Source Material: Deck of Heroes by Jauneforever- Chapter 4
"No time like the present." Phoenix said as he pulled out the second black card. "Let's just jump back into this." He threw it at the screen, where it slowly sank into it before bringing it back to life and the world they had just seen.
Ruby lay curled up in a ball on her partner's bed, just like she had since Penny had called her. The robotic girls accusations ringing in her ears. Her team was surrounding her, trying to comfort their young leader.
Ruby just looked down sadly, "Do we have to start with this?" she asked no one in particular. "It was bad enough the first time." Yang reached her arm over to give her sister a side hug but it did very little to improve her mood.
"Hey, Sis come on. All you need to do is explain things to Penny, make her hear your side." Ruby looked up at Yang with teary eyes, her lips quivering.
"I… I tried but her partner answered and said she was on a mission that she needed rep … rest before she could talk." Inwardly Ruby cursed herself for her near slip, knowing that spilling her secret would only drive Penny further away.
That made Ironwood turn to her, "You knew about Penny's secret, Miss Rose?"
She turned to the General and swallowed, "Uh… yes." All of her friends turned to her in shock. "What? She had an accident and had to explain it to me. She asked me to keep quiet about it so I didn't say anything." She looked away. "She's my friend…"
Ironwood just looked at her before he chuckled, "Pietro would be glad to hear that. He wanted Penny to have friends that liked her for her."
That made Ruby smile and was feeling just a bit better.
Her partner's voice drew her out of her thoughts. "Come on Ruby, you and I both know that Penny is … social stunted?" Weiss looked at her uncertain but Ruby nodded. She was socially awkward, Penny was stunted by her lack of general knowledge. "She probably just misunderstood something, did she say how she found out?" Ruby shook her head, the conversation still playing vividly in her head. "Then she probably found out on a social media page or something. Believe me when I saw everything gets twisted around on one of those." Ruby looked up, hearing the words but not believing them.
"I don't know gu…. Ow." Ruby clutched her head as a spike of pain lanced through it. Yang was sitting beside her and looking her up and down within a second.
"Rubes, you okay?" Ruby nodded right before knock on the door caught their attention. Alistair's voice following soon after.
Nora sighed in aggravation, "Great. Now we have to hear from the guy our other selves hurt Jaune for."
Phoenix placed a finger to his lips, "Shhh, this next part is important." Everyone just looked at him in confusion but did as he said.
"Team RWBY, Nora wants an eating contest again. You girls ready to lose again." Blake opened the door to reveal the former transfer student standing there with a grin on his face, the grin dropping when he saw Ruby. "What's up with Ruby?" Blake looked back at her leader and the young girl gave Blake a nod.
"A friend of hers decided she didn't want to be friends with her anymore." Ruby hid her face behind her hands, a fresh wave of sorrow hitting her.
Her in theater self felt that same wave of sadness.
"She thought I was going to replace her; she thinks I replaced Jaune with you." With all the attention on Ruby the all-female team missed the smirk that crossed Alistair's face for a second before concern replaced it.
Blake saw it though, "What was that?" She said with a hard tone. "What was that look?"
Everyone turned to her and the intense look she was giving the screen. They then turned to the Writer who had a grin. He nodded, "A clue." He said simply.
"Come on Ruby you know that wasn't true." The reaper looked up at the black-haired boy and after getting permission he walked in and took a seat on the other side of Ruby. "You were still friends with Jaune when he left and if you guys ever met up again you'd still be friends. I don't know how this friend of yours heard about this but clearly she is misunderstanding what happened." Ruby rubbed her eyes before looking towards the newest member or PARN
"But you …" Ruby trailed off, partially because she didn't want to think about how Jaune was removed from his team and partially because another bout of pain, this one much milder, shot through her head. Alistair rubbed the back of his head at her unspoken words.
"What is going on?" Pyrrha asked next. She was beginning to pick up on the same thing now. "Every time she has a thought about them replacing Jaune… she gets a headache?"
"What could that mean?" Phoenix prodded.
She thought for a bit, "Something maybe preventing her from thinking about it?" She started before her eyes went wide and looked to the screen. "Or someone…"
Everyone had the same realization and turned to the screen or Phoenix. He just smiled and nodded, "Bingo."
"That bastard!" shouted Pyrrha, shocking almost everyone in the room. "He's the reason why we betrayed Jaune! I knew we wouldn't do that in our right minds!"
Phoenix nodded, "I can't say for certain since I haven't seen that far into this world but as far as I can tell, Alistair was sent to Beacon to get close to the two most prominent first year teams. If I had to guess, he is using some sort of Semblance to manipulate you all into replacing Jaune."
"I'm gonna break some legs!" Nora shouted. Most of RWBY and NPR had similar expressions. No one messed with their friend and got away with it.
Ren however got an idea, "But who sent him?" he asked gaining everyone's attention.
Phoenix just looked to Ozpin for a second, "Someone who has something nasty in the works." He said simply.
"Yeah, maybe that could have been handled better but it was for the best. Arc was just going to get himself hurt." Ruby saw her team nod at his words, agreeing with what he had to say. Ruby grimaced at the thought of Jaune getting hurt or worse dying.
'Maybe, maybe he's right. I mean Jaune was so far behind but on the other hand he was catching up so fast." Before Ruby could think on it more Alistair spoke up again.
"Now come on, Nora won't wait forever to show you up again." Ruby couldn't even react before Yang snatched her up.
"No way am I losing again. Come on Ruby, you gotta cheer me on!" Yang rushed out the door with Ruby over her shoulder, their partners chasing after them and Alistair behind them. The male stayed back for a second to close the door and the girls rounded a corner. When they were out of sight Alistair's let out a sigh.
'Thank you WBY for being so easy, if I had to bother with the three of you this would be so much harder.' Alistair smirked as he made his way to the cafeteria, happy in the fact his position was secure and wouldn't be questioned again.
With that, a large cup of soda was thrown at the screen and covered in the sticky liquid. Everyone turned to the red eyed Yang who still had her arm extended. She put it down but looked away sheepishly as everyone was looking at her, "He pissed me off…" she said lamely.
Phoenix chuckled, "That is very fair." He snapped his fingers and the soda was cleaned up in a bout of orange flame. At the same time, a burst of violet fire erupted from Yang's cupholder, leaving her with a fresh cup of her preferred drink.
Dreams, the untold price he paid for accepting the Class Cards. Ever since he had taken those Class Cards his dreams were not flights of fancy or his subconscious making itself known; instead, he spent each night learning about his Heroic Spirits. Jaune embraced these visions, eager to learn more about the people that had sworn their aid to him. This time two sets of dreams came to him.
The first were filled with pain. A young girl, a patchwork of other people's body parts, brought to life as the Eve of a new species. In Jaune's opinion her creator was filth, he expected the girl to be perfect from the get-go, planning to impregnate her himself to produce the Adam. Yet when she failed to meet his standards, when her childlike wonder and misunderstandings terrified him, he tore her to pieces and threw her away. Yet she persevered, she put herself back together and hunted him down.
She demanded one like her, one to become her mate and was denied. She killed and killed and killed, hunting down her creators loved ones to deny him the companionship he denied her. When he fled she chased him down, and when he died to deny her a mate she burned herself on a pyre to escape a life of solitude. The cruelest part from Jaune's perspective was the fact she wore a wedding dress from the moment she put her body back together till her death, a physical image of her desire for companionship and love that would never be fulfilled.
"That…" Nora started. "That is just…"
"Depressing. Terrible. Heartbreaking." Phoenix listed before giving her a saddened look. "All three at once?"
She nodded, "That one."
He sighed, "Sad part is… I've grown numb to this all." Everyone looked to him in confusion. "Even within a limitless Multiverse of possibility, we see marvels that are beyond description. But no matter what, new forms of cruelty and madness seem to bubble form the cracks. For as wonderful as possibility is, it appears to never learn from its mistakes… And always repeats them."
Everyone was silent at that. Not expecting something that deep.
Death, death was the only way to describe the second set of memories. From the boy killing his father for turning their home into a den of Dead Apostles to innocents that had the misfortune of being in the blast radius. The man he watched spent his life killing over and over, not a week going by without a corpse dropping. That was how he spent his life, alone and surrounded by death as he hunted down Magi that delved into forbidden practices. He became the boogeyman of Magi, the Magus Killer that haunted the shadow. In the end he died cold and alone in an alley, bleeding out and struck with the knowledge that he had changed almost nothing in the long run. Magi, magi were monsters was the main takeaway that Jaune took from this. So many horrid acts, so many stomach-turning sights, so many people sacrificed for their own advancement, so many children violated and abused for the sake of the 'family'. Was it any wonder this man became the way he was?
"No one is born a monster." Ozpin said sadly.
"They are turned into it over time and tragedy." Ren finished.
"And sadly, it most often times takes a monster to kill other monster." Phoenix continued. "Only those bathed in blood and steeped in darkness can do what is sometimes necessary for the good of those around them."
"Gah!" Jaune awoke with a start, laying on a cold metal floor. A single bulb lit the room he found himself in, no windows, one door.
"Guys!" no answer, Jaune tore into his pockets and found the cards that he could install gone. Berserker, Assassin, and Avenger remained, however. 'Why did that guy not take these three?'
"He must've believed that it wouldn't be a threat." Ironwood pointed out. "If he can't use them, they are worthless."
"But how would he know that sir?" Winter asked.
He shrugged, "Whoever that main is, he is bond with another Spirit. There's no telling how much he knows or what he can do."
"Uuhh." Jaune paused and looked to see the faintest bit of light emerging from the Berserker and Assassin cards.
"Hmph, finally awake. Consider yourself lucky this Caster was a Magus in life, arrogance is a facet of their very being. Since we weren't connected to you he simply assumed you couldn't use us and left us here." Jaune stood up and began to stretch, working the stiffness out of his body.
"Aren't you a Magus?"
"That's secondary to anything else. Magi are fools content to watch the world pass by and cling to magecraft. You've seen my memories; how many did I kill because they thought themselves above a gun?" Jaune smirks, the faces of those people were hilarious to him after seeing their crimes.
"Simple solutions." Qrow said easily.
"He is talking about killing people, Qrow." Tai pointed out.
"And sometimes it's the only option." Raven pointed out. "When it's between you or them, which would you choose?"
"You know what I would pick." Tai said with a hard tone as he looked back to his ex-wife. He then faced forward, "I would do whatever it took to get back to my girls." He looked to the side, "I just hope that they could still look at me the same way afterwards."
He barely finished his sentence before both of his daughters were hugging him tightly. "We love you, Dad." Ruby said matter of fact.
"No matter what." Yang added with a tone of finality.
Tai just smiled and hugged them back. Others just smiled at the family moment. Some were sadder smiles if they were from ones that weren't on the best terms with their family or didn't have nearly as good a family life that they deserved.
"Good point, so you and Berserker are willing to work with me now?" A crackle of electricity fills Jaune's ears at his question.
"Uhhh!"
"I've been willing to work with you since the beginning, you merely had no use for my skills before. Since this guy is using Golems I'll be the best one to fight him. Save me until then." Jaune nods, remembering Assassin's trump card and its power. At the same time he takes note of the near robotic tone Assassin uses, no emotion present in his tone.
"Kinda like Ren." Nora pointed out.
Said man just looked at his partner with a raised eyebrow, "She has a point." Pyrrha pointed out with a bashful smile.
Ren rolled his eyes playful with a small smile, "Point taken."
"Alright, let's go find the others."
"I… Frankenstein… Berserker… swear… follow … Master."
"I, Kiritsugu Emiya, servant of the Assassin class, swear to follow you Master. Let us eliminate the evil of the world together." Jaune holds up the Berserker Class card and green electricity begins to surround the card and him.
"You know, Frankenstein doesn't suit you Berserker."
"Uh?"
"That is the name of a monster, not a term I'd use to describe you. No, I'm going to call you something else. Fran, close enough to your origin while being separate from it. A cute name for a cute girl, do you like it?"
"Is he flirting with her?" Yang asked, a slight edge to her voice.
"Jealous, Yang?" Weiss said with a devious grin. It was nice for her to be on the teasing end for once. Yang just gave the Heiress a slight glare.
"To answer your question: no, he isn't." Phoenix answered. "He's just being very honest. At this point, I think romance is the last thing on his mind. His last two crushes both hurt him deeply, after all." That made both Pyrrha and Weiss look down sadly. Phoenix cringed, "My bad…"
"Uhhhh!" Jaune smiled as he heard the joy in her voice, happy that she took the new name.
"Glad to hear it. Install Berserker!" Alarms went off as a pillar green electricity surrounded Jaune, flower petals began to spray out and swirl around the silhouette of the man inside the energy. With a blast of power the energy and flower petals vanished leaving only Jaune Arc in the room.
Sprouting from his forehead was a metal spike, two metal cylinders stuck out of the sides of his head, one blue eye was now a piercing yellow. A pure white tuxedo replaced his clothes, the boots fully made of metal, white gloves now covered his hands, a pink rose adorned his lapel as a boutonniere, hanging from his belt a large gold sphere rests. A giant battle mace forms in his hands, a brown sphere on the end. The sphere expanded, green electricity rolling across its surface. This is Bridal Chest, the 'heart' of Fran.
"Jaune looks amazing!" Nora clapped happily.
Most of the students had to agree with her. Pyrrha and Yang both had blushes and bashful smiles as they pictured that is what Jaune would look like if they ever got married, minus the metal and canisters. Weiss and Ruby had similar looks but were trying to look away from the screen but ultimately were failing since their eyes kept going back to him.
Blake had the faintest of blushes as she nodded, "He does clean up nice…" she said quietly to herself. She quickly shook her head to try to move past those thoughts.
"Uahhh!" With a thrust forward the door went flying, slamming into the other side of the hallway. Stepping out Jaune found three guards facing him, circuit like patterns appearing on the parts of their faces that their helmets didn't cover. Jaune's eyes narrowed in anger at the sight of magic circuits and the knowledge of how they obtained them.
"Die!" Jaune rushed forward, ignoring the bullets and magic blasts that slammed into him. Swinging the mace sideways he swatted all three into the wall, blood splattered upon impact and the sound of bones breaking rang through the hallway. The two cylinders on the sides of Jaune's head popped out and magical energy began to pour from their bodies into them. Jaune's eyes closed as his body began to patch itself back up using the power it just absorbed, Fran's durability and regenerative capabilities only enhanced by his own. Walking down the hallway he kept coming across more guards with Circuits active. Try as they might he crushed them all.
Most of the students shuddered at that, "It doesn't get easier to see him do that…" Ruby said out loud.
Weiss nodded, "But considering where they got their magic from… I don't feel as badly for them."
"Jaune kills because he has to." Phoenix told them. "Like with the bandits, he wants them to die for the atrocities they had a part in. But if he didn't have to kill them, he wouldn't."
"Well… That's something…" Blake said, not sure on what else she could possibly add.
"Plea..please no! I have a family!" Jaune glared at the last guard that crawled away, his weapon crackling with electricity as he walked towards the downed man. Hefting the mace he lifted it above his head, the pleading speeding up.
"Oh Oum no, have mercy!" Jaune swung down. "Gha! M..m..mercy!" One more swing and the pleading stopped. Jaune rested the head of the mace on the ground as he absorbed the magic from the corpses around him. Fran's growling filling his ears.
"Grrrhhhh!"
"Yeah, so willing to plead for mer…" Jaune stopped talking as another voice reached him.
"M..ma..master.. AHHH!" Jaune's eyes widened as he heard Mordred's voice.
Everyone jumped at that, "He found them!" Pyrrha said in relief.
"But what's happening to them?" Yang asked in worry.
"Nothing good." Glynda said with an edge to her voice.
"Mordred!?" Screams were his only answer, the other four soon joining her. Jaune walked a few steps forward, their cries getting minutely louder with each step. Breaking into a charge he rushed forward, trusting that the rise in volume meant he was getting closer. As he rounded a corner several Atlas droids popped from the walls as well as multiple golems
"Intrud.." the droid didn't even get to finish Jaune plowing straight through it.
"Out of my way!" As he spoke Jaune swung the mace down into a golem, shattering the construct to pieces before rising up and pointing the mace forwards as electricity swirled around it. "Uwahhh!" With a cry several bolt of lightning shot forward, decimating every creation, be they mechanical or magical, in its path. His path clear Jaune charged forward once more, the energy of the golem's trailing behind him as it was absorbed.
Nora stared at the scene wide eyed and sparkling, "He's like a more powerful and badass version of me…"
Phoenix had a devious smirk, "I mean, with a few upgrades to Magnhild, you could do that." She turned to him with a laser focused intensity. "Add a Dust generator to the hammer's head and you could have your weapon create electricity for you to use with your Semblance. Add a few modifications to that and you could use it to fire off blasts of electricity."
The bomber quickly turned to Ruby, who was scratching her chin, "He does have a point. Would take time to do it but yeah."
"What have you done…" Ren asked in shock.
The Writer snorted, "Please, you wouldn't change a thing about her." He just turned away at the truth behind his words.
"Close the door!" Jaune growled as a wall of guards formed in his path electricity began to form around him, a sphere of green lightning coming into being as he picked up the pace. Every bullet shot at him was stopped in its tracks as it hit the shell of lightning. The guards emptied their clips, trying to buy time as the heavy doors behind them shut down. Jaune's growling grew deeper, a red tinge forming in the electricity around him as his anger soared.
"Move!" The smell of burning flesh filled the air as he rushed right through the guards, the lightning lashing out at them as he passed and killing them all. Right before the door closed Jaune rushed through, sliding to a stop with the sound of screeching metal as his boots slid across the floor. Looking around at his surroundings Jaune finds the place to be an extremely large laboratory, easily able to fit two or three Goliaths with room to spare.
"Such failures, I had hoped they would buy me some more time." Jaune's glare focused in on the masked man from before. The other five cards were in containers attached to a machine, energy seeming to flow from them and into the device. Jaune's teeth clenched when his vision was drawn to what was hanging up behind him. "I had hoped I could at least try and fix my failure of a daughter."
"That's Pietro?" Winter said in shock. She had met the man a few times but this man was nothing like him.
"How is this possible?" Ironwood asked.
"Possibly an aberration." Phoenix said out loud almost in thought. He saw some of the viewers looking ta him. "It's true that across most of the universes out there, most versions of a person are almost identical. Some with minor differences. But some versions are just so far from what the others are that they are nearly unidentifiable. I usually call them aberrations."
"So this version of Petro is one than?" Ironwood questioned.
The Writer nodded, "Most likely."
Penny's body was hanging from the wall, the entirety of her lower body gone and wire spilling from her chest. Her eyes were still dead, the life in them gone. Jaune's glare turned back to the fellow Card user, slamming the butt of his mace into the ground.
"Penny!" Ruby shouted, deeply worried for her friend.
"Why? Why do all this?"
"Why you ask? Isn't it obvious? Humans, Faunus, all of them are absolute failures!" Jaune stared at the man in shock
"The Spirit .."
"Avicebron had nothing to do with my opinions. I hated them long before then and he shared my views to a T. I built Penny with the idea of enhancing upon humans, she was supposed to rise above them. Instead she was shackled down and for some reason wanted to be more like them. So many chance I gave her and every time she failed."
"That is nothing like Penny described her father." Ruby said with a glare.
"I can say with certainty that he is nothing like the Doctor Pietro I know, Miss Rose." Ironwood told her as he leveled his own glare at the 'aberration'.
"Grrrhahhh!"
"Why enhance humans with Magecraft if you hate them so much then?" Jaune tried to figure out what the man's plan was. He couldn't strike just yet, not when more people could be behind this.
"I had to distract Ironwood somehow while I worked on my own plans, as far as that war-hawk is aware its merely a new way to channel aura. The fool doesn't even realize I'm behind some of the deaths, he probably wouldn't even care if he knew so long as it strengthened his troops. He is the one that called for a device to be built to rip a soul out of someone, I was just glad he didn't mind me using it for my own ends. That is the kind of people you are protecting, a bunch of violent, back-stabbing sociopaths." Jaune stared up at Penny in horror.
"Why would anyone make something like that?" Pyrrha asked out loud. "That is beyond wrong."
"I agree with you, Pyrrha." Weiss nodded. "It's disgusting."
As most of the students began to agree as well, Ironwood looked to the side. He did indeed wish for the device to be made but that was because he wanted a more peaceful way to transfer Fria's Maiden powers to Winter. He didn't want to force her to kill her if something desperate happened.
But on the other hand, there was truth behind the words. If it weren't for Phoenix's interference, there would've been a good chance he would end up as exactly what the Doctor described: A man willing to commit atrocities if the ends justified the means. He clenched his human hand in determination, 'I will not be him. I will be better.'
"Penny's soul, where did you get it?" The man waved him off, so dismissively it took everything Jaune had to force himself not to charge right then.
"Some petty thief from the Slums, no-one that would be missed. Just another Faunus lost in the mines as far as anyone in power was concerned."
That disturbed everyone in the audience to hear. Even Raven, shockingly. They were just glad that Phoenix had explained where their Penny's soul originated from. They didn't want to imagine something similar happening with her too.
A ding went off from the machine and a slot opened up, a card levitating from the machine. "I believe this is where we part, you can keep your cards and this failure of mine; if you survive." A door opens behind him and he runs through, two Golems popping up behind him as he goes to block the way. Jaune's gets in a battle-ready position as a body forms from the card. A white-haired, pale-skinned woman appears, armored patterned after ice forming on her limbs and stomach, a black dress and skirt covering her body underneath the armor. A large spear, the end made of purple crystal and made to look like a very deadly heart formed in her hands. The black marks of corruption formed on her skin. Her eyes met Jaune's, purple staring into yellow and blue.
"Was that what he wanted Jaune's cards for?" Ren asked.
Phoenix nodded, "He used them to form a more stable body for the Card to use. That way it didn't need a host."
"SIGURD!" A blast of blue energy slammed into Jaune, sending him flying through the door and into the hallway. Landing on his back Jaune rolled to the side as the spear sank into the ground where he once lay. "Sigurd!"
"What the hell!?" Jaune swatted aside the lance again with his mace and kicked out, his foot slamming into her stomach and sending her flying back, giving him some breathing room. "What's with this chick?!"
"Plenty of Heroic Spirits are insane without being Berserkers and I don't think this is solely the corruption. This Sigurd must be a fixation for her, someone so important to her that even now he haunts her." Jaune sent a blast of lightning at the woman who countered with another blast of energy from her spear.
"That's so sad…" Weiss spoke up.
"A lot of people have ghosts they cannot move on from, sister." Winter told her.
The Xiao Long/Rose family all looked away with that. Even Raven felt a slight tremor go through her but ignored it.
Ozpin closed his own eyes and relived his first life back on Remnant and the daughters he lost that night. Even now, that pain never left him.
"Speaking from personal experience?"
"It's … it's complicated." Jaune let it drop as he dropped to ground to keep from being impaled but made note of the fact that was the first time any emotion entered Emiya's voice. He rolled to his feet and his mace clashed against the spear.
"Sigurd, Sigurd, Sigurd, WHY,WHY, WHY! Why did you leave me!" Jaune was sent flying back from the sheer force of the power she expelled.
"That's it, Brynhild. The Valkyrie who drowned in madness after the one she loved, Sigurd, was tricked into forgetting her by a brother and sister duo who further used him to make Brynhild marry the brother. In her rage and sorrow killed not only Sigurd but the magi family that tricked him before killing herself, supposedly her love never died until the end." Jaune felt his rage rise once more, the thought that this woman was torn from the one she loved because of the selfishness of some magus.
"Do any of these Spirits have a happy story?" Yang said, getting annoyed by all the tragedy that seemed to follow those cards.
Phoenix shrugged, "I can honestly say I don't know." He then thought to himself, 'Haven't looked into that Multiverse much to know…. Maybe I should get on that?'
"Huahhh!" Jaune threw his mace to the side where it hangs in the air, Brynhild charging at the opening. Her lance piercing right through Jaune who wrapped his arms around her.
"Jaune!" his friends shouted.
"What is that dolt doing?!" Weiss shouted.
"He must've needed to get her close or stop moving." Pyrrha rationalized as she was just shellshocked by his decision.
"He couldn't have done that another way?" Blake snarked.
"Fran will let him regenerate though." Nora pointed out. "So he should be fine."
"I don't give a damn!" Yang said red eyed, "He does something like that again, I'm kicking his ass!"
"Yang, you can't kick this Jaune's butt." Ruby pointed out.
"And doing that to our Jaune won't help your odds in dating him." Ren pointed out, making Yang pout and blush from his comment.
"Sigurd! Why, why betray me?" Jaune gritted his teeth as she struggled in his grip, putting everything into holding her still as his weapon charged.
'Magi, Magi can never be allowed in this world. We have enough problems already.' Brynhild fought against his grip, trying to free herself from his embrace. Jaune ignores that, keeping her still until he felt that Bridal Chest had fully charged. Shoving her back, her lance being torn from his body with her he grabs the Noble Phantasm, the weapon sending energy left behind from Brynhild's attacks into him to fix him back up. Rushing Brynhild he slams his mace down on her, forcing her to a knee as she uses her lance to block it.
"Blasted Tree!" Green lightning shot up, piercing through the ceiling, and spreading out, forming the shape of a tree. The fallen Valkyrie cried out as she was caught in the heart of the attack. When the attack was finished and the electricity gone all that was left in the hallway was a few charred bodies, Jaune, and a Lancer Class Card.
"How can I do that!" Nora shouted in excitement. She turned back to the Writer.
He shrugged, "Unless you have access to magic, you're out of luck, Nora." That caused her to pout in her chair. Meanwhile, the adults that knew of the Maidens shuddered at the idea of her ever becoming one. Although Phoenix just smirked at that thought.
"Shit we got to catch that guy!" Jaune stumbled into the lab and found the golems still blocking his path.
"Switch to me." Jaune doesn't even answer, too exhausted from fighting Brynhild to waste time. Uninstalling Fran he pulled out the Assassin card and held it out.
"Install Assassin." Unlike the others there was no flash, no show of force. Instead shadows surrounded him for a few seconds before disappearing; when they were gone his form had changed. His skin had darkened, what hair was visible under a red hood was pure white. Grey bandages covered the lower part of his face, black body armor covered the rest of his body. Holstered on the left and right side of his waist were a gun and knife, respectively.
"Whoa…" Yang said out loud. "Wasn't flashy but that was still badass."
Blake swallowed hard as she just stared at the new dark and intimidating Jaune, "Oh…"
"You say something, Blake?" Yang asked her.
Blake shook her head, "Uh, no. Sorry." She gave a weak smile and Yang just turned back to the screen. When she did, a blush as deep as Ruby's hood came to the Faunus' cheeks. 'What is going on with me?'
Drawing the gun Jaune pointed it at the lead Golem, his eyes showing no emotion. When he spoke his voice, a mixture of Kiritsugu and his own, was dry and lifeless.
"Run as far as you like, hide wherever you may, there is no escape. This is the end of your twisted desire." Jaune pulled the trigger, striking the Golem right on the purple crystal in the center of his chest. As the golem collapsed he fired into the chest of the second one, it meeting the same fate followed by the third and final one. "Target eliminated." Jaune uninstalled the card and clutched his head.
"Well that was anticlimactic." Yang spoke up.
"Yeah!" Ruby agreed. "And doesn't he need to go after Doctor Polendina?"
"No. The Doctor is already dead." Phoenix spoke up.
"What?" both sisters asked in unison.
He chuckled, "I didn't know this at first either. Those are called Origin Bullets. Pretty much if they hit something of Magecraft, the Caster takes the damage as well. So by Jaune hitting those three Golem, the Doctor pretty much took three bullets to the heart." He thought for a bit, "Think about how it would feel to have your circulatory system tear itself apart and then tie itself into knots. That's the closest I think I could describe that."
There was a drawn out silence, everyone was trying to think about how that would feel before quickly trying to push the imagery out of their heads. Some were more successful than others. That was before Ozpin spoke up, "I can see why the Assassin advised him to use his abilities now."
"You made those bullets out of your own ribs, that's just taking the saying 'a weapon is an extension of yourself' too far"
"He did what now?" Tai asked in shock.
Phoenix shrugged, "Yeah, I don't know."
Jaune walked over to the machine and punched through the glass containers, eagerly taking the Class Cards back. "Sorry I'm late everyone, are you okay?"
"Just fine Master, nothing the Knight of Treachery can't bounce back from."
"Yeah, just give me a bit of time before you decide to use my card again Master."
"I apologize Master, I'll need some time before my bow is yours once more."
"Please forgive me Master but I need to rest."
"I'm fine Master, as a Caster I have plenty of magical energy. Since that accursed machine was draining all five of us equally I'm left with plenty to spare.
"Well good for you Witch!" Jaune smiles, glad to have them all back. His gaze turns to Penny's body; unsure of what to do with it.
Ruby looked down sadly, "She didn't deserve that. She just wanted to live, to help people, to make friends…" Yang held her sister close. It helped but the tears came all the same.
"Master, what do you plan to do with the puppet? Are we going to kill her?" Jaune's eyes widen at Kiritsugu's question.
"She's alive!?" Medea is the one to answer.
"Yes, its faint but the soul still clings to the shell. Master install me and bring her body down. I want to get a better sense of her." Jaune's mental look at Medea prompts her to elaborate. "She… interests me. I want to see how they did it, how a machine is able to hold a soul."
"Okay, Install Caster." The cloak now covering him Jaune points his finger towards Penny and her body begins to disconnect from the wall. Gently he lowers her down and lets Medea guide him through the process of diagnostic magecraft.
"Hmm, this is impressive for a first-try with machinery."
"Medea?"
"Oh don't worry Master, I'm not taking notes for our own use. I simply find it interesting that the soul survived what was essentially it being knocked out with a hammer and stuffed into another container like it was stuffing in a toy. Believe me anyone who participated in this has a special place in the Underworld when they die." Jaune nodded while he sent two wooden dolls to go grab the Class Cards; unwillingly to leave them laying out of sight for too long. "I do believe we can give this girl a new body."
"They can!?" Ruby said a mix of shock and excitement.
"But how?" Weiss asked but Phoenix just raised an eyebrow. The Heiress sighed, "Right, magic. How dumb of me."
"Really?"
"Yes, call up a Dragontooth Warrior and have it go find a female corpse in relatively good condition." Jaune followed Medea's instructions, sending the bone-construct off before turning his attention back to Penny. "Now we need to remove whatever his holding her soul and her brain once the Warrior returns. For now …" Medea paused in her instructions and Jaune winced as two symbols were burned into his mind. "Start scratching these out into the floor." Jaune constructed a knife and began to carve away into the floor, Medea helping him along.
"You're making her a homunculus body."
"I'm surprised you know the procedure."
"I am one and spent my early years with Morgana; of course I know how to create those weaklings." Jaune stopped carving, the second symbol down. His full attention now devoted to Mordred.
"Mordred, is this going to hurt Penny in the long run?"
"Please, no." Ruby whined.
Ironwood nodded, "She has been through enough."
"I agree, sir." Winter added.
"The Witch knows her stuff, this body might not be as great as mine but it will far surpass any normal person. I'm talking about their spirits, homunculi are generally pansy-ass wimps that can't do jack shit for themselves. The cowards are willing to let anyone walk right on them even though if they wanted to they could crush a Magus easily if they weren't stupid about it. It's sickening." Jaune just accepts the answer; knowing that explanation touched upon more of Mordred's past then the knight cared to think about. Luckily, the Warrior returned as well as the two Dolls he sent to fetch the cards.
"Huh, we'll have to remember to go grab the rest of my stuff once we're done here." Jaune took a deep breath before starting the next step; taking his knife he began to cut away at Penny's body. Slowly he spread her chest and head open to get a look at her insides. Her creator must have had a sick sense of humor because the soul container was actually in the shape of a heart while her brain was an orb with wires sticking out of it. After figuring out what connected the 'heart' to the 'brain' he carefully removing those two objects after severing all the other wires, making sure to keep them connected the whole time he placed them in one symbol while the Warrior stripped the corpse and placed it in the other. It's task done Jaune then ripped the warriors head off and placed the remaining bones inside the symbol with Penny's heart and brain.
"Is this making anyone else uncomfortable?" Pyrrha asked.
"No, I'm feeling the same way." Ren added.
Meanwhile, Ruby just spoke quietly, "Please work."
Jaune couldn't describe what came out of his mouth following that, Medea was simply using him as a megaphone really. The fact she was speaking at all was a sign of how heavy-duty this magecraft was if High-Speed Divine Words wasn't applicable. It was fascinating to watch however as the corpse's flesh began to dissolve and move over to the other symbol; wrapping around the bones, 'heart', and 'mind' while the Warrior's bones begin to alter themselves to the proportions that Penny once had. Soon the flesh begins return to normal, fitting itself around the other parts and altering itself look like Penny. When he finally stopped chanting Penny was laying there on the ground, looking just like when he met her except for one thing.
"Nope, nope!" Jaune quickly covered his eyes and took of his cloak, handing it to the Dolls to cover her with. Once he was sure he was safe Jaune removed his hand from over his eyes and promptly collapsed.
"That was shocking…" Qrow said as he turned back to the screen. The other men did the same thing once they realized Penny's state of undress. Except Ren, he had his eyes covered by Nora's hands as soon as she realized what was up.
"At least Jaune had the decency to look away too." Weiss spoke up.
"That's Jaune for you." Pyrrha said with a grin before a blush overtook her cheeks.
Yang saw this, "Something you wanna share with the class, Pyrrha?"
Before she could say anything, Nora did, "Apparently, Jaune returned to the dorm just as she was getting out of the shower. He didn't see anything but the sight of Pyrrha in only a towel was too much for him and he fainted."
"Nora!" Pyrrha shouted in embarrassment as all the other students laughed at her misfortune. Or fortune, depending on your perspective.
"Sorry Master, it appears I overestimated myself."
"Hmpf, Prideful Witch."
"Shut it Snake!"
"Excellent work Jaune." Jaune turned to the side to see Zelretch holding all three Class Cards he had recovered and a tray of glowing orange beakers. "I didn't think you'd get all three so quickly. Take a load off and I'll get you and the girl out of here." Zelretch looked at Penny with a frown. The last thing Jaune heard before falling asleep was something about War Dolls.
Surprisingly, there were no memories, a first for Jaune in a long time. Instead it was just peaceful darkness until he woke up. Then he found Zelretch smiling at him right in his face and the peace vanished.
The students all jumped in shock, a few with screams. Pyrrha quickly reigned herself in but was still angry, "Damn it, I hate jump scares…"
"Shit!" Jaune lashed out with a fist and Zelretch stepped out of its path. Looking around Jaune didn't recognize his surroundings, the view outside told him they weren't in Atlas, slums or capital, anymore. On top of that he had been stripped down to his boxers, the rest of his clothes sitting on a chair in the corner of the room with the rest of his things. "Where did you take us?"
The members of Team RWBY and Pyrrha were just staring at Jaune in only his underwear. All blushing but not looking away. That was until Phoenix clapped his hands once, very loudly. They all turned to him as he had the biggest smirk, "Now Ladies, his eyes are up there."
They all quickly looked away as their host just chuckled. Nora joining him with a loud belly laugh.
"Argus, lovely city by the way." Jaune's eyes widened and he looked out the window, the architecture making it clear they were in the city. This could be a problem, Saphron and Terra still lived here and he hadn't been in contact since leaving Beacon. "Figured I'd wait for you to wake up before heading out, plus this works better when you're awake."
"Wait what?" Jaune's sight goes dark as Zelretch's hand covers his eyes as the vampire grips his skull. Jaune was no stranger to pain, he had just been impaled earlier after all, but this hurt like nothing else. His mind was on fire, his nerves crying out in agony. Screaming was beyond him; hell complex thought was out of his reach. When it ended he collapsed to his knees, shaking and sweating from whatever Zelretch had done to him.
"What in the hell did you just do to me!?" Jaune's glare only intensified when a fanged grin was sent his way.
"What did he do?" Ren asked, worried.
Phoenix shrugged, "You'll see if we revisit this world again. But don't worry, nothing bad."
"A surprise for later, I think you'll like it. I asked young Penny to wait for us to talk before she came in; oh don't look so surprised it wasn't like we could leave her in Atlas." Jaune just continued to stare at him, unbelieving he did anything out of the goodness of his heart. "You wound an old man young Arc, even I have my moments." Zelretch made to leave at that but Jaune stopped him, getting up and grabbing him by the shoulder.
"Zelretch, Kiritsugu's memories had a lot of nasty stuff. I'm sure I buried a lot more of it to stay sane, you're the only Magus that can travel dimensions right?" Zelretch sighed and turned to face his entertainment/helper.
"Magician, I'm the only Magician. I never explained that quite right, I use true magic and therefore am a Magician. What I do can never be replicated by science. However a few Magi can jump between dimensions but there are certain variables that affect every stage of the process." Zelretch's eyes darkened and Jaune took a step back. "Sadly, the Ainsworth are one of the families to often come across this ability. If you should ever heed any of my advice this is one piece you would be wise to listen to." Jaune gulped as a hardness overtook Zelretch, no this was hatred. Zelretch, he truly despised these Ainsworths. "Should an Ainsworth ever arrive in this world; kill them. No matter the reason they come, no matter the cost that must be paid, slit their throats, and burn the corpse. That goes doubly so if one of them is a boy named Julian Ainsworth."
"Man, he really hates them…" Blake muttered.
"You don't know the half of it." Phoenix spoke up, "Even with my meager knowledge, I know several atrocities that family has caused."
"Is that fear I hear in your voice?" Raven taunted.
Phoenix laughed, "Trust me, Raven. There is only one thing I truly fear as a Writer and if it was here… Well, you wouldn't have to worry about it because you'd already be dead." The tone and certainty he said that with made them all shudder.
Phoenix's own eyes trailed down to his tattoo on the back of his hand. 'Hopefully, it'll stay buried…'
"Zelretch?"
"There are a great many monsters in human skin among Magi but one of the worst among them is that boy, he has no morals, no line he won't cross in his path seeking destruction and he has the power to back it up." Zelretch looks towards the door and the darker emotions leaves his face. "What you did with that girl, I might be calling upon you to do it again."
"Penny?"
"Yes, she isn't the only puppet that deserves to have her strings cut. No offense to the young woman outside that door but who I have in mind deserves it even more so. I'll come to a decision at some point, the dimension these events will occur is reaching the critical point where I'll know if you can or not." Jaune doesn't press for more, a sinking feeling in his gut.
Magi could reach Remnant; they could reach this world. Jaune knew what would come if they ever did. Death, destruction, enslavement, all that and ending with Remnant's people reduced to spare parts for their monstrous experiments or currency for trading with demons.
"So there really is something worse than the Grimm out there…" Ozpin said. "And I only believed there was one…"
"Hello friend Jaune." Penny's voice drags him out of his thoughts, the young woman now wearing a green nightdress and smiling with far more life than before. "I thank you for saving me." Her eyes darken and her shoulders droop, her body slumping as her mood dropped. "I was 'awake' for everything."
"Oh, Penny." Ruby said sadly.
Jaune's mind stopped at that, unable to comprehend the sheer terror she must have felt. "Fa…father said it was my punishment, to be awake as he took me apart and erased my mind. I was going to be conscious as he deleted me piece by piece; then there was learning my soul wasn't from a dying, comatose girl." A smile came to her face again, smaller then before but it was better than a frown. "But now I'm practically a real girl now, I have a pulse, I can feel pain, I can taste. So thank you for saving me and for giving me this life." Jaune smiled at her, extending a hand out.
"Happy to help." Penny took his hand but rather than shake it pulled him into a hug. Jaune blushes, being half-naked in front of her was one thing but this, her nightgown wasn't transparent but it wasn't thick either.
"Um, Penny. We're kind of underdressed." Penny backs away from Jaune and tilts her head, her own cheeks red.
"Sorry, I just wanted to feel another person." The former robot pokes her own cheek. "And is this a blush, its tingly." Jaune swore that if he ever learned how to raise the dead he would bring back the bastard who made Penny and make him beg for Hell. Wanting to feel, taste, every word just painted a disturbing picture and made him wish he had just chased after the scientist. Kiritsugu had plenty of methods for 'information extraction' that could have been put to good use.
"Uh oh." Nora spoke up. "That's not good."
"Hopefully, Jaune shows some restraint." Pyrrha spoke up, nervous for her partner.
"Haaaa. Oh, so that is a yawn. I wonder if I'll get to experience dreaming for the first time." Oblivion would be too good for the bastard.
"Master I do have some necromancy we could call upon but we'd need at least a bone of the target." So very tempting.
"Put a pin in it for now Medea."
"Don't tempt him!" Ruby whined.
"He does have a point though." Blake pointed out.
"With that, I agree." Weiss nodded. She had her fill of fathers that were just pure bastards at heart.
"So where is your bed Penny?" The girl pointed at the one behind him. "Huh, oh sorry, I'll go get another.
"But that's the only bed." Jaune felt his eye begin to twitch. Of course Zelretch only got a one room bed.
"Then I'll take the couch."
"It's not one designed for sleeping on." Did vampires regrow their fangs? On second thought did Jaune really care.
"Doesn't matter." Jaune was going to run the Magician through the next time he saw him; see how immortal he was with Gae Buidhe sticking out of his gut.
"Are all immortals like this?" Goodwitch asked.
"The fun ones." Phoenix said with a smirk. "The other half are usually crazy and bent on some form of domination or destruction."
"Which do you fall in with?" Qrow asked.
"First, I'm not immortal." Phoenix started. "But I am definitely the former. It is just too fun to mess with people."
"Wait, Mr. Zelretch told me I should have you repair my body before I go to sleep." Medea did not take kindly to that request.
"Repair! That body is effectively a work of art. I ensured that no flaws, what could she have done so far that requires healing beyond her aura!?" Jaune wondered as well but he was much more concerned rather than upset.
"What happened?" Penny pointed at her groin, bringing another blush to Jaune's face that soon vanished.
"I began to bleed from here and I feel some slight pain here as well." Jaune just paled while Penny said all this with an innocent face.
Qrow bust out laughing, "I feel so bad for that bastard."
"Ah, Gaia's monthly gift."
"Gift, what the hell are you calling a gift ,Kitty."
"Huh, I do better work then I thought."
'Zelretch, I am going to skin you alive, bath you in holy water, and create some Black Keys just so I can shove them up your ass!'
Salem looked at Watts with interest. His report more than capturing it after hearing about a new form of magic popping up over Remnant.
Everyone froze at Salem's appearance. Ozpin for not expecting it. Those who knew about her finally seeing the face of the demon behind the Grimm shook them to their core. And the students just saw something beyond any nightmare they've had previously.
"And these cards also affect Grimm? They must be responsible for those odd feelings I've had lately. I couldn't place what was happening." She might control the Grimm but it wasn't like she had a hive mind with them, that would probably make her go brain dead regardless of the curses laid upon her.
"Yes, Hazel and Tyrian have rounded up the few we've found while I had people seek out the cards themselves. I found four so far, here you go." Salem took the cards from him, one with the picture of an assassin, one a knight, and two with a chained figure on them. All four of them felt warm to the touch. "I can't tell if there is any specific stimulus they need but so far it seems like they merge at random." Salem smirks at Watts, his faith in science had never left him since he joined her despite the stuff he has seen her do.
"Watts is alive?" Ironwood said in shock.
"Leave me Watts, you do not want to be in the blast zone while I test a few theories." Watts bows and quickly leaves the room. Salem looks down at the cards with interest, able to feel the souls inside them, resonating with her own. That must be it, if each card has a soul they have preferences. Perhaps the Grimm's form is the reason or maybe they seek darkness, either way these cards are already lapping at her magic. Perhaps if she gave them some energy.
"Let's see, this one." Choosing one of the duplicate cards Salem feeds energy into it and when she feels a limit be reached she tosses it across the room. Energy spills out of the card and begins to form a body, a huge, towering one at that. Salem grins at the sight. "I do believe I'll need a bigger door.
"AWWWOHHHHH!"
The screen died down and everyone was silent, trying to come to terms with what they had seen. "Who…" Ruby started, "Who was that?" she asked, a tremor to her voice.
"Salem." Ozpin spoke up, gaining the attention of everyone in the room.
"You know her, Professor." The little reaper asked again.
Ozpin was quiet, unsure on what to say but luckily, he would have time to think. Phoenix turned back to the screen and saw black flames licking at the edges of it. His eyes widened in realization before he ran into the center of the room.
Everyone turned as a wave of black fire erupted form the screen. They all shied back or tried to shield themselves and the people they cared about. But there was Phoenix, standing in the middle of the room and ready. He pulled his arm back before throwing forward, releasing a just as large wave of deep crimson flame from his palm. The two colored fires battle for supremacy before Phoenix's won out, forcing the black back into the screen. Phoenix lowered his arm as he panted, "Damn it."
"What was that?" Ozpin asked, alarmed like everyone else.
"When I showed the first Dark Multiverse world, some of the energy clung to the screen. And after all the negative emotions you've felt from the previous worlds, it stoked those flames and the erupted forward." Phoenix explained. "I was able to force them back in but that leaves us with only one option."
He turned back to his viewers, exhaustion and apprehension on his face, "We must watch another Dark Multiverse world or the flames will be out of my control."
A/N- And here's the next one! Had the chapter ready so why wouldn't I get it done as quickly as possible. Thanks to Jauneforever for letting me use the story and for Beta reading it. Go check him out if you haven't already.
In other news: Yes, the next chapter will be another Dark Arcs chapter. I've decided I'll do them every five or so chapters. Should be fun to do and I won't say much. But I will leave you this Jaune's codename: Safeguard.
And I'm going to say this again: I am NOT going to do requests. Any reviews that leave a request will be ignored and/or deleted. I already have all the chapters I want to do planned out and I won't be adding more. There have also been a few people telling me to stop doing anime. Honestly, I'm going to right A LOT of anime because I want to. If you aren't a fan then this probably isn't the Reaction series for you.
With all that said, I hoped you all enjoyed and I'll see you all in the next update!