RWBY is owned by Rooster Teeth.

Touhou Project is owned by Team Shanghai Alice. Or just ZUN.


Jaune sighed as he passed by a broken tree stump. The same one five times already. Jaune fanned away some of the spores coming from the mushrooms that are growing all around the forest, 'These spores can't be good for my health.'

"We're lost, aren't we?"

Cirno stopped and looked around, "Um… I'm not entirely sure but, I think we're lost."

"Geez, you think?"

Jaune scratched behind his head before pulling out his scroll and checking the time. Around two hours have passed since they left the Misty Lake.

"Do you at least know where we are?" Jaune placed his scroll back in his pocket.

"Yeah, I… I think so, I think this is the, uh… the Forest of Magic, probably." Cirno answered, unsure.

Jaune sits down on the tree stump before pulling out his scroll once again, "Maybe there's someone that could help us; A settlement, or a house, maybe someone lives around here, they could probably show us the way."

Cirno looks around, flying around left and right, "I don't see anything."

"Have you tried looking above the forest?" Jaune asked.

Cirno had a look on her face that just says, 'Why didn't I think of that?' And immediately flies upward without saying a word. Jaune was watching her ascend with interest, "Flying, huh? It would be nice to know, if I didn't have motion sickness."

Jaune opened his scroll and swiped through his applications before landing on his Gallery. Sadness and regret filled Jaune as he motioned to open the gallery but stopped just centimeters away from the button. He let out a pained sigh and opened the application. Rows of pictures lined up and he looked at each one.

Ruby, Weiss, Blake, Yang, Ren, and Nora, with him in some as well. It was all mostly group shots, but one thing made his heart ache.

They were all smiling. He was smiling. Unknowing of the fate that would fall before them.

Tears formed in his eyes and Jaune quickly wiped them away.

His team. His friends. They were all dead, and Jaune couldn't stop it. He couldn't save anyone.

Not Pyrrha. Not Ruby. Not Ren. Not anyone.

In the end, Jaune was just as weak and useless as he once was.

And it was all his fault, that bastard Ozpin.

He was the one who led Jaune and his friends to their deaths.

It was his fault that Pyrrha died. If he didn't propose the notion that she should inherit the fall maiden's power, then maybe Pyrrha wouldn't have died at that moment.

Ozpin was the reason that Jaune was suffering.

It all made sense, Ozpin was just using them for his plans. Just pawns.

Why else would he enlist Ruby into Beacon two years earlier? Perhaps it was because of her silver eyes.

Everyone else was much stronger than he is, so why is it that Jaune was alive and they weren't?

Why did he get accepted into Beacon in the first place? Jaune was sure that Ozpin knew of his forged transcripts, that he faked his way into Beacon, he replaced someone that could have been much more stronger, much more useful than himself.

Ozpin wanted to end that curse of his, and RWBY and JNPR was dragged into his plans, all to eliminate Salem.

However, that got Jaune thinking, 'Is Salem even dead? Would a scythe through her chest and an amputated arm be enough to kill someone as powerful as her? Is Remnant still in much more danger?'

Gensokyo isn't apart of Remnant, so it wouldn't affect him or anyone here, but should he just stay here while Remnant falls further into chaos?

'I can't do anything, I'm just one person, what difference would it make? I have nothing left.'

Jaune continued to scroll along the Gallery using his… scroll and found pictures of the others.

Sun, and Neptune. He knew what happened to Sun, but what about Neptune, and the rest of his team? Most likely trying to keep the peace of whatever government is left in the kingdoms.

Jaune stopped at a photo of Neo. A picture that she sent to him quite a while ago. That smirk that lined her face made Jaune feel nostalgic.

Ruby told Jaune about Neo, how she was partners with Roman Torchwick and that she was an enemy.

As to how he actually got the photo from her, it all started when Neo ambushed and attacked Ruby, and of course, Jaune, Ren, and Nora surrounded her and she was outnumbered, Ruby seemed to leave out details of her combat training as Neo still put up a hell of a fight. That semblance of hers was annoying to fight against, but RNJR won in the end, and when wondering what to do with her, Jaune decided to heal her wounds and hoped that she wouldn't bother them again.

Healing the wounds of someone who not even an hour before just attempted to murder your best friend might not have been the best of ideas, but Jaune wasn't willing to just leave someone wounded in the middle of nowhere with the threat of Grimm lurking about, even though Neo would likely have zero problems with it, she certainly had the training and skill for it, even if she was injured, but Jaune still decided to heal her wounds.

During the process, Jaune talked with Neo in hopes of curing the awkward silence, and from that short exchange, Jaune and Neo both found out that they both had something in common, their troubled past, the passing of their partners, their regret and pain, it was all eerily similiar, but thankfully Neo calmed down and once Jaune finished Neo left without a word.

Days later, Jaune was surprised when he recieved a text message from Neo, which was the photo he kept. He however, was even more surprised how Neo even got his scroll number.

To this day, Jaune questioned that exchange and why Neo warranted the need for that picture, a form of thank you perhaps? Maybe they've become friends, Jaune wouldn't know, he wasn't in Remnant anymore, and he doesn't even know if Neo was still alive either.

He continued on and stopped on a group photo of his family, alongside his seven sisters, as well as a much younger Jaune.

He frowned. His relationship with his family wasn't all that well, it was mostly problems with his father however. He saw Jaune as nothing more than a nuisance.

The Arc family was known for their talented huntsmen, but Jaune was the odd one out, unlike his sisters, he was the weakest among them. He got the photo from one of his sisters that still cared for him during his years in the household, up until he decided it was fit to run away entirely. It broke his heart even more when he found out that his father didn't care that he did. Jaune cared for his sisters immensely, but he doesn't know if he could return to his father.

Jaune scrolled further down and saw a photo of him and Pyrrha.

Jaune frowned, 'Why did it have to be you, why did you have to sacrifice yourself?' Jaune touched his lips, remembering when Pyrrha kissed him before leaving to her demise, 'I'm sorry about all those times that I never noticed that you loved me. The truth is that I loved you too, but I didn't have the courage or bravery to say it myself, and I never realized how much I needed you until after you were gone.'

Jaune wiped the tears away and turned off his scroll and put back in his pocket.

And just in time, Cirno had descended, "I spotted a house not so far away!" Cirno pointed in the direction where it supposedly led to the house.

Jaune stood up, "Alright… Let's go, lead the way and let's not get lost this time." Jaune tried to say confidently, suppressing the depression in his tone.

Despite this, Cirno noticed his expression, "Are you okay, you look sad."

"Yeah, I'm fine, really, I am," Jaune brushed past her and walked in the direction that Cirno was pointing, "This is the direction, right?"

Cirno nodded before following.

She suspected that something was wrong with Jaune, the first time she brushed it off, but this wasn't the first time happened, he was definitely acting strange, but doesn't know how to get him to talk about it. So, Cirno had no choice but to ignore it.


The house that Jaune and Cirno had stumbled across seemed cozy enough and appeared almost too clean and neat, considering that its location was in an opening within a dense forest.

"I hope that whoever lives here is friendly…" Jaune muttered as he went up to knock on the door.

After a moment with no response, Jaune touched his ear to the door and try to listen in, he couldn't hear a thing.

"No one's home it seems, guess we're still lost without a guide," Jaune looked back at Cirno, "Aren't you like three times older than I am? How did you get lost, aren't you familiar with the layout?"

"Daiyousei's usually the one who knows the way, I would too… but I wanted to take the long way…" Cirno nervously taps her fingers together.

"Yeah, you wanted to avoid that huge mansion in the distance for some reason, you never told me why, just that it's extremely dangerous or something like that," Jaune dusts off his trench coat, and examines his sleeve, specifically his left, "You nearly froze my entire arm in fear by the way."

"I said I was sorry! I just didn't want to die today, and I don't want my first actual human friend to either."

"I guess whoever lives in that mansion is very dangerous, then." Jaune implied.

Jaune and Cirno heard footsteps coming from behind and turned to see a girl with short blond hair, with a red band in her hair. Wearing a light blue dress, and what seemed to be dolls floating at her side.

"And who would you be?" The girl asked them.

"Oh, um… I'm Jaune Arc, and this is Cirno. We're kind of lost and was hoping that someone could tell us the way out." Jaune answered.

"Not that surprising, many people tend to get lost in the forest," She steps closer and gets a better look on Jaune, "I haven't seen you around before, and those clothes are strange. You must be an outsider then, right?"

"Yeah, that's… Yeah, I am."

Cirno who had been quiet during the conversation decided to speak up, "Can you lead us to the Hakurei Shrine?

"I suppose I can, I just came back from there, after all. I can lead you back there."

"Is that okay with you? If you just came back, you could just point us back in the direction of the shrine."

Alice shook her head, "I don't mind, I carelessly left something back there, and I was about to go back anyway." She paused, "Well, until I heard you two."

Jaune gave in, "Well, if you insist, then lead the way."


"…"

"… …"

"...?"

"…"

While Jaune and Cirno was following Alice, all was quiet. Alice didn't even attempt to make conversation and was content being silent.

Jaune looked at Cirno and the ice fairy responded with a shrug.

This was already awkward as is, and to make the hike much more bearable, Jaune decided to ask Alice a question, "So… What is Reimu like?"

"Reimu…" Alice paused for a moment to think, "I would say that she's straightforward, apathetic, a bit lazy, but highly devoted to her duties as peacekeeper to Gensokyo."

"Oh."

"And one more thing, she's quick to anger, so don't offend her too much, otherwise she'll shoot you down without a second thought."

"I'll be sure not to anger her then," Jaune scratched his head, "How would I get on her good side?"

"Donations is the most effective, despite being the one to solve all the incidents, she rarely ever gets paid to do so."

"That's… kind of sad, actually. How does she even support herself?"

"I… genuinely don't know, she just does."

Jaune, Alice, and Cirno eventually stopped at a stone road, with a steep slope, and a long set of stairs.

"Well, welcome to the Hakurei Shrine." Alice said before flying to the top and out of sight.

Jaune looked up at the top in a deadpanned expression.

Cirno chuckled nervously, "You can't fly, can't you?"

She took his silence as a no, "So, I'll meet you up there?"

Jaune snapped out of his state of disbelief, "Yeah, go ahead, I'll meet you at the top."

Cirno nodded and began her ascension, and Jaune did as well.

"This is going to be torture."


"*gasp* Whose idea was to have a shrine here?" A quarter of the way to the top.

"Maybe… *gasp* this is why Reimu doesn't get donations." Half way…

"I almost regret not learning to fly, almost…" Nearly there...


"Finally, I… I made it." Jaune gasped in relief. Jaune turned to look at the horizon and noticed that the sun already began to set, and the un-shattered moon began to rise.

Jaune turns around and see Cirno as well as Yukari coming towards him.

"Well, I have to say, Jaune, I'm impressed." A gap opens with Yukari Yakumo stepping out of it, "It took you nearly three hours to cross Gensokyo by foot and you managed to defeat a fairy as well."

Jaune let out a breath of air, already unfazed by the revelation that Yukari was watching him the entire time, "Thanks, I guess."

"Granted, winning a duel against a fairy isn't a big achievement in and of itself, but not many are willing to go as far as to teach a fairy" Yukari turned to Cirno, "how to trap their own spell card. Normally people wouldn't bother, and just exploit it again, and again."

"Well, I'm not going to let anyone else suffer if I can help it, people face discrimination in Remnant as is."

"Ah yes, the Faunus, a noble goal, Jaune. That's what I like about you, you're willing to go out of your way to help others."

"Not my friends, apparently." Jaune muttered.

"Enough of the depressing tone," Yukari lightly tapped Jaune on the head with her fan causing him to look back at her, "I brought you to Gensokyo so you wouldn't feel bad. Make new friends, live a new life that was robbed from you, and all that." Yukari lectured.

"Yeah, I get it." Jaune paused, "So, what now?"

"We, or more specifically, you, are going to meet with our mutual Shrine Maiden." Yukari motioned Jaune to follow her.

Jaune looked back at Cirno, "You want to come too?"

"Okay." Cirno nodded and began to follow him, but unbeknownst to Jaune, she heard that phrase he muttered to Yukari,

'What happened to your friends, Jaune?'


Yukari opened the sliding door and entered in the shrine with Jaune and Cirno following after.

"Reimu~ I'm home!" Yukari said cheerfully.

"Geez Yukari, you didn't need to yell that out, I'm sitting right here," Jaune looked to see Reimu sipping tea and sitting beside a table, who was staring equally at him, "So this is that outsider that you have been talking about." Reimu put down her cup and stood up to get a better look at him, "Certainly doesn't look all that interesting, but you seem better than all the other outsiders that Yukari brings in."

"Wait, so you bring others in as well?" Jaune turned to Yukari.

"Well of course, how else am I to alleviate my boredom? Unfortunately, the outsiders that I do bring in don't tend to last the night, some may even get themselves hurt by just mere fairies, that simply won't do."

"So, he managed to get here just fine," Reimu narrowed her eyes at Cirno, "and bring along a fairyof all people."

"Don't forget that he managed to beat her in a duel despite learning danmaku just hours before said fight." Yukari added.

This got Reimu curious, "But outsiders don't learn danmaku that quickly, and also get used to it enough to defeat even a fairy, who taught him?"

Before Jaune could answer Yukari cut him off, "That would be by yours truly."

"But why wou-"

"It's getting late, so I must be off, and Reimu, can you please take Jaune in? It would be too time consuming to have to constantly bring him to my estate and back." Yukari leaves through her gaps before Reimu could retort.

Reimu turned to Jaune and sighed, "Fine… You, erm…"

"Jaune Arc."

"Right… Jaune… That's a weird name, at least it's easy to say, rolls off the tongue well." Jaune inwardly cringed, Reimu just unintentionally referenced that pickup line he would say back during initiation back at Beacon.

"Anyway, I'll lead you to a guest room, it's rarely ever used except for that one Oni, but she mostly sleeps outside or here in the living room, you can sleep there, we'll talk more in the morning," Reimu turned to Cirno once again, "and you should go head back to the Misty Lake, it's getting late."

Cirno looked outside and realized that it was indeed getting late, "Oh! Erm, Goodbye Jaune! I'll see you later."

Jaune nodded and Cirno left with a wave.

"Of all people you decide to make friends with, it was a fairy of all people…" Reimu remarked.

"Well she did help lead me here, up until Cirno got us lost in the Forest of Magic where Alice led me the rest of the way. Speaking of which, did she already leave?"

"Yeah, she quickly left after she got what she came for."

"I didn't even get to thank her…" Jaune sighed,

"Well, we're wasting time, I'll take you to the guest room."

Reimu began to walk into the hallway and Jaune followed her, "So, this is the room that you'll be staying in."

Jaune took a step into the room and surveyed the interior.

"Goodnight." He heard Reimu say before the door closed.

The room itself was mostly small, but just big enough for it to not pose a problem, the overall style mimicked that of what was in Yukari's home, it also contained a rolled-up futon leaning against the wall and a closet that was empty.

Jaune took off his trench coat and put it in the closet before laying down on the futon, "So I guess this is my new life now, a new world, a new start."

Already tired from the events that unfolded earlier in the day, Jaune closed his eyes and let sleep take over.


[Edit (5/28): Minor changes. Elaborated on exchange with Neo.]

(A/N): Yikes, it's been pretty much three weeks since my last update. If I got to be honest, it was because I was burned out. School is a lot of work and I can't find the time or energy to work on this chapter. I don't think I can keep up with this schedule I've got going, a chapter that's around 2500 words minimum a week just won't do it for me, at least not until I'm finally off school. A month and a half left…

So, I've decided that I will instead post a chapter every other week, so basically 1-3 chapters a month instead, but expect the following chapters to be more longer, and of higher quality. It also gives me much more time to plan the chapters ahead of time and proofread much more effectively. I should probably get a beta sometime in the future, but I don't really know if I want to. I'm going to go back to the previous chapters in my spare time to polish them if necessary, I'm also going ahead and renaming the chapter names as well, and the story will be divided into separate arcs (pun unintentional) as well. By my estimation, the current arc (which I will be naming the "Reincarnation" arc) will be finished in around three to four more chapters, it's going to focus on Jaune and his first few days in Gensokyo and meeting characters, his impressions, and getting used to the system of magic and danmaku.

Anyway, I'd like to thank Existential ERROR for his thoughts on the matter of the flashbacks, I pretty much agree on it as well, but would have liked to have other's ideas on it.

I still need to brainstorm ideas for Jaune's three spell cards as well. Unfortunately, I'm not very creative.