The concept of this fic is based on Brandocko's 'Fates Collide' but with .Hack instead. Go check it out if you are interested in a good FGO x RWBY.
Note that this takes place after RWBY Volume 1 and .Hack/G.U. Volume 4.
With that out of the way, let's get started.
Update: Spelling corrections and small changes are made.
Once, there used to be a Goddess Statue here.
A Goddess?
Yes, a Goddess exists in Remnant. Unfortunately, she is not here anymore.
Really? Why?
'Why' indeed. Perhaps she found herself not wanted by her people anymore.
That sounds sad, I want to meet this Goddess… So what is the Goddess's name?
Hahaha. Well, we already know her name. We named our very essence of life after her after all.
Really? But I want you to say her name!
Hahaha… alright I'll tell you her name. Her name is...
Aura
"Hmmm…"
Within Beacon Academy's meeting room, a white-haired middle-aged man, wearing a black suit over a dark green shirt, holds a paper, reading the content within the white sheet.
The man is Ozpin, the headmaster of Beacon Academy of Vale.
Flanking on the right side of the table, the other members of the meeting room are a portly man with a long mustache and dark auburn suit and a bespectacled man with slicked-back green hair wearing a white shirt, with only one side tucked.
On the other side of the table, a bespectacled woman with a strict face, and light blonde hair tied back on a bun, wearing a long-sleeve collar shirt tied with a purple cape and a pencil skirt.
Ozpin looks at the only woman in the room, "Glynda," and then to the other two members of the room "Peter, Oobleck, what do you think of this?"
The green-haired teacher, Oobleck, pushed his glasses up and began to speak… very fast "While there is one term in the paper that has changed from what we had before, I still think we can agree with the student exchange program."
The paper that Ozpin is holding is a letter for an exchange program between Beacon and another academy not from the Four Kingdoms.
Twilight Academy of Mac Anu, the ever-twilight city.
"We had been doing it bi-yearly already, allowing teams of remarkable students to Mac Anu to experience a more wonderful adventure, so you have my vote to send this acceptance letter." Port nodded and exclaimed, placing his faith.
Ozpin nodded, then he turned his head towards Glynda. "And you, Glynda? I won't send this letter to Wiseman Yata if you have a disagreement with the terms that I placed for this exchange program."
Glynda shocked her head. "I have no problem with most of them, they are the same with only a few minor refinements."
"I hear 'most'."
"Yes, because I'm not quite sure why you specifically want Headmaster to include the first years?"
The term that Glynda mentioned was one of the big reasons for what the meeting was meant to be. The other of course is to discuss when they will begin the program (they all agreed that they will allow students to apply during the second semester).
"Are you concerned that they have not yet adapted to their academy life yet?"
That is her concern, as normally, they will only allow the second-year and above students to participate in the student exchange program since they have a concern that the first-year students are having their adjustment period.
"I don't believe that there is anything to worry about!" Port said jovially. "This year's first years are the most talented and brightest students we have had for a very long time now! Ah… they remind me of twenty years ago when-"
"Let's be nostalgic after this meeting, Port." Ozpin interrupted. "But still, yes, after thinking about it for a while, I made the decision to allow our first-year student to join the program.
If it makes you feel a little better about my decision, I have also decided that Twilight Academy will also do the same. That way, we can at least be fair to students who want to come to Vale before the Vytal Festival."
Glynda sighed, sometimes she really had no idea what Ozpin was doing. She can't truly fault his logic, to be honest.
Even so, she still felt uneasy about the prospect of allowing the first year to join, but she supposed she would have to put faith in the Headmaster.
"Alright, very well then. I will make an announcement to the students after this. I hope you make the right decision, Ozpin."
"Well, this year is already very interesting, why not make it even more interesting?" Ozpin smiled.
"I knew it." Glynda sighed, knowing that this was typical of the headmaster.
"Well, now we have that discussed." Ozpin said and then sipped his cup of coffee. "Let us continue on to another topic."
"A student exchange program not from the Four Kingdoms?"
Within the dorm of the Beacon Academy, a group of four is sitting on their own bed and relaxing, occupied by their own activity while a pale-skinned girl with
long white hair holding her mobile device -called Scroll- towards a younger girl with black short hair.
"Yes," the white-haired girl said. "It seems that Headmaster Ozpin sends this out to all of us. Apparently, this academy that is running the exchange program is from an island southwest of Sanus called Harald."
Laying down on their bed, a well-endowed blonde girl and another girl with wavy long black hair and a black ribbon tied with a bow perked up from her Scroll and book respectively, looking at the pair in interest.
"That sounds pretty interesting." The blonde girl said and then grinned. "Hey, why don't we join this program, girls? I mean a place, not from the Kingdoms? Now I wanna know what it is like."
The white-haired girl frowned at what the girl said. "Were you not listening to the 'student exchange program' part of the conversation, Yang? This is not a vacation, it's a study program for a month."
"C'mon, Ice Queen, don't tell me you are not curious about what that place is like right? Let's be honest, none of us here have traveled outside of our home or outside of the Four Kingdoms for that matter."
The girls became silent from what Yang said because they are curious about a place outside of the Kingdoms.
Still… "I have to agree with Weiss on this one, sis." The short-haired girl said. "I mean do YOU want to spend a month of semester break at another school?"
Yang looks up at the ceiling and then looks back at the girl shrugging. "I mean… no I'm not too thrilled by that, but hey, the good outweighs the bad! And we are learning more things too!"
The younger sister then looks away at the blonde girl and at her other teammate. "How about you, Blake?"
"I'm fine with whatever you guys decide." Blake said it coolly and then went back to reading her book (read: smut).
Weiss nodded and then looked back at the little girl. "Well, you hear them, Ruby. So, what's your decision?"
The short-haired girl, Ruby, thought carefully as to what she decided to do about joining the program.
"Alright! " Ruby jumped up. "Then it is decided then, we are going to register for the student exchange program! With Team JNPR of course." Ruby muttered out loud the last part.
"You want to invite them to this program too?" Weiss asked. Not entirely thrilled about the prospect, especially because of a certain Blonde leader of theirs and his flirting antics.
"I mean why not?" Ruby asked while she got up from her bed. "They are our sister team, and the more the merrier, right? Besides, I think Jaune will appreciate more learning experience!"
Weiss huffed at the statement. She begrudgingly lets Ruby do whatever she wants to do, but still doesn't find the prospect of letting the leader of Team JNPR get close and woo her.
"They are all the same." She thought, seemingly completely failing at knowing what Jaune saw in her (not that his pick-up lines help his cases).
Oblivious to Weiss' irritation, Ruby skipped towards the front door of Team JNPR's dorm room. She knocked on the door and waited for someone to open it.
A few seconds later, the door was opened by a blonde boy with deep-blue eyes, with another boy of his age that has black hair with one magenta streak on the left side.
"Oh, hey Ruby, what are you doing here?" the Blonde boy asked.
"Heya, Jaune, Ren." Ruby greeted back and showed them her scroll. "I just discussed with my teammates about a student exchange program and I was thinking if you want to join us."
"The student exchange program, you say?" Ren said. He then looked at his leader with a small smirk, with said leader chuckling nervously. Ren turned his head back to the small leader and continued to talk to her. "Funny you should mention that because we are also about to ask you the same thing."
"So we are all in agreement then? Are we, are we?" Ruby excitedly asked Jaune and moved her face closer to her fellow leader, catching him off guard.
"Y-yeah! We'll be registering too!" He said while facing away from her. "Erm, Ruby, not to be rude, but you are being too close right now."
Ruby blinked a little and then quickly moved back from her position with a blush on her face, embarrassed by her action. They both stared at each other for a while before Ruby coughed to dissolve the awkward atmosphere.
"So… wanna get the form from Miss Goodwitch and register it together tomorrow?" Ruby asked awkwardly.
"Yeah, let's." Jaune agreed and both went their separate ways and called in for the night, ready for the next day.
"Here you go, professor." Ruby handed her form to the strict teacher along with Jaune's one to her. The professor looks through the form, making sure that everything that the two leaders had written down was all in place and correct.
Double-checking it over, she confirmed that everything was in place and nodded to both of them. "Alright, everything is in place, you two may go now."
"Thank you, professor." Jaune said. As both leaders were about to leave, Jaune suddenly stopped and turned back toward his teacher. "Erm… Miss Goodwitch, can I ask you a question?"
Ruby stopped and looked at the blonde boy, wondering why he suddenly wanted to ask the teacher. The professor looked at the boy and nodded, letting him voice his question.
"I remember seeing in the detail of the program that there will be a professor that will accompany us, I was wondering which professor will join us."
Glynda wanted to tell them that they would find out soon once they are ready for the trip, but seeing that there is no reason to hide it anyway, she decided to reveal the identity of the accompanying teacher.
"That will be me." She said.
"W-wait, you will follow us, Miss Goodwitch?" Ruby asked in surprise. Clearly, the thought of her joining the (soon-to-be) exchange student did not cross her mind.
"Yes, Miss Rose, is there any particular reason why you are so taken aback?" Glynda asked her student neutrally.
"N-no! I mean, yes! It's just-" Ruby stuttered.
"Is Headmaster Ozpin okay with you being the teacher for the program?" Jaune continued as a way to help Ruby to stop from being a stuttering mess.
"The headmaster wants someone that can keep his students in check for the whole trip." She said, clearly using it as a way to remind the poor girl about her team's exploit at Vale's dock. "That and I am familiar with Harald myself actually."
"You are, miss?" Ruby, was now completely curious about what the woman said.
"Yes… you can say that working as the teacher for the exchange program gave me time to familiarize myself with that island. Now, enough talking, you both have classes to go to."
The two students gave their thanks to the professor again and left her room. Once the students were out, Glynda sighed and pulled out a picture from the drawer of her desk.
"Seems like I will be seeing you again…"
The day of the trip had finally come after a few days. Ruby became very excited about the prospect of going to an island that is considered outside of the Kingdoms.
She isn't the only one though, as her fellow exchange students are also excited (though some are clearer than others).
Which begs the question…
"Why are we at the dock… again?"
Both Team RWBY and Team JNPR are standing at the dock along with Professor Glynda before even the sun rises. Glynda looked at her scroll for a little while before she closed it.
"Alright students, our transport will be here soon, so get ready."
As soon as she said that, the students heard a loud horn from a distance. They looked in the direction of the sound and saw a large sea vessel coming towards the dock and towards them. What stands out about this ship is that it has a large engine at the back of the ship that looked like something straight out of steampunk fiction.
"Woah…" a girl with ginger-colored hair exclaimed when she saw the ship. "Is this our ride? This is it right, Ren? Our adventure starts here, right?" She speaks hyperactivity toward the calm boy.
"Yes, Nora, that is our ride." He said completely fine with her rather excited attitude.
"This looks large." Jaune said, completely in awe.
As the ship slows down and stops right in front of them, the ship opens its side and a plank slowly lowers itself.
From there a figure came out…
"Erm, professor." A redhead girl tied in a ponytail standing beside Jaune politely asked her professor. "Who… is that?"
What stands before them is a large round-shaped person that is shorter than everyone (even shorter than Ruby) wearing a uniform fitting of a captain of a ship. That is not the only strange thing, as they saw that it apparently has a black, featureless face and large oval eyes and the way it walks is by wobbling left and right with its rather short legs.
"This is a Vital Vista." Glynda said. "They are machine dolls that are powered by steam energy with complex intelligence and to aid on different tasks, such as this. Most people treat them as domestic servants though."
The students reacted to the information differently. While most of them are rather fascinated by how they are made, Weiss and Blake have different thoughts about the Vital Vista.
Weiss can't really comprehend machines that are powered by something that is not dust, as many mechanical servants that are in Atlas are fueled by Dust, the very energy Remnant used on many applications. The ice princess then decided to take an internal note to find out how these Vital Vistas are made.
"And perhaps even compare them to the Atlesian robot." She thought.
Blake, meanwhile, found what Glynda said about them being domestic servants to be unnerving to her due to what the Faunus- another race in Remnant- had to face. She had seen with her eyes how other Faunus were treated as disposable slaves (sadly and inaccurately, she assumes that is the case with the Vital Vista that became more independent from their creators). The professor said that they have complex intelligence, so that means that they- at least from what she can assume- are sentient in a way.
"Do they even have the chance to question their own existence and even have their own freedom if that is the case?" She wondered.
Their silent mulling was over when the captain of the ship raised his hand to Glynda and returned to it with a handshake.
"Good to see you, Miss Glynda Goodwitch! I assume that you and the other people here are the passengers?" The Vital Vista said boisterously.
"Yes, captain, I believe we can board the ship right now?" Glynda asked. The captain saluted and then asked everyone to board the ship.
"Alright, make yourself comfortable for the whole journey, because this will take 11 hours."
"Ruby… wake up."
Ruby stirred up from her sleep in the room provided for them to rest. Her sister, Yang, is sitting at the side of her bed watching the red girl get up from her slumber.
"H-huh? Yang? What is it? What time is it anyway?" Ruby asked.
"It's five now. And we are almost there."
Ruby blinked and began to look outside and sure enough, it was evening right now and the sky is now orange.
Suddenly, the door of her room was slammed open by Nora. "Hey, wake up sleepyhead! C'mon, quick, come to the deck!"
The sisters looked at the hyperactive girl and ran without even waiting for them. They shrugged and slowly walked towards the deck of the ship.
When the girls walked up to the deck, the first person that greeted Ruby was her partner Weiss. "Finally awake, Ruby?"
"Yeah." Ruby replied and saw that all of her friends were at the side, looking at the scenery. "So what's this all about."
"How about I just show both of you." Weiss said.
Weiss then led them both to where the rest of the students were.
And what both of them saw was wonderful.
In front of them is a wonderful image of the orange sun shining and standing above a dome building and casting shadows on the roads below. The water of the sea glisters like crystal, accentuating the beautiful scene in front of them, with the sound of seagulls and them moving about the sky completing the image.
"Beautiful, isn't it?" Someone said.
Ruby turned to her side and she saw a young man with green hair, wearing an orange beret and orange jacket over his black and white vest leaning on the side. He then turned his head, looking at her with his blue eyes, flashing a smile at her before looking back at the scene.
"This scenery never gets old for me even after living in Harald for most of my life." he said.
"You live there?" Ruby asked.
"Yes."
But before they could continue their conversation, the captain sounded the alarm of the ship signaling to them that they were close to their destination.
"Let's get back to our respective rooms, we are about to go to the Eternal City, Mac Anu soon." The young man said as he leaned back up and began to walk back to his accommodation and Ruby was about to do the same with her friends.
"Before I go," he suddenly said. "I think it is appropriate to greet you as we usually greet tourists."
He turned back to Ruby and then spoke one sentence that is going to be on her mind for a while.
"Welcome to The World."