Servants of Remnant

Chaldea is gone, but the memories remain. A world, filled with fairy tales, monsters and men. A history unlike any other. Sometimes… a hero is needed. From another world, from another time. Not all of them are great, not all of them are 'good'. But when the world needs a hero, these Servants answer the call. Perhaps only one, perhaps many do. These are the tales of many timelines. The 'Servants of Chaldea' who come to Remnant.

Jason

Jason was quiet as he kept his hand held to the girl's behind him. Abnormally, she wasn't complaining for once, but that was likely due to the fact it was very cold right now. Normally, this wouldn't be a problem for Servants, but for some damned reason, it was very much a problem. Namely, he and his ally were very, very cold.

Just their luck really, after the explosion. And just his luck that he had the literal 'most sick' person in Chaldea behind him right now. Their progress was slow in this snow, but that was just about it… all they could really do is keep trudging forward.

"J-Jason…" Okita let out a weak word, before coughing, the captain of the Argo turning towards his fellow Saber with a concerned look in his eye.

"Save your strength, whatever of it's left," he cautioned, before closing his eyes. Damn this weather! Damn this snow! They needed to find Master fast. If it was bad for him and Okita, it would be terrible for them.

And so onward they trudged, keeping his hand firm on Okita's. The Sakura Saber's pace slowed the longer they went on. He clutched his free hand, lowering his head before speaking up. "Golden Fleece," he commanded, holding out his hand as a tuff of golden appeared within, quickly he spun around, shoving the fleece into Okita's other hand, her labored breathing beginning to even out as he turned to keep walking. It wasn't much, but it should keep her going for a while longer, even if it drained his reserves.

And forward they trudged on, Jason holding his hand over his eyes to try and see among the snow… still white for quite a- no there! A cliff, finally something different. He was about to pick up the pace… but decided against it, keeping their pace steady to avoid Okita's condition worsening. It took several minutes, but finally, they reached the edge of the cliff.

"Oh come on…" he complained, shoulders falling as he looked down at the sheer cliff face below them, the rough, churning sea a hundred meters below. By Zeus, just his luck wasn't it.

"L-Look…" Okita said quietly, Jason turning towards her, and then giving a sound of confusion before turning and following her hand… a small grey dot was on the horizon, he leaned forward, actually hanging a bit over the edge and held his hand over his eyes, before gasping. A ship!? A ship soaring through the sky like the other pirates!? But made of steel, like some sort of airplane!?

"Okita! Your flag!" he commanded, they needed something, anything to signal the ship, that was their ticket out of this wasteland… sure it wasn't the most practical use of a Noble Phantasm, but hey, you made due with what you had.

"Y-you h-have the sword that glows w-when you raise it," she reminded him… right, he'd forgotten that for a moment. Leaning back over solid ground, he put his free hand to the sword on his belt, pulling it out and closing his eyes… would it be enough? There was so much snow around, the light was white so they might not see it? The ship was still so far out, and it might not even be heading anywhere towards them… he needed help, he needed-

"I suppose it's not much captain, but I suppose I can lend you a hand~" a voice spoke in his head, and for a moment, he felt a drain on his prana before something materialized on his belt. He quickly felt for it, letting go of Okita's hand… and pulling up the flintlock pistol that had appeared lodged in his belt. He smiled… he'd wondered if they'd counted for that… it seems… they did.

He sheathed his sword, before raising the pistol into the air, Okita gasping as Jason closed his eyes, a silent thanks to his comrade before pulling the trigger. A bang went off, and Jason looked up, a red flare flying high into the sky, and a smile on his face as he turned towards the airship, his enhanced vision allowing him to see as it was starting to turn, towards them even. The pistol in his hand dematerialized, having had its shot spent as he quickly grabbed Okita's free hand and nodded towards her with the biggest grin on his face.

As the airship drew closer, he started waving his free hand in the air, Okita doing much the same to try and single the ship… but they probably didn't have to given they stood out like a sore thumb against the white, Jason's golden armor and Okita's bright pink shirt and skirt easily giving them away as the airship passed over them, slowly coming to a descent in the snow, the pair walking towards it as the back of the ship opened… and almost instantly Jason felt a surge of anger at what he saw, and Okita gasped as well.

Laying inside the cargo bay of the ship, inside some sort of metal pod… was their Master. Her skin was charred, part of her hair was missing, even worse was the fact she was strapped to the inside of the pod. The man who stood in front of the pod, walking down the ramp towards them was flanked by several soldiers. Jason growled as the man held his arms behind his back, and stopped the moment Jason growled.

The man in the military outfit's eyes drifted from Jason to behind him, towards the girl in the pod. "...Friend of yours I take it?"

"Let her go!" Jason ordered, the anger clouding his thoughts, about to pull away from Okita, but she kept his grip firm, her hand in his as the man was quick to turn back towards him, drawing a very large pistol from a holster on his hip.

"I'm afraid we can't do that, not unless you want her to die," he leveled the pistol at Jason's torso, the soldiers all pointing their guns at the duo as Okita shirked back… just in time to begin coughing, spitting up blood all over Jason's arm and into the snow. He was quick to spin around, covering Okita with his back to the soldiers as she collapsed to her knees in the snow.

"Come on, get up! Stay with me here!" he ordered, they were so close, he could feel the mana coming from their master, however weak it was.

"Get in, or she's going to die too," Jason turned his head, the soldiers already piling into the airship again as it started to hum, preparing for takeoff once more. Devious dastard… no position to argue here… not if he wanted to keep both Okita and Master safe. He was angry, but he knew he had something this military man wanted… answers. And he was still a Servant, he still had Riding, he could probably pilot this thing if worse came to worst. Lifting up Okita, he walked up the ramp, right past the officer as the ramp closed behind them, sealing all of them within as the airship took off.

He laid Okita on a soft enough looking bench, her sickly Saber's breathing starting to settle down again as Jason kneeled down beside her, his eyes drifting towards their unconscious master, trapped inside that pod with such grievous injuries…

"She'll live until we reach our destination… You seem to know who she is, so perhaps you'd like to share young man?" the officer spoke up. It was worded like a question, so clearly he wanted the answer. And directed at him as well, since Okita was clearly in no condition to answer… it was probably for the best, she'd probably spout absolutely everything.

"She's a close friend of ours… there was an explosion, and we were separated from her. When we came to, me and Sakura were here in the middle of this snowy wasteland." he revealed, more than he should have given, but at the moment, he needed to get the officer talking.

"An explosion?" he questioned, so Jason elaborated a bit… while still trying to be vague.

"A bunch of men in black wearing masks were trying to set off a big bomb. We had… prior experience with them, but the device they were blowing up was… something I don't understand. They had two goals as far as I know, destroying the device and capturing…" he turned his head towards his Master, remaining silent so that…

"Men in black wearing white masks? And they were after her?" Bingo, Jason turned back towards the officer, slowly standing up and looking around at all the soldiers, then back at the officer.

He seemed to catch the unspoken words. "All of you stay here… with me," the officer said, walking around the pod, and Jason followed. He'd take what he could get, but better than less people knew… meant less loose ends to clean up later if it came to that.

The officer brought him into an office, before locking the door behind him, Jason put his left hand on his right wrist, rubbing it slowly, checking his pulse… rather high honestly, but he couldn't let that show.

"Mind if I ask your name officer?" Jason questioned, wanting some answers of his own at this point. Anger wasn't going to get him anywhere, and he doubted his fellow Argonauts would find him trying to attack a man in anger a 'just cause' for him to call upon any of them.

"Ironwood… and yours?" the officer gave, huh, simple and to the point, but kinda strange name at the same time. Now to decide… to lie or to tell the truth… risk versus reward sadly meant that the truth seemed like the better option here… but if his hunch was right…

"Jason," he provided, waiting for the response as Ironwood took a seat behind his desk, and started tapping his finger on the metal.

"Full name?" he continued, well to bad for him then.

"That is my full name, I'm Jason, no more, no less," Ironwood frowned at that for some reason, but he wasn't lying. He'd given up his old name, spent most of his life as Jason, and would continue to do so… ok so he was lying, since he wasn't 'just Jason'.

"And the girls?" Ironwood asked, tenting his fingers against each other as Jason crossed his arms over his chest.

"Sakura and Ritsuka, figure out who's who," he offered, but if this was a smart man, he'd have it in an instant.

"No last names again?" Ironwood asked with a raised brow, and Jason just nodded, another lie. He'd given away Okita's usual alias and half of Master's name, but for the moment, withholding without outright lying would be better. "Very well… now would you care to-"

Jason raised a hand, Ironwood slowly trailing off as the captain of the Argonauts stared down the officer. "I answered one of your questions, so please, indulge in one of mine… Where are we?"

"At the moment, over Solitas, flying towards Atlas," Ironwood gave without even a pause, and then continued with a question. "Men in black with white masks?"

"They're a sort of… group I've had the displeasure of dealing with before. The girl in the pod was under protection from them, but they got in anyway… set off a bomb on a device I still don't understand." Jason gave, trying not to give away to much.

"White Fang?" Ironwood asked, new group name… probably some sort of terrorist group… wrong but if he could get a bit on them...

"I doubt it, the men we fought all wore the same bird like gas mask and trench coat, exposing nothing about them beneath their clothes, I actually doubt they were human at all." Jason mutterd, trying to sound uncertain, and he wasn't sure if…

Ironwood leaned forward. "You doubt if they were human?"

Jason just nodded. "These men, if they even were men, had a… peculiar way of dying. Namely that went they did they dissolved into black dust before fading away," A bit atypical of conjured familiars, but the Oprichnik were special.

A moment after he said that, Ironwood's expression went blank. "Describe them, fully, no details spared." he was sounding very serious and… scared.

"Like I said, white masks that obscured their faces, wearing all black to the point you couldn't seen beneath to the skin… and they're practically identical down to a man. And savage, you cut down one, more just keep coming to take their place, nor are they very fast, but they're quite a bit more durable than a normal man… nor do they bleed," Jason provided, a bit considered that he'd managed to spook the officer a bit.

Ironwood remained silent for several moments before laying back in his chair, closing his eyes. "Why were you defending Ritsuka?"

"The job was twofold, defend Ritsuka and defend the device. I don't know what the device did, but Ritsuka… she wasn't exactly defenseless, even if she's untrained. From what I figured out she seemed to be some sort of magic user, a poor one, but she could do a bit of healing," Jason provided. Yeah he knew it was taboo to reveal magic, but he'd already figured at this point… this world wasn't their own. Solitas wasn't exactly on any map, they didn't have airships on Earth… nor was there any city named after the titan Atlas. It was a hunch, but he was willing to gamble a bit.

What he wasn't expecting, was for Ironwood to slam his hands down on the table and stand right up. "She's a Maiden!?" The forcefulness behind it caused Jason to nearly backpedal from surprise. That was a reaction he hadn't been expecting.

"A what!?" Jason asked back in surprise, Ironwood slowly sitting down before looking directly at Jason, as if he was staring into his soul. Whatever air of casual conversation there had been for this interrogation was gone now.

"...You're just a mercenary who's in far to deep now aren't you," Ironwood started, and this time, Jason grit his teeth and walked up to the desk, slamming his hands on it.

"Ritsuka is one of my closest friends, I'm the one who got together the group that defended her for years, so if you think that I'm going to just stand by while she's dying when she should have been safe, you've got anothering coming officer!" Jason shouted in Ironwood's face, slowly building up until he had his index finger right in the man's face. It was only a second later he realized he… might have spilled a bit much. Shit.

"...What's your favorite fairy tale?" Ironwood asked very slowly, and Jason just looked at him like he'd grown as second head.

"Never really was one for fairy tales," he admitted, slowly taking the seat that was in front of the desk and sitting in it with as much of a regal presence as he could, before shifting to a more profession stance, staring down Ironwood as the officer closed his eyes.

"...Very well… You're in very deep in a problem you aren't even aware of Jason. That girl needs to be protected, and I will make sure she is, now I want you to-" Jason held up a hand, Ironwood stalling out again as Jason leveled his eyes directly at Ironwood's as he opened them.

"I've been fighting this battle for years, officer Ironwood, I'm not about to give up now. If you want anything out of me, you're going to let me do my job… protect Ritsuka… It's all I have left, her and Sakura," as far as he knew at least, there could be others.

They stared each other down for a moment, neither man willing to back down, until Ironwood spoke up. "Can you at least tell me what you called this 'group' of men."

"We called them the Oprichnik," Jason revealed, no reason to just refer to them as just men in masks anymore.

"...How aware are you of the creatures of Grimm Jason?" Ironwood asked very calmly. Time to lie, and make some guesswork on his part… let's see if he could manage it well enough.

"Black monsters with white masks that fade into black dust when killed. Pretty much a varied group that typically resemble animals rather than men," he gave, basing his description off of demonic beasts, which had a similar habit, but left behind corpses at least. His hunch was that the Oprichnik and these 'Grimm' were similar enough that they could mistaken for each other… so he hoped he was right.

Ironwood seemed to relax a bit after his answer, "No formal training I assume?"

"Not really no," Jason mentioned. Chieron wasn't exactly a 'formal' teacher after all, but he was still his teacher.

"...Would you mind sharing the identities of these other members of your outfit? Besides Sakura, as well as anything you know about this device that was blown up?" Ironwood asked, and Jason just scoffed.

"The device probably left a massive crater, or worse, as for the other members of our group… There was a man named Bart, a girl named Charlotte, an archer who refused to give her name, a big man who went by 'Berserker', and a young man named Mandricardio," Jason lied… mostly. He'd kept the actual identities of those who'd been with them safe for now. He just hoped his fellow Argonauts would be willing to back him up for this later…

"...Quite the group it seems," Ironwood muttered, before sighing, and then looking at Jason directly. "We'll make sure she's taken care of, she won't die on our watch… but if you're not going to leave, and if she's that important to you… and given just how deep you are at this point… I'm not about to let you leave." Ironwood stated, and Jason just nodded. He wasn't about to leave at this point anyway. He needed to stay close to Ritsuka… to make sure he was supplied, and that this guy wouldn't turn her into some sort of lab rat.

Jason got up from the chair, turning away from Ironwood, and heading for the door, already reaching for the handle when Ironwood asked one last question. "What was your team called?"

Jason turned towards Ironwood with a smirk on his face, pride seeping in as he got his first chance to reveal just who he was… and with this brand new world, no one would even know just who he and his team were. "We're the Argonauts officer Ironwood," he said, and walked out the door to rejoin Okita in the cargo hold with Ritsuka's pod.

Such was the beginning of Jason's tale, one of intrigue and adventure in the frozen land of Atlas. Lies abound, and misunderstandings ensue… but neither he, nor Ironwood expected just how close they'd been to uncovering each other's truths.