Before we begin, a big thank you and shout out to GamerJay, SwapAUAnon, and Gladsome Praetorian for Beta Reading this chapter.

BlazBlue is owned by Arc System Works and RWBY is owned by Rooster Teeth. Please support the official release.

Chapter 17: Sharing the Past

Almost...and, GOT IT!

Jaune thought as he timed his swing just right. Unfortunately for him, he narrowly missed as Ragna ducked under it and spin kicked him in the back of the head, sending him to the ground.

Dammit!

It had been almost five days since he was checked out of the school infirmary. After eating Noel's, for lack of a better term, abomination, Jaune was actually shocked with how fast he managed to recover from it, but his Aura helped him recover at an alarming rate.

But despite all this being told about how he had an absurd amount of Aura and seeing the results for himself, it still bothered him that he couldn't figure out just what his Semblance was. Unlike with Aura, which he was only able to get thanks to Pyrrha unlocking his, he had no idea how to unlock his Semblance, assuming it was something he could unlock at all.

And it wasn't like he could just walk up to Pyrrha again and ask "Hey, could you teach me how to unlock my Semblance?" and figure it out. This was something he felt he had to do by himself. Besides, what if when he asked Pyrrha, she got curious and started figuring out how he got into Beacon? Even if she didn't, she could tell her teammates about how he asked and they would start getting suspicious, and Weiss and Tsubaki seemed far more likely to inform Professor Ozpin of their suspicions than anyone else was.

Thankfully, he was able to get a book from the library recently about Aura and Semblance and was intent on reading it so he could figure out for himself once he had the free time. Right now, however...

"Too slow!"

He was getting sent through Hell by his teammate as he was thrown overhead and only stopped by Ragna's sleeping tree.

Jaune groaned as he slowly fell to the grassy ground and landed on his back. He got up and rubbed his head as he shook off the pain. While training with Ragna was still a complete Hellhole, it was slowly getting easier. The older student kept to his word and put him through Hell almost every single day since he got out of the infirmary, but Jaune kept at it and it slowly felt like he was getting better at it. It still took him a long time to actually land a decent hit, but he was also getting kinda better at avoiding Ragna's attacks and withstanding his strikes. While Jaune wasn't exactly what could be called a boastful person, he would like to boast that taking a full strength hit from Ragna and getting back up was no small feat, so the fact that he could do that somewhat comfortably now was probably a good sign of improvement.

"Need to work on your speed, Arc. That last one would have connected, but I could still see it coming a mile away," Ragna said as he cracked his knuckles before re-entering his fighting stance.

Jaune couldn't help but grin as he got up and charged at Ragna again with a jump kick that was easily dodged as Ragna grabbed his leg and threw him away. Luckily, Jaune was able to catch himself mid-air and land on his feet with only some wobbling and arm-flailing to catch his balance.

"Again," Ragna called out, with Jaune once more rushing at him to meet his challenge head on.

Noel turned away from her partner and Ragna's ongoing training session as she closed the window and went back to writing her poetry. She was having trouble coming up with good lines for one and thought that the outside training from her two teammates would help to provide her with something she could use, but she was still drawing a blank.

Right now, she was all alone in her team's dorm room. Ruby had convinced her older sister to take her shopping for something in Vale and they had even convinced Pyrrha to go along with them, Tsubaki was busy hanging out with Weiss and Noel wasn't too keen on being a third wheel, and Makoto and Blake were at the library studying. More accurately, they were at the library and Blake was helping Makoto study given her friend's...less than stellar aptitude for her non-combat oriented classes.

So, she found herself alone without much to do. She tried studying, but she got pretty bored and almost fell asleep. Her usual poetry was a bust since she couldn't figure out anything to write on. And for fairly obvious, but still frustrating reasons, she wasn't allowed anywhere near the kitchen. All of this left her rather bored and admittedly kind of lonely.

Sighing, she gave up on writing a poem and slipped her book back underneath the sheets of her mattress. As much as she loved writing them, she couldn't let anyone read them, ever. She was sure she's die of embarrassment if they ever read her book.

"THUMP!"

Noel froze and jumped a little when she heard a noise come from the dorm room closet. For a split second, her mind went back to the days of when she thought there was a monster in her bedroom closet and her parents showed her that there was nothing to worry about.

Now, in her mind, Noel knew that there was nothing scary in the closet, but she still nervously walked over and opened it to see what that noise was.

She looked in and saw nothing, but she did see that Ragna's bag had fallen over and poured out a wooden box with a crank in the side. From what Noel could tell, it seemed to be a music box.

Noel looked perplexed as she knelt down and picked the box up. Silently, she wondered why Ragna had something like this.

She was about to open it before she paused for a moment, wondering if she should considering it was Ragna's personal property. Her curiosity won out in the end and she proceeded to open the box. Upon opening it, a melody played as the crank spun.

The music the box played was so beautiful. Noel was so taken by the melody that she almost didn't notice the photo inside the box that was underneath the lid.

On the photograph were three children. One of which she immediately recognized as a young Ragna. But he looked different.

For one, his hair and eyes were different colors. Instead of the ash white hair and heterochromic eyes that she knew from her teammate, he instead had sandy blonde hair and vibrant green eyes. Despite the difference, Noel could easily tell who he was. But appearance wasn't the most striking thing about how he appeared in the picture.

The most striking thing to her was how Ragna smiled. He had a toothy, adorable grin that looked like it could light up the darkest caves. It was such a far cry from the near constant glowering frowns and sardonic smirks of the present day Ragna that Noel was surprised by how well she could recognize it.

Seeing it made her wonder just what happened to him to make the happy child in the photo grow into such an angry, crude individual.

The second child in the photo had the same hair and eye color that Ragna did, but his hair was cut short and styled more naturally compared to Ragna's wild hair. His appearance kind of reminded Noel of Jaune, if Jaune had green eyes rather than blue. Unlike Ragna, he had a more timid demeanor as he smiled, almost looking like he tried to hide behind the elder brother.

Noel smiled and said, "Jin was always such a shy guy."

Her face suddenly morphed to shock as she shook her head and placed a hand to her forehead, feeling like she had a headache.

What was that!?, Noel thought as there was now a persistent ringing in her head, How do I know his name? Wait, how do I know that they're brothers? And how do I know him at all!?

Noel was about to close the box and put it away to concentrate on clearing her head, but then she saw the last person in the photograph.

It was a little girl standing in front of Ragna with the same hair and eye color as the other two, but if Ragna's happy face could light up a cave, hers looked like it could light up a city. Her appearance carried an exuberance that Noel had only seen in the likes of Ruby and Makoto. But that wasn't what shocked Noel the most about her.

This little girl looked exactly like her.

Suddenly, it felt like her head exploded as Noel dropped the music box, stopping the melody as it closed and fell, and rose up, clutching the sides of her head in pain.

Noel screamed as the pain became overwhelming. She ran to her bed and buried her face into her pillows in a desperate effort to stop the pain, but nothing could silence it. The ringing just grew as she clutched her head.

The agony grew even worse as she suddenly felt her mind become bombarded with images and voices, all of which felt more like memories.

"Brother, can we play tag?"

"Sure. I'll be it first, so don't let me catch you!"

"Big brother, I'm scared. I...I think bits of the moon are gonna fall on me."

"Jin, don't be scared. Nothing's gonna happen. No parts of the moon have ever fallen, so the won't fall on you. And if they try, they gotta answer to me."

"Yeah! Big brother knows what he's talking about."

"What's wrong? You look tired."

"Are you okay, Saya?"

I'm...*yawn*…I'm okay.

Noel gasped for air as if she had been underwater this whole time and had only just come up.

"That...t-that was..."

Those memories felt so real, like she was actually there. But she couldn't have been there. She couldn't be this 'Saya'. She was Noel Vermillion, daughter of Edgar and Claire Vermillion.

"But...w-what if..."

Noel got up put the music box back in Ragna's bag and left the room. She couldn't take this anymore. She needed to get away. She needed to clear her head.

Jaune huffed and gasped for air as he felt like he was on the verge of passing out. He still hadn't landed a hit yet and he was starting to run on fumes.

"Take five, Arc," Ragna called out.

At that, Jaune slumped to the floor and landed right on his back. Even if this was getting easier to deal with, he had a hard time believing he was still alive after all that. Whatever training Ragna's master put him through, it must have been pretty intense if this was even a fraction of what his older teammate had to go through.

As he caught his breath, he heard the grass crunch as he saw Ragna looming over him. "Still alive, Arc?" He rhetorically asked.

"Yeah," Jaune said he looked at the sky through the tree's leaves, "I think if I could survive living with seven older sisters, I can probably survive this."

"Well then, hope you're ready to put your money where your mouth is. Next round's not gonna be pretty." Ragna said, but there was a sardonic smirk on his face as he crossed his arms.

As Jaune sat there and rested, a thought came to his mind. "Hey, Ragna," Jaune said as he sat up, "Speaking of siblings, you said you had a brother and sister, right?"

"Yeah..." Ragna began.

"Well, what exactly were they like?" Jaune asked, before realizing that this was probably a personal question and sputtering, "Y-you don't have to answer if you don't want. I'm just curious and all that, y'know? I mean, I've got a bunch of sisters and then I remembered that you brought up-"

"Jaune, unless you happen to like asphyxiating, shut it." Ragna said, now sounding more like his usual pissed off self.

"S-sorry," Jaune sheepishly apologized.

Ragna seemed to cool off as he sat next to Jaune and laid his back on the ground, hands resting behind his head and closing his eyes as he said, "Look, it ain't your fault. It's not exactly something I try to think about. But..."

He opened his eyes and continued, "If you really want to know, then fine. But don't go blabbering it to the others. Got it?"

Jaune then placed a hand on his heart and said, "You have my solemn vow as an Arc that I will not tell any person a thing."

Ragna sighed as he laid in silence for a moment, making Jaune wonder if he was going to say anything. He then said, "My brother's name was Jin and my sister's name was Saya. We all grew up together in an orphanage. Can't bother to remember what it was called after all these years." Ragna then grunted as he continued, "Probably for the best since some of the kids there were kinda dicks."

"What do you mean by that?" Jaune asked.

"I mean they liked to pick on Jin and Saya half the time," Ragna then smirked and said, "Made giving those little shits black eyes all the more satisfying."

"Speaking of..." Jaune started since he wasn't exactly comfortable talking about small children beating each other black and blue, "What were they like? Uh, your brother and sister, I mean."

"Well," Ragna started as he looked lost in thought, "Saya was always the cheery kid. She could smile and brighten up damn near any room she walked in," The older student then smiled as he seemed to reminisce, "She always liked to run and jump all over the place, but she'd get sick easily. Jin and I always helped take care of her whenever she got like that."

"Huh, she...she actually sounds a lot like a kid version of Ruby, you think?" Jaune said as he thought back to how cheery and upbeat their team leader always was.

His statement seemed to make Ragna think as he gained a contemplative look and said, "Y'know what, she actually kinda was like that."

Ragna then became silent again for a moment before continuing, "As for Jin, well he..." he then stopped and looked to be in thought again.

"What?" Jaune asked, "What was he like?"

"I guess..." Ragna began once more, "Well, I guess he was a lot like a small version of you."

Jaune's expression became surprised as he faced Ragna, "Me?" he asked.

"Yeah. Well, except he wasn't an idiot half the time."

"Oh ha ha." Jaune said dully as he then decided to lay on his back as well. "So, he was a lot like me?"

"Pretty much. He was always the shy, awkward kid. Made him easy for others to pick on. He always liked to read whenever he could." Ragna then smiled again, "Thing I remember the most was how he was always scared that chunks of the moon were gonna fall from the sky and land on his head. I always thought it was dumb and didn't get it, but I guess some fears don't need to make sense."

"Well, I can safely say that I've never been scared of the moon or its pieces falling on me," Jaune replied as he sat up, "Sounds like you and your family were happy together."

Ragna went silent and Jaune turned to face him. His expression wasn't happy or even his usual anger. He looked...sad.

"Yeah. We were." Ragna almost whispered as he got up.

Jaune was starting to get worried as Ragna stood and asked the older student, "A-are you okay, Ragna?"

"Fine, Jaune," Ragna answered with his back turned to him, "I'm fine. Let's just keep training. Think we've put that off long enough."

While Ragna's tone was back to his usual gruff self, Jaune could tell that the past topic made him rather melancholic. In response, Jaune reluctantly nodded and said, "Alright, but if you ever need to talk about it, I'm here. Okay?"

For a moment, Ragna was quiet. He then turned to face Jaune with a face that gave no emotion before he gave a small smile and said, "Thanks."

Ragna then entered a fighting stance. "Ready?" He asked.

Jaune entered a fighting stance as well nodded. "Ready."

It was rather quiet as Weiss studied and took notes from her textbook on the history of the Great War. Though the silence of the room may have had to do with the fact that it was currently just her and Tsubaki in their dorm room at the moment. Yang's younger sister had taken the other half of their team to go shopping in Vale, leaving Tsubaki and Weiss behind to do as they pleased at Beacon.

While Weiss decided to spend her time studying, Tsubaki seemed to lounge on her bed and read a large book that read Fairy Tales of Remnant. From what Weiss understood, it was a large compilation of the various tales and stories that were recorded throughout history over the years. Now, Weiss remembered that she read a number of fairy tales in the past, but she had trouble recollecting them.

Curiosity took over as Weiss closed her textbooks and walked over to where Tsubaki laid and asked, "So, Tsubaki, what are you reading?"

Tsubaki looked up at her and replied, "Well, if you mean what story I'm currently on, it's actually one of my favorites growing up. Do you remember the story of Hakumen and the Dragon?"

Weiss placed her hand underneath her chin as she became lost in thought. She tried to recollect that tale when the memory hit her.

"Oh! I remember that one. The Silver Knight, Hakumen, singlehandedly fights and kills the enormous Grimm Dragon, right?"

Tsubaki smiled and nodded, "That's the one. I always loved those ones about when heroes rise up against impossible odds and bring justice back to the land."

"More like you just loved any old story that had Hakumen in it," Weiss said as she snickered when her friend's face turned red.

"I..." Tsubaki then turned her head away, "I just always found him to be so inspiring, okay."

"Sure you do," Weiss said with sarcasm in her voice.

She remembered now how Tsubaki always admired the mythological folk hero from reading the many fairy tales that featured him, even getting her nanny to make her a Hakumen doll when she was five. Growing up, she liked to go on and on about how Hakumen was one of the greatest heroes ever and Weiss even remembered how Tsubaki would make a bunch of heroic poses and quote Hakumen's boasts and one-liners from the many tales of his exploits. Like the one folk story about how he singlehandedly destroyed an entire army bent on wiping out an encampment of refugees, or the other story about how he and many others rose up and slayed an ancient Grimm said to be the first of its kind. That one was always Tsubaki's favorite if she could recall.

Creation accounts for the Grimm were always finicky. They had been in existence since long before the dawn of the Four Kingdoms, so a variety of different stories trying to paint an origin for them got funneled and carried through the passage of time. Some said that they were the product of a wrathful god of darkness whose name had been lost to time, while others say they were spawned from the body of an even bigger Grimm called the Black Beast. Weiss always preferred the former since it gave a more defined answer for the Grimm's origins while the latter never explained where the Black Beast, a Grimm in the fables told about it, came from while gods in myth usually didn't need an explanation for their existence, but she remembered Tsubaki and even Jin always loved the latter more since it was more action packed and ended with humanity's triumph as it was a classic tale of mankind succeeding against the forces of evil.

Now that she thought about it...

"Hey," Weiss said, getting Tsubaki's attention, "You remember when you, me, and Jin tried writing our own adventure stories? Jin would write them, you drew the pictures, and I narrated them?"

Tsubaki pondered before her face lit up at the memory. Said face devolved into snickering of her own as she said, "Yeah, and you always stumbled on the bigger words when you had to say them."

Weiss blushed as she puffed her cheeks and said, "Hey, I was seven!" she said, "That's perfectly normal!"

Tsubaki's snickering became a full-blown laugh as Weiss' face kept its red shade. As soon as she stopped, Weiss continued and said, "You know, looking back, I guess I shouldn't have been all that surprised you took up art later. You always drew me and Jin pretty nice."

"Hey, remember when I drew Jin in robot armor? He kept saying he looked weird." Tsubaki said as she smiled and reminisced.

"Yeah," Weiss replied before she looked to the floor and started wondering something, "By the way, what happened to Jin?"

Tsubaki's face fell, making Weiss' heart stop, "Please tell me nothing bad happened."

"No, it's not that it's..." Tsubaki paused before continuing, "I don't really know how he's doing these days, honestly. The last time a met with him was eight years ago, and the last I've heard from him recently was from idle gossip at my family estate. They said he was at Atlas Academy."

That surprised Weiss. From what she remembered about Jin, he was always such a shy, timid boy. He never came across as much of a fighter and was far more book smart, preferring to read alone before they became friends. Heck, when they were first introduced, he hid behind his mother's skirt and kept sticking his head out because of how shy he was. Weiss honestly couldn't imagine him becoming a Huntsman or even a Specialist like her sister was.

"So, why would he be in Atlas Academy anyway?" Weiss asked, "He's not really a fighter."

"People can change overtime, Weiss," Tsubaki said, "But, well, do you remember Yukianesa?"

Weiss nodded. While she'd never seen it physically before, she'd seen pictures and heard members of the Kisaragi family talk about it. It was the sacred ancestral sword of the Kisaragi household. Apparently, what made it so unique was that, like Tsubaki's Izayoi, it could only be wielded by a scant few. But while Tsubaki's weapon was an heirloom that would only work for her bloodline, Yukianesa would only allegedly work for those it deemed deserving of its power. At least, that's what she heard. She had no idea why that was the case, but because of that, very few members of the Kisaragi family had ever wielded it.

Tsubaki sighed and said, "Eight years ago, Jin wielded the weapon," she explained, "His grandfather named him his heir."

Weiss gasped in shock, "That..." she started before she looked down, feeling saddened for some reason, "I should be happy for him. That sounds like such a great honor. Why am I not happy for him?"

"I think I know why," Tsubaki said as she sat up next to Weiss and looked down at the floor alongside her, "It's because being heir to a family legacy is both a great honor and a cruel responsibility. While you and I were always going to carry that weight for the names of Yayoi and Schnee, Jin had countless elders ahead of his name. He should never have had to bare that burden, but now he has no choice."

The two of them just sat there silently before Weiss got an idea. The Vytal Festival would be coming up this year and would be hosted in Vale. That meant many students from the Academies would be staying at Beacon for lodgings, and that included Atlas.

She then perked up and turned to Tsubaki and placed a hand on her shoulder, saying, "Hey, I'm sure he's alright. I...I'd like to think we've handled it decently enough so far, so maybe Jin's been doing well these years too? Besides, he'll be here when the students start coming in for the Vytal Festival. We can meet him then. It'll be just like the good old days."

Tsubaki smiled and proceeded to hug Weiss, which she gladly returned.

"Yeah," Tsubaki whispered, "Just like the old days."

(Meanwhile)

Much was going on in the training room as the hard light environment of blocky structures hummed from the battle occurring within its walls.

One of the students fighting found herself knocked back by incredible force as a katana slash cut away at the last of her Aura reserves. The student in question was a girl with light skin and green eyes whose hair was orange with blue streaks done up in a pair of pigtails. She wore a light blue midriff baring cropped top and a pink miniskirt with purple shorts underneath. On her feet were scarlet colored roller blades and some feet away from her was her weapon; a pair of silver nunchaku. Her most striking feature was her pink cat tail.

"Neon! You alright?"

The vibrantly colored cat Faunus looked up as one of her teammates rushed in to check on her. He was wearing a white shirt with a dark vest over it as well as loose tie around his collar and dark pants with silver shoes. On his left hand was a fingerless glove and in his right hand was his trumpet weapon.

"Yeah, I think I'll be okay, Flynt." She answered the Team FNKI leader.

Just as Flynt smiled and stood up to get back into the fight, a storm of ice arrows flew in his direction, knocking him into a grid wall and pinning him to it as his Aura was rendered inert. He groaned in pain as he cursed under his breath.

Only two of Team FNKI remained standing, the first being Kobalt, a tall, fair-skinned man with long blue hair that was styled into twin low ponytails and was wearing a blue shirt and dark jeans that were covered with twin blue pauldrons on his shoulders and armor on his legs, with dark blue combat boots on his feet. His hands had fingerless gloves, the left of which had a blue gauntlet on it. He had blue eyes that reflected anger at his opponent.

The second and last of the team was Ivori. He was tall like his companion but with darker skin and silver hair. He wore a white suit jacket with detached sleeves and beige accents that left his chest exposed as well as a gold choker around his neck. He also wore white pants with beige boots. In his right hand, he held his whip at the ready as his brown, glasses covered eyes tried analyzing their opponent for any immediate weaknesses, but none could be found.

Standing in front of them was the opponent that had been besting them singlehandedly so far. He was a blonde student with cold, piercing green eyes that reflected nothing but disdain for those in front of him. He was wearing a sleeveless blue coat with gold trim and a red interior, underneath which he wore a sleeveless white tunic alongside black arm guards with black fingerless gloves. He also wore white pants with blue steel-toed combat boots. Much like his jacket, the boots had gold trim on them. In his left hand, he held a katana with an emerald green hilt sheathed within a blue scabbard.

This man was Jin Kisaragi. Heir to the Kisaragi family and one of the strongest students in Atlas Academy.

"Pathetic. If you're finished wasting my time, I'd advise you give up now and spare me the trouble." he said with apathy lacing his voice, making it clear how little he felt of them as opponents.

Kobalt's face shifted to one of anger as he was the first to charge at Jin with his gauntlet arm raised to strike at his opponent's face. Faster than he could blink, he felt incredible pain in his chest as ice and frost covered the front of his body, causing him to collapse on the floor.

Jin pointed his katana at Ivori. Its blade looking as if it were made of permafrost, yet it was far more durable than the hardest steel.

Ivori kept his distance as he lashed with his whip, making it wrap around the blade of the katana. He then pulled, intent on disarming his opponent. Instead, Jin simply pulled back and dragged Ivori along with his weapon, surprising the last member of Team FNKI with his strength.

As Ivori was pulled in close, Jin spun and slashed his blade against Ivori's back, making him cry in pain as he fell to the floor and felt his Aura drop. His defeat caused the training room lights to flash red, signaling the end of the match and a system reset for the entire room, causing the Team FNKI leader to fall to the floor as the wall he was pinned to vanished.

"You..." Kobalt said as the ice on his chest dissipated and he tried to force himself up, "You guys alright?"

"Yeah..." Ivori groaned as he laid on the floor.

Neon was already up and was helping Flynt to his feet by putting his arm around her shoulders. She looked to her teammates and said, "We're okay."

The members of Team FNKI turned to see Jin walking out of the training room. Ivori decided to put his best foot forward and be a good sport about the match.

"Good match Jin."

However, their opponent seemed content to ignore them and continue walking away as if Ivori hadn't spoke at all.

Kobalt grunted and called out, "Hey asshole! He's trying to be nice here! Least you could do is say something like "Thanks"!"

Jin stopped and turned his head back, glaring at the bluenette with cold disgust. Without even blinking or bothering to raise his voice, he said, "I don't answer because I won't waste my breath on worthless trash."

With that, he walked out of the room, leaving the defeated team to stew in their anger and frustration.

"Jerkface," Neon said, "Who does he think he is!?"

"Like to take that bastard down from his high horse." Kobalt seethed.

Flynt now stood up fully as Neon let him go. "We'll fight him again and win next time. He ain't invincible." he said. The rest of the team nodded at their leader's affirmation.

As they were left in anger, Jin continued down the halls of Atlas as he returned to his dorm room. As he walked he was greeted with looks of either admiration or scorn from the students as he walked by. He was called many things, ranging from "The Pride of Atlas Academy" in reverent tones to "The Ice King" in either condescension or fear from the various students.

He ignored them all as he found it hard to care. He didn't care for the praise he received from Atlas' instructors for his intellect and skill, nor did he care for the hatred leveled at him for his natural superiority to them by both blood and ability.

These days, he found it hard to care about anything at all anymore.

And that's a wrap on Chapter 17. We continue Jaune's training with Ragna, we get some insight into the past for Ragna, Jin, Tsubaki and Weiss, and we're first introduced to Jin Kisaragi. Hope I did everyone well.

As for Jin's physical appearance, it's based off the appearance of his younger self from the BlazBlue: Spiral Shift novel.

Course, now that Noel's gotten herself a small memory dosage that she's having trouble processing, future interactions with Ragna are gonna be...well, awkward to say the least.

Now, as for my viewers on fanfiction dot net, the music that the box plays is the classic BlazBlue track, Stardust Memory. It's honestly a really beautiful track, and I wanted to include it here somehow. I'm telling you this because fanfiction obviously won't allow for embedded links within chapters like Spacebattles would. Seriously, what's this site's problem with links? And that's mostly in regards to PM conversations for me.

Since Fairy Tales of Remnant is also an in-universe book, I decided to include it here as well and also add some BlazBlue touches to it to help with the fused setting.

One of them, as you've probably noticed, introduces another change here. The giant Grimm dragon that was a major part of the Grimm Invasion of Vale in the finale of V3? It's dead already. Hakumen killed it a long time ago.

Now, in contrast to this fic's inspirations (Aura of the Azure and Against Despair), the Black Beast isn't a well known thing here. Now, the Dark War obviously happened in this world, but it wasn't 100 years ago like BB canon for obvious reasons give that the Grimm have existed since before the dawn of Kingdoms and the Beast here is basically the first Grimm. It was far, FAR longer ago, to the point where it's mainly faded to myth and legend, with some aspects of it being either forgotten or kept secret by those who know the full scope of the story. It's considered a folk tale by modern day and is used as one of the theoretical explanations for the Grimm's existence (though a vast majority of the population don't know that it's actually true) as well as being a lesson/aesop in uniting together against a great foe for the good of all.

This also allows me to still have the myth of the brother gods and other creation myths be part of Remnant's existing folklore here even if they aren't true and are just made up stories that got passed along over the course of time.

Something to remember is that legends can get twisted, altered, or just plain forgotten as time goes on. Canonically for RWBY, Salem's existence used to be pretty common knowledge long ago since she and Ozma were once worshipped as gods, but now her existence is unknown and kept a major secret. Even her first line in episode 1 of the show is reflexive of this. Hell, Qrow even says in the last episode of V3 that Remnant has countless legends with some being true and others being made up.

Anyway, hope you guys enjoyed this chapter. Not gonna lie, a part of me is kinda hoping that I can make this story good enough to get a Tv Tropes page, but odds are that even if that would happen eventually, I'm a long ways off from that.

So what do you guys think of this chapter? Leave a review and let me know your thoughts.