All The Difference In The Worlds

by Some Random Shitty Rambler

"The right man in the wrong places can make all the difference in the worlds". Unfortunately for Jaune Arc, he finds himself in the wrong place when he pushes Pyrrha into that rocket locker and takes her place at the top of Beacon's tower during the Fall. Even worse, that isn't the only wrong place that awaits him! Multi X-Over. Completed

99. The Reunion

Chapter 99 - The Reunion

---

Sarah Lyons hadn't been sure of what to expect, when the Vertibird had brought her to the Prydwen at full speed.

After all, Jaune Arc attracted trouble like a dog attracted fleas, the Mojave Wasteland was a very fucked-up place, and her forces had just concluded their conflicts with slavers that had a hard-on for Ancient Roman History (specifically crucifixions), a rogue Brotherhood of Steel Elder hiding in a Pre-War casino covered in a cloud of toxic, corrosive blood-red gases and filled with matter recombinators, hard-light holograms that shot lasers from their eyes, and tribes of mute hazmat-suited mutated humanoids whose suits were filled with the toxic cloud, and the Pre-War brains in floating jars, who'd filled the ruins of the Big Mountain Research & Development Centre with the products of their experiments.

She'd never found herself so utterly convinced of the Brotherhood's original goals of restricting technology to protect humanity as when she'd found out that said "products" had included the aforementioned toxic cloud, a spore-based fungus-plant hybrid that could either grow into man-sized flytraps or kill and reanimate infected bodies (apparently they'd been working on a sample of Beauveria bassiana in tandem with Vault 22 to create a biological insecticide. Considering the fact that the only non-plant-based lifeforms they'd found in Vault 22 before purging it had been giant mantises...), trauma override harnesses that still contained the skeletons of their wearers (apparently they were designed to take injured soldiers back to a pre-determined point for recovery, but then someone had the bright idea of programming them to be able to use whatever weapons the wearer may have had as well, and then forgotten to set a recovery point, program a trauma threshold that would trigger the suits, or teach them how to distinguish friend from foe), man-sized (or larger) parasitoid wasps (why), venomous coyote-rattlesnake hybrids that could swallow a man whole (why), and roaming bands of lobotomized humans who'd gone feral and crazy (why).

The only reason they hadn't simply nuked that place or unleashed Liberty Prime on it was because the two Couriers that had accompanied Ruby in had, for some reason, been convinced that Arc would have wanted to give them a second chance (thus showing they clearly didn't know Jaune Arc).

(Also, the Chinese had already dropped dozens of nukes on the place during the Great War (it hadn't been an open secret that the military gave Big MT a lot of work), and they hadn't wanted to risk letting Liberty Prime getting infected with a computer virus that might disable his ability to control his weapons, or distinguish friendlies.)

The point was, when Sarah Lyons boarded the Prydwen and entered the bridge, she thought that nothing would be able to surprise her.

The sight of the majority of her bridge crew kneeling reverently in front of a blonde figure in some fancy regal cloak and medieval armor proved her wrong.

Fortunately, four-and-a-half years of knowing Jaune Arc (even if he hadn't been around for four of them) helped her to recover quickly, and her voice carried all of the command and authority she could muster as she barked: "What on Earth is going on here?!"

The kneeling members immediately jumped to attention, Reddin stopped cackling, and Dusk, Colvin, and Sydney stared at her with naked relief as silence descended upon the bridge, while the intruder jumped out of the window, fearing for her life.

Or at least, that was what should have happened, in an ideal world.

Oh, the bridge crew jumped, and Reddin knew better than to test her when she was channeling her inner drill sergeant, but the intruder laughed, and stated: "I see that you are clearly in charge, Sir Knight!"

Sir?!

Sarah's eye twitched, and her gaze discreetly fell upon the intruder's outrageous chest (really put the "breast" in breastplate, that one did), before going back to her own standard-issue T-60f power armor.

... no, she most certainly did not feel lacking. Wasn't like she cared about not being seen as feminine, not one bit.

Unaware of her mental anguish, the intruder explained: "I am Artoria Pendragon, though history remembers me as King Arthur. Forgive me for my sudden appearance, fellow countryman, but Merlin has sent me here, to the Prydwen; supposedly, you have a way of sending me to Jaune Arc?"

Sarah blinked.

Then she blinked again.

Then she blinked a third time for good measure.

No, the figure who was claiming to be King Arthur was still standing in front of her.

And of course, Jaune Arc was involved in this somehow.

At this point, she'd have been more surprised if crazy shit didn't involve Arc in some way.

Also, something didn't add up.

Why would Reddin be so goddamn ecstatic about this Artoria's existence?

If she was telling the truth, then that meant that Jaune Arc was definitely not King Arthur.

"How do I know you're telling the truth?" Sarah asked suspiciously. "And what's your relationship with Arc?"

In response, Artoria drew forth a golden sword, and as holy light filled the bridge and the men fell to their knees again, she explained: "This is Excalibur, the Sword of Promised Victory. I don't mind releasing a fraction of its power if need be... do you have a mountain that you wouldn't mind disappearing?"

"... that won't be necessary." Sarah reluctantly conceded. She may not have known if that was the real Excalibur, or if the person in front of her was the real King Arthur... but the holy light the blade emitted reminded her far too much of being in the presence of Jaune when he activated his Aura.

At the very least, she wasn't normal, and Sarah didn't feel like antagonizing the woman with a magic holy sword.

"As for my relationship with Jaune Arc..." Artoria's voice trailed off, and she raised an eyebrow in confusion as she double-checked: "Do you truly not know?"

"Nope." Sarah answered curtly.

"How odd... I thought the details were all recorded down..." Artoria muttered to herself, before shaking her head and laying out the facts straight: "Jaune Arc was... is, my closest friend, the First of the Knights of the Round Table, and the Steward and Chancellor of Camelot. He was summoned by Merlin to serve as my familiar and my guide; an example of a perfect King for me to learn from."

Sarah's eye twitched.

Well, that almost explained Reddin's reaction.

Arc hadn't been the Pendragon, oh no.

He was a genderbent King Arthur's goddamned idol.

Still, she wasn't ever going to give Reddin the satisfaction of conceding she might have been almost-right.

"Also..." Artoria fidgeted almost imperceptibly, and Sarah almost swore she saw the faintest hint of redness tinging her cheeks. "Why do your men call Jaune Arc "the Pendragon"? I told the Round Table of my plans to wed him and make him King, but it should also be common knowledge that I was never successful."

Sarah's eye twitched again, especially when she heard Artoria mutter something about a "bloody selfless noble idiot", before she let loose a violent sigh.

That was definitely Jaune Arc, alright.

And of course, he wasn't just the genderbent King Arthur's idol.

He was also her fucking... crush? Betrothed? Promised?

Idly, her gaze dropped back down, and she compared King Arthur's (Queen Artoria's?) feminine armor with her bulky curve-concealing power armor.

The looks Dusk, Colvin, and Sydney were giving her shifted, but she glared around at them, refusing to acknowledge their unreadable expressions.

No, she didn't feel in upset about anything, in any way, and anyone who claimed otherwise was a filthy fucking liar.

And no, she'd sooner shoot herself with tesla cannon than admit that Reddin might have ever been on to something.

Sucking in a deep breath to recompose herself, she tried to regain control of the situation: "Look, lady... if you'll just follow me, so that I can figure out just what the hell is going on here?"

"Of course." Artoria easily acquiesced, guessing that her appearance hadn't been planned (which was odd, considering how much Merlin and Morgan had been interfering behind the scenes prior to the Fifth Fuyuki Grail War).

As the two green-eyed blonde marched out of the bridge, ignoring the shocked occupants of the room as they did so, Artoria finally got a good look of just where she was.

Namely, a few thousand meters above the ground.

Sarah spoke up before Artoria could: "Look... I don't know anything about Merlin or magic or whatever, and the only reason I'm not having you detained and questioned is because I've been around Arc enough to know when someone's got a magic sword, you clearly know him too, and you haven't actually done anything besides trespassing on Brotherhood of Steel property."

"... Brotherhood of Steel?" Artoria echoed incredulously, before her eyes narrowed in suspicion as she began putting two and two together.

"Yup." Sarah nodded. "You probably haven't heard of us... hell, I'd be surprised if you even knew you were in a post-apocalyptic wasteland, considering how long-"

"No, I've heard about your group." Artoria interrupted her with a sigh, before cursing under her breath: "Damn it, Merlin..."

"... how?" Sarah began, before shaking her head. "Let me guess... magic?"

"No, Jaune told me." Artoria answered simply. "He told me about his adventures, back when we first met. The Knights of Camelot really loved his tales of the Brotherhood of Steel, even if they did think they were just stories. And I'm guessing you're... Sarah Lyons?"

"He talked about me?" Sarah could barely keep the disbelief out of her voice.

"He talked about all of you." Artoria smiled gently. "It is an honor to finally meet you in person, even if it was not intentional."

"... so, why are you here?" Sarah decided to simply change the subject even as she fought the urge to shudder from the sheer positivity the woman seemed to be radiating.

God, it felt like she was talking to Jaune again... compared to everyone else she dealt with in the Wasteland, the two of them just seemed so... kind.

Sure, Ruby did too, but in her case she at least had the excuse of being an idealistic kid when they'd first met, and then deciding to copy his mannerisms after that.

"Like I mentioned earlier - Merlin sent me here, and told me that you would bring me to Jaune Arc." Artoria frowned. "I didn't expect that pansy to send me to another world, admittedly... or that the Prydwen flies in this one..."

"..." Sarah ignored the fact that she'd called Merlin a pansy (or that she'd admitted she was from another world) and weighed her options briefly, before sighing as she reached a simple conclusion.

While she still wasn't sure about the newcomer, this was a "Jaune Arc Situation", and she refused to get involved in the madness that was comprehending them.

Also, the longer this Artoria stayed on the Prydwen, the stronger the Pendragon Cult was going to get.

Pragmatically speaking, her life would be a lot simpler, if she simpler brought her along, and threw her at Arc for him to sort out.

(Also, she knew Arc would pout at her for days, if this Artoria really was his friend, and he found out she'd turned her away.)

"Well, your Merlin was... technically correct..." Sarah finally conceded, ruefully reflecting that Arc was a bad influence on her. The Wasteland they were in was the former United States, which had split off from the British Empire over five centuries ago, they had called their airship the Prydwen (she really should have vetoed that), and...

"We were just about to head over to... wherever Jaune is..." Sarah reluctantly admitted, hoping it wouldn't come back to bite her.

"Truly?" Artoria's face lit up, and the charisma and dignity of a King that she'd carried suddenly melted away. "Maybe I judged Merlin too harshly... though it would have probably helped if he actually told me what he was doing... in any case, Sir Lyons, may I beseech that you take me along with you?"

"Well, I wasn't just going to leave you there." Sarah begrudgingly admitted, as she brought the self-proclaimed King to the Vertibird. "Arc would never let me live it down... always going on about how "strangers are just friends you haven't met yet"..."

"I see you've certainly met Jaune." Artoria laughed melodiously, as the Vertibird took off.

"Yeah, me and just about everyone else in the Wasteland." Sarah groaned into her hands. "I swear, half the Wasteland's convinced he's the reincarnation of... well, of King Arthur, since I guess you're apparently another world's King Arthur-"

"I'm sorry, what?" Artoria's composure, already gone at the knowledge that she was being reunited with Jaune, was utterly shattered at the revelation that, in the Wasteland, long before she'd even met him... people had already mistaken him for King Arthur.

For her.

She supposed it made sense; he had been summoned to act as an advisor for her Kingship...

But at the same time, hadn't he vehemently insisted that anybody who thought he could be a King had to be mad?

"Hey, we were losing a war against the Enclave when, seemingly out of nowhere, a blonde tank of a man spouting lofty outdated ideals appeared, wielding a sword that could cut through anything and a sheath that protected him from all harm, and helped turn the tide of the war!" Sarah pointed out defensively. "You know how soldiers can be..."

"Indeed. The men and women I met just now reminded me of the Knights of Camelot..." Artoria fought down the laughter that threatened to escape. Certainly, when it was framed in that way, she could see why some might mistake her familiar for her.

"By the way..." Sarah's voice was hesitant now, as if she were afraid to know any further truths. "His sword... it's definitely not Excalibur, right?"

"You mean his dragonbone blade?" Artoria inquired curiously.

"Yeah, the flaming-frozen-electrified blade." Sarah nodded.

"Oh, no, it's certainly not Excalibur." Artoria reassured her, as the Vertibird began to descend into the crater in the mountain. "We just called it the Nameless Blade, because Jaune absolutely refused to give it a name, and its lack of a name eventually became a name of its own."

"Oh, thank God-" Sarah began to breathe a sigh of relief.

"Unfortunately, it was broken in a battle against Gilgamesh..." Artoria continued on, causing Sarah's jaw to drop. "Fortunately, Merlin rediscovered Caliburn just in time for Jaune to use it against All The Evils In The World."

"..." Sarah buried her face in her hands, and fought the urge to scream and sob.

Fortunately for her, before she could recover enough to even begin to ask about why the fuck Jaune Arc had used the Sword in the fucking Stone to fight... whatever the fuck All The Evils In The World was even supposed to be, the Vertibird landed with a rough shuddering sound, and from the cockpit Vargas announced over her radio: "We're here, ma'am."

"... let's just go make sure Jaune's okay." Sarah sighed, deciding not to kill any more of her brain cells trying to comprehend the madness that was a Jaune Arc Situation.

Seriously, the only people she knew that did were Ruby, Reddin (whose default interpretation of events was "Jaune Arc was King Arthur"), House (though it helped that he seemed to have multiple supercomputers for brains), and Courier Six (whose default interpretation of events was "Jaune Arc was from Heaven").

For the sake of her sanity, she chose to satisfy herself with the mantra "it's Jaune Arc".

"... what is this place?" Artoria couldn't help but ask warily, as she looked around the ruins of what had once been the Big Mountain Research & Development Centre.

"Believe me, you don't want to know." Sarah refused to answer, if only because she herself could barely comprehend what they'd been doing here; how was she supposed to explain gene-splicing to a King with a magic sword hailing from a time where paved roads were revolutionary and the height of medicine was probably leeches? "Come on, the device is further in."

"Lyons." Pyrrha nodded, as the Courier spotted the newcomers, before her eyebrow rose.

"Sarah!" Ruby was far more eager. "Finally, you're here-"

"Who's the broad?" Pyrrha's tone was blunt as ever.

"..." Sarah's eye twitched.

In all the madness of the past hour, she'd completely forgotten about the people she was supposed to go find Jaune with.

"I am Artoria Pendragon, formerly known as King Arthur Pendragon, here to join you on your quest to retrieve Jaune Arc." Artoria declared formally.

A stunned silence followed her announcement, and Sarah considered herself fortunate that Ulysses had decided he'd rather try to help rehabilitate the Think-Thank over going to explore the multiverse with them.

"..." Ruby's jaw dropped.

"... which asylum did you find the chick in, Lyons?" Pyrrha finally asked, looking at the pair with a mixture suspicion, confusion, and sympathy.

Before Artoria could object (and it could escalate into a conflict), Sarah stepped forward and explained: "Look, the two of you know Jaune's from another dimension, right?"

"Of course." Pyrrha rolled her eyes, as if it were obvious.

Ruby's eyes narrowed at the Courier, however, and she double-checked: "You do know we're referring to Remnant, right?"

In response, Pyrrha merely snorted dismissively.

"For-guh-ugggh!" Sarah almost thought Ruby was going to pop a blood vessel, as the younger girl forcibly suppressed her urge to curse and swear, before she collected herself and shouted in exasperation: "For the last time, you maniac! My best friend is not an angel from Heaven!"

"Shows what you know, irreverent heathen."

"Why you-"

As the two began to squabble, Sarah simply tuned them out, only dedicating just enough brain power towards monitoring them so that she could intervene if they tried to kill each other again as she instead turned to a shocked Artoria, and raised an eyebrow.

"Did... did the redhead just say that she thinks Jaune was an angel from Heaven?" Artoria finally choked out, desperately fighting down the urge to roar with laughter.

"Don't remind me..." Sarah groaned. "Remember how I said half the Wasteland thinks he's you? The other half thinks he's an archangel from Heaven."

"..." Artoria found herself speechless, both from imagining Jaune's reaction to this bit of news, and from giving it careful consideration. "... well, he has killed demons, and in my world he was canonized..."

"... please tell me you're joking." Sarah begged, giving her a long-suffering look.

"After... a witch threw him forward in time, he ended up training my world's Jeanne d'Arc, though she was known as Blake d'Arc back then." Artoria explained. "After his disappearance, his student took up his name and mantle, and since she was canonized while pretending to be him..."

"... don't tell me..." Sarah groaned.

"If it's any consolation, he doesn't know about it either." Artoria offered, before moving on: "As for killing demons... according to him, his adventures after the Wasteland took him to a world that was in the midst of an invasion from the Legions of Hell. Naturally, he fought-"

"I'm sorry, did you just say Jaune was fighting the Legions of Hell?" Pyrrha interrupted eagerly, ignoring an indignant Ruby Ironwood in favor of butting into their conversation. "How do you know the Arc-Angel?"

"Long story short, she's from another dimension too." Sarah explained in Artoria's stead, not wanting the Courier's delusions to grow any further. "She was the King Arthur of her world, and Jaune helped her out too."

"... as expected of the Arc-Angel." Pyrrha nodded triumphantly.

"That story sounds so crazy, I can't help but believe it." Ruby conceded reluctantly.

"It's Arc, after all." Sarah smiled forlornly.

"Well, Ms. Pendragon, my name's Ruby Ironwood." Ruby introduced herself, not wanting to make a poor impression on Jaune's friend.

"Oh, you are Ruby of Ironwood?" Artoria eagerly shook her hand. "It is an honor to meet you! Your book was of great aid to the Kingdom of Camelot!"

"It was?" Ruby blinked.

"Jaune was carrying a copy when we met, before Camelot was founded." Artoria explained. "We made much use of it to revolutionize farming and sanitation throughout the Kingdom."

"..." Ruby blinked again, unsure of how exactly she was supposed to respond.

When she'd written that book in Jaune's honor, she'd certainly never expected it to become the blueprints for a medieval kingdom in another dimension.

Weren't there rules about giving advanced technology to primitive societies or something?

... had lèse-majesté been a thing back then?

"Wait a second..." Pyrrha cut in, as she realized something. It was nice to know Jaune had apparently been fine after he'd been teleported out of this world, but... "You're looking for Jaune too? Did something happen to him?"

"... there were a few ups and downs, but he's fine now." Artoria decided to avoid mentioning that he'd used a holy sword against an evil god. "He was just accidentally sent back home by the power of the Holy Grail, Sir...?"

"Sir?" Pyrrha raised an eyebrow. "I'm just a courier, please; I've got no delusions of grandeur like the Brotherhood Sentinel over there."

"... so you're the Courier Champion?" Artoria raised an eyebrow in return, as Ruby growled at Pyrrha.

"The... what?" Pyrrha blinked. "Courier... champion?"

"Jaune told me about you too, Pyrrha Nikos." Artoria explained quietly, sympathy coloring her tone.

Any anger Artoria may have felt towards the woman who'd called her a broad was tempered by the knowledge that the vulgar and possibly-unhinged person in front of her was someone who'd been told all her life that she'd had a great destiny, who'd worked all her life towards it, carved out a stable and functioning settlement in a Dark Age...

And then helplessly watched as it had been destroyed, unable to intervene, and spent the rest of her days blaming herself for not being able to do more.

"He did?" Pyrrha's voice trembled.

"He told me everything." Artoria said proudly, before giving her a wry smile. "Certainly, your travels with him left... quite an impression on him."

He'd had nothing but respect for "that foul-mouthed glutton who hadn't let death stop her from finishing her job" (as he'd so eloquently put it), but even she would admit, an army of ten-foot-tall musclebound creatures taking orders from a cow skull that they worshipped was just absurd (and she'd watched him bite a dragon).

As Pyrrha beamed brightly in response (and Ruby began gritting her teeth), Sarah Lyons could only sigh, and vow to let Arc handle all of this when she saw him again.

Fortunately for her, before she could go insane, Ulysses and the Think-Tank entered the room, and told them the Transportalponder was ready to go.

Unfortunately, the task of explaining who the newcomer was naturally fell to her.

-ARC RESIDENCE, REMNANT, TWO (RELATIVE) HOURS AGO-

The room was dark, when Jaune woke up.

Yawning, the blonde took a moment to stretch, even as he idly wondered why his bed felt so hard, and why his room felt more open than normal.

As he casually sat himself up and reached for his nightstand, however, a soft shuffling sound attracted his attention.

Immediately, Jaune tensed up, and he easily shook of his drowsiness as he looked around the room cautiously.

The faces of his sisters greeted him, gently snoozing away around him, barely visible in the moonlight shining through the gaps in the curtains.

His eyes widened in shock, which quickly transformed into naked relief as he remembered the events of the previous day.

It hadn't been a dream.

He really had returned back to Remnant.

Jaune ignored the warm stinging sensation behind his eyes, as he looked around at his family.

Even after dinner, his sisters hadn't been done asking him about how he'd ended up partnered with the Pyrrha Nikos (seriously had everyone but him known she was famous or something?), what Beacon was like, what the Vytal Festival was like, what death was like (mom and dad had given them The Look until they'd dropped that one), as well as for more specific details about the different worlds he'd been in (the fact that there were ten-foot tall muscle-bound mutants who could go invisible and worshipped a cow skull was still as absurd to him as ever), while they'd tried to catch him up on how things had been in his absence.

And, in the end, between the incessant interrogation and the fact they didn't really have a room for him (they had a guest room, but he'd let Cinder take it), his sisters had decided to simply hold an impromptu sleepover in the living room with him, which in traditional sleepover fashioned hadn't involved nearly as much sleep as the name implied.

Unfortunately, he'd spent the past few years getting up early (he'd needed all the training he could get while at Beacon, Skyrim and the Wasteland hadn't exactly been peaceful places where he could just close his eyes and relax, and there was definitely no sleeping in Hell, but it had only really become a routine when he'd become the unofficial chef of Artoria, Kay, and Merlin), and he supposed his body still hadn't gotten the message that he could actually just sleep in now.

Idly, Jaune briefly considered going back to sleep (it wasn't like he had anything else to do), but as he felt too awake and alert and restless to really go back to sleep.

It probably hadn't helped that, in Fuyuki, this would have been the normal time for him to wake up, go for a quick run, and then head over to Shiro's house to cook for his friends...

... hmm, that was an idea.

It would be interesting to see how his family felt about Japanese or British cooking (the Wasteland, being a post-apocalyptic wasteland, hadn't exactly had a traditional cuisine).

And he definitely wasn't getting any more sleep at this rate (unless he wanted to risk over-sleeping while surrounded by his sisters)...

Suppressing a sigh, Jaune quietly got up, thankful that his sisters were just as heavy sleepers as he remembered, and carefully made his way to the door, pausing only to grab his shield-sheath and Caliburn (they had said Grimm still showed up occasionally, and he didn't want to accidentally break the forest while dealing with a handful of Beowolves or Ursai).

Then he snuck out of the doorway, and began running down the road.

Honestly, though, he could barely focus on the run, and simply allowed his feet to carry him along the path as his mind raced processing everything he'd learned in the past few days.

The past few days (from his perspective) had been... weird, to put it bluntly, and there'd been so much dumped onto his lap, and so little time to just sit down and process it all.

But now, there wasn't really anything else to think about.

He decided to take it slow, and start from the most pressing matters.

Shiro and Rin both being Magi, Velvet's betrayal, Artoria's guilt, Blake and Tier Harribel working with Morgan, who had apparently mellowed out in the past fifteen hundred years, and the whole deal with Angra Mainyu and Cinder... Jaune forcibly put it aside.

He'd helped them take care of the Grail's corruption, and he was confident Artoria and Rhongomyniad could easily deal with the rest.

And Morgan... well, he didn't know if he trusted her, but she hadn't backstabbed them during the fight, and Merlin and Blake seemed to be on... amicable terms, with her.

It left a poor taste in his mouth, admittedly, but there wasn't anything he could do about it.

After the first few dimensional jumps, he'd gotten used to having unfinished business.

And it wasn't like he could go back to that world and make sure they were okay; he'd just have to have faith in them.

What he could do now, instead, was investigate what his family had called "The Triumph".

Details on it were still scarce, admittedly; apparently, it wasn't even public knowledge that Salem's death was confirmed (apparently she was supposed to have been an immortal witch from billions of years ago), and the only reason the Arcs knew it for a fact was because Ruby's uncle had personally informed Pyrrha's parents about the events of the battle (something about a note that hadn't made any sense also came up, but the details weren't too clear), and somewhere along the line his family had become friends with Pyrrha's family.

After he got back and cooked breakfast for his family, he'd begin looking into it; his folks had kept his old Scroll, and he could ask his father for details about that final battle against Salem's forces - locations, dates, even the name of the Huntsman that had told them about it.

Sure, professional Huntsmen, Huntresses, and Atlesian Specialists had gone over the scene, and he had no doubt they had far more training and experience than he did... but he did have unique experiences of his own.

And even if he didn't find anything... they'd built a statue in his honor.

He couldn't repay that by sitting back and doing nothing, especially since it wasn't like he had any other plans on Remnant.

Then again, knowing his sisters, he was sure that the next few days were probably going to be fully booked by them... and he did have to help Cinder get used to modern life.

The poor girl had been so amazed by the existence of indoor plumbing, running water, and central heating...

And he'd just gotten back, too; his family were probably not going to be pleased if he announced that his next plans were to leave again...

He got so lost in his thoughts while running that he might have lost track of time, though he didn't know it at the time.

Instead, his first clue something was amiss was when he neared his house, to see his sisters frantically yelling out his name while running up and down the house and outside the yard.

"Uh... hey, guys?" Jaune asked as he approached his house.

""JAUNE!"" His sisters shouted in relief, running out to hug him.

"You really are-"

"You didn't-"

"-thought you were-"

"What's up?" Jaune cocked his head in confusion, as he accepted their embraces and tried to process their words. "Did something happen?"

"Oh, I don't know..." Jen's voice was sharp as she tightened her grip around his neck and glared at him, though her gaze lacked any real heat. "We all just woke up to find you missing, and your sword and sheath gone..."

Jaune winced, as he finally realized what it might have looked like to them. "... sorry... I didn't realize-"

"We're just happy it wasn't a dream, Jaune." Joan stroked his arm reassuringly. "Where were you, anyway?"

"Oh, I just woke up early, so I decided to go for a run to clear my head." Jaune rubbed the back of his head sheepishly as he explained. "I was also planning on making you guys breakfast after that, but-"

His explanation was cut short, when a massive orb of blackened purple flames suddenly materialized into existence somewhere above his head.

Immediately, he shrugged his sisters off of him and drew Caliburn and his shield even as his eyes widened in recognition, and he barked: "Girls! Get behind me!"

It had been over two years for him, but he could still recognize a summoning from Oblivion, considering how many times he'd seen one before.

"Little bro?" Jane's voice was hesitant and tentative, even as their father burst out of the house with his own sword. "What... is that?"

"... remember how I was telling you about Skyrim?" Jaune explained in a clipped tone, keeping his eyes always trained on the orb and his voice level. "That's... something from Skyrim... and it's usually not good."

In that moment, watching Jaune's shift in demeanor and stance, his family could easily see the man who'd survived everything the mulitverse had thrown at him.

Jaune's mind, meanwhile, was racing, as he desperately considered his current situation and what the possibilities were.

He highly doubted it was something as serious as an Oblivion Crisis, but the Dragonborn had constantly told him that anything to do with daedra was best avoided.

And then nine figures fell through the portal.

Jaune's eyes widened even further, and his arms went slack as the figures all pulled off various familiar landing strategies in front of him.

There was a moment of silence, as the various figures collected themselves, and Jaune's mouth fell open.

Finally, a petulant high-pitched voice asked: "Dust, are we finally back in Remnant?"

"Well, the moon's broken, Weiss Cream, so..." Another voice began to answer, before trailing off as they realized who they'd just landed in front of.

""...""

"Guys...?" Jaune finally found his voice. "Is that... are you... but... how-"

That was as far as he managed to get, before the dam broke.

The next thing Jaune and his family knew, Jaune was getting tackled to the ground by Nora, Ruby, Pyrrha, and Yang, giving him the weirdest sense of deja vu, even as his ears were inundated with ecstatic cries.

"Fearless Leader!"

"Jaune!"

"-it's really you-"

"-thought you died-"

"-are you okay-"

"Where's the dragon-"

"Oum, you're back!"

"-almost had me worried, by Oblivion!"

As he tried to process everything he was hearing, he belatedly realized Yang was hugging him.

Since when were he and Yang that close?

And why did he hear Yang's voice both next to him and where the portal had been?

He took a moment to quickly look between the robot-armed lilac-eyed blonde snickering in the corner and the lilac-eyed blonde grinning at him like the Sabyr that had finally caught the Nevermore.

... idly, a part of him wondered if it was sad that he couldn't even be surprised.

"You promised me you'd return safely, Jaune." Dragonborn Yang chirped smugly, audible even over the commotion surrounding him. "And what was it you always said, about Arcs and promises?"

Jaune gulped, remembering the events of two years ago, and fought down the urge to start Shouting his way out of there under the Dragonborn's predatory gaze.

Had the Dragonborn really hunted him down for breaking his promise to her and daring to die to Alduin?

"Ahem." Pyrrha cleared her throat next to Dragonborn Yang, and the two glared at each other momentarily (as did Ruby, for some reason). "Remember what we agreed on, Yang."

Right, that was another thing to wonder about.

"Not that I'm not glad to see you guys..." Jaune cut in, pushing himself up easily. "But... what are you guys doing here? How did you even get here? And how did you even get to Skyrim in the first place?!"

""...""

Ren pulled Nora off of Jaune, not wanting her to get caught in the crossfire (or, Oum forbid, encourage them again), as Ruby, Pyrrha, and Dragonborn Yang exchanged looks, and Serana, Weiss, Yang, and Blake moved over to the Arcs (to explain the situation, get to a safe distance, and watch the coming show).

Finally, Dragonborn Yang decided to start: "You... remember our battle with Alduin, yes?"

"Hard to forget that battle, Yang." Jaune smiled weakly at her, taking her lack of shouting as a good sign.

"Well... according to Alduin, he said you sent him here." Yang continued. "According to him, the two of you fought a mighty battle, before he wounded you while you sent him back."

"Yeah, I'm pretty sure I died when he bit me in half..." Jaune conceded, before blinking. "What do you mean, I sent him here?!"

"According to your friend over there, you somehow brought him to Remnant." Pyrrha took over, running a hand across his chest to make sure he was okay. "Apparently, the two of you fought outside a walled city surrounded by forests, mountains, and the ocean?"

"Wait, are you talking about the dragon attack on Argus?" Jack Arc stepped forward, pulling out his Scroll.

"A dragon attack on Argus?" Jaune felt a sinking feeling in his gut, which only worsened when the Scroll began playing footage Saphron and Terra had sent him of the attack (with the fall in Grimm numbers, Jack had retired from the Huntsman profession, and freelanced as a consultant to Argus).

Everyone's eyes widened as the video shifted to show a figure get bitten by a dragon as he rolled out of the way of a meteor, before a flash of white light suddenly erupted, and he began stabbing the dragon (Jaune, in particular, winced).

The video ended as purple flames engulfed the two, who then disappeared, before Jaune weakly murmured: "Shit... when was that?"

"About a month ago." Jack answered, as his friends and family began murmuring among themselves. "I was wondering why the description of that dragonbone sword you mentioned sounded familiar..."

"A month..." Dragonborn Yang frowned, before speaking up: "To me, it's been over seven months since Jaune disappeared from Skyrim..."

"And to us, it's been less than a month since your new friend suddenly appeared out of nowhere, killed Salem, and told us you were alive." Pyrrha added, before smiling at her partner. "By the way, it's good to see you safe and healthy, Jaune."

"I'm just glad you're okay, Vomit Boy." Ruby sobbed as she continued tearfully hugging him. "At the Fall... when you took that attack for me..."

"... it wasn't your fault, Crater Face." Jaune instinctively comforted her. Then, he looked around, and asked: "Wait, so the Dragonborn killed Salem? And you guys... what, went to Skyrim for a month?"

"Serana came here after me." Yang explained. "Apparently the Thalmor had the Emperor assassinated and the dragons rebelled in my absence, and the world was almost destroyed-"

"Again?!" Jaune couldn't help but shout in exasperation. "What is wrong with that place?!"

"Wait 'til I tell you about what happened at the College while you were gone." Yang added wryly, eliciting a groan from Jaune.

"Well, after we heard about how another world was in danger, it wasn't as if we couldn't help, right?" Ruby piped up.

"We were planning on returning to Remnant just after you defeated that dragon to help you..." Pyrrha elaborated. "But... it seems that things didn't work out that way..."

"... what happened at the Fall wasn't your fault either, Pyrrha." Jaune saw the frown she tried to hide. "Oum, why do so many people keep blaming themselves for my actions? First Artoria and now you guys..."

"Who's "Artoria"?" Yang's eyes immediately narrowed.

"... it's a long story." Jaune sighed, wondering if he could just get that recorded. "But... uh... you know how the dragon attack was a month ago, and for you it was seven months while for you guys you've been in Skyrim for less than a month after killing Salem, although that was apparently four months ago-"

"Four months?!" Weiss shouted in shock from somewhere behind her.

"... Dad and Uncle Qrow are not going to be happy..." Ruby murmured.

"Time seems to travel inconsistently between dimensions." Yang observed with a shrug, not seeing the big deal.

After all, there were far more important things on her mind.

Taking a deep breath to steel herself, she began: "Look, Jaune, I... we, have something important to tell you."

"... Yang, there's something I need to tell you guys first." Jaune knew that his friend was concerned with his well-being (she'd apparently jumped dimensions to make sure he'd survived his fight with Alduin, after all), which was why he felt it'd be better to get it all out of the way, rather than having her find out later.

"Jaune." Pyrrha interrupted him this time, much to his surprise. "You'll want to hear what we have to say first, alright?"

"It's really important, Pyr-"

"So is this, Jaune." Ruby cut in with a frown. "Me, Other-Yang and, Pyrrha... there's something we need to-"

"FUS!"

Yet another stunned silence followed in the wake of the revelation that Jaune could Shout, and Jaune didn't waste the opportunity to quickly explain: "Yes, I can Shout now, and no, I don't know how or why! I only started doing it two days ago after fighting a guy who broke that dragonbone blade and threw exploding swords at me-"

""What?!""

Jaune sighed, and took a deep breath to recollect himself, before trying again: "Look, the point I was trying to make was... that fight with Alduin? That was two years ago, for me."

""...""

"Like I said, long story." Jaune forced a smile. "Basically, Alduin killed me, and I woke up somewhere else again, and... well, stuff happened. Rinse and repeat until I finally came returned yesterday."

"... I should never have let you go, Jaune." Yang finally sighed, her fists clenched tightly around his top.

"For Oum's sake, Yang, it's not your fault." Jaune snapped, refusing to let his friends blame himself any longer. "Alduin was going to eat the souls of the dead, right? It had to be-"

"Shut up." Yang cut him off with a roll of her eyes, before leaning forward and kissing him aggressively on the lips.

Jaune's jaw dropped from shock, and Yang took the opportunity to deepen it.

Eventually, though, the people around her recovered, and she pulled back for breath just as Pyrrha and Ruby began to pry her off of the stunned and blushing blonde, licking her lips as Jaune's sisters began to applaud, wolf-whistle, and cat-call.

"Damn it, Yang, we had a deal!" Pyrrha snarled.

"You're being unfair, Other-Yang!" Ruby added.

"He's clearly fine, and with his luck it won't last." Yang shot back, shaking them off as she remembered the sheer desperation she'd felt, when she hadn't seen him return, as well as the utter despair she'd struggled against, trying to figure out a way to Remnant. "I'm not wasting any more time being a coward and putting things off."

Ignoring the two Huntresses, she turned back to the man that she trusted would never abandon her, and declared: "Jaune, you have been my closest confidant and dearest companion since we ran into each other, but... I have always wished for something more."

"..." Jaune's jaw dropped, as he realized exactly what she was saying.

"Alright, you've had your turn, now move." Pyrrha's voice was uncharacteristically harsh and full of venom as she used her Semblance to yank the straddling blonde off of her partner.

Then she took her place, and leaned down to give Jaune a fierce kiss of her own.

"Remember the dance, where you wore the dress? And I told you that you were the kind of guy I wished I was there with?" Pyrrha asked gently, after pulling back and smiling at him. "I should have been more direct; you were the guy I wished I was there with, Jaune... you were the first person I'd ever met, who never saw my fame, my strength, my titles... all you saw, when we met at Initiation, was just Pyrrha Nikos, the seventeen year old girl who had many fans but no friends."

Jaune nervously gulped, too busy trying to process that a girl had kissed him to be able to even attempt to comprehend the idea that his first partner, Pyrrha Nikos, had apparently had a crush on him for a very long time, and oh, she wasn't the only one!

Before Jaune could say anything, however, a red blur knocked Pyrrha off of him, and Ruby Rose took her place.

A Ruby Rose that was now all grown up, Jaune belatedly realized, unable to not get a good look at her as she sat on his chest, eyes rotating in different directions.

Ruby, for her part, tried to ignore the temptation to feel up his well-sculpted chest under his clothes as she desperately tried to think of what she wanted to say and how she wanted to say it.

"I..."

It didn't help that she knew she lacked the raw confidence and femininity of Other-Yang, or the polished charm and charisma that Pyrrha had.

But...

While she didn't know what exactly she wanted, she knew what she didn't want.

He'd been the first person at Beacon to reach a hand out to her, and offer help.

The first friend she'd had, that she could trust hadn't just been there to get to know Yang.

The only friend she'd had in Beacon, that she could talk about comics and games and dorky stuff about (rather than cool stuff like weapons).

They were besties in a way that she wasn't even with Weiss.

And she didn't want that to only be true for her.

She didn't want to give what they had up, not to anyone.

He'd sacrificed himself to save her, after she'd gone to save him.

She didn't want to lose the chance to make things right with him.

And most of all...

She didn't want to lose him again.

Ruby nervously looked down at Jaune, and tried again: "Jaune... you were my first friend, and not just in Beacon. I... I... oh, Oum, why are words so difficult..."

"Ruby?" Jaune couldn't keep the disbelief out of his voice, as he desperately hoped both Yangs weren't going to kill him.

"My little sister's all grown up..." Yang Xiao-Long sniffed with pride as she stood next to Weiss and Blake, who watched in horror and scribbled notes in a book respectively.

"And so has our baby boy..." June Arc almost wept.

"Looks like Jaune's got some of the old Arc charm!" Jack laughed next to her.

"I've... certainly never seen anything like this in all my years..." Serana murmured, wondering if this was normal for Remnant (or mortals in general).

Ren, for his part, was mentally wishing Jaune good luck even as he desperately fought to keep Nora's mouth shut.

Jen, Jess, Jeanne, Jean, Jane, and Joan Arc, meanwhile, whispered among themselves in a frenzy even as they watched the proceedings with varying amounts of shock, amusement, amazement, protectiveness, and interest.

To be fair, though, it wasn't every week that your long-lost baby brother comes back from the dead as a total badass with a magic sword and magic shouting powers, and then gets confessed to be three girls who'd just come out of a interdimensional portal at the same time...

And then, as the three girls towered over him expectantly, awaiting an answer from a boy who just moments before hadn't even been able to grasp the idea that a girl actually liked him that way, Jane remembered what Jaune had told her the day before, and idly wondered: "How many other girls do you think little bro's seduced in his adventures?"

As if the multiverse had deigned to answer her question, electricity began to crackle out of thin air between Jaune and the Arc residence, and the smell of ozone filled the air.

A sense of foreboding filled Jaune, and he immediately leapt up, placing himself between his friends and the weird phenomenon even as he placed thoughts of what had just happened out of mind.

There would be time to think worry about their feelings later; right now, he'd make sure nothing happened to them.

As Jaune's grip tightened around Caliburn, the phenomenon intensified, before four figures suddenly appeared in flashes of silver lightning.

And then everyone's jaws dropped once more.

"It's so... green..." Courier Six's voice was full of awe.

"Sarah, look!" Ironwood's voice rang out in an excitement. "The moon really is broken!"

"Man, the Scribes would kill to see this..." Sarah murmured incredulously.

"I take it their device worked, then?" Artoria hummed. "Now, let's go and find..."

Her voice trailed off, as she noticed the person she was looking for was standing right in front of her.

Jaune, for his part, was torn between apologizing to Artoria for the fight they had the other day, inquiring how Vegas had done while he was gone, and asking how in Oum's name Artoria knew the Courier and the Brotherhood of Steel.

And so, instead, he settled for lowering his arms in shock and eloquently leaving his jaw hanging.

""Jau-"" Ruby Ironwood and Courier Six both began to cry out happily, before they accidentally got in each other's way for a moment.

"Jaune!" Artoria used Mana Burst to propel herself ahead of the two women, taking full advantage of the momentary distraction to crush him in an affectionate bear-hug.

"Artoria?!" Jaune finally yelped, though he returned the gesture easily. "Weren't you dead?"

"My body was mortally wounded at Camlann, Jaune, but Morgan took me to Merlin in Avalon to recover." Artoria explained, ignoring the glares she was receiving. "I regained consciousness some time after our battle with Angra Mainyu, and Merlin sent me to the Wasteland, just as your friends were about to use some weird device to look for you."

"Why-?" Jaune began to ask.

"If you're going to ask why they were looking for you, I'm going to call you an idiot again, Jaune." Artoria rolled her eyes in fond exasperation. "Based on the stories you shared, they were your friends too; you would have done the same in their position, and you know it."

"..." Jaune couldn't deny it, as he tore his gaze away from Artoria's face to look at Sarah, Ruby Ironwood, and Courier Pyrrha.

The time he'd spent with them may have been brief, relatively speaking, but he'd never forget them.

But that wasn't his only concern.

Instead, he smoothly changed questions: "Why did you come after me too, Artoria? I thought we both agreed I couldn't become King?"

"The sword in your hand and the Brotherhood of Steel would beg to differ." Artoria chuckled, before shaking her head. "But no, that is not why I am here, Jaune. I am here because I am following your advice."

"My advice?" Jaune echoed in confusion.

"You told me you wanted to be happy, remember?" Artoria smiled gently at him, though if asked Jaune would have called it predatory and smug. "As I asked you last time... why would you think I could be happy without you, Jaune?"

Jaune's eyes widened.

His weren't the only ones to do so.

From where the Arc sisters watched the proceedings, Jane couldn't help but murmur: "I knew it..."

"I should have been more honest during our previous reunion." Artoria continued. "You were right; I did need to start prioritizing my happiness more. And that is exactly why I am here. Jaune... just being with you made me happy, whether it was us helping a small village or fighting dragons or planning festivities. Because I, Artoria Pendragon, love you, Jaune Arc."

Jaune's jaw was too busy burying itself into the floor to really answer, though even if it wasn't his mind probably wouldn't have been able to think of a proper response.

After all, in the past three days (relatively speaking), he'd gone from looking at Artoria as a feminine young boy to a very feminine grown woman who was dead, to... well...

Whatever the hell had just happened.

"Hey! Get away from him!" Dragonborn Yang shouted furiously, her mind finally having finished rebooting, and Artoria reluctantly released Jaune as a fist smashed into the space her head had just been in.

Meanwhile, spurred into action by the sudden ultimatum, Ruby Rose, Pyrrha Nikos (the Huntress), Ruby Ironwood, and Pyrrha Nikos (the Courier) all made to move forward, before freezing as they caught sight of each other.

As the green-eyed blonde with a dragon's soul stared down the the lilac-eyed blonde with a dragon's soul over the blue-eyed blonde with a dragon's soul beneath them, the two Rubys and two Pyrrhas cautiously studied one another, and assessed the situation.

Many thoughts ran through their head in that second.

Unfortunately, Yang Xiao-Long was the first to speak: "Hey, Rubes, P-Money... looks like you guys have found your dimensional counterparts!"

"So what, I'm an exhibitionist in this dimension?" Courier Pyrrha snorted incredulously, looking at the younger version of herself. "Fuck off with that bullshit."

Pyrrha's jaw dropped.

"Well, I guess it would make sense for your counterpart to also have some issues..." Ruby Ironwood couldn't help herself. "You know, since you're a nutjob who thinks my best friend's an angel..."

"Hey!" Ruby Rose protested. "Jaune's my bestie!"

"And what's wrong with my armor?" Pyrrha demanded.

"... did you really have to throw Fire Dust on the inferno, Yang?" Ren sighed, still struggling to keep Nora from interfering even as the clearing in front of the Arc house became filled with the sounds of bitter arguing.

"Hey, I'm just happy to see I'm not the only one with an alternate me running around." Yang crossed her arms.

"Am I the only one who heard the part where she thinks Arc is an angel?!" Weiss shrieked.

"No, Weiss, I heard it too." Blake's hand numbly scribbled down notes onto a book even as her gaze was transfixed on the scene in front of her, even as the Arc sisters once again began their raucous cheers and cat-calls and wolf-whistles.

"This... has all certainly been unexpected..." Serana murmured, wondering just what in Oblivion Jaune had been up to.

"... it's Arc." Sarah finally sighed, giving up on even trying to comprehend what was going on.

Only he could turn a rescue/reconnaissance mission into a romance drama...

At the eye of the maelstrom, meanwhile, Jaune's mind was racing, as he tried to figure out just what was going on before somebody got hurt.

The Dragonborn had kissed him!

As had his partner and his first friend!

And then his best friend had suddenly come out of a portal and declared her undying love for him!

And now...

He didn't need his Aura-enhanced instincts to know that Yang had only just been pulling that punch.

Jumping up before the squabbling around him could escalate into a physical altercation, he forcibly injected himself between Artoria and Yang, placing a hand firmly on both Artoria's as she gripped Excalibur's hilt, while the other held Yang's fist as he begged: "Guys... please! Calm down!

"Look." Jaune breathed out a sigh of relief, as they momentarily halted, and took full advantage of the situation. "I... well, I'll be honest, this is probably the first time a woman's ever told me they loved me (outside of my family of course), let alone four, and we'll definitely have to talk about that later..."

Seeing as how they'd tracked him down across dimensions, something told him he probably wasn't going to be able to run from it.

"But can we at least discuss it like mature adults?" Jaune pleaded. "Before this gets too out of control? Please? For me?"

"... tch." Yang clicked her tongue and pouted at him, which he took as progress since she was no longer scowling at Artoria.

"She attacked me first." Artoria defended herself, glaring at the other blonde woman. "Who is she, anyway?"

"She's-" Jaune began, encouraged by what he saw as a sign of progress.

"I'm Yang... his partner and Thane." Yang answered possessively, gripping his hand tightly.

"Yang..."

"Is that so?" Artoria's voice was deathly quiet.

"Artoria..."

"Excuse me, that's my partner and student you're talking about." Pyrrha snarled as she stalked forward.

"Pyr?!"

"I think you mean-"

"...!"

The sounds of a door creaking, so normal and simple, felt so uncharacteristically out of place in their current situation, that the hardened and experienced warriors couldn't help but instinctively turn towards it.

The dark-haired girl froze at the doorway, her attempts to sneak back in and quietly close the door foiled, and she warily looked around at the chaos erupting outside the house with wide amber orbs, unsure of how to react.

"Uh..." Cinder took a step back, as the gazes on her began to intensify. "Mrs. Arc said... that she just made some snacks... if you guys were done..."

"Angra Mainyu!"

"Cinder Fall?!"

"Shit, it's Cinder Fall!"

"We won't let you kill Jaune again!"

"Eeep!" Cinder squeaked and ran back into the house as Teams RWBY and JNPR (sans Jaune) drew their weapons, as did Artoria, and directed all their killing intent right at her.

"Guys, wait, stop! That's not who you think it is! NO, DROP THE GRENADE LAUNCHER, NORA!"

-FIFTEEN MINUTES LATER-

"This is so weird..." Weiss groaned, even as she nibbled on a cookie (she may not have been as crazy about them as her partner, but she did still have functioning tastebuds) and did her best not to stare at the head of dark hair peeking at them from around a nearby corner.

"Which part?" Blake snorted in amusement, between sips from her glass of milk. "The part where even more people started coming in from other dimensions? Or the part where the woman who killed Jaune the first time ends up living in his house as a kid?"

"Maybe she means the part where this "Cinder" also apparently grows up to become a god who personifies all the evils in their world." Serana suggested, making sure to keep her voice low so that the girl cowering in the other room and watching them like a deer watched a pack of wolves couldn't hear her (apparently, they didn't want her to know what she might/had become).

"It's Arc." Sarah simply said, exercising all the self-discipline she could muster to keep herself from devouring the entire plate. "Trust me, trying to comprehend that madness will just lead to a brain aneurysm, and I say that as his friend."

"Hear hear." Serana laughed softly, raising her glass of water in response (she didn't really need to drink or eat, being what she was).

"Nah, I think Weiss Cream's talking about the part where the guy that followed her like a lovesick puppy ended up getting confessed to by... four girls? Six?" Yang Xiao-Long nudged her elbow into her diminutive teammate's ribs, earning her a fierce scowl, before she turned to the power-armored woman and asked: "Uh... how exactly does your world's Ruby and Pyrrha feel?"

"I've got no fucking clue, and I'm too sober to even think about it." Sarah rolled her eyes even as she quietly marveled that she was in a world where society actually gave a shit about children drinking and doing drugs. "I don't even want to imagine how the Scribes are going to react when I give my report..."

Idly, she couldn't help but remember Eden's warning on Jaune.

Just one Aura user had changed the entire post-war continent within five years, and he'd been a popsicle for four of those.

She'd have paid good caps to resurrect that fucker just to see his reaction when she revealed she'd found an entire dimension of them.

Yang Xiao-Long grinned at her in response, but before she could begin ribbing the overly-serious blonde too, the doorbell rang.

"I'll get it!" June Arc called out from down the hallway.

The five women at the table merely looked at each other, before Yang Xiao-Long declared: "Fifty lien says it's another woman from another dimension who knows Lady Killer."

"You're on, Yang."

Meanwhile, in the guest room, behind closed doors (that the Arc sisters and Nora were listening through, while Ren supervised to make sure his girlfriend didn't break down the door), Jaune took a moment to catch his breath, and looked around the room at Dragonborn Yang, Pyrrha Nikos, Ruby Rose, Ruby Ironwood, Courier Pyrrha, and Artoria, judging their reactions to his tales.

So far, they seemed to at least not be calling him crazy,

That was encouraging.

"So... any questions?" Jaune asked.

"Yeah, I've got one." Yang spoke first, folding her arms. "Was any of this really necessary?"

"What do you mean?" Jaune raised an eyebrow.

"You told us earlier that it was important for us to know that you've had a lot of adventures while we've been searching for you." Yang reminded him. "I'm still not seeing the point of it."

"... the point was, Yang..." Jaune's voice trailed off, and he paused for a moment to figure out how exactly to phrase it. "The point was that I'm... probably not the same person as I was when I disappeared. I've changed, I've died-"

"And you think I care?" Yang snarled, interrupting him. "You never abandoned me, Jaune, and I would never abandon you."

"I'm with Yang on this one, Jaune." Pyrrha frowned at him. "I didn't care when I found out you faked your transcripts; finding out you've saved a few different worlds doesn't really change my opinion of you."

"If it helps, Jaune... I don't think you've changed that much." Ruby giggled. "You still can't stop yourself from helping others in need; it's just that your life's more... well..."

"Why are you such an idiot, Jaune?" Artoria threw his words back at him, though her voice was as full of fond exasperation as ever. "You told me everything when we first met, when you offered to help me become King. Never once have I shamed you for your sacrifices, or your experiences."

"Jaune... you taught me everything I know." Ruby Ironwood reminded him softly. "You saved my life and my father's work over a dozen times."

"... remember when I told you about my past, back at Vault 21?" Courier Pyrrha was surprisingly serious (and vulgarity-free). "And remember what you told me, too? And what happened at the Divide? I will never be able to repay the debt I owe you, but I will never stop trying."

"You guys..." Jaune couldn't help but murmur, touched by their words.

"See, Jaune?" Yang smiled at him encouragingly, a gesture echoed by the rest. "Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed hearing about your tale... but you need to stop putting this off, Vomit Boy. You know how we feel; now, what about you?"

"I..." Jaune sat back down in his chair, and took a deep breath, to try and process how he felt. "I... honestly, I don't know. It's just... I've been so busy trying to survive to even think about settling down, let alone getting into a relationship, and the last time I considered letting my guard down..."

"... I know, Jaune." Artoria placed a comforting hand on his shoulder. "If it is any consolation, Morgan is truly repentant about her actions."

Yang fought down the urge to snort derisively. If she'd been there, and someone had done that to Vomit Boy... well, an army of dragons hadn't been able to stop her from storming the afterlife to avenge him.

Instead, however, she settled for rolling her eyes at the pompous blonde, who noticed and glared back at her.

Jaune, for his part, just sighed as he noticed their hostility, as he tried to process the situation.

He doubted that he was honestly ready for a relationship just yet,; hell, he'd only been back home for two days, and a part of him was still waiting for the other shoe to drop.

But even if he was... what was he supposed to do about this?!

They were all his friends, and he didn't want to hurt any of them...

But it wasn't like he could just choose one right on the spot like this...

And this wasn't one of those Japanese comics or shows he'd seen in Fuyuki; Yang and Artoria held a mutual dislike for one another (seeing as how Yang had attempted to punch her head off earlier), Courier Pyrrha was abrasive to Ruby Ironwood and Pyrrha (he may have been her friend, but he wasn't blind to the fact that she could be tactless at times), and Yang (the non-Dragonborn one) would probably kill him if he two-timed Ruby Rose (let alone six-timed her).

"Uh, Jaune?" June's voice came from the other end of the house. "You've got a visitor..."

Jaune leapt up and seized the lifeline like a drowning man, sprinting for the door as he told the girls: "I'll be back!"

"Damn it, Vomit Boy!" Yang shouted at him as he fled, heedlessly bowling over his sisters as he ran out of the door and ignored their protests.

He wasn't being a coward... he was making a tactical decision to delay the inevitable for a few more moments!

As he finally reached his parents, a familiar battle-scarred suit of green armor blocked the entrance to his house, and his jaw dropped.

"Slayer?!" Jaune couldn't help but ask in disbelief, as the Slayer displayed visible surprise upon noticing him.

"Mr. Arc... your presence here is a welcome surprise." VEGA's voice came out of the Slayer's suit as she strode up to him.

"Your... friend here, suddenly showed up two minutes ago." Jack Arc explained, trying not to look too intimidated by the sheer size of the muscles on the Slayer. "Her... armor started talking..."

"The Slayer insisted we come to your parents house." VEGA elaborated simply as the Slayer began prodding and poking his cheek.

"But how are you here?!" Jaune pressed, ignoring the Slayer's finger.

"It seems that Dr. Hayden was being honest about sending you back to your home. " VEGA observed. "Unfortunately, your struggles caused the Slayer to be sent here in your place. And when she arrived here without you, she assumed the worst, and wished to take responsibility by informing your family of your fate."

"... huh..." Jaune blinked in surprise, before a hand suddenly clapped him on his back hard.

"The Slayer would like to thank you for attempting to help her." VEGA helpfully explained as the Slayer simply grunted.

"Hey, what are friends for?" Jaune asked rhetorically, rubbing his back. "And for what it's worth... good to see you're okay, Slayer. And good to see you're back online too, VEGA."

The Slayer snorted, as if to ask if there were any doubt.

Jaune couldn't help but roll his eyes at her, before pouting as she lightly patted his head.

"It is good to be back, Mr. Arc." VEGA hummed, not bothering to translate for the Slayer. "It took her the better part of the past six weeks raiding abandoned military facilities on the continent known colloquially as "Solitas" in order to bring me back online... the technology in this dimension is oddly inconsistent. There were records of functioning AI in the facilities, but space flight is considered inconceivable. It seems to be a by-product of the main source of power that your world uses..."

"At least we're not tapping into Hell for energy." Jaune snorted, shaking his head. "So, what will you do now?"

"The Slayer wishes to continue her crusade against the Legions of Hell soon." Jaune couldn't even be surprised, as the Slayer cracked her knuckles and growled. "We will continue looking into ways to travel dimensions soon."

"Hmmm... would you like to come in for a while?" Jaune offered, looking back at his parents pleadingly. As they nodded, he explained: "At least take a quick break... also, there's some people inside that came from other dimensions too. Perhaps they could help you?"

The Slayer simply cocked her head at him, before letting loose a violent sigh.

"It is not like we were any closer to figuring out dimensional travel anyway, Doom Slayer." VEGA pointed out.

"Uh, Jaune?" Artoria asked, as she rounded the corner and saw the wall of armored muscle placing a hand on her familiar's head. "Who's this?"

"Oh, this is the Doom Slayer." Jaune explained, as the other women caught up to them (Ruby Rose had held the lead with her Semblance until she'd tripped and smacked into a wall, allowing Artoria to get in front with Mana Burst, which had earned her a glare from Dragonborn Yang, who hadn't been able to use her Whirlwind Sprint without destroying a wall), and the Slayer removed her hand. "Remember I told you about how I ended up in Hell?"

"I... see?" Artoria blinked, wondering whether Jaune had told her about the part where the the Slayer was a hulking woman in a full suit of armor.

"... only you could find a dimension worst than Oblivion, Vomit Boy..." Dragonborn Yang sighed.

"She's not... also interested in you, is she?" Pyrrha asked worriedly, even as Courier Pyrrha wondered if this was the Archangel of Death, and Jaune's sisters discreetly began taking bets.

The Slayer looked back down at Jaune, and even through her face-covering helmet Jaune could feel her eyebrow rising.

Jaune quietly mouthed out "help".

The Slayer looked back up at them, before glancing at Jaune once more.

Then she snorted in laughter, and smacked him lightly on the butt before stomping past them to follow June Arc into the kitchen.

Jaune's eye twitched as she disappeared, especially when he turned back to the rest of his friends and family to find them all staring at him expectantly.

Fortunately for him, though, before he could explain, a faint familiar-looking glyph suddenly appeared between him and them.

Unfortunately for him, five more women fell out of it in flashes of silver light.

Jaune's eye twitched again.

"Did we make it?" A white-haired woman asked, looking around cautiously.

"Well, this clearly isn't Chaldea anymore..." A black-haired woman answered, seeing that they weren't surrounded by blindingly-white walls, before she noticed the people watching her.

"... ah, there he is." An aqua-eyed masked blonde nonchalantly looked at him from where she stood on the ceiling. "It seems that Kaleidoscope was successful..."

"Jaune!" The fourth figure, a purple-eyed blonde, cheered as she hugged him.

"Sir Jaune!" The fifth, a sandy-haired armored woman knelt in front of him, before she spotted the other women in the room. "Your Highness! You're here too!"

"Sir Velvet?" Artoria blinked, taken aback by the sudden appearance of the veterans of the Fifth Fuyuki Grail War. "Tohsaka? Shiro? Harribel? Saint Jeanne?"

"Hey Blake." Jaune sighed, though he managed to smile back down at her. Then he looked back up at the rest, and nodded. "Velvet. Harribel. Shiro. Rin. It's... good to see you're all okay..."

"It's good to see you're okay too, Arc." Shiro smiled back at him. "By the way... you left your book and pistol behind in your apartment. I brought them back for you, if you want, along with your broken sword-"

"You don't sound surprised to see us, boy." Harribel observed calmly, still not getting down from the ceiling. "Did Merlin or Morgan tell you we were coming?"

"No... you're just not the first group of people from other dimensions to show up in my family's house." Jaune sighed as he gestured around. "So, what is it this time?"

"Well, you see, Arc..." Shiro and Velvet shifted uneasily, causing Jaune to immediately have a bad feeling.

"We don't have time for this." Rin snapped as she stepped forward, ignoring the looks she was receiving. "Look, Arc, I'll be frank. We need you to come with us, you and-"

"No." Dragonborn Yang cut in coldly, stepping forward and glaring at the ravenette.

"I'm sorry?" Rin blinked, surprised by the sudden interruption.

"No, you're not taking Jaune." Dragonborn Yang growled, cracking her knuckles.

"Hasn't he done enough already?"

"We just got him back! We're not losing him again!"

"Sir Velvet, what is the meaning of this?!"

"Where are you girls even coming from?"

"Little bro, just how many girls did you even meet?!"

"Hey, wait-" Rin backed up, looking around uneasily before her eyes desperately snapped to Jaune. "Arc, mind helping me here?!"

"Can't you guys just give him a break?!"

"Jaune! Tell her you're not interested!"

"It really is important, though..."

"I don't care!"

"It involves the futures of Parallel Worlds around ours!"

"Hey, Lady Killer!" Yang called out as she stepped out of the kitchen with Blake. "Who's the giant that just came... in..."

Jaune just sighed, and as Yang took out her Scroll and Blake began scribbling in her notebook Jaune looked up at the ceiling.

As his eyes met Harribel's, and she returned his gaze with sympathy in her eyes, he decided his brain had done enough thinking for one morning.

---

Author's Note: And as the scene fades to black on that open-ended note, a promise of more multiversal shenanigans lying in Jaune Arc's future, we can finally conclude the story proper. And what a long and wild journey it's been, full of ups and downs, and a lot of rough patches, in the past... what the fuck do you mean, I've only been writing this story for ten months?

Yes, this chapter isn't very romantic. That's because, well... look, even if I didn't absolutely loathe writing dialogue (especially dialogue involving over a total of two dozen characters), one confession is romantic, but four (I don't consider Ruby Ironwood and Courier Pyrrha to have romantically confessed) is chaotic. Sure, some harem stories can make a mass confession touching and romantic... but I can't, not with the characters I have and the way everything's been set up.

I haven't read a proper good harem story for a long time, but in my opinion, those either have the girls confess to the guy one at a time and then they discuss things after it's all been set up, the girls discuss the prospect of sharing, or the girls can at least tolerate each other's presence.

Here?

Ruby Rose herself doesn't know exactly what she wants.

Pyrrha Nikos... okay, she might honestly tolerate the rest, seeing how little jealousy she showed while Jaune was chasing Snow Angel.

Dragonborn Yang is possessive, selfish, and insecure, and only has a grudging understanding with Ruby Rose and Pyrrha Nikos because they've fought together for the past few weeks.

Artoria... sure, she's a noble selfless idiot like Jaune, but at the same time, look at her adventures with Jaune. The idea of sharing her familiar has never been something she's actually ever even considered, she's always been insecure about how Jaune sees her (you know, since he thought she was a dude for a very long time), and she just got back to Jaune.

It's also probably not helped that Courier Pyrrha is just being her usual charming self (hey, she was trying to swear less... that clearly didn't pan out).

And that's also before you remember that Jaune is still trying to get used to the fact that, yes, he is back in Remnant, and hopefully here to stay (though that got torpedoed by the ending). Seriously, can you imagine trying to form attachments and bonds if you thought you were going to enter a different dimension every two to three months for two years, let alone a serious romantic relationship?

So yeah, if you're expecting romance, or finding out what the final pairing will be, this chapter isn't going to be it.

Also, regarding the things Sarah Lyons briefly mentions the Brotherhood of Steel fought against... that's all canon. Dead Money really did have a casino buried in a cloud of self-replicating toxins, and Old World Blues really did have Patient Zero, Trauma Override Harnesses, Cazadores, Night Stalkers, and Lobotomites. The only thing I made up is that it was destroyed by enemy nukes at the end of the Great War; supposedly, an experiment gone wrong vaporized the entire mountain above the current crater that is the Big MT (though it's unlikely that Sarah or anyone else would know that). Like I've said, those are really some of the most interesting DLCs with regards to the lore, but I'm sure there's good Fallout fics out there that cover them (so I don't have to).

On a side note, in my opinion, in terms of plot, the two Fallout arcs are leagues ahead of the rest.

With that said, however... I think Artoria is probably the most developed character, simply because I spent the Pre-Camelot and Camelot chapters flailing about, having no idea of how to properly develop the main plot (I've admitted multiple times my knowledge of FATE lore, Arthurian legend, and Dark Ages history is sorely lacking), and thus attempted to pad out the chapters with fluff and character interactions.

Judging by how many Arc-toria shippers seem to have been spawned from Chapter 75, I've clearly made a grave mistake.

As for my question last chapter... huh, I do agree Rubia probably does fit Jaune's journey (though he didn't actually think he'd ever get back home, especially after turning down the Spider Mastermind's numerous offers, and he's way more like Kiana Kaslana (even has a red-headed mentor who's supposed to die) than Fu Hua, as far as I know... I stopped playing Honkai Impact 3 sometime after clearing A Post-Honkai Odyssey, though, so that might be a bit out-of-date), with I Believe In Us (the Arknights song) summing up the more somber (angsty) parts of his adventures (France), while We'll Meet Again by TheFatRat more sums up this story from the perspective of the girls (at least, the ones who knew he was alive; Legends Never Die might be more fitting for the ones who thought he was dead, like Ruby Ironwood between the two Fallout arcs).

And The Last Of The Real Ones by Fall Out Boy probably fits DovahYang and Jaune more.

Final chapter comes out... you know what, I have no idea, but it definitely won't be "soon". Hell, it might not even be before the year ends, between my workload and what I have planned for the final chapter.

And so, both to apologize in advance, and to show I totally can't write a confession even if I gave it the perfect set-up, have another chunk of the "What If Artoria Won The Fourth Holy Grail War, And Managed To Use It Before Kiritsugu Ordered Her To Destroy It, And The Grail Sent Her Memories Back" omake.

---

SCENARIO: AVALON, THE EVER-DISTANT UTOPIA

POINT OF DEVIATION: BETWEEN CHAPTERS 83 & 84

Author's Notes: [CONTINUED FROM CHAPTER 96]

---

...

"Arthur?!" Jaune yelped in a panic, utterly lost.

"Ugh... my head..." Merlin groaned, as he slowly got up with Kay's assistance.

Then he winced, as Kay elbowed his side roughly, and shot the young Knight a questioning look.

Kay simply jerked his head in his sister's direction.

Merlin turned, and saw his pupil staring longingly at her familiar, like a starving man presented with a piece of meat.

His eyes widened.

When the hell had Artoria decided to be honest with herself?!

He quickly turned back to Kay with shock, who merely placed his index finger on his lips, a shit-eating grin plastered on his face.

Merlin nodded in understanding, and quickly and quietly cast a spell to hide their presence from the pair.

Jaune, meanwhile, shifted uncomfortably as Arthur continued doing his best impression of an Ursa, and asked: "Did... did something happen, Arthur?"

Finally, Artoria looked up at Jaune, and her teary emeralds met his confused sapphires even as she continued sifting through the memories her future self had given her.

"You... are an idiot." Artoria finally spat, fond exasperation and bitterness both coloring her tone, though she never once relinquished her grip on her familiar. "Why did you accept Morgan's offer?! Merlin was never in any real danger!"

"What offer?!" Jaune demanded, before his eyes widened, as bits and pieces of what had happened slowly came back to him.

His thoughts about why he remained here.

His purpose for arriving.

Uncertainty for the future.

Faith in Merlin, Kay, and Arthur.

"I..."

What had he almost done?!

Why had he almost done it?!

He'd been here for eighteen months!

He'd almost built a new life here!

He'd almost began considering settling down, and starting a new life here!

Had he really almost given it up, thrown it all away?!

Artoria studied his face, and nodded in relief, as she saw the shock and horror marring his handsome features.

The future version of herself (she was just going to call her "Lancer", since that had apparently been the name she'd been using when she'd made the wish) had always held doubts, especially after Velvet's outburst, that Jaune had actually been dissatisfied with life here, and had willingly chosen an escape from her.

By the looks of it, those fears were unfounded.

"My sister. She hit you with a suggestion spell." Artoria finally explained, never breaking eye contact with him. "She... drew out your deepest fears and insecurities, tricked you, wanted to remove you from Camelot by getting you to make a contract with her."

"Your sister?" Jaune echoed in confusion. He faintly recalled Arthur saying that he didn't get along with his sister, but he'd never asked for the details. "... why would she do that?"

"She wanted to... hurt me." Artoria admitted, cheeks reddening slightly. Curiosity welling up within her, she then pressed: "By the way... Jaune... can you tell me what she told you?"

"... uh, sure..." Jaune saw no reason to refuse, and closed his eyes, trying to recall just what had been going through his muddled head. "... I... something told me... that I'd succeeded in my original purpose for being summoned."

Artoria's eyes widened in horror.

"I mean, I guess it had a point..." Jaune forced a smile, trying to make light of the situation. "After all, you're already a good king. You just need to... relax a bit more, maybe take a break once in a while, okay?"

Artoria's hands began clenching around Jaune's top.

"Besides, it's not like me disappearing would have caused that much trouble." Jaune shook his head self-deprecatingly, as Artoria looked down. "After all, you'd still have Merlin and Kay-"

"Don't." Artoria's voice was deadly quiet.

Jaune's instincts immediately began ringing warning bells.

"Don't?" He echoed, confused.

Artoria's fists tightened around Jaune's top, hard enough for him to notice.

"Don't you ever dare say that again." Artoria growled, looking back up at him, anger and grief burning in her watery green eyes. "Don't you know how much you mean to me?! How much I would grieve, if you were to suddenly disappear like that?! Have I ever made you think that you did not matter, that you weren't important to me?!"

"..." Jaune saw the raw pain in Arthur's eyes, and quietly inquired: "... did... did something happen, Arthur?"

"And that's another thing!" Artoria snapped, remembering Lancer's frustration, at never having managed to tell Jaune the truth. "Stop calling me Arthur! ... please..."

"..." Jaune blinked, but didn't interrupt, and instead waited for Arthur to continue.

Ripping off the band that kept her hair tied into its usual bun, she shook her head, allowing her hair to hang freely down her shoulders.

Then, she gripped Jaune's hand, and pressed it against her chest, as she furiously declared: "My name... is Artoria Pendragon. And I... am a woman."

Jaune's jaw dropped, and it took all of his willpower not to let his hand squeeze the soft mound that he was feeling.

He looked at his hand (and not her chest, he'd forever swear), before looking up at her face.

He'd always thought it had been feminine...

After spending half a minute looking up and down (much to Artoria's anguished amusement), Jaune finally choked out: "... this whole time?"

"Yep." Artoria drawled out, imitating her familiar's peculiar speech mannerisms.

"... why keep it a secret?" Jaune couldn't help but ask.

"Ector raised me as a man... as a knight, because he felt that it would be the best way for me to understand the heart of my knights as well." Artoria explained. "And I did want to tell you, Jaune... I truly did. But... but it never seemed like the right time, and... and... and I'm a coward, Jaune."

"A coward?" Jaune echoed, cocking his head in that certain way that made Artoria's heart always skip a beat.

"Yes." Artoria closed her eyes in shame, both at her own conduct, and at Lancer's. "A coward. I was afraid... that you might judge me poorly for the deception. That you might think less of me, for being a female King."

"..."

"... can you ever forgive me, Jaune?" Artoria reopened her eyes, and searched Jaune's, looking for any hints of disgust.

"... there's really nothing to forgive, Artoria..." Jaune reassured her gently, shaking his head. "If anything, I feel like I should be saying sorry now, since you apparently thought I might have judged you just for that..."

"It's not your fault, Jaune." Artoria quickly protested.

"... I mean, I told you, I faked my way into Huntsman training, after all." Jaune laughed awkwardly, trying to lighten the mood. "There's no way I'd be in any position to say anything about keeping secrets, not to mention that most of the top students in the school that I knew were women who could (and often did) kick my ass!"

"... and that is another thing we'll have to discuss later, too..." Artoria muttered under her breath, frowning at the reminder that there were other women in Jaune's former lives that he had been close to.

God, how had Lancer never realized she might have competition for Jaune's heart?

She could still feel Lancer's heart attack, when she'd realized that Sir Velvet might have also had feelings for him too...

"I'm sorry?" Jaune blinked, not having caught that.

Artoria sighed, and for a moment was tempted to simply move on.

She crushed that temptation like it had been the Questing Beast.

Lancer's sacrifice had given her a chance.

For both her happiness, and Lancer's memory, she would not waste it.

She could not lose him now.

"There is... one more thing, I wish to speak with you about, Jaune." Artoria spoke slowly and seriously, shifting closer towards Jaune.

Jaune gulped, unable to move (since his hand was still being forcibly pressed against her chest), unsure of how to deal with Arthur... no, Artoria's newfound disregard for his personal space.

"Go-go on?" Jaune choked out, as her face stopped mere inches away from his.

"It is..." Artoria's warm breath tickled Jaune's face. "About what we were discussing earlier."

"Yeah?" Jaune all but squeaked. "About you being a good king?"

"Indeed." Artoria confirmed with a nod. "After your words to me... I have realized that I am unfit to be the King any longer."

"Wait, what?" Jaune demanded. "What are you talking about? You're a great King!"

"Jaune..." Artoria sighed, able to guess that this was coming.

"Is this about you being a girl?" Jaune asked angrily. "Do I need to talk some sense into you again?!"

"As much as I would enjoy that, no." Artoria replied drily. "That is unrelated to my Kingship.

"Jaune... with your help, and the help of my loyal subjects, the lands enjoy an era of peace, unrivalled even by the times of the Empire! Our former enemies are our friends now, the ruins of Londinium have become the thriving city of Camelot, and the threat of the White Dragon is gone.

"And that is why, I can no longer call myself King.

"I drew Caliburn that day because I wanted to save my people, Jaune! And they have been saved! But your words earlier... you were right. I have saved them; I do not know how to lead them to happiness and prosperity, since I myself have neglected my own happiness!"

"Oh, so you're just taking my advice about taking a break?" Jaune asked, breathing a sigh of relief, that Artoria wasn't being a complete idiot.

"In a sense." Artoria nodded cryptically.

"Well, I guess I am to blame for that..." Jaune rubbed the back of his neck with his free hand sheepishly. "So, who'll take over while you're on vacation? ... please don't tell me it's your sister..."

"I would rather put Gawain on the throne than Morgan." Artoria sniffed haughtily, before shaking her head. "But no. I have someone else in mind. Or rather, I only have one person in mind."

"Oh?" Jaune raised an eyebrow. He'd only suggested it to her a few hours ago! "That's... quick? So, who is it?"

"It's you." Artoria answered frankly.

"..." Jaune blinked.

"..." Artoria smiled bashfully at him, unable to help the coloring of her cheeks as she awaited his response.

"..." Finally, Jaune's mind finished rebooting. "... ME?!"

"Yes, Jaune." Artoria nodded serenely. "You are my first and only choice, to be the King of Camelot."

"Are you mad?!" Jaune was horrified. Him?! A King?!

It was official.

This world was crazy.

"Do you have any objections?" Artoria fought to keep the desperation out of her voice, reflecting ruefully that neither she nor Lancer had actually made any plans for convincing Jaune if he rejected her plan.

"Of course I do!" Jaune exclaimed. "What in Oum's name makes you think I'd be a good King?!"

"You are already the Chancellor and Steward of Camelot, Jaune." Artoria reminded him gently. "You have been running Camelot with no trouble for the past year."

"That doesn't mean I can be a King, Artoria!" Jaune vehemently protested. "I'm just a kid who faked his transcripts and died a few times, remember?! I'm not even from this world, nor do I have any claim to the throne! I-I-"

"Jaune." Artoria placed a finger on his lips.

"..." Jaune took a deep breath, forcing himself to relax. "... why me, Artoria? What in Oum's name makes you think that I can take over you?"

"Because you are, and have always been, the person I have looked up to, when I have tried to be King." Artoria replied lovingly.

As Jaune's jaw dropped once again, and he pointed his finger at himself in disbelief, Artoria chuckled and nodded. "Yes, Jaune. You, one of the most hard-working and selfless individuals I have ever met, a person who never let death stop him from working to help others, are the person I consider my ideal King.

"I will admit, though... you do have a point, that you do not have any claim to the throne." Artoria reluctantly conceded. "Even though you were able to draw Caliburn as well, it is currently lost, and we thus have no way to prove it."

"So I can't be King, then?" Jaune found himself getting more and more confused.

"Not unless I marry you." Artoria nodded, not missing a beat.

Jaune's blinked.

Then he blinked again.

Then he blinked a third time, before he stared at her with wide eyes.

What had she just said?

"... wait, did you just propose to me, just to get out of being King?!" Jaune asked in utter disbelief.

"Of course not." Artoria rolled her eyes.

"Oh, thank Oum-"

"I am courting you because I love you, Jaune Arc." Artoria followed up instantly.

If Jaune's jaw could go any lower, it would have hit the castle's foundations.

---

Postscript: I rest my case.