A/N: Hello, StewBrew here! Welcome to Oath Forgotten, Born Anew! For those who have read dozens of reaction-type fics and don't want to read the introduction portion another, you can skip to either the end of this chapter or the beginning of the next for a short TLDR summary. Enjoy!
Oath Forgotten, Born Anew
Chapter 1: A Vampire's Gift
Kischur Zelretch Schweinorg, also known as the Fourth of the Twenty-Seven Dead Apostle Ancestors, Magician of the Second True Magic, the Kaleidoscope, the Wizard Marshal, Slayer of the Crimson Moon, and…
"ACHOO!"
...the man who sneezed in the middle of an interdimensional delivery.
Zelretch is a unique being, even among the infinite worlds that he's viewed. He spends his days searching through parallel worlds for entertainment to spice up his immortal life. Sometimes, when things have gotten a tad too repetitive, he likes to take a victi- apprentice from the Mage's Associations and/or the Clocktowers of the many worlds. The poor student either manages to take whatever teachings Zelretch throws at them and uses it to become a very powerful and prosperous Magus, or they crack under the absolute hell that Zelretch refers to as 'teaching'. Zelretch, however, has chosen to spice things up more than usual.
Taking the powers and people of one world and dropping them into another is an effective way to create long-term entertainment. He likes to think he's careful… -ish. Most of the time. He doesn't give powerful stuff to the bad guys on purpose! Zelretch still has morals, as loose and self-centered as they may be. He likes to see the good guys win, romance bloom, and poor, innocent souls be forced into the role of Magical Girl. Today, however, he goofed.
Mid-sneeze, Zelretch dropped a stack of Servant Class Cards. Onto the doorstep of one world's immortal Queen of Evil, Salem. With the Gilgamesh Class Card. And instructions.
"...I can make this work." Zelretch may have messed up, but it would still be entertaining! He just had to figure out how to get the good guys on equal footing. There was no doubt that without a way to counter the overpowered magical beings that are Servants, this world would meet its end.
'How to help the good guys… Who are the good guys here anyways? Oh, there they are!' He honed his magical sight onto a grand school sitting on top of a plateau overlooking both a forest and a walled city. Zelretch's first impression is that it seems to have been built to look like a castle and a tower at the same time. 'What's it called… Bacon? Beacon! Beacon Academy of… Hunters? Well, not the worst name for the forces of good.' Looking closer, he finds a group of eight sitting in the cafeteria. 'Ah, the protagonists! A reaping red riding hood, stabby Snow White, genderbent Achilles… who tends to die? Strange… There has to be… there!' He stopped his search, focussing on a lanky blond kid. 'Not too tough, so definitely an underdog. Those are always fun to watch. Looks like a genderbent Jeanne D'Arc combined with King Arthur, and wields a version of Julius Caesar's sword? How interesting!' Zelretch dispelled his magic and clapped his hands, happy with his choice. But how to go about helping them? There are already seven Class Cards, so he doesn't want to push it on resources. After all, who knows if this will work out or not? He could send another Class Card to match the ongoing theme, and it wouldn't confuse the heroes too much.
'But which Card to send?', Zelretch thought as he browsed through the cards he had gathered. Immortality gives you a lot of time to gather resources and there are an incredible amount of Heroic Spirits to choose from! Another Gilgamesh or Artoria Pendragon would be redundant and diminish the entertainment value of this venture, so that's off the table. Maybe a version of Jaune himself as a Heroic Spirit? 'Watching Shirou face himself as a Heroic Spirit is always so interesting! I do have a Heroic Spirit card of that lad… Jaune? Jaune. All that's left is delivery. Now how to go about that…"
Zelretch looked around his magical workshop. Sure he could just drop the card with instructions on the boy's lap, but that would be so droll! Installing it into him would be confusing for him without instruction, and not to mention time-consuming. He didn't want to send a Heroic Spirit to teach him either. He's a Vampire, not a Saint Quartz tree for Root's sake! 'I could always make a guide or video. Ooh! How about a movie? It is always interesting to see what outsiders think of my choice of entertainment. Which version should I choose? Not the Unlimited Blade Works version, he's too different from the Jaune in this world. Heaven's Feel? Nope, too long. Original Route? Hmm… not quite." Zelretch paused and looked at the class cards on his shelf. 'A world with Class Cards… a world where a boy strives to be a hero and keep his promise…it's perfect! An educational guide, entertainment, and a warning! Zelretch, you clever little vampire.'
Walking about his workshop, Zelretch gathered the items needed to make his package, or as he called it, his Care Package. When he was putting some random schmucks through life or death adventures for his own amusement he felt obligated to give them something in exchange. It didn't matter that the package added to the entertainment, it was still a Care Package.
"Done, done, and done. Addresses to… Jaune… Arc. Signed… Kischur… Zelretch… Schweinorg." It was wrapped, dangerous, exciting, and now it was ready for action. Channeling his Magic Circuits once again to create a portal for the box, Zelretch picked up his project and swung it back and forth in a low arc.
"One for the money, two for the show, three to make ready, and four to… GO!"
And off it went, hurtling through a space-time vortex into…
"The mail?"
Pyrrha nodded, not even turning towards the speaker, Ruby. Her focus, along with that of her other teammates, was focused on one Jaune Arc. This would normally happen for many reasons that they had come to expect, such as his reveal of a new team strategy, a rant about the importance of one-liners, and the occasional requests for advice on his fighting style. This time, however, the reason was much more extreme.
Namely that he was currently in a hospital bed unconscious.
Pyrrha looked up to face Team RWBY, who had joined them in the hospital room not long ago. "Jaune told us he had a package to pick up and that he would meet us at the dorm room later. On our way there we heard him yell." Pyrrha's eyes watered at the recent memory. "We found him on the floor flailing in pain. Nora and I held him down to keep him from hurting himself while Ren called the medical staff, but by the time they arrived Jaune had passed out."
Weiss nodded, following the explanation. "You did well, most people would have likely panicked in your place. I do have one question though, how did these lines appear on Jaune?" She finished, gesturing to her comatose classmate.
True to her word, the young man was covered head to toe in glowing cyan lines in a pattern resembling that of wires on a circuit board. The lines crossed and weaved all across his body, but remained most prominent on his arms and face. However, what concerned them the most was the fact that the areas with the highest amount of them seemed to occasionally twitch in pain.
Ren stepped forward to answer for Pyrrha, who had been too busy trying to stay by her partner's side during the commotion to hear everything the doctors had said. "The nurses and doctors have said they believe it to be some form of Jaune's Aura, but that's about it. Every test has turned up negative and scans are proving next to useless, with the only useful thing they've learned being that the strange marks," he gestured to his team leader, "produce a small amount of heat. Not enough to justify his condition by any means, though. On the other hand, the doctors don't believe Jaune is in danger. He's certainly in pain and doesn't show any signs of improving, but his health isn't declining either. The only thing we know is it probably has something to do with the package he received."
Team (J)NPR glared at the box resting on the table farthest from Jaune's bed. The box wasn't particularly big or small, similar in size to that of a particularly large textbook. The box was opened with a torn and emptied envelope beside it, the letter it contained folded on top.
Nora gritted her teeth, glaring at the deceptively normal box. "We tried telling the doctors that the box did something to him, but they were all 'that's not medically possible' and 'semblances don't do that, you silly girl'! How else could this have happened?! And the guy who sent the box obviously did it on purpose!"
Yang looked at the box over her shoulder, wanting to keep focused on the conversation to find out what happened to her and her sister's friend. "Who sent it anyways? Was it a serial killer or something?"
Pyrrha shook her head. "Some man named Zelretch. I'm not sure how he knows Jaune, but apparently, he knew him well enough." She stood up and walked toward the cursed box. "He wrote Jaune a letter that addressed Jaune familiarly and mentioned several things about him only someone close would know. Would you like to hear what it says?"
Four nods instantly answered. Pyrrha cleared her throat and began to read.
"Dear Jaune Arc,
My name is Kischur Zelretch Schweinorg, but you can just call me Zelretch. I have learned of your desire to become a hero to uphold your legacy, protect your family and loved ones, and prove yourself to the world. I send these gifts to you to help your journey and remind you of what is most important. These gifts will save you, your friends, and possibly humanity as a whole, and sooner than you or anyone could expect.
Your local Sorcerer,
Zelretch.
P.S.- Before opening the other gifts, hold up the card in the envelope and say "Install, Archer".
P.P.S.- Sorry not sorry."
Team RWBY just blinked in confusion at the strangely whimsical yet serious letter. Protecting humanity? "Install Archer"? Sorcerer? None of this was making sense.
Blake glanced at the envelope next to the package and Pyrrha, noticing it was empty. "Where is the card?"
Pyrrha once again glared at the package. "We couldn't find it. We looked through the package twice and found nothing resembling a card. We did find several other things though." She rummaged through the box, trying to find what she needed through the obnoxious amount of tissue paper. "A disc," she revealed a sleek, unmarked disk. "A disc player," a fairly small disc player with what appeared to be a screen projector built into it. "A book," a worn journal with the title A Beginner's Guide for the Novice Magus scribbled onto the cover. "And lastly a letter." Pyrrha held up an envelope that looked just like the first, but with one disturbing feature. "And it's addressed to all of us."
Team RWBY's eyebrows would have hit the ceiling if they weren't attached to their faces. They practically teleported over to the box, confirming what Pyrrha said a second ago.
"To Nora Valkyrie, Pyrrha Nikos, Lie Ren, Ruby Rose, Weiss Schnee, Blake Belladonna, and Yang Xiao-Long." Pyrrha looked at the six other people in the room, concern clear in her expression. "Ren, Nora, and I decided that it would be best to read it when we're all here, both so we don't have to read it twice and to have help if something happens to any of us." 'Like what happened to Jaune', was left unsaid.
Yang stood up and grabbed the letter, furious, annoyed, and eager for answers. "Let's get this over with."
Ruby panicked. "Yang, no!"
Rrrrrrip!
All seven held their breath, waiting for whatever happened to Jaune to happen to them. After several seconds, nothing came. They let out a sigh of relief and gestured for Yang to continue. After slowly pulling out and unfolding the letter inside, she began. "Ahem…
Dear Teams RWBY and (J)NPR,
If you're reading this, which you probably are, then that means your friend Jaune has received my gift and is likely unconscious. I will say now that he is fine, but will only recover once you have completed the task given to you. You must… watch a movie! The disc contained in the package holds a recording of a story that will help you all in the future. The film will feature alternate versions of yourselves and Jaune, so please don't be too freaked out, and will have a lot of jargon being said and shown. Try to look over the book I sent, it should help with most of the stuff shown. Lastly, the player can only show so much of the movie per day to keep you all from being overwhelmed. Have fun, learn, and try not to freak out too much.
Toodles!
Kischur Zelretch Schweinorg."
The group was, once again, dumbfounded.
"A movie?" Weiss asked, vocalizing the rest of the group's skepticism. "We're supposed to watch a movie? That our 'alternate selves' star in?"
"Not like we have anything else to do." Nora shrugged and picked the disc player off the table. "The doctors don't have anything that will help. If all we have to do is watch a movie to even maybe cure Fearless Leader, I'm in."
Blake nodded. "Might as well. Even if it doesn't cure him, it'll make a good way to kill time before Jaune wakes up." She picked up the book and smirked. "Plus, I've been looking for some new reading material."
Ruby jumps into her 'leader stance'. "All right! While Blake studies, me and Weiss ("Weiss and I!") will get snacks and drinks. Yang, Pyrrha, and Ren! You three get pillows and blankets." Realizing what she did, she hunched over in embarrassment. "That is if you want. I'm not really your team leader but Jaune isn't here so I thought-"
"It's fine." Ren calmed her. "We're happy to help, and you do technically outrank us."
Ruby perked up and smiled. "Alright then, let's go! Movie time and curing Jaune won't wait forever!"
A/N: Tada! For those worried this story is going to die instantly, fret not! The next chapter should be up minutes after this one. Anyways, time for the summary I promised...
Summary: Zelretch dropped Class Cards on Salem and wants entertainment while making sure the bad guys don't win. He decides to make the cast of RWBY watch Fate/ Oath Under Snow starring themselves by installing the Archer/Heroic Spirit ARC Class Card into Jaune, making him fall into a coma, and making the only cure be watching the movie. He also gave them a book, The Beginner's Guide for the Novice Magus, to help them not be too confused. Blake takes on the job of managing the book and explaining Fate's jargon, lore, and terminology.
