Chapter-4

Ruby

"BIRDIE, NO!" Ruby screamed in concern as she bumped against a bird. Slowing her descent, Ruby landed softly on the grass before running off, thinking of who she was going to be partnered with.

Racking her brains, Ruby thought of all the people she'd met yesterday.

Weiss? No, she doesn't like me at all and yells at me all the time. I don't want to be partnered with her.

Blake? I mean, she is pretty moody, but she doesn't really hate my guts like Weiss does. She would be fine.

Jaune? He's pretty nice and friendly, but he doesn't look like a good fighter. As long as he can hold his own, I am fine with him being my partner. I just hope he's fine. He didn't seem like he had a landing strategy

But the best would be Yang. We know each other's strengths and weaknesses and have a nice bond already. Whatever she says about me needing to socialize, I'm having her, no matter what!

Ruby had seen her sister fly further than the rest into the northern direction and headed there.

There was another person, but he wasn't a student. Professor Saber and his cool sword were still stuck in her mind.

I wonder if he allows people to touch his blade. Ruby thought giddily. Then I could take that sweet sword and -!

Ruby dodged a beowolf's paw, unfolding Crescent Rose and swinging it to take the beowolf's head off.

That was close! Bad Ruby! Stop thinking about weapons and teachers in the middle of a grimm-infested forest.

As she continued moving, Ruby heard faint sounds of Ember Celica.

There she is! Ruby thought in excitement as she kept moving.

Come on, home stretch, home stretch! Ye…

Suddenly white hair appeared in her vision and Ruby found herself staring at Weiss Schnee.

NNNOOOOOO!

She was so close to getting to Yang! How did Weiss even get here?!

Oh poop, looks like I'm partnered up with a person who doesn't like me. Maybe she wouldn't be that bad now…

"No." Weiss spoke before walking away.

"Wait! Where are you going?" Ruby called out but Weiss continued walking, leaving Ruby dejected.

"We're supposed to be teammates…"

The sounds have stopped. Now even Yang's gone. Damn it! Who's going to be my partner now?

That was when Weiss came back.

"This doesn't make us friends." She spoke grabbing Ruby by the hood as she brightened up.

"You came back!"

Weiss was slowly and slowly realizing that perhaps Beacon was a mistake. She'd heard so much about its prestige as an institution that produced huntsmen even better than Atlas academy and expected much more than the sheer amount of eccentricity and idiocy she'd witnessed.

And all that was currently converged upon her partner, Ruby Rose. Her impression had already soured when the dolt knocked over her cases containing dust and almost killed them by igniting the fire dust.

After that, she'd again created a racket disturbing her sleep by squabbling like a child.

Speaking of which, why was she even here? She did not even look old enough to attend a huntsman academy. She looked like she belonged in a combat school!

"What's the hurry?" The child in question asked from behind her.

She doesn't even see the urgency of completing this!

"I will not be delayed in my mission because you were too slow." She snapped. "I swear if I get a bad grade because of your-gah!" Weiss screamed as Ruby suddenly appeared in front of her face.

"What the…"

"I'm not slow, you see. You don't have to worry about me! Just because I don't know how to do with people doesn't mean I don't know how to do with monsters. You're gonna see a whole different side of me today, Weiss. And when it's all over, you're gonna be like, 'Wow! That Ruby girl is really, really cool'. And I wanna be your friend." Ruby spoke before zooming off.

Really cool? Your behavior yesterday certainly shows how 'cool' you are. Weiss thought sarcastically. She never wanted to be friends with that dolt who did not know a single thing about tact and grace and acted like an excited pup.

Weiss frowned. At least it wasn't a faunus who was her partner.

A rose petal got stuck in her lips as Weiss spat it out. "What kind of semblance leaves rose petals?" She spoke before hearing growls behind her. "Oh, perfect. RUBY! GET OVER HERE!"

"RUBY! GET OVER HERE!" Ruby's ears picked up Weiss' voice.

"Weiss?" Ruby spoke in confusion turning around. Why wasn't Weiss behind her?

"Weiss!" Ruby called as she head back the direction she came from. "What's the…oh."

Weiss was fighting off a pack of beowolves. She stabbed one in the mouth before blocking another coming from her side with a glyph and throwing it away. She turned around to face the ones coming up behind her and stabbed her rapier in the ground, freezing the feet of the beowolves and sliding on the ice to slice their heads off with graceful moves.

"Woah…" Ruby spoke. The way Weiss fought was very pretty with those fancy moves of hers but still killed the grimm with efficiency.

Soon, there was only one grimm left but Weiss for some reason was taking a lot of time to kill it.

Weiss, come on! That grimm won't wait for you to finish!

As the grimm got ready to pounce, Ruby unfolded Crescent Rose

No! I've gotta save Weiss! She thought frantically before dashing in and smacking the grimm back with Crescent Rose's flat side.

"Gotcha!" Ruby spoke in victory before she heard Weiss yell in surprise and the sound of fire. The sound distracted her and Ruby was taken off-guard by the paw and hit Crescent Rose's handle and sent her flying back. Ruby was about to recover when her back hit something soft and made her flop to the ground.

"Hey! Watch it!" Ruby spoke.

"Me? you…MOVE!" Weiss screamed as she tackled Ruby away from a burning tree falling down where they were arguing.

Ruby's eyes widened as she just noticed her surroundings. A forest fire had started.

"Let's go!" Weiss grabbed her and ran away from the fire.

"Wha..but!" Ruby protested as Weiss dragged her away.

Why did she drag me away? I could have gotten that beowolf so quickly!

The fact that Weiss saved her soon slipped out of her mind because of the frustration she was in and voiced her thoughts.

Weiss whirled back. "Well, maybe if you had even the slightest caution in exercising the placement of your strikes, I wouldn't have set the forest on fire!"

"What? What do you mean 'exercising caution'? I was just repelling the grimm while you prepared to strike?!"

"Which I didn't require! If I hadn't diverted my blade at the last second, I would have skewered your aura and set you on fire! Do you think that would be good for the both of us?!"

"No, it wouldn't have! It's just…gah!" Ruby yelled in frustration.

Why didn't she get it? I saved her from that beowolf, not steal her kill like some kind of jerk!

"Now come on! We've wasted enough time and I do not want my grades to suffer for your recklessness!" Weiss spoke walking off. "I see a cave here! With odd symbols on it. Ozpin must have placed the relics here, let's go!"

Ruby took a look at the cave and shivered. She had a bad feeling about this.

"WOOHOO!" "YEAH!" TAKE THIS!" Yang's voice could be heard as she blasted grimm with Ember celica.

"This is easy!" She spoke grinning. When she'd come to Beacon, Yang had been a bit anxious about what initiation would be like. The entrance examination had been mind-numbingly boring tests with some complicated questions about huntsmen and Yang was afraid the initiation involved the same things but even worse.

But no! It's just how I like it! Yang thought as she swung her fist down on a beowolf's head, punching to the ground and finishing it off with another blast. The initiation was just getting some 'relics' and fighting grimm along the way.

But she was a bit worried about her little sister. Ruby had always been terrible at socializing, staying away from many of her classmates at Signal and making very little friends. So now, coming to Beacon by skipping 2 years, she was at an even worse spot in socializing. She'd already made a terrible impression of Weiss Schnee, but to be fair, that girl looked like she'd hate everyone in the academy.

Another beowolf dropped dead.

At least she'd made friends. There was Jaune, the scraggly blonde who looked like he would get knocked over by a gentle breeze who also worried Yang because of his shameless flirting and insensitivity to a woman's reaction and then there was Professor Saber.

Oh, mama! Now that's a man! Yang thought. Professor Saber was pretty much Jaune's polar opposite – Handsome, strong and polite. She didn't think there was anyone who could pull off a badass look with nerdy glasses. But both weren't bad people and she was glad her sister had made friends with them.

She heard something rustle in the bushes. Considering that Ruby would always try to ambush her from a bush when they were and that she was going to look forward to partnering up with her, it was most likely her hiding.

"You can't fool me, Ruby! I've been through this way too many times to…" A large black paw slammed into her body and sent her flying back.

"What the-!" Yang exclaimed in surprise before getting up to see an Ursa come out of the bush. "Oh…that wasn't Ruby. Oh well, this doesn't look too bad…"

Two more came out alongside the first one.

"Oookay, that was not the right thing to say, Yang." Yang spoke. She knelt down, fired Ember celica behind her and jumped with the energy from taking hits from the beowolves sending her at high speeds, meeting the first Ursa's charge and sending it back with a punch carrying her momentum which blew the Ursa's head off.

She'd taken down one of three, but that had cost her the energy she'd built up. She wouldn't be able to recreate that move for some time.

"You guys wouldn't have seen a girl in a red hood, would you?" Yang asked, dodging a swipe in response.

"You could have just said no." She replied before uppercutting the Ursa and kicking it back. The third Ursa rushed in and swung at her a few times, which she dodged.

"Missed me! You know if this continued…" A single blonde strand of hair floated down the ground.

You…

Yang's lilac turned to crimson red. "YOU MONSTER!" She screamed charging at the third Ursa, wildly swinging at it without restraint before sending its pulverized corpse flying through trees.

She turned back to the last one, her anger over them touching her hair still fresh.

"You want some! THEN COME AND GET IT!"

The Ursa roared at Yang and went to attack before someone jumped down on it, driving a black blade into its neck.

Yang stared at amber eyes as the girl who killed it sheath her blade. It was the same moody girl who snuffed her efforts a friendship last night, Blake. "…I could have taken him." She spoke. "But it looks like someone pounced on it before I could let loose."

Blake winced. "You could have, but I wouldn't want my partner recklessly charging into the enemy and getting injured."

"Aw…that warms my heart. I'm so happy you care for me, Blakey"

Blake snorted in amusement. "I saw a cave with markings on it. That must be where the relics are kept."

"Are you sure?"

"Well, this is the north end and I do not see anything that might fit the description."

Yang shrugged. "Alright. Lead the way, partner."

So far, Jaune's time at Beacon was…good and bad to say the least. He'd…well…expected it to be hard considering he had no combat training. He had pretty much picked up his family's sword, shield and armor and gone off to Beacon with fake transcripts that he had spent a lot of time to prepare. But his resolve didn't weaken. He wanted to be a huntsman and follow his family's legacy.

But seeing all of those who had some training weakened that resolve. All of them looked like they would be extremely hard to contend with. At least he made friends with some nice people, Ruby Rose and Saber.

Both of them had appearances contrasting their personalities Ruby's gigantic scythe that looked very scary heavily contrasted with her short height and friendly personality and Professor Saber, despite having very intimidating armor and a sword that chilled him to his core, was very polite and kind.

And then there is Pyrrha. Jaune did not believe he'd ever meet the poster girl for Pumpkin Pete's. Pyrrha Nikos was a celebrity of Argus, so seeing her in Beacon instead of Haven was a surprise. Partnering with her was an even bigger surprise and terrifying.

What if she found out about it? Jaune thought following Pyrrha through the bushes. She had an athletic build that screamed years of intense combat training, something he had absolutely nothing of. She was currently being nice to him, but what if finding out about his secret ruined that?

"I can't believe I'm partnered up with a liar who cheated his way to this school!"

Jaune shook his head. That could not happen. Pyrrha should never find out about it

He heard gunshots and looked around. "Was that…?"

"Gunshots. Some of our comrades have encountered the enemy." Pyrrha confirmed. "They should be fine. I read that Professor Ozpin had the staff clear the forest of any particularly dangerous grimm. We'll only find Beowolves and Ursas here."

Jaune nodded and moved forward before something slapped his face.

"Aeugh!"

"Jaune! I'm sorry!" Pyrrha apologized as Jaune lay groaning from the branch slapping him. His cheek stung and Jaune noticed it was a scratch.

"Heh heh, it's alright. Just a scratch."

Pyrrha's eyes took a confused look. "Why didn't you activate your aura?"

Huh?

Aura? Wait, mom did say aura was an important thing for huntsmen to learn. Jaune racked his brains but couldn't remember what exactly it was called.

"Jaune…do you know what aura is?"

Crap, crap, crap! I need to diffuse this quickly.

"Uh…yeah, I know what aura is. I just…don't have it right now." Jaune spoke scratching his head.

There, that should…

"What?!" Pyrrha exclaimed. "Jaune, do you know how dangerous it is to come here without aura?"

And Jaune's panic set in again.

That wasn't the right thing to say! Oh no, what do I do, what do I do…

Pyrrha sighed. "Alright, I'll activate your aura. As you know, aura is the manifestation as our soul, using our will to live to become one with our mind and body and protect them from danger. To activate it, one must understand the light and darkness that defines them as a living being and recognize the worth in their lives. Once done, aura will become a tool to protect, whether as a shield to save us from harm or a weapon to defeat our enemies. Now, close your eyes and think of what you want to do." Pyrrha spoke as Jaune closed his eyes.

What I want to do…

"I want to honor my family's legacy and protect people like my grandfather did."

"It is in passing that we achieve immortality, becoming a paragon of virtue and purity that rises above all. Through passing, we return to the root of creation. Infinite in distance and unbound by death, I release your soul and by my shoulders protect you."

Jaune felt something shine within the darkness of his vision. A bright light that became too blinding for him and his eyes opened. His vision felt clearer and he felt like his senses were sharpened.

Pyrrha let out a breath of exhaustion.

"Pyrrha! Are you alright?"

"Yes, I'm fine. Unlocking another's aura flood their aura into your body for a brief period. You have so much aura that it alongside my own aura consumed a lot more energy than I intended."

"Really?"

"Yes. You have perhaps the strongest aura I have ever seen in a person in my life. That's impressive, Jaune."

Jaune smiled in embarrassment. "Stop it, Pyrrha, you're making me blush!"

Pyrrha giggled. "Sorry, Jaune. Now let's go."

As she turned around, something came out of the bushes behind Jaune.

"Ursa!" Pyrrha called bringing out her weapons as Jaune turned around and froze. That grimm looked like it could squish him by just slamming him with its paw. The ursa flailed around swinging its claws before collapsing.

"YEEHAW!" An unfamiliar voice yelled as a ginger-haired girl jumped off its back wielding a hammer. "Aw, it broke!"

"Nora-!" Another voice spoke as a mistralan boy came stumbling out of the bushes panting.

"Please….never do that….again…" He spoke wheezing as the girl zipped to him.

"But Renny, that was so much fun! Don't blame me that you flopped off the Ursa's back!" Nora spoke while Jaune and Pyrrha watched in surprise.

"Did she…ride on that grimm?" Jaune asked Pyrrha.

"Uh…I think so."

"Hi there!"

"AAAH!" Jaune screamed jumping into the air as Nora appeared in front of him. "I'm Nora! Nice to meet you!"

"Nora, don't scare them." The boy spoke as Jaune clutched his heart.

Pyrrha put a hand on his shoulder. "Breathe, Jaune. Let your heartbeat slow down."

Jaune silently nodded. "I almost got a heart attack…"

"Don't be silly! A little 'hi' won't do such a thing!"

Unless it's coming from you… Jaune thought. "So, uh, I'm Jaune. Nice to meet you."

"Nice to meet you too! I'm Nora and this is my bestie Ren!"

Pyrrha smiled with anxiety. "Pyrrha Nikos."

"Nikos? You mean the famous tournament fighter from Argus?" Nora asked. "Nice! Renny and I once saw you on television, and you're really good!"

Ren came up beside Nora. "Don't worry, we won't pester you like your fans. We don't really follow tournaments."

Jaune noticed Pyrrha relax slightly. "Oh…are you from Mistral?"

Ren nodded. "Yes. But I think we should go. It isn't a good idea to stand here while grimm could be around."

Jaune gulped. "Y-Yeah, so where now?"

"We shall continue to head north." Pyrrha spoke as the group of four began heading north.

Soon, they reached a cave with strange markings on the rocks at its entrance.

Nora gasped. "A cave! Renny, my sloth call would easily reach you if we go in!"

"Nora…that isn't a sloth call…"

"Lies and slander!"

"Is this where the relics are? There are some ruins and markings…" Pyrrha spoke up.

"I think so too." Jaune spoke. "We should go in. Are you guys fine with it?"

Ren nodded while Nora shrugged. "If Renny's going in, then I'm coming too!"

Jaune nodded smiling before the four entered the cave.

After some time it got really dark and vision was almost non-existent.

"We really should have brought a torch, Renny!"

"Hm, you are right. I didn't expect it would be this long." Ren spoke. "It's very dark, and for some reason, very cold."

Jaune continued walking until something broke under his feet.

The others tensed as Jaune scrambled back. "Huh?"

Pyrrha knelt down. "I can't make it out, but it looks like…grimm bone?"

"FOOOOOODDDDD!" A loud voice roared as the four initiates jumped.

"W-What was that?" Jaune asked in terror as loud thumping echoed.

"I don't know, but I don't think we should stay. RUN!" Pyrrha yelled as the four turned around and began running towards the exit.

Ruby and Weiss reached the entrance to see Yang and the girl Blake also come.

Ruby's face brightened. "Yang!" She spoke running upto her sister.

"Hey, Rubes! Who'd you partner…" Yang's voice trailed off to see Weiss who snorted. "You partnered with the ice queen." She spoke with a sigh.

"Hey! Is it always a habit to insult every person you meet, you brute!" Weiss snapped.

"It isn't. It's just that you are someone who can easily get under people's skins like the rest of your family." Blake spoke up as Weiss glared at her.

"You." She spat. "What is your problem with my family? You've done nothing but insult me in every interaction we've had?"

Ruby winced looking at them. Looks like Weiss did not get along well with almost anyone. Before Blake could open her mouth, a scream came from the cave.

Wait, is that…

"Jaune?" Ruby spoke before Jaune came running out with three others.

"Jaune! What happened?" She asked in confusion.

"Ruby! There's something…"

The entrance exploded as something broke through its rocks. The 8 teenagers took up their weapons before getting a clear look.

They were massive humanoids that were even taller than the Ursas with pot-bellies and brown hair all over their body that was white in some places along with grey skin that looked like trolls. Their noses were extremely long and their teeth were green and rotting with fungi growing on some parts of their face as well as pointy ears that were as hairy as the rest of the body. Their hair was black braided into dreadlocks falling to their pot bellies. They wore no clothes as the hair covered their body parts and carried stone clubs while their eyes were white without pupils, bloodshot and bulging. One of them was taller than the other.

"FOOD!" The short one yelled in glee.

"KILL. FOUR. HUMANS!" The tall one yelled at the other. "I. KILL. FOUR. ALSO!"

"W-WHAT ARE THOSE?!" Weiss screamed in horror as the group of 8 recoiled from the disgusting sight.

"DIE. HUMANS!" The short one screamed before running towards Jaune, Nora, Pyrrha and Ren. "Get away!" Jaune screamed as the short creature chased them into woods.

"YOU. DIE. HUMANS!" The other one screamed as Ruby, Weiss, Blake and Yang looked at it.

"We need to run too!" Weiss yelled.

"No! We can't have it running into the others! We need to kill it here and now!" Ruby yelled back. Weiss grit her teeth and nodded.

"I guess we're facing Ugly no.1." Yang spoke. She cocked her gauntlets, Blake loaded her gun, Weiss set her rapier to launch dust while Ruby cocked her sniper. This creature did not look anything like a grimm, and it even spoke! But it wanted to kill them, so they had to take it down.

"What is…?" Ozpin spoke in confusion while Sigurd's eyes widened.

They…look like trölls. But their eyes resemble a jötunn's and their skin is stone like a Spriggan's. What are they then?

"I'm going in, Ozpin." Sigurd spoke. Ozpin blinked. "Do you know what they are, Saber?"

"I shall inform you of that. But right now, the students need help." Sigurd spoke.

"Good luck, Saber." Ozpin spoke worriedly as Sigurd jumped off the cliff, running north to where the students encountered the trölls.

He was again too slow for servant standards and it would take him time to reach the students.

Please hold out until I arrive, children… He thought running through the forest.

A/N: Here's chapter-4. I changed the dialogue between the RWBY characters a bit to reach my goal of more than 2500 words per chapter and in case of Jaune, explain some RWBY lore with more detail than the show, since Remnant is set within the Nasuverse in this story. Hope you guys enjoyed and constructive criticism is appreciated.

A/N (2) : Well, since I've gotten my first criticisms, good time to address them.

Saraak : You're right about this chapter being underwhelming. I basically put in the canon dialogues as well as the character's thought process to fit a textual narrative. But I would try to fix that issue in more of a rewrite fic of RWBY. Since this is a crossover, I personally think I would be better off keeping to canon and modifying it to fit a book for the time being until more Nasuverse elements get introduced into the story. Then, I'll start branching off canon and perhaps bending its rules to integrate RWBY lore into Nasuverse rules.

EdoShadow: I agree with that, buddy. I was expecting someone to point out the buffing of RWBY characters and nerfing of Fate characters since this story came to my mind. First, I wasn't interested in writing an HGW (Holy Grail War) on Remnant, even if it allowed for the characters to be at the power levels they're supposed to be at, and wanted to write a story where the servants are more independent and not restricted to a master the entire time. Second, even if I did keep servants at their actual power levels, I've chosen Sigurd as my main character. He looks cool, but he's also considered to be one of the strongest Sabers and capable of giving servants on the level of Karna and Achilles a run for their money. I would turn this story into a power fantasy trying to write antagonists that give Sigurd a challenge, something that I don't want since I want the RWBY characters to get some spotlight. So, the nerfing of Fate will be slowly removed, but the buffing of RWBY will continue throughout this story, mostly in the form of lore elements having a lot more power than they actually do.