Disclaimer: I do not own RWBY, Zelda, Kid Icarus, Pokemon, Final Fantasy, or any other franchise alluded to or included in this work (I don't own the background music either). All I own is this work and my OCs (these include Aris, Oleana, Nash, and any Grimm ideas I come up with).
Pause BGM
The man moved back a little. Qrow turned around to face him, his sword at the ready.
"Huh!" chortled the man. "As I live and breathe! Qrow Branwen. A true Huntsman has entered the fray!"
Qrow looked at his niece quizzically. Ruby got to her feet. "I don't know. This guy's weird."
Ruby's uncle looked at the man. "Look, pal," he said, "I'm not sure who you are, but you need to leave my niece alone."
The man snickered. "Why, my friend, my name is Tyrian. And I am afraid that I can't do that. My assignment from Her Grace was to retrieve this fair young lady. So that is what I must do. One does not upset the Queen."
"Queen?" Ruby said to herself.
Qrow muttered under his breath, "Salem."
"Who?"
Tyrian spoke again. "Hmm, I think we've had enough talk now, don't you?" He crouched and readied himself for a fight.
Qrow got into a fighting stance. "You took the words right out of my-"
Resume BGM: Zant Battle - The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess
Tyrian attacked suddenly, slashing at Qrow with a ferocity rivaled only by hungry carnivores after going weeks without a meal. Qrow put up an amazing fight, keeping up with Tyrian easily. Eventually, the Branwen had the scorpion Faunus pinned down. Qrow was bearing his sword down on the lunatic, who was blocking it with his wrist blades.
Tyrian grinned, pushed a button with his thumb, and two minuscule barrels emerged from the blades. They were guns. He rapidly opened fire on Qrow, who effortlessly blocked the shots with his blade.
Ren and Nora readied their weapons and rushed to aid him. Tyrian sent them away with his weapons, but was pinned by Qrow again. The Branwen turned to the four former students. "Don't come any closer!"
Ruby readied her scythe. "Fine!"
She leaped to the roof of a tall building, gaining the high ground. She readied her scythe and tried to get a clean shot on Tyrian. The scorpion Faunus was moving way too fast for her to do this, however.
After a lot more fighting, Tyrian managed to use his tail to wrench Qrow's sword from his grip.
A gunshot whizzed by. Ruby was attempting to snipe him. A small grin on his face, Tyrian effortlessly blocked the bullets with his tail.
Taking his chance, Qrow raised a fist and socked Tyrian's forehead. The Faunus cried out. Qrow served another pair of punches before giving Tyrian a boot to his stomach, knocking him to the ground.
Qrow calmly walked over to his weapon, scoffing.
As he grabbed his sword's hilt, Tyrian rushed at him, forcing Qrow to jump and somehow grip the sword and stand against the wall. He turned his sword into a scythe and wrenched it from the wall before turning it back into a sword and jumping to the building's roof. He blocked Tyrian's blades with the sword, and the duel continued.
Eventually, Tyrian fell into the building as a consequence of standing on some weak wood, but he pulled Qrow down with him via his tail.
Ruby jumped to the ground and made a beeline for the building. Qrow was sent flying through one of the walls, crashing to the ground as his sword escaped his grasp. The sword was embedded in the cement sidewalk, sitting upright. Qrow jumped and stood atop his blade, waiting for Tyrian.
The scorpion Faunus struck from the dust and Qrow countered, but Ruby intervened, standing beside her uncle. "Do you wish to be taken?!" cried an appalled Tyrian.
"No!" said Ruby. "But I won't stand by and watch someone get hurt!"
She and her uncle fought him together. Qrow blocked Tyrian's blades and looked at Ruby. "What did I say?! Get back!"
"This is my fight, too!" Ruby responded. She attacked the scorpion Faunus from behind, only for Tyrian to dodge Crescent Rose.
Behind her, a piece of wood fell from the roof and was falling right towards her head. From elsewhere in the town, a beam of light incinerated the wood before it could hit Ruby. Ruby looked for where the beam had come from, but she didn't see anyone.
Qrow stood next to her and smirked.
Suddenly, Tyrian's stinger scratched him through his shirt, leaving a red line of blood.
From the same direction from which the beam had been fired, a disc of bright blue energy flew through the air, slicing right through Tyrian's tail, cutting it clean off. Tyrian cried out at Ruby, "You bitch!"
Ruby looked at her uncle, confused. "I didn't cut his tail off."
Tyrian started slinking away. "Sh-She'll forgive you." Then, he took of at a sprint.
Qrow dropped to one knee, clutching his sting wound.
"Uncle Qrow!" his niece cried. "Are you okay?"
"I'll be fine," he panted. "Thank goodness for that light disc cutting that maniac's tail off. Wonder where it came from."
"This laser beam burned up a piece of wood before it fell on my head," Ruby said to him. "I think they both came from the same direction."
Nora, Ren, and Jaune rushed over to Qrow. "Who was that guy?" Nora asked.
"How did you get here?" Ren questioned.
"Why are people after Ruby?" Jaune added.
Qrow said nothing, panting heavily.
"Uncle Qrow?" Ruby said. "What's going on?"
"Something bad," he groaned. "Now, where was I? About that disc? And that beam you mentioned?"
"I saw them, too," said Ren. "They came from over there."
He pointed towards one of the buildings.
Ruby got up. "I'll check it out. Can you guys stay here and take care of uncle Qrow?"
Jaune, Nora, and Ren nodded. Ruby went to examine the source of the beam and disc.
When she got there, she beheld a strange, surprising, and yet wonderful sight.
Standing there, around the corner of the building, was none other than Aris Atreides.
BGM: Song of Healing - The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask
He stood there, his blonde hair blowing in the breeze. Gone was his blue tunic and hooded cape, replaced by a dark green tunic and a floppy, cone-shaped green hat. The Master Sword and Hylian Shield were strapped to his back, as usual. His Sheikah Slate hung from his hip. His Pikachu was on his shoulder, staring at Ruby with widened eyes.
Ruby stood shocked, silent. There he was. He averted his blue eyes as an apologetic frown formed on his face. "H-Hey...Ruby," he said.
Ruby noticed three other people with him. One was Pit. The other two were a tall man with spiky blonde hair and a colossal sword on his back. The other was a woman with long, dark hair and no visible weapon other than a pair of metal gloves. Ruby didn't care about them, though.
She ran at Aris, throwing her arms around him as tears flowed down her face. She felt his arms wrap around her as he buried his head in her shoulder; he was also crying.
As the couple embraced, Jaune, Nora, and Ren arrived with Qrow in tow. The Branwen still clutched his wound, gasping upon the sight of his niece's lover.
The two finally broke away. Aris spoke. "Ruby, I'm sorry I left. I should've stayed...I-"
Ruby cut him off with a peck on the lips. "I was so worried...but, you're here now. I forgive you. Thank you, Aris...thank you for coming back."
Aris wiped away a few tears, then hugged Ruby again. "I'm so glad you're okay..."
End BGM
Some timelater...
Team ALPS sat with team RNJR and Qrow around a campfire. Qrow, whose wound had since been bandaged, took a brazen pull from his flask. He'd just finished explaining something to the group. "Really?" he said. "No questions?"
"Of course we have questions," Tifa deadpanned. "It's just...that was a lot to take in."
"Sure," said Qrow. "Of course."
"So..." said Cloud. "These 'maidens,' as you call them. They're powerful fighters that don't need 'Dust' or whatever to use magic?"
"Yep," Qrow affirmed.
"And there's four of them?" Nora asked.
"Always."
"Which means, when one of them dies, the power transfers to someone-a female-that they care about?" Ren questioned.
"It's whoever was in their last thought," Qrow replied. "Important distinction. Best option, it's someone we can trust. Regardless, their souls become combined, in a way."
Jaune spoke up. "And that's what you were trying to do with Pyrrha on the night the tower fell. You were trying to turn her into one of them."
Qrow lowered his flask. "The previous Fall Maiden, Amber, had been attacked. She was young, inexperienced. And her assailant, who we now know as Cinder, somehow managed to steal some of her power, but not all of it. We were afraid that if we didn't do something, the rest of the power would go to her as well."
"So, you forced it on Pyrrha," said Pit.
"We didn't force her to do anything," said Qrow. "We explained the situation and gave her a choice, and she accepted it. Jaune was there."
Jaune got up, and stormed off into the forest.
Ruby spoke up, sitting on Aris's lap and snuggling up to him. "That guy. Tyrian...why was he after me?"
Qrow sighed. "Well, with what you did at Beacon, you definitely painted a target on your back. I told you having silver eyes is a rare trait. And the fact that you're someone that was able to use them seems to have peeved off some pretty powerful people. Not many people know about the silver eyes, but those who do aren't happy that someone with silver eyes is out and about. That's why I've been keeping an eye on you. In order to make sure you were safe."
Aris sighed, "That's more than I can say for my actions. I ran off to another world to find a couple friends of mine," he gestured to Cloud and Tifa, "and then we all hauled ass back here. We'd been following you guys for the past couple of days."
"Wait," Ruby gasped. "That disc of blue light that cut off Tyrian's tail-that was a beam from the Master Sword, wasn't it?"
Aris nodded.
Ruby continued, "And that beam that burned up a piece of wood that was about to hit me in the head...that was Pit, right?"
Pit nodded.
Ruby tightened her grip on Aris. "Thank you for that."
Aris hugged her. "Anything for you."
Tifa smiled. "D'aww, you guys look so cute when you're all snuggled up like that!"
Ruby turned to her. "Hey, wait a minute. Who are you people?"
Pit got up and gestured to his and Aris's friends. "Everyone, this is Cloud Strife and Tifa Lockhart. They're mutual friends of Aris and myself, and they hail from a world called Gaia."
Cloud waved slightly. Tifa smiled sweetly. "Aris and Pit have told us quite a bit about you guys."
Qrow cleared his throat. "Okay, now that introductions are finished, I have something to say. Jaune, get over here. You're gonna want to hear this."
Jaune returned to the fire, sitting down on a log. Everyone stared intently at Qrow.
BGM: Impa's Theme - The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
"Not many people are super religious these days," he said as he set his flask on the log beside him. "This world's been around for a long time, long enough that people have created dozens of gods. But, if you believe Ozpin, two of them are actually real. They were brothers. The older sibling, the god of light, found joy in creating forces of life. Meanwhile, the younger brother, the god of darkness, spent his time creating forces of destruction. As you can imagine, the two had pretty different ideas as to how things should go. The older one spent his days creating water, plants, wildlife. At night, the younger brother would see those things and be disgusted.
"To counteract his brother's creations, the god of darkness brought about drought, fire, famine, all that he could do to eliminate life on Remnant. But...life always returned. So, one night, the younger brother went and made something. Something that shared his innate desire to destroy anything and everything."
"The Grimm," said Tifa.
"Bingo," said Qrow. "The older brother had finally had enough. Knowing that their feud couldn't last forever, he proposed that they make one final creation...and that they do it together. Something they could both take pride in. Their masterpiece. The younger brother agreed.
"Their last creation would be given the power to both create and destroy. It would be given the gift of knowledge, so that it could learn about itself and the world around it. And, most importantly, it would be given the power to choose, to take everything it had learned and decide which path to follow: the path of light, or the path of darkness. And that...is how humanity came to be."
"But...what does this have to do with us?" asked Ren.
"Well," said Qrow, "that's the kicker. See, the four gifts to mankind: knowledge, creation, destruction, and choice, aren't just metaphorical. Each of them exists in a physical form, left by the gods before they abandoned Remnant. Each of them is extraordinarily powerful. If someone were to collect all four, they'd be able to change the world. That's exactly what the enemy wants.
"The Huntsman Academies were created to train generations of humanity's protectors, but they also serve another purpose: guarding the relics. When Ozpin's predecessor founded the schools, he built them around the relics to act as a fortress. Not only would they be easier to defend, but they would be constantly surrounded by trained warriors. The hope was that hiding the relics would keep mankind from using them against itself. And, of course, keeping them out of her reach."
Qrow was finally finished. "So, yeah. There's that."
Aris spoke up. "Her," he said. "You mean Salem?"
"That's right," Qrow affirmed. "Not much is known about her, and quite frankly, that's not what matters. What matters right now is that she wants the relics, and if she gets them, things are not going to end well."
