Ch 24 - Being Famous is a Pain in the Arse.
A/N: You know, for as famous as Pyrrha supposedly is, we don't actually see too much of that beyond her combat prowess in the show. So I kinda wanna explore that, and the consequences of that to the people around her.
I did some poking around, and apparently only one of Jaune's other family members has been named in canon so far (I guess three if you're counting by law instead of blood), so I'm going with made up names.
I have no idea if the Argus Augur is a real news channel/paper in canon RWBY. If it is, I don't own it.
Review Response:
deeznutthebest: Hold on. Does Vyliria date back to Ds1? I forgot if she does. And do we get to see her on more heavy armors?
My response: She's a DS3 girl through and through, though I'm working in elements from the entire Dark Souls series, and not just 3. No plans for heavier armor ATM, though she does get new fashion souls to accompany the outfit changes that will occur in the sequel when Volume 4 kicks off.
ScreamingStuka: Hahahaha, that omake, had me in fits! pretty well done with the brief Cinder vs Vyliria, was wondering how that would turn out. And proving Vylirias paranoia on wearing armor everywhere. And now Ruby will soon have the sniping miracle. huh, she basically has Crescent Rose in miracle form now, lifehunt scythe and lightning arrow.
Love every chapter that comes out, and hanging for the next one!
My response: Glad you enjoyed it! Yeah, that little duel took me 4 different tries to be happy with, even though I had the full scene mapped out in my head before that chapter was even started. And as Vyliria has already stated (at least, I think she has, though it may still be in the future; the downside of having the story finished before you start publishing is that what's uploaded and what isn't kinda starts blending together), it's not paranoia when everything actually is trying to kill you. Also hasn't occurred to me that her miracles are basically her weapon in miracle form, only really missing the recoil she uses to maneuver with in canon.
Skeletalrepublic: I was actually expecting Vyliria to die and facepalm herself for being unprepared and explaining to a crying Ruby how she's alive again. sorta like that one fanfic where Ruby accidentally killed her mom only to witness a resurrection firsthand.
I do hope this doesn't take a hard turn to tragedy like that other Darksouls X RWBY crossover, that when left me really sad after finishing it, was a good read though despite it.
I'm alright with a little drama and a little tragedy to make stories less stale and put more stuff at stake, but that one I read was suffering for both the protagonist and the readers and really made you empathize with him. So I'm hoping I won't wake to all the chapters following this one being depressing.
My response: Well, I'd tell you about what's to come, but those are (switches to singsong voice) ~spoilers~. Rest assured, there's drama, sadness, brevity, and memery in equal measure in the future.
Which DS/RWBY xover are you talking about? I probably read it, but I just wanna be sure.
Rando guy that likes this FF: "Three poisoned arrows just removed the anomaly." Cinder, you've got NO idea how badly you just messed up. Great chapter, and why aren't more people reviewing and faving and following this? We need more Damn updates sooner! Also the omake was funny.
My response: Well, I mean, Vyliria didn't recognize her, but yeah, she's just made an enemy. I'm happy that you're enjoying this (and the omake as well). I don't know why more people aren't reviewing either. I've even pointed it out in previous author's notes. Like, I have over 200 favs and closer to 300 followers, but I get 5-7 reviews a chapter at most (there is an exception or two, but still). I'm very happy that so many people are enjoying this, and if they want to keep their silence, I'll respect that, but like I said earlier: Even just a "nice chapter" not only bumps the review count, but it also brightens my day. Then again, if you all WANT to torture yourselves with weekly cliffhangers, be my guest. I've played Dark Souls 3 for over 2k hours, so I can respect a masochist's choices.
Disclaimer: I don't own Dark Souls or RWBY. Dark Souls belongs to From Software and RWBY belongs to Rooster Teeth. I only own my own OC.
(Jaune)
Jaune was woken up by an exasperated groan from Pyrrha. Blearily cracking his eyes open, the memories of last night came to the forefront of his mind and he gave a dumb smile, before looking across the bedroom to notice Vyliria missing. Oh yeah, she had to leave with Ruby super early to talk to Ironwood and Ozpin about some kind of break-in in the CCT last night, he remembered. He climbed out of bed stretched, before looking up at Pyrrha, who was already dressed and not pleased about something on her scroll. "What's wrong, Pyrrha?"
"How did they even find out already?" she complained. "It hasn't even been a day!" She passed her scroll to Jaune who took it and looked at the page that was open, which was an article from the Argus Augur.
Tournament Champion Pyrrha Nikos in Relationship with Mystery Man: Who is he? The headline of the article read, followed by a… surprisingly good photo, all things considered. He might actually go open the article on his own scroll and save it. At the time, Vyliria had been explaining a frankly ludicrous chain of events in her younger years, where she had somehow become the wing-girl of a woman in the Blades of the Darkmoon 14 years her senior, who was trying to woo another man she was romantically interested in. The pale woman in question was gesturing with her hands, describing the efforts she went to convince Yorshka to puppy-eye Gwyndolin into caving and using his illusions to assist in the endeavor. Penny and Ruby were on the floor laughing, Yang leaning against a pillar trying to stay upright, Blake and Sun both had wide smiles on their faces as they listened to the antics being described, Weiss was only standing by leaning against a Neptune that was using her for support right back, Nora with her hands on her knees, even Ren chuckling, and he was holding hands with Pyrrha as they both were infected by the mirth. I do not remember that, Jaune thought.
Looking further down the article, he read, Pyrrha Nikos, born and raised right here in Argus, having attended Sanctum Academy before choosing to attend Beacon Academy for professional huntress training in Vale, was seen going to the annual Beacon Student Ball last night, but not alone. The initially unknown lucky man was looked into and found out to be one Jaune Arc, leader of team JNAPR (Juniper, for those wondering), a very rare five-person huntsmen team, of which Pyrrha herself is a member, and Jaune's partner. Checks with publicly available data yield nothing special about the man, nor two other of his teammates, or even most of the individuals in the photo an anonymous source donated to us. Just who Jaune is will have to wait for now, though we have identified some other people of interest in the seeming group of friends displayed. Some of you with a keen eye may have noticed none other than Weiss Schnee, heiress of the SDC, with another lucky man, identified as Neptune Vasilas, part of team SSSN (Sun) from Shade Academy in Vacuo. While Weiss seeking out a friendship with Pyrrha is no surprise, the heiress' date most certainly is. More on that one page 4 (link).
Also of note was one Blake Belladonna, identified as the daughter of Ghira Belladonna, currently High Chieftain of Menagerie, and founder of the now-terrorist group the White Fang, who stepped down when the organization was still on the right side of the law. She was apparently going to the ball with one Sun Wukong, a faunus and leader of the same team SSSN that Neptune is part of, but according to eye-witness accounts she also engaged in a dance with the blonde woman in the photo: one Yang Xiao-Long. Speculations as to why Blake appears to be using a bow to disguise her faunus heritage, and whether or not Weiss, who is on the same team as both her and Yang (Team RWBY, pronounced Ruby, which is coincidentally the first name of the team leader and final member of the team, Ruby Rose, who is Yang's younger half-sister by two years, and has moved to Beacon early by Headmaster Ozpin's own recommendation), is aware of who she is and how she may react to or already has reacted to this, are on page 6 (link).
The last person of interest is the albino woman in the purple dress and witch hat, not because of how well she is known, but because of the opposite: she's practically a blank slate. Her public file has barely more than her name: Vyliria Avalon, allegedly from a previously unknown and staunchly isolationist fifth kingdom, known only as Irithyll. Virtually nothing else is known about her, besides hearsay that our anonymous source who gave us this photo has collected. Supposedly, the Kingdom of Irithyll has knowledge of genuine magic, but not aura, semblances, or even dust, and the mystery woman has been teaching some of the friends she has made varying types and levels of her arcane abilities, including but not limited to Weiss Schnee, Blake Belladonna, and Pyrrha Nikos. Whether or not these lucky students will show off esoteric talents that we have not yet confirmed the validity of at the Vytal Festival Tournament is unknown. More speculation on Vyliria Avalon and Irithyll on page 8 (link).
"Well. Shit." Jaune summed up. "Blake is not gonna be happy about that," he added.
Pyrrha gasped. "I didn't even think about Blake!" Her own frustration was forgotten as she continued, "This is going to be horrible for her!"
"It's gonna suck for all of us! Vyliria might just attack the first reporter to come up to her." He paused as his blood ran cold. "What if they find out about my transcripts?"
"What about your transcripts?" Nora asked. Jaune's blood ran colder.
"I, uh… crap." Jaune took a second. "I might have… faked-them-to-get-into-Beacon," he said rapidly. "I was gonna tell you eventually, I swear! Especially since Pyrrha and Vyliria already knew, I was just trying to find a good time." He began to sweat bullets, as he noticed Pyrrha tense next to him.
"You faked your transcripts?" Ren asked, seeking to be sure he heard right.
"Yes," Jaune squeaked.
"But Vyliria of all people was fine with this when she found out?"
"Sorta? I mean, she didn't tell anyone else, but she did kick my ass every training session we had as payback. And still does," he trailed off.
"All right." Ren shrugged, and went back to making his bed.
"Wat." Jaune said blankly.
"Vyliria's a good judge of character. If she trusts you, I'll defer to her assessment." Ren didn't even turn around as he spoke.
"If Ren says you're good, then so do I!" Nora exclaimed. "Besides, you seem like you wanna actually be a good huntsman rather than just abuse the title for fame and fortune. Not that fame and fortune are bad, but you should only get them for good reasons. Like pancakes."
"Plus…" Ren added, "We're not exactly in a position to judge you based on transcripts…"
"What do you mean?" Pyrrha beat Jaune to the question.
"Nora and I are… orphans. Nora longer than me, but my parents and the entire village we were in died in a Grimm attack, which would have also killed us if I hadn't unlocked my semblance to mask our negative emotions. We've only had each other since. So we haven't exactly gone to any combat schools before Beacon ourselves."
"I'm so sorry," Jaune quickly responded. Pyrrha echoed with her own apology
"It happened a long time ago," Nora replied. "And neither of us would like to talk about it."
"You know," Pyrrha started, "it occurs to me that I'm the only person on this team with legitimate transcripts. Considering where Vyliria's from, she might not have even known what transcripts were before Ozpin enrolled her here. And Blake might have faked part or all of her transcripts, too."
"Still, what do I do if people find out?"
"Well, they're private property of Beacon, so people can't access them without either Professor Ozpin's or Professor Goodwitch's permission. And I doubt either of them will hand those transcripts off to a random reporter. So that only really leaves relatives as a way to find out," Ren explained.
"Ren and I don't really have those, so we're covered," Nora made a joke that would have made Vyliria proud with its morbidity.
"And Irithyll isn't exactly easily reached," Vyliria's voice called out, the woman leaning on the shut door to the dorm, and once more clad in the Dancer's attire… though Jaune still didn't know who the "Dancer" was. "My condolences about your parents," she offered to Ren and Nora, who merely nodded in response.
"Gah!" Jaune exclaimed, "When did you get back?"
"Just as Ren said, I'm a good judge of character," she shot back, without missing a beat. "Thanks for that by the way." Changing her tone and bringing the conversation back to its original subject as she removed her headwear, she added, "So since you're the only one here with family as a weak link, you should probably call home and tell them to ignore all reporters, Jaune."
"Weeeeell… I might not have spoken to my family since I left for Beacon."
Vyliria sighed, placing her palm on her face. "I swear to Gwyn," she muttered to herself, adding, "And they say I'm the one with bad social skills." Picking back up at a normal volume, she continued, "So you should probably make that call right now then! By the Dark Sun, you still manage to shock me sometimes." She shook her head as she went over to her bed and sat down.
Jaune gave a long sigh, before jogging into the bathroom and rapidly changing and making himself presentable. Coming out, he got on his scroll, dialed a number, and then held the screen in front of him, each ring bringing more trepidation. In the background, Pyrrha shook her head as an annoyed Ren and Vyliria physically dragged an overly curious Nora to the opposite side of the room.
"Jaune?" For the first time in nearly half a year, the blonde looked at the face of his father, Jason Arc. To be perfectly honest, if it wasn't for the beard, or longer hair bound in a ponytail, Jaune may as well have been looking in a mirror tuned to an older version of himself "Where have you been all this time? You haven't called in months!"
You haven't called me in that time either, Jaune thought, but aloud, he said, "Oh, you know, been really busy at BEACON ACADEMY over here. Which I got into." Vyliria had a smirk on her face as she listened to him layer the snark. "And was named a team leader." The grin grew, looking proud, and Jaune didn't know if he should be happy or concerned by that. "Partnered with Pyrrha Nikos. Who I went to the dance with." Pyrrha flushed as Vyliria silently started to snicker. "Oh yeah, and I've been learning actual magic from one of my other teammates." Vyliria blinked, and Jaune had to resist the urge to gloat that he'd finally managed to catch the Irithyllian off guard.
"Are you pulling my leg, Jaune?" He fought the urge to scowl at the fact that his own father didn't believe him, before he stood up and turned his scroll around to show his dad the other occupants of the room. Nora started constantly waving, Ren gave a single nod, Pyrrha gave a "Hello!" with a smile, and Vyliria stood up, called forth Friede's Scythe in her right hand with a wash of embers, gave it a twirl, slammed the shaft onto the floor as the blade started gently leaking frost, and held up her left hand as her pyromancy flame flared with black flames, all the while bearing a shit-eating grin on her face. Jaune waited a few seconds, then turned the scroll back to him, wearing a cheshire smile of his own.
"Okay, I believe you. Not entirely about the whole magic thing, but everything else, yeah. I guess your mother and I were wrong. Congratulations," Jason said sincerely. Jaune's own grin became much more genuine.
"So, uh, because I might be dating Pyrrha now-" "Might? How does that four minute synchronized dance sequence constitute a might?" "-Shut up Vyliria I'm on the scroll!" Jaune cleared his throat. "Since I am dating Pyrrha now," he glared at Vyliria, who only gave a smug shrug, "and she's famous, there's probably gonna be a lot of reporters who are going to come to or call the house. I'd ask that you not answer any of them, not only because I don't want them prying into my or your lives, but because that also affects my own teammates and my other friends."
"All right. Thanks for the warning, Jaune. Would you happen to have time to stay and talk? You're mother's out in the garden right now."
"Actually, I really want to," and Jaune actually did want to talk with his family more, "but we're picking our first missions today, shadowing a professional huntsman or huntress, and I gotta get ready for that. But I could call again after that's done," he offered.
"All right," his dad said. "I'll hold you to that. And I'm sorry for doubting you, Jaune. Though we're going to have words the next time you're home about you taking Crocea Mors."
Jaune gulped. "Uh, yeah. Thanks dad, love-you, tell-mom-and-the-girls-I-said-hi, andhaveagoodday!" He hung up, and then sat down and flopped back onto his own bed.
"You stole your weapon?" Vyliria was the first person to speak, after which she gave a round of genuine applause. "Fortune favors the bold, Jaune Arc, and that was certainly a bold action." She looked over to Pyrrha's scroll, which still sat open. "Why is there a picture of us in a news article?"
Jaune sighed. "Here we go again".
(Blake)
Blake was walking with her team to one of the terminals to try and select a mission in the southeast when a voice interrupted them.
"Hey, Kitty-Coward, why don't you take the bow off?" Blake's blood ran cold as one of the first year teams they had barely interacted with strolled in, their leader the one who called out.
"What're you-"
"You're secret's out, Blake Belladonna. Right in the news!" He brandished his scroll, which had an article from the Argus Augur, and a photo of her and her friends at the dance. "You think you can just hide who you are behind a bow?"
"Listen here, bub," Yang took a step forward.
"Fuck off." Both teams turned to the side, seeing team CRDL of all people, as Cardin continued speaking to the racists. "You know why she wears that bow? Because of assholes like you. Like I was, until just a while ago. So she doesn't have to deal with prejudice and so she can have people know her for who she is, not what she is." Blake uncomfortably noted that that last part was almost an ad verbatim copy of what she had told Ozpin after the skirmish at the docks.
The unknown team leader and his subordinates glared back at Cardin, before noticing that CRDL was armed, and RWBY were also beginning to retrieve their own weapons. "This isn't over, freak," he hissed, before he stormed off with his team.
Cardin sighed. "I read the news article." He passed his own scroll to Blake as she hesitantly took it and skimmed through it, paling more as she kept reading, before she swallowed and passed it back. "I had a feeling that someone would do something like that. For what it's worth, I'm sorry people had to find out this way. If I find out who sent this, I'll kick their ass for you." He gave a nod, strolling past RWBY and skimming the mission board for a moment, selecting a mission, and then he and his team walked off.
A series of footsteps alerted them to the arrival of JNAPR, who came jogging in. "Blake," Jaune called out, holding his scroll, "you need to see this!"
"I know," she said, looking down. "I just got called out on it, and Cardin of all people forced them to back off."
"Holy shit, I actually got through to the bastard," Vyliria remarked. When Blake's own team looked at her, she elaborated: "Remember when that whole fiasco in Forever Fall happened? Cardin apparently got a sunlight medal, and he approached me after I had offered to teach Blake dark pyromancies, inquiring about it and apologizing to me. I told him that maybe I'd actually acknowledge him if he changed his actions to align with his supposed change of heart. Given what I've heard, I can genuinely say that the man has actually changed, and apparently dragged his team kicking and screaming through that change with him."
"Thanks for that," Blake said.
"Mayhaps thou shouldst thank Cardin thyself." Vyliria paused for a moment. "I really need to work on overcoming my old speech patterns," she said to herself. "I'm doing well, but I keep slipping up like that. Definitely moving that to the top of my internal to-do list. Anyways, I should probably go and thank Cardin myself for actually changing at some point. And you," she turned to Blake, "should probably take the bow off, because there's no damned point to wearing it now that everyone and their summon knows about your second set of ears."
Blake looked at Vyliria for a few seconds, trying to figure out what a "summon" was, before giving up and providing a single nod. She raised her hands to her head, tugging on the fabric and revealing her flattened ears as she looked around with frayed nerves.
"Just remember," Vyliria said, "If people insult you, I'll set them on fire, so you don't have to."
"You'll have to get in line for that," Yang stepped up as she spoke.
"It might be a pretty long line," Weiss said, offering a smile that raised one on Blake's own face.
"Definitely a long line," Jaune added.
"I'll break their legs!" Nora proclaimed.
"Nora," the ginger bomber turned to Ren, "for once, I won't stop you."
"I might not be able to set them on fire," Pyrrha spoke up, "but I can certainly electrocute them." She brandished the sunlight talisman.
"And if they run, well, Crescent Rose is a sniper rifle," Ruby rounded off the claims of her friends.
Blake felt the smile take over her face completely, as her faunus ears raised up. "You're all really something else, you know?"
"Well, that's obvious! I'm Vyliria of Avalon, for Gwyn's sake! Of course I'm a cut above the rest! Present company excluded," the Irithyllian hastily amended.
"Right!" Ruby shouted. "Heartwarming moments aside, we need to pick a mission!"
"Oh, we already did that," Jaune said. "Ren and Nora wanted to shadow the sheriff of a nearby village. We're going off on that tomorrow."
"Good luck!" Ruby replied, as she finally found a mission in the southeast, and entered her team for it… only for it to flash red and tell her that it wasn't available for first years.
"Well, that's wonderful," Blake sarcastically commented as her cat ears drooped slightly.
"What are we going to do now?" Weiss asked.
"We mail ourselves there," Ruby said whimsically. Blake was about to comment on the likelihood of that working, but then remembered that Ruby's corgi Zwei- why did it have to be a dog, she thought- had been mailed from Patch to Beacon in a tube that was clearly smaller than him, in addition to several dozen pounds of dog food and a can opener in the same container.
"Well, that's one option." Everyone turned to see Professor Ozpin walking over to them, for once without his mug of tea, replaced by a scroll while his other hand bore his cane. "Unfortunately we determined that the concentration of Grimm was too extreme for first-year students." Vyliria scoffed at that. "Though Miss Avalon could probably handle it if she was attached to a more senior team." She was actually taken aback as Ozpin gave a smirk.
"It seems that region is rather popular," he continued, "In fact, I have the rather sneaking suspicion that the four of you," he pointed at Blake's own team, "will make your way there no matter which job you choose."
"Whatever makes you say that?" Ruby asked in such an unconvincing tone that everyone looked over at the groan that came from Vyliria, shortly followed by, "Dear Gwyn, could you make it any more obvious?"
"I'm still curious as to how you all found yourselves at the docks last semester. I'm interested to learn how you really know about a "hideout" to the southeast. And I'm certainly interested as to why witnesses reported robots and rose petals in a dance club some time ago." A few seconds passed as Ruby made some vocalizations that could probably be summarized by "uuuuuummm…" before Ozpin resumed. "I doubt I'll ever find the exact answers I'm looking for. So how about this: instead of waiting for you all to break the rules… why don't we just bend them?" Ozpin typed on his scroll briefly, and the mission in the southeast was shortly reserved for team RWBY.
"We won't let you down," Ruby affirmed. "Thank you professor."
"Do not thank me for this; teamwork and persistence carried you far, but you must understand, the things that await you beyond the protections of the kingdom will not care… Stay close to your huntsman at all times, and do exactly as he says. He will be leading you on this mission, and he can have you sent back to Beacon if he finds your skills to be unsatisfactory." Ozpin turned to leave, and then stopped after a few steps. "And Miss Belladonna." Blake looked at him. "While I'm sorry for the circumstances behind you making the decision, I'm glad you have decided to remove your bow. And don't worry. I'll make sure all your school records and transcripts stay private, and out of the hands of the media." He continued on his way.
"I told you that Ozpin knew the entire time," Vyliria hissed. "And you all call me paranoid. It's only paranoia when your fears are unfounded."
"You are paranoid," literally everyone in the group said simultaneously.
"Paranoid, but right!" she responded, undeterred. "Also, I have to admit, since I haven't said it before; those cat ears actually look pretty nice, Blake."
Said ears just sunk as Blake gave an annoyed stare to the unkindled.
"I mean, she's not wrong," Yang added.
Blake just sighed.
()
A/N: I did say I wasn't done with CRDL or Cardin. They aren't playing a big role, but they are there, and they are changing. And I'm sure you guys were thrown for a loop by this chapter.
I also think that this is the first chapter I've done entirely without a viewpoint from Vyliria (actually, it was chapter 19, past me).
The Nemesis DLC for Stellaris just dropped, so that's my weekend booked.
Anyways, next up: Mountain Glenn, and the Breach!