Gamer4 in. The response to the prologue was honestly far better than I expected- glad to see so many people interested. Again, running this story parallel with The Voyage Home- I don't wanna leave either story alone for too long. Since last episode left off on kinda a downer, I thought it would be nice to get started on the main story this time around. Hope you enjoy- let's get started.

Disclaimer: I'm playing... Legend of Zelda, Link's Awakening right now, thanks for asking.

Chapter I

Ansel

Jaune Arc's eyes flew open as he awoke with a gasp. He sat up in his bed and looked around his room, taking a deep breath to steady himself.

What a dream... he supposed. He could hardly remember any of it now. As so often happened with dreams, it was already mostly forgotten by the time he regained full consciousness.

Sighing, Jaune rose to his feet and gazed around the room. It was dead silent- he most have awoken in the middle of the night. Surrounding him was the basement floor of the mayor's house in the small village of Ansel. The room was sparsely decorated- the only thing that really made it his was the easel and canvas nearby. He put a finger and thumb to his chin for a moment, then nodded, taking a seat at the easel. Artwork always calmed him down- perhaps if he allowed his subconscious to direct his oils, he might even remember what his dream was about.

He picked up a tray of paints and allowed his hands to do what they would, as he had countless times before.

Straining his mind, the only thing he could remember was the presence of Lie Ren, the town's doctor and his closest friend, and his wife Nora Valkyrie. Yes... the two of them had definitely been in the dream, alongside several people he didn't know, whose faces he could no longer recall.

Finally, he surrendered his thoughts and merely let the oil flow.

Several hours seemed to pass in the blink of an eye, until he was finally leaning back, gazing upon the picture he'd created.

It showed a vessel amongst the stars, a deep crimson- in the process of exploding. It was falling apart as it was consumed in fire- it was like nothing Jaune had ever seen. He didn't care for it much, but it at least helped him recall the dream that had awoken him.

"Morning, Jaune! Another long night?"

Jaune smiled and turned around to find Saphron Arc, his older sister in all but actual blood, standing at the door to his room with a smile.

"Yeah... had a nightmare," Jaune nodded, putting down his brush at last.

Saphron strode over and put a hand on his shoulder as she eyed the painting. "Huh. Nice technique, but I don't care for the subject matter. Hope that's not your wedding gift."

Jaune laughed to help hide the jolt in his chest- that's right, Saphron was getting married tonight! How could he have forgotten? It was all the village had been talking about for the past week!

"Nah, I'm thinking I'll paint you and Terra at the altar," he shook his head. "Little more romantic than... whatever this is."

"No arguments here," Saphron laughed. "Anyways, we were wondering if you were ever gonna get up, but knowing you were working on this all night, I think my little bro deserves a little nap~!"

"Cut it out!" Jaune objected as he pulled away from her hair-ruffling. "You're twenty-five, only two years older than me!" He thought... truth was, he wasn't entirely certain how old he actually was, but according to Ren, twenty-three was about on point.

"Eh, two years is two years," Saphron grinned. "I decided when Ren took you in, you're my little brother!"

Jaune shook his head and ascended the steps behind her, where he found Ansel's mayor, Peter Port, in conversation with several others, presumably continuing their plans for tonight's festivities. He turned and broke into a grin when he saw Jaune. "Ah, my dear boy, we were about ready to take you for dead!"

"He was fine," Saphron laughed as she came up after him. "Just caught up in another of his paintings."

"Ah, that certainly explains it," Port nodded. "You know we all love your artwork, Jaune, but you need to stop and smell the roses sometimes!"

Jaune smiled. "Duly noted. Mr. Port... thank you."

"Oh? Where is this coming from?" Port asked, quirking one of his large eyebrows.

"It's just... something that occurred to me," Jaune shrugged. Perhaps it had something to do with the dream he'd had, of which he remembered so little, but he suddenly felt his need to express his gratitude towards the community that had taken him in. "Ever since I showed up at Ren's doorstep, three years ago... you've all taken me in like one of your own."

Jaune's earliest memories were of Ren nursing him back to health. He remembered nothing prior to these three years in Ansel- as far as he was concerned, it was his world. The only clues he had to his previous life were Ren's description of the hooded man who'd dropped him off, and a series of scars on his left arm that came together to spell out a single word: HABIT.

But he was fine with that- he'd never felt any urge to go out into the world and investigate his origins. He was happy with the family he'd made here- with Port as his surrogate father, Ren as something of a brother, and Saphron so much his sister that he'd taken her surname.

"Feeling sentimental there, bro?" Saphron smiled.

"...You could say that," Jaune nodded. "I think... I'll step out for a little bit, if that's okay- head over to Sakura's." He had suddenly become remarkably conscious of how hungry he was.

"Hey, I ain't gonna stop ya," Saphron raised her hands. "As long as you're not late for the ceremony."

Jaune nodded and stepped out into the sun.

Ansel was a small village located to the far northwest of Animus, one of Remnant's two central continents. It was blessed with great geographical fortune, secluded from the empire of Atlas by the Rocky Mountain range to the west, and from the desert kingdom of Vale by the Emerald Forest to the south. The north and east both led very quickly to the coast, allowing the village to isolate themselves from the affairs of the greater world, bringing them a great amount of peace in a world that sorely lacked it.

Jaune headed towards Sakura's Café, the sole eatery in town, owned and operated by an aging man, balding with a goatee. He came across as prickly to outsiders, but those that got to know him found a very kind soul beneath.

"Afternoon, kid," he greeted when he saw Jaune entering. "What'll you have?"

"The usual," Jaune smiled as he took a seat at the counter.

"Hey, Jaune!" called someone from behind him- he turned around to see the usual group of elderly men that seemed to inhabit most bars, ushering him over to them.

"What's going on?" Jaune asked with a good-natured eyeroll, as many did whenever the geezers called them over.

"What's not goin' on?" the oldest man in the village commenced to ranting. "Ain't you heard that Atlas in on the move against Vale again?"

"Again?" scoffed the man across from him. "Maybe you've got water in your brain, Gaffer, but I don't- Vale and Atlas have been at war since Second Impact five hundred years ago. You oughtta know, you were there!"

"Har-de-har," the Gaffer scoffed. "It's all fun and games 'til they call down the Demon of Vacuo!"

"I haven't drunk enough to listen to this today," his friend rolled his own eyes, looking to Jaune. "He's gone on and on about the Demon of Vacuo for the past month."

"It's true!" the Gaffer objected. "In a single day and night of misfortune, Vacuo was ripped apart by just one man!"

"Or Atlas and Vale ripped it apart, and the Demon of Vacuo is just a tall tale," the other old man rolled his eyes. "They're the ones drivin' those gears around. Things have been gettin' worse ever since those Gebler people got involved..."

"You mean the Ethos?"

"No, I'm sure I mean Gebler!"

"The way I heard it," Jaune finally interjected, "Gebler's the group backing up Vale- the Ethos is supporting Atlas."

"Aye, that might be it," the Gaffer agreed.

"Well, it ain't worth a hill o' beans either way," the other old man directed at Jaune. "Neither kingdom has any reason to bother with us- we've got nothing to offer either. We ignore them, they'll ignore us. Remember, kid, keep your nose out of trouble, and no trouble will come to you."

"Yeah, I'll keep that in mind," Jaune nodded.

He felt a hand on his shoulder, and turned to find the short, squat Dove Bronzewing at his side. "Yes, Dove?" he asked.

Dove motioned with his head, leading Jaune outside and around the back. "So, Jaune, have you thought about our plan?"

"You mean your plan?" Jaune crossed his arms. "I don't remember ever agreeing to it."

"Yeah, yeah, that's great," Dove waved aside. "Listen, today's the last chance we have to stop the wedding!"

Jaune rolled his eyes. Dove had yet to accept that Terra had no interest in him- he was still convinced there might be some way to stop the wedding and woo Saphron's bride-to-be for himself.

"Okay, fine, I'll go talk to her," Jaune told him, more to get him off his back than anything else. "Just don't blame me when she doesn't call the wedding off because I suggested it."

"Yeah, sure, whatever, just do it quick!"

Jaune sighed, but headed over to Terra Cotta's house, soon to be both her abode and Saphron's. He knocked on the door.

"Hm?" came a grunt from the other side. "Oh, Jaune! Sure, come in."

Jaune opened the door and his eyes immediately widened. Terra Cotta seemed to be trying out her bridal gown- she was beautiful.

She smirked through her gentle brown eyes at him. "I take it you approve?"

Jaune came back to his senses and quickly nodded. "Yeah... yeah, you look great."

"Then I'm guessing Saphron will like it, too," Terra smiled, looking in her mirror and doing a twirl. She looked at him happily. "But I'm guessing you didn't come just to scout me out for your sister, did you?"

"Oh, uh... no!" Jaune quickly shook his head, blushing furiously. "Actually, it was just... Dove wanted me to talk to you, so I figured I'd just stop by and say 'hi.'"

"That boy," Terra shook her head, not losing her smile. "I'm sure he'll get over it once everything's over."

"Yeah..." Jaune scratched at his chin. "Er... Ren!" He snapped his fingers, looking for a way to leave without seeming awkward- three year's worth of memories hardly made him a social wizard. "Sorry, I gotta go up the path to meet with Ren- I need some special paints for the wedding."

"Oh? You're gonna do some painting?" Terra smiled. "Well... I'm sure everyone looks forward to seeing your work. Say hi to Ren for me, would ya?"

"Right... of course," Jaune smiled meekly, bowing himself out of the house.

XXXX

Ren and his family lived up a short mountain trail, in a house Ren and Nora had designed themselves. Ren was quite the renaissance man, with skills in medicine, archeology, and- in this case- architecture, which, combined with his wife's vivid imagination, led to a wonderland of a house- Jaune almost felt envious of their son, Shinji- he could only imagine what it must be like growing up in that house.

As he came upon it, he could see its many spires connected by wires the residents could ride to the other areas. Standing separate from the house was Ren's workshop, where he examined artifacts he discovered, or that his peers sent him. Jaune could see him from where he stood, tinkering with some large, mechanical crab-shaped device.

"Alright... then that must connect to here..."

There was a loud popping noise, and Ren leapt to his feet, waving his hand around where Jaune could only guess he'd just been shocked. "Okay, I suppose that's not it..."

"Hey, Ren!" Jaune called up.

Ren looked down, his hair pulled back in its usual ponytail to keep it out of his face. "Ah- Jaune! Perfect timing- I just received a delivery- something I'd like to show you!"

He leapt down from above, landing gracefully on the grass surrounding the house.

"Ever the tinkerer, huh?" Jaune laughed.

Ren glanced back up. "Oh, yes... a land crab. An ancient weapon- I believe it dates back to before Second Impact. I thought I'd try to restore it, but it's proving more difficult than I'd anticipated."

He moved to the door of his workshop. "But that's not the most interesting thing I have today- come in, take a look at this."

Jaune obediently followed him in, and there, amongst Ren's many tools, desks and benches, was a tall wooden box of polished wood.

"What is it?" Jaune asked, walking around- the only thing he could find was a patch of text inscribed onto one side that he couldn't read.

"A very fascinating specimen," Ren answered. "This text-" he ran his hand over it- "is a dead language- it's not been used for over six thousand years. It took extensive study to translate it."

"What does it say?" Jaune asked curiously.

"'To my dearest daughter Penny... I wish you all the happiness in the world,'" Ren read for him.

Jaune took a step back. "So a father... bought this for his daughter... or made it himself?"

"That would seem to be the logical conclusion, yes," Ren nodded.

"But... what is it?" Jaune repeated.

Ren stepped behind the box, seizing a small key. He turned it several times, and released it.

The box opened up, revealing a wooden set, complete with little wooden figures- their features had been marred by the passage of so much time, but the mechanics within the box were still working- either hardier than the wood, or Ren had done some restoration work on them, too. The little figures danced around with each other, in time with a slow, beautiful melody- it almost brought a tear to Jaune's eye as he watched and listened.

"A music box..." he said softly.

"Yes," Ren smiled. "It's a nostalgic tune, isn't it? Something you can almost swear you've heard before."

Jaune nodded- he couldn't place it, but the song was very familiar to him.

Ren nodded as if he knew exactly what Jaune was thinking. "Music... is a mysterious thing. It can return to us memories we don't expect. Thoughts and feelings at the very edge of our consciousness... perhaps things we don't even desire to remember. It's a form of magic, in its own way- or so I think. Long ago, even in that forgotten era, people would listen to this melody, as we are now. At times, it would bring a smile to their face... at others, it would bring a tear to their eye."

It was a very poetic way of speaking that Jaune found very characteristic of Ren- he was sure he told some amazing bedtime stories to his son.

"Incidentally, though..." Ren continued, "what brought you up here in the first place?"

"Oh!" Jaune broke free from his fixation on the box. "I was planning to do a painting for Saphron and Terra's wedding- I wondered if you could lend me some paint."

Ren nodded. "I believe that could be accomplished. Perhaps you'd like to join us for dinner before we go down to the wedding?"

Jaune's heart skipped a beat- Ren's cooking was not something to be missed. "Would I?!" A second later, he came to himself. "Er... I mean, yes please."

Ren chuckled lightly. "Well, I have a few things to put away first- go say hi to Nora and Shinji, why don't you?"

Jaune nodded, leaving the workshop and heading towards the house.

Ren leaned against one of the desks, closing his eyes in thought. "I'd nearly forgotten the wedding was tonight... I've enjoyed this simple life. I only wish it could last forever..."

He opened his eyes when he heard a groaning coming from the music box- he looked at it just in time to see it seemingly break down, smoke rising from the mechanics within.

His smile disappeared, instead becoming a deepset frown. "That... doesn't bode well..."

He wasn't usually one to believe in omens, good or ill, but something about the way the machine had broken down... it sent a chill up his spine.

XXXX

I feel like that's a good place to leave off for now. I'm gonna jump over to The Voyage Home for a bit after this- I've got a three-part chapter to surmount. If you're reading that, too, look forward to it! If not, I'll see you next time- until then, don't you dare go hollow. Gamer4 out.