A single soul in an infinite pool of many can seem so insignificant, so pointless to behold. But sometimes, that single, tiny morsel can be the most important of all. Sometimes they're not, that is, however, up to the one who owns it to decide.
Chapter 1 - Just a Fragment
Arc 1- Lights In the Sky
*DING. DING. DING. DING*
Somewhere in some distorted world, a pair of eyes were startled by the harrowing bell in the distance, the loud, gong-like sound reverberated over them before a flash of white overtook their eyes. Everything was, jagged, distorted by static. Then, they felt their body shift painfully, voice echoing repetitively.
"W-what's going on?" To his right, a horrific visage had emerged from the jagged void that overtook the land, blackness converting to flesh and bone, the visible static layered like cloth, torn and ragged, and of a maw filled with white noise.
A pair of sunken eyes aligning in the static as the noise seemed to originate from the figure as its tongue flicked. "W4' AR£ Y?U!?" Quickly as the headache sunk in, everything snapped to black
Among the wild, untamed roof of the Emerald Forest, Ruby was stomping her way through the brush as she swung her arms, mumbling to herself after another...disagreement with her partner, Weiss. Both were completely at odds with each other, and now, Ruby was doing everything in her power to avoid the Ice Queen, and rest her mind for a moment.
She kept walking, before she stopped, hearing the faint sound of growling Grimm ahead of her path. With a gleam in her eye, she smiled as she readied her weapon 'Crescent Rose' to help relieve her pent-up anger, however, when she brushed the foliage from her vision, she noticed the Grimm and the person they surrounded.
This caused Ruby to gasp in surprise before she feared for the person they approached with crooked fangs. The person didn't move, most likely unconscious. Taking the vanguard, Ruby burst into rose petals, before swinging her scythe around to her left, decapitated a wolf ahead of the pack, the rest soon took notice as they growled at their new target, forgetting their old prey almost immediately.
Ruby narrowed her eyes in preparation, before she ran towards the group, one pounced, but was quickly cut in two by Crescent Rose, the others both swung at her as Ruby, however, so she jumped onto the spine of her scythe and propelled herself forward with a click of the trigger, impaling it on a tree, then she back-flipped, slicing the Grimm into ribbons.
Sensing the threat Ruby posed, the other turned, running back into the dark forest ahead, leaving Ruby to sigh in relief before she deactivated 'Crescent Rose' and rushed over to the boy, now that she could see what he looked like more clearly.
He wore a simple, crimson jacket, with a black shirt underneath, it matched with his black shoes and jeans. His hair was a faded black, with a faint hint of silver, the rest of it being short and messy. He did wear a dog tag around his neck, but nothing was on it, just a clean, silver surface that reflected the green light from above. The strangest thing was the black, metal bracer on his right forearm.
"Are you ok? Please don't be dead!" Ruby begged as she nudged him to wake up, and after a couple of shoves, he began to stir as his eyes slowly opened, revealing a set of hazel orbs that Ruby stared directly into
When he woke up, he gazed at the green ceiling above him, its glowing aura almost blinding him. But his attention was quickly shifted to the silver-eyed girl, she seemed to be concerned for him, to which he just stared at her with confusion, like he didn't belong here, he was right, however, as the realization dawned on him, causing him to grunt, before trying to sit upright, but Ruby pressed her hand against him, making him slowly sit upright.
"Hey, don't get up so fast, you were just attacked by some mean looking Grimm, but... who are you?" She warned as he glanced at her and tilted his head, then his mouth opened to speak
"Wh-Where... am I?" he asked, sounding lost then he looked at Ruby with a baffled expression, his eyes traveling around the forest in awe. "Same to you, who are you?" Then he eyed his arm, jumping. "And there's also a black... gauntlet? On me too? So the distortion wasn't just some dream?"
"Oh! I'm Ruby, and right now we're in the middle of the Emerald Forest, but what happened to you? You looked like you were hurt pretty bad?" Ruby asked as he held his head, shaking it with a clearer vision
"I honestly can't remember, I know I was walking through a forest at the time, but something felt... off like my world began to twist, and reshape itself, then, next thing I know, I'm talking to you." He explained as Ruby smiled reassuringly, seeing him wiggle his arm. "And this wasn't here before."
"Well, I can help you, but we reeeeally need to get moving, I don't know if there are anymore Grimm in the area." Ruby insisted as he slowly got to his feet, dusting himself off before carefully sticking to Ruby's side
"Why's that?" He asked as the sound of rustling leaves came from behind them, causing the two to jump back, watching the leaves rustle even more at the entity's approach, he slid behind the girl with the large scythe. "Erm, nevermind."
Before Ruby could answer, a girl wearing pure white clothing appeared, but her face showed no kindness, unlike the guy's first encounter. The girl glared daggers at Ruby as she groaned, the guy just blinked, trying to grab his bearings, and possibly make sense of his dilemma.
"You! Why would you just leave me behind!? Don't you know how hard it is to find the temple without you wandering off!?" She snapped as Ruby's eye twitched, her hand tapping her scythe delicately
"Atleast I'm helping! Instead of prancing around, acting like I know where I'm going!?" Ruby countered as the girl was about to blow a fuse until the guy stepped in front of them, his priorities straitening up in his head
He ruffled his hair. "Okay-Okay, think, you're in a forest, creepy monster-filled forest... yeah, sure, my day so far hasn't exactly been worth five stars," Clearing his throat he tapped Ruby's shoulder. "So... not to get in the middle but didn't you say this forest was, I don't know, filled with monsters?" He spoke sardonically as the snobby girl spoke up
"And just who are you? I didn't see you at the beginning of this test?" She asked as the boy sighed and rubbed his temples, his migraine beginning to fade a little
"Right now, I wished those creatures just killed me, and besides, I don't have the right mind-state to be given twenty questions, give it a minute I'll probably have a mental breakdown." He groaned as Ruby butted in
"I found him surrounded by Grimm, but when he woke up he said he didn't remember how he got here," Ruby explained as the boy nodded, then Ruby looked at him. "Do you remember your name atleast?"
Now it was his turn to think of something, he didn't have amnesia, just alot of displaced issues, but if he told them that he wasn't from here, then they might throw him down a bigger rabbit hole. So he thought about his options, then he smiled at his idea, it was stupid, but he was being cautious, I mean, would you trust people you just met?
"... Sky. Sky Zaffre, nice to meet you, by the way, Ruby." He introduced with a small smile, before slapping himself mentally. "Seriously? I chose my Alias of all things - You know, doesn't matter."
"Weiss Schnee, heiress to the Schnee Dust Company!" The other girl greeted stated proudly, Ruby rolled her eyes and Sky just stared toward her like she was a different color
"Never heard of that company." Sky answered with a, 'I couldn't care less' look. But before any more ranting could be shared, Sky noticed the black feather from the corner of his eye, it was massive and was silently drifting towards the ground. "What the...?"
When Sky decided to let the two girls continue their argument, he noticed something in the distance, it was hard to tell through the treeline, but it was slowly becoming bigger, and more bird-like. Then Sky called out.
"Girls?" No response, just idle chat. "Girls...?" "It has glowing red eyes, that's not a good sign."
"I mean honestly, you could have atleast waited for me?" Weiss continued, Ruby quickly retorted
"Why can't you just be a little nicer, maybe then I wouldn't ditch you!" She snapped, pouting. "I would have done it anyway..."
"Hey girls?" At last, they both look at him, his smile quivering in fear as his eyes glued themselves to the sky. "What's big, has a massive beak, and might as well be from a fairy tale?"
"Umm, a Phoenix?" Ruby asked, noting Sky's finger prodding the dark sky above
"Oh, then I guess that's just a local crow then?" He was starting to slip while both girls peered through the trees, beginning to tremble alongside Sky. "Ok, this is by far my... third worse day ever, of all time," Sky thought, his throat gulping what little pride was left in his body
"You know, I want to go back to sleep," Sky thought to himself as he, along with his two companions held on for dear life. "So...is this what death feels like!?"
They were currently hundreds of feet in the air, holding onto a massive bird called a 'Nevermore', the wind making their shouting almost inaudible. Sky still didn't know why he was here, and how he was going to get back home, why some gauntlet's glued to his arm, why he even decided to hop on board due to Ruby's instance. However, his endless questions were rather pointless now, he was, for lack of a better phrase, along for the ride.
"Well, sort-of!" Ruby yelled, then she smiled weakly. "What are we going to do!?"
"Hey, don't look at me! You said to 'hop on' and me not wanting to wander around waiting to become a meal agreed!" Sky replied over the howling wind as the Nevermore continued to try and shake the passengers off, much to their fears. "Besides, what the fuck is a Nevermore doing here!? Who thought this 'test' was a great idea!? Better yet, why did I agree to jump on its back!?"
"Ruby!?" Weiss called as we both looked at her. "I told you this was a terrible idea!"
"We're fine!" She responded as Sky just prayed he make it out of this alive somehow. "Stop worrying!"
"'Worrying' is far beyond what I would be using right now!" Sky yelled with Weiss ponytail smacking him in the face
"I'm 'so' far beyond worrying!" Weiss snapped back in fear
"In a good way!?" Ruby asked positively, Sky wasn't convinced this girl was on the same wavelength
"Oh, the Gods above…" He murmured, burying his face into the feathers
"In a bad way! In a very bad way!" Weiss snapped. Sky just smacked his face off the Grimm's back in annoyance
"To hell with this, I say jump!" Sky ranted with a mad twitch, Ruby looked just as eager to try
"Heck yeah, lets to this!?" Ruby cheered crazily, obviously annoyed by Weiss's complaining
"What are you two, Insane!?" Weiss asked, but she didn't get a response as she looked back, seeing the lack of color on the Nethermore's back. "Oh, you insufferable little red- "
Far below the Nevermore, Sky and Ruby were both screaming for their lives, wrapping their arms around each other in their rapid descent towards the black and yellow girls below, one pointing directly at them. So they both quickly replied in turn.
"We're going to die!?"
But their cries were silenced due to the blonde guy smashing into their flailing bodies, all three colliding with a tree to the edge of the forest clearing. Ruby was now spinning her head in confusion, Sky was hanging upside-down from a branch while he stared down at the guy below him, groaning in pain.
"Did anyone get the number of that flying-man-pigeon?" Sky coughed a feather up. Addressing the new guy. "Good day, huh?"
"Yeah." He responded in turn. "So, you new around here?"
"Pretty much, nearly got mauled by... Beowolves, followed by a near-death experience with a flying-rat." Sky answered plainly, not minding the fact that he almost turned into a pancake with a serving of roses
"Cool," He finished before quickly adding. "Jaune, by the way."
"Sky," He gestured back as they got up onto the tree, both shaking the leaves off their clothes. Then Sky's head turned to the sound of a grenade launcher, observing with bewilderment as a girl rode its back before it died on the spot. "A bear... really?"
"Ursa." Jaune corrected
"Oh, mythology, what next?" Sky answered simply as he just decided to take logic and reason, tie them up, and throw them both in a closet, then he felt the tree shake, followed by Ruby wobbling towards the two of them. "I was fucking kidding!"
From the treeline, a girl leapt into the open field, avoiding massive, bone-like pincers by mere centimeters, spinning to hold the creature back. "Cool, a giant scorpion, why not? Gods, you can smite me now if you want." Sky sighed, before he leapt off the tree, following Ruby towards the ruins
"Hey wait!" Jaune called out, but they had already left him hanging, literally
Ruby then ran up to a girl with golden hair as they smiled happily, then the girl with ginger hair jumped in front of them, screaming her name, 'Nora' as they jumped back in surprise. Sky just recoiled slightly, Nora proceeding to dash off towards some other guy.
Sky was rubbing his temples again. "Too much to process, I just survived a massive fall off a giant bird, now there's a giant scorpion? Yep, I've lost it, I must be having some kind of dead-induced dream..."
"Ruby, who's this?" The blonde girl asked as Ruby quickly introduced Sky, he spun at the hand motioned to him
"Yang. Sky." Ruby quickly gestured. "Sky. Yang, my sister."
Sky then looked between the two, his head darting back and forth with a chime of a clock on his head.
"...Hi..." "These two look nothing alike."
"Sup! Also... give me a minute..." They both quickly shook hands, then they focused back on the massive Scorpion. He contemplated why her hand felt like she took it off a stove
"Did that girl just run all the way here with a Deathstalker on her tail by the way?" Another girl pointed out, then Sky noticed Yang becoming extremely hot suddenly, making him step aside a few inches
"These people are like some crazy animation..." Sky laughed hesitantly as Yang exploded. "Holy shit, she really exploded, what the hell's with this place? It's like a freakin' house of horrors."
"I can't take it anymore! Can everyone just chill out for two seconds before something crazy happens again!?" She yelled as nothing proceeded to happen for two seconds, other than a guy in green stumbling over as he caught his breath
"Oh no…" Sky mumbled as Ruby also felt something dawn on her as she looked up. "We may have forgotten something..."
"Umm… Yang?" Ruby hesitantly asked the angered girl, before we all looked up at the Nevermore and its cargo
"How could you two just leave me!?" She screamed at them both
"Somehow I doubt this was our fault." Sky deadpanned
"She gunna fall," A girl in black said simply
"She'll be fine," Ruby answered calmly with a wave of her hand
"She's falling," The guy in green added while everyone observed Weiss' rapid descent toward the earth
"It's funny how we're doing nothing to help her right now," Sky pointed out as they all nodded, then Jaune jumped from the tree, caught Weiss, and then fell face-first on the ground, Weiss now crushing his spine. Everyone winced as their minds replayed the scene as though they heard several bones crack. "Clearly the hero of our time..."
Then the roman girl tumbled in front of the group, Yang spoke up, positively annoyed by the now giant scorpion, and Nevermore Grimm that were beginning to circle them. "Great, the gangs' all here, now we can die together!" Sarcastic replies didn't keep the two massive Grimm from circling back
Sky rubbed the black gauntlet, "Which do you prefer? Torn in two, or minced by a - Where did Ruby go?" His head swished to the crowd, but found her already charging headfirst toward... his eyes widened. "What is she doing!?"
Sky just looked around for any real way to stop her, and none of them were doing anything. A part of him contemplated why he was so worried for a stranger, while another brought up the fact she saved him and was willing to help him. Was she really that nice? Could that even be a risk he'd take again?
"...Goddammit." Sky wondered as he shook his head clear of any doubts and chased after her, Yang then followed. His eyes then landed on the gauntlet. "Please be some Ex-Machina right now."
Their fight was short, as the Deathstalker's armour was too thick to puncture, so Ruby quickly holstered her scythe and attempted a retreat. But not before the Nevermore above fired a volley of its razor-sharp feathers towards her, one pinned her cape as Yang avoided the rest, but they cut her off quickly.
Sky wasn't so lucky, one managed to graze his side, easily making work of his clothing and waist as he yelped in pain, his side flaring with a warm liquid, but he simply grounded his teeth together, throwing himself beside Ruby, who was now trying to pull her cape free.
"Sky! I can't move!" Ruby said in worry as the Deathstalker approached, causing her frantic tugs to quicken, Sky now trying to do the same with the massive feather. "I-I don't..."
"You know something?" She realized that despite it all, he was trembling, tears etched to the corners of his eyes while tugging at her cape, yet he was smiling. "I'm bloody confused and shaking I'm so scared... I don't know why I ran, but I don't regret it now."
"Well... didn't think my life would end by a giant scorpion with a scythe-wielding badass," Sky added humorously, feeling very confused by the entire ordeal in general, but then again, he was about to die, so making sense of anything was out of the question. "If I'm going down I'm atleast gonna save one person!"
Sky continued to try and pry Ruby free, not noticing her surprised but rejuvenating confidence at his words. With a great tug beside his, they tore her cape free, landing atop one another while their eyes locked to the shadow looming over them. A large, glistening tail poised high.
"This is gunna hurt," Sky grimaced as they watched the golden stinger hurdle towards them, both waiting for the end... and waited... and waited. "Are we dead?" He cracked an eye open at the sudden drop in temperature
When he looked, he sighed in relief at the sight of a now irritated Weiss, who pulled her rapier from the dirt, an ice wall now encasing the golden tail above their heads. Then she quickly switched gears, beginning to tear into Ruby as Sky helped her back on both feet.
"You are so childish, and dim-witted and hyperactive, and don't even get me started on your fighting style," Weiss huffed a look at Sky. "And you shouldn't have run in without a weapon, what were you thinking?"
"In my defense, I was making all of this up as I went along," Sky wiggled his gauntlet at her, narrowing his eyes while pointing to her bemused expression. "Don't start with me, I can just about make heads and tails right now."
"By sheer luck!" She backfired while he walked away, keeping his side hidden while he winced, noting the blood staining his hand now, it was painful but atleast it didn't look infected
"So, I know this is touching and all that good stuff, but we are kind of stand-" They ignored him
"I'm so glad you're ok!" Yang interrupted, her eyes looking to Sky with a grateful nod. "Thanks for savin' my sis."
"...Sure, no problem." Sky nodded, his pride somewhat returning to him, only by a fraction, then, he groaned, looking up at the sky dismissively. "This is gunna be my whole day, isn't it?"
"Guys, that thing's circling back, what are we gunna do?" Jaune pointed out as Sky kept his eyes on the Deathstalker, the creature nearly freeing itself from the ice
"Look there's no sense in dilly-dallying, our objective is right in front of us," Weiss added while they all glanced at the pillars
"She's right, we only need to grab an artifact and make back to the cliffs." Ruby added, Sky was glad she was thinking with her head and not her weapon
"Run and live, that's an idea I can get behind," Jaune agreed as he then looked at Sky. "Wait, what about you? There's no other relics?"
He put his hand up. "Excluding the fact that I feel everything in my life for the last couple minutes has been some acid-trip, I really don't care, if I can make it to tomorrow that'll be sweet." The wide, sarcastic eyes of his held the faintest trace of relief
"Do you atleast have a weapon? It would be easier for you to defend yourself without having to hide all the time," Blake inquired while Sky remembered the device attached to his arm, Pulling it up he started to prod at the buttons, seeing a screen buzz to life and nothing more
"Not much but I guess I can use it to take a blow for me," It wasn't much in the way of power but the fact he had anything was a miracle. Then he saw the ice beginning to crack, as the Deathstalker wriggled its way free of the ice, sending the shards flying from its armored body. "Somehow I don't think I have the time to prod at this thing,"
"Let's go!" Ruby ushered ahead of the crowd. Once over the hill, they saw the massive, foggy chasm ahead, then a tower of broken bridges and pillars circled around a huge, ancient tower shrouded in a thick fog
The Nevermore flew around it, waiting for the hunters to come. Sky didn't move, hesitant to run toward danger without even a weapon to back him up. He was a liability and his luck was sure to run dry. He jumped, feeling an elbow nudge him, the arm belonging to Ruby who held a comforting grin.
"You ready?" Ruby asked out of concern for the lost and confused acquaintance of hers. Sky merely patted his chest with a chuff
"Armed and ready, I guess." He responded as he shook the gauntlet on his forearm, the screen once again flickering to life with streams of code that he couldn't decipher. "I just hope we'll make it through this alive..."
"Hey, we're in this together now, right?" The raven-haired girl's confident smirk. For Sky, it was... surreal, this world, the Grimm, the girl in red and black, all of it was alot to take in, he doubted he'd finally come to a revelation before they made it out of the forest. Then there was the gauntlet, whatever it was it was all he had for answers
Letting out an exasperated sigh, he waved her off, "Yeah-yeah, lead the way, leader." Sky let Ruby lead on, himself wincing at the gash across his arm as they ran to catch up, both blissfully unaware of the pair of eyes watching them viciously
To Be Continued…
Remastered for your pleasure, updates will be a little more frequent, but we'll see. Hope you enjoyed, as always, seeya in the next chapter!
Next Chapter: Alpha Meet Beta
The first fight of Sky's life in Remnant begins.