animal. ''This squirl-like beast is Fou.''
Scratching Fou's cheek the girl continues. ''It has special rights to freely roam around Chaldea.'' Suddenly Fou moved away from the girls hand, running across her shoulder's and then leaping towards me, luckily for me years of hunting grimm and being a huntsman allowed me to catch Fou mid flight in my hands, causing me to let go of my bottle of water in the process.
''Ah-ha...he's adorable.'' I comment, watching Fou run up my arm before leaping away and running down the corridor.
''As you can see, he goes where he pleases.'' The girl says as I moved down and picked up my water bottle from the floor. ''He rarely approaches anyone except for me. It looks like he's taken a liking to you, Senpai.''
''Senpai?'' I look at the girl for an explanation, I knew what the word meant but not why she called me it.
''Congratulations.'' The girl says, unaware of what I was confused about. ''You've become Fou's second attendant in Chaldea.''
''Well it's an honour...'' I mumble. ''But I was wondering why you called me 'senpai'.''
''Ah, don't worry, everyone here's a senpai to me.''
That...explained very little...Then again it was better than silence.
''By the way, you're one of the candidates with master potential right?'' The girl says suddenly. ''One of those they gathered for the rayshifting?''
''Yeah...'' I answer before opening my water bottle and taking a drunk. ''They didn't say anything though...I only read it in the contract that I had potential to make a contract with a servant, whatever that means...''
''Actually now that you mention it...what is rayshifting?'' I ask, looking over at the girl.
''I see, you're one of the civilian masters...'' The mummers to herself before answering. ''As you know, Chaldea is a research facility and an observatory that gathers researchers from every stripe, researchers of science and sorcery included. All-''
ah-ha! Knew it! Magic does exist in this world!
''-For the purpose of continuing the history of mankind for as long and strong as possible.'' The girl continues. ''Our top researchers have developed Chaldeas, a global environmental model.''
''So you made a realtime model of earth?'' I ask, remembering Atlas achieving something similar.
''Yes, though it's more than a simple real time observatory.'' The girl says with a nod. ''It's proposed the planet has a soul-.''
Never mind, Atlas defiantly has not done something similar if what she's saying is to go by…
''-So a miniature earth was replicated to reflect that soul.'' The girl explains, nuking Atlas out of the water in turns of invention superiority. ''As long as the light of civilization burns in Chaldeas, humanity is guaranteed to last for at least one hundred more years.''
Annnddd suddenly I have a bad feeling about this… ''Let me guess… the light's began to dull?''
The girl blinked in surprise before nodding, surprise etched on her face at me guessing correctly. ''Yes, if the light on Chaldeas disappears, it means civilization will come to and end...''
''So how long's left? Before humanity dies off that is?'' I ask, feeling a little nervous now. I'd prefer not to due young twice.
A serious look suddenly came to the girls face adding to my nervousness. ''According to our observations the human race became extinct in December of this year.''
I mean...that wouldn't be so bad if december of this year wasn't next week...
''Isn't that a little...close?'' I ask, rubbing a bead of sweat from my face.
''It is, the anomaly that has caused the extinction of humanity has been found however.'' The girl says, seemingly realizing my nervousness at being told the end of the human race was only a week away. ''It's been named singularity F, a version of japan in 2004 that has a suburban city that was previously unobservable and did not exist in history.''
''Chaldea assumed this as the cause of humanities extinction and proposed the rayshift experiment to the united nations. Which received approval.'' The girl finishes, smiling pleasantly at herself for the explanation.
''Huh...So what's the Rayshift?'' I ask, The girl blinked when she realizing she'd gone of topic.
''Rayshift turns humans into spiritrons and sends them back into the past.'' The girl explains quickly causing my eyes to widen. ''It allows us to intercept these threats and fix them.''
''Time travel? Now that's...amazing actually...'' I mummer, going back into the past? Now that was something amazing, I'm a little envious if I do say so myself, after all. Imagine all the things I could've stopped happening if I could go back in time?
The endless possibilities of Jaune Arc right there…
''With the power of the rayshifts, we can go to the past, investigate the singularity and fix it. Preventing the extinction of humanity. That is the idea behind Rayshift, which Chaldea is currently trying to conduct.'' The girl adds in.
The fact that I was invited to something like that was...something to say the least. Change the past and save the future? Ironwood would be watering at the mouth at the possibility of getting his metal hand on that type of technology. I can also guess that Ozpin would probably do so as well but would hold himself back from watering at the mouth. Actually now that I think about it...I can't keep refering to this girl as...'this girl'…
''Say, what's your name?'' I say, offering a hand to the girl. Seeing the girls confusion I add on. ''It's a bit weird not to know your name after all you've explained for me. I'm Jaune Arc, by the way.''
She looked conflicted and confused, raising her hand and bringing it back down a small bit as she moved to shake my own. A little fed up of waiting I take the initiative and grasp her hand and shake it. ''It's a pleasure to meet you…?''
Now all you need to do is answer, come on, don't make this awkward, don't look at your hand in confusion. I then watched as she brought her hand to her face level and looked at it, in confusion. Jesus why can't anything go right for me? Okay time to recover.
''Well...How long have you been working here?'' I ask, hoping to get to know the girl a little better and then maybe ask her name later.
She hesitated, looking down at her lap before looking back at me. ''Umm...two years...''
''Doesn't that technically make you the 'senpai' then?'' I ask, changing the subject slightly realizing how embarrassed she seemed.
''No, as I said, everyone's 'senpai' to me.'' The girl rushes out in her defence, her cheeks dusting pink.
Before the girl could answer, another spoke up, answering the question for me. ''Mash. Mash Kyrielight.'' The voice says, brining my attention to a man with a closed eyes in a green outfit that give him a sort of noble air around him, finished off with the green top hat on his long unkempt maroon hair. ''The briefing on the master potentials is about to begin.''
The what now?
''Oh? That would be the breifing by the director, explaining there mission to the master potentials.'' the man says, making me realize I'd spoken my thoughts aloud. ''But I'm curious as to who you are...''
Rather than answer I watched the man tap a small watch like device on his arm brining up a one sided holo-projection and pointed it at me. ''Number 48…Ah yes, you're one of the common recruits.''
Me common? As if. ''Please don't be disappointed.'' I really need to stop thinking aloud… ''All of you are necessary for this mission.''
''I see...If you don't mind, what's your name?'' I ask, turning the tables from mash to the man in green.
He huffed and smiled before giving his hat a tip while introducing himself. ''I'm Lev Lvnor. I'm one of the engineers here.''
''I'm guessing you're different from the type I'm used to?'' I ask getting the man to chuckle in amusement and nod.
''By the way, Shouldn't you be going as well?'' Lev says suddenly reminding me of why I was here.
''That's a good point...'' I mummer, looking down each hallway before my eyes land in Mash startling her.
''If you don't mind...can you lead me? I don't know my way around since I slept walked around the base...'' I say sheepishly, giving my face an unconscious scratch.
''Yes, this way!'' Mash says, grabbing my wrist with surprising strength and dragging back the way we came. In my moment of surprise I missed the surprised look on Lev's face before he followed after us, somehow keeping an elegant air around him as he practically sprinted behind us. It was a little unnerving to look back to see a man smiling pleasantly while the rest of their body worked in overdrive to keep up.
Feeling I was slowing down I looked back to see an elevator door coming close, just as Mash was about to run into the door she brought the both of us to a stop with Lev pausing just before running into my back, not even looking winded from all the running. When the elevator opened we walked inside allowing Lev to enter in the floor level brining us down.
I wasn't really surprised the base went underground, I'd have been disappointed to be honest, on remnant it was a bit more risky because of the underground worm type grimm but here? You had all the space in the world (literally) to expand the base underground.
I was pleasantly surprised at how nice the elevator music was compared to what I was used to.
''It's unusual for you to become involved with someone. Mash.'' Lev says, breaking the silence that lingered between us. I spared a glance back at the man before looking at Mash to see her giving me a sideways glance. ''What do you find so appealing about him?''
She looked at me properly now for a second before looking to the ground in thought. ''Senpai is...human...'' Mash says hesitantly. Confusing me and Lev by the sound of it.
Noticing our confusion Mash speaks. ''Let me revise that. To be exact, he seems human.''
Was that meant to mean something?
''I have a feeling all of the people here are a little different.'' Mash adds on, unaware or unfaltered by the flat look on my face.
''I see, that's because all the people in Chaldea have one or two quirks.'' Lev says, a hand on his chin as he looked at me. All the while my look got flatter at being called somewhat human and quirkless. I have quirks...Why did that sound so weak in my head?
''What do you mean by that?'' I ask flatly, looking at the man for an explanation.
''Ah...well if I answer you'll miss it.'' Lev says, realizing my irritation he points towards something behind me. I was half minded to give him a mouthful about that being an old trick but turned of my own accord, defiantly not falling for it if it had been a card for him to get out of it. Defiantly my own accord and none can say otherwise.
None.
Even so what Lev said was not a hoax to get me off him for his poor word choices, a large structure took up the centre of the hallow underground, the only way I could describe it would be a large mechanical angel. Not very creative…Then again that's coming from a person who took an ordinary sword that was one hundred years out of date to a combat school filled with people who had mecha shift weapons.
Eventually the elevator descended down further, breaking my eye sight with the structure and before I could give Lev a mouthful for his words the elevator stopped with the ding allowing him to leave before I could even turn to see him do so.
''Let's so, Senpai.'' Mash says, grabbing onto my wrist again and dragging me through the underground at Mach speeds towards the assembly, even passing by Lev in the process. Two minutes later we came to a stop outside a large room filled with chairs, a stage and what I assumed was the SHEBA. A blue replica of earth surrounded by a series of rotating disks.
''Take a seat, they should start as soon as she arrives.'' Lev comments, bring my attention to the only empty chair out of the 48 in the room. Number 48…AKA dead last. ''Don't worry about being last picked, all common candidates are selected randomly, solely for their ability to become a master, you just happen to be the forty-eighth to be scouted and accepted.''
Right...I didn't believe a word of it but walked to my seat and sat down by some grey haired boy wearing the same type of uniform a few years younger than myself, I'd put him around seventeen years old and was slightly smaller than myself.
The wait for 'she' didn't last long. It only took thirty seconds since he'd sit down for a white haired woman dressed in a black and orange Noble's outfit. Her stature and the aura around her bled arrogance. Even her walk told you she thought of herself better than you. Sort of reminds me of a certain white haired family on Remnant...
Coming to a stop the woman flicks some hair out of her face as she turned to the audiance before speaking. ''I'm Olga Marie Animusphere. The director of Chaldea.'' Olga says, introducing herself, her ember eyes moving over the crowd of 48 candidates before her.
''All of you have been chosen or discovered from around the world for the rare talent you posses.'' Olga drowns on, adding a block of boredom to go with my pounding headache and tiredness. ''By Talent I mean the potential to do a spiritron dive.''
''You possess the magic circuits and qualifications to become a master.'' Blinking the blurriness from my eyes, I remain as focused as possible, trying to listen to Olga's voice without passing out with little success. ''That being said, it's a special talent but you yourselves are not special people.''
Yep, I was going to pass out...I could see it now, back in professor ports class, listening to the man drown on about his adventures as a young man. A lull to sleep not even his departed partner could resist on a good day.
''Make yourselves aware that you are no more than tools for Chaldea.'' Olga continues, unaware of the semi-conscious person in the crowd. ''Your sole purpose is to protect mankind's history.''
I could faintly make out hushed whispers and a few annoyed 'Hah?'s' at Olga's words but I was more concentrated on moving myself so I didn't hit the floor when I inevitably did passed out a few seconds later.
-=/\/\/\/\=-
''Silence!'' Olga shouts silencing he crowd and doing no progress in waking the now unconscious master up.
''If you don't like what you hear then leave Chaldea immediately. That's if you can climb down the mountain.'' Olga says, grinning when the crowd said nothing. ''Fine then, Chaldea has never seen this many-''
Snore
She paused, her attention moving to a mop of blond hair that belonged to a slouched over master, the other candidates gazes swiftly followed. A look of anger came over Olga's features before she quickly shook It off her face and then marched over to the unconscious master candidate and quickly did an identification check.
''48...Commoners block...'' Olga mummers, just barely holding back her anger as she looked at the smug grin looking back at her from the identification picture. Closing the picture her gaze moved to the master's face causing the damn to spill over seeing a pleasant smile on his face in his sleep. Her left eye twitched in unrestrained anger as she raised a hand.
SLAP!
And slapped the shit outta him.
It did apsolutly nothing, only causing the master to grunt and fall on the master beside him's shoulder.
A few muffled giggles sounded from the other candidates, Lev watched in amusement as Olga moved to grab 48's neck and choke him but held herself back at the last second and Mash watched with a worried expression.
''Wake up!'' Olga shouts in the master's face, grabbing onto his ear and dragging him from his seat finally causing his eyes to open.
-=/\/\/\/\=-
You know what's rude?
Having crabbit bitch decides to grab onto your ear in your sleep and drag you to your feet to wake you. That's rude.
Then again when said 'bitch' is your employer and you're sleeping on the job it's probably deserved. So he couldn't completely blame her for that, only half blame her. Because fuck taking full responsibility for something.
''Apologies, I'm still dealing with the side effects of that weird...thing from earlier.'' I grumble, looking down at my boss who still had a hold of my ear. A look of rage was on her face and all the anger she could muster was directed towards me.
Someone has daddy issues.
''I don't care! We're dealing with a catastrophic event that means the litral future of the human race! I can't trust some idiot who sleeps during briefings! you're suspended until further notice!'' Olga shouts, pointing towards the door.
''I've been fired quicker.'' I comment, angering the woman further as I walk away, my head held high.
''Go and show him his room Mash, I don't think he'd know where to go.'' Lev whispers to the ink haired girl getting her to nod and move to my side.
''I hope you enjoy walks down mountains!'' Olga shouts as the door shuts.
''Whelp I just got fired.'' I say sheepishly, looking over at Mesh who was frowning.
''Senpai, you've been excluded from the first mission.'' Mesh explains the obvious. ''I'll take you to your room.''
''I won't be my room for long.'' I reply, walking by Mesh's side when she starts leading me.
''True...But it is your room for now until the director does the paper work.'' Mesh says, frowning slightly. ''I'm sorry Senpai.''
''For what? it's not your fault I passed out in there.''
''I know...It's just I should have told someone you were suffering serve side effects of the spiritron drive.'' Mesh says, looking at me apologetically.
''I'm sure if it comes down to that you or Lev can explain it to her.'' I says dismissively, not at all bothered with being fired. ''Certainly Isn't the first time I've disappointed a woman.''
Hearing a poorly muffled giggle I glance down at Mash who was using a hand to cover her mouth as she looked away. Her shoulders shaking betraying her trying to hold back a little laughter.
What was she...Oh…
''I wasn't implying that.'' I say flatly in my defence. It did little to salvage the situation.
''S-sorry Senpai...'' Mash giggles out as they walk into the elevator they'd left less than five minutes ago.
''No it's fine, I just have to learn to hold my tongue in situations like this...'' I sigh out as the elevator starts going up. It didn't take long for the familiar 'ding' to sound and for the doors to open allowing Mash to lead on.
''Is she usually like that? A crabbit bitch?'' I ask prompting Mesh to look at me with a frown at my wording. ''Fine fine, Is she usually this stressed?''
''No, she can be a little tough on people but she's been more stressed ever since Cheldea's lights faded.'' Mesh explains. ''I don't blame here, have the weight of the world on your shoulders would be stressful...''
I didn't either, I sort of empathised actually being in a similar situation in the past with the Queen and the relics to deal with. Although I did have team RWBY, Ozpin/Oscar and Qrow by my side the whole way after Ren and Nora dropped out due to family reason.
''I understand, she's desperate for a solute since the end of the world is a week away, she started picking out 'commoners' as she says to fill in roles in masters because of compatibility.'' I say as we back tracked most of the wall before making a sharp left from where I'd first met Mesh and Fou.
Speaking off…
''Fou!''
''Got ya!'' I shout, catching the small beast mid air allowing only for it to slip out of my hand and run up my arm, over my shoulders and then jump onto the side of Mash's head to scramble to the top and sit there. ''Or not.''
Not minding, Mesh fixed her hair back into place and began walking again, coming to a stop only a few steps later before turning to me. ''This is your room, Senpai.'' Mesh says.
''Thanks for leading me here, I'd probably get lost otherwise.'' I thank, giving a smile to the pink haired girl.
''Think nothing of it.'' Mash says, breaking eye contact.
''Well I'll see you later Mash, be sure to enjoy the mission for me.'' I say getting Mash to nod before running back the way we'd come to the briefing leaving me to enter my room.
And pause seeing it already occupied by a man with strawberry blond hair, eating cake on my bed with some sort of Laptop on his lap.
''Umm...this is my room...'' I say slowly.
''Yes...come in.'' The man says in an uninterested manner before looking at his laptop.
…
…
…
''HUH?!'' The man shouts, suddenly looking at me in shock while throwing his hands into the air comically realizing I was there. ''W-who are you!''
''I'm Jaune Arc...'' I say flatly, ignoring the plastic fork being pointed at my face.
''T-this is my 'hooky' hangout!'' The man shouts before looking down as if embarrassed before continuing with a much weaker voice. ''Who said you could come in?''
''I was told this is my room...that's why I came in.'' I say flatly.
''Your room? Here?'' The man asks and then suddenly facepalms as it dawns on him that I'm one of the new masters.
''Well, probably not for long. I'm pretty sure I just got fired.'' I reply. ''Anyways, who are you?''
''Oh, I'm Romani Archaman. Head of the medical division here at Chaldea.'' Romani says, introducing himself. ''But everyone calls me Dr. Roman.''
''Well i've done it now, made a bad impression with both my boss and the head of the medical staff...'' I mumble to myself before speaking up. ''If it helps, I'll ask you to please not to 'accidental' do something to me if I end up in your care.''
At that the man just laughed in amusement.
''Don't worry, I don't hold grudges for something out of my control like Olga does.'' Romani says with a chuckle, waving a dismissive hand in front of his face to emphasise his point of forgiveness.
''Actually, Isn't the rayshift starting- Oh that's right you said you got fired.'' Romani goes to ask, only to answer it himself when my words from a few seconds ago flash in his mind.
''Yup...'' I say, popping the 'p'.
''How did you manage that? It's easy to annoy Olga, but it's much harder to actually get fired, especially when you're so critically important to the mission at hand.'' Romani asks curiously, moving the laptop from his lap and getting off my bed.
With a shrug I went in to detail of what happened between my and the boss, talking about how I passed out during the briefing, how she woke me up by dragging me up by the ear and how I gave her back talk as I left. By the end of it all Romani was in tears and doubled over in laughter.
''It's not that funny...'' I say flatly, feeling a little offended by the laughing man infront of me.
''N-no it's...S-sorry...it's just so funny.'' Romani manages through his laughter, slowly getting control of himself. ''We're sort of similar though.''
''How so?'' I ask, feeling no resemblance between us at all.
''We both infuriate the director.'' Romani explains. ''She chased me out saying that 'the moods to nice with romani', all I could do was sulk in this room afterwards.''
''But since we're so similar, we should use the time we have to deepen out friendship.'' Romani says, handing over a cup of coffee that I take.
''Might as well...'' I mummer and take a sip of the coffee, finding it to be surprisingly good quality.
Not as good as Ozpin's brew but still good.
-=/\/\/\/\=-
Our little talking time was cut short, sadly. Romani was a pretty cool dude since I've gotten to know him a little better, by the sound of the watch like device on his wrist rudely interrupting out conversation on how the heroic spirit system worked. Something I found interesting, the power to summon powerful spirits from the past as a powerful familiar to fight for you. Sounded not only cool but pretty OP.
Man I'm starting to regret getting fired…
''What is it Lev? Did something happen?'' Romani asks, looking at the one sided holo-projection coming from his wrist device.
''Nothing has happened, however the ray-shift is about to take place, we want you down here encase something happens, B and C teams are showing some side effects to the exposure.'' Lev replies. ''We'll see you in two minutes.''
With that Lev ends the connection leaving a pregnant silence between me and Romani.
''You're totally gonna be late.'' I say flatly causing the doctor to let out an exaggerated sign and slump his shoulders.
''Well...hopefully the director won't notice, Lev is a bit more lax about this stuff...'' Romani mummers nervously, scratching his strawberry blond hair while looking off to the side.
''Lev does seem like a nice guy, if a little stonic when it comes to his facial expressions...'' I says, digging into my memory and seeing the still face of Lev while he was running behind me and Mash earlier. Feeling a chill go up my back I shiver before continuing. ''Though he's just an engineer right? Why does he seem to hold such an influence here?''
I flatly looked on as Romani started to laugh again, giving his knee a slap before speaking ''A-An engineer? Now that's humble of him...'' Romani chuckles out, noticing my confusion he elaborates. ''Professor Lev is the mage who made the telescope to observe Chaldea. Shiva.''
''Just an engineer huh?'' I say flatly causing Romani to laugh again.
''Well, I need to get going. I'm late as is...'' Romani says with a sigh, standing up from his seat on the bed. ''Thanks for letting me bend your ear, Jaune. You should come visit my office some time i've got nice cake...''
Romani stops himself speaking, the loud explosion sounding through the facility, followed by the building rumbling and the lights flicking momentarily from the shock wave. A few seconds later the power fully cut followed by an alarm going off prompting me to stand up, a pit forming in my stomach.
''I'm hoping this is a power-outage...but I doubt it.'' I say, looking over at Romani with a hopeful expression.
''Chaldea doesn't have power outages!'' Romani shouts, the previous laid back attitude gone, replaced by a serious man who knew there was trouble brewing. Suddenly an automatic voice spoke confirming the doctors fears.
'Emergancy announcement.'
''That doesn't sound good.''
'Fires have broken out in the central power plant and central control room.'
''Fires?'' Romani says in shock, turning to face the door before running out, I was hot on his heels as he ran into the corridor.
'The central division bulkhead will close in 240 seconds.'
''Control rooms...'' I mummer, realization hit me like a truck when I remembered who exactly was in one of the rooms that was on fire.
'All personnel, please evacuate immediately.'
''Let's go doc! We've got people to save.'' I instruct. Grabbing the man's arm and dragging him with me back to the elevator.
By the time we reached out destination, it was already to late. The once grand room that housed the SHIVA was in ruin, one fire, filled with smoke and rubble.
''Shit, this looks bad...'' I groan, turning my head side to side to get an accurate picture of the destruction.
''Only Cheldea's unharmed?'' Romani mummers, his gaze landing on the replica plant that was untouched by the damage done to the rest of the facility. ''This has to have been an act of sabotage, the system had a 100% success rate with no probability of failure...''
'Suspension of power output unit confirmed. Insufficient power generation.'
''This is bad!'' Romani shouts, turning to the destroyed observation room that now lay in shambles.
'Unable to switch to reserve power. Personnel, please manually switch to reserves. To repeat...'
''Go turn on the reserves. I'll see what I can do here.'' I order before running into the destruction, ignoring Romani's shouts about it being to dangerous. Tuning out the announcement system I search through the rubble, looking for a specific pink haired girl, growling in frustration when I only came across other candidates locked in there pods, either dead or badly injured.
'There's nothing you can do for them Jaune...' I told myself, willing myself on to search for someone I could help. Hearing a male voice speaking up I look around, only to find myself dissapointed as it's another announcement system.
'Rayshift system transferring to final stages.'
Okkaaayyy...that defiantly didn't sound good for my health.
'Co-ordinates set: January 30th, 2004 CE. Fuyuki city, Japan.'
And I needed to hurry up before whatever that was activated. ''Mash! Can you hear me?!''
'Fou!' Hearing the familiar beast, I tune out the announcement system and following the small beasts squeaks as they continues one after another, slowly leading me to Mash's location. Finally reaching the top of the rubble, I look down hearing Fou 'fou' again and freeze seeing Mash's condition. The lower half of her body was crushed under a large chunk of rubble the size of a truck…
''Shit!'' I growl, running down towards the girl and the beast.
''Sen...pai?'' Mash struggles out, slowly turning her dulling amethyst eyes to me as I approached.
''Hang on! I'll get you out of this!'' I shout, dropping onto my knee's by the girl's side and grabbing hold of the rock. I hiss in pain a second later, the rock's temperature burning the skin from my palms causing yet another frustrated growl to come from my throat.
''No...it's...'' Mash tries to speak but hisses in pain as a pool of flood starts to pool from under the rock, staining her jacket and the ground crimson. Even so I persisted, pulling my sleeve's over my hands and latching onto the rock, although still hot it was bearable.
''Please...never mind...me...'' Mash says, looking at me with a sad frown as I try fruitlessly to pull the large chunk of rubble from the girl's broken legs. I sighed in frustration. If only I had Aura I could lift this damn thing enough for her to crawl out of! ''P-please...you need...you need to...run.''
''Not without you!'' I ground out through clenched teeth, putting my back into it. ''I'll be damned if...I let another friend die!'' At this point I was ignoring the searing pain in my hands, my mind solely focused on completing an impossible task.
''Senpai...please.''
''No offence...Mesh but could...you please...shut up...for...a second!'' I ground out, glancing down at the shocked girl as I managed to lift the rock ever so slightly, a task that was meant to be impossible without…
Aura…
''Ah-ha! Now you're fucking talking!'' I shout, feeling and seeing the white energy spill out of my body, the desperation calling forth my very soul to assist me to not only survive but to protect. Slowly, ever so slowly I managed to lift the large block off Mesh's leg's ignoring her grabbing onto my own for dear life.
'Warning, the situation of Chaldea has changed. Cannot predict the future of man-kind within the next 100 years...'
Oh shut the hell up! I'm trying to concentrate here damn it! Even with my aura this thing weighs a literal TONNE!
''M-Mash! Crawl out!'' I ground out, holding the rubble just high enough for the girl to pull herself out of.
''S-senpai...'' Mash mummers, eyes wide as she looked at Chaldea that was now a burning ball of flames, similar to the sun.
''Mash now!'' I shout,, snapping the girl out of her shock, my patients was worn thin by the strain on my body and mind from the situational shit show today has been so far.
'Bulkhead now closing.'
AGGHHH! THIS IS NOT HELPING THE SITUATIONAL SHITNESS AT ALL!
Slowly Mash dragged herself out from under the rock giving me an accurate picture of her wounds. I grimaced looking at her legs that were now practically flattened, the bone crushed, the skin and muscle's split leaking her blood onto the floor, and by the looks of it her hip was broken.
There was no way she'd ever walk again if we managed to get out of this. Not even Atlas tech could fix something that bad.
''Mash...you okay?'' I ask softly, dropping the rubble to the ground.
''Yes...thank you...Senpai...'' Mash breaths out, looking at me with a reassuring smile on her face, even then she couldn't hold it, her strength failing her Mesh drops her head onto the ground, her gaze focused on the slowly growing glaze.
''You can't...see the sky...'' Mesh whispers to herself, her voice cracking. ''...At all...from here...''
I grunted before looking away, looking up at the sky. ''True, there's always a blizzard outside by the looks of it...'' I sigh before looking down at the slowly dying girl, the light fading from her eyes further leaving a near empty husk at my side. ''How about this Mash...When we make it out of here, I'll show you the sky. Right?''
Empty promises. Mesh wouldn't make it out of her, not unless she was in a body bag that is. She was to injured to move without causing her extreme agony and had lost to much blood to top it all off. At this point all I could do was offer her something sweet to get her to die with a smile on her face.
''Sen...pai...please...your hand...'' Mesh asks, struggling to bring her hand up for me to take.
Cleaning my hands on my shirt, I take the pink haired girls hand in my own, wrapping both around it with a smile. ''Sure. There you go.'' The smile on her face was worth it, the light in her eyes finally faded, her body going limp leaving me along with Fou in the burning hellscape of what remained of the facility.
'Resetting contract with suitable designee number 48'
Ignored the automatic voice, focused only on the smile on Mash's face.
'Starting unsummon program.'
And like that the world turned black leaving me alone in pure darkness.
'beginning spirtron conversion.'
Well i'm not dead that's for sure, unless robotic instructors somehow also joined the afterlife.
'Rayshift in 3…'
Ah...right the rayshift…
'2...'
Wait…
'1…'
Mother fuc-
'All operations cleared. Beginning First Order verification.'
Well here's this!
I've been wanting to write a RWBY/Fate series cross over for a while with Jaune as the MC but could never really get a solid foothold on something but recently I've fallen in love with Fate/Grand Order recently (TFW you get EMIYA from your first roll) and decided to use that as the premise for the fan fiction, replacing the original MC with Jaune.
He will be OOC, mostly because he's much older and seen some shit on Remnant before being reborn on earth. (This shalt be explained later).
From this point on there's going to be more stark differences in what happens story wise because of Jaune's decisions in the story.
Also tell me in the reviews if you want the story to continue in first person from Jaune himself, or occasional swap between points of views of different characters as the story goes on. Or just completely get rid of the 1st person thing and just write it in the third person instead.
Also if you notice any fuck ups in point of view, that's because I'm used to writing in the third person and not the first so their might be a hiccup occasionally.
But ya. That's all for now folks Hope you enjoyed the story.
