Time delivers all equally to the same end. Most people don't seem to understand such a simple rule. It is a rule that dictates every single being that goes through the great cycle of life. People are born, they live, and then they die. Nothing ever seemed able to change the inevitable end that awaits everyone.
Time is a sentient being. Time can think and make decisions. It can fabricate creation, decide it doesn't like it, and scrape it like a baby would with a toy. And it can understand when it's being taken advantage of. Time knows when it is being used, manipulated, and abandoned.
It didn't know how these impurities were being caused. Time just knew that it was being caused in two different alternate realities. That was to be expected of course. Time understood that different decisions could lead and branch into different realities. A single choice would cause an opposite timeline. It was the norm and a rule precedent to it. Time could simply eradicate the timeline as it normally would, but it was curious this time.
There were events that Time had not accounted for. A reset that stemmed through two timelines. An explanation for this event was not possible. For once, Time was confused. Time was the only entity with the ability to freely reset a set of events if they didn't play out accordingly. Perhaps it was an anomaly…But, Time never left things to chance. It began to track down the source through research and inspection. And after a while, all of Time's investigation led back to one name. Jaune Arc.
The smoke was sickening. Heavy concentrated smog filled his oxygen-deprived nostrils and mouth. A shallow cough pushed itself out of his struggling throat.
His fingertips dug into the hard ground beside him, desperately trying to find some sort of feeling to radiate throughout his body. He found nothing. Nothing but a blank numbness threatening to consume him and throw him back into the endless void.
There was no visibility. If he tried to open his eyes, the deep grayness of the soot embedded in the air only served to irritate his eyes further. He could feel his cheeks start to dampen, tears streaking down his face as he realized the futility of it all. He had failed.
It was a reality that quickly became known to Jaune. After the invasion of Beacon, no silver lining ever presented themselves. Pyrrha's death had only been the start of a massive chain of death and destruction.
Even after the remains of team RWBY and JNPR had reunited, they were powerless to stop it. They couldn't save anyone from Salem and her council of villains. Fate had cruelly laughed at them and like pawns on a chest board, they had marched to their slaughter.
Jaune watched his friends perish, one by one. Their last words and final screams of rebellion were still etched into the very corners of his mind.
Ren was the first. They had gotten separated from the rest of the group and ambushed by Tyrian and Arthur. Ren realized that even with their combined efforts, the most probable outcome would have been death.
"Pyrrha wouldn't have wanted you to die today. Jaune…Keep the rest of them safe. And tell Nora that I'm sorry."
He could hardly remember what had happened after that. When his consciousness resurfaced, the rest of his friends were grouped around him, with a crying Nora smashing her mallet into their surroundings.
Jaune had never heard such a pained, broken wail before. The recovery time after Pyrrha's death had been long enough and all he could do was feel his insides shatter.
What was the point of getting stronger if he couldn't keep his team alive? With Ren dead, JNPR was cut down to two members. Just him and Nora.
That realization did not settle well with Nora. Unlike with Pyrrha, this was a hurdle that she could not emotionally overcome. She had known Ren since they were small children. They grew up together, trained together, and loved each other.
With that bond lost, Nora became enraged. In every aggressive encounter, Nora threw herself headfirst into each fight whether it be Grimm or humans.
It was only a matter of time before they ran into Tyrian and Arthur again.
Jaune believed that everyone, that they would be able to manage a victory. He could not be more wrong. As usual, he barked out orders to his team, only for it to be outright ignored as Nora charged the two of them in a blind of murderous rage.
Nora, with all sense of rationality gone, could only fight on par with the two trained hunters for a brief period. The rest of us launched ourselves at the men that had claimed the lives of our friends only to be sidetracked by an array of Adam Taurus and his White Fang lackeys.
"Go help Nora!" Jaune shouted to rest of team RWBY.
"What? You can't take Adam by yourself! You'll die!" Ruby protested back, her hands hesitantly arched around Crescent Rose as her eyes glanced from him to Nora.
"I'll be fine," Jaune said. A few seconds of brief deliberation passed before Ruby propelled herself towards Nora, Tyrian, and Arthur.
"Don't you dare die, vomit boy!" Yang shouted as she followed closely behind Ruby as Blake and Weiss went to deal with the White Fang lackeys surrounding them.
He felt semi-confident. He had been training. Perhaps now he'd be able to hold off Adam long enough for Blake and Weiss to deal with the small fry and then help him.
Jaune clashed swords with Adam himself, a dangerous glint flashing in his eyes as the two maneuvered around each other. While his raw ability didn't match someone as skilled as Adam, he was no longer the kid that he had been at Beacon.
Sparks flew around the entanglement of Crocea Mors against Wilt and Blush. Jaune pushed himself forward, pushing the weight of his body into his blade as he punched outwards with his shield against Adam's temple.
The Faunus expertly dodged, letting out a small chuckle as he sheathed his blade. "You were nothing the first time you faced me, and you are still nothing. You are in the way of my revolution. I will ruin you."
Jaune felt a nervous smirk spread across his face. "Heh…That's not the first threat I've heard, but that's probably the most convoluted one. I won't back down," he responded as he tightened his stance, pulling his shield closer to the center of his body.
"Then you will perish," Adam threatened. The man altered his stance, raising his katana to the base of his hip and grabbed the hilt of the blade with his opposing hand. "Come."
Jaune felt his eyes narrow as his mind tried to recreate a thousand different scenarios where he could be the victor of this battle. He wasn't stupid and had seen how Adam fought numerous times beforehand. A frontal assault would be suicide.
With that in mind, Jaune didn't have that many options. His shield would be ineffective against Adam's raw power and his swordplay was not as skilled as the other man's either. He'd have to rely on his agility and reflexes to get him out of this one.
He threw the bulky shield at Adam, smirking when he saw a flash of surprise cross the man's features. In that moment of hesitation, Jaune threw himself forwards at his opponent. He moved to Adam's left side, using the shield to hide most of his body, and then stabbed forwards underneath the shield with Crocea Mors.
"Such petty tricks won't work on me!" It seemed like those words were true. The feint distracted Adam for only a few seconds, but he instinctively took a step back to pull himself out of the range of the shield. Adam spun around the shield, dodging Jaune's own stab altogether before pulling his katana out of the sheath and towards Jaune's head.
Jaune growled in frustration before immediately pulling his sword back to weakly parry Adam's cut, the two locked with each other before the paladin jumped backwards. The blunt of Adam's blade tore into the ground, shaking the ground around them as Jaune stumbled back to regain his footing.
"Damn…" Jaune muttered to himself. The gap between their skill levels really was that large. If he had been faster, he would have been easily able to get the first hit in that initial exchange.
Adam stood straighter, his eyes gleaming dangerously behind the Grimm mask plastered against his face. "Is that all? I expected more. Trash will always be trash I suppose."
"Talking about yourself like that is pretty rude man," Jaune retorted back. All he had left was Crocea Mors. Creating another opportunity like that would be difficult, but he would have to manage.
Adam wasted no time, now moving in for the killing blow. He made quick slashes with his katana, repeatedly pulling the blade in and out of its sheath to redirect the sharpest point of the blade at Jaune's vitals.
Jaune tried to weave between the individual cuts, but the reach of the katana was too long and there was not enough time to react accordingly. He winced as cuts began to seep through his armor, the faint aroma of blood now trailing into the air as he feebly dodged the other man's attacks.
The knight pulled himself away, attempting his own array of attacks, only to get parried easily by Adam. Jaune crouched down to the ground, pulling his neck to the right as the katana nicked the very left of his neck.
Adam planted the tip of the blade into the ground, giving Jaune just enough time to slash Crocea Mors into Adam's left and right legs. The Faunus let out a pained growl before kicking Jaune in the stomach.
Propelled backwards, Jaune tumbled in circles on the ground. He places his free hand on his stomach, struggling to rise to his feet as he let out deep breaths to deal with the pain.
Adam staggered lightly, but adjusted his stance to take weight off his legs. Jaune had effectively cut down Adam's mobility, but his range would still make close quarter fighting very dangerous.
Jaune rose to his feet, holding Crocea Mors against his shoulder. The next few moments of the fight would determine the victor. The uncertainty of the situation made his heart pound, but he couldn't back down. Adam would just target the rest of the girls.
"You're having a lot of trouble for someone you called trash earlier," Jaune provoked Adam, a cocky little grin etching itself across his face.
Verbal taunts worked against Adam, but he didn't know how far it would go before Adam unleashed the damage he had taken already and throw it back at him.
"A lucky shot. I won't make the same mistake to someone as inferior as you. I won't be stopped here," Adam responded with no visible aggression. His tone was flat, and his body was slack. The leader of the White Fang was taking him seriously.
Not good.
Jaune lifted Crocea Mors from his shoulder and towards his side. There were no other options left as everyone else was occupied fighting their respective battles. If he didn't take the initiative, Adam would, and he'd have no chance of countering.
They stared at each other. A moment passed and then another. A single breath echoed out of both of their lungs and then they moved.
Adam began to glow a crimson red, his aura moving into the katana obscured by the sheath as his knees buckled under the intense pressure building up inside of him.
Jaune moved in a linear fashion, charging straight for Adam. He would have to hope that his reaction time was good enough to evade Adam's attack and counter at the right time. He pulled his dominant arm back and rested his opposing hand on his shoulder, adding a more propelling force as he struck down at Adam with all the force that he could muster.
"Wilt," Adam whispered as color itself seemed to drain around them. Within an instant, Adam shot his hand forwards, his blade arched for Jaune's head with bewildering speed as a rush of force moved outwards from the force of the slash.
Jaune grimaced, realizing that he wouldn't be able to react in time. His body was too wounded and hurt to respond to what his mind was telling him in time. He closed his eyes, expectant for everything to become permanently dark before a loud scream echoed out.
The scream hadn't been his. No, it was feminine.
"No, Blake!" Weiss practically screamed at the top of her lungs.
Jaune dared to open his eyes, trying his hardest not to retch as a wave of red liquid splashed onto him, the body of Blake rolling onto the ground as she had taken the fatal blow for him.
Adam froze entirely, his eyes behind the mask wide as he stood there, as if he was suspended in time. "B-Blake?" he inquired shakily.
Jaune took no chances. Using that moment as the perfect opportunity, he continued with his attack, bringing Crocea Mors directly against Adam's chest.
The man didn't even scream, but Jaune knew that as the Faunus dropped to the ground, that his opponent was no longer alive.
A moment passed and Jaune could only hear ringing in his ears as his adrenaline and shock both died down. He slowly turned his head, his stomach-turning upside down as he blankly looked at Weiss crouched next to the not-moving body of Blake.
"No, no, no…Blake! You're not allowed to die here!" Weiss continued her ineffective pleas, visibly shaking Blake's body. Her friend did not give any response. She was gone.
Jaune could only stand there, dumbfounded. Was this really happening? They had just lost Ren. Are they really losing Blake too? It wasn't fair.
The sound of footsteps behind him did nothing as both Ruby and Yang ran past him and towards their fallen team member. Their faces were already visible with tears, but they seemed old. Their cheeks were red, but it was faded. The tears now falling down their faces were new as they screamed and shouted Blake's name in a futile attempt to wake her up.
"…Where's Nora?" Jaune asked quietly, not noticing his last team member anywhere around them or having come to look at Blake.
Ruby visibly stiffened, her petite frame shaking as she hesitantly looked up at Jaune. "She…O-oh my gosh, I'm s-so sorry, Jaune…W-we couldn't d-do anything," she stumbled with her words, her sentences almost drowned out by how hard they were crying. "N-Nora is dead."
The next few weeks following that dreadful night were all a blur. Jaune could hardly remember any of it, but all of them were too busy grieving in their own way. It seemed too unreal that they had lost Ren, Nora, and Blake in such a short period of time.
Were things ever going to get any better? It didn't seem like it. Jaune hardly found the motivation inside himself to do anything. He had cried profusely the first few days after Nora's death.
He had lost his entire team. There was no one left. He was the last surviving member of team JNPR. He truly was a spectacular team leader, huh?
The rest of team RWBY had given a burial to both Nora and Blake. They swore that they were moving on, but Jaune could hear their faint and broken cries in the middle of the night. The quiet whispers they told each other to try and make the situation better.
The quiet lies that everything would be okay.
Jaune knew better, but he couldn't shatter the girls hopes. They would have to stand, wipe their tears away, and prepare to fight yet again. They had killed Adam, Tyrian, and Arthur. But, the fight was far from over. Salem and her league of villains were still very active, still terrorizing the world of Remnant in a hunt for those so-called Relics that could change and reshape the world.
When they weren't grieving, they spent time quietly training each other. They all worked whatever skills and combat abilities that had that were inferior to a higher level. Ruby helped him with his speed. Yang helped him with his hand-to-hand combat. Weiss helped him with incorporating Dust into his attacks.
Eventually, a few months had passed and Jaune found himself slumped in his makeshift strength. He had gotten stronger. But, it still felt pointless. The price for each victory was so high and the reward for winning seemed to be smaller and smaller with each passing day.
"H-hey Jaune," a quiet voice said from outside his tent. Jaune blinked. It was the voice of Ruby. Letting out an inaudible sigh, the knight picked himself up into a sitting position, wiping his face with his bare heads.
"Yeah Ruby. What's up?" Jaune responded back.
"We were just wondering if we should start moving…There's a Grimm infestation at a nearby town and there's still citizens there," Ruby informed him.
Jaune stood up, hastily attaching the hilt of Crocea Mors to his side as he picked up his shield. "Yeah…Let's go."
When it came to the decisive battle, it was a fool's mission to begin with. It couldn't even be called a fight. They had spent too much time walloping around, trying to save as many people as they could. Salem had already collected all of the Relics.
It was a slaughter.
Went it came down to it, no one survived. Ruby, Weiss, and Yang all tried to fight Salem as a collective unit, and they all failed. They all sacrificed themselves so that he could live and fight on. With his heart shattered and body broken, Jaune crawled away to find another day that he could fight.
The outcome never changed. It was a single continuity that his friends sacrificed themselves because they believed in one raw colluded emotion.
Hope. They had hope because Jaune's semblance was apparently special. They called it a wild card! Professor Ozpin had once compared it to the number zero. Its properties were unknown yet infinite. But, that was merely speculation. No one truly understood how his semblance worked or how it activated.
Jaune was never able to call it out. He was never able to use it for the greater good or to protect his friends. It had only activated one time and that was far before he ever attended Beacon Academy. It was the sole reason why he was permitted into Beacon…Too bad that didn't change the outcome.
Jaune had lost every person he had grown to care for. He had forged amazing bonds with people he thought he could never ever replace in a lifetime. From the first day he had met them, those friends had always been by his side. They fought, laughed, and cried together. And they all died together. Except for him.
No, he wouldn't have that luxury just yet. It wasn't fair. It wouldn't be fair to the rest of them if he just gave up and died here. But, what else could he do?
Everyone had been so much stronger. So much faster. So much more experienced! The gap in their experience and strength when they first started at Beacon had been far too wide. Even with all their training, the girls had been at a different level than him. They had to spend much of their time focusing on him, seeing if he hadn't died, and had to protect him.
To protect him over the small hope that his semblance would be able to bring a miracle; that was far more important than their lives. It was that conclusion that caused all of them to die in the first place.
If Jaune had been as strong or stronger than them, their fighting power would have been multiplied dramatically. Even a split second of hesitation or lack of focus spelled death in these battles.
It took a while, but Jaune managed to find Salem. This would be their last battle: the conclusion to a tragic tale. However, it was all for naught.
The gap between the two of them had lessened. Salem had even compared him to the strength of someone akin to Qrow. But, that wasn't enough. It wasn't even close.
He had lost yet again and here he was, stuck in the pavement, desperately trying to find a way to change the outcome.
It was sickening. Was this really the fate of Remnant? Would everyone simply bow down and obey the whims of a tyrannical powered-up monster like Salem? There weren't that many nodes of rebellion left that could stand up to the queen.
When it came down to it, Jaune truly had been the last line of defense. The last chance for a happy ending for all the citizens and innocents that had never been a part of the fighting.
It had been game over for hunters and huntresses like for months. The amount of death that he could match to a name and face were endless. It was appalling just how many of his former classmates and friends had died before him.
One would almost think that Jaune would cry at such a heavy revelation in his last moments, but the last hunter could barely muster up a tear. He was just sick of it all. He was sick of all the death. There was no purpose here.
Jaune refused to let things end this way.
Fate had never been a kind entity to Jaune Arc.
It had been a raging and nefarious beast, full of malevolence, and would always find a way to knock him down.
However, Jaune figured that if the world didn't want to work with him, he'd just have to make his own.
Salem be damned. Jaune had a semblance and if it didn't work now, then nothing would ever be right again.
With his dying breaths, Jaune lifted a shaky hand into the air and muttered the same words that he had so many years before he attended Beacon Academy.
The first and second to last time that he ever used his semblance.
Jaune semblance never had a purpose. It was never truly known what it could do or how powerful it was. But, it could create a miracle. And that is just what he needed.
"…"
Waking up to the loud and thunderous volume of an alarm clock was not the first thing Jaune expected when he returned to consciousness. Disorientated, he could only look around in a blurry frenzy as he rolled to the side.
He rolled straight down into the floorboard, letting out a small groan as the blankets entertained around him further. He wasn't exactly sure what was going on, but he knew that he was no longer in the disastrous situation that he had been, and any presence of pain was no longer there.
Jaune was going to have to thank whoever managed to swoop by that hellhole and save him from Salem's clutches. But, that was a thought for another time. He first had to see where he was.
The paladin pulled the covers off himself, practically throwing them onto the bed next to him as he rose to his feet. Jaune took another glance around the room, his eyes narrowing slightly as he took in the actual appearance of the room.
If Jaune wasn't mistaken, the room looked strangely familiar to what his room had been when he lived with his family. The room was more pink and feminine looking of course, but he couldn't mistake the layout or smell for anything else.
Did someone take him back to where his family lived? Or was this just a similarly structured room? He was probably considering it far too much.
Too many bumps and bruises on the head would do that to anyone.
"Dear! Are you awake?" an extremely familiar voice echoed from outside the room. Jaune froze in his tracks, blinking in surprise at the sheer recognition of the voice.
It was the sound of his mother.
"Jeanne? Are you okay up there?" the voice asked again.
…Jeanne?
Jaune looked down to examine his body closer, noticing that he now had a much smaller and petite frame than he ever had before; even smaller than when he had first attended Beacon academy. There were two noticeable mounds on his chest and his skin was far lighter and paler than he was used to.
Blue eyes glanced at a mirror centered on the top of a dresser. The large glass accessory reflected a familiar face, but it wasn't as similar as Jaune would have expected.
The face held blue round eyes, but were far brighter than they had been. It was thinner, more oval-like. There was no strong jaw and was smooth throughout. It was very feminine face with no ounce of masculinity or strength that had formerly been etched into it.
Long blonde hair flowed from the top of the head and down to the small of Jaune's back, trailing way past their shoulders. Bangs of hair flowed around the front of the forehead, only further amplifying the very feminine like look.
For all intent and purposes, it was very clear that their body was no longer that of a guy. And for all intent and purposes, something very strange was going on.
"Oh, dear Oum…" Jeanne exclaimed.
AUTHOR NOTE
Well, that's the start of this story! If there were events that weren't described or explained, that's mainly because I don't want to shove everything in this first chapter/prologue type of thing.
You'll definitely see more details and relationships of Jaune in the initial timeline be fleshed out as the story progresses. If you couldn't tell by now, this is a time traveling story with Jaune turning into Jeanne/female.
Anyways, please leave a review to let me know what you liked or didn't like. See you next time!