Different worlds

by Multiverse walker

Jaune wasn't really someone who was respected in Beacon, neither by his classmates nor by others and he knows that. So when NPR and RWBY get transported to a place where they can see different worlds while Jaune is lost, they take the chance to both know him better and change their future. Summary may change. Rated M, just in case. Cover art by dishwasher1910.

9. Of Cards and Servants

Alright, new chapter. Man, reading the reviews really helps me out, especially when they go in detail on what they liked and what they didn't like. I like that, it helps me improve my writing.

Also, I deleted 'Enough' and 'Fallen, Forgotten, Hated'. Why? Because upon rereading them, I realize that they are bad, not only in terms of writing but also because they are way too depressing and I was kinda in a depressed phase at the time that I wrote them. So now, they are no more and any mention of them being connected to this fanfic are null and void now.

On the other news, I wrote a new fanfic called 'Ideas' where I write ideas for fanfics that I don't want to write. First chapter is for Akame ga Kill and the second one is for RWBY. If you want to, go check it out.

Anyway, onto the new chapter.

Chapter 8: Of Cards and Servants. (Deck of heroes by Jauneforever)

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Pyrrha sat on her seat, a hand on her chin as she remembered the hallucination and it worried her. When they saw the first world she told herself not to overthink things, mostly because these were different worlds and she had little if anything to worry about.

But, for some reason, the hallucinations seemed to be different. She not only saw them and may have gotten some nightmares for herself, but she also felt something in the back of her head. A tingle, like something had lit up.

"What are you doing?" Yang asked, bringing Pyrrha out of her thoughts. She looked at her and noticed her looking at Watcher who seemed to be writing something as well as wrapping something up.

"Hmm? Oh this is just a message to several people in a specific place." He replied as he finished writing the letter.

"And those things?" Weiss asked, pointing at the wrapped items.

"Gifts. The one I'm writing the message to has guests at his place and I'm sending them to some of those guests." He took the wrapped objects and placed the note amidst the pile before opening a portal and throwing the gifts into it.

"Why though?" Blake wondered with an eyebrow raised.

"Well, you might not know it but in some parts of the multiverse, in a few weeks there will be a special holiday. It's celebrated on the twenty fifth day of the final month of the year, most of the time, where people give presents to each other, decorate their houses, visit family members and wish happiness to one another. Jack or J4-CK35 as he is known wants to give his guest gifts to celebrate the day so I sent him a few, though there is a chance that they might get lost during the transportation." He explained, making them curious.

"What is this holiday?" Ruby asked with excitement along with Nora.

"Christmas, also known as Feast of Nativity. It is a holiday in a billion worlds where people celebrate the birth of a man known as Jesus Christ." He showed them a drawing of a child being born.

"What made him so important that people made a holiday for him?" Ren asked, curious to who the man was.

"Well, allegedly some sources say that Jesus was born to a virgin and people claimed that he was either God in human form or a Messiah. He was killed by crucifixion and some say he ascended to heaven after death. There are many religions that say different tales about him, but many know his tale and look up to him as their lord and savior." He explained showing the man crucified as the seven winced at seeing that.

"Did he really ascend to heaven?" Weiss asked curiously. She wasn't into religion but this tale seemed interesting. Watcher sighed at that.

"That's the thing. None of us truly know." He said, surprising them, "We Watchers are supposed to know everything but Jesus and everything revolving around him is one of the greatest mysteries of the multiverse. Many of my older colleagues said that it is wiser to leave the mystery alone. Religion and faith are things that people need so most of us just decided to leave it be." Watcher explained, surprising them.

"There are things that all knowing beings don't want to know?" Yang asked and he nodded at her.

"It's complicated Yang. Just because you want to know something doesn't mean you should. It can leave you scarred or broken. Like Remnant's history." He muttered under his breath. His last sentence caught them off guard.

"Remnant's history? Why wouldn't we want to know it?" Blake asked, wondering what could be so bad that he would say that.

"Let's just say, you can't handle the truth." He said before he gathered cards into his hand, shuffled them in his hand before putting them in a row in front of them.

"Who wants to choose?" The seven looked at each other, waiting for one to step forward. After several seconds, Yang stepped forward.

"Let's get this over with," She said as she looked at ten different cards. Each had her curious with their design and symbols, colors and patterns. Eventually, she found a weird one, a card with a symbol of…different cards around Jaune's symbol and letters JF on the corner. Furrowing her eyebrow, she looked at Watcher before making her choice.

"This one." She pointed at it as the other cards went to the shelves while Watcher took the chosen card and hummed in thought.

"Well, this will be interesting." He muttered.

"Why? Is it something different?" Yang asked with a hand on her hip. To the seven's confusion he nodded.

"Very different. For starters, this world is a normal Remnant world, where everything is the same as yours. The contents within though should be very interesting to you…and disturbing." He ominously said as the card floated over to the screen.

"Can you summarize what exactly we will see?" Pyrrha asked as Watcher sighed and looked at her.

"I'll do it with a question and I want you to answer with utmost honesty. Would you ever replace Jaune as your leader if you had a chance?" His question shocked Pyrrha. Her eyes wide as Nora and Ren had looks of shock as well. The redhead stood still for a second, processed the question and gave him a glare.

"What kind of question is that?" Her hand clenched with a black outline surrounding it as the metallic objects in the room, including the weapons, started to shake. Watcher stood unfazed at her glare as he crossed his arms.

"Answer the question: Would you do that or not?" The Mistralian champion looked angry at him. She looked at him like he was an idiot.

"If you think that I will replace my partner, leader and friend like some weapon, think again. I will not abandon him, nor do I want to replace him." She said as Watcher tilted his head and pointed at the rest of the students.

"You probably won't, but what about them? Are you sure that they will stand with you on that matter?" Pyrrha frowned at him before looking at her friends. Ruby looked like she agreed with her but the rest of her team looked uncertain, maybe even considering the option. She looked at her team and noticed that Ren seemed to be in doubt while Nora had a frown on her face.

"Funny thing about normal humans, when presented with an option for something or someone better they don't really hesitate to replace something they have with what they have been presented with. This is especially true if the person they know isn't very special or impressive compared to who they met. It's like something in the back of their heads is subtly manipulating them to discard the old and replace it with the new." He said while pointing at his head as Pyrrha looked from her friends who had looks of shame to Watcher.

"Why are you telling this?" He chuckled as he sat down.

"What I am trying to say here is that…you know what? Just watch the screen and you will understand soon enough." The card entered the screen, Pyrrha frowned at his answer before she sat down. Her friends sat down as well, as the viewing began.

Jaune slammed his fist against a tree deep in the Emerald Forest; the bark breaking around his fist. Anger had long since overridden the despair and sorrow that he had felt since he had been called into Ozpin's office. It would have hurt less if he hadn't seen it coming. Ever since they had met Alister Kurokoko months ago his friends had slowly been shoving him aside.

"W-What?!" Ruby and Pyrrha both shouted, shocked at the fact that they would push him away. Pyrrha glanced at her team, sure they had a bit of distrust towards Jaune now, but to do that?

'I thought that they actually cared.' Jaune snorted at that. Things had been tense after he revealed his transcripts; only the fact Blake's past deeds were worse kept Weiss, Yang, or Blake herself from turning him in. Yet as the months passed and he made a decent showing in the first two rounds of the Festival he thought they had forgiven him or at least accepted him; he wouldn't say he was close with the three of them but they no longer excluded him on principle. Yet then Alister showed up.

Blake winced slightly at the reminder, she wouldn't deny that she did see him as weak and did kinda look down on him due to his skills. Yet she could still appreciate how he seemed to get better and if the worlds she saw and Watcher's words were anything to go by, he will probably be tougher-mentally and physically-than them.

He also didn't discriminate which was an added bonus, but that was one of few pros compared to many cons.

Ruby turned to her sister, a look of slight betrayal in her eyes as Yang shook her head.

"Ruby, I am sure that that other me either overreacted or thought you might get in trouble if that Jaune got found out. Don't look like I'm the one who did that." She said, pointing at the screen.

"But you would do that, wouldn't you?" Ruby asked. Yang tried to deny that, but after a moment simply sighed, not looking at her sister's eyes.

Ruby then looked at Weiss, the white haired girl didn't look at her leader's eyes, not wanting to start a fight.

"Wait, who the fuck is this Alister dude?" Yang asked after a moment, making the others wonder as well.

Alister was from Haven, apparently the numbers ended up with him being the odd one out. The Headmaster of Haven therefore arranged for him to transfer to Beacon to gain some new experiences to make up for his lack of teammates.

"That's…very odd." Weiss said, "Shouldn't he be more of a reserve student or maybe just an extra to another team at Haven? It doesn't make sense to send him to Beacon."

"If I were you I wouldn't trust Haven's Headmaster nor let him stand within thirty feet of me." Watcher said, catching her attention.

"Why?" He sighed.

"Let's just say that he, and by proxy Ozpin, are not what they seem." He cryptically said while taking out a picture of Lionheart and throwing a dart right at the eye.

Jaune himself had welcomed the boy with open arms and so did the rest of the gang. Alister had taken to the group like a fish into water. The black-haired boy got along with everyone, everyone but the knight. Jaune didn't see it at first but two weeks into Alistair's stay and it became clear that the transfer student aimed to replace Jaune and he was successful.

"What?" Pyrrha whispered with clenched fists, not liking the fact that someone would try to replace her leader and crush. Nora looked equally angry, sure Jaune lied to them but she did grow to like him as a friend.

Ren stayed silent and paid attention, 'Something's not right here.' He thought. Blake had the same thought as hi, watching the events closely.

Yang's eyes glow slightly red, memories of Signal coming to mind…and they were not good whilst Weiss felt like looking at a more subtle version of her father.

Ruby's eyes glowed slightly, the thought of someone trying to replace her best-and first-friend angering her. Something that Watcher noticed.

'Seems like these events are causing them to activate earlier. A good development really.'

Slowly but surely Jaune found himself shoved aside for Alister. WBY was easily foreseeable; Jaune had only made bad impressions on them and they never forgot the idiotic pick-up lines, the air-sickness, or his initial weakness. Alistair in comparison was a strong guy who was willing to pun with Yang, discuss business-related stuff that went over most people's heads with Weiss, or talk about various ways to advocate for Faunus Rights with Blake. Jaune could understand those three, he could deal with it. It hurt but compared to the other four it was a minor sting.

The three had somewhat shameful looks from Ruby's judging stare. And Pyrrha's as well.

"This guy…he seems to be too good to be true." Ren said, not really believing that he could befriend all three at once.

"I noticed that too. He's…too good. Even if he was jack of all trades." Blake supported. She could understand if he got along with Yang, her puns weren't the best but some people can like them. She could understand if he was on good terms with her as well, faunus rights would get her interested. But befriending them both and Weiss? Who had a more judging view of others? That was a bit suspicious.

"I'm not sure why, but hearing Jaune say that we are a minor sting…kind of hurts." Yang confessed, not sure why she felt like that. Maybe it was because they were supposed to be friends? She didn't really know.

Nora, practically a ninth sister after his blood-kin and Terra, moved Alister up to the title of second favorite guy after it was revealed he could make amazing pancakes and high-level explosives. His willingness to go along with her antics was just a cherry on top. The Valkyrie could then be found talking Alistair's ear whenever Ren was busy, an honor that Jaune had once held with pride.

"I-I-What?" Nora looked surprised that her leader saw her as another sister. Never before had she thought that someone considered her to be that, especially since she never had any siblings. Ren put his hand on hers to calm her down.

"Wait, ninth? You mean he has seven sisters?!" Yang asked, utterly shocked at the number. Two are manageable, three she could understand, four is possible, five is already too many, but SEVEN? No wonder he seemed feminine at times, and why he didn't show shame when wearing a dress.

"What kind of a woman does he have as his mother to give birth to that many?" Weiss asked, horrified at the pain that a woman willingly went through.

As much as it shamed her, Blake thought of a bunny faunus the moment she heard the number of children. 'Maybe Jaune's mother is one?'

"Eh, it's not that bad. There is a kid out there who has ten sisters." Watcher said, now truly shocking them.

"Ten?!" They shouted, turning to him.

"Yep." He took out a card, showing a picture of a white haired kid standing with his sisters, both older and younger. Each seemed to be different and unique.

"How?" Blake asked, no human could go through that much pain. That's not to mention the amount of stuff needed for each.

"For that kid's mother? Not sure. For Jaune? Well there are several theories, like having several mothers to having some of them adopted. In the case of yours, one mother and a whole lot of willpower." He said as the seven sat surprised.

"Wow." Nora said, the others sharing her sentiment.

Ren had been the member of the JNPR that took his transcripts the worst but Jaune had felt that a fight between them, aka Ren beating the crap out of him once, had solved their issues and that they had truly become brothers since then. Apparently, that was one-sided as Ren took to spending as much time as he could with Alistair to discuss aura manipulation and various herbal remedies. The two could be found meditating, something that Jaune tried and failed to truly get into.

Ren sighed at that, rubbing his face. Angry as he was at his leader, he still did consider him a brother. He could understand that some don't have time or resources to get into Beacon, hell he and Nora barely managed to do that.

He looked up and winced as he saw Pyrrha looking at him with narrowed eyes, their talk from before didn't really help. Nora put a hand on his shoulder and he nodded in gratitude.

Then finally, he lost Ruby and Pyrrha, the two he was closest to gone.

Now THAT shocked the seven as Ruby and Pyrrha sat frozen with horror. The others looked at them in surprise, those two are the ones closest to him. So what happened?

Blake could understand her and the others, she really could, but Ruby? This was starting to get suspicious.

Watcher read her thoughts and frowned as he looked around the room. Something wasn't right here.

Ruby; the girl that was his first friend at Beacon. The girl that had stood by him at all times and helped him through so many rough patches and who he had helped nearly as many times, his fellow leader who had promised to stand by his side as they made their teams two of the greatest in Beacon's history. She stuck by him at first, spending more time with him than Alistair yet slowly that changed. More and more often she would be discussing weapons with Alistair, going over complex forging methods or possible upgrades for everyone else's weapons alongside their own. Jaune noted he was never brought up despite the numerous times Ruby had at one point begged to do something with Crocea Mors. And when Alistair made her apparently divine cookies Ruby was lost to him, despite her assurances they were still friends, that he was still her greatest 'guy-friend' Jaune knew they were empty words.

The silver-eyed girl sat stunned. Cookies? She left her best friend for cookies?! As much as she liked them, her favorites were strawberries, something that Jaune had given her multiple times. It also hurt her to see her friend hurt.

A giggle resounded in the room though barely audible, Watcher looked to his left to see a portal silently appear and a figure emerge from it. She waved at him and put a finger to her lips. He narrowed his eyes on her before gesturing to her to take a seat. The figure silently crept up to Ruby and turned invisible.

Pyrrha, his partner, his teacher, the first person to ever believe he had potential. She was the one to awaken his aura, to train him, to give him some actual confidence. Ever since the dance, ever since he got over his childish infatuation with Weiss, he had begun to fall for his partner. He had even been deluded enough to believe Pyrrha had felt something more for him than mere comradery and familial bonds. Now such a thought made him scoff; Pyrrha had clearly just been keeping up appearances or some such thing. With every one of their friends that began to favor Alistair, Pyrrha had begun to spend more time with the transfer student and less time with her partner.

While she wanted to do a little dance at her partner apparently falling for her, the other part made her frown. She gripped her spear tightly, wanting to just get to her other and give her a piece of her mind.

'I wouldn't get my hopes up if I were you.' She sat up startled as she heard Watcher's voice in her head, 'This is still an alternate world, for all you know yours might as well see you as just a friend.' She looked hurt as she looked at him but he shrugged.

"Wow, even you Pyrrha? Are you sure that you really like him if this is what your alternate does?" Yang asked, only to receive a glare from Pyrrha.

On top of that Alistair began to flirt with Pyrrha, began to court the champion with what was eerily a more streamlined and polished version of the way Jaune attempted to win Weiss's affections. Jaune watched as Alistair constantly made Pyrrha's cheeks red, as he won the champions heart over. When the two became a couple Jaune accepted it, realizing he lost his chance. It hurt, it hurt more than any other failure in his life ever had. True his partner had promised she'd still spend time with him but it knew that was a lie even before the first time she cancelled a training session.

Pyrrha sat stunned, not really wanting to believe that something like that would happen. Surely, she was better than that?

"Now I am really doubting your love for him if this is what you do, P-Money." Yang bluntly said, not receiving any reply from the champion. The brawler had seen how some in Signal pretended to love a person, only to show their true colors and leave that person. And she REALLY doubted Pyrrha could simply fall in love just like that.

A slap resounded as Pyrrha felt something hit her in the back of her head, bringing her out of her trance. She looked around and saw no one, puzzling her but Watcher rolled his eyes as he saw the person next to her.

Everything led up to this morning when he found himself in Ozpin's office and listening to his team make an argument to replace him with Alistair. To his horror, Ozpin's initial denial provided the knowledge that this wasn't the first time such a notion had been brought up, that this was the third time they had argued for Alistair to take his place.

"How could they do that?!" Ruby shouted, shocked that they would try to remove one of their own friends. The rest didn't look please at that either.

"Oh shut up already!" A new voice said. Ruby looked startled when someone materialized next to her, "Quit your yapping and keep watching. Things like these happen, happened and will happen so sit down and watch quietly." She said as she sat with one leg over the other.

The seven looked at her, not sure who she was supposed to be. The woman wore a cape to hide most of her body but they could see a female shape from her tank top and jeans, a hood covering her face. They looked at Watcher who shook his head and gestured to the screen.

"Jaune simply has no aptitude for this lifestyle and will never make it as a Huntsman." Gone was the belief Pyrrha had once had in him; or perhaps it had never existed.

All the metallic objects in the room began to warp, bend and crack as Pyrrha clenched her fists. Her body glowed black, her eyes full of anger, her friends backed away from her a bit as the champion grit her teeth.

"I'm gonna wring that bitch's neck if she says anything like that again." She said, shocking her friends.

"Pyrrha!" Weiss said, not believing the champion would curse.

"What?! It's true, she is a bitch! She betrays her friend and crush for some guy from Haven!" The new person rolled her eyes and waved her hands. Suddenly, Pyrrha felt a slight shock as her body stopped glowing.

"She kinda has a point. All of this started because of this new guy." Blake said, now really suspicious of him.

"Oh really? You sure that it isn't because of you all?" The female said, looking at her nails.

"What is that supposed to mean?" Ruby asked, not liking her.

"It means what it means, little Red. Are you sure that you are not like that deep down? Maybe you don't really like him? Maybe you don't see him as a friend? Maybe he wasn't even a friend to you?" She casually replied, not even fazed by the glares they sent her.

"Why you! What makes you think you know us?!" Pyrrha said, getting up from her seat.

"I know enough, Nikos." She replied, angering the champion as she gripped her weapon.

"Alright that's enough!" Watcher shouted at them, "The next person who tries to start a fight will be punished." He said, not liking their banter.

It touched Jaune that Ozpin stood up for him, that he defended the boy that had faked his way into the man's academy. He was just as shocked at Goodwitch's defense of him, the woman had made no secret of her dislike for him and he was surprised she wasn't on NPR's side. The fact the combat instructor said he had a great deal of potential filled him with warmth.

In the end Jaune decided to save everyone the trouble and relinquished his position on JNPR once it's former members said they'd transfer to Haven to form a team with Alistair with team RWBY most likely following them. Ozpin had actually looked nervous at that and Jaune knew why. JNPR and RWBY were the first two first-year teams to make it to the finals of the Vytal Festival since team STRQ. On top of that, each team contained members whose backgrounds and popularity could cause problems for Beacon if they all left.

"WHAT?!" They shouted at that.

"Leave Beacon?! Because of ONE guy?! What is wrong with them?!" Weiss shouted as she stood up. This was ridiculous!

"Hoh, I love this. Seeing people show their true colors and just what they are will always amuse me." The female said as the seven looked at her before an anvil appeared out of thin air and dropped on her head.

"I warned you R." Watcher said as R removed the anvil and sat down on her seat with a scoff.

Pyrrha Nikos, enough said.

Ren and Nora had become a rags to riches success story thanks to some vultures in the media digging up their pasts after their success in the Festival and discovering what happened to their hometown. Apparently they had provided a major inspiration to those that lacked the means to easily gain the training and equipment to enter a combat school.

Pyrrha winced at her fame while Nora looked surprised at how popular they became. Ren wasn't so surprised though, being with Pyrrha would have garnered people's attention even without their backstory. That and people always loved good stories.

Weiss Schnee, also one who needed no further explanation.

Blake Belladonna, while he wasn't the smartest or the most knowledgeable Jaune had actually recognized her last name as the leader of Menagerie thanks to knowing a former Fang member from his hometown that left once Ghira stepped down. Admittedly, he didn't realize she was his daughter at first but it wasn't like he knew what the man looked like or if he even had a family. If she left, it would be a powerful statement about Beacon's relationship with Faunus even if Blake didn't advertise her species.

Wiess huffed with crossed arms while Blake wondered if their Jaune knew about her father or met him. It would explain him not discriminating before she dismissed the idea.

No, better he bow out than cost Ozpin seven amazingly talented students and give him a whole lot of PR problems. After relinquishing his position, he gave Ozpin and Goodwitch his thanks and walked into Ozpin's elevator. Once the doors closed, he collapsed down and cried at the turn of events; he had pulled himself together by the time he reached the ground and rushed over to the room that once belonged to JNPR and packed a rucksack of essentials. He jotted down a quick note to his family explaining what happened that he stuck in a mailbox on his way to his locker to get his armor and weapon.

"Another expelled one huh? Boy I sure do love these." R said, as she twirled a metal stick in her hand.

"What do you mean?" Ruby asked.

"Do you think that this is the first time you got him expelled?" She asked, surprising them, "You would be surprised how many worlds have him ratted out by one of you and then expelled from Beacon. And trust me, you don't wanna know how some of them happened." She said, amused by their reactions. They looked at Watcher.

"Is it true?" Pyrrha asked and he nodded.

"She is right, you don't want to know how they happened, especially not you Pyrrha."

Oum, just as he was finally repairing things with his family. It wasn't that they were bad people, he knew they had always loved him and he them, but most of them didn't have the most flexible mindset. His sister Saphron was a perfect example, when she came out as being homosexual their parents didn't take too kindly to it as they held the typical view that most people not living in the main areas of the kingdom take.

If it doesn't produce children a relationship is wrong. The concept was based on the high mortality rate that could befall these areas and it had been around for generations and with each generation its meaning had become more focused. Where once it meant that all relationships that didn't produce children improvements in science had led to the view now focusing solely on homosexual relationships. Such an idea held no water in the more populated areas but in areas with low to medium populations it was sadly common. In the end Saphron had eloped with her girlfriend Terra Cotta and moved to Argus leading to everyone else going there to work things out. It had taken time and effort but his parents had come around and welcomed Terra into the family.

"Okay, that's stupid. Love is love, you can't control who you love or who you prefer." Blake said, not seeing a problem in that.

"People will be like that. Petty, envious or angry at each other because they either have no problem and want to make one or are jealous at what they don't have. Or they just want to keep traditions no matter what and will not accept liberal ideas. It would be easier to have everyone get along…" He trailed off.

"But we all know that something like that is very unlikely." R finished his statement, "That and it wouldn't be as fun if we didn't watch idiots fight each other over what is 'rational' or 'moral'." She said with a grin.

This also applied to their belief he couldn't become a Huntsman and the steps they had taken to ensure he never did. They purged their house of all but the most generalized information of the trade and any mention of aura, they threatened the local library to keep similar materials away from him, the local blacksmith was told to never produce armor or weapons for him, anyone that could teach him anything of fighting was kept an arm's length away from him. The only reason they went along with his fake transcripts idea was because they expected him to be turned away or fail miserably.

"Harsh." Yang commented. The others wondered if this was the same for their friend and planned to get to know about his family.

"Sad thing is they have a good reason here." R said, catching their attention.

"What do you mean?" Weiss asked.

"Well you see he-" she was cut off as something censored her words, "What the? Hey, what gives?" She asked, turning towards Watcher.

"Sorry R, can't have you rambling it out." She narrowed her eyes at him.

"Oh sure, tell them about Cinder and the Fall but not about why his family wants to keep him? What a bunch of bull-" he cut her off by sending her to the ground with an energy fist.

Yet after the Vytal festival, they called him up; true they attributed most of his team's success to the other three, which he agreed with, but they told him how proud they were of him. His father had promised to teach him a few tricks when he came back for a break, even if he said that it was so he would be of more use to his team. Now any progress made on enhancing their opinion of him would take a good hundred steps back.

Weiss wondered if Jaune had the same problem with his family that she did with her own. That being the pressure put on her.

As he was putting on his armor and strapping on his sword, Ozpin had sent him a message saying that he was more than welcome to stay but understood why he wouldn't want to do that. Therefore, he would check with the other Headmasters to see if there was an open slot for him and would message him once he had something. Once more, the Headmaster's belief in him touched Jaune and this time he let out a few tears at this. A second message from Goodwitch both praised him for his rapid improvement and admonished him for even coming to Beacon so unprepared before giving him the backhanded praise of 'succeeding where most everyone would fail' made it rather hard to dry his eyes. While it was kind of his teachers to look for another team for him to join, Jaune doubted it would work out; once word got out his team and their sister team had blacklisted him no-one would touch him. His dream was unobtainable now, this had been a desperate last hope at reaching it and it was all for naught.

Ruby had a few tears seeing how hopeless her friend was.

Pyrrha gripped her spear, not liking the hopeless look in his face, especially since she was the one who did this to him.

And that realization led him to the heart of the Emerald Forest. If his dream was dead, if he was going to leave in disgrace then he was going to prove even if just to himself that he had reached a level where he belonged at Beacon. It wasn't perfect but his self-made test was the best he could come up with on short-notice. He was going to redo the Initiation in a sense, there would be no relic this time, merely getting to the ruins where the chess pieces once sat and making it back to Beacon in one piece. Was it a bit in his favor after going through it once, yes it was but this time it was just him rather than a group of seven and one anchor. Going to the cliff and dropping his rucksack there he hopped on a launch pad and was flung into the Emerald Forest.

"Yeah! Go Jaune!" Nora shouted as she saw him fly, wanting to see him succeed.

"You are no anchor." Ruby muttered, not liking his lack of confidence and resolved to help her own. Her team felt a little guilty as they showed their support, they thought that he only survived thanks to Pyrrha.

Landing was interesting this time, taking a straightforward approach Jaune just put his shield in front of him and rammed through everything, letting the shield and his aura take the damage. Once he hit the ground the Grimm were upon him, his emotions drawing them in despite his efforts to control them.

For once Jaune was grateful for the Grimm, cutting them down was therapeutic. All the anger and hate that had boiled below his other emotions, that had built up for months as he was systematically purged from his friends' lives, he could finally just let it go and release it at something. Grimm after Grimm came at him, mostly Ursa, Beowolfs, and Boarbatusk, and they all died. Yes, Jaune didn't come out unscathed but he took only minor injuries that healed soon after. Once he buried his sword in the skull of the last soulless monster, his fist slammed into a tree.

"He copied my landing strategy and style." Pyrrha felt a bit proud at that.

"I wouldn't be happy. Your training is what gets him killed in many worlds." R said, causing Pyrrha to look at her with anger.

"What did you just say?" She asked with anger in her voice.

"What you heard Pyrrha. Your teaching methods didn't help him in many cases, crippling him in most of them." R said without hesitation.

"R, please." Watcher said, trying to prevent fights.

"No, I am not stopping here. She should know that her training and style don't help him." She told him before looking at the champion, "You wanna know how many died because of your training? Because you thought training him your style was a good idea. I will tell you how much: More than you think!"

"I'm his partner! I know what's best for him!" Pyrrha countered, fists clenched and ready to deck her.

"Oh sure, you know best. How many versions of him suffered because of that? Oh you don't want to know." Pyrrha did not like her at all.

"What are you trying to say? He is doing fine! Just look!" She said, pointing at the screen.

"Oh, point at one of the lucky ones, how rational. Do you even realize that your style does not fit him?! Have you even tried to help him find his own? Or did you just stick to yours hoping he would get better? Let me tell you this: The moment your enemy sees his style, you basically made it so that his defeat is ensured because many of them will exploit the weaknesses in yours to kill him!" Pyrrha tried to say something but stopped once she realized what she said.

"What? Nothing to say? Don't make me start on how many people saw him just trying to copy you and having nothing special in him or even riding on your coattail. Or on how your style doesn't suit him and he is left crippled because of that. Never reaching his potential because a possessive partner was convinced that just because she used the same weapons, it meant their styles can be similar. Never letting him train with others because that would make more sense than training with someone who probably doesn't even know how to train in the first place." R continued her rant, not letting Pyrrha speak up. The champion tried to speak but every point made her reconsider.

"If you think you know best for him just because you are his partner, it means that you have no faith in him trying to get better on his own or with anybody else. You don't want him to succeed Pyrrha, you just want to keep him weak so that he will keep relying only on you, convincing him your methods are the best so that he will not consider anybody else to help him. All in the hopes that he will eventually fall in love with you." The last words shocked Pyrrha to her core, she stumbled back and sat down on her seat. Her teammates tried to help her and reassure that it was not true.

'You didn't need to say that.' Watcher said telepathically to R who scoffed at him.

'I'm not taking any of my words back.'

Watcher shook his head at this turn of events. R was always like that, always looking for the worst in others but most of the time meaning well.

Taking deep breaths, relying on the few meditation techniques that he had picked up from his brief foray into mediation with Ren he managed to calm himself down. Yes, he had taken care of those Grimm just fine but they were grunts; no need to call some Alphas down upon him. Finding the old ruins was easier than he thought it would be after he stumbled upon the trail of broken trees that the Deathstalker from Initiation had left. Following the trail of destruction brought him to the ruins; more Grimm fell to his blade on the way. Jaune smiled to himself as he managed to continue to kill them without taking major injury but when he saw the ruins, he frowned. In his mind, it was too easy; the path created by the Deathstalker had made this test worthless.

The ruins that held the chess pieces still stood, Jaune had honestly thought the Deathstalker had destroyed them as it chased them. Jaune decided to take a closer look, bitter sweet though it may be, this was still a place that he treasured.

RWBY and NPR smiled, this was the place they became teams and a family. The fights are still fresh in their minds, probably for the rest of their lives.

"Huh? What are these?" Eight cards lay on the one of the pillars of the ruins; each one depicting a different figure. There was a sword-wielding knight, a spearman, an archer, a chariot-driver, what appeared to be an assassin holding two knives, a mage, a humanoid beast, and the last bore the image of a decrepit figure chained in a manner similar to the design of a straight-jacket. "Was Ozpin holding another test out here soon?" Jaune thought aloud before shrugging and pocketing the cards, he'd give them to Ozpin and ask him.

"What ARE those?" Ruby asked, appreciating the design.

"Servant cards." R and Watcher replied at once, confusing them.

"Servant?" Blake asked, not liking the word.

"It's hard to explain but essentially, Servant is a Heroic Spirit. A being who had ascended to a place known as a Throne of Heroes. Anyone who has done something heroic be it in life as just a legend will ascend to the Throne, effectively removing them from the cycle of reincarnation." His words had the seven wondering who would be there.

"It should be noted that not everyone who ascends to the Throne are good people." R continued, "The Throne doesn't discriminate, so there is a wide variety of people who could be considered anti-heroes or even outright bad guys in some cases. A person can summon a Servant but doing so requires a large amount of power and sometimes the user can even cripple the Servant." She took out a picture of a red haired man and a blonde woman in knight armor holding a sword.

"What allows them to summon Servants in the first place?" Pyrrha asked, wondering how it could be possible.

"An artifact known as a Holy Grail summoned them for the Grail War, Masters and Servants in teams of 7 would fight till only one pair remained," That caused the seven to shiver, "The Servants are split into classes based on their abilities. Saber, Archer and Lancer are grouped as Knight classes, while Rider, Caster, Berserker and Assassin are grouped as Cavalry classes. These two groups are the most well-known but there also Extra classes, such as Ruler, Avenger, Shielder, Moon Cancer, Foreigner and Alter Ego."

"So they are summoned for battle as nothing more than enslaved gladiators?" Blake asked, narrowing her eyes.

"It may seem like it but the main target is always the Master, removing them removes the Servant. Another thing about them is the ability called Noble Phantasm. Imagine a Semblance but a lot more powerful. They usually end up as trump cards in a battle and some have Noble Phantasms that are straight up Nightmare Fuel." Watcher explained, making them wonder what kind of abilities they had.

"Okay, that one we get it. But what about the cards?" Weiss asked, "What purpose do they serve."

"You will see."

It was the sound that alerted him, that made him leap to the side as a drill rammed into the stone pillar behind him and turned it into rubble. If he hadn't moved he would have been pinned, trapped as that weapon ate away at his armor and aura if it didn't break through them instantly. Jaune faced his attacker and fought the urge to rub his eyes.

Standing before him was a humanoid figure that at first thought would make you believe it was a Grimm if not for the lack of bone armor or glowing red marks and eyes. No this was like liquid darkness had been poured into a mold shaped like a well-built man. What he had thought was a drill was in fact a sword, clearly one built to work like a drill but the way the figure held it showed it was without a doubt a sword.

"What is that?" Weiss asked, staring at the mix of human and Grimm with horror.

"One of the Saber class Servants, although it seems Grimm's nature has corrupted it." Watcher said, causing the seven to panic upon hearing that.

"Run Jaune!" Nora shouted at the screen while R raised an eyebrow and turned to Watcher.

'Why the hell are they reacting like this? They do know that it is an alternate world, right?' She asked him telepathically.

'Most likely is that they thought this world is some kind of future like the last one that I showed. I need to remind them later.' He replied.

Jaune's quick deployment of his shield was what saved his life because the figure swung at him, its odd weapon spinning once more. Crocea Mors shield, something that had never needed anything more than minor repairs at best in all the time he had used it, shattered on impact.

That shocked the seven as they never saw the shield shatter. Even when they saw him fight, the shield never received anything beyond minor scratches even at the worst times. To see it shatter worried them.

"Please survive." Pyrrha muttered.

"GAAAAHHH!" Jaune screamed as he was launched back, his arm broken from the force of the blow and a few chunks of his shield stuck in his arm. By the time he hit the ground, his aura had closed his wounds and forced the chunks of metal out as well as making sure his arm was more fractured than broken. The knight didn't stay on the ground for long as his attacker was on him again, swinging its blade up and catching him with the tip. Jaune's armor gained a nasty gash and his chest was cut into as he was sent flying once more, when he hit the ground he hacked up blood with his cry of pain. Crocea Mors blade lay embedded in the ground out of his reach.

"One strike…was all that it took." Ruby whispered, seeing the classic weapon shatter like wet tissue paper. Now worried for her friend, even if he was an alternate.

"We could barely do any damage and here it destroyed it just like that." Yang whispered, seeing the sheer power Servants had.

"Oh don't tell me you actually care here, Xiao Long." R said getting her attention.

"What the hell are you talking about?" She asked, not liking her tone.

"This whole being concerned thing. Mind stopping it? You and Ice Queen and Kitty here aren't fooling me." The three looked at her with narrowed eyes.

"He's our friend, why shouldn't we be concerned?" Blake asked which caused R to start laughing.

"Oh that's rich. He is your friend. You might as well say that everything told before about the others' betrayal wouldn't apply to you." R kept laughing, getting on their nerves.

"And why wouldn't it?" Weiss asked with crossed arms as R stopped laughing.

"Let's face it you three: You don't see him as a friend. You only do so because Ruby is his friend, you have little to no respect for him and if this were to happen to you," She pointed at the screen, "You wouldn't hesitate to throw him aside for a new guy." She said, her eyes glowing as she looked at them.

"You are wrong. They wouldn't do that!" Ruby told her, standing up from her seat and facing R.

"Oh really? Are you sure about that? Can you really say that knowing what you learned?" Ruby narrowed her eyes, a slight glow of silver in them, which caused R to have a tiny smirk on her face.

"This isn't our Remnant and they are only alternate versions of them. They will never do that." The reaper said as R smiled at her.

"Here is a fact about these kinds of worlds. It is based on YOUR world. Everyone here is acting exactly like how YOU all would and while some are different, the way that WBY of that world acted is essentially based on how your team would react. In other worlds, this is EXACTLY what they would do." R said, shocking them.

"Hey, listen here you! We may not like Jaune very much but that doesn't mean we would betray him!" Yang said, eyes red and her stance ready to pounce on the woman.

"We respect him enough to not throw him aside so I don't see what you are trying to say here." Weiss said with crossed arms and a raised eyebrow.

"Oh really?" They nodded at her, "Would you still respect him if you didn't end up here?" That question confused them.

"What do you mean?" Ruby asked.

"Think about it: they didn't really respect Jaune, not even before they came here and the only reason they are defending him and themselves right now is because Watcher here showed them some worlds and now they respect him because of what he said. In other words, they only respect him because some otherworldly entity showed them alternate versions where he isn't him. Would they still respect him if you stayed in your world and he told them about his transcripts? Or would they abandon him like how that WBY did?" Ruby's eyes widened and she looked back at her team, seeing looks of shame on their faces.

"I have seen many worlds where this same shit happens and trust me on this one: had they not been shown these worlds, they would still see him as a weakling who will only be a hindrance to them. They don't respect him like you do Ruby, they probably have no respect for him at all, and as such, they won't hesitate to throw him aside." R told her, Ruby's eyes widening as she thought about it further, the looks on her team's faces not helping one bit.

NPR looked at the team, R's words in their heads as the memories of the last months spent and their attitudes now and then made them realize that she might be right.

Watcher sighed inwardly as he watched R tear the teams apart.

"Look, we can continue this after we watch this session, okay?" He asked them and they nodded and sat down.

'So this is how it ends.' Jaune's head lolled to the side and took in his approaching killer as the creature flipped its weapon into a backwards grip. 'No-one is even going to know how I died, people will probably think I jumped and scavengers got the body.' His hands clenched into fists as he tried to rise, if he died here, if people thought he killed himself then that would just prove to them that Pyrrha was right, that he couldn't handle the life of a huntsman. The creature stood above him; the drill spinning so fast that you could see the air moving around it. It raised the weapon up, both hands on the handle to plunge the weapon down.

Pyrrha winced hearing that, while R sent her a quick glare.

"No way, I refuse to die like this." Forcing his aura to spread throughout his body forced his body to rise and slammed his shoulder into the being. The humanoid didn't even budge; one hand moved down to grip his arm and throw him to the side. Jaune skidded on his back for a few yards before shakily climbing back to his feet. "I'm not going to die, not until…" Jaune's eyes gained a dark glare and a light emanated from his pocket. "… not until I prove everyone wrong!" His parents, his sisters, NPR and RWBY, all of them. He wanted … no needed to prove them wrong.

"Go Leader!" Nora shouted, with the others supporting him.

"How cute." R said as she chuckled, "He wants to prove people wrong. Imagine if he didn't want to…" her words were cut off as Watcher put a black tape over her mouth. She glared at him and he shook his head at her.

"Oh yeah! Now that's what I like to hear; tell them all where to stick it! Show them all just how great you are!"

"Who was that?" Pyrrha asked, wondering who it could be.

Jaune froze at the sound of that voice and then lunged to the side to avoid another blow. It was then he noticed the light coming from his pocket and pulled out the glowing card that depicted the knight. "Alright boy; let's call this a trial run. Show me what you can do with my power! Say the words and let's crush this guy!' Jaune looked at the card in shock before wincing in pain as two words screamed in his mind.

"What the hell, let's try it. Install Saber!" Red Light emanated from the card, a gasp escaped Jaune as he felt a foreign energy flood his body. Visions flooded into his mind of a young girl desperately seeking her father's love; soaking herself in blood to prove her strength in her quest for approval. He saw her father deny her, saw her lead a bloody revolution, saw her father run her through with a lance. The creature charged him with that sword, a howl escaping it. Jaune reached out on instinct, his hands closing around a hilt materializing in the air. A name formed on the tip of his tongue.

"Mordred, LETS GO!"

"Wow!" Ruby shouted in wonder, seeing it work.

"Who's Mordred?" Weiss asked.

"You will learn soon enough." R said after removing the black tape.

From his seat, Kischur Zeltretch Schweinrog watched as his chosen entertainment called upon the power of a class card. The centuries old vampire smirked at the sight, truly the boy was going to be interesting.

"Vampire?" Weiss asked, wondering what he was doing there.

"Not just a vampire, he is a vampire that knows True Magic and is a…"

"Massive troll, that's what he is." R finished as Watcher sighed at her.

"Could have let me finish, you know." She shrugged at him.

Class Cards, such a wonderful yet terrifying invention. To allow one to claim the power of a heroic spirit was something to behold; it was why he confiscated as many as he could in every dimension that they popped up. One mishap could have a corrupted version of the spirit running amok just like the one that attacked the young Arc or they could possess a being and make them rampage. Sadly, during his last raid, for lack of a better word, he had made to take them himself. That version of the Ainsworth family fought back and during the struggle, the box holding the cards broke right as he made to leave the dimension.

"So he is the one at fault here!" Ruby shouted, not liking how he nearly killed Jaune.

"The day that Zeltretch visited that Remnant is the day that changed everything for the residents." Watcher said, not really liking what the old vampire had done.

"But for him, it was Tuesday." R said, giggling at Watcher's deadpan eyes.

"Really? You decide to do that reference?" The seven looked confused at their interactions.

"For the record, he is only responsible for the cards, not for what happened earlier." Watcher said, making them frown.

Now those cards were scattered across this dimension, one of the Remnant timelines where two beings of divine power formed before the other gods could and stopped all the others from forming. On top of that, True Magic ran wild for a time in this world before becoming scarce when the Brothers had their tantrum. Now only scattered pieces remained and any magic wielder was little more than a novice level magus, the majority only capable of bending the elements to their will.

"Brothers? Are they talking about Brother Gods?" Weiss asked, wondering if these were the two Gods they heard from tales.

"Yep, these two exist." Watcher confirmed.

"And as previously mentioned, they had a tantrum and left Remnant in ruins." R commented with anger.

"You really don't like them, do you?" Watcher asked and she looked at him like he was an idiot.

"Uh, yeah? Haven't you noticed how many versions of those assholes that I killed?" She asked sarcastically, causing the seven to look at her in shock.

"What do you mean killed? Are you saying you killed Gods?" Blake asked and to her shock, R nodded.

"Yep. Watcher and I here can destroy any world within a blink of an eye. He is just too much of a coward to do so." Watcher sent her an annoyed look.

"Do we have to go through this again, R?" He asked and she looked back with a challenging grin on her face.

"I'm always up to kick your peeping ass Watcher." The seven felt pressure pushing them on the ground as the two beings stared each other down. After a while they stopped.

"Another time, R." Watcher said as he resumed the screen.

Worlds such as these were abandoned by the "World"; no Counter-Guardian would ever set foot on it to help them, the inhabitants were left to whatever calamity befell them. That was why he chose to help this world once the cards fell into them.

Zeltretch may have cast aside his humanity long ago but he still had his moral as loose as they could be. He caused the problem so he would help fix it, even if he did so in such a way he would be sure to be entertained.

"Entertained?!" Weiss shouted, not liking how the vampire acted like they were some clown circus or a drama show.

"Oh, shut it!" R said, "You know how many beings out there control some worlds like they are puppets? Be glad that it's Zeltrecth and not other beings like Chaos Gods." She said as she forced the heiress to sit down.

The obvious way to fight Class Cards was to use Class Cards, well that or a Kaleidostick but Jaune Arc, despite probably being willing to go along with transforming into a magical girl, had enough self-esteem problems without a magical wand insulting him.

Oh yes Zeltretch had already chosen Jaune Arc as the one to recover the cards after watching how impressive so many of his other selves were. Be they villain, psychopath, hero, ruler, or revolutionary Jaune Arcs had a tendency to leave a mark upon their world.

"I still find it kinda hard to believe." Weiss stated.

"Don't worry about it Weiss." R said.

True the journey would be difficult and every third timeline saw Jaune dying during it but it was better than if he didn't intervene. If he didn't give the boy the Cards he would have died at this moment and even without cards if he did nothing Jaune Arc would not see the vast improvements he had made thanks to his extreme self-deprecation and low opinion of himself. At some point down the line, he would kill himself. The time and method changed: hanging himself in a motel before returning home, walking off into Grimm-infested territory after returning home and fighting till he dies, or even just killing himself right there at the ruins but in the end it was inevitable that Jaune would die by his own hand.

The sight of Jaune hanging by a rope on his neck, lying or sitting dead with Grimm spikes impaled on his body or simply impaled by his own sword and lying by the ruins had them all disturbed.

Nora and Pyrrha had tears as they saw the hanging body, the ginger went to hug Ren.

Ruby has a mild breakdown as her sister scoots closer to put an arm around her, the rest of her team sitting around their leader.

R narrowed her eyes, her hand going to her right side, feeling the hilt of a sword while Watcher sighed and looked at the shelves where many cards glowed.

'Yes, Jaune Arc is much better off as my helper/entertainment.' So Zeltretch had made his own set of class cards, ones that provided Jaune Arc a variety of skills that his tactical mind could make use of. These Cards were special however, normally when a Class Card was created the Heroic Spirit inside was stripped of their reason and ego in order to prevent them from possessing the user but this was also what made them so dangerous as if the Spirit manifested through possession or the construction of a body they would always rampage.

In Zeltretch's opinion, this also decreased the amount of power one could get from a Card so he skipped that part and instead simply made sure the spirits used were ones that Jaune Arc could connect with or wouldn't cause him too many problems.

"So that's how they work." Weiss commented after things calmed down a bit.

"Yep, though using more than one will give the user a lot of problems." Watched said.

Mordred the Knight of Betrayal; the saber class servant. The child of King Arthur that craved her father's love and acceptance yet was denied it. Filled with self-hatred and loathing that she soon turned on the king; in her rage the Knight led a rebellion against her father and was struck down by the king but not before dealing a lethal blow herself.

'And here I thought I had it bad.' Weiss couldn't help but find Arthur to be worse than her father.

Diarmuid Ua Duibhne; the lancer class servant. The twin spearman that was cursed with a magical love spot that made any woman that gazed upon it fall for him instantly. This led to a series of events that started with his king's fiancée falling for him and using a spell to make him run away with her to his tale ending with his king letting him die in a fit of hatred and betrayal. Despite all the suffering their actions caused him till the end the knight refused to feel any hatred for them.

"I feel bad for the guy." Yang said, pitying him. Yet at the same time, she couldn't help but compare him to herself.

Atalanta; the archer class servant. Abandoned by her father for being born a girl rather than a male heir to his throne, rescued by the Moon Goddess, making a name as one of the greatest hunters in all the lands, forced to marry by her father, tricked into marriage by a suitor and a cruel goddess of love despite her vow of Chastity to the Moon Goddess that saved her. Her distrust of men might be a problem at first but Zeltretch knew she would work with Jaune soon enough.

"Wow, the Greek gods are real assholes when you hear their stories." R said, remembering the many heroes who had horrible childhoods, "Not sure if Jaune can even convince her to work together though."

Blake looked at the archer and couldn't help but think of everything put on her own shoulders, pressure from White Fang, her disastrous relationship with Adam, though she could have done better to help him.

Medusa; the rider class servant. Cursed by a goddess that was jealous of her and her sisters' beauty Medusa and her sisters sought isolation. Yet despite that the gods sent 'heroes' to slay them and so Medusa killed those that came for her life, using her now-cursed eyes to turn them to stone. Eventually she was consumed by hatred and became a true monster that even killed her sisters. She was eventually killed by a hero. As a servant she was in the state she was right before madness consumed her. She would cause Jaune no problems however, Medusa was a Spirit that showed loyalty to her Master whenever summoned.

"How awful." Ruby thought, hearing her story. To be hunted down by people for power she had no control over or even a choice of having, not to mention life without her sisters.

"It's actually worse, you know. Whilst the goddess was jealous, Medusa herself was a devout follower of said goddess. She became cursed because the uncle of said goddess, the god of seas, raped her in one of the goddess's temples." R said, shocking them.

"W-What? Why didn't she call for help?" Pyrrha asked, horrified at the story.

"Medusa begged the goddess for help, but the goddess told her that it was her fault for being so beautiful and cursed her not only her eyes but also turned her and her sisters into gorgons, monsters that are part snake and part woman. They lived like that for a long time until one of the demi gods killed her and had her head taken as a trophy by the same goddess who cursed her." R finished the tale.

"How could the goddess do that to her?" Ruby asked.

"Because gods and goddesses are assholes who hide their intentions behind the façade of divinity. Even more so for the Olympians and Greek gods." R answered with a sneer.

"Mind you, this is only a legend. Her life here differs slightly." Watcher said, trying to ease their worries.

"But it was what led her to the Throne." R said.

Kiritsugu Emiya; the assassin class servant. A man that wanted to save the world no matter the cost he steeled his heart and killed anyone that threatened the world no matter the cost. In his eyes ten innocent casualties were a worthwhile cost if a hundred more were saved. In the end his ideals betrayed him and he died cold alongside having accomplished nothing. His existence was an odd one; he was a Counter Guardian and yet his name had been etched into the Throne of Heroes after events that occurred in one dimension. His ideals would clash with Jaune but he would work alongside the boy if it saved lives.

Though he was sometimes cold, this was something he had never seen before. The level of coldness made him shiver slightly but it made him wonder: Would he have become like that if he never met Nora?

Medea the Witch of Betrayal; the caster-class servant. Born a princess she was made to blindly love a traveling hero named Jason by the same goddess that later tricked Atalanta who at the time was a crew-member of Jason. Under the goddesses spell she not only helped Jason steal one of her country's greatest treasures but also killed her brother. Her magic was then used to secure Jason's spot on the throne but his crew betrayed both him and Medea unknowing of her lack of choice. Jason eventually wed another woman and in a fit of rage at his betrayal despite all she had done for him she appeared at his wedding and killed everyone but him before disappearing. Jaune's likeness to Jason would cause problems but as long as he was sincere with her he shouldn't have many problems with her. Maybe, honestly Zeltretch was hoping he did so that there would be some more entertainment.

The years of fame and recognition had Pyrrha sympathize with the witch. Although she was sure that Jaune wouldn't betray her if they ever got together.

'Are you sure about that?' R asked mentally, enjoying seeing the champion squirm in discomfort.

Frankenstein; the berserker class servant. Created by a scientist that aimed to create life, tossed aside when she failed to meet his expectations, denied a mate by him, she chased her creator down after he fled when she killed those close to him before he died to deny his creation her wish. Frankenstein ended her life by burning herself on the pyre. Zeltretch smirked at the thought of this servant, if Jaune didn't watch himself he might find himself as Frankenstein's bridegroom.

"Bridegroom?" Nora asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Yeah, installing Frankenstein involves her giving him a Bridal Crest, a part of herself, essentially she gives him her heart. It's kinda romantic, if a bit twisted." Watcher said, feeling happy for the Servant.

"My kind of romantic, not the sweet-to-cavity kind of romance you see in those Arkos worlds." R said, filing her nails, as Pyrrha looked insulted for some reason.

And finally, Edmond Dantes; the avenger class servant. Betrayed and unjustly imprisoned for fourteen years this man broke out and brought vengeance upon his betrayers, catching countless innocents in the crossfire. Zeltretch looked forward to seeing how the Avenger interacted with Jaune. Would he inflict his hatred of reality upon Jaune or would he be content to just support the boy?

"Ah the avenger, aka what Jaunes could become depending on circumstances." R said with a smile, almost like she was happy with that.

"As much as I don't like agreeing with her some of the time, she is right." Watcher said, catching the seven's attention, "Edmond is basically what Jaune could-and would-become if he were to be betrayed, though like she said, it depends on circumstance."

"You act like you've seen Jaune kill his betrayers." Ren said as R chuckled.

"I did and oh boy, it was sweet. I especially liked how he killed Nikos in some of them, who knew they can be so cruel." R said, smiling which made them uncomfortable.

Yes, those eight servants would do just nicely for Jaune. He already had Mordred's interest if she was letting him use her power.

The creature that attacked Jaune swung once more but this time its blade was stopped by another. Jaune was now clad in the thick silver armor decorated with red highlights that had clad Mordred in his visions. His face was obscured by a thick helm with two gigantic horns sticking out of it; in his hands was Mordred's large two-handed silver blade that radiated power.

"Awesome!" Nora and Ruby said as they looked at the armor and weapon. The others, though a bit put off by the armor, still looked amazed.

"Now then…" Jaune's voice was now overlapped with the one from the card "… payback time!" Right as he made this proclamation Jaune released one hand from his sword and used it to punch his attacker. The creature was sent flying from the blow and Jaune on it; tearing into it with his sword and making it screech in agony. Jaune snatched it by its head and slammed his armored knee into his opponent's gut.

"Not so fun when it's you, is it bastard?!" Jaune punctuated each word with another knee to the gut before throwing the creature away almost contemptuously. Red lightning began to dance across his blade as he pointed it towards his foe.

"Hehe, I will never get tired of seeing this rage in him. Makes things that much more fun." R said. The seven though winced with every hit delivered and at her words.

"Let's hope ours doesn't get this angry as well." Yang whispered to her friends and they nodded.

"CRIMSON LIGHTNING!" the lightning struck his opponent, sending it to the ground screeching. Once the lightning ended, Jaune walked up and flipped his sword into a one-handed reverse grip. "Shut up." Driving the blade down into its chest, the creature's screams ceased. Jaune then watched in interest as rather than dissolve like a Grimm its body was absorbed into a card just like the one he used, it even had a knight on it. His armor disappeared right after his foe did.

"Heh, not bad. Then again with my power there was no way you could fail. Alright it's settled; I, Mordred: Knight of Betrayal, accept you as my Master. Let's show this whole world our greatness!"

"I'm kinda afraid for his mental health if he has someone like her as a partner." Blake stated.

"Me too." Pyrrha said, hoping she wouldn't affect him much.

"Huh!?" Jaune looked at the card in his hand to see that one side had been replaced to show a picture of the armor he had just worn only the helmet was missing. This revealed that the one wearing it was a young woman with blond hair and green eyes.

Pyrrha narrowed her eyes, seeing the beautiful woman, before she shook her head and tried to remind herself that this wasn't her Jaune.

"Perhaps I can explain everything young man." Jaune turned to find an old man in a black suit with silver trimmings. In one hand he grasped a cane and in the other he held out both Jaune's rucksack and his sword. Jaune's eyes widened as he saw the sheath/shield was fully repaired. "I think you'll like what I have to offer."

"Oh boy, he is not gonna like this." R said with a palm on her face.

Jaune's head spun as he tried to take in everything the old man named Zeltretch had said.

"Right so just so I'm clear you are a mage, which are people that use magic that science can replicate, that possesses a form of True Magic that allows you to travel between dimensions along with seeing into future timelines and you lost a bunch of these Class Cards that are now scattered across Remnant. And your brilliant idea to recover them is to give me some Cards and have me trek all across the world for them."

"That is the gist of it young man, glad to see you understand. Of course from what I can tell Atlas has only three luckily; nothing good comes from them poking around with things they don't understand like the Cards."

"Stupid people will do stupid things with powerful items." R said with an exhausted voice.

"True." Watcher said.

"And you can't get them yourself why?" Jaune watched as the man shrugged dismissively.

"Don't feel like it."

"WHAT?!"

"What?!" The seven shouted at his answer as R snickered.

"Told you he was a troll. You should have seen what he put his last apprentice through. That was funny as hell." She said while still snickering.

"Don't bother Master, mages at his and that flower freak's level are all flighty bastards that take delight in watching others struggle." Jaune felt his eye twitch at Mordred's words. This day had gone from bad to worse and then to ridiculous.

"Right, so young man I figured I'd drop you off where the largest concentration of Cards are and let you work your way from there."

"I never agreed to help you!"

"Why is he acting like Jaune will agree anyway?" Ren asked, seeing the look in his eyes.

"Well, it's not like he has a choice now. At least one that doesn't result in things getting worse." R said as she crossed her arms, "Besides, this isn't the first or last time Zeltretch did something like this."

"It's not?!" They shouted as she nodded.

"There is another timeline where Jaune confesses to you all about his transcripts…a few days after initiation." Their eyes widened at that, "Naturally, you didn't react well and in his moment of weakness, Zeltretch gave him eight cards and disappeared."

"That Jaune didn't stay long at Beacon. After a few months, he encountered Roman and used one of the cards to behead him." Watcher continued, showing the picture of Jaune using the card to turn into an Assassin that can only be described as Death. And then an image of him beheading Roman and scaring White Fang into surrender.

"Problem is that it happened before you forgave Blake so…" R trailed off as the images turned to show Jaune having an argument with RWBY before going to the Headmaster and requesting that he leave.

"That's…I don't even know what to say here." Weiss muttered seeing all of that.

"Trust me, you are better not knowing what happened to Ruby in that timeline. Though I did like her changes, especially mental ones." R said with a smile, unsettling them with mind images of what she had seen.

"Then by all means go back to returning to your home in disgrace." Jaune froze at that. Zeltretch was right, the only other option he had was going home. "Don't try and fool me or yourself boy." Jaune watched as a serious look came on the old man's face for the first time. "You are not the kind of man that can stand by while people are in danger. Allow me to paint you a picture of an incredibly likely scenario, one of these cards possesses a Grimm leading to a strong enough being to tear the kingdoms' defenses apart like wet paper. Another would be these cards possessing someone or materializing a body like the one that just attacked you and in a search for the fuel they need to survive the corrupted Spirits devour every soul they get their hands on." Jaune paled at that.

"Wait, what?" Pyrrha whispered in horror after hearing that.

"Scary right?" Watcher asked and they nodded, "Well, when you continue to see this world, trust me when I say that will get worse." He said without hesitation, seeing the looks on their faces.

"Why is he forcing him to clean up his mess? It's not fair." Ruby said as R scoffed at her.

"Girl, the real world is never fair. This isn't a fairy tale where everything is Black and White. You make a choice, you gotta deal with it." She said, a bit tired of the naïve girl.

"Oh yes that is what your fate would have been if you died; your soul would have been the Spirit's first meal." Zeltretch stepped forward and Jaune felt an oppressive weight emanate from the man and settle on his shoulders. "Your world can't handle this. Huntsman and Huntresses won't stand a chance against most of these spirits if they're given a chance to grow; perhaps a team of the best could handle a newly formed one but otherwise they are just sheep to the slaughterhouse."

"B… but…"

"BUT NOTHING BOY! A Heroic Spirit is something beyond anything someone of the living can handle, only specific circumstances could lead to a human standing a chance against them." Jaune gulped at that; to hear how the greatest fighters in Remnant would be useless was jarring. Zeltretch held out his hand, a stern look on his face. "Now then, will you accept the cards and defend your world?"

"He is using his morality, knowing that Jaune can't stand by and watch others be in peril." Pyrrha didn't like how he knew just what to use to get Jaune to agree.

"You gotta give him credit where credit is due. He knows how his targets work." R said, not liking the troll at all.

Jaune looked at the hand stretched out in front of him as he clutched the Saber card in his hand. He was terrified to admit it but the power flowing through him when he used it was intoxicating. After being the weakling for so long, to have such vast amounts of power, even borrowed as it was, was a rush. To have Mordred accept him was a thrill, once they were connected, he realized that if she desired to take his body the knight could have done so in a second yet she let him be in control. This deal, it was a risk. He could die or even worse be devoured by a rampaging spirit.

Yet he could be a hero, he could be a defender of those that couldn't defend himself. His dream was in reach, all he had to do was reach out and shake Zeltretch's hand. He didn't even realize it that his hand did so without him thinking of it, before he even registered it he was shaking the vampire's hand. Zeltretch's teeth gleamed as he smiled down at Jaune.

With this action, Jaune Arc had chosen to walk with death.

"Walk with death?" Ruby asked, not liking how it sounded.

"It's something associated with all that have a servant or use Magic. A path of death and suffering awaits them if they do decide to walk it." Watcher explained, seeing their frowns.

"A path that will make them question everything they fight for and will quite possibly break them." R continued, her mind going to the certain Headmaster, "Yet it will also make them stronger, all the trials and suffering may numb them to pain but the resolve and conviction will be strengthened."

"That's oddly encouraging coming from you." Watcher told her and she shrugged.

"I'm willing to see the benefits this kind of life can give. At least Jaune here can have a chance to be a hero." She said before the screen stopped and the lights came back on. The screen spit the card as it expanded and showed a picture of Jaune standing at the center with eight people around him.

"We will probably come back to this sometime later. For now, we should try looking at the more light hearted ones." Watcher said, putting the card away.

"I have a question." Ruby said and he turned to her.

"Very well, ask." She looked nervous before looking up.

"You said that people can ascend into the Throne of Heroes." He nodded at her, "Is there a Jaune out there who did ascend to it?" He looked at her for a few moments, making her nervous.

"Yes," He thought about it further, "Well, few did. There is one where he supposedly died and ended up in it but it turned out he never died at all. Then there is one where the Fall happened but something changed." He said, making them wonder.

"Wait, you are talking about that Shirou who is gathering heroic spirits in different worlds?" R asked and he nodded at her.

"Shirou?" Ruby asked, wondering who they were talking about.

"Shirou, sometimes known as EMIYA is a…weird person to say the least. As for what we are talking about, well Zeltretch told one Shirou that a path to Avalon, a relic, is through different worlds. While in each one, he decided to seek out future heroes. One of those worlds is a Remnant where the Fall of Beacon happened with everything else that followed." The reminder of the Fall had the seven saddened, though Ruby looked resolved to prevent it.

"Shirou met that world's Jaune while he was training and made him a deal." That caught their attention.

"What kind of a deal?" Blake narrowed her eyes, not liking where this was going.

"Well, Shirou promised to root out the source of all the Grimm in their world and in return asked that Jaune give a promise that he must become a rarest kind of hero. A hero…with a happy ending." He said, showing them images of Shirou and Jaune making the deal. The seven looked surprised at Shirou's appearance expecting him to look different.

"Did he fulfill the deal?" Weiss asked, skeptical of Shirou's deal.

"He did, he defeated the one that controlled the Grimm, keeping his promise. As for Jaune…well, see for yourselves." He took out a card and showed them an image of Jaune with an upgraded Crocea Mors and better armor on his body with a determined look on his face, scars and slight stubble to show his struggles. His new look had them surprised but what surprised them even more were those around him.

The other version of Team RWBY stood around him with Ruby hugging his arm and giving a smile while WBY stood close, almost like a family. In fact, if they looked closer, they saw that they seemed to be as close to him as Ruby was.

"Are…are they dating him?" Weiss asked with a red face, the implications not lost to her team or NPR who had looks of shock as they saw the picture.

"Yep, they fell in love with his conviction, will and strength..." Watcher said as Ruby blushed while her team stood slightly flabbergasted with Nora cheering on that Jaune.

"As well as something else below the belt." R said with a lecherous grin, causing the girls to blush, and for Pyrrha to have a slight nosebleed.

"That too. They lost several people they were close to but in the end they saved Remnant and even managed to resurrect Pyrrha." That surprised them, "In the end, through his actions, Shirou ensured that that Remnant had a happy ending as well as ensuring that Jaune, upon his death will ascend to the Throne of Heroes as a Saber who saved his world." He showed a picture of Jaune holding his sword proudly with his aura glowing on his hand, a confident look on his face as he stood in his armor.

The seven smiled as they saw that, happy for him with Pyrrha resolved to help her partner become a hero as well. Unknown to her, Ruby had the same thought while R smiled seeing the competition that would happen after their Arc returned.

"Well, this was entertaining, but I gotta go now. See you later." She opened a portal before she looked back, "Oi, Rose. I would suggest you get your hands on yours first if you don't want to lose him." Ruby had a face red as a tomato, hiding her face with her hands as R laughed and went into the portal as it closed behind her.

"Well, that was something." Weiss said, not sure of what to say.

"Don't worry about what R said. She is skeptical because she has only seen really bad worlds, and it didn't help that her prior experience with all of you kinda twisted her vision of all of you. She means well, even if she doesn't show it." Watcher explained before he saw a glowing card and raised his eyebrow.

"Why is she named R for that matter?" Blake asked.

"It stands for Reaper. As in 'I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds'. It's her job to destroy worlds that are either corrupted or are so bad their mere existence is a sin." He said while taking the glowing card.

"She wasn't lying when she said she can destroy worlds?" Yang asked, sure that R was bluffing the entire time.

"No, she wasn't. Whilst we Watchers observe worlds, Reapers destroy them, it's like being a sniper and a spotter. Except we Watchers are neutral and Reapers can be kinda…crazy so to speak." He explained, looking over the card.

"So they are basically crazy gunmen?" Nora wondered.

"No, they are kinda like assassins. The difference is that one is doing your job and the other is having a mental sickness. But I got good news for you."

"What kind of good news?" Pyrrha wondered as he showed them a card.

"We can see where your Jaune is now."

TO BE CONTINUED…

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A/N: I gotta admit, this was way more fun to write than I thought it would. Admittedly, Fate is a series that is way too complex for someone like me but I liked Deck of Heroes so I did my best to research. Special thanks to Jauneforever for letting me borrow the first chapter of his fanfic. I wish you updated your stories JF, it's been over a year since the last update.

I want to say that I don't really believe that Pyrrha is doing what she is accused of here but knowing that Jaune trained only with her doesn't give her any favors here. For one, her style may not fit him like it was mentioned here. Everyone has their own unique fighting style and while using another's is useful, it might actually dampen your own potential. Plus, if Fall never happened and she kept training him, Cinder would use the weaknesses in her technique to easily get rid of or kidnap Jaune when he fights her.

As for WBY, well I can't help but feel that in every reaction fanfic they only respect Jaune after seeing a different version of him, almost like they had none for him before. It really makes me question if they are even his friends.

Also, the timeline mentioned at the end: a story from Hentai Foundry called 'A Determined man's travels'. Found it after seeing the site in one of the reviews. Thanks Weary.

P.S.: I'm gonna ask a weird question here guys, but what the hell is up with this soy fear? Seriously, I see right-wingers keep using 'soy boy' as an insult because they thought soy turns men into women. What the hell is this bullshit and why is it so popular? It's like hearing SJWs insult men except it's worse because these are supposed to be 'rational' people. So what's the deal here? Why do they act like scared people afraid to lose their genitalia?

Anyway, thank you for reading this chapter and I will see you all later.