REVISION: 07/24/2015
I just wanted to put this here in recognition of 'Gashadokuro Amanojaku' for his contribution to the Chapter Titles. Most of them were his suggestions, and the few that weren't, came about thanks to said suggestions, and/or a bit of back and forth between us to create/finalize them. Hope you like them!
A/N: Evening everyone, this is my first FanFiction, which I wasn't even planning on writing. But thanks to CushionySiren3's story 'The (Un)Forgettable Team TAPE', I got the urge to write something myself. And my background happened to change to B RS at that moment. Everything just clicked.
As some of you may have noticed, Kuroi Mato will be pretty OOC considering she is no longer a twelve year old girl, but I feel that it is what she would act like should she really have been put into such a situation at her age. Just wanted to point this out for those more diehards out there.
This is an crossover involving Black Rock Shooter and RWBY. The first bit of the story has a B RS setting, but will mainly deal with the RWBY Universe. It is NOT NECESSARY to know about B RS, but it would assist in some references. I will be using B RS the 2012 Anime for the main setting, and it will obviously spoil some of the anime. Although B RS's appearance will be slightly different in regards to clothing and a couple other points which will be mentioned in the story, as will her equipment, which will draw from most of her reiterations. Chapter 1 will start us off in the world of Remnant during the trailer for Red. Which, as far as my story is concerned, is about two months before Yellow, and three before Episode 1 of Season 1.
What you need to know about B RS: Basically it is an AU Earth, where human females possess a being linked to their mind, which are known as their 'other self'. Most of which are rickety humanoid looking dolls in cloaks. Many though, are much more human, or robotic, or demonic, and fight each other with ridiculously over-sized weaponry in a world of chaos, created from the splintered consciousness and personalities of said human girls, called the 'other side'. The actions of the 'other selfs' can impact the 'real' world, hence why they fight each other, to try to make their 'real' counterparts have an easier and more fulfilling life. B RS is the 'other self' of a twelve year old girl called Kuroi Mato. And B RS happens to be a stick in the mud, with almost no emotions, and a strange desire to kill everyone in the 'other side' since she feels that is the best way to protect Mato's mind.
Also, this is my first story ever. So if I leave some things that feel like plot holes, or need more background information, etcetera. Please bring it to my attention in a PM or Review. I will also take suggestions for extra content, so long as it does not interfere with my plans for the story. Ruby will NOT act like a ten year old. She loves cookies, and is naively optimistic, yes, but she is a genius huntress-in-training and fifteen years old (Sixteen by the time she starts Beacon [Yes, this is mostly for my own self, as I don't want to ship a fifteen year old with anyone.]), so she will seem a bit out of character as well, but I cannot stand how the series and many fanfictions make her look and act like a ten year old or worse.
This story will NOT follow cannon for the vast majority, but I will have events from cannon in my story. I swear I will somehow add RWBYSaurus into this by the time I am done. Also, EXCEPT for Blake and Jaune, there are no relationship pairings set in stone for the moment, for I am mostly interested in writing a story about Kuroi Mato in the world of Remnant. 'SuperSaiyanCyndaquil' and 'Coeur Al'Aran' have made it impossible for me to ship those two with anyone else. Don't forget to check our their stories 'Auburn' and 'One Good Turn Deserves Another' if you want a proper romance story for them. Other than that, please enjoy!
BTW, I will only put the disclaimer on the prologue. in other words, here. No point repeating it each chapter and taking up space.
Disclaimer: RWBY and all its content is owned by RoosterTeeth and whomever they give the rights to.
Black Rock Shooter is a Japanese media franchise based on characters created by illustrator Ryohei Fuke also known as Huke, which is owned in conjunction with Supercell and whomever they gave the rights to.
In other words. I DO NOT OWN ANYTHING IN THIS FANFICTION. Besides the story idea of bringing them together and how it might turn out. And any OCs that might (Read: will) be used in this story. (In some cases, such as using characters like Qrow or Professor Peach, although OCs in most sense of the word, they will be owned by RoosterTeeth, regardless of whether or not the cannon versions resemble my own in any way.)
Now do you understand why I don't want that in every freaking chapter?
Warnings: This story will be Rated T mostly due to violence and coarse language. They live in a world of monsters and terrorists for Oum's sake. Oh yeah, allow me the use of Oum in this story instead of Dust as my way of bringing Monty into this world. The story itself is a dedication to his legacy, but I want to go that extra step, and I can think of no better way than to make him the equivalent of an item of worship in his own world.
On that note, considering the Mato is from an alternate Earth, she will be using the Christian exclamations, such as Hell and God instead, at least for the beginning till she settles into Remnant and learns the proper culture and lingo.
Finally got all this out of the way. TIME TO START!
Earth
Yoshimoto Home for the Elderly
December 23rd, 2097 - Afternoon
Mato sighed as she looked at the photograph in her hands. It had been years since she saw any of them. Their journeys having ended long before hers.
She still recalled meeting them for the first time, all those decades ago. And the difficult adventures that had shortly followed.
She closed her eyes as she thought back to the confusion, fear, sorrow, rage, excitement, and happiness she felt back then. Back when she met Kagari, Saya, and Yomi. Her first meeting with the mentally unbalanced Kagari. Her fight to keep Yomi sane. Bringing the real Yuu from the 'other side', saying goodbye to Strength. The terror she felt back then.
She then remembered how it all ended, how she met her 'other self'. How she met and fused with Black Rock Shooter. How she found out what had been going on behind the scenes. The pain she felt then almost broke her. But she stood up, and fought back against it all. And she brought them all together in the end. Bringing the real Yuu back into their side, to live her life as she once should have.
She thought that was it, that was the end and that her life would be normal again. No more assistance, or rather, intervention from the 'other side', but then Saya had her accident. Mato had just turned sixteen when Saya left them all. That night found Mato in the 'other side' once again, sitting beside Black Rock Shooter. In front of them stood a ragged and torn Black Gold Saw. Mato watched as pieces of Black Gold Saw fell away, heralding the end of her existence.
As she fell apart, Black Gold Saw spoke with Mato and Black Rock Shooter. She pleaded to them, pleaded to Mato, to take her place as the overseer of the 'other side'. With Saya's death she could not continue her role and without an overseer, the 'other side' would collapse in on itself. Destroying everyone's 'other self', leading to either the emotional death of everyone, or mental instability as their selves were fused together forcefully, possibly killing them both.
Black Rock Shooter nearly made the decision for her when she tried to kill Black Gold Saw, but couldn't on the off chance it ended up hurting Mato with the 'other side's' collapse. She argued to give the position back to Strength, or someone else. But Black Gold Saw stood resolute in never again forcing such a situation on Strength and Yuu, as the greatest and last wish Saya ever had. Black Rock Shooter once again nearly made the decision for all of them, but Mato stopped her this time. She looked Black Gold Saw in her remaining eye, most of her body and face having broken off by this point.
"I will take the position of overseer. I will make sure the other side survives, and that the other selves all remain separated, to prevent further incidents. To prevent more Arata's, Kagari's Yuu's, or Yomi's. I will make it so that there will be no need for the other side for people to live their lives."
Black Gold Saw merely closed her eye as she finished crumbling away. A small orb hovering where she had sat. The orb splitting into two, and diving into Black Rock Shooter and Mato. Black Rock Shooter tried to make Mato give it to someone else, tried to force it out of her. They fought for what seemed like days in the other side. Mato constantly being pummeled by Black Rock Shooter until Mato was able to utilize enough strength to fight back. But regardless of everything Black Rock Shooter tried. Mato never relented.
After what seemed a week of nonstop battle, no longer one-sided, Black Rock Shooter stopped. She looked at Mato, and for the first time since Mato had come back to the 'other side', opened her mouth to speak, rather than use the telepathic connection between the two.
"Your decision will make it so that you will be as isolated from everyone in your own world, as you are attempting to make it for everyone on this world. You will never be able to make or maintain true connections in your world, your attention always directed to managing this one."
At this point, Mato saw the impossible, tears started flowing from the emotionless face standing before her.
"You said to leave you alone, to live your life. But here you are tossing it away. I continued fighting for you. Now you have become my enemy again. But this time, your goal is the opposite. Last time, you fought me, claiming that you wanted to stop having the imitation of a life, to stop any of us from interfering in the correct process of life. Now you stand before me, fighting me while telling me to let you suffer through an imitation of life by yourself."
Mato stared at her 'other self', before walking towards her and hugging her unmoving frame.
"You are my other self. You know me. And you know I would never let anyone else suffer such a burden. You know what I plan to do. You know I plan to free everyone from their shackles and let them live how they should. My plan has never changed, not since I first met you and fought you."
"You shackle yourself in this action. You yourself have ripped out your own right to live and locked it behind the strongest chains and walls. Your plan may be the same, but the route and sacrifice have changed. How do you expect me to agree? How do you expect me to accept?"
"Because you are my other self. And I need you."
"I would rather destroy the world. It would at least give you a chance at a life. Rather than the certainty of you being chained forever."
"You wouldn't. Because even if I were to survive, I would never be able to live with myself if I thought that even one other person didn't after the other side collapsed. I would be shackled not by chains of my own decision, but by those of sorrow and regret. My life would be much worse than the one I have set for myself. So please, help me to reach my goal instead, I can live after I am done with no problems. So help me, to finish quicker." A quick smile graced Mato's face as she asked this of her immortal partner.
Black Rock Shooter didn't open her mouth again, I think she knew that it was an improbable, if not impossible goal. But she nodded anyway, before the world blacked out and I found myself waking up in the hospital bed.
That had been over eighty years ago.
Black Rock Shooter had been right. Mato had spent the years that followed that decision working to isolate and erase the 'other side', peacefully merging the 'other selves' with their originals. Her dedication, and the enormity of the goal, meant that Mato slowly began to lose herself, and drifted away from everyone. She never had a romantic relationship. She never made her own family. She nearly lost her closest friends. They slowly drifted away eventually anyway. Only Yuu stayed with her till the end. Having been informed of the situation by Strength. It was thanks to Yuu's support that Mato was able to avoid having to waste time working. Spending nearly every minute of every day working towards her goal.
Even after Yuu married and had her own family, she supported Mato. This was made much easier thanks to her wealthy and loving husband. But Mato became truly alone at that point. The years flew by. All of it becoming a blur as Mato lost herself in the 'other side'. When the news came that Yuu, or Yomi, or Kagari had given birth to children, Mato happily congratulated them. All of this reminded Mato why she was doing this, and reinforced her decision.
It had taken fifteen years, till no new 'other selfs' were created. This gave Mato hope that she was nearing the conclusion of her choice. But the end didn't come quickly enough. She was still working when Yomi died. It had been fifty years since she started. Kagari was next. Mato had been at this for fifty-eight years. Yuu's husband died with her second son in a car accident. Mato hadn't heard Black Rock Shooter speak in over sixty-four years. Yuu was admitted to a hospital for the elderly along with Mato. It had been ten years since Yuu lost her husband.
Mato was now ninety-seven years old. Yuu had passed away two years ago. Her last words had been an apology. For having dropped such a task on Mato, for having stolen her chance at a life, for having been such a terrible friend. Mato had merely smiled at Yuu. A pure, bright smile, and instead thanked her for giving her a chance to make a difference in so many lives. And for having been with her to the end, her greatest friend. Yuu ended her journey in life with tears in her eyes and simultaneously thanking and apologizing to Mato for everything.
Mato was in the 'other side' again. She was merging the last 'other self' with her original. Once this was done. There would be no one but herself and Black Rock Shooter. She had done what she had set out to accomplish. She had fulfilled her goal. She had kept her promise to herself and the world. Mato watched through Black Rock Shooter's eyes as the last 'other self' finished fusing and disappearing, their part of the 'other side' disappearing with them. Now all that remained was the dark spike filled land of Mato and Black Rock Shooter's.
Returning to her own body, she turned to her eternal partner, the being who constituted her 'other self'. The one who stood with her and helped her accomplish her life's goal. Her friend who hadn't spoken a word or showed any emotion in over eighty years. The greatest smile of accomplishment graced Mato's weathered, wrinkled face as she spoke to her for what would be the last time.
"We did it. It took a long time. But we did it."
She felt tears start to fall unbidden from her eyes.
"I am sorry. You told me not to do it. You told me what would happen. You knew how long it would take. I am sorry for having forced you to be beside me this entire time. But thank you for having done so. Without you, I would not have lived to see this day. I would have died with a fraction of my goal achieved. Thank you."
Mato bowed to her after saying her heartfelt thanks. She stood rooted there, in that same position while tears continued falling, and the smile remained on her face.
"I had to help you. I would never allow you to leave your world without having accomplished your goals. You have seen that all any of us ever wished was to aid our originals. We all love you. It is the reason we exist. Once you had locked yourself into this journey, the only thing I could do was help you complete it quickly so that you could live as you wished."
Mato jolted up as the impossible happened. Black Rock Shooter stood there, not three paces away, staring at her. And had spoken. For the first time since Mato had taken the role of overseer, Mato had heard her 'other side' speak. She had forgotten what she sounded like. And hearing it again, here at the end, just brought more tears of joy to her.
"Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. I know I hurt you when I forced this on you. I know you would have preferred any alternative. But I can never thank you enough. The rest of the world will never know, and even if they did, they might never agree with this. But I am glad I did this. I am proud to have lived my life as I did. I am glad that I was given the chance to make such a difference in our worlds. So once again. Thank you."
Mato once again bowed to Black Rock Shooter. But raised again as she felt a hand on her shoulder raising her back to standing.
"No. You might think it is enough. But I disagree. You deserve the same happiness that others can achieve. No, you deserve even more than they do for the sacrifice you made. And I will give it to you. There is no more other side. You are done with your task. You are now free. But your own body is a shackle at this point. A prison of failing muscles and decaying flesh. So I will take it from you."
At this, Black Rock Shooter glowed, an orb slightly leaving her body, before the same happened to Mato. Mato closed her eyes at the intensity of the light, slowly opening them as it dimmed, and gasped. In front of her stood Kuroi Mato. Not Black Rock Shooter, but the ninety-seven year old Kuroi Mato, a white orb floating between them. Mato took a step back in surprise, raising her hand to cover her gaping mouth when she noticed the glove that covered it.
It only took a quick cursory glance at herself to understood what had happened. But even as she returned her gaze to Black Rock Shooter, now in possession of Mato's aged body, she watched as her aged hand she reached out, and took the orb into herself.
"With this I have taken the shackle that is your body. You can move freely again. Unlike before, you are not borrowing my self or my powers. I have given you all that is me, and taken all that is you. No one can ever hurt you in that body so long as you don't let them. You will have the strength to fight, you will be able to take your life into your own hands."
"What do you mean? And what are you doing? This body cannot materialize in our world, you and I will merge and this world will collapse. This body forever disappearing. I will be back in my old body, waiting for the end in a hospital."
"We will not merge. I will take your body to your world, and I will die with it. You will take my body and live the life you were meant to."
"There is nothing in this world anymore. And even if there were. Once you died in my body, I would fade, just like Black Gold Saw did when Saya passed away."
"Yes. And no. There is nothing in this world for you to live. But you will not be in this world. You won't even be in your world. And you will not fade. I have taken the full orb of the overseer as we teeter on the end. With it, I will make sure you can live in that body without my existence. It will start aging as a result of having its own place in the world, but that just means you would continue living from the point when you decided to stop."
Even as she said this, Black Rock Shooter glowed again, and Mato felt her new body changing. It was painful, but she had grown accustomed to pain over the decades that she had worked together with Black Rock Shooter to reach her goal. As such didn't even blink as she felt her body literally tear itself inside, probably changing to be able to live as a normal being could.
"Are you telling me that you can bring me to my world like this? For me to live out my life like you had intended, this time in your body? Are you crazy? Why would I let you die in my place, if you can do this, then you should be living!"
"No. As you said, it is impossible at this point to bring that body into your world, your actions have seen to that. But there are many other worlds, and there are those out there that will accept you and that body. And I am sorry. Just like you decided to go through with spending your life on achieving the goal of fully getting rid of the existence of this world and its inhabitants. I decided that I would help you finish it to free you of the chains, and somehow give you the life you deserved and had more than earned."
"THAT'S BULLSHIT! THEN WHY DON'T YOU COME WITH ME!? WHY DON'T WE BOTH LIVE THE LIFE THAT YOU ARE TELLING ME ABOUT!?"
"Because we cannot. A body is needed to operate the orb of the overseer. And I cannot send us to another world and then finish the job of destroying this world. So I will send you away, give you the life I promised you when you were born. And then I will help you in extinguishing this world once and for all. With this world gone, the orb of the overseer will vanish as well, and I will return to your body and your world. Kuroi Mato, thank you for having been born. Now please, live the life that your were born to, not the one that had been thrusted on to you by other powers. Good bye."
With those words, the pain that had stopped, restarted with even greater ferocity, even causing Mato to clench her teeth and squint her eyes. She watched as Black Rock Shooter smiled for the first time in her existence. A beautiful, happy smile at having done what she had set out to do. Even as Mato's new body literally disintegrated, the anguish greater than any ever experienced before, she managed to open her mouth and shout.
"BLACK ROCK SHOOTER!"
And then she vanished, her consciousness leaving her, as her very being was moved away from the 'other side' to a new world. A new world that would greet her with the possibility of another attempt at life. A second life awaited her, given to her by her greatest and closest ally in her life. A life granted to her, only on the sacrifice of the one person who had never stopped loving her since she was born.
A/N: As some of you may have noticed, Kuroi Mato will be pretty OOC considering she is no longer a twelve year old girl, but I feel that it is what she would act like should she really have been put into such a situation at her age. Just wanted to point this out for those more diehards out there.