Long story short: a Food Wars fic I adore called Classique (stupendous story, one of the best fics on this site, fully recommend) finally updated today, got me thinking of a Food Wars! Yu-Gi-Oh! AU I'd come up with, and got me thinking of Cards of Remnant and how I really needed to blow off some steam, but I also had this chapter as a backlog for this story and... well... I am terrible at not publishing something after I've written. So, here we are! :)

Beta-ed by xenosaiyan


Izuku had the feeling he should have stayed in the infirmary. Not because his body was wounded beyond general exhaustion (aura's healing was useful on that count), but because if he paced anymore outside the elevator to Ozpin's office, he might wear a hole in the floor.

He should have been elated. He had been at the tail-end of the fight, he knew that he had succeeded in the first step of his quest and restored Kacchan's memories. But when Jaune had then stood up and asked to speak with Ozpin and Professor Goodwitch right afterward, he'd been reminded of the spar's non-interdimensional stakes. None of them had considered what they'd do if the fight ended in a draw, but the leader of Team AYBN had taken the decision into his own hands.

Guilt had driven Izuku from the infirmary as soon as the doctors had given him the all-clear, bypassing a teasing Yang squabbling with Katsuki and a Ruby who seemed to be unable to look him in the eye. The young hero knew he owed his childhood companion an explanation and his partner some sort of apology for his recent actions, but for the moment, all he could think of was getting to Ozpin's office and offering whatever advocacy he could for Jaune to get some sort of chance to still become a huntsman.

Of course, then he found the door locked when he arrived, so he was pretty much reduced to worried pacing and muttering until the elevator dinged at his level. Jaune stepped out, in a stunned stupor, only to stop and blink at his friend when he saw him.

"Hey, Jaune," Izuku meekly waved, unsure if the blond would be pleased by his presence. "How did it go?"

"Hey… Izuku," Jaune replied, equally as numb. "I told them the truth about my transcripts. Ms. Goodwitch was furious. She wanted me on the next bullhead home."

"But… you're not?" Izuku hopefully asked. He knew he would have been in tears if he'd ever been kicked out of UA whether it was his own fault or not, and Jaune wasn't exactly skilled at keeping a poker face.

"I'm not. Not yet anyway," Jaune revealed. "Ozpin knew."

"He knew?!" Izuku exclaimed incredulously. Impossible! There was no way Ozpin would have let him take part in initiation if he'd known the blond boy didn't have aura. It would have been a death sentence!

"Well, he said he knew. And in hindsight, I didn't exactly have the money for top-shelf fake transcripts so maybe he did?" Jaune shrugged. "He said he was willing to see how I played out. He said if I qualified for the Vytal Festival tournament, not just the team but me specifically for the singles round, I could stay. If I don't, it's back to Ansel."

"Then you've got a chance!" Izuku exuberantly said, only for his happiness to be dimmed an instant later. "A chance that you might not have had if I had gotten my way. Jaune, I'm so sorry."

Jaune's stunned veneer finally cracked with confusion as he raised an eyebrow at Izuku. "Uh, okay… for what?"

"For saying we should tell the headmaster about your transcripts. For agreeing to risk it on a fight with Katsuki," Izuku stated, heartfelt remorse in his voice.

"That?" Jaune replied, still befuddled. The blond ended up shrugging and waving his friend off. "Don't worry about it. You didn't do anything wrong."

"I didn't… what?!" Izuku squeaked, gaping at the other boy in shock. "But I did! You're my friend and I was going to destroy your dream over what turned out to be nothing—"

"It was hardly nothing. Between you and me, I don't think Professor Ozpin would have been so lenient with me if I hadn't owned up to it myself," Jaune said. "My mom told me that "strangers are just friends you haven't met yet". But when I asked her how I'd know I'd met a friend, she said "When they stand their ground against you when you do something wrong". Katsuki stood up to me when I was going to give in to Cardin. You stood up to me about my transcripts. Neither of you were wrong."

"And then I wagered it all on a fight," Izuku morosely muttered. "Some morals."

"True, not your finest moment," Jaune replied with a chuckle. He playfully smacked Izuku on the shoulder. "But hey, I'm not exactly gonna get upset about you trying to find a loophole to let me stay when Katsuki offered it, am I?"

Izuku managed an attempt at a reassuring smile, but it felt hollow to him. Jaune had correctly guessed part of his motivation, but not all. He didn't know about the interdimensional drama or how his green-haired classmate had taken advantage of his distressing circumstances to serve his own agenda of restoring Kacchan's memories. He didn't know that Izuku had used him, had used Ruby.

If he did, he would have been as disgusted with him as the green-haired hero was with himself.

"Oh, by the way, if you're here, does that mean Katsuki's alright too?" Jaune worriedly asked.

"Oh, yeah! We both got a clean bill of health," Izuku related. "Though he was told to rest his arms for the next few days. He pushed his explosions really far."

"I saw. He had to if he was gonna keep up with that nuts speed increase you pulled out," Jaune complimented with a nervous laugh, only to let out a resigned sigh. "Oh, he is gonna lay into me for coming out to Ozpin after going through that fight. Up for walking me to the gallows?"

"I've gotta talk to the headmaster about something," Izuku excused himself. "But don't worry. Going by the end back there, Pyrrha has your back with him. Especially if Yang's with her."

A soft smile illuminated Jaune's face. "You know… I got really lucky to meet those three. Best team I could ever wish for. If anyone can break me into a better me, it's them."

That finally brought a genuine grin to Izuku's lips. "Totally. Forget qualifying for the Vytal Festival. You'll be standing on the winner's podium with them training you."

"Ha! Let's not get ahead of ourselves. Qualifying for the singles round doesn't mean I'll be the one I pick to put in them. Got a feeling I'll get another earful no matter who I choose when that finally comes up," Jaune remarked, striding away towards the tower exit, only to briefly stop and turn back. "Oh, Izuku."

"Yeah?"

"You might wanna wait a few minutes before you head up," the blond advised. "Ms. Goodwitch looked like she was about to give the headmaster as much of an earful as Katsuki ever could."


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"—an asinine, irresponsible, whim that could get him, his teammates, and anyone they're assigned to protect killed—"

"I understand, Glynda," Ozpin spoke up after a good minute of his deputy making her displeasure at his decision quite clear. "You've made your point."

When he and Glynda had received a notification of a practice arena being reserved, their interest had been peaked when they'd seen that the combatants were Izuku and Katsuki. With Ozpin's interest in the pair and Glynda's concern that a battle between the quirks could destroy the school, the professors had made a point to attend the spar from the shadows. With all their focus on the Earth natives, it had come as a mild surprise to both when Mr. Arc of all people had requested to speak to them. What the young man had actually had to tell them was significantly more so.

Glynda laid her hands on top of his desk and leered over at him. "Do you? Because I pointed out Mr. Arc was radically unsuited for the Emerald Forest during initiation, and you were suspiciously silent."

"Admittedly I was more focused on Mr. Midoriya, Ms. Rose, and Mr. Bell during the occasion," Ozpin coolly replied, raising his coffee cup to drink.

A coffee cup Glynda promptly forced down with her semblance to keep his focus on her.

"You lied to him just now," Glynda accused. "You had no idea about his transcripts. You never would have launched an auraless boy from the cliffs. He would have died if Ms. Nikos hadn't saved him."

Ozpin let go of his coffee cup and sighed. "You are correct. I did not know about Mr. Arc's transcripts during initiation, nor did I after until he courageously informed us just now."

It was a bit embarrassing. Given how lucrative a trade being a huntsman was, many forgetting the exceptionally high mortality rate in the face of the potentially obscene profits from kingdom bounty missions or bodyguarding SDC shipments, false transcripts weren't uncommon occurrences, with him and Glynda normally spending many sleepless nights going over prospective students' papers. But due to the chaotic storm of events that had immediately preceded the most recent school year including the attack on Amber, smuggling in the Aura Transfer Chamber and the Atlas technicians needed to set it up, bribing/threatening those same technicians to keep quiet, and that was without all the chaos of their interdimensional situation… suffice to say, Mr. Arc's transcripts had slipped in during one of the sleepless nights when their minds had been focused on more important affairs.

"We really must find a way to improve our sleep schedules," Ozpin noted. "Barty already stays up too late from all his coffee, maybe he can deal with some of the extra paperwork."

"Why did you allow Mr. Arc to remain in this school?" Glynda demanded, as business-focused as ever despite his attempt at humor.

"I didn't pay zero attention to him during initiation," Ozpin pointed out. "He showed an ability to take command and competently utilize his teammates' strengths in battle. I made him team leader for a reason."

"That is not an adequate answer. We've both seen team leaders who specialize in tactics over physical combat, but we also both know they still have to be at least competent in battle to survive. Something I can assure you that Mr. Arc is not even close to being," Glynda countered. "Beacon is not a combat school, it is a huntsman academy. He will be going on missions with live Grimm, against which we cannot ensure either his safety or those he is sent to protect. We cannot in good conscience allow him to remain. If you believe he has promise, fine, send him to Signal. Let Taiyang take a year or two to whip him into shape and then let him reapply—"

"No," Ozpin declared affirmatively. "He is Team AYBN's leader. He cannot be put a year behind them."

Glynda scoffed. "Since when does being team leader excuse one from the consequences of their actions? If we suddenly discovered Cardin Winchester's transcripts were fakes, you'd see him gone from this school in a second."

"I would," Ozpin confirmed. "Team CRDL, and most other teams at this academy, are, I'm sad to say, of significantly less value than Team AYBN."

It was playing favorites, blatantly. If any outsiders knew of his actions, they'd have quite the grounds for a corruption case. But of the many little things Ozma had become accustomed to doing over the millennia for the sake of the war with The Queen, this was not one that greatly plagued his conscience anymore. Team CRDL, once they were whipped into shape both physically and behaviorally, would likely go on to be an average friend group of average huntsmen. Go out, hunt Grimm, save a few villages, and hopefully live past their thirties. Admirable, crucial to the overall game of keeping the endlessly approaching hordes' numbers down, but not irreplaceable. Replaceable by design even, the headmaster thought morosely and reproachfully of himself.

Team AYBN were a much more unique lot. Ignoring Mr. Arc himself, the sheer quality of the group's individual fighters were all at the level that Ozpin would be looking to groom them to be his agents even without the members' circumstances that made them even more attractive to his designs, such as Pyrrha's wide-reaching celebrity and Yang's family ties to Team STRQ. But Katsuki's situation meant that he would be returning to Earth once Izuku found and restored the memories of all his friends, which would leave the all-star group down a member. An already heavy blow that would be a downright death knell if they were to be deprived of their leader as well. And given how crucial Ms. Nikos and Ms. Xiao-Long looked to be for his plans, that was impermissible.

Glynda, aware of the general shape of his designs, sighed. "Ms. Nikos and Ms. Xiao-Long remain the frontrunners for the transplant from Amber?"

Ozpin nodded. "Ms. Schnee needs to be more grounded. Ms. Belladonna's true loyalties are still yet to be seen. You know the issues with Ms. Adel and Ms. Scarlatina. James suggested a Ms. Polendina who's just entered Atlas, but I made clear that I want the Fall Maiden tied to Beacon. Ms. Nikos and Ms. Xiao-Long are not without their own flaws, but comparatively we stand a better chance of helping one of them improve by the time Amber's condition worsens enough to force our hand."

"And for the sake of that goal, we're going to throw Mr. Arc to the Beowolves long before he's ready," Glynda glumly remarked. "I do not approve of this. You are the one who often reminds me that these students are still children. Children in our care, our responsibility."

"I know," Ozpin said. "Still, I ask that you trust me."

Glynda took a deep breath to calm herself. If he was anyone else, he suspected he would still be getting quite the earful afterward. Where his position as headmaster was primarily just a guise to allow him the political and behind-the-scenes power he needed to execute his war against the Queen, his second was a teacher through and through, as fine an instructor of huntresses as she was one herself. She expected a lot from her students but no less than she held herself to and would always protect them if they tried their hardest to meet those standards. In contrast, though he cared for them, Ozpin had been forced to see his students as tools over the millennia, weapons he pointed at the enemy to claim some small victory. And because she'd once been his student, because he'd fooled her into believing that small stalling victory would someday be some grand triumphant over Salem's evil, she trusted that he would only do that if he had to.

It was his job to make sure she never learned that he'd always have to.

"I do," Glynda assured him, his second's loyalty tested but still secure. "I guess I'll just have to make sure Forever Fall is even more clear of Grimm than usual to ensure his safety in the upcoming field trip."

Ozpin chuckled. "What would I do without you, Glynda?"

"I imagine pass out under a mountain of paperwork or bring Bartholomew into your circle out of sheer desperation," his deputy smirked in a rare display of humor before her serious expression returned. "Some of those moves Mr. Bell used in that fight… I haven't seen him use those in spars before, even when they might have won him matches. Do you think—"

The ding of the office's elevator interrupted the professor.

"We'll find out soon enough," Ozpin said, a genuine smile rising to his lips that was slowly becoming instinctive when his young protégé appeared. "Good evening, Mr. Midoriya. What news from the front?"

Izuku shot the older huntsmen a nervous smile before striding up to the desk, Glynda stepping aside to gently welcome the young student into the fold. "How much of the fight did you see?"

"Enough," Glynda said. "Mr. Bell seemed to be exhibiting more variety and power with his quirk as the fight went on."

"That's because he was remembering," Izuku confirmed. "He has remembered. I'm sure of it."

"How do you know?" Ozpin inquired.

"He said my name. My hero name," Izuku revealed, certain. "Deku."

Glynda cocked an eyebrow. "Deku? Why would you choose old Mistralian for 'useless' for your hero name?"

"It's… a long story," Izuku replied, nervously scratching the back of his neck as a light pink blush dusted over his cheeks. "A friend helped me see it in a different light. See it as 'you can do it'."

"But you are certain that he remembers?" Ozpin smirked. "Congratulations are in order then, Mr. Midoriya. One down and five to go, and our guests for the Vytal Festival haven't even arrived yet."

Izuku peaked his lips into a strained smile. "I'll talk to Kacchan when I get back to the rooms. Fill him in on Salem and the reincarnation situation. He'll probably be eager to take her on."

Ozpin's lips pressed together at his student's out-of-place discomfort during what should have been a great victory, the salvation of one of his lost friends. "Mr. Bell may be a determined young man, but don't put too much stock in him being able to just shrug this off. Take it from me, reconciling multiple lives inside one's mind is neither an easy nor an enjoyable process."

Izuku's eyes widened, his face falling into his palms. "I hadn't thought of that. Damnit, I should have thought of that."

Ozpin glanced over to Glynda, his deputy meeting him with a look of similar concern. Even with Izuku's natural pessimism and self-doubt, this was not the expression of someone who had just accomplished a task that he'd thought might have been impossible a short time before. Something else was afoot here.

"I've gotta get back and talk to him now. Make sure he knows what's going on before he starts getting angrier than usual," Izuku panicked. He gave both professors a short bow and dashed back to the elevator, manically hitting the button to descend.

Fortunately, Glynda was skilled enough with her semblance to keep the 'hold door' button pressed down long enough to join the young man in the elevator. She shot Ozpin a confident nod, one he returned with certainty. No matter how fast Mr. Midoriya was, he would not be able to make the elevator go any faster.

And the headmaster had no doubt that his deputy could reorder their student's frazzled mind by the time they reached the bottom floor.


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Glynda had seen nearly three decades of huntsmen students pass through Beacon's walls. With hundreds of teenagers all studying the most dangerous profession on the planet in close proximity, that meant she'd seen an exceedingly wide range of eclectic personalities responding to vast amounts of pressure in an impressive variety of manners. Starting her teaching career just as Team STRQ had entered the school had set the bar for her tolerance for such manners exceptionally high.

Thus, while she was well aware of the remarkably unique circumstances Izuku Midoriya was operating under, his reaction of rapidly tapping his foot, sweating like a dog, and feverishly muttering into his hands was hardly one she was unacquainted with in her students. It was however one she was more used to seeing before an arduous trial was undertaken, not after it had been miraculously passed.

And if the source of the stress was not the result, then, in Glynda's experience, it was often the method with which it was achieved.

"What did you do?" Glynda inquired, sharp, yet not without care. It was a tone she'd finetuned over years of mentoring and caring for students who'd had traumatizing encounters with the Grimm, and it did its job cutting Mr. Midoriya out of his panicked stupor and drawing his verdant gaze up to the professor's compassionate gaze. "To restore Mr. Bell's memories. You clearly did something that troubles you."

"What? I… well, I didn't… but I did," Izuku stammered, before looking away guiltily. "Did Jaune explain how the fight came about?"

"He did not," Glynda replied, unsurprised that Mr. Arc had neglected certain details to protect his friends. An honorable instinct in both himself and Mr. Midoriya, though unnecessary in this case. "But as the matter is settled, you need not be concerned. Nothing you say will leave this room nor affect your friends' status at this institution."

Izuku pressed his lips in consideration before letting out a ragged sigh. "Our teams found out about Jaune's transcripts. Weiss and I felt that we needed to tell the truth about them, for moral reasons and to keep him from getting killed from being thrown onto missions he wasn't trained for. Then Katsuki challenged me to the spar, whichever one of us won would have decided what our teams did, and I agreed to it. I used my friend's future as a bargaining chip for my own agenda."

"An agenda of saving his teammate's soul," Glynda pointed out.

"Does that make it alright? Even beyond Jaune, Ruby trusted me as her friend and I used her to get Weiss to agree to the idea," Izuku worried. "A few weeks ago, I talked to Ozpin about how I was worried about hurting them if my job to save my friends conflicted with their duty as huntresses and he said we'd cross that bridge when we came to it. Well, I did come to it. And even though it worked and Kacchan has his memories back and saving him is the reason I'm here, I still feel like I did something awful. And if it's only going to hurt Kacchan by shoving two different lives in his head—"

"Mr. Midoriya," Glynda firmly but gently said, preventing the green-haired young man from dissembling into a mess of muttering. "As you gain more experience both as a hero and a huntsman, you will find that the good you do is rarely without unexpected consequences. And when you play at the level The Queen requires as you have unfortunately been raised to, you will also find that you have to do some awful things to prevent worse alternatives."

Gods knew she had. The young girl Glynda had been would have been horrified at what she had grown up to make herself party to for the greater good. Embezzlement for funding Ozpin's conspiracy, bribery or blackmail of public officials to keep watch and counter Salem's moves without asking questions, even an accessory to assassinations without due process carried out by Qrow to prevent any figure in Vale's underworld from becoming too powerful to hand the city over to the enemy if they were subverted (the uncharacteristic participation of the White Fang in the recent dust robberies seemed to indicate this last venture was successful, yet ultimately ineffective), any court that somehow learned the truth behind the academies would have sufficient evidence to put her and every headmaster behind bars for the rest of their lives. There was a reason Ozpin usually took months, sometimes years to make sure he could trust someone before inviting them into his circle. Even if they didn't balk at magic and relics, betraying the professors to the law would be just as harmful.

Yet, though she regretted all of it, she knew it was all necessary. They had to defeat The Queen and put an end to her evil for good. Else the Grimm would forever haunt Remnant, and her students would forever be made sacrificial weapons to keep them at bay just one day longer… until the day they finally couldn't—

No, no, she shouldn't think like that. Ozpin had a plan for victory. He'd been working on it for centuries; he'd reassured her so many times. Such dour thoughts helped no one, certainly not the charge she was supposed to be assisting.

"It is possible that Ms. Rose and Mr. Arc may feel betrayed by your actions. They lack the context not to," Glynda comforted Izuku. "However, if they were aware of that context, that Mr. Bell's life depended on it, they would understand. Take heart in that."

"Is that really enough when I'm hurting them?" Izuku asked.

"It's all we can do at times," Glynda regretfully informed him. "You kept the secret of One for All on your world, didn't you? Did such conflicts never arise with it?"

"Not really," Izuku said, though his face lightened enough for a light chuckle. "Though, it did convince one of my classmates that I was All Might's secret love child."

"Your mentor?" Glynda queried with a sly smirk. "I suppose you may want to get in front of any such rumors here then. With how often you speak with Ozpin and the similarities in your colors, he might be confused as your second long-lost parent."

"What?! I don't want to cause any unsightly rumors he'll have to deal with—" Izuku caught sight of the professor's teasing expression and blushed embarrassingly at the realization that she was joking. Though, he did let out a genuine chuckle afterward, a calmer look of introspection following. "I told Kacchan that if the Remnant him wasn't enough to beat me, he had to break himself to grow beyond his limits to do it. I try to do that myself, but… I guess I never thought that 'break my limits' would include my moral limits."

"Sometimes it does," Glynda confirmed. "But your hesitancy to do so is not a weakness, Mr. Midoriya. Our moral limits are what separate us from our enemy after all."

The green-haired boy finally managed a small grin, his body no longer shaking with panic. "Thank you, Professor Goodwitch."

Glynda smiled, the elevator doors opening in front of the pair with a light ding. "You are most very welcome, Mr. Midoriya. Despite your circumstances, you are just as much my student as any of your teammates so long as you are at this academy. If you need help or advice, do not hesitate to ask."

"Really?" Izuku exclaimed, his puppy dog eyes sparkling with excitement. "Thank you! I'll bring my journals next time! Years of fighting an unkillable Grimm queen, I can't imagine the wisdom you've gathered!"

The reenergized hero hopeful dashed out of the elevator and through the halls of Beacon, ready to finish saving his friend from his world and do what he could to make amends with those from theirs. Unknowing that his final words had left the stoic educator he'd spoken to completely rocked.

"… Unkillable?" Glynda confusedly whispered, the mighty huntress's arm shaking at her side.


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"So, yeah. That's how it is," Jaune finished, both his own team and three-quarters of Team RIBW gathered in the Team AYBN room. "I qualify for the Vytal Festival's singles round or I'm outta here."

"Sweet!" Yang cheered. "I mean, not the 'gonna kick you out if you fail' part, but the Vytal Festival is months away! Between P-Money, Sparky, and me, we can totally whip you into shape! I mean, enough to qualify at least… that is all you have to do, right?

Jaune nodded. "Yeah."

"Good," Yang declared, smacking her fist into her palm. "Cause I'm staking my claim to being our team's representative there. Everyone okay with that? P-Money?"

"Well, Jaune is our leader, so technically the decision for the singles and doubles rounds fall to him," Pyrrha politely noted. But the picture-perfect champion turned to Katsuki right after, a hungry gleam in her eyes. Not in a romantic way, but in the same sort of way he'd looked at her since they first met. As a challenge she was eager to face. "Though perhaps we should hold some sort of sparring competition when the time comes to see which of us would be most suited?"

"Hey, hey, you're talking to me. My muscles are just as fabulous as his, thank you very much," Yang teased. "Besides, if you two are going to pick up Izuku's habit of giving his attacks names, he's way out of your league. Seriously, Pyrrha? 'Magnetic Chuck'?"

Pyrrha cringed. "It was what came to mind in the moment."

Yang lightly chuckled before turning back to Jaune and pointing two thumbs back at herself. "What do you say, Fearless Leader? Wanna stack your ace on top of the deck a few months in advance?"

"Alright, one, in the terms of this team, Pyrrha is the ace," Weiss said. "You are the queen, at best."

"How dare you?" Yang responded exaggeratedly, a cheeky smile on her lips. "I'd think a young woman of your breeding would know better than to insult a fellow lady so."

Weiss rolled her eyes. "Two, I'm relatively sure stacking the deck is cheating. Three…" she leaned in towards Jaune with a notepad and pencil. "… who are you planning to field in the Vytal Festival's singles round? For curiosity's sake."

Blake playfully cocked an eyebrow. "Not so you can get started on a counterstrategy?"

"You can't prove that!" Weiss exclaimed at her partner, only to be greeted by a chorus of chuckles all around the room.

Jaune thought he was in trouble when she whipped back around to focus on him, her eyes narrowing as the blond boy squirmed. But he also noticed that the elegant huntress's beautiful icy gaze wasn't glaring at him as it always had before. No, his crush's perfect blue orbs felt… contemplative.

"The fight ended in a draw. Katsuki technically won if we went by who had the most aura left," Weiss remarked. "Why did you confess to Ozpin? Did you have some sort of plan to convince him to let you stay or something?"

"Plan? Ha! Heck no," Jaune laughed, before a contemplative look overtook his face as well. "I guess it was like Izuku said at the cafeteria the other day. I couldn't just stand back and do nothing."

"Even if doing nothing was all you needed to do to achieve your dream?" Weiss challenged. "You said this was your only opportunity to be a huntsman."

"It is," Jaune confirmed. "But I didn't just want to be a huntsman. I wanted… I want to be a hero. And that means not doing nothing and pretending everything is fine just to get out of doing the right thing and cover my own ass."

Blake's brow furrowed disdainfully. "If Ozpin hadn't already known, which you had no way of knowing, your team would have lost their leader. The consequences of telling the truth could have gone wrong for more than just you if you hadn't gotten lucky."

"He made the idiot's choice."

All eyes whirled onto Katsuki, the blond boy having been uncharacteristically quiet until those five words. The wolf faunus sat on his bed, bent over with his forehead leaning against his knuckles in a way that covered his blood-red eyes. Even long after his fight with Izuku, the huntsman-in-training shivered where he sat, sweat running down his twitching muscles as he stared aimlessly into his hands.

Jaune gulped, already nudging himself towards Pyrrha for protection. Like he'd told Izuku, Katsuki was the teammate he was most concerned about reacting aggressively to his choice to confess to Ozpin. He couldn't even blame him given that the exploding boy had gone to such lengths to protect his secret after he had knocked some sense into him about not giving into Cardin's blackmail. Didn't mean he was eager to eat the inevitable explosions to the face, especially if the wolf faunus was gonna get creative with them like in the spar.

"Better an idiot than a coward, Jaune."

The silence that followed was palpable, like they cast a cloud of smoke over the huntsmen-in-training. Jaune numbly blinked as if trying to see through the metaphorical fog, poking around in his ears to figure out what was wrong. Because there was no way in hell Katsuki had actually said what he'd thought he'd said. After all…

"You said his name!?" Yang squealed, dashing over to her partner's side and excitedly shaking his shoulders. "What the heck, Sparky?! You can't just drop a bombshell like that on us out of the blue! Unless you're using all our names now? Ooo, do me next! Me next—"

Katsuki swiveled his wrist around so that his palm was in his partner's face and blasted her back into a wall. Jaune caught a glimpse of his teammate's eye revealed from behind the curtain of the hand, the red orb twitching and closing as if feverish. "Quiet."

Blake inched back away from the wolf faunus boy. "I suppose it is late. We've all got homework to do. We should get started before Izuku gets back. Right, guys?"

"Egh, right," Ruby muttered. Though, the silver-eyed girl turned to her fellow team leader before she could reach the door. "Jaune… about what happened on the roof. I didn't want to—"

"Not you too," Jaune interrupted with a playful sigh. "Do you and Izuku share a guilt complex or something? Like I told him back at Ozpin's, you didn't do anything wrong wanting to tell the truth about my transcripts. That was my mistake, and it was my responsibility to make it right." Ruby opened her mouth again, but he raised a hand to stall her. "And before you say anything about the bet, again just like he did, I'm not gonna be mad at you for trying to give me a way out."

Ruby's mouth closed, her lips pursed in thought. "He said sorry to you about all that?"

"He did," Jaune replied. "He was really torn up about it."

Ruby frowned, her silver eyes glancing over at Katsuki. "Then why'd he do it all?"

"Ugh, don't stress out about it, Rubes," Yang advised, groaning as she shook dust from her hair while she stepped out of the new crater in the wall. "All's well that ends well and all that."

"Perhaps not that blasé, but I think we can afford to put off questioning what in the world Izuku was thinking for one night," Weiss said.

The heiress strode to join her partner at the open door, only to pause before she could step out the threshold of Team AYBN's room. She turned back, her eyes finding Katsuki.

"Got something to say, Ice Bitch?" the wolf faunus inquired, though he lacked the venom he normally did. He sounded exhausted, but somehow still fighting something.

For a second, Weiss's face flashed with hesitation. She was used to Katsuki's way of referring to her, so she probably wasn't put off by it, just unsure if this was the right time for her words. Yet, she pressed on and said… "Use your gauntlets and grenades as much as you want in sparring from now on. I'll cover the cost."

Most of the others' eyes widened in surprise, though Katsuki just kept staring forward.

"The repair bill for your gauntlet too. I know the damage Izuku left can't be cheap," Weiss continued after a few moments of silence. She turned to Jaune next, the other blond boy almost leaping back at her gaze. "The offer goes for you as well, Arc. I know you don't use dust right now, but I figure Ruby'll eventually convince you to add a gun to your arsenal somewhere."

It worried Jaune that Ruby didn't immediately pipe up with how she'd already come up with half a dozen blueprints for how to give Crocea Mors a fully automatic auto-turret mode. Instead, she just keeping her questioning silver gaze on Katsuki. His first friend was definitely shaken up more than she was letting on, but for the moment, he had an unexpected Snow Angel offering to handle a good portion of his and his teammate's money problems out of the blue to process.

"That's… that's amazingly generous of you, Weiss," Jaune breathlessly replied.

"It is," Pyrrha chimed in, though her face was twisted in confusion. "But if I may ask, where did this come from?"

"Well, Pyrrha, I have recently been made aware that I have been… exceptionally sheltered," Weiss declared, taking great pains not to glance back at a smirking Blake. "Your partner has been deemed worthy of a chance by the headmaster. Katsuki has the potential to become one of the greatest huntsmen of our generation. Having them be handicapped in those endeavors would be unacceptable."

"And you can't just stand back and do nothing," Jaune connected the dots as he stared up at his crush as if worshiping a goddess. "You're incredible, Snow Angel."

"Do not read into this!" Weiss commanded, shoving a pointer finger into Jaune's face. "I acknowledge that you coming clean to Ozpin took bravery befitting the huntsman you want to be. I acknowledge that you are not undeserving of help towards achieving that goal. I even sympathize with your fears about not living up to a noble family legacy. But don't you ever call me that insipid nickname ever again!"

"… ever?"

"Ever! Or I will put you through the wall."

"Skinny arms like yours? Heh," Katsuki softly chuckled. Weiss whirled around on him only to be greeted with… "I'll do it for you, Ice Bitch. Maybe knock some sense into the idiot."

Weiss blinked with shock, only for an evil, catlike smile to grow over her dainty lips. She turned back towards Jaune, an elegant hand rising to stroke her chin. "Now there's an idea."

"So, homework! We should get on that!" Jaune fearfully squeaked, hopping to his feet. "Extra readings from Professor Oobleck aren't gonna finish themselves!"

Yang smirked. "You're the only one who has to do those, Fearless Leader."

"I don't know," Weiss contemplated, glancing at Ruby. "Some extra reading could help Ruby and Izuku fill up the holes in their knowledge banks."

"That could help," Izuku piped up, finally arriving at the open doorway. "What chapters do we have to cover?"

Katsuki burst to his feet before Weiss could even begin to answer. Sweaty and spasming, the wolf faunus furiously stomped over to the green-haired boy, Blake moving out of the way as Ruby, Yang, and Pyrrha scampered over to intervene.

"It's alright!" Izuku called out, the huntresses halting in their tracks. The huntsman-in-training met Katsuki's livid gaze, stony and accepting with his verdant eyes.

"We need to talk," Katsuki declared.

Izuku nodded. He turned to the others. "We might be awhile. Weiss, can you please text me what chapters you want me to read?"

"Izuku, wait," Ruby cautioned, fearfully glancing between the two boys. "It's been a long day, you two just went at it really hard. Maybe it's best to wait for tomorrow, let some sleep cool your heads—"

"This is none of your business, Moon Eyes!" Katsuki growled. "You don't know anything about this—"

"Kacchan, don't yell at her," Izuku interceded immediately, before gazing at his team leader with a guilty look. "Don't worry, Ruby. It'll be fine. I promise."

He and Katsuki marched off down the hall, Ruby looking none too convinced as she watched them go.

"Well, I for one have had more than enough excitement for one day," Weiss remarked, turning to her partner. "How about we put a kettle on? Get some tea going for homework time?"

Blake smiled, relaxed and genuine. "Always time for tea."

"Oh! My mom just sent me some wonderful tea from home in a care package!" Pyrrha excitedly clapped, rushing over to her bed and pulling out a box from underneath it. "Do you guys prefer Argus Grey or Mistral Imperial?"

"Mistral Imperial," Weiss and Blake answered at the same time, the two girls glancing at each other before each pressed a palm in front of their lips to hide their ladylike giggles.

"Geez, you expect it from the Ice Queen, but you've got expensive taste, Blakey," Yang teased.

"It's tea," Blake insisted, instantly serious. "It's worth getting the best."

"Yeah, yeah," Yang laughed, before turning to Pyrrha. "Got any hot chocolate in there? Ruby only drinks the sweetest and sugary-est, right, Ruby?... Ruby?"

They all whipped back towards where the red hooded leader had stood a moment before, only to be greeted by an empty whistle and a few scattered rose petals.

Jaune sighed. "Shoulda seen that coming."

He didn't know why Ruby was so concerned by what was going on between Izuku and Katsuki. Sure the spar got super intense, but there were both awesome fighters pushing each other to their limits. But it seemed whatever the silver-eyed girl sensed about the situation that the rest of them didn't, she couldn't just do nothing about it. Not really surprising given how awesome she was.

Come to think of it, she and Izuku really were the perfect partners. They were both always the first to jump in when they thought they could help.

"Ugh! Again!" Weiss groaned.

Yang laughed. "Anyone up for another round of eavesdropping?"

"How about 'no'?" Jaune put forth. "We've all got work that's due tomorrow and we don't have much evening left as it is. If Izuku and Katsuki talk about anything we should all know about, they'll tell us or Ruby will."

Pyrrha smirked at him questioningly. "Is that an order as team leader?"

"Uh, sure, why not—I mean… yes," Jaune declared, coughing to recollect himself and flushing his hesitation away to be what his friends deserved. "It's my order as leader of Team AYBN."

He received a proud grin from Pyrrha and a thumbs-up from Yang in response. It might have been one of the best moments of his life, the first moment he felt like he'd lived up to their expectations.

"Technically, we're not on your team, so you can't give us orders," Weiss pointed out. "But I for one have had enough personal drama for one day."

"It's exhausting and I want tea," Blake bluntly stated.

Jaune let out a hearty laugh. "As good a reason as any."

With how Katsuki had been off since his fight with Izuku, the two clearing the air would be good for all of them. And if things did get out of hand, Ruby could handle anything that arose.

Honestly though, after tiring themselves out with that fireworks show of a spar, Jaune didn't see how any conversation between the two boys could possibly cause more damage.


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"Congratulations, Young Bakugo! You've passed the Entrance Exam! Welcome to UA, your hero academia!"

"Well done, Katsuki!" a guy with glasses and brown hair, his father, gushed over him. "We knew you could do it!"

"You did good, kiddo!" a fiery woman with bushy blonde hair, his mother, complimented him, aggressively smacking him on the back. "Now don't let it go to your head, ya big goof!"


"By order of the Spiders! Come out and die, you animals!"

"Get everyone out! I'll hold them off!" a woman with short tan hair and long wolf ears, his mother, shouted to a large group. "Katsuki, go with daddy! Everything'll be alright, kiddo. I'll fuck'em up!"


"By order of the Branwen Tribe! You animals can either get on the ship or take your chances with the Grimm in the woods, but you can't bring your sickness here!"

"Everything will be alright, Katsuki—Achoo!" an ill man with floppy dog ears lied, sagged back against a leaky steel ship as his face grew paler by the second. "This is just a cold. I'll walk it off when we get to Menager—Choo!"


He sat atop a rustic belltower, staring out at the sunset over the crystal blue sea.

A woman with a bob of short black hair and cat ears, yet another mother, took a seat beside him.

"Piss off, hag," he spat.

"Well, that's impolite," the woman gently countered, her verbal rapier deftly deflecting his brutish mace. "The madam tells me you've been fighting with the other children."

"The extras wanted to know how strong I was," he snarled. "I showed them."

"And Kirishima?"

He turned away and snorted. "Shellhead shouldn't have stuck his nose into it if he wasn't ready to tangle with the strongest."

"From the look of that lip of yours, he wasn't exactly unprepared," the woman sighed, ruefully shaking her head. "I know what you've lost, Katsuki."

"You don't know anything."

"You'd be surprised. A lot of us came to this island as refugees. People with nothing left to lose and start to think we're better off that way," she explained. "But the thing about strength, the thing I learned here from my husband and… an old friend with a good heart… is that you can't have it if you accept having nothing. True strength requires something to protect. You remind me a lot of that old friend. She was a fierce fighter too."

His lips pursed together, frowning but not scoffing as he begrudgingly stayed by her side.

She glanced back at the belltower and smiled. "If you want to get something to lose, to become truly strong, you'll need people to test yourself against. Iron sharpens iron after all."

"Into a Bell boy?" he questioned.

She shrugged. "If you feel like it. But if you do… I hear Kirishima wants a rematch. Though I'll be refereeing the matter this time. Deal?"

Despite himself, Katsuki smirked.


Izuku gulped as Katsuki dragged him into a dark, secluded corridor, gripping the green-haired boy by the jacket of his school uniform and slamming him up against the wall.

"Talk, Deku. Now," the wolf faunus demanded. "What the hell is going on?"

"That's complicated," Izuku replied, panickedly raising his hands when Katsuki's glare narrowed. "I am going to tell you! Everything, right now! But first, I need to know what you remember."

"Remember?! I remember fucking everything!" Katsuki growled, the skin of his face twitching and spasming. His grip on Izuku evaporated, the fierce young man stumbling back as sweat poured down his forehead. "I've got two different lives in my head, two lives that can't have both happened."

"They did," Izuku assured him. "They did both happen."

"I know that, you damn nerd!" the wolf faunus yelled at him, panting as his hands flicked up and rubbed down his furry wolf ears. "A life with these. A life without them. But both mine. I feel both. I lived both! I've got two sets of parents in my head and… and…"

Katsuki's breathing accelerated even faster, his eyes widening as he was overwhelmed. Izuku rushed over and caught him under his armpits, supporting his classmate as the other boy's legs finally gave out from under him.

"It's alright. It's alright," Izuku told him, gently guiding him to the floor and leaning him back against the wall. "Take a second. Catch your breath."

"I don't need… to catch my breath…" Katsuki scowled, clearly short on breath. "I need… answers. So do you have them or not… Deku?"

Izuku nodded and divulged everything. The study session at UA, the Gods' arrival and bequeathing him his mission, arriving and meeting Ozpin, everything the headmaster and Professor Goodwitch had done to keep him hidden from Salem's eyes and what they'd learned about the reincarnation's characteristics.

By the end of it, Kacchan's head thudded back against the wall, his breath slowly coming under control. "Fuck. Just… fuck. And I thought One for All was bullshit."

"It does put things in perspective," Izuku remarked, putting a reassuring smile on his face. He didn't completely believe his words, but it didn't matter. Kacchan was going through something he couldn't comprehend, so the least he could do was try to give him moral support. "But I didn't know if I'd be able to find you, let alone get your memories back, but we did."

"So I'm just Katsuki Bakugo again?" Kacchan snarled. "I refuse. I didn't come this far to be a huntsman just for… for a side quest!"

"It's not a side quest!" Izuku quickly and heartily assured him. All the effort he'd seen all his classmates put into becoming huntsmen, Kacchan especially, there was no way their journeys could ever be trivialized so. After all, while Katsuki Bakugo's super moves had ultimately matched Izuku's smashes at the end of their spar, it was Katsuki Bell's equipment and training that had given him the openings to use them.

Heroes and huntsmen may not have been exactly the same, but they weren't without their similarities either.

"Then what happens when you find us all… you know what, forget it," Katsuki sighed, shaking his head forward into his hands. "Have you found any of the supporting players?"

"We checked the students that were in the academies at the beginning of the year. The second and third years now," Izuku informed him. "Ozpin's requested the other headmasters send their first-year rosters with their students for the Vytel Festival. After the attack on the Fall Maiden, he's worried that Salem's watching Beacon, monitoring its CCT communications—"

"Fall Maiden?" Kacchan queried. "From the fairy tale?"

"Ah, right, the maidens are also real. They're other magic stuff," Izuku quickly explained. "Ozpin can probably explain that better, he's got this whole speech prepared about favorite fairy tales."

"There's more? More than being ripped out of my body by the secret unkillable master of the Grimm," Kacchan groaned. "Fuck it. We don't need to wait for the Vytel Festival arrivals for Kirishima."

"We don't?" Izuku parroted, only for his eyes to widen, a spark of hope filling his heart. "You mean—"

"Yeah, nerd," Katsuki confirmed. "I know where he is. Here on Remnant, we grew up together."

Few words could describe the relief, excitement, and joy that exploded through Izuku in that moment. Whatever complications he'd have to deal with from his actions, whatever amends he'd have to make with his teammates for his mistakes, at the very least he'd succeeded in his objective. Kacchan was back. If the worst happened and he died on Remnant, he would safely return to his body on Earth. He was as safe as could be, and he even had a lead on Kirishima's location so he could save him too.

Like Ozpin had said. One down, five to go. There were doubtlessly troubles ahead, but nothing they couldn't handle—

… why were there rose petals fluttering down the hall?


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"Suppressive fire squad, keep it coming!" Ash called, dashing through the beautiful red leaves of Forever Fall for the roaring Alpha Beowolf. "Aim for the joints! The joints, not the armor!"

The Xiong gang's suited goons, the goons Boss Momo had put under his command, obeyed his stalwart orders, forming ranks and taking careful aim with their submachine guns. Their shots struck home and pecked away at the Beowolf's dark muscle, staggering the creature's charge.

"Kill squads, go!" Ash shouted. "Go! Go! Go!"

From their hiding places among the trees, half a dozen more sunglasses-wearing goons swarmed the Grimm with their cleavers as red as Forever Fall's leaves. The Alpha Beowolf's instincts kicked in, the ferocious beast swaying back and ensuring the rain of sword strikes fell on its bone armor, its razor-sharp claws lashing out and smashing the suited gangsters into the foliage. Even with their auras unlocked, common criminals couldn't take down a Grimm on its caliber so easily.

Fortunately, their failure provided enough of a distraction for Ash to run behind it and bring down his cleaver on its unprotected neck.

The gangster panted hard as the monster's dark corpse disintegrated beneath him on the ground. All around, his men gave each other hands up, still shivering with terror.

"That bitch!" one of the suited men roared. "She sent us up against this thing! For sap!"

"She knew we could handle it! She trained us to handle it!" Ash shouted, cowing the rowdy goon with his anger. He pointed towards the fading Grimm with his sword. "And we did handle it! We killed an Alpha Beowolf!"

Most civilians, aura unlocked or not, didn't survive a clash with a garden-variety Beowolf, let alone one that had survived long enough to gain extra armor and muscle. Huntsmen and even huntsmen-in-training may not have blinked twice at such common Grimm, but the Xiong gang had always operated inside Vale's walls specifically to avoid such creatures.

All that changed when Boss Momo had arrived and taken control of the gang. She brought with her the training The Spiders employed with their soldiers in the Mistral Wildlands, where the walls were unreliable and Branwen bandits would get you if the Grimm didn't, instilling it into Junior's crew. But more than that, she'd inspired them, shown them that they didn't have to cower before Roman Torchwick and bombshell blondes who blew up their club for fun (who Ash admittedly still kinda wanted to track down and ask out despite the fact that she'd put him through a wall).

Ash had grown up on Vale's roughest side. No one had ever believed in him, even as he'd trained his ass off to become the best fighter he could be, make it into Beacon, and get filthy rich to provide for his parents. And despite his best efforts, they'd been proven right when he'd failed the entrance exam that everyone who didn't go to fancy combat school had to take. He'd been a low man on the totem pole of the Xiong gang to make ends meet ever since. Until Momo Malachite had placed her trust in him.

He hadn't made her regret it since. Every one of the dust heists he'd led had been a success, enough that she'd entrusted him with collecting red sap from Forever Fall (apparently if properly mixed with fire dust, it could increase the explosive power tenfold). She trusted his judgment and ability and he wouldn't let her down!

"Sapping team!" Ash called. "What's your progress—"

"Ash! More Grimm!" one of his exhausted lookouts screamed, pointing down the rows of trees. "More Grimm incoming!"

"Damnit!" Ash cursed under his breath, whirling towards the incoming demons, a pair of Beowolves racing to avenge their alpha. "Suppression squad, form up! Kill squad, run interference—"

"Hold."

Ash shivered, suddenly feeling as if an ice cube had been dropped on the base of his spine. His men didn't have his constitution, leaping back out of position, some dropping their weapons in terror. With the Beowolves approaching, that lapse of focus should have been the death of them.

Except, the Beowolves froze as well, the fearsome canine demons suddenly skidding to a stop at the sound of the dark, booming voice. The monsters, creatures whose only desire was the complete annihilation of humanity, to wreak death and carnage wherever they went… whimpered.

Whimpered, and ran away.

"Uh, Ash," one of his guys nervously muttered. "Do Grimm… do that?"

Ash was about to answer, when he suddenly heard a rustling up in the trees. The criminals' eyes all shot up to the blood-red treetops, lush leaves blocking their line of sight, the branches creaking as… something moved through them. Something fast. Something stealthy. Something that even Grimm ran away from.

A black snout poked out from the leaves and gave a long sniff from above the gang members.

"No… quirk."

The black snout retracted back into the leaves. But the branches didn't even rustle to signify it had left.

Ash whirled towards the sapping team. "How much you got?"

"Uh, about a third of what the boss wanted—"

"Bottle it," Ash ordered. "We're leaving. Now."

Boss Momo would understand. She knew he was loyal and trusted his judgment.

And his judgment was telling him that Forever Fall wasn't safe as long as that thing was lurking amongst the trees.


Ah, Izuku. Trying to adapt and wheel and deal like a Remnant-native as Ozpin advises. Unfortunately, RWBY's own series themes take a similarly poor view of such shenanigans to his own series'. He'll get some results, but even those have consequences.

So this chapter is mostly the aftermath of the previous one (originally they were one chapter before the length got out of hand). Still, I believe it is an equally solid cliffhanger to leave off on as last chapter's.

Remember to leave your thoughts on the chapter in a review and to update this story's TvTropes page! :)

Thank you for Reading! I hope you enjoy what comes next!

Go Forth and Conquer!